Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8, Minako – Sailor V, Review

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Minako winking

Sailor Venus is here! In the latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, Minako – Sailor V, we are introduced to Minako Aino, Sailor Venus and her trusty “partner” Artemis. I put “partner” in quotes because I’m totally shipping these two. The episode is available on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico. The main theme of this episode? Winking! Minako just loves winking, and it’s getting contagious! Artemis winks twice and Mamoru winks at Usagi in this episode. It’s a winking epidemic!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Minako petting Artemis

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Artemis winking

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Mamoru winking

This episode is a big lie! Princess Serenity is revealed to be Sailor Venus which is complete nonsense. The identity of Princess Serenity is the worst kept secret in Sailor Moon! All flashbacks of her clearly show her to have very Sailor Moon like hair. Sailor Moon gets a new tiara this week with a crescent moon like Princess Serenity’s on her forehead and of course there’s the simple fact that the Moon Princess is from the Moon, which is what Sailor Moon is named after. Somehow we continue to act as if it’s a legitimate mystery. Usagi has dreams where she’s called Serenity by Endymion who’s face is also obscured. So who is Endymion supposed to be if not Mamoru? Shingo? Motoki? Kenji Papa? There aren’t many contenders here.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Endymion, the mysterious unidentified man

Things with the Shitennou continue to deviate from the manga. Zoisite is still alive and escapes. The original manga story has Kunzite talking to Zoisite’s decomposing body and eventually has him die as well, but none of this happens. In the next act the Shitennou are supposed to be brought back to life thanks to the power of the Silver Crystal, and then turned into gems. Perhaps they will just be turned directly into gems, or perhaps things will progress differently. We shall see! The past association between the Sailor Guardians and the Shitennou continues to be alluded to as Sailor Venus makes mention of Kunzite’s true past. This is likely something that will be revisited in a future episode. Kunzite kisses Beryl’s hand in this episode. How will Minako feel about this, assuming they get all hooked up like they should.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Kunzite kissing Beryl

Kunzite uses Tokyo tower to essentially kill everyone in town, only in this anime version the people are seemingly alive and just having their energy drained, not partially decomposed corpses. Jupiter is meant to sense the effects of the blackout, due to her association with lightning and electricity, but instead Sailor Venus approaches Kunzite alone. This makes sense given she is basically a shield for the true Princess. When the rest of the Sailor Guardians come in, Jupiter is flying while carrying the rest of the girls. Cool trick!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Sailor Jupiter flying with everyone in tow

Minako uses her transformation pen to transform. This is what she used to transform into Sailor V and Sailor Venus in the manga. Her transformation is full of ribbons. She uses her Crescent Boomerang attack in this episode, which is the attack she also used as Sailor V in the Codename Sailor V manga.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Sailor Venus's transformation pen

As the battle progresses we take a brief moment to share Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask’s first consensual kiss. This is important since the last kiss we got had Tuxedo Mask taking advantage of an unconscious Sailor Moon. Good thing they got this in, as Tuxedo Mask is then wounded defending Sailor Moon, as seen in the episode preview. Yes, the very last moment of the episode was in last week’s preview.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon's first consensual kiss

Next week is Act 9, Serenity – Princess. For all the stagnating deceptions of this week’s episode, the next episode will be jammed packed. Tuxedo Mask is severely wounded and kidnapped by the Dark Kingdom. The past events of Silver Millennium are revealed. Princess Serenity and Endymion are revealed. The Silver Crystal is revealed. All this an more coming Saturday November 1st.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 9 Preview - Sailor Moon freaking out

Keep reading for more screenshots from this episode and the next episode preview.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Sailor Venus wearing Sailor V's mask

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Sailor Moon's new Tiara

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Sailor Venus untransforming

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Sailor V

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - The gang is all together

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Mamoru wearing a shirt in bed is lame

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Sailor Venus transforming

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Sailor Venus transforming

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Sailor Venus transforming

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Sailor Venus

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Sailor Venus

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - Kunzite

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8 - The Sailor Team

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 9 - Serenity, Princess

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 9 Preview - Mamoru dying

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12 thoughts on “Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8, Minako – Sailor V, Review

  1. Not next week, two weeks from now. And I have to say, pretty solid episode. I got the feeling that Minako was hiding a lot though. The manga made it seem like she really thought she was the princess, but I get the sense she’s in on the real secret here.

    And I’m still expecting the show to go in a different direction than the manga. The next episode is where it’ll happen if it does though. And if I’m wrong…I’ll totally admit it.

  2. This episode was great. They didn’t give away that Usagi is Princess straight away. All they did was throwing clues about that. And it was Minako’s mission to pretend as Princess until Usagi can awaken as true princess and to deceive the enemies. After the revealing that Usagi is Princess not Minako, in manga Usagi said “I could’ve sacrifised myself thinking you were princess” and this almost happened in the episode. Also I loved how Minako transformed without saying anything. And for Sailor Moon she could’ve just been a regular senshi from the Moon as guardian of Princess. and for the Kunnako moment I think that they will be purified in the end and hopefully continue normal lives as normal humans. maybe they’ll be killed in the end and reborn like Pluto died in R end and was reborn as Setsuna in S. Maybe in R season Chibiusa will act like a shipper for them like saying they look familiar since they live in Crystal Tokyo with the senshi.

    • Yes! I loved this episode. I know people are saying it’s so obvious that Usagi is Serenity but I remember watching the original show for the first time and my mind was blown when I found out haha..

      • I don’t remember my reaction to the fact that Usagi is Princess since I saw this for the first time more than 10 years ago. I prefer Crystal S1 over the original anime since in Crystal Minako pretended to be Princess and she didn’t just go around in London for a year for nothing… It could’ve been better if the Princess in Mamoru’s dream had a different kind of voice (Seiyuus can have totally different voices for same character e.g. this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBGTWdE1pkc I couldn’t find better scene on youtube but this will be fine too) and don’t show her odango pigtails. Minako also could’ve appeared as Sailor V instead of Venus and her final pose had planet Venus in it. However these are just minor stuff. I really love the Crystal episodes and can’t wait to see the rest of the senshi Crystallized :D

  3. I like sailor moon crystal and calendar on web page and more sailor moon crystal show’s and make more of shows and like it and really I like it and love it and I felling it and ardor it and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rally I like it and I like it from Bridgitte Fannin Wallace Eleanor and from Bridgitte Fannin and one Bridgitte Fannin and that’s all

  4. Im really loving this new anime is growing on me, the first act or episodes were meh but now I can’t wait. I like they haven’t kill the shitne-something lol may be they will have a filler episode. Cuz I always though it wasn’t fair the Usagi was the only one with a love story, since Lita and Mina are always talking about finding true love.

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