Sailor Moon (Ep 4-13): Enter Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars

Comedy.

Intro
This show’s pretty rad, actually. For those of you who don’t know, I am journeying through Sailor Moon, journaling my progress and thoughts month by month. Last month, I gave a brief intro, detailing my (very scant) history with the series, and my thoughts on its first three episodes. I had positive feelings on the little I watched and have since watched the next 10 episodes. The show has not disappointed me.

The next four episodes follow a similar formula to the first three: Jadeite has a new plan to harvest energy from the FOOLISH HUMANS, Usagi and friends get caught in the middle of it somehow, Usagi turns into Sailor Moon throws her magic tiara at the problem, the problem goes away, and everyone goes home happily ever after. Again, the charm of this show so far is not its depth or complexity. It’s the lighthearted atmosphere and the fact that it’s like…legitimately pretty funny. That being said, I will take this opportunity to mention something I didn’t really talk about last time.
 
Sometimes this show goes fucking insane with no warning. It’s not often. And it never crosses the line into full on horror. But look at that shit. Look at it. This is, so far, a fluffy, lighthearted show targeted at young children. Why in the hell are my sleep paralysis demons making cameos in it? 


This is some horror movie shit.

Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I like when entertainment aimed at a younger audience gets intense. It’s good to traumatize children early. That being said, I’ll be honest, even the show portrays Usagi as somewhat of a coward, if I had to fight this thing I’d be crying too.


Again, look at it.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Seriously, look at it.


Enter Sailor Mercury

Despite the fact that the show was fun for the first seven episodes, the introduction of a new character was very welcome. Enter, Sailor Mercury, AKA Ami Mizuno. Ami Mizuno is a fairly reserved, level headed, studious girl, with an IQ of like 300 or some other ridiculous number. In other words, she is the exact opposite of Usagi, who is a walking bobblehead, filled with tears and unattained dreams. Usagi is an entertaining character, and I was enjoying watching her solo adventures, but it makes sense to balance her out with another character who can accompany her on her adventures.

The character of Ami in particular compensates for some of Usagi’s flaws, balancing out her propensity for thoughtlessness. That being said, even though Ami is like a super genius, they haven’t exactly leaned into that so far. Don’t expect her to go full MacGyver, or even full Walter White, building batteries out of sponges and such. I don’t want to say her intelligence is entirely told and not shown, but, for the most part, she’s just levelheaded rather than insanely smart. So far. I’ve only seen her in five episodes, and she only had two episodes before the appearance of another Sailor Guardian…

Enter Sailor Mars

While Ami offsets Usagi’s penchant for thoughtlessness, she does not offset her other major flaw, which is her cowardice. Not that Ami is a coward herself or anything, but she is fairly passive. Not to mention, it’s not like she’s always there; she has a life of her own, being very focused on cram school and her studies and all that. If only there were a third Sailor Guardian, like in the intro of the show which explicitly shows us there there will be at least three guardians…

Luckily, such a person does exist. At Hikawa Shrine, Rei Hino, granddaughter of this thing-

-dutifully performs her role of Shrine Maiden. Rei Hino is, possibly, my favorite character so far. She is ultra intense. She’s borderline kind of mean. But she’s also a badass, who does badass things. During the middle of one of Jadeite’s usual zany schemes, Rei, who apparently has a sixth sense for evil, joins Usagi and Ami and becomes the third Sailor Guardian, Sailor Mars. While Usagi has her magic tiara, and Ami has…bubbles…Rei shoots friggin fireballs.


While Usagi is appropriately terrified by this –

No, but seriously, look at it.

-Rei stares it down. Like a goddamn hero.


Suffice to say, Rei Hino is much cooler than you or I will ever be. Sorry, but that’s just a fact. Anyway, Usagi is the front man. Ami is the brains. Rei is the hammer. We’ve got ourselves a nice little trio going on here. If Jadeite couldn’t handle just Usagi, how the hell is he gonna handle all three?

Exit Jadeite

Uh, he doesn’t, actually. Jadeite fucking dies.
In the next few episodes after Rei’s inclusion on the team, Jadeite’s boss, Queen Beryl slowly begins to realize that maybe, juuuust maybe, Jadeite actually kind of sucks. He is given one more chance to prove his use. He summons the three guardians to an airfield, promising that if they don’t cooperate he’ll do the unthinkable: vomit fireballs.


The thought of this is just too much for our three heroines. They convene. Ami wants to play it safe and think of a plan. Rei wants to punch shit. Usagi is scared. Mamoru steals a shoe.

The decision is clear. They go to the airport, where Jadeite is waiting for them. It’s there where Jadeite is forced to pay for his numerous crimes. His evil schemes. Disrespecting women. And wearing black face.


They pull out all the stops in this confrontation. The three Sailor Guardians are all assembled, with none of them being incapacitated. There are no civilians in the way. This is a straight up show down. Tuxedo Mask even shows up to finally do something.


However it is short lived.

In truth, while I’m joking a lot right now, I’m glad they got rid of Jadeite. Not that I hated him or anything, but in terms of characterization there’s not a whole lot to him. His plans aren’t especially interesting. He’s not extremely threatening. He’s just a plot device more or less. His shining moment (besides being crushed by an airplane) was probably the love cruise episode where both he and Usagi were in disguises, and Usagi had a crush on him, while he confusedly wondered why she made him feel so uncomfortable.


A rare moment where he was actually fairly entertaining. However he’s gone now, encased in a block of ice, making way for a new villain, Nephrite.


So yeah. That’s where I am right now. Glad the show is shaking things up, first with the arrival of new characters, then with the disposal of one of the old ones. While it wouldn’t surprise me if Jadeite returned later down the line with a vendetta, I’m interested to see what the deal is with this new guy. As far as the hero side of the equation, I like both Ami and Rei as you could probably tell. Judging by the Hulu thumbnails there will be…more, before the series is done.

Hopefully they will only serve to add to the pre-existing dynamic Ami, Rei, and Usagi have. And that’s it! Next month, assuming nothing unfortunate happens, I will have watched yet more of Sailor Moon, and have another article out for everybody out there who happens to be interested. Until then. The moonlight is a messenger of love of whatever.


Make sure to follow us here or on Twitter for more updates. After all, you wouldn’t want to miss more of my inane ramblings about a show from 30 years ago would you?