Enemy: Queen Metalia
Dec. 20th, 2014 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoameSo I hate saying it, but I was disappointed by this episode. It's not the finale, but my hopes were up so high, and then...
All right, bias out of the way. Yes, I've read the manga. No, I haven't watched the toku Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. And yes, I've seen the 1990's anime version of the final battle. Three versions: DiC dub first (which was surprisingly well done, despite failing hard at hiding the Senshi's deaths), then the sub, and finally the Viz dub which is still really well done even if I still kinda prefer Serena's voice to Stephanie Sheh's Usagi.
The anime version of the end of the Dark Kingdom arc is...well, not quite perfect, but a really damn hard act to follow. "Death of the Sailor Guardians! The Tragic Final Battle!" is just amazing. First off, it does what Naoko Takeuchi wasn't allowed to do in the first arc of the manga, and it kills the Senshi.
Yeah. Outright kills our heroes. Because there's nothing that says "Our hero must face the final battle alone" quite like a total party kill. And it draws the whole thing out too--they're picked off one by one. Yeah, there are stupid bits, like how many times Usagi fell for the illusion and Rei getting on her case about everything, but holy shit is it heartwrenching. Makoto is surrounded by the DD Girls and fights with everything she's got, taking one out, but the others escape. Usagi barely has the time to mourn her before Ami volunteers to stay behind and take on the rest, dying taking out the illusion crystal so the others won't be fooled anymore. Minako protects Usagi from another attack and takes out a DD Girl with a point-blank Crescent Beam that kills her too. Rei is on the run with Usagi and finally apologizes to her, admitting that for all she's picked on her, she really cares about her and has had a lot of fun. She tells Usagi to conserve her strength and not to fight the remaining DD Girls so that she has the power to defeat Beryl. Usagi begs her to go home, tells her she'll fight and survive to defeat Beryl and save the world, just pleading with Rei not to die. But Rei continues on anyway, apparently dying in a massive explosion. Usagi's devastated at the loss of her last friend, the one that's been the hardest one for her to win over, and the final DD Girl comes for her...only for Rei to finish her off with her last attack. She dies, telling Usagi she was right. Usagi can barely go on, but with the spirits of her friends at her side, she continues on and takes on Queen Beryl.
It's one of my favorite episodes, and I'm surprised I never wrote up my reaction to it. Hell, the episode after it is basically going through the motions, with fighting Tuxedo Mask, defeating Beryl, and finally facing Queen Metalia. Usagi becomes Princess Serenity and seals her away, using the last of her life force to do so, and with the last of her awareness, she makes a wish--that they can all be reborn with normal lives. Sure enough, they are reborn, not recognizing each other as they go about their lives, and it's quite honestly the perfect ending. So perfect, in fact, that I'm sure that Yasuko Kobayashi borrowed it for the finale of Ryuki, since that was the last thing she wrote before taking on the live action Sailor Moon, and the parallels are eerie--the last of the warriors devastated by the loss of a fiery friend they never thought they'd have, having to find the strength to carry on the battle alone, and a final wish that allows them all to be reborn as normal civilians, not recognizing each other as they meet again.
It's a tough act to follow, but I had hopes for Crystal, especially when they kept the Four Heavenly Kings alive. Look at the opening, and it shows them attacking together. That would have been awesome--in place of the DD Girls, a final showdown with the Sailor Guardians and their male counterparts. And while I personally didn't care for the revelation of past romance between them (being a fan of Casablanca Memories and Rei's backstory why she'll never fall in love, plus just as die-hard a fan of Zoicite/Kunzite from the original anime), I figured it'd at least add some weight to the battle. Give it a parallel to Usagi--that they have to fight against their loves.
And...yeah, that battle was mostly off-screen. Which is seriously disappointing. I can handle them letting Usagi use the sword against Beryl, instead of Minako doing it, because quite honestly, Usagi should be the one to win against her enemy and rival. I liked that Minako didn't get kidnapped, since it really didn't amount to much in the manga. I liked that Usagi stayed conscious the whole time, refusing to stop chasing Mamoru and trying to bring him to his senses.
But what I didn't like was when the changes they made amounted to nothing. What's the point of keeping the Four Heavenly Kings alive if we barely see them fight the Senshi? What's the point of restoring their memories if you're going to immediately have Metalia kill them? Here, I'd been hoping that maybe we could have had a moment of redemption for them, a chance for them to take a stand, and if they died, their deaths would mean something because they fought for their Prince and their loves. Nope. I felt uncomfortable watching the Senshi cry over their deaths because...there's no romance there. You haven't shown us anything. You said they fell in love. You showed a shot of them meeting. There's nothing to make us feel like they're star-crossed lovers. Nothing like Usagi and Mamoru. Nothing like anime 1's Zoicite and Kunzite. I cried when they died. I felt nothing here but disappointment.
What's the point of introducing a romance that wasn't in the original if you're not going to do anything with it? Especially when the manga states that they made vows of chastity to Princess Serenity? When the first anime introduces some romances that maybe don't always work out, but actually had some depth to them? I like Rei distrusting men and refusing to fall in love because she knows she'd be too selfish and destroy her lover. I like Minako in Sailor V, having to learn the hard way that she's never going to have true love, and it's both a sacrifice and a gift for her because she doesn't have to worry about anything taking her away from her duty. I like Ami utterly indifferent to romance. I like Makoto still looking, still hoping, and at least in one case in the Black Moon arc, having a real shot at it with a friend of Mamoru's. This isn't even a matter of being the only asexual at the party--though, to be honest, it's a pretty nice party and you guys should seriously come--but I've always felt like there are more stories to be told there. What about Usagi remembering the vows they made to her in her past life and begging them not to hold to old promises? What about Makoto getting over the boy who turned her down? Things like that.
There's still another episode in this arc, and there's a chance they'll redeem this episode and maybe even live up to their flawed, but incredibly influential older sister. But for something I've been so hyped about, I hate feeling let down.
All right, bias out of the way. Yes, I've read the manga. No, I haven't watched the toku Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. And yes, I've seen the 1990's anime version of the final battle. Three versions: DiC dub first (which was surprisingly well done, despite failing hard at hiding the Senshi's deaths), then the sub, and finally the Viz dub which is still really well done even if I still kinda prefer Serena's voice to Stephanie Sheh's Usagi.
The anime version of the end of the Dark Kingdom arc is...well, not quite perfect, but a really damn hard act to follow. "Death of the Sailor Guardians! The Tragic Final Battle!" is just amazing. First off, it does what Naoko Takeuchi wasn't allowed to do in the first arc of the manga, and it kills the Senshi.
Yeah. Outright kills our heroes. Because there's nothing that says "Our hero must face the final battle alone" quite like a total party kill. And it draws the whole thing out too--they're picked off one by one. Yeah, there are stupid bits, like how many times Usagi fell for the illusion and Rei getting on her case about everything, but holy shit is it heartwrenching. Makoto is surrounded by the DD Girls and fights with everything she's got, taking one out, but the others escape. Usagi barely has the time to mourn her before Ami volunteers to stay behind and take on the rest, dying taking out the illusion crystal so the others won't be fooled anymore. Minako protects Usagi from another attack and takes out a DD Girl with a point-blank Crescent Beam that kills her too. Rei is on the run with Usagi and finally apologizes to her, admitting that for all she's picked on her, she really cares about her and has had a lot of fun. She tells Usagi to conserve her strength and not to fight the remaining DD Girls so that she has the power to defeat Beryl. Usagi begs her to go home, tells her she'll fight and survive to defeat Beryl and save the world, just pleading with Rei not to die. But Rei continues on anyway, apparently dying in a massive explosion. Usagi's devastated at the loss of her last friend, the one that's been the hardest one for her to win over, and the final DD Girl comes for her...only for Rei to finish her off with her last attack. She dies, telling Usagi she was right. Usagi can barely go on, but with the spirits of her friends at her side, she continues on and takes on Queen Beryl.
It's one of my favorite episodes, and I'm surprised I never wrote up my reaction to it. Hell, the episode after it is basically going through the motions, with fighting Tuxedo Mask, defeating Beryl, and finally facing Queen Metalia. Usagi becomes Princess Serenity and seals her away, using the last of her life force to do so, and with the last of her awareness, she makes a wish--that they can all be reborn with normal lives. Sure enough, they are reborn, not recognizing each other as they go about their lives, and it's quite honestly the perfect ending. So perfect, in fact, that I'm sure that Yasuko Kobayashi borrowed it for the finale of Ryuki, since that was the last thing she wrote before taking on the live action Sailor Moon, and the parallels are eerie--the last of the warriors devastated by the loss of a fiery friend they never thought they'd have, having to find the strength to carry on the battle alone, and a final wish that allows them all to be reborn as normal civilians, not recognizing each other as they meet again.
It's a tough act to follow, but I had hopes for Crystal, especially when they kept the Four Heavenly Kings alive. Look at the opening, and it shows them attacking together. That would have been awesome--in place of the DD Girls, a final showdown with the Sailor Guardians and their male counterparts. And while I personally didn't care for the revelation of past romance between them (being a fan of Casablanca Memories and Rei's backstory why she'll never fall in love, plus just as die-hard a fan of Zoicite/Kunzite from the original anime), I figured it'd at least add some weight to the battle. Give it a parallel to Usagi--that they have to fight against their loves.
And...yeah, that battle was mostly off-screen. Which is seriously disappointing. I can handle them letting Usagi use the sword against Beryl, instead of Minako doing it, because quite honestly, Usagi should be the one to win against her enemy and rival. I liked that Minako didn't get kidnapped, since it really didn't amount to much in the manga. I liked that Usagi stayed conscious the whole time, refusing to stop chasing Mamoru and trying to bring him to his senses.
But what I didn't like was when the changes they made amounted to nothing. What's the point of keeping the Four Heavenly Kings alive if we barely see them fight the Senshi? What's the point of restoring their memories if you're going to immediately have Metalia kill them? Here, I'd been hoping that maybe we could have had a moment of redemption for them, a chance for them to take a stand, and if they died, their deaths would mean something because they fought for their Prince and their loves. Nope. I felt uncomfortable watching the Senshi cry over their deaths because...there's no romance there. You haven't shown us anything. You said they fell in love. You showed a shot of them meeting. There's nothing to make us feel like they're star-crossed lovers. Nothing like Usagi and Mamoru. Nothing like anime 1's Zoicite and Kunzite. I cried when they died. I felt nothing here but disappointment.
What's the point of introducing a romance that wasn't in the original if you're not going to do anything with it? Especially when the manga states that they made vows of chastity to Princess Serenity? When the first anime introduces some romances that maybe don't always work out, but actually had some depth to them? I like Rei distrusting men and refusing to fall in love because she knows she'd be too selfish and destroy her lover. I like Minako in Sailor V, having to learn the hard way that she's never going to have true love, and it's both a sacrifice and a gift for her because she doesn't have to worry about anything taking her away from her duty. I like Ami utterly indifferent to romance. I like Makoto still looking, still hoping, and at least in one case in the Black Moon arc, having a real shot at it with a friend of Mamoru's. This isn't even a matter of being the only asexual at the party--though, to be honest, it's a pretty nice party and you guys should seriously come--but I've always felt like there are more stories to be told there. What about Usagi remembering the vows they made to her in her past life and begging them not to hold to old promises? What about Makoto getting over the boy who turned her down? Things like that.
There's still another episode in this arc, and there's a chance they'll redeem this episode and maybe even live up to their flawed, but incredibly influential older sister. But for something I've been so hyped about, I hate feeling let down.