Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Act 28 Review

 

Continuing from last act, Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi-Moon transform and come out to protect the daimon.

The daimon lunges for Chibi-Moon actually wounding her, which is mildly surprising. Sailor Moon calls down excess power from Neo-Queen Serenity and destroys the daimon with her new attack "Moon Spiral Heart Attack." The two silhouetted figures continue to watch in shadow. 

Hotaru questions who the Senshi are and Chibi-Moon introduces them. Hotaru, with a glass otherworldly gaze comments that Chibiusa was injured protecting her, with Chibiusa noting she did indeed get a cut from the daimon lunge. Hotaru reaches for the injury

This is briefly interrupted by Usagi and Chibiusa noticing the shadoy silhouttes only for it to be dramatically revealed to be another Sailor Senshi and a figured dressed similar to Tuxedo Kamen.

The two figures make a quick escape, noticed in their escape by Mamoru and the other Guardian Senshi. So I think this is a really good escape by Naoko. This is a mysterious intriguing scenario. While you immediately know who these two figures are, their motives are suspect and unknowable at this point. This is one of the reasons people love the Infinity Arc. There's an air of mystery and maturity to it. With that said, if you come back to this scene later knowing what's going to happen, it does sort of raise-one or two questions.

Chibiusa turns back only to find Hotaru has somehow healed her wound. She calls Sailor Moon to see. Hotaru admits she has had the ability to heal people since she was young. She tells Chibi-Moon to leave so the guards don't catch her, and gives her name as "Hotaru Tomoe."

Hotaru means "Firefly", a bug said to shine with the spirits of the dead. "To" refers to the ground, and "Moe" refers to sprouting or emerging. Thus Tomoe Hotaru means fireflies emerging from the ground.

Hotaru is so perfect for this arc. She compliments its feel perfectly with her otherwordly gothic aura. Her healing at first unexplained ties into her nature later.

Hotaru reaches her house before collapsing in another fit. Kaorinite, the witch from before, in civilian clothes comes to her, trying to help her but Hotaru rebukes her, declaring she can take care of herself. Her father, a professor with odd glasses emerges and chastises Hotaru for her treatment of Kaorinite who has been a great help to them since her mother passed. Kaorinite attempts to humbly take the blame on her shoulders.

I love this scene in all it's messed up complexity. On some level Hotaru is sympathetic here, she is and I don't think it's a spoiler to say, the only good person here on an objective level. And her desire to be self-reliant particularly if you've ever struggled with similar physical problems. However in a vacuum the way she treats Kaorinite is actually wrong. Kaorinite is one of the most underrated Sailor Moon characters in my view. Kaorinite is set up to be the stereotypical wicked stepmother. She wears sexual clothing meant to evoke the sense that she is seducing Hotaru's papa. She's the mysterious "assistant" to the professor, evoking the sense of inappropriate relations. She's literally a witch and one of the villains. It would have been so easy for Naoko to just make her a stereotypical evil stepmother archetype. But instead she actually seems to genuinely care about Hotaru, going to help her even before the Professor shows up, and attempting to humbly take blame even when there is no reason too. While Kaorinite does still represent Hotaru's anxieties in regards to her father, both in the typical "sole child of a single parent worrying of losing his love and attention to an interloper" and also in a supernatural sense seen later, Naoko has the self-awareness not to make Hotaru the perfectly moral angel and to show that the heroine here can act immoral to the villainess, and not even in a flashy way, but in a fairly mundane typical way. 

I also love Professor Tomoe's design. He wear glasses but one of the two frames has a mystical symbol on it. This is a design you understand more with a plot development later, yet even seeing it for the first time with no other context you'd get the idea. Glasses are something that's supposed to help one see. He sees the material world in one eye, and the supernatural world in the other, speaking to the division of his role in the story and his mindset. That the supernatural symbol obscures sight in one eye speaks immediately to how his supernatural ambition blinds him partially to the world. In the materials collection Naoko makes the very interesting observation; Professor Tomoe can see fine with both eyes normally, he wears the glasses for style. Tomoe doesn't need these glasses to see, they're a representation of his ambition.

Hotaru doesn't listen to her father. She tells off Kaorinite again, telling her father he just likes the way she sucks up to him as his secretary or assistant or whatever she is, but she should know her place. Hotaru runs off and Professor Tomoe apologizes to Kaorinite for spoiling her after her mother died, an apology Kaorinite humbly accepts. It cuts to Hotaru laying in her bed painfully writhing. Her father comes in and asks if she's ok, if she's taken any medicine. Hotaru painfully gets out that she did but it didn't do anything. Professor Tomoe reassures Hotaru and gives her a family amulet to help Hotaru sleep peacefully.

Once again, despite how things will go with these two, it's a really sweet scene especially if you've had any experiences like Hotaru. Professor Tomoe leaves, saying he'll check on her later. Hotaru wonders to herself if her fathers hands always felt so cold. She thinks to herself that the amulet makes her pain go away but her body feels stranger than ever. She wonders how long "this body" will last. I love Hotaru as a character. Everything about her is so cool and atmospheric. 

We cut to the Senshi discussing the strange figures they saw earlier. Ami comments that they can't rush to conclusions, only seeing them dimly and from far away. Usagi agrees saying if they were Sailor Senshi, why wouldn't they come to meet them, why would them hide? Mamoru comments it seems like they were running away and Makoto postulates they might be enemies. Minako suggests correctly they might be the people she's felt watching them the last few times, and says allies or enemies she's sure they'll show up again.

Minako also comments on the two Mugen Academy students they met, Haruka and Michiru and how they are possibly enemies too, which is pretty fair given how Haruka threatened them. With that said Naoko, I know you want to get to the point where you can parallel the relationship between the Guardian Senshi with Haruka and Michiru with the relationship between the Guardian Senshi and the new Sailors, but this makes less sense right now given the Senshi don't know the connection.

Usagi wonders at this, thinking if that cool Haruka could really be an enemy. If this sounds familiar, it's because this is just the conflict of the first half of the first arc again! Everyone telling Usagi to stay away and not trust Haruka but her thinking that Haruka couldn't possibly be an enemy as they had an emotional connection. While this type of subplot is used in general because it appeals to the presumptive Usagi-like audience who want to believe in friendship, and that we can get along and not fight amongst ourselves, a theme of this arc, it's also used explicitly to parallel Mamoru and Haruka which will be relevant later this arc. 

Usagi comments to Chibiusa that she should be more careful with her secret identity, especially given how many of their enemies seem to be able to shapeshift. Chibiusa gives a cute embarrassed face before saying she's sorry but she knows she and Hotaru will be good friends.

Chibiussa than comments on Hotaru's beautiful porcelain skin, calling her very pretty. You know, every adaptation of Sailor Moon makes Hotaru and Chibiusa's friendship more and more seem like a lesbian relationship, and the fact that it started at THIS level is really saying something

Mamoru and the cats begin researching Souichi Tomoe, Hotaru's father. Turns out he is a professor of "genetic engineering" which of course in fiction means he's a mad scientist trying to experiment on the human body. He controls the district, the laboratories, and the academy. This seems like a lot for a disgraced scientist to control honestly.

Later, Kaorinite is divining by looking into a mystical pool of water, looking at Sailor Moon's power. She wonders if this is the light similar to the Taioran Crystal Pharaoh 90 was speaking off, before dismissing the idea but saying if she took Sailor Moon's power, the Master would be pleased.

Kaorinite divines further, trying to find the identity of the light that will lead them to destruction. She sees three lights in the water, but someone interferes with the signal. At the exact same time Mamoru's sleep is interrupted by dreams of a voice telling him the three talismans will be the guiding lights to destruction. It's implied this voice is also the one jamming Kaorinite's divination.

Mamoru awakens with a start, both Usagi and Chibiusa in his bed. He wonders to himself about the voice, wondering if is telling them to collect the Talismans...or to stay away from them....

We cut to Haruka and Michiru. Michiru comments she was trying to see the future in her mirror, but the mirror suddenly turned cloudy, probably from the same force that was blocking Kaorinite's divination. Haruka embraces Michiru, telling her that it might all be for nothing, they might be too late.

Michiru replies they knew that it was possible it would all be for nothing when they started. They can't stop the wheels of fate, the new awakening will come, all they can do is bring the talismans together. This is the reason people love Haruka and Michiru. The two so cool and atmospheric in everything they do. 

We cut again. Mamoru is researching Professor Tomoe only for Michiru to find him and comments on it saying that Tomoe was banished from academic society. She says Mugen is rumored to be a school for wizards, presumably a figure of speech about how many highly talented people are there...or is it..... Michiru is interrupted by a fan asking for an autograph for her world class violin skills. Seeing her talent Mamoru asks her if she's a sorceress herself, which is a clever double speak. Mamoru is asking on the face if she is a talented person like the figure of speech she just brought up, but what he's really asking underneath is whether she's a supernatural person, possibly an enemy. Michiru smiling replies... "Of Course." and gives him tickets to her violin concert.

He knows she has magical powers and is involved with this. She knows he knows. He knows she knows. She knows he knows she knows he knows. Michiru is confirming too him subtly she is in fact part of the supernatural going-ons. 

Usagi sees Mamoru with Michiru and gets jealous, wondering what they are doing together, and thinking isn't she one of the ones we're supposed to be careful off. She wanders off to the game center, where if you recall the first arc, she goes to relax when stressed and finds Haruka there, who was waiting for her. Usagi in an impulsive burst, asks if Haruka is a Sailor Senshi, making Haruka embarrassed for a moment. Usagi thinks to herself that was a dumb question. Haruka's a man. Yeah. Haruka playfully asks if Usagi "fights" with her friends, similar to Michiru, probing to see what Usagi knows, but Usagi's friends show up and Haruka leaves, sensing the hostility in the room.

Later the Senshi are talking about school with Chibusa there. Chibiusa it turns out has already become her second grand class president due to being so popular. She comments that they did an enrollment ceremony today and the new students were cute........Chibiusa are you cheating on Hotaru?!

The Senshi start getting wistful about being in ninth grade while Chibiusa's in second already, and that start worrying about entrance exams, worried that the enemy attacking will make them flunk out for sure. Makoto tries to divert by commenting that tomorrow is Rei's birthday and they should do something for it only to realize Rei's not there. Minako comments Rei went up into the mountains to "purify" herself for her 15th birthday. Makoto, misunderstanding and thinking that Rei is doing this for luck asks that Rei is in a private school and as such doesn't even have entrance exams. With it turning out that Mugen Academy is setting up something in the hills where Rei is, the Senshi have an excuse to go up there and have a party for her.

This is a pretty cool character moment for Rei, and very evocative of her naturally perfectionist and spiritual tendencies. Her idea of a birthday is to go up in the mountains and spiritually purify, even when she doesn't need the extra luck.

Cutting to the base, we see the first of the Witches V, the villains of the month this arc, Eudial. Eudial is the head of etiquette for Mugen's philosophy course, and more importantly she seeks to get vessels and "hostes" for Pharaoh 90. "Hoste" meaning "Holy Body" is another way of saying soul. Having your villain say she's going to get vessels and souls is a good way to make them immediately a creepy force.

Kaorinite goes back to divining in her divining pool, while Rei meditates in the waterfall.

A voice appears before both of them, telling them the time of destruction approaches,  and demanding "Collect them! The Three Talismans!" Rei and Kaorinite both recoil at the same time.

Kaorinite wonders if the three talismans are the three lights she saw earlier that will lead to destruction. Rei meanwhile wonders what that possibly was, whether that was the key to their enemies' destruction. Rei's internal serious monologue is interrupted by the arrival of the other Senshi, having just climbed the summit. Amusingly Makoto is a little winded while Usagi, Ami and Minako are all panting and nearly dying of exhaustion speaking to their relative physical fitness. 

It's an amusing bit. 

The Senshi celebrate Rei's birthday, each having brought gifts. Makoto baked her a birthday cake. Minako got her Casablanca lilies, her favorite flower which if you've read Casablanca Memories has a massive emotional significance to her so that's really sweet. Usagi brought her a designer teacupt set suggesting she could use them with a boyfriend when she gets one causing Rei to tsundere out. Finally Ami got her....an exam practice book suggesting they could practice exam questions while they're up there...even though as she points out Rei's school doesn't have an entrance exam. Usagi and Minako act in a mixture of horror and disgust at Ami even suggesting that. I'm inclined to agree. 

Separately Makoto talks to Rei about Mugen setting up something here. Rei comments she was aware, that she felt an omen about coming here which is partly why she came but that she and the Senshi need to work especially hard to protect Usagi. It seems to be implied she was partly training to protect Usagi. 

The Senshi are interrupted by nearby commotion, where it is revealed some of the Infinity Academy students are engaging in Judo. Haruka is there teaching. Haruka asks if they have come up to the mountain to train too, which Haruka finds surprising, a pretty subtle little jab. Makoto gets angry at his smugness. 

Haruka asks if any of them want to spar, and Makoto accepts. The two begin sparring but Haruka uses speed to turn Makoto's own strength against her with a judo flip

I think this pretty interestly speaks to the difference in their characters. Haruka takes everything lightly, making a little verbal jab viewing it as just a joke, and fights with a style that involves speed and tricking an opponent, using their own strength against them. Meanwhile Makoto takes things very seriously, and uses a more direct form of attack.

Minako yells at Haruka that you're not supposed to go rough on a girl but Haruka comments it shouldn't matter whether the opponent is a boy or a girl. Haruka continues that if a girl expects boys to go easy on her, she can't protect the ones she cares about. Makoto actually agrees begrudgingly with Haruka, commenting she doesn't want to be fought off just as a woman.

I think it's a really good message and one I whole-heartedly agreed with. Quoth Naoko Takeuchi herself: "If we girls aren't strong, we can't protect the boys we love." Eudial shows up and is angry at the interruption.

Later Rei wakes up in the next and along with Makoto, they see a secret gathering in the night of the Academy Students led by Eudial. It quickly becomes apparent by the eerie glow of the campfire, Eudial is leading them as some kind of cult, proclaiming to them their rules; that they must devote themselves entirely to the Mugen Academy, that they must give themselves entirely. A black star appears in the bonfire, and on the foreheads of the captive students as Eudial is illuminated in a hellish glow. Eudial proclaims she wants their bodies, minds, and souls for Master Pharaoh 90. That they will become perfect vessels, offering their souls and life-force.

Once again Naoko is evoking a completely different sense of otherworldly evil. If the Dark Kingdom was archaic tombs and sorceries attempting to revive a dark goddess, and the Black Moon Clan were sci-fi robots and aliens from another time infiltrating society, the enemies of the third arc are meant to evoke Satanic Cults and a Lovecraftian Horror even more so than other arcs. With evil chants of offering one soul to a dark religious overlord set by a demon fire, the atmosphere Naoko is trying to evoke is that of brainwashing cults hidden in schools and in the dark parts of otherwise civilized society. The enemies are sophisticated on the outside, but wild and insane on the inside, reflecting fears of the psychopath stalking children and the demon-worshipper corrupting the minds of youths.

Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter go out and confront Eudial personally, who declares that after she beats them up, she will level up. Sailor Mars uses her new attack to summon a fire snake which burns away Eudial's human form, revealing a demonic inner visage, her true daimon form.

Meanwhile the other Senshi wake up, Ami shaking Usagi awake. Minako gestures outside where a giant fire is seen over at the Infinity Academy's camp, the battle in progress between the Fire-wielding Daimon Eudial and the Fire-wielding Senshi Sailor Mars. They transform and quickly run over where Sailor Moon destroys Eudial with her new attack.

It's a little bit odd Sailor Mars didn't destroy Eudial. I don't know why Naoko feels Sailor Moon has to ALWAYS get the kill. The Guardian Senshi killed the Heavenly Kings back in the first arc.

The Witches V besides Eudial comment on the death of Eudial without much compassion before leaving. The Senshi share info on what happened, in particular that the enemies named themselves the Death-Busters before realizing they're being watched. The act ends with them seeing the other of the two new Sailor Senshi watching them.

Act 28 is a really good act.  Primarily this act is building up the atmosphere, but while most arcs have acts that build up the atmosphere of the enemies, and this act is no exception, this act is also dedicated to building up the mystique of Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru.

It's hard to imagine those three in any prior arc because they bring such a mature adult atmosphere to things. Haruka and Michiru are constantly speaking in mysterious language with metaphorical phrases and double-speak giving the feeling of sophistication and subtlety. They do this without ever being the over the top rich kids with extravagant talent and hobbies that they were introduced as. The two need to present an overbearing aura to the arc, to intimidate the Guardian Senshi. Haruka and Michiru are only a year older than the Guardian Senshi, but they are High School Students while the Guardian Senshi are Middle School Students struggling with the exams to get into High School. The former are young adult, the latter old children. Their comically high talent mixed with their gravitas are meant to give the impression of being in a different league. This arc has a more adult, darker feel complimenting their appearance as mature rivals, representations of adult cynicism.

I really love Hotaru as a character. She's such an evocative character at such a supernatural level, yet also so intensely relatable. The suffering goth-looking child with mysteries at the heart of the enemy conspiracy is highly popular for clear reasons. She's immediately sympathetic while also carrying the touch of danger, if only for the world she inhabits, an immediate contrast with her friend Chibiusa-chan whose all sugar and optimism. 

This act does have some general flaws but they are all so...surface level in comparison to its good points. Sailor Moon killing Eudial instead of Sailor Mars felt off, it cuts around a lot, the new Sailor disguising herself as being like Tuxedo Kamen, while thematically rich also doesn't make a lot of sense. But then you look at scenes like Hotaru's confrontation with Kaorinite, only to be helped by her father which is a scene that is painfully realistic, sweet, subverts expectations while building sympathy for the villains, and evokes Hotaru's despair and sadness. You've got the scene with Eudial stealing the souls of the school children invoking her Pharaoh, creating the dark impression of a Satanic cult. You've got Mamoru talking to Michiru, the entire conversation being full of double speak as Mamoru tries to probe for information from Michiru and her tactically giving only the information she wants too, Usagi seeing leading to her insecurity in subsequent acts, and the scene where Haruka and Makoto spar giving the impression that girls should not just expect boys to go easy on them and rise to protect the ones they care about. You've even got the really fun and funny scene, short as it is, of the Guardian Senshi celebrating Rei's birthday with her, plus a whole bunch of little bits here and there.

Act 28 is a really good act, it's just full of a whole bunch of really good elements, while setting up the arc, while also feeling cohesive.