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Sailor Moon Crystal: Episode 1 Recap

The new Sailor Moon Crystal premiered and with a beautiful new song and stunning opening animation that somewhat resembles scenes from a Space Odyssey; 2001, has already shown itself to be different from the original. Episodes can be found free on Hulu.

The first episode of Sailor Moon Crystal was almost exactly the same as the original from the 90s. It starts with a dream sequence and Usagi wakes up in bed. As in the original, she’s running late and runs out the door, after taking a quick tumble down the steps.

Usagi’s Character

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Usagi shows some of the same clumsiness as before but it is very much toned down. This is a little disappointing since it was one of the original anime Usagi’s more endearing qualities. Her over the top cry baby behavior and clumsiness were what helped her stand out from other “shoujo” heroines by making her more relatable than the typical “beautiful and perfect” female main characters.

The art style is also very different from the original since it has been designed to stay true to the manga version more than the original had. Those who haven’t read the manga, or aren’t familiar with typical CLAMP style, might find that Usagi and her friends look rather sad all the time (especially with those massive eyes of theirs).

Enter Luna

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On her way to school, Usagi bumps into Luna and removes bandages that cover the crescent moon on her head. Compared to her counterpart in the original anime, this Luna seems to have gone a diet and is not so much plush and cuddly looking as she is model skinny (for a cat at least).The scene cuts to a bad guy expressing his need to find the Legendary Silver Crystal so of course, Sailor Moon fans will know he’s a minion of Queen Beryl. Then the viewer is rapidly introduced to even more characters, such as Naru and Umino.

Usagi and her friends get back their English tests and as per usual, poor Usagi is not doing very well in her classes. After school, they visit Naru’s mom’s jewelry shop. As she is leaving, Usagi bumps into a man wearing a tuxedo, who can only be Mamoru. He picks on her and she leaves to go play games at the arcade, where we are introduced to Motoki.

The New Moon Prism Power Make Up

Luna shows up again and it cuts to Usagi arriving home, only to be scolded by her mother for the terrible grade on her English test. We also get to see her little brother at this point. Usagi goes to bed and dreams again, only to wake up to Luna watching her. Luna explains all about Usagi’s destiny and we get to finally see what the new transformation animation will look like.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTISBluTCEQ]

Personally, I thought the original was better. With the new art style, Usagi looks like she somehow lacks bones in her limbs and they are wiggling about like noodles. Rather creepy.

The First Fight

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Her hair pieces go off like some sort of “spidey sense” radio receptors and then, of course, it’s time for Usagi to save the day at the jewelry shop. She arrives just in time to save Naru from the monster that has taken the shape of Naru’s mom. The monster summons the help of the zombified customers, which were unfortunate enough to be wearing her cursed jewelry, to attack Sailor Moon.

The battle itself is rather short and unsatisfying. Usagi runs about for a bit, falls, and then screams her head off (tame compared to the original where one of the controlled humans slashes at her with a broken bottle.) Her ultra sound scream throws everyone off and then Tuxedo Mask gives a speech urging her to fight, Usagi throws her tiara and it’s over.

Back at school, all the students gush about the new super hero and we get a teaser of Ami walking away from the school, and that’s it. Overall, the episode seemed to rush through a lot of things like the introduction of characters and the fight scene, so hopefully they slow it down for the rest of the episodes.