Sailor Moon Crystal is a new adaptation of the beloved graphic novel series Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi. The first animated adaptation of the property aired in its home country of Japan from 1992 to 1997 spanning a total of five seasons. As Sailor Moon, it was partially broadcasted in the United States from 1995 to 2000. The new series is being broadcast all over the world online through sites like Hulu, Crunchyroll, Nico Nico, and Neon Alley. New episodes are being released every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. The Lunafix will faithfully recap the episodes on Sunday as long as I don’t sleep through my post deadlines.
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| Naoko Takeuchi, PNP, Kodansha, Toei Animation, Hulu |
Word around Juban Public Middle School is that Ami Mizuno from Class 2-5 is perfect. She has an IQ of 300, gets perfect scores on every test, and studies during breaks. The funny thing is, she doesn’t seem to have any friends. On paper, she’s the spiritual opposite of our slacker heroine, Usagi Tsukino.
The show is set in Tokyo, so the scenes that take place in Juban Public Middle School give you a glimpse at the academic life of Japanese students. Students’ test scores are posted in public spaces, sort of how cast lists for plays would be in an American school. It’s a tool that contributes to the rigorous and competitive academic culture in Japanese schools. Imagine how this public scoring system would affect your self-esteem and your social status. Everyone at JPMS is painfully aware of the fact that Ami is the school’s top student. She’s achieved the position that they are all dying to have. Most students see Ami sitting by herself all the time and interpret that as her way of saying that no one is good enough to be her friend. Her classmates automatically distance themselves from her without question. Usagi is the only one that reaches out to her.
At the site of the test score post, Usagi gathers with her friends and joins them for a little round of gossip. They, of course, start talking about Ami. The token nerd and endless well of information, Umino Gurio, who I think got the most frivolous character redesign for Sailor Moon Crystal, quickly attributes Ami’s ongoing success to the cram school she attends. On top of slaving away at school all day, Ami attends extra classes at night so she can keep studying. This also a common practice in Japan where the high school entrance exams are cut throat. The pressure is on for students to get into a good high school, because otherwise, their chances of getting into a good college are toast. (If you’re wondering when Japanese students get a break, it’s college.)
The cram school that Ami goes to is called Crystal Seminar. Think of Crystal Seminar as like a sort of Kaplan or Kumon on steroids. (Kumon is actually a Japanese company.) It is the most high-end seminar in the area. Apparently, her fame extends beyond school. Umino mentions that she was scouted by Crystal Seminar to attend their classes. When the group wonders how Ami could ever afford to go there, someone quickly points out that her mother is a doctor. So on top of everything else, Ami is rich too.
Luna does a little scouting of her own, this week. She has taken an interest in Ami. On the previous night, Luna sits down to have a talk with Usagi. Yes, she’s going to stick around the Tsukino household. Yes, she expects Usagi to keep fighting. Usagi has an anxiety-filled flashback to her trip to Osa P Jewelry and freaks out. She starts asking some tough questions, the ones she should have asked last week, like “what kind of evil villains are we dealing with?” and “can Tuxedo Mask and Sailor V be on my team?” I forgot to mention Sailor V in my last post. She’s another sailor suited vigilante enforcing her stylish brand of justice on the thugs of Tokyo. She quickly became a sort of cultural icon and is regularly featured in the news. Usagi hasn’t had any sort of contact with Sailor V, at this point, but she greatly admires the elusive heroine.
After Usagi is safely sleeping in bed, Luna sneaks out to do some more research. She leaves telling Usagi that she is scouting someone, but does not say who. In this scene, we get a look at Luna’s base of operations. We’re not given a clue as to where it is, but it has floating stairs and computer. A picture of Ami and some biographical info are quickly shown to us on the computer screen. Yes, Luna is computer literate. Why wouldn’t she be?
On her way home after the test score post, Usagi runs into Ami on the street. She watches from a distance as Luna uses her cat charm to reel in Ami. Seeing an easy way to introduce herself, Usagi approaches Ami and quickly spins the chance encounter into an arcade date. The girls go to Crown Game Cafe and play the new Sailor V game. Following Usagi’s lead, Ami tries her hand at the game. Her aptitude for gaming turns out to be unusually high, too. She gets a high score and draws a crowd. When she’s finishes, a suspicious looking pen pops out of the game as a reward. Naturally, Usagi who failed the game gets jealous and shakes the machine until she gets her own pen. The whole thing ends when Ami takes off for cram school.
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| Naoko Takeuchi, PNP, Kodansha, Toei Animation, Hulu |
Usagi has another chance encounter on her way home. She crumples up her lousy test results print out and tosses it away. It coincidentally happens to hit the guy she hit the last time she crumpled up a test score. We don’t get his name, but it looks like he’s pretty set on calling her “bun head.” (He’s pointing out the fact that her hair buns look like a type of Japanese food.) Nothing really comes out of this encounter, but I would like to point out that he’s walking around in the middle of the day in a tuxedo.
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| Naoko Takeuchi, PNP, Kodansha, Toei Animation, Hulu |
While the girls are busy at school, the evil villains of the story keep themselves busy. Early in the episode we get to check in on the blonde mastermind of last week’s showdown at Osa P. We get some names, this time around. The blonde planner’s name is Jadeite. He has a meeting with his boss, Queen Beryl, who makes sure he knows just how important it is for them to acquire the Legendary Silver Crystal (whatever that is.) Queen Beryl needs the crystal to feed their even more mysterious great ruler. Waking said great ruler seems to be their main goal. While they wait to find the Legendary Silver Crystal, Queen Beryl asks Jadeite to collect energy from the humans as a temporary substitute. In this scene, we get some additional Sailor Moon vocab terms. The shady organization that Queen Beryl fronts is called the Dark Kingdom. Jadeite is a part of a special unit called the Four Kings of the Dark Kingdom.
The next day at school, Usagi and her friends notice that the Crystal Seminar kids are acting strangely. When Usagi invites Ami out for ice cream, she suddenly goes into a trance and leaves to study. Usagi picks up the Crystal Seminar disk, she takes it home and inspects it with Luna, it has a brainwashing program, a recording asks for the Legendary Silver Crystal.
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| Naoko Takeuchi, PNP, Toei Animation, Kodansha, Hulu |
Wasting no time, Usagi and Luna rush to the building where the Crystal Seminar company is housed. Seeing the entrance is flanked by two serious looking guards, Luna instructs Usagi to disguise herself. Remember the cute pen that came out of the Sailor V game? The one Usagi got is a disguise pen. All Usagi has to do is say, “Moon Power! Turn me into a ____,” and she’s done. The pen turns Usagi into a doctor and she skips past the guards under false pretenses. Doctors show up for house calls at study centers all the time, right?
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| Naoko Takeuchi, PNP, Toei Animation, Kodansha, Hulu |
In the study center, the Dark Kingdom’s henchperson corners Ami threateningly. Doctor Usagi and Luna walk in just in time to save the day. Usagi quickly transforms into Sailor Moon and gets to work. However, battling monsters is never that straight forward. The monster shoots some sticky office paper at her and glues Sailor Moon to a wall. Seeing Sailor Moon in trouble wakes Ami up from the brainwashing program induced trance. Ami’s powers are activated and Luna teaches her how to transform into Sailor Mercury. Remember the cute pen Ami got at the Arcade? It’s her transformation pen. Once in her sailor suit, the guardian of wisdom and water fills up the room with her Mercury Aqua Mist attack to cover the room in fog. Using the fog for cover, Tuxedo Mask sneaks in and helps Usagi escape the monster’s next attack. Once free, Usagi uses her Moon Boomerang attack and it’s all over for the Dark Kingdom’s latest monster.
Ami and Usagi’s friendship is one of the best and strongest relationships in all of Sailor Moon. The tragic misunderstanding that squashes Ami’s chances of having a normal social life is nicely resolved by her triumphant turn as Usagi’s friend. I can really see why these different adaptations of Sailor Moon have been very particular about keeping this storyline intact. It really validates the struggle a lot of students face.
We’ll see how SMC covers Sailor Mars’ intro in the next post. Luna should have it a bit easier now that she has Ami in the team.
Other Impressions:
- I have to admit, SMC does a way better job of laying out the overall plot of the series. It took a few episodes in the first series for Luna to even mention there was a moon princess involved.
- One of the biggest criticism of SMC is the shoddy animation in some sequences. This episode sure has a lot of them. Ami spends half of the episode looking especially wonky-eyed.
- The theme song is growing on me, but I still don’t love it.
- Seriously, though. Who walks around in a tuxedo on a weekday?
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