Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Act 6 Review

 

Act 6 begins with a particularly detailed page of Luna and Sailor Moon recapping that Sailor Moon is now the leader of the Senshi and their general objective.

Luna tells her that her new magical item is called "the Moon Stick" which is a very impressive, original, and well thought out name. Usagi recaps the Senshi's personalities for the viewer, the genius girl with an IQ over 300 Ami, the scary but beautiful shrine maiden with the Sixth Sense Rei, and the super-strong older sister like girly girl Makoto. She then reiterates their goal for like the third time. I have to say, these recaps are getting kind of repetitive and especially given how fast-paced this manga is, they stick out as something that doesn't need as much time as it gets.

Mamoru wakes up from a dream commenting that he keeps having the same dream, a dream of a woman with really long hair whose hidden in silhoutte who calls for him to bring her the Silver Crystal. Naoko also uses this point to give some Mamoru Chiba fanservice. I do like how Naoko uses these dreams not really for exposition the way a lot of writers do, which threatens being a lazy way to give information, but to set a tone and a mood. Admittingly she will use it for expository purposes later, but even then it's primary purpose is still to build an atmosphere.

Meanwhilew Usagi heads out for school while Luna hangs around the house before seeing on the newspaper that Tuxedo Kamen has revealed to the presses that he's after the Silver Crystal, causing mass speculation on what it could be and if Sailor Moon and Sailor V are connected to it somehow. It's a pretty neat way to remind the viewers of Sailor V given she will enter the story not too far off from now. Usagi and the girls head off to school and run into Mamoru Chiba, Usagi and Mamoru doing a whole tsundere routine towards each other. 

Makoto sees through Usagi's denial while Ami nerd fangirls out at how elite Mamoru's school is. Then the two both share a mutual crush on Motoki. So hang on...I get why Makoto likes Motoki, that was seen back in her introductory act. Given what we'll find out about Ami later, that she's essentially attracted to smart guys, I don't get her attraction to Motoki. I mean maybe he's smart, if so that just isn't seen. Regardless the sequence is pretty cute. 

Back with the plot however, people across Japan are going crazy looking for the Silver Crystal. Luna is outraged at the notion but it cuts to Tuxedo Kamen thinking to himself that surely new information will arise from this. The Dark Kingdom see this and are somewhat divided on this, as it's clear they have a new rival in the search for the Silver Crystal but also this will perhaps give them the information they need for it. The European Heavenly King Zoisite takes on the hunt for the Silver Crystal.

 So this is a really clever part I think. Despite not having magical abilities Tuxedo Kamen is proving himself a signifigant contender in the search for the Silver Crystal through sheerly his ingenuity, in particular using crowd sourcing before the idea became mainstream, which is consistent with his high degree of intelligence. Something that doesn't happen very often in Sailor Moon is having three sides to a conflict, and it makes the plot more interesting when it does happen. 

Luna thinks to herself that this probably means Tuxedo Kamen is an enemy of theirs, causing Usagi distress. Luna tells the Senshi she's been researching and thinks their enemy is a mysterious "her", an evil being seeking to become ruler of "the surface" seeing the awesome power of the Silver Crystal to rend great destruction.

Usagi nervously asks Luna if the Silver Crystal's power is really that great. Luna responds:

This is one of the things I love about Sailor Moon. There are a lot of verses that have really high power, but often it's used comically or it's moreso an aesthetic of power then anything. Sailor Moon more then almost any verse I can think off is really good at expressing a cosmic level of power and then giving the feel for it. Things in Sailor Moon FEEL big and grandiose. 

Luna continues and drops the bombshell: she and the princess are of the Moon, and she was sent here to awaken them for their destiny. 

As a magical girl fan, it's pages like this that somehow Sailor Moon is precursor to both Madoka and PreCure. In the former the magical girl familiar is purposefully alien and engenders mistrust from the audience. In the latter the familiars are mostly cute little critters from pastel happy dimensions and friendly partners. Here you see the inspiration for both ideas, a strange mysterious little talking cat from the moon, protective but also maybe slightly intimidating talking about a strange destiny the girls must fufill. Magical girl familiars beforehnad were usually friendly but maybe slightly inept or annoying little fairies or aliens in disguise as animals. Complimenting the sense of cosmic grandiosity in the story, Luna, particularly in these earlier chapters can sometimes come across as, though not malevolent, mildly ominous and occult as...well a black cat.

Luna reinforces that once they've fully awoken, they will understand everything and goes off to keep investigating Tuxedo Kamen. Usagi returns to playing the Sailor V games and notes Sailor V is using a weapon a lot like the Moon Stick. Usagi wonders if Sailor V is a normal girl like her and having read Sailor V the statement is kind of funny. 

Zoisite in disguise as a woman goes on TV and begins a television broadcast across Tokyo supposedly to inform people about the Silver Crystal but is really brainwashing them to search out the Silver Crystal for the Dark Kingdom, even seemingly manipulating Usagi. Zoisite then...rather abruptly decides its not there and starts draining people of their energy to death.

Going by the page progression, they've looked maybe a few hours. Zoisite you're just being impatient. 

People start dropping from energy draining and even Ami is barely able to stand. Mamoru on the other hand apparently is perfectly fine? Like he goes over and looks outside seeing people dropping. I don't really know why Mamoru is unaffected...

"The Golden Crystal..." Mamoru hadn't even partially awoken it yet. Ami was at least partially awoken as a Senshi.

"Wasn't looking at technology" Neither were the people just walking outside presumably so...what?

I think Naoko just wanted Mamoru in a position of strength and needed him to be aware for later in the act.

Luna leads the fatigured Ami backs to the game arcade and starts speaking in some ancient magical language which is, I think in a really cool manner, displayed as the astrological symbols for the celestial bodies of the Solar System. They enter the base which Luna reveals to Ami that this is where she's been using as a control center, with computers linked to the main computers on the Moon. She tries to get a signal out to the other Senshi that the energy is centralized at Tokyo Tower but the signal is jammed.

Meanwhile outside Usagi is quickly fading into unconsciousness from the energy-draining, and Zoisite proclaims that the time for humans in Tokyo is over, now he will establish the Dark Kingdom on the surface of the Earth.

I really like this part. It's a massive feeling development, while also feeling natural. The art supports the feeling with an image of a giant Beryl superimposed over Zoisite while Usagi is growing faint below.

Tuxedo Kamen shows up and holds Usagi, restoring her energy. He admits fault for this, but says he never meant for it; he doesn't have powers like she does. Usagi reels over the fact that he knows she's Sailor Moon though...given he led her to Makoto last act, I'm not sure why she thought he didn't know that. You might think this is a plot hole that he restores Usagi's energy, but then says he doesn't have powers. However it does make sense with a later development which I'll explain when we get there. Usagi comments that Tuxedo Kamen's face gives her a nostalgic feeling, and particularly comments on his eyes.

Zoisite escapes with the energy, leaving Sailor Moon at a loss for what to do and she expresses her lack of confidence saying she can't fog or flames or storm like the others, she is powerless. However Tuxedo Kamen gives her a pep talk and Sailor Moon brings everyone in the city back to life...

This is arguably the first we start to see Usagi's downright messianic powerset. The series is going to verge more and more into this as it goes on but Sailor Moon isn't just a sentai hero, she's in-universe the religious messiah that will save all humanity, and I mean that literally. Once again I really have to say Naoko's art this chapter is really good, the page of Usagi restoring people captures the immensity of resurrecting people. 

Sailor Moon falls unconscious and Tuxedo Kamen notes she must have used up too much of her power before taking her off. She awakens later in his bed. I do have to wonder why he didn't just take her to her house, particularly given last chapter showed he knows where she lives and how to get there stealthily. Usagi awakens, noticing she has Tuxedo Kamen's watch and saying he can't be an enemy, he's always helping her, though she still doesn't know who he is.

The acts ends with a voice asking if she's come awake and Mamoru Chiba coming out revealing to Usagi that Tuxedo Kamen and Mamoru are the same person. Granted this was known for several acts for Luna and the audience, but the change will have on their relationship is a fitting end to this act.

If you can't tell, I really like this act. Sailor Moon is a magical girl manga distinguished by its sense of scope and its ambition, and this act really captures that fact. Both the art and the dialogue support that fact in it's constant allusions to something huge and dramatic going on, and emphasis on powers of cosmic signifigance like energy capable of easily blowing apart the stars and resurrecting the dead. 

I think this is the act more than any other where Naoko stops trying to keep re-introducing the series for people just coming on, though she does still have recaps with mostly episodic sentai plots and starts really progressing the plot, as seen with Zoisite's attempt to literally bring the Dark Kingdom to the Earth's surface, Luna finally telling the Senshi she and the princess are from the Moon, and Usagi learning Tuxedo Kamen's identity. Despite that, these plot points feed into each other very naturally. By having the Dark Kingdom parasitically feed off Mamoru's attempt to find the Silver Crystal and having him apologize for it, Naoko depicts Mamoru as incredibly intelligent and resourceful but perhaps reckless or desperate, yet reasonable and self-aware.

I also like, related, how Naoko presents there as being three sides to the search for the Silver Crystal. A lot of series have just a good guys side which often barely attempts to complete the objective and a bad guy side that actively tries, immorally, to reach their objective. Sailor Moon itself does that most of the time. The problem is, that is what leads to the conception that villains are more interesing because in that paradigm the villains are the ones causing plot developments. Adding a third morally neutral element helps to rectify this by giving more sources of plot development. Just in general I feel like this act really expands the plot and is where stops the kind of formulaic feeling that begins cropping up near the start of the arc, (and tbh the start of most of the arcs.)