What did everyone think of this episode? I loved it, almost as good as the last episode.
I love that Shine Snow Illusion wasn't just a smoke screen and was an offensive attack. Berthier was also awesome, and they actually had the chess match! And Chibi Ami was so adorable! (Adormi). 
There was a lot of quality animation though

I agree with you, I think this episode was really good!

I don't want to get upset about the animation anymore, I think I ask too much of Toei that Crystal will have a perfect animation someday xD

But the plot was really good and Chibiusa looks suuuper adorable. The part when we saw a bit of (destroyed) Crystal Tokyo made me curious about Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion. I WANT TO SEE THEM!

The scene in the swimming pool with Naru, Usagi and Ami was so cute! I love to see the girls having fun together something we saw only rarely in the first 14 acts ! And the chess match...full of feelings AND OMG, WE SAW LITTLE AMI for a short time!

Shine Snow Illusion was great and Berthier's attack also looked amazing and VERY POWERFUL. I'm still not a big fan of Moon Princess Halation but I guess I have to deal with it xD

All together, very good episode! I'm excited for the next one!

I watched this episode on hulu for the first time and wow, it's a big difference xD The quality is way more better than on niconico xD

OMG this episode was amazing!  Best one yet!  I hope they keep up with this trend!  The way they did this episode reminded me a lot of how they handled Makoto's introduction episode in episode five where they stayed close to the manga source material but added some additional flashback scenes to the girls' pasts. 

Spoiler:

  I also loved the scene of Ami at the gym with her friends and I'm glad Naru was included too.  I don't remember the chess match being in the manga?  I thought Berthier challenged her to a chess match but the manga more quickly cut to the actual showdown between Mercury and Berthier?  I wonder if this really was influenced from the original anime with that chess match scene?  I was almost expecting Ami to start turning into ice during that scene.  And the fight scene was just really cool (no pun intended) this time!  I also loved Shine Snow Illusion and I'm glad we're finally seeing some more manga only attacks!  Is this the first time we've seen this attack of Mercury's in an adaptation of Sailor Moon?  But I was disappointed we still didn't get Rolling Heart Vibration and they replaced it with Venus Love Me Chain again.

SHINE SNOW ILLUSION!
I'm so happy! I was sure they were going to cut it and she'd use Shine Aqua Illusion again.

This is my favorite Crystal episode so far. Ami's development was really good, Usagi rooting for her was very cute and Chibiusa is the type of character I root for. I'm loving her in Crystal.
Oh, and Venus Love-Me Chain... It really reminded me of the classic anime! The background colors for when she used the attack, her pose, it was almost the same!

Unfortunately it looks like they cut this scene out from the manga after all

Well, they cut out the first scene of Motoki discovering them as senshi, so it'd make sense not to include this either.

Am I the only one who thought the drawing of little!Ami was weird? I was kinda... weirded out by it. Like too big eyes or whatever. I just knew it struck me as odd xD

okay Berither's eyes freaked me out the whole time. Plus her outfit? Really guys you aren't going to bother make her her wear a disguise? 



Bravo Crystal. You are slowly getting it. Character development. Thank you for showing a bit more about Ami. Too bad you didn't do that for Rei. Plus extra brownie points for the fight scene because that was the best fight we had so far. The Characters were moving in this episode I think I'm going to cry. I actually laughed when Usagi didn't know that Ami won the chess match.

The only thing that could have made this better if Ami interacted with Chibiusa a little bit. It could have made the whole Chibiusa is not a chess piece scene more meaningful. Because right now only Luna and Mamoru have truly interacted with her.

Goddess Yami wrote:

okay Berither's eyes freaked me out the whole time. Plus her outfit? Really guys you aren't going to bother make her her wear a disguise? 

OMG, hahahahahah xD That's hilarious

Wow!!!  This episode was again nicely balanced and offered great character development for Mercury while advancing the plot.

My only disappointment was with how static Shine Snow Illusion was.

I was very pleased with this ep. I cant wait to see NQS and King Endy.

Overall loved it. I actually stopped watching Crystal after Act 12 (waiting two weeks for an episode I end up not enjoying and then letting that feeling stew for an extra two weeks is NOT a good combo), but I came back when I heard that 15 was good and I'm glad I did. It feels nice to actually enjoy the show again.

I'm pretty much done expecting fantastic animation so as long as it doesn't interfere with my enjoyment, I'm not gonna complain over that. And this one had all-in-all decent animation considering.

Looooved the character development we got with Ami, even though it ended up cutting out Asanuma's scene (though, really, who cares about that stalker?). Also loved seeing her and Berthier interact during the chess match. It was actually pretty intense. Though it makes me a little bitter that we didn't get something like that for Rei in the previous episode.

The only real complaint I have about the arc so far is that they're using the same ominous music for the Black Moon that we heard for the Dark Kingdom (Yami wa Tokoshie Yori on the soundtrack, I think). I just feel like since it's a different group, they should get their own little theme.

I feel the same way @RemEngel. I stopped watching after episode 13 or 14 (can't remember which) but I've been hearing good things about the latest episodes so I think I might start watching again.

Yunie wrote:

I feel the same way @RemEngel. I stopped watching after episode 13 or 14 (can't remember which) but I've been hearing good things about the latest episodes so I think I might start watching again.

Even ANN gave this episode a pretty positive review and they've been the the harshest critics of Crystal so far http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/sailor-moon-crystal/episode-16/.85259 Apparently the people who did the animation for this episode are the same group that's doing the updates for the BD hence the improved animation.

I really liked the chess scene.  It reminded me of the 90s anime. It was heart warming.  As always Dark Moon clan looked fabulous.

Did anyone else notice the subs translated the Black Crystal as Malefic Black Crystal?  I was so glad they used that translation for it instead of Evil Black Crystal like previous subs have done.

Neon Genesis wrote:

Unfortunately it looks like they cut this scene out from the manga after all

That might pop up in a later episode. We learned about ami's father when we should have learned that in SuperS, ya know? I'm still holding out hope for this one.

But Ami's father was mentioned in the manga version of this Act as well when they're at the gym though Crystal adds in more details with the flashback.

Anyone else notice they played Mercury's theme during thew chess match?

The only thing that threw me off about the entire episode was the eYE PLACEMENT C'MON!

Toei cannot make eyes evenly placed or evenly sized eyes on peoples heads for anybody's business.

Was anyone else a bit bothered by the scene where Mamoru is trying to kiss Usagi to cheer her up, she's obviously telling him no, not now, and Mamoru just kisses her anyway?  I don't remember that being in the manga.  It felt weirdly uncharacteristic of Usagi and it made Mamoru look rather creepy.

In the manga:



You can tell she's letting him. For whatever reason Crystal likes making Mamoru creepy.

Yeah, in the manga it's a more clearly a tender scene but it comes across as cold and forceful in Crystal.

They pretty much ruin every special moment between them him if you ask me. At least how they were drawn.

Goddess Yami wrote:

In the manga:



You can tell she's letting him. For whatever reason Crystal likes making Mamoru creepy.

i think Toei just hates Mamoru. He wasn't any better in the classic anime

It's a shame because I love UsaMamo in the manga and I think PGSM has done the best job of portraying their relationship in the adaptations.

PGSM is my favorite version of them.

I love Moon Pride and all but I wish Toei would stop having it interrupt the ending of a scene and just let it start at the credits.  Sometimes this effect works well but I felt like it kind of clashed with the emotion of the scene in this episode.  It's supposed to be a very emotional scene with Usagi reflecting on her actions and her saying how horrible she was to Chibi-usa and then Moon Pride starts playing in the middle of that with its cheery optimistic beat and it clashes a bit with the mood of the scene.  Also, how did Luna open up Mamoru's door by herself?

I agree that Moon Pride interrupted Usagi's seen of feeling awful about her actions. It would've been a little better to do the opening after Chibiusa ran off at Rei's school and then show Usagi running up to her room after the opening theme.

IT WAS HORRIBLE. TERRIBLE. I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW FAR TOEI HAS TAKEN THE QUALITY.

Alright. I'm kidding. This episode was arguably better than the last one, but the animation was still really bad in some parts, like with nearly every frame Berthier was featured in (Koan got lucky in that regard). Unlike some fans who will ignore bad animation and story elements "because they're always there." I like to account for the bad animation every time, since this is an anime after all. I still think that the Blu Rays are obnoxious and terrible, but I won't likely be as offended at this one's Blu Ray edit, since most of the episode was fine on its own to begin with so I can see them doing what Blu Ray edits are actually supposed to do like adding elements to the background, etc.

I wasn't as impressed as a lot were by the battle sequence. Nearly every battle in Crystal has been tough to follow since its hard as viewers to tell where things are in respective to each other. Berthier's attack was very well done but Mercury's were hit or miss. Also, if Toei is going to start using stock animation for its attack sequences, take some examples from... oh, I don't know... THE ANIME THEY WORKED ON TWENTY YEARS AGO.



The other big factor for me is story adaptation, which I agree was done beautifully (with the exception of the creepy rape kiss, which I see as Toei's failed attempt to put strife in their relationship). Seeing Usagi in a cute and sour mood during the pool sequence was incredible. I hope that Toei continues to show her in a silly light so we can relate to her more as an audience. Ami was also fantastic in this episode. I'm so glad Toei is properly adapting the characters we actually care about and not inserting plot elements that go nowhere.

At this point, it looks like the SMC Hate Train might only refer to the first arc of Sailor Moon Crystal. I'm cautiously optimistic though. I fear that these personal episodes will be awesome but that the later part of this arc might drag on. We can only speculate at this point though.

Am I the only one who hates Crystal's Moon Princess Halation? It's the ugliest laziest stock footage attack I have ever seen. 

At least the battle in this episode looked like an actual battle. It was still clunky, but it was an actual fight. Ami was doing great.

As for me I'm always going to hate Crystal. I guess hate is a strong word? I will never truly enjoy Crystal. They poison the well with the Dark Kingdom arc. It's my favorite arc and they screwed it up. I will never forgive Toei.