I admit (and said so) that I was skeptical of whether or not Sailor Moon Crystal could pull off the finale of the Black Moon arc in a deserving manner. The coverage of this act marked one of the saddest moments in the manga plot and seeing how uninspired these moments came along in the first arc, skepticism was certainly to be expected. All the more surprising was the simple, yet poignant fact that despite knowing what was coming, I was CRYING. Yes, damn it (forgive the language) I was really damn crying...
Let's go into detail.
Technical Performance
The musical scores in this episode fit splendidly and flowed well into one another. Even the transition from the melancholic themes into Usagi's transformation music carried her righteous anger at what had just transpired very well. On that front I have absolutely nothing to criticize and you know I don't talk about the rest because of my own technical issues.
Characters and Practical Performance
As said above... I cried. If an emotional-charged episodes manages to make you cry DESPITE knowing what is coming, I don't think you need much more to measure its success. Just like some of the previous episodes, but perhaps much more so as a whole Sailor Moon Crystal managed to actually do what an anime adaption is supposed to do: To breathe life into the still panels. It takes more than just coloring and making the characters move. This episode was one such example which I would have wished for much more.
Pluto's death scene is certainly an emotional highlight, much better executed from start to finish than a lot of the first arc's drama between Usagi/Serenity and Mamoru/Endymion. This flowed nicely into Chibiusa/Black Lady remembering her time with Pluto and giving birth to her own crystal and transformation. It was a nice touch to not have the scene's flow interrupted by a lengthy transformation sequence with its own music.
At this point a few things deviated but actually worked in this episode's favor. Wiseman/Death Phantom began to mock Chibiusa, her return to the light and her grief, this added an extra punch to Usagi's righteous fury, summoning her full power and temporarily beating Death Phantom back in a combined effort of powers that even briefly included attacks from the Inners. At least an effort was made here to not completely forget and ignore them.
The last change can be viewed either way, neither of which really matters. In the manga Demando actually attacks Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask but gets defeated by their power, here Demando turns against Death Phantom, still for his own ambitions and with the same end result. I'm not sure which I like better and in fact, both ends are as inconsequential and sudden as many an enemy's end in the manga/Crystal plotline, especially considering he was the supposed leader of the Black Moon. But I guess there was no more room to give him a fitting end.
Conclusion
I really, really wish all/most episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal could have been like this one. The execution for once flowed from start to finish, for an entire episode long. Once again it is sad that I actually have to point this out as astounding. Still, we take any small steps in the right direction, even if they are only from time to time. It is because of episodes like this that some of us are still watching Sailor Moon Crystal despite all of our misgivings. In light of actually succeeding to keep the great level of presentation for the entire episode, I feel like giving this episode an actual...
Rating: 5/5
(and surely I did not think I would ever do this again for this show)
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