Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Act 58 Review

 

Act 58, and this is quite possibly going to be the shortest review blog of all these as this act is mostly... very straightforward.

As might be expected, Sailor Moon and company are shocked to see the Sol System senshi again, seemingly alive. Sailor Moon doesn't register what they said but Chibi-Moon and Chibi-Chibi notice the Galactica Bracelets on their arms. However emerging from the shadows is the leader of Galaxia's Sol Senshi, the single most impactful person Usagi could see

This isn't a critique of this arc per se, but I do think this would have been more impactful if Mamoru hadn't been brainwashed in the Black Moon Clan Arc so this plot point hadn't been done since the First Arc. As it stands however it's still a very impactful moment. Mamoru emerging from the shadows is drawn beautifully, the blending in of Mamoru into the darkness being a visual representation of him emerging from the realm of what Usagi thought was lost. Mamoru's death is what triggered the conflict of this arc, it represented the painful reality represented by Galaxia that Usagi struggled to even acknowledge for several acts. If you know Galaxia's plan, you know why she's doing this, why she is showing Usagi her loved ones opposed to her.

Sailor Moon is shocked, bringing her hands to her mouth. Chibi-Chibi tries to cling to Sailor Moon's leg trying to stop her, knowing how much this is going to hurt her. But Sailor Moon bears her no mind running forth to be with her friends again. But Usagi's heart shatters again as Mamoru tells them to kill Sailor Moon and take her Silver Crystal. Mercury and Mars attack Sailor Moon but their attacks are blocked by the Amazon Senshi, though it knocks them out.

I am not sure if it could really have been narratively justified, maybe if Usagi and Chibi-Moon had to fight Mamoru and/or the Outer Senshi but I really would have liked if the Galactica Guardian Senshi had actually fought the Amazon Senshi. We previously had the hyping of the legendary strength of the Guardian Senshi, seeing them being able to fight the Animamates that went through Star Systems killing normal Senshi so there would have been immediate threat and drama. I think it would have been a really cool symbolic moment seeing Chibi-Moon's Senshi have to rise to equal Sailor Moon's Senshi, a representation of Chibiusa's desire last arc to have friends like Usagi's. And maybe they could have won via something like teamwork to show that the thing that makes the Guardian Senshi so powerful is their friendship. It would also be a dramatic reversal of the Dream Arc where the Guardian Senshi had to stop the Amazoness Quartet. Just my speculation, I know there wasn't really time but if I was trying to expand the story of Sailor Moon that's one thing I might try. 

Chibi-Moon tells Sailor Moon it's the bracelets that must be controlling them and if Sailor Moon destroys the bracelets, they'll return to normal. However Chibi-Chibi takes her hand and shakes her head vigorously, showing her visions of the Senshi and Mamoru being reduced to dust. She's trying to tell her these aren't really the Senshi that Usagi and Chibiusa love. This may be their bodies and their powers but their minds aren't here.

Jupiter attacks Sailor Moon next, knocking her back. Chibi-Moon tries to relay to Sailor Moon what Chibi-Chibi told her, these aren't the Sol Senshi, they're "imposters" but Sailor Moon can't believe it, because it's their power, their attacks.

The Outer Senshi attack next, Sailor Pluto knocking back Sailor Moon with her Garnet Orb. The other Outers draw down more power from Galaxia with Uranus one-shotting Chibi-Moon. Sailor Saturn attacks Sailor Moon but Chibi-Moon blocks it. Then Neptune attacks Sailor Moon and....she actually blocks it, proclaiming that she's not Neptune.

Sailor Moon's power is that of the Silver Crystal which changes with her heart, with how resolute her heart is, her emotional state. The Galactica Senshi have been knocking her around so casually because she can't bring herself to fight her friends, but with the surge of her conviction she equals Neptune even after she's been amped. 

Saturn and Pluto use a combined attack enhanced by Galaxia knocking back even Chibi-Chibi. Venus uses her attack on Sailor Moon who equals it with her own. Tuxedo Kamen, seeing this battle is not going as wanted. Sailor Moon pursues, seeing in Tuxedo Kamen's eyes that he's not Mamoru, it doesn't have that blue glow that she fell in love with. 

The Four Guardian Senshi all attack Sailor Moon at once, and she blocks and equals all four of them. Chibi-Moon lays next to the Amazon Senshi knocked out, worried that if Sailor Moon is beaten, they'll all be killed and the Earth will be doomed, yelling out for her to protect the galaxy and the future.

Sailor Moon tries to take these words to heart and uses her Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss, an attack that so far has never once failed to kill an enemy instantly. Sailor Venus catches the attack in her hand, mocking the power and comparing it to a gentle breeze. Sailor Moon says to herself that she can't do it, she can't beat overcome them, a vision of a smiling joke-y Minako playing in her mind. It's not said but this is because they are her power, and now her own power is against her. She can't summon the conviction in her heart to see destroy them.

 The Galactica Sol Senshi attack Sailor Moon all together. Her wings are destroyed, and her tiare is broken.

Usagi's angel wings are a visual imagery that appears several times this arc. They represent Usagi's love. Normally they give her the power ro fly through the Heavens, to rise above the bounds of gravity, to ascend into the eternal world. Yet with the loss of her loved ones, the wings became heavy and ironically dragged us down, just as the love that should uplift us can fill us with sorrow, and can bind us to painful duties. But now facing her loved ones, Usagi's wings are broken outright, a symbol of her heart breaking. Now Usagi is without her wings and her tiare showing the same thing as her attack being tanked by Sailor Venus prior, that her power is gone, that the passion of her heart is broken, for she now is expected to destroy the very thing she's trying to save.  

Chibi-Moon painfully rises wanting to come to her mother's aid, but to her shock Chibi-Chibi grabs her hand, holding her back. Chibi-Chibi tells her that this is Sailor Moon's "personal fight", upon which the fate of the galaxy resides. I believe what Chibi-Chibi means when she says it's Sailor Moon's personal fight, is that this is an internal fight of Usagi's, or primarily an internal battle and the fate of the galaxy requires Usagi to have the conviction she will gain from this fight, though I admit it could be clearer. Chibi-Chibi asks Chibi-Moon to trust in Sailor Moon.

The Galactica Senshi approach Sailor Moon with Mamoru declaring it is time for them to end Sailor Moon. However Sailor Moon proclaims she can't let things end here, and from her power the tiara is restored, which she uses to while still lying on the ground broken, one-shot all the other Senshis' bodies returning them to Sailor Crystals

Conceptually this is a really cool moment. It is Sailor Moon regaining her conviction not from her love for her friends specifically but from a deeper principle within as exemplified by the restoration of her tiare but not her wings, but I don't think it's explained nearly well enough. Once again if I was expanding I think this could be added on, in particular something like hearing Chibi-Moon talking and thinking that even if she loses her friends again here and now, there is a future worth fighting for Chibi-Moon represents, the future world they all swore to protect together. As it stands it's not bad per se, it represents the next move in Galaxia's plan and symbolically makes sense from that perspective, but this moment does come rather suddenly. 

The final 10 pages of this act have an immense mood change and pace change. Sailor Moon sees the Sailor Crystals and reaches for them but they disappear before her eyes, just as the Starlights did to Princess Kakyuu. Sailor Moon quietly walks into the Galactica Palace where at the apex she stands. Sailor Galaxia welcomes Sailor Moon to her castle, commenting that she hopes her golems put on a good show. 

Galaxia has such a cool presence. She's imposing and somehow larger than life yet somehow also subdued about it, as though it's all still meaningless and little effort, speaking of the past emotional encounter for Usagi as though it was some kind of little show. 

Sailor Moon thinks she "finally reached you, Galaxia." Galaxia comments that they broke Sailor Moon's wings, saying with a sick delight that Sailor Moon's power radiant and ever-rising, is from her hatred for Galaxia. However Sailor Moon rebuffs this statement, saying her power is not from hatred. Sailor Moon stands up to Galaxia, the first time anyone probably ever has, saying what she normally says, that her power comes from her friends, because she has faith in them. However she then adds a new addition, that it is because she believes in her own power. With Kakyuu's words in her heart, Sailor Moon proclaims she has faith in the future they will find together, a tear welling in her eye. As she does she thinks to herself "I can do this!"

Usagi began this series as a coward and a crybaby, someone without any self-confidence, whose greatest fear was loneliness, who rise to heroism was allowed only because she could hear someone she loved in peril. Here we see the depth of Usagi's development as a character, able to face down Sailor Galaxia, the top of the hierarchy of Sailor Senshi, whose very presence can paralyze other Senshi, who stood supreme over the galaxy and directly her she's wrong, that Sailor Moon's ideals are right and she will prove it. Usagi telling she believes in her own power, that she believes in the future we're going to build, even expressing to Galaxia that Usagi has reached her, are meant to express this conviction within Usagi, that her "star is burning brightly." 

Of course this is just what Galaxia expected, what she wanted. She summons Mamoru from the darkness again and makes him kiss her purely to hurt Usagi. You can tell from the dead look in Galaxia's eyes as she does so that unlike a Beryl she doesn't give a damn about Mamoru. She only knows this will hurt Usagi. She makes Mamoru kiss her chestpiece and boot to show her control over him while Usagi is in despair at the sight. Galaxia then tells Usagi that this man and the entire galaxy belong to her, and if Sailor Moon wants them, she's gonna have to fight her for them. Sailor Moon replies she will fight and end this war once and for all.

And the single most hyped fight in the entire manga begins

Act 58 is a short act. It's 40 pages, 30 of which are spent on the battle with the Galactica Sol Senshi, the last 10 on Sailor Moon and Galaxia's confrontation. And beyond that it's a very direct act relatively speaking. It ties into the symbolism of other acts but it doesn't have that much of its own that isn't expressed directly but I'm still going to discuss the emotional narrative going on behind the literal events as best as I can.

Overall this act is pretty good. I think the main section of the act could have been strengthened but the last section was great. The main section of the act, the first 3/4ths is a very direct, it's Sailor Moon fighting her friends brought back by Galaxia. I get very clearly what the aim of this scene was. It was made to make Sailor Moon question what she's fighting for which is important for the next act. Up to this point, Sailor Moon's entire focus for the arc has been to recover the Sailor Crystals of her friends. It has been her love that has given Sailor Moon her determination and her conviction. In life in general, that will be sufficient usually but it won't elevate you. If you're only ever to rise to an occasion because other people need you to be at that moment, sure you'll have a momentary rise in competence when the time comes but what happens when you need to have had to build your will in advance and what happens.... when you're by yourself?

This act Usagi has to transition from just wanting to protect her friends to believing in herself and her ability to protect the future they wished to create together. I know this sounds abstract but it really is important to the distinction made the next act during the climax of the story. Even in this act however the distinction can be felt. Sailor Moon is fighting to preserve her friends, yet she is fighting her friends to do so, a contradiction so immediate and emotionally apparent that it breaks her resolve entirely leading to the destruction  of her wings and her tiare, her sense of devotion and confidence outright. In order to progress Usagi had to abstract the ideal from the people the ideal represents; the ideal of the future world she wants from the people she thinks makes that world what it is. And what's great about that is...that's what Galaxia wants. Galaxia in representing the Gnostic Impulse taken to its extreme, the disdain for all the temporal, mundane, seemingly arbitrary things is trying to make Usagi detach those things in her mind, is trying to show her that the people around her are temporary and not the ideal itself but where Galaxia is wrong here is that Usagi also doesn't completely detach those things. When Usagi finally reaches Galaxia, Galaxia presumes the feelings of Usagi, her radiant power, is Usagi's hatred for Galaxia, but Usagi reaffirms that she still fights for her friends and loved ones. 

Where I think the main part falters is actually that I don't think the idea was pushed far enough, and maybe due to time. Most of the pages are just various people hitting Sailor Moon with attacks or the two shooting attacks at each other that equal. There's, by Sailor Moon standards, relatively little dialogue or thought bubbles. This should an emotional breaking point for Usagi, this should be Usagi remembering the good times she's had with everyone, wondering how she's come to this place where she's fighting these people, thinking to herself that she doesn't want to fight, she wants to live in a peaceful world, and doesn't understand why she's here, the entire sequence with Sailor Moon realizing that the future they swore to protect together is something she will fight for because their spirits are still with her or something to that effect. If you wanna really be interesting about it, have Usagi wonder as she's destroying the bodies of her friends if she is coming to resemble Galaxia. As it stands, and this is a really weird complaint, I think Usagi is too stoic in this act. The Silver Crystal fluctuates in power based on Usagi's heart, and it would have been really cool to see her relative go up and down sporadically over the fight mapped to their change in her psychological state as the battle goes on. Maybe I'm asking for too much especially given this is done in one act, and it's against eight opponents so there is definitely not a lot of time. I still think it's alright and I understand the narrative-emotional intent of the scene is, it just doesn't feel as strong as it could.

The last 10 pages are great. Galaxia has such a huge presence in the scene and yet Usagi faces off against her confidently in the first time, showing her progression over the arc. Their conversation where Galaxia prides herself on the power within Usagi, wondering if it's hatred for her, and Usagi responds that her power comes from her belief in herself and her friends and the future they are going to make together is amazing. It's a highlight of the arc and really the series. It speaks so well to the two's emotional states, their priorities, both speaking sort of past each other as they look to confirm what they already believe. Galaxia believes that attachment to temporal things is meaningless and negative, deliberately trolling Usagi about it afterwards and being so proud of herself that she, in her mind, made Usagi hate her so much that her power is so high, even breaking her angel wings, a symbol of breaking her pride, bringing her down to Earth. Meanwhile Usagi is here to vindicate her ideals, to tell the tyrant to her face that her friends and all they believed in, all they died for mattered. This leads into the a clash that is the single most built up clash over the entire series, having been built since the first act of Stars. 

Act 58 is 75% pretty good but could have been strong, a fight scene that is sort of intrinsically interesting and emotional but which a bit underdone and the potential isn't fully realized, and 25% great, a verbal clash of ideals of two of my favorite characters in fiction that flows directly into my favorite act in the entire series. Overall I'd say it's a good act, maybe not one of the top ones in Stars, but definitely would be a good act in any arc of the series.