
a review by KrenZane

a review by KrenZane
Love in Sailor Moon always has been hanging around the branch of romance people run up to with eager eyes. Teenage girls pass through days in a city dressed in the blessings of the pink and rosy, ribbon tied by hands who wish to hold those of the people they love--few fulfilled, most in yearning. The sailor soldiers of love and justice were only agents of romance and world peace through local service to me, as nothing else could overcome the sheer attachment of the series to the same subject. It was a pleasant surprise that through the final confrontation, Sailor Moon's love unlocked a more universal concept for itself to cleanly use the slice-of-life elements and the lack of heroic super abilities on a grandiose scale to its advantage. Initially, it gave a stale taste that the expected amount of "Magic" in "Magical Girl" was undetected, but indeed, it seems like older shows are masters of brainwashing right at the denouement, sweeping the floor with an explosive finish to compensate for the slow journey laden only with bread crumbs of refreshing lore and action.
Ordinary Schoolgirl Usagi does not need to be a Revolutionary Girl Utena. A protagonist who leads like Usagi--who leads with stellar incompetence, clumsiness, and easily-distracted near-sightedness--is surely to be a ticking time bomb at the mercy of character development (or lack thereof). Her irresponsible behavior contrasting the sober heroism of the other four, to me, sets her above the rest of the cast by miles not only because of colorful dynamics interplaying, but also because Sailor Moon makes a fictional life realistically filled with challenges one would rather want to opt out of in exchange for the simple days of going to school, being late, spending late nights at entertainment; hanging out with friends, talking about boys in turn, eating shortcakes and chocolate parfaits; finding love, giving love, and receiving love. It is the love for the ordinary life and everyone presiding within it that prevails by the end alongside, of course, the same old romance which will never fade away, and will continue to fill the Earth with tempting levels of energy foreign invaders would want to get their hands on and defile with their pessimistic ideals. I could tolerate the myriad of silliness everyone and their mother can fully enumerate by virtue of its time period, production conditions, supreme OP and EDs, and beauty one might attribute to nostalgia-related things, and though it has definitely affected my enjoyment, Sailor Moon still poses considerably in its landing.
There will be more to explore for four more seasons and extra content. I am hopeful for the future installments, and shall settle on this score for now, what with its problems that have left me sour much along the way, especially with the way our girls were treated like under-leveled players in terms of the administration of their personality and relevance aside from their powers being dead an episode after arrival. Toleration can really only do so much when the problems still lie at the back of the head.
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