Usagi’s world is shaken to its core when Mamoru announces
he’s going to America to continue his studies.
At the same time, a new threat appears in the city, Sailor Iron Mouse,
seeking the Star Seeds hidden within humans.
Eternal Sailor Moon stands ready to face them but she isn’t the only
one. A new trio of Sailor Guardians has
arrived and they have a secret, one tied to a particular group of recently
arrived idols, the Three Lights. Change
is coming for Usagi Tsukino and friends and their world is about to be turned
upside down.
Now that we’ve finished off the loose ends of SuperS,
Sailor Moon clears the board a bit in more ways that one, so Sailor Stars can
now shift its attention to the trio of newcomers who headline the Final Season:
The Sailor Starlights.
These three
celebrity superheroines have been built up for a long time, especially by a
friend I turn to for advice and info on Sailor Moon (and they also happen to be
a big fan of a shipping I’ll definitely talk about in this review).
While I do have some reservations I wish I
could ignore, The Sailor Starlights sure do make one helluva debut in their
first set of episodes and no one is immune to their charms (not even Luna, I
see how you’re looking at Seiya).
This
is also a slightly shorter episode set I’m covering so I can get back to five
episodes per review again til the Series Finale since I decided to do all of
the Queen Nehelenia return in one go.
Anyway, onto the arrival of Sailor Moon’s biggest celebrities to date.
Back during the Premiere on Monday I mentioned that these
Seiya, Taiki and Yaten were probably the biggest reason Sailor Stars didn’t air
on Toonami back in the Early 2000s.
That’s because of the uniqueness of the Starlights and their civilian
identities.
As the Starlights, they have
some of the hottest costume designs in the series (complete with headsets to
emphasize their pop idol inspirations).
Their secret identities however sees the Starlights changing sexes and
passing themselves off as young men.
I
can unfortunately see how this would have been hard to spin for Toonami but
then again they also tried to play down to romance between Uranus and Neptune
and creating the term “Kissing Cousins” in the process.
I wish they’d still gone for it because it
would have been daring to introduce this kind of dynamic to viewers.
Plus again, considering anyone could read
between the lines with “Kissing Cousins”, Toonami should’ve had more faith in
their audience back then as they do today.
So yeah, let’s talk about the Starlights themselves.
While they (and since they swap genders
frequently, that’s the pronoun I’ll use for all of them with these reviews), do
make an impression with their insanely attractive Starlight outfits, the trio
doesn’t do too much in these forms besides show up, wound a Phage and disappear
after Sailor Moon cleanses it.
No, the
group makes a better impression as the Three Stars in their debut.
All three bring their own flavor to the group
so no one member is the same: Seiya is the most physically fit; Taiki is the
brainiac; and Yaten is the loner of the crew.
Of the three, Seiya has the most amount of screentime due to their
immediate interest in Usagi.
It’s hard
not to make comparisons between them and Mamoru, especially with the return of
Usagi’s old demeaning nickname “Bun Head”.
But I wont lie, I like Seiya better, MUCH BETTER.
Seiya has an ego because of their fame and
status but you can tell theyre trying to make a bit of an effort to impress
Usagi.
Also, they call her “Moon Bun” at
one point and that is a much better nickname I think.
Taiki and Yaten get their moments but I’m
sure they’ll get more substantial screentime with the other Senshi in later
episodes.
Plus, there’s a reason we have
a greater focus on Seiya and Usagi but I’ll leave that alone for a moment.
One of my biggest complaints about Sailor Moon SuperS was
that the Senshi weren’t taking the threat of the Dead Moon Circus seriously and
we’re more focused on pursuing every guy that moved and breathed rather than
trying to nip that problem in the butt.
In Sailor Stars, Rei, Mako, Minako and surprisingly Ami are all longtime
fans of the Three Stars and a lot of the humor that was absent from the
Premiere comes from their fangirling.
I
especially love the scene where the girls present their Fan Club cards and Ami
has the highest rating of them all.
Plus, the presence of the Three Lights is proving to be an inspiration
for one particular Senshi.
I’ve always
felt like Minako was the odd girl out who couldn’t settle on any of the many
hundreds of interests she’s had over the years.
Her new dream to become an idol after being a manager for Seiya, Taiki
and Yaten for a few days feels right and its good to see Minako finally have
some proper direction.
Ok, onto the a rather touchy subject…I’m pretty sure
Mamoru got killed in the first episode of this new arc.
Yep, after basically proposing to Usagi
before he jets off to the US, his plane gets blasted by new Big Bad Galaxia (I
assume).
So yeah, this is huge.
We already have the Outer Senshi off
somewhere and Chibiusa’s gone back to the future though I’m sure they’ll all be
back to cross paths with the Starlights before the Season is done.
But to flat out kill off Mamoru is a pretty
big risk.
Personally, my dislike for him
has been well documented throughout the year.
Usagi and Chibiusa are the only reason I tolerate him being around.
So no, I’m not sad Mamoru is gone and it
actually opens the door for that aforementioned ship I mentioned.
Maybe this is my Anti-Mamoru mindset feeding
this but Seiya is already miles better for Usagi.
They’re closer in age.
Seiya’s not a tremendous jerk, see the moment
where they shake hands with a football player after they got tackled as a sign
of respect.
And the playful banter
between Usagi and Seiya doesn’t feel like Usagi and Mamoru 2.0 but rather Usagi
and Seiya.
Clearly, Seiya is meant to
fill in for the missing (and presumably dead) Mamoru this Season and already
they’re a better fit for Usagi than that creep she’s been pining for all series
long.
Before I close out this review, I should note that the
first few episodes with the Starlights are producing an unsettling bit of
dejavu.
Like I said, I like them as the
Three Stars interacting with Usagi and the others.
As the Starlights themselves, they have the
same cold and absolute demeanour that Uranus and Neptune were never able to
shake throughout all of Season Three.
I
really wanna like this trio but I am not game for a repeat of every action of
the Senshi being questioned by these three because they don’t think Usagi and
company can hack it.
Also, while I
haven’t spoken about the new villains much, I was concerned about another use
of internal energy being the target of Galaxia and Sailor Iron Mouse aka the
Star Seeds.
However, they did shake up
the formula by having darkened Seeds take over their human hosts and turning
them into the new Monsters of the Week, Phages.
This means that Usagi and the girls will have to be more careful with
how they fight these creatures because they are still Human…not that that’s
stopping the Starlights from blasting away because they think once a Phage has
been created, there’s no going back (yep that certainly sounds like Uranus and
Neptune back in Season Three).
However, I’m hoping that the stellar work from the Season
Premiere is a good sign that the Starlights wont stay the same stagnant
characters Uranus and Neptune were for an entire season.
You already have Seiya pining for Usagi so
once she learns she’s Sailor Moon, that’s sure to change some
perspectives.
Next Monday we’re back to
five episodes and I’m looking forward to the Senshi getting to know these three
mysterious bad asses a bit better.
See
you Monday for more Sailor Moon Sailor Stars right here at the Gundam Anime
Corner.
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