WELCOME TO SEPTEMBER MOON!
Where I (re)read a 'Sailor Moon' manga volume a day.
In the name of the Moon (and the Silver Millennium, and the "Mare Serenitatis" or "Sea of Serenity"), let's do this!
My refreshed and renewed thoughts on 'Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 2' are as follows:
The plot thickens, and develops to a tremendous climax. The stakes are astronomically high, and things are darker, and more dire and dangerous than ever, and it is sad, bittersweet, yet beautiful, with the wonders of the moon, the cosmos and the known universe, and the inner lives and friendships formed between Sailor Moon and her Guardians. They are loyal and devoted to one another, past lives influence or not. Female friendships are their own magic, rivalling and defying the Big Bang.
It is not all about Usagi pining for Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru; finding out the truth about the Moon Kingdom/
Silver Millennium and her past life, and finding out more about herself and who she really is - a normal teenage girl? Sailor Moon? A champion of love and justice? The Moon Princess Serenity, heir to the destroyed Silver Millennium and inheritor of the '"Legendary Silver Crystal"? - and protecting the "Legendary Silver Crystal" (it's always said in quotations), these take priority. It's an identity crisis and a universe-saving crisis.
The part where a concerned Sailor Jupiter/Makoto pats a grieving and depressed Usagi on the head, just before the Sailor Guardians transport to the moon, and the ruins of Silver Millennium, is another understated moment that's so human and loving. They are true friends.
The number of times "Legendary Silver Crystal" is said in this arc could rival the number of times "Carol Anne" is said in 'Poltergeist III'. I know it's a very important MacGuffin, but the repetition of its name in quotation marks is almost comical.
So Sailor V and Artemis were behind the Sailor V arcade game, and the formation of the command center - literally behind it, as in, the center is hidden behind the game - the whole time, and Luna just... stumbled upon it? Or she knew it was secretly training the Guardians, but nothing else about it? It seems pretty mean that Sailor Venus/Minako and Artemis kept her in the dark, even blocking her memories, no matter the reasons, before the identity of the Moon Princess is revealed, and she is "awakened".
Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite, the minions of Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom, are called the Earth's "Four Kings of Heaven", and they were Earth Prince Endymion/Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask's guards in a past life, like the Sailor Guardians were Princess Serenity/Usagi/Sailor Moon's guards in said past life. They were eventually reborn like the Sailors, and the prince and the princess, on Earth, but were seduced by Queen Beryl and Queen Metalia (the big bad "great ruler") before they could remember and fulfil their true destinies. When the four of them die again, their namesake stones remain, and Mamoru, brainwashed by Beryl, takes them. What significance do the stones hold? Do they possess power? Energy? The souls of the Earth Prince's Four Kings of Heaven?
The masks are off now, literally and figuratively.
The moment where Usagi hugs and cuddles Luna one morning at home, and tells her she loves her as reassurance, gets me every time. Poor Luna needs to know she is appreciated for all her hard work and (deliberately) limited resources. She receives poignant character development in this volume. And at the end, the depressed and confused Usagi finds the courage and resolve to fight as Sailor Moon again when Luna is hurt by the enemy - I'd forgotten how many touching and meaningful moments are in the 'Sailor Moon' manga.
The Sailor Guardians' trip to the moon, to the truth of their past lives, is treated with the prep, tension, gravitas, awe and reverence it deserves. So is meeting the computerised ghost, or "memory" and "will", of Queen Serenity, Princess Serenity's mother. Very sad and tragic.
Wait, the prehistoric Silver Millennium had computers!? The "Eternity Main System in the Moon Castle", what?!
Is the sword in the stone on the moon, that ends up with Sailor Venus, the same sword that Princess Serenity used to kill herself in the ancient moon's past? Or it's "a sacred, legendary sword to protect the princess"... that she used to take her own life? Or was it originally Prince Endymion's? It's not clear yet.
Can the Sailor Guardians fly? They totally fly here, and hover beside buildings, even individually, and not so apparently in a protective magic moon circle. Why is this never acknowledged, let alone remarked upon?!
Makoto is such a great friend to Usagi. An example of this, besides the one I've already given above, is when Usagi falls asleep during an important meeting, and the big sister Sailor Guardian says, "There's also her worries about Tuxedo Mask. She also met her mother in a previous life, the queen... she's got a lot going on. I'll bet she's just exhausted from the stress." It's a pity that Makoto is easily hypnotized by evil - twice in this arc.
Rei's crows, Phobos and Deimos, have a presence still. I remember their significance well.
Artemis is barely a character yet, compared to Luna.
More buildup and time needed to be spent on the introduction of Sailor Venus's identity as ordinary schoolgirl Minako. Let's actually see her at Usagi's school, at least. I like her as the assured and serious Sailor Venus, and as the goofy, happy-go-lucky Minako. It's unexpected and cool, in the grand scheme of things, especially to people who have not read 'Codename Sailor V'. Complex, multilayered heroines abound in 'Sailor Moon'.
Sailor Moon steals a kiss from Tuxedo Mask, as a warrior trying to tell him to get away from a battle. It's their first kiss! And it's her protecting him, for once, as she rushes into a fight. How did I forget that?
I guess Sailor Moon's Moon Stick ("Crescent Moon Wand" sounds better, tbh) is powered by the "Legendary Silver Crystal", too...? And the part about the 'Legendary Silver Crystal''s light/power being absorbed into Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru's body will come back, too...?
Will Mamoru having Usagi's handkerchief, as she has his pocket watch, ever come back...?
Another nice, understated touch is when Usagi's dad makes a chain for the "Legendary Silver Crystal", so Usagi can use it as a pendant to wear around her neck (he thinks it's a gift from someone she's in love with, which isn't wrong). Family is important to Usagi as well, and the manga shows her parents' love and concern for their growing, changing daughter.
Beryl calls herself "Princess Beryl" on the second-to-last page of the volume - right before calling herself "Queen of the Dark Kingdom". Is this a translation error? I know there are plenty of those in this edition, and typos.
That's all for now.
Next up, volume 3.
Happy September Moon!
Final Score: 4.5/5
Original Review:
I'm finally doing it. I'm reviewing each of the 'Sailor Moon' manga volumes. Bit by bit I'll talk about a Magical Girl series so dear to my heart. A girl power series I love so much - out of nostalgia and current analysis, because despite what's on the surface, Naoko Takeuchi's popular manga is deeper and more meaningful, touching, complex and dramatic than one might expect.
And the second volume is where things really get good.
Gone are a lot of the silly quirks (though there are still a few funny, heartfelt moments), and the repetitive monster-of-the-week formula. The plot gets going, and quick.
Rundown: Usagi Tsukino and Mamoru Chiba know each other's secret identities, and their relationship develops sweetly and beautifully from there, with no more secrets (Seriously, their love is swoon-worthy and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Even Tuxedo Mask is more tolerable to me as he develops). Like Mamoru, Usagi has an identity crisis. Who is she really - Sailor Moon, champion of love and justice? An ordinary, clumsy, sensitive schoolkid? Princess Serenity, the heir to the fallen Moon Kingdom? That's an awful lot of pressure to put on a fourteen-year-old. So yeah, to the surprise of no one Sailor Moon is revealed to be the missing Moon Princess (I know, shocker), and Tuxedo Mask her lover, Prince Endymion. Sailor V makes her grand debut outside of her own series, first acting as a decoy Moon Princess, and serving as a headstrong leader to the rest of the Sailor Guardians. Unlike the Sailors Mercury, Mars and Jupiter, Venus is already aware of her duty to protect the reincarnated Princess Serenity, plus the most powerful MacGuffin in the universe, the Legendary Silver Crystal, which the Dark Kingdom is desperate to find and take control of. But upon this discovery (it is explained throughout why it was kept from everyone beforehand, along with other important plot details), Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask is kidnapped and brainwashed by evil (the first of many times this happens in the series, it becomes funny). A bereaved Usagi/Sailor Moon is helped out of her depression by her friends the Sailor Warriors and Luna and Artemis. Then they are transported into space and onto the moon, where the Moon Kingdom - the Silver Millennium - once stood, and is now in ruins. A holo-Queen Serenity - activated by Sailor Venus pulling a sword from a stone - exposits all. The history of the Silver Millennium, its place in purging all evil on Earth while remaining distant from it, and our heroes' past lives - mainly Princess Serenity's and Prince Endymion's star-crossed love - and how they were met by war, are explained. Including the Moon Kingdom's destruction at the hands of Queen Beryl and the Dark Kingdom. Queen Serenity tells everyone their destiny; specifically that Sailor Moon must use the power of the Legendary Silver Crystal to defeat the Dark kingdom once and for all. But it will only work from within her heart, where her hope lies. Oh, and Beryl's four male minions are revealed to have been Endymion's guards in their past lives. Nice parallels abound.
That's the gist of it.
There's no messing around here. Stakes are high; not a single page in this volume is boring or feels drawn-out. The structure, the character development, the emotion, the action, the gorgeous artwork, are all solid.
The story, and explaining of plot points, is rather cleverer than this magical girl gloss needed to be - even the moments of info-dump I can forgive due to the steady pacing, character interactions and pretty art. I give credit to Takeuchi-san for putting in that amount of effort.
The characters' personalities shine through stronger than in the previous volume. Usagi may act like a useless, overly-emotional wallflower for most of the time - like her past self, pining over Mamoru/Endymion - but with strong support from her friends, she will always try to do the right thing, without resorting to thoughtless violence. At only fourteen, she isn't perfect, nor is she ever expected to be. Sailor Moon's curiosity and amazing capacity to love and believe anything is possible in the face of danger are other overlooked attributes to her character arc. This only grows - there is no zenith - the more the series progresses; the more reason to love her.
Even Usagi's parents and friend Naru get their own little moments, such as them noticing that young Usagi is changing; and this might be a sign she is growing up - not into a warrior or queen, which they don't suspect, but a more mature person all around.
Minako Aino/Sailor Venus is a tough, resourceful and serious leader, but in her civilian form she still retains some aspects of her old fun-loving, light-hearted and even clumsy self.
I'll talk about the other Sailor characters more in future reviews when I feel they each get their breakout moments to shine. But at this stage in the game, they're still great. Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako differ in personality, but a common thing they share is their unwavering friendship and trust in Sailor Moon, and in each other. They consistently try to be there for one another; and it doesn’t seem like it’s merely because it’s their destiny as guardians to do so. Romantic love is not the sole focus - how very noble, touching and progressive! It's one of the reasons I rate the 'Sailor Moon' manga over the anime, the latter of which has Sailor Moon not bond very well with the other Sailors - they are not together that often, and when they do team up they bicker a lot. Not only is it annoying, it makes their friendship feel a little forced. Probably this is so Sailor Moon can be saved by the not-that-dashing Tuxedo Mask some more.
There are loving moments and there are scary moments. 'Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 2' is a great read overall. Stay tuned for reviews of further volumes!
Final Score: 5/5
P.S. At the end, Queen Beryl introduces herself as “Princess Beryl” to the Sailor Warriors, right before saying she’s the QUEEN of the Dark Kingdom. Uhhh...
The part where a concerned Sailor Jupiter/Makoto pats a grieving and depressed Usagi on the head, just before the Sailor Guardians transport to the moon, and the ruins of Silver Millennium, is another understated moment that's so human and loving. They are true friends.
The number of times "Legendary Silver Crystal" is said in this arc could rival the number of times "Carol Anne" is said in 'Poltergeist III'. I know it's a very important MacGuffin, but the repetition of its name in quotation marks is almost comical.
So Sailor V and Artemis were behind the Sailor V arcade game, and the formation of the command center - literally behind it, as in, the center is hidden behind the game - the whole time, and Luna just... stumbled upon it? Or she knew it was secretly training the Guardians, but nothing else about it? It seems pretty mean that Sailor Venus/Minako and Artemis kept her in the dark, even blocking her memories, no matter the reasons, before the identity of the Moon Princess is revealed, and she is "awakened".
Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite, the minions of Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom, are called the Earth's "Four Kings of Heaven", and they were Earth Prince Endymion/Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask's guards in a past life, like the Sailor Guardians were Princess Serenity/Usagi/Sailor Moon's guards in said past life. They were eventually reborn like the Sailors, and the prince and the princess, on Earth, but were seduced by Queen Beryl and Queen Metalia (the big bad "great ruler") before they could remember and fulfil their true destinies. When the four of them die again, their namesake stones remain, and Mamoru, brainwashed by Beryl, takes them. What significance do the stones hold? Do they possess power? Energy? The souls of the Earth Prince's Four Kings of Heaven?
The masks are off now, literally and figuratively.
The moment where Usagi hugs and cuddles Luna one morning at home, and tells her she loves her as reassurance, gets me every time. Poor Luna needs to know she is appreciated for all her hard work and (deliberately) limited resources. She receives poignant character development in this volume. And at the end, the depressed and confused Usagi finds the courage and resolve to fight as Sailor Moon again when Luna is hurt by the enemy - I'd forgotten how many touching and meaningful moments are in the 'Sailor Moon' manga.
The Sailor Guardians' trip to the moon, to the truth of their past lives, is treated with the prep, tension, gravitas, awe and reverence it deserves. So is meeting the computerised ghost, or "memory" and "will", of Queen Serenity, Princess Serenity's mother. Very sad and tragic.
Wait, the prehistoric Silver Millennium had computers!? The "Eternity Main System in the Moon Castle", what?!
Is the sword in the stone on the moon, that ends up with Sailor Venus, the same sword that Princess Serenity used to kill herself in the ancient moon's past? Or it's "a sacred, legendary sword to protect the princess"... that she used to take her own life? Or was it originally Prince Endymion's? It's not clear yet.
Can the Sailor Guardians fly? They totally fly here, and hover beside buildings, even individually, and not so apparently in a protective magic moon circle. Why is this never acknowledged, let alone remarked upon?!
Makoto is such a great friend to Usagi. An example of this, besides the one I've already given above, is when Usagi falls asleep during an important meeting, and the big sister Sailor Guardian says, "There's also her worries about Tuxedo Mask. She also met her mother in a previous life, the queen... she's got a lot going on. I'll bet she's just exhausted from the stress." It's a pity that Makoto is easily hypnotized by evil - twice in this arc.
Rei's crows, Phobos and Deimos, have a presence still. I remember their significance well.
Artemis is barely a character yet, compared to Luna.
More buildup and time needed to be spent on the introduction of Sailor Venus's identity as ordinary schoolgirl Minako. Let's actually see her at Usagi's school, at least. I like her as the assured and serious Sailor Venus, and as the goofy, happy-go-lucky Minako. It's unexpected and cool, in the grand scheme of things, especially to people who have not read 'Codename Sailor V'. Complex, multilayered heroines abound in 'Sailor Moon'.
Sailor Moon steals a kiss from Tuxedo Mask, as a warrior trying to tell him to get away from a battle. It's their first kiss! And it's her protecting him, for once, as she rushes into a fight. How did I forget that?
I guess Sailor Moon's Moon Stick ("Crescent Moon Wand" sounds better, tbh) is powered by the "Legendary Silver Crystal", too...? And the part about the 'Legendary Silver Crystal''s light/power being absorbed into Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru's body will come back, too...?
Will Mamoru having Usagi's handkerchief, as she has his pocket watch, ever come back...?
Another nice, understated touch is when Usagi's dad makes a chain for the "Legendary Silver Crystal", so Usagi can use it as a pendant to wear around her neck (he thinks it's a gift from someone she's in love with, which isn't wrong). Family is important to Usagi as well, and the manga shows her parents' love and concern for their growing, changing daughter.
Beryl calls herself "Princess Beryl" on the second-to-last page of the volume - right before calling herself "Queen of the Dark Kingdom". Is this a translation error? I know there are plenty of those in this edition, and typos.
That's all for now.
Next up, volume 3.
Happy September Moon!
Final Score: 4.5/5
Original Review:
I'm finally doing it. I'm reviewing each of the 'Sailor Moon' manga volumes. Bit by bit I'll talk about a Magical Girl series so dear to my heart. A girl power series I love so much - out of nostalgia and current analysis, because despite what's on the surface, Naoko Takeuchi's popular manga is deeper and more meaningful, touching, complex and dramatic than one might expect.
And the second volume is where things really get good.
Gone are a lot of the silly quirks (though there are still a few funny, heartfelt moments), and the repetitive monster-of-the-week formula. The plot gets going, and quick.
Rundown: Usagi Tsukino and Mamoru Chiba know each other's secret identities, and their relationship develops sweetly and beautifully from there, with no more secrets (Seriously, their love is swoon-worthy and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Even Tuxedo Mask is more tolerable to me as he develops). Like Mamoru, Usagi has an identity crisis. Who is she really - Sailor Moon, champion of love and justice? An ordinary, clumsy, sensitive schoolkid? Princess Serenity, the heir to the fallen Moon Kingdom? That's an awful lot of pressure to put on a fourteen-year-old. So yeah, to the surprise of no one Sailor Moon is revealed to be the missing Moon Princess (I know, shocker), and Tuxedo Mask her lover, Prince Endymion. Sailor V makes her grand debut outside of her own series, first acting as a decoy Moon Princess, and serving as a headstrong leader to the rest of the Sailor Guardians. Unlike the Sailors Mercury, Mars and Jupiter, Venus is already aware of her duty to protect the reincarnated Princess Serenity, plus the most powerful MacGuffin in the universe, the Legendary Silver Crystal, which the Dark Kingdom is desperate to find and take control of. But upon this discovery (it is explained throughout why it was kept from everyone beforehand, along with other important plot details), Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask is kidnapped and brainwashed by evil (the first of many times this happens in the series, it becomes funny). A bereaved Usagi/Sailor Moon is helped out of her depression by her friends the Sailor Warriors and Luna and Artemis. Then they are transported into space and onto the moon, where the Moon Kingdom - the Silver Millennium - once stood, and is now in ruins. A holo-Queen Serenity - activated by Sailor Venus pulling a sword from a stone - exposits all. The history of the Silver Millennium, its place in purging all evil on Earth while remaining distant from it, and our heroes' past lives - mainly Princess Serenity's and Prince Endymion's star-crossed love - and how they were met by war, are explained. Including the Moon Kingdom's destruction at the hands of Queen Beryl and the Dark Kingdom. Queen Serenity tells everyone their destiny; specifically that Sailor Moon must use the power of the Legendary Silver Crystal to defeat the Dark kingdom once and for all. But it will only work from within her heart, where her hope lies. Oh, and Beryl's four male minions are revealed to have been Endymion's guards in their past lives. Nice parallels abound.
That's the gist of it.
There's no messing around here. Stakes are high; not a single page in this volume is boring or feels drawn-out. The structure, the character development, the emotion, the action, the gorgeous artwork, are all solid.
The story, and explaining of plot points, is rather cleverer than this magical girl gloss needed to be - even the moments of info-dump I can forgive due to the steady pacing, character interactions and pretty art. I give credit to Takeuchi-san for putting in that amount of effort.
The characters' personalities shine through stronger than in the previous volume. Usagi may act like a useless, overly-emotional wallflower for most of the time - like her past self, pining over Mamoru/Endymion - but with strong support from her friends, she will always try to do the right thing, without resorting to thoughtless violence. At only fourteen, she isn't perfect, nor is she ever expected to be. Sailor Moon's curiosity and amazing capacity to love and believe anything is possible in the face of danger are other overlooked attributes to her character arc. This only grows - there is no zenith - the more the series progresses; the more reason to love her.
Even Usagi's parents and friend Naru get their own little moments, such as them noticing that young Usagi is changing; and this might be a sign she is growing up - not into a warrior or queen, which they don't suspect, but a more mature person all around.
Minako Aino/Sailor Venus is a tough, resourceful and serious leader, but in her civilian form she still retains some aspects of her old fun-loving, light-hearted and even clumsy self.
I'll talk about the other Sailor characters more in future reviews when I feel they each get their breakout moments to shine. But at this stage in the game, they're still great. Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako differ in personality, but a common thing they share is their unwavering friendship and trust in Sailor Moon, and in each other. They consistently try to be there for one another; and it doesn’t seem like it’s merely because it’s their destiny as guardians to do so. Romantic love is not the sole focus - how very noble, touching and progressive! It's one of the reasons I rate the 'Sailor Moon' manga over the anime, the latter of which has Sailor Moon not bond very well with the other Sailors - they are not together that often, and when they do team up they bicker a lot. Not only is it annoying, it makes their friendship feel a little forced. Probably this is so Sailor Moon can be saved by the not-that-dashing Tuxedo Mask some more.
There are loving moments and there are scary moments. 'Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 2' is a great read overall. Stay tuned for reviews of further volumes!
Final Score: 5/5
P.S. At the end, Queen Beryl introduces herself as “Princess Beryl” to the Sailor Warriors, right before saying she’s the QUEEN of the Dark Kingdom. Uhhh...
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