Sailor Moon Crystal Act.5 — Lightning Strikes

WARNING: The following article contains SPOILERS for Sailor Moon Crystal Act.5. If you don’t want to be spoiled, please stop reading. You have been warned.

Act.5: Makoto – Sailor Jupiter
Welcome to the Thunderdome!

This episode of Sailor Moon Crystal brought us the ass-kicking Makoto. And I’m afraid to say with the show giving her an attack of sharp rose petals, I’m feeling my top Senshi spot is getting less stable.

Blasphemy, I know. Forgive me.

Anyway, I’ve never really given Makoto a sharp analysis (or, admittedly, much attention), and when I did this time, I found myself a bit surprised. Surprised for a good reason? No. If anything, I was kinda embarrassed for myself.

One of our first glimpses of our Guardian of Jupiter is of her rose earrings — something quite girly. Later? An adorable bento with even more adorable foods inside. In a flashback, she’s got this coordinated rose-embellished ensemble with matching earrings, gloves, scarf and umbrella.

Yeah, yeah, you say, it’s pretty girly. What’s the big deal?

Well, nothing, actually. I just never noticed how girly Makoto was. It’s just that my judgment of the character was based on her looks…which kinda makes me as douchey as the people in her class who are picking on her for being this tough-looking giantess.

Then, of course, I remembered the old anime episodes where Makoto kept making the best cookies and stuff — and I felt extra stupid.

The whole thing about her being girly actually makes her cooler. One of the biggest tropes ever often involves asserting that badass and girly cannot exist in the same person. Think about it: when people talk about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which pony do people joke about being a lesbian? (I’ll give you a hint: it’s not Rarity). Makoto is a middle finger to this. She dives in and prevents Usagi from getting hit by a car, she catches a stray baseball with her bare hands, and she is able to throw off a Youma before she gets her Sailor powers…

…all while wearing rose earrings and smelling nice.

That’s a lot to balance, and Sailor Moon Crystal seems to be doing it just as well as its predecessors.

One bit of debate I noticed was whether Crystal’s deviation of Makoto overcoming her sudden nihilism with Usagi’s help lessens her. In the original, Makoto does it herself. In Crystal, Usagi tells her that loving people isn’t stupid, and Makoto then agrees and proceeds to kick ass.

The complaint is thus the fact that Makoto needs Usagi for this serves to boost only Usagi — and does nothing for Makoto herself.

This isn’t a fair complaint. When you open yourself up to someone and show them a rather vulnerable side of you, and then they shut you down, it hurts. From personal experience, I’ll admit my immediate reaction tended to be “Well, that was stupid. Let’s never do that again.” It’s cowardly, but no one likes feeling like that. I’d rather take a few punches myself than deal with that kind of heartache. You just feel so stupid. Makoto’s sudden “nothing matters” is very real and spoke to me and everyone who has ever felt like that.

Yet, Usagi shouting that loving people isn’t stupid isn’t just a message to Makoto, but to all of us. Feelings hurt, but we shouldn’t let them hold us back, because they don’t. It’s a part of us, and it’s okay to feel crappy when crappy things happen. Makoto realizing this and throwing that Youma to the ground is symbolic of her acknowledging her feelings, getting over them, and moving on.

I mused for awhile about Sailor Mars (the best [?] Sailor Guardian) when she first showed up, debating whether she was going to be original anime boy-crazy Rei or manga boy-hating Rei. With the brief pieces of dialogue we got from her, I’m certain we’re getting the boy-hating version.

Okay, okay, “boy-hating” is a bit strong. But she certainly doesn’t trust them, which leads me to believe that Sailor Moon Crystal is going for the more chaste version of her. Yay for diverse life choices!

From the last few scenes in the show, it looks like we’re not getting Sailor Venus for awhile. I’m okay with this. All these introduction episodes are a bit tiring. I want some character development! I want some plot development! I want more swoon-worthy scenes!

But with the way the show is going, I’m not worried at all.

Side note: Isn’t it a bit strange that Luna knows Mamoru is Tuxedo Mask, and Mamoru knows Sailor Moon is Usagi…but Usagi has no idea Mamoru and Tuxedo are the same person?

What did you think of this week’s episode? Have any thoughts on Sailor Moon Crystal’s deviation on Makoto overcoming her sadness? Upset at my wavering faith in Sailor Mars? Let us know in the comments!

Sailor Moon Crystal is simulcast on Crunchyroll every first and third Saturday of the month at 3:00 AM PDT for both premium and free users.