Sailor Moon Crystal

Episode 10

"We don't have time to feel down, 'cuz we're going to the moon!" Thus begins a promising episode of Sailor Moon Crystal. Last episode dished out the revelations: Usagi Tsukino is the Moon Princess, the senshi have regained awareness of their past lives, and now they're going to confront their pasts on a rad moon fortress. A rad moon fortress it is indeed, full of holograms and moon rocks and a sword in the stone that can only be pulled out by all of the senshi working together. There, Usagi meets a hologram of her mom from the moon, Queen Serenity, who exposits about their past and tells her to be strong. At the break of dawn, they return to Earth to combat the newly re-brainwashed four Dark Kingdom generals, the Shitennou. They push their enemies into a corner, and the kidnapped Mamoru revives as a servant of the Dark Kingdom.

At least a lot of stuff happened this time. Sailor Moon Crystal is at its worst when it's luxuriating in chemistry-less romance, and at least the story moves along quickly during exposition scenes. The moon visit and fight with the Shitennou were accomplished in about ten minutes each, leaving plenty of time for next episode's conflict with the brainwashed Mamoru.

The change in scenery is also appreciated. I've had enough murky pastels for a lifetime now, and this show looks best when it plays up the faux-storybook illustration aesthetic. There were a quite a few really nice shots this time, and nothing struck me as aggressively off-model, so either I've grown accustomed to this show's copious visual tics or the production team is improving their work. It still doesn't look good, but if the visuals had been more like this and the story more engaging from episode one, this anime would be a lot more watchable by this point.

Sailor Moon Crystal also continues to overemphasize the senshi's relationships with men. Once again, this wasn't present in the manga; at this point, all of the Shittennou besides Kunzite were dead. Crystal dwells extensively on the Shitennou's past identities as the senshi's lovers, and I'm not fond of it. The senshi didn't become aware of their past lives' romances at this point in the manga, and it was never much of a big deal. Kunzite also died at the end of this encounter originally, while here the Shitennou escape alive, sure to reappear at a later date. For a series that sells itself as being about friendship between young girls, it sure does give their boyfriends priority in terms of screen time.

Otherwise, the fight was actually sort of cool this time. It was still restricted to one attack per senshi, but at least they did more than blast a ray of colored magic at their opponent. Venus uses acrobatic dodges, Mars fights head on with flame, and Mercury attacks from a distance with water. These might be pittances for showing individual personality, but those are my expectations for this show by now. The best part of the episode came when Usagi saved the day without wavering, willingly launching herself into orbit in order to shoot purification beams. She fights for her boyfriend and maybe her friends sometimes. It's character development! Kidding aside, the show's best aspect is still Usagi's growth from a petulant child into a confident woman and warrior. A conversation between her parents at the beginning of the episode demonstrates this well. Usagi's innocence and strength are not mutually exclusive, and she can grow into mature relationships without giving up crucial aspects of herself. It's just all too little, too late to have the impact it should.

Grade: C+

Sailor Moon Crystal is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.