Super Recaps: Sailor Moon Crystal Act 32 (Infinity 6: Three Guardians)

We’re back with another episode of Quantum Pluto!  When we had left our heroes, the latest member of Team Outer Senshi had fully awakened to their powers and is ready to help them save the world!  The last episode suffered from having no real direction and continuing to hammer home points that had already been addressed in prior episodes with no real advancement; bringing the show to a standstill as none of the subplots were ready to move forward just yet.    Hopefully now that everything is starting to be out in the open, the show can finally give us something new.  Do we get it this time, or are we still gonna have to deal with problems we saw the solution to several episodes ago?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with Chibi-Usa running to greet the apparently reincarnated Sailor Pluto who showed up at the end of the last episode to finish off the witch who was about to chop the young Scout’s head off.  Pluto remembers Chibi-Usa and explains that she was reborn by Neo Queen Serenity to fulfill some important mission.  It’s not clear whether or not she had lost her memories up to this point, but I think the more pertinent point is that NEO QUEEN SEREINTY CAN RAISE THE DEAD!!  They don’t explain how she was able to do it, but that seems like a pretty useful power to have at your beck and call; especially to use on a Sailor Guardian who can go to whatever time they want.  Presumably the “bring back to life” process is a form of reincarnation like it was for the other Sailor Scouts which means it takes a good fifteen years to get going (or more like twenty in Pluto’s case) so it’s not something she can use as a plan B, but it’s still pretty useful!  Wait… now I’m confused.  Can Neo Queen Serenity go back in time too without the aid of Pluto to… I guess imbue an unborn baby with Pluto’s genetic code?  How does bringing her back to life in the past affect the events in the future?  Why didn’t she send a message to her younger self letting her know to keep an eye out for the reincarnation!?

Things get stranger still as Sailor Moon suddenly turns into Neo Queen Serenity out of nowhere, though it only appears to be a costume change instead of say, being possessed by her future self.  This change in attire though is enough for Sailor Pluto AS WELL AS SAILOR NEPTUNE AND SAILOR URANUS to bow before her in respect and pledge their undying allegiance.  Oh, so NOW they want to be a part of the team!  Only a few hours ago, they were desperately running away from the Scouts (who they MUST have known included the soon to be Neo Queen Serenity) but SO MUCH HAS CHANGED NOW and they can finally drop the façade.  Great…

So what are the secrets that the three Outer Senshi have been hiding from their ruler (because THAT always turns out to be a great idea)?  Similar to the… I guess they’d be called INNER Senshi, these three were reincarnated at the same time as the other Scouts, and while we don’t know how they came to be aware of their past lives (they don’t seem to have a Luna type character to show them the ropes) they seemed to have figured it out quick enough but were too late to keep this invasion from reaching Earth; hence why they are here instead of on some other planet.  The Death Busters by the way are from a faraway galaxy (the Tau Star System) and are here to take over Earth because of a space-time anomaly (what Pluto was researching in the last episode) that seems to be occurring right in the Mugen district.  No one knows whether this anomaly came about from happenstance or by design from some third party (Spoiler Alert: I’m ninety-five percent certain that that shit isn’t gonna go unexplained), but either way the Outer Senshi plan to stop the Death Busters despite the setback of Haruka and Michiru outing themselves and Sailor Guardians and therefore can’t return to the school (not sure if Meioh has been discovered by the bad guys yet).  So if the Outer Senshi were already three steps behind The Death Busters right out of the gate, why exactly have they been fucking with the Scouts and keeping this a secret when they could have… you know; HELPED THEM!?  Well the reason seems to be that they ALL think that the Inner Senshi are just too weak and helpless to stop this invasion.  BULL!  SHIT!!

Let’s just bring up the Witches 5 score card, shall we?  Eudial who was leading the cult of student’s at the off-campus meeting in episode 28?  Defeated by the combined efforts of the five Inner Senshi.  The popstar Mimi who tried to steal students’ souls at one of her concerts in episode 29?  Fought by Sailor Venus who destroyed her energy collecting device and eventually defeated by Uranus and Neptune AFTER Sailor Moon destroyed two giant fuck off monsters with a single attack.  The super smart student Yui who was stealing students’ souls through computers from episode 30?  Mercury was assisted by Neptune and Uranus (they karate chopped two brainwashed students) and the rest of the Scouts came in to save Ami when she was on the ropes.  At THAT point, Neptune and Mercury stepped in to defeat two monsters (something Usgai could EASILY do on her own) and then destroy Yui.  Finally, the botanist Tellun from episode 31 who nearly chopped off Chibi-Usa’s head?  That was ALL Pluto with no help from the two other Outer Senshi who have been jerks this entire time.  What I’m getting at here is that the show has done a poor job of convincing me that these three (well mainly Neptune and Uranus who are the ones making a big deal out of this) are SO powerful as to make the Inner Senshi irrelevant.  Have they helped out when things looked bad?  Of course they have, but other than the fight with Tellun, it never seemed like the Inner Senshi were helpless against their foe so as to make us fear for their safety or their chances of winning.  We’re talking about the same Scouts who not only saved the PRESENT from Dark Kingdom, but the FUTURE from Wiseman!  These three coming in here and telling us that the Scouts are complete pushovers is a statement that rings completely hollow and will no doubt be proven incorrect at some point in this arc.

You know what though?  I’m gonna go ahead and give them a chance.  If the Scouts out and out lose the next fight which requires the Outer Senshi to clean up their mess, than I will go with it.  After all, Goku in Dragon Ball Z got his ass handed to him by Android 19, which was enough to lay the groundwork for the rest of the Android Saga.  Maybe they can pull it off here, but we’ll have to see how the rest of the episode plays out.  The conversation also includes a confirmation that Haruka exists as both male and female (still not sure which pronouns they would prefer so I’ll stick with female for now) and then moves to the items the three of them have (Michiru’s mirror, Haruka’s sword, and Meioh’s staff) which are indeed the three talismans of destruction; making my theory that the Holy Grail was going to be the third item more or less disproven.  We don’t really get any details on their true nature, but the reason the Outer Senshi need them is to defeat the Deity of Destruction who I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess is General Zod (Master Pharaoh 90).  They will defeat the deity of destruction with the talismans of destruction.  I guess you really do have to fight fire with fire.  Anyway, we cut to the next morning where Usagi seems to be back to her usual routine (running late for school) and we find out from a news report that the Mugen Academy had been shut down due to the fact that students either come home with half their souls ripped out or don’t come back at all.  I mean, I still have no idea why the parents would allow their kids to go to a school run by a card carrying Mad Scientist, but at least SOMEONE finally came to their sense and took action.

Still, this doesn’t mean the Scouts should take their eye off Principal Frankenstein anytime soon and in their next meeting they discuss what they’ve learned so far which is basically that the guy was a super scientist who sold his discoveries to fund the construction of the Mugen District.  During the district’s development however, there was a fire that looks to have killed his wife and critically injure his daughter Hotaru; hence the random attacks she gets which come from that initial injury.  The Scouts assign Chibi-Usa to spy on her which doesn’t seem like the best idea out there considering Chibi-Usa already likes her and is probably gonna feel guilty if she actually starts tattling on her.  Then again, it’s not like they have a choice as the Outer Senshi seem to know something about her but haven’t told them anything they know yet because of their “don’t get involved with us” policy; leaving the Scouts with no other option than to move ahead with their own investigation.  Again, BRILLIANT planning here by the Outer Senshi who are just so darn effective at their jobs!  Speaking of brilliant planning, Ursa of the Zod Gang is starting to see the writing on the wall in regards to the Scouts constantly wrecking their plans, and yet doesn’t really take that thought far enough to stop the last of the Witches 5 (Cyprine) from throwing herself into a suicidal mission to SOMEHOW defeat the damn Senshi who keep getting more and more members!

I’m sure that will turn out well, but for now we jump ahead to Chibi-Usa who’s going out to see Hotaru.  They had planned to see a movie, but Hotaru never shows up and Chibi-Usa ends up standing there all alone for house.  Well what happened!?  It turns out that Hotaru had to go in for some unplanned surgery and we find out what her deal is which is that she is more than half robot.  All of her limbs were lost in the fire I guess (yet she has no scars on the parts of her body that she DIDN’T lose) and Dr. Frankenstein managed to graft new ones onto her that don’t look like they’re put on that well, but also have the ability to blend in seamlessly with the rest of her body.  I mean if the horrific scars just fade away mere hours after the surgery, she really doesn’t need to be wearing the long sleeve shirts to cover them up.  They’re gone by the time she’d leave the house!

Chibi-Usa has managed to walk all the way to her apartment and sees the robo-arm through the giant glass door for her room and runs off after being caught by Hotaru.  I don’t think she’s doing it in terror though (those robo-limbs are BAD ASS!) but rather out of embarrassment for unintentionally spying on her.  Either way, Hotaru is not in a good place right now (the yet to be fully healed arm is bringing back some bad memories) and she starts hallucinating about the three Outer Senshi; none of whom she seems to actually know.  All this (along with the awful pain she’s constantly experiencing) is probably leading to her eventual emergence as Sailor Saturn; the final of the Outer Senshi (I’m guessing).  That will have to wait for later though because Cyprine is ready to launch her scheme.  By far the most proactive of the witches; she just rains the city in mind control hail (turning the entire city’s populous into riotous mind slaves) and then heads straight for Haruka and Michiru’s apartment to blow it up with them inside.

They both manage to survive the initial attack which does not compute for Cyprine, yet does little to slow her attack.  Even with their combined power and the assistance of Sailor Pluto (who shows up moments after the fight begins) it seems that these three cannot handle this latest foe.  Cyprine readies a super big energy attack and fires it at the Outer Senshi which will surely be the end of them!  If only there were five and a half OTHER Scouts you could call on to assist you and overwhelm the enemy!  Wait a minute… there ARE five and half other Scouts that can assist you to overwhelm the enemy!  With a bit of prodding from Usagi, everyone shows up to the battle and starts their counterattack with Haruka STILL telling them to piss off while clutching her arm in pain.

Cyprine seems ready for the remaining Scouts though and uses their numbers against them.  You mean a bad guy ACTUALLY has a strategy!?  Well this might be the most competent opponent they’ve ever fought against!  So what’s the plan?  While the Scouts were unaffected by the mind control hail, she seems to have a more concentrated form of it which she uses to infect all the Scouts, minus Moon and Chibi-Moon (also Mamoru, but he’s not a Scout) and sits back while they all try to kill each other!  BRILLIANT!  Except for that whole Sailor Moon and Chibi-Moon are still free to attack her which they do with their spinning hearts of death attacks.  But wait!  Cyprine dodges the attack and it turns out that she’s actually… two people?  Okay…

Once again, Cyprine is proving herself to be one hard as nail bad guy to put down; not only because she ACTUALLY knows what she’s doing, but she’s working together with someone instead of trying to take them all on solo!  Okay… it’s TECHNICALLY herself she’s working with, but at least there are now TWO targets the Scouts have to hit instead of just one.  Speaking of which, Sailor Jupiter is narrowly hit by Chibi-Moon’s heart attack and so she fires an electric ball of death at her in retaliation.  Fortunately, Tuxedo Mask is there to protect Chibi-Moon with what I guess is his electricity proof cape (is it made of rubber?) and those two along with Sailor Moon regroup and plan their next move.  Sailor Moon is getting depressed by the metaphorical significance of all the Scouts fighting each other (SYMBOLISM!!), but with the help of Mamoru and Chibi-Usa, she manages to gather her wits again and is ready to keep fighting.  This family hug fest though doesn’t end there!  For some reason, this was EXACTLY what they needed to do in order to summon the Holy Grail which will surely be the key to defeating Cyprine and the other Cyprine!  How exactly will it do that?  Will she just throw it at them and hope it causes a concussion?  Well we’ll have to wait until next week because this is where the episode ends!

This was an episode that disappointed me when it started but managed to pick itself up again by the end of it.  I’m REALLY sick of the Outer Senshi underestimating the others without giving us a reason to believe that these new bad guys are too big of a threat for them to handle.  The Scouts have done FINE so far and Sailor Moon is no doubt about to show them up at the start of the next episode, so while we still don’t have any indication that the Outer Senshi’s concerns were valid, at least we have a pretty solid chance of the next episode being the last damn time they bring that issue up.  It just takes time and energy away from the more interesting subplots such as what’s going on with Hotaru and Chibi-Usa.  We still need a better idea of what the hell the bad guys are trying to accomplish as well as an end to the Uranus and Neptune standoffs, but this episode seems to be heading in the right direction.  We’ll have to wait until next time to see if that’s the case, but I have hope that this show will stop circling the same plot points once the Outer Senshi are firmly part of team moon and stop being aloof egotist.

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Sailor Moon “Crystal” Set 1 Standard (BD/DVD combo pack) [Blu-ray]