Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Act 52 Review

 

Far away, Hotaru and Setsuna sense the death of their comrades. We cut back to the school rooftop where there is complete pandemonium. Uranus and Neptune are in shock the Starlights are also Sailor Senshi, Venus is freaking out and wildly accusing them of taking Mercury and Jupiter and Moon has gone dead-eyed and catatonic from seeing her loved ones explode and fade away in front of her again. 

Neptune and Uranus demand that they get a hold of themselves with Neptune shaking Moon and Uranus slapping Venus. Sailor Star Healer explains that it was just as they saw, Mercury and Jupiters' bodies have been destroyed, the core of their being was stolen, their Sailor Crystals.

Star Seeds and Sailor Crystals are going to be the big thematic focus of the arc, representing one's identity and the core of one's being. Here we see the beginning of the framing that the bodies can and will be destroyed but something more eternal remains.

Sailor Star Fighter moves closer to try and explain herself but Uranus summons the Space Sword and demands they don't take a step closer, prepared to slice any of them down if they get close to the princess. Sailor Star Maker tells her that she understands how they must be feeling, but if they lack composure they'll never be able to defeat the Shadow Galactica or its ruler...Sailor Galaxia

You could probably guess it beforehand but this is the first time it's been explicitly said. Their enemy is a Sailor Senshi leading her own group of Sailor Senshi. This is something that's subtly alluded to across the series that the Sailor Senshi are more than just the persons. They're cosmic roles and ideals that reincarnate overtime. They describe coming to realize their nature as Sailor Senshi as "awakening" to their true identity. This arc will deliberately express the conflict of being both a person express in the lifetime of a human, a temporary moment in the scope of the universe, and being something eternal. This is a conflict we all must face in some way, the struggle between that part of which remains the same across time and the part of us which changes across time. The Sailor Senshi are ideals in this regard, being an eternal self manifesting and growing yet always being also being her identity as a Sailor Senshi. Usagi Tsukino grows as a person even as she always also is the immortal eternal guardian of love and justice, Sailor Moon for instance. 

The story has been very focused on Usagi for the first four arcs. Her growth and her ideals. Even more than most stories, it's heavily focused on its protagonist. Takeuchi-sensei when describing Galaxia says she wanted to create a character to rival Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon is one of the most popular and well known characters ever created and her ideals have clearly guided the story. But Takeuchi-sensei in this arc wants to really change and them and push them to their conceptual limit by introducing a character designed to be an equal opposite to her, to see how far her ideals can go. This is either intentionally or not mirrored in the fact that this is the arc where the enemy are evil Sailor Senshi. The Heroines ideals are not the only ones, there are other ideals, ones that conflict and oppose ours even. In this seemingly infinite universe, we find ourselves in, where things we thought were stable can fade in an instant, where other people have awoken to ideals as strong in their hearts as our ideals are in our hearts, how can we have faith we are on the right path? How do we know what ideals can reach the absolute?

Star Fighter tells the Sol Senshi they don't have time to be worrying about the Starlights, and that Galaxia's attacks will be relentless before they make their dramatic escape. The Sol Senshi gather and begin to reiterate what they've learned, that they were attacked by other Sailor Senshi after their own Sailor Crystals, the Shadow Galactica ruled by Sailor Galaxia. Haruka notes as I was talking about earlier, that this time the enemies are Sailor Senshi like themselves. Usagi says the Starlights aren't enemies, they protected her on the rooftop but Minako is more concerned on the matter of Mercury and Jupiter, believing they're alive and taken by Shadow Galactica. This causes their dramatic death to flash again before Usagi's eyes. In a cool bit of lore. Pluto says she has not felt any disturbances from foreign space (other dimensions) or spacetime disturbances meaning it's not an enemy from another dimension or time period like the last three arcs. Instead, the invaders came in riding on the Shooting Stars from the beginning of the Arc to mask their presence.

I just think that's cool. It's a mythic sounding feat that's also really cosmic and fitting the sci-fi elements of the series. 

Haruka poetically says that this means their enemies have come "through the stars" referring both to the shooting stars and the space beyond the solar system that the enemies have come from. The Outer Senshi make a plan together with Michiru taking Usagi home, Haruka watching over the Three Lights and Setsuna going with Luna to monitor possible invasion routes. While this is going on Rei yanks Minako aside.

To Minako's shock, Rei tells her that tomorrow they're gonna go and confront the Three Lights directly. Minako is shocked at the suggestion, pointing out that this might mean the two of them might have to fight the three Lights, but Rei tells her that if it comes to it they'll fight the Three Lights and the Shadow Galactica and anyone else. This feels very in-character for the self-assured Rei but also I think subtly shows her confidence in Minako, which is quite sweet. The two agree that they will rescue Mercury and Jupiter. This might seem like a blatant denial of reality but given Moon's resurrection powers, if they retrieve Mercury and Jupiter's crystal it's not inconceivable Moon may be able to resurrect them. 

I love Rei and Minako together. They make such a cool pairing of opposites and both compliment each other's weaknesses so well. 

We cut to Usagi and Michiru walking to Usagi's home. Usagi comments her body feels heavy, that there's a fog around her, that continuing forward...is scary. Usagi doesn't want to progress forward. It's an extremely relatable sentiment, wishing time would just stop knowing that something bad is on the horizon, that you'll soon have to face something you can't. She tells Michiru that she just remembered a commitment she made and walks off in a daze saying she's "meeting a friend of Mamoru's." Michiru both wanting to protect Usagi's emotional state but also her safety lets her go but secretly tails her. 

Usagi contacts Asanuma and the two both confirm they've received no messages from Mamoru. No phone calls, no letters, agreeing it's not like him. Usagi has only gotten postcards she assumes are from him with no messages on them. Michiru watches her from a distance sadly, probably recognizing the truth already but being unwilling to hurt her princess by telling her. Usagi tries calling him again but gets no answer and then, in one of the most evocative things I've ever read, says "I'm scared. It's like everything disappears when I take a step forward."

Talking about this part will be kind of personal. I don't know how universal this experience is but when something bad happens, particularly something you didn't expect, there is immediately a sense of re-assessment of everything you thought you knew. The entire world that you thought you inhabited is gone left by one you don't...quite....understand. There is something so transient and untrustworthy about the world of temporalities, the world of things in motion. And if it were at all possible, you might wish you would be able to just stop moving forward so the world seemed stable because you know that every moment that passes is a moment that everything you thought you knew threatens to fade away. 

Because of who I am and my life experiences, I am more likely than most to feel these feelings. I am relatively similar to Usagi in personality and...I recognize what she's feeling here, and it's something I've never seen anything express so perfectly. It's a moment I always think of when I think of why Usagi is my favorite character in fiction. It makes me feel like someone else gets it, that feeling of fear and sorrow that the world around you is full of transient things, that any moment everything you trusted in and thought would always be there can just disappear. This is the unique pain of being human; having a temporary physical body living in a temporary physical world, a time-enduring soul and a mind that can experience that distinction. This arc can be understood as how to reconcile these elements of ourselves, of how to face that future and walk forward even into the disappearance of everything you knew. 

Usagi is brought back to her senses by Chibi-Chibi tugging on her skirt. Chibi-Chibi hugs Usagi and Usagi wonders if Chibi-Chibi is trying to comfort her. There's a time cut and Usagi imagines herself talking to Mamoru, reassuring her and helping believe everything's okay.

There's so many scenes like this in the Stars Arc where the mood is something you can read in multiple lights. You can see this as another expression of Usagi's denial of reality, read it as a continuation of the prior scene, that Usagi staring off into the distance is refusing to confront reality is unable to face that world where your loved ones can just disappear in a moment. Or you can read it as Usagi using the memory of her love to rebuild up her determination, that it's meant to rebut the last scene continuing from Chibi-Chibi comforting her. Maybe there are ways you can read it other than what I see but Stars as an arc has a lot of scenes that the mood can be read in numerous ways yet never breaks tone, a difficult feat of having the same lines mean different things to different characters or different types of readers.

Usagi tells herself she needs to stay strong, and that it's because of her loved ones she's come this far. But she feels so uneasy like she did when Mamoru...and before she can finish that though Seiya appears. Meanwhile Haruka and Michiru confront Taiki and Yaten. Taiki holds up a card which paralzes Haruka and Michiru somehow and they see what's on the card. At the same time Seiya is showing her a card, a card that shows her what happened to Mamoru. Seiya tells her she can't lose this fight, that she needs to remember what happened. Usagi screams in terror and pain, finally having to face what happened and letting out a delayed reaction of horror and despair. Seiya embraces her and apologizes, not having wanted to hurt her but doing this for her own good. Meanwhile the image Taiki showed Haruka and Michiru is revealed to have been the same, that it was the image of Galaxia that paralyzed them, once emphasizing her power and unstoppability.

This scene is a little quick and out of nowhere but I still enjoy it because it serves two really good narrative purposes juxtaposed with each other. This is finally the moment Usagi is finally forced face to face with what's happening and it means a lot coming from Seiya who is the Sailor Senshi, in the manga at least, closest to Mamoru in personality, and an alien to their system doing what her own Senshi couldn't bear to do, break Usagi's heart to save her the way Mamoru would have done. Mamoru was always the one that grounded Usagi, who symbolically and literally brought her down to Earth from her head up above the clouds but now reality is cold and harsh and being brought back to it hurts and it takes someone like Mamoru to do so again. Similarly, it's a scene that highlights possibly the embodiment of that all-destroying reality, the infinite and absolute herself, Sailor Galaxia, the all-destroyer. There is a common motif in religions and mythology that one can't look into the divine. We as humans are shielded from reality by the veil of perception because reality "as it is" is infinite information that humans can't possibly process. There are infinite ways to perceive the world and infinite connections and structures and substructures in the universe from the scope of all eternity to the quantum foam bubbling up and to behold the majesty at its apex is to paralyze one. I believe the series is alluding to that with Haruka and Michiru being unable to move upon seeing Galaxia, for what they're seeing is the Apex of a Sailor Senshi, the full unbounded potency of one, beyond mortal identities and perceptions. The two scenes are juxtaposed, both Usagi and Haruka here have to face a painful reality even though they can't; the reality of eternity embodied by Galaxia and the reality of finality embodied in a secret character with their dichotomy forming the thematic center of the arc. 

Usagi runs away, crossing paths with Haruka, Michiru, and the other Starlights as she symbolically tries to run away from reality, runs away from the pain and despair that Mamoru is dead. Usagi is a cowardly person who rises into heroism from her love but if her loved ones die who will she be brave for? Usagi tries to force her to stop remembering, tries to force herself to stop her own thinking, a conflict I feel we've all felt at times when there's something we desperately don't want to remember. Usagi comments on the scariest part, the reason she can't get Seiya's voice out of her head, that she was being drawn in Seiya's eyes the same way that she did with...Mamoru. Meanwhile Taiki asks Seiya why she's so concerned with Usagi's feelings and Seiya comments that Usagi reminds Seiya of "her" clearly alluding to the girl she was singing for earlier.

Usagi recieves more airmail and comments to her that there's no return address on any of these. With shock she notes that this one is a picture of just the galaxy and as she drops the card, it causes a shadow on the ground, while she comments "The Shadow Galactica...the Galaxy's shadow." It's atmospheric.

For the first real time in the arc we cut to our villains. One of Galaxia's underlings, Sailor Phi apologizes to Galaxia for the failures of Iron Mouse and Aluminum Seiren, saying she will take responsibility. However Galaxia doesn't care for their deaths instead praising them for retrieving two of the Sailor Crystals. Sailor Phi swears by the power Galaxia grants unto her servants, the Animamates, that she will get the other Sailor Crystals. 

Galaxia laughs and comments that the Animamates seem to be no matches for the Starlights or the Sailor Senshi of the Sol System. Phi states she will provide a fun viewing experience for Galaxia. Instead, Galaxia looks at the human Star Seeds of Mercury and Jupiter as opposed to their Sailor Crystals. Galaxia in both a taunting arrogant way but also a curious way questions why those who have Eternal Sailor Crystals would still cling to human Star Seeds, saying they're as fragile as specks of dust, destroying them.

It's...It's so good. The thematic framing here is incredible. A Star Seed is a representation of what makes someone what they are. The Sol Senshi have two, human Star Seeds representing their human lives and Sailor Crystals representing their lives as Sailor Senshi. Galaxia wonders why they care about their lives as normal people, why they live lifetimes in the world of mortals where they experience the pain of temporalities and transiency, where things come and go seemingly without meaning. What I can only describe the realm of Chaos. Galaxia is one of the most compelling villains I've ever seen and I have to be honest, I've had similar thoughts in different topics. I don't understand intuitively narratively or metanarratively why superheroes have civilian lives. I don't understand why they'd want to live a "normal" life or why people would want to watch them live normal lives. Similarly, I don't understand the tendency of people to focus on what seems to me to be the superficial mundane details of the world. I care about the deep, the meaningful and my instinct is to seek out as much meaning as possible, to live every moment in as deep and meaningful a world as I can find and reject the superficial. Galaxia represents the gnostic tendency in the philosopher's mind to seek only eternity and deny the entire cosmos in search of it. Galaxia represents the eternal, the infinite, the absolute and in being is the all-destroyer as all finite things are rendered as naught in comparison, all worlds and moments and material ideals disappearing into the expanse. 

Yet even in this regard there's something eminently relatable about the Soldier of Destruction. Like I said, I also search for meaning and the eternal aimlessly, I wonder why others are so accepting of the transient and superficial. But the series has already answered Galaxia's question though she didn't see it. Back in the first arc Queen Serenity told her daughter to never forget that she was a normal girl and the arc concludes with Usagi affirming her normal life on Earth as important to her and not just living as Queen of the Moon. Even in the first act when Usagi transforms into Sailor Moon she's still the scared girl until she hears Naru in danger and transforms internally to save her. Similarly, even in this act Usagi reaffirms it was her loved ones like Mamoru, Ami, and Makoto that gave her strength. It is in these little mundane things that we gain our strength and ability to interact with the deeper world of meaning and...I don't know what to make of that. This arc is a space in which our feelings on the topic are explored. Usagi is my favorite protagonist and Galaxia is my favorite antagonist because their conflict is the conflict of supreme importance and complexity in my soul. 

Another Animamate, Sailor Lead Crow announces herself from the shadows and proclaims to Galaxia will return with Sailor Moon. Back on Earth, Hotaru notices the flight of the crows and in her typical fashion says something ominous about them possibly passing the point of no return, surprising Setsuna. We cut to Rei and Minako, Rei wearing Minako's School Outfit to sneak into their school and Minako wearing her gym uniform. Minako comments that their outfit looks great on Rei (making me wonder if Naoko just wanted to draw Rei in the outfit) and comments awesomely that this reminds her of the time she snuck into Rei's school in the Exam Battle Side Stories. 

A really good callback imo. Rei asks where Usagi is and Minako comments that she's having lunch with the Outers and Naru, acting happier moreso for their sake. I don't think this translation quite captures it, but Minako's words suggest Usagi is pretending to be happy in general, referencing her inability to face the circumstances. Minako reveals she has a secret Three Lights notebook, top secret data she assures, as she leads Rei into hijinks.They get up to the roof where they assume the Three Lights will be, but no one's there. Rei comments lunch just started they can wait though Minako gets angry that they're missing lunch time and demands they hurry up. 

Rei comments it would have been nice if she had gotten to go Juuban High School and share this kind of school life with the others, a sort of subtle admittance of being amused by Minako's antics. Minako asks why she says so suddenly and Rei reveals that at her morning Tarot Reading she pulled the "Death" card. Rei says she feels that there's no going back after this, that this battle will be unlike any before. In an intimate gesture, Minako stops her by putting a finger to her lips telling her they made a pact to save their friends, that they've beaten many enemies before and this will be the same as ever. Notice the subtle repeating of the idea of conflict between the eternal and the temporal.

Minako remains confident they will save Mercury and Jupiter and comments that once they bring them back they can live a normal High School Girl's life and she can get a boyfriend. Minako goes all starry-eyed at the thought and Rei gets annoyed at Minako seeming to always have the one thing on the mind. Minako continues on her boy-crazy rant commenting that she didn't have time for a boyfriend in Junior High but now that she's a High School Girl she's gonna date and make out all she wants, get a hot boyfriend, get a backup boyfriend 

It's a hilarious bit and I just love Minako as a character in general. She's super funny as well as being cool and it's especially hilarious that she's saying this boy-crazy rant to REI of all people. The person it would annoy more than any else. More seriously it shows the difference in their mindset. Rei is the type to focus on a task, who believes that hard work and dedication are the real factors in success, while Minako is trying to keep a happy atmosphere and keep up hope because she's a positive-thinking type person. To someone like Rei, Minako's actions seem irreverent and insulting to the serious task they have while to Minako, Rei's mindset seems fatalistic and like she's close to giving up. Broadly speaking it's important to be both realistic and hopeful which is why they take for a good dichotomy. 

The Three Lights show up with Yaten commenting that Minako's just fooling herself, that they already have someone in their heart worth fighting for. Minako turns serious quickly and comments that's true, and to Rei's surprise either because of Minako's seriousness or the content of her words says that there is someone they have sworn their lives too. In response we come to one of the most famous pages in the manga where Rei says that the two of them "don't need boys to get along," asking facetiously "if that's bad" the two Senshi leaning against each other suggestively. 

Ah Takeuchi-sensei, I love you. I can't wait for reactions for Sailor Moon Cosmos and people wondering "wait did...did they make Mars and Venus a couple because it's current year and they wanted more lesbian relationships" nah, nah it was the original manga. And the reason I think she did is pretty cure. Mars and Venus in Mythology, God of War and Goddess of Love are opposites yet had affairs together numerous times as a reference to the strange way War and Love are opposites not meant to meet yet somehow always seem to. Similarly Minako and Rei are opposites yet seem drawn to each other. And the way it was included was so cheeky too, it's somehow subtle to the point that there's still debate if the Guardian Senshi are all straight yet also insanely in your face. I said one of the things I love about the Stars Arc is its ability to write scenes that mean different things to different people, be they characters or readers and this is an example of where it does that but with shipping.

Venus, Mars, and the Starlights transform in front of each other which if you know about the history of someone seeing the Magical Girl Transformation as something forbidden, taboo, or intimate does not abate the sapphic undertones of the scene

Venus and Mars ask if they're Sailor Senshi then where do they come from and like overdramatic dorks the Starlights throw them a card with a picture of the galaxy on it before flying away instead of just saying. Artists.

Back to the seriousness Mars comments she feels an ominous flow of chi in the direction of the Horse, which means South in the Chinese Zodiac Directional System. Sailor Lead Crow has showed up to the Hikawa Shrine but in a twist she's not after Mars and Venus but someone else. Phobos and Deimos take on their two human forms and Lead Crow reveals she knows them implying that they are from the same planet, ending the act.

Act 52 is fantastic. It's one of the upper tier Sailor Moon acts, which of course means it's....like top 5 material for Stars. 

It's a relatively short act at 41 pages moreso in line with acts near the start of the series than an act near the end, though it does not feel with how many things happen this act. It's also one of the only acts in Sailor Moon without a random short fight at the end, though it sets up one which I think is good evidence the series doesn't need an episodic fight every single time. If I was to say what I love about this act, it would primarily be three points:

Firstly, this is the act with Usagi being forced to come to grips with the situation expressed so painfully poetically with the expression of how it feels if she walks another step forward the world may disappear. That's painfully relatable and compelling to me and expresses an idea I've never expressed so clearly, the fear at the temporal nature of things, the way things can suddenly feel so uncertain after shock, that's immensely meaningful and tie into the themes really well. It's so evocative and is one of the biggest points I think about when I think of Usagi's character arc and her relatability.

Secondly in a semi-similar vein is the first scene of Galaxia actually talking. Galaxia is such an amazing character, full of both presence and dignity, so over-the-top yet subtle. I love her confusion at why the Sailor Senshi cling to their human identities given their temporary because it's so immensely relatable yet the grounds for why the Senshi will conflict with her are already laid so well. It tells you so clearly what this arc is going to be about; the conflict between the part of ourselves that is eternal and the part that changes which I'm ALL for, and does it in a cool evocative way.

Finally, there's the implied Yuri of Rei and Minako called "Heartburn" by the fandom. While the other points are really heavy and full of gravitas, this is definitely the most fun point. Not that it has nothing deep about it with the mythological allusion and the development of yuri with the increase in female independence in the 90s and so on but that's not really why I love it. I love it just because I love Rei and Minako as characters and truthfully have shipped Heartburn since I was a teenager. They are an opposite pair that complements each other so well and their dynamic here is both really cool and really funny. Plus Takeuchi-sensei slips it in so trollishly such that it's really clear what's she implying without actually saying anything. 

Even without all that, this act has a whole bunch of cool little details everywhere. It's got the surprise reveal at the end that Phobos and Deimos are aliens meant to pay off their human forms in the Dream Arc, it's got the enemy coming in by riding on shooting stars which is just a cool concept, you've got a shake-up to the formula that was already shaking up the prior formula, you've got a reference to a side story of all things, allusions to things that will happen but without being too clear, cute moments like Chibi-Chibi hugging Usagi when she's in despair that will get more context later or Rei believing she and Minako can beat the Starlights and Shadow Galactica by herself, the juxtaposition of the two scenes of Usagi and Haruka being paralyzed by seeing the cards of the Starlights.

If I had to give any complaints about this act it would be that some of the transitions between scenes are a little stiff and unnatural, Naoko really has to blitz through to get everything she wants to put in it somewhere, though even there it has time for cool little bit of atmospheric bits like Hotaru telling Setsuna that they passed the point of no return and that's such a minor complaint. Act 52 in general is what I think Sailor Moon SHOULD be. It's efficient, it's stylish, it's dramatic and deep enough that I felt myself tearing up writing some parts of this review but it's also got a really goofy comedy that is still somehow telling of the characters. It calls back to the past and alludes to the future. It's full of great symbolism work and allusions to classical motifs. It's a dramatic love story mixed with a science-fiction mythology about the Golden Queen of the Galaxy and her animal-themed alien minions that is somehow the most relatable thing I've ever read. It's absolutely wonderful.

Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Act 51 Review

 

The act opens with Usagi having a dream where she's reunited with Mamoru only for him to melt away in front of her. Awakening with a fright, she tells herself it was just a dream. Usagi leaves for school thinking of Mamoru and Chibiusa, and how it's lonely around here now. It's implied some time has passed as Usagi wonders why he hasn't called or written yet. Meanwhile Seiya watches from afar, knowing the sad truth.

Meanwhile a little girl appears in the sky and floats down with an umbrella. After reaching the ground she scampers off and finds an unconscious woman elegantly dressed.

We cut to Ikuko doing the dishes when she comes across Chibiusa's cup. She looks at it in confusion, going glassy-eyed and wondering whose cup is this. Memories are a sub-theme of this arc and come up at several points, a callback to the first arc where awakening the Senshis' memories was a focus of the arc for a while. The little girl from earlier, Chibi-Chibi, takes advantage of her confusion and seemingly hypnotizes Ikuko to put Chibi-Chibi in Chibiusa's place.

Back with the Senshi, they're discussing the new enemy with Minako misquoting a proverb. Ami notes that the enemy specifically called them the Sailor Senshi with Sailor Crystals. Minako replies that they're famous like celebrities now, so that's not unexpected. Makoto asks whether they're another group connected to their past but Haruka doubts it, saying that outer space is vast, which fits the Outer Senshis' original purpose to defend the Solar System from invaders from outside. Setsuna agrees with Haruka continuing and casting suspicion on the Three Lights, recalling their tense meeting from last Act as well as that they had stellar energy around them. 

Usagi is gloomy at the prospect of facing a new group of enemies without Mamoru or Chibiusa there to support her. In a very sweet move Haruka and Minako representing the two groups of Sailor Senshi tell Usagi not to worry about anything, that this is their responsibility and they will protect her. This makes Usagi feel noticeably better. 

However her mood is soon changed as she returns home to find Chibi-Chibi comedically pointing and yelling in fear at the sudden little girl. It soon becomes apparent Chibi-Chibi has hypnotized Ikuko into thinking Chibi-Chibi is Usagi's little sister. The Senshi are quick to point out the obvious similarity to Chibiusa's arrival and assume Chibi-Chibi is a younger sister of Chibiusa from the further future. It also quickly becomes clear that Chibi-Chibi only ever repeats things said to her, annoying Minako in a comedic scene.

Usagi gets all blushy thinking Chibi-Chibi might be another daughter of her and Mamoru's. Chibi-Chibi enters Usagi's room, and places down an incense burner which gives the scent of sweet olives. Usagi comments how familiar it smells and allows Chibi-Chibi to sleep in her bed with her. The next day Usagi receives airmail from America. Believing it's from Mamoru, she opens i to find a single postcard with an orange sunset and no message. Usagi is confused as to the meaning of this and mildly annoyed, but feels relieved to have gotten something anyway to know he's alright. 

Her thinking of it is interrupted when she gets to school and finds out the Three Lights have transferred into her school. The three give their hobbies, Taiki's being poetry and computers, Yaten's being photography, and Seiya's being American Football. The girls in their class obviously go wild over the Three Lights being there, with Seiya taking the seat next to Usagi. Humorously Usagi introduces herself and Minako does the coy slide in to introduce herself as well.

However Minako's efforts are thwarted by the crowds gathering around them. Haruka, not trusting that Seiya seems relatively annoyed by this. Michiru asks where Usagi is and Makoto mention she's up writing a love letter on the rooftop.

Up on the roof Usagi is composing her love letter to Mamoru. The Three Lights independently also head there to get away from the crowd. Yaten complains about how annoying school is but Taiki exclaims that "learning is fun." with Yaten responding that "school is only fun for you Taiki." Seiya notes Usagi to the others and Yaten takes Usagi's love letter to read it, looking unimpressesd and commenting she's bad at Kanji. Usagi gets mad but Yaten give a cutesy apology with a wink. Usagi thinks that they're totally different from the other boys in her class, they're very cool.

Taiki notes the ring on her finger and asks if her boyfriend gave it to her. Blushing, Usagi says yes but Seiya asks "where is your boyfriend now." Usagi stops smiling and says Mamoru is in America...before doubling over in pain. Sensing something wrong with the princess Haruka flash steps up to Usagi and yells at the Three Lights to get away from Usagi and demands to know what they did, though they simply say they did "Nothing" and leave.

Usagi tells Haruka it's all right, it's just a headache, they were just talking but Haruka doesn't believe it, saying she won't let throw three get close to Usagi again.

What follows ia a pretty hilarious sequence where three of the Senshi continue to get comically angry by the Three Lights, the intruders, not helping their suspicion. Taiki somehow gets a higher result on a test then Ami causing Ami to angrily tear a notebook in half (if you've read Ami's First Love, you know how Ami gets at academic competiton), Seiya becomes an American Football player for the school distracting all the girls attention from Haruka making her angry watch. Michiru tries to tell Haruka to calm down....but then....Yaten comes over and comments on Michiru applying her lipstick, saying it's a trashy color and asking if she couldn't find a more suitable one. All the girls flock to Yaten asking for makeup advice. Michiru snaps her lipstick cartridge in half followed by perhaps the funniest panel in Sailor Moon where Michiru tells Haruka that they need to "obliterate these suspicious interlopers, now! They're an eyesore!" having gone to the purest of rages. Haruka tells Michiru she's scary. 

This scene is really funny. I think it goes a bit far to have Ami actually lose to Taiki given Ami's superpower is her super-intelligence and this is a test for first year High School. It would have made more sense I think if Taiki just tied Ami with a perfect score and then had girls gossiping that Taiki might be smarter then Ami setting off Ami's rage. That said Michiru's fury....hilarious. I love it everytime.  

However Usagi, Minako, and Makoto are smitten with them, the latter because Taiki joined the horticulture club and "no one that loves plants could be evil." ... did we just all collectively forget about Tellu? Ami, Haruka and Michiru don't approve for obvious reasons. Usagi, Minako, and Makoto sneak off to a Three Lights concert....though given the last one was attacked I am kinda surprised the civilians are so okay at going to another one. 

The Three Lights sing their Debut Single, calling to a hypothetical princess, a shooting star as it were, telling her they've been searching for her. Just abstract lyrics to a love song...probably don't mean anything.

Meanwhile, a mysterious woman though pretty clearly the next of Galaxia's minions is watching from the audience. The next day Usagi gets another postcard with no message, this one of some stars. She comments on the strange orange star in the center, when Seiya interrupts commenting that it's a man-made satelite, pointing it out to her in the sky.

Usagi and Seiya look at the stars on the rooftop. Usagi comments how she didn't know idols had time to go to school, and comments she feels like she knows Seiya from somewhere before internally chiding herself on saying something so obvious to a famous person. Usagi compliments Seiya's singing, saying she loved their debut album. Seiya smiles, happy she said that and comments that they became singers to sing that very song. As memories of the song wash away over Usagi, she wonders who the "she" Seiya is singing to in that song is.

So overcome in thought, Seiya forgets to hide the energy of stars coming from the Starlights, which the other Starlights and the Senshi both sense and rush over towards the sudden aura of the stars around Seiya along with another Sailor Animamate, a hydrokinetic named Sailor Alumineum Seiren. 

Aluminum Seiren attacks them but Eternal Sailors Mercury and Jupiter appear out of nowhere blocking the attack. Jupiter suspects the Three Lights called the new enemy here, which in fairness Seiya accidentally did, but Usagi insists that they're not enemies, that the Three Lights have the same stellar aura the Senshi do. She comments that they have the same protection of the stars, the protection held by the Sailor Senshi.

Usagi transforms and the other Senshi show up. Uranus tries to attack Aluminum Seiren who grabs Jupiter and Mercury with her long watery hair, using them as a shield to soak up Uranus' attack. To the Senshis' shock Aluminum Seiren proclaims she's a Sailor Senshi with a Sailor Crystal too. She continues saying she won't blow up the way Iron Mouse did, and she'll take the Sailor Crystals back to Galaxia. 

She then kills Mercury and Jupiter

While not quite as impactful as the death of Mamoru last act, this is still a pretty good point in the story for several reasons. Throughout the series there's been these contain villain of the month battles and narratively they don't have much tension after you realize that none of the heroes ever die during them. Except that's exactly how the temporarily of the universe creeps up on you. You're doing the same stupid thing you've always done. You're making your lunch or going to work or fighting a magical villain with your bffs like you do every day and suddenly someone's dead and your whole world is dead and it's like you don't even understand where or who you are. The theme of this arc is the juxtaposition of the eternal and the temporal, how we deal with the temporal nature of material things, when every thing you relied on like your friends disappear with the passing of time if only because the reaper took them. This moment connects to that theme by making the viewer question like with Mamoru before their assumptions. These villain of the month battles are just meaningless fun until suddenly every single one of them becomes a chance for anyone to die out of nowhere. This arc breaks down Sailor Moon's formula, Sailor Moon's ideals and worldview to see what remains. It's not as dramatic as it could be given we know Sailor Moon can resurrect people but it's still a jolt to the unexpected reader who thought this would just be Iron Mouse 2.0. It's funny to me Aluminum Seiren is almost speaking to the reader the page before she kills Mercury and Jupiter, saying she's not like Iron Mouse yet there's still just the assumption it's just villainous boasting that everything will be alright.

Alumnium Seiren grabs the Mercury and Jupiter crystals, the remains of their associated Senshi. The Three Lights transform into the Sailor Starlights and a combined assault of Sailor Star Fighter and Sailor Star Maker destroy Aluminum Seiren. The Starlights end the act introducing themselves formally to the Sailor Senshi.

Act 51 is not as good as Act 50 but it's still quite good. Killing Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter suddenly cements the tone following the death of Tuxedo Kamen last act, while also still being fairly surprising. It's almost cruel the way Naoko deliberately has most mundane goofy domestic scenes in this part of the story as if to maximize the contrast, and consequently the impact, of suddenly and brutally killing the major characters in front of the eyes of Usagi and the audience.

Part of the reason this act isn't quite as good as the last one isn't quite as shocking as the last one and much of it focuses on the Starlights. Oddly for someone who loves the Stars arc as much as I do, I've never been that crazy on the Starlights. Not that I dislike them either, or at least I don't dislike the Manga Starlights as a group, but their whole subplot has always felt a little disconnected from the main plot. I get why they're here, to give context to the greater galactic situation going on, to increase the tension subtly by showing that this is not the first Star System whose Senshi were beaten, to be someone for Usagi to exposit her feelings too at certain points, but eh. Part of me wishes the act had more focus on Ami and Makoto, though I also recognize it wouldn't be nearly as much of a shock if that was the case. I do find it kinda funny and a little sad that everyone always talks about how shocking Mami's death in Madoka was even though 15 years earlier Naoko was killing her characters on panel, arguably more graphically, and with less build-up. IMO really shows how ahead of its time Sailor Moon was. 

The goofy civilian antics in this arc are as good as they are going to be the entire series. They're funny and charming and relatable and broadly while I don't think Naoko's strength is writing mundane interactions, I think this is probably her best. Yaten insulting Michiru's choice of lipstick and her pure fury is hilarious and the entire sequence is good at expressing the divide between the Sol Senshi and the Starlights.

The more serious part of the arc is further setting the stage of the divide between the two worlds of the story; the physical, mundane, temporal world of Usagi Tsukino and the metaphysical, supernatural, eternal world of Sailor Moon. Similar to Act 50, the juxtaposition of the two in the sudden deaths of Usagi's friends is reflecting one of the most painful truths of reality: Sometimes things are just gone. There's no warning, there's no time to prep, sometimes things just disappear into the ether before your eyes. For someone like Usagi, and I admit someone like myself as I am quite similar to Usagi, it is one of the most difficult challenges of life; the fear that things you love, trust, depend on, will someday fade away into the uncaring void. We are like eternal souls in a temporal world, wishing things would remain forever, yet knowing the impossibility of that wish. This theme will be expressed with much more clarity in the next act.

This act also introduces Chibi-Chibi. Similar to everything in Stars, Chibi-Chibi is Naoko using her own tropes only to subvert them for dramatic effect. To explain would be to spoil future acts, but there's certainly more to Chibi-Chibi than just the Senshi' speculation. That she happens to appear in this act that furthers the divide between the Sol Senshi and Starlights as well as killing two of Usagi's friends makes a lot more sense when you learn of her true identity and motive. 

Overall, not one of Stars' best, it kinda just feels like Part 2 of the Act before it, but still quite good.

H'el vs Cell

 

The most famous powerscaling match is probably Superman vs Goku, however both of those characters have a villain with a similar name, both of whom are a genetic clone comprised of numerous individuals, highly proud of their hereditary nature, both of whom are known for their relatively high amount of hax abilities, both are specifically threats to the Solar System, and both of whom have a thematic parallel with the protagonist representing partially the genetic weakness of their alien species; the Kryptonians and Saiyans. So who would win if they were to fight? In case someone stumbles on this without knowledge of either character I'll give a quick backstory on both. 

H'el is a clone greated with genetic material of countless Kryptonians who believed himself falsely to be a member of the House of El, crash landing on Earth 27 years after the destruction of Krypton. He sought to absorb the Sun's energy to travel back in time and save Krypton at the expense of the collapse of the Solar System. 

Cell is the ultimate creation of Dr. Gero who combined the genetic material of the greatest warriors he could find in order to create the "perfect warrior." Cell initially displayed a single-minded desire to attain his perfected form and reach the ultimate state he was designed for however after attaining such he instead wished to display his newly found perfected state.

For this one I'm going to be considering the two in what I consider to be the physically most fair version of the matchup this being Pre-Star Chamber H'el vs Super Perfect Cell from the Cell Saga of the DBZ Anime. Afterwards I'll also consider the hypothetical matchup of H'el after bathing in the Star Chamber and gaining Chronokinetic abilities vs Super Perfect Cell from DBGT after he trained in Hell to battle Goku again. The reason I'm not pitting H'el against Canon Cell is to be blunt I think while the power level matches up between H'el and Manga Cell during the Cell Saga, H'el would simply speedblitz, and conversely I think Cell Max, who isn't even really Cell, is cosmically more powerful and faster then H'el and it simply wouldn't be a fight. Though most manga feats of Cell would still apply as they generally also happen in the anime so if you see me using manga scans, it's just for convenience. 

H'el vs Cell, who'd win?

First I'd like to compare the two in terms of raw power. 

H'el displayed at numerous points the ability to easily overpower New 52 Superman and Superboy

Hel completely tanked an angry full charge from New 52 Supergirl and strikes from an angry New 52 Superman that shook the planet from the Core to the Atmosphere did little to him

New 52 Superman when infected with the Doomsday virus pushed New 52 Brainiac to the center of a Black Hole, the doomsday virus being purged from him while inside, and both Brainiac and Superman withstanding it. Superman MIGHT be stronger at this point then he was during his fight with H'el, but H'el should very well scale above Vril Dox regardless, especially given his performance against Supergirl

Based on size, this black hole feat has been calced to a bit over 2.4 supernova worth of energy, which H'el should scale somewhere in the Ballpark of.

It's possible H'el is even stronger. New 52 Superman has withstood energy that "no force in the universe could withstand"

and as someone who scales to Superman should scale to most members of the Green Lantern Corps. The Green Lanterns have numerous cosmic feats and in Post-Crisis have several post-crisis feats such as John Stewart creating a Solar System with his ring

This was Post-Crisis but given that the New 52 was caused by the removal of a 10 year period in DC Comics, it's likely that Lantern Rings possess the same general capabilities and most upper tier Lanterns in New 52 could perform a similar feat. If this is so H'el would scale to the Solar System range, which depending on who you ask ranges from requiring 5.709 supernova worth of energy to perform to 22.77 supernova worth of energy to perform. 

Moving on to Cell, in one of the most famous statements in powerscaling, Cell states that he has gathered up enough energy to blow away not just the Earth, but the entire Solar System

This has been confirmed in numerous guides to the anime and is considered something Cell is famous for. 

This is obviously directly from the manga and as far as where the manga goes it, it's mostly where it stops

However the anime adds a few points that slightly complicates things and might mean he's stronger 

Elder Moori actually comments that Cell can destroy "the entire universe"

It's most likely he meant this overtime but the universe actually contains numerous celestial bodies more durable than star systems, most notably neutron stars which can take a couple thousands of supernova to destroy. However he says this about Perfect Cell, and as every guide states that Super Perfect Cell raised his chi here to being high enough to destroy a Solar System and Cell makes the statement about being able to specifically to be impressive heavily implying Perfect Cell would not be able to.

Another thing complicating this is Cell may not be making the statement he can destroy the Solar System IN GENERAL, but instead arguably is claiming he can do so RIGHT NOW, as in from the Earth. Destroying something from the center is the most efficient way of doing so and the Earth is not quite at the center of the Solar System. Given that parts of the Solar System would thus likely be much farther away this would take significantly more energy, again roughly one thousand supernova. 

There's also an argument that earlier characters in DBZ were solar system level, based on the interpretations of Freeza's destroying the Planet Namek with his "supernova" technique. I personally don't agree with this interpretation as the speed of the explosion was lowballed into being nearly the speed of light meaning it could very well be FTL speeds which would be incalculable as FTL Kinetic Energy as well as the prior points about Cell's statement of being able to destroy the Solar System meaning to be impressive and every guide similarly suggesting he had only just gained that ability.

Comparing H'el and Cell powerwise, I believe that Cell is more powerful. I would take from my perspective a more conservative position on both where H'ell would scale somewhere in the range of 2.4 supernova worth of energy scaling above New 52 Vril Dox, while Cell after attaining his Super Perfect Form has the ability to destroy a Solar System, requiring energy between 5.709 and 22.77 supernova worth, suggesting Cell would be roughly between 2.5 and 9.5 times stronger. This is a pretty clear gap in power, albeit maybe not enough to one-shot. If you are more generous with both H'el would scale to Solar System level while Cell would scale anywhere from 19 to 1,300 times as powerful as H'el which would most likely be an enormous gap in power and enough for Cell to tank any kind of physical strike from H'el even highly concentrated.

Going into speed, let me start by saying first if you believe that both the DC and DBZ universes are infinite in sized as suggested by some statements and that H'el and Cell scale to feats crossing any fraction of them in any finite time then both would have exactly equal speed, that being infinite. 

However because characters in both series at these tiers can travel finitely faster or slower than each other, that would cause a contradiction so for this I'm going to be assuming both have finite speed.

H'el is obviously able to keep up with Superman in speed as they fight and was even able to get Superboy in the Atlantic Ocean and travel back to Metropolis before Superman realized he left. This may be through the usage of teleportation though Superman at least thought it was from his speed.

The New 52 Superman also traveled from the edge of the DC Universe to Earth in 60 days

The DC Universe has distances from Earth at least 100 trillion light years out

to travel this in 60 days would require speeds of over 60 trillion times the speed of light.

They should also be comparable or superior to Green Lanterns who as part of their role have to patrol sectors of the universe containing millions of galaxies and the space between then, regularly have to go back and forth to Oa at the center of the Universe and which can casually fly across the universe in 10 hours

To travel the aforementioned distance in 10 hours would require a speed in excess of 87 quadrillion times the speed of light. It's possible that this may be a contradiction as Superman was traveling back to Earth in his feat non-stop as fast as possible, though it may simple be the case Superman was sent to further past where even the Lantern rings are programmed to go.

In the Toei Anime Goku in Dragon Ball Z episode 50 must return his wayward ship to the correct course, dodging asteroids going the opposite direction suggesting he would have to react at speeds similar to his spaceship. Later a much stronger Goku would battle Freeza the two moving so fast King Kai had difficulty following the fight

despite being able to track Goku's spaceship with ease despite this spaceship being able to travel from Earth to Namek in 6 days

It takes light 4.24 YEARS to travel to even the nearest star system meaning at a lowball, when Goku reaches the speed of his spaceship, he would reach a speed of at least 257 times the speed of light. This is pretty consistent with Kami's ship traveling to Jupiter in a timespan in the anime of 58 seconds

This would mean Kami's ship was moving at a bit over 51.225 times the speed of light using average distance of Earth and Jupiter. As it took one month to reach Namek while Goku's pod took 6 days, that means Goku's pod is about 5 times faster than it or 256.1 times the speed of light. When you compare to the prior 257 times the speed of light feat, while this feat is lowballed it's also extraordinarily consistent.

If you were to take a higher balled interpretation of this feat, King Kai ha described Namek as not being in his quadrant and the Dragon Ball Map shows Earth and Namek as being about halfway across the universe from each other if literal

However some parts of this map don't seem to be to scale and it's unknown how close to the edge of their quadrants Earth and Namek are. If you do take this guide more literally, and say Earth and Namek are about half a universe away then using the real life universe with a radius of 4.4e26 meters, traveling that in 6 days would be about 2.83 trillion times the speed of light.

Personally I think this is much less consistent especially given that it took Nappa and Vegeta a year to get from Arlia somewhere in the universe to Earth yet Goku's worse space pod can travel halfway across the Earth in 6 days? Plus the map generally doesn't seem to be scale. 

Either way  Cell even as Perfect Cell was able to blitz a Goku that was stronger to an unknown degree but likely hundreds if not thousands of times than Initial SSJ Goku, with this Goku having years of more training

In the anime after Cell is defeated he and several other villains go on a rampage in Hell trying to escape, a guide describing this Cell being "as strong as ever"

This suggests that at the time Cell still had the same power as he did during the Cell Games that happened almost immediately before, and would scale to this Cell. During this rampage, Goku and Pikkon travel from the Grand Kai Planet's down to Hell to stop them 

The Grand Kai's planet orbits Heaven which is stated to be as wide as the universe

It's unknown what timeframe this occurs in, but a relatively conservative calc puts this speed feat at 4.38 quadrillion times the speed of light and Cell at this point was probably able to fight at least base form Goku. While it's unknown what degree Goku had gotten stronger, given these events transpire right after the Cell Games it's unlikely to be that large. If you think Goku is basically as strong as he was during the Cell Games and he did this in base and you think that he could multiple that speed by 50 by going SSJ then he might reach a speed of 214 quadrillion times the speed of light and Cell might scale to this, though that's a real high ball in my opinion. 

There's also a plane that goes from Grand Kai's plant which Goku and Pikkon may have used making the speed feat contentious in general

Going over their speed feat, it's sort of the inverse of the power section. If you take a more lowballed estimate than H'el blitzes by a wide margin. He should at least scale to Superman crossing the universe in 60 days, a speed of 60 trillion times the speed of light while lowballed Cell is just vastly higher to an unknown degree to a speed feat hundreds of times the speed of light. While Cell would be obviously massively higher, that would be a gap of billions of times which it isn't really implied is made up in power increases.

If you take a more general interpretation, both are in the quadrillions of times the speed of light range, though Cell's scale is more so in the range of someone who's 4 quadrillion times the speed of light, maybe above while H'el is scaling significantly above people who are 87 quadrillion times the speed of light. I definitely think the two would be in the same range here, though I think H'el would probably be faster.

If you're really highballing them, some calcs the feat of Goku and Pikkon going to the afterlife as being something like sextillions of times the speed of light. Similarly some take the DC universe expanding 60 trillion lightyears in the first half second and use that to calc a universe size that would put New 52 Superman at the wacky high speed of over 2 octillion times the speed of light, but um I really don't agree with either calc. Broadly speaking I think it supports the general notion though that H'el is faster.

Before I get into their particular abilities, I'd like to compare them in terms of a few other stats.

In terms of combat skill H'el is able to generally fight evenly in skill with New 52 Superman after he had just gone through a training arc

The New 52 Superman was able to fight and counter Wraith, a being bigger and even stronger and faster than he was via fighting skill.

In real life fighting someone who is substantially stronger than you is extremely difficult and if they're faster than you as well it's unlikely any kind of skill would close that gap. Most likely this would suggest the New 52 Superman is by my skill rankings a B Tier Fighter, equivalent to the skill of real world masters of combat which would scale to H'el. 

Cell inherited the knowledge and skill of those he was created with and somewhat matched Goku during their battle in terms of blow for blow, going hand to hand on numerous instances and being able to predict some of his actions

Goku, even as a child could perform superhuman feats of skill such as immediatly copying the kamehameha technique upon seeing it despite it normally taking 50 years to learn

Goku would go on to become eventually the most skilled person in the universe outclipsing the skill of cosmic entities millions of years old. It's very clear that through scaling to being above an earlier Goku Cell would easily be an A Tier, or Superhumanly Skilled Fighter and thus more skilled than H'el.

In terms of intelligence, H'el is easily a Type 3 supergenius if not higher. He created a machine that would collapse the Solar System and maybe the Galaxy to use their energy for the purposes of time travel

He was able to clone an extinct Kryptonian Dragon as a test of Superman's powers

H'el technology was so advanced Superman would need to go to Lex Luthor to explain it to him

This might mean H'el is even smarter if you think Superman at all scales to his Post-Crisis self in intelligence given he's an alternate timeline version of him and if you think this means Batman wouldn't have understood it as Superman would probably have preferred to ask Bruce before Lex, though you could just say this is because of Lex's specific knowledge on Kryptonian things.

Cell is relatively smart, having acquired the information from the various individuals used in his creation. As mentioned he was able to predict Goku's jump and was able to evade capture from Piccolo in his imperfect form, Piccolo being able to track down the Androids despite Cell having a ki signature and the Androids didn't, though post-fusion with Kami, Piccolo is able to deceive Cell

With that said, H'el is clearly massively smarter than Cell. Not only does Cell just not have supergenius feats like H'el does, but Cell explictly had to kill his timeline's version of Trunks to get his time machine while H'el just...built his own.

I don't think range is going to be a major factor in this fight due to both characters having teleportation and the ability to adjust range at will. However to cover it briefly H'el like other New 52 Kryptonians can affect celestial bodies like planets with their attacks

while Cell can affect the Solar System

This means Cell hypothetically would have a range around 22.5 million times that of H'el, similar to the range difference between someone with the range of a normal human vs someone with a range that can encompass the planet. I don't think it's a big factor once again due to both having teleportation but hypothetically Cell has a far higher attack range.

Similarly in terms of stamina, I don't think this is a factor that would be very significant in this fight. Kryptonians have technically infinite stamina as they can act without end under the light of a Yellow Star in that they gain more enough energy to act normally from the rays hitting them, the excess stored in their internal solar battery. However they can overtax this by extremely heavy physical exertion which is why Kryptonians can get tired. New 52 Kryptonians have shown the ability to exert themselves heavily for 5 days without sunlight showing the extent of stamina of their solar battery.

Cell similarly absorbed the androids which can produce infinite energy though can still become tired, presumably by a similar basis of being much stronger and therefore being able to exert and use up more energy than the androids can produce. However Cell has superhuman stamina by scaling particularly being made of the DNA of Saiyan Saga Goku who was able to run on and off for six months straight and later able to fly for 2 days straight 

I think H'el probably has more hypothetical stamina, but it's neither a large advantage nor a factor I consider that large in this fight.

Now I'm going to go over the two characters most notable abilities and in what ways I think the other fighter could potentially counter if it all.

H'el as a representation of Krypton's Legacy has not just the Kryptonian physical abilities but the psychic powers all Kryptonians possess lately and can release through training. He's arguably more known for his psychic powers than his physical powers. 

H'el often uses a form of teleportation which he can use to teleport himself and others, such as when he teleported himself and Supergirl all the way to the Sun from the Atlantic Ocean

He was even able to teleport the entire Fortress of Sanctuary 

While H'el would obviously be able to teleport himself, he may not be able to teleport Cell against his will. Goku at a weaker point refused to be teleported by the Dragon Porunga

Though it's unclear if this is a resistance gained from their power level which would scale to Cell or a particular weakness of the Dragons being unable to affect people stronger than them which would not apply here. It's also possibly a result of Yardrat Training that gave Goku his Instant Transmission Technique, rather than a direct result of Goku's power level which would still apply to Cell as Cell also knows the Instant Transmission. 

Even if it does work however, outside of teleporting Cell into something like a Black Hole, H'el teleporting him would not give him that many options outside of doing something like teleporting him in the way of his own attacks. H'el teleporting Cell into space wouldn't work as Cell, due to his Freeza cells, can survive in the vacuum of space.

H'el can use telekinetic power which if significantly more powerful then he is. He was able to telekinetically hold Superman, Wonder Woman, and Superboy at once

and created a psychic whirlwind to trap the Teen Titans 

Cell I think might be able to break out of this with an omnidirectional ki wave, and even if not can simply teleport out of any kind of telekinetic binding

H'el normally rips the weapons away from his enemies to disarm them and can telekinetically crush someone's internal organs as he did to Faora's heart

However this is generally unlikely to do much of anything to Cell, as Cell doesn't really weird any weapons and he doesn't rely on any major internal organs like his heart and was able to easily regenerate from having the entire upper part of his body destroyed by Goku

At best, H'el could maybe use his telekinetic crushing ability to crush the power supplier of Android 17 or 18 within Cell though Super Perfect Cell doesn't need to rely on either of those so it's not a large advantage.

H'el has stated his telekinesis can tear apart Superboy atom by atom

This would be very helpful for H'el as it means he can hypothetically bypass Cell's regeneration as even Cell would not be able to return from atomization.

Along with his telekinesis H'el's telepathy grants him astral projection and telepathy able to directly interact with the minds of others. He used these abilities to show Supergirl an illusion of Krypton and trick her into thinking that Superman was attacking her. 

While these illusions were potent enough to even fool Kryptonians with their enhanced senses, more powerful than even the conventional senses of the Saiyans, Cell also has the ability to sense ki, the spiritual energy of others, and as such illusions would likely not work on him. 

For a very similar reason, H'el's ability to hide his presence to the point even Superman and Supergirl didn't know that he was there would likely not be effective as using ki sensing characters in Dragon Ball can regularly sense living entities on a planetary scale. He should also have the Namekian ability to sense not just the potency of a chi but also the nature of that chi, good or evil, an ability Goku seems to eventually gain, meaning H'el trying to deceive him likely wouldn't work.

H'el has stated he could fry the minds of some Kryptonians at will with his telepathy, which is pretty notable as Kryptonians have particular strong mental resistances

I'm not sure how well this would work on Cell. If H'el is talking about destroying their ethereal "mind", a thing separate from the body, then destroying it would hypothetically work on Cell and leave him basically mindlessly alive. However if he means that he would destroy their brain, the physical structure in their heads, then Cell could hypothetically regenerate from him doing so. Personally given the way his powers work and how he can astral project, in fact is astral projecting in this scene, I think it's more likely he's talking about their "mind" as a substance separate from the body, though I am not confident on that.

H'el's final telepathic ability is his ability to control peoples' minds directly. He used this to control an alternate universe Superboy, particularly impressive given the mental resistance of Kryptonians

This is an ability I don't think Cell would particularly be able to resist and is a pretty big point in H'el's favor. I think the best counter Cell would have is simply giving H'el too many enemies to control using something like the Cell Juniors as H'el has never shown the ability to control multiple people at once.

This I think would give some ability to counter H'el brainwashing him if it's done quickly enough though H'el's brainwashing would still be a credible threat.

H'el does have one more psychic ability offensively and it's probably his strangest ability. H'el can shrink people such as shrinking Supergirl and teleporting her into the city of Kandor.

Hilariously enough, Cell actually has a counter to this specific ability, namely that via his Namekian Cells he should be able to grow massive in size

If H'el shrunk Cell, Cell could probably just regrow back to his original size.

H'el also possesses the general capabilities of New 52 Kryponians physically. This includes Heat Vision

Kryptonian Heat Vision is a highly focused form of attack potency which they can use to attack parts of the opponent's brain to change their character or remove parts of their power via lobotomy

However as mentioned Cell could likely just regenerate that part of his brain, so this wouldn't be an especially helpful tactic. The concentration of the attack on a small area means it's likely Heat Vision could harm Cell even if Cell is several times stronger, but I don't think it could likely overtax Cell's regeneration.

As a Kryptonian, H'el should also hypothetically have access to freeze breath which can be used to freeze large areas of land

H'el freezing Cell MIGHT work, depending on if Cell reacts fast enough. If he's frozen solid then freezing him probably would work, but if Cell reacts fast enough or if his ki aura is already up, then it should passively melt the ice off him similar to Goku melting Ebifurya's ice off him in World's Strongest 

So long as Cell is still aware, he should be able to melt any ice off him with his ki aura.

While his regeneration is nowhere near as impressive as Cell's, Kryptonians do have their own healing factor while under yellow sunlight, with Kryptonians healing from being barely able to move to at full power in moments

This healing factor isn't that big a hinderance for Cell but it does mean that if they were to get into melee, even Cell having a physical advantage doesn't mean he would instantly one-shot H'el, so long as they're in sunlight, H'el should be able to withstand several physical strikes from Cell, though Cell can still hypothetically one-shot via the Kamehameha, an attack technique which focuses one's power briefly similar to the concentration of Heat Vision and kill even opponents with vastly stronger regen

Finally H'el, as a Kryptonian genetically whose power comes from Solar Energy, can amp himself by going to the Sun itself and "sundipping" amplifying his power dramatically depending on how long he is within the Sun

Cell has his own way of getting stronger during a fight and comparing them is pretty interesting. Cell via Saiyan DNA has the ability to get stronger whenever he's seriously injured, which somehow even works when he blows himself up

It's arguable which form of power amplification is stronger. H'el requires them to be near the Sun, Cell's requires him to nearly die. Both Sundipping Amp and Zenkai Boost can vary in terms of how much stronger they make you as well. Cell may also have the ability to perform the Kaio-Ken from Goku's cells as he learned the Genki Dama technique, though he doesn't seem to use it, presumably because Kaioken provides too much strains on the body of a Super Saiyan which was the initial reason Goku couldn't use both.

Going over Cell's major abilities, Cell's most famous ability is his regeneration. Cell claims that he can regenerate so long as a cluster of cells that make up his core within his head aren't destroyed

This is an odd and somewhat contentious statement however as Cell has regenerated from having the top half of his body blown off which seems to contradict his own words.

However I don't believe this would be a particularly different ability for H'el to get around. New 52 Kryptonians can see things cosmic distances, through anything but lead, and see things on the atomic scale

Combined with this his supergenius intellect if H'el actually reduced Cell to cells, he would be able tto quickly detect and figure out he was regenerating from his cells, and with his ability to psychically destroy the atoms of his enemy, could negate the regeneration.

Cell, like all genetic Saiyans, has the ability to become stronger after suffering a high degree of injury, called a "Zenkai."

The extent of this boost is variable however they can reach at least up to a 33x boost as Goku on Namek went from a power level of 90,000 to 3,000,000

Uniquely, Cell can trigger this Zenkai himself via his ability to cause himself to explode, which triggers his Zenkai when usually self-inflicted wounds don't cause Zenkai.  Speaking of which Cell can turn himself into a bomb which if touched will explode with seemingly the implication that the explosion itself would kill Gohan, not just the destruction of the planet and it's atmosphere

The efficacy of this attack against H'el depends. If Cell tells H'el what he's doing the way he does to Gohan here, then H'el can teleport Cell or himself away at will. Cell can follow him hypothetically though H'el would be able to avoid the attack hypothetically. If Cell doesn't explain what's happening unless H'el's supergenius mind can figure it out quickly if he strikes Cell the explosion should be enough to take out H'el and Cell will just regenerate. So it really depends on whether or not you think Cell would explain his ability here or H'el would figure it out. As for his general Zenkai ability, it's a pretty strong ability to have. H'el has his own way to amplify his abilities via the Sun, though it's arguable if that cancels out.

Cell can drain the matter and energy of people through his tail

If this hits H'el it should work on him, he doesn't have any known resistance to absorption.

Also with his tail, Cell has the ability to create numerous smaller copies of himself call "Cell Juniors." These are stated to have the same power and speed as him, though seem to lack all of his abilities

This is a form of duplication, a very powerful ability that I believe is Cell's best counter to things like H'el destroying his brain or brainwashing him since H'el has never been shown doing this to multiple people at once. Having multiple copies of himself would be one of Cell's biggest advantages in this fight as while I think H'el is slightly faster, Cell using multiple copies is a way to negate that advantage especially as while H'el is a skilled fighter, he's less so than Cell and wouldn't be able to very easily fight this many opponents relative to him at once without relying on bigger psionic abilities. 

Outside of biological abilities, Cell also has numerous ki techniques from the people he's created from., This includes another form of duplication, Tien's Multi-Form Technique which Cell has used to split himself into four copies

The Multi-Form Technique is a different form of duplication compared to creating Cell Juniors. The Multi-Form Cell creates exact copies of Cell with all of his abilities meaning that all can still teleport and can't be stopped by H'el telekinetically binding them. However the Multi-Form seem to share the same mind and are considered as one person in four bodies, meaning that if H'el used a telepathic attack on one, it may affect all four. With that said Duplication is a very strong ability in general, and nothing hypothetically stops Cell from using both abilities at once.

Cell has learned various forms of energy projection including the Kamehameha as shown above as well as likely has access to the Kienzan (Destructo Disk) a form of ki attack that cuts even beings stronger than you like a blade and claims have access to the Genki Dama (Spirit Bomb)

I don't think the Genki Dama would be of much help to Cell here, even if he can use it. While it would absolutely annihilate H'el if it hit him, the trick for Cell will be pinning down H'el, not overcoming his durability. The Kamehameha and the Kienzan would both be helpful abilities however because of them have homing variants that can move mid-air to catch a target via telekinesis

Which would be particularly helpful in hitting H'el. This is especially true in the case for the Kienzan which, if it hit H'el would likely damage him beyond his ability to regenerate.

In terms of counters, if H'el is prepared for these attacks, he can teleport or manuever himself such that the attacks would threaten Cell similar to what Goku did to Frieza and possibly protect himself with his Psychic Barrier in conjunction with his own regeneration

However the really dangerous part of these attacks would be the surprise factor. It's a perfectly plausible scenario that Cell launches a Kamehameha which H'el dodges with some dash to the side only for it to turn and him when he's not expecting it.

Cell can use the Solar Flare which creates a blinding flash of light

This is highly unlikely to work on H'el due to his Kryptonian nature absorbing light and which can see into the Sun itself.

Cell has the Instant Transmission technique which lets him teleport along with anyone he's touching.

Notably Cell's teleportation has a much larger range, being able to extend even into other dimensions. While this is very out of character for Cell, he could hypothetically just teleport into H'el into the otherworld for a BFR victory.

While not as strong as H'el's, Cell has his own telekinesis which he used to create an arena for his tournament

I don't think he could use this on H'el directly as if he tried to telekinetically hold H'el for instance, H'el could just overpower with his own telekinesis, though if H'el does try to build something mid-combat as a weapon, Cell could telekinetically mess with it.

Cell's regenerative fluid is also an acid weapon he can utilize

I don't believe this would be an effective weapon against H'el, as Kryptonians in pretty much all continuities resist various forms of corrosion and molecular bonds weakening

To go over their weaknesses a little bit, H'el lacks many of the conventional weaknesses of Kryptonians such as Kryptonite and Red Sun Radiation due to the nature of his creation and absorbing various forms of energy while traveling to Earth. However he possesses one of the most common psychological weaknesses of the Kryptonians; a sense of superiority over all other species, considering the Justice League outside Superman to be "a small inconvenience at best"

Also while it wouldn't come up in this matchup, he has an irrational hatred for Kryptonian Clones due to cloning being outlawed and taboo on Krypton, though ironically is himself a clone. 

Cell's creation has rendered him immune to most physical weakness from the genetic sources he was made of such as Namekian Regeneration draining one's energy or Saiyans being unable to survive in a vacuum. That said he did acquire their psychological weaknesses such as a sense of overconfidence and a desire to challenge himself for instance allowing Vegeta to hit him with his strongest attack

Also while it wouldn't come up in this fight, Cell can't absorb mechanical beings like Android 16, only biological entities.

So looking over the advantages of both fighters

H'el:

+Probably Faster

+Vastly more intelligent

+More of a serious and focused fighter

+Has numerous types of offensive hax that might work on Cell (Telepathic Attacks, Atomic Destruction, Freezing)

+Would easily be able to figure out how Cell's regeneration would work

+Has his own Healing Factor and Psychic Barriers to protect against Cell's more casual attacks

+Arguably more stamina (probably not a large factor)

+Can get stronger via Sundipping

Cell:

+Probably more powerful by at least several times

+Dramatically more skilled fighter

+Regen and Durability make him immune to any kind of physical damage from H'el

+Can duplicate to overwhelm H'el

+Varied arsenal of attacks that could maybe surprise H'el (such as the Homing Kamehameha/Kienzan, suddenly exploding, or absorbing H'el with his tail)

+Can easily resist Illusions and BFR, the two most common forms of attack from H'el, via Ki Sensing and Instant Transmission

+Higher attack and teleportation range (probably not a large factor)

+Can get stronger via Zenkai Boosts and possibly Kaioken

If you think the two characters are more relative in their stats, then this fight becomes an interesting one. I feel like this fight will be first and foremost a battle for both characters to try and figure out how to kill the other one. In a melee fight Cell would find it difficult to wear down H'el due to H'el's durability and regen while it's impossible for H'el to wear down Cell in melee due to Cell's superior durability and regeneration. Either one killing the other would most likely require one of their stronger powers.

However this has its own problem, namely both characters are comparably fast and have both barriers and teleportation. This means if they see a big attack coming at them, they could just teleport away. Cell is more likely to be able to surprise H'el with his attacks but is also more likely to try and tank H'el's attacks. 

H'el probably can't do his normal tactic of BFR or manipulating via Illusions due to Cell's Instant Transmission and Ki Sensing. But this does raise an interesting question which is whether you think Cell can manipulate H'el the way he did to Vegeta. H'el like Vegeta is an arrogant character who fixates on the superiority of his species. On the other hand H'el is vastly smarter than Vegeta, and while Saiyans are hot-blooded warriors that love to fight and test themselves, H'el is a Kryptonian from the House of El, which are scientists by nature. If Cell could manipulate H'el it would be more likely due to stirring H'el's scientific interest in Cell's bizarre biology, similar to how H'el was intrigured by the Human/Kryptonian hybrid Superboy, and if H'el got in close Cell could perhaps surprise him via exploding or snagging H'el with his tail.

For me a lot of this fight depends on how long the fight goes on and even moreso the mindset of the two fighters during it. Specifically I think it depends on when in the fight Cell decides to create the Cell Juniors or to duplicate himself. At the start of the fight H'el would have numerous ways to hypothetically defeat Cell, either by destroying/controlling his mind or possibly freezing him. The major question for me is does he find and use those abilities before or after Cell creates duplicates of himself. If he uses them when there's only one Cell, then he could potentially win the fight almost instantly. 

However H'el typically first starts with abilities that wouldn't do much of anything to Cell like teleporting people, using Illusions and Stealth to manipulate them or stalk them. This is where the character analysis portion of the battle comes in. Maybe H'el was just doing that because it was against other Kryptonians (Superman and Supergirl), and against a non-Kryptonian he would go for a more lethal attack right off the bat. Or maybe against a non Kryptonian he would be more confident and just trying to physically brawl with them. It's hard to say. 

Similarly it's important how serious Cell takes the fight. Cell is overconfident and playful but if he doesn't think H'el is a threat based on his weak level of ki, is he more likely to do something to create the Cell Juniors, would he try to physically attack with him, would he try to test him first? It's kind of hard to tell when the only non-ki based fighter Cell is seen fighting is Mr. Satan. 

If Cell does get to the point of duplicating himself, I think he would have a massive advantage. He could overwhelm H'el via similar speed, superior skill, and sheer numbers and the only real way I think H'el could get around it would be via telepathically attacking Cell's mind if they have the same mind as most of his abilities are targeted at one enemy at a time. The only other way I could see H'el beating numerous Cells would be via manipulation or teleportation bringing Cell to something he can't survive like inside a Black Hole or in front of his own attacks, but Cell might be able to resist manipulation and sense malicious intent in H'el's ki so I think this would be a stretch.

Early on I think H'el would have the advantage however if only because he's a much smarter and more focused character and would likely be able to figure out Cell's weaknesses quicker if only by scanning his molecular structure. With that said, he's never fought someone with primarily ki-based abilities and wouldn't know that his stealth wouldn't work on Cell, meaning Cell could possibly get a free attack in when H'el is not expecting it.

Finally there's the issue of both getting stronger. H'el can sundip and Cell can get stronger via Zenkai. While it's kinda impossible to tell which would get stronger this way, I think this is another long term advantage for Cell. H'el MIGHT sundip but Cell WILL get Zenkai over the course of battle basically assured. H'el gaining power requires a condition (being close to the Sun) that is definitely more specific than Cell's (being damaged) and while H'el can avoid triggering Cell's Zenkai, Cell can trigger it himself via exploding and reforming. Cell also possibly can use the Kaioken as another way of getting temporarily stronger

With all that said I think that while H'el has the advantage early on, that Cell has the advantage over the long term. H'el has numerous one-shot type abilities and is an extremely fast intelligent fighter that could kill Cell immediately. However unless H'el just thinks that not being a Kryptonian he shouldn't waste any time on Cell, and instead fights him in his usual way or gets a scientific curiosity as to how Cell works, Cell can last long enough to duplicate himself at which point H'el has no way of easily putting down Cell while Cell can overwhelm H'el or at least go through enough battle damage to eclipse H'el's speed advantage via Zenkai boosts. 

This does lead to one more scenario which is Post-Star Chamber H'el vs GT Cell.

After exposure to the Star Chamber H'el gained Chronokinetic Abilities that made him vastly more of a threat. This H'el was able to see through time

He existed within multiple timestreams at once, and fight in both with one mind

travel through time and dimensions

and was able to manifest all variants of himself into one timeline, possibly taking on an ethereal form

only being beaten by Superman freezing his "essence" into a perpetual loop of freezing and thawing after H'el was already weakened by Jor-El's containment field

He can also end universes and threaten every living being in the "omniverse" via these temporal disruptions which awoke the cosmic being The Oracle to stop him

 

In the Toei canon of Dragon Ball, Cell and Freeza in Hell prepare to fight Goku again, confident in their ability to fight him when they see him again in DBGT

Given they watched Goku fight Kid Buu in the Toei Canon, this means they are likely confident they could at least beat a Goku who was that strong

This Buu was stated to be able to destroy the Grand Kai Planet, which is portrayed as being like a Moon to the universal sized Heaven, being likely the size of many galaxies

The Star Chamber made H'el physically stronger, but definitely not that much. With that said I think H'el has this one pretty convincingly. He's naturally in multiple timelines which Cell, even if he's massively physically stronger and faster can't do anything about and H'el can just collapse the universe Cell is in via temporal disruptions or go back in time and kill Cell when he was first being created, both of which are in-character.

The only thing Cell could do to Post-Star Chamber H'el is if H'el starts the fight for some reason in just one timeline Cell could blitz and attack him with enough force to kill him before he thinks of dividing himself again. Superman did do something to H'el at one point, but this is both out of character for Cell and possibly only something Superman could do as a result of H'el being weakened by Jor-El's Contaiment Chamber given that for H'el "the normal confines of space and time mean nothing to him!"

So to sum up my thoughts:

Pre-Star Chamber H'el vs Cell Saga Cell: H'el can maybe win early on, but I think Cell would win mid to high difficulty in the long run via overwhelming H'el

Post-Star Chamber H'el vs DBGT Cell: Cell is stronger and faster, but he can't really do anything to H'el due to H'el's chronkinetic abilities, with H'el winning via hax fairly quickly.