With Chibiusa’s life hanging in the balance, the Inner
and Outer Senshi unite for a final assault on Mugen Academy, headquarters of
the Death Busters. But can even the
combined might of eight Sailor Senshi stand against the most powerful darkness
they’ve ever faced? And when the long prophesied
harbinger of destruction, Sailor Saturn, finally awakens, will she choose to
adhere to her title or choose another path?
Whatever the choice, Usagi Tsukino presses forward, determined to save
the world no matter what it takes.
To say that Sailor Moon Crystal has been a challenge
would be an understatement.
But after
two seasons of Anime’s top Magical Girl getting the dark and depressing reboot
treatment, Season Three has really surprised me with how much its gotten right
even though it isnt close to fulfilling a new age Sailor Moons full
potential.
The last two review within
this season have had more highs than the usual lows, which makes the need for
the season to close out the series strong all the more imperative.
Well, there are a few problems with Crystal
overall I haven’t delved that deep into as opposed to others and some of those are
highlighted clearly in these final few episodes.
As far as three season finales go, this one
is the best but its both not saying much and also it would be sad if Crystal
made it 0-3 in the successful finales department.
I feel like I’m being cryptic.
Does Season Three of Sailor Moon Crystal wrap
up the overall series as best it can or does it slump back to the lows of its
two prior season predecessors?
The final five episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal are
essentially one big last battle against the Death Busters.
Most of their remaining numbers are taken out
pretty easily all things considered.
Kaolinite even resurrects the Witches 5 for a pretty pointless return
only for them to be obliterated quickly by the Outer Senshi not long before she
and Professor Tomoe are also taken off the board.
It’s pretty disappointing to see Pharoh 90’s
Third and Fourth top members have the same lackluster imagination when it comes
to their blob like true forms.
It’s even
more disappointing to see Professor Tomoe is a far cry from his 90s counterpart.
Instead of a father desperate to save his
dying daughter make a deal with the devil, Crystal’s version is just a nutjob
who would do anything to further his scientific research, including infusing
his dying daughter with an evil entity and making her part Cyborg.
It makes Usagi’s take down of him a bit less
impactful than it should.
Yes, Usagi is
forced to take his life to save Uranus.
But were this Tomoe enslaved and pleading for Usagi to save him and
Hotaru, then it would be a challenging moment.
But Hotaru’s Dad was not a good man, he might’ve been even more of a Monster
before actually becoming a Death Buster.
So much like the Death Busters overall, Usagi shouldn’t lose sleep over
them.
(Still, RIP my beautiful Kaolinite,
I’ll miss watching you sit sexily by your fountain).
Thankfully in a series full of letdown interpretations of
classic villains, Mistress 9 more than impressed the heck out of me…in fact she
downright scared the mess out of me.
Thanks to a ton of extreme close ups of red eyes wandering in different
directions and a voice that was only becoming more and more demented in each
scene, Mistress 9 brought the terror and nightmare fuel.
Seeing her more and more unhinged was pretty
unsettling but its way more of an impression than any other villain in Crystal.
Plus it made Hotaru struggling against her dark
side even more of an investment.
Hotaru
felt like more of a principal player in this finale than she did back in Sailor
Moon S, giving her all not once but twice to save the world, even if the second
time almost ended in her destroying it.
Her
farewell to Chibiusa was heartbreaking and another strong character moment for
the littlest Sailor Senshi.
Even if we didn’t
see them together that much (more on that later), Chibiusa and Hotaru did gain a
lot of strength in their friendship.
This was most evident in Chibiusa channeling the best of Usagi as
everyone faced off against impossible odds against Pharoh 90.
As much as I’ve criticized how she’s been written this
entire series, Usagi really became her old 90s bad ass self in the Crystal
Finale.
She was tested but rarely faltered
and was willing to give it all to save the world.
Her big sacrifice felt more earned and right
for her instead of just killing herself because she couldn’t be in a world
without Mamoru like in Season One of Crystal.
We also got to see Usagi show off how agile she is in several of her
various fights, especially her showdown with Tomoe.
This is the Sailor Moon I’ve wanted to see
all series long.
Sadly, the same cant be
said for everyone else.
I haven’t said
much about it but while the Inner Senshi have gotten time to shine in battle,
overall they haven’t done much more than just be there for battles and the expositional
group huddle.
It’s not just Season Three
either, it’s been the whole show.
Rei,
Ami, Mako and Minako seem to do even less in the Season Three Finale than in
Season Two, so much so you wonder why they’re even in the show at all.
Heck, Usagi is quickly placed with the Outer
Senshi instead of her main team when they invade Mugen Academy.
It bares shades of how fast the 90s Sailor
Moon Finale got rid of the Inner Senshi just so Usagi could have more time with
the Sailor Starlights.
There have been
good bits among the girls throughout this season though but again, this is
where a shortened run really hampers and does a disservice to the overall show.
I also feel as if the Series Finale dragged itself out
longer than necessary.
I feel like we
could have shaved 1.5-2 episodes of runtime down or maybe dedicated it to a
more important story element other than the Outer Senshi regaling us with how
Usagi’s changed them or Professor Tomoe’s backstory shoehorned in at the last minute
before his demise.
Again, having the
Witches 5 back was pointless and we could have just jumped to everyone fighting
Kaolinite and Tomoe.
By the time we get
to Saturn almost ready to unleash the apocalypse, I kind of wanted the finale
to be over and done with rather than watch the Inner and Outer Senshi and
Mamoru lament that they’ve lost for good…also why the heck was Mamoru even
here?
Useless as always, he unleashes
his Smoke Bomb attack with the Senshi in their one big attack scene and that’s
all.
Overall, the finale did go dark and
big with how crazy the Pharoh 90 crisis was.
Maybe it lingered on the “all is lost” moments a bit too long rather
than let Usagi have her big near sacrifice moment and have her win.
But no, we had to drag that out as if this
was a 90s apocalypse movie like X-1999.
Overall, Season Three of Sailor Moon Crystal ends about
as well as it can given what it had to work with and against.
The characters felt closer to their original
selves, Usagi in particular was much stronger in her portrayal.
The Outer Senshi were better than in Sailor
Moon S but Haruka’s implied romantic feelings for Usagi overshadowed her iconic
romance with Sailor Neptune (we get to see her kiss Usagi but never
Michiru?
That’s just wrong).
The reasonings for why the Outer Senshi work
how they do never came off as antagonistic as before and I welcomed the two
teams being on a more even keel.
The
Death Busters suffered like the Dark Kingdom and Black Moon before them.
Mistress 9 brought the crazy and scary though,
giving us the most memorable villain of the rebooted series (still got that soft
spot for the sexy Kaolinite even if she didn’t do much).
The Finale gave us the Sailor Moon this show
has needed for a while now, powered by her trust in her friends and not soley
on her terrible romance with Mamoru and some of the best moments were when future
Mother and Daughter were spitting images of the other in battle.
Season Three was a major improvement but how
does it affect the final score of Sailor Moon Crystal?
Sigh.
Even with
the better strides made by Season Three, this isnt a case of Mobile Suit Gundam
ZZ coming in halfway and cleaning up its act big time.
I can see why Sailor Moon Crystal isnt as beloved
as the original series and is widely talked about in a mostly negative
light.
The animation starts out horrid
but while it does get better, it’s the least of the shows problems when stacked
against the bad writing for Usagi, the overreliance on her romance with Mamoru
(and making it more tragic than fairy tale), the lakc of any development for
the most of the Sailor Senshi except for Chibiusa and Pluto (and even her progression
stops after Season Two), lackluster villains and just a general disinterest in revisiting
or improving on what make Sailor Moon such a legend in the first place.
Even Season Three for all it does work to fix
has the same faults as Season One and Two, it’s just slightly more enjoyable.
This feels like a project that wanted to
emulate the darker approach to Magical Girls like with Madoka Magica and when
that wasn’t well received, it tried major damage control but the damage was
done and done.
Honestly, it's surprising
that the Dead Moon Circus and Sailor Starlights arcs even got the go ahead but
we’ll get to those in time.
As it
stands, Sailor Moon Crystal manages to scrape its way past Sailor Moon SuperS
and not be the worst entry in the franchise…it’ll still settle for second worst
(it really should thank Season Three for even getting it to that spot).
Sailor Moon Crystal receives a 5/10 (which actually ties
it with Sailor Moon S: The Movie but I’d def place that movie above this show).
But the ride aint over yet.
While we’ll have to wait a bit longer for the
Sailor Starlights to return, it’s time to see if this newer Sailor Moon can
take the aforementioned worst season of the franchise and make it better…as a
two part movie.
Check back Wednesday as
we look at both parts of
Sailor Moon Eternal, right here at the Gundam
Anime Corner.
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