Sailor Moon
For an early '90's teen girl anime, "Sailor Moon" takes a relatively slow burn approach to its main love story. Sure, Sailor Moon immediately has the hots for Tuxedo Mask, but Usagi Tsukino and Mamoru Chiba have a hate/hate relationship for quite a while. But we start to see a bit of a thaw here.
"Crushing on Ami: The Boy Who Can See the Future"
Sailor Moon: "That's enough..."
Sailor Mercury: "Zoisite!"
Sailor Moon: "As long as the moon shines in the sky, no evil deed will go unpunished! I am the Pretty Guardian who fights for love and for justice. I am Sailor Moon!"
Sailor Mercury: "And I am Sailor Mercury! Let that boy go!"
There is a new transfer student, Ryo Urawa, and he is coming for Ami's spot at the top of the class. He is also coming for her heart. It turns out Ryo met Ami at a cram school and immediately was smitten. Usagi picks up on this right away and decides to play matchmaker... for better or for worse. Ryo is not only Ami's rival and possibly crush, he's the newest great monster that Zoisite is going to awaken. Ryo has seen the future and it doesn't look good. Can Sailor Mercury prove that no fate is fact?
 |
| Into food porn? |
As the rest of the Sailor Guardians show up, the show finds a way to juggle it's ever growing supporting cast. And that way is to split one of the girls off with a personal story that also involves Usagi. In this episode, it's Ami's turn here and you get to see her deal with love, a subject that doesn't usually come up for the girl genius very often.
Ryo is a decent foil for Ami. He is on her level intellectually and seems to admire her more for that more than anything else. I love how he thinks he is being sneaky about his crush on her, but Usagi sees through him right away. Usagi is such a horrible matchmaker, but she definitely thinks she is killing it. It is kind of creepy how she gives him that unflattering picture of Ami eating a hamburger. Like, why would Usagi think that Ami would be cool with that? And I don't like how eagerly Ryo accepts it. Come on, my dude. That is not gentlemanly. At least she wasn't eating a hot dog, I guess.
We get into the action pretty quickly here. Ami and Usagi transform before the break. Of course Ryo is this week's great monster housing the yellow rainbow crystal. They throw in a little twist with Ryo being able to see the future and fighting his transformation. I'm not sure if we needed Ryo to be prescient and it feels like a throwaway. Like, is this because he is a great monster? Is it a coincidence? Is it just so he can have an unnecessary vision of cutting Sailor Mercury's clothes off? I think Mercury and Ryo have a nice rapport in a short amount of time. Their conversation about fate doesn't re-invent the wheel but it's still effective.
In the end, Ryo takes off, admits that he used his premonitions to do better than Ami on the test and she gives him a good picture of her to remember her by. All's well that ends well.
Grade: B+
"The Painting of Love: Usagi and Mamoru Get Closer"
Sailor Moon: "Hold it right there, Zoisite! I won't let you take Yumemi away! Trying to destroy her dreams is unforgivable! I am the Pretty Guardian who fights for love and for justice! I am Sailor Moon. Now, in the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"
Zoisite: "Don't you ever get tired of making that same old speech? Veena, destroy her!"
Naru takes Usagi to an art exhibition of the paintings of Yumemi Yumeno. Yumemi has become very famous for her paintings of love and for the fact that no one has seen what she looks like, aside from her self portraits. Yumemi is lacking in inspiration until she sees Mamoru and Usagi and convinces them to pose for her. Her portraits resemble the dreams that they are both having. Does Yumemi know something about their past they don't? And when Zoisite shows up to unleash the great monster within Yumemi can Usagi put her feelings for Tuxedo Mask aside and save her new friend?
 |
| You suck! |
One thing I forgot to mention in the last episode but is relevant for this one as well is that Rei and Mamoru are still dating. I forget this every time until I see them together. Rei fawning over Mamoru and Mamoru looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. Why doesn't he just break up with her? Is he afraid of her? I don't blame him, but it's just so strange. How does Rei not notice that he is completely uninterested in what they are doing or what she has to say when they are together.
This "Sailor Moon"s "She's All That" episode where they try to convince people that a girl is hideously unattractive because she wears glasses, has a ponytail and is a brunette. I get having low self esteem and I appreciate Usagi being a cheerleader for her and immediately making best friends with her, as Usagi do. But I'm not sure it makes up for Usagi thinking that Yumemi is actually really ugly when Naru and Umino tell her that Yumemi has never seen in public. Yumemi does hear her and I can't imagine it does anything good for her already shaky self image.
This is really the first episode where Usagi and Mamoru interact just the two of them for an extended period in their civilian identities. I have to say, this iteration of their relationship is my favorite. The antagonism. Usagi razzing Mamoru every chance she gets. Telling him to fuck off when he asks why she's acting so weird. I wish more of this would have carried over after they are an official couple. This kind of carries over to the relationship between Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask at the end. Sailor Moon saves him for a change but she has to come to terms with the fact they may be enemies when he says he will take the rainbow crystals they have from them if he gets a chance.
The rest of the episode is pretty standard. Yumemi is a great monster housing the green rainbow crystal which Zoisite actually gets away with. The show inches closer to the reveal of every one's true identities. Usagi proves she was a terrible choice for leader by losing the Moon Stick and Umino sets his stalker sights on Naru instead of Usagi.
Grade: B
Next up, Mako and Usagi go after Motoki even though he has a girlfriend and Rei's grandpa gets a helper at the shrine.
I want to hear what you all think! Drop a line in the comments if you're so inclined.
No comments:
Post a Comment