First Impressions / Sailor Moon Crystal

「終結 そして 始まり –Petite Étrangère–」 (Shuuketsu Soshite Hajimari – Petite Étrangère –)
“Conclusion and Commencement – Petite Étrangère –”

The end is finally here! Bum bum bum ~
The end to this arc at least. No surprises here – Queen Metalia was defeated by the forces of Sailor Moon and her use of the Legendary Silver Crystal. With the power of love and prayers and her friends, Usagi was able to not going save the world but restore the Moon Kingdom. That pretty much summarizes the first half of the episode. The ending was very neat and tidy and I really have no complaints since it tied the bow on the finale so well. Obviously it wasn’t perfect, but for a magical-girl story about triumph and believing-in-yourself, it ended exactly how I imagined it would. The ending is very different than the original Sailor Moon series but I think we’ve all beat that conversation to death so rather than bringing up which was better, let’s just say – it was different. It was clear from episode 5 onwards that Sailor Moon Crystal would take a different route (being closer to the manga) and thus, you can’t directly compare the two. Although I’m sure people have their preferences, let’s just accept that we all have different tastes and move on.

While I don’t have strong complaints about the actual battle scene or even that long wake-up kiss, I wish the story expanded more to talk about other characters. The focus was very strong on Usagi and her accomplishments of defeating Queen Metalia, but the characters were kind of forgotten or only briefly mentioned. What’s the deal with Luna projected as a human? I never really understood Luna’s big role in this battle, although I can see that the connection between her and Usagi is deep. Perhaps it’s because I still have this notion that all she is, is an informative cat. It seems like they really try to play the emotional-attachment card but I’m not feeling it unfortunately. Mamoru was also only there for two things… to kiss Usagi and wake her up and to show off his awesome powers of tracking the Sailor Scouts down. That skill could’ve been shown so much earlier and explain why Tuxedo Mask always shows up to Sailor Moon’s rescue! However, the more kisses I see between Mamoru and Usagi, the more I feel like their romance is too public now. Watching them kiss every episode now is like seeing too much PDA, I just cringe and look away because it’s like the show is flaunting their love too frequently.

The second half of the episode is what I enjoyed most about this week’s episode. The reunion between Usagi and her friends was touching, but I wish the girls had more lines rather than “Usagi-chan” all the time. The seiyuus that play their parts can do much better than that! However, just seeing them live normal lives again was probably what I missed most. It’s been too long since we’ve seen the slice-of-life aspect to this show and sometimes, I just appreciate getting away from all that action. Also, I feel that these episodes are the ones that focus more on character development than straight up plot development so next episode’s focus on Mars is a thumbs up from me. If you haven’t noticed by now, Chibi Usa ( Fukuen Misato) shows up at the end of this week! And in the same fashion that she did in the original series – out of the sky. Landing right on the lips of Mamoru no less and completely shafting Usagi! That scene cracks me up all the time but it reminds me of why I loved Sailor Moon R and Super S way back when. The later seasons are truly better than the first but I’m solely basing this on the anime because I haven’t read the original material. Now that everything’s been set up and all the introductions are done, I’d like to see how Sailor Moon Crystal takes that to the next step. By the way, for those that are wondering, Petite Étrangère directly translated from French means Small Foreigner… which I think is very fitting for our little princess.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: #SailorMoonCrystal finally finishes its first arc. Wow I feel like it’s taken forever to get here but it’s only been 14 eps. I was feeling pretty indifferent about the show until the second half. Chibi Usa shows up! Great surprise!

Author’s Note: Despite having strong policies about blogging on weekends, I find myself not only with one, but two back-to-back weekend shows this season (yes, Fridays are weekends for me). I know Sailor Moon Crystal airs only every other week, but I usually have packed weekends that means a lot of time isn’t allocated to RC =( I will likely post SMC late because Death Parade will be posted late Friday/early Saturday. Plus, I already have a Thursday show. I have major respect for those that can spit out three posts in a row back-to-back because I know that I can’t. So without killing myself over it, I hope you all understand. Thanks!

 

Preview

34 Comments

  1. Dear Cherrie,

    We love your commentary very much but don’t make yourself a slave of blogging anime. We appreciate that you have other matters of importance to attend to.

    The ending was rather anti-climatic, but the artwork was so much better than the previous episode. There were heartwarming moments and I agree with you that it’s about we saw some character developments. I don’t know about other people but Chibi Usa was my least favourite and probably most hated child character in an anime show. I know she has a distressing life story, but I find her sinister. I was praising this episode for its artwork, but when Chibi Usa showed up, with her blatant disproportional figure, I dropped my head. I can’t wait until Sailor Pluto makes her debut, she is one of my faves along with the other outer senshis. It will be a long and painful wait.

    WarriorsHeart
    Reply

    2. Thanks for the concern =) I put that note up there just so people don’t go asking why SMC is posted late. I’ll try my best to get it posted within 48 hours of it airing.

      I agree, I think Chibi looked really awkward in that last cap =S That’s why I took it. Clearly they blew their budget on the first half of that episode lol. Hopefully they’ll clean her up in the next ep.
      Chibi’s personality was always very naggy and annoying in the original (I remember hating her too). I think that was partially because they didn’t have a good grasp on her character so they just exaggerated her bratty-ness a lot; and also her development comes much later on. I think (hope) she’ll be more bearable this time around.

      Cherrie
      Reply

  2. Luna’s human form doesn’t appear in the manga until the 4th arc (I squealed when I saw her in this episode), so I assume they’re at least thinking about prolonging the series into another season, otherwise I don’t know what would be the point of this kind of foreshadowing. It would be awesome if they did continue after the Black Moon arc is finished, as arcs 3-5 have always been my most favorite in the manga and I’d really want to see them animated.

    As for the episode itself, I loved it and had no real complaints (maybe except for some blatant animation errors like disappearing Silver Crystal), though I was majorly disappointed by the fact that even though Usagi got her new brooch and a new transformation, the transformation sequence stayed practically the same. I was really hoping for some upgraded transformations for all the girls, but maybe that’s just too much to ask from Toei. Though I’m not losing hope just yet. It’s three weeks before the next episode airs, they still have the time to come up with something new and shiny for the new arc.

    aisakat
    Reply

    4. For the same reason you can’t see her left ear. Her face is supposed to be pointed slightly to the side so that the other eye is further from the camera, though I admit it’s not done very well.

      Pot Noodle
      Reply

      1. Yeah, except not. It’s an animation gaff. You are correct in that this is what they were attempting to do, but the perspective is wrong. The right eye isn’t titled properly or even on the same axis as the left eye. It amazes me how this stuff gets through quality control.

        Oh, that’s right, they don’t have that.

        Sletch
        Reply

  4. Watching it animated only makes the msnga homages from the R and S movies even more clear. (The R movie having the Silver Crystal turn into a flower shape, the brooch shattering after saving the Earth using its power, though it was the Crystal itself that shattered in the movie, and seemingly killing Usagi, and even the wake-up kiss being the exact same positions, though Usagi was still in her Sailor fuku rather than reverted to normal.)

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

  6. https://randomc.net/image/Sailor%20Moon%20Crystal/Sailor%20Moon%20Crystal%20-%2014%20-%20Large%2001.jpg
    I see it now, and then later you can’t see the crystal with the magical staff and then it’s back again.
    https://randomc.net/image/Sailor%20Moon%20Crystal/Sailor%20Moon%20Crystal%20-%2014%20-%20Large%2006.jpg
    Is this the last time I’ll see Queen Serenity/Selene?
    https://randomc.net/image/Sailor%20Moon%20Crystal/Sailor%20Moon%20Crystal%20-%2014%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Sailor%20Moon%20Crystal/Sailor%20Moon%20Crystal%20-%2014%20-%20Large%2013.jpg
    I sure would like to live at the “white house.”
    There were so many kissing screenshots I couldn’t choose one, but all the more to make Darren look silly for kissing Rini or (Chibi) Usagi.
    https://randomc.net/image/Sailor%20Moon%20Crystal/Sailor%20Moon%20Crystal%20-%2014%20-%20Large%2011.jpgAnd about Luna, Show Spoiler ▼

    random viewer
    Reply

    1. I was quite pissed that last week’s episode didn’t actually SHOW the sceptre and I think it’s because they wanted to spend more time perfecting it this week -__-‘ That’s why I just HAD to dedicate a show screenshot for it this time haha

      Cherrie
      Reply

    2. https://randomc.net/image/Sailor%20Moon%20Crystal/Sailor%20Moon%20Crystal%20-%2014%20-%20Large%2011.jpg
      Oops the link was this.
      At Cherrie: And I didn’t mean about the screenshots that you posted. I meant when you watch the episode carefully, and when the camera in zoomed in at the head of the scepter the crystal is not there, but the next panel shot it is there. I thought I point that out. On a side note, the screenshots are of high quality, thanks.

      random viewer
      Reply

    1. I’ve never watched the US version but I did find her quite annoying. Watched both in English and Japanese, the English one still used the name Usagi, not Serena? (or whatever they used).

      theirs
      Reply

  10. Why can’t magical girl series have a cute straight kid romance again? Look at me pudding and Taruto from mew mew for example they go together and Otaku weren’t raging about it. So why not try to recapture that romance with a future Mahou shojo series?

    sadia
    Reply

  12. Statik proje, konusunda tecrübeli İnşaat Mühendisi tarafından yapılmalıdır. Bir yapının haddinden fazla çelik kullanılarak yapılması pahalı bir imalattır ve bu yatırımcı için gereksiz bir külfettir. Merter Mühendislik olarak gayet profesyonel bir şekilde hizmet alabilirsiniz.

    Karabük çelik asma kat projesi
    Reply

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