Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Act 54 Review

 

The Starlights are shocked to see their princess Kakyuu appear before them and kneel in respect. Kakyuu says she heard their song and wanted to go to them but "her body's recover took more time than expected" suggesting she have may have been injured in a fight against Galaxia's forces when they escaped their Star System.

If that's the case it does sort of raise the question of how she got to the Sol System if she was injured and recovering inside the incense burner and how she got separated from the Starlights. Kakyuu says that Chibi-Chibi was helping her and telling her about what was going on. Kakyuu speaks to Chibi-Chibi and says she felt her stellar power and asks her "You're a Sailor Senshi aren't you?" Chibi-Chibi transforms and confirms that she is herself a Sailor Senshi with angel wings like Eternal Sailor Moon.

Back with Usagi, Nyanko reveals her true form as Sailor Tin Nyanko and attacks Luna and Artemis after they called her a hiding cat monster basically saying "Takes one to know one." Luna and Artemis, changing into their human forms, manage to evade but Tin Nyanko is right on their heels

Usagi transforms and pursues. Tin Nyanko use an attack called "Galactica Puppet" which sends out energy strings from her bracelets to grab enemies but to Luna and Artemis' shock Eternal Sailor Moon jumps in the way of the attack. During the encounter Tin Nyanko is still jokingly pretending to be Sailor Moon's friend introduces herself as Sailor Tin Nyanko from the planet of Mau, where Luna and Artemis are from. Luna calls her just a shallow imitation of their planet's Sailor Senshi and Artemis asks how she can go against the peace-loving values of their home world. 

Tin Nyanko angrily protests, calling Luna and Artemis traitors again and saying they know nothing; Sailor Mau and all Mau are dead, the Shadow Galactica turned it into a world of death. 

This is a repetition of the idea presented with Phobos and Deimos actually being aliens from Coronis, wanting to better tie the history of the Solar System to the history of the Galaxy at large. I also think Takeuchi-sensei, knowing this was the last arc wanted to give the backstory for one of the story's oldest ideas; the mooncats. While it's not particularly integrated into the plot I think she does well enough including it naturalistically and the explanation makes a fair deal of sense. They are aliens from the world of cat-aliens Mau. I also think Tin Nyanko is a relatively interesting villain having a playful catlike attitude yet also clearly projecting onto Luna and Artemis her own feelings.

Nyanko angrily expresses that she will survive this battle and that she will have her bracelets removed and being given her "former, complete" body back again. Before the reader can register that Nyanko continues with the same thing Lead Crow said, saying Galaxia will give her a Sailor Crystal and planet of her own, becoming a real Sailor Senshi. However going into the implications of the statement, Tin Nyanko is implying that all the Animamates and those who wear Galaxia's Bracelets are enslaved to Galaxia's will, which is why her attack is one that references puppets and has strings that control them, because they lack their original bodies, that Galaxia altered their bodies to be of better use to her. This will be relevant symbolically later but broadly notice again that Galaxia is associated with a gnostic contempt for the body, that her power reveals the temporality of bodies. 

Usagi comments to herself on Luna and Artemis being from Mau the way Phobos and Deimos were from Coronis, and they left their home planets to aid them. Then Diana in her human form appears to aid her parents, the three of them getting hit by an attack from Tin Nyanko, the attack hitting Diana's Crescent Moon disabling her ability to speak.

The attack disabling Diana's speech because it hits her Crescent Moon makes sense since in Act 1 we were shown the Mautians can't speak or use some of their abilities if the Crescent Moon on their forehead is covered. The bigger problem is how Diana returned to the past, though while this is a mystery for now, it does get an explanation later. 

Sailor Moon actually tries to convince Nyanko to stop her actions which I just thought was notable as it meant Nyanko really did a good job convincing Usagi they were friends, possibly cause of Usagi's loneliness at the death of the other Senshi. Nyanko just creates some kind of illusory duplicates however and hits Luna and Artemis, similarly disabling their ability to talk. Before Nyanko can kill them however Sailor Moon leaps in the way again, protecting them, Nyanko believing it. Star Fighter than bursts in and shoots a laser at Tin Nyanko. Nyanko's evidently a lot less confident than the other Animamates and runs at away at the number of enemies there.

Sailor Moon reacts in surprise to see the Starlights, and extra surprise to see the newly transformed Chibi Chibi. While their speaking is disabled from having their Moon Crescents damaged and they are hurt, the Mautians are still alive. It does make one wonder why Galaxia decided not to show up this time. It might have been a cool scene to see Galaxia show and have the Starlights freak out at her finally appearing before them, though it would have disrupted the flow of the act. The Senshi bring the Mautions back to the wise Princess Kakyuu to get her advice on helping them.

Kakyuu gives herself a very formal and regal introduction to Usagi expressing that she is "Kakyuu, First Princess of the Tankei Kingdom, of the Planet Kinmoku." Kakyuu as a name typically refers to a fireball or a very bright meteor. Kakyuu gives a very formal bow to Usagi and apologizes for the Starlights rudeness, expressing admiration for the future Neo-Queen Serenity. Usagi in confusion asks "How do you know me?" and Kakyuu responds that the whole galaxies admires the strength and beauty of the Senshi of the Sol System, and that when she and Mamoru came together and coronated themselves at the end of the Dream Arc, they sent a shining image across the universe, a message of strength and warmth from the Solar System.

This is a really cool way to link up the Dream and Stars arcs and it makes sense both literally and metaphorically. The End of the Dream Arc was the Coronation of Serenity and Endymion, it was their formal declaration of nation, it was them stating that the Solar System was a kingdom again, their kingdom. But kingdoms have enemy kingdoms. By declaring them, they drew the eye of Galaxia as seen at the start of the arc, and her Shadow Galactica, the most immense of cosmic kingdoms  Their coronation like many similar royal ceremonies is also a coming-of-age ceremony where the Princess becomes Queen. And like any adult, they must shift from their problems of childhood represented in the first four arcs' villains, internal problems of their own inner world, the Solar System, and unto the problems of the greater world, the problems of other people. The villains in this arc are other Sailor Senshi as a way of showing the increased maturation of the threat. They're not fighting formless space monsters anymore, they're fighting other people who are like them in a sense. I also just think it's cool how this isn't framed as a bad thing they did which could have been an easy error to make, making it seem like Usagi and Mamoru were wrong to announce their presence to their universe. It did draw Galaxia's eye and brought on their current crisis. But the presence of strong and noble Senshi like them clearly gave hope to a hopeless Galaxy under the imminent reign of Galaxia. This isn't a cosmic horror story, or just a cosmic horror story, about how everything in space wants to kill you, it's a tale of Usagi's increased responsibility with the immense challenges that come with it and also increased ability to care for others.

Kakyuu comments on the Mautions that their Star Seeds have the same shining power as Sailor Crystals. Seiya tells Princess Kakyuu that the enemy fled before they could deliver the finishing blow, and therefore it doesn't seem like Galaxia had complete control over her, an astute observation. Kakyuu tells Sailor Moon of the woes of the galaxy. Sailor Galaxia is recruiting young ambitious people and giving them the power of Stolen Sailor Crystals which is what gives them their power, however they're not True Sailor Senshi and without their bracelets, their shackles to Galaxia's will, they die, forcing them to her will. 

Kakyuu says that the places Galaxia has taken are planets of death, where both the living and dead die. Even... and Kakyuu is unable to explain who but she is clearly referring to her love also perishing, paralleling her to Usagi.

Sailor Galaxia is the Soldier of Destruction making her the fundamental opposite of Sailor Moon, the Soldier of Restoration, their powers being opposite. I've seen some people compare Saturn and Galaxia in regards of their Sailor Affiliation but the major difference is that Saturn is the Sailor Senshi of Death as well as Life, of the cycle. She causes living things to die so that they may be reborn. Galaxia is nowhere near as benevolent in her powers. She simply destroys things; body, soul, and all else, leaving nothing but their Sailor Crystal. 

Princess Kakyuu tells Sailor Moon however that no matter how many planets Galaxia attacks, her ultimate goal is...her. Usagi. Usagi, shocked, asks why and Kakyuu responds "Because you carry the Sailor Crystal with the strongest power in the Galaxy, you carry the Silver Moon Crystal." We come full circle back to the First Arc. Usagi then wondered if she was losing herself to Princess Serenity, the princess doomed by fate. Now Usagi is trapped by Sailor Moon, by the Silver Crystal, by being the heroine and inviting death and destruction on everyone else. Usagi thinks back to the Second Arc, where Saphir has yelled in fury that she and her Silver Crystal disrupted history...she questions in her mind, "is all this really my fault, everyone was attacked because of me?"

An excellent callback, perfect for the situation, and an excellent internal conflict that both calls back to the themes of prior arcs while also advancing the character. Usagi tells Kakyuu that she has to go where Galaxia is and asks her location. You'd normally expect in this type of scenario for the characters to be like "oh no it's too dangerous!" and the main character to be all like "It's dangerous but I have to do it" or some such but Kakyuu gets a determined look and says she will lead Usagi there herself, to the surprise of the Starlights. There's an atmospheric picture of Usagi and Kakyuu holding hands transposed over the galaxy while the Starlights give some exposition on the galaxy, Taiki saying that the Solar System is a special place in the Galaxy for being exceptionally well-balanced and having sustained balanced growth. Yaten elaborates that all things that bear life have a Star Seed including people, planets, and stars from which they grow. Special Star Seeds, called Sailor Crystals are sent to chosen planets to guard them, developing into a Sailor Guardian alongside them. This might be why the Sol System Senshi are so strong, their System has the most sustained balanced growth and so the planets and consequently the Senshi developed the most.

This actually does explain something alluded to since the first chapter of Sailor V, that the Sailor Senshi are "chosen" Soldiers, blessed by the planets, bearing the light of the stars within them which is what grants them their superpowers. This is the light of the Star Seeds within them enveloping like an aura, that glow around them sometimes, and the way they are chosen is to grow and develop like their associated planet. The notion that all living things have a special thing, a spirit, separating them from inanimate matter is a common idea in spirituality.

This line of thought reminds Usagi of her friends and she begins to weep again. Seiya goes to comfort Usagi but she regains her composure, saying "the battle with Galaxia awaits me." Seiya metaphorically sees Seiya with Heavy Angel wings, her arms chained commenting how she always has those heavy angel wings holding her down.

It's really beautiful imagery I think, that what should be carrying her up to her heaven, her love and purity are dragging down into the ground as she suffers from the burden of responsibility and the pain of loss. Seiya's words carry the connotations that Usagi's always felt this way, that this weight is one Usagi already knows. I find it hard to interpret this sentiment, not because it has no obvious connections but because, like so many scenes in Stars, it can be seen in so many ways. Perhaps it is in admiration. Usagi, though the manga makes it easy to forget this fact, is a teenage girl who has to bear the weight of the world numerous times and her ability to transform from a tearful cowardly girl to the Hero of Love and Justice so quickly as Seiya just witnessed is truly something incredible. Perhaps it is in despair at how easily she accepts this binding, this horrid responsibility suggested by Usagi's cold expression on the first panel. Notice how the bindings on her go to her wrist, the wrist bracelets of Galaxia and her minions enslaving them being a common idea this arc. Perhaps as suggested by the next panels, it's an expression of Seiya's love wondering if Usagi has seen the death of her loved one before. It's a beautiful complex motif that can be seen in a multitude of ways. 

Seiya tells Usagi that Kakyuu also lost her true love to Galaxia and in classic knight and princess manner pledges her strength to Usagi, kissing her hand as she does so. Usagi looks in Seiya's eyes and wonders if she was never a Sailor Senshi, would she have ever met her companions, without the Silver Moon Crystal would she even exist? Thinking back to Yaten talking about their Eternal Star Seeds, Eternal Identities as Sailor Senshi,  Usagi says the thing in her heart all arc, that she wishes their physical bodies would last for eternity too.

This is another scene I don't know how to express. So many emotions are intermingling on this page and I feel like to properly address it would require a blog unto itself. This arc is about the dichotomy between the temporal, physical reality and the eternal, spiritual reality. The physical world, our physical lives are contingent on the spiritual reality, is born from it. Even if you're not a religious or spiritual person at all, you can understand this by comparing your personal life to the cosmos itself, practically a form of eternal more spiritual existence in comparison. All things are instances of broader patterns and trends, temporary bodies inhabited by widespread animating forces, just as Usagi in an incarnation of the Silver Crystal, the temporary mundane life compared to her eternal role as Sailor Moon.

In this arrangement the physical is indebted to the spiritual, indeed would seem to disappear into them. Our little lives seem to disappear into the grand scope of the universe, the moment slipping away into eternity. And an existential panic can arise, that all we are can be subsumed, eaten up like the fragile moment, by the underlying reality that causes us. Are we born purely as a vessel for the eternal reality, is our sense of self and all the details of life going to disappear into the role we inhabit? Moreover, are all our efforts and passions and loves we find in this world meaningless if it disappears like any other space dust? But Usagi ever since she feared losing herself to Princess Serenity back in the first arc is the girl who wants to elevate her humble mundane life on Earth, who chose to live on Earth as a normal girl over living as the Magical Queen of the Moon for the time being. In this way, she is the opposite of Galaxia. Galaxia asked why the Sol Senshi cling to their human Star Seeds just in the same way Usagi wishes their bodies, their human lives were as eternal as their Sailor Identities. 

Seiya gives her a reassuring kiss on the cheek, saying she hopes they can be reincarnated again. Seiya offers to walk Usagi home but she gives a brave smile and takes Chibi-Chibi. Watching her leave, Seiya comments that it would never work out between them, her rank in the Galaxy is higher than hers, which is a fun little bit of world-building.

Chibi-Chibi plays on the swings a little and Usagi starts thinking about how strange Chibi-Chibi is, always trying to make Usagi feel better but she knows nothing about Chibi-Chibi. She asks Chibi-Chibi who she is and and Chibi-Chibi hilariously responds with "I am me." Not only is that a good childish response that's also kinda profound, especially for this arc which is so focused on identities and the divide between identities it also carries extra meaning if you know already who Chibi-Chibi is. 

Usagi gets annoyed at the answer-dodging and begins to chase Chibi-Chibi only to be stopped by a crystal falling from the sky. A Sailor Crystal. A very familiar woman wearing a long flowing dress and with long flowing hair asks for it and thanks Usagi for giving it back to her.

The woman says "you always have so many friends" to Usagi before asking if it's because...of Usagi's Sailor Crystal.

An immense energy emerges from her upon saying that, sending Usagi into a defensive crouch over Chibi-Chibi. The energy is greater than any Usagi has feelt before as Usagi realizes just as she said she had too earlier, she's come face to face with Galaxia!

Act 54 is a great act though acts as a slightly, emphasis on slightly, calmer act after the trauma of last act. Mostly this act serves as an exposition on the current state of the galaxy and the nature of the Star Seeds, the big plot device of the arc. Despite this however, Naoko manages to make the arc really engaging imo through these really beautiful imagery.

This is always the part of Sailor Moon I love most, when it gets all otherworldly and esoteric when you're not even fully sure what's meant to be literal and what's meant to be metaphorical, when the boundary between worlds is thinnest, and each scene, each line can be read in a dozen different ways, thought of and understood differently in different tones over and over again. It's a type of content that I can enjoy almost uniquely over and over again when most series the meaning is expunged almost immediately after seeing it once. It's a tone that makes images and feelings cascade through my mind the way emotional music or poetry can do. Most Arcs in Sailor Moon start in the relatively mundane world and build up over the course of the arc into the surreal and otherwordly, and even most acts have this internal structure. Yet Stars as the finale for the entire series feels that way semi-consistently throughout, as though it is to the other arcs what the confrontation with the Eldritch Horrors are for the other arcs. 

It's kind of hard to know where to even start talking about this act because it's so consistently good throughout the course of it. My favorite part however is probably the two pages where Seiya comments on Usagi's heavy angels wings binding her, and the following page where Usagi wonders if she would have even been born without the Silver Crystal and comments she wishes that their bodies would also last for eternity. I feel there's so many emotions packed into those two pages and it's so indicative of the greater conflict of the arc, and the two dualities, the one with Usagi and the one she has with Galaxia. Galaxia this arc represents one who also sees the Eternal Identity of Sailor Senshi as valuable, who wonders why they even bother to have a mundane temporal identity. However for Usagi this is exactly reversed in orientation; she lives in the mundane temporal world of her friendships and her normal identity, and it's precisely losing herself and all she knows to the Eternal Identity of Sailor Moon that crushes her. She would rather never fight for Love and Justice again, would rather live everyday having fun with her friends, and taking up the mantle of her responsibilities of her Eternal Self which should give her the freedom to fly through the Heavens unbounded like it does Galaxia, instead, it weighs her down with guilt and self-doubt as she holds herself responsible for the deaths of her loved ones and comrades against the galaxy.

We just came off the tail of an arc that taught that one should not put their eternal dream as secondary to the temporal material dream, but Usagi here is not trying to make her Sailor Identity secondary, she just wishes that their mundane identity was as important, as eternal as it was, because that's where she draws her power from her. Stars has a longer emotional journey, but this section here really tells you everything you will need to know about the conflict between Usagi and Galaxia as established earlier, setting the stage for the arc. It's incredible to me just how paradoxically this arc can be incredibly esoteric and abstract in its theme, yet so incredibly personal and relatable. On a personal level, I have found this to be perhaps the most primary conflict in my life from the very small and irrelevant to the existential and massive: that the smaller and more local an event, the more temporal it is, the less you can trust it to always be there. If you turn your gaze into eternity, you find that all the soft parts of you and your life fade away into the infinite. Everything you have a fondness for, from clothes to food, from fandoms to works, from ideals to people, the things you trust fade like planets and stars and galaxies as you zoom out into the perspective of the cosmos. And if you're someone who perhaps struggles with change like Usagi, or perhaps like me, you might feel Earth is too Chaotic and Heaven too distant for your heart, wishing that these joys you find in the world may continue for eternity. 

To get away from my personal meditations and back to the more literal parts of the act, I think other parts of this act really complement the overall theme and plot of the arc. As mentioned the act does a lot of exposition work for the arc as well as explain plot elements that have been mysteries since the beginning of the series such as what the Silver Crystal IS, where Luna and Artemis come from, what the nature of Sailor Senshi are, and more. The beginning fight with Tin Nyanko is pretty good and the ending part of Galaxia ambushing Usagi when both are in their civilian states is an ironic moment for good reason, it's yet another point of Galaxia's unpredictability and engaging in prolonged mental warfare and downright torture of the sensitive Usagi for her own purpose, making her feel like it's impossible to trust anywhere or anything no matter mundane, making her feel like every moment is just one step away from the world fading away around her again into blackness the way it did when Mamoru died. I also think it was a really cool decision to have Usagi face Galaxia directly now that Usagi has accepted the reality of what Galaxia represents.

Outside the larger parts of the act, it also has a few cute smaller details peppered in. You've got Seiya's crush on Usagi that she knows will remain unrequited, you've got Chibi-Chibi's cute and honestly kinda brilliant response to Usagi's question of "who are you?" with "I am me." You've got Kakyuu's backstory as well as two different fantastic callbacks to prior arcs with Usagi remembering Saphir telling her that she and her Silver Crystal have thrown off the course of human history at exactly the time Usagi would remember that, as well as the reveal that the Stars Arc happened because of the Coronation at the end of last act, a callback which not only makes a lot of sense literally and metaphorically but also makes sure to show that it was not just a bad thing which is a really smart writing decision. 

I can get if someone's  not super into this act because it's a lot of talking and not much happens for the majority of it, plus if you already know the lore of the series it's a lot of just exposition, but for me personally I absolutely adore it.