<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/2015-04-04SMC cover venus.jpg">
<b>Review of Sailor Moon Crystal - Episodes 18 - 19 Streaming by darkstorm</b>
<em>Sailor Moon Crystal</em> is worryingly beginning to form a pattern with its arcs. Both arcs start off on a decent path, focusing on building one character at a time whilst slyly weaving elements of a bigger plot in the background. Animation and pacing issues have existed since day one but at least story-wise the series is making do with the tools it has at hand. However as soon as it starts to move away from laying the groundwork and towards the plot, it begins to struggle under its own weight. No matter how good the ground you’re working on is, if you can’t build a house then it’ll crumble around you.<br>
Episode 18 is the last of the episodes to focus on a sole Sailor Senshi and it’s named after the Soldier of Love - but sadly the show has little love for her in the actual episode. The episode closely follows the manga, which also centres the chapter on her but then doesn’t go out of its way to develop her further. She’s assertive and leads the charge in trying to find out who took her fellow guardians, however her strength as a leader and personality shine more strongly in the manga in her lines against her opponent, whereas in the episode itself she seems to struggle more, waiting for Sailor Moon to save the day. An argument can be made that she had the most character to begin with but a little extra care could have helped build on her leadership. Considering she was one of the highlights of the previous arc, it’s a shame the same can’t be said here.<br>
Her limelight is mostly stolen by Mamoru, who has a nice scene replicated from the manga where he converses with his fallen Kings (Shitennou) and doubts whether he has the power to protect the girl she loves as well as her guardians. This scene leads into the first time we see his own attack ‘Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber’ animated in any form, a real delight for longtime Sailor Moon fans. The scene should be a great humane moment for the former Prince, a look at the depth of his love for Usagi and calling back to his mistakes in his past life, however it’s overshadowed by the multiple changes that<em> Crystal</em> has made over the course of the series. He has been shown to be far stronger than previous incarnations, and sometimes more effective then the Senshi themselves, so seeing him doubt himself doesn’t have the same impact in <em>Crystal </em>as it did in the manga.<br>
Following on from the defeat of the last Ayakashi Sister, Calaveras, Episode 19 finally warps us fast-forward to the plot and the future, as Chibi-Usa takes up her key to face her demons, followed by the remaining Senshi, into Crystal Tokyo. A lot happens in this episode and as a result a lot of the bigger moments of the episode which should be dramatic game changers instead come across as rather flat. Within fifteen minutes the heroes travel to the future, get lost within a foreign dimension, come face-to-face with a brand new Senshi, step into a horrific future, get attacked by a new powerful enemy and encounter their future selves. All that alone could take up a whole episode (maybe even two) giving time for the moments to breathe and the characters to react to what's happening. Instead it blasts through them all without a moment of hesitation, which really kills any dramatic tension that should be building from this point on.<br>
That said, the best scenes are the smaller ones, especially the one where Mamoru and Usagi have an intimate moment was surprisingly handled with grace, despite cutting out a chunk of dialogue from the manga which would have been nice to soften Usagi's jealousy beforehand. Then there's one between Pluto and Chibi-Usa. They’re given merely a minute or two of screen time but straightaway you grasp the warmth and depth of their friendship, the parent-child connection is instantly recognisable, and it’s moments like this where the manga is really brought to life on screen.<br>
Alongside the continuous animation goofs, the series seems to struggle with what tone and style it wants to convey in this series. The plot is darker than the previous series so it’s understandable it wants to bring forth more of the manga’s humour with ‘photobooth’ cut-aways for the comical moments for Usagi but it jars against the rest of the series as it’s the first that we’ve seen of this style. It’s like a whole new director has come in and tried to put their spin on it, choosing to forget what technique has come before. There’s also a visually odd scene where Chibi-Usa imagines herself hugging her mum, who is blurred out by a bright light. Apparently <em>Crystal</em> has forgotten that it’s already spoilt its big surprise within a different flashback, back in Episode 17…<br>
<em>Sailor Moon Crystal</em> takes another stumble with the latest episodes but hasn’t quite lost all its goodwill yet. Hopefully it can recover in time for the dramatic plot twists that have yet to come.<br>
<em>Watch the latest episode with English subtitles on the Nico Video site now;</em><span style="background-color:rgb(245, 245, 245); color:rgb(128, 128, 128); font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:11px"> </span><em>http://ch.nicovideo.jp/sailormoon_English</em><br>
<b>Final score: 6 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-04-04sailor_moon_crystal_act_18_rolling_heart_vibration-1024x576.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-04-04sailor_moon_crystal_act_18_tuxedo_la_smoking_bomber-1024x576.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-04-04SMC ep 19 1.png">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-04-04sp3xhflvkz9ylsoqolwa.png">
<b>Review of Sailor Moon Crystal - Episodes 18 - 19 Streaming by darkstorm</b>
<em>Sailor Moon Crystal</em> is worryingly beginning to form a pattern with its arcs. Both arcs start off on a decent path, focusing on building one character at a time whilst slyly weaving elements of a bigger plot in the background. Animation and pacing issues have existed since day one but at least story-wise the series is making do with the tools it has at hand. However as soon as it starts to move away from laying the groundwork and towards the plot, it begins to struggle under its own weight. No matter how good the ground you’re working on is, if you can’t build a house then it’ll crumble around you.<br>
Episode 18 is the last of the episodes to focus on a sole Sailor Senshi and it’s named after the Soldier of Love - but sadly the show has little love for her in the actual episode. The episode closely follows the manga, which also centres the chapter on her but then doesn’t go out of its way to develop her further. She’s assertive and leads the charge in trying to find out who took her fellow guardians, however her strength as a leader and personality shine more strongly in the manga in her lines against her opponent, whereas in the episode itself she seems to struggle more, waiting for Sailor Moon to save the day. An argument can be made that she had the most character to begin with but a little extra care could have helped build on her leadership. Considering she was one of the highlights of the previous arc, it’s a shame the same can’t be said here.<br>
Her limelight is mostly stolen by Mamoru, who has a nice scene replicated from the manga where he converses with his fallen Kings (Shitennou) and doubts whether he has the power to protect the girl she loves as well as her guardians. This scene leads into the first time we see his own attack ‘Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber’ animated in any form, a real delight for longtime Sailor Moon fans. The scene should be a great humane moment for the former Prince, a look at the depth of his love for Usagi and calling back to his mistakes in his past life, however it’s overshadowed by the multiple changes that<em> Crystal</em> has made over the course of the series. He has been shown to be far stronger than previous incarnations, and sometimes more effective then the Senshi themselves, so seeing him doubt himself doesn’t have the same impact in <em>Crystal </em>as it did in the manga.<br>
Following on from the defeat of the last Ayakashi Sister, Calaveras, Episode 19 finally warps us fast-forward to the plot and the future, as Chibi-Usa takes up her key to face her demons, followed by the remaining Senshi, into Crystal Tokyo. A lot happens in this episode and as a result a lot of the bigger moments of the episode which should be dramatic game changers instead come across as rather flat. Within fifteen minutes the heroes travel to the future, get lost within a foreign dimension, come face-to-face with a brand new Senshi, step into a horrific future, get attacked by a new powerful enemy and encounter their future selves. All that alone could take up a whole episode (maybe even two) giving time for the moments to breathe and the characters to react to what's happening. Instead it blasts through them all without a moment of hesitation, which really kills any dramatic tension that should be building from this point on.<br>
That said, the best scenes are the smaller ones, especially the one where Mamoru and Usagi have an intimate moment was surprisingly handled with grace, despite cutting out a chunk of dialogue from the manga which would have been nice to soften Usagi's jealousy beforehand. Then there's one between Pluto and Chibi-Usa. They’re given merely a minute or two of screen time but straightaway you grasp the warmth and depth of their friendship, the parent-child connection is instantly recognisable, and it’s moments like this where the manga is really brought to life on screen.<br>
Alongside the continuous animation goofs, the series seems to struggle with what tone and style it wants to convey in this series. The plot is darker than the previous series so it’s understandable it wants to bring forth more of the manga’s humour with ‘photobooth’ cut-aways for the comical moments for Usagi but it jars against the rest of the series as it’s the first that we’ve seen of this style. It’s like a whole new director has come in and tried to put their spin on it, choosing to forget what technique has come before. There’s also a visually odd scene where Chibi-Usa imagines herself hugging her mum, who is blurred out by a bright light. Apparently <em>Crystal</em> has forgotten that it’s already spoilt its big surprise within a different flashback, back in Episode 17…<br>
<em>Sailor Moon Crystal</em> takes another stumble with the latest episodes but hasn’t quite lost all its goodwill yet. Hopefully it can recover in time for the dramatic plot twists that have yet to come.<br>
<em>Watch the latest episode with English subtitles on the Nico Video site now;</em><span style="background-color:rgb(245, 245, 245); color:rgb(128, 128, 128); font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:11px"> </span><em>http://ch.nicovideo.jp/sailormoon_English</em><br>
<b>Final score: 6 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-04-04sailor_moon_crystal_act_18_rolling_heart_vibration-1024x576.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-04-04sailor_moon_crystal_act_18_tuxedo_la_smoking_bomber-1024x576.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-04-04SMC ep 19 1.png">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-04-04sp3xhflvkz9ylsoqolwa.png">