I feel like this is visually evocative of certain famous story concerning the child of a god and themes of sacrifice and rebirth but I can’t put my finger on it… hmm.
This episode begins almost exactly like a scene in last week’s, with Usagi asleep and sadly dreaming about Tuxedo Mask, when Luna dashes in to tell her that there’s a real-ass emergency going on: Sailor Venus has actually found where all those youma are coming from. You know, those youma that were totally mentioned last episode as deliberate multi-episode foreshadowing I’m so proud of you Sailor Moon for having a real, grown up multi-episode arc!
So the entrance to the Dark Kingdom turns out to be a shadowy portal behind the Arby’s inside a crepe shop.
I know, because the metal grate says “CREPE SHOP” on it.
The Senshi immediately begin to explore the weird tunnels for a route to the Dark Kingdom, while Luna and Artemis (who’ve obviously not played enough D&D)
Okay though if the Senshi got into D&D Ami would be like “I’ll DM a game” but then she’d be too much of a pushover DM to keep Rei and Usagi from bickering the whole time about their characters’ behavior while Minako doodles more and more elaborately frilly armor and weapons on the back of her character sheet so Makoto would step up to lay down the story while Ami would be the resident Person Who Actually Remembers How All the Rules Work Without Looking It Up.
immediately split the party by deciding to look down a small tunnel that only they can fit into. This, of course, is the point at which Kunzite shows up to keep the Senshi from actually finding the Dark Kingdom’s headquarters. Still, he offers to spare their lives if they’ll hand over the Silver Crystal, and as usual the answer is “fuck right off, Captain McShirtopen.” Tired of Usagi’s sass, he threatens to send them to the Multidimensional Chaos World.
“Kunzite, you made that up. Like, you made that up just now.”
Kunzite’s explanation of the MCW is kinda vague, but, to continue a metaphor here, basically it sounds like he’s gonna roll a percentage die on the table of The Worst Places to Be in All of History and Space and whatever shows up is where he’s gonna send them. But something goes wrong when he blasts the Senshi with magic, and… well, first, Usagi drops the Moon Wand with its Silver Crystal Attachment™ and Kunzite makes a Mighty Lunge for it. But the Moon Wand won’t be having any of that bullshit, thanks, and it flips around in midair like it has a will of its own and raps him across the knuckles with its handle. So it has the will of a 1940s public school teacher.
Then it does a little spinny… something, and instead of popping out into prehistory times in a giant pile of dinosaur poo or whatever, the Sailor Senshi find themselves on the moon.
I could say something here about how I wish the show would explain how these characters are breathing and staying warm, but instead I’ll just repeat the MST3K mantra and remind myself that Sailor Moon has never presumed to follow the laws of physics anyway.
And now that we’re on the moon, the episode turns to its true purpose: flashback and exposition. The Senshi, well, specifically Usagi, are greeted by a small hologram of Queen Serenity, the incarnation of the Moon Goddess Selene and Usagi’s mother (or the mother of her previous incarnation?), who has decided it’s time to tell them all about the last time the Dark Kingdom tried to start shit and got hit, and of the terrible price the Moon Kingdom paid for that hit.
So, lets see if I can summarize this: The Moon Kingdom aren’t aliens, they’re a nation of humans who live on the moon, guarding the Legendary Silver Crystal and watching over the Earth to “help it advance,” which sounds an awful lot like either a disappointing Neil Blomkamp film or a bleak Isaac Asimov novel, but since this is Sailor Moon and they’re Usagi’s people, I’m sure they were super nice and helpful. Usagi Sorry, Princess Serenity (apparently all the women of the ruling line have the same name) falls in love with Prince Endymion of Earth just as an Earth conspiracy to invade and overthrow the Moon Kingdom is revealed. Said conspiracy and its brainwashed army is led by the sorceress Beryl (who preyed on the dreams of humans to extend her life, a.k.a. stole the energy generated when humans desire things) who was given power by the evil energy being Metalia.
On the eve of total war between the Moon and Earth, Prince Endymion visits Princess Serenity in order to tell her of the oncoming invasion, that he’ll be fighting Beryl with everything he’s got, and to enlist her help in saving the Moon. Before the two can get much in the way of a buttkicking agreement going, Beryl’s smoky man army arrives with her at the head.
Pictured: smoky man army.
With the full power of Metalia, Beryl swiftly defeats the Sailor Senshi of the era and declares that she now rules both the Earth and the Moon, and that her dominion will be a new Dark Kingdom.
Oh hey, the Dark Kingdom boy band is here too.
Beryl’s next move is to eliminate the Moon royalty, starting with the Princess, but not before proposing marriage to Endymion and offering him rule over both Earth and the Moon. Neither Endymion nor Serenity are much into these ideas, and Beryl winds up killing both of the young lovers, who die hand in hand.
All of this is witnessed by Queen Serenity, who resolves that the only power that can save the Moon now is the Legendary Silver Crystal. Luna and Artemis (yeah, they’re here too) caution her that if she uses the Silver Crystal, she’ll die. No explanation is offered for why, though. Has Queen Serenity used the Crystal too much? Is she older and magically weaker than Usagi? Is it that she’s trying to heal an entire planet/race of people? /shrug
In any case, Queen Serenity’s Moon Healing Escalation takes out not only Metalia but also Beryl, her army, and all four Kings of Heaven, “sealing” them away in an unspecified location. With her dying breath, Queen Serenity entrusts the Moon Wand and Silver Crystal to her reincarnated daughter, cautioning that the Silver Crystal is not inherently good, but simply follows the will of its user, depending on the nature of their heart. Metalia and Beryl could return at any time, and so she seals Luna and Artemis in “Cold Sleep” rather than reincarnating them, so that they can prepare the reincarnated Senshi in the future.
The sheer number of bubbles rising from the Moon here implies that the Queen is reincarnating all of her citizens?
And with that end of the exposition, the Senshi are sent back through the Multidimensional Chaos World to the Dark Kingdom tunnels, only to find out why you should never split the party. It turns out that Luna and Artemis’ tunnel did go straight to Dark Kingdom HQ, which turns out to be on the North freakin’ Pole, but then the two feline spies were found by Kunzite.
Man, you are in trouble now, Kunzite.
It’s not a good day for our final king of heaven, as he’s not only has he royally pissed off the Senshi, but also inadvertently lead to them fully recovering their memories of their past lives. Still, the home turf advantage is strong with the Dark Kingdom, and he appears to have the upper hand, until Venus, Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter combine their powers to create what I think is some kind of shield for Sailor Moon? This gives her the opening she needs to get through the cast time a Moon Healing Escalation off, which isn’t powerful enough to harm Kunzite directly. Instead, it deflects his thrown weapon right back, delivering a killing blow.
And I thought I was going to be okay but then he just had to call out for Zoisite with his dying breath.
Leave me alone.
Luna and Artemis aren’t so exhausted that they can’t tell the Senshi the location of the Dark Kingdom’s headquarters, and that they’ve got to get there quick before the unusual sunspot activity gives the bad guys too much power. The Senshi resolve to head there immediately, and the episode ends.
Moon Prism Power… Wrap Up!
It’s been a long road, Newbie recap fans, but we’ve almost reached the end of it. Obviously I should stave off my conclusion thoughts for next week, so I’ll try to keep them out of this wrap up. I’m honestly a little surprised that Kunzite bit the bullet in this episode and not in the finale. Is it going to just be the Senshi and Metalia/Beryl next episode? Or is a brainwashed Endymion going to be brought back into the fray?
Just one more thing about this episode: I’m not sure we actually learned anything new, except perhaps a few specifics. Certainly there was a lot more emotion bound up in actually watching the Moon Kingdom’s downfall and the last moments of Queen Serenity. But the Senshi already knew they were reincarnations of a Moon Kingdom that was attacked by the Earth Kingdom for control of the Legendary Silver Crystal. I guess we learned that the Earth army was a faction of which Endymion had no part, so that’s nice. There’s nothing wrong with a little pre-conclusion recap, especially if it’s done through lovely new animation, but I found the observation that we weren’t really getting much new info interesting.
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