Sailor Moon Crystal

Episode 6

Sailor Moon Crystal has been at its weakest when not introducing new senshi, and this episode reinforces that trend. It's all about anime's favorite useless male, Tuxedo Mask, and his quest to obtain the Legendary Silver MacGuffin, which begins with him announcing his goal to all the major news networks. There's no apparent benefit to this action, and it's immediately turned against him by the Dark Kingdom, so I have no idea what he was thinking. It does, however, bring about the amusing image of some teenager in an ill-fitting tuxedo telling major new stations about his plans to obtain the "Legendary Silver Crystal" and having them take him seriously, so I'll accept it. Otherwise, these twenty minutes were a dump for information most people already know about Sailor Moon - Luna's from the moon, they're all the reincarnations of princesses from the planets in the solar system (and Earth's moon), and Usagi is their chosen leader. Welcome to anime.

In short, this was a plot episode, which was an issue because nobody cares about the plot in Sailor Moon. It's all about the senshi, their powers and interactions, and maybe whichever boy happens to be attached to their stories. All of the arcs are some flavor of obtaining the necessary MacGuffin/power level to stop an ultimate evil from destroying the world. It's almost irrelevant that they're all supposed to be reincarnated space princesses (just read Please Save My Earth if you want a good shoujo exploration of that premise). The characterization beat this week is about Usagi processing and accepting her role as the group's leader, with plenty of help from designated boyfriend Mamoru. In the process, this episode made a subtle but damaging change from the manga. It includes a scene that doesn't happen there, wherein Luna tells Usagi that Tuxedo Mask, the dude she's crushing on, might be dangerous. Usagi responds by literally running away from her responsibilities, jeopardizing her friends' lives in their upcoming battle, and doesn't go back until he shows up to disprove those suspicions and tell her that he believes in her. This happens differently in the manga. There, she leaves the scene normally, and although Usagi is separated from the other senshi at the beginning of that battle and gains the courage to take up the mantle of leadership by talking to Tuxedo Mask, her conflict isn't rooted in the possibility of a romantic relationship with him, at the expense her relationship with the other senshi. A particularly illustrative detail is that, in the manga, Tuxedo Mask catches Usagi while she's running towards the battle, but in this anime he catches her while she's running away. This choice indicates to me that the showrunners don't understand the real value of the feminist reputation they're capitalizing on. The anime complicates the scene so that the manga's original resolution is no longer adequately feminist. It even goes against the theme song: "Even girls have unshakable wills/We will fight on our own/Without leaving our destiny to the prince,” which was obviously not included in the manga. Here, Usagi did leave her destiny to the prince, albeit emotionally rather than in combat. That's not a good shift. A big part of why Sailor Moon is beloved is its open feminist intent, and while I think the manga is a bit dated on that front, this new anime isn't doing itself any favors by making that worse. Small changes have a big impact, and I don't think they're being thought through. Ideally the show will eventually acknowledge that Usagi chose a man over the group and never apologized for it. Otherwise… uh, sketch. He also kisses her while unconscious, which is a big no-no. Don't be a creeper, Mamoru. You're starting to give the original anime's version of you a run for his money.

This one is also badly put-together by Sailor Moon Crystal standards. There are a number of jarring edits and the animation shortcuts are often so noticeable that they're funny. Luna's appearance continues to fluctuate somewhere between "horse" and "centipede.” At least the Sailor V game segments are adorable. There's one more Tuxedo Mask-centric episode (dealing with the fallout of Usagi learning that he and that jerk Mamoru are the same person) before Sailor Venus shows up to maybe bring the entertainment back. Sailor Moon Crystal is at its worst when it's about the boys instead of focusing on the vivid female characters that populate its world.

Rating: C-

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. She writes at animeintrospection.tumblr.com.

Sailor Moon Crystal is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.