Sailor Moon Episode 7 - Mamoru Chiba, Tuxedo Mask... no real secret there

Biting the bullet and putting this episode off as much as I possibly could, in a fit of insomnia, I sat down to watch episode 7 of Sailor Moon Crystal. If you read my last post, you will remember that I am not a fan of Sailor Moon's character as she is the only character who I feel has developed the least throughout the Sailor Moon series.

Ugh... lets just get this over with.

The episode picks up right were the last episode left off. Usagi was suffering from one of her many bouts of melancholy which put her friends in danger. With encouragement from Tuxedo Mask she found the... um... courage (I use that term loosely with this character) to join the fight. She gains a new power, Moon Healing Escalation, and saves the day only to pass out in the street... in the same place she left Tuxedo Mask.

The morning she wakes up in Tuxedo Mask's apartment and dense people around the world find out that Mamoru Chiba, a high school kid with an apartment by the way, is Tuxedo Mask. In this episode we learn about Mamoru's past.

As is very common with Mamoru's character, he is suffering from memory loss. I find it funny how memory loss is a reoccurring thing with this guy in the entirety of the Sailor Moon series, but that is a story for another day.

Anyway, because of Usagi's overly trusting nature, she believes Mamoru. At this point, Usagi's feelings are looking completely one sided and there are a number of odd facial expression scenes where I have to wonder, what the heck is going on in their minds. I guess it's suppose to be Mamoru and Usagi questioning their strange attraction to one another.

When the characters are predestined to be together, I guess you can skip a lot. We also get to hear Mamoru's pet name for Usagi for the first time.

In this aspect of the show, I gotta say I like the old animation's take on building the relationship between Usagi and Mamoru a lot better than the original. Sorry SMC. Minus one point in the romance category. Just like in the manga, their relation feels rushed, shallow, and worst of all, random. For those of us who know the story, we know why the relationship escelates the way it does. But for new commers, this can be seen as odd.

On the upside, we get to see Sailor V! Um.... Kinda. It's just her silhouette talking to Luna, the game chibi, and a shadowy figure on a rooftop. We also get to see the animated version of Queen Metalia. In the previous version, Queen Metalia plays a smaller roll. I remember getting a new perspective on Queen Beryl after releasing more about Metalia in the manga. It's good to see her in this new version as she is the driving force behind Beryl's actions. I also love Beryl's inner monologue. Beryl is one of those characters who is more complicated than we know, but the show never really goes into too much depth surrounding her character. What a waste.

We see some more musings of Usagi wanting to see Mamoru and vice versa. They're both kleptomaniacs as Usagi has taken Mamoru's watch and Mamoru still has her handkerchief. 

The story movies on with some speculation about Sailor V being connected to the Moon Kingdom and Luna suspiciously lying about having contact with the estranged senshi. Rei discovers the DVD rental story with the hilariously obvious name "Dark DVD." I like how Japan still has DVD rental stores while they are all but extinct in the US.

The plan is to brainwash renters to look for Sailor Moon as they suspect that she has a connection to the Silver Crystal. Usagi notices that her friends and classmates are acting strange, as is what usually happens when an evil plan goes into action. They grab a DVD and head to the arcade to check it out.

I had no idea arcrade games had DVD slots. 

There is a pretty amusing scene where Usagi is more worried about breaking the arcade game before chibi Sailor V has to tell her that the DVD was a brainwashing tactic. In Usagi's defense, my first thought was also "Oh crap, I think you broke it." 

Now that the problem has been identified, the episode becomes rapidly more interesting. Sailor Moon proves to be semi competent on her own as she heads out to help the victims. 

Zoicite appears and doesn't wait for Sailor Moon to finish reciteing the usual speech before attacking. We also get to see some of Zoicite's best badassery in this episode as he proves that he has more than enough power to easily deal with our heroes.

Unfortunately, Sailor Moon kinda kills the moment by silently asking Tuxedo Mask to save her when she gets into a precarious situation. Which of course (sigh) he does, using a killer right hook. Didn't see that coming. I also wasn't expecting soem of the kill shots from Zoicite. 

The episode finally ends with Sailor Moon being saved by none other than Sailor Venus.

FINALLY! Sailor V will make her appearance.

In conclusion, as I predicted, this episode is one of my least favorites but I do like it better than episode  6. The best scenes were the battle sequences between Zoicite and the senshi. with each appearance, I am loving the new badass take on our dark generals. 

I'm excited for Sailor Venus because I know that she was way cooler in the manga, and thus, with this series being more closely tied to the manga, we'll really get to see Sailor Venus shine.

Only a few concerns. because I know SMC is following the manga more closely, I may have to prepare myself to see less of the other senshi as the story becomes more focused on Sailor Moon. (super sigh)