Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Act 18 Review

 

Act 18 is the final act of the first sub-arc in the Black Moon Clan arc. The act starts out as the last two acts have. The characters react in horror at Jupiter's capture. Artemis at the Command Center comments in frustration how the UFO just seems to appear and disappear, and he can't track it. However Tuxedo Kamen notes that Petz left behind a Black Crystal earring, something all the Black Moon Clan members save Saphir wear.

Tuxedo Kamen comments to Luna that they should be careful, it might be dangerous and Luna agrees asking Artemis to send over a containment unit. A petri dish just sort of...appears encasing it telekineticallhy. It kinda comes out of nowhere though it's more atmospheric than the craziness of whatever Artemis did to Endymion last arc.

Following that, Artemis mentions there has been over 200 reported Crop Circles in the Tokyo area, seemingly caused by that UFO which abducted the Senshi. Venus says the obvious conclusion; that the Black Moon Clan are a group of hostile aliens come to infiltrate human society. Special emphasis is given to the fact that they are aliens.

This is a dramatic reversal of the prior arc. Where Queen Beryl was an Earth woman who in jealousy of the lunarian Princess Serenity and spread distrust of the Lunarians across the Earth, the Black Moon Clan actually ARE a group of hostile aliens trying to control humanity. It's also meant to evoke the pop culture-y idea of ETs that do things like abduct people, make crop circles, and subtly influence humanity.

Mamoru, in a way both sensitive to Usagi's feelings and logical, says that he's sure the others are still alive, as if the Black Moon Clan meant to kill them, they would have already done so.

Usagi is frustrated by the whole ordeal and Minako suggest they go and question Chibiusa again. Meanwhile Luna and Artemis are analyzing the Black Moon Clan earring which is draining the energy around it. The meter meant to measure its energy goes negative, and then reaches the "minimum" state. This is actually a really cool detail and connects to a lot of other things the Black Crystal will be shown doing for the rest of the arc which I'll mention when we reach those points.

The Senshi meet Chibiusa at Usagi's house, whose in high spirits having made a friend at school, Momo. The Senshi seem to decide on letting Chibiusa be for the moment but Chibiusa catches a glimpse of the Black Crystal Earring and freaks out

It's a pretty sadly realistic depiction of how a young child seeing an object associted with trauma would react. 

Meanwhile on planet Nemesis, the Black Moon Clan are discussing how things are going. Saphir is annoyed at the reckless losses but Rubeus is unperturbed commenting that he has done exactly as the Prince wished, commenting that they have the power of Black Crystal and their own planet and that Saphir always gets so irritable when "accidents happen" and things don't go according to schedule. Esmeraude sees their conflict and comments on how petty their little rivalry is and mocks Saphir when he tries to intimidate her. The sociopathic nature of their group is understood from their reactions to the deaths of their underlings. Rubeus laughs it off as an accident and still seems to be having fun while even Saphir only dislikes it from a tactical position. 

Saphir comments to Demande that they don't really need the Silver Crystal, they have the Black Crystal and seen what its power did to that planet. Demande comments they haven't yet seen the body of that planet's ruler....I don't know why this is being treated like a secret when we saw the ruler last chapter.

Demande replies that they haven't fully tested their power and Wiseman adds that without the Silver Crystal, they can't power-up the Black Crystal to "infinite power." A recurring trend in this arc is the opposite nature of the two crystals; the Silver Crystal which produces limitless power and the Black Crystal which absorbs power limitlessly. Demande leave to his room impetuously and the other members of the Black Moon Clan there talk about how bizarre the Wiseman is, and how they're suspicious of him. I do think it's cool that Rubeus and Esmeraude are also suspicious rather than just Saphir, though unfortunately nothing really comes of it. 

We cut to the final Ayakashi, Calaveras demonstrating her occult practice of the issue, channeling as she channels the spirits preparing for her attempt at revenge. Rubeus comes up and in a surprising turn flirtatiously kisses Calaveras' shoulder saying he can't wait to see Sailor Moon's face in agony the way Calaveras' has been.

Once again this is a point that's nice by itself, though doesn't live up to its potential. Rubeus being in a relationship with Calaveras or flirting with her anyway adds something to their character though I feel like because it's just sort of brought up once, it doesn't add that much.

Calaveras introduces herself as a medium, and says she will win over the minds of "modern humanity" to the Black Moon Clan's side. I do like Calaveras most of the Ayakashi, manga-wise. She has the most interesting characterization shown with her little thing with Rubeus, her seemingly genuine desire for revenge, she has the most interesting powers to me, and her plot is unlike most of the Black Moon Clan's, more like villains in the rest of the manga, as a brain-washer.

The chapter cuts back to the others trying to figure out what's going on with Chibiusa, but Chibiusa is tearfully panicked at the Black Crystal earring and they don't get much information. Mamoru comforts her, telling they can stop if she needs them too. However Usagi declares that if Chibiusa won't give them the information they need, then she's essentially an enemy. Defying expectations here, Usagi is actually the one that runs away tearfully after the statement is made.

I really like this scene is set-up. Usagi's suspicions and frustrations are understandable and rise naturally between Acts 15 and Act 18. Her motives are understandable, and she starts out from asking for completely understandable things. Yet as her frustration grows we see her the downside of her greatest strength, her intense for her friends, cause her to go closer and closer to the line. Yet instead of doing the cliché thing with Chibiusa running away in pain at Usagi's declaration, instead it's Usagi who does it, because it's she who crossed the line of acceptability, which everything understand they understand why. She is reasonably flawed, understandable in why does what she does and understandable in where she goes wrong both to the readers and to the other characters. I do think it would have been stronger if the Guardian Senshi had a more reasonable reaction to her complaints earlier on, instead of dismissing everything about Chibiusa from the start.

After that scene, the manga goes on to remind the reader why Usagi is so emotionally disturbed having her on edge even hearing the word "black", in a sense similar to Chibiusa's negative reaction to the Earring, and having her talk about her heart being broken up without her friends there. Naru and Umino show up to cheer up Usagi and to give some exposition with Umino's video on "channeling."

Umino explains channeling is contacting someone from another dimension or place in spacetime and receiving messages. The screen shows Calaveras giving an interview where she goes into trance having Rubeus speak through her, claiming the Black Moon Clan are there to guide the people of Earth

I think it's clever the way Calaveras has set this up, so that even if the Senshi see what's going on, they have no reason to suspect her, the innocent medium transmitting the message as the source, but assuming she's just being given messages by their enemy. 

Usagi is shocked and runs off to get the others. Naru and Umino comment how pale Usagi seems to be, Naru commenting that Usagi seems to be in some "other world" that she can't enter, and wish she could make her feel better. I'm not the world's biggest Naru fan, she's mostly just fine in most canons imo, but I do think this is a really sweet moment. 

Meanwhile Minako and Artemis are watching an....oddly coincidental live broadcast of Calaveras who spreads the Black Moon Clan propaganda, that she is told that the people of the "White Moon" are alien infiltrators who will lead the Earth astray to sorrow, but instead earthlings should just trust in their own power.

This part I find fascinating and super evocative. In a way, what she is saying is true of the White Moon. Those of the White Moon do come to the Earth from the Moon, and a generation before that as it will be revealed, even further parts of the cosmos. In a sense they will drive them to tragedy, but only in so far as enemies like the Black Moon Clan attack them for the Silver Crystal. However what I find really interesting is just how her framing reveals the Black Moon Clan's mindset.

Obviously some of what she is saying is a lie. She says if humans believe in their own potential they can overcome aging and death, something the Black Moon Clan doesn't want. But some of what she says, that the people of the White Moon's interference with Earth is an unnatural infiltration of the Earth will bring tragedy on mankind, seems to coincide with what Saphir will say later. The Black Moon Clan, despite having spent generations on Nemesis, consider themselves the true protectors of humanity and nature against the interference of the White Moon. This is especially contrasted with last act where Makoto takes the time to directly tell Motoki that they ARE human. This is probably the most symbolically potent in the entirety of this sub-arc, and I don't feel like I've gotten to the bottom of its meaning, particularly with Calaveras making statements like "Earth and humanity are currently sick and seeking salvation, medicines and hospitals will do no good." A bold-faced lie? A Messianic Complex? An allusion to the dictators of history who compared their enemies to inhuman infestations that must be "cleaned"?  I'm not really sure how to interpret it. 

Back to the plot, Mamoru takes the four stones from last act and channels the spirits of the Four Heavenly Kings

This is a really cool moment, though once again I do think Naoko doesn't use the idea to its full potential due to just briefness of space. Mamoru's conversation with the Heavenly Kings boils down foreshadowing with the Black Moon Clan crossing space-time which...we already knew and Mamoru stating "I can't protect Usagi, I don't have the strength like the Four Guardian Senshi" and them giving him a pep talk being like "no trust us, you do."

Don't get me wrong, it's a cool moment and there's not enough cross-arc references in Sailor Moon, but I would have liked the Heavenly Kings to maybe do a bit more. Kunzite's the only one that even speaks. 

The next day Usagi wakes up only to find her transformation brooch has been taken which is a great shocking moment. Meanwhile Calaveras talks to her audience that the Age of Aquarius is upon them. The Age of Aquarius is an astrological concept that the Earth is in the Age of Pisces, and will move into the preceding sign, the Age of Aquarius, a sign associated with science, rationalism, the air, and equality. 

What I find funny about this is that in every way the Black Moon Clan are Anti-Aquarian. They are a rigidly hierarchal monarchy, they are anti-progress and science being a religious fanatical cult, their science comes from one of their members who is regularly put upon, and they seek the opposite of equality.

Calaveras begins brainwashing the people of Earth manipulating them into thinking the Black Moon Clan should be the ones to "guide' (rule) them during the cosmic revolution. Sailor Venus shows up to break her enchantment but Calaveras distracts her by channeling the spirits of the other Guardian Senshi into Naru, Asanuma, and Kotono to distract Sailor Venus before Calaveras channels the spirits of her three dead sisters into their bodies and attack Venus together with a spirit energy attack. 

But Sailor Venus awesomely powers through it declaring that she's wrong, that they're still in the Age of Pisces, the Age of Love, and that she's the Goddess of Love.

Once again, kinda Naoko favoritism, but it's too cool for me to care. Astrologically Pisces is said to be the sign of the universal love, and as such it is the sign where Venus is exalted, or in its best position. In my headcanon, it is the reason Sailor Venus is the leader during this period. It seems to be why she seems is stronger than the others.

Calaveras is not intimidated by Sailor Venus' declaration, stating that Rubeus is at that very moment about to get Sailor Moon and the rabbit to Venus' horror while Usagi thinks parallel that she has to get the brooch to help Sailor V. She finds Chibiusa having taken her brooch managing to knock her out of the way of Rubeus' attack. Rubeus commends her reactions but attacks again though Mamoru detecting Usagi in danger, transforming into Tuxedo Kamen and saving them mid-attack

Tuxedo Kamen manages to hurt Rubeus with his cane who gets all angry and Rubeus prepares to immolate them with fire. 

However Mamoru hears a voice which he describes as strangely familiar. The voice tells Mamoru he's the only one with the power to protect the two of them and to release the power in his fist and Mamoru uses a magic blast to knock back Rubeus 

It's really exciting to see Mamoru's growing power given that he is the male lead and the other half of the main relationship. It also will have later relevant to the plot, especially when it's revealed who this is. 

Rubeus flees and Mamoru wonders what that was. Usagi grabs the Silver Crystal from Chibiusa, transforms and one-shots Calaveras saving Minako

That's right, Naoko set up a pattern only to break it. That really is Naoko's style and it's both a good and a bad thing, I think best exemplified by this scene. Rei getting kidnapped, Ami getting kidnapped, Makoto getting kidnapped then Minako NOT being kidnapped is a cast of going from exciting surprise to disappointing surprise to just disappointing BACK to exciting surprise. It somehow makes Sailor Moon as a manga feel at once repetitive and predictable while also exciting and unpredictable just because you never know when the sudden change is going to occur.

Usagi asks Chibiusa why she stole the Silver Crystal and Chibiusa explained she needed the Silver Crystal of the past before asking Sailor Moon to save the future of the 30th century.

Act 18 is my favorite act of the "Invasion" or the "Ayakashi" sub-arc. It's focused, perhaps to excess. It's villain is the most interesting of the Ayakashi. Its plot connects the most with later elements. It subverts the formula expected to surprise the audience. It's filled with ideas, even if some of them it just sort of throws out there. And best of all, it's got awesome moments for Minako and Mamoru.

In a surprising reverse for this manga, it's not the end that's too quick here. The ending of this act IS quick but Naoko uses that to her advantage, making it tense knowing that Minako is fighting an Ayakashi without anyone there while Sailor Moon is being held up. And Mamoru's reversal on Rubeus sending him fleeing so Sailor Moon could go and rescue Minako was really cool, even if it does later kind of raise the plot hole of why "the voice" didn't tell Mamoru sooner. However it's actually the first half that makes too quickly this act. It throws in interesting ideas like Rubeus and Calaveras having a thing, even if just Rubeus flirting with her, which could be used for something interesting and doesn't use it. Or Rubeus agreeing with Saphir that Wiseman shouldn't be trusted, which doesn't really get brought up again.

The channeling and astrological stuff in this act are the most evocative occult ideas for Sailor Moon as a setting and I think Naoko uses them really well. Channeling is also metaphysical and how it's presented in the manga emphasizes the cosmic distances involved in channeling. Astrology is of course focused entirely on the cosmic and it's impacts on the mundane. Both fit the cosmic magic feel of Sailor Moon. I also really like the part with Calaveras brainwashing the people of Earth, as I feel it's a moment with a lot of ways you could interpret it. 

So yeah, overall it's a good act. My favorite of this sub-arc. Depending on the way you look at it the next four acts are either two sub-arcs of two acts each, or one sub-arc of four acts. I personally prefer to think of it as four acts just because I like the symmetry of the Second Arc having three sub-arcs of four acts each.