<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/2015-05-18SMC cover 4.jpg">
<b>Review of Sailor Moon Crystal - Episodes 20 - 22 Streaming by darkstorm</b>
The remaining Sailor Guardians are now in the future and learn the truth about the mysterious Chibi-Usa; that she is the future daughter of Usagi and Mamoru, princess of the Silver Millennium in Crystal Tokyo. Before they can recover from the revelation, they come under attack by the Black Moon, who kidnap Sailor Moon and hold her at their base on Planet Nemesis for Prince Demande’s dark desires. As the remaining members try to find a way to get her back, Chibi-Usa’s suppressed fears and turmoil lead her to run off into the labyrinth of the time-space dimension without Sailor Pluto’s key, and straight into the arms of Wiseman.<br>
Time travel is always a tricky element to add to any series as it’s so easy to get things wrong either in continuity or how a new timeline is supposed to go, never mind the implications of going about it. Sadly <em>Sailor Moon</em> <em>Crystal</em> is not a fantastic example of getting it right as there are many things that are either brought up and never mentioned again, or just left ignored. The obvious one is in Episode 20 when Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask start to disappear as they have stayed near their future selves for too long. This is never brought up again across the future episodes, despite staying in the future for the majority of the action. Also, notwithstanding Pluto’s major objection to Sailor Moon and her gang crossing across space and time in Episode 19, this is followed by her being very relaxed about it thereafter. Future King Endymion did ask for her grace, and in this version it seems to suggest she has a soft spot for the King, but still the whole process of crossing from one time to another is waved off like they’re just popping out to get bread from the local store.<br>
At the beginning of this chunk of episodes, Usagi is still hung up on the attention Mamoru reserves for Chibi-Usa, despite the gained knowledge of why he would absolutely put her above others since she is their daughter. In the moment, her selfish immature emotions are silly to watch, in hindsight however you can see where her rash reaction to events comes from. In the first arc she was forced to remember her past life as a helpless Princess of a destroyed Kingdom and to come to terms with the threat that literally devastated her home, coming back for round two. Before she’s had the chance to catch her breath and move on from her centuries' old enemy, she’s now forced to deal with a wealth of knowledge that she’ll become Queen of a future Kingdom, continue to protect the Legendary Silver Crystal that not only impacts her but everyone on the planet, fight off countless waves of enemies that wish to destroy her, her friends, etc and to top it all off, she has a daughter who’s stuck in a young body and relies on her mother to protect her and everyone in the future. It’s no wonder that to cope with the motherload of all info dumps she chooses to focus on the small girl who’s taken her boyfriend’s attention away because it’s seemingly easier to handle in the grand scheme of things. Usagi hasn’t had a chance to be <em>herself</em> in the time she’s been Sailor Moon so far, she been forced to be her past or future self, especially in Episode 21 when the sole reason for her capture is due to Demande’s obsession with the Queen. This all comes together in the same episode when she realises her own faults and takes action to find her friends. It comes to a beautiful visual conclusion in Episode 22 when she finally draws on her own inner strength and her future self to blast her way back to herself and her loved ones, tapping into a power she never felt before because the Legendary Silver Crystal relies on her strength of heart. All of these revelations could be backed up by stronger writing and a less convoluted reason to kick off said emotions, but the pay-off in the end is worth it, seeing Sailor Moon blasting her way through enemies with her own power and coming together with her Senshi will never get boring.<br>
Chibi-Usa’s character development continues to be one of the series’ highlights and the true face of her sorrow comes full force in Episode 21 when the viewer is granted flashbacks to her growing up as the daughter of the most powerful woman in the universe. Although her problems largely stem from having to remain in the body of a small child, her fears of never living up to her mother’s name or having the power to help others is very relatable and emotionally handled, with future Usagi presumably out of the picture for a lot of the time. This is understandable since she’s Queen but it must be terrible for Chibi-Usa to grow up in such conditions. Her decision to run off into the unknown is just after an adorable scene where Pluto first teaches her the ‘abracadabra’ spell. It’s amazing how little screen time these two have together, but the chemistry is spot-on each time. In Episode 21 we get an interesting contrast where both mother and daughter are going through a crisis of self-doubt, seeing themselves as powerless against the greatest forces of darkness, and then choosing opposite paths to solve the problem. Sailor Moon draws the power out of herself and her trapped future self to finally see the light, overcome her personal childish issues and shine more brightly with stronger magic than ever before, whereas Chibi-Usa ends up drawing power from a complete stranger who seems to offer her the world and more, for much less effort.<br>
<em>Crystal</em> gets a lot of insults flung its way in regards to animation quality, and these episodes don’t do anything to change that impression but let’s throw a few bones its way by saying that the designs of the castle in Crystal Tokyo and Nemesis are nicely detailed, although it’s a shame we only get to see a small chunk of each. Also, grown-up Chibi-Usa is stunning; her one close up in Episode 21 shows a very beautiful woman in the making, with fantastic bone structure. The Black Lady character design is mostly hiding behind shadows for Episode 22, but we should get the full gorgeous reveal next time.<br>
Voice acting has been consistently good across the board for the series but Episode 22 has some fantastic examples of voices making the best of a so-so script. Wiseman goes from being quite creepy to borderline hilarious while laughing manically, but Hiroshi Iwasaki’s performance prevents it from being a outright laughable or making the audience unable to fear him as a antagonist. Misato Fukuen sounds like she’s having a blast being bad as Black Lady, and the voice of future Neo Queen Serenity immediately demands attention for the sole line she’s given; Kotono Mitsuishi knows how to sound like a Queen, and the weight of her voice just knocked it out of the park.<br>
Pacing and animation issues continue to plague <em>Sailor Moon Crystal</em> but with the given material, the Black Moon arc is shaping up to be much stronger throughout, tapping into the best aspects of Sailor Moon and giving fans what they wanted from the start; a faithful, enjoyable <em>Sailor Moon </em>anime. Only four episodes to go, let’s keep it up Toei! <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: 7 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-05-18ep 20-1.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-05-18ep 22-3.png">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-05-18ep 21-2.png">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-05-18ep 21-1.png">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-05-18ep 22-2.PNG">
<b>Review of Sailor Moon Crystal - Episodes 20 - 22 Streaming by darkstorm</b>
The remaining Sailor Guardians are now in the future and learn the truth about the mysterious Chibi-Usa; that she is the future daughter of Usagi and Mamoru, princess of the Silver Millennium in Crystal Tokyo. Before they can recover from the revelation, they come under attack by the Black Moon, who kidnap Sailor Moon and hold her at their base on Planet Nemesis for Prince Demande’s dark desires. As the remaining members try to find a way to get her back, Chibi-Usa’s suppressed fears and turmoil lead her to run off into the labyrinth of the time-space dimension without Sailor Pluto’s key, and straight into the arms of Wiseman.<br>
Time travel is always a tricky element to add to any series as it’s so easy to get things wrong either in continuity or how a new timeline is supposed to go, never mind the implications of going about it. Sadly <em>Sailor Moon</em> <em>Crystal</em> is not a fantastic example of getting it right as there are many things that are either brought up and never mentioned again, or just left ignored. The obvious one is in Episode 20 when Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask start to disappear as they have stayed near their future selves for too long. This is never brought up again across the future episodes, despite staying in the future for the majority of the action. Also, notwithstanding Pluto’s major objection to Sailor Moon and her gang crossing across space and time in Episode 19, this is followed by her being very relaxed about it thereafter. Future King Endymion did ask for her grace, and in this version it seems to suggest she has a soft spot for the King, but still the whole process of crossing from one time to another is waved off like they’re just popping out to get bread from the local store.<br>
At the beginning of this chunk of episodes, Usagi is still hung up on the attention Mamoru reserves for Chibi-Usa, despite the gained knowledge of why he would absolutely put her above others since she is their daughter. In the moment, her selfish immature emotions are silly to watch, in hindsight however you can see where her rash reaction to events comes from. In the first arc she was forced to remember her past life as a helpless Princess of a destroyed Kingdom and to come to terms with the threat that literally devastated her home, coming back for round two. Before she’s had the chance to catch her breath and move on from her centuries' old enemy, she’s now forced to deal with a wealth of knowledge that she’ll become Queen of a future Kingdom, continue to protect the Legendary Silver Crystal that not only impacts her but everyone on the planet, fight off countless waves of enemies that wish to destroy her, her friends, etc and to top it all off, she has a daughter who’s stuck in a young body and relies on her mother to protect her and everyone in the future. It’s no wonder that to cope with the motherload of all info dumps she chooses to focus on the small girl who’s taken her boyfriend’s attention away because it’s seemingly easier to handle in the grand scheme of things. Usagi hasn’t had a chance to be <em>herself</em> in the time she’s been Sailor Moon so far, she been forced to be her past or future self, especially in Episode 21 when the sole reason for her capture is due to Demande’s obsession with the Queen. This all comes together in the same episode when she realises her own faults and takes action to find her friends. It comes to a beautiful visual conclusion in Episode 22 when she finally draws on her own inner strength and her future self to blast her way back to herself and her loved ones, tapping into a power she never felt before because the Legendary Silver Crystal relies on her strength of heart. All of these revelations could be backed up by stronger writing and a less convoluted reason to kick off said emotions, but the pay-off in the end is worth it, seeing Sailor Moon blasting her way through enemies with her own power and coming together with her Senshi will never get boring.<br>
Chibi-Usa’s character development continues to be one of the series’ highlights and the true face of her sorrow comes full force in Episode 21 when the viewer is granted flashbacks to her growing up as the daughter of the most powerful woman in the universe. Although her problems largely stem from having to remain in the body of a small child, her fears of never living up to her mother’s name or having the power to help others is very relatable and emotionally handled, with future Usagi presumably out of the picture for a lot of the time. This is understandable since she’s Queen but it must be terrible for Chibi-Usa to grow up in such conditions. Her decision to run off into the unknown is just after an adorable scene where Pluto first teaches her the ‘abracadabra’ spell. It’s amazing how little screen time these two have together, but the chemistry is spot-on each time. In Episode 21 we get an interesting contrast where both mother and daughter are going through a crisis of self-doubt, seeing themselves as powerless against the greatest forces of darkness, and then choosing opposite paths to solve the problem. Sailor Moon draws the power out of herself and her trapped future self to finally see the light, overcome her personal childish issues and shine more brightly with stronger magic than ever before, whereas Chibi-Usa ends up drawing power from a complete stranger who seems to offer her the world and more, for much less effort.<br>
<em>Crystal</em> gets a lot of insults flung its way in regards to animation quality, and these episodes don’t do anything to change that impression but let’s throw a few bones its way by saying that the designs of the castle in Crystal Tokyo and Nemesis are nicely detailed, although it’s a shame we only get to see a small chunk of each. Also, grown-up Chibi-Usa is stunning; her one close up in Episode 21 shows a very beautiful woman in the making, with fantastic bone structure. The Black Lady character design is mostly hiding behind shadows for Episode 22, but we should get the full gorgeous reveal next time.<br>
Voice acting has been consistently good across the board for the series but Episode 22 has some fantastic examples of voices making the best of a so-so script. Wiseman goes from being quite creepy to borderline hilarious while laughing manically, but Hiroshi Iwasaki’s performance prevents it from being a outright laughable or making the audience unable to fear him as a antagonist. Misato Fukuen sounds like she’s having a blast being bad as Black Lady, and the voice of future Neo Queen Serenity immediately demands attention for the sole line she’s given; Kotono Mitsuishi knows how to sound like a Queen, and the weight of her voice just knocked it out of the park.<br>
Pacing and animation issues continue to plague <em>Sailor Moon Crystal</em> but with the given material, the Black Moon arc is shaping up to be much stronger throughout, tapping into the best aspects of Sailor Moon and giving fans what they wanted from the start; a faithful, enjoyable <em>Sailor Moon </em>anime. Only four episodes to go, let’s keep it up Toei! <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: 7 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-05-18ep 20-1.jpg">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-05-18ep 22-3.png">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-05-18ep 21-2.png">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-05-18ep 21-1.png">
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2015-05-18ep 22-2.PNG">