T5W#468-Top 5 Classic Sailor Moon Villains Done Dirty by Sailor Moon Crystal/Eternal

Sailor Moon Crystal barely scrapped by to a mid tier score thanks to the improvements of Season Three. That doesn’t mean it still redeemed for the mountain of mistakes and mishandlings of the legacy of Usagi Tsukino and her fellow Sailor Senshi.  There’ll be plenty of time for a more thorough breakdown once we get to Sailor Moon Cosmos in November (maybe even a Top 10 special?).  Today for the last of our Month long Sailor Moon Top 5 Wedndesday’s, I’m looking at one of the more frequent missteps of the new series: the Villains.  Now not every villain from the 90s Anime was perfect (looking at you An & Ail and the Amazon Trio) but most of them were immensely entertaining and a genuine threat to the Senshi.  Just how did the reboot manage to reduce them all to mere two dimensional letdowns?  Let’s find out as I count down the Top 5 Classic Sailor Moon Villains Done Dirty by Sailor Moon Crystal/Eternal.

Sailor Moon Eternal (Part 1 & 2)

On the day of a Solar Eclipse, a mysterious ship descends to Earth.  At the same time, Usagi, Chibiusa and Mamoru receive a vision of a mythical Pegasus calling for help.  One of Silver Millenium’s oldest enemies has returned, bringing terrible visions and curses upon not just the Sailor Senshi but also a mystical realm vital to Earth survival.  Armed with new powers, Sailor Moon and her fellow Senshi must reunite for a new battle with the fate of two worlds and the life forces of Usagi and Mamoru hanging in the balance.

After treading through the worse, the bad and the much better of three seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal, we arrive at the official continuation…which might as well be Crystal Season 4.  Yeah I don’t know why the Dead Moon Circus Arc was reformed into a two part double feature (I’ll probably question the same tactic when I get to Sailor Moon Cosmos later this year).  Whatever the reasons may be, Eternal has arguably the toughest task since the announcement of a Sailor Moon Reboot: Doing Sailor Moon SuperS better than it was in the 90s.  That’s a huge undertaking considering SuperS was the bottom of the franchise until Season One of Crystal came along.  Plus, we also have the spectacular Nehelenia Arc that kicked off Sailor Moon Sailor Stars to cover as well.  Can Sailor Moon Eternal achieve in a three hour run time what SuperS could not in 40 episodes (and had to have Sailor Stars spend 6 episodes cleaning up after)?
 

Sailor Moon Crystal Part 9 Episodes 35-39

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?
 

Sailor Moon Crystal Part 8 Episodes 31-34

The looming threat of the Death Busters seems like nothing compared to the brewing storm between two teams of Sailor Senshi.  Revealed as the Outer Senshi, Uranus and Neptune declare they are not Usagi’s allies and don’t hesitate to attack her and her friends.  Meanwhile Chibiusa forms a friendship with the kind but sickly Hotaru, whose Father might have a close connection to the Death Busters.  Everything comes to a head when a showdown between two teams of Sailor Senshi reveals the ultimate power of Sailor Moon…and Hotaru’s true destiny.

Its weird watching this penultimate chapter of Sailor Moon Crystal and actually enjoying it more than ragging on it.  The first two seasons were so horrible in their depictions of Usagi and the rest of the Senshi it was infuriating.  But Season Three’s strides to be better have worked in its favor and there’s a noticeable difference in basically every aspect of the show…well almost every aspect.  There are still drawbacks for cramming everything into a 13 episode run and the show is trying to compensate, albeit not with much success.  Still, this is the first time I think I’ve started a Crystal review and my blood isnt boiling.  Let’s see why that is.
 

T5W#467-Top 5 Outer Sailor Senshi With the Best Attacks

This past Monday we crossed into Season Three of Sailor Moon Crystal.  Since it’s tackling the Death Busters Arc, better known as Sailor Moon S, that means the Outer Senshi are back in play (most of them at the moment).  While the Inner Senshi are hardly bad at their jobs, the Outer Senshi are almost on a whole other level with the kind of bad ass chaos they can bring, sometimes just by showing up and looking stylish (looking at you two Uranus and Neptune).  And just how bad ass are these five Outer Guardians?  On todays Top 5 Wednesday I’ll be ranking the Outers based on the devastation (and versatility) of their attacks: the Top 5 Outer Sailor Senshi With the Best Attacks.  Quick note: since I’ve only just started Season Three of Sailor Moon Crystal (and don’t really like how they’ve handled any of the Senshi except for Chibiusa and Pluto so far), this list will be using observations from the original 90s series as my basis for these rankings.  Whether Crystal improves or lessens the Outer Senshi’s effectiveness, well that remains to be seen.