Sailor Moon Crystal: Season III

Episode 28

So far so good! Sailor Moon Crystal appears to be largely staying on track in the sophomore episode of season 3, keeping the story both faithful to the manga but not to the point where it doesn't play with the story and characters at all, and really, things are flowing much more organically than they did in the previous two seasons. This week introduces us the sub-villains under Kaolinite, the Witches 5, as well as Hotaru Tomoe, although as with Kaolinite last week we don't know her name yet. Things are still very much in the set up stage, with the characters moving the plot forward rather than the actual action.

A lot of this falls on Chibi-Usa's shoulders, largely because she is still the least settled in the story's world, having come from the future. She's clearly loving her life and having friends her age (or at least her maturity level, since we know she's much older than she looks), and even as she teases Usagi by spending time with Mamoru, it's fairly obvious that she's just having fun. Usagi, of course, doesn't see it this way, but in her defense she's getting a little better at seeing the big picture. Usagi's much more willing to be the one to suggest that everyone transform to fight as well, so she is growing…just kind of slowly. (There are definitely a few moments where I wonder how Mamoru puts up with her.)

Speaking of Mamoru, he's much more a part of the group than he has been, appearing to be more comfortable in his own skin as well as with the girls in general. The whole team seems much closer and more cohesive this season, which may be a product of the fact that they're investigating together because they don't yet know what's going on, but it also shows in the way they coordinate their attacks. Each of them can sense a different something wrong with Mugen Academy, with Venus certain that someone is watching them while the others feel things on a more spiritual level. This is an interesting difference and may have to do with the fact that she's linked to an emotion, love, rather than water, wind, or fire. She's definitely right, though – two sets of people are watching the Sailor Guardians, Sailors Neptune and Uranus, who clearly know who and what the girls are, and the Witches 5, who see the Guardians as “anomalies.”

The two episodes thus far are keeping to the old “monster of the week” formula that has been around since the original series, but it is also making sure to introduce new information and characters each episode, so while we once again have a mass transformation and daimon battle, the story also moves forward by introducing Hotaru and the bad guys, along with providing more information about the mysterious Mugen area of Tokyo. Of course, it's also contradicting itself – how is it that last week no one cared if they transformed and fought in front of the game center but this week Usagi is freaking out about Chibi-Usa introducing them to Hotaru, who just saw them transform?

The scene where Chibi-Usa protects Hotaru from the daimon is one of the best this week, not just in terms of Sailor Chibi-Moon doing something besides shrieking and running away, but also in its animation and the ongoing themes of female relationships that the show is exploring with Michiru and Haruka; some very similar imagery is actually used for Chibi-Usa/Hotaru interactions in both the show and the opening theme as for Michiru/Haruka. That's an interesting direction to take it, and one I don't necessarily recall from the manga, so it will be interesting to keep an eye on.

The positive changes to this season of Sailor Moon Crystal seem to be sticking so far, not just with its transformations and character designs (I do love that they fixed Momo's figure from Takeuchi's way-too-buxom original) but also with its character interactions and plot progressions. It also appears to be mingling classic Sailor Moon imagery with a more contemporary take on the magical girl genre, with slightly sexier shots of some of the characters than we've seen previously, such as the initial pan up Kaolinite's legs and the reduction in the amount of fabric on the Guardians' leotards, specifically in the posterior region. If you're not as thrilled with transformation scenes in general as I am this second dose of mass transforming might feel like a drag, and the new noodle limbs do take some getting used to. But on the whole this episode feels like the show is continuing to move in the right direction and it will be fun to see how it handles what's coming up.

Rating: B

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal: Season III is currently streaming on Crunchyroll, Viz.com and Hulu.