Sailormoon act 13

[nevermore999]

Now we are on the REAL penultimate chapter of the Dark Kingdom saga! Time for death, destruction, and drama!



Seriously, Usagi, no, I get you're all traumatized, but that is not a good plan because it makes Minako cry, okay (not shown, but it does). THINK OF THE CONSEQUENCES.



.


Luna weeps about how she failed to protect Usagi, and the girls try a Sailor Planet Attack on Metallia but she's like "lol no"

The girls take Luna to headquarters and then head back to fight as the world is engulfed in chaos.



:( Poor Luna.



Yeah, so, seeing people shank each other in the streets. Don't let them tell you Sailor Moon doesn't contain gore and violence.

Meanwhile, back at the battle, Minako figures out they can't defeat Metallia with their power, but they can do something...







So. Possibly controversial opinion here! I vastly prefer the death scenes in the anime. I mean, the girls oath and sacrificing themselves here and the way they do it without hesitation and give Usagi life is great, don't get me wrong. But in the anime, each of their deaths was very individual and personal and significant for their characters. Jupiter sassing off to the monsters and then blowing herself and them up? Then her last words being a plea for her friend to cheer up? Ami lying to Usagi to get her to go, using her power on herself to dive into a volcano and then using her friggin' computer as a weapon? Venus tackling Usagi out of the way and disentegrating a monster with her pointer finger while being roasted alive herself? And finally, Mars letting Usagi know she really always had fun with her and then using her last firggin' breath to burn a monster alive? You can't beat how powerful all of that was. Also, seeing Usagi have to carry the weight of her friends sacrifices and fight on because she realizes why they did what they did for her was just great- and in the manga, she only vaguely realizes they gave their lives for her.

And because of the epic amount of filler, the anime gave us more time to get to know the characters overall in the first season. Here, Venus gets 99% percent of the focus in battle and past life junk, and she's the only one we ever get to know because of the Sailor V chapters published at this point (which are fab and I will be posting). The other girls only got one chapter of focus. And they were great, they just weren't much. Honestly, if it weren't for the anime, I wouldn't have as much attachment to the Inner Senshi as I do. They were given way more screentime there (The R and SuperS arcs in the manga fix this a little, but we aren't there yet)

Also, I prefer the anime finale because it was really uncomfortable seeing Usagi commit suicide, especially over her boyfriend. Yes, it was tragic and thematic, an understandable gut reaction to the trauma and psychological damage of having to murder a loved one, she believed they would be reincarnated and maybe even believed it would help with the restoring of the Silver Crystal, and there was the fact she was destined to reinact her past life or whatever, but still, majorly uncomfortable. I preferred seeing her carry on in spite of her lover's death because she had to do right by her friends and the world, especially when she refused to kiss Mamoru's...um...corpse...because her friends never got the chance for romance. So I do prefer the anime finale to the manga one, overall. I mean, it was perfect.

On the other hand, the manga Dark Kingfom arc has a tighter and more thematic plot, and the backstory with the moon kingdom, the stuff with the Shittenou, the stuff with Venus and Beryl, basically all the past life stuff, was fab and should have been included in the anime. So I guess with this arc, I prefer the manga for plot and backstory, and the anime for character (and since I focus on character more, I basically prefer the anime for this arc), though I love both. However, with R and SuperS I prefer the manga for both plot and character. Can't wait to get to those!

Anyway, sorry for rambling, speaking of past lives...flashback time!



I really enjoy seeing these flashbacks to the Moon Kingdom. Serenity really was Usagi in personality, curious, adventurous and childish. Poor Venus!



What's cool about this scene is it pops up in the last chapter of the Sailor V manga, and we see it from an outsider's perspective. Also Kunzite bein' all "hello I am Kunzite so disdainful and dapper" and Endymion being all "omg don't diss my crush!" Also Shittenou/Senshi flirting hi.

Usagi wakes up...



That's a really sturdy pocket watch.

Usagi uses the silver crystal to bamf them outside of Metallia.





OHHHH GOOOOOD HEEEEE'S BLIIIIIND!

Sorry.



They sacrificed themselves so they could give you power after you offed yourself, loser!

Sorry...



Oh hi Kunzite I thought you were dead oh are you my helpful advice Obi Wan now oh okay.



You can always count on your formerly evil pet rocks to shield you from your girlfriend's sword.

Oh and Mamoru's using his motivational speech superpower again.



Gooo Mamoru! Do what you do best! Motivate the shit outta her!



Don't mess with Sailor Moon. Turning evil to dust is what she DOES.





See, look, the sheer power of her badassery restored Mamoru's sight. With the power of the moon, you too can heal death and blindness.

Well, next week is the finale of this epic saga and the beginning of a new one! Will Metallia be defeated? Will Usagi survive pushing her power to the limit? Can we get the other inner Senshi back? And... The arrival of a mysterious stranger! ALL NEXT TIME ON SAILORMOON!

Comments

[beoweasel]

"...the pretty suited solider of love and justice..."


I just can't get over that line. XD

[nevermore999]

You should see Sailor V's speeches. They are fantastic. Or as one villian puts it "interminable!"

"THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1989 MAY ALLOW IT BUT I WON'T ALLOW IT!"

[nezchan]

My favourite part of the later anime was Iron Mouse complaining about the speech while Usagi totally ignored her.

But then I totally had a thing for Iron Mouse, it's where my user name came from.

[punishermax]

Panty and Stocking has basically ruined Sailor Moon for me, especially the transformation scenes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEpy0znKHWs

[nevermore999]

There are no transformation scenes in the manga. I don't really see how it would be ruined anyway, a lot of Sailor Moon is clearly meant to be tongue in cheek over the top cheesy fun- the other half just happens to be awesome feminist story, fights and characters etc.

[nevermore999]

/realizes she's being humorless but whatever, is in the mood to answer stuff seriously sometimes.

[ajremix.livejournal.com]

"Also, I prefer the anime finale because it was really uncomfortable seeing Usagi commit suicide, especially over her boyfriend."

Not to mention the fact she's killing herself here even though she knows it's basically the End of Days going on. Much preferable in the anime where Usagi goes on even though she's lost everyone close to her because she knows she must stop Metallia or the world is doomed. Here it's 'oh, the love of my various lives died, sorry world, you're SOL'.

[nevermore999]

Yeah. Granted, she probably didn't think of it that way and it was just instinct/past life reinactment, but that's basically why I preferred the anime ending. Mamoru's death hit her hard, but just on the same level as the death of her friends- she was willing to keep going for the sake of the world.

[silverzeo]

... what is the story behind those sailor school uniforms in general?

[nevermore999]

Her editor.

Who is a man.

There is your answer.

[nevermore999]

Though Takeuchi also said it was helpful in making her relatable to the target schoolgirl audience too.

Or did you mean the origin of those uniforms in real life? In which case, I can't help you though I'd recommend google.

[nezchan]

As I recall, when the Japanese educational system was reformed in the 20's or so (I know it was before WWII, at least), uniforms were introduced. The girls were patterned after the British Navy and the boys after the Prussian Army. I think the boys were officers' uniforms.

Again, Google will probably get you more detail.

[pilotsaunicorn.livejournal.com]

Queen Metallia is SCARY.

[omnipotent]

I liked the anime for the same reasons you do. The anime version of Hotaru/Mistress 9 was way more powerful and intense than in the manga.

[lavode]

Also: more screentime for the generals.

You can always count on your formerly evil pet rocks to shield you from your girlfriend's sword.

QFT

[greenmask]

The anime finale really was perfect.

But this is good too.

[hyaroo]

What boggles me here is that Artemis is apparently capable of traveling to the Moon entirely under his own power, and bringing Luna with him as well.

If he has this much power, how come he hardly ever does anything remotely useful in the manga? ^_^*

(Come to think of it, he didn't do much in the anime either, apart from getting beat up a lot... but he never really displayed any kind of power in the anime apart from talking and being able to take a lot of abuse, so...)

[marsdejahthoris]

And now I have "Carry On" stuck in my head. As crappy as the dub was, it had some KICKASS bubblegum rock.

*Puts on "Ai no Senshi" to try and drive it out.*

[lavode]

Thanks, now that song is stuck in *my* head. ("Awaken, pale soldier!")