Episode 12: Evil Queen Metalia a.k.a Romeo and Juliet

Twelve episodes down, one to go. Episode 12 is the second to last episode in this season. It's almost over and they have started the final battle. What's not to love?

Well... a lot actually. So the writers have take quite a few liberties, and while they are not all bad, they may not be all good either. So without further adieu, let's start at the beginning.

Episode 12 picks up where episode 11 left off. Our heroines are facing the possessed Tuxedo Mask and Beryl. Sailor Moon still refuses to fight against her beloved and he's about to end her and everyone where they stand. Jupiter, at the point, makes a flashy entrance to protect the princess. Everyone else puts up a shield, but the dimensional  space can't handle all the power discharge.

 We see Ami pull off some awesome multitasking skills and create another dimension of space while still keeping her guard up. We get a great look at her ever useful high tech glasses, which I feel is never used in it's full capacity.

Inside this secondary space, Baryl herself goes on the offensive. She uses her hair to tangle up the senshi. Now lets pause here. Hair.... Really? Ok, so, what? was she planning on strangling them? or stealing their power. It's never clear.

It's also here that Venus fully recognizes Baryl and who is really pulling the string in the Dark Kingdom operation. She makes this remark that "Now, I'm really mad." which throws me. Because I was passed about three episodes back.

Venus calls up the sword and uses it to cut the hair and tries to attack only to fail. Sailor Moon, proposes that they work together and they manage to bring down Baryl with a single strike to Beryl's necklace which was apparently the source of her power.


Hmmm..... didn't see THAT coming. I guess it would be nice if they explained little, important details like this. Like, if we saw Beryl being extra careful with her necklace, or always messing with it or something? But no. A quick read from mercury's glasses and BOOM! Instant weak point revelation. It's like they had decided that the fight has gone on too long and just needed a way to end it quickly.

We do get a rare vision of Beryl before she went all bat-shit crazy. More proof that unrequited love is a very dangerous thing for all involved parties.

The fight continues and Tuxedo Maskk effortlessly steals the sword and runs off only to be persued by Sailor Moon. The other senshi are left behind to track their princess to the North Pole and get there via energy bubble.

Meanwhile, Sailor Moon is getting her ass kicked left and right, all while still refusing to fight him seriously. The Senshi make it to the North Pole and face off against the Four Kings, Jedite, Zoicite, Nephrite, and Kunzite.

I wish we could have seen more of that fight, but from the results, it was pretty one sided. A memory laps keeps the kings still enough for the senshi to pull off a planetary attack which restores their memories. Mean while, Sailor Moon pulls on her memories and a transmission from Luna and tries to heal Tuxedo Mask.

This is where things take a nasty turn, and there is no way to avoid spoilers. Lets just say that everything ends badly.

The Kings die, killed by Metallia because they are useless to her. Sailor Moon Kills Tuxedo Mask before turning the sword on herself. The senshi try to stop her, but don't make it in time. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask share one final kiss before the episode ends.

Maybe it's just me, but this is really taking a different turn, and I can't say that I hate it.

I did have a few issues, but they are on a personal level. First of all, after the death of the four kings... generals... whatever, the senshi all start to cry.

Now Venus makes sense as she had a full grasp of her memories and her relationship with Kunzite, more so than the others. She seemed more invested. They others felt like they had similar feelings because of circumstances. They were just feeding on the assumed feeling of the past.

Second qualm is with, you guessed it, Sailor Moon herself. Her constant wimpy and weak attitude elevated in this episode as she was willing to die by Tuxedo Mask's hand than to fight back. At one point she just gives up, saying "There's nothing more I can do," as she lays under a pile of rubble. She had yet to fight and hadn't even come close to drawing on her full power and strength. She really is the worst and it pains me to think that the fate of the world rests on this girl's shoulders. Am I asking too much?

Maybe....


Oh well. Next time, we end this!