Sailor Moon
The overarching villains for this first season of "Sailor Moon" are of course the Dark Kingdom, but it is broken down into smaller blocks each focusing on one of Beryl's lieutenants. With these two episodes, we end the Jadeite arc and meet Nephrite.
"Girls Unite: The End of Jadeite"
Usagi: "There's Cygnus. Saggitarius. Libra. The constellation of Motoki. The constellation of Tuxedo Mask. Hahaha. What am I saying? How could this happen to me? I've fallen for two different guys. What a flirt I've become."
Luna: [heavy sigh followed by a yawn] "Don't worry. they don't even notice you. Besides, your crushes are like bubbles. They only last a moment."
Queen Beryl is sick of Jadeite's excuses. He has one last chance to get rid of the Sailor Guardians or else he will go into eternal sleep. Jadeite appears in the sky over Tokyo, interrupting Usagi's romantic daydreams, and challenges the girls to a showdown at Haneda Airport. The girls have no choice to have a showdown with Jadeite. Will they be able to survive their biggest challenge yet?
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| You suck, Mamoru. |
I really love these two episodes. A lot of "Sailor Moon" episodes spend a lot of time spinning their wheels and even if they are entertaining, can feel like filler. That is definitely not the case for these episodes.
The episode starts out with a familiar scene between Beryl and Jadeite but ends with her delivering her ultimatum. Much like RuPaul after the season 7 Shakesqueer challenge, Beryl doesn't want to hear any more goddamned excuses. Jadeite knows that his time to get rid of the gals is running out so that is why he delivers his very public ultimatum, complete with a fake citywide fire. I love how even in anime when normies are faced with something they can't understand they immediately go to a hoax or a prank. But they are sending the police to Haneda Airport, just in case.
Even though some serious shit is going down, there are still plenty of opportunities for comedy. Like when Usagi is being levelheaded about her classmates going to the airport and encouraging them to study instead. Even Miss Haruna thinks that Usagi might be feeling ill. Then there is Usagi's meeting with Motoki who maybe flirts with her by saying he likes weird girls. This leads to another confrontation with Mamoru that leaves Usagi crying in the street after Mamoru insinuates that Motoki wouldn't want anything to do with Usagi. Amazing how men are undone by a crying woman.
The final confrontation with Jadeite and the Sailor Guardians is pretty cool. There is a pre-fight with some clay golems made to look like policemen then Jadeite takes over two airplanes and directs them at the girls, which is crazy but also pretty awesome. Then, Tuxedo Mask shows up. Ugh. And stops the planes with his rose? Or maybe distracts Jadeite so he stops controlling them. Tuxedo Mask is such a tool. I was really hoping that he actually drowned. Jadeite makes the mistake of shit talking women and the girls fully embrace feminism and kick his ass by combining their powers, sending him to his eternal sleep with Queen Beryl.
Can we talk about how Luna is so concerned with how much planes cost when Rei is going to use fire sol to blow one up? Like, so what? No one knows who they are. The airport is empty and the airline can afford a new plane. I feel like you're worrying about the wrong things here, gal.
That is a minor quibble for a great episode that brings Jadeite's arc to a close.
Grade: A
"A New Enemy Appears: Nephrite's Evil Crest"
Luna: "You know, I'm really glad that Ami and Rei are a part of the team. If it were just you, Usagi, I have a feeling the Dark Kingdom would have taken away all of humanities energy a long time ago.
Usagi: "What's that mean?"
Rei: "She means that maybe there was some sort of mix up with you becoming a Guardian."
Usagi: "What?! Come on! How can you guys say that?"
Ami: "I think you're both being too hard on Usagi"
Usagi: [hugging Ami tightly] "AMI! Oh thank you, Ami. You're the only one who really understands me!"
Queen Beryl tasks her new lieutenant, Nephrite, with the task of gathering energy. He's planning on getting all they need from just one person and he's set his sights on Rui Saionji, a tennis pro who is also like a sister to Naru. When Nephrite demonizes Rui's tennis racket she becomes overly aggressive and Naru shares her concerns with Usagi. Usagi sees this as an opportunity to fly solo and show Luna and Rei that Sailor Moon is an integral part of the team.
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| Zoisite is that bitch. |
This begins Nephrite's arc on "Sailor Moon" and it's one of my least favorite arcs in the entire season. If you've watched, you know what I'm talking about. I know there are fans out there who really enjoy it, but I am not one of that and you should be prepared now for a healthy amount of complaining and shitting on it. Just beware.
Nephrite is a tool. Like, Jadeite was bad, but Nephrite is walking, talking toxic masculinity. His long hair. The way he talks. He even drives a Ferrari when he's in his human disguise of Masoto Sanjouin. He probably has a tiny dick too. Plus did he just make that forest and run down church appear so he could do his weird, convoluted stargazing thing to pick someone to drain the energy from. Seriously. That is so dumb and of course Nephrite thought of it and he probably thinks he is being super clever. He waltzes on to the tennis court and mansplains how to play tennis to Rui, who has been playing it her entire life. What an asshat.
The only thing I enjoyed about Nephrite was that because of him we also meet Zoisite for the first time. Oh Zoisite. He's a dude in this new dub which is perfect. When DiC dubbed "Sailor Moon" in English they made Zoisite female because of his relationship with Kunzite and we couldn't have any gay stuff that children might see. Sigh. But here is Zoisite in his full bitchy glory, throwing shade and fucking with Nephrite before disappearing in a burst of flower petals. Work.
Usagi may get read for filth by Rei and Luna for being worthless, but she has a good showing this episode. She is empathetic to Naru. Listens to her concerns, realizes that this is no doubt the work of a youma and goes on her own to investigate. Sure she is partially doing it to rub it in Luna and Rei's faces later, but baby steps.
Sailor Moon goes after the youma, Tesuni who looks like she's cosplaying an 80's version of David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust. She encases Sailor Moon in a giant tennis ball and it's hilarious. Of course, Tuxedo Mask shows up and it's annoying. The whole point of this is to prove that Sailor Moon can handle herself and is an integral part of the team so maybe don't have him show up? But he does and they defeat the monster just as Luna, Mercury and Mars show up. Mars and Luna are impressed with Usagi, so alls well that ends well, I guess. Also, should Luna really be inferring that Usagi is worthless when she is just now finding out their enemy is the Dark Kingdom? And that's all. The name.
Grade: B+
Next up, Rei and Mamoru go on a date and Usagi has wedding bell blues.
How do we feel about the end of Jadeite? Are there others that hate the Nephrite arc as much as me? I'd love to hear from both camps in the comments.
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