Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Ep 7 [Outer Senshi]

This episode begins with the gathering of all the Senshi who seem to possess Talismans: Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. The three proceed to bow to the future Neo Queen Serenity and apologize for their rudeness. It is at this point the complete shift in the original anime context and the new anime context occurs: It is essentially displayed that the Outer Senshi are not trying to condescend the Inner Senshi but seem almost ashamed at their own failure to awaken in time to stop the threat beforehand. That being said, oh my god they bowed in front of her and that is amazing. The entire episode made me cry vigorously, but it didn’t give me my own last desire: where the fuck is my Pluto transformation? Well, it’s not my last one. We all know the transformation scene we’ve been waiting 20 years for.

All the same, it is still interesting to see the differences in the show. I am a bit …perturbed, is the word. The whole episode plays up how genuinely more powerful these three are and then what happens? Here is the downfall of the manga and Crystal both: everyone gets their asses kicked even if it’s right after they got a magical new power. In the original anime Usagi got like 15 episodes out of her new power before someone could deflect it. The outer Senshi are played up and then what happens? Level 999 enemy pimp slaps them. That is. . .the downfall of Naoko’s writing, and many manga-ka that we see. It’s just not fun to hear how awesome someone is then see them be pimp slapped.

What is very interesting is the dissonance in what the talismans are and what the Holy Grail is. In the original anime the Talismans formed the Grail and the Grail was the basis of the entire plot. Here it seems as if the White Moon family carries the power of the Grail and the Talismans have relevance in a way I do not yet know. I both like and dislike this, as it meant the conflict between the outer Senshi felt like its own context. Usagi never felt like the future ruler in the same way as she does in Crystal, she was constantly fighting someone to prove her lineage and legitimacy. Now all the power comes from her, her love with Mamoru, her family ties with both he and Chibi-Usa- it shows Usagi in a different light. Literally all of her eternal power comes from the love she has within herself, and that makes her better. Still, I really did like the drama and angst of the original arc and what the Grail meant then. Will it be similar? I don’t know, but it will never be exactly the same. You know what else isn’t the same? Hotaru and her….extra parts. Oh my.

Another thing that really shined light on Usagi is the power that their opponent used to turn them against each other. Her power calls on the thoughts in their heart, and guess who it has literally no effect on? Usagi loves and trusts all the senshi and has no desire to harm any of them. Seeing this actually come into play has made me love her more. As someone who hated Chibi-Usa and tolerated Usagi before it’s weird to admit just how much I’ve come to love them thanks to the manga and Crystal. While I used to prefer Makoto to everyone else, Usagi is now my favorite character. (Though Mako always has love) Crystal season III has done a great job showing us why Usagi is special and the true ruler.

That being said, this episode was a cliffhanger and I’m going to throw things at this ending until I get my new episode. Dammit.

Oki