「錯綜 –NEMESIS-」 (Sakusou –NEMESIS–)
“Complication –NEMESIS–”

This was one of my favorite episodes from the original Sailor Moon R series. It played out very differently than it did in the original anime, but the idea is still there. I remember this scene very clearly as a young and naïve child way back when, because it’s the first time that I actually saw a young girl being taken advantage of… in a not-so-nice manner. I can call it blatant harassment now, but back then, it felt very odd to me that they would even animate this type of scene. Of course, there was no further action from Prince Damende other than the kiss but it can still be disturbing. There were even further implications that Prince Damende was in love with Neo Queen Serenity which I thought was glossed over in this remake. It would’ve been more impactful if Prince Damande actually voiced over his affections for the Queen but that might have taken away from the rest of the story. Anyway, I thought Sailor Moon Crystal delivered the scene on point and although not as detailed as I remembered (and without Tuxedo Mask to the rescue), it still left an impression.

Chibi Usa’s role is stepping up this week as we see a sneak peek as to what’s to come. I always enjoyed Chibi Usa’s more centric episodes because her character isn’t just a spoiled brat. She actually has concerns and worries and being the child of Neo Queen Serenity, it puts a lot of weight on her shoulders. Although I wouldn’t have imagined that she’s 900 years old, I can see how it’s odd that her powers haven’t surfaced in that much time. To me, she’s still very child-like – stealing her mother’s crystal and storming off to Pluto – and I wish there was more context as to how her mother treated her as well. Seeing it only from Chibi Usa’s POV, will obviously make you sympathize her. I’m sure we’ll see more of her as the Wiseman gets his way, but it’ll be a short focus on Chibi Usa with limited episodes to go.

It’s also revealed this week that the Dark Moon had a mission to destroy Crystal Tokyo, and not just out of spite or for the “sake of being bad” but for a legitimate reason. Or rather, as legitimate as a young girl’s manga can be. The Dark Moon clan thought that the human race shouldn’t be living for decades on end without aging and they wanted to punish the people as a result. I’m sure there’s more to their motive but for now, that seems like a clear reason and I can live with that. In all fairness, I’ve never understood why someone would want immortality or the ability to live “forever” anyway; but that’s my own personal opinion. It seems to be a common goal for a lot of TV or movie villains but for me, aging is just what seems natural to me in a lifetime. I thought it was interesting that it was brought up at all in this story of Sailor Moon Crystal. I don’t remember that being a prominent topic in the original anime so it’s definitely new to me.

Full-length images: 03, 13, 14.

 

Preview

24 Comments

  1. “I’ve never understood why someone would want immortality or the ability to live “forever””

    I also thought it surprising how immortality is portrayed as a positive thing in Sailor Moon Crystal. Even vampires get bored of it quickly like in Vampire Knight.

    WarriorsHeart
    1. Not to mention that if EVERYONE is made “immortal” in a sense wouldn’t that require some kind of extreme population control to keep it from getting way overboard with everyone living, and remaining young, for so long?

      HalfDemonInuyasha
    2. Please don’t land on conclusion without thinking in details.

      By living forever, you get endless time to build up your entertainment business just to entertain yourself. if that is not enough, you get endless time to wait for the development of brain-to-computer interface technology with which you can live your dream in your head Matrix-style.
      In fact, you don’t need endless entertainment while you have endless opportunities that endless lives can offer. Look at those people in developing countries. They have a lot lower living standard and a lot less entertainments, yet they are living fine, because they have more opportunities. With endless life, you will be very likely busy spending time on the achievable real dreams instead of complaining being bored and with endless life, a lot of dreams can made possible.

      For population control, if it is limited to one child per couple, then every couple can have child yet the total population won’t double no matter what and given the average age of marriage is high(27-29) and rising, the population won’t explode neither. Do the math/counting yourself. or we may let couples to choice between living forever or giving birth. both ways will work. or we can expand to other planets. Mars One is sending people to Mars in 2027. It only take time for us to populate other planets. that is why we need endless live.

      I can’t believe characters in Vampire Knight (and all those TV programs, movie, novels, etc that said living forever is bad) can’t figure these out with their endless spare time.

      os
      1. On the topic of eternal life, I have to disagree with you. There’s a limit to originality and sooner or later you’d get bored. It’s like how people get bored of shonen stories after a while. The reoccurring themes, no matter how different, simply become repetitive when you watch enough of it. Granted in an eternal lifespan, I would say they’d get bored enough to wish for death one day.

        flCer
  2. If you stay young and healthy, immorality is natural. It’s only when you have debilitating disease and old age robbing you of your sight, hearing, and other senses that you want to give up and die. In an ever-changing universe boredom is temporary. It is a result of others’ control over us, limiting our options, that make eternal youth a curse and not an enjoyment.

    jhpace1
  3. What I found kinda lurdicrous is that in an era of peace and prosperity like the Silver Millenium, there’s still bulling without punishment, specially against the daughter of the reigning queen.
    Aside that, I didn’t expect that Chibi-Usa’s level of stupidity were worst here than the first series. If your parents tell you that your time will come (since there’s PLENTY of time for them), you just listen to them, not try to take the very symbol of the era (the Silver Crystal) to try to use it when you can’t even make a rabbit (ironies, I know) appear from a hat, and leaving your contry, family, friends and mom totally defenseless against any major threats. Worst of all, this brat enters into the “Anakin Skywalker’s List of Lousy Ways to Turn Evil”. Some say “the older you are, the wisest you become”. In Chibi-Usa’s case is “the older you are, you suck even more!”
    On the other side, Usagi calling Demande “monster” surprised me. She’s taking hes role as leader when the times really demand it.

    SeedStriker
    1. I find Sailor Moon’s inability to struggle quite deplorable. It contradicts with the strong heroine that she is supposed to be.Chibi Usa may be stupid but at least she doesn’t just sit around and mope.

      Glutton
    2. How is there plenty of time if their lifespan is around 1000 years and she’s already 900? Even if there is some way around it, as in those 900 years not really counting, since she’s literally stopped aging, she wouldn’t know or understand it either way, right? Plus, it’s pretty obvious that her aging stoppage does not only concerns her body, but her mind as well. She’s been a child physically and mentally for 900 years. Otherwise there’d be no way she would still act like an insecure 6 year old after 900 years of living. She would be a 900 year old stuck in child’s body, but instead she’s a child forever stuck in time. I thought it was pretty obvious but somehow everyone’s making fun of Chibiusa’s stupidity, even though she really is just a child.

      sumomo
      1. Unless she has lived a strictly sheltered life, 900 years is an extremely long time to not nurture in any way. Although the idea of nurture works seems to work differently in SMC.

        Glutton
  4. random viewer
    1. That’s how it is in the manga. The only thing they changed here is Usagi slapping Demande on the face to her pushing him away, but the kiss happened in the manga, so deal with it. It’s not a remake of the 90’s anime.

      sumomo
      1. Though I’m curious as to why they didn’t show her slapping him. Censorship in anime is hard to understand sometimes. So it’s wrong to slap people even if they’re sexually harassing you? Not to mention there were a few slaps in the old version too. Times change… or what?

        sumomo
      1. Dead Moon Circus arc in the manga is better than its anime counterpart in every single way (maybe except for Nehellenia’s backstory which is good in both imo). I hope Crystal covers the whole manga. The first two arcs have always been my least favorite, though the ending of the Black Moon arc is exceptionally better in the manga than in the old anime.

        sumomo

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