Sailor Moon-Episodes 40-46 (Complete)
Well, I think I enjoyed this a bit more than I expected to. As I thought, the monster of the week formula wore quite thin, but it pulled through on the strength of it's incredibly likable cast of characters, as well as the over arching story. Despite being Monster of the Week, the formula changed several times throughout the series, to keep things just fresh enough to not be totally stale, which was very appreciated, but the highlights for me where still the times when they drop that in favour of doing something more unique, which were normally the more main plot centric episodes. Although I did find the age gaps a little odd, I also really loved the romance here too. It'd have been easy to have portrayed love in a very idealistic way, and in some ways they do, but stuff like Rei/Usagi/Mamoru triangle and the Minako backstory show that it doesn't always work out, which surpassed my expectations. Something else I really wasn't expecting was that ending. Having watched Madoka Magica well before any Magical Girl shows (Kind of a mistake, I know), I can now see where it might have gotten its inspiration for the incredible bittersweet finale. It wasn't as powerful or moving as Madoka to me personally, mostly by virtue of knowing there's many follow up series, so none of the status quo changes are permanent, but if I was watching or reading the manga as it released, this ending might have had me in bits.
Anyway, I doubt I'll be watching Sailor Moon R any time soon to prevent franchise fatigue, kinda like Bleach, but I am quite looking forward to it. My only hope is they change up the basic formula a bit, but I'm not exactly holding my breath on that one.
