Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal – 03 Review
美少女戦士セーラームーンクリスタル
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Crystal

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Jadeite is chastised by Queen Beryl for his failures as Nephrite and Zoisite, two fellow “heavenly kings” arrive on scene. She briefly tells them of the Legendary Silver Crystal, then sends Jadeite on his next mission.  Meawhile, Ami and Usagi go to the local arcade after hearing tale of the shinigami bus that causes people to go missing. Usagi escorts Ami on the bus, where Ami shows her the beautiful girl that always rides the bus. Usagi gets off at the girl’s stop, going to the shrine where the girl is a miko (shrine maiden), where the girl, Rei, accidentally attacks them. It is here that Usagi discovers there are missing children and local women suspect Rei as she has spiritual powers.

The following day, Usagi and Luna decide to visit Rei again, where on the bus there, they run into Chiba, the boy Usagi keeps running into and crushing on. Usagi and Luna discover things aren’t going well for Rei, who does appreciate their visit. Usagi defends Rei to the local women before leaving. Rei has a vision of Usagi caught with a mysterious man (Jadeite), but when she goes out, Jadeite captures her on the bus. Usagi sees the bus pass with the unconscious Rei inside, so she grabs onto the passing bus as it passes through a wall. Luna, who couldn’t hang on, is saved by Tuxedo Mask as Luna contacts Ami to let her know.

A frantic Usagi makes contact with Ami and Luna. They tell her to transform to Sailor Moon, which allows them to get a fix on her. Ami transforms to Sailor Mercury to teleport to Sailor Moon’s location. The two engage in combat with Jadeite, who easily engages them. Meanwhile Rei wakes up and recognizes Sailor Moon as Usagi, encouraging her since she has her miko powers. Luna recognizes her as a Sailor Warrior and tosses her a pen-wand, giving her the incantation to allow her to transform into Sailor Mars. She handles Jadeite’s attack as Sailor Moon binds him, allowing Sailor Mars to dispatch him. The girls free the captured people before setting off together in their civilian attire, Rei heartened to have made two new friends.

Thoughts/Review:

I really do have to laugh at how the villains of this series go have a coffee break so that the Sailor Girls can do lengthy henshin sequences (’cause seeing the girls transform, then pose while spouting silliness is time that cannot be interrupted), followed by strategy sessions and on the job training time. It wouldn’t be a fair fight otherwise. ^_~

Seriously, this “make the villain dumber than rocks” so that equally dumb heroes (or in this case, heroines) can win has always made me wonder how series like this became popular. I know that storytelling back in the day was not as good as it is today, but still…^_^;;;

Regardless, we now have three sailor babes (an airheaded bimbo, a brainiac, and a mystical miko) to match up with the three bishounen kings (who don’t act like kings, but that’s another topic) on the villain’s side. I suppose the fourth “king” will be introduced when the fourth sailor babe is introduced. (I don’t remember how this was handled in the original manga, and I’m not bothering to look it up.)

Well, I say “three” kings, but if I recall correctly, Jadeite is actually killed in this episode. It was hard to tell because Jadeite doesn’t dissolve or the like in the episode, but simply vanishes in the flames. I realize that killing something made of clay, which first turns into something scary looking, is acceptable by Japanese TV standards, and killing a real, flesh-and-blood character is less acceptable, but still, make it more obvious that Jadeite bit the bullet and wasn’t simply banished or something.

I still don’t like the character designs in the reboot. The dated character designs of the original manga and first anime series are better than what’s been done here, which is a real shame. Would Barenaked Ladies sing, “Gotta get in tune with Sailor Moon, ’cause that cartoon has got the boom anime babes that make me think the wrong thing” based off of how the girls look today? Somehow, I don’t think so.

Otherwise, I really can’t think of anything else to say here. Just have to wait for episode 4 to come out.