Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Act 47 Review

 

Venus runs over to Sailor Moon who was just shot through by Zirconia only for Sailor Moon to literally melt in her arms. The Senshi begin yelling in fear and realizing this is a nightmare as we cut to Sailor Moon's perspective where everyone else is melting as well as her own flesh and blood melting off her. 

Flipping Heck Naoko, were you trying to mentally scar the children reading at home?! I kid, I think that the faith Naoko has in her audience and willingness to include whatever elements she wants to in a Shojo series regardless of whether people think it's appropriate is a really cool trait. 

Zirconia boasts about how they will all wander in the darkness of nightmares for eternity. We cut to the mooncats, with Artemis saying the Earth's surface is being swallowed by the darkness of the New Moon. Diana thinks she should never have left Small Lady's side and starts to rush off to her side, but Artemis stops her, telling not to lose hope, their Senshi will never give up.

We cut back to our Heroes where...and I'm not kidding or exaggerating....Tuxedo Kamen slaps them aware. 

I'm surprised this doesn't come up more often. Like obviously with context it makes sense, it's like if someone is unconscious and you try whatever you can to wake them up, but out of context this could look very different. 

Tuxedo Kamen, representing his newfound confidence and development after unlocking the Golden Crystal, gives a rallying speech to the Sailor Senshi. This leads to a tender moment between him and Sailor Moon about their shared dream, while the Outers are impressed the Prince broke out of the nightmare by sheer willpower alone.

Sailor Moon says to herself that it's not just a dream, that protecting this planet together will always be their reality, they won't give in to their nightmares or dreams because the Sailor Senshi can never lose.

Sailor Uranus, seeing Sailor Moon's determination gets all inspired describing their shining princess as everything to them and for the sake of their prince and princess the Senshi attack together; Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, actually wounding Zirconia

This section is one of the things I remember as a highlight of the arc. The other Senshi are at their most relevant in this act outside of the acts that literally focus on them specifically.

Zirconia tries to teleport away but the Senshi teleport after her, Venus and Mars clearing the way through the defensive foliage growth with their attacks. Mercury uses her visor, which hasn't been seen since the first arc to spot Zirconia escaping into a mirror. 

Zirconia enters the mirror to Nehelenia's throne room. Super Sailor Moon steps into the mirror, entering the throne room however when Super Sailor Venus tries to do so as well, she can't. I would have thought this was some magical doing of Nehelenia, however Nehelenia instead expresses it's a function of Sailor Moon's great power, that it even allowed her "here."

Nehelenia proclaims now is the time for her to gain the shining stellar power. Moon herself can feel the stellar energies in the room but can't pinpoint its location. She notices the four stones and two broken shards of glass that the Quartet, Chibi-Moon, and Saturn were sealed into. She calls out to them and they call out to her in turn.

Nehelenia telekinetically causes lots of glass shards to spiral around in the air to disorient Moon as to the location of herself and her allies however to her annoyance Moon just uses Moon Gorgeous Meditation and frees them...somehow....regardless.

This section does feel a LITTLE fast in my opinion, like Naoko was trying to create a more complex fight with more elements, but Moon just does the right course of action immediately regardless, immediately finding where Chibi-Moon and Saturn are and immediately unsealing them with the Moon Gorgeous Meditation. 

Moon and Chibi-Moon use Moon Gorgeous Meditation together on Nehelenia, but it just causes a mirror containing Nehelenia to break and Nehelenia laughs at their inability to hurt her.. Meanwhile the other Senshi are on the other side of the mirror before trying to figure out a way to help. Mercury tries to attack the mirror itself and while it causes a small crack on the mirror, it doesn't do anything in particular.

Then Jupiter....well she does what she does best.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

This part is hilarious and swesome and unexpected and just overall great. At worst you could maybe say it's a little dramatically anti-climactic but it's such a cool moment for Jupiter I don't really care. Jupiter's my favorite of the Guardian Senshi, because she does nonsense like this sometimes and it's both really cool and funny. She literally just punched from another dimension and broke Nehelenia's face. And this isn't a small wound either, the next page is Nehelenia freaking out like "AHHHHHHHHH, I'm gonna dieeeeeee!!!" Characters in Sailor Moon rarely punch each other, and for obvious reasons; mostly they're mages, not martial artists. Still, whenever it happens it's hilarious.

Nehelenia freaks out and Zirconia calls for the Dead Moon Circus to regroup in outer space so their queen won't outright die here. Saturn grabs the stones the Quartet are sealed in and then Moon...does....something...to send them out of Nehelenia's dimension, I actually can't really tell what she does here.

She points and destroys the mirror and then they're...pushed out....I think?

The Dead Moon Circus retreat after Nehelenia's injury and the Senshi reunite, however, Pluto notes there is no change in the surroundings. Usagi and Mamoru realize at the same time that Nehelenia has probably gone to attack Elysion.

Moon tries to tell Chibi-Moon to stay there but Chibi-Moon that if something happened to Helios, she has to go anyway, in a sweet display of her affection and the same will to protect her loved ones that her mother has.

The Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen get into a hand-holding circle before group teleporting to Elysion. There they find the Maenads from earlier who say they are the Maenads, priestesses who serve the shrine, and direct them to Helios. Once again the Maenads kinda baffle me as Naoko is nothing if not efficient in her writing. I don't know if this was a scrapped idea or they serve a narrative purpose I simply don't recognize. 

The Senshi find Helios unconscious in his cage. Chibi-Moon tries to go to him, but Moon remembers her shock from earlier and stops her. Tuxedo Kamen says Helios gave all his power to protect them from the enemy earlier. There's two pages of drama from Chibi-Moon that Helios can't be dead until she says what I've been saying for a couple of acts.

Exactly! Helios literally can't be dead because Mamoru's alive. The drama here doesn't work if the reader remembers that's the case or if the characters do. 

Mars and Neptune, the two psychics sense an evil spirit coming, Queen Nehelenia and Uranus says the battle's not over yet. The Dead Moon Circus ship arrives in Elysian, and on-board is a mirror containing the recovered Nehelenia.

I guess Jupiter's gonna have to lay the smackdown again!

Act 47 isn't as deep as Act 46, and especially not something like Act 44 but it's a really fun act that I enjoy it a lot. It feels more than any other act like the other Senshi outside Moon, Chibi-Moon, and Saturn impact the plot this act, especially Jupiter punching Nehelenia which I adore. It also kinda shows why Naoko doesn't do it very often because this series isn't really set up for long complex fights with intricate fight choreography due to the ways characters powers work and how hard it is to give every character a role when there's 10+ heroes running around on the same team without dividing them up. 

I think you might be able to make the argument that Jupiter punching Nehelenia and making her run away might detract from Nehelenia's overall threat level and that at the end of the act it doesn't seem nearly as intimidating as it hypothetically should be. I can't really well argue it, and yeah if Jupiter had done it to Zirconia instead that probably would have made more narrative sense, but I can't deny that if I could change it, I wouldn't just because the way it is now is so funny and such a cool moment for my favorite Guardian Senshi. 

Outside that, as I mentioned the drama around "Helios is dead!!" doesn't work for the very reason that Chibi-Moon explains in the story itself, and it basically relies on the reader...I don't know forgetting that Helios can't be dead here? Feeling sad the characters are sad here even though they should know that Helios isn't dead here? It's kind of a small point but in an act that's only ~45 pages, each small bits like that which don't work are kind of notable, especially given how efficient Naoko is with her writing and how 2 pages used on drama that doesn't work could really have been used elsewhere. However, the act also has some other good points. 

There's the nightmare sequence where Naoko really goes full macabre and the subsequent moment for Tuxedo Kamen that's the benefit of unlocking the Golden Crystal. That's a pretty good moment for Mamoru and it speaks to how impressive his willpower is. I liked Chibiusa's determination to save Helios which really mirrored the way her mother acts when her loved ones are in danger, and I thought it was cool that Usagi blocked Chibiusa from running up to the electrified cage, flows really naturally from that part in the last act where Usagi did the same thing and got zapped.

Overall even though it's "just" an extended fight sequence, this act's pretty fun. It's not as deep perse as some of the others in Dream Arc, but it's got some really funny moments to show people, especially out of context, the Guardian Senshi are more relevant than they've been in a while and even it's worse element shows Chibiusa's love for Helios, along with her determination earlier. 

Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Act 46 Review

 

After an adorable title page showing the lunar family sleeping in a big bed with Diana snuggled up to Mamoru, the act begins with Usagi sleeping say she feels like she's sleeping next to Mamoru. However when she awakens it's clear something is...a little off. She awakens as a little kid and finds a little Mamoru standing over her. This little Mamoru is super affectionate, kissing her, making her favorite breakfast, and doing all her homework for her.

It's really adorable and it combines two elements from earlier in the arc. We know that Usagi's dream according to Haruka is a sweet domestic life surrounded by people she loves and we also know that at the start of the arc she was envious of Chibiusa's physical age as people don't expect much of you and you don't have much responsibilities.

Usagi comments that this must be a dream as she and Mamoru walk to school but Mamoru helpfully points out that's silly, you can't walk and dream at the same time which is....so good as a statement. It's funny, and it's got that weird dream logic. It's also symbolic since most of the arc is about comparing the dazes we get into as we walk around in a world of material desires are just dreams. Chibi-Mamoru says his dream is to walk to school with Usagi like this, to spoil her and give her everything she wants.

Usagi knows something is off about this, that while this Mamoru is sweet, the real Mamoru was level-headed, and would never just do her homework for her. Chibi-Mamoru says what Usagi wants, or think she wants him to say, that his dream is just to marry her and asks Chibi-Usagi her dream.

I love this sequence. It's obviously adorable and funny on the surface but it also is really interesting thematically. There's a motif in fairy tales of the witch offering candy and a gingerbread house to lure hungry children in. Why? Because you have to teach children that if someone is just offering you nothing but nice things that's because they have secretly wicked motives. For children, this could obviously be abductors but even for adults people that never tell you anything but sweet words don't really have your best interest in mind; they're idolizing you, or they trying to lure you into a cult, or they're trying to get something from you. One of the preconditions of something being real, of any relationship being real is that, on occasion, challenges you, doesn't tell you you're perfect exactly how you are but instead challenges you to improve yourself. That's not something that comes naturally to someone like Usagi or...to my admission...myself. It's easy to want to live in a world without strain or struggle, but if someone loves you then they will, even if rarely, ask you to improve yourself. This Chibi-Mamoru is sweet and cute and everything Usagi might think she wants Mamoru to be, but this isn't the Mamoru Usagi fell in love with, the Endymion Serenity fell in love with, the Earth Sailor Moon fell in love with. It doesn't brim with potential and adventure and something that makes her want to be stronger and braver to protect him. It also connects once again to the theme of the arc. Usagi's material dream might be to live forever in peace and comfort, to have everything done for her so she can laze about, but she can't even in her dream say that's what she truly wants because her true dream is something deeper.

Usagi awakens in the darkness and comedically gets annoyed as the dream was so perfect and why did she have to wake up. Mamoru and Helios are there, Mamoru immediately asking if Usagi's alright and Usagi wondering what's going on, didn't they de-age from Zirconia's magic? Helios tells her to be quiet, they're hiding from Nehelenia's minions. He tells them in hushed tones they're in Elysion, though it's overrun by nightmares, and he used its purification powers to restore them to normal, and he wants to take them to the shrine. Usagi and Mamoru marvel at the horrific nightmare-scape that has become of Elysion.

Helios tells that this darkness across the land of Elysion is the black rose of the curse manifesting in Mamoru and his chests, before leading the two of them to the temple. There he shows them two priestesses of Elysion called the Maenads who are trapped away in crystal. The Maenads are some of the most minor of minor characters in Sailor Moon and I don't really know why they were added as it feels like a random detail. My best guess is they were a detail Naoko meant to develop into something more extensive later but I had no idea what it could be. The name itself doesn't help as in mythology the Maenads were the female followers of Dionysius which doesn't seem to connect to anything in this arc or the series as a whole. Maybe there's some connection between the arc's theme of dreams and their drunken sense of unawareness that the Maenads were said to be have, but the dreams referenced in the the Dream Arc are all sort of passive, they're material dreams one reaches after forgetting their true purpose and mistaking them for ones greater ambitions, while the drunken unconscious of the Maenads was characterized with violent passion, to the extent of tearing people to bits. So this is one of the most mysterious details in Sailor Moon, and I really struggle to know what Naoko's purpose here was. 

Helios tells the the crystals are a type of purifier used to try and combat the creeping darkness, and that the Maenads were sealed in sleep to protect them from the curse. Mamoru comments that this place seems so familiar and Helios confirms that this is where Endymion's family ruled from, the site of the Golden Kingdom. Helios mentions that though he and Endymion never actually met in his past life, he knews their wishes were as one. He then comments that similarly Endymion and Serenity were drawn to each other because they hold the same wish. That even though they were never supposed to communicate with each other as Prince of the Earth and Princess of the Moon, the two of them shared the same mission, the same powers, the same heart, the same soul. 

This is Usagi and Mamoru's relation expressed through the themes of the Dream Arc. Though their external personalities and material dreams are so different, their true dreams are the same and in love, they are united, which of course ties into the main theme of the series, the ennobling power of love in general. I think it's a beautiful sentiment, and it's what I would wish for any relationship, that the lovers have the same mission, the same heart, the same soul, such that even beings worlds apart can't separate them as they move towards the same dream.

Mamoru asks what he means about them having the same mission and powers, and Helios tells him the Silver Millennium protected the Earth from without and the Golden Kingdom protected the Earth from the threats from within, which is an interesting bit of worldbuilding to suggest the two are equal in scope. This mission is represented in their crystals, the silver crystal and heirloom of the Silver Millennium, and the Golden Crystal, heirloom of the Golden Kingdom.

Helios takes Usagi and Mamoru to the tower of prayer, the heart of the temple where he offered up prayers for the surface world and received revelations. This is where a revelation had appeared to in the silhouette of a woman giving him the prophecy he told to them earlier.

I know some people don't like "prophecy" type plots, though this is a very non-offensive version as the prophecy is not a major point of the arc, mostly serves to ship Helios and Chibiusa and to inform Helios that either Usagi or Chibiusa is the one that can help him. Usagi asks Helios where the Golden Crystal is right now. Helios, however, responds that nobody knows, it could be Elysion or elsewhere but since Usagi had already unlocked her Crystal, she should be able to find it.

I absolutely love this next page. Usagi is known for her empathy, her ability to relate to others. She remembers where the Silver Crystal was for her, and, grabbing Mamoru excitedly, tells him the Golden Crystal is inside him. Afterall, the Silver Crystal was inside her in the Dark Kingdom Arc. 

Usagi references all the past times Mamoru has filled her with power, suggesting that power was the Golden Crystal, and the connection between their crystals. This also explains some of the points in the series where events that impacted one of them, did the other. Usagi says to Mamoru before she woke up she had a dream. Her dream is to protect this planet with him so that everyone can be happy. Mamoru smiles and embraces Usagi, saying his dream is also to protect this planet with her, and Usagi is overjoyed that their dreams are the same. 

I love their relationship so much. Even though they have material lives and personalities and dreams that run so contrary, just as how in their past lives they lived even in different worlds, their souls, the true dreams are the same and so love will always unite them. This moment recontextualizes a lot of moments earlier in the series in a way that makes a lot of sense. Usagi and Mamoru's power are the same, because their Crystals are connected and call out for each other. When Mamoru was injured in the Dark Kingdom Arc, the Silver Crystal left Usagi through her will and entered into him to heal him, called to the Golden Crystal's side. In the second arc when Sailor Moon and Death Phantom's battle sent them far into space, Tuxedo Kamen was drawn to them, because the Golden Crystal is called to the Silver Crystal's side. I love the way that, just how Naoko connected the Silver Crystal with Usagi's internal sense of self so that her growth in power could reflect her character development, she makes the connection between Usagi and Mamoru both literally and metaphorically both their power so that as their relationship develops, so too can their ability to protect the world together can develop. 

Their lovey moment is interrupted when Usagi notices Helios' body locked away in a cage nearby. She goes to try and free him but gets electrocuted for her troubles by the same electricity used on Helios earlier. Nehelenia notices her trap being interfered with and comments some mice must have gotten in, steeping through a mirror to go down to Elysion.

Usagi comes face-to-face with the final villain of the, which still happened faster than any of the others arc relatively speaking outside maybe the second if you think Wiseman counts as Death Phantom. Usagi defies Nehelenia before Usagi and Mamoru shine the Silver and Golden Crystals at Nehelenia whose repulsed by the light. This is a weird recurring trait of the Dream Arc which is that the villains aren't actually that strong compared to our heroes and rely on tricks against them. I don't know if there's anything thematic about that. Something something "villains are relying on illusions" something something "in fairy tales the witch uses illusions" something something "dreams are ephemeral and less real." Helios to protect Usagi and Mamoru teleport them back up to the surface while Nehelenia attacks Helios.

Helios yells to Usagi and Mamoru that they should be able to resist the nightmares on the surface now, presumably due to Mamoru unlocking the Golden Crystal. Nehelenia is mad. 

Back on the surface, Usagi and Mamoru teleport back in...where the Sailor Senshi are all still gathered in the circle they were in when Usagi and Mamoru were teleported to Elysion by Helios. This it the time problem I mentioned last act in that it seems like the Senshi have just not moved for at least several minutes, likely longer. I suppose you could say something like it's a result of time being warped and that time moves in dreams or whatnot, but if that was the intent I don't think it was communicated very well, it just seems like Naoko didn't want to write what the Senshi were doing in the meantime. Usagi and Mamoru transform together.

The Outer Senshi quickly tell Sailor Moon that Chibi-Moon and Saturn ran off into the jungle, with apparently no one going with them or trying to stop them, while Zirconia tells Nehelenia that with Elysion's defenses weakened she can attack Elysion while Zirconia handles the Senshi. 

Zirconia causes plants to start overgrowing the city and, possibly related, causing the air to become much hotter and suffocating so they can barely breath, made worse by the fact that it's exasperating Usagi and Mamoru's sickness. That is a bit confusing since earlier Helios said if they unlocked the Golden Crystal it would break the curse but...they just did that. Everyone starts collapsing from the burning suffocating air around them and Helios gives the last of Elysion's power to purify the surface. This however causes him to collapse, saying goodbyes to Mamoru and Chibiusa.

Once again, dramatically this is trying to make you think Helios has possibly died, but that literally can't be the case because of the lore the arc establishes earlier. Helios, Mamoru, Elysion, and the Earth are connected. So if Helios had died, we would think Mamoru would be dead, and possibly the Earth too. Zirconia reiterates that Helios' power has finally given out and Usagi gets teary-eyed thinking about him, once again supporting that dramatically we're supposed to think Helios died, yet he objectively can't have. 

Then Zirconia shows in Kaiju size and shoots a blast through Usagi and Mamoru's chests, causing everyone to cry out in fear...which is basically just a repetition of the past one act ago where Zirconia attacked Usagi and Mamoru. Sure it's a different spell but narratively...why?

Act 46 is a really good act and a big improvement over the last act. Like most of the Dream Arc, it's basically got 2/3rds of the act devoted to one thing, the focus of the act, and then one-third progressing what I can only call the arc's general story. Often one of the act's parts will be better and in this case, the first two-thirds of the act are noticeably better than the last third.

The first two-third of this act are great, one of the highlights of the Dream Arc in general. Actually going to Elysion is really interesting, even if we don't see very much of it. But moreover this part is about Usagi and Mamoru's relationship which is my favorite in all of fiction and seamlessly connects it to the themes of the arc as well as developing Mamoru's character and progressing the main plot of the arc AND providing a new context for past actions. That's a lot of things to do at once, and the scene of Mamoru learning about and unlocking the Golden Crystal does all of them in a beautifully elegant way. It's one of the things that makes me think Naoko had a lot of things about her world or where she wanted the series to go thought out even back during the first arc as we do see times where Usagi and Mamoru are treated as mysteriously connected that this Golden Crystal actually explains. Crucially it doesn't take away from those moments either, Usagi and Mamoru's love is still the real catalyst for Usagi's growth in those moments, this is just providing an explanation on the internal mechanics such that it can also be used to grow Mamoru as well and progress the Dream Arc. There's a little bit of a contention I might have with the fact that once again, it's kind of the same character arc Mamoru already had in the second arc, but that was already introduced earlier in the Dream Arc so that's not really this act's fault. 

I also love the sequence of Usagi's dream of her and Mamoru having a cute innocent relationship as children in so many ways. First of all, it's absolutely adorable and funny at points. Little Usagi and Little Mamoru are both really cute and my favorite type of cute I would say is taking something normal and then making a smaller version of it. The sequence I think expresses a really good and important morale that is somehow both one of the oldest morals we have dating back to fairy tales, yet also not told often enough and is important for people to understand. If someone offers perfection, they're the metaphorical witch offering the candy house to children. Wanting you to remain exactly as you are isn't "loving you for who you are" because true love while it does have an element of acceptance, also contains an element of wanting to someone grow towards being the best they can be. Usagi may say and think she wants Mamoru to do everything for her, and I relate strongly, on some level it would be nice to be pampered forever. But that's not love, and Usagi knows that the real Mamoru, the one she actually loves wants her to grow because the thing he loves about her is the way she always shows a new side of her. I really get that moral, and the moment after Mamoru unlocks the Golden Crystal and Usagi and Mamoru express the same dream, to protect the world together...that hits hard. Because that to me is an expression of what love really is. 

The last third is not as good and is the only thing really keeping this act from being fantastic. I feel like Naoko kinda wrote herself into a dramatic corner in three different ways. One is that we know Helios can't be dead because of the connection he has with Mamoru stated another. Another is the weird time thing where Usagi and Mamoru have that whole Elysion sequence and apparently no time passed because I guess Naoko didn't wanna write what the others were doing at that point. However the biggest problem is the repetitiveness and I think I know why. 

Sailor Moon is a series that has fighting, but it's not a battle shonen, it's not a series about battle. Fights usually last only a few pages at most. Naoko doesn't seem very interested in writing complex fight scenes and so pretty much all of her fights are either "I have more power then you, therefore I win." or "I have broken magical ability, therefore I win." The characters are presented more like mages then fighters. This works well enough since it's not really what the story's about, but most of the second half of the Dream Arc is basically one long fight scene. If you consider that Zirconia is just part of Nehelenia, then it's basically a four act long fight scene. That doesn't sound very long from a Battle Shonen standpoint where whole volumes are regularly single fights, but for Sailor Moon that's ridiculously long, twice as long as the biggest fight scenes outside of this which are all at max two acts each (the final villain of each basically.) At best the fight with Pharaoh 90 was MAYBE three acts long, but by Act 38 Sailor Saturn was the real threat and Pharaoh 90 was basically an afterthought as Saturn casually beat him up, plus Pharaoh 90's powers, though broken, were mostly defensive. Nehelenia and Zirconia uses broken offenses like Zirconia de-aging Usagi and Mamoru are the attack she hit them with at the end of this act. This means you get Nehelenia/Zirconia hitting them with an attack, it working for a bit, and then the fight continuing. 

Despite the fact that I enjoy writing fight scenes, it's usually because I can imbue them with symbolism related to the characters or interesting ideas and applications of the characters powers. Maybe for some reasons "big fight scene" is actually a plus, that said I found it a bit interesting. However as I mentioned the last third of the arc while feeling kinda repetitive and having a few logical snafus are really just sort of problems endemic to the Dream Arc, and don't really take away from the first two-thirds being a real highlight of the arc and something that means a lot to me. Overall I think this act is one of the better ones of the arc, maybe being top three. 

Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Act 45 Review

 

The second half of the Dream arc begins with the Outer Senshi showing up to save the Guardian Senshi but apparently for some reason they came in their civilian state. I know it's so they can have a dramatic henshin scene but did they go from wherever their house is to Azabu-Juuban just as normal humans? Or did they get there as Senshi, and then de-henshin just to make this dramatic entrance?

Because I could very well believe the later.

Before the Outers transform they give some cool sounding lines to cement that they're the cool senshi. Michiru comments how hot it is, wondering if they stumbled into the Amazon and Haruka responds this heat is nothing compared to the heat inside her race car. Setsuna, ever concerned about proper order and place, says that this place doesn't belong in this world and Hotaru, the tiny goth horror movie child she is, responds that only ruin awaits this place..

The Quartet demand to know who's there and the Outers in response transform before introducing themselves properly to the Quartet.

It's easy to see why Naoko would have wanted to bring the Outer Senshi back. The Outer Senshi were ridiculously popular with Haruka regularly being near or at the top of Sailor Moon character popularity polls, and Sailor Saturn was such an incredibly massive presence in the last arc that her returning would immediately draw in a lot of attention. However it's a lot of characters to juggle and character usage is one of Naoko's weakest areas as a writer. 

Uranus frees the Guardians with an attack and Pluto launches an attack the Quartet though they manage to evade the attack via teleporting. The Guardian Senshi are shocked at the Outers return and in particular Saturn returning to her proper age. You have to wonder if they were secretly in terror that Saturn was going to do her old thing again. Haruka warns the Guardian Senshi about Sailor Moon being danger, and we briefly cut to Usagi, laid up sick in bed with the curse with Chibiusa going to call the others for aid.

After the one page detour, we cut back to the fight between the Quartet and the Senshi, with Neptune destroying stones summoned by Palla-Palla. Mars asks Neptune why the Outer Senshi have finally returned to them. Neptune says that they're here because a series crisis is approaching their princess and prince, and Pluto tells them that though they can't avoid destiny, they CAN create a new destiny for themselves, which is the mission of the 10 Sailor Senshi.

This is an expression of the Outer Senshi's development the last act. They initially were led to believe their mission was just their duties, and tried to prolong destiny (Saturn's awakening) even as they thought it might be hopeless. However with the love and understanding the princess gave them, they now believe that instead of prolonging fate, they can face it and create a new destiny for them, which is why they refer to it as a mission for all ten of them, where in the Infinity Arc they usually referred to "our mission" (as opposed to the Guardian Senshi's)

Uranus tells them to leave the conversation for after they beat the enemies and attacks with her space sword. Meanwhile Saturn speaks in her heart and Chibi-Moon hears from far away, not believing what she's hearing, as it's the voice of her dear friend she thought lost. Usagi agrees, saying she can feel it, that those three (The other Outer Senshi) are fighting with them again.

Not exactly sure how that works, but Sailor Moon has a lot of plot convenient points where characters just sort of...sense things.

Chibiusa sees the four Outer Senshi reflected in Neptune's mirror, the mirror Neptune gave her as promise they would return. Chibiusa convenes with Usagi who tells Chibiusa to go aid them, she'll be right behind her. Chibi-Moon gets a look of determination and tells the Neptune Mirror to guide her to the others. It teleports away and Chibi-Moon races off after it.

The Mirror appears in Neptune's hand. She looks in it, seeing the determined Chibi-Moon and smiles knowingly. 

Meanwhile Usagi, though pained from her illness knows she's needed too and limps out of bed running out. She runs immediately into Mamoru, himself still suffering from sickness, saying he heard her call him. Though Usagi caught Mamoru's sickness, his worst fear, she tells him it doesn't matter so long as she's with him as she clings to him. However she regains her composure and tells him the Sailor Senshi have assembled and that she is needed to defeat the enemy.

I know some parts of it are just generic hero stuff, but I love Usagi. The way she tries hard to fight and help the others despite being waylaid in bed earlier from crippling sickness. The way she doesn't regret it even a moment if it means being with Mamoru. I love the little dichotomy of Usagi clinging to Mamoru looking vulnerable and fragile but then getting a determined look on her face saying the others need her, that's her character in a nutshell. 

Sailor Venus tries to ask the Outers what's going to happen but Neptune yells that there's no time and blows up the main circus tent with her mirror revealing the Dead Moon hanging in the sky

Venus is shocked saying there was nothing there when they went in, but the Outers tell them that the world is being engulfed in nightmares, and consequently that they can't trust what they see. Pluto expresses that the entire planet is actually engulfed in a barrier of darkness, Nehelenia's barrier which was preventing them from transforming and Saturn says their plan is to this world into a dead world with a cool looking image of Saturn and Pluto holding the darkening world.

We cut to Chibi-Moon running through the streets seeing displays of rage and violence everything, saying this isn't the Azabu-Juuban she knows. 

I know it's not super emphasized, but it's really cool how Sailor Moon villains are probably some of the closest modern examples to Eldritch Horrors with Nehelena's dark presence doing something like this. It's really cool to me that Naoko is willing to use such dark imagery or concepts in a Shojo manga.

Moon, Chibi-Moon, and Tuxedo Kamen catch up to the other Senshi just as Zirconia appears before them, angry at the Quartet for their useless playing around. Zirconia introduces herself to the Sailor Senshi as a psychopomp serving Nehelenia, a psychopomp being a spirit guide. 

Zirconia marvels at the people of the White Moon Kingdom being reincarned but tells them it's too late, the city is under their control and the planet nearly is. The image of Nehelenia is transposed on Zirconia showing their connection as Nehelenia laughingly says that destroying them will be "easy as breaking a baby's neck."

...Charming. I think this is meant to reinforce again that she's some kind of fairy tale witch.

Usagi begins coughing up blood, which triggers Mamoru into doing the same though Usagi still remains resolute in the face of Zirconia but Zirconia tells her to disappear along with her old kingdom and blasts her and Mamoru. Helios senses the attack on his prince and projects himself up to protect them. 

Zirconia's magic, to the horror of the other Senshi begins to rapidly de-age Usagi and Mamoru until they disappear alongside Helios.

Meanwhile Chibi-Moon and Saturn run off together to try and stop Zirconia. As they do Chibi-Moon marvels that Saturn has already grown so big, and Saturn comments that it's because it was her destiny...and so that she can alongside Chibi-Moon.

The cute interlude is cut short when they run into the Quartet again blocking their path and challenging them to fight.

The Quartet attack them, PallaPalla using a gross sticky attack to bind them and the others throwing attacks at them though Saturn very casually blocks the attack and instead of fighting back yells at them to awaken, that the demonic power is binding them to darkness, that they're just being used. It's interesting she uses the term awaken here as awakening is how the Senshi regaining their past memories when they awoke to their true identity was termed. 

The Quartet continue to attack them with Saturn defending against their attacks fairly easily, never going for any kind of offense and trying to get them to awaken. The Quartet tries to fill their heads with their own nightmares, where Chibiusa hears their feelings, that they don't have any beautiful dreams, that in the darkness, in the circus they aren't allowed to dream and it's all the fault of the White Moon. This backfires however as Chibiusa and Hotaru aren't shaken by this and instead are redoubled in their sympathy for their Quartet

I like this part because it shows one of the recurring differences between the heroes of Sailor Moon and the villains of Sailor Moon, when shown the same bad circumstances, ones instinct is to vengeance and resentment, and the other's is to compassion. This happens near the climax of the entire series too which I'll get to when we get to it.

Saturn tells them interestingly that they are being manipulated by the dead which is...an odd way to express what the Dead Moon Circus are, and actually seems to reach the Quartet. The Quartet hesitantly look like they want to join Saturn but Zirconia shows up and seals them in their Amazon Stones.

This part confuses me a little bit since I thought Zirconia was still back fighting the other Senshi, and when you see the events of the next act you might understand my confusion.

Zirconia mumbles to herself how ungrateful the Quartet were given she basically raised them and tells Zircon, the little flaming orb on her staff to deal with the intruders...somehow. Chibi-Moon tries to attack Zircon but they get...trapped in her attack I think? The acts ends with Zirconia putting their shards Chibi-Moon and Saturn are trapped in along with the stones the Quartet are trapped in through a mirror at Nehelenia's feet.

I don't like this ending, and it's not so much the events themselves, it's that they are the start of a recurrent problem over the second half of the Dream Arc. I love Sailor Moon dearly, but Naoko's biggest problem is her inefficiency with her cast. She includes too many characters for the space of the story and doesn't allot time between them well. And this sort of symbolizes it well. If you were going to have any of the Senshi outside Moon herself do something important this arc, who would it logically be? Well the obvious narrative choices are Chibi-Moon and Saturn. Chibi-Moon is one of the most important characters in the series, this is an arc that features her heavily, and she has the Silver Crystal which is hypothetically equal to Sailor Moon's own. Sailor Saturn was one of the most important plot elements last arc, was enormously important in the act before serving as the major momentum-changing event at the halfway point of this arc and has huge hyping in terms of power and capability. Plus Saturn is one of my favorite characters and just really cool to watch in action in general. But they do almost nothing to resolve the problem this arc. It's kind of a cool power that the enemy uses here but it's basically just Naoko writing the two other Senshi that might be able to do something, both narratively and logically, out of the story temporarily so she doesn't have to worry about them. Likewise, the Quartet changing sides might have been a really cool plot point if Naoko hadn't immediately written them out of the arc's plot. This is one of the reasons that while I love the Dream Arc, it is my least favorite arc of Sailor Moon. This part here is emblematic of one of Sailor Moon's biggest problems, Naoko's inability to write the cast size she put into her own story. I can't believe they brought back Saturn, maybe the coolest thing in the entire series so far only for her to get jobbed not even by the main villain, but at best by the main's villain spirit, at worst a pet of a lackey of the main villain. 

I'm not as fond of Act 45 as most Sailor Moon acts, mostly due to how it ends, as well as a couple of small bits that are weird logically if you think about them ala the bit with Zirconia being arguably in two places at once or the characters just sorta running into each other. The act's not bad, there are a bunch of smaller good parts. Saturn fighting the quartet was a pretty cool showcase of Saturn and both her power and willingness to hold back her power to help the quartet awaken, and is a good part of the Quartet's characterization. The Outer Senshis' introduction were cool, and I enjoyed the part where Usagi doesn't show any regret for her actions with Mamoru. And of course it follows up on the last act a little bit with the Outer Senshi stating their mission as all ten Senshi is to create a new destiny.

But a lot of this act skips out on the stuff that was built up during the first half of the Dream Arc. It's cool that Hotaru says she transformed to fight alongside Chibi-Moon but not only do they never actually really fight alongside each other in the entire series, but this reunion, the meeting again of two characters that had such a huge connection last arc is given almost no focus. The Guardian Senshi have been thinking of reuniting with the Outer Senshi all arc up to this point yet their action reunion is relegated to surprised reaction shots, the Guardians asking why they've returned, and the Outers basically recapping last act.

In-universe sure, it's realistic. They're in the middle of a fight and it's not particularly realistic that they would just stop for a reunion scene. But this is a trope that's usually considered an acceptable break from reality, and moreover the story could have been written to give some focus to the character interactions between the two groups.

Overall it's not that I dislike this act or anything. Naoko is still really good at creating atmosphere, I really like the characters in it, especially Usagi and Hotaru, and there's the cool Sailor Moon world-building elements in it like Zirconia being Nehelenia's spirit which is shown by projecting Nehelenia's image onto Zirconia. That said in comparison to Sailor Moon acts, this is one of the lower ones.