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Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Act 49 Review
The Final Act
Oh, this episode made me so happy! ♥ After the last one I really didn’t think the show would be able to wrap things up in one episode and as the episode proceeded I found myself really disgruntled by just how different everything was but in the end it won me over. It was such a lovely, wonderful end. I am so glad the show ended in such a way that it did make me happy and I find that I’m not really disappointed at all. So yay!
Awards
Hottie Of the Week: Usagi. She was stunning this episode – from Sailor Moon to Princess Sailor Moon to Princess Serenity to Usagi-chan.
Best Shibby Moment: After so many acts with him having so few scenes this Act was full of wonderful scenes with him. But the scenes between Endymion and Serenity after she destroyed the planet were amazing. I especially loved the moment where he pulls Princess Sailor Moon into his arms and tells her “I really… wanted to save you. I’m sorry.” and when she responds with “I’m the one who is truly sorry.” he looks as if he is about to cry.
Funniest Moment: There was no true ‘funny’ moment though I was really amused that in the montage of everyone as Moon destroyed the Earth, Nephrite was shown back at the stall buying the horn for Ami. Oh, Nephrite, no.
Cutest Moment: Luna and Artemis sitting on the front of Mamoru’s bike at the end was really cute.
Saddest Moment: Hmm, while I didn’t cry I found the Senshi crying out for Usagi before she destroyed everything really sad. She was just not hearing them, she was so all about Endymion, and their anguished expressions watching her and knowing they’d failed, not only the planet but also Usagi herself and then Mercury’s “Usagi-chan!” which almost rivaled Rei’s scream a couple episodes ago… oh, girls.
WTF of the Week: “Though the Mystical Silver Crystal has been smashed to pieces… in the end it was whole and left you with your life.” Um, say what? First of all: WTF on the Silver Crystal being ‘smashed to pieces’ – it’s the freaking Silver Crystal! It can’t be destroyed! I’m pretty sure it’s Usagi’s Star Seed, not to mention the source of power for the Moon family. She, and everyone else, is going to be hella fucked when the Dark Moon family shows up! Second, but then in the next sentence she says it was left whole? So maybe there was some translation issues happening here?
Coolest Moment: I honestly don’t know which to put here. There were a couple moments that really fit here…
1. Mercury, Mars and Jupiter each calling on their planets for power and then having their tambourines turn into weapons. The whole thing was very cool. Mercury’s turned into a giant ice sword that flashes water, Mars’s (& Venus!) turned into two daggers that flashed fire and Jupiter’s turned into a scythe lance that flashed lightning. It was all very cool. I loved that Mars found Venus’s tambourine in her hand – that was perfect and honestly made me a little teary-eyed. I think they ended up gold because of that. I wonder how things would have been different if Venus had actually been there. Would Mars still have gotten a dagger or perhaps her bow? Would Venus have gotten a sword or perhaps a whip? I wonder if they get to keep them if/when they become senshi again? I just wish we could have really seen them fight with them. (Hmm, a Senshi/Shitennou fight with weapons would have been freaking epic.)
2. Getting to see each of the senshi reborn. What really stuck out to me from the little that we got to see of Usagi’s remade world before her return was how happy all the other senshi were. They were so happy, all of them, and no longer alone. Ami and Naru were clearly friends, Rei was smiling and having fun, Makoto was playing a basketball game with other people and no longer an outcast, Minako was still an idol but only an idol and much happier for it… Usagi gave all of them happiness in their new life. They didn’t know each other and they didn’t remember her but she made sure that they were no longer alone, not how they had all been in the previous one. That just makes me really so happy.
The Senshi speak as one: “I have forgotten… something important… something that should never be forgotten. Usagi!” And then in the end the Senshi’s love for their princess, for Usagi, always shines through and though they may have forgotten her for a short while (a really short while) they all end up remembering her. I did find it interesting that they all remembered her at apparently the same time but separately. It’s not like they all ran into each other and that jogged their memory, nor was there some big sign they all saw (say, her name in a song) that caused them to remember. They were all going along their normal lives and they just remembered. I wonder why?
Anyway, I love that they remembered her and I love that she heard their cries of her name and it brought her back to herself, made her remember who she was and because they remembered she was able to come back to life. Or at least that’s how I took: “As long as you have companions that remember you, you can live.” Usagi saved them, and they saved her. The whole thing is very fairy tale. It makes me think of The Neverending Story, and there’s something else… …hmm, I can’t think of it but another thing it really reminds me of is the season 5 finale of Doctor Who. Amy remembered the Doctor and it brought him back into existence, the Senshi rememberd Usagi and it brought her back into existence (and Mamoru!)
Best Senshi Moment: Ami: “I… can fight. …Because the real Usagi doesn’t really want to destroy the planet. That’s why… I will fight.” They all went, they all decided to fight but it was Ami who got to that place first, who lead them.
Best Senshi Interaction: The girls, together, for really the first time. Inner’s running to find Usagi, meeting up, Usagi running up to meet them, Mamoru sitting on his bike with Luna and Artemis watching as the girls reunite, the girls smiling and laughing and so very happy, and then the very last scene of the show, after the credits, of the five girls walking down the street together as I have always wanted them to do in this series. That just makes me so happy!
The five of them together exactly as it was supposed to be. ♥ Oh, so happy.
Other
• Princess Sailor Moon actually destroyed the world. She destroyed the freaking world! Holy crap! I mean everyone dies at the end of the first season in both manga and anime but a) not the whole planet, and b) not literally because of Usagi. But no in this version she actually kills off the entire planet – including all her fellow senshi, her friends and her human family. *shakes head* I was pretty shocked. I did not expect that even as I was hoping for something similar to the anime/manga finales to happen so we could get a reset. I really don’t think she is going to be living this down, ever. Oh, how I wish that I could see the Outer Senshi, especially Saturn’s, reactions to it. Not to mention that this is going to work out so well for Chibi-Usa since now when her mother ever admonishes her she can just state that ‘it’s not like she blew up the world or something’.
• When the various senshi remembered Usagi just how much of everything else did they remember? Everything?
• I loved Serenity and Endymion walking hand-in-hand through the desert that Earth had become. I loved their soft happy smiles at each other. I loved Endymion putting the ring on her. I loved their ‘kiss’ and that’s what begins the healing of the Earth. And I loved the visual of their bodies lying hand-in-hand as they had been in their previous life, but with the star locket clasped in Usagi’s hand.
• So – that ring, what is that about, hmm? It appears to be a large blue stone (diamond?) in a fairly intricate silver setting. It looks as if it’s the ring that Princess Sailor Moon wore over her gloves. The music, the camera staying on her hand as he put it on, the fact that the scene was in there at all, all speak to this scene having meaning. He places it on her ring finger and it seems pretty obvious that it is in fact an engagement ring. The fact that Princess Sailor Moon wore it, and that it’s Mamoru in Endymion’s form and Usagi in Serenity’s form makes me pretty sure that the two of them were actually engaged in the Silver Millennium before they died.
• “Usagi… you have so many important people here! Usagi!” – Ami. No kidding. I love the whole OTP thing that Usagi and Mamoru have going but I’m pretty OTP about Usagi/Senshi as well and her actually killing them because of grief over losing him, not to mention her killing her parents and brother and Naru… I really think she needs to be working on her very narrow focus here. When, after the destruction, she broke down into sobs as she sat alone in the dust that was all that was left I found myself thinking – ‘this is what happens when you overreact!’
• For a moment when Princess Sailor Moon began floating and her back bow furled out I thought it was wings – which would have been so very awesome. Oh, well.
• I just found it interesting that Princess Sailor Moon pretty much only looks and addresses Usagi and we don’t have her looking for/at Mamoru nor mentioning his name considering how much she is all about him.
• Beryl… she pretty much does nothing this episode and I find it very weird. I mean she shows up to mourn Endymion’s death and the loss of Metaria, to call Moon evil and blame her for everything and ends with “This is why I think you are a little girl.” There is no battle between Beryl and Moon, or the Senshi, she does not even try to attack.
Then in her last scene she states “I am done playing queen.” Huh. That is really not how I thought Beryl would go. That said I actually really loved the Beryl/Jadeite scene even though it was really unexpected. I’m actually rather pleased that they had each other. She released his curse and he stayed having decided that Beryl is the master he wanted to serve. “I will never leave your side.” / “Then you are a fool too.” / “Yes.” … and then they reach hands to each other and the ceiling falls on them… and I actually find it kind of sweet!
That does open up another issue though – Jadeite dies having chosen Beryl as his Master but then when we next see him he appears to have accepted Endymion as his Master again. What happened to Beryl? Was she reborn? Does Jadeite even remember her?
• Why were the Shitennou not re-incarnated along with everyone else? An argument could be made for Kunzite and Zoisite, even Zoisite maybe, but Nephrite was human and on Earth when everything was destroyed. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t have been brought back, as humans, as well. I mean Usagi was in charge of the rebirth, though Mamoru seemed to play a part as well, and she knew how important the Shitennou were to Mamoru so I can’t see her leaving them out. Hmm. It’s a puzzle. I know the next Act, the Special, is going to have Mamoru and Usagi getting married and I am really hoping that the Shitennou will be there. Not the least because we got no real closure on the whole Nephrite/Ami thing.
Their final words make me have hope: “It’s your life.” (J), “For our sake please live in the present.” (K), “We will always be with you, Master.” (Z), “If anything happens, we will surely come.” (N) Even if they don’t appear in Special Act these words leave it open that they can/will return at a future date. Although them appearing like that is a bit inexplicable. How did they come to show up? Did Princess Sailor Moon bring them with her?
• I was surprised when it was revealed that Metaria was truly defeated and gone. I was sure she would be the big bad and instead it all felt rather anticlimactic. I wonder what happened to her?
• Princess Sailor Moon creating her own youma made me blink but I suppose that if her power is similar to Metaria’s (and, hey, that never did get explained) why wouldn’t she be able to call her own youma? I do wish that we had gotten a better fight between the Senshi and the youma. Actually I wish that the senshi had kicked their asses with their brand new weapons and increased power. I think it would have worked a lot better if they had been powerful enough to defeat the youma but they’d been delayed too long and Princess Sailor Moon had powered up by the time they attacked her and it was her who blew them to the ground. Yeah, I like that much more. It felt like they were defeated too easily by the youma. (Also what happened to Mars’s daggers and Mercury’s sword? They were gone by the end of the fight.)
Oh, this episode made me so happy! ♥ After the last one I really didn’t think the show would be able to wrap things up in one episode and as the episode proceeded I found myself really disgruntled by just how different everything was but in the end it won me over. It was such a lovely, wonderful end. I am so glad the show ended in such a way that it did make me happy and I find that I’m not really disappointed at all. So yay!
Awards
Hottie Of the Week: Usagi. She was stunning this episode – from Sailor Moon to Princess Sailor Moon to Princess Serenity to Usagi-chan.
Best Shibby Moment: After so many acts with him having so few scenes this Act was full of wonderful scenes with him. But the scenes between Endymion and Serenity after she destroyed the planet were amazing. I especially loved the moment where he pulls Princess Sailor Moon into his arms and tells her “I really… wanted to save you. I’m sorry.” and when she responds with “I’m the one who is truly sorry.” he looks as if he is about to cry.
Funniest Moment: There was no true ‘funny’ moment though I was really amused that in the montage of everyone as Moon destroyed the Earth, Nephrite was shown back at the stall buying the horn for Ami. Oh, Nephrite, no.
Cutest Moment: Luna and Artemis sitting on the front of Mamoru’s bike at the end was really cute.
Saddest Moment: Hmm, while I didn’t cry I found the Senshi crying out for Usagi before she destroyed everything really sad. She was just not hearing them, she was so all about Endymion, and their anguished expressions watching her and knowing they’d failed, not only the planet but also Usagi herself and then Mercury’s “Usagi-chan!” which almost rivaled Rei’s scream a couple episodes ago… oh, girls.
WTF of the Week: “Though the Mystical Silver Crystal has been smashed to pieces… in the end it was whole and left you with your life.” Um, say what? First of all: WTF on the Silver Crystal being ‘smashed to pieces’ – it’s the freaking Silver Crystal! It can’t be destroyed! I’m pretty sure it’s Usagi’s Star Seed, not to mention the source of power for the Moon family. She, and everyone else, is going to be hella fucked when the Dark Moon family shows up! Second, but then in the next sentence she says it was left whole? So maybe there was some translation issues happening here?
Coolest Moment: I honestly don’t know which to put here. There were a couple moments that really fit here…
1. Mercury, Mars and Jupiter each calling on their planets for power and then having their tambourines turn into weapons. The whole thing was very cool. Mercury’s turned into a giant ice sword that flashes water, Mars’s (& Venus!) turned into two daggers that flashed fire and Jupiter’s turned into a scythe lance that flashed lightning. It was all very cool. I loved that Mars found Venus’s tambourine in her hand – that was perfect and honestly made me a little teary-eyed. I think they ended up gold because of that. I wonder how things would have been different if Venus had actually been there. Would Mars still have gotten a dagger or perhaps her bow? Would Venus have gotten a sword or perhaps a whip? I wonder if they get to keep them if/when they become senshi again? I just wish we could have really seen them fight with them. (Hmm, a Senshi/Shitennou fight with weapons would have been freaking epic.)
2. Getting to see each of the senshi reborn. What really stuck out to me from the little that we got to see of Usagi’s remade world before her return was how happy all the other senshi were. They were so happy, all of them, and no longer alone. Ami and Naru were clearly friends, Rei was smiling and having fun, Makoto was playing a basketball game with other people and no longer an outcast, Minako was still an idol but only an idol and much happier for it… Usagi gave all of them happiness in their new life. They didn’t know each other and they didn’t remember her but she made sure that they were no longer alone, not how they had all been in the previous one. That just makes me really so happy.
The Senshi speak as one: “I have forgotten… something important… something that should never be forgotten. Usagi!” And then in the end the Senshi’s love for their princess, for Usagi, always shines through and though they may have forgotten her for a short while (a really short while) they all end up remembering her. I did find it interesting that they all remembered her at apparently the same time but separately. It’s not like they all ran into each other and that jogged their memory, nor was there some big sign they all saw (say, her name in a song) that caused them to remember. They were all going along their normal lives and they just remembered. I wonder why?
Anyway, I love that they remembered her and I love that she heard their cries of her name and it brought her back to herself, made her remember who she was and because they remembered she was able to come back to life. Or at least that’s how I took: “As long as you have companions that remember you, you can live.” Usagi saved them, and they saved her. The whole thing is very fairy tale. It makes me think of The Neverending Story, and there’s something else… …hmm, I can’t think of it but another thing it really reminds me of is the season 5 finale of Doctor Who. Amy remembered the Doctor and it brought him back into existence, the Senshi rememberd Usagi and it brought her back into existence (and Mamoru!)
Best Senshi Moment: Ami: “I… can fight. …Because the real Usagi doesn’t really want to destroy the planet. That’s why… I will fight.” They all went, they all decided to fight but it was Ami who got to that place first, who lead them.
Best Senshi Interaction: The girls, together, for really the first time. Inner’s running to find Usagi, meeting up, Usagi running up to meet them, Mamoru sitting on his bike with Luna and Artemis watching as the girls reunite, the girls smiling and laughing and so very happy, and then the very last scene of the show, after the credits, of the five girls walking down the street together as I have always wanted them to do in this series. That just makes me so happy!
The five of them together exactly as it was supposed to be. ♥ Oh, so happy.
Other
• Princess Sailor Moon actually destroyed the world. She destroyed the freaking world! Holy crap! I mean everyone dies at the end of the first season in both manga and anime but a) not the whole planet, and b) not literally because of Usagi. But no in this version she actually kills off the entire planet – including all her fellow senshi, her friends and her human family. *shakes head* I was pretty shocked. I did not expect that even as I was hoping for something similar to the anime/manga finales to happen so we could get a reset. I really don’t think she is going to be living this down, ever. Oh, how I wish that I could see the Outer Senshi, especially Saturn’s, reactions to it. Not to mention that this is going to work out so well for Chibi-Usa since now when her mother ever admonishes her she can just state that ‘it’s not like she blew up the world or something’.
• When the various senshi remembered Usagi just how much of everything else did they remember? Everything?
• I loved Serenity and Endymion walking hand-in-hand through the desert that Earth had become. I loved their soft happy smiles at each other. I loved Endymion putting the ring on her. I loved their ‘kiss’ and that’s what begins the healing of the Earth. And I loved the visual of their bodies lying hand-in-hand as they had been in their previous life, but with the star locket clasped in Usagi’s hand.
• So – that ring, what is that about, hmm? It appears to be a large blue stone (diamond?) in a fairly intricate silver setting. It looks as if it’s the ring that Princess Sailor Moon wore over her gloves. The music, the camera staying on her hand as he put it on, the fact that the scene was in there at all, all speak to this scene having meaning. He places it on her ring finger and it seems pretty obvious that it is in fact an engagement ring. The fact that Princess Sailor Moon wore it, and that it’s Mamoru in Endymion’s form and Usagi in Serenity’s form makes me pretty sure that the two of them were actually engaged in the Silver Millennium before they died.
• “Usagi… you have so many important people here! Usagi!” – Ami. No kidding. I love the whole OTP thing that Usagi and Mamoru have going but I’m pretty OTP about Usagi/Senshi as well and her actually killing them because of grief over losing him, not to mention her killing her parents and brother and Naru… I really think she needs to be working on her very narrow focus here. When, after the destruction, she broke down into sobs as she sat alone in the dust that was all that was left I found myself thinking – ‘this is what happens when you overreact!’
• For a moment when Princess Sailor Moon began floating and her back bow furled out I thought it was wings – which would have been so very awesome. Oh, well.
• I just found it interesting that Princess Sailor Moon pretty much only looks and addresses Usagi and we don’t have her looking for/at Mamoru nor mentioning his name considering how much she is all about him.
• Beryl… she pretty much does nothing this episode and I find it very weird. I mean she shows up to mourn Endymion’s death and the loss of Metaria, to call Moon evil and blame her for everything and ends with “This is why I think you are a little girl.” There is no battle between Beryl and Moon, or the Senshi, she does not even try to attack.
Then in her last scene she states “I am done playing queen.” Huh. That is really not how I thought Beryl would go. That said I actually really loved the Beryl/Jadeite scene even though it was really unexpected. I’m actually rather pleased that they had each other. She released his curse and he stayed having decided that Beryl is the master he wanted to serve. “I will never leave your side.” / “Then you are a fool too.” / “Yes.” … and then they reach hands to each other and the ceiling falls on them… and I actually find it kind of sweet!
That does open up another issue though – Jadeite dies having chosen Beryl as his Master but then when we next see him he appears to have accepted Endymion as his Master again. What happened to Beryl? Was she reborn? Does Jadeite even remember her?
• Why were the Shitennou not re-incarnated along with everyone else? An argument could be made for Kunzite and Zoisite, even Zoisite maybe, but Nephrite was human and on Earth when everything was destroyed. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t have been brought back, as humans, as well. I mean Usagi was in charge of the rebirth, though Mamoru seemed to play a part as well, and she knew how important the Shitennou were to Mamoru so I can’t see her leaving them out. Hmm. It’s a puzzle. I know the next Act, the Special, is going to have Mamoru and Usagi getting married and I am really hoping that the Shitennou will be there. Not the least because we got no real closure on the whole Nephrite/Ami thing.
Their final words make me have hope: “It’s your life.” (J), “For our sake please live in the present.” (K), “We will always be with you, Master.” (Z), “If anything happens, we will surely come.” (N) Even if they don’t appear in Special Act these words leave it open that they can/will return at a future date. Although them appearing like that is a bit inexplicable. How did they come to show up? Did Princess Sailor Moon bring them with her?
• I was surprised when it was revealed that Metaria was truly defeated and gone. I was sure she would be the big bad and instead it all felt rather anticlimactic. I wonder what happened to her?
• Princess Sailor Moon creating her own youma made me blink but I suppose that if her power is similar to Metaria’s (and, hey, that never did get explained) why wouldn’t she be able to call her own youma? I do wish that we had gotten a better fight between the Senshi and the youma. Actually I wish that the senshi had kicked their asses with their brand new weapons and increased power. I think it would have worked a lot better if they had been powerful enough to defeat the youma but they’d been delayed too long and Princess Sailor Moon had powered up by the time they attacked her and it was her who blew them to the ground. Yeah, I like that much more. It felt like they were defeated too easily by the youma. (Also what happened to Mars’s daggers and Mercury’s sword? They were gone by the end of the fight.)