Sailor Moon Crystal ~ Episode 17

  • I loved the opening scene with Usagi and Chibiusa. Just a short and simple scene, but it provides much needed character development... Crystal could use more scenes like that.

  • Really fun scene at the arcade too... I've been missing fun things like this. The original anime had so much time for so many moments like these, but in Crystal there's been so little time.

  • Still, it feels a bit odd that the one time we get to see them having fun is just after two of their friends have been kidnapped (and murdered for all they know). Sure, Usagi/Mako/Minako can't exactly do anything but go back to their daily lives for now, but would they really be having fun like this?

  • OK, nice scene afterwards to remind us that they're still doing whatever they can to address the Black Moon problem. And Minako and Artemis seem to be in charge of this.

  • Another really good scene with the Tsukino parents, showing how Chibiusa is missing her own parents.

  • Sheesh, spoiler alert Chibiusa! Don't just say Pluto like that, you're giving away the surprise!

  • Makoto's home! Makoto's parents! Really cool to get to see that here.

  • Asanuma's role was cut out of the last episode, but he's getting plenty of time to make up for it in this episode. Funny how just by paying a little bit of attention, he figured out the girls' secret identities.

  • A little bit of romance has finally found its way into the series for someone other than Usagi. The original series had a little bit with Ami and Urawa, and the short Rei/Mamoru pairing. But Minako and Makoto never had any dates for the longest time, and when they finally did it was with Tigerseye in disguise! I'm glad to get to see a genuine moment like that for Makoto.

  • I'm sorry, but that low-angle shot of Petz is a pretty terrible piece of artwork. http://i.imgur.com/ZqXU57m.jpg

  • It made me happy to see Makoto lift the Droid over her head, like she did to the youma in her first episode of the original series.

  • Sparkling Wide Pressure looks a lot better in Crystal than the little football she was tossing in the original.

  • Well, except for the fact that it didn't work and Petz just kicked her ass one-on-one.

  • Moon Princess Halation is no joke here either. Reminds me of the R movie, when she made that huge sweeping energy beam to wipe out dozens of enemies at once.

  • At least Rubeus acted quickly here, grabbing Makoto and disappearing. Usagi didn't have time to react, unlike previous episodes where it looked silly as she just stood there doing nothing.

This was another really good episode of Crystal. This series seems to really be hitting its stride, and it probably has a lot to do with the fact that the manga had improved a lot by this point. I can't wait for the next episode! This is so much better than the first story arc was.

Speaking of the manga, there were a few changes, which I'll list here:

1) Chibiusa was clearly using Luna-P to cheat at the game that gave her all the candy 2) the manga showed Pluto's face 3) Demande made his future plans for Usagi a little more clear 4) Motoki and Unazuki helped Makoto at first when she looked to be sick 5) When Asanuma helped Makoto, she was so sick that she accidentally directly mentioned that she has superpowers

/r/sailormoon Thread