Sailor Moon Crystal - Act 14: Conclusion and Commencement: Petite Étrangére

Previously, Act 13 - Final Battle: Reincarnation

Photo Credit: Sailor Moon Crystal

This episode begins with Sailor Moon preparing to use the power of the “Legendary Silver Crystal” to finally defeat Quenn Metalia. The initial attack doesn’t do as much as she would’ve liked, and she begins to lose faith in herself and her abilities. However, Mamoru gives her a grand pep talk, and that - along with both the memories of her friends (more on them later) and Luna’s prayers - begins to turn the tide in her favor. With all of that support she is able to finally defeat Queen Metalia once and for all. This does come at a horrible price, though; the strain she put on herself destroyed her transformation brooch, and it renders her unconscious. The power exerted also has another unexpected consequence, as it helps to revitalize the Moon Castle and begin a new Silver Millennium. Back on earth, Mamoru is holding his fallen beloved with sorrow; in an attempt to bring her back, he leans in for a kiss. This brings her back, and they share a loving embrace, but she then remembers her friends. Mamoru places his hand on the ground and uses his connection to the earth to find where they have laid since their defeat by Queen Metalia. Mamoru also grabs Usagi’s hand while doing this, so she is able to see exactly what he sees; she sees first hand what toll the battle took on the planet. In her grief, she hears Luna calling to her from the moon; Luna beckons her to come to the moon, but Usagi tells her the brooch was transformed. Luna has her to say a prayer to the “Legendary Silver Crystal,” and that will be powerful enough to get her there. She does just that, and she and Mamoru teleport to the moon.

Once there, they both take in the glory of the Moon Castle and they are joined by Luna and Artemis. As they make their way to the Prayer Room, Luna praises her efforts in the previous battle, as well as informing her that she is now the new queen of the Silver Millennium. As one would expect a 14 year old to react, she is quite flummoxed by this. She tells her that she would rather be home on earth with her loved ones. She then hears Queen Serenity call out to her, asking if this is what she actually wants. Usagi answers in the affirmative, and the queen gives her blessing, along with a new transformation brooch to replace the old one. At Luna’s behest, she places the “Legendary Silver Crystal” in it and shouts “Moon Crystal Power Make Up!” Once she transforms into Sailor Moon again, she uses the Moon Stick to heal the earth and bring it - and everyone affected by the attack - back to life. The Guardians reawaken on earth and are joined in a warm embrace by Sailor Moon. Life then goes on like nothing ever happened, with the exception of Rei seeing a figure with an upside-down crescent moon on his forehead. Later in the day, Usagi and Mamoru meet up at the park to exchange their promised gifts; Usagi had his pocketwatch fixed, and Mamoru returns the handkerchief she lost in Act 8. However, during a loving kiss and embrace, a Luna-faced ball falls from a portal in the sky and bonks Mamoru in the head…only to be followed by a young child with pink hair which falls on Usagi’s head. The young girl introduces herself as Usagi, points a gun at her, and demands the “Legendary Silver Crystal.”

Here are my five standout moments from the episode:

1. The music from the final battle was pretty epic, especially when the choir kicked in. That was a pretty nice addition.
2. When the Sailor Guardians were defeated, they really were defeated! They were just laid out on the ground like a discarded toy.
3. There were a nice couple of shout-outs in this episode; one featured a human Luna, and the other was a shout-out to Sailor Moon R when her transformation brooch was destroyed.
4. Batman can breathe in space? So can the Sailor Guardians, I take it. I always marvel at that.
5. Chibiusa has no time for your pithy introductions; she’s here on business!

This was more like it. This was what I was expecting with last week’s episode. Well…most of it. I have my own gripes about the pacing of this series thus far, but that’ll be mentioned in another article. I will say that the first 15 minutes of this episode was fantastic; I got my true final battle, I got my resolution, and I got a pretty solid story. In comparison, the back half of the episode was fine; it had the whole earth-healing thing, which was nice, Usagi talking to Queen Serenity was touching, and the girls all meeting up again was beautiful. It almost felt like a filler half until Chibiusa’s appearance, but that’s not enough to denigrate the episode altogether. I liked it, the preview made me excited for the next episode, and we get back to the waiting game again.

Bring it on!