Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Act 57 Review

 

The story resumes with Kakyuu desperately trying to get to the blue flames encompassing the Starlights' bodies while Sailor Moon holds her back for her own good. The bodies of the Starlights disappear and Kakyuu tearfully mourns them. Yet Usagi recalls Yaten's words that their Star Seeds are eternal and uses that to comfort Princess Kakyuu by saying if they get the Star Seeds the Starlights can be returned to life.

It's a pretty sweet scene showing in a way Yaten herself reassuring Kakyuu since Yaten gave Usagi that knowledge specifically. More pragmatically I believe Takeuchi-Sensei was trying to lower the amount of characters that are around so she doesn't have to be concerned what they're all doing at any particular point. With the Amazon Senshi coming that would be kind of a lot to deal with in not a lot of page space. 

Eternal Sailor Moon, Sailor Chibi-Chibi Moon, and Princess Kakyuu fly off to the Galaxia castle. Then in a move that makes total sense when you know her master plan but is also one of the most hilariously petty things I've ever seen a villain do, Galaxia starts teleporting her castle away right before Sailor Moon reaches it over and over just to annoy Sailor Moon.

I could wax on about Galaxia being some kind of unreachable ideal or the parallel to the Silver Crystal's title as the Maboroshi no Ginzhuisho or what have you but honestly I just think this is really funny in how petty a way Galaxia is using to annoy Usagi. Sailor Moon thinks to herself that it can't be unreachable because Galaxia wants to fight her, she can FEEL it. She thinks to Galaxia "where are you Galaxia, where are the Star Seeds?"

Galaxia is indeed watching them from afar, enjoying annoying Sailor Moon when Chi and Phi show up, apologizing for the failures of Lethe and Mnesmonye, giving their Sailor Crystals to Galaxia. They comment at their tremendous power, at how they seem to almost still be breathing, saying that while Crystals without their body or mind normally only produce minimal power, thanks to Galaxia they can release the great power hidden with the Sailor Crystals, basically explaining why the Animamates could use the power of Sailor Crystals that aren't theirs. 

Galaxia states that with her Saffer Crystal, the ultimate force of destruction and the Silver Crystal, the ultimate force of rebirth, she will be invincible and control the galaxy...no...the universe. Galaxia speaks to her heart pounding with excitement and transforms for battle.

This is something I hadn't noticed until relatively recently but Galaxia's transformation brooch resembles Usagi's in arc 1, another visual demonstration of Galaxia being the Anti-Usagi. Sailor Galaxia prepares to meet Usagi saying they shall form a new history for the galaxy in their clash. Galaxia meets with Chaos and tells him it's almost time with Chaos speaking, saying it's almost time to form a new universe. 

Meanwhile back with Sailor Moon, she and her companions find themselves traveling through a strange fog, ending up in a graveyard where a strange butterfly themed Senshi stands before them, surrounded by butterflies. A funeral procession goes by and the mysterious Senshi says to our heroes "The butterflies are the dying embers of the stars, the funeral procession of butterflies flows forever through the galaxy." I think this is mostly just mood-setting but it's super atmospheric to me, the sense of finality and cosmic mystery going on, the sense that events rush past without our control. 

Kakyuu in shock finds the graves for the Starlights already made. The mysterious Senshi says it seems more flames have come to be extinguished, wondering what color butterflies will come from them. Moon and company sees their own graves being dug and the Senshi reveals herself as a Sailor Animamate Heavy Metal Papillion, the hunter of souls attacking them by binding them with vines. She says that to be burned at the stake is the logical tragic end for the ill-fated Messiah.

Heavy Metal Papillion is one of the most obscure villains in the series, only showing up for a few pages but Takeuchi-Sensei really uses the entire time to make her as dramatic and atmospheric as possible. Of course the real reason she included this scene is to reintroduce some specific characters into the plot.

Though the Senshi are bound up Chibi-Chibi, in a conceptually really cool move uses the shine of her eye to send a signal back towards Earth. Instantly the Amazon Senshi and Chibi-Moon arrive, freeing Sailor Moon, Kakyuu, and Chibi-Chibi then killing Heavy Metal Papillion with a team attack.

I think Chibi-Chibi Moon uses the gleam of her eye as a distress signal to be a conceptually cool idea for how a cosmically powerful character might send a signal when tied down. Usually it'd be something like telepathy which is fine but not especially original. It's also important for Chibi-Moon's development that she and her team saves Sailor Moon from an enemy.

Sailor Moon and Chibi-Moon greet each other with Chibi-Moon quickly explaining what's been happening to the 30th Century, with everyone beginning to fade away save their Crystals and Sailor Moon explaining their Crystals were taken by Galaxia. Sailor Moon thinks back to Galaxia asking her if she really believes her future will come to be and redoubles her determination.

Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi-Moon embrace for comfort. The Amazon Senshi mention that they were on Earth when a powerful ray of light shone to them, calling them to Sagittarius Zero Star. Chibi-Moon assumes it was Sailor Moon that brought them to the Galaxy Cauldron but Sailor Moon says she doesn't have that kind of power. They ask Kakyuu but Kakyuu also says she doesn't have that kind of power. They wonder how it could have possibly happened while little Chibi-Chibi Moon holds onto Usagi's leg.

Sailor Ceres notices the little Senshi and wonders if it's her, though is doubtful given her small size and timid demeanor. Sailor Moon explains that she's Sailor Chibi-Chibi much to Chibi-Moon's indignation. Sailor Moon comments that Chibi-Chibi crossed spacetime like Chibi-Moon and wonders if she's Chibi-Moon's little sister causing much shock on Chibi-Moon's part. The Amazon Senshi comment on the idea, noting they heart the queen only had one child.....this is another case of the characters not thinking logically with time travel causing a weird logic error. If Neo-Queen Serenity had another child past the time you were from, you wouldn't know about her yet but she would still be able to travel back in time. 

Sailor Moon wonders then if she's Chibi-Moon's child making Chibi-Moon have an even bigger shocked reaction, and wonder who her husband is. Chibi-Moon intuits Chibi-Chibi, whoever she is, is not her daughter, while Sailor Moon comments that Chibi-Chibi doesn't speak much but, regardless of who she is, has helped them many times and is a definite ally of theirs. 

In an amusing bit Chibi-Moon comments on the small girls whose power can reach Earth from the center of the Galaxy, an immeasurable power like Eternal Sailor Moon's, which is contrasted visually by Chibi-Chibi hiding her face behind Sailor Moon's legs. 

The fog clears and Galaxia's palace appears before the Senshi. However they are stopped by the "Star Gardeners" Sailor Chi and Sailor Phi, who welcome them to the Star Garden. Kakyuu demands the Starlights' Crystals but Galaxia's generals indicate to one of the clusters of crystals they've formed. Phi mentions that it seems more Sailor Crystals have come to join the Zero Star, which is a pretty cool example of Phi and Chi dehumanizing them as an expression of being enemies being used to further reflected Galaxia's philosophy. They're not people, their mundane identities mean nothing, they're simply more Sailor Crystals to be added to the clusters they've found. 

Princess Kakyuu prepares to get the Starlights Crystal by transforming into her own Sailor Form, Sailor Kakyuu

Why she didn't transform before now is not clear, though as Sailor Senshi outside Sailor Moon don't have infinite power, you could say that because she didn't need to be one to fly to Sagittarius Zero she was conserving her power for when she needed it. It's pretty cool that Kakyuu is a canonical, in fact the ONLY canonical example of a Sailor Senshi of a star rather than a planet or other smaller celestial body. She is the Sailor Senshi of the Kinmoku Star.

Sailor Kakyuu calls down extra power from the Starlights, either literally, given their crystals are right there, or emotionally it's not clear. Kakyuu uses her attack "Starlight Royal Straight Flash" throwing a series of cards at the Starlights Crystals to retrieve them however while Chi and Phi are unable to stop them, they teleport away regardless, presumably from Galaxia still watching and trolling them. 

Sailor Phi attempts to attack Sailor Kakyuu with her attack called "Galactica Plants Blizzard" but Sailor Kakyuu counters with her own attack, generating a flower storm around her called "Kinmoku Fusion Tempest." Sailor Moon prepares her Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss attack to help when Sailor Kakyuu tells her that their bracelets are the source of their power. Sailor Moon finishes the attack destroying Sailor Phi but Sailor Chi teleports behind Sailor Kakyuu, stabbing her through with Chi's weapon. The Amazon Senshi counterattack Sailor Chi while Eternal Sailor Moon holds the dying Kakyuu. She professes her dying wish for a world of peace without fighting but says in a speech that will inspire Sailor Moon near the climax that even if there is fighting, she wouldn't mind so long as they are all reborn together again

Over the course of the Sailor Moon franchise if Usagi is a representation of the power of love, Kakyuu is a representation of the power of hope, being a character defined by her hope for a peaceful galaxy and the representation of the Starlights hope. These words will help inspire the climax of the series later and retroactively have more meaning, in Kakyuu's expression that she would be willing to be reborn into a world with conflict if it means being reborn with everyone else.

Sailor Moon expresses that she will be reborn, that they are Sailor Senshi and through their Sailor Crystals they will be reborn again and again, an expression of the eternal part of them. I like how they clasp their hands in this part, which is what Usagi said as an example of how through our physical bodies we make each other stronger and show each other love. Kakyuu perishes, her final words is saying that the Sailor Crystals are their hope. 

Sailor Chi watches this display and tells Sailor Moon that all this senseless death would cease if she would give Galaxia the Silver Crystal, that for the sake of the universe she should just surrender. This is the fundamental misunderstanding that Galaxia and her minions have of Sailor Moon and her allies, they see these deaths as just failures and therefore meaningless. But Sailor Moon and friends know that these deaths have meaning and that their love persists beyond the person's deaths, once again setting up the climax. Sailor Moon tells Sailor Chi that no matter how many lives are lost, this war won't end. Sailor Moon rises from her kneeling position and as she does the spirit of Kakyuu lingers in her memories,  the textbook indicating her as the symbol of hope, and she is filled with greater power as she one shots Sailor Chi declaring her faith in the purpose of the Sailor Crystals.

However in the distance, eight lights shine, the lights of eight Sailor Senshi to test Sailor Moon's hope, her resolve.

Princess Kakyuu's star seed flies away into the bracelet-clad arm of one of Galaxia's Senshi. Sailor Moon's next opponents are...

the Sol System Senshi.

Act 57 is a really good act however it's kind of difficult to talk about why because it's not so much that it's really good at any one thing in particular, but moreso it does a bit of everything. In contrast to the prior arc which was as almost as self-contained as any act in Sailor Moon could be, this act seems to connect with everything but itself. Indeed if I had any critique it's that the act in itself feels somewhat unfocused and like it doesn't have any particular throughline for it specifically.

This isn't a major plot act per se, it's still got an episodic story. Yet it does have significant plot developments with the death of Kakyuu and the return of Chibi-Moon and her Senshi, as well as the ending. These are some pretty substantial plot developments culminating Chibi-Moon's personal character arc, the ending of the act leading into the major events of the next act, and Kakyuu representing hope and her final words foreshadowing the climax of the overall story. However while all of these are sufficient or good: the ending builds suspense and excitement, Chibi-Moon's return is functional, and Kakyuu's death thematically resonant, NONE of them are the focus of the act. All of them are given a few pages to do.

Conversely this is not like last act where it's primarily an act a self-sufficient story of defeating one of Galaxia's defenders. There's two separate fight scenes this act; the first one with a new villainess, Heavy Metal Papillion, and the latter with Sailor Chi and Sailor Phi, Galaxia's two generals we've seen since the start. The former has good buildup and for a character with only a few pages has a lot of good atmosphere with trippy esoteric lines about death and the universe complimenting graveyard imagery, along with the Chibi-Chibi summoning the Chibi-Moon and company who save Sailor Moon. The latter obviously has been building over the arc and the culmination of Kakyuu's arc. However once again neither of these are really the focus of this act in particular, and are moreso dedicated to tying up some loose ends that the act had established prior and/or introducing elements which will be important later.

When you take these two things together the act is full of really good parts but is not quite as good as the sum of its parts due to a lack of narrative focus. You can kind of feel Takeuchi-hurrying to get all the plot elements she wants into place. But that's not to say it's bad, it's handled relatively gracefully or at least creatively with bizarre plot elements like reestablishing the mystery of Chibi-Chibi's power, bringing Chibi-Moon and the Amazon Senshi back into the story, and creating a resolution to the fight scene Sailor Moon is in with one action. 

There are some other disconnected bits of this act I think are good. This isn't meant to be a funny act but it does have Chibiusa's exasperation at Chibi-Chibi and the unintentional comedic of Galaxia's petty trolling of Usagi which I think is pretty hilarious. For a Stars Act it's not got the most philosophical musings or cosmic imagery but it has some with Kakyuu's final speech and Heavy Metal Papillion's introduction. It's relatively speaking not an act as focused on the central villain or conflict of Galaxia and her ideological battle with Usagi or the conflict between Gnosticism vs Nihilism, but it has some of that with Usagi remembering Galaxia asking her if she is sure the future she imagines will come to pass, Sailor Chi telling Usagi that it would be better for her to just surrender to end the senseless death, Galaxia transforming in preparation for her fight with Usagi using a brooch that mirrors Usagi's own in Arc 1 etc.

This is an act that I think is overall a good example of Sailor Moon. It's got a little bit of everything. It could stand to be a bit more focused or to be better organized but as it stands I think it's a pretty good act from overall having a lot of appeals to it.