Sailor Moon Crystal: Episode 3 Review
by Mikari

I've been looking forward to this episode because for a long time, Sailor Mars was my favorite. Why exactly? I didn't give much thought really, yes she's cool and all, (or maybe I should say hot), but my liking mostly came from being used to role playing as her in elementary school. My hair looked like hers, so I was the default Sailor Mars.

It's interesting to see Beryl, Jedite, Zoisite and Nephrite talking about the Silver Crystal. It wasn't that much of a concern during Jedite's season in the original. Another surprising thing is hearing Zoisite with a male voice. I got used to seeing Zoisite as a woman in the original English dub and actually thought it was pretty cool that one of the generals was a tomboyish girl that contrasted with the feminine sailor senshi, a girly boy doesn't sound quite as cool.

Seeing Rei's fire reading in this new art style was awesome. Luna also has a lot of ultra cute moments in this episode. She was already adorable, but she's taken it to whole new levels, I can't wait to see Artemis. I'm also enjoying all the references to Sailor V in posters in the background and the like. I wonder if Artemis is controlling when the arcade machines give the girls items or if Luna is somehow setting it up. I'm thinking Artemis, though of course Luna recognizes all the items and perhaps she was the one who sent Artemis the request.

I'm amused by Usagi's stalker ways following Rei. Seeing Rei interact with her pet crows was also nice. This Rei feels quite different from the original Rei, but I elaborate on that in my article about her. I took a good long look at Mamoru in the bus scene and I must say, he does look good in glasses. I was surprised to see him as a high school student, I thought he was a college student and had gotten used to picturing him as 18 at the start of the original anime. Nevertheless, the new art style suits him very well and I'm looking forward to seeing him again. I loved the way Luna freaked out when she thought he heard her speak and how Usagi tried to cover her face with the poor cat. There are so many funny moments in this episode I think this is my longest commentary yet!

Another detail that caught my attention was when Luna theorizes with Usagi and Ami that Rei might be the princess they're looking for. Apparently amnesia runs deep in reincarnations other than a sense of duty to destiny. I liked that Rei has visions of the Moon palace and they simply talk about "the princess" not "the Moon princess" which gives their theory a lot more sense. We all know that Sailor Moon is the princess, but they don't see the title of the story they live in. I wonder if discovering that she is Sailor Mars disapproved that theory or if it will come up again.

Rei has a vision in the fire and ends up getting captured by Jedite. It's actually one of those cause and effects loops that I find amusing. Rei ran off to find Usagi after getting a vision of her being attacked by Jedite, Usagi then ran after Jedite to save Rei, making the seer the cause of what she saw.

It's good to see the transformation pen being used and I was reminded of when Usagi transformed into a flight attendant during the disappearing bus incident in the original anime. Her transformation was even funnier this time around because instead of randomly asking to be transformed into a somewhat official sounding profession that kind of fit by a stretch of the imagination, she actually reasoned that this was an appropriate disguise, declaring that it was her duty to ensure the safety of the passengers.

In a very interesting development, Tuxedo Mask sees Usagi's flight attendant transformation, I can't wait to see how this develops and how aware of it Luna is. The cat witnessed the whole thing and was caught by Tuxedo Mask as she fell off the disappearing bus that took Usagi, but she was distracted by the bus and in a hurry to help Usagi.

Ami has an awesome computer and Luna's pretty tech savvy too. I'm loving all the tech stuff in this new version. I was expecting Mercury's mini-computer, but a modern day laptop is just as good with how Ami uses it. One thing that caught my attention was that Ami mentioned teleporting to Usagi once they had accurately located her via her communicator watch GPS reacting to her transformation energy. I thought the five inner senshi had to combine their powers to teleport. I'm curious to see if this will be brought up again and how it will develop.

Jedite comes off as a creeper, watching the unconscious Rei and declaring his attraction towards her despite not having met her. I wonder if he really is being creepy or if this is some kind of reference to the generals originally being on the side of the earth prince. The fanfics always did pair Rei with Jedite in terms of the four generals, if she wasn't with Chad. Creepy stalker or amnesiac general? I guess we'll have to wait and find out. Nonetheless I must admit, Jedite looks super cute in this episode.

Rei recognizing Usagi when she is Sailor Moon and Usagi stumbling over her words in a failed attempt to deny her identity was hilarious. Maybe there is some kind of magic that makes the senshi unrecognizable, at least to most unless someone witnesses their transformation or has magic potential of their own.

Loved the Sailor Mars transformation. It seems that transforming gives the senshi the urge to pose, which is ridiculously fun. The fight with Jedite rocked and I'm curious to see how things go with him on episode 4, as Beryl was not pleased.

There was no mention of Sailor Jupiter in the preview, but I definitely recognize the plot of the episode from the original anime, and look forward to seeing Miss Popover, or whatever name she goes by wearing the princess guise, not knowing that it's real. I hope it shows us a new version of a memorable episode that lives up to the original, but the series has been having no problems with that so far. It seems the romance with Mamoru is about to be more clearly established.

Overall, this was a great episode with lots of funny moments and beautiful art. Rei is lovely, Luna is cute, megane Mamoru is handsome, and things so far are, as the old Usagi would have said, wicked cool.