Friday, September 22, 2023

Sailor Moon SuperS Part 7 Episodes 156-160

As the new battle between the Sailor Senshi and Dead Moon Circus continues, Chibiusa begins to doubt her friendship with Pegasus.  She’s shared so much of her hopes and dreams and yet knows nothing about this mysterious guardian who watches over her.  Chibiusa’s desire to know more leads her to a world in desperate need of saving and closer to the person she’s come to fall in love with.  But how much longer can she keep this special connection a secret from Usagi and the others, especially with time running out for Pegasus’ homeworld?

Even though we’ve arrived at the penultimate chapter of Sailor Moon SuperS, big shock, I feel like we haven’t made much progression towards an endgame.  Pegasus still refuses to give up any details about his plight beyond the bare basics.  Queen Nahalennia is still chilling out in her mirror, waiting for the “right time to strike” just like Thanos.  And again, no one seems super concerned about the Dead Moon Circus still running amok in the city.  All that said, this set continues to capitalize on the better elements of SuperS, including more screentime for the Amazoness Quartet and some major character progression for Chibiusa.  It’s still not enough to save the season as a whole but when said season has been as bad as it has been, you take the wins where you can find them.
 
Rather than advancing the end goals of the Dead Moon Circus, or at least moving them into a better launch position, this set of episodes heavily focused on Chibiusa’s blossoming romance with Pegasus, or rather Helios.  Personally, I’m a hopeless romantic: love who you want to love so long as it makes you genuinely happy…even if it is with a seemingly mystical creature I guess, I try not to judge.  When it comes to Chibiusa and Pegasus, I feel the same way I feel about Usagi and Mamoru, the only reason I care about it is because of Chibiusa.  She’s one of my favorite characters in the series and I’ve loved watching her grow as her own person.  Now she’s experiencing true love for the first time and its cute watching her navigate it.  Probably one of my favorite episodes of the season (shocker I know), comes from Usagi, Mamoru and the others trying to learn more about Chibiusa’s secret boyfriend only for Chibiusa to keep getting more and more ticked off the more they try to learn, especially when they’re doing their team announcement after transforming and theyre all about Chibiusa.  I really liked Mamoru freaking out like a proper Dad might but even he couldn’t get Chibiusa to crack (also Rei’s reaction to Mako theorizing Chibiusa’s dating a much older guy was priceless…as much as I don’t want her following in her Moms footsteps isn’t Pegasus technically older than Chibiusa?).  Chibiusa even got a beautifully animated dream sequence where she and Pegasus are enjoying an evening flight mixed to the music of the SuperS end theme, which is equally gorgeous I must say.  I’m not totally approving of this romance but dammit its nice to see more great character work for Chibiusa and how romance has continued to make her stronger.
 
That said, Pegasus, or Helios, I’m not sure what I should call him now (maybe Pegasus for now and save Helios for the finale).  This guy has been secretive all season long and the second Chibiusa asks to learn more about him, he says “no and you have to trust me on that”.  Nope, I call BS.  Chibiusa’s has opened up to this guy all season long and the slightest wish to see the same in return earns her nothing?  It’s kind of selfish if you ask me, especially when your would be love interest is connected to a group of super heroes who can save your home dimension from destruction because you have to keep so many damn secrets.  As I said, we’re right on the cusp of the finale and I still feel like I know very little about Pegasus.  Yeah we learn the broad strokes about the Dead Moon Circus devastating his home, capturing his human body and his somehow finding his way to Chibiusa through the light of her dream.  But if you look back at previous seasons: by this point in Sailor Moon R, we were already in the future learning about the fate of Crystal Tokyo and working to set things right; and in Sailor Moon S, the Infinity School was playing a huge role in the mystery surrounding Hotaru and the Death Busters.  Here in Sailor Moon SuperS, Pegasus has shed next to no light on his current situation, nor has he seem overly concerned about getting his home back to normal.  What will it take for him to finally reveal some information to Chibiusa and the Senshi, when Chibiusa’s house has been burned to the ground? 
 
Thankfully where Pegasus has failed, the Amazoness Quartet continue to shine brighter.  One of the most important and maybe best episodes of the Season (that’s two in this set, I’m shocked), saw the four Circus performers hanging out with Usagi and company while they worked to prep a Coming of Age ceremony.  I talked last time about how the AQ have been reminding me of the Spectre Sisters from Sailor Moon R and this episode backed up that sentiment by having the girls quickly befriending Usagi and the Senshi.  I like how everyone was equally impressed with each others skills, from the AQ’s acrobatic talents to Mako’s strength and Ami’s smarts.  Naturally, though, things hit a snag when we got to a clash of ideals: AQ’s Peter Pan like “never grow up” stance vs. the Senshi’s “Dreams can blossom further as adults.”  Usagi and the others have all had multiple dreams throughout the season and the world is basically their oyster, you feel like they could do anything.  But the AQ refuse to see this possibility, which does wrinkle the friendship angle a bit with the Senshi but Rei’s sure they’ll meet again.  In the meantime, we FINALLY got a Team Deathmatch between the Inner Senshi and Amazoness Quartet.  It wasn’t super long but it was enough to see both sides show off their powers and skills against one another.  Man, we’ve needed more of this action this season and it’s a good primer when the teams inevitably face off in the Season Finale.
 
Well I already made one comparison to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Thanos, but when we ended this set with Queen Nahalennia basically saying “Fine, I’ll do it myself,” does that mean she’s finally ready to just burst through her mirror, punishing Zarconia for wasting time and finally getting around to conquering the Earth?  Honestly I cant believe it’s taken the entire season for us to even get to this level of dire straits but who knows, maybe the Season Finale can save Sailor Moon SuperS…oh who am I kidding, let’s just get this over with so I we can get to the Starlights already (which will be after the Super S Movie and a quick break for me but readers will have to wait til December…you know what I’m getting ahead of myself…which is where I’d like to be with Sailor Moon right now).  Check back Monday for the Season Finale of Sailor Moon SuperS right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.

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