Chibiusa’s dream of a mystical Pegasus, bearing a warning
of danger, heralds the end of the peaceful times for the Sailor Senshi. During a Lunar Eclipse, a new enemy appears:
The Dead Moon Circus. These incredibly
powerful alien performers seek Pegasus and believe he hides in the Dreams of
those with pure hearts. Luckily, Sailor
Moon and the Sailor Senshi stand in their way.
But up against foes whose power dwarfs their own, even they might need
some extra help on this one.
Well, Dear Readers, we’ve finally come back to Usagi
Tsukino and friends with Sailor Moon SuperS (supers with a Capital S as I’ve
learned).
I’ll admit, this season has me
pretty nervous even before diving in.
For starters, when I first saw Sailor Moon on Toonami, I never really
got to see much of this Fourth Season, so I’m going in mostly blind. However,
it’s less the blindness I’m worried about and more so the rumors that this is
by far the weakest season of the original series.
And…I’m not gonna lie, even though I’ve only
seen three episodes I can see why that is.
Sailor Moon S has been the high point of Sailor Moon so far.
Aside from my frustrations with Uranus and
Neptune’s stagnant character arcs, the character work on the Inner Senshi was
stronger than ever, especially for Usagi and Chibiusa.
How do you even begin to try and top that
going forward?
Honestly, the Circus from
Hell and a Pegasus who may be Chibiusa’s new love interest was definitely not
at the top of my list.
The tone of SuperS is made clear from something said by the
Dead Moon Circus’ leader Zirconia, that Humans are so gullible that a giant
demonic looking pillar with a circus tent on top can just appear out of nowhere
and they’ll just go about their business…yeah this isn’t going to be as deep or
thoughtful as past seasons is it?
There’s a lack of urgency in the opening episodes.
Even Usagi and the Senshi get distracted
pretty easily when they should be looking into Pegasus and these new baddies
trying to invade peoples dreams.
Even
Chibiusa is back to keeping secrets from everyone because a mythical Pegasus
told her not to say anything.
And yet he
just keeps popping up to give her and Usagi new power ups and somehow she can
still keep quiet that she’s been chatting with this guy?
Look, I’m in for the long haul on Sailor Moon
and I will see the original series to its end before maybe prepping for Sailor
Moon Crystal next year (er Spoiler Alert?).
But there’s just a sense of laziness about this Season Premiere and a
feeling that lessons from past seasons aren’t carrying over.
It’s borderline irritating and it's only the
beginning of the Season…oh God the rumors are true about how bad this one is,
aren’t they?
The Dead Moon Circus has something going for it with it’s
internal aesthetic.
Everytime we visit
their base of operations, we get several seconds of terrifying masks and
monstrous faces pouring out of the darkness conversing and cackling.
It’s arguably the scariest a villainous HQ
has been since Queen Beryl’s dimension all the way back in Season One.
But that promising terror fades quickly when
we meet the Villains of the Season.
We
don’t get much out of head honcho Zirconia but we do get to spend quite a bit
of time with her underlings: the Amazon Trio-Tiger’s Eye, Fish’s Eye and Hawk’s
Eye.
All three are elaborately dressed
performers meant to be eye catching and flamboyant, fitting a Circus
motif.
Their level of threat though can
vary.
Sure Hawk’s Eye is able to stop
Sailor Moon’s finishing move from Sailor Moon S without breaking a sweat…but
then you remember he pretended to be a young man looking for his lost mother
before meeting Usagi’s mother and quickly changing gears to hit on her…record
scratch?
Again it’s maybe too early to
tell with these guys but besides their character designs, there isn’t anything
eye catching or instantly memorable about them.
I doubt they’ll come close to matching the high point of Evil
Underlings, the Spectre Sisters from Sailor Moon R, who still remain the most
developed of any evil faction in the franchise so far.
At least the Monsters of the Week, Lemures,
are kind of creepy to look at.
The Sailor Senshi aren’t fairing much better in this
premiere either, well unless it’s Usagi or Chibiusa.
Rei, Ami, Mako and Minako are mostly left out
of the action and are so there just to be there that they just appear out of
nowhere in the second episode, no epic fanfare or anything.
Considering the Season’s opening moments see
Chibiusa meeting Pegasus, this is clearly set to be her season.
Hopefully she shines through the ridiculousness
of the plot and her retreading of tropes that got her and the Senshi into
trouble way back in Sailor Moon R.
Even
some of Usagi and Chibiusa’s bickering feels like we’re back in Sailor Moon R’s
early days, like they haven’t grown at all.
Yes, they can fight cause it can be entertaining.
But Usagi running away from home because
Chibiusa ate her pie, yeah that’s a big step backwards if you ask me.
On the slight upside, Usagi and Chibiusa both
get Super upgrades thanks to Pegasus, including a dual transformation sequence
that is probably the best part of the Premiere.
Usagi also gets a sweet looking new wand and Chibiusa gets a bell that I
swear is just to summon Pegasus so he can power up Usagi’s new finishing
move.
In the end though, these are
little victories in an otherwise lackluster Season Premiere that already isn’t
living up to the high bar set by Sailor Moon S.
Odds and Ends time.
Brining back Motoki felt so random but it isn’t as random as bringing
back his sister or his girlfriend for back to back episodes.
Honestly, it had been so long since we’d seen
Motoki’s sister that I forgot she even existed.
And his girlfriend hasn’t been seen since Season One.
I didn’t recognize his sister until someone
pointed it out in episode.
Point is: if
you’re gonna bring back characters we haven’t seen in 2-3 Seasons, maybe make
more of an effort to bring viewers up to speed on who they are?
I’m not even watching these seasons back to
back, I am taking time to watch and review other things.
Personally, it would be better to see Naru
and Umino again.
I hate how they’ve both
been exiled from the show steadily, especially Naru, who was at one point
Usagi’s best friend who I still feel deserves to know Usagi’s secrets more than
anyone.
To my surprise, Mamoru had just
as small a presence in the Premiere as most of the Senshi.
I think that’s because his usual Deus Ex
Machina role is being shifted to Pegasus, who has a habit of coming to
Chibiusa’s aid the moment she thinks his name.
To be fair, the Pegasus design is very beautiful and his first meeting
with Chibiusa has shades of a similar scene from Ridley Scott’s 1985 fantasy
film, Legend, save for the doom said encounter brings to the world.
The last time I had this much to complain about with a
Sailor Moon Season Premiere, it was the beginning of Sailor Moon R with the
pointless Makai Tree filler arc.
It
makes me wonder how much of what comes next is cannon to the Manga before we
get to Sailor Stars.
Either way, Sailor
Moon SuperS isn’t off to a good start.
The Villains are nowhere near the menace of the Death Busters or Black
Moon Clan, the Inner Senshi are on standby support mode and the total
abandonment of logic surrounding the Dead Moon Circus’ arrival is something I
cant ignore.
Maybe things will get
better?
Or am I doomed to consider this
the Gundam Seed Destiny of Sailor Moon aka 30 some odd episodes of my life I’m
not getting back?
Eh, could be a Gundam
ZZ case and the halfway point will see an uptick in quality.
Buckle up folks, this could be a rough
one.
See you Monday for more Sailor Moon
SuperS right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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