M&M DreamWorks: Sailor Moon Crystal Spotlight: Act 11 Recap!

Act 11 of Sailor Moon Crystal remains at the adequate level from three weeks ago. Meaning: No great changes, small arguable points and nothing spectacular.

The Dark Kingdom Arc reaches its final phase. Only three episodes remained before this one. The most important question remained as to what would happen with the open plot points that are not part of the manga... namely the Shitennou. Unfortunately this episode does not even come close to answering that and raises more doubts about a satisfying solution to the situation. But let's begin in order.

Technical Performance

One is getting used to the music. Even if often rather similar, Sailor Moon Crystal's music has its strong moments in situations like these. I'd still wish for the one or other highlight here or there. Evidently the budget doesn't seem to be even enough for one good Insert... Well, maybe it is reserved for the real final.

Characters

Nothing new here. Since the episode worked close to the manga, there is preciously little that actually stands out. Only the changed scene in the entrance hall to Ami's apartment can be named here. For the first time Minako appears a little more like a normal girl and the bashful interlude serves as some decent comic relief as well as a small glimpse at Minako's other side behind the strong Venus. This alone dampens the once again bad choice for making changes to the original, albeit only a little.

Since the Shitennou are not present – more to that in a moment –, nothing can be said about them. The rest is pretty much in line with the manga.

Practical Performance

The adaption of the manga was pretty much 1:1, unfortunately it's once again the small changes that make us worry.

For one, Episode 11 marks the first episode that, due to its greater content, does not end where the corresponding manga act does. A small scene before the meeting at Ami's place in which Rei talks about a bad premonition has been unfortunately cut out and the scene in the entrance hall was changed.

The latter is probably not as bad as some previous changes. However, I liked the manga scene where Minako lets the heavy stone sword fall on the marble better. Minako's bashful act felt more like some cheap comedy scene often seen in anime these days. The only plus about this is that Minako can show herself from her more human side. This, however, could have been solved in a different manner as well. Of course the scene change was a consequence due to the sword being seemingly smaller – and probably less heavy – than in the manga.

The real and serious problem lies elsewhere, however. Unfortunately, what I have said last time – and before that – seems to become a reality. The expansion around the story of the Shitennou will have a short and unsatisfying end. Their only mention in this episode was by Endymion and that scene lost its meaning and impact compared to the manga equivalent where the Shitennou had truly been turned into stones already. In fact, it might have been better to cut this scene than Rei's. With no appearance this episode and only a little time left to fill in a lot of main plot points, it is highly doubtful that something good comes off of this. Especially not a solution that justifies the survival of the Shitennou up to this point.

In fact I am not sure at all how the final is supposed to be processed in just two episodes since already this episode ended earlier than the manga chapter. This was of course to be expected since the final chapters are substantially longer. What I could think of to solve this is that Act 14 will act as the bridging act to the Black Moon Arc like Act 13 did in the manga. If not I very much doubt that the Dark Kingdom Arc will get a worthy finish... and even if, there will still be little room for the Shitennou.

Conclusion

The division/pace of the plot is beginning to concern me. Now that the Black Moon Arc is fixed for the second half of Sailor Moon Crystal, the anime shows more and more clearly the underlying problems caused by the 1:1 adaption of the manga and what chances have been missed. Simply a decent processing of the Shitennou's story along with more flashbacks and perhaps one more character episode per Senshi would have easily been enough to fill 26 episodes without going overboard. Now we are facing the dilemma that even the final of this arc may not find the appreciation it deserves. Already the only real addition starts to get more and more pushed aside and threatens to come away with an utterly unsatisfying conclusion.

In short, Sailor Moon Crystal needlessly hastens with the story as if it was a manga by itself and painfully exposes some of the more vexing aspects of this arc: The blandness of any content besides the Usagi/Mamoru-relationship and the general conflict. Room enough would have been there if the staff had felt committed enough to try – and had had a competent writer for original material – without straying from the source. Like this I can see the problems new and less hardcore viewers have with this anime in general and even for me as a long-term fan it is painful to have Sailor Moon's faults exposed like this. There is pretty much nothing anymore that isn't in the manga. Close adaption or not, this isn't how you reel in viewers.

By itself the episode was once again adequate. One can argue about the one scene and it is more a matter of taste really. Something truly spectacular, however, once again did not happen.

Score: 3.75/5