Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Act 14 Review
Oct. 16th, 2009 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iaria‘Usagi is Turning Into a Youma?’
Hottie Of the Week: Kunzite. I have to say the pulled back longer hair as Kunzite makes him look ten times hotter. As does Kunzite’s competence and just how powerful he is. And he looks good in that uniform instead of silly.
Best Shibby Moment: Mamoru carrying Usagi to Ami’s place if I had to chose just one thing but overall I loved his concern for Usagi – from going to the karaoke to standing outside Ami’s apartment building for hours.
Cutest Moment: … I really loved Usagi chasing Makoto around. Honestly it’s becoming to feel like it’s a thing for them and I like it.
WTF of the Week: There were actually a couple of moments that really fit here and I’m not going to even try and pick one.
- The biggest WTF for me: I can’t believe that neither Usagi nor Luna, of all people, told the other Senshi about Moon’s battle with the youma-turned-girl, which is new enough in itself, or of her run in with a new Shitennou and what happened to her. It’s completely ridiculous. Are we supposed to assume then that the girls and Luna (!) don’t talk about their battles or enemies? I would have thought that immediately after Moon left the centre she and Luna would have called a meeting in their karaoke room and brought them all up to date on everything that had happened and it just really bugs me that that didn’t happen. Hmm, fanwanking, but perhaps Usagi forced Luna to put it off until after their new year’s party.
- Ami not immediately transforming when things went wonky in her room – Luna sensing danger, the lowering of temperature, the ominous vortex of whirling black rose petals! Get it together, girl!
- The fact that both Mars and Jupiter made it to the random cave before Tuxedo Kamen, who’d clearly followed Ami from her apartment, and thus should have been right behind her had me shaking my head. The only other explanation I can think of would be that he stayed in the background during the whole battle which ends up making him looking kind of like an asshole. If he was there he watched Mercury get her ass kicked and then all three senshi and he didn’t intervene until Moon was in danger, not even when Ami was almost killed!
… and actually in thinking about this more and being more irritated about it I’ve realized something that really could explain it and clear his name. For the first time this series we’ve really gotten a look at some of the more extremes of the Senshi’s power and that includes the ability to apparently leap tall buildings in a single bound – or at least up to the roof of a building and to jump from building to building. At the same time while Tuxedo Kamen had that ability in the other versions we’ve seen no hint of it in this version. In fact I think we have compelling evidence thus far that he can’t – going by the fact that every time he ‘disappears’ from a fight he doesn’t disappear as his other counterparts did – he walks away really quickly (which they’ve shown many times). So I suppose if he can’t move as fast as the Senshi then it’d make sense it would have taken him so long to follow. That does lead to wondering how he found the random cave but then he’s always, from the very beginning, seemed to know when Moon is fighting so either he’s connected to Usagi and knows when she’s danger or he can sense the energy of the Dark Kingdom and is drawn to that. Either way this does work very well as an explanation and has an added bonus of making him not seem like a complete asshole, so yay.
- Ami’s explanation to Naru about her not being able to see Usagi – that Usagi was asleep – made a lot of sense but her execution was very much WTF. How hard would it be to say ‘Usagi’s asleep’ as soon as Naru asks instead of kind of freaking out. Adding ‘I don’t care if you believe me’ does not inspire belief. I know she’s not that great at social situations but seriously Ami get a grip.
- Um, why exactly was Usagi suddenly dressed in a white gown and lavender shawl in the cave? And, um, how exactly did that come to be? The only thing that makes sense is that Kunzite changed her into it, except, that doesn’t make any sense either! So WTF? Why would he feel the need to take the time to change her clothes? And if he didn’t them assumedly Usagi… transformed into them… because… in fighting the youma her inner princess started coming out and she can’t be seen wearing anything other than a pretty white dress? I don’t know. It’s ridiculous. That said there’s a part of me going ‘hmm, Kunzite changing Usagi, hmmm’.
- Where exactly is Venus in all of this? She’s off doing her own thing, sure, but the whole point of playing princess is to protect the real one and I would assume that she would be keeping an eye on her and thus I really would have expected some attention from her in this situation. Her princess turning into a youma is probably not a good thing. Where was her voice in calling Usagi back? Even just having the camera pull back from Tuxedo Mask watching the Senshi to show a serious Venus watching them all before leaving would have been fabulous and added so much. In fact, that’s exactly what I’m going to assume happened.
Coolest Moment: Tie: 1) Ami using the water on the floor to create an ice sword to protect herself from Kunzite’s sword – awesome. I loved that moment so much. I liked that it kind of seemed like she was listening to the water beforehand. 2) I loved getting to see what a senshi transformation (outside of V) looks like in real time – Ami calling out her transformation phrase really running and actually seeing her instantly transform between Ami and Mercury was excellent. I also liked the following moment where Mercury goes bounding off over buildings (and doing it fast), even though the sfx of the scene was really bad, I really liked seeing a Senshi doing something like that and seeing how powerful they really are transformed.
Best Senshi Moment: ... Ami. I’m going with the above Ami scene where she fights Kunzite – she held off against him pretty well considering how powerful he is and at the base of her motivation this episode is her love for Usagi.
Best Senshi Interaction: I loved the senshi’s New Year’s party. Rei waving the party favour under the table while appearing bored/pained, Ami/Usagi singing and Makoto/Luna singing, Usagi/Rei fighting (“You are obstinate this year too.”), Usagi chasing Makoto around trying to get her to wear makeup... it was all adorable.
+ I can understand Makoto not being able to just sit around helplessly and her need to go out and at least feel like she was doing something. But she had no idea of where to find Kunzite and hours passed. Shouldn’t she have gone to Ami’s once it went dark out?
+ Knowing where this storyline is going and that everything that happens in this episode is going to continue to play out I can understand why Ami got so much attention but I still wish that TPTB had concentrated more on all of the senshi’s reactions to what had happened to Usagi.
+ There didn’t seem to be any recognition from Kunzite that Tuxedo Kamen was Endymion but it seems he might have somehow connected Tuxedo Kamen to Mamoru? I mean Kunzite didn’t seem at all surprised when he brought up Shin.
Hottie Of the Week: Kunzite. I have to say the pulled back longer hair as Kunzite makes him look ten times hotter. As does Kunzite’s competence and just how powerful he is. And he looks good in that uniform instead of silly.
Best Shibby Moment: Mamoru carrying Usagi to Ami’s place if I had to chose just one thing but overall I loved his concern for Usagi – from going to the karaoke to standing outside Ami’s apartment building for hours.
Cutest Moment: … I really loved Usagi chasing Makoto around. Honestly it’s becoming to feel like it’s a thing for them and I like it.
WTF of the Week: There were actually a couple of moments that really fit here and I’m not going to even try and pick one.
- The biggest WTF for me: I can’t believe that neither Usagi nor Luna, of all people, told the other Senshi about Moon’s battle with the youma-turned-girl, which is new enough in itself, or of her run in with a new Shitennou and what happened to her. It’s completely ridiculous. Are we supposed to assume then that the girls and Luna (!) don’t talk about their battles or enemies? I would have thought that immediately after Moon left the centre she and Luna would have called a meeting in their karaoke room and brought them all up to date on everything that had happened and it just really bugs me that that didn’t happen. Hmm, fanwanking, but perhaps Usagi forced Luna to put it off until after their new year’s party.
- Ami not immediately transforming when things went wonky in her room – Luna sensing danger, the lowering of temperature, the ominous vortex of whirling black rose petals! Get it together, girl!
- The fact that both Mars and Jupiter made it to the random cave before Tuxedo Kamen, who’d clearly followed Ami from her apartment, and thus should have been right behind her had me shaking my head. The only other explanation I can think of would be that he stayed in the background during the whole battle which ends up making him looking kind of like an asshole. If he was there he watched Mercury get her ass kicked and then all three senshi and he didn’t intervene until Moon was in danger, not even when Ami was almost killed!
… and actually in thinking about this more and being more irritated about it I’ve realized something that really could explain it and clear his name. For the first time this series we’ve really gotten a look at some of the more extremes of the Senshi’s power and that includes the ability to apparently leap tall buildings in a single bound – or at least up to the roof of a building and to jump from building to building. At the same time while Tuxedo Kamen had that ability in the other versions we’ve seen no hint of it in this version. In fact I think we have compelling evidence thus far that he can’t – going by the fact that every time he ‘disappears’ from a fight he doesn’t disappear as his other counterparts did – he walks away really quickly (which they’ve shown many times). So I suppose if he can’t move as fast as the Senshi then it’d make sense it would have taken him so long to follow. That does lead to wondering how he found the random cave but then he’s always, from the very beginning, seemed to know when Moon is fighting so either he’s connected to Usagi and knows when she’s danger or he can sense the energy of the Dark Kingdom and is drawn to that. Either way this does work very well as an explanation and has an added bonus of making him not seem like a complete asshole, so yay.
- Ami’s explanation to Naru about her not being able to see Usagi – that Usagi was asleep – made a lot of sense but her execution was very much WTF. How hard would it be to say ‘Usagi’s asleep’ as soon as Naru asks instead of kind of freaking out. Adding ‘I don’t care if you believe me’ does not inspire belief. I know she’s not that great at social situations but seriously Ami get a grip.
- Um, why exactly was Usagi suddenly dressed in a white gown and lavender shawl in the cave? And, um, how exactly did that come to be? The only thing that makes sense is that Kunzite changed her into it, except, that doesn’t make any sense either! So WTF? Why would he feel the need to take the time to change her clothes? And if he didn’t them assumedly Usagi… transformed into them… because… in fighting the youma her inner princess started coming out and she can’t be seen wearing anything other than a pretty white dress? I don’t know. It’s ridiculous. That said there’s a part of me going ‘hmm, Kunzite changing Usagi, hmmm’.
- Where exactly is Venus in all of this? She’s off doing her own thing, sure, but the whole point of playing princess is to protect the real one and I would assume that she would be keeping an eye on her and thus I really would have expected some attention from her in this situation. Her princess turning into a youma is probably not a good thing. Where was her voice in calling Usagi back? Even just having the camera pull back from Tuxedo Mask watching the Senshi to show a serious Venus watching them all before leaving would have been fabulous and added so much. In fact, that’s exactly what I’m going to assume happened.
Coolest Moment: Tie: 1) Ami using the water on the floor to create an ice sword to protect herself from Kunzite’s sword – awesome. I loved that moment so much. I liked that it kind of seemed like she was listening to the water beforehand. 2) I loved getting to see what a senshi transformation (outside of V) looks like in real time – Ami calling out her transformation phrase really running and actually seeing her instantly transform between Ami and Mercury was excellent. I also liked the following moment where Mercury goes bounding off over buildings (and doing it fast), even though the sfx of the scene was really bad, I really liked seeing a Senshi doing something like that and seeing how powerful they really are transformed.
Best Senshi Moment: ... Ami. I’m going with the above Ami scene where she fights Kunzite – she held off against him pretty well considering how powerful he is and at the base of her motivation this episode is her love for Usagi.
Best Senshi Interaction: I loved the senshi’s New Year’s party. Rei waving the party favour under the table while appearing bored/pained, Ami/Usagi singing and Makoto/Luna singing, Usagi/Rei fighting (“You are obstinate this year too.”), Usagi chasing Makoto around trying to get her to wear makeup... it was all adorable.
+ I can understand Makoto not being able to just sit around helplessly and her need to go out and at least feel like she was doing something. But she had no idea of where to find Kunzite and hours passed. Shouldn’t she have gone to Ami’s once it went dark out?
+ Knowing where this storyline is going and that everything that happens in this episode is going to continue to play out I can understand why Ami got so much attention but I still wish that TPTB had concentrated more on all of the senshi’s reactions to what had happened to Usagi.
+ There didn’t seem to be any recognition from Kunzite that Tuxedo Kamen was Endymion but it seems he might have somehow connected Tuxedo Kamen to Mamoru? I mean Kunzite didn’t seem at all surprised when he brought up Shin.
