The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 25, Showdown – Death Phantom, premiered this weekend on July 4th. It is available to stream on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico. As of now it is currently the second last episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, as there are none planned beyond episode 26. This week Chibiusa becomes Sailor Chibi Moon but this happens just moments too late, as tragedy has struck Sailor Pluto!
As we left off last time Prince Demande was about to stick two versions of the Silver Crystal together which is a bad idea and likely to destroy the whole world. Sailor Pluto, who sees this as being likely to cause certain death to herself and everyone she cares about, decides to stop time to avoid this catastrophe. Too bad stopping time is the ultimate taboo! Even though Sailor Pluto is totally capable of doing it, she totally never should and that means that she will have to die as a result. The physics of this are a bit odd. Everything is still with nothing moving, but clearly there is still air flowing enough to allow the show’s main characters to breathe. The distinction between who and what are not frozen in time seems to be completely decided by Sailor Pluto, though how this is done is not clear. So Sailor Pluto had 3 taboos not to break and she sort of broke all of them, but everyone would have died otherwise so no fault can really be given in this.
Sailor Pluto thanks Diana for protecting the Space-Time Door. So does this mean no one is guarding it anyone? I mean, Sailor Pluto spent a life of solitude simply so that she could endlessly protect the door but now that no one is around to do it… maybe let’s just get an alarm system set up?
Black Lady is saddened by seeing Sailor Pluto dying. She is reminded in this that she is not really alone and so Chibiusa is finally able to break free of Nemesis’s control and, thanks to the power of the Silver Crystal from the future, is able to transform into Sailor Chibi Moon. The name Sailor Chibi Moon is not said in this episode, but that is who she becomes. King Endymion mentions that this is the Sailor Guardian who will succeed Sailor Moon. Indeed this is Chibiusa’s destiny, to become the Sailor Guardian to protect to the world once Sailor Moon is retired though we have a younger unretired version of Sailor Moon from the past to do that right now. This wasn’t a huge surprise, as art showing Sailor Chibi Moon surfaced through official sources before we even got a look at Chibiusa, and of course Sailor Chibi Moon has appeared in other continuities for over 20 years.
A transformation sequence accompanies this change. It wasn’t really clear if this would happen at this point. In the original Sailor Moon anime Chibiusa does not transform into Sailor Chibi Moon during Sailor Moon R. She does so only during Sailor Moon S and even then she has no transformation sequence until Sailor Moon SuperS. It is nice to see her actually have one animated, though at this point this may be the final time we see it, as there may not be a next season of Sailor Moon Crystal.
It is unfortunately that the catalyst for Chibiusa’s change was Sailor Pluto’s death, although her changing prior to this may have been enough to have Sailor Pluto avoid that fate. She is naturally heartbroken at the death of her good friend, and just wanted Pluto to see her make her long awaited transformation.
Oh wait we still have to fight with Nemesis! Mamoru is now unbrainwashed and apologizes to Sailor Moon, supposedly for making out with their daughter and attacking her, and she says it’s okay as if he was apologizing for leaving his dirty laundry on the floor or something. A funny exchange though in seriousness he had no control over his actions, and this is really why Sailor Moon is so easy to forgive him.
Prince Demande tries to attack Nemesis. This doesn’t work and he dies. So everyone tries to attack him and this doesn’t really work. We then go into Nemesis and learn that the true identity of Nemesis who was Death Phantom was Wise Man is actually Death Phantom, so we’re back to calling him that for now. This can get a little confusing. He is indeed the criminal that was kicked out of Crystal Tokyo for killing a bunch of people. He slowly made Nemesis full of evil energy and acquired the power he has today. He’ll probably be getting what he deserves… next time.
Next, on July 17th, is Act 26, Replay – Neverending. This final Black Moon story will wrap up anything related to Crystal Tokyo, the Black Moon Clan, Nemesis and Chibiusa, though Chibiusa continues to be present in the Infinity story arc which follows. This will, as far as we know, be the final episode of Sailor Moon Crystal. There have been no episodes confirmed as following Act 26. This past weekend at Anime Expo at Viz’s official Sailor Moon panel it was stated that Act 26 was the final episode of Sailor Moon Crystal. If there are any plans for additional episodes, not even Viz who is releasing the show domestically has any knowledge of such plans.
Keep reading for more screenshots from this episode and the next episode preview for Act 26.
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Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22, Hidden Agenda – Nemesis, Review
It’s been 25 episodes in all, and Sailor Moon still hasn’t held anyone in her arms. Do you think she ever will?
You look out for the strangest things. Bikinis, holding someone in their arms. What’s next? Wait, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know
Too bad. You’re gonna know.
Death Phantom totally looks like a “gray” extraterrestrial.
Wait…! I think that means I just got bingo on my Sailor Moon pseudo science card!
Despite the inconsistencies in this episode, I liked it. And did anyone else think of the Silence from Doctor Who when they saw Death Phantom’s/Nemesis’s/Wiseman’s final form?
Haha I had not made the link between Death Phantom and the Silence. But the Silence is creepier than Death Phantom, in terms of appearance :/ .
Otherwise it was a beautiful episode despite some defaults (Death Phantom/Nemesis could have destroyed them all while they were all below him, weeping around Pluto’s corpse… what a dumb he was to let pass such an occasion ! And Chibiusa’s boneless legs during her transformation… hmm…), full of emotions, and the end seems to worth the wait.
Did anyone else notice that the have at least 1 competent animator who did some super detailed animation that is what we all wanted out of crystal? Better late than never, at least we get a glimpse of what it could have been before for some reason it goes back to janky eyes and noodle limbs *sigh*
Not hating, I love crystal, I just loved the manga and wished it would have been done a little better. I was happy to see chibiusa’s transformation wasn’t 3D junk but lord help her creepy boneless legs during it D: I liked how she bursts out of it totally surprised int he air though. Really nice touch.
My only real question is how did she get the silver crystal to transform since both are in sailor moon’s hands? I figure it “returned’ to it’s “rightful owner” at the right time but if they just like showed sailor moon being like “hey one of the crystals disappeared from my hand” we could at least be sure that’s what happened haha
I still have a faint hope that they will rerelese a new version after the blurays with even more fixes like losing the weird CGI and correcting more inconsistencies like the only in two episodes emotion frames and use of wrong stock footage (moon halation). Probably not gonna happen but a girl can dream right?
Do you remember the act when Beryl cidnap mamoru and when sailor moon cried the legendary silver crystal was created from her tear so maby it happend in here to
Why does that make any sense? The reason why the crystal appeared from her tear is because it was hidden inside of Usagi the whole time.
The current scene we’re discussing had both crystals manifested and in Usagi’s hands, so it’s confusing as to how it simply appeared in Chibi Usa’s.
So I went back and checked the manga and it does apparently come from her tear just like Usagi’s did the first time. The next frame where you can see Usagi in the manga she only has the one past silver crystal in her hand. So it is equally “unclear” but is generally believed that as I guessed it “returned to it’s proper owner” which since Neo Queen Serenity forfeited her power to become queen would be Chibiusa now.
Thank you, Aaron. That makes sense to me,
Chibiusa created her own Silver Crystal out of her tear. It is actually called “Pink Moon Crystal”.
Sailor Moon’s Silver Crystal (from the past) is in her brooch.
Neo Queen Serenity’s Silver Crystal (from the future) is supposed to be in Sailor Venus’ hand (because Usagi gives it to her after retreiving it from Demande) in the manga. I don’t remember in this episode if this future Silver Crystal is shown in Sailor Moon’s hand or what, but the one that belongs to ChibiUsa is a different one, a third one right now.
Indeed you are right I checked again and sure enough Venus has the Past Crystal and returns it to Neo Queen in the next chapter! Thanks for helping and now i gotta go correct other moonies blogs too
ok, so lets forget about SMC, there wont be any more episodes than 26 so I think it is unnecessary to think about any unfinished series… after the 26 episode just forget that something like SMC exists
Let’s bring back the live action series instead!!!
lol no way… that live action series was a real mess and catastrophy
I loved that series!
Dude, shut up- truly the worst commentator with nothing ever productive to contribute.
has Nobody even notice the fight scene between dimande and wise mans attacks out weighing each other was extremely similar to the last fight with gigantic beryl, but in a different color scheme!? even the black crystal from behind demande, although not exactly where it should be, was almost in the same position as where the senshi were standing during the battle? im shocked nobody pointed this out! i was waiting for it!
I think it’s sad that SMC gets so much hate, it isn’t perfect but neither was the 90’s anime.
There was a lot of drama and problems behind the scenes of the production and had episodes with bad animation and filler episodes.
But I’m just happy we have a version that’s more loyal to the original work, also finally a Usagi that’s not a giant crybaby (and not so helpless!) and Chibiusa who doesn’t make you want to strangle her.
But I guess it’ll end after ep 26 as Toei has not announced anything and the final episode airs on Saturday.
I was the one who thought that Pluto was dying for almost two hours??? hahahaha…