While the Amazon Trio have been defeated, a quartet of
new performers from the Dead Moon Circus have come to take their place. They are the Amazonness Quartet: Cere Cere,
the Flower Master; Palla Palla, the Ball Balancer; Jun Jun, the Acrobat &
Ves Ves- the Beast Tamer. Alone they are
dangerous and unpredictable. Together,
they are some of the most powerful foes the Sailor Senshi have ever faced. To combat this ferocious new threat, the
girls will have to tap into their new Super Abilities and embrace new dreams
and the battle against the Dead Moon Circus hurdles into its final act.
So it’s hard to say whether or not todays set of Sailor
Moon SuperS episodes has been an improvement or not.
The bar has been set insanely low for a
season of Sailor Moon, so much so that I cant see anyway SuperS can be redeemed
in its last 16 or so episodes.
But
dammit, it’s gonna try and while the overall silliness of SuperS isn’t going
away anytime soon, this set does benefit from the breath of fresh air that is
the Amazoness Quartet and remembering that Rei, Ami, Makoto and Minako still
exist in this series as more than just background dressing while Usagi and
Chibiusa hog all the story.
Don’t get me
wrong, nothing in this set is as good as anything in Season One, R or S, but
it’s better, slightly but still better.
The Amazoness Quartet clearly should have been put in
play from the get go of SuperS or at least introduced much sooner than
now.
Personality wise, I’ll admit, they
tend to blend together.
They’re all
vain, playful and hyper arrogant.
Only
Pala Pala stands out because of her more childlike nature (and penchant for
speaking in the third person).
But these
girls are all equally dangerous, crazy and they each have their own motif that
makes them stand out, as opposed to the Amazon Trio who all looked alike and
had the same MO every episode (with only Fish Eyes cross dressing making him
the stand out of the bunch).
I like how
each one put their special skills to use in their plots to locate the Golden
Dream Mirror where Pegasus is hiding.
Pala Pala once against stood out in this regard, turning her Dentist
Office Doll House into an actual location with her dolls as subordinates.
Cere Cere deserves props too for going full
on Poison Ivy with her killer plants…and even using a sleeping flower to knock
out her fellow Amazoness so she could get a Dream Mirror herself.
These girls really are reminding me of my
favorite bad girls, the Spectre Sisters from Sailor Moon R.
If there’s one thing Sailor Moon SuperS has
gotten right this season, it’s them.
But
equal to its detriment, they’ve only been put into play now after 21 episodes
of Amazon Trio pointless nonsense.
This set also works to give the rest of the Inner Senshi
decent stories.
Most of SuperS has been
centered on Chibiusa and Pegasus, the latter of whom is so cryptic its
reminding me of how equally secretive Chibiusa was when she first arrived…and
that’s not a good thing.
We’re 27
episodes in and we still don’t know anything about Pegasus’ story or why he is
in hiding.
Anyway, not here to rant
about that (yet), back to the others.
Ami, Rei, Mako and Minako all got good stand alone stories that gave
them all new dreams and new upgrades (though Mako and Minako already showed off
new powers earlier in the season before their super upgrades).
Of the bunch, my favorite episode turned out
to be the one with the Pre School Principal.
He and Mako seemed like a good fit for each other and Mako seems
genuinely fit to be a teacher.
On the
opposite end, Minako is still desperate for an actual character arc or stand
out trait besides being boy crazy that she basically lives out her own
Kindergarten Cop nightmare by being terrible with kids and nearly destroying a
Pre School Bazar trying to get back at them…that was pretty funny.
It’s also good to see the girls branch out
and explore new possible future life paths like Ami being into Song Writing as
well as wanting to be a Doctor and the aforementioned Mako wanting to be a
teacher as well as a gardener.
Everyone’s new powers are pretty bad ass too, especially my girl Rei’s
new bow and arrow like Mars Flame Sniper.
However, this is still Sailor Moon SuperS, where no one
wants to take the menace of the Dead Moon Circus seriously and I cant wait for
the eventual tonal whiplash that comes when the show eventually decides to
become serious.
The Dentist episode got
pretty grating because 75% of it was listening to Usagi and Chibiusa scream
their heads off because they had to get their cavities checked out.
But possibly what took the cake was Jun Jun
helping Chibiusa’s classmate Kyusuke overcome his fear of being unable to
vault…by trapping him in a cage with a freaking bear and having him run for his
life until he could jump to freedom.
I
don’t know whether to be amused by Jun Jun’s approach or disturbed that Sailor
Moon is taking inspiration from a skit you’d probably see Johnny Knoxville and
his buddies pull on Jackass.
Oh and how
is it that everyone gets new powers that can do serious damage and yet we still
have to have Usagi and Chibiusa finish off the Monster of the Week?
Sailor Moon, it’s been almost four complete
seasons, it’s ok to have someone else win for once.
It’s happened before and needs to happen
again.
Also I’m really tired of
Chibiusa’s useless Pegasus summon.
Not
only is it a waste of time and her talents (and looks just silly), but no one
has pieced together that Pegasus being called by her is a clear sign he’s
hiding in her dream.
Then again this is
Sailor Moon SuperS, where logic and character growth have been replaced by
stupidity and character assassinations.
There was stuff to enjoy about this set of episodes from
Sailor Moon SuperS with the entertaining new baddies and the new Inner Senshi
powers.
But there’s been zero movement
on the main story and the overall silly tone of the Season continues to hinder
it more than anything.
With only 11
episodes left, can Sailor Moon SuperS make this torturous viewing worth
it?
I doubt it but hey, Sailor Stars is
next and if this ends up being the rock bottom of Sailor Moon, things can only
go up, right?
The beginning of the end
of Sailor Moon SuperS (freaking finally) starts This Friday, right here at the
Gundam Anime Corner.
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