Okay damn Crystal this is the best episode you’ve had since like Act 5 so I have thoughts beyond angry screaming. (In fact, my overall impression is good. I really like this episode).
First off, the bad:
- The events of the previous episode were ignored. WHICH IS KIND OF A GOOD THING, but in terms of consistency and continuity, no gold star for you, Crystal
- The Senshi were once again all struck down except for Moon. But I finally realized that I think this is more of an animation-based problem than a writing one. Crystal animators have problems with movement, which is probably a budget issue more than anything, and so they then to only have people move when it’s ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY (the scene in the beginning when Usagi’s walking down the street made this really obvious to me). The animators use the senshi getting struck down as an excuse to make them stay still, which didn’t make sense here since they weren’t badly hurt.
I mean, Venus and Mercury are literally just sitting there. It doesn’t make sense that no one’s gotten up. So this bothers me, but less than in other episodes.
- WE HAD FOUR FULL TRANSFORMATIONS AND THREE STOCK SPEECHES. REALLY CRYSTAL? They could have used the time for more character work instead (more time in Ami’s apartment!! More of the girls interacting casually!!). I understand Usagi’s transformation being there, with the different music it made an impact. But the girls’ speeches felt out of place, and there was no reason not to do a split screen of all three or AT LEAST edit them together (really, I wish we were getting more abbreviated transformations, but oh well).
BUT THE GOOD. OH GOD THE GOOD.
- THE SENSHI HAVE PERSONALITIES. I made a post about that already but OH MY GOD. This is the first time since their introduction episodes that they came through for me. REI FELT LIKE REI.
- REI
- REI PUTTING HER HANDS ON HER HIPS BECAUSE OF USAGI’S SHIT
USAGI PLEASE
- BUT ALSO MINAKO
- AND THEN EVERYONE
LOOK AT THEM.
- Not going to use screencaps for this one, but IT FOLLOWED THE MANGA ON MAKO CONFRONTING ENDO AND MOTOKI. It’s such a great moment for Mako because she’s just like FUCK YOU FOR MESSING WITH MY FRIEND’S HEAD. And that’s a huge important part of Kino Makoto.
- And Ami was cute and in love with Usagi. ~Look at her sleeping~ Thank you for that pure adoration
- I have mixed feelings about this, but wow they did an awesome job with Usagi and Luna’s relationship. I was about crying over it. The problem for me is that Usagi and Luna’s relationship feels stronger than literally every other relationship in the show, and that really shouldn’t be the case. But since they did start doing better in this episode, I don’t feel as badly about it as i might have.
- THE FIGHT SCENE. Crystal has had some pretty epic fights, but this one felt like more than big attacks. I think it really helped that there was an objective besides we-gotta-kill-this-dude-the-writiers-won’t-let-us-kill. The girls were CLEVER and BEHAVED LIKE INDIVIDUALS (hello Hino “I’m just going to kick the fuck out of this dude” Rei) And the reveal of Beryl made the senshi’s falls make sense.
- AND SPEAKING OF BERYL. When do I not love Crystal Beryl? She is always perfection. Her lines about Serenity and herself are perfectly written and delivered.
SO I REALLY LOVE THIS EPISODE. It wasn’t perfect, but holy shit it was so much better than what we’ve been getting. Part of that I think is due to it mostly sticking to the manga, but there’s also some strong new writing (Minako’s line about being suspicious is an instance I noticed).
One thing I’m curious about: The one thing that got left out from the manga is the discussion about their memories. I’m wondering if they’d planned on having that in (possibly even animated it) with a mention of Senshi/Shitennou, but got backlash over Act 10 and so left it out (and possibly that’s why we got the transformations and speeches). I’m curious about the behind the scenes stuff anyway, though, because this episode felt like it had a ot more care put into it.
SittingOverHereDreaming 