What did everyone think of this weeks episode?

There were some strong moments for me, with Usagi/ NQS and I love Black Lady's Seiyuu, but thats all I am saying for now.

Did Toei use up all their animation budget in the last episode?  This week's wasn't horrible but it seemed to return to Crystal's normal animation level of quality.   But there was that weird scene at the end where the Sailor Soldiers return to Pluto and it has this weird slow motion thing going on.  I hope that will be fixed on the BD.  

Pros:
Loved Saphir's confronting Usagi and getting to see more of him
Loved Usagi getting her powers back and becoming one with Neo Queen Serenity
Loved that they seemed to change how Usagi's voice was when she was the queen
Loved seeing the Inners transforming and reuniting with everyone again.  I've missed them so much.
I was hoping we'd get to see more of her but I loved what we saw of Black Lady and can't wait for the next episode.

Cons
As mentioned above, the animation quality seemed to slip back to normal Crystal standards after the last episode's fabulous quality.  I was hoping the rest of the show at least would look that good.
I wish they would make up their minds if they're going to use the funny facial expressions or not because it makes the flow of the show very inconsistent when they keep going back and forth on that depending on who the episode director is.
The first half still seemed to be very exposition heavy even though we didn't really learn anything new we hadn't the last few episodes.
This episode still suffers from the same problem the rest of the Crystal Tokyo episodes have suffered from in that it feels like even though a lot is going on, it feels like not much actually happened, if that makes sense.
Someone tell me I'm not the only one who finds Wiseman's new Japanese VA to be really annoying.  This is one area where I think the Viz dub will help improve the show because they'll likely use Wiseman's dub VA from the original anime and he sounds more sinister to me.

I agree with everything you said, I was like whoa when I heard the Queen's voice, very authoritative, and I agree that while it seemed a lot was going on, I agree not much happened. It just seems like its moving so slow.


I am also ready to move into eps which are more focused on Black Lady and sadly brainwahsed Mamoru- he always gets brainwashed, but it doesnt last so thats a plus.

^ kind of why I stopped watching Crystal. Everything is moving too slow. I know about the future I don't need to learn about it again. I'll probably just watch the finale at this point. I haven't watch episodes 20-22.

I absolutely loved this episode. Didn't even notice anything was wrong with the graphics at any point in time and felt like what happened in this episode moved the story along greatly. I hope there's a third season awaiting us.

I do hope to see a third season as well. I am still enjoying this show, I am anxious for the next episode where we will really see black lady, i think she is going to look stunning even for a villain

What is up with Wiseman's voice though. He literally sounds girlish o.o

Sailor Mercury wrote:

What is up with Wiseman's voice though. He literally sounds girlish o.o

Maybe to make him sound more harmless and innocent since he pretends that hes helping them? I just laugh at wiseman's voice. It's just so funny.     

And the scene where Neo Queen Serenity took over Usagi.

Neo Queen Serenity: Open your eyes!
Black moon clan: :O* did she just tell us to open our eyes?*

Another thing I did like about this episode is that I loved when Rubeus was going to try and stop Wiseman's plan at the end and tried to change to be good.  It was great to have some actual character development for the bad guys, especially with Rubeus, as he was always a bit one dimensional of a villain in the original anime.  I only wish they could have expanded on that a bit more as I felt like there was some potential there but at least we still have Petite Estrange for that.

Neon Genesis wrote:

Another thing I did like about this episode is that I loved when Rubeus was going to try and stop Wiseman's plan at the end and tried to change to be good.  It was great to have some actual character development for the bad guys, especially with Rubeus, as he was always a bit one dimensional of a villain in the original anime.  I only wish they could have expanded on that a bit more as I felt like there was some potential there but at least we still have Petite Estrange for that.

Didn't he just turn tail and run, though? It struck me more like "Wow this plan has gotten out of hand and I might end up dead - I'm out of here" - more self-serving than redemption. But I've only watched it once and didn't watch with an in-depth interest so I might have missed something.

Sailor Lily wrote:

Sailor Mercury wrote:

What is up with Wiseman's voice though. He literally sounds girlish o.o

Maybe to make him sound more harmless and innocent since he pretends that hes helping them? I just laugh at wiseman's voice. It's just so funny.    

Me too. Especially when he laughs xDDD

Personally, I enjoyed the episode and I had no complaints about the art/animation either.
What I really liked is how Black Lady was presented in this one. When she first appeared as a shadow, it really gave me goosebumps and I loved how she looked more and more human from scene to scene.
I also enjoyed the atmosphere, it really feels like back when I read the manga, somewhat dark and creepy with some glorious moments of light whenever the Senshi act. And Neo Queen's speech was AMAZING.

Also....



SOMETHING THT WASNT IN THE MANGA! Sailor Moon whipping her tiara at Diamond's third eye.I was like YES USAGI! WHIP YOUR TIARA BACK AND FORTH!
Also another thing Crystal added in:


There was no lightning or Mamo flickering in the manga. 

I loved the design of Nemesis's castle. 

Btw I noticed how there was a bit of parallel between the scene where Diamond tried to touch Usagi, and with Usagi and Mamoru's first kiss.

Spoiler:

Goddess Yami wrote:

^ kind of why I stopped watching Crystal. Everything is moving too slow. I know about the future I don't need to learn about it again. I'll probably just watch the finale at this point. I haven't watch episodes 20-22.

The pacing of Sailor Moon Crystal reminds me a lot of the pacing of your typical Shonen Jump anime.  You know where they spend the majority of the episode with lots of exposition heavy dialog, excessively long speeches and power up scenes, flashbacks, and then you have a few moments towards the end where something exciting happens.

Yeah and it's not exciting to me because I know how everything will turn out.

I think this is the first episode where I have no complaints. I truly enjoyed it.