Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Act 11 Review

 

The act opens with Usagi dreaming of Endymion wishing to rescue him as soon as possible. Luna awakens her, saying she's gonna be late, causing Usagi's chagrin. Usagi disappointedly says it's only her, causing Luna to sulk off. Usagi sees Mamoru's pocketwatch noting that since they returned from the Moon it has stopped mysteriously. Noticing Luna sulking, Usagi adorably apologizes with a hug.

Usagi heads off to school with her parents commenting that Usagi seems to be back to her old self, commenting it must be because of Luna. Usagi tries to speculate on how her heart can bring out the power of the Silver Crystal when she runs into a mysterious man...a man who Usagi's brief look from behind looks...identical to Mamoru.

Usagi tells herself that it can't possibly be him...she's just imagining things because of her dream. But to her shock, the pocket watch resumes ticking. Dark Mamoru goes and stands ominously outside the game arcade with evil sunglasses of doom. Motoki tries to introduce himself, before recognizing that he's seen Mamoru with Usagi, before Mamoru takes off his shades and shoots a brainwashing beam into Motoki's eyes, telling him that from now Mamoru is his friend "Endou."

Reika, an expert in crystals and Motoki's girlfriend, shows up and is confused that Motoki refers to MAmoru as his old friend Endou as though she should know him. Reika notices Mamoru is looking at a book of crystals and describes the four crystals he's looking at; two varients of Jade called "Jadeite" and "Nephrite" as well as two other types of stone known as "Zoisite" and "Kunzite." Mamoru mentions owning those four stones precisely. 

This is a bit odd, because while it's true Naoko likes to name her villains after gemstones, this is the only time that's acknowledged in-universe and I'm not sure what we're supposed to take from this. That the Heavenly Kings originally had other names? If that was the case, why do other villains have gemstone names? That the gemstones were named after the Heavenly Kings? That doesn't make sense as the evolutionary history of Earth had to restart after the Moon Kingdom. I think it's just supposed to seem atmospheric though in my opinion it leaves me more confused then anything. 

Meanwhile back with the Senshi, Rei sees a bad omen in her flame divination. The Senshi go over to Ami's house for the first time only to find out her family is rich, living in a luxury condo and when Minako accidentally scratches the marble floor with the moon sword, Ami tells her it's no big deal, marble scratches easily.

A trope common in the 90s to the early 00s I kind of miss is having characters from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds be friends without it being a big deal, like having one of the teammates be the rich girl. The scene's meant to be comical and funny and I think it does so well. It continues with Ami asking Minako to test the Holy Sword on a diamond which shatters to pieces, which causes Minako to be embarrased but Ami shrugs off, saying they have lots of diamonds.

Ami expresses what she's found from scientific analysis of the Holy Sword, saying it's tougher then a diamond and is highly toxic. Talking about it leads to a discussion about the Moon Kingdom where the Guardian Senshi demonstrate their memories of the Moon Kingdom, with Makoto commenting the Moon wasn't always a barren planetoid, a world of death, but used to be able to bear life, but the enemy reduced it to cold stone. 

Usagi eventually falls asleep which Ami says is from the hard conversation. Makoto points out she must be emotionally exhausted from everything that's been going on. Thinking of Queen Seretnity causes the Senshi to point out they still don't know how to seal Metaria and how to use the heavy Holy Sword. Usagi awakens remembering the time she awoke in Mamoru's bed. Usagi goes to play the Sailor V game to try to relax but when she gets there

"Endou" introduces himself in a rather creepy fashion, laying hands on Usagi and commenting how much she looks like Sailor Moon. Usagi comments in shock to herself that this man before her is not Mamoru himself; looking the same, sounding the same, having the same warmth to his touch. But his smile is cold and distant. This is one of those scenes it's hard for me to assess because I've read it so many times. It's obviously meant to be a creepy inversion of how Mamoru normally is, to induce worry for Usagi being so near both her greatest love and now a dangerous enemy. Because I've read the manga so often it's hard for me to say how creepy this would be in a vacuum.

Meanwhile, rather goofily, Minako senses someone clearing levels at the Sailor V game quickly. The Senshi rush off to the arcade, to see Dark Mamoru, commenting on how different his eyes is. Rei senses something bad from him and warns that Usagi shouldn't go near to him. Luna tells Usagi she shouldn't go to see him, but she refuses to listen going to see him everyday. Here we see a dramatic inversion. Earlier Luna warned Usagi from being around Mamoru, and was wrong. Here she warns Usagi of doing the same thing and is correct. Usagi is led by her love and more then anything her biggest weakness is an overabundance of empathy and an inability to fight her emotions.

Dark Mamoru and Usagi speak in a tense conversation about Sailor V and how Usagi speaks like she knows her, and how Usagi REALLY looks like Sailor Moon. Mamoru tries to hypnotize Usagi but she manages to get away. 

I find it really interesting how Usagi describes this. If you recall she fell in love with Mamoru because his eyes had the same color as the Earth seen from the Moon, entranced by that world of hope and possibility. Here she once again is entranced by his eyes, but now they are cold and vacant as he tries to control her. She internally pleads with him to call her "Usako" rather then "Usagi."

Makoto and Ami run into Reika who tells them that Endou just appeared out of nowhere, no one seems to know anything about him, and Motoki's spending all his time with him. Meanwhile Minako and Artemis are talking about how he's trying to get access to the control room. Minako says if he's really Tuxedo Kamen, they'll need to avoid any careless moves, which actually makes sense. Prince Endymion, if you recall, was stated to be "stronger than anyone" meaning he's probably more powerful then the Guardian Senshi right now.

Makoto goes to confront Endymion but gets hypnotized for her troubles, which admittingly is kind of sad. As I mentioned, a couple of times Makoto is defeated by the enemy to show how strong they are, the "worf effect." It's, I'd argue, worse in the anime, but still. Hypnotized Makoto lures the Senshi down into the Control Room pretending to be warning them of Endymion. When Usagi reveals she still has the Silver Crystal Makoto lunges for it but Minako, ever fast on the draw quickly knocks her out with a sidekick. 

Once again, Naoko seems to have a favorite ;)

Endymion shows up in the control room, and even worse, he has Motoki brainwashed by his side! How will they ever be able to beat... a normal guy? The Senshi save Usagi, whose still in shock, transform. Motoki goes for the Silver Crystal but Minako stops him and purifies him with her magical chain.

Despite Naoko's favoritism for her fav Guardian Senshi, her love for her dream boyfriend is even stronger and Endymion overpowers Venus. Endymion then uses some kind of...weird....eyebeams thing to teleport the Silver Crystal to him

Venus and Luna call out for Usagi to transform, but Usagi is in shock and can't bring herself to fight against Tuxedo Kamen. Luna tries desperately to protect her princess and pounces on Endymion biting him in the shoulder. Unfortunately Endymion just picks up the cat and throws her away with such force as to case her to begin bleeding out. 

Seeing this breaks Usagi out of her shock as she runs over to Luna in horror. She declares that he is not Tuxedo Kamen, and transforms into Sailor Moon. Her love and concern for Luna causes the Silver Crystal in Endymion's hand to begin glowing with power. Sailor Moon, at Sailor Mercury's prompting uses the Moon Healing Escalation to heal Makoto and Luna. Sailor Moon tries to use it against Endymion but it does nothing, and Queen Beryl teleports in behind him to gain the Silver Crystal

Beryl introduces herself saying that no matter how many times they meet princess, that Serenity is always a delicate childish girl, and that she is Queen Beryl before confirming the man standing on front of them is none other then Prince Endymion. The act ends with Usagi repeating in disbelief that the man she's fighting is Mamoru.

It's hard to talk about Act 11, not beause it's a bad chapter, it's not, but because it always feels like it goes by so quickly and some of the appeals to it are things that are most meant for a first time reader. I've read Sailor Moon countless times so it's a bit hard for me to even imagine what some of this stuff would feel like reading it for the first time. 

What I think the act does best is build up the sense of threat. This is the first time villains enter the command center, and both Beryl and Endymion carry an immense amount of menace. Beryl has looked large over the series to this point and her entrance is suitably dramatic. Meanwhile Endymion seems downright unstoppable physically this act, and just in general him playing off Usagi's emotions gives a creepy atmospheric vibe to the chapter and makes you wonder how Usagi is going to work up the will to fight her love.

This act also has Luna and Usagi's relationship being really sweet and cute, starting with Usagi hugging Luna sorry, the two seeming closer then ever, only for Luna later to try and sacrifice herself for her partner, and that being the thing that snaps Usagi out of her daze. It has the cute comedic scene of the Senshi at Ami's house, that's pretty fun. 

Like I said, some of the impact of this act is a bit lost reading it for the millionth time like I have. It's a very plot focused act, rather then a more thematically focused act. It's pretty good though.