I actually kind of forgot about Sailor Moon Saturday for a few minutes. I have a friend coming over today for a slumber party and another friend coming over and we're all going to watch Doctor Who tonight (anyone else here a fan?) so I was a little preoccupied with getting the house in shape.
BUT, then I remembered we have some stuff to talk about today, so here we go!
(Warning: This post will be spoiler-heavy and filled with images, so run away if you haven't seen it yet!)
Today's episode is entitled 'Act 6 - Tuxedo Mask'.
So, this kind of bothers me about this show (as opposed to, you know, any anime that takes place in Japan), but Mamoru is EXCEPTIONALLY well-built? I suppose that's possible, considering he's probably been training for this stuff since childhood. But, I dunno. Japanese people tend to be on the shorter, slimmer side (obviously there are exceptions, but when I was there I was shocked at how easily I could "deal" with things; when I was on trains traveling between areas, I could easily hold the ropes as opposed to here, where I basically just have to cling to whatever I can for my life and I mean I'm barely 5'1" so). But he seems to be a BEAST for a kid. Yeah, keep in mind he's only 17. (Er, maybe 18 in this one? I forget. But I want to say 17.)
But let's move on from that point.
Tuxedo Mask takes it upon himself to GO TO THE MEDIA AND TALK ABOUT HOW HE WANTS THE LEGENDARY SILVER CRYSTAL? Ummmmm. He basically wants people to start "talking about it" so he can perhaps find some new information, but this just seemed like a poor choice.
The popular question, though, seems to be IS HE OUR ENEMY OR NOT!?!?!?
(Wait, European Commander? I mean I guess that'd make sense because of the hair colour but since when was Zoisite specifically European? Can someone clarify this?)
Meanwhile, the Sailor Scouts are kind of losing their shit because they don't know what's going on with the Crystal or Tuxedo Mask. So, naturally Usagi imagines that a video game is giving her advice.
Now, this is really more for the fans of the 90s show, but can we PLEASE laugh at and appreciate this moment? Back when the anime was dubbed for the US, the company in charge of handling this was called DiC. They were known for some of their conservative choices, and oh man is this one a doozy. They thought the idea of such a feminine character would "confuse" children, so when the show was originally brought here they had the idea of changing Zoisite's gender from male to female. It was hard for them to picture kids being "okay" with a stereotypically-feminine man. I mean, god forbid right? No wonder we have such issues with gender! Why can't a man have feminine features? Is that suddenly "demeaning"? A lot of Sailor Moon fans (myself included) were really pissed about this change. It was more demeaning that they felt the need to change the gender, quite frankly. Why couldn't Zoisite be a man? Or even gender neutral? (Although I'll stick with man because that's what he is canonically known as in the comics.) The original manga-ka Naoko Takeuchi obviously isn't sold on "stereotypical genders", as she writes in characters that a. look feminine but are masculine b. look masculine but are feminine c. look both and are both (specifically I'm talking about the Sailor Starlights but I'll come back to them much much later). So while I can't know her reaction because I'm NOT her, I doubt she would've been thrilled with this change either.
So, let's take a moment to laugh at Zoisite disguising himself as a woman.
Zoisite takes advantage of the pandemonium that Tuxedo Mask started, and hypnotizes people into looking for the Crystal for him.
The Sailor Scouts group up to discuss their next plan, and Luna reveals to them that there is a secret base for them underneath the arcade! How convenient.
I mean, this looks pretty impressive. Who built this? Not to put Luna down, but she IS a cat and she surely has physical limitations. So seriously, who built that? (Probably Sailor V or something but HONESTLY who knows? In fact, she probably didn't actually, considering she was originally based in England and Luna seems to have no prior relationship with her.)
Luna brings up, yet again, the possibility of Tuxedo Mask being an enemy. Only this time Usagi runs away in anger and sadness. Wah wah.
While running away, she runs into him and they have a brief discussion about him. He apologizes to her and opens up about himself a little. He discusses how he feels frustrated by his own personal limitations, and then proceeds to cheer up Usagi when she gets a little overwhelmed by her own notions of limitations.
Meanwhile, the other Sailor Scouts are having their own battle with Zoisite when we are finally really introduced to Queen Beryl. The Sailor Scouts comment on the evil energy she brings, and basically they make it sound like she a shitstorm that's a-comin'.
So yeah, Tuxedo Mask cheers on Usagi and she transforms and saves the day. Only now, she's overexerted her energy and she passes out.
She awakens in a strange apartment, only to find that it is Mamoru's place and she finally pieces together that Mamoru is Tuxedo Mask. Yes!
I was really excited for this episode and it did not disappoint. This was more about character development than battles. I'm really excited for the next one though, as I find Mamoru to be an interesting and underestimated character (both in Sailor Moon and in anime/manga in general). So I'm excited for him to finally go into detail about his past!
The next episode of Sailor Moon Crystal will be debuting on October 4th and is entitled 'Act 7 - Mamoru Chiba'.
I currently watch the show on Crunchyroll, but you can also find it on Hulu.
If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, please feel free to leave me a comment below or send me an email!
xo, Kate
Edit: In my original post I said that 4Kids was responsible for the gender swap of Zoisite, but a reader reminded me that it was actually DiC. Thanks for the correction, it's been noted above!
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