Sailor Moon R - The ReWatch - Pt. 1



Episodes 47-53


Two months have passed since Sailor Moon and the other Sailor Senshi defeated Queen Beryl and the Dark Kingdom. Since then the girls have lived normal lives with no memory of what happened. All is as it was before they ever learned of their past lives. Except for Usagi and Minako for whom it is even better since they have cats now too.

 But one day a strange object falls from the sky. By the time anyone gets to the crater, it is already empty. Soon after, a monster appears and attacks people to drain their energy. Luna and Artemis are forced to restore Usagi's memories so that the Guardian for Love and Justice can return and face this new threat...

Sailor Moon R kicks off fast. New baddies and their motives are immediately revealed, boom! Senshi are together and have their memories back by the end of episode 2, bam! Sailor Moon loses her powers and gets them back with new and improved bling, birrp!


 It would be a several thousand word post if I went over all the things in these first seven episodes, so I'll just try to stick to stuff I found most interesting.

 There might have been a groan when it became apparent that, indeed, the first new baddies are just looking for "energy", just like in the last series. In addition, all their monster minions, these ones called Cardians instead of Youma, only repeat part or the whole of their name like Pokémon while talking. But what saves the new baddies from being just a rehash of the Dark Kingdom are their motives and interactions with each other and the other characters.

Unlike the Dark Kingdom who were focused on reviving Queen Metalia, an entity we never really get to see, Ail and Ann need the energy to survive. We actually see them collapse from exhaustion during the first episodes, showing us that this is indeed a need for them. They are also trying to keep alive the Doom Tree, which they brought with them  and which seems to act as a sort of battery for the collected energy. The Doom Tree also continues the awesome otherworldly visuals of the series, that I didn't talk about nearly enough with Series 1.
The Doom Tree

Outside of their energy stealing antics, the lovers Ail and Ann have human alter egos, the Ginga siblings. This puts them in contact with the Senshi's civilian personas as well, mainly Usagi. Hi-jinks ensue when Ail, or Seijuro, gets interested in Usagi and Ann, or Natsumi, in Mamoru. Weirdly I don't hate this love polygon like I did for example Rei's awkward interest with Mamoru. Partly because I didn't really see how someone could be attracted to the asshat that was Mamoru without his memories. Speaking of which we get a new Tuxedo Kamen, called the Moonlight Knight.
AKA. Daddy Longlegs
Captain Cultural Appropriation here is in fact not Mamoru with a new persona as we see them both in the same room together. This did become apparent earlier as well as Moonlight Knight actually does something himself. I honestly didn't remember this character so my best guess is that he is some kind of fragment of Mamoru's mind as the Moonlight Knight disappears into thin air at one point.

Best episode


I don't hate the interactions between Usagi and Mamoru in Sailor Moon R. It's far more interesting to see Usagi try to cope with Mamoru being an asshat and not remembering their feelings for each other rather than just having him be an asshat who suddenly turns to Prince Charming. Even his Tuxedo Mask persona has been replaced with Moonlight Knight and his white rose and the ability to actually be helpful.

The episode which I liked the most and which in my opinion had the best interactions between Usagi and Mamoru was Ep. 53 "Mamoru and Usagi's Babysitting Mayhem". In this one, the baddies have decided to take energy from babies because hey, nothing says "don't draw attention to yourself" like attacking a nursery. This leads to Usagi and Mamoru taking care of a baby of one of the women who got their energy drained. Don't worry, she's fine. Just a few days in the hospital and she's up and about again.

Just like "Luna's Worst Day", this is mainly a comedic episode. Naturally it's strewn with the most mature sort of humour.
This also shows Mamoru as an actual person. In the last series, he was just this asshole who turned out to be the guy the plot and Destiny!© required Usagi to fall for. In this we see that even without his past life memories, Mamoru can actually be a nice, likable person. Not that that undoes his assholeness, but you know.

 No shipping this time, but stay tuned for Part 2. And if you want to check my ReWatch series of post about Sailor Moon's first series, I'll link them under this post. It's kinda sad to know that the arc with Natsumi and Seijuro ends with the next set of episodes. I actually learned to like them. Oh well, maybe the ones after them are just as fun.

 Sailor Moon ReWatch:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Finale

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