Sailor Moon R episode 82 review

Back to the Future, a film I have never seen the whole way through, made time travel accessible to every piece of fiction there is out there. So when Chibi-Usa goes to the future along with the Sailor Guardians, it’s enough to cause a yawn. Sailor Pluto first tries to stop, then decides to help, the Guardians get to the future. And once they’re there, they get split up despite being told not to. That’s okay, because Monster of the Week shows up and everyone gets reunited. They then use “Sailor Planet Attack” and defeat it, so now they get to see the future. And what they see…

Well, that’s for next episode. For now, we have a rather straightforward episode with no humor and a lack of intrigue outside of some of the Guardians’ attacks. There’s not much more to say about this one except… time flies even when you’re not having fun.

Sailor Guardian of the episode: Pluto (2)

Episode rating: 6/10

Sailor Moon R episode 81 review

Now Esmeraude has chosen to go after Chibi-Usa’s elementary school. By attacking them, she causes great chaos and for all of them to fight each other. Enter Sailor Moon, who with the other Guardians comes to clean up the mess. Then Esmeraude gets called off because the Prince has come up with a new plan. And now Chibi-Usa plans on going to the future.

A rather boring and nondescript episode, with the best line being “Afterward, we’ll be sending you all to hell!” by one of the Monsters of the Week. For some reason, that phrase made me laugh enough that I was able to get through the episode. Spoiler alert: he failed.

Sailor Guardian of the episode: Moon (9)

Episode rating: 5/10

Sailor Moon R episode 80 review

It truly is amazing how many times this show has pressed “copy + paste” on its episode plots. This one is about as formulaic as it gets. Ami gets the high score on her tests, but for some reason, all the norms start accusing her of cheating. Surprise, surprise, all those people go to the same building, which has been infected by dark energy. Ami goes to confront the Monster of the Week who is causing this, but as she turns into Sailor Mercury, the other Sailor Failures™ get brainwashed as well. That leaves it up to Sailor Moon to SAVE everyone simply by being too dumb to care about her grades. (I am not making this up.) Tuxedo Mask shows up, then Sailor Moon defeats the enemy and everyone goes back to normal.

There was a weird moment in this one. At the end, when Ami said that she was thankful that no one actually believed that she cheated, the other Sailor Guardians all pause, as if they maybe do think she might cheat. I don’t know what happened there, whether translation failed, or whether the animation got messed up. But it’s hard to believe that the other Sailor Guardians suddenly thought she was a cheater after all this.

In any case, copy + paste episode that turns out to be little more than the same formula used in at least half the episodes thus far.

Sailor Guardian of the episode: Mercury (5)

Episode rating: 6/10

Sailor Moon R episode 79 review

We’re staying topical for this episode of Sailor Moon! After traveling back to the nightmarish world of 2020, we’ve now gone back to 2026, where Artemis is making a trip around the Moon. Only this time around, it’s Luna causing Artemis to fall out of orbit and crash-land in a trap laid by the Black Moon Clan, which forces Luna, Sailor Moon, and Sailor Venus to get in their rocket and fly out to save Artemis. Mars, Jupiter, and Mercury show up for good measure, then Luna and Artemis make up after the Monster of the Week is defeated. Oh, and Tuxedo Mask for some reason doesn’t show up in this episode. Not sure why.

A forgettable episode, and not one that you’ll be writing home from space about anytime soon.

Sailor Guardian of the episode: Venus (5)

Episode rating: 5/10