Review: Sailor Moon Crystal, Episode 17: Secret – Sailor Jupiter –

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Review:

On the one hand, the general plot of these newer episodes is completely predictable at this point—if you’ve seen episodes 15 and 16, you can sort of figure out what is going to happen this time around, and if you watched the preview (or paid attention to the episode’s title) then you can figure out who’s going to get kidnapped this time around. On the other hand, this predictability does little, if anything, to diminish the overall quality of the show at this point. Everything still runs together fairly well, as the deeper plotline continues to connect each of these individual episodes—and at this point, the Senshi are finally catching on to their enemy’s true motives.

As stated in a previous review, it is nice to see some other characters being implemented and focused on at this point. While Usagi may still grab the most attention overall, this episode still gave a decent amount of screen time and purpose to some other characters. Chibi-Usa, for instance, isn’t just a tacked on plot point; the viewers are actually allowed to see into her past and how she is being affected by the current events. On the other hand, the episode also uses a little-known character for a segment. The character in question is Asanuma, and underclassman to Makoto (I had to actually look this information up). While using a character who has ties to Makoto outside of the main cast is certainly a good way to broaden the scope of the story, it is kind of confusing when you see a character and cannot remember who he is.

One point of criticism that I must offer is that the information on the enemy’s attack kind of comes out of nowhere in this episode. We see early on that Makoto has a cold, but as far as we know she’s just sick. It isn’t until almost the end that we find out the enemy has actually spread a virus throughout the city with the intention of replacing sick people with droids. The problem is that there wasn’t much attention given to the virus. For something that seemed like a widespread thing, it was not really focused on or emphasized at all. In short, that particular detail felt tacked on. If the treatment the enemy gives Makoto is any indication of how they are dealing with the rest of the sick people, though, then their sinister nature certainly hasn’t changed.

Tacked on plot point aside, the current arc of Sailor Moon Crystal continues to be much more enjoyable than the first half. The stakes are higher, the enemies are fiercer, and the focus goes beyond Usagi and Mamoru. For the next episode, I predict that Sailor Venus will be kidnapped and another Specter Sister killed. Will I be right? I guess you’ll just have to watch and see.

A Christian Perspective:

Matthew 7:15 – “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

So this isn’t one of my better Christian Perspectives, but the above verse could easily be applied to the Dark Moon’s plan to incapacitate (or possibly kill) normal people and replace them with droids. As we’ve seen from previous episodes, the droids are able to make themselves completely indistinguishable from normal people until they choose to reveal themselves (usually for the purpose of battling the Senshi). This means that the droids could easily move amongst normal, every day people and never be detected.

In our Christian life, we will come across some people who are like these droids. On the outside, they may appear pious and holy, able to quote Scripture and make it sound like they know what they’re actually saying, but in truth they are frauds and phonies. Thankfully, we don’t have to wait for them to reveal themselves to figure them out. With the help of the Bible, wise Christian friends, and even God Himself, we can determine if what someone is saying is true or if the are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Content Guide:

Language: 1 “d**n”, 3 “j**z”, 1 “s*ck”, 1 “h*ll”, 1 “da**it”

Alcohol/Drug Use: None

Nudity/Sex/Fanservice: Petz wears an outfit that shows cleavage; Princess Serenityis shown wearing a dress that shows some cleavage; Sailor Jupiter’s transformation sequence; Sailor Moon and Venus transformation sequences

Violence: Mars and Mercury are shown engulfed in fire and water, respectively; an enemy begins to choke Makoto; Makoto kicks the enemy; Makoto throws a droid through a window; Jupiter uses her powers to destroy a numberof enemies; Petz and Jupiter’s powers clash; Jupiter is encased in a black ball of lightning; Sailor Moon’s power clashes with Petz’s; Sailor Moon destroys an enemy

Blood/Gore: None

Other: Chibi-Usa remembers a voice telling her if she wants to learn a spell; Chibi-Usa makes her Luna P-Ball turn into an umbrella, and pigeons fly out of it (she also yells out “Abracadabra”); Mamoru is able to see a vision by touching Chibi-Usa’s shoulder; a character is shown using a crystal ball

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