M&M DreamWorks: Sailor Moon Crystal Spotlight: Act 18 Recap!

Back to the old routine again. Act 18 of Sailor Moon Crystal is almost a carbon copy of its manga equivalent once again, but this time it may actually be for the best.

This episode was something I both looked forward to and dreaded all the same. The last of the character-centric acts (for the Inners at least) of this arc featured Sailor Venus. After stealing her glory for defeating Beryl some episodes back, I feared what would happen here. Would Venus get abducted as well? I swore, I would drop this, if that happened.

Well, I am still here. So let's get to the analysis.

Technical Performance

First of... The Moon Rod is back. Of course, Moon Princess Halation is still as awful as ever, but that's already an established fact. We also got to see both Rolling Heart Vibration – which was marginally more impressive than Moon Princess Halation – which of course isn't much – and Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber... which somehow looked far more powerful than I ever imagined it from the manga. Rolling Heart Vibration was actually a surprise seeing as it wasn't even in the manga at this point.

Otherwise I haven't caught any blatant flaws yet, but I am suffering dry eyes this weekend, so I may not have caught everything with my vision not as focused. ^_^

Characters and Practical Performance

It feels more and more like Act 16 was a fluke. Sailor Moon Crystal is back to its old tune it has been performing since the end of Shitennou side arc. Panel to frame copying at an 1.1:1 rate. There was almost nothing really noteworthy in this episode that was actually changed, so I have barely anything to say on that end. But let's run through the somewhat important changes.

First of all, Mamoru got his scene this time – would have been hard not to. However, what I feared also somewhat happened. The manifestation of his powers feels somewhat awkward and hurried because the build-up scenes were cut out of the last two episodes. It's not as big a deal as I feared but still somewhat irksome.

The battle was – as is the norm by now – slightly expanded. But really only very marginal by the already mentioned Rolling Heart Vibration and the counterattack. At the same time I wonder why exactly the ghost channeling did not include the brief glimpse at the other Senshi like in the manga. I feel a bit of impact was lost there and that would have really not cost more than five seconds or so.

Before getting to the "most" important scene, I must apologize. The featured preview scene last week was not a spoiler as it was from the beginning of the episode. However, this brings us to one sour bit. There was no expression of relief here that Venus was indeed saved and not suffering the same fate of the other Senshi, making this part a little emotionally stunted. Yet, at the same time, this part also brought perhaps the most interesting change and here my thanks goes to Rebecca at ANN for pointing it out to me. Venus' reaction to being saved and here comment of "What took you so long?" really was a nice touch, highlighting the confidence she has in herself and in Sailor Moon. Looking at it like that, this small moment might be the silver lining of this episode in terms of changes/original content.

And that's it really.

However, don't take this the wrong way. Sometimes following strictly along the source material is a good thing. This time it would have been hard to cut out anything for new material. In fact it would have probably given me at least more grief than anything. Sure, one could have hoped for a bit more actual characterization. As much as I prefer manga-Venus over her old anime self – which spiraled far too quickly into a (worse) carbon copy of Usagi's ditzy side after first season with none of her leadership traits present –, the manga does give her far less personal development. I would argue though, that Venus' character is somewhat finished. She's the "senior" in the team and had much of her "development" as Sailor V. The good bits in this episode are reserved in subtle reminders of Venus' character and role by showing her seriousness. There is no room for self-doubt with her unlike the others but rather frustration fueling her determination to put an end to the string of losses.

Leaving the adaption as it is, was probably the right choice, the problem lies more in the old problem of the strict timeframe this anime has set for itself which simply does not allow more expansion without losing valuable plot points – and it already is doing so here and there. So, I have not that much trouble with a lack of development for Venus, yet certainly can see why some people would. Again though, it boils down to a lack of space-time (pun ^_^) to do more with this scenario and Venus' role in it.

Conclusion

This leaves me in as much a somewhat awkward position as I have been at the end of the last arc where I declared how sad it was that I had to be glad Sailor Moon Crystal is now following the source material this strictly. I had had some hope after Act 16 showing that decent script writing of original content WAS indeed possible but that seems to have already dwindled out. We are back where we ended with in the last arc and Sailor Moon Crystal can sadly still not support itself. Any positive or negative of the plot can be reflected back on the manga. This is sadly not something that can be changed or fixed in the remaining time. The rest of the plot from here on out is even more tight and fixed, so that room for additions is sparse to nonexistent and change is probably best avoided for risk of destroying the last thing Sailor Moon Crystal is still good at, animating the original manga.

I had no particular problems with this episode and nothing seemed horribly out of place – aside from the bits long established – and so I still feel the slightly upped quality since entering this arc has been kept at least. Of course, even that is manga's accomplishment since there is almost nothing new here to warrant compliments at Sailor Moon Crystal itself. Me? I am just glad V-chan is still here.

Rating: 4/5