Sailor Moon - Act 8 - Minako - Sailor V

 Episode Summary:

Picking up from the last episode, Sailor V is in front of the others. They comment on her costume looking different. Queen Beryl sees this in her crystal ball. Luna sees this from Central Command. Sailor V shows her red goggles. Artemis says she is the princess of the Moon Kingdom. Usagi thinks about the crescent moon shape and her tiara changes shape. Zoisite comes up behind her, he sees the others and he disappears. Tuxedo Mask says Princess Serenity and leaves. Sailor V says "That man is..." Tuxedo remembers the events of the last episode and realizes he couldn't protect Usako. Venus comes up to Usagi saying she has done a good job so far. V makes them realize she spoke to them through the V game.

 

They get called by Luna. Venus changes back to Minako Aino. They all enter the control room. They ask where she has been. She said she met Artemis before Luna and Usagi, they been fighting crimes in Tokyo and finding out about Queen Metallia who wanted the Silver Crystal and take over Earth. She is gaing energy from humans. Rei asked if they met before. She says long ago, Metallia destroyed the Silver Millennium, they sealed her but someone broke the seal. They have to seal her again. The girls say they will work together as a team. Minako is quiet and then says thank you. Outside they part ways. Minako says the memory seal will be broken soon, that time is running out. Artemis stresses to her to work as a team, she says she has a mission, only to be completed by her.

 

 

Usagi has another dream she is the princess being pulled by Prince Endyimon and is called Serenity, she wonders the meaning and wonders if Minako is hiding something. She bumps into Mamoru in the park, who is reading books about crystals. She remembers he told her why he is after the crystal. Usagi wonders where it is. Mamoru says he couldn't protect her and he feels ashamed. She blushes. She hands him a watch. He tells her to keep it. He says he has her handkerchief, they will trade next time. Luna leaves, she wonders if it appropriate if they fall in love. Artemis bumps into her, saying her first mission is to find the Senshi and bring them up. He is surprised she doesn't remember, he guesses it will take time. Meanwhile at the Dark Kingdom, Metallia tells Beryl to target Venus because she might know where the crystal is. Kunzite says he will do the mission for her now.

 

 

Kunzite tells Minako to go along to Tokyo Tower with the crystal. Artemis is against this. The girls bump into her, asking her to dinner. She makes an excuse and runs away. All the electricity is shut down by Kunzite. Luna tells the other Senshi about this and they run. They bump into people whose energy has been drained. Usagi thinks of Mamoru, who awakens from a Serenity dream and accesses the situation. Minako henshins into Sailor Venus. She tries Cresent Boomerang to no avail and knocked back by Kunzite. She tells him he has a true self. Beryl tells him to finish her. He is about to blast her when the others arrives thanks to Jupiter making a protective orb. The Senshi tell Venus they are friends and work better as a team.

 

 

The senshi do their attacks but they don't work. Sailor Moon tries Moon Healing Esclation but gets attacked. Venus gets blasted and Jupiter saves the others. Tuxedo saves Moon, she blushes, cries and hugs him. She nods and tells him to go, that it is dangerous, she kisses him. She leaps back up. He says that she is determined today and that she shows him a different side of herself each time. He wants to know who she really is. Moon leaps in front of the Senshi, about to take an attack from Kunzite and Tuxedo takes it instead, knocking his mask off. He closes his eyes. She shouts and then ep will be continued next time...

 

Review:

This truly was a great ep.  It showed Venus' backstory without revealing TOO much but it hasn't been done before in this way. I am glad they kept the storyline of Venus pretending to be Princess from the Manga, it was also used in the live-action version (tokusatsu). I like that Minako wants to work on her own and Artemis is against it. I like that even though it had to do with Venus, it still had plenty of time to deal with Mamoru/Usagi issues. The connection between Kunzite and Minako are lightly touched upon. Also, Usagi is much stronger than her original Anime counterpart. Sure, Usagi got stronger in the original from time to time but she still was goofy cute. What is interesting is Mamoru realizes how useless he is.