Sailor Moon Crystal Act 14 Review :: Conclusion and Commencement -Petite Etrangere-
Welcome back to our ongoing reviews of Sailor Moon Crystal! In this installment, the Black Moon arc officially begins! But… if you’re looking for a climactic final battle, you may want to look elsewhere. This episode makes me wish the animators didn’t take Takeuchi-sensei’s work quite so literally. Nonetheless, Serenity & Endymion are finally reunited, which is pretty “aww”-inducing. Don’t forget to watch if you haven’t already!
This episode begins with a brief recap; because, you know, we forget that Sailor Moon makes speeches and poses before she attacks. Finally, she builds up energy and aims her attack at Metalia’s forehead.
But Metalia is unfazed by the onslaught. Hang on to this minor second of uncertainty, folks, because it’s the only “edge-of-our-seat action” we’ll get. See, Sailor Moon just needs to combine the powers of her fallen senshi, mind-meld with her cat, and…erm…pray harder to defeat Metalia. With these powers combined, Metalia is rendered to dust.
However, we did get a brief glimpse of Luna is in her human form, which was pretty rad. We’ll ignore the fact that Artemis referred to it as a “divine” form and not her original form on Planet Mau. Shhh- spoilers.
Sailor Moon spends all her energy on Metalia and her brooch explodes. She falls to the ground in a heap of awkward animation. Tuxedo Mask rushes to her side, finds her body cold, and doing what every good prince does, plants a kiss on the lips of his sleeping princess.
Nope. Don’t care that she was unconscious. IT WAS CUTE AND PERFECT, DAMNIT!
The two have a tearful reunion as Serenity/Usako/Sailor Moon and Endymion/Mamo-chan/Tuxedo Mask. Makes you wonder how they single out a name to call one another – there are a lot to choose from. It was pretty cute though, not gonna lie.
A short while later, Usagi panics as she realizes that her friends are nowhere to be found. Mamoru assures her that he can find them, as he unleashes his own secret Cerebro power to scan the earth for the missing senshi. He eventually locates their fallen forms, causing Usagi to worry about their fate.
At this point, Luna telepathically pops in, telling Usagi not to worry and to come to the moon. While Usagi protests that she won’t be able to due to her loss of henshin, and Luna assures her it will be fine thanks to her power-up. Turns out Luna is correct, and Usagi easily teleports herself and Mamoru to the Moon Castle.
Upon arrival, the couple is a amazed that Sailor Moon’s power restored the Moon Kingdom to it’s original state. Luna proudly announces that Usagi is now the new Queen Serenity and master of the castle. Usagi politely refuses the offer. It’s a return to form for the Sailor Moon we know and love – she states that while she may be Serenity, she’s Usagi Tsukino, too.
But not you, original Mom. We’re done here.
The OG Queen Serenity hologram returns to wish her daughter the best. And at this point, I feel incredibly sorry for the late queen. She hardly gets any screen time, and all we know about her is that she holds such immense love for her daughter. Yet this daughter has been reborn to another mother, and seemingly has no need for the woman who originally birthed her and made her rebirth possible. It just seems like such a tragic story, as Usagi never even calls her “Mom,” only “Queen.”
As a last gift to her daughter, Queen Serenity leaves behind a new henshin brooch for Usagi. Usagi transforms into Sailor Moon, and then makes her standard speech for no apparent reason. After all, no enemy is there, and the only people present already know who she is. Nonetheless, Sailor Moon unleashes “Moon Healing Escalation” to heal the earth of the damage caused by Metalia and bring her fallen comrades back to life.
The senshi have a tearful reunion, happy to have all come away unscathed. Though I think the reunion between Minako and her longtime partner, Artemis was far more heartfelt. Perhaps because the two of them had better character establishment as a team in the few short scenes in which they were featured in than the senshi did all season.
Life then returns to normal: the girls return to school, Usagi forgets her homework, and Rei fulfills her typecast role as “premonitionist.” After this brief foreshadow into the Dark Moon arc, Usagi and Mamoru meet in the park to finally exchange the items stolen from one another. While sharing this sweet moment, the sky opens up to drop a pink-odango-haired girl onto the scene. The fall knocks Usagi on her face while the girl plants a kiss on Mamoru – something we get an unnecessary close-up of.
Oh, Chibiusa. Is this the source of your horrifically awkward Electra complex?
The mysterious girl petulantly introduces herself as Usagi, and demands to know why Usagi wears her hair in odangos. Usagi indignantly delcares that she’s Usagi Tsukino and this new girl needs to explain herself.
This prompts the mystery child to pull a gun from nowhere, aim it at Usagi’s head, and demand she hand over the Legendary Silver Crystal. …And cut.
That’s the episode, folks: a lackluster final confrontation with Metalia, ending with a cliffhanger where Usagi is held at gunpoint. While the episode covered Takeuchi-sensei’s original work pretty closely, it would have been far better if the animation team deviated from the source and more clearly defined the end of the Dark Kingdom arc and start of the Black Moon arc. Instead, we’re left with a messy in-between episode, unsure of its focus.
Seriously, with as schizophrenic as this episode was, I had a hard time deciding what moment mattered enough to choose as the feature thumbnail. Should I have focused on Sailor Moon’s defeat of Metalia, her reunion with Endymion, the revival of the moon kingdom, or this new mystery child? A lot happened with no apparent progression.
However, we still look forward, dear Moonies. Watch for the continuation of the Black Moon arc on February 7! And here’s to hoping I won’t be as annoyed by Chibiusa this time around.
