Sailor Moon R
The Makai Tree arc is filler through and through, but at least it is giving each of the girls time to shine in episodes that feature them. It is one of the benefits of these filler arcs if they are done correctly. Let's see how Rei and Mako make out in their spotlight episodes.
"The School Festival Is for Me?! Queen Rei's Song"
Sailor Mars: "You ruined my concert and stole energy from my dear fans. Those are terrible crimes. So now, in the name of Mars, I'll chastise you!"
Rei is in charge of planning her school's festival and she's decided that it's the perfect way to showcase her many talents. She has written all the songs and will be performing them herself. The centerpiece of the festival is a concert performed by her. Ail and An catch wind of the festival and decide that is the perfect place to steal energy for the Makai Tree. Can Sailor Mars put a stop to this and protect her fans?
 |
| Best frenemies forever. |
I love this spotlight on Rei. So much of Rei's character has been her, we'll say, friendly rivalry with Usagi. So, it's nice to see how she acts away from the other Sailor Guardians and how people other than her react to her personality.
When Ami and Usagi go to check and see how Rei's doing, she is being exactly how you would expect Rei to be. She's bossing around her classmates. She is deriding them. She is treating them like they are her own personal servants. Ami and Usagi are surprised to find that Rei's classmates actually seem to... admire her bossy nature. Even when she's making them feel bad for lighting her like she works in a cabaret. Maybe it's because the girls don't know what she's talking about, so they don't realize they should feel like shit. Clearly, these girls are very naive, because they don't realize that while Rei does have a lot of qualities to admire, they maybe don't deserve to be condescended to and treated like shit all because Rei wants to have the spotlight.
Even though Ail and An are mainly looking to drain the festival goers, they got roped into it. The fashion club decide they'd be the perfect people to model their fashions based on aliens from outer space. Ail and An think that they've been found out but quickly realize what is going on. One of the funniest sequences in the episode is when Ail and An are modeling these "fashions" and how they react to all the attention they get. One great thing about Ail and An is that the show never takes them seriously. They are always meant to be ridiculous and are never super menacing, which I enjoy.
The aliens release the Cardian Siren to attack and the girls spring into action. Siren is like an evil version of Ariel who uses her hair to drain the Guardians energy. Even though Rei has already been drained she's able to transform into Sailor Mars and upgrades her attack to Fire Soul Bird which allows Sailor Moon to dispatch Siren.
Grade: B+
"Is Seijuro the Moonlight Knight? Mako Falls In Love"
Sailor Moon: "Stop right there!"
An: "Sailor Moon?!"
Sailor Moon: "How dare you ruin a young girl's date with a cute boy?! That sort of crime is truly unforgivable! Only a big huge oversized enormous pest would do that!"
Luna: "Says the person who was just about to do the same thing."
An: "A lower life form like you calling me a pest?! You need to learn your place girl."
Sailor Moon: "Yeah?! I'm Sailor Moon. And in the name of the moon -- [interrupted with An's attack.]
The Sailor Guardians are determined to figure out who the Moonlight Knight really is. When they hear Ail playing his flute, they think that he might be the one. Mako gets a fast crush and decides to try to figure it out herself even though Ami rules him out pretty quickly. An becomes extremely jealous and attacks Mako. Can Sailor Moon save Mako?
 |
| Octopus sausages... yum... |
I am sure you have gathered from reading my past "Sailor Moon R" recaps that I really hate the Moonlight Knight. Like, I hate him more than I hate Tuxedo Mask. At least, Tuxedo Mask has a point. He's Mamoru Chiba, the reincarnated love of Princess Serenity and Usagi's boyfrined. I think he's relatively useless and unnecessary, but I've accepted him. I refuse to accept the Moonlight Knight. He's a worse version of Tuxedo Mask and is super culturally insensitive so an episode that's main plot is trying to decipher his identity isn't really my cup of tea. That being said, the focus being on Mako really saves this episode for me.
Mako is great. A super strong character who is tempered by her desire to love and continuously comparing every boy she kind of likes to the guy who broke her heart. These connections are tenuous at best and I love when the show points that out. When Mako says that the Moonlight Knight saying "Adieu" reminds her of the boy who broke her heart, Ami is quick to point out that she didn't realize he spoke French. Mako is quick to sort of downplay this once it's pointed out and you get the feeling that she realizes she is being ridiculous.
I love how this episodes focuses on food and how important it is in Japanese culture. Many girls have made Ail disguised as Seijuro lunches because they want to show him that they have a crush on him, which he doesn't get because he's an alien. Plus, you know, he doesn't eat human food. I'm choosing to ignore the increasingly creepy stalking Umino is doing with Naru. Apparently he's making her lunch every day and even though she still doesn't seem to really like him, she keeps accepting them and eating them. Mako makes food for the people she cares about so it makes sense that is how she ends up connecting with Seijuro. And seriously, who doesn't love octopus sausages. They are amazing and so freaking cute.
The rest of the episode is kind of paint by numbers. The constant jealousy is beginning to grate on me and the pseudo incest jokes are kind of tired. I did think this episode's Cardian, Utonberino, pretty entertaining and I love how it fit the food theme, with it's body decked out in giant pieces of tempura and using seaweed to wrap up the Guardians. We are introduced to Sailor Jupiter's new ultimate attack, Supreme Thunder Dragon. But in the end, the girls are no closer to deciphering the true identity of the Moonlight Knight.
Grade: B
Next up, An stages a production of Snow White to get close to Mamoru and then Ail, sick of fighting for An's attention, decides to attack Mamoru directly.
What do you think of these episodes and the Makai Tree arc, in general. Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment