| Yeah, the fanservice was kinda ridiculous last episode. We'll see if that persists. I agree with you that the chime is annoying. They've recently taken to repeating the chime more than once per transformation, and it makes it all the more apparent. And yes, it never seems like I have enough time for my catch phrase and my co-workers are tired of hearing it anyway :P Episode 20 CU's got a curry-eating event at her school (why couldn't we ever have this!?) and Usagi gets tasked with taking her. And so we enter the "curry romance triangle," whatever that means. Luna spits mad facts about CU and Usagi's treatment of her (she is all alone in a time not her own without her parents), and Usagi ends up inviting Mamoru to make CU (and herself) happy. Meanwhile, at BMC headquarters (I'm going to start calling it the Legion of Doom or LD), the girls are putting lemons on their faces for beauty and binge-eating cake. They have a new crystal point to target. They sell "dark fruits" at a local supermarket and... yeah, I wouldn't eat black and purple fruits just because someone says they're trendy. This turns everyone into dark-skinned zombies when they eat it who proceed to touch everything, causing everything to rot. All the Guardians come together to make curry rice. We get some silly moment with Minako thinking she cut her finger off and Usagi showing her cutting skills while cutting nothing. We also see a flash of CU's parents and... yep, they look like grown up versions of Usagi and Mamoru. We also get a cute scene of them all holding hands and walking together, though it doesn't last. Usagi arrives at the supermarket and literally has solid metal cans dissolving into goo around her. Her response? "How are we supposed to make curry rice now!?" When she fights later, she talks about how the villains have angered the vegetables and the beef. Never change, Usagi. Never change. Rei, Mamoru and CU arrive at the supermarket and, sensing an evil aura, Rei charges ahead. The new droid of the week is Avocadora, who shreds her top (yeah, we get some sideboob) and her new outfit doesn't leave much to the imagination, showcasing substantial underboob. Yep, that fanservice seems to be back in spades. SM and SMa transform, facing a hail of avocado and lychee grenades (on brand). TM intervenes, repeating SM's chastisement (hey, they really are meant to be together) before taking Avocadora on cane-to-sword while SM and SMa engage the Sisters who cannot cooperate. The other Sailor Guardians arrive and surround them, but they still get away in the end while SM exorcises the droid. The foodstuffs return to normal, Usagi, Mamoru and CU go off to make their curry rice (which looks like an abject failure - on brand for Usagi), but actually tastes good, earning her some praise from CU and Mamoru, a rare achievement. |
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| Episode 20. curry eating event at school, yep I think that would go down well with almost all the students. As an adult looking back, what would've been really good is if we were taught to make a simple curry at school, something tasty and healthy. The curry romance triangle, lol. I've thought this for a while now, Luna is my fave character from SM. Her mix of sarcasm, frustration at Usagi, reaction faces and spinster seeking love energy is a winner for me. The best comedy usually involves Luna. I do like the bickering nature of the BMC and all the vanity/rivalry between the spectre sisters. They don't quite have the same punch as the Dark Kingdom minions, which were genuinely good short term villains. We get more hints of CU's real parents being Usagi and Mamoru when she remembers walking with them. The sunset when her flashback happens is lovely. The colour palette in this show is a joy to behold. Those dark fruits remind me of the snozzcumber from BFG (Big Friendly Giant) books/film. That was more like it from Usagi's speech, this time about the poor treatment of supermarket vegetables and produce. TM's speech was almost identical, two peas in a pod. 'you've earned middle age', some biting remarks from the sisters. Usagi finally makes some curry. Good ep. Looks like a filler ep tomorrow, and one I recognise from Ami's swimsuit as she's on a bunch of chillwave/synthwave youtube music vids wearing that outfit sitting by the sea. |
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| Oh, I definitely remember the snozzcumber from reading the BFG way back when. Fond of that book. I agree, Luna's one of the best characters in the show. And yeah, while I do like Run BMC and their various infighting, I don't think they pose quite the same threat. Every fight with the BMC so far has been pretty abortive and there's never been a great sense that they're in control as soon as the fighting starts. The infighting is definitely part of the reason for that, but it also just doesn't feel like they have anything at stake here. There are no personal connections to the Guardians, no reason to fight them beyond just securing these crystal points (which is explicitly to prevent a future they don't want, so it doesn't have a sense of immediacy), and even that seems rather vague in terms of how it's achieved. It's not bad, but it makes them weaker antagonists. It doesn't help that the heads of the group (at least that we've seen), Rubeus (dude with the red hair) and Wiseman, are just kind of directing the operation but lack the menace associated with Queen Beryl. Episode 21 Yep, definitely a filler episode. The girls are off to the beach using Rei's "spiritual training on a remote island" as an excuse. Needless to say, they crash her training and wear skimpy swimsuits for maximum fanservice relaxation. I do like Rei's fiery one-piece suit, nice design. Also, is that an active volcano on the island, or is that giant plume of smoke just for appearances? Seems risky, but hey, let's not deal with the fact that their choice of island seems wildly unsafe. CU, who is along for the ride, ends up getting pulled out to sea by the tide, getting rescued from some sharks by her transforming robot and... is that the Loch Ness Monster? This might as well happen. Turns out this is a recently hatched dinosaur who just happens to be on the island, and after nicknaming it Giraffe, with its help, CU learns to like eating fish. Eventually, the mother arrives and they hunker down in a cave while, shocker, the volcano erupts. The Guardians go looking for her and transform when they see the volcano erupting despite having no idea where CU is yet. The dinosaurs become trapped in the cave and CU goes for help. The Guardians arrive just in time to deal with the lava floe, which I guess their powers are pretty good for managing despite most of them potentially causing more fires. It's not a bad effort on their part, as they try to redirect and channel it. SM uses her power to clear the rocks because I guess it works as well on them as it does on the Droids, and the dinosaurs are freed to roam about the island. Cut to the next morning and the island is still lush with greenery - no sign of an eruption at all. The dinosaurs take off and CU waves a tearful goodbye. Yeah, this was a weird one. I wish it had played up the silliness of the material it was working with more, since it didn't really work as a serious story. These girls discovered dinosaurs still walk (swim?) the Earth and told absolutely no one, a massive volcanic eruption happened and everyone's fine, and the Sailor Guardians are apparently more like the Planeteers than I would ever have imagined. Looks like we’re starting to get into canon material next episode, so it should pick up a bit. |
whiteflame55Jul 30, 7:51 AM
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| Episode 21. Not much to add here. It was a bit of a weird filler ep with Nessie and her mum, plus an active volcano. I liked some of the background colours. I've been hoping the one shot filler eps might have been better than the initial filler arc, as the one shot fillers from s1 were very good, sadly not the case so far. |
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| Meant to say a bit ago, but I like the new Hamtaro pfp. Looks good. Episode 22 CU wets Usagi’s bed (honestly feel for her - CU doesn’t have it easy), though they let us believe for a good beat that Usagi had done it after dreaming about marrying Mamoru. CU is being targeted by the Spectre Sisters (SS). Meanwhile, in the Future, the Guardians protect Crystal Tokyo, who look a lot like the Sailor Guardians… Anyway, CU takes off alone and Usagi chases her down just as CU tries to use her key to return to her time. This predictably fails, and the resulting sky beam draws attention to her, bringing the SS to her location. We get some villain pratfalls as Luna and LunaPii work to protect her, and soon enough the other Guardians discover what’s happening and charge into action. In a conversation between CU and Piu, we learn that Usagi in the future is incapacitated or dead, Mamoru defeated or dead, and the other Guardians still active. So that gives us some indication of how dire things are. SM and the other Guardians confront the SS, who clarify that they are from the 10th planet in the solar system: the Black Moon (that doesn’t make any sense, since moons aren’t also planets, but whatever). The ensuing standoff is a nice series of shots with a lot of clashing abilities, though SM stays with CU. She ends up attacked by Rubeus, barely staying ahead of his attacks. SM finds the strength to stand and protect her with TM arriving as backup. So the family is united. SM unleashes her signature attack, which Rubeus narrowly avoids, calling a full retreat. At last, CU trusts in the Guardians to protect her future, which is where we leave them for now, while Wiseman portends more tragedy looking at what is likely an image of Usagi in the future. |
whiteflame55Jul 31, 8:50 AM
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| Someone else said Hamtaro, it's actually Ebichu the hamster from Ebichu Minds the House. I thought it was time for a change, had the previous forum pfp since I started my mal a/c (used Ebichu for my insta and twitter pfp pics as well as I previously had generic cute anime girls on them and thought I should change them out as outside of mal, cute anime girl pfp look a bit random and weird). Ebichu is pretty hilarious. She's a talking pet hamster who cooks and cleans, who loves camembert cheese, and living with a very sexually active master (office lady) and her cheating boyfriend. All they do is fuck, all the time, so the hamster thinks this is normal and discusses sexual positions and the colour and shape of her masters manko to the neighbours and people in the street like she was passing the time of day talking about the weather. It's very crude, but very funny. Just got a mal reminder that Kimi ni Todoke lands today or tomorrow, woohoo. Sawako is one of my all time favourite characters, can't wait to watch more of her on our screens. Holy crap on a cracker Batman, just checked and Netflix dropped all 5 eps of S3 at once, plus they're hour long eps. I know what I'll be watching today. Episode 22. Love Luna's slow crawl reaction to the news Usagi might've wet the bed, but no it was CU, she must be going through a lot. So Wiseman is in a future century, ofc could be the 2000's as the manga/anime are from the 90's. I wonder how far into the future crystal Tokyo is, and were Usagi, Mamoru and the other sailor guardians sent into the future, or did our world suddenly go all crystal in about 2005? Or is it a alternate dimension sort of deal? The 4 guardians of crystal Tokyo are definitely our guardians. Rubeus does refer to 'this world' and 'that world', so they be different dimensions, or it could be on the moon or a different planet. CU runs off and gets upset and releases her power attracting the SS to her. The SS have got that bumbling villain vibe to them, they always seem to get in their own way. The dark kingdom seemed more ruthless and menacing. Usagi overhears CU talking to Puu, the avatar in her Luna Pii robot, and learns her mother was hurt by the SS and neither her dad or the guardians could defeat them. Whatever happens to CU's mum (future Usagi) must be the same thing Mamoru is getting visions of. The SS formally introduce themselves, oldest to youngest, and announce they're from the 10th planet (isn't that the hypothesised one that is on the far side of the moon from us so can never be seen, planet X). Yes as you point out oxymoronic to say they're from the black moon, after just saying they're from the 10th planet. The 4 SS face off against the 4 guardians and attacks go flying under a red sky. All playing out to the sound of a typical 90's downtempo J-pop song, like it. Rubeus arrives and declares his intention to kill CU to alter the future of crystal Tokyo. SM protects CU and realises she cares for her before TM arrives to help. Battles lines have been drawn. Lastly Wiseman talks about CU's mum and Usagi and we see an image confirming they are one and the same. Edit: watching S3 ep 1 of Kimi ni Todoke. You know that feeling when you've been looking forward to something and when it comes around it's never as good as you imagine, and you feel like you've over hyped it up and expected too much. Well ep of S3 is fantastic, same feel, more Sawako being ditsy, sweet, same shoujo effects, lovely OST and visuals. Better than I expected or hoped, fingers crossed the rest of the season holds up. Best first ep I've seen for a while, serious S1 vibes. You can tell the studio went full out on the production. Haven't had such warm fuzzy feels since end of Dangers in my Heart S2. More of Ryu and Chizuru and Ayane and that blonde guy. |
23feanorAug 1, 8:19 AM
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| Ooh, I'll have to add Ebichu to my ptw, sounds like a good time. And yes, very excited for Kimi ni Todoke S3. Looks like we got 5 1-hour long episodes, going to have to make them last. Netflix has been hitting the sequel front hard recently, including the first third of the final season of Cobra Kai and Kengan Ashura's back soon. They also have an anime for Terminator of all things coming at the end of the month. Episode 23 Looks like we're back to filler for an episode before we get into the main event. We're going to spend about 8 episodes after this in canon territory, flip to a few more filler episodes, and then the home stretch is basically all canon. It's too bad because, like you, I was really looking forward to all the shenanigans of this season's filler content, but it seems like the canon material will have to carry this, and so far I'm not super impressed with that, either. CU's an interesting inclusion and I don't mind the BMC, but like you said, they lack the Dark Kingdom's swagger even if they carry more intrigue with this future Tokyo situation. Usagi reads CU a Sleeping Beauty knockoff. The girls spends a lot of the episode speculating about CU and the future - we get a silly shot of Luna and Artemis fighting over a popsicle. Mamoru sees visions of his future with Usagi, though we still don't get specifics on what happened to her. Instead, we just get the future Mamoru (seems pretty obvious that's who it is) talking to himself. I do like the scene of Mamoru looking at a picture of him and Usagi and seeing her slump over in the picture while the glass cracks, nice touch. Hey, it's Motoki. Haven't seen him in a long while. This series has a plethora of interesting side characters, so it's a shame that it rarely uses most of them. Mamoru asks him for advice on how to get a girl to fall out of love with you. Honestly, I'd take that as a slight if someone asked me, but Motoki's a better man. Who's not a better man? the dude in the background giving side-eye to a girl sitting across from him to smacks him hard in the face. Mamoru finds his answer in a waitress who looks a good deal like Makoto, driving her around with him on his motorcycle and telling her that Usagi is "just a friend." It seems like the easy solution would be to discuss these nightmares he's having with Luna and Artemis at least, but what do I know? Usagi ends up binge eating to soothe herself, while CU almost gets isekai'd by truck-kun. The Spectre Sisters find her absurdly quickly, as does Usagi and Luna. Usagi calls them out for being two full grown women picking on a little girl... Usagi, they've been doing this for a while now, where was this indignant attitude earlier? They summon Akumooda, a droid with a less interesting design, though I like the color palette. She puts SM to sleep and the other Guardians arrive to pick up her slack. The Spectre Sisters peace out, leaving Akumooda to handle this alone after saying that they're outnumbered (I... don't get it). The other Guardians resist a nap and Rei solos Akumooda (why are the rest of them here?), though SM remains asleep and set to die in her sleep. We see ChibiSM in her dreams while the energy drains from her body in pink light. So now they need Mamoru to show up and Sleeping Beauty this shit, as hinted from the beginning of the episode. Luna recruits him and we get a great shot of TM on a motorcycle, though nothing will ever compete with his dip into bus driving complete with seatbelt. He arrives, kisses her, and exorcises the demon droid. Akumooda pulls the horn out of her head to attack with as a blade (I take back what I said about her design, that's badass), and SM mercs her. TM continues to deny his feelings for SM, continuing his emo phase and refusal to explain himself, leaving behind a broken rose in a spotlight. Turns out the waitress was always Mamoru's sister and he was just giving her a ride. Never seen her before, but fine, we needed pointless melodrama I guess. Yeah, this is the kind of filler that just isn't working for me, especially since it's playing into the idiot plot that's already had me frustrated since episode 2 of this season. Mamoru refuses to explain what's going on, everyone else is upset about it, and so we spend episodes like this just mired in romantic melodrama that feels forced and drawn out for no reason. |
whiteflame55Aug 1, 8:50 AM
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| Honestly the first ep of Kimi was so good. We had a date, holding hands and Sawako and Kazehaya meeting each others parents and it was all so genuine. Dangers in my Heart had amazing romance, but the leads did feel like anime characters with the introverted edgy guy and model girl. Sawako and Kazehaya feel so organic. There's one holding hands scene which exemplifies this. Holding hands in anime has become a trope and joke, but with Kazehaya and Sawako you got two people with feelings for each other who are hyper aware of their closeness and proximity and wanting to share their lives and thoughts with each other and this culminates in a brilliantly shot sequence of them holding hands. And they actually both say what they're thinking and feeling, even though they get embarrassed, they communicate, like normal people, well most people. They both put themselves out there and get rewarded. And looks like we're going to get some development with Chizuru and Ryu, and even maybe between Ayane and the blonde dude. I liked the hour long ep and yeah going to have to ration them. Episode 23. Agreed, I've been disappointed by the lack of creativity in this seasons filler eps, something the first season did so well. We only touched on the whole moon and earth kindgoms at the end of the last season, so hoping we get more detail and eps expanding those worlds. Mamoru's future self warns him away from Usagi saying that when they marry the world will fall. So basically the usual shoujo romance of star crossed lovers having to overcome a seemingly impossible obstacle. I'd forgotten all about Motoki. There's also Naru and Umino from Usagi's class. As well as a flashy car Mamoru now has a motorbike. Mamoru's kiss and the power of love save Usagi from the droid this ep. This isn't the first anime to have pointless melodramatic romance where the all the tension derives from the fact the people in love don't say what they're thinking or feeling, but yes it's being dragged out and getting stale. Mamoru should confide in Usagi, especially given that he's aware they were married in the future. I've got a sinking feeling this is going to be dragged out quite a while yet. |
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| I'm going to have to hold myself back from just binging all 5 episodes, and yes, the new hour long episode length is definitely welcome. I agree, the holding hands scene with Sawako and Kazehaya just made the absolute most of a moment most series would just treat as a side-note. I love to see how uncomfortable they remain even while they're communicating well. Kazehaya may not show it as much, but he's as nervous and unsure of himself as she is. Sawako is really stepping up as well, loved seeing her describe herself in great detail to his father. A lot of great character moments from both of them. And yeah, Dangers in My Heart S1 definitely wasn't up to the standard of this show, though I'd say S2 managed to elevate itself quite a bit. It's nice to see Kimi ni Todoke stepping up its game substantially on the visual front as well without losing the flair of its cruder character models. Episode 24 We hear about a Prince Demande, who is apparently higher up in the BMC organization. Rubeus plans to send Koan to catch CU. it's apparently a suicide mission, but he views Koan as a tool to be discarded. She seems to really love Rubeus, but he cares not at all for her, even shattering her gift for him before stringing her along by saying that she's his love. I might care more about this if they had spent any of the previous episodes establishing her feelings, but hey, at least it's something. Koan and Yuichiro literally run into each other on the street, but neither he nor Rey recognize the Spectre Sister, even when she shows up at the shrine later. Usagi happens to be there, too. Koan tries to sell them on cosmetics, they talk about being lovelorn, and Koan doesn't see the irony in her statement that staying in love with someone who treats them coldly is a mistake. CU arrives just as Usagi leaves. Yuichiro hits her with a broom (dude's a badass), but has to retreat from her dark fire. When Rei interferes (there's a shot where both of them are dodging fire and are blushing - guessing Rei wasn't always wearing this particular outfit and had something more revealing on), Yuichiro jumps in the way of an attack, showing his love for her. SMa transforms right in front of Koan, revealing her identity. Their flames clash. Koan proves too speedy with her teleportation and SMa protects Yuichiro to her own detriment. Thus starts a line of argument about what true love is, which suggests Rei does have feelings for Yuichiro. Koan splits off and attacks CU again, only to be interrupted by TM, who takes off with CU. Rubeus appears on the scene and tells Koan that she's useless to him, rejecting her entirely. He gives her a space-time bomb to kill SMa and Koan together (I guess she's suicidal now because she seems good with it), but the other Guardians arrive just in time to prevent it from killing them. Koan flies into a rage, but just as the other Guardians are attacking back, SMa protects Koan, telling her that she can begin again. SM uses the Silver Crystal (I guess it is just a powered down version) to turn Koan back into a normal human woman, who comes back at the end of the episode to sell cosmetics because... I guess that's just who she is now. Alright then. Yeah, this episode rang hollow for me. It's another attempt to cram melodrama into the story without prior development. Also I guess SM can turn the BMC members human. Not a first (she did that with some of the monsters last season), but since they aren't living normal human lives on the side, it's a bit stranger in this case. |
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| Watching ep 1 of Kimi made me remember why I fell in love with the show. The switch between the detailed and chibi char designs, especially Sawako, Ayane and Chizuru chatting on the bench, the OST, the visuals with the shoujo filters. I also really like Kazehaya as a love interest, he's got depth, yeah he's popular but he's also shy and embarrassed around Sawako. The interaction with his dad and Sawako was great. Episode 24. So there's a higher boss than Wiseman, someone called prince Demande. we just haven't had the groundwork between Koan and Rubeus for it to land. I do like Koan's design most out of the SS, it's the purple eyes and purple hair I think, plus the cat ears peaks in her hair. She looks good in her outfit as a cosmetics seller. Good we're seeing Yuichiro back again. Mako and Minako sitting with the cats was funny. There's a lot of talk about the nature of love this ep, comparing the bond between Rei and Yuichiro and Rubeus and Koan, and how actions speak louder than words in some instances. This show does put a lot of stock in looking beautiful and how that will bring and keep a guy by your side. Rei sympathising with Koan after she's lost everything was nice. I remember SM transforming the monsters back into humans in s1, but they were human first. Are the SS people who were transformed by the BMC maybe? Anyway Koan gets 'refreshed' by the power of the silver crystal back into a human. My first thought is what is she going to do, where's she going to live etc. With a little more build up the relationship between Koan and Rubeus could have delivered more, but as it is, as you said it just rang hollow. I did like the bits between Rei and Yuichiro. |
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| I've watched episode 2 now (don't worry, no spoilers here) and it's just great to see how well this series continues to employ the ensemble cast. That's always been one of its greatest strengths, and I love to see Chizuru, Ryuu, Ayane and, yes, even Ume back in it again. Also nice to see some of the lesser side characters coming into their own. Episode 25 Ooh, new OP. Same song, but the visuals are trippier with the flowing representations of time (clocks and pendulums), wispy clouds, Crystal Tokyo on full display, and some great character models. A personal favorite. I guess this episode is about Berthier and will almost certainly end in her becoming human as well. Seems like each of these will pit one of the Spectre Sisters more directly against one of the Guardians, so it was Rei vs. Koan, Ami vs. Berthier, Makoto vs. Petz (strongly opposing views on men) and Minako vs. Calaveras, most likely. Usagi loses to both Ami and CU at chess. Ami's a chess master. The other Spectre sisters are frustrated at Koan's being a traitor (guess none of them know Rubeus was actively trying to kill her) and Berthier goes out to finish the job she started by manipulating a chess tournament and is awfully catty about it before going off to capture the crystal point at the building. SMe ruins her plans, transforming right in front of her (this is becoming a trend). SJ and SM also arrive and force her to retreat. Berthier arrives again later to compete herself in the chess tournament. And... hey, that's Koan standing with the Guardians. I guess they're friendly now. This is made all the more confusing by the fact that she recognizes Berthier (no one else does for some reason), so you would think she'd hang onto her resentment of the Guardians as well. Berthier and Ami make it to the finals and Berthier brings out a set of jeweled playing pieces. When Berthier loses, the Guardians transform and promptly get sealed in a giant freezing orb. SMe has to play a heavily handicapped game of chess to save them where she gets more frozen the more pieces she loses. Before she can lose, though, TM arrives to cheat right back - as we all know, rose takes king. Berthier's sisters, who arrived to capitalize on her success, now abandon her, showing how little they actually care for her. She says she was counting on her sisters to help her, but... didn't she just say that they're taking credit for her hard work? I guess she's upset that, now that her plans have fallen apart, they're not protecting her, but this is another example of a relationship that hasn't gotten enough insight to have any real emotional heft when it falls apart. Seeing Berthier in tears doesn't do anything for me. Just as Berthier uses a final attack to achieve a pyrrhic victory at the loss of her own life, Koan arrives to be injured while convincing her that love exists for humans. Again, might be more powerful if we'd seen Koan spend actual time as a human and establish relationships of her own. It is kinda cute to see them acting as actual sisters at the end. |
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| Episode 25. don't worry about spoilers for Kimi, I actually read some of the manga from where S2 left off so know a little about what's coming, although I've forgotten most of it. We went to visit family yday and both kids have been having melt downs today, it's tough when you've got 2 young kids, well one toddler and one baby screaming at you. So going keep this brief. Like the visuals for the new OP, bit trippy a lot like the first S1 OP. I completely agree about the SS, we just haven't spent enough time with them to care about what happens. We didn't spend much time with the first bunch of dark kingdom minions but they left an impact, can't remember their names but the one who fell in love with Naru and the gay one, even though they were part of the filler rainbow crystal arc iirc. Maybe it's because we've been spending more time with the guardians as a group, whereas the first part of s1 only had Usagi, so we got to see more of the villains behind the scenes. Also kinda surprised to Koan with the guardians. Does she know their identities as guardians, assume so, plus she seems a lot older given she's a cosmetic rep so bit strange to see her hanging around with a group of 14 y/o girls, but then as I said last ep maybe she doesn't know anyone. Berthia faces off against Ami in a game of chess, however, she uses her powers to trap the guardians and Ami until TM timely arrival freeing everyone up. The remaining 2 SS are sure quick to suddenly take credit and then next moment drop Berthia like a hot potato when things look dicey. Obvious demonstration of the lack of a bond between the SS, in stark comparison to the guardians who always come through for each other, despite the bickering, ofc. I did like that it was Koan who broke through Berthia's icy shell and got her to back down, rather than being defeated by force by one of the guardians. 2 SS down and 2 to go. |
23feanorAug 5, 2:51 AM
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| Ah, well then, it's great to see Ryuu and Chizuru's background and relationship get covered more this season. Ryuu in particular was a personal favorite from the last two seasons and I was very much hoping to see him open up to Chizuru this season, which he most definitely did. Also, good to see Ayane starting to move in a romantic direction. Small steps, but still something, since she's always been on the sidelines of any romantic development to date. And yes, that does sound tough. Hopefully you had a good time with family, screaming baby aside. Episode 26 I think what worked for certain villains from the Dark Kingdom was that we got to see more glimmers of their feelings throughout the series, rather than just being presented with them in their final fights. There was rarely much development of those feelings, but you got to know them as characters with more than just villainous leanings. They used the filler to just give you time to sit with them as well, rather than using it for another set of characters entirely or to focus on the heroes. Wiseman portends glory or defeat for Rubeus, and the latter offers up the remaining SSs to see glory for himself. Yeah, looks like Koan and Berthier are really hanging with the Guardians. They seem entirely aware of their pasts and who the Guardians are, even regretting what they did before. Wish we could explore this more, but it doesn't seem like we're going to focus on their redemption just yet. Calaveras and Petz are blamed for their betrayal and promise to eliminate the Guardians and their sisters, despite some infighting between them, and are given a staff (they call it a stick, but it's a staff) to enhance their dark powers. C&P arrive and immediately capture K&B. That was fast. As soon as they leave, the Guardians transform, and for the first time, CU witnesses their transformations. So now she knows Usagi is SM and goes running after them when they charge after C&P, though I'm not sure what makes them think the Guardians will come to rescue K&B. Have they seen some indication that they're protecting those two? Even C&P don't seem confident, and refuse to listen to their erstwhile family. One thing I don't really get from this: C&P have seen how their sisters were defeated, and saw how Rubeus tried to have Koan killed to take out the Sailor Guardians. I get that they're inculcated, but they should at least have doubts by this point. The Guardians do arrive, of course. Petz is absurdly powerful with her new toy, which she refuses to share, unless you count her decision to try and kill Calaveras with it. The look of disbelief on her face afterwards is believable, though they never had a close relationship, so it still doesn't have emotional heft. The girls end up convincing Calaveras that she was wrong and disarm Petz, only to have Rubeus arrive and attempt to wipe everyone out himself. He turns the staff into a bomb to create a dimensional tear that will suck everyone in. Petz tries to stop it, and when she fails, her sisters rally to save her. Just as things are at their most dire, TM arrives to instruct the Guardians on how to close it. Not sure how he knows, but they literally jump into what they said was a black hole and focus their powers together to destroy the staff. They're all fine because of reasons, C&P get turned into humans, and both CU and Rubeus discover that SM has the Silver Crystal (again, why didn't Rubeus already know this!? He's had a visual on every single fight they've had so far and seen her use it multiple times!). The SS end up making their own pop up beauty shop and all's well that ends well. Not a bad way to end this series of episodes, and it certainly upended my expectations about 1v1 fights, but it also felt like a rushed climax to the SS v. Sailor Guardians fights. Calaveras was virtually inconsequential, they introduced another tool (the staff) that warped Petz's mind still further when we already know she was drinking the Kool-Aid, and the Sailor Guardians had to pull an entirely new technique out in the end to win. |
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| Watched ep 2 of Kimi and it was almost as amazing as ep 1. Ryu and Kento both step up, Chizuru has some thinking to do and looks like Ayane needs to look within herself and value her worth more. So glad we're getting more from Chizuru, Ayane and Ryu. Kento muddied the waters in S2 and seemed to be injected into the story just to drag out the romance between Sawako and Kazehaya, but he's coming into his own. I like his approach, he is clearly popular with girls but he's doesn't come across as a player and wants to get to know Ayane as a person, not just hook up with her for a quickie like Mogu-guy. Yeah Ryu is a chad, he's liked Chizuru for years but knew and understood her affection for his older brother and didn't let it sour his relationship with her, so many other guys would've gotten bitter or resentful over this, but he just waited, biding his time knowing that her crush was one sided. And then they're eating an ice cream and he says 'i was happy you were curious about who I liked, it's always been you Chizuru, only you', damn the boy is smooth. And on spoilers, I'm not really bothered about them, especially when it comes to romantic entanglements, half way through romance shows I'm always searching for who ends up with who and did they get together, it's the journey not the destination, and I will often swerve some romances if they don't get together after so many eps like Chihayafuru. The only spoilers I care about are ones like the ending to Code Geass, which was spoiled for me because some idiot left the ending in the first line of his review on mal reviews, or Ashita no Joe, which I didn't know about, maybe because people think it's common knowledge. Go into that one blind. Episode 26. It is genuinely interesting to see the defeated K&B hanging around with the guardians. My first thought is why the guardians haven't asked them a bunch of questions about the SS, BMC, crystal Tokyo and what Rubeus wants and why. Ofc that would be too many answers at once so the show will drip feed us the answers in due course. Why call it a stick, as you say, it's clearly a magic wand or staff. It's been a shame we're not getting more time behind the scenes with the villains, but the banter and general goofing around of the guardians is very good, CU burping in Usagi's face after finishing her hot potato, and then Usagi farting, lol. Puerile but funny. How did CU not know the 5 girls were the guardians, are they unrecognisable when they transform, they're not wearing masks so bit baffling. Like you I was expecting each of the last 2 SS to face off against one of the guardians but looks like we're wrapping up their involvement in one ep. C&P get defeated, Rubeus blows up the 'stick' and causes a dimension rift, which the guardians and SS have to mend before it destroys the world. Ends with C&P being refreshed. CU also learns that SM/Usagi does indeed have the silver crystal. And how did Rubeas only just learn this info when he's been watching the SS the whole time. |
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| Episode 3 of this new season of Kimi ni Todoke is my personal favorite so far, lots to love there with the focus shifting chiefly to Chizuru and Ryuu. I'm going to take my time a bit with the last two episodes, don't want to burn through them too quickly. I'm not usually bothered by spoilers, either. I unfortunately do already know what the very end of Ashita no Joe looks like, but thankfully haven't been spoiled for anything else in that series. I'll pick it up one of these days. Episode 27 Yeah, I've been wondering why the SS haven't been grilled for information yet. Maybe we'll start to see that happening this episode, though yes, I suspect it'll be a slow drip of info. Also, my take on the issue of recognizing the Sailor Guardians after they transform is just that it's a Superman situation: the uniforms and tiaras just do something to outsiders' perceptions of them. It's the kind of hand-waving explanation that I'm willing to accept as a sort of baseline for the series, so CU's being in the dark is OK for me. I can't say the same about Rubeus, who by now has most definitely seen the Silver Crystal multiple times. Looks like things are getting awfully serious this episode. With CU having discovered SM's identity and the location of the Silver Crystal, she's on the hunt to get it, as is Rubeus who now just brings in a giant UFO (they're called UAPs now, but I'll go with the vernacular of the series) because why bother with subtlety? He's joined by Esmeraude, a green haired vixen with jewel-encrusted swagger who seems to be on level with Rubeus and has been brought in to replace Rubeus, who, yes, has been an abject failure. That leads Rubeus to give himself a short timeframe to prove himself worthy, which of course means he's not going to tell any of his allies about the location of the Silver Crystal. The Guardians meet and, during the meeting, CU makes off with the Silver Crystal from Usagi's room. This is setting up a dilemma that will likely play out over the rest of the season: save Usagi in CU's Crystal Tokyo timeline likely at the cost of this timeline (doubt they'll be able to do much without the Silver Crystal), or keep it here and accept Crystal Tokyo Usagi's fate while trying to change the present Usagi's fate. It's obviously going to be some version of the latter, but CU will have to come to grips with that. CU seems to recognize a tension here, and since SM has protected her on multiple occasions, she wavers before taking the Silver Crystal. I don't love that CU's reason for taking it ends up coming down to Usagi not being grateful for the pancakes her mother made. I get that she's a kid, but this feels like manufactured tension (much of the episode does), which is doubly frustrating because there's an actual tension here that would make more sense and she just doesn't consider it. CU tries to use her key to go home, but it doesn't work and, in her frustration, she makes another skybeam, bringing Rubeus right to her. Seems like she should be aware of this by now. Well, at least the other Guardians are certainly aware and arrive to protect her, even if CU then proceeds to chastise them for selfishness they're not displaying. It's nice to see the other girls support Usagi, but still frustrating for CU to reject them after all the support they've given her both in and out of their transformed states, both now and in the future Crystal Tokyo. She goes to Mamoru, and at least that makes sense, only to parachute away the moment Usagi arrives and try to return to the future. Taking advantage of the situation, Rubeus arrives to abduct her and the other Guardians aside from SM. They try to combine their powers, but it's only enough to give time for TM to save CU, resulting in SJ, SMa, SMe and SV being abducted and nearly resulting in a Bright Slap for CU. |
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| On Ashita no Joe, if you've seen the iconic charcoal still at the very end of Joe on a stool then that's one thing, but if you know what it means then that's another. Don't look it up and avoid references until you get to the series. Yeah the first season is a bit of a slog at times, but s2 is a genuine masterpiece. Episode 27. The guardians not being recognised is one of those aspects you take as part and parcel of this type of show and don't probe further (suspension of disbelief is a prerequisite for most magic/fantasy anime), but then when they make a big deal of their identities being revealed to CU you go wait a minute, how did she not notice before, 5 close friends and 5 guardians, hair colour, body shape etc. I do appreciate that SM as a show does get serious at times, like the guardians being killed and seriously injured at the end of S1. Not many 'kids' shows did this, pulling the safety net out from under the audience and having matters become life and death serious. Clamp did a similar thing with Magic Knight Rayearth which suddenly got very serious right at the end, surprised me in a good way. I like a balance of goofy comedy and serious drama, but it can be hard to pull off. Gintama is the master of this blend imho. A new BMC lieutenant, Esmeraude, is sent by Demande (keep almost writing Demandred, one of the Forsaken from Wheel of Time, book 6 has been better) to take over from Rubeus. CU does act out a lot this ep, like deciding to take the silver crystal after Usagi doesn't appreciate the fact her mum made pancakes, and berating the guardians for being friends with Usagi. But then she is 7 y/o living without her parents and her mum is trapped or hurt, so some acting up can be forgiven. Rubeus arrives in a BMC UFO, causing a big scene in Tokyo. The guardians minus Usagi get captured saving CU. You're right, there's going to be some tension in the final 3rd of the show touching upon the present vs the future and saving future Usagi, and CU's mum vs the current Usagi, what will she have to sacrifice? All tied in with TM's visions. Yep, Kimi ep 3 is also on top form. It's so good to have a romance show where the 2nd and 3rd strings are just as good as the 1st string. I love the way Kento is going about talking to Ayane and getting her to open up. And seeing Ryu and Chizuru is so adorable. |
23feanorAug 6, 11:12 PM
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| I'll steer clear of spoilers for Ashita no Joe, only seen that still. Also, glad to hear you're keeping up with Wheel of Time still. I'm fond of several of the Forsaken and Demandred certainly has presence in the story. Episode 28 Usagi, CU and TM manage to escape somehow, but now have to deal with a hostage situation. Esmeraude arrives to taunt Rubeus despite the crucified Sailor Guardians onboard. Rubeus is out for blood at this point, but I guess he's saving most of his torture for CU. CU intuits that Mamoru is TM (hey, 1 in 6 ain't bad I guess), and she and Mamoru talk about her aims, though CU says she doesn't know much about what happened in the future. Seems like she could just let Puu do the talking, but at least they're asking the right questions now. Meanwhile, Usagi's losing it a bit, considering handing over the Silver Crystal and CU. It comes off as a tantrum from a teenager, which certainly tracks for her, especially given what she faces now. It's nice to see the ways in which she has changed, though - she has some real resolve to confront Rubeus. Luna and Artemis, meanwhile, plot to dress like CU and stack themselves on top of each other. Nice bit of humor. Usagi sneaks out to handle this herself, transforming into SM with CU following her. They both almost immediately get abducted because of course, don't really know what the plan was here, though Usagi is smart enough to try and deceive Rubeus about the identity of CU. SM tries to fight Rubeus, but is easily subdued with gravity manipulation. CU tries to free the girls, but keeps getting zapped by an energy barrier. SM struggles to fight back and is surprisingly capable, and with CU's help, they're able to disempower and defeat Rubeus, freeing the other Guardians, but now the ship is out of control and set to explode. Not really sure why SM shouts "Rubeus!" when fires start blossoming around them, but by their powers combined, the Sailor Guardians teleport off the ship. Esmeraude shows up to taunt Rubeus just as the ship is exploding - also not sure why the BMC would want to sacrifice the ship along with him, seems like a big loss. The girls arrive back home and laugh about hotcakes. Meanwhile, we get our first shot of Prince Demande, who sends Esmeraude to clean up Rubeus's mess. |
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| That flashback scene in Kimi ep 3 to Ryu's mums death and Chizuru bringing him the rice balls hit hard. Think we saw a briefer version in S1/2 but the way they took the time to showcase the build up of the bond between Chizuru and Ryu was so good, the other kids thought Ryu was scary and quiet but only Chizuru understood what was going on in his head. I remember I said that I teared up nearly every single ep of s1, and been the same for s3. Episode 28. The plot demands it so now CU intuits that Mamoru is TM, go figure. Although by the end of the ep Mamoru hasn't actually needed to transform into TM, but guess now was a good time to reveal his identity to CU. I think the other guardians know that TM and Mamoru are one and the same, but they never mention it. Doesn't sound like CU knows very much about the situation in the future, just that the BMC appear and then her mum gets hurt. You're right, this would be a good time for an exposition dump from Puu, the trusty avatar, who appears to have a better grasp of what's happening in the future. It is good to see how riled up Usagi is by the capture of the guardians, shows she's taking it seriously and not one of the monster of the week gimmicks. And in reflecting on her younger, more naiive self, we see how much Usagi has grown as she admits to herself that she wants to give in to Rubeus's demands, but knows what she must do. Atta girl Usagi. Good to see CU helping out in the fight against Rubeus and not just sitting by like a helpless bystander. Rubeus is defeated the ships about to blow. Don't remember seeing sailor teleport before but it does the trick. That was all wrapped up quicker than I anticipated. The guardians and CU are safe and we get a final shot of Demande, with what looks like a vision of future Usagi in front of him. Looks like we'll be meeting the newest sailor guardian next ep. |
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| I'm most of the way through the final episode of Kimi ni Todoke S3 and it's really taking its time to establish where everyone is at mentally by the end of the season. I like how it's done at least - never going to say no to a good Chizuru/Ayane/Sawako roundtable - though it's a bit of a weaker note to bring the season to an end after a strong episode 4 involving Ayane and Miura. Still going to end up being top of the heap for series this season and almost certainly in the hunt for AotY. Episode 29 Yep, it's another Sailor Guardian. Interested to see the new dynamics she and the other new Guardians bring to the series - I know enough to know that at least a couple of them (hint hint) are fan favorites despite some... strange censorship when this was airing. This one's not one of those as far as I'm aware. CU sees Wiseman in her nightmares (she's currently unconscious), and he claims she knows who he is. She mentions a "Malefic Black Crystal," which seems to contrast with the Shining Silver Crystal. We also get another opportunity to spend some time with Demande and his lieutenants, including his brother Saphire (kinda looks like Mamoru with blue hair) who asks the obvious question: why bother conquering the 20th century? And yes, the Silver Crystal is the only weakness of the Malefic Black Crystal, so that's why they're seeking to acquire it. In her sleep, CU activates Puu, who introduces them to Sailor Pluto (too bad Neil Degrasse Tyson demoted this one to a dwarf planet). Love the dark green hair and staff. Looks like they'll have to save CU (she calls her "Small Lady," a funny choice that makes me think she's not human - this might be Puu's actual form) by going into her mind, a risky proposition that the Guardians all take up regardless. They end up CU's memories of Crystal Tokyo, where they find CU. She doesn't remember them and believes herself to be Small Lady. They also run into Wiseman (I'm pretty sure that's who that is) bearing a scythe and looking very Grim Reaper. The Guardians face off with him, but seem helpless despite their attacks. CU runs off and SM chases her down, but CU rejects her, believing she's part of the BMC. SM eventually convinces CU to trust her (still unclear how CU just doesn't recognize Usagi as her mother at all), but the girls cannot defeat their reaper opponent, resulting in CU's having a brush with mental death. SM manages to save her, and by their powers combined, SM is able to fight on the reaper's level, resulting in an attack that defeats him and destroys the crystal inside of him. They find their way to CU's mother and, having cleared the mental hurdle, they vanish together in a wave of light, returning CU to normal. Sailor Pluto entreats CU to protect this time and the Guardians to protect her. |
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| Episode 29. I also know about the other sailor guardians, mostly for the same reason as you. A couple of them are in a 'close' relationship which was scripted as cousins in the early dub to avoid any yuri undertones. Same thing happened in Cardcaptor Sakura, you got to a few lines of dialogue and they're just not dubbed although you can tell the characters are speaking. luckily they included a subtitle at the bottom in the Funi version I watched so we know what's being said and it wasn't all that bad at all, more like young infatuation than yuri/BL imho. I wonder who Wiseman is, given that he says she knows who he is. The malefic black crystal hey. So we learn in some exposition that the BMC used the malefic black crystal to take over crystal Tokyo, but it's weak to the power of the silver crsyatl, which is currently in the past, hence the BMC's journey to the past to take it. We're introduced to sailor Pluto, why don't Artemis and Luna know about her, although Luna does say she thinks she's heard that name. It is strange they call CU 'small lady'. Now we've seen future Usagi in Wiseman's illusion, it is a tad far fetched that CU wouldn't recognise Usagi and her mother as one and the same as they look identical. Now queen Serenity did look like an older version of Usagi, but future Usagi doesn't look any different, at least from what we've seen so far. I like the look of crystal Tokyo, reminds me of a city from Mortal Instruments novels. They defeat Wiseman, inside of CU's mind, and bring CU to her mum, who's stuck in a crystal, but neither we nor the guardians see her face, otherwise I'm guessing Usagi would freak. Looks like we're back to monster of the week format next ep. |
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| Episode 30 Yep, monster of the week indeed. We’ll see how Esmeraude makes her big debut as central antagonist. I do like her evil laugh, major Mai Valentine vibes. Usagi and CU are getting along well until Mamoru shows up and Usagi gets jealous of the two of them. I guess given how Usagi has struggled with Mamoru all season, it makes some sense, but hard to believe she’s jealous of a 7 year old, particularly after their bonding over the last few episodes. Even from Usagi, don’t really believe it. I wonder how timelines work in this show. If they modify the past, are there meaningful changes in Crystal Tokyo, or does that create a divergent timeline? The headaches of time travel. We also get exposition about Negative Points, which are places that can be used to create a dark gate to send more dark energy to the past. Guess Rubeus wasn’t aware of these. There’s a pretty silly moment where Emeraude mentions that Demande is her beloved, and he turns away from her to have a very loud gleam appear in his eye. The girls are stuffing their faces with cake and Esmeraude just happens to be in the neighborhood for a Negative Point. Funny to see Esmeraude also be taken in and keep up with Usagi who is binge eating to soothe her tortured soul. Esmeraude heads off and finds the Negative Point, summoning a Dark Henge to infuse it. She summons a droid, Maxipan (love that hair and a bra with floral straps and some weird curved pointed tips), and serves up some weird poison on the cake that frosts people solid. She can also fire off blasts that turn things into deserts. The Guardians fight back, but end of frosted or covered in donuts. This is the kind of nonsense I can get behind. TM also has a nonsensical speech that even SM is confused by, and in the end, SMe ends up the MVP by soaking Maxipan. The Dark Henge is broken. TM confronts Esmeraude with the girls… before just sliding off screen after being called a hottie. I laughed. Esmeraude calls the girls flat chested (hey, Makoto’s pretty stacked for her age) and declares war against them with an evil speech and laugh before vanishing. One of the best episodes in a while, nice to see the series going full goof again. |
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| Episode 30. I also don't get why Usagi is jealous of a 7 y/o, although it might be more that she's jealous of the time CU is spending with Mamoru, or that she can't spend time with him herself on their own as they're not dating anymore. The new setup with prince Demande, Saphire and Esmeraude is more akin to that in the first season with the queen and the dark kingdom. Esmeraude decides to change tack and wants to insert dark crystal segments into the past, which will absorb dark energy over time. So now the BMC are inserting dark energy instead of trying to steal it. And yes, Esmeraude has that distinctive ojousama laugh, my personal favourite being Naga the Serpent from Slayers. Esmeraude also a glutton. The frosting battle and Maxipan (sounds like some detergent to clean pans) are defo up to snuff, much better. TM's speech did sound like a load of waffle. SMe defeats the droid with her water. Very much enjoyed Esmeraude's introduction to the guardians, especially their reaction to her laugh. Better ep. |
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| “TM's speech did sound like a load of waffle.” Great way to express this, I laughed. Episode 31 Usagi misses second breakfast for nothing when her teacher is absent. She also thinks “getting it on” is a euphemism for wrestling in an arena. Never change, Usagi. Usagi wants to make a promise bracelet to bring them closer again, but despairs that it will be another failure. The manufactured tension continues, though it’s nice to see the other girls support her. Emeraude summons the droid Udering (nice punk rock design with a bit of Egyptian flair), which of course is in charge of the art class for making the promise bracelet. Usagi struggles with hers, as expected. Even Usagi’s dreams of marriage are plagued with fears, but for the first time, she hears the reason (from future Mamoru) why Mamoru is keeping his distance: their marriage itself portends tragedy. She goes to him and, hey, they actually discuss it. It only took 30 episodes and an opportune dreamception, but better late than never. Usagi shows strength of resolve in the face of it, which nicely contrasts with Mamoru’s fears. As she exits the building, Usagi’s promise bracelet, carried by CU, attacks her. Usagi is quick to piece things together for once and runs off to face Udering. True to her name, Udering attacks with rings. TM and the other Guardians arrive for… reasons, not really sure what tipped them off, and they defeat their foe together, with even 5 rings (hey, very Olympics of her) falling short. Esmeraude defeated once again with another piercing laugh of derision. So much swagger. TM and SM depart from each other with a promise to only be together when they fight. Still, the new understanding and mutual views of love at long last is a step forward. |
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| I enjoyed reading your reviews on the Discuss... thread, I'd almost completely forgotten we'd recently watched Joshiraku. Very good review for Kimi S3, I'm only 3 eps in and it's shaping up to be as good as S1. I think the switch to hour long eps was a good idea, really lets events and a plot flow each ep. Reminded me I need to pick up Link Click. I keep seeing shows and thinking 'i need to start that' (ie Monster, Tatami Galaxy, Showa Rakugo Shinjuu, Link Click), but with baby I'm only watching a little, and honestly it's DBZ a lot of the time as I can stick it on in the background and follow loosely as I'm doing other stuff. I can only pay attention to something when both kids are down for a nap, which only happens for one hour a day, lol. Episode 31. Second breakfast, what is Usagi, a hobbit now, lol. Sounds like Umino and Naru are a couple now. Get it On wrestling, that did make me chuckle. Another droid with a punk rock image. Looks good, think that's the 2nd or 3rd tanned/dark skin droid we've seen. As a fan of tanned girls, I approve. So Usagi finally gets a clue about Mamoru, turns out when they marry the world will come to an end, bit tragic and extreme but ok. If they never married in the future, or if the world ends when they marry, how did they have CU, or was she born before they married (can't imagine that)? You got to give Usagi props. She has the same dream as Mamoru, and rather than avoiding the issue, and Usagi, which Mamoru opted to do, she instead goes straight round to talk it out. Well done Usagi. 'I want to be with you even if it destroys the world and kills me', that's ultra processed shoujo melodrama right there, gotta love it. The guardians and TM defeat Udering and Esmeraude appears to cackle. She comes over very confident given she's been defeated twice now. Apparently a black gate will appear in present day Tokyo and the dark power of the malefic black crystal will poison the silver crystal. TM says that he'll work together with SM and the guardians despite any hardships they face personally. Usagi runs after him following some prompting from the guardians 'i can tell he likes you'....'how'......'I can see the love shining in your eyes', god it's cheesy, but the good type of gooey, yellow American cheese that goes with nachos, the more the better. Looks like Usako and Mamo are back together. Looked like some ancient Greek temple on a rooftop where they kissed. |
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| Glad you enjoyed those reviews. I realized it had been a while when I checked and didn't see that I'd posted my review of Joshiraku. All those series you listed are definitely worth your time, but they'll be there when you're less busy. DBZ's a great background watch, so good choice. Episode 32 Ooh, Influenza episode. Topical, but this outbreak was caused by dark power. Honestly, it's a pretty genius plan that requires little intervention on Esmeraude's part. The girls are all down with it aside from CU and Minako, who is playing nurse... badly. Salty rice porridge and general klutziness doesn't help. It's kind of a joy to watch how wrong her efforts go, even with CU's eventual help. Did I say even? I meant especially. They ruin everything, even Usagi's dreams, which is quite the feat. Still, Minako and CU work hard and show a consistent desire to be helpful. Meanwhile, Esmeraude is working with a droid named Pharmakon in the hospital (that tracks) to deliver medications that will spread the disease further. Maybe it isn't contagious, or maybe it just makes symptoms worse. CU and Minako end up there, uncover the plot by accident, and then see Pharmakon transform - very chrome with a very short skirt for some reason and a scalpel and syringe for her arms. I like it. SV plays the role SM usually does, giving a self-righteous speech and posing. The other Guardians get there as well despite their illness - again, not sure what tipped them all off, or are they just drawn to their fellow Guardian when she's in danger? - and they all transform off screen. SM finds the strength despite her illness (everyone else is just well now) and defeats Esmeraude and Pharmakon with everyone's (including TM's) help. We begin to see a bit of real frustration from Esmeraude this time - about time, honestly. Minako and Artemis end up sick in the end, and they get treated by Usagi, who is nearly bas bad as Minako at handling this. What goes around comes around, I guess. Fun, fluffy episode with some good character moments. |
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| Episode 32. Esmeraude has engineered a flu epidemic in the Juban district. Turns out this is the closest district to the Tokyo tower, so slap bang in the cultural heart of the city. Love the exaggerated reactions and Minako's attempts to look after the sick guardians with the obligatory rice porridge. The double act of CU and Minako was especially funny. Nice change of pace getting SV doing the love and justicebeauty preamble. Iirc, Ami made all the guardians the little watches, which alert them when danger is near or one of the others is in danger, and directs them where to go. Very useful macguffin to explain away how they all suddenly appear at the right location exactly when needed. Fun ep. Looks we're got another cat based ep next time. |
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| Well done review of Kimi ni Todoke S3. I think Ayane might have moved up to best girl status for me after this season, so I definitely agree with your thoughts on her. And yeah, I hadn't thought about the watches. That does make sense. Episode 33 Yep, it's a feline frenzy this episode. Artemis is thieving some food (guess Minako doesn't give him enough) and a rift is driven between him and Luna while he gets physically assaulted on accident over and over. He discovers a number of feral cats and dogs that are being taken in by a middle aged man. Meanwhile, Esmeraude goes to a zoo and gets peed on by a small dog. Coincidentally, said zoo is also where this man is taking all these animals, and houses a vet clinic to boot. Esmeraude takes it over and summons an incredibly garish droid named Dogbar. I like her outfit, whip and hair ornaments, but that bright red skin is just a lot. She then takes control of the animals, all of which start walking on their forepaws. Esmeraude reveals the limitations of this ability, though, as her laugh cancels her control. I'm fond of that, since it probably reaches a tone only these animals can hear. Artemis heads to the zoo to find out what's going on and Luna, Usagi and Minako follows him out of worry. Turns out, this was a good choice, since Dogbar ends up controlling a lot more animals and sicking them on the people in the zoo. Artemis and Luna have another little falling out where, for some reason, he doesn't tell her what's going on and she almost leaves. Hey, at least Usagi and Minako notice something's up because the people Dogbar's attacking look like they're in actual mortal peril. I thought for a bit that Luna and Artemis might be taken over like the other animals (including a monkey, apparently), but I guess they're not doing that. Instead, Artemis takes it upon himself to defeat the enemy for... reasons. I don't think he's ever had a complex about his ineffectuality, but I could be wrong. Thankfully for everyone involved, SM and SV arrive to rescue their cats. We get a nice combo declaration from the two of them, like to see them change things up a bit. SJ, SMa and SMe come in as well, and they all start unleashing attacks to scare away the animals (good - for a moment there, I thought they were actively attacking said animals). Dogbar collars and leashes all the girls (she does look a bit like a dominatrix, though they thankfully aren't gratuitous with it), but they get released in short order by Artemis's intervention and SM wins the day. I guess they didn't fire Chekhov's gun on this one, really thought they'd win through sound based on how Esmeraude's laugh was so effective. Still, it gives Artemis a chance to do something important, albeit for a very short time. Esmeraude leaves with another laugh and being peed on again. Really don't know where her confidence comes from at this point. |
whiteflame55Aug 12, 6:06 AM
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| Kimi S3 was everything I could've expected and more. Yeah the final ep was a bit slower, but I really liked the girls sitting round chatting, some of my favourite moments from all 3 seasons are just these 3 chatting. I enjoyed the fact we finally got a kiss, Ayane x Kento ship sailed, just wish we'd got a conclusive lift off on Ryu x Chizuru, but don't think there's any doubt these two will start dating very soon, just would've been nice if we could have seen it. I remember back to S1 and how inept Sawako was at social situations, let alone having a boyfriend, so to see her and Kazehaya open up and confirm their fears, insecurities and pledge themselves to each other was a wonderful happy ending. I loved the way Kazehaya was so earnest about cherishing Sawako to her dad. I didn't mention the parents or Pin, as you'd already covered that, but they were the perfect foils to draw out the best of the tension, give sage advice and produce some sweet and comedic moments. And the production values were top drawer. Episode 33. SO Artemis has a chip on his shoulder because Luna is the one who, along with Usagi, is always uncovering the enemies and beating them. He wants to prove himself and has been out searching for hidden enemy bases, mostly at restaurants ahem. Love Luna's supercilious tone. Artemis ends up at an animal hospital where Esmeraude has infiltrated along with her newest droid Dogbar, another good monster design but yeah very red. I like that they included her laugh countering Dogbar's control, pointing out just how ear splitting her screechy laugh sounds. Artemis rushes in trying to prove himself, Luna comes to the rescue but only gets herself cornered, than ofc SM and SV appear on scene for a dual speech before all the guardians band together to defeat Dogbar, but not before being collared, where Artemis does prove helpful by providing a distraction. Liked the comedy this ep, especially the dog peeing on Esmeraude, twice. |
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| I really hope this isn't the end of the anime, but if this is the note Kimi ni Todoke leaves us on, I'll still be satisfied. It's not so much that I didn't enjoy the final episode (it actually is a great wrap-up that offers opportunities to talk things out and end it on a lighter note), it's just that the previous two episodes in particular were so good that it was always bound to feel like a step down. Also, always love that Pin seems to understand these kids so well. I'd say they should listen to him more often, but he doesn't exactly make that easy. Episode 34 Fanservice to start with Esmeraude. Saphir pops in on her - this is the first time we've seen any pressure on her, but she seems unconcerned. Looks like we're off to cram school, where Umino regularly studies. She summons Giwark, a droid with an insectoid theme. Ami's getting a lot of jealousy for her good grades. Turns out, this jealousy is being ginned up by dark energy, as even Umino sets her up to make her look like she cheated. Not cool. Makoto throws hands in defense of her, but they can't stop the rumor mill. Ami puts two and two together and discovers that the cram school is the source of the problem. She ends up fighting the multiplying Giwark, holding her own until the others arrive. Giwark uses genjutsu to make her see illusions of the other Guardians verbally assaulting her. Ami is very perceptive, though, and realizes this can't be real. She's also too passive to attack her friends over something like this. On the other hand, SM is much more vulnerable to these attacks... or, wait, no she isn't. She's so used to people calling her names that this doesn't affect her at all. Never change, SM. SMe eventually does seem to succumb to the illusions. SM says she doesn't believe SMe will harm them right after getting slapped away (I guess except for that). This probably would have worked very well on Rei especially, but Ami figures it out and uses her power to shatter Giwark's antennae, destroying the illusion. SM finishes off their foe, restoring everyone to normal. Esmeraude remains optimistic, laughing Saphir off while continuing to bathe. |
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| S3 of Kimi had the feeling of a final entry, we got a kiss, Ayane x Kento and Ryu x Chizuru as good as dating, so not much more they could cover, although yes I'd just love to see more of them all dating (they are in the 2nd year of highschool so there's at least another year until they go their separate ways to uni or work). In the girls chat they discussed what would happen in the next 10 years, subjects like that usually crop up when events have come to a logical end point and chars start looking to the future. I thought the kiss in ep5 was the emotional touchstone and resolution of Kazehaya and Sawako's issues this season, then we moved to the comfy setting of the girls chatting and the xmas meal, which I thought balanced out nicely, but agree it didn't hit as hard as some of the previous eps. I get your point though, eps 3&4 with the flashback of Ryu and Chizuru and then the karoke where Kento won Ayane over, were special. As was ep 1 with meeting the parents, and ep 2 on the Okinawa trip where we saw Ayane break down and Ryu told Chizuru how he felt about her. Not a single weak ep. Episode 34. Yep more fanservice, bath scene this time. Where do they come up with the names for the droids, just hit random keys on a keyboard. Giwark, it does have a monster ring to it. This ep focuses on negative mental aspects and how Ami gets a lot of attention for being top of the school and questioning whether she cheats somehow. Giwark uses an illusion technique, which doesn't work on Ami because she knows the guardians wouldn't say such mean things to her face, and Usagi just believe it also, but is used to having mean things (jokingly) said about her all the time. Friendship and trust win through and Giwark is defeated, which Esermaude seems largely unbothered by as you point out. |
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| Yeah, I could definitely see this being the endpoint for the series. I think you've laid out well how this serves as a culmination of at least this portion of their character arcs. Loved all 5 episodes. Episode 35 Ooh, an episode focused on CU and aspects of her life independent of the Guardians? Interesting. Her characterization has always felt pretty limited to wanting to get to the future and interacting with these older girls. It's not a bad dynamic, but it means we don't get to see much of her behaving like a child with other children. Her best friend Momo is involved this episode, and Ami asks a pertinent question: why is the BMC even after CU? Never have gotten a clear answer to that. No time to explore it, though. Esmeraude has a new subordinates, Chiral and Achiral (who has two similar looking forms with some palette swaps - nice play on the word chiral, though their designs are probably the least interesting of anyone so far), who is opening the Black Gate. She uses an exceptionally powerful dark henge to do it all at once - don't know why she didn't just do that from the start. We unfortunately don't get a day in the life for CU, instead she's thrown into a playground brawl the moment she arrives. This is where the dark henge is planted, and now it's Fight Club meets The Purge. These kids are vicious. The Guardians are informed, transform, and arrive to take it out. Chiral and Achiral use black lightning, transform their limbs, and Earthbend, so they're a grab bag of powers. CU's able to use her power to save her friend, who then proceeds to save her, taking an attack meant for her. This might be more meaningful if we'd gotten any time with Momo in a normal context, but it triggers CU's PTSD and she goes Super Chibi, activating powers we've never seen before, something that even Prince Demande and Wiseman are surprised to see. With TM's help, the Guardians eliminate Chiral and Achiral by teaching "them the ABCs of true justice." Lol. Esmeraude is about to take matters into her own hands when she's ordered to return to shift to Demande's new plan, which I'm sure we'll find out about next episode. CU asks that the Guardians come to the future with her to save her parents, and they resolve to do it. So now everyone's changing tactics. I agree with Luna and Artemis, this seems short-sighted and risky, since it could just ensure that Esmeraude takes control over the present. They don't know that CU and the Silver Crystal are their chief goals. |
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| Episode 35. I think the show has missed a trick not having more focus on CU, but it falls into the same trap as Gundam by having a monster (mecha) of the week format, plus all the guardians, so there isn't much runtime to explore CU or the villains this season. That is a good question. I thought at first the BMC wanted CU's key, but they seem to have no issue getting to and from the future with no problem. Do they think CU has the silver crystal? My guess is that it's got something to do with the fact she's future Usagi's daughter, who they refer to as 'Little Lady' and the 'Rabbit'. Assume we'll find out when we get to crystal Tokyo. Had to look up chiral. Esmeraude says no more confusing plans. Wow those kids wrecked the school. Like the manner in which Achiral/Chiral just interrupt SM mid babblespeech to tell her not to waste her time. Always funny when in show chars admit the lunacy of shouting out your catchphrase/attack move and how it just wastes time. The monsters attack nearly works until CU unlocks some hidden power when Momo is hit, reminding her of when her mum jumped in front of an attack to save her. After defeating the monsters CU asks for the guardians help and they agree, together with TM to venture to the future to save CU's mum. As you point out this leaves the present at risk from dark energy attacks from Esmeraude, but this is one of those shifts that feels like it happens purely because enough time has passed and now we're onto the final portion of the story and onto the bosses lair. No rhyme or reason other than progressing the plot to its conclusion. |
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| Yeah, chiral is a fun term. We talked about chirality quite a bit in terms of how it applies to proteins, always thinking about their orientation in terms of "handedness" (either right or left - there are some interesting biases that have shown up over time), which also gets some play in macroscopic biology. Episode 36 I honestly didn't expect them to travel to the future this soon, but I guess we're rushing into the action that will likely define much of the remainder of the series (just checked and, yep, solid canon all the way to the end). CU foresees disaster, but despite her trepidation, TM encourages her to believe in her allies. CU summons the Omnipotent God of Time, Chronos from her key to send them to the future (I guess she mastered it for reasons) through a path of light. Actually a pretty neat effect. SM encounters Sailor Pluto, but CU shows up to stop her from laying a beatdown on SM. Sailor Pluto apparently is the guardian of the door through space and time, and strongly hints at a history with SM before opening it. Guess she's not allowed to help them in this fight. Upon in an area between times, they're quickly detected by the BMC, who come after them to take CU and SM. There's some mistrust in Wiseman from Esmeraude and Saphir, which should make things interesting. They struggle even to move in this future world against waves of energy. Esmeraude confronts them directly and splits them up in the space-time labyrinth. Luax, another droid (they really are just hitting random letters on their keyboard), gets sent in after them to kill everyone except CU. Esmeraude, despite being ordered to spare SM, seems spiteful enough about Demande's interest in her to still seek to have her killed. The Guardians are all still together and head towards the Silver Crystal in this timeline, which resonates with their own. TM and the cats are together and are directed by a strange voice - probably Saphir. CU is all alone with LunaPii, and is confronted with a figure that looks like her mother (seriously, she looks just like Usagi despite the difference in age - how did CU not recognize her?), but discovers that it's actually Luax. I'm pretty fond of how she transforms back into her normal form with the skin seeming to melt off her body. With LunaPii's help, she makes herself a slingshot to fight off the droid, but it's a failed effort. The Guardians arrive via luck (SM's words, not mine) and face off against Luax, though Luax can change the polarity of time, so their attacks are reflected. Ami's special visor finds a lag in her ability that CU helps them exploit by drawing her attention, leading their Sailor Planet Attack to be effective. Everyone arrives in the ruined future to end the episode. |
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| Episode 36. No wonder CU's prior attempts to go back to the future didn't work, she'd forgotten to call on Chronos, the god of space and time, how did she forget about him, lol. They arrive at the space-time door, guarded by SP, who CU calls Puu, so guess she was the avatar inside LunaPii. The mention of SM by SP suggests to me that at some point in the near future, SM travels to the far future and crystal Tokyo. We get a hint from Wiseman as to why the BMC want CU, apparently if they bring CU together with the malefic black crystal it will give access to a large power, tantalising. Saphir and Esmeraude don't trust 'the prophet' Wiseman, who was the one who suggested to Demande that he search for the silver crystal. Going out on a limb here, but I wonder if Wiseman is future TM in disguise working undercover? Esmeraude attacks whilst the guardians & co are travelling the space time corridor and they are separated. She sends her new droid, Luax (doesn't feel like they're even trying) into the space-time labyrinth after them, although she doesn't want SM captured, as Demande requested because she's 'dewy eyed' and is jealous of her. CU sees a vision of her mum, who is ofc revealed as SM/princess serenity, and looks identical to her past self that we are familiar with, they don't even appear to have aged her up much, although anime isn't the best at subtle details like the different between a 14 y/o and a 25 y/o, apart from obvious distinctions like breast size, wrinkles, hair style etc. So of the droids, like Luax, talk with the guardians as they're battling, but others like Giwak and Dogbar just repeat their own names. CU distracts Luax giving the guardians the chance to hit her with a guardian planet attack, don't think we've seen that one before but may be wrong. The guardians and co finally arrive in the future and see the ruin of crystal Tokyo with only the central castle, where future Usagi awaits, still standing. |
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| Yeah, I’ve found it odd how some Droids are talkative and have actual personalities while others are just fight sluts who can only say their own names. I’d love to see a twist that Wiseman is TM. Episode 37 The ruins of Crystal Tokyo lie before our heroes, apparently covered in ice. CU rushes in because I guess plans are for chumps. The rest are confronted by a… future TM?! Inconceivable! This was also the same voice they heard in their dreams. This is Endymion, apparently fully manifested in this time period, but also a hologram, once again telling TM and SM to stop making goo goo eyes at each other before giving them an exposition dump. Turns out some calamity is coming to the Earth (no info on that - I guess the imminent threat to Earth isn’t important), but Serenity used the Silver Crystal to restore it and create Crystal Tokyo. Villains came, and the Guardians fought them off. Planet Nemesis (makes more sense than Black Moon) is now the source of these villains, the BMC, who got new powers and nuked Crystal Tokyo. The Guardians could only spare the Crystal Palace itself. Serenity and Endymion are incapacitated, so they can’t use the Silver Crystal to restore it. At last, SM realizes she’s Serenity (didn’t she learn that last season?), but can’t understand why she’s also in the far future along with her fellow Guardians. Also, why does Endymion call his own daughter Small Lady? I figured SP was doing it because almost mechanical or even part AI, but she’s your daughter dude. And why does TM call her Small Lady? You’ve been calling her CU this whole time, what changed? TM and SM find out that, shocker, CU is their daughter (couldn’t learning this change the past? Guess he wanted her not to be born since he kept pulling them apart, so what’s another tidbit?). Embarrassment abounds. BMC’s plans become clear, and Endymion tells them they need unyielding love to win this fight and that he was testing them all along… seriously? They seemed like they had a strong relationship before. If anything, you actively harmed it, dude. Not a good plan. Prince Demande is infatuated with SM, which makes Esmeraude and Saphir jealous. He arrives in person to capture her, opening his third eye to drain their power before absconding with her and leaving the rest behind. SM wakes up dressed as Serenity with her Silver Crystal still in hand (getting strong SAO Fairy Dance Arc vibes… not good…) and no power to use it. Demande plans to rule Earth for reasons, and wants her in tow. Meanwhile, TM descends on a paraglider to their location because why not, and rescues her with the power of their love, which interrupts the power of sexual assault that Demande wields. He saves her by whipping out his mighty Power Pole (I mean the cane, get your mind out of the gutter) and, with a little help from Esmeraude disrupting his dark energy. She makes a pact with Saphir. |
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| Episode 37. Ok, so a lot of information to process in a huge exposition dump from future hologram TM/Endymion. I notice that Demande says that Usagi looks the spitting image of queen Serenity, who is currently trapped in the palace in crystal Tokyo. So why on earth didn't CU recognise her? Maybe she thought Usagi looked similar to her mum, although she never mentioned it, and never expected to come across her mum in the past? There are lots of plot points in this show that don't bear up to scrutiny, but at least it's consistently inconsistent, ie like some of the droids being able to speak and interact with the guardians and others acting like robots just repeating their own names, also Usagi forgetting she is princess Serenity. At least this show doesn't try to be serious, it is what it is, whereas Gundam had loads of inconsistencies but tried to convey itself as serious with dramatic themes, and just tripped itself up. Big reveal for Usagi and Mamoru, yes CU is indeed their daughter. We get some core shoujo themes coming through, only the strongest bond of love between Mamoru and Usagi can defeat the evil forces of the BMC and save both the past and future. And future TM was testing their bond by sending them nightmares, as you point out, it really didn't help matters. Then we get another staple of shoujo drama, the threat of forced sexual assault, which as you say is very reminiscent of the fairy arc in SAO, which was just so rapey with Asuna trapped in the cage with the villain crowing about how he was going to enjoy raping her for ages, it was awful. TM comes to the rescue, flying in on a hand glider, dudes been lifting ideas from Cats Eye or Lupin. Next to save future Crystal Tokyo along with Queen Serenity and Endymion. Wonder if Usagi will get to meet her future self, and will CU learn that past Usagi is her future mother? |
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| Agreed that the show enjoying its goof factor definitely helps with its inconsistencies. Personally, I could watch TM ride in on a variety of increasingly absurd vehicles any day. Still love his bus driving phase. Also, glad they didn't go full Fairy Dance Arc with Usagi's imprisonment. Part of the problem there was that Asuna just spent so long in there that her characterization suffered for it, but then there was all the sexual assault to boot. At least this was just an almost forced kiss followed by an immediate breakout. Episode 38 Demande is focusing his attention on the Crystal Palace now, much to the chagrin of his allies. The Guardians arrive at said Palace with questions about what happened to the Silver Crystal in this timeline. CU desperately wants to save her mother and SM tries to use her Silver Crystal to revive Serenity. However, it's not enough. CU despairs and runs off to go sit on the Swing Set of Sorrows (Naruto would be proud), where she's confronted by Wiseman. It's revealed that CU is the one who was responsible for removing the Silver Crystal from the palace, hoping to use it to match her mother's splendor (she got a lot of negativity from the staff, apparently). I get it - kids like to try on their parents' jewelry. So now CU feels that she caused the downfall of Crystal Tokyo and the near death of her parents, though it seems like this was a setup of some kind, since she barely got the Silver Crystal off the pedestal before it vanished. Still no clue where it is currently. Wiseman entices her to use her to empower the Malefic Black Crystal to protect herself from scrutiny. Esmeraude, feeling jilted and frustrated with Wiseman's machinations, confronts him. She asks that he grant her strength to destroy the Crystal Palace herself. He's clearly using her to channel the MBC knowing he can use her and that she's going to die in the effort, but I did like her new outfit... for the few seconds it was on screen. The draconic form she takes on its pretty cool too I guess. Her attacks start damaging the barrier around the Crystal Palace. The Guardians attack her, but she regenerates from their attacks and bounces back. With TM's help, SM is able to unleash her finisher, which reduces the dragon to dust, Esmeraude vanishing as well before plunging into a dark abyss. CU's vanished with Wiseman, and he muses about his plans (which are not BMC's plans) with an evil female laugh playing behind him. Wonder who that is... |
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| Most anime has a terrible habit of fetishizing sexual assault, so agree it was a relief that it was a quick almost kiss and then Usagi was rescued. Episode 38. Does CU know that SM/Usagi is the past self of her mum, as it appears she's still unaware. Turns out the silver crystal in the future was lost by none other than CU, although it does look like it just disappeared after CU picked it up, so maybe not her fault. Esmeraude decides to take matters into her own hands and defeat SM as she wants her out of the way. Thus she partners with Wiseman behind Demande's back. Esmeraude's powered up form looked like a sorceress design from Slayers with those huge shoulder pads and vivid green. She ends up turned into a dragon by the power of the MBC and sent against the guardians. The guardians combine to defeat the dragon, vanquishing Esmeraude, who disappears. Finally we see Wiseman content after Esmeraude's demise and hoping for the same to befall Saphir and Demande so he can pursue his own goal, said while a lady cackles in the background. Who is that, the queen from S1 maybe? |
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| Doesn't seem like CU perceives SM/Usagi as her mother, at least not from what we've seen of their interactions. Episode 39 Our heroes look for CU. Meanwhile, Wiseman distorts her memories to isolate her. She has some rude fake parents. Some of the memories look real (looks like the Guardians were planning a surprise birthday party and hiding the info about it), which may explain why she believes them so readily. This makes her spiteful and receptive to the power of the MBC. We get quite the… transformation sequence, with Small Lady becoming a full-sized Black Lady with strong emphasis on her bust size increasing, like you do. She looks a lot like Usagi with pink hair and a pretty stunning outfit that really suits her turn to evil, particularly the jeweled collar. She also has the BMC symbol on her forehead. Saphir tries to convince Demande that he’s being played, but Demande remains steadfast, deciding to head to the past to destroy the past with Black Lady, leaving Saphir in the future to facilitate the MBC. TM asks about the cataclysmic event that took out Earth, but SP tells him that he shouldn’t know about that. No, he should only know about the cataclysmic events that happened later, silly boy. Seriously, since when did SP or anyone else from the future care about their knowledge of the future? Very selective. Anyway, they head back to the past and soon find themselves facing down Black Lady as she summons a Dark Gate with Demande. Black Lady is immediately recognized by LunaPii and turns it into an umbrella to wield her dark energy. It’s a pretty effective weapon, but her rejection of the Guardians and everyone else does more damage. TM briefly stops her. She throws LunaPii at him (which sails past harmlessly, lol), and SM tries to use her Silver Crystal to purify Black Lady, reminding her of her kind parents and the Guardians. We see that surprise party that was hinted at earlier, and Black Lady starts reverting to Small Lady (nope, still don’t like it). Wiseman stops the transition (is Black Lady just standing there naked in this scene?), convincing Black Lady her good memories are fake and turning her back to Black Lady. She leaves them to their fate, and the Guardians resolve to rescue her. |
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| Episode 39. Ok, I wasn't expecting the show to take this tack with CU aging up and becoming a sexy dark version of SM. Wiseman tells Demande to return to the past and once there connect to Dark Ladies (DL) dark energy and destroy it this destroying crystal Tokyo. Saphir clearly has doubts about Wiseman and brings them to Demande, who won't hear of it. Will Saphir end up helping the guardians. The guardians return to the past to protect their Toyko and find CU. Bit surprised by how easily CU was corrupted and swayed to the dark side. Now it makes sense why CU didn't recognise Usagi as her mother, otherwise she likely wouldn't fight against her as DL, and would remember USagi's kindness and all the times she saved her. I like the little detail on LunaPii with the crescent moon on her forehead turning upside down and black to mirror CU. Now SM, TM and the guardians have to rescue CU and turn her back from DL. |
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| Episode 40 Home stretch, only 3 episodes left after this one. The title spoils this one pretty outright: Saphir’s gonna bite it. Things look pretty bad now that the Dark Gate is open. I like the touch that, when Usagi’s mother comes out with tea, she brings out CU’s cup as well despite not knowing who it belongs to (she’s not under hypnosis anymore). Nice way to showcase the connections she’s made in her past. Meanwhile, Wiseman works to summon the Death Phantom and exposits about his plans to no one in particular while Saphir watches on. Saphir works to stop him by cooling down the MBC, and learns of the Death Phantom as a god beyond his understanding. Wiseman attacks him, but he escapes. We shift back to the de-powered SS, who find Saphir injured, nursing him back to health. We learn through his memories that Demande wants Earth because they feel jilted over having to live on desolate Planet Nemesis. Petz, who loves him, tells him that they’ve learned kindness from living here, and Saphir doubts their mission. Despite the danger, he leaves to go speak with Demande, promising to return. Nope, no death flags here. Dark Lady ends up going after Saphir, though Demande doesn’t believe in his betrayal. She finds him at the Dark Gate, but the Guardians arrive as well. They distract her (love all the LunaPii transformations, particularly the badminton gear) while Saphir goes to talk to Demande. The latter seems like he’s being swayed, but Wiseman attacks him before he can, killing him (it’s a bit tropey, but I love the moment that his jacket falls off the wall coinciding with his death - gets me a bit every time). Lot of infighting among the BMC. Demande collects his brother and makes his animosity towards Wiseman apparent. Overall, a good episode, though I felt little for Saphir. We barely knew him as a character, and the show always seems to humanize its characters, particularly this season, just a little too late to emotionally hook me. Also just doesn’t make sense that the Guardians are so torn up about this. Not sure why SM knows about his relationship with Petz, either. Would’ve been nice to see more of his relationship with Petz in particular. |
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| Episode 40. It's a bit silly when they give away the ep plot in the title like this 'Saphir Dies....'. Yeah the extra tea cup demonstrates what an impact CU had on the Tsukino family, even without the hypnosis. Saphir overhears Wiseman expositing his plan to raise Death Phantom to himself. The aim of Death Phantom, to wipe out all life. Wouldn't that include Wiseman himself? The dark gate has been opened in present Tokyo causing panic. Wiseman openly attacks Saphir after the latter stops the MBC reactor due to unstable power surges. Nice to bring back the former SS but as you say Petz and Saphir doesn't have any meaning for us as it feels like a last minute inclusion with no build up. DL catches up with Saphir at the dark gate, where the guardians also arrive after being alerted by Koan. Some inventive transformations of LunaPii by DL. I agree that Saphir has been one of the better villains this season and his death had more gravity to it than any other we've seen this season. Demande and Saphir feel more like people than the rest of the pantomime villain cast we've seen up until now, with the exceptions of the SS once they were defeated. |
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| I agree, Saphir stands out from the pack of villains in this series. I think we were supposed to feel something for Esmeraude when she perished, but never got much humanity from her. Rubeus was just dedicated to evil deeds. The SS have been slightly more interesting, but only because we got to see more glimpses into what they're like when they're with each other both while evil and post-evil, which does make for an interesting dynamic among them, but means that they relationships to other living characters are nearly nonexistent. By contrast, we get brotherly desire to protect one another from Demande and Saphir, and Demande walking up to collect his fallen brother was a striking scene, since he was clearly setting aside any animosity to the Guardians and refocusing his attention on Wiseman by the end of it. We'll see if he can continue to impress. Episode 41 The Guardians regroup while TM explores the MBC. Naru asks if something's wrong, which is a strange question when she acknowledges the giant growing crystal in the town center. Yes, something's wrong *points at giant crystal*. Naru does seem to recognize that Usagi is hiding information from her, but this hasn't been a tension before, so it rings a little hollow, especially since Naru can't do anything anyway. Demande confronts Wiseman. The latter spouts platitudes about their larger aims. Demande remains focused on Saphir, but inexplicably leaves Wiseman with a warning and just lets him proceed with the plan his brother actively told him was subverting what Demande really wants. Not fond of this. Something I am really fond of: there's a couple of brief moments where we spot what's under Wiseman's hood, as it seems to light up as though from some internal source of lightning, and it looks like a yellowed skull. Creepy. The girls have a brief powwow that emphasizes how dangerous this moment is (they talk food to keep it light, but the weight is obvious) before transforming to enter the MBC with some difficulty, the cats being unable to enter with them. They encounter a mirror funhouse and SM is almost immediately separated from the crowd because why not? She confronts Demande alone, who uses his third eye to try and control her. He is infatuated with her, but again, his priorities seem... off. Just doesn't seem like the right time to mind control SM into kissing him. She fights back and regains control a couple of times before snapping out of it entirely, and tries to convince him to work with her. In the process of this back-and-forth, he realizes that Wiseman has indeed been lying to him. I'd prefer that the death of his brother had triggered this, rather than SM's admittedly good logic about the SS living happily on Earth, which suggests that the BMC can also live there without issue, but here we are. Wiseman intercedes and actively starts a fight with Demande - guess he's no longer interested in trying to pull the wool over his eyes. So now we get an interesting power match-up and a nice villain on villain fight. Don't get to see these too often and I low key love it. Yeah, it's mostly a beam struggle and it predictably includes Demande jumping in the way of an attack intended for SM, but he surprisingly gets up and fires a beam back that actually destroys Wiseman's body before bleeding out on the floor. Not a fan of this form of redemption by death, but here we are. Of course, Wiseman isn't dead. His body recovers while SM is tearfully wishing Demande goodbye and promising to look after the BMC herself. Wiseman is apparently immortal, and he claims has fallen in love with CU. Dude, did you have to go straight to incest shipping? That kiss... I know this is a lie, but wow, she's his daughter. At least make it believable. SM manages to shake the lie (shouldn't be that hard anyway), and TM and the other Guardians arrive. With the Dark Gate now open, though, things look dire as the gang faces down Black Lady. |
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| Episode 41. Demande confronts Wiseman, who tries to talk his way out of killing Saphir by saying his death 'was but a small occurrence compared to our quest for revenge against the earth'. Demande isn't buying it and pushes Wiseman on why he killed Saphir against his orders. We see flashes of a skull underneath Wiseman's shadowy hood, very Skeletor. The guardians pause before heading into the MBC to mark the moment and raise the tension, pointing out how dangerous this mission will be. Once the world is saved then they'll go out and scoff (they say 'scarf' in the dub) all the cakes. Demande choosing now to suddenly try and hypnotise SM into kissing him is kinda off. Theo had a meltdown partway through this ep so kinda lost my focus. Demande protects SM from Wiseman's attack and dies. Wiseman gets hit and regenerates, looks like he's made of coloured rock or something. Wtf is all I can say to the sudden vision that Wiseman gives SM, showing her an illusion of Mamoru kissing DL, she's his daughter and SM knows that. TM and the guardians arrive to break the spell and Wiseman is driven off. Now they must go to the centre of the MBC to stop the dark gate swallowing present day Tokyo. They started calling CU 'Black Lady', but I thought it was Dark Lady earlier? |
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| I had meant to mention this a while back when I realized I was having the same trouble, but I think they've referred to CU as both Dark Lady and Black Lady, I just think they transitioned into calling her the latter (and that is the name I find when I look her up). I get why they'd call her Black Lady, given the Black Moon Clan name, but it's obviously not the best to call a very clearly white girl Black Lady, so I think Dark Lady would have been the better choice (and still would have made sense, given the use of the adjective "Dark" throughout this season has been pretty widespread (e.g. "Dark Gate," "Dark Henges"), so regardless I'm going to switch to Dark Lady at this point. Episode 42 The penultimate episode. How can the girls defeat their immortal foe? How do you kill that which has no life? Also, how do you solve a problem like ChibiUsa? Alright, enough with the references, time for the confrontations. Dark Lady makes a handy arena for their fight. She wants to end the world due to a lack of love. These emo kids, man. Their words about protecting her shake her resolve. Wiseman counteracts it with the MBC, but SM hard counters with the Silver Crystal and the power of love. She literally becomes Serenity, and tells Black Lady that that whole scene where she and Endymion refused to help CU up in the past was done out of love to help her become more self-reliant... Seriously? I thought that was a made-up memory from Wiseman. Who does that to a child? Maybe they meant it lovingly, but still, wow. At this point, it becomes a battle between love and its rejection, so we run back through CU's memories. This time, they win the fight rather easily (I guess TM and SM being right there with the Silver Crystal and showing their love did it), returning CU to normal at last. They quickly have to face down Wiseman, who now has the Dark Gate open for him. We get some pretty cool shots of him wielding great power through the MBC. Using the Silver Crystal, SM counters his power (everyone seems to believe that her using it will kill her, and I'm honestly not sure why). The ensuing fight gets some of the best music in the series. This is La Soldier, an excellent fight theme that apparently gets a lot of play in the Sailor Moon musical productions. While SM is flagging in her fight, CU discovers that the Silver Crystal she grabbed once upon a time became a part of her rather than disappearing. I guess that also nullified the power of said crystal until just this moment where she realized it. CU summons a child variant of Serenity's dress to wear and, with the power of the two Silver Crystals and the other Guardians, they successfully counteract Wiseman and the MBC, destroying or at least suppressing both... wait, did Wiseman just say that he's the Death Phantom? I thought he was going to summon the Death Phantom? Oh well, guess they killed death, saving Earth and Planet Nemesis... which I guess is unpopulated now? Did we only see a portion of the BMC or was that everyone? CU and SM hear from the actual Serenity before returning to join the others. CU returns to the future after a tearful goodbye, with CU finally calling her mommy. D'aw. The future looks a lot greener and brighter as CU runs up to the aged up versions of the Guardians and her parents (guess SP is still guarding that door). Guess the next episode will tie up loose ends. Never did find out who Wiseman was actually working with. |
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| Episode 43 The finale… well, I guess we’re getting a recap this episode plus some previews of Sailor Moon S. They did kind of wrap things up last episode, so I guess they just doesn’t wanted have fun at the end, hence I decided to watch it now and just finish today. We start with a 4-way split screen showing the OPs for these two seasons so far. Nice to see them side-by-side. The previews come early with a couple of new Guardians and a new villain who looks like a mad scientist, as well as a couple of minions, shown. Maybe all this has to do with the calamity that hits the Earth pre-Crystal Tokyo, which Endymion was cagey about. I’ll admit, it’s kind of nice to get in-universe character commentary. There’s even a good deal of discussion about whether Usagi should remain de facto leader of the Guardians, which is honestly the best part of the episode since it’s some silly nonsense. If not for that, I probably would have skipped through more of this. The scenes skip around a lot between S1, S2 and some sporadic S3 preview clips, with the occasional song thrown in for fight scenes. It unfortunately doesn’t come with new insights into things like why SV’s popularity has gone away over time or why certain characters disappeared between seasons, though it’s good to see some of them again as well as some of the Guardians’ finer moments. Unfortunately, it leaves all remaining plot threads from S2 dangling. Overall, while far from a bad season, this one did feel like a step down from the first season of Sailor Moon. For the most part, the filler was just played too seriously without ever feeling all that serious. I just wasn't all that invested in the Makai Tree Arc, which took up a lot of the season run. The tension between the characters' present and their future leads to some intriguing dynamics between the two times, even if they don't explore them as deeply as I wished and it seems like the show goes out of its way to leave the most interesting bits about the future veiled in mystery. I liked having a central goal for the characters to pursue (after the Makai Tree Arc, which was a bit aimless), Wiseman ended up being a bit two-dimensional, especially since his endgame just seemed to be "I want to destroy everything for no reason," but it also led to some solid infighting and betrayals on the villains' side. As we have mentioned several times, the BMC has nothing on the Dark Kingdom, even if they felt like they were making strides to get there in the end. I don't think anyone ever measured up to the likes of Kunzite, and his relationship with Zoisite felt more real than any of the relationships in this season, which almost always seemed one-sided and barely fleshed out. Demande and Saphir probably get the closest to being interesting, but each of their character arcs are basically an episode long, so we only get to appreciate them for a short time. The Spectre Sisters have a similar problem where they spend most of the plot squabbling amongst themselves, hinting at character traits that could be interesting, only to express them for about half an episode before getting defeated. They're more interesting as humans, but by then, they're basically excised from the story. The characters on the hero side are a little better, but are hamstrung by a weak idiot plot that goes on too long. It takes over 2/3 of the season before TM and SM can develop their relationship. SM is probably the best individually, really showcasing a growth from her character in S1 as she faces down scary circumstances and greater uncertainty and shows more bravery than TM. It is nice to see how they differ from their future selves, and how that speaks to their likely development in later episodes. The other girls get an episode here or there to show something interesting, but there's surprisingly little there, and almost no insight into their future versions. CU gets some meaningful development, but we rarely get to see her just be a child rather than a plot device. And the introduction of a new Guardian, SP, ends up feeling uninteresting as we barely get to explore her character at all. If it was just about the BMC arc, I'd probably have this around a 7.5/10, since I think the central plot is pretty good. The score gets dragged down by its first arc, though, since the Makai Tree arc was really weak with poor execution on its emotional beats, a wrap-up that felt dismissive, and the introduction of Moonlight Knight who was functionally just a stand-in for TM for no reason other than dragging out the plot. It only took up about a third of the series, so I don't weigh it too heavily. 7.2/10. |
whiteflame55Aug 20, 10:08 AM
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| Episode 42. 'how do solve a problem like CU' to the tune of the Maria song, made me chuckle. You're spot on the money, Emo kids these days wanting to destroy the world because they think no one loves them (even if that's patently not the case for CU), lol. As a parent I feel like I have to stick up for Serenity and Endymion here, there are lots of times when parenting and trying to get your kid to be more self reliant you feel like the villain, it's a tough and thankless role, oh woe is me, lol. The way the scene plays does make S&E come across as a bit heartless, especially the tone of the voice they use with CU. As Serenity SM finally gets through to DL and turns her back to CU. We get a final confrontation between SM, CU and Wiseman, and yeah that's another good insert track. Turns out CU had the 2nd silver crystal from the future inside her the whole time, who'd have thunk it! Wiseman does indeed say 'how can they defeat me, I'm death phantom', so he wasn't just a puppet but the actual dark villain death phantom pretending to be Wiseman, huh. All's well that ends well. Finally CU calls Usagi mommy, they were saving it for this moment, bit silly but I get it. That wraps up the main story arc, and it was ok, but just didn't have the umph of the S1 ending. I was watching a clip of S1 from the episode where Usagi and Rei go skiing and the monster was the lady with snowballs for boobs who mistook Rei for SM as SM was described as classy, athletic and elegant. Then it reminded of a whole bunch of the filler eps from S1 and got me to thinking what a great season that was. This season has been ok, but it's been coasting, mainly on the visuals, comedy and OST for me. Looks like I've got a recap ep tomorrow! |
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| Yeah, I think the scene with Serenity and Endymion refusing to help CU up may have just been portrayed negatively. I get that the goal is to engender self-reliance, it just came off as being done in a pretty harsh way. And yeah, I also agree that the ending to this season wasn't as strong, even if I liked the canon story a little better overall than I did S1. Part of the problem here is that the other Sailor Guardians just felt like afterthoughts - they were just there in the end to bolster SM and CU, rather than fighting their own battles - part was that Wiseman just didn't have the same oomph as Queen Beryl, and all this wasn't helped by splitting attention between two different time periods and having a sort of "all's well that ends well" wrap-up. After some more consideration, I think I'd have it at an even 7/10 at this point. And yes, that skiing episode was amazing, one of my favorite monster designs to boot. The one that came to mind for me was the one that followed the green cat that was one of the Rainbow Crystals and the giant swarm of rats from the sewer engulfing Zoisite while he was chasing down that cat and Luna. That and the scene in the alley where all the Guardians are trying to act in a tight space (Makoto's flushed expression especially) really got me. Seriously, Season 1 was so good. |
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| Episode 43. I do like the split screen OP. Having the in show chars narrate the recap/preview is a fun idea, especially as they break the 4th wall and discuss their relative popularity and the show. Not much to add really. Given that the central cast of guardians is only likely to get bigger, don't think we're going to get anything like S1 again, as there's too many characters interacting to leave much time for hilarity. I agree that the general outline of the main story for this season was better; going to the future to save her future daughter and herself and Mamo from some people from an as yet unknown planet, who were exiled there after a rebellion. As I said before, with the monster of the week format there just hasn't been time to explore many of the more interesting aspects of the story, or expand the villains' characters (would've liked more time with the SS, before and after their defeat), or have more time for extended banter and antics like S1. Yeah some of those fillers eps, like the one with the swarm of rats and the girls squeezing into an alley (that was all the cat focused ep iirc), were very good. It's hard to write really good filler content, guessing Toei brought in some big guns to write the script for the filler as the author was getting on with the canon story for the manga. You can tell that they wanted this show to be a big hit and put everything into making S1 as appealing, fun and enjoyable as possible. This season was definitely weaker than S1 in many ways, but the core of the show and it's appeal is still here, carried in large part by the lovely visuals, banter/comedy (Luna is still my favourite character) and OST. The outline for the main arc was better thought out, but wasn't executed as well as the final arc in S1. So I gave this a 7/10 (7.0). I did enjoy the watch, however, it simply feels like an inferior experience compared to S1. As always thanks very much @whiteflame55. |
23feanorAug 22, 1:45 AM
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| Thank you very much as well @23feanor, always enjoy these watches. And yes, you're right that both of those sce3nes were from the cat-focused episode. Really shows how well the show makes certain filler content stick with you. |
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