Sailor Moon Crystal Act 2, Ami – Sailor Mercury, premiered July 19th in Japan and worldwide. It’s available to view on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico. This episode marked the introduction of Ami Mizuno who we soon discover is actually Sailor Mercury. As with the first episode, this story follows the manga very closely. The episode where Sailor Mercury appeared in the original Sailor Moon anime was also fairly faithful to the manga, so fans of the old show may see some similarities there.
It would be easier to list the differences to the manga than the similarities. The main ones that come to mind are Ami seeing an image of Silver Millennium when she touches Usagi and Sailor Moon attempting to reuse her Supersonic Waves attack. Once again we see that this adaptation follows the newer version of the Sailor Moon Manga as the Crystal Disk is actually a CD Rom and not a 3.5″ floppy disk as it had been in the original publication of the manga and 1992 Sailor Moon anime. We can conclude by this that the series does not take place in the early 90s, but either some time later or in the present time.
The episode starts out with our introduction to the genius girl Ami, who’s scoring perfect in her tests, getting the best grades in her class. Her genius is in part attributed to the Crystal Seminar, a new cram school she and other students are attending. Luna is looking into Ami which leads her to have suspicions about the Crystal Seminar, which is actually a plot by the enemy to brainwash smart students into helping them find the Silver Crystal. Usagi befriends Ami who turns out to be a whiz at video games. Once her true identity as Sailor Mercury is revealed their new friendship moves to a whole new level.
This episode also includes the introduction of the Disguise Pen which Usagi gets by tilting the Sailor V arcade game. She uses it to transform into a doctor in order to sneak into the Crystal Seminar. In one scene where Luna is investigating Ami with her computer we can see that she’s also looking into Tuxedo Mask. There’s also a silhouette of Rei with little info about her but her name is visible in the reflection of the screen seen in Luna’s eyes.
The final scene shows us our first look at the Hikawa Shrine and Rei Hino, who will soon become Sailor Mars. The Niconico feed gives us a next episode preview for Act. 3, Rei – Sailor Mars which will be playing in two weeks, on August 2nd at 7pm JST, 6am EST and 3am PST. Once again we are following the manga with a story of the cursed 6 o’clock bus which introduces us to Sailor Mars. The preview shows us our first look at Zoisite who didn’t show up until much later in the original Sailor Moon anime. Will Sailor Mars kill Jadeite in the next episode like she does in the manga?
Keep reading for more screen caps of the episode and next episode preview.
Possibly Related Posts
-
Watch the next episode preview for Act.2 Ami – Sailor Mercury -
Watch Act 2 of Sailor Moon Crystal starting at 6am EST July 19th
-
Sailor Moon Crystal Act 1 first impressions -
Video clips and screenshots of the intro and first episode of Sailor Moon Crystal -
Sailor Moon Crystal voice actors and character artwork plus new musical information
One of my questions was whether this anime took place in the 90’s or in the present era. Judging by the CD-ROM, the types of computers in the school’s library, and the fact that Usagi seems to have her own laptop, I think it’s reasonable to conclude that the anime is set in the present day.
I hope we see more of Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask in the coming episodes. I had some problems with how the original anime had him and Usagi fall in love, so I look forward to seeing how they do that this time around. Hopefully in a more realistic fashion.
actually my oppinion the old anime’s way of revealing identities was much better than manga’s way since in manga he basically took Sailor Moon to his home when she fainted in battle
The music video of the opening is out! and it’s full of Sailor Moon goodness! =D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0Va228UhRs
-Some- of the time the animation looks really pretty. The backgrounds are again really gorgeous.
Other times, the top halves of their faces are as wide as dinner plates. It wouldn’t be terrible if the bottom halves of their faces weren’t so tiny. It is just ugly. A lot of these lines (as in the drawing lines, not the spoken ones) are just really, really, really sloppy and … ugly. I keep using that word, and I hate having to use it because I want so badly to love this show, but it just.
Usagi’s everything when she’s talking to the youma with Ami. When the only thing moving is her mouth. That entire scene, her buns get super tiny and she looses tons of detail. Half her face is rounded (including one eye) and the other half is pointed/squared off (including the corner of her other eye) and it’s like. :/ 10ish seconds of nothing moving but her lips, but they couldn’t put the extra detail in? The CD disk has more detail in that scene than she does. I -again- noticed more detail in the villains than in our ladies.
Some of Mercury’s poses during her transformation speech were really mind-bendingly awful. But her transformation scene was less painful than Moon’s. I like the bubbles.
Really, really sick of them trying soooo hard to make sure everyone is super pretty all the time. Usagi is still not as emote-y as she should be. I noticed also that the chubby friend she had is now skinny and pretty like the rest of the girls.
Loved it! There were some moments of wonky animation (much the same problem as in the original anime), but that’s to be expected as a show gets its feet. I really didn’t like Ami’s transformation, as it was too long and dramatic (will we soon be watching all 5, super long, every episode?) but I love the parallels to the original anime henshin and I loooove that Aqua Mist was not some set animation, but a unique set of movements done in real time. I hope all their attacks like this.
I do hope they follow the manga and make it so the other girls can finish youma on their own, instead of always having to wait for Sailor Moon to finish it. I know Aqua Mist isn’t that sort of power, so we wont see that just yet.
Looking forward to meeting Rei next week!
I remember in the first one, their reveal transformations were long and from there on out, they were either shortened or transformed off-screen, except for special situations – and except for Moon, obviously. I could be wrong in remembering it that way. I found Mercury’s transformation less terrible than Moon’s, but having said that I still don’t like the CGI and am hoping they either cut the transformations shorter or drop them all together.
I agree about Aqua Mist. Moon Tiara Boomerang was the same way and I REALLY hope they keep that up. It’s really refreshing and one of the things I enjoy about this version.
You know, I hadn’t thought of that, and you’re right. They do shorten after the reveals, which I hope they adopt for all their henshin sequences in Crystal. I think they’re pretty enough, it’s just the CG (which is awful and I wish they would cut completely) and the length that kills.
I loved the Tiara Boomerang in this episode too! If they keep the attacks this way they can really make some awesome battle sequences.
I can’t wait to see Mars the following week. But I still wonder in the future episodes if there’s gonna be a beach episode.
http://www.quickmeme.com/img/88/8898f3a2366f2ab3b85a466abd440637ffcb47edc60890c689e40669e01e6cb7.jpg
You constantly ask about beach episodes.
Why?
Does Ami have her 3 connected blue earrings on her left ear only? And then a normal single blue stud in her right?
I don’t remember if that was the case in the manga. Anyone remember?