Sailor Moon R Part 7 Episode 76-80

Sailor Moon and the Sailor Senshi have scored a decisive victory against the Black Moon Clan with the death of Rubeus.  But the Clan’s leader, Prince Demande, is far from finished with the past.  Even as he continues his assault on Crystal Tokyo, he sends his latest emissary, Esmeraude, to the 20^th Century to open a portal through time by which the Malefic Black Crystal can destroy the past.  But Sailor Moon and the Sailor Senshi stand ready to continue the fight and aren’t backing down no matter what.  And speaking of backing down, Usagi begins having shared dreams with Mamoru.  Now that she’s seen his visions, can Usagi finally rekindle her romance with her beloved, or will Mamoru double down in his desperation to protect Usagi from a dark future?

Seeing as how I’m going to be spending the better part of the year with the Sailor Senshi, this little criticism is going to come up every once in a while…but why, OH WHY, does this show have to be 200 episodes long?  I get it, this is from the age of Anime where the runtime gets padded for various reasons like letting the Manga get ahead.  But when filler comes just as major headway is made in the main storyline, it can threaten to ruin a good shows momentum.  This set of Sailor Moon R episodes had its moments for sure.  But overall, given what happened with the death of Rubeus and the revelations around Chibiusa, you’d think we would be in high gear heading into the final act of the season.  Sadly, I think that’s gonna be our next set of episodes instead, so today we were stuck in FillerVille.
 
The only through point tying these episodes together plot wise was the new Black Moon Clan operative chosen to succeed Rubeus, Esmeraude, and she’s pretty hit and miss.  She’s cute and she boasts about her vanity to no end but even that kind of gets old.  What’s worse, she has one of those 90s maniacal crazy laughs that you might hear from characters like Naga the Serpent from Slayers.  Except Esmeraude is no Naga and that laugh got grating pretty quickly.  Who knows, maybe the Spectre Sisters set a new high bar for Villainesses on this show because they had good chemistry and compelling character arcs.  Esmeraude, by comparison, is pretty one note: do anything she can to impress Prince Demande and laugh when she beaten to cover how pissed she is.  Even her mission is pretty meh: Set up a bunch of points so that she can create a Dark Gate that will enable the Malefic Black Crystal to seep into the past and destroy Tokyo.  I guess the Black Moon Clan’s just given up on their hunt for Chibiusa and the Silver Crystal?
 
This set of episodes felt like the show was both in a holding pattern and relying on the good old days of stand alone Season One episodes to pass the time.  Like I said, though, there were moments of fun.  Artemis in particular got a great episode as he set out to prove he isn’t the unlucky cat everyone thinks he is.  It got to show the Cat’s investigative skills and bravery, especially when defending Luna.  Minako also got an episode that saw her as the only Senshi not brought down by a powerful Flu that Esmeraude unleashed on the Juban District…annnnd I’m gonna shy away from any real world comparisons right there.  Unlike Artemis though, while it’s nice to see Minako wanting to do her best to help the girls, she’s a walking natural disaster whether its annihilating their taste buds with her terrible cooking or nearly destroying their houses trying to clean them…not the best look.  Finally, Ami got a good episode that saw her character challenged by one of Esmaraude’s plots.  The whole school believing Ami was a cheater and not as smart as she occasionally brags about highlighted Ami’s insecurities about wanting to do nothing but study and being seen as nothing but a bookworm.  Thankfully, she’s got Usagi and the others as the best support system, especially Mako, who threw down against some boys who had the nerve to bad mouth Ami and grab Mako by the shirt…big mistake.  The only other meaty development of this set was Mamoru finally got over his “I mustn’t be with you in order to protect you” BS and hooked back up with Usagi.  Despite the fact that I hate Mamoru and that isn’t changing any time soon, seeing Usagi truly happy is an all time Anime treasure.  I might not like her taste in men, but if Usagi is happy, that’s all that matters, good for her.
 
And yeah, that’s about all there really was to this set of episodes.  Any other odds and ends to talk about?  Well Naru and Umino showed up again.  Umino himself ended up being corrupted by Esmeraude and led the witch hunt against Ami, accusing her of cheating.  You’d think Naru would be onto things like evil energies and monsters seeing how much action she and Umino have found themselves in.  Also, I guess theyre officially a couple now, working on cute bracelets and generally being all kinds of cute around one another.  Wish the show wasn’t ignoring them for huge swaths of time now that Usagi has the other Senshi as her besties.  We also checked in a bit with the Black Moon Clan in the not too distant future…of the 30^th Century?  Over 1000 years into the future?  So is it really the same Sailor Senshi, Usagi and Mamoru after all or are they descendants?  Seriously, the last 9 episodes need to provide some good answers cause this has been bugging me all season long.  And eh, I guess I could get a couple of Mamoru jabs in.  First, Usagi having a dream where everyone flat out told her she was too young to marry Mamoru, much less date him, freaking loved it.  Also, Esmeraude giving Mamoru a playful wink…yeah Mamoru has enough female crazy in his life and quickly slinked away, that was pretty funny.
 
Ok, filler stuff is hopefully done because there’s a future that needs saving, along with Chibiusa’s family.  There are only two reviews left in Sailor Moon R, so this show needs to pick up the pace and deliver both answers and a satisfying finale in 9 episodes.  Bring home the win ladies.  The penultimate review for Sailor Moon R arrives This Friday over at the Gundam Anime Corner.  See ya then.