Should you watch this, Wiki this, or wait for the recap? Watch this.
The Sailors face the greatest battle of their young lives when Queen Beryl herself comes to confront them, along with an empowered evil Tuxedo Mask! Though the Sailors win the battle, they lose the holy sword, prompting Sailor Moon to follow Tuxedo Mask back to the Dark Kingdom! As the Inner Senshi battle the Shitennou at D Point, Sailor Moon must face the combined might of Tuxedo Mask & Queen Metalia, forcing to make a difficult and tragic decision!
“Enemy –Queen Metalia–” is the twelfth episode of the first season of Sailor Moon Crystal. It’s Japanese anime and I watched it with English subtitles (I don’t speak Japanese, though I would like to at some point). It begins the ending series arc and brings the entire cast to the Dark Kingdom, lair of the bad guys.
We finally see the epic battle between Sailor Moon and Queen Beryl, and though it might not be as fancy as expected, it is nonetheless a decisive conclusion to their rivalry. Sadly, Queen Beryl never got to realise her ambitions of betraying Queen Metalia and ruling the Earth herself. I wonder how Queen Beryl would have dealt with the Black Moon Family if she had really gotten the Silver Crystal and won the war. That would be the stuff of fanfic, I suppose.
Highlights
Queen Beryl confronts the Sailors
The last time we saw Queen Beryl confront the Sailors was in S01E09, where she didn’t so much confront them as she did mop the floor with them. Of course, the Sailors weren’t at full power then (with the exception of Sailor Venus, perhaps) so it was understandable. This time, their combined effort was clearly enough to defeat Queen Beryl, showing us their capabilities and also the fact that they’ve levelled up since their last battle with Queen Beryl. This also sets up the later battle with the Shitennou, where they are fairly evenly matched – remember how Jadeite himself could hold off Sailor Moon, Mercury, and Mars in an earlier episode?
Use of the holy sword
The holy sword was a very powerful artifact in the manga, so it’s heartening to see it take prominence in this reboot. Of course, I like swords very much, and giving the Sailors a sword on par with Excalibur is an excellent way of appealing to the my gender without seeming like it’s pandering too much. Anyway, the holy sword is used to great effect in the defeat of Queen Beryl, which makes logical sense when Tuxedo Mask takes it away later.
Inner Senshi portrayed as capable, powerful warriors
What I like about the Inner Senshi here is that their powers aren’t confined to one single, standard attack. Instead, they have mastery over the element, and their expression of that element comes in various attack forms. This again establishes the Inner Senshi as formidable fighters, which thus elevates Sailor Moon’s own power levels and truly makes her a force to be reckoned with. In the previous series, the Inner Senshi were not as powerful, being more like meat shields as Sailor Moon took all the limelight.
Tragic end to the episode
I like sad endings. So yes, this was much warranted. It mirrors the events of their past lives, and also puts our heroines in a terrible position for the finale – how exactly are they going to win the battle with their most valuable asset down?
Letdowns
No real confrontation between the Inner Senshi and the Shitennou
Much as I loved the fight between then, it wasn’t a real fight. They just shot shiny light beams at each other and talked really loudly. It would have been fun to see an actual battle, but I suppose the budget just didn’t allow for that quality of animation to exist.
“Enemy –Queen Metalia–” is gives us a really strong sense of finality as the Sailors march on to the inevitable conclusion and clash with Queen Metalia. Although they don’t actually fight Queen Metalia here, you know it’s going to be an uphill battle for the Sailors from here onwards.
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