M&M DreamWorks: Sailor Moon Crystal Spotlight: Act 20 Recap!

More of the same. Sailor Moon Crystal panders along leisurely in Act 20, making less and less off an effort to even try being somewhat original.

When I started typing this recap it was later than usual, due to having a bit of an infection in my left eye which made screen work a pain... (as such excuse any sloppiness in this article please) Of course, I wasn't particular worried about being late since obviously there is really little to be said about this episode... again.

In fact the BIGGEST news came a little bit after last episode in the form of the news about Sailor Moon Crystal seamlessly continuing into its next season. There could be so much I'd like to say about it but... No, just go read last episode's conclusion and you pretty much have my thoughts. That the announcement is here doesn't really change the fact that I do not expect much (if anything) to change in the current setup and I am seriously getting tired of talking about it.

So, on to the once again short analysis of this week's animated manga chapter.

Technical Performance

As the show moves to the more heavy plot stuff, the use of the music once again feels good. Sailor Moon Crystal's music in general can be pretty bland most times, especially when it comes to less drama-heavy moments but for episode like this, the particular style works fairly well. It's still no match for the old anime on a whole, of course.

I did not notice any particular grievous animation lapses but I pretty much watched this episode with one eye and thus not too closely at all, so forgive me if I missed something here.

Characters and Practical Performance

First of all, I am not sure whether I like Diana's voice or not. I have not experienced her old anime's voice really but it wasn't quite what I expected. I can't really put my finger on it but while I think Luna and Artemis are done rather well in the voice department, Diana irks me for some reason.

I do not need to say a word about how the adaption from manga to anime turned out... do I? Thought so.

Anyway, from the things cut out during this episode, the one that irked me most was probably not showing that frame of Minako worrying about the others. But again, that's really only a minor concern and would probably not even have made it here, if I had anything substantial to say.

Once again here would have been a good point to take a breather and elaborate a bit more on Crystal's Tokyo's past, perhaps include a longer flashback episode about Chibiusa's early life around the time Phantom first showed up and was banished. Granted this could be done at a later point just as well, however, I merely wished to point out what could have been done if the series had not been restricted by such a tight time and budget constraint.

An interesting bit of trivia about this episode is the difference between Nico and Crunchyroll's sub in the scene with Pluto and Chibiusa. The Nico sub had Pluto calling Chibiusa "mature" while the one on Crunchyroll translated the passage with "honest". Quite a bit of difference... The manga simply went with "you are a good girl" (going by Alex Glover's old translations). So, I wonder what did Pluto really want to say?

Conclusion

Nothing changed, Sailor Moon Crystal continues to move along with animating the manga and does not even make a real effort anymore to be anything but that. It does not mean it is bad. It's adequate. Woefully average. Yet, as I have pointed out in the appropriate thread to the new season's announcement on ANN... Is that what we expect out of SAILOR MOON? We are talking about SAILOR MOON. Average is as much a negative assessment as bad or awful would be for any newly aired anime with little name and history to itself.

Rating: 3.5/5