The battle for two time periods has begun as the Black
Moon Clan prepares for their final assault on both the Past and Future. Leading their efforts are an aged Chibiusa,
now Black Lady. Reunited with the rest
of the Senshi, Usagi desperately tries to reach out to her friend. But it will take more than kind words and
courage to win this ultimate battle and even those who have sworn not to
intervene will be forced to step in.
There are moments in the Season Two Finale of Sailor Moon
Crystal where I can feel that the show is sometimes trying its darndest to be
something special.
It wants me to
believe that the Sailor Moon I’m seeing in action is the same one at the end of
Sailor Moon R, who took on Nemesis with her daughter at her side and kicked it
out of the park.
But no matter how hard
it makes the attempt, it can never seem to shake what it’s been doing wrong and
how it’s doubled down on it all season long.
When it comes to the actual conclusion of the Black Moon Arc, my
prediction of it being on par with the terribleness of Season One’s ending
pretty much turned out right.
New
situation, same missteps, same lackluster results.
At least Pluto and (mostly) Chibiusa were
able to continue outshining the stars of the series…like I said mostly.
Cause oh boy, what they did to Chibiusa, we
might as well start there cause I’ve got things to say.
I’ve been an Anime fan for what feels like forever.
I’ve seen all manner of things that excite me
and gross me out and things I will never be able to ever unsee.
Black Lady, the grown up evil version of
Chibiusa, locking lips with Mamoru (aka HER FATHER!!!) falls squarely in that
far end category.
Who’s sick and messed
up head ever thought this was a good idea?
And yes, this did happen as a vision in Sailor Moon R and guess what, I
hated it then too.
This feels far worse
because its shown in real time, not once but twice.
The second time is right in front of Usagi’s
eyes and Usagi just reacts like she’s reacted to every other bad thing
happening, with the minimal amount of disbelief instead of you know freaking the
heck out.
You could argue that this is
the Wiseman/Nemesis influencing Black Lady and being a dirty old planet…but how
the heck is no one traumatiezed after seeing a grown version of a 6-7/900 year
old girl kiss her freaking father?
I
swear I was near rage quit levels seeing this happen (TWICE!!!)
Pushing aside that topic that a therapist could make
serious bank on, what else was wrong with the end of the Black Moon Arc?
Jeez where to go after the Black Lady
debacle?
Maybe Saphir getting taken out
as easily as the rest of his fellow Black Moon cohorts?
Maybe Demande going full on psycho and trying
to destroy all of time because he cant accept that Neo Queen Serenity/Usagi
just isnt into him?
Or how about the
fact that Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus don’t do jack other than get subdued
and then stand around while Usagi has to save the world without
them…again.
Once again, it’s the latter
that irks me the most because why are the rest of the girls going to be here
when it comes down to Usagi needing Mamoru’s cheerleading to get her powered up
to battle a planet with the Silver Crystal?
Whatever happened to the messages of how the best of friends can lift
you up and help you conquer any challenge?
Not according to Crystal.
Here,
so long as your creepy lover is around and not trying to kill you (yeah Mamoru
getting mind controlled to attack Usagi again, it’s hard to tell who’s more the
Damsel in Distress between them), that’s all you need.
It’s the worst example of trying to justify
“true love” since Twilight.
Plus, the actual destruction of Nemesis felt so dull and
boring.
How do you make Sailor Moon vs.
a freaking planet boring?
By having her
and the others shoot at a hologram before being teleported to various realms of
whatever while Nemesis prattles on about how the Dark Crystal will destroy
everything and blah, blah, blah.
There’s
nothing exciting and a lot of this is because eveyrthing’s been so lackluster
and bad it’s kind of hard to care whether or not Usagi succeeds in saving the
future or not.
Such an enormous threat
was wasted just like the rest of the Villains in Sailor Moon Crystal so
far.
With the bar set so firmly beneath
the ground at this point, there’s nowhere to go but up for the Death Busters in
Season Three, right?
Ok, I do actually have a couple of nice things to
say…just not about Usagi, Mamoru or the Sailor Senshi.
I wish Crystal cared as much about them as it
does Sailor Pluto because wow, her big moment outshined anything any of them
have done in two whole seasons.
While
she did manage to escape her post via a loophole provided by Diana (another
season MVP candidate), Pluto still managed to reach the battle in time and make
the ultimate sacrifice.
I cant say I’ve
seen anything done by Usagi or the other girls that has measured to the level
of Pluto stopping time, knowing it would kill her, that made me feel something
in Crystal.
In her short amount of
screentime, Pluto became the most fascinating, mysterious and likeable of the
Senshi, with an origin story you wanted to know more about and still got enough
to relate to her and her hopes, dreams and duties.
The moment after Chibiusa became Sailor Chibi
Moon and she wanted Pluto to see her, knowing Pluto had passed, was pretty hard
to watch too.
You did feel the
connection between these two girls from different plains of existence and their
bond felt more genuine and adoring than…well you get where I’m going with this,
no sense in repeating myself again like Crystal likes to do with it’s
exposition.
Oh yeah, Chibiusa becomes Sailor Chibi Moon a few
episodes sooner than before.
I’m not
100% sold on this: not Chibiusa becoming a Junior Sailor Guardian during this
arc but rather its timing.
See she
becomes Chibi Moon after banishing her Black Lady persona but at that point it
didn’t feel earned, not after everything Chibiusa had done in addition to what
she’d done to set this whole thing in motion.
Personally, I’dve had her confront Nemesis with Usagi as Chibiusa and
then, once that victory was claimed, then her big reward would be becoming
Sailor Chibi Moon.
It would be a strong
cap off to Chibiusa’s decent character arc and set her up to already be in
action in Season Three.
I will say that
after bouncing all over the map in regards to her feelings about Chibiusa, I
didn’t really feel that Usagi and Chibiusa’s false farewell was earned
either.
Again, look back to Sailor Moon
R and everything they did together, even before going to the future, especially
when they kicked Rubeus’ ass.
Season Two
had Usagi treating Chibiusa pretty poorly throughout, mostly when it came to
Mamoru.
I’m sorry, Usagi hasn’t earned
this kind of repentance in my eyes, mostly because I do not like Crystals take
on Usagi at all.
And that brings us to the end of Sailor Moon Crystal
Season Two.
The only reason it is a step
above the first is because of the strong work done with Chibiusa and Sailor
Pluto.
Everything else was treating
Usagi like a jealous brat and making the Sailor Senshi virtually irrelevant
because none of them are in love with Mamoru, who is the key to bringing out
any and all special powers needed to win.
The Black Moon Clan was even less of a footnote than Queen Beryl and her
Four Kings and the final battle with Nemesis was bogged down by all of the
Seasons overall pacing and writing problems and a lack of excitement or care
for most characters involved.
Overall,
this really is the new rock bottom for Sailor Moon, in fact, Pluto and Chibiusa
were the only ones keeping it from not hitting bedrock.
I’m just gonna say it, when we come back on Monday for
the next (and Final) season, I’m not even going to ask if things can get worse
than they are for Crystal, all bets are off.
Plus, we have Uranus and Neptune debuting and they were already handled
poorly in Sailor Moon S.
Ugh, whatever
happens, happens I guess.
Check back
Next Mondy as we dive right into Season Three of Sailor Moon Crystal, right
here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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