Sailor Moon Crystal Episode 9 [ Serenity ]

This episode is a perfect adaptation of the truth being revealed- Mamoru remembers as he is dying from a direct hit that he used to be named Endymion. In fact, the woman in his memories that he recalls. . .he suddenly realizes is Usagi. He was reborn in this time solely to meet her. The feelings that this very short introductory scene evoked were unbearable. How can an anime make me feel so much? Oh, right, the original did too. This revelation is the cause of my tears and feels since I was . . .how old was I? I think I was 6 when I saw it. You have to understand, I have been watching Sailor Moon since I’ve had memories. The feelings this evoked were just . . . hngh.

The main of losing Mamoru causes Usagi to shriek out in despair, and as she does her true identity is revealed along with the Legendary Silver Crystal. Usagi is Princess Serenity, and all her friends are shocked to see. Yet you know what’s nice? None of this, oh, that loser is the Moon Princess? That you get from the original anime dub. I know bringing up that dub is a long since dead horse, but come on original anime. You killed me with your inability to let her friends seem genuine. Minako’s moon crescent becomes the sign for Venus.

This whole episode is just covered in feelings! Usagi can’t bare the loss of Mamoru, who she realizes is Endymion, and uses the Crystal to try and save him. Because of that Queen Beryl kidnaps him thinking that he has the crystal. While the crystal is no longer shining, it is clearly in Usagi’s hands. The trauma of remember Mamoru’s death and seeing his body being carted off sends her into spays of nightmares, as she cries and pleads with Minako, who has no idea, where he is. Luna also feels guilty that she put such a burden on Usagi without realizing she was the true Princess and that she never had faith in her.

What was very heartwarming to me is that yes, Usagi feels this way. She is heartbroken. She’s a young girl who only wants to fall in love. Objectively speaking I can remember those days. Someone I really liked rejected me in the most obscenely subtle way for the fifteenth time, we were friends so he never thought it would be a good idea to just say no which would have been, and I can remember crying and feeling alone. I had some friends if not many, but that just didn’t occur to me. When you’re that age, you have so little understanding of yourself and your feelings. Now imagine the guy you’re falling in love with at 14 is actually your soul mate and you remember seeing him die in front of you. How anyone can critisize Usagi for sobbing and crying over that is beyond me.

But what’s so great about it? What’s so heartwarming? Her friends are all there for her. She doesn’t push them away. They cut her magically growing hair, they comfort her, and they remind her that she isn’t just Serenity- she is Usagi. They all need her smile and her strength. Then they have a really heartwarming hug and she thanks them all. If anything, the friendship in this series feels so much more strong and connected than it originally did. They seriously just hugged it out.

Ah, so many parts of this episode tugged at my heart strings. The four generals recognizing Mamoru but not knowing who he is. Every character’s conflict, Usagi’s pain but ability to cope. I love this anime adaptation and I wish everyone could enjoy it as much as I do. When I’m watching I can always forget things that upset me and pretend everything is okay. So few things in my life do that for me. The only thing that brings me stress about this show is I genuinely do not like the new dub being created and it hurts me to know I’ll never get to enjoy the show in English like I always wanted to.

Though this does lead me to a discussion I feel needs to be had after Usagi was ‘weak’ this episode.

Honestly? I feel like if you do not like how Usagi is in Crystal, you just don’t like Usagi. In every single adaptation she has, the moment Mamoru is in danger she finds herself lost to sorrow. Like many, in Crystal her friends help her overcome it. If you’re expecting Usagi to not care about Mamoru as much as she does her friends, you are grossly misinterpreting the character. There is no world, period, where Usagi is not so madly in love with Mamoru that is changes what she does. In the original anime it didn’t matter that they fought hard to get the rainbow crystals, it was Usagi’s sorrow at Mamoru being injured that revealed the crystal. The ‘friend’ episodes people seem to be so steamed aren’t here anymore usually served to simply mock the bad parts of Usagi and overplay that her friends were just putting up with her. Some episodes even implied that she was a stupid Queen who couldn’t write back to her past self, half the time Rei was butchered as a character and served only as a foil to the love plot that everyone seems to despise, and ultimately only a few of the exponential additions really served to show Usagi was having fun with her friends. Everytime in Crystal Usagi interacts with her friends she is loving, kind, and accepting.

If you’ve somehow got it in your head that the quality of these moments is usurped by the gross misconstrued quantity in the original anime, you’re being blinded by nostalgia. There is no form ever in which Usagi does not respond the way she does this episode to the temporary loss she endures. Furthermore, it is not weak to love someone so thoroughly you feel the way she does. When watching Sailor Moon please remember that being a strong woman doesn’t mean you don’t feel, you don’t get beaten down, you don’t love, and you don’t depend on others. No, the point is the opposite- Usagi is one of the strongest anime characters ever and she goes through all of those things. Her Crystal iteration is not an exception, and in fact a superior (I STRONGLY feel that way) iteration of the character she was written to be. So basically? I think if you somehow manage to twist all the episodes of Crystal into somehow resembling that she is a whiney empty character only in love, you are epically missing the point of Sailor Moon.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying you are wrong to prefer any version of Usagi. Like whichever you want! Thus far, despite my hideous nostalgia boner and partially due to the fact that I genuinely cannot enjoy the new dub actor who plays Usagi (wish I could), I prefer Crystal. As a child seeing the moments of Usagi being a downright loser were charming, but as I grew older they’re not anymore. I don’t want to see the episodes where she screams and dodges every attack and wears a bandana to spy on a tea ceremony anymore. What I am saying here now is all the hatred that is being spewed for this adaptation is completely unjustified. You are literally just disliking something that is showing, without fillers, exactly what the original anime showed. This IS Usagi, and you gotta deal with it. You can’t just whine and say ‘wow this weakling isn’t Usagi’ because while your opinion of her being weak is certainly up to you and something you are justified in feeling for your own reasons, she is certainly Usagi. This is the Usagi Naoko wrote, that the original anime made, and that all of us have adored. Liking one Usagi means liking them all, because they are literally the same person. You don’t have to like one version the same of course, but saying one is a got tier hero while another is some whiner you want to kick in the mud is just ridiculous. But when a character in all forms boils down to, goofy lazy student who turns out to be a magic warrior, falls in love with a guy who turns out to be her lover in a past life, angsts over said guy, struggles to fight even though she doesn’t believe in herself, loses everything but then uses her inner strength to win. . . in each and every adaptation, all you can complain about is how she is represented – not the character. So if you like Usagi, please keep in mind that what she does in this episode is a mirror of every other adaptation.

As always, people are free to comment with complaints or other feelings. I love a good discussion, but insulting something that is how the story was meant to be portrayed is pointless. Yelling that this is a terrible adaptation with no real grounds gets us nowhere. I think each and every one of us should be happy that we’ve gotten so far in this fandom that there are so many stinking adaptations to complain about. That’s what’s great about this show- it means so much to all of us and should bring us together. Nasty opinions, and not simple disagreements between fans, have essentially undone the entire point of the community. This whole series is about the strength and closeness of Usagi and her friends, her husband, and even her daughter. Try not to forget that Sailor Moon community, we are meant to right wrongs and punish evil.

Two weeks time. . .the senshi will go to the moon. Can we wait that long?

Oki