This week’s installment of Sailor Moon Crystal, “Act 32: Infinity 6 - Three Guardians,” picks up right where last week’s left off, with an emotional reunion between Chibiusa (Sailor Chibi Moon) and Setsuna (Sailor Pluto). The latter reveals Neo Queen Serenity allowed her to be reborn after her sacrifice during the conflict against the Dark Moon. Usagi transforms into Princess Serenity, and the Outers acknowledge that they also served the princess during the Silver Millennium, in the distant past.
Pluto explains the Death Busters come from the Tau star system, and the Outers again insist this is their fight, alone. They make it clear they are considerably more powerful than the Inners, and mention their goal of defeating the “Deity of Destruction.” (You’d think everyone might want to ask a little more about that, but … nah.)
The next day, after further digging into Professor Tomoe’s sketchy background, the girls and kitties tell Chibiusa she needs to keep a close eye on Hotaru. With trepidation, the girl agrees. Meanwhile in Villain Town, Tomoe has some passive-aggressive words for Kaolinite after her continued failures against Sailor Moon. (Tomoe seemed a lot friendlier in the 90s anime; he’s approaching the Crap Dad territory of Evangelion’s Gendo Ikari in Crystal.) Evil energy blob-thing Pharaoh 90 continues to have the munchies for the source of the Sailor Senshi’s power, so Kaolinite summons Cyprine to make up for the lousy track record of the Witches 5 in one fell swoop. Good luck with that.
Later, Chibiusa has plans to see a movie with Hotaru. The next day, after waiting for more than an hour, she realizes her friend could be ill and hightails it over to Mugen. Once she arrives, she peers through the window to see the genetically engineered / robotic replacement arm Tomoe’s recently grafted onto his daughter.
In a flashback sequence, we learn all of Hotaru’s limbs are like this, presumably created by Professor Tomoe in his Lab O’ Evil after his daughter was caught in a fire as a child. “I didn’t want anyone to know the secrets of my body. So I’ve been keeping it to myself,” she thinks, sadly, as she looks out the window to the space once occupied by Chibiusa. She cries, imagining Setsuna, Michiru and Haruka looking at her with pity, in a moving scene that lends depth and pathos to her character beyond that of the classic anime.
Wracked with guilt for running away, Chibiusa notices hail has begun to fall. This is no ordinary hail, and all the locals start going positively ape shit upon contact with it, smashing windows and strangling each other. Meanwhile, Cyprine appears outside Haruka’s window, and attacks. Haruka transforms into Sailor Uranus, joined shortly by Neptune and Pluto. Meanwhile, the Inners see what’s going on from Crown Base and rush to Mugenzu. Cybele gives the Outers a real run for their money, knocking all three of them flat before Mars blasts onto the scene. Severely outnumbered, Cybele brainwashes everyone but Moon, Tux and Chibi, and the result is a fantastically fun, crazy-eyed grudge match between the Inners and the Outers. Jupiter heads straight for Uranus, in a nice reversal of / callback to their judo match from episode 3.
Sailor Moon responds with Moon Spiral Heart Attack, which backfires pretty horribly as Cyprine splits into two halves: Cyprine and Ptilol. Together, Sailor Moon, Chibi and Tux summon the Holy Grail … but the undoubtedly “Super” results of that, and the outcome of the battle, will have to wait for next time! D’oh!
After two slower episodes, this season of Sailor Moon Crystal has arrived at its halfway point in epic style, revealing more about Hotaru’s dark past and providing some great battle scenes between the Inners and Outers. Though the explanation of Haruka’s gender in the opening scene felt a bit too Sailor Stars (conveying that Haruka is literally both male and female like the Sailor Starlights, as opposed to being a girl with masculine traits), that could simply be a matter of awkward translation; it remains to be seen how the rest of the story arc will handle this. Still, with the preview for next week teasing the appearance of Super Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn, there’s lots of excitement yet to come.
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New episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal premiere every Monday on Hulu, Crunchyroll and Viz.com.
