Sailor Moon Crystal

Episode 25

Hands down, this is one of the best episodes Sailor Moon Crystal has given us, in either season. While it still suffers from some of the flaws that have plagued this adaptation of Naoko Takeuchi's manga – the artistic issues are very noticeable this week, largely since most of the profiles are distinctly snouty – it also features some of the strongest magical girl moments, as well as a very effective loss. It may have been a bumpy ride to get here, but if this episode doesn't make it all worth it, it at least tries really hard to make up for what has come before.

Last time we saw Usagi and the gang, Prince Demande was about to destroy the world by touching the past Silver Crystal to the future one, and Sailor Pluto had just arrived on the scene. This week she goes into action, which for her is much quieter than the other Guardians and much more devastating. Rather than blasting Demande or tackling him physically, Pluto simply stops time...at the cost of her own. This is a quintessential aspect of the magical girl story: the willingness to sacrifice yourself to save everyone else. This trend in the genre can be traced back to Medieval Japanese literature, specifically Tales of Gisho and Gangyo, where a woman named Zenmyo transforms herself into first a dragon and then a boulder to save and safeguard the monks, giving up her life so that others may be safe. While we've seen Sailor Moon herself do it at the end of the Dark Kingdom storyline (and will see it again in later arcs), Pluto's is more striking because she is not the primary heroine. As Zenmyo's sacrifice enables those she cares about to live safely, Pluto's reminds Black Lady who she really is, and serves as the catalyst to her own transformation into Sailor Chibi-Moon, something she never believed herself capable of. This leads to the other important genre-defining moment in the episode, when a transformed Chibi-Usa watches Sailors Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, along with Tuxedo Mask, combine their powers to battle Death Phantom. Chibi-Usa wonders to herself if she can be strong like the others, if she has the power to fight those who would threaten her and those she loves. In this moment she is the voice of all of the little girls watching the show: Can I be like Sailor Moon? Do I have that strength inside of me? It's an important message, and one which makes the genre so important when targeted at a young demographic. When Chibi-Usa fully realizes her strength (next time, presumably), viewers can identify with her and begin to find their own.

Another positive aspect of this episode is the pacing, which takes it slow when it needs to and adds tension when that will enhance the moment. There's a bit of drag right after Pluto stops time, but for the most part this uses pacing very effectively, which can also be said about the music...when Pluto collapses. Other parts tend towards the distracting, showing an off-kilter balance that we see reflected in other areas as well. The art goes from beautiful to decidedly wonky, all the more noticeable this week because the good parts look so nice. This is perhaps best seen in the two transformation sequences: Sailor Moon's is the usual CG mess while Chibi-Usa's is fluid, with only one weirdly bent ankle to really mar it.

There's only one episode left of Sailor Moon Crystal, and if it's anywhere near as good as this one, it will take away a lot of the bad taste from previous mistakes that the series has made. People have a tendency to remember things by how they end. It looks like this one might pull itself together to give us something good to remember it by.

Rating: B+

Sailor Moon Crystal is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Rebecca Silverman is ANN's senior manga critic.