Sailor Moon Episode 25 - Strong Girl in Love - Jupiter-chan

Y'know, I've been meaning to get ahead on these entries for awhile now. Unfortunately, time has just been against me. Of course, now is the time I really need to be ahead on them in order to maintain consistent updates, so maybe once I get settled back in again, things can remain updating on a regular schedule, without me having to go 'did I do that thing yet?'.

It's all about timing.

Speaking of, this time the episode overview shows up before the opener! What is going on? Is this a new Sailor Moon? Let's find out! (Money's on it being probably not though.)

In this episode, a monster becomes a human? And a girl that looks suspiciously like Sailor Jupiter appears! Well now, wouldn't that be a great change of pace? She was always my favorite, right next to Ami. Though, we'll see if that is actually the case or not, because I could be wrong. She could just bear a remarkable resemblance to her.

So now we get to the opener... hey, where's the title slide at? They are seriously starting to harsh my groove here. Followed by the "in case you have never ever watched an episode of this show ever". Because that's very important.

Oh, and I guess thanks to that title I know for a fact that I was not mistaken. Welp, might as well forge on ahead. It's been how many episodes since we met another Sailor Scout? A long damn time, that's for sure.

Also, the audio in this one is terribly unbalanced. It's probably just the one I'm watching, but holy crap that is just loud. Obnoxiously so. Equalize much?

Well, today's episode opens up in Beryl's Palace of Pain, where she is... attempting to awaken her master?

Holy crap she's doing something!! She's playing with balls.
*snicker* Yeah, I went there.

Seems she's trying to wake up her great ruler with all the energy they've been jacking from people. And... holy hell did someone fall off the ugly tree.

Mother Brain...?

It appears that Beryl is successful in awakening her master. Sort of. Aparrently, her master is still kinda sleepy, and requires the Silver Crystal to fully awaken. Then there's something about seven Great Youma (or Monsters, Demons, Beasts, Spirits... depends on the translation but they generally mean similar things) being released from Rainbow Crystals, the 'Silver Crystal will shine'. Wonderful.

Back in Tokyo, the rabbit is late for school. So late she forgot her lunch, and is forcing the cat to bring it to school for her. Then she plows headlong into...some guy.

Insert penis joke here.

Seems she was running so fast she broke that dude's leg. Who is this dude? Well...

Now introducing Guile and Yang!

Though, yet another person steps in suddenly, as the two big guys begin to ask how the rabbit is going to pay for this incident. But this new girl, she saw the whole thing, and knows this is a scam.

A New Challenger Has Appeared!

Of course, what self-respecting Japanese ne'er-do-ell let's a girl talk to him that way? After a few seconds, she just busts out with the Street Fighter and... yeah. She lays them out pretty quick. If they didn't need a doctor before, they sure do now. Then without so much as a thank you or even 'who are you', she walks off, flashing those nice rose earrings she's wearing. Leaving Luna wondering something. Could this be... someone with damn fashion sense? Gasp.

Anyhow, back at Beryl's dump, she tells the last remaining gophers what is up. By which we mean to say, she repeats the prophecy verbatim again, but now we get more plot development! Awesome.

Looking mighty Ginyu Force there, fellas.

It would appear that the Seven Youma were evil whatevers sealed away. They are described as 'legendary mightiest warriors'. Again with the 'legendary' thing, ugh. The Rainbow Crystals, however, seem to be seven pieces of the Silver Crystal, with each one housing a Youma.

.... so hold on. Why, exactly, if you knew all of this shit before, did you not, I dunno, act upon it?! This entire time you've been bumbling around like a kid who just discovered the grand invention that is the zipper, and you've been running around trying to figure out when it is appropriate to use such a device? Okay, so maybe not the best analogy sure, but still, that's about how much friggin' sense this shit makes to me at this point, so roll with it.

Back to the matter at hand: Each of these Youma were reincarnated as humans, with no recollection as to who they were in their past life. This also means they are unaware of their own power.

So hold on. If I'm understanding this properly, each of these seven warriors has a part of the Silver Crystal embedded in them. Meaning when they awaken to their true power, they will possibly reveal the Silver Crystal? Well, that makes a bit of sense, I suppose. Especially with Naru, who is now suddenly a villain after all. I warned you about violent red heads man. I warned you.

So the plan is to find the humans, take the rainbow crystals from them, and in turn, gain both seven super awesomely powerful fighters, but also get the MacGuffin in the process. Sounds doable. Beryl's taken the liberty of modifying the Black Crystal so that it'll seek out the Rainbow Crystals this time. Should make their job, I dunno, possible for a change now that they have something concrete to go on.

At this point I really have to admire the animation for some of these bits, because they are rather well-done for a change. It's the little things that make me smile, and it seems as though they really are starting to try and care about things like quality.

Whether they achieve it or not? Well, that remains to be seen.

Their first target: Some dude who looks like a fat otaku.

Boy oh boy we are setting the bar high. Negative
stereotypes go!

Elsewhere, it is lunchtime, and our favorite little bunny stumbles upon the girl from earlier! Then along comes Umino with the scoop, because let's face it, that is his entire reason for existing at this point.

Her name is Kino Makoto. I'm expecting we'll refer to her as Makoto. And according to our informant, she is 'very strong'. I dunno she only managed to flip a dude twice her weight, no big deal. Supposedly, she was kicked out of her last school for fighting. Clearly, this is the kind of person you want to be friends with.

But Usagi doesn't care about that. She cares about the amazing lunch the girl is devouring.

Amazingly, they go to the same school. What a coincidence. It doesn't take long before Usagi is offered some food, which she promptly begins to eat. Really, she seems happy someone's willing to talk to her period. I mean, it's almost as though some kind of rumor is following her around.

Thankfully, the rabbit is so stupid that she can't be afraid of anything normal, and takes her new-found friend to the arcade after school. Seems that Motoki is nowhere to be found, and off Makoto goes to play video games, like any normal person going to an arcade. Then her other friends show up looking for her, and boy oh boy are we in for a treat, because Luna is worried about her.

Pretty sure the fact that she's a full head taller than anyone
else has nothing to do with this whatsoever.

Usagi introduces Rei as being nasty, and things get lively. Fighting means they are good friends, it seems. Then Makoto gets all snuggly with Luna, but then PLOT HAPPENS.

He's the best. IN AMERICA.

So dude is doing the crane game like a champ, winning everything like a boss by slapping his palm on the glass and literally making whatever toy he wants fly up into the arm. But... hold on, is that...?

Ami, how did you get in there?!

That's no mere coincidence however, because the Sailor Mercury doll is the one he cheats to snag. Sailor V just wasn't enough for him, I guess. Who is this mysterious stranger who plucks toys like apples?

Crane master Joe.

.... yeah. I feel obligated to say "IN AMERICA" for some reason.

So this guy goes to arcades, basically clearing out every crane game they have and taking all the dolls... and then Makoto starts making the googly eyes at him. Oh christ. He reminds her of... her sempai. Or, y'know, upperclassman. Someone you look up to.

Not long after he leaves, Joe has a meeting with Zoisite, who uses the power of the Black Crystal to... well, force him to power up I guess? Then we hit the halftime show.

Right, back to the powerup, but Makoto shows up to attempt to save the day? She busts out with the karate, and doesn't give two shits about the fact that her opponent is clearly not even touching the ground. But she uses those earrings as shuriken, and is pretty damned violent all told.

You just got bitch-slapped. Or rather, got slapped by one.

Who needs stupid magic powers when you have the ability to just kick someone's ass outright? I can't help but just laugh and grin as poor Zoisite tries to make sense of how a regular person just slapped the shit out of him in public. That's pretty embarrassing no matter how you look at it.

Though Usagi and Luna show up pretty quickly, Zoisite runs off, and then Joe and Makoto leave too. But Luna is sure that man she was fighting was from the Dark Kingdom! So yeah.

Doesn't take long for Joe to get aggravated with the whole 'being followed' thing, and doesn't seem to appreciate having a girl for a bodyguard. Who seems to insinuate maybe an arcade owner ordered a hit on him. That's just classy, let me tell you. While he finds the comment amusing, he ditches her to have coffee. By himself.

That... does not seem like good foreshadowing at all.

Okay, so if I'm understanding this correctly... he looks just like a guy whom you were in love with, but totally shot you down? Yet you are still hung up over him? Oh boy. This does not bode well for teaching our children good life lessons at all.

Meanwhile however, inside, someone is having a caffeine-induced heart attack. Shoulda switched to decaf, man. Well, either that or that large gemstone in his chest is starting to act up. Eh, maybe it's a bit of both, who knows. After staring at him forever, Joe invites her in, and Usagi literally shoves poor Makoto into the shop.

So he takes the time to tell her straight up that he was sick of being stared at, and reveals his big secret trick to the crane game: a psychic power. A power he has had since he was a child, a power he demonstrates right there. Then their waiter suddenly appears out of thin air. Literally, I mean.

Now how's that for service?

Once again: I'm really enjoying the animations here, because it's everything that is supposed to be good about animation. Zoisite just isn't giving two shits, and starts outright attacking folks, pushing Makoto around, so on. Now the whole cafe is in a panic, and poor Makoto gets knocked down. What's Joe do? Runs the hell away. Usagi tries to get him to go back and protect the girl, but he's all 'screw that, bitch be too tall' and straight up runs off.

Obviously, Makoto heard that, and is suitably crushed by this revelation.

Zoisite takes the fight outside, and I have to admit, this is super dynamic compared to all the other crap that I've been forced to endure thus far. Makoto gets angry, and runs off once more.

Out in the part, Zoisite catches Joe again, and forces him to become.... a Youma! Also, Zoisite snags the crystal, and Sailor Moon appears, with no transformation. Then the villain leaves our heroine to deal with today's monster: Gensen.

Sadly, this might be the coolest monster concept yet.

It would seem this monster makes arcade-style noises with everything he does. Not to mention that his primary attack utilizes an incredibly unwieldy, and utterly impractical hammer of sorts.

Okay, seriously? Who needs Sailor powers. This chick?
She can beat you without them.

Though in the process of bench-pressnig the monster, Luna sees a symbol flash upon her head. This must mean she's a Sailor Scout. Gasp. So now is the perfect time to produce a magical pen from literally nowhere and reveal the fact that, yes, she is a talking cat and you should totally listen to her.

Honestly though, she seems to be pretty okay with all of this, and just jumps right into the action as Sailor Jupiter, and, as she puts it, 'brings the storm'. Though, you can't just finish the monster with another giant attack like that last one, oh no! This is still a human with a human heart, and it must be purified.

But how, do you ask? Well, we're glad you did, because act now....

And you too can own your very own moon scepter!

Or according to Luna, it's the "Moon Stick".

.....

You know what's about to happen, don't you? I bet you do.

THIS. IS MY MOON STICK.

Congratulations, the monster of the day is now just Joe again, and we are now four scouts strong. So clearly it is up to Sailor Moon to take charge of the search for the princess, right? Because someone's gotta be a leader, and it should probably not be anyone with a shred of damned sense.

I. I just. I can't even. Oh god. I just can't do it. It's too easy.

This revelation made, we cut to the next day, where Usagi and her new friend are at the arcade. Motoki shows up, and... she makes the googly eyes at him now. Holy christ this girl. Is... is she really going to be like this with every guy? What kinds of expectations are you setting here?!

Honestly, I'm a little scared. On the one hand, we're seeing massive improvements in the show itself. At least it isn't quite the trainwreck it was before - now we have decent animation, clearly-defined plots, and, dare I say it, actual plot arcs established. Which is amazing in itself, let me tell you.

On the other hand, now we seem to be veering into some very concerning territory in terms of, y'know, the characters. Because holy shit do they have some issues.

I am honestly baffled at this point. Because it seems like a decent show is trying to force its way through, but it keeps being held back by just incredibly questionable content. As a child, sure, this stuff is hilarious. Oh look, they're doing that utterly silly thing again, ha ha. As an adult, however? Holy shit how did I not realize what utter basket cases these people are.

Though to be fair, I never really watched it all that regularly growing up to begin with. So most of this is pretty new territory anyway.

Still though.

Girl needs a goddamn hobby. That's all I'm saying.

Tune in Wedenesday, when I may or may not have an update ready. If I don't, just assume I have no internet.