「秘密 –SAILOR JUPITER–」 (Himitsu –SAILOR JUPITER–)
“Secret –SAILOR JUPITER–”

Not quite as interesting as last episode, but Sailor Moon Crystal continues to stick to its tried and true formula of weekly villains anyway. It’s a shame that Sailor Jupiter’s episode wasn’t as fun or romantic as I envisioned it to be. Her initial introduction in week 4 was probably my favorite out of all the Sailor Scouts and in this second arc, I find her focus rather lacking. Her story wasn’t terribly impactful and I’m sad to say that it felt incredibly rushed too. Sailor Jupiter was sick and then she bumped into her underclassman and then she was kidnapped. Bam! Done. There was no elaboration as to why she was sick or what Asanuma Ittou (Sakaguchi Daisuke) meant to her and what kind of beef Petz (Mizuta Wasabi) had with her. It felt like an entire episode of material crammed into half an episode with no time to spare for proper storytelling. Then of course, Rubeus shows up to take Jupiter away but literally 2 seconds after Petz dies. No indication of where he came from or even a second to pause for dramatic effect. Jupiter just gets taken away and Venus and Sailor Moon are left floating in the sky.

The beginning of the episode was probably where all the time went and I didn’t necessarily think it needed all that time either. I think the focus on Chibi Usa is appreciated, but not the time spent at the arcade. Chibi Usa’s role in the story is still very minor in my opinion and until the Dark Moon starts to actually hunt her down, I don’t think we need so much dedicated time to her development. She’s a kid and she’s lost and lonely, I totally understand that point; but, there are more important issues at large. However, there is very few time devoted to actually looking for Mercury and Mars which I would think should be primary goal at this point. Usagi and Mamoru were digging into it, but I wish the story expanded on that. The flow of the episode just didn’t settle well with me because it felt all over the place so I wish they could’ve told a more concrete story from beginning to end. Either talk about Sailor Jupiter or Chibi Usa, but you don’t need both in a single episode.

I spoiled myself a bit and read up on the next few episodes by mistake. I got carried away with some of the background stories and trying to compare what the anime is doing vs. the actual manga. It’s amazing how much more the manga contains that the anime doesn’t capture and it’s all the subtleties that make the manga stand out a little more. For an anime that airs only every other week, Sailor Moon Crystal could take the time to work on their animation and storytelling a little bit (or a lot!). The arc started off well so I’d be worried it will suddenly turn bland and repetitive with all the villains that appear and disappear. The only interesting one is the Prince that obvious has the Queen captured, but it makes me curious where she’s from? Does she still live on the Moon Kingdom (that was restored)? Or another planet/time period that the Dark Moon came from? We’ll probably have to wait until much later for those answers.

 

Preview

12 Comments

  1. If Sailor Jupiter wasn’t sick, she would have blasted that sister asunder out of the sky.
    I’m seeing a nightmare here with each Sailor Scout losing their battles. Come on they are the best of the best of pretty soldiers. Please don’t take Sailor Venus too!~

    random viewer
    1. I doubt it really. Both Mars and Mercury were at full strength, but still ended up overwhelmed in head-to-head contests with their Sister counterparts. I could see Jupiter maybe holding her ground a little longer, but she’d most likely end up losing in the end.

      Show Spoiler ▼

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  2. Why God? Why does Takeuchi hate Jupiter so much. She is so underrated it’s not even a joke. I say time and Time again, she needs her own spin-off, dammit! I’m sick of Usagi! Mako has great potential to stand on her own.

    Corey
  3. I agree, it’s hard to watch this and not be left wanting for more. As a manga reader and as a fan of the old anime, it’s just disappointing all around as it lacks the subtleties of its printed roots and any creativity in its animated form. Some scenes I can almost forget, but I’m always immediately reminded that it is a Toei product devoid of all emotion and spirit.

    Well, we all know what is coming up next week. It’s so nice seeing Mamo-chan animated, though, despite all my gripes. Out of all the characters whose personalities were butchered in the manga, I wanted to roll my eyes at his appearances past the first season even when I was a kid.

    Ralicht
  4. “For an anime that airs only every other week, Sailor Moon Crystal could take the time to work on their animation and storytelling a little bit (or a lot!)”

    That would take effort on Toei’s part. We can’t have that, now.

    Mormegil

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