Disk 2 of Sailor Moon S, Part 1 is a large part of what arguably makes this series so compelling. It is on this disk we do something that changes the series completely…we spend time with the Senshi.
We’ve met the Professor and Kaolinite and we understand that they – and Uranus and Neptune – are after the “three talismans” whatever they may be and no further information is offered in that regard. Instead, we get a chance to actually see what matters to Ami, Rei, Makot and, Minako and in doing so, we see well-developed characters who struggle with self-doubt and who rely on their friends and the people around them to find renewed purpose.
In addition, as we visit the Senshis’ inner dreams and hopes we see something that thrills me to no end – we see the concern and affection and understanding they have for one another. This is not just Usagi running behind them, shouting their name, dragging the others along, this is the Inners supporting each other. Rei and Makoto talking quietly in the hallway outside Rei’s room is one of my favorite scenes of the season. These are the episodes during which you understand at last, that Rei takes her shrine duties very seriously. That Makoto, who so often shrugs off her strength, wants more than anything to be able to rely on it. That Minako cares that she’s no longer playing volleyball, even though she knows why and that Ami’s worried that there’s no her in the middle of all that studying. And, in many ways, this disk goes a really long way to giving Mamoru the first glimpse we ever get of a real personality. In my opinion, these are the finest episodes of Sailor Moon S.
This disk also includes the two-part episode on Usagi’s birthday, which is the second time we encounter the song “Ai no Senshi” while Usagi pleads with Haruka and Michiru to not allow people to be sacrificed.
This disk shows my favorite qualitiy of storytelling – the plot is driven forward by character development with a backdrop of monsters, rather than just being one monster after another in tedious succession.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 10 Eudial! Best bad guy ever.
Yuri- 5 Haruka and Michiru deny being a couple, I have a theory about that
Service – 5 Sexualized Daimons are still sexualized
Overall – 9
Did I mention Eudial has arrived! Wahoo. I love Eudial. ^_^
Many many thanks to Viz for the review copy and for their fantastic remastering!
What’s your theory on Haruka and Michiru denying their relationship?
It always bugged me when Usagi and Minako first meet them and they straight up ask Michiru, “Are you Haruka’s girlfriend?” and she says “No.”
And then I watch the rest of the series and of course she is.
I think they aren’t lovers at that point, when she says no. She’s 16. How would you explain a fated partnership from past lives in order to fight a magical alien enemy?
I believe that they become lovers (if you will) the night before they go off to die. Up to that point, the fact that they desire each other is shoved ruthlessly down as secondary to the mission. And yes, they joke about it and flirt, but it’s not until they realize that this is it, tomorrow is the last day, that they give in.