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**SPOILERS**
Episode 14: Conclusion & Commencement, Petite Étrangère (Small Stranger)
In the last episode, Sailor Moon had just informed Queen Metalia that she is taking her down. The Scouts are presumably dead, but it seems as though their spirits send a beam of light to the crystals in the Chamber of Prayer on the Moon, where Luna and Artemis are.
Sailor Moon remembers (via flashback of Queen Serenity) that the Legendary Silver Crystal depends on her “heart”; by now it’s obvious that “heart” means “desire” – when Sailor Moon knows she wants something, like for Tuxedo Mask to be alive, the Crystal makes it happen. So now, Sailor Moon prays to/asks the Crystal to grant her the power to defeat Metalia.
In the Chamber of Prayer, Luna remembers Queen Serenity telling her (back in the day) to pray to the giant crystals in times of need. I love how Queen Serenity’s presence has been felt in this series – even though she has been dead for at least a thousand years, her hologram and flashbacks from Sailor Moon and Luna keep her alive.
All this praying causes the Moon’s light to brighten – it’s super bright. Sailor Moon uses the Crystal to blast Queen Metalia’s forehead mark with energy, defeating her. My interpretation is that she used the Crystal to direct the Moon’s light at Metalia.
In the process of sealing Metalia, Sailor Moon’s brooch – the center of her power – breaks, and she collapses.
On the Moon, Luna is still praying to the crystals, and in a GREAT shout out to fans, she’s in her human form!! I was so tickled.
Next to her was a ghostly image of Princess Serenity, which was kind of weird. It seems to me that the spirit of Princess Serenity is inside Sailor Moon, so if any ghostly image would be there, I would think it would be Queen Serenity, but she’s always been the small hologram, so…
Anyway, the entire Moon Kingdom is restored – no more “poisonous stone”, and lots of pretty colors! The “camera” revolved around the cats as their surroundings changed, which was a neat effect.
Back on Earth, Tuxedo Mask holds Usagi and notes that she’s cold – she may or may not be dead, but she for sure used up a lot of energy sealing Metalia. He kisses her, and I guess I am just so used to him kissing her while she’s unconscious that I honestly wasn’t even mad. Perhaps he thought she was dead and this was the last time he would get to kiss her…? Ew?
But! She’s not dead. They’re both super happy, but Usagi wonders where the Scouts are. Tuxedo Mask, being a sort of Scout of the Earth, touches the ground and can “see” where they are; Usagi, holding his hand, can see through him.
Usagi hears Luna’s voice (via telepathy, probably – miracles are happening all over!), who tells her to come to the Moon. But but! Her brooch lays shattered on the ground, so Usagi asks the Crystal to send herself and Tuxedo to the Moon, and again, we all wish that space travel was this easy (and cheap!) as the couple shoot into space in a ball of energy.
In the Chamber of Prayer, Luna tells Usagi that she’s the new queen of the Moon. But Usagi doesn’t want to be queen – she wants to live on Earth with her loved ones: her family, her friends, the Scouts, and Mamoru.
Queen Serenity’s hologram appears and she gives Usagi her blessing, AND THEN turns into a new brooch! It’s like a make-up compact with space for the Crystal, so Usagi puts the Crystal in there and yells out her new transformation phrase, “Moon Crystal Power Make Up!” But I was very disappointed to see that the new transformation sequence was exactly the same as the old one! I don’t know if the 1990s anime gave her a new one, but part of the fun of new transformation objects is seeing everyone’s new transformation sequences! Jeez.
A Moon-to-Tokyo “Moon Healing Escalation” takes care of any lingering traces of Metalia and revives the Scouts, who are on a bridge. Sailor Moon, now on Earth, runs to them and, in a nice cinematographic detail, birds on the bridge’s railing alight while she runs past them.
So, the girls go back to living their regular, 14-year-old lives. But 14-year old me would have said “OH HELL NO I am not going back to school” and I would have become the queen on the Moon in a New York minute. I wouldn’t be able to get that dress on fast enough. And I don’t even like that dress.
The next story arc begins with Rei meditating by the fire. She sees someone’s forehead in the fire, a forehead with an upside-down black crescent on it. Going outside, Rei hopes this isn’t a bad omen. (But you know it is.)
Usagi and Mamoru meet up by their fountain. Usagi very nicely had his pocket watch repaired, and when she gives it to him, he returns the handkerchief she’d dropped at the masquerade ball way back in episode 4. They kiss, and then a funny thing happens. A toy shaped like a cat head drops from the sky and bonks Mamoru on the head. Then:
Yep, that’s a portal opening, and it was very comical when it opened.
Then the weird thing happens. I hate this thing very much – it happened in the manga, and I was just like “whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.”
In case you can’t make it out, that’s a little girl with pink hair dropping from the portal onto Usagi’s back and in the process, accidentally kissing Mamoru. If this story arc follows the manga as closely as the last one, unfortunately this weirdness will only continue. Not physically! – don’t worry – but there is a tone of this weirdness through most of the manga that I thought is really unnecessary and frankly, disturbing.
So this little girl – whose identity I’m not spoiling today – seems pretty upset. She’s mad when she asks Usagi her name, and then says her name is Usagi, too! And then she pulls out a gun and demands the Legendary Silver Crystal. (Where she would get a gun is what I want to know.) I have to say she looks really great in this scene. I’ve always liked her character design.
Unlike episode 13, the comments on this episode (on Hulu) were super excited. Everyone is pumped, and I am too! (Everyone was also happy that there will be no Doom Tree arc, which was an anime-only story that apparently no one liked, haha.)
I’m looking forward to
- New villains
- New attacks
- The appearance of one character in particular who I like a lot!
- Perhaps this series will tone down the weird stuff
- Character development for the Scouts
Sketch by Sketch 
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