So, Makoto (Jupiter)’s friend gets attacked, and she has to give blood to save his life. Then comes a teary-eyed scene where Makoto thinks about meeting him and all that stuff. Apparently she’s kind of sort of maybe somewhat in love with him. Meanwhile, Usagi can’t get Mamoru to remember her, although a new Tuxedo Mask appears, this one named Moonlight Knight.
Very confusing turn of events, especially because I don’t remember Makoto having a long-term love interest. I don’t know why we don’t see this guy much after this episode. In any case, Sailor Jupiter wins the battle and saves the day against the Monster of the Week. But you probably knew that already, didn’t you?
I never said I was doing these every single day, did I? Had to take a day off yesterday. But today, we’re back with Sailor Moon R, where Rei, Makoto, Minako, and Ami all get convinced to going to this TV/movie studio along with Usagi. Luna and Artemis refuse to let them go back to being Sailor Guardians again, or at least until Sailor Moon herself gets tangled up (literally). At that point, they give them back their powers and now they remember everything.
What’s great about this episode is that everyone’s original personalities come back. Rei/Mars is still criticizing Sailor Moon all the way, and Makoto’s still big and tough, and Ami’s all nice and kind, and Minako is… there. (She’s the Yang of RWBY.) These two episodes were the perfect way to get us back to normal and reintroduce the characters without missing out on anything. It’s a good start, so I remain cautiously optimistic.
Okay, I’m back! Now with a brand new series that’s using… the same voice actors. So, Artemis = Ichigo, Luna = Rukia, and Usagi = Orihime. Thus we haven’t really left the building yet, we just went a couple of doors down the hallway. And since this is shojo and not shonen, it’s Usagi/Orihime doing the saving, Luna/Rukia doing the mentoring, and Artemis/Ichigo needing saving.
The premise of the episode is simple: a mysterious brother and sister show up at Usagi’s school, then a monster attacks Usagi’s friend Naru (I prefer “Molly”), and Sailor Moon has to save her. The only problem? Usagi lost her Sailor Moon powers at the end of the last arc. So, Luna waits until the monster has wreaked complete havoc and hurt Artemis before she finally decides she’s going to let Usagi be Sailor Moon again. Once she does, Sailor Moon saves the day, but the fighter still remains, as Paul Simon would say.
Overall, a very good way of getting us back into the Sailor Moon fold, and easy to pick up and watch having not watched any Sailor Moon in two years.
It’s over. The year of Bleach is over. We saw Ichigo go from gaining Soul Reaper powers to struggling with Menos Grande to sneaking into the Soul Society to winning fights against Renji, Kenpachi, and Byakuya (and losing to Aizen) to wasting time with Bounts to going to Hueco Mundo to spending time taking care of Rurichiyo to coming back and beating Aizen this time around to finally beating Ginjo to finish up our 366 episodes of Bleach.
This final episode tied up all the loose ends in the final couple of minutes after an episode of Soul Reapers talking to each other. If you blinked, you missed three new Captains and all kinds of other stuff. Each character gets about five seconds of screen time. But hey, it was a good way to go out.
Bleach, in retrospect, is much better than I gave it credit for. I criticized this show way too much when it was airing. In the end, it finishes up as a very good watch. Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it one of my favorites? No in the sense of being rated 9 or higher. But boy, is it worth sticking around for. If you ever get the chance, watch through all of Bleach and see what you think of it. It’s better than you think.
Now, as to what comes next, I may watch the Bleach movies, I may take on another series to watch every day, or I may just kick up my shoes and relax. We’ll find out in 2026. Until then, thanks for reading my Year of Bleach!
Best girl of the episode: Riruka (6)
Final best girl tally: 1. Rukia 68, 2. Orihime 58, 3. Rangiku 41, 4. Soi Fon 34, 5. Yoruichi 20, 6. Yachiru 19,7. Nanao 10, 8. Tatsuki 9, 9. Unohana 7, 10. Five tied with 6 (Rurichiyo, Nel, Momo, Nozomi, and Riruka)
Tommy A. Phillips 