M&M DreamWorks: Sailor Moon Crystal Spotlight: Act 04 Recap!

Once more we come to our recap of Sailor Moon Crystal. This time: The masquerade, Usagi and Mamoru's first kiss and more. Was it successful or not? Find out.

The first episode without an explicit character intro. Degenerated to filler material in the old anime, this act was one of the first key events for Usagi and Mamoru's romance. Also of great interest was the question: Did Jadeite really survive the last episode and cause the first big change within Sailor Moon Crystal?

Technical Performance

Two small comments/questions I would like to make: First, why did the dress have to be so... pink? This does not really suit Usagi/Serenity. I would rather liked to stick to the traditional white.

And second: Why was Sailor Moons Moon Twilight Flash not named? The fighting scenes are already so short (like in the manga), so at least they should be done right. A rather unnecessary neglect.

Characters

Well, pretty much like the manga. Only with Rei we begin to see what I expected/feared. Manga-Rei's somewhat colder and distanced character is far less seen. Instead of her initial distrust and resentment concerning her mission the scene was replaced with some bonding between Ami and Rei. In Crystal Rei so far seems more like a girl that has difficulties opening up with her feelings since she has so far lived a fairly isolated life because of her powers. This, of course, is true for all versions of Rei, yet it is handled differently each time. And it seems to be the same in Crystal. As such, we can be looking forward to Rei 3.0 from here on. I shall reserve judgment for now.

Practical Performance

All in all, this episode was well-done. There were a few small changes but the feeling from the manga was mostly retained. Other than the changes for Rei and the missing name for Sailor Moons attack, the next big new thing is obviously the confirmation that Jadeite did survive and was shown to introduce himself along with the other Generals to the Senshi. What consequences this will have is hard to say but this event surely will mean new, "exclusive" episodes in the future. Personally I would like to see the one or other longer battle since so far the short battle scenes of the manga have been almost completely adapted this way.

The other obvious change: Usagi doesn't accidentally drink alcohol at the end, but simply succumbs to her chronic need for sleep in order to initiate the legendary kiss scene. I think this is a little unnecessary but even like this the adaption is still successful.

Both this scene on the balcony and the dance at the dance at the masquerade are adapted well and gets the feeling of the manga for Usagi and Mamoru across. At this point I would have liked to see a bit more use of flashbacks and think a good opportunity was missed here.

Conclusion

A solid episode. Good adaption of the original and a well-done presentation of the first important step of Usagi and Mamoru's romance. The changes are made in a way that they do not really get in the way and critic would be nitpicky at best. Even after the second time watching I retained my initial impression of a successful episode.

Score: 4/5

A quick reminder: Act 5 will air on September, the 6th. Why? Well, I think we all have misunderstood the bi-weekly rhythm (myself included). New episode will air every first and third Saturday each month. August, however, has five Saturdays... *fires Moon Twilight Flash at fifth Saturday* Bad August!