Finally, an episode loaded with action, suspense, mythology, and character.

Hopefully Sailor Moon Crystal can keep it up.

No one is physically close enough to Demande to foil his attempt.

Time has run out.

If only our heroes knew someone who could fuck around with time…

I will say the casting on Chibi-Usa/Black Lady has been pretty dynamite, as has Sailor Pluto.

Those performances are stellar.

In fact, all the Black Moon arc casting is rather superb, except I think for Wiseman.

Its a personal preference and undoubtedly a cultural bias, but I find the whole manic falsetto schtick off-putting.

It doesnt make Wiseman sound creepy.

Its nothing against her.

And the other Senshi?

They do a good job.

The rest are fairly forgettable.

I realize thats not standard operating procedure with serialized anime.

Starting with Infinity, each manga act is roughly 50% longer than in Dark Kingdom and Black Moon.

And how would that affect the enjoyability of the material?

Having every other episode do it would just not work.

But that would actually be fulfilling and make sense, so you know theyll never do it.

The stuff we get with Black Lady is so fucking GOOD.

Its dark, its brutal, it really shows through her actions how angry and twisted she is.

This is not to say that everything surrounding Black Lady rubs me the right way.

Bloodline specifics aside, its a nearly perfect facsimile of the latter third of Dark Kingdom.

Come on, now.

Is this the only way we can generate conflict between Usagi and Mamoru?

And twice in a row?

Its kind of lazy, especially considering theres so much about them that can be mined for drama.

How about the fact that theyre very different people.

Should they be together despite a certain nominal incompatibility just because they were lovers in the past?

Oh, were just getting kidnapped and brain-raped again?

As for everyone else… Not that it does much good, because Saphir is actually under Wisemans spell.

He attacks his Demande, who reluctantly kills him in self-defense.

This is some truly bittersweet, twisted Cain and Abel shit… and yet I dont really care.

The brothers relationship wasnt really established very well.

I didnt really feel it.

And this brings us to our girl Pluto.

And Chibi-Pluto is ADORABLE.

Seriously too cute for me to function, but Ill try.

This actually raises a lot of mythology questions for me.

Why was Pluto appointed to her position at such a young age?

Is she replacing someone?

If not, why appoint her now, and why her?

Is there some kind of pressing matter at hand that couldnt wait for her to come of age?

Is this a time of war?

But I still want to know.

We find that of the three taboos that Pluto must never break, shes broken two.

She is now given a personal vested interest in the events of history.

She now has something she never had before: temptation… the temptation to break her vows.

Thats some good stake raising.

Ill give Takeuchi that.

What I absolutely loved loved LOVED about this episode was the revelation of Wisemans true form.

It turns out Wiseman was just the empty shell of Phantoms body, the body he long since abandoned.

His spirit has merged with Nemesis, and he is now the very soul of the planet.

He is the Black Moon.

I dont care what anyone says.

That shit is epic.

A strong entry that translated rather well from the source material, this episode really held its own.

Only two to go,Crystal.

Dont fuck it up.

Rating:

3.5 out of 5