Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Ep 8 [My Waifu Cometh]

The reason I have been the one to cover Sailor Moon on Angry Anime Bitches was that of the people around when it was originally announced, I have the most fond memories and attachment. I easily put my name down for it about a year and a half before it aired and made sure I would be the one to cover Crystal. For the most part my nostalgia has given me a degree of forgiveness that most other fans seemed to have lacked for the first two seasons. In part one of the reasons I have always been willing to forgive Crystal is because I have been waiting for this episode since I was 10 years old. A little known fact of this site is I also draw all of the art, but all of my inspiration as a child to draw came from Sailor Moon. However, one Sailor Moon character in particular decided what kind of aesthetic I would draw. This character happens to be one of the central, previously hidden, villains of this arc. While some have best girl Chitoge as their waifus my waifu has probably always been Mistress 9, one of the other personalities lying dormant inside Hotaru.

This episode, for this and other reasons, is one of my favorite episodes. Crystal did a great job in explaining why the outer Senshi just can’t work for Sailor Moon in this show (even though they are loyal to her kingdom and love her dearly). We got to see Super Sailor Moon and its amazing transformation that made me squee, a new Sailor Moon attack, the backstory of Sailor Saturn- it was all done poignantly. The outer Senshi seem clearly loyal to Sailor Moon, so why can’t they simply join her? The answer shocks all of them: they know they essentially have to murder a suffering young girl who lies in immense pain in order to save the world. Hotaru Tomoe is not simply connected to the Death Busters but instead holds a much more terrifying fate: Hotaru is the Senshi who can destroy all, Sailor Saturn.

It is finally revealed the Talismans are a beacon that essentially connect to Sailor Saturn. When the Talismans are united they awaken Saturn, who in turn destroys all things around her. In the time of the Silver Millennium when Usagi and her kingdom perished, they were summoned to the Kingdom and Saturn in turn was also summoned. When she arrived, she simply swung her glaive and all was destroyed. Seeing the destruction was breathtaking. This was also something we never learned in the original anime.

As I’ve been comparing the original anime and Crystal for the sake of more in depth reviews, let me also acknowledge how the original anime handled this. In the original anime the Death Busters were collecting what the dub simplified as ‘heart crystals’ (the equivalent of the hostes now collected in Crystal / the manga). What they were looking for was pure hearts, who would contain ..well, the talismans. This can’t exist in Crystal as two of the talismans are already known, and their entire nature is different. Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto wield their Talismans as part of their natural powers and because of this are never separated from them. However beyond the Talismans they spoke of two characters and the Purity Chalice (or Holy Grail, since Amerikus). The true goal of the original anime was to gather the Holy Grail and give it to the person on Earth who would be the ‘Messiah of Light’ before the ‘Messiah of Darkness’ could obtain it. So there was always this extra layer of knowledge that kind of explained where certain things were going.

Crystal didn’t really have this element so the entire nature of Hotaru’s other personality is a little bit foggier. It’s definitely still implied but could also be confused with the concept of Saturn. Instead a viewer who has only seen Crystal might be left wondering, okay, so if this isn’t Sailor Saturn then who the crap is this crazy lady with infinitely long hair? In the original it was literally ham fisted into our face, not to mention none of the Outer Senshi really talked about Sailor Saturn either. It was weird, but it was kind of better because we had the chance to be fucking terrified of Mistress 9 before we actually saw her. Oh, and in the English she was called The Sovereign of Silence because she would bring a ‘deathly silence’ if she ever obtained the Chalice. That being said, she has the fucking Crystal from the future now so that’s scary as fuck.

What Crystal did right with this episode is explain better than the original why the Outer Senshi were doing what they were doing. They both have every reason to defy her and love her, which they clearly all do. In the original they were basically like ‘you fucking suck’ and didn’t respect her whatsoever. Now they do! They totally respect her! But they also can’t stop what they’re planning or else they genuinely believe the world will be destroyed. So what happens? Chibi Usa goes to find Hotaru and protect her, declaring she won’t run away this time. Well she should’ve, because Hotaru transforms into Mistress 9 and steals her hostess and the crystal from the future. Oopsie!

For its issues I stick by what I said, it’s one of my favorites. The reason is because this episode genuinely establishes what makes it different, the motivations of the newer characters, and connects the dots. Plus my bae is here. How can you go wrong with all that hair? Unf. And next week. . .more of my bae! Excellence!

Oki