The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal aired on Japanese TV on Monday May 9th and is now available to stream on Crunchyroll, Neon Alley and Hulu. This week Sailor Pluto returns as Setsuna Meioh while Makoto faces off against an evil plant lady! Overall I thought this was a really great episode with fantastic animation, though I found some of the subtitles a bit distracting. There seemed to be some fairly basic grammatical errors or just sentences that weren’t written like people really talk.
The big thing this week of course is the return of Sailor Pluto. Throughout most of the episode Setsuna Meioh, Sailor Pluto’s civilian identity, doesn’t have any memory of being a Sailor Guardian. What exactly is going on here? The Sailor Pluto we saw in the future did not come from the present. While the Space-Time Corridor can be considered to exist outside of time in some sense, I always assumed that Sailor Pluto guarded it throughout time. So there should be a Sailor Pluto in the past, present and future, living through time. Which Sailor Pluto is this? We will get a bit of an explanation next week which really only raises more questions. I have a lot of thoughts on this but I will get into them in my Act 32 review.
Reika and Motoki show up again, as they’re going to school with Setsuna. The two are bickering and fighting a bit as Motoki has mentioned Makoto, one of the many young girls that comes into his arcade, and Reika doesn’t really appreciate this. Imagine how she’d feel if she watched the live action series! While on the train Motoki suggests going to have dinner near the Mugen Academy. Reika doesn’t want to because of the ominous clouds! Oddly when we see the buildings in the distance there does not appear to be any more clouds there than over the train the two are on, where it’s also raining. What?
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Back at Chibiusa’s school we make an important discovery. Chibiusa and her friends have a hot teacher! Where did she come from? She looks nothing like this in the manga. In the anime we see their teacher in the Sailor Moon SuperS season, but this does not appear to be that same character. That character was struggling with aging while being single and Kyuusuke teased her for not being able to get a man. This teacher shouldn’t have any such problems! Meanwhile Kyuusuke is not subtle about his attraction to Chibiusa. As the class is encouraged to give the items they made to someone special, Kyuusuke choses to give his Sailor Moon pencil holder to Chibiusa. She misses the point obviously. Shouldn’t she be totally into this guy because he looks just like her father?
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Speaking of guys who look like fathers, who’s this guy who’s hitting on Makoto in the botanical gardens? He kind of looks like Brock from Pokémon. You know who else looks like Brock from Pokémon? Makoto’s Dad! If Chibiusa is any indication girls really dig guys who look just like their Dad so Makoto should be all over this dude! Instead she daydreams about her Sempai, who we learn is named Nichogi. This episode, and the manga equivalent, are the only time we hear his name which was never mentioned in the original Sailor Moon anime. He doesn’t look like Brock from Pokémon which just doesn’t make sense if Chibiusa, Freud and Jung are to be trusted and all things considered I don’t think they should be.
This week’s villain is Tellu of the Witches 5 who is posing as Ruru Teruno. She’s in charge of phys ed and the botanical gardens. What an odd combination of interests that also overlap with Makoto’s very specific mix of girly and tom boy tendencies. Her power level is 404, double that of last week’s villain, but because this manga is from the mid 90s it’s unlike it’s a reference to http code 404, page not found. Tellu has created the Tellun flower which is this evil flower which drains people’s energy, a plot not unlike that of the Sailor Moon R movie. The Tellun plant in bloom blankets the floor with pink flowers which looks a lot like the asteroid which was blanketed in Kissenian flowers in the film.
Lots of Hotaru going on this week as we see that girls are terrible to each other sometimes. The other students at her school comment about how weak she seems and that she wears long sleeves even in summer. A change that we saw last week was that Mugen Academy students were starting to wear different uniforms with short puffy sleeves over the longer sleeve versions we’d seen earlier, and that Hotaru continues to wear. Next week we will see just why it is that Hotaru wears long sleeves and stockings. She’s not just hiding scars but also something kind of evil as she gets upset at her classmates and crushes a metal pencil box in a frightening display.
Usagi starts to suspect Hotaru, as she’s the daughter of Professor Tomoe, and so she comes along with Chibiusa to visit her. If only Chibiusa had been honest and shared Hotaru’s secret that her father makes monsters we would be able to avoid a lot of this stuff but whatever. Usagi snoops around Hotaru’s house while Chibiusa helps her friend get her Silver Crystal fix at which point she once again shows signs of being some sort of evil being stuck inside the body of an innocent looking young girl.
Sailor Chibi Moon steps it up this week by finally getting her Moon Rod. She pleads to her mother to get a weapon and then Luna P turns into this item. I’m not sure her mother did this because I thought Luna P was more related to Sailor Pluto. So she uses this device to do her ridiculously sweet Pink Sugar Heart Attack move which is animated nearly identically to how it was in the manga.
Finally Sailor Pluto shows up with her Dead Screen attack killing Tellu, who somehow turned into a big monster, and saving the day. Unfortunately this appearance is not preceded by a transformation sequence. Based on what happens in the manga it is entirely possible that we won’t be seeing Sailor Pluto or Saturn transforming in this particular story arc, though we can hope that a minor change will allow them to transform on screen.
Next week Act 32, Infinity 6 – Three Soldiers. will give a bit of an explanation as to where and when Sailor Pluto came from. We’ll get some back story on the new Sailor Guardians and face off against the final members of the Witches 5.
Keep reading for more screenshots from this episode and the next episode preview for Act 32.
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Chibiusa and Sailor Pluto revealed in this Sailor Moon Crystal second season trailer -
Sailor Moon Crystal Act 29, Infinity 3 – Two New Soldiers, Review
Will they be getting their heart brooches in the next ep or am I remembering it wrong?
No, that would be on Act 33 – Episode 34
Dang that outfit Haruka was in! She’s just 16?!!!
Haruka? Do you wanna build a snowman?
Did you hear that at AuroraPeachy’s reaction
lol, no, but I’m not surprised I was the only one to think that!
I hope they will give Pluto and Saturn a transformation sequence in this Arc. Please Toei deviate a little bit from the Manga, just these! Please please!
I’d love that too. I kind of feel they won’t do it, but it would still be so fun.
I’m sure they will do the Dream Arc though, and then we should see it.
All of us wants it to be canon, the fandom will really be ecstatic if this happens!
I need a Pokemon/Sailor Moon anime crossover and I need it now. There’s been 6 episodes of Season 3, and still no information. And any commenters who say it won’t happen, don’t comment me.
I have to agree, at first this whole Sailor Moon/Pokemon crossover thing look really interesting and cool at first, but you’re mentioning it in every single blog and now it’s just very annoying cause WE GET IT OK you want a Sailor Moon/Pokémon crossover so do I kinda, we get it
Not happening.
Is happening.
Do you have any proofs that this is going to happend? I know that you want to but if you dont have any proofs, any confirmation any something you cant just say that this is going to happend(dont wanna hurt your feelings, just telling the truth, even though it my hurt you)
https://drawception.com/pub/panels/2015/10-12/h2hfmpnmhc-6.png
Luke! https://www.facebook.com/SailorMoonNews/posts/1133430986678064?comment_id=1133581403329689&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R%22%7D
And you are basing all this thing on a fanart (btw is the worst fanart i have ever seen, a 2 year old boy did it or wat) you are basing all this thing in a fanart, OMG dude , i just cant belive youyou , so all this thing for nothing :-/
What*
It’s happening.
Well then Charles on proof me that this is going to happend and dont send me ugly fanarts
Hahaha Adam your kidding right
This episode was one of the strongest ones since the first two episodes in terms of animation quality. It might even surpass the first two episodes in quality. The only technical flaw I noticed and this is true in all the episodes of season 3 is how they draw those eyes at a 3/4 angle/view. The eyes that should be closer to the viewer at that angle is always smaller than the eye that is supposed to be further away. It always makes the character look like they are having some sort of allergy. Another thing is they keep drawing the outer soldiers older and older. I thought this new pretty cure style is supposed to make everyone look younger including the others. Since they are no longer following the season 1 and 2 design they might as well make everyone look their age. Setsuna and the other outers look older than Usagi’s mom and Reika who is supposed to be older than Setsuna after she was reborn. I do like that they took off her lipstick in civilian form to be honest I never liked the lipstick because the color is too dark. Also here it helps because they are supposed to be younger with this new design and the lipstick would make her look even older than she already looks. I like the 90’s anime Haruka wearing menswear better. Here she looks great but it feels out of character and feels as if she was deceiving people into thinking she is a man as oppose to people actually thinking she is a man from the way she dress in the 90’s version. I mean for her fans and people that like her in Crystal how could they still think she is Michiru’s boyfriend or a cool racer guy when she is dressed as a woman. It’s a bit of a plot hole much like that the series (crystal or 90’s anime) still doesn’t have police or people who are concerned about Mugen even though it is so far the most suspicious place in Tokyo at the moment.
The pacing was great this episode. We got to see many different stories and stuff happen in a short amount of time. My only issue is that I wish they would have focused more on Pluto just like how the previous episode would focus more on Uranus and Neptune. Although I guess the fault is on the manga since the show heavily follows it. In the original the author titled it “Sailor Pluto” but she really only appears at the beginning and end. Too bad not ever episode was split into two then we could have had more time to develop the characters and maybe give Sailor Pluto a transformation. I was hoping they would give her a transformation sequence and not follow the manga, but it looks like they might be following the manga exactly. In the manga Sailor Pluto will not transform until the next story arc. Too bad they didn’t manage to squeeze in the sequence after her awakening and perhaps cutting some of sailor moon’s spiral heart attack animation since we’ve already seen her reuse that stock animation many times or any stock footage a little more. From here on out there will be no more opportunities for Pluto to transform since she doesn’t in the first place and only Uranus transforms again in the manga. Also I guess we won’t see the first attacks of the outers again since they also do not use it in the manga again so no attack animation sequence. Hopefully they don’t follow the manga exactly. I mean they did add that scene with Setsuna going to the flower shop although she probably should have been shown buying the flower at least it made more sense that she had the flower instead of her just being drained of energy from the flower in the last few panels. At least they showed how she got it.
I hope the next episode we get to see more outer attacks or something. I love how Uranus is the only one of the outers without her talisman when crouching. She didn’t have it in the manga, but Neptune didn’t have her mirror either so I wonder if they forgot about Uranus’ talisman.
I just can’t hold myself from commenting about Haruka’s fashion changes. It just means that Haruka knows how to dress herself anyway she wants because she is androgynous. She is not deceiving anybody, she is just being herself.
I have to agree 100% with you. Haruka wears both mens and womens clothes in the manga and I take it as her dressing the way she wants and not caring what anyone else thinks. I dont think it has anything to do with deceiving anyone.
Thanks Erik!
And dammit, that sexy leather outfit in this ep. was great ! As a race car driver, she has a lot of female fans… who surely think Haruka is a man. I try to imagine their reactions discovering that “he” is, in fact, a woman, who doesn’t give a fuck of what the others think of her
. Lol.
I liked this episode, and how it reintroduced Pluto. I also found it cute how Kyuusuke has a thing for Chibiusa. That’s a change from other adaptations, one I somehow don’t think we’ll see much of in the future. And am I the only one who finds the new ending theme the most relaxing thing to watch/listen to?
Also, is everything alright, Adam? Your posts seem to be coming out later and later these days.
Just busy with a few things and the episodes airing on Mondays aren’t very convenient to me with my podcast schedule.
Minus the podcast thing, I’ve had those problems before.
Am I rememebrering wrong but didnt Setsuna manage to fight off the plants in the manga? Granted it was several years since I read it so might need to refresh my memory.
You are referring to the Dream Arc.
oh I see, thanks ^^
In the original anime, the Garnet Orb protects Pluto from the plants. Maybe that’s what you are remembering?
could be, it was a loong time ago as said
This episode was gorgeous. The only thing that bothered me was that I really wished Makoto’s flower daydreams were about Nephrite rather then Nichogi. SMC really dropped the ball by not showing the Shittenou alive in the 30th century during the black moon arc, and in this episode it would have been so easy to make the minor change to bring us some continuity/reminder of their existence and connection with the guardians.
I really loved how Pluto whispered her dead scream, and then Tellu screamed at high volume. Hotaru turned down the gift of the holy grail, but when Chibi Usa/Usagi left, notably neither one of them appeared to be holding it, so apparently Hotaru has it anyway.
As a fan of the Shitennou, I 100 % agree. The way they were treated in Crystal is more than catastrophic…
Sailor Pluto is a quiet but powerful woman. This mix between serenity and strength is really amazing. And I like the contrast between the “dead scream” and the fact that she whispers it.
Yo that would have been so dope to have seen Nephrite instead in her dreams! Too bad
Yeah really too bad ! If she had seen Nephrite instead, I think I would have died of a heart attack immediately (fangirl inside).
Plus Nephrite and Jupiter were really lovers, while Nichogi wasn’t in love with Mako-chan, if I’m not wrong. He broke her heart.
“Finally Sailor Pluto shows up with her Dead Screen attack […]”
.
Lol Adam
So I guess Pluto’s next attack will be “Blue screen of death”.
Oops!
J’ai trouvé que l’erreur était mignonne
. Tu devais être fatigué, lol.
-_- zzz…