Small Nerd Watches Sailor Moon Crystal!

[Small Nerd]

We begin with a repeat of Sailor Moon preparing to defeat Metallica permanently. One title sequence later, during which my current wi-fi setup conspires against me by making the video super choppy, Moon finds that even attacking the weak point fails to do any damage. At least until she prays to the...Moon? I'm honestly not sure. So then the spirits of the other Sailor Guardians lend their aid to the battle. Then the tower on the Moon that Luna and Artemis are in starts glowing and provides Sailor Moon more power. I think. The lack of dialogue makes it hard to tell what's going on. Then Luna has a flashback about the tower on the Moon giving a supplicants power and joins in prayer with Sailor Moon. And now the Moon itself is glowing. So Sailor Moon now delivers the final blow against Metallica, though it takes all of her power to do it and she transforms back into Usagi when she passes out.

Over on the Moon, all the buildings somehow fix themselves. And Tuxedo Boy finds that Usagi might be dead. No wait, she's fine. Or the spirits of Serenity and Endymion are communicating. Or both? And now Usagi and Tuxedo Boy are an official couple. And then he finds Usagi's friends by putting his hand on the ground and asking the Earth to find them. Maybe. Well, he does put his hand on the ground. Finds their corpses, rather. But Luna has a solution, if Usagi comes to the Moon, which she now needs the LSC for. So she and Tuxedo Boy go.

One eyecatch later, they're on the Moon. Luna offers Usagi the chance to be the new Moon Queen, but she declines. Even if she is Serenity, she's still Usagi too. She decides to go back to Earth and live with her loved ones. Evidently, Usagi just passed some kind of test, since a new brooch materializes in front of her. Luna says to put the LSC in the brooch and say a new transformation phrase: Moon Crystal Power, Make Up!

New transformation sequence this time! Well it's not that different, but Sailor Moon now has things in her hair. Or maybe she already had those, it's been so long I can't remember any more. The backgrounds are different at least.

In order to revive her comrades, Sailor Moon Deluxe performs a Moon Healing Escalation. Al the victims of Metallica are now just fine, and Usagi reunites with her friends. The sun rises, and Our Heroines go home. It's a new day for the whole world. We see them going about their normal lives. And for once, Usagi's awake in time to get to school at a reasonable hour. Not that she finished her homework, though. Some things don't change, I guess. Usagi makes her way to school and greets Naru. Everything's just fine.

Or not, as Rei gets some bad premonitions from the sacred fire at her shrine. But at least Usagi returns Tuxedo Boy's pocket watch (now functional again) and gets her handkerchief back. And then they kiss. But then a tiny girl falls out of a portal in the sky and lands right on them. And her name's Usagi too! Then she points a gun at our Usagi and demands the Legendary Silver Crystal! What's going on? Find out in Act Fifteen: Infiltration - Sailor Mars!

In light of my current terrible wi-fi, I'm probably not going to be posting new updates very much until that gets sorted. So today's Question For Everyone is: What do you think I can do to make this Let's Watch better? OR if that's not one you're interested in, What's the most interesting Sailor Moon AU you've seen? Until next time!

 

[veekie]

What do you think I can do to make this Let's Watch better?

Click to shrink...

Adding a few screencaps(not heavily!) should help give context I think

 

[Small Nerd]

I'm back! And my new wi-fi network is named "Crystal Tokyo" appropriately enough. So let's get this trainwreck a-rollin'.

We begin with a repeat of the end of last episode, where a small pink-haired girl calling herself Usagi has appeared straight outta nowhere and pointed a gun at our Usagi demanding the LSC. What the heck happened to that kid? Waving around guns at her age. Damn millenials...I say, being even younger than that. Right as the kid fires, Tuxedo Boy throws her aim off, revealing that the gun only shots flowers and confetti. Real Looney Tunes nonsense here. And it feels less like the kid's a child soldier! Always a bonus not having child soldiers around. Anyway, the kid takes everyone's confusion to run off, clutching a big round cat head thing.

One title sequence later, which by the way has changed up the last few bits to show what I assume are new villains along with the kid and what must be a new Sailor Guardian, we see a black planet with red veins, where a group of four are meeting. The new bad guys, presumably. One of them congratulates a...Safeer?...on getting a bead on the LSC. Iunno what Safeer's name has connections to, so I'll just go with that. Safeer thanks a Prince...Demand?...for the complement and seems to consider him a brother. Like a sworn brother or adopted or biological or they're monks or what? Anyway, Demand's advisor, one Wise Man (Wiseman?), pops up from the ether to suggest destroying the LSC once they've found it, since it's nothing but trouble. He has a point that the thing's a trouble magnet, but this pretty clearly paints Demand and company as the bad guys, especially because Demand agrees immediately. Something about his agreement makes me think there's a bit mind control involved maybe, since he hesitates just a tiny bit. Anyway, Demand's group toasts to changing the past, and one of his people who hasn't gotten a name yet recommends a group of four women who showed up in the title sequence to retrieve the LSC. They're the Four Specter Sisters (there's a James Bond joke to be made, but I don't have one), and they work for Crimson Rubeus, who I guess is the guy that just summoned them. One of the Specter Sisters is especially excited since she's got powers like Sailor Mars and wants to prove she's better. Four Specter Sisters plus four non-Usagi Sailor Guardians equals four mirror matches, wouldn't you say? I know how these things go. And away these knockoffs go!

Meanwhile, Usagi recovers her wits after the scare from the pink-haired kid. And apparently our Usagi calls the kid "Chibi Usagi." I'm pretty sure "chibi" is some kinda diminutive, so I'm just gonna call the kid Tiny. Usagi's pretty sure that Tiny's their new enemy, but Tuxedo Boy wants to wait and see. Ooh, instant drama! Well, give it time to build up, but still. And then they find Tiny rocking back and forth by herself on a swing. And that solitude clearly isn't by choice, if I'm reading Tiny's face right. Combine that with how the sun's setting now and the whole tableau is way more melancholy than I signed on for. For no reason I can discern, she says "Mommy," and then Tuxedo Boy approaches with an offer to take her home. Grabbing her hand induces a vision in him, and that must mean Tiny's ultimately all right. I hope so, I'm not generally a fan of little kid characters. But anyway, Tiny starts apologizing to Tuxedo Boy for something she doesn't specify, and I notice that she has earrings, which seems really weird for a kid as little as her. She can't be more than a super short seven. Tiny doesn't seem all that willing to specify what she's apologizing for, and Usagi bursts in due to Tiny turning Tuxedo Boy into a timeshare. I get wanting to spend time with your significant other, but yelling at a random kid to go away for the sake of that desire seems really mean. Ah well, Usagi's a teenager, she has plenty of time to learn how to accept her boyfriend not being available exactly when she want him around. Well anyway, the three of them go to Usagi's house, where Luna asks about the kid. Usagi explains about the whole falling out of the sky thing, and then Usagi's mom opens the front door to greet Our Heroes. Tiny rushes in first for some reason and declares that she's going to stay at the Tsukino house for a while to keep an eye on...someone. Cue smoke bomb from the cat head thing and Tiny twirling a parasol with a spiral on it. So's to hypnotize Usagi, her family, and Tuxedo Boy, naturally. Well, Luna gets Usagi and Tuxedo Boy out of the hypnosis before it can start, but the other Tsukinos aren't so lucky. And Tiny's now a permanent houseguest. With Usagi's room, even!

Inside Usagi's room, Tiny reveals that she can't actually undo her hypnosis. Or doesn't want to, I guess. She also has the LSC around her neck, as a run downstairs for dinner makes clear to Luna. Which is odd, because Usagi still has the LSC on her. As long as she's not Sailor Moon, it doesn't put out enough power to be detected, which probably foreshadows something but my brain's running low on the juice for that type of thinking so I have nothing. Luna decides it's probably best to keep a close eye on Tiny, so she gets to stay in the house. And Usagi has bunny slippers, because of course she does.

What I assume is the next day in the shopping district, Usagi and Tuxedo Boy discuss what they'll do about Tiny. TB decides to look through missing child reports for anyone matching Tiny's description, being a reasonable person and thus doomed to be ineffective now and forevermore. Usagi meets with her friends to kvetch and get teased. Mako finds the whole thing hilarious, Rei's guess is secret lovechild, Ami thinks Tiny's a long-lost sister, and Minako just likes the ice cream she's eating. Guess Minako's doing all right now that she's had a break from nonstop fighting. Good for her. And then Luna arrives bearing gifts. New transformation pens for everyone who's not Usagi (because Usagi's got that new brooch I guess) and new communicators (in the form of themed watches) for everyone. Toyetic! Luna explains that these new transformations pens lets the user get more power when transformed. The Sailor Guardians are back in business. Meanwhile, Tiny looks on before disappearing. Not that it matters, since some guy named Asanuma shows up. He apparently knows Mako somehow (same middle school, maybe?), and he's really big on Tuxedo Boy, so Mako makes sure to point out Tuxedo Boy's real life actual girlfriend to the dude. Apparently Tuxedo Boy is the top student and top athlete, as well as being nice to just about everybody, which explains this Asanuma dude's celebrity crush on him. Course he doesn't like Mako pointing out his crush and storms off. Well, that's fragile masculinity for ya. And that's Rei's cue to leave, since she needs to get ready for her school's fair. She's working as a fortuneteller, naturally. Everyone else agrees to come visit.

At Rei's school, the Supernatural Research Club welcomes her into their preparations for the fair. The members are pretty in awe of Rei in a pretty homoerotic way, and they mention that she's become a lot more sociable lately. I'm glad that the Sailor Guardians have social lives outside of each other, it makes me happy for them. Yes I know they're fictional, shut up. Anyway, Rei discovers that the club's been looking into UFO stuff lately, which she finds super dorky. Eh, she hasn't seen Tumblr...says the woman with the very active Tumblr blog. But it would seem that weird UFO-type stuff has been going on in Tokyo recently, including abductions! I'm just impressed that the aliens could find enough space to make crop circles in Tokyo. Other than Rei's powers and the UFO stuff, the club also plans to present on spontaneous human combustion, which I suppose might actually be possible if you were drunk and/or greasy enough. Then a random club functionary bursts in with terrible news. Another club is doing their own presentation on supernatural stuff! How awful! It's not like there's thousands and millions of other supernatural things a group might make a presentation on! Everything's dooooooooooooomed!

Later that night, Rei has a vision in her sleep of that woman who hates her guts standing in front of a glowy disc thing in a park annihilating some poor guy who was just around. I should probably also mention that the rival supernatural club is called "Supernatural Research Association Black Moon," because that dream woman and the other Specter Sisters all have black crescent-shaped marks on their foreheads. So the bad guys are presumably the Black Moon Kingdom or something. Anyway, one eyecatch later, Usagi and Tiny are eating breakfast. Usagi explains to her mom that she's going to Rei's school fair, and Tiny seems interested. Usagi won't hear it and snaps at her again. I get not trusting a stranger, but this whole pattern of behavior Usagi has with Tiny doesn't seem to be good for anyone. Course I'm not much better with kids, but at least I admit there's a problem. Meanwhile, Luna's at the table and has her front paws on top of it like she's people. She agrees to keep an eye on Tiny, only to get distracted by Usagi's mom giving her milk. Vanish!

Over at the school fair, we see Rei using her phenomenal cosmic power of seeing into the future...to tell her fellow students if their crushes are requited. I mean...Not that it matters, since a problem has just come up. The rival fortuneteller's telling everyone when they're gonna die! It's a disaster! We're all doooooooooomed! After seeing for herself, Rei runs off to alert the school's Mother Superior (cause this is a Catholic school; that TA in the name probably stands for Thomas Aquinas). She finds Tiny, who was just run over buy a nun.
...
That's one of the stranger sentences I've written in a while. Moving on.

The nun's clearly associated with the Black Moon Conglomerate or whatever, but Rei doesn't investigate, being distracted by Tiny running off. And then the smell of burning leads her to follow the nuns to a case of spontaneous human combustion. Fortunately, that's when Rei's friends show up. And Mako looks like she just stepped out of a 70s movie with that outfit. I'm in actual physical pain seeing that mess. But at least everyone transforms now. And now everyone puts "star" in their transformation phrases. "Planet Name Star Power Make Up!" Five transformation sequences later, the nuns reveal their true forms as Black Moon agents. They all go down in one hit. After getting rid of the cannon fodder, the Specter Sister shows up. Her name is...Karen with a French accent, I guess? It's like "kuh-rahn" or something. I dunno how you spell that. Anyway, Fancy French Karen demands the LSC, scaring Tiny and spurring Mars into action with a new attack, the Burning Mandala, which incinerates Fancy French Karen's goons. FFK responds with her own fireball and the obvious "fight fire with fire" quip. This sets Mars on fire, so Moon tries a boomerang, which also gets set on fire, but Tuxedo Boy appears to save her. Then Mercury puts out Mars's fire with her new attack, Shine Aqua Illusion. Thanks, Best Girl. No wait, it doesn't work. Sorry, Best Girl. So Tuxedo Boy offers encouragement as he usually does, but this time Queen Serenity's royal scepter appears out of nowhere. And so Fancy French Karen gets annihilated by Sailor Moon's new Moon Princess Halation. I don't know what a halation is, but it sounds cool. Then Crimson Rubeus (if that's his usual name, he sounds like a pro wrestler) appears to introduce himself, explain that Mars is stuck for good in that fire, and carries her off on Demand's orders. Bye, Mars!

The teaser features Usagi asking Tiny about what she's after and Tiny revealing that she hopes Sailor Moon can help her mom while we see someone who's presumably the next Specter Sister. All this and more in Act Sixteen: Abduction - Sailor Mercury. Don't miss it!

Question For Everyone: What do you think Our Heroines do in their free time that doesn't show up onscreen?

 

[BunBun299]

But have you read Codename: Sailor V?

I kid, I kid. But it is pretty funny.

Click to shrink...

Recently found it at a book store, and have started reading it.

I must say, I like Minako a lot more when she's being the mature veteran of the group, rather than being Usagi #2. Still, I suppose this series is her just getting started as a super heroine.

 

[Small Nerd]

Recently found it at a book store, and have started reading it.

I must say, I like Minako a lot more when she's being the mature veteran of the group, rather than being Usagi #2. Still, I suppose this series is her just getting started as a super heroine.

Click to shrink...

You do see her mature as it goes on, it's just kinda subtle until the end where it becomes obvious due to how Codename: Sailor V ends.

 

[BunBun299]

You do see her mature as it goes on, it's just kinda subtle until the end where it becomes obvious due to how Codename: Sailor V ends.

Click to shrink...

Figured as much. I'm this context, I understand her being that way. But later seasons of the original anime tended to forget her as the mature one of the group, and regressed her back to Usagi #2.

Thankfully, Crystal seems to be keeping much closer to the manga.

 

[Small Nerd]

This episode has Best Girl in the title, but I've got some foreboding about that "abduction" bit. Well, nothing for it. On with the show!

We begin with a repeat of Crimson Rubeus abducting Sailor Mars, and then Venus, Mars, and Mercury all see Tiny for the first time. Because Moon's demanding answers on this whole mess. Fortunately, Luna shows up to remind Moon that she's dealing with a small child and being overbearing won't help anything. Thanks, Luna, you're all right. Of course, now Usagi's letting herself feel the full weight of the guilt train inside her bedroom. Guess Luna may have overdone it a bit.

One title sequence later, we have Tuxedo Boy staring at Tokyo Tower in a broody fashion. He is this city, he is the night. Then he answers the door. Luna needs his help. Apparently Tiny ended up sleeping in a park. While it was raining. Usagi must have really done a number on her, psychologically speaking. So now she's using Tuxedo Boy's bed. He's all right too. Luna speculates that Tiny might have undergone trauma of some kind, and I don't know enough about trauma to guess how likely that is. Meanwhile, Tiny's having a dream/flashback about her parents telling her that if there's ever a disaster it'll all be up to her and also Sailor Moon's invincible. Then she wakes up to the sight of Tuxedo Boy's face. And his voice is a lot like Tiny's dad's voice. Must be a case of the VA doubling-up on roles. Or it's significant somehow. Either or. And seeing Tuxedo Boy makes Tiny break down in sobs, which I doubt is a good sign. So naturally, Tuxedo Boy breaks out his Tuxedo Mask plushie to try and cheer her up with a bit of playing pretend. Is having a plushie of your superhero identity narcissistic? Either way, it's funny. What an absolute dork. Luna introduces herself and asks if Tiny had a bad dream. Her response? Introduce her own talking doll, the cat head ball thing that hypnotized Usagi's family. It's called Luna-P, and it says "Small Lady." Weird thing to say, but it's apparently what Tiny's mom calls her. Weird nickname, but it's a little like calling your daughter "Princess," I guess. Also Tiny has a key on the same necklace as her LSC that she needs to get home. Which isn't the same as it being the key to her house, I notice, since Tuxedo Boy asks specifically if it's a house key. What does it unlock, then? And right before Tiny goes back to sleep, she asks if Sailor Moon is really strong. Tuxedo Boy, being the good boyfriend he is, says she's invincible. Tiny wonders if Sailor Moon could save her mom. What does Tiny's mom need help with? Hmm...

Meanwhile, Minako, Ami, and Mako are with Artemis in the Luna Zone, checking in with Luna about what she's learned. Well, Ami's been playing chess with the Lunacomputer. She does have one new insight for the team, though. The new enemy isn't coming, they've already arrived. Which isn't exactly news, so I suppose she means that the Black Moon Association or whatever had their invasion going on for a while even before Our Heroines noticed anything. Over at Usagi's place, she isn't happy about Tiny returning or staying the night at her boyfriend's place. He's more focused on trying to help Tiny out with getting Sailor Moon's assistance, but Usagi really has a problem with Tiny taking up so much of his and her family's time and attention. I suppose it makes a certain amount of sense, Usagi didn't exactly have much of an acclimation period between Tiny falling out of the sky and her occupying a big role in her life, and there's not much reason so far for Usagi to like Tiny anyway. Things are changing too much too fast. I get it, but I still don't like it.

Over at Prince Demand's place, which I assume is the Black Moon, Safeer's admiring a Malefic Black Crystal. Super powerful, apparently. And I think it must be the LSC's evil counterpart. Anyway, Safeer's been using the MBC to mass-produce droid soldiers. Star Wars reference or Takeuchi didn't feel like writing out android? Well, the Star Wars prequels hadn't been invented yet, but "droid" isn't exactly common outside of Star Wars or references to it, so I don't know. Safeer's also a little surprised at the aggression of abducting Sailor Mars, but Demand opens up his third eye at him and that's the end of it. Because Demand has a third eye. Well, at least things haven't gotten too body horror yet, this isn't Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Araki'd have Demand's third eye force its way out from under the skin of his forehead and spatter Safeer's face with the resulting goo. Shudder. Anyway, Crimson Rubeus strolls in and tells us about how he couldn't get anything out of Sailor Mars so he just locked her in a cell. Why he didn't execute her, I don't know. Wiseman apparently thinks she still has some use, but he doesn't say what that is. Demand agrees with Wiseman, who's looking more and more like the real power behind the throne, and that's that. Now the next Specter Sister, Bertha, wants a crack at the Sailor Guardians, Sailor Mercury in particular. Demand approves the operation, and off she goes.

As we see Ami walking around, Bertha talks about her in chess metaphor. Ugh, I hate when characters do that. It's never done well, and it always comes off super generic because writers don't seem to understand that chessmaster figures don't need to be literal chess masters so there's a metric buttload of these types. Just once, give me a genius or chessmaster character who's explicitly bad at chess. That would be a nice change. Anyway, Ami notices some athlete dudes complaining about how some fountains never have any water and wonders if the pipes are bad. So she communes with the water and discovers a broken main. A maintenance guy gets right on it, because Ami somehow convinced him to listen to a random middle schooler. Bertha shows up to taunt Ami on her bad dowsing technique (not using a rod or pendulum is bad, apparently) and shuffles off. Ami wonders what's up with Bertha while swimming. Then Naru and Usagi show up. Hi, Naru! It's been a while. This is apparently a health club's pool, and Ami's dad is a member. First time we've heard about Ami's dad, I wonder what's up with him. Also, Naru's using a kickboard, Usagi has those swimming goggles on, and Ami's still got her earrings on. Aren't you supposed to take earrings off while swimming? Course I don't swim much or wear earrings, so I wouldn't know. Anyway, Ami actually tells Naru and Usagi about her dad now. He's a Japanese-style painter who divorced Ami's mom a long while back and taught Ami how to swim and play chess. Ami's dad seems like a cool guy. Then a conveniently placed TV lets the three of them know that Bertha's taking part in a World Chess Championship being held in Japan. Huh, I thought the world chess scene didn't pay much attention to Japan. Maybe they're trying to drum up interest. And shouldn't it be the World Junior or Youth Chess Championship, since Ami's clearly going to be participating? Then again, that's never been held in Japan, so I have nothing. Back with the action, Bertha's ranked as the third-best pro chess player in the world and renowned as an expert dowser. So dowsing isn't generally regarded as superstition in Sailor Moon world? That's got some interesting implications. But anyway, Bertha claims to use her dowsing abilities to divine where she should move her pieces (and which pieces to move, I assume), and she wants to face Ami specifically. Called it!

One eyecatch later, we see Ami facing down Bertha (whose name is actually Berthier, judging by the sign in the background) over a chess board. She asks if dowsing could be used to find a missing person, and then Bertha reveals her knowledge of Ami being Sailor Mercury. While playing, Bertha offers a wager: the winner of the match gets the location of someone they want to find. For Ami, that's Sailor Mars. For Bertha, that's "the Rabbit." Who's apparently Tiny this time and not Usagi, judging by the image that pops up in Ami's head. And then Bertha breaks out the mind games. Ami's alone and always will be, her friends will leave her eventually and she knows it deep down, yadda yadda yadda. Also Bertha's dowsing pendulum is made from the MBC. That explains why it works, I guess, but I'd have accepted all the Specter Sisters having divinatory powers just because. And Ami has a flashback to her dad leaving. Yay for her friends cheering her on right then! So then Ami gives a speech about holding on to precious memories and all that and wins the game. Then the fighting starts. There's goons in the building and Bertha outside, going mano-a-mano with Sailor Mercury. Mercury determines that the goons are human-looking robots and busts out a Shine Snow Illusion. With her goons gone, Bertha pulls a bunch of water out of the ground. This gets used to trap Mercury, but then Venus and Moon show up to waste Bertha. Crimson Rubeus shows up again to taunt the Sailor Guardians and take Mercury off. Oh no!

The teaser depicts Our Heroines puzzling over the Black Moon Clan's motives (so that's what they're called). Apparently Tiny might be the key to all this. Find out in Act Seventeen: Secret - Sailor Jupiter. Don't miss it!

Question For Everyone: Which manga artist would you like to see do Sailor Moon in their style? I'd like to see Hirohiko Araki's take on the series, because I'm sure it would be Amazing and Bizarre in equal measure.

 

[Small Nerd]

Once again, we see Best Girl get captured. Now that I think about it, her voice has sounded different for the last few episodes. But maybe it's just me. One title sequence later, we're back in Usagi's room, where she's brooding. Nobody will ever understand the pain of being voiced by Stephanie Sheh, one of the most talented voice actors who ever lived. She is forever doomed to sound like a pretty young woman with a wide range of emotions. Or something to that effect. Tiny, of course, interrupts her brooding, and Usagi's melancholy to turns to anger. The Luna P tries to help Usagi, but being a talking cat head thing doesn't help here, and Tiny has to calm Usagi down with Tuxedo Plushie. Usagi's kinda mad about Tiny having that too, naturally. So Tiny says she thought Usagi was feeling sad and wanted to help, revealing that she does indeed have a heart and not whatever it is 7 year olds are assumed to have. Now Usagi feels like a tool again, no doubt.

Over at the arcade, the two of them meet Tuxedo Boy for some reason I'm not clear on yet. And Tiny doesn't seem to know what an arcade is. Fair enough, they've been dying since before I was born. And now we cut to Minako meeting up with Mako, who's got a bad cough. Cancer or tuberculosis? We'll see soon enough I imagine, this isn't a soap opera. But then Minako gets a beep from her pen, letting her know that Tiny's doing really well at the Sailor V game. Guess Tiny's a Sailor Guardian too. Sailor Tiny...Stiny? But I don't think she's the type to get her boss a danish. Ah, we'll burn that bridge when we get to it. Tiny manages to get the a score so high even Motoki is impressed. And it turns out Tiny's good at everything in the arcade and has a bunch of candy to show for it. Usagi goes off to win even more candy than Tiny, who proceeds to demonstrate her best glue impression by sticking to Tuxedo Boy as much as possible. He's deduced that the Luna P is some kind of cheating device on top of everything else it does. Motoki gives Usagi and Tiny each a Sailor V plushie for being good customers. Usagi I can see but not Tiny. Guess it's his way of encouraging repeat business on Tiny's part. But yeah, those Sailor V plushies are cute. I want one! Well, maybe a Jupiter plushie instead so she can fulfill her dream of being small and cute for once. Or am I confusing Mako with Sakaki again? Anyway, Tuxedo Boy proceeds to become Tiny's dad and convinces her to leave the arcade for the day so Our Heroines can have their meeting in the Luna Zone. Fortunately, Usgai's doing better now after prolonged exposure to Tiny. Or so Luna claims, but I'll trust her. She seems like she knows what she's doing. As for the matter at hand, Luna and Artemis haven't been able to find Mars or Mercury yet, which might come from their lack of fingers. Then again, Luna's clearly a computer-focused wizard, so I got nothing. Minako guesses that the Rabbit Bertha was on about is Tiny, and this is somehow a surprise to everyone else. Well, I suppose none of them are super knowledgeable about English names for animals, unlike Ami who taught herself English so well she could pass for a valley girl if she wanted. Once again, Usagi begins to brood.

At the Tsukino house, Usagi's mom and dad are having fun talking to each other the way couples do. Or so I imagine, having never actually been part of a couple. Tiny's watching, and she remembers her home, if I haven't guessed wrong. There's Usagi and Tuxedo Boy lookalikes in front of a big crowd. So is Tiny from the Moon Kingdom? That would be neat, coming so far into the future. She decides to head out of the house. This takes her into a park while it's raining, and she remembers someone telling her a spell to make her feel better when she's down. This someone is "Pluto" to judge from what Tiny says. Well, that explains the unfamiliar Sailor Guardian in the title sequence for this story arc. Sailor Pluto, huh. That's how you know this series is actually really old, Pluto's not a planet anymore. Anyway, Tiny hits the Luna P, making it become an umbrella that releases pigeons on opening up. Tuxedo Boy, having just arrived on the scene, notices Tiny's presence. As he approaches, she remembers a big explosion that Tuxedo Boy also sees as soon as he puts his hand on her shoulder. That's a cool power, if also one that probably sets you up to see a lot of awful things. Tiny breaks down crying once again, and Tuxedo Boy does his best to help. You're all right, Mamoru.

Over with the Black Moon Clan & Associates LLC, Demand's looking over Sailors Mars and Mercury and ruminating. Apparently Sailor Guardians might be immortal and permanently youthful. I imagine they'd get tired of each other's company eventually. And what would you do after the heat death of the universe, wait for a new Big Bang? That'd get awfully boring. Anyway, the newest Specter Sister comes in. She's...Benz?...and she's after Sailor Jupiter. Also Demand has a picture of Usagi and gets all creepy toward it about having "everything he desires" or some such. Creepy. One eyecatch later, Tuxedo Boy is meeting with Usagi and Luna to explain that he tried and failed to fix the now-broken Luna P. Usagi's not happy about Tiny taking up so much of her boyfriend's attention as usual. Everyone's time and attention, really. Usagi eventually guesses that Tiny might have come from the same place as the Black Moon Clan after Tuxedo Boy reveals his suspicions that Tiny's an alien, and Luna praises Usagi, which Asanuma overhears. The whole conversation freaks the guy out, and I gotta feel a little sorry for him since he's never gonna get any context for the bits and pieces he's hearing. After Luna bonks her doppelganger and releases a pink cloud, Asanuma leaves and runs into Mako, who apparently gets a static charge when she's sick, because Asanuma gets zapped when he feels Mako's forehead for a fever. Personal space, man. But he still ends up going with Mako to her place, which is fulla plants. And it's got a picture of her parents in it. And Mako's parents died in a plane crash a long while back. I don't know how to respond to learning that. Anyway, Mako offers Asanuma some tea and settles in to watch the news. There's unseasonal rain and mystery crop circles afoot. Asanuma chooses this time to put the pieces together and asks Mako if she and her friends are from another planet. I mean, he's not wrong, from a certain point of view. The Sailor Guardians are the reincarnations of people from other planets. Mako decides to give him the truth if pretty vague about her and her friends being the Sailor Guardians. Also Mako has a stuffed dog, and her coughing gets worse. Asanuma tries to do the usual anime "I'll protect you" spiel, and Mako does give him a kiss on the forehead, but then Asanuma leaves Mako's place. He has agreed to keep Mako's secret, and I have no idea whether he'll keep that promise. Now there's a typhoon warning for Tokyo, Mako's sicker than ever, and there's a UFO.

Usagi gets a heads-up from Minako that Mako's incommunicado and something's probably wrong, so they head over to Mako's place. Meanwhile, Benz gets out of the UFO and monologues about she's responsible for the weather and Mako's cold. All part of the plan to subjugate Earth, of course. Somehow this provides opportunities for Benz's goons to replace the sick. So now there's attacking Mako right as her buddies are entering her apartment building. Mako gets an opening and transforms. I don't think this sequence is different from her old one. Meanwhile, Usagi and Minako transform too. Moon and Venus show right in time to watch Jupiter throw her double out a window, which is badass. So then she goes to confront Benz. It..doesn't go well. But the battle between lightning attacks looks cool. Illness catches up with Jupes in the end, though Moon takes Benz out. Crimson Rubeus shows up to gloat again and carries his newest captive off. Bye, Jupiter!

The teaser depicts Minako and Usagi confronting Tiny about what the deal is with everything while Moon and Venus prepare to fight someone. All this and more in Act Eighteen: Invasion - Sailor Venus. Don't miss it!

Question For Everyone: What do you think of Tiny?

 

[BunBun299]

Question For Everyone: What do you think of Tiny?

Click to shrink...

At times, she has her good moments in the story. Though she's still the kid character in the story. So most of the time, she's annoying. It was at it's worst in Super S, when Sailor Moon couldn't even use her special attack of the season without her help.

So, I like her better than most kid characters out there, but that's not saying much.

 

[Small Nerd]

Once again, a recap of Jupiter disappearing. Then Tuxedo Boy and Luna arrive on the scene while Artemis stays at the Lunacomputer in bafflement. Then Tuxedo Boy notices a crystal used by the Black Moon Crew, which Artemis remotely scoops up for analysis. And Venus just feels guilty about not preventing any of the abductions.

One title sequence later, Artemis informs us that the Black Moon's been using wormholes to get around and he doesn't know what's on the other side of them. At this point Minako's tired of not knowing what's going on with everything, so she decides to put the screws on Tiny. Probably metaphorically, but you can never be sure with Minako. After all, she has Artemis wake her up by tearing off her fingers and sewing them back on without anesthetic to keep her from getting soft. Anyway, Our Heroes go back to Usagi's house, where Tiny's having a classmate over. The classmate's name is Momo, and her family owns a Chinese restaurant. Considering how Momo's dressed like Shampoo from Ranma 1/2, I have some guesses about that restaurant's name and owners. Then Tiny notices the space rock that hasn't been analyzed yet and freaks out. Ominous.

Over at Demand and Associates, Safeer's pushing to just kill the captive Sailor Guardians. Also, the green-haired woman from the title sequence is there. Just thought I'd mention that in case she actually does something now. Apparently her name is Esmerald, and she likes insulting her colleagues. This after Crimson Rubeus defends his 100% casualty rate by saying that casualties were inevitable. She has a moment of snark and then lets Crimson Rubeus get back to expositing. Apparently the Black Moon Clique gets their supply of Malefic Black Crystals from the planet Nemesis, which I must assume is also where their base is. Safeer cuts in with some doubts that fighting this war is still necessary, but Demand just has Wiseman harangue everyone with assurances that the LSC really is that important to recover and Tiny's got it. Also Demand's a bit fixated on some "Queen" type and leaves. Too much info at once, my head's spinning. Crimson Rubeus goes back to providing exposition. Wiseman literally appeared out of nowhere and immediately became Demand's advisor. Very suspicious, even to the guy expositing. Esmerald points out that Wiseman's why they can use the MBC at all, so it's not ridiculous for Demand to do what Wiseman wants. Then we see the last Specter Sister communing with the spirits of the others. Her name's Calaveras, and Crimson Rubeus has her wrapped around his finger. She's still going into battle, even her boss says it's a matter of time before Earth's done.

Meanwhile, Tiny's interrogation is going poorly. She isn't in a fit state for anything but crying and swearing that what happened to her mom wasn't her fault. And so Usagi just demands Tiny prove she's not an enemy before storming off to brood about her missing friends. Cut to Usagi in school, where Naru shows up again to try and help her buddy out. And then Umino makes a comeback to show off a DVD with a picture of Calaveras on it. A show about psychic channeling, presumably from the History Channel. Usagi has to be told what channeling is. The show depicts Calaveras channeling Crimson Rubeus and telling Earth to just capitulate. Usagi leaves the viewing party, and Naru has a voiceover about how she's sure Usagi's got a secret double life that Naru can't be a part of but she wants to help Usagi however she can regardless. Naru's a good friend. Ah geez, I must've got something in my eye. Over in the Luna Zone, Artemis and Minako are watching Calaveras's how too, and apparently she's going to be putting on a pubic seance the next weekend. Minako decides it's fighting time.

One eyecatch later, we see the president of Rei's school's occult club and Asanuma thinking about how there is indeed a secret war going on...which makes things sound a bit more military sci-fi than they really are. Could be cool, though, something like Animorphs, maybe. Also, Tuxedo Boy's communing with the ghosts of the Mineral Boys. Time apparently goes weird around the funny black stone, so the Black Moon Zaibatsu might be time travelers. And then Tuxedo Boy wonders how useful he is when all he does is have visions, but the Mineral Boys encourage him before leaving. While in Usagi's room, Tiny steals her brooch.

At Calaveras's seance, the Age of Aquarius is apparently dawning, and Minako meets up with Tuxedo Boy while hearing about Tiny's theft, conveniently leaving Minako mostly on her own. Calaveras has now brainwashed her audience quite thoroughly. Time for Sailor Venus to appear. And Venus's new attack, Rolling Heart Vibration, doesn't work on ghosts. So now Venus is captured. Meanwhile, Usagi's cornered Tiny right as Crimson Rubeus shows up to apprehend the both of them. So then Tuxedo Boy socks him in the face. This is too great an insult to bear, so CR powers up. Which means Tuxedo Boy has to power up to. Now he has his own energy blast, Tuxedola Smoking Bomber. Well, now that CR's left, Tiny gives Usagi her brooch back, so Sailor Moon arrives on the scene. Then Venus is rescued. One Moon Princess Halation later, Calaveras is gone. And now that things are safe, Tiny reveals what she wanted with the LSC. She's from the Earth of the 30th century, and she wanted to use the LSC of her time with the one of Our Heroines' time together to fight the threat facing her Earth. What a twist!

The teaser depicts the new Sailor Guardian, Sailor Pluto. She warns any potential trespassers away from her domain, the Door of Space and Time. All this and more in Act Nineteen: Time Warp - Sailor Pluto. Don't miss it!

Question For Everyone: Which do you prefer, the Specter Sisters or the Mineral Boys and why?

 

[Small Nerd]

Again, Tiny's from the future and Our Heroines are her only hope. Specifically, she's from a city named Crystal Tokyo, where there was an explosion and now her mom won't wake up. Presumably she's still alive, because Takeuchi isn't exactly shy about having characters die. Artemis asks if the Black Moon Pirates are also from the future, which she doesn't know. Since Our Heroes have basically run out of options, Venus proposes that they all go Back...To The Future. Tiny really doesn't like the idea, since she's now more a talking bundle of nerves than anything, but Tuxedo Boy does his best to calm her down by saying they won't make Tiny do anything. So now it's time for everyone to get some rest, right? Well, Tiny wants to sleep over at Tuxedo Boy's place...and this happens. Apparently the anime's in silly mode now.

One title sequence later, we see Tiny in her pajamas. By which I mean one of Tuxedo Boy's shirts (which is bigger than she is) over a nightgown. Cause it's time for bed now, and it certainly is time for bed while I'm typing this up. But who cares about that, Sailor Moon is happening as we speak. Tuxedo Boy asks what Tiny's mom is like (she looks like a silhouette of Usagi) and gives a meditation on the nature of courage. Then Usagi, who's been watching the whole time, confronts Tuxedo Boy about spending so much time with Tiny and reveals that Tiny has a crush on him. Cue Tuxedo Boy's impression of Usagi's medium-bending freakout from earlier, which I was unfortunately unable to find a screenshot of. And apparently Usagi thinks the fact that Tiny's clearly a little kid "doesn't matter in love," which I'm not sure what to make of, so I'm gonna give Usagi the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to wonky translation. I'd rather not dig into the implications of that particular turn of phrase. Anyway, Usagi says that she's been acting silly recently and apologizes before asking to spend the night over. Then the two lovebirds reaffirm their commitment to each other, and something happens. I'm not sure what's going on in this sequence, but let's assume a sloppy makeout session.

Meanwhile, Artemis tells Luna that he's figured out how to reach the Black Moon Guild, but she's sleeping. Her dreams show us Queen Serenity (I assume) and Luna looking at an ominous door in a restricted part of the Moon Castle. The door itself's also forbidden, as it leads to sacred ground presided over by a single guard. Not that Luna's supposd to know any of that, of course. Luna wakes up and puzzles over what she just saw.

The next morning, Tiny ponders Tuxedo Boy's discourse on courage and makes a decision. She's gonna go Back...To The Future, and Usagi and Tuxedo Boy are coming with. So's Sailor Venus, but she doesn't count for some reason. After a flashback to Tiny being warned by the mystery Sailor Guardian from the title sequence that time travel is a Bad Idea and forbidden, she calls on Chronos to take everyone into the 30th century. Naturally, they all get separated en route to the future. The Black Moon Mob's aware of this, apparently because of Safeer's abilities since he's the one doing the exposition. Then Wiseman appears to urge the destruction of both LSCs and a Crystal Palace. Esmerald volunteers her minions Chiral and Achiral for the job. Amino acid's a new theme for bad guy names. These Amino Acid Boys speak in unison too. Creepy.

Elsewhere/elsewhen, all of Our Heroes besides Tiny have become unstuck in time. Luna tries to get a look around this time between times and immediately falls off a cliff. Tuxedo Boy catches her, and then they all notice the ominous door from Luna's dream. It turns out to be guarded by the mysterious Sailor Guardian from the title sequence, albeit covered in shadows. It's pretty obviously her, though, even before she makes her introductory speech in full view. She is the keeper of the Door of Space and Time, she is Sailor Pluto, guardian of the Underworld. Any intruders will be destroyed.

One eyecatch later, Pluto decides that talk is cheap and uses actechnique called Dead Scream on the intruders. Idunno what Dead Scream's supposed to mean, but it sounds cool. Luna puts the pieces together and realizes that Queen Serenity warned her away from the ominous door because Sailor Pluto was behind it. Heh, this sounds like the start of a Sailor-Pluto-as-Chuck-Norris joke. Good thing it's not 2007 anymore. Anyway, Sailor Moon tries to use the fact that she and Venus are Pluto's comrades to get a reprieve from dying, but Pluto doesn't allow any intruders. Except for Tiny, apparently. Be pretty heartless of her to kill a little kid, so I can understand why she made that exception. Speaking of Tiny, she bursts on the scene in time to plead on their behalf. Tiny's hug gets Pluto disarmed, but it doesn't save Tiny from getting scolded for the foolishness of her actions. Turns out she can't use either LSC, which makes the whole enterprise seem a little pointless. But Pluto's just glad her princess is safe. Princess, you say? Looks like it's time for Usagi to bend the medium again! It's fun seeing them use different styles of face for effect, but it's weird that it's only the one episode. Anyway, Usagi doesn't take the revelation gracefully and chases Tiny in circles around Pluto, who's Batman-like in her lack of response to the inanity going on around her. Soon enough, Our Heroes take their leave of Pluto, who can't leave her station, and step into the 30th century.

Crystal Tokyo is a wreck of a city with the Moon hanging just above it. Lots of rotting corpses everywhere, along with an ominous giant black crystal. This is the aftermath of the explosion that Tiny escaped. After watching the corpses rot. No time for the disturbing implications of that to sink in, we've got to see Tiny's mom! After getting trapped in a crystal arena by the Amino Acid Boys, of course. One of them uses a technique that turns Our Heroes into reflections in the crystal, and a Moon Princess Halation doesn't help. Apparently, they're all immobilized at an atomic level. I'm pretty sure they'd die real fast due to not being able to breathe, but this is anime. Esmerald shows up to taunt everyone before beginning the process of vaporizing them. Or something. But then Tuxedo Boy hears the advice of a man in a white tuxedo telling him to just order the crystal to let them go (because everyone was just trapped in crystal in a normal way apparently), which he does. This works, and Venus and Tuxedo Boy get to use their special techniques to win a fight for once. Our Heroes follow Tiny into the Crystal Palace, which is also where her mom is. Tiny's mom turns out to be lying on a stone slab with the Roman numerals for 1833 or 1600 and 133, depending on whether one mark is a C or an angle bracket. I wonder why that's there? But as it turns out, Tiny's mom is Neo-Queen Serenity. Before anyone can digest that shock, a gray cat appears. The cat's name is Diana, and right next to Diana is the man in white from before. He looks just like Tuxedo Boy. What's going on?

The teaser depicts the Tuxedo Boy lookalike explaining that he's King Endymion. Meanwhile, Tiny tries to hug him and finds that he's a ghost. Also he's her dad. All this and more on Act Twenty: Crystal Tokyo - King Endymion. Don't miss it!

Question For Everyone: What do you think Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion actually do for their job as royalty?

 

[BunBun299]

Question For Everyone: Which do you prefer, the Specter Sisters or the Mineral Boys and why?

Click to shrink...

Probably the mineral boys, as they're more memorable for me. Years later, I still remember their named, appearances and personalities. The sisters, I basically remember that they existed.

Question For Everyone: What do@ you think Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion actually do for their job as royalty?

Click to shrink...

Not much. I remember a story by Diana about both the king and queen getting 'sick' just before some formal function. Diana being a small kitten, not getting the point of her own story, that they were both making excuses to not do things, much to Luna's chagrin.

 

[Small Nerd]

Hey, I'm back! Sorry for the extended absence, I've been in a bit of a slump. Summer, y'know? Anyway, let's get started!

Right, Tiny's mom is Neo-Queen Serenity, and her dad's an older Tuxedo Boy going by King Endymion and also a ghost. One title sequence later, Tuxedo Man explains that his body's currently unconscious so Our Heroes are talking to an astral projection or something like that. And then he confirms being a future version of Tuxedo Boy, and Tiny reintroduces herself as the princess of Crystal Tokyo. So Neo-Queen Serenity is clearly Future Usagi. So does this mean Tiny's the Future Trunks of Sailor Moon? Anyway, it's pretty obvious from how Tuxedo Man compliments Tiny's introduction that she's been dealing with a lot of expectations to live up to the standard set by her parents for behavior and all that. Can't be fun, having to compare yourself to walking talking ideals all the time. And it's only now that Tuxedo Man explicitly says that Neo-Queen Serenity is Future Usagi and thus Tiny is Usagi's kid. Both she and the BF are pretty surprised by that, even though it was fairly obvious ever since Neo-Queen Serenity's name was first mentioned. But I suppose the situation isn't giving them time to think clearly, so I'll let it slide. Anyway, Tuxedo Man continues his exposition. For some reason, NQS isn't a fan of going outside, but one day she did and everything blew up, she's in a coma, Tiny became Sailor Future Trunks, et cetera. Also, the Future Sailor Guardians are incapacitated or dead. Knowing Takeuchi's bloodlust, I'm guessing dead. And now Diana the cat speaks for the first time, and she's the daughter of Luna and Artemis. I suppose when you're the only two talking cats around you develop a close relationship like that. Now Tuxedo Boy asks the big question: why is Tuxedo Man so young-looking if he's over 900 years old? Perks of being part of the royal family, you get to live for a thousand years and don't age after you become an adult. Also NQS took the throne at 22. Interesting. And this is all because of the LSC, which felt generous enough to let everyone on Earth live to be a thousand and be young the whole time. So naturally things have been pretty awesome on Earth up til the Fire Black Moon Nation attacked. And with some prompting from Sailor Venus, Tuxedo Man starts his exposition about them.

In an observatory-looking place, Tuxedo Man shows Our Heroes the planet Nemesis, which I think is where the Black Moon Crew hang out. It's a hidden planet in the Solar System, apparently, and some Earth criminal was exiled there centuries ago for some reason. The planet was quarantined, and more recently the Black Moon Posse set up shop there. They were apparently anarchists who refused to live peacefully in Crystal Tokyo society and apparently killed lots of people just because. As an actual anarchist, I'm a little put out by these jerks being called anarchists; we anarchists have serious principles, you know, we're not just rebelling for the sake of rebelling. But this isn't the place for picking that particular bone. And now that it's clear that the Black Moon Party want to change their past and take over Earth, Sailor Moon starts fading out like she's Marty McFly. See, this whole arc's an extended reference to Back to the Future! And Tuxedo Boy starts fading out too. Because TIME PARADOX. You know how it is. So while going back to the Time Door, Tuxedo Man explains that Sailor Pluto is a descendant of Chronos or something, and she's been doing her job for thousands of years, which is making sure people don't mess with time. The "Sailor" thing is just because she's got a special mission, I think. Once there, Tuxedo Man has Pluto give Moon a Time Key so she can get back to the future when she needs to. Also, Pluto's been around for basically ever so she's super wise and stuff, according to Tuxedo Man. She must be really lonely. And then Our Heroes leave the future for the present.

As you might expect, everyone lands in a heap. Venus starts apologizing furiously for landing on top of Moon, which I think is supposed to be funny but really isn't. It's not creepy or anything, just kinda neutral. Or maybe all the exposition's burned me out. Well, now Moon's starting a fight with Tuxedo Boy about how much attention he's giving to Tiny, accusing him of only caring about the kid. Everyone leaves upset, and one eyecatch later, it's the next morning and Tiny's visiting Pluto. She's apparently Tiny's only friend, and I have to conclude that this universe's time travel works on Bill and Ted rules. Anyway, Tiny goes and visits all the comatose/dead people she knows. She's very sad and at a loss for what to do. Meanwhile, Demand's staring at a picture of NQS before Esmerald comes in to ask for another go at Our Heroines. And now Tiny's abducted. Venus attacks Esmerald (since everyone just got there) and retrieves Tiny. And again Moon fails to Halation. Our Heroes are on the ropes, but then Tuxedo Man and Boy do a Tuxedola Smoking Bomber together to defeat Esmerald. And now Moon realizes her power doesn't work because she has the 1992 model LSC and it doesn't comply with 2900s standards. You'll remember that Tiny says each LSC only works in its own time period. Then Demand shows up personally with Wiseman.He opens up his third eye and paralyzes Sailor Moon, allowing her to be captured.

The teaser features Tuxedo Boy looking for Sailor Moon while Tiny feels guilty about her role in this. All this and more in Act 21: Complication - Nemesis. Don't miss it!

Question For Everyone: What do you think Sailor Pluto does to pass the time? I think she recites really long versions of 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.

 

[Small Nerd]

So Demand's got Sailor Moon in his clutches. That's not a good sign. One title sequence later, Usagi's in a big foggy place and sees Tuxedo Boy walking arm-in-arm with a grown-up Tiny. Would they call her Medium as an adult? So Usagi chases after them, fails to catch up, and awakes. She's got a headache, doesn't remember what happened, and is wearing a dress she doesn't recognize. I have a feeling about where this is going, and I don't like it. Usagi has no idea where she is, but she does have her brooch and there's a hologram of her or NQS. Now Demand shows up and introduces himself. Also this room is his private bedroom. I really don't like the implications I'm picking up here. Demand uses some sort of magic to make Usagi's body move into a chair. They're not letting up on the sexual assault undertones at all. Now there's a flashback to the Black Moon Band meeting Wiseman, and also apparently they're some kind of social Darwinists who think Crystal Earth is decadent or something. Demand says something about immortality being unnatural and blah blah rewrite history blah blah Usagi says he's crazy blah blah blah. Um so now Demand reveals that he's super fixated on making NQS submit to him by any means necessary after seeing her in person for the first time. Yeah I'm just gonna tune out for a little until the scary rape man goes away.

Okay, he's gone now, and Usagi's a prisoner on Nemesis. Speaking of, Tuxedo Man can't find the place with his observatory now. Venus suggests that LSC might help somehow, but she's at a loss for people to use it until Luna suggests Tiny. This seems like a bad idea, but I suppose there really aren't other options. Unfortunately, Tuxedo Man says Tiny doesn't actually have any power. She just stopped growing one day and she's 900 now. Maybe one day she'll get it, but not yet. Can't be fun living in that kind of situation. Also the first person to be put on Nemesis before the Black Moon Association was some bad dude named Phantom. Not sure why this came up now, but here it is. Meanwhile, Usagi's at the lowest she's ever been, which I'm not exactly surprised by considering what's been going with her. She deduces that her lack of power's coming from her self-doubt and works through her insecurities about Tuxedo Boy. Then she reconfirms her commitment to her friends and goes to look for them. Meanwhile, Rei, Ami, and Mako wake up at the same time in a cave.

One eyecatch later, the three of them realize that it's really weird they're not transformed and do so. It doesn't work. Then the energy gets drained out of them and they're down once more. Man, everything's on Usagi this arc. It's a shame, I could do with some variety. Over with Tiny, she's having some flashbacks to her life pre-massacre of Crystal Tokyo, and there's a lot of bullying. And impossible to meet expectations. And a sense that everything went wrong somehow. I think Tiny could be a decent metaphor for millenials. And right after Tiny took the LSC out of its case, the whole city exploded. No wonder she thinks it's her fault. And another flashback, this time to Tiny meeting Pluto. Pluto seems pretty nice in this flashback. I suppose they're probably each other's only friend. So non-flashback Tiny decides to visit her, only to find that she's busy for once, talking to Tuxedo Man and being happy. Maybe she likes the variety? Well, Tiny doesn't like that Pluto's happy without her. I'm gonna be charitable and assume that the problem isn't so much Tiny being possessive as much as her needing to feel important to someone and feeling like that can't happen if she's not Pluto's only friend. Which isn't exactly great either, but Tiny's like 6. She wanders off, leaving her time key behind, which really worries Pluto when she finds it. Tiny eventually runs into Wiseman, who persuades her to join him. Well, that's not good.

The teaser depicts Tuxedo Man and Boy looking for Tiny and Usagi. Pluto thinks something big's coming their way. All this and more on Act 22: Hidden Agenda - Nemesis. Don't miss it!

Question For Everyone: What do you think Tiny and Pluto do during their playdates?

 

[Small Nerd]

Sorry for the wait, I got distracted by Persona 5. Now let's go! Also Futaba is Best Girl.

Unfortunately, for reasons I don't feel like getting into, I've had to shift from the dub to the subtitled version. Again, Tiny gets captured by Wiseman, Pluto knows something's wrong, title sequence. At least this time, I can actually see what the lyrics mean. Nice. After that, we're in what I assume is the royal library. Tuxedo Man somehow knows that Pluto's in trouble and rushes off to see what's up. Tuxedo Boy follows and asks Venus to stay behind, which she does despite wanting to be involved with whatever's going on and griping about staying behind. Ya know, when your own characters complain about what you're doing, you might want to rethink how you're writing your story. But now Luna and Artemis have found Phantom's dossier. Oh, his name's Death Phantom, much scarier. Nothing really new in it except he has powers called Beast Hand and Evil Eye. I'm sure the dub made that sound better. Anyway, the Tuxedo Pair has made their way to Pluto, who explains that Tiny disappeared and somehow caused a storm in time. Tuxedo Boy runs off to look for her, even though he won't be able to return due to not having a time key. Good luck, Tuxedo Boy!

Meanwhile at stately Black Moon Manor, Usagi's looking for her comrades and conveniently stumbles on Safeer and Crimson Rubeus talking about where they are and their misgivings about Nemesis. Then she collapses and Demand carries her somewhere else. Usagi asks him on waking up how to get to the Chamber of Darkness where the other Sailor Guardians are, but he doesn't answer and she runs off again. At least Demand didn't do anything to her this time. Usagi runs into Safeer making droids with a "Malefic Black Crystal reactor" which apparently provides all the power on Nemesis and does something with nuclear reactions in the planet's core. Safeer admits that they don't really know much of anything about how the whole setup works, but they still use it. That sounds incredibly foolhardy. Safeer also mentions that attacking the Earth the way they did wasn't part of the plan and Demand is super impulsive. Safeer just wants to rewrite history, which requires killing Usagi right then and there. Of course, he also blames Usagi for Demand being...like that, which is absolutely ridiculous. Conveniently, NQS gives Usagi some help in the form of power. Sailor Moon returns!

One eyecatch later, Sailor Moon communes with the ground or something to find her comrades and wake them up. Also, the ground cracks. With some help from Moon, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter arrive on the scene. Since the Black Moon Hegemony can't exactly deal with four Sailor Guardians, Wiseman shows up to help. And he brought Evil Tiny with him! She's not exactly tiny at the moment, but that hairstyle is distinctive. So after the requisite monologuing from both sides, the battle begins. Not sure why Mercury thought throwing snow at Demand would do anything, but there you are. Yeah, Demand showed up at some point, I guess. Also Cimson Rubeus is there, I think. Don't know where Esmerald is. Is she still alive? As usual, the three useless Sailor Guardians don't accomplish anything, but we love them anyway. Then Demand reveals the power of his Evil Eye. It paralyzes Our Heroines, which is honestly kind of pedestrian at this point. Of course, putting the LSC's power so close to its polar opposite isn't doing the planet any favors, since it's starting to crack, and now Crimson Rubeus decides to run off while asking Wiseman what he's using the Black Moon Democratic Republic for. Evil Tiny just kills him. Then Moon somehow manages to atack Demand despite being paralyzed and breaks his Evil Eye's hold on Our Heroines. Then she uses her time key to get everyone out of there. Also, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter somehow know about NQS despite being on Nemesis while we learned about NQS on Crystal Earth. How do they know who NQS is? Meanwhile, Tuxedo Boy stumbles onto Evil Tiny, who caries him off, no doubt to brainwash him. Again. But at least the Sailor Guardians are reunited! Now they just have to deal with all the other problems...

The teaser depicts Evil Tiny introducing herself as Black Lady. Also the Luna P bounces around. All this and more in Act 23: Covert Maneuvers - Wiseman. Don't miss it!

Question For Everyone: What do you think the Sailor Guardians of Crystal Tokyo spend their time doing?

 

[Small Nerd]

Recap of the end of last episode, as usual. And all the Sailor Guardians are going after Tiny to keep an eye on Moon. Fair enough, who knows what might happen if she was left to her own devices. Even Pluto, it looks like. One title sequence later, they find a busted Luna P. Then Moon collapses because why not. Meanwhile, Demand and Safeer wake up in the Chamber of Darkness where Our Heroines had been imprisoned, having been brought there by Evil Tiny, who now explains that Nemesis is kind of blowing up or something. She brings the two to Wiseman's territory, some sort of liminal space made by the MBC. It's got a castle and everything. After Demand...well, demands to know what Wiseman's game is, he and Safeer get brainwashed into compliance. Evil Tiny is then given the 30th century LSC and charged with retrieving NQS, Sailor Moon, and the 21st century LSC so he can make use of its power. Then we get to see what happened to Tuxedo Boy: he's Evil Tiny's new boytoy. Excuse me while I scream.

One eyecatch later, Usagi wakes up in her bedroom, surrounded by her friends and mom. Now how did they get to the 21st century? I suppose it's not terribly important. Usagi reaffirms her commitment to rescuing Tuxedo Boy and Tiny. Tuxedo Man, meanwhile, is being a bit mopey about not being helpful. Funny, considering how he's been so very rarely helpful. Diana tries to reassure him, but I'm not sure how successful she is. And back with Our Heroines, after Usagi's friends leave her house, she comes on a time key and time blinks for a moment all across Tokyo. There's a Jojo's Bizarre Adventure joke to be made, but I'm not gonna. Our Heroines regroup and decide that it must be Pluto asking for help. Time to go back to the future!

Pluto confirms that something bad has indeed happened. Crystal Tokyo has been attacked again. Evil Tiny advances upon NQS, ignoring Tuxedo Man's protests. This is when Sailor Moon bursts in. Evil Tiny goes for the LSC on Moon's neck, only to get teleported out of the palace. How odd. The Sailor Guardians gather at her position, and then Wiseman shows up...

The teaser depicts Sailor Moon trying to reason with Evil Tiny. Meanwhile, the Sailor Guardians are getting wrecked. All this and more in Act 24: Attack - Black Lady. Don't miss it!

Question For Everyone: What do you think Wiseman's goal is?

 

[Small Nerd]

We begin with the final moments of the last episode. It's a great surprise that Tiny's tall now, and she wrecks the Luna P! Horrors! One title sequence later, Demand and Safeer show up and immobilize everyone but Sailor Moon in short order. And now Evil Tiny shows just how evil she is by demonstrating how she's destroying Earth rather literally. Also Tuxedoy Boy shows up to prove how brainwashed he is by clocking Moon with her baton rod thing. Moon tries the old "I know you're in there" routine on Evil Tiny, but it just makes her mad. Then Moon gets smacked around some more. Evil Tiny puts more pieces of the MBC into Earth to speed up its destruction. Wiseman gloats and demands Moon's surrender since he controls everyone she cares about. She doesn't surrender, so Wiseman decides to blow up Earth. Now Demand reveals that he was never brainwashed and strikes back. Also he's pretty mad about Crimson Rubeus and Esmerald dying. Safeer's still brainwashed, though, so Demand disintegrates him before attacking Wiseman. Except that's not his true form, his real body is the planet Nemesis.

One eyecatch later, Pluto's deciding whether to get involved with things. There's a flashback to her learning the three things she can't do: travel through time, leave her post, and something that's not stated but we know she'll end up doing since she already broke the first two rules. Also Original Queen Serenity is like ten feet tall or Pluto is maybe two feet tall. Over on Earth, Wiseman/Nemesis explains that he is indeed a sentient planet. All of Our Heroines but Sailor Moon now collapse just because. But Moon seems to be using the LSC to keep them going and also preventing Nemesis from smushing the planet? I don't know, this whole sequence is confusing, let's see what Pluto's up to. Ah, she's hearing about how bad everything's getting from Diana. Naturally, she wants to help but is stuck. Diana offers to look after things while Pluto goes to help. Pluto leaves her post. Meanwhile, Demand comes to the conclusion that he couldn't have succeeded at his plans anyway. Right as Moon starts losing her grip on Nemesis. So she offers the LSC to Evil Tiny as I guess a peace offering. So brainwashed Tuxedo Boy yoinks it off her, and she's out. Then Demand snatches the two LSCs from Evil Tiny. Now Pluto's shown up! Demand's gonna make the two LSCs touch and cause an explosion big enough to take everyone with him! What's gonna happen?

The teaser depicts Evil Tiny experiencing inner conflict while showing scenes in the life of Tiny. All this and more in Act 25: Showdown - Death Phantom. Don't miss it!

Question For Everyone: How would you get the other Sailor Guardians involved in this arc?

 

[BunBun299]

Question For Everyone: What do you think the Sailor Guardians of Crystal Tokyo spend their time doing?

Click to shrink...

A lot of lesbian sex? Because as far as I know, Usagi is the only one with a husband 1000 years in the future. And being a royal guard in a future utopia can't be a particularly demanding job. So they must do something to fill the millennium.

Question For Everyone: What do you think Wiseman's goal is?

Click to shrink...

To prove he has supreme power by taking over and/or destroying the world! Really, I don't know beyond that.

Question For Everyone: How would you get the other Sailor Guardians involved in this arc?

Click to shrink...

More serious answer to this one. It would requiring taking a bit of a step back from how in my observation, Japanese culture tends to view these sorts of things, and approaching it from more of a Western POV. Moon is the leader, the princess, the most powerful. Therefore, she must vanquish the ultimate evil, and the others are ultimately helpless to aid her. At best, they'd help get her too the big bad. That's just their station. And this happens in a lot of japanese stories. Now, compare it to a western story, like The Avengers. Black Widow is the weakest member of the team. She's essentially a mere mortal woman who is just highly skilled, next to a Super Soldier, a super genius in power armor, a guy who has theoretically infinite strength depending on his rage, and the friggin god of thunder. And yet, she repeatedly makes meaningful contributions to saving the world next to people who completely outclass her physically. She's cunning, she's quick, she's brave. The story should be told more along those lines, with the Senshi losing when they fight separately, and being forced to work as a team. And not just pull all of their power for a super attack. They should approach battles tactically, with things like, Mercury tripping up enemies by icing the floor, Venus grabbing them with her glowing heart chain, and swinging them around, right into Jupiter's fist.

Make this battle against ultimate evil a team effort.

 

[Small Nerd]

Let's see if Demand blows it all up with the two LSCs or if Pluto can do something. After the title sequence, of course. And what happens? Pluto makes use of her Stand, The World. Toki yo tomare! Sorry, I had to. Unfortunately, stopping time is the third thing Pluto's not allowed to do, so who knows what'll become of her. Tuxedo Man's aware of the time stop, presumably because he's a ghost at the moment. Pluto brings Our Heroines into the stopped time as well, along with a now un-brainwashed Tuxedo Boy and Evil Tiny. And it turns out stopping time is hazardous for your health, so Pluto's down. This really does follow Jojo rules. Usagi retrieves the LSCs from Demand, and everyone watches Pluto die. Evil Tiny isn't taking it well. Even Diana gets to watch Pluto die, because she needs to understand the circle of life, I guess. Meanwhile, Evil Tiny's having some flashbacks to when she was friends with Pluto. Apparently Pluto once said she liked Tiny for being well-behaved, which bothers me in a way I can't quite articulate. Evil Tiny starts crying, and this reacts with an LSC to do something. Meanwhile, time resumes, and with a transformation sequence Sailor Tiny appears.

One eyecatch later, Sailor Tiny (Stiny?) wants to show Pluto how she transformed for the first time, but Pluto's dead. Man, growing up sucks. At this point, Usagi's sick of all this and turns into Sailor Moon so she can kick Nemesis's ass. Moon Princess Halation isn't cutting it, though, so everyone else gets in on the action. Even Mercury, who I still don't think has an actual attack. Sailor Tiny just kind of watches. But Nemesis isn't down yet and gets into a beam fight with Demand. Demand's killed, of course. Then Nemesis sucks Our Heroes inside it, and they come face to face with Death Phantom, the spirit inhabiting the planet. The final blows of this battle are upon us.

The teaser depicts Tuxedo Boy encouraging Sailor Moon while she and her comrades fight. Also, Pluto shows up. All this and more in Act 26: Replay - Never Ending. Don't miss it!

Question For Everyone: What's your favorite piece of Sailor Moon crossover art? Mine's the picture I'm using for an avatar right now.

 

[Small Nerd]

Sailor Moon attacks Death Phantom's giant head, and then everyone but her is teleported back to Earth while Nemesis disappears. One title sequence later, Tuxedo Boy's hands start glowing and he disappears too. Also it seems NQS has woken up from her mega nap, and she puts Tuxedo Man's ghost back in his body for him. Then she helps Tiny sort out her issues and teleports Pluto's body to a tomb or something like that. Also NQS can't fight anymore after getting the title. Why? Because dramatic tension, that's why! But Tiny gets to go to Nemesis, which was never actually near Earth, to join Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Boy in the for real actual final battle. And nobody else gets to go. Why? Because nobody cares about the other Sailor Guardians, that's why!

One eyecatch later, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Boy are in a glowing bubble in space heading towards Nemesis. Then Death Phantom's gloating makes Moon wonder if maybe the world would be better off without her and the LSC, but Tuxedo Boy persuades her otherwise. With a nice speech, not by intimidating her, just so we're clear. And she needs him around to use the LSC, apparently, so he's actually kind of important now. And now Tiny's arrived. The Trainee Pretty Guardian in a Sailor Suit, Sailor Chibi Moon! Yeah, I'm calling her Sailor Tiny. Or Stiny, if she gets anyone a danish. She and Regular Size Moon use a double Moon Princess Halation on Nemesis, and the place just kind of explodes. So now things are just kinda resolving themselves. NQS gives the Sailor Guardians upgrades to match whatever Moon got for beating the boss before shuffling off to avoid meeting her past self and causing a time paradox or whatever. Personally, I think NQS just doesn't wanna be reminded of how dorky she was as a teenager. So now everyone goes back to their own time. Except NQS decides to thank Sailor Moon in person, just because. Then Our Heroines leave for 200X or whenever it's supposed to be. Usagi wakes up at home and wonders if it was a dream, but then Tiny pokes her head in to say goodbye, because she's going back to the future. Usagi's pretty sad that Tiny's leaving, but there's nothing for it, so they go to the park together. Tuxedo Boy shows up there to give Tiny his plushie of his superhero alter ego. What a weird guy. But Tiny has a gift for Usagi before she leaves, a new magic rod. And then she's gone. Usagi and Tuxedo Boy steel themsleves for the challenges ahead...and then Tiny falls on their heads again. She's back from the future. Great Scott!

Question For Everyone: Do you want to see me continue on with the next arc? It'll be a while before I can because I have to move back to college soon, but I kinda need the break, to be honest.

 

[veekie]

Question For Everyone: Do you want to see me continue on with the next arc? It'll be a while before I can because I have to move back to college soon, but I kinda need the break, to be honest.

Click to shrink...

It's an interesting read. Just never really had much to comment on

 

[Small Nerd]

Well, that's a long episode title. But at least we're in territory I'm pretty familiar with. Yay musicals!

We begin with an ominous disembodied voice talking about how some kind of Omega Area's being threatened by the light or something. I'm kinda tuning it out because I know it'll all be explained later anyway. I think this voice wants the LSC and might be an alien. Oh, it's Pharaoh 90, whom I already know to be the villain of the arc. I always did wonder about the dude's motivation, turns out he's just a nasty stereotype about refugees. The more Sailor Moon I watch, the more I wonder about Takeuchi's politics. Anyway, now it's time to watch some girl who hasn't been seen before (hi, Hotaru) dream about the Sailor Guardians dead, Pluto standing around with two new people who are clearly also Sailor Guardians (hello, only representation in this show I'm getting) with cool toys in the hands of all three, and a generic prophecy of impending doom.

And now the title sequence. It's new this time! Usagi sits in a corner, then stock footage of her and her comrades firing off attacks. The title appears, then Usagi walks for a bit before stopping to look at the moon. Cut to Tiny and that Prophecy Girl lying next to each other naked in a field of roses. Um...Yeah...Let's just...ignore...that...Pluto and her two new friends stand around looking like a bunch of badasses. Then Sailor Prophecy Girl shows up holding some kind of spear and looking creepy. Then Usagi's back, she transforms into Sailor Moon, gets a new form, and flies into space with the other Sailor Guardians that she hangs around with. Then everyone in a sailor suit gets into frame to pose as a team. Overall, the title sequence is all right. I like the visuals, but the song's just not good at all. Give me Moon Pride over this dreck any day of the week.

Prophecy Girl wakes up from her dream, and match cut with Tuxedo Boy waking up too. He saw the same thing, presumably, and it looks like Rei did as well. Usagi, on the other hand, looks to be dreaming of getting married. Tiny, still back from the future, watches Usagi flail around while munching on some toast with jam or jelly of a red variety. Now I'm hungry, and I just brushed my teeth. Darn. A conveniently-timed news show informs us that monsters have been attacking Minato Ward once again, this time around a private school called Infinity Academy. Huh, I didn't think Japan had private schools for some reason, but it makes sense that they're there. Or the school is called Private Infinity Academy, these subs aren't clear. Well either way, who's ready to see Our Heroines get smacked around by the new threat as usual? I am! Also, Luna's watching the news with Usagi's dad. The image just popped into my head of Usagi's dad and Luna secretly being good friends but they don't tell anyone cause there'd be huge freakouts. Nice image, IMHO. And as the man explains, the authorities think the monsters are caused by people turning into their primate ancestors cause of who knows what. Sounds like an episode of Star Trek. Not that it matters right now, cause it's time to go to school!

The two rabbits meet up with Tuxedo Boy, and something about Usagi's face looks different. Must be some new art style for the new season, but I can't quite tell what they changed. Tiny now hands Usagi the lunchbox she forgot when rushing out the door and reminds her that "breakfast is the lifeblood of the day" so she needs to remember to eat that too. All kinds of important life lessons in Sailor Moon, folks. Remember to eat regularly, friends are people you can rely on, and love can blow up people if they're evil enough. All absolutely vital things for children to lean. Now Tiny heads to her school with a pair of friends. When Tuxedo Boy gives Usagi a smorch, he remembers the Prophecy of Impending Doom. Then they go to their separate schools. Everything's gonna be just fine, I'm sure.

Over at an indoor pool, a young woman who looks an awful lot like one of the new Sailor Guardians is seen swimming. Hoo boy, she's pretty. Then she takes a phone call while facing a helicopter on the other side of the window. Um, what? Meanwhile, someone named Haruka who looks like the other new Sailor Guardian completes a very fast lap around a race track with a red car of some indistinct make. Or at least I don't know enough about cars to tell what sort it is. It seems Haruka (family name Tenoh) is a rising star in the racing scene, and there's definitely a lot of people cheering Haruka's name in the stands. A pair of helicopters named Tenohmaru and Kaiohmaru, owned by Haruka's girlfriend, appear so the two can go to school together. Who uses two helicopters to go to school with your girlfriend? Ugh, rich people. Anyway, Kaiohmaru seems to be the helicopter the pool woman was talking to, so I guess she's the girlfriend. Her name's Michiru (family name of Kaioh), it seems, and she's a famous violinist. Huh, Kaioh. Is that like "King Kai"? Has this become a Dragon Ball crossover? Also, how do you get to be a famous violinist or race car driver while still attending school? There just isn't the time. But anyway, it seems Haruka and Michiru are a bit of a power couple.

After school, Usagi and Naru show up at the arcade, where Ami's been waiting for them so long she finished her book she brought along. So like ten minutes tops, not that much. Rei, Minako, and Mako are also there. Usagi plays against Mako in a racing game, but someone who's clearly Haruka is also playing and wins. Outside, Tuxedo Boy bumps into Michiru, making her drop what is clearly a significant mirror. Apparently it reflects past lives, whatever that means. Everyone in the arcade is absolutely enthralled by the now-leaving Haruka. Also, dang Michiru a cute. The power couple walks off together while Usagi stares.

The eyecatch is new. A silhouette version of Sailor Haruka holding a sword shows up, then it changes to a silhouette Sailor Michiru holding a mirror. Ah, so Haruka just happens to have a sword lying around somewhere like Michiru's got her mirror. Back with the action, Mako and Minako are all aboard the Haruka train now. Then Umino appears from the earth like one of the Sown Men of Thebes to explain where exactly Infinity Academy is and that Haruka and Michiru go there so Our Heroines have means and motive to go check it out later. The place is apparently a magnet for prodigies. Has this become a Dangan Ronpa crossover? Anyway, one of the new monsters (a big purple blob) conveniently shows up to be fought. Looks like they redid the transformation sequences, but I'm not sure what's different besides not being wonky CGI anymore.

Mercury scans the monster and finds a girl inside. Kinky. Mars tries her best, but it does nothing. Venus tries Wink Chain Sword, and Jupiter goes for a Jupiter Coconut Cyclone (what a name), and they're actually useful for once. How strange. Moon notices that the LSC reacted to the monster in some way. Hmm...In the Luna Zone, Our Heroines learn that this monster's part of the Infinity Academy string of attacks and decide to go check out this suspicious school.

New credits sequence too! It's Haruka and Michiru being lovebirds while a reasonably cool song plays. Eh. The teaser depicts the Sailor Guardians running around Infinity Academy and Prophecy Girl getting stuck in the line of fire. Seems she's a student there too. Next Pluto's gonna be a student of Infinity Academy. Luna should just make transformation pens for the whole school. All this and more in Act 27: INFINITY ACADEMY - Premonition (Second Part). Don't miss it!

Question For Everyone: What do you think of the Haruka and Michiru? Don't worry too much about spoilers, just put them in boxes, I already know what happens.

 

[BunBun299]

Question For Everyone: What do you think of the Haruka and Michiru? Don't worry too much about spoilers, just put them in boxes, I already know what happens.

Click to shrink...

Ugh, those two.....

Yeah, I don't like them. At all.

This has nothing to do with them being lesbians. I think I've already made clear I kinda ship Ami and Mako-chan. Haruka and Michiru are just awful people.

For a long time, I knew only the fanfic versions of them, the more battled hardened Sailor Senshi. The original dub stopped half way through the Black Moon arc. But then popular demand kicked in, and we got the rest of that season. Then we finally got Sailor Moon S.

First episode, we kinda only see them in shadows, the monster of the day trounced the Inner Senshi, and then they showed up, took it out, and vanished. So far so good, create a little mystery around the new Senshi.

Then the second episode happened. Same thing happens, except this time, they don't finish the monster. They just inspect the victim of the day, determine they are not one of the ones they need, and run off, leaving the Inner Senshi, Tuxedo Mask and said victim to die. And they all would have, if Moon hadn't recieved her plot device power up for the season. By this point in the series, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus had saved the world three times over. If you discard the movies (and you should as they don't actually fit into continuity), that is more times that Uranus and Neptune ever would. In fact, they get in the way of world saving far more than they have ever participated in it. I probably would have forgiven that abandoning of the heroines if had been the starting point for their characters, and they had grown from there. But it just kept happening, they'd do things in the name of their all important mission, and just made things worse.

You don't get to be the hero of the story just because you oppose the villain. You have to be better people than them. And they're not. If you want lesbian heroines to look up to, hold out for Sailor Star-Fighter. Or I hear good things about Batwoman.

Maybe, hopefully, the Crystal incarnations will be better. Crystal does follow the manga a lot more closely. And they were more tolerable there.

 

[Small Nerd]

We begin with Usagi arriving back to her house, having just had dinner at Mako's place. Tiny's just finishing up a phone call with Tuxedo Boy, so the gremlin gets interrogated. By which I mean one of those dust cloud fight happens. Where did Usagi get that hammer? Ikuko breaks up the fight and informs Usagi that she's chaperoning Tiny's trip to the amusement park tomorrow since Ikuko has a Women's Association meeting. I wonder what her group does. I don't think Ikuko has a job besides housewife. Maybe it's more like a homeowner's group for the neighborhood? Well anyway, the park Tiny's going to is the brand new Mugen C Park, and I know from Samurai Champloo that "Mugen" means "infinity." Suspicious, very suspicious.

One title sequence later, Usagi's on the phone with Tuxedo Boy asking to go to the park with him, even though she's supposed to be looking into Infinity Academy that day. It makes sense that Usagi isn't going to be a hundred percent committed to the hero business all the time, but I'm still bothered at how she doesn't spin visiting the park as an avenue of investigation. Turns out the two places are close by anyway, so everybody's keeping to their original plans. Over at the Luna Cave, we see Luna and Artemis studying the area around the park, Sankakusu. It's the location of a land reclamation project that's divided into three sites named Tenohzu, Kaiohzu, and Meiohzu. Hmm, so I guess Pluto or Prophecy Girl has Meioh as a family name. Well, I know which of them it is, but this is just a bit too obvious. In the middle of the project is Mugenzu, where Infinity Academy is. Meanwhile at the Alien Invasion Kabushiki Gaisha HQ, they're studying the monster attack that Our Heroines stopped last episode. Apparently the monster was one of theirs, and it's called a Daimon. Well, now it's time for a set of five minibosses to go and lose to the Sailor Guardians. At least they have the promise of a promotion if they win. The now-named Witches 5 head off after giving us their bosslady's name. It's Kaolinite. What is it with Takeuchi and mineral names?

The next day, Our Heroines have a profoundly wrong vibe from Sankakusu. Among other things, Ami informs us that the space itself is all wonky somehow, and Minako feels eyes on her. Nearby, Tiny's having fun on a roller coaster while Tuxedo Boy takes a break from babysitting with some Asanuma guy. So naturally Tiny picks now to wander off on her own to find her hat that fell off during the ride. This won't end well. At least Tiny's friend tells Tuxedo Boy right away so he can look for her and get kidnapped by the bad guys again. This being a superhero show, Tiny decides to poke around the Infinity Academy building in the search for her hat. Also, IA apparently covers all the years from kindergarten to grad school. I went to a school that covered kindergarten through high school, but this seems a bit excessive. You'd definitely come out brainwashed...Devious! And again, IA produces a lot of noteworthy people, so it's double devious. All you gotta do is set up a network and you can get a whole generation to think exactly what and how you want. Forget the LSC, just make an Infinity Academy for every city and you'll have all the power you could want. Not very direct power, but it'd be safer because who thinks about schools as an evil force? Not mainstream society, that's for sure. Anyway, Usagi uses her Disguise Pen to look like a student of IA to infliltrate the facility. She has glasses now. Cute! Everyone but Ami seems to think so, or maybe she's just mad she didn't think of it first. Of course, everyone's worried about her, but it's not like fights were gonna be absent from this arc.

Usagi goes into IA and finds an impressive lobby. The place has 60 floors! I'm not sure if that's too many or not enough, considering they have a college and grad school in there. Rich people are something else. After a while of not finding anything wrong, Usagi hears violin music and follows it, as do Tiny and Tuxedo Boy. Usagi finds the source of the music, which is of course Michiru. Seems Usagi's got a new crush, too, not that I blame her. Michiru's pretty. And then she stops playing once she notices the audience. And now Haruka appears before all the Sailor Guardians who aren't important anymore. The power couple informs Our Heroines that they are on the way to destruction if they continue poking at Infinity Academy. Then someone from the school's Disciplinary Committee shows up and asks Usagi who she is and what she's doing there. Usagi runs off because she doesn't talk to cops.

One eyecatch later, Usagi winds up in an off-limits area, no doubt heading towards the actual bad stuff. Meanwhile, Tiny retrieves her hat. She also runs into Prophecy Girl, clearly an IA student and also not feeling well at the moment. And it's night now, even though Our Heroines got to IA in broad daylight. How long was Usagi wandering around? Anyway, Tiny asks Prophecy Girl if she's okay, but apparently this just happens to her a lot. She's breathing all funny and hunched over. Some kind of weird asthma maybe? But that doesn't mater right now, because this is the same off-limits area Usagi wandered into, so now the two rabbits meet once again. Then one of the WItches 5 shows up and sics a Daimon on Usagi and Tiny. This Witch is red, and I don't know her name yet. I'll go with Cherry. Cherry's Daimon chases Usagi and Tiny right into the other, useless Sailor Guardians. Time for Our Heroines to transform, but I caught that shot of two new Sailor Guardians already in uniform. Oh, Tiny has a transformation sequence too. It's fulla hearts and and this one sound effect that seems very 90s to me but I don't know why. Anyway, fight time. More accurately, dodge frantically while the Witches 5 gloat far away from the action time. Prophecy Girl's still caught up in all this, but Tiny keeps her safe. I'm beginning to understand that weird bit with them in the title sequence. And of course, the two new Sailor Guardians just sort of watch, presumably so they can time their entrance just right for maximum cool points. Now Sailor Moon uses her new Moon Spiral Heart Attack on the Daimon after everyone else has failed to do anything of significance. This involves a lot of figure skate style twirling and spinning. And now the Daimon's a cat. Monster defeated! The Witches 5 make their escape, and Tuxedo Boy finally meets up with everyone. Moon now realizes that Prophecy Girl knows their true identities and tries to stop Tiny from giving away any more information. Prophecy Girl notices that Tiny got hurt during the fight and heals her with the magic healing powers she apparently has. That's nice of her. And then the two new friends somewhat subtly reveal themselves and their secret identities of Haruka and Michiru to Our Heroines before heading off into the night.

The teaser depicts Our Heroines wondering what the power couple's deal is and Prophecy Girl smiling. All this and more in Act 28: INFINITY 2 - Ripples. Don't miss it!

Question For Everyone: What do you think Prophecy Girl's illness is?

 

[veekie]

who thinks about schools as an evil force?

Click to shrink...

Students?