The Dead Moon ruler, Queen Nahalennia, has had
enough. Determined to claim Helios’
Golden Crystal for herself, the beautiful Queen frees herself from her prison
and plunges the world into darkness. Up
against the nefarious ruler of the Dead Moon, the magic of Zarconia and the
newly powered up Amazoness Quartet, the Sailor Senshi prepare for the fight of
their lives. Things only grow more
desperate when the Dead Moon Circus manages to capture Helios and Chibiusa. The hopes and dreams of an entire planet once
more rest in the hands of Sailor Moon and the Sailor Guardians.
There were many moments where I was watching the Season
Finale of Sailor Moon SuperS and thought…this isn’t a great ending but its
actually a bit decent…and that’s more than this terrible season deserves.
After almost 40 episodes of making a joke out
of the Dead Moon Circus and their quest to find Pegasus, it feels a bit
infuriating that they decide to finally get serious and actually almost succeed
at defeating the Senshi.
It’s not just
the sudden tonal change either, it’s also the newly introduced and expanded
story elements that really tick me off because everything we learn could have
been explored in other episodes instead of screwing around with the Amazon Trio
for half a season.
Ergo, as you’ve
probably come to expect by now, this is easily the weakest of the four Season
Finales so far and it’s a shame because a lot of it holds good and bold ideas
for what couldve made this a strong follow up to Sailor Moon S.
The finale opened ominously enough with Queen Nahalennia
making good on her promise to finally start taking matters more seriously.
I like how the background continuously
darkened the closer we got to the Solar Eclipse that helped blanket the city in
cobwebs and at last release Nahalennia from her mirror prison.
I’d even go so far as to say if this season
was all about the power of dreams, this nightmarish setup was a nice final
challenge to that inspirational power.
From the sight of dozens of Dead Moon tents descending from the sky to
the Nahalennia’s true appearance, there was a very apocalyptic horror vibe to
several parts of these last six episodes and it really worked.
Seeing the Senshi’s own dreams challenged by
Zirconia’s dark mirror versions of themselves was very effective and it pushed
all of the girls to their limits.
Naturally,
because this is Sailor Moon, they found their light again and managed to kick
some ass but Nahalennia didn’t make it easy for them.
Last time I spoke about how this Season, as bad as it is,
has been good for Chibiusa’s continued character growth and this finale really
belongs to her.
It’s Chibiusa who
ignites the spark of rebellion in the Amazoness Quartet and even makes a Dragon
Ball Z like plea to power the Spirit Bomb…er Golden Crystal and uses it to
blast Nahalennia right where it hurt.
Even when Pegasus wanted to cut and run when Nahalennia’s darkness began
to spread, Chibiusa still managed to keep him around by basically confessing
her true feelings.
This girl became the
beacon of hope her future mother has been for several seasons now and if SuperS
has done anything right, it’s shown us that, more than ever, Chibiusa is
definitley worthy of her mothers title of Princess and Sailor Senshi…even if
I’m not too fond of her love interest.
Speaking of Pegasus, let’s talk about how the finale
presented us with a lot of missed opportunities that could have made SuperS
better.
Turns out, both Helios (Pegasus’
human form) and Nahalennia had connections all the way back to Silver Millenium
in Season One.
Helios was a priest from
Prince Endemiyon’s Elysion Kingdom on Earth and Nahalennia once ruled from a
neighboring kingdom in space.
These
could have both been used to deepen several plot lines from before and evolve
them in SuperS, from Mamoru being a more active ally for Helios to Nahalennia’s
hatred for Usagi because her mother was the one who sealed her away in her
prison. Nahalennia’s final face off with Usagi is a really good scene as the
withered crone is pitied by the younger and just Sailor Senshi.
Imagine if Nahalennia had been revealed back
in the beginning of SuperS and really had it out for Usagi and Chibiusa, not
just because of the search for Pegasus but a more personal grudge against them
and their family?
Nope, instead we got
plenty of time with three idiots at a bar debating how to seduce every person
who walks no matter their age.
What’s
more interesting is that Nahalennia doesn’t get destroyed in the finale.
She gets sealed away again but there’s plenty
to suggest she might actually come back in Sailor Stars.
Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.
Personally I’d like to put as much distance
between SuperS and Sailor Stars as possible but maybe Nahalennia can live up to
her full potential in whatever role she takes on in the Final Season should she
return.
But, this is still Sailor Moon SuperS and the Season
Finale couldn’t be completely free of the insanity that is the terrible
writing.
I literally shook my head and
said “Nope…nope…nuh uh…no way, not now, you do not get to be shocked by this”
when the girls realized that the evil tent that’s been standing on a creepy
pilar in the middle of town is the HQ of the Dead Moon Circus.
If it wasn’t for everything else being
halfway decent, I was tempted to just give this Season a 0/10 based on that
alone.
It makes our heroines look like
total idiots who are ignorant of their duties…which they aren’t because I’ve
been watching this series since the beginning and Usagi does show signs of
being her actual, properly developed self jumping after Chibiusa without
hesitation and even coming to the aid of the Amazoness Quartet when Nahalennia
turns on them.
Oh and remember when I
was talking about how Nahalennia’s true motivation could have been revenge
against the Serenity bloodline?
Well
instead part of her evil origins is she met Helios and fell in love with him
but was spurned because she didn’t have a good dream in her heart.
Kind of reminds me of how Queen Beryl was
obsessed with Endymion during Season One…only we never learn about Nahalennia’s
crush on Helios until a couple of episodes before the finale, it kind of comes
out of nowhere and is totally unnecessary for her character…more so than dreams
that’s kind of a running theme throughout this season overall.
Well the Dead Moon Circus is gone.
Helios has peaced out back to Elysion.
And Nahalennia is back in her cell…for
now.
Kind of wraps things up right?
Good, cause now I can finally say and I’m
sorry to just use a phrase from a popular internet reviewer, This Season
Sucks.
Sailor Moon SuperS is a massive
step down from the first three seasons.
It spends much of its screentime with stupid slapstick, annoying and
infuriating villains and reducing a cast of characters who have grown so much
since Season One back to their Season One states of mind, even going so far as
to have them ignore or be ignorant of the Dead Moon Circus’ existence.
This goes double for Usagi, who regressed
back to her Mamoru obsessed brat state until the finale when she finally got
serious again.
Anything that could make
SuperS interesting doesn’t kick in until the Amazoness Quartet arrives and they
were easily the stand out new characters in the Season (more so than Nahalennia
I hope they pop back in for the Final Season).
The Finale is both the best part of the season as well as a furious
reminder of how good this season could have been were it much more
focused.
Chibiusa might have come out a
stronger character for her romance with Helios (my misgivings about him aside),
but it’s still not enough for me to officially label Sailor Moon SuperS the
Gundam Seed Destiny or Dragon Ball GT of the franchise…that’s really, really
bad.
Sailor Moon SuperS gets a 3/10.
I would sigh and say, “Whew, thank God that’s
done”…buuuut we’re not quite done with SuperS just yet.
There’s still one more Sailor Moon Movie to
tackle before we finally get to Sailor Stars and we’ll be looking at it this
Friday with
Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie right here at the Gundam Anime
Corner.
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