Welcome back to the Summer Comics Binge of the “Sailor Moon” manga, today we’re looking at the final chapters of the main series itself. All of Usagi’s Sailor Guardians, and her beloved Mamoru, have been slain by Galaxia and her minions. Together with the Sailor Starlights, Princess Kakyuu, and Sailor Chibi Chibi, our heroine flies to the center of the galaxy, where she hopes to reclaim her fallen friends’ Sailor Crystals, and end the fighting once and for all.
Created by Naoko TakeuchiArt by Naoko Takeuchi
Translated by Alethea Nibley & Athena Nibley
Lettered by Lys Blakeslee[Official blurb is the same as the previous volumes. (“Teenager Usagi is not the best athlete, she’s never gotten good grades, and, well, she’s a bit of a crybaby…”) This volume also contains the stories ‘The Secret Hammer Price Fall’ and ‘Parallel Sailor Moon,’ which we’ll cover at a later date.]
‘Act 56. Stars 7:’ Usagi’s journey become rather Dante-esque, as her group are greeted at Sagittarius A* by a giant gate, and the Charon-esque Sailor Lethe. She ferries them across a river, until the waters consume them, depositing Usagi in a world where she doesn’t remember who she is. (For the record, Lethe is the underworld’s river of forgetfulness in Greek mythology.) Lethe tries to persuade her to embrace Galaxia’s nihilism, demonstrating nothing matters with a vision of her killing Luna, Artemis and Diana. This portion really crystallizes the theme of the story, which is how we respond to change, whether it’s the inevitability of death, or (more pertinently for the target audience) the end of an era, and the friendships we once had: basically, just because nothing is permanent, doesn’t mean everything (love, friendship, kindness etc.) is as pointless as Galaxia believes.
Meanwhile, in the 30th century, Chibiusa defies her mother’s wishes to remain, and the Sailor Quartet reveal themselves to accompany her back to the past; Neo-Queen Serenity responds to her daughter’s bravery and independence with pride, giving her a space-time key. Back in the present, Lethe’s sister Mnemosyne (whose name is that of the river and goddess of memory) tries to persuade her to spare Usagi, saying Galaxia will decide her fate. Usagi, remembering who she is, states she’s not here to fight, but Lethe responds her presence invites Chaos anyway; our heroine tells her to kill her then, calling Lethe’s bluff. The sisters leave, only to be attacked and killed by Sailor Chi and Phi for being “useless.” The two then claim the comatose Starlights’ crystals.
‘Act 57. Stars 8:’ Usagi, Kakyuu, and Chibi Chibi are confronted by Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon, who’s defeated by Chibiusa and the Quartet’s intervention. Chibiusa tells Usagi the vision was real, as the cats were nowhere to be found on Earth, but a light guided them there. A lot of welcome comic relief follows, as Chibiusa meets Chibi Chibi, who’s implied to be the source of the light: the crown princess becomes shocked at the prospect of having a younger sister, and then (very understandably) flustered when speculation turns to the little Guardian being her daughter.
The inanity does underscore there’s more to Chibi Chibi than anything that simple though. Chi and Phi show up again, and are defeated too, but not before one of them gets the jump on Kakyuu and fatally wounds her. Usagi angrily vows Galaxia won’t take Kakyuu’s crystal, but her body also disintegrates, as it’s captured by… Sailor Venus.
‘Act 58. Stars 9:’ Zombified versions of Mamoru and Earth’s Sailor Guardians attack. While Chibi Chibi gives Chibiusa a vision of their deaths, conveying that these are not her loved ones, Usagi finds herself unable to fight back against these awful mockeries, leaving her daughter and the Quartet helpless against the more experienced Guardians. When her “friends” brutally strike her down, destroying her wings and scepter, Usagi finally accepts the truth, and gets up, magically repairs the scepter, and destroys them again. Galaxia finally shows herself, and rubs salt in Usagi’s wounds by having “Mamoru” kiss her, before striking him. She and Usagi proceed to charge at each other.
Continued below‘Act 59. Stars 10:’ Usagi and Galaxia’s battle leads the evil empress to throw all of the crystals into the Galaxy Cauldron, as well as Mamoru, causing Chibiusa to disappear from history. She explains feeding the cauldron will awaken the darkness lurking within, who will then be destroyed once it consumes Sailor Moon, allowing Galaxia to claim the cauldron. Presumably overhearing her, Master Chaos strikes Galaxia, forcing Usagi to save her. Chaos reveals itself to be a star seed that failed to become a star or planet, and that Metalia, Death Phantom, Pharaoh 90, and Queen Nehelenia were also dark stars, or “extensions” of itself, explaining why all of the series’ overarching villains looked so similar.
Chaos declares that the light of the Silver Crystal will be finally theirs. Usagi becomes fatalistic, believing this is the end of the Guardians, and that letting Chaos consume everything will be fine if it means the fighting will stop. Chibi Chibi begins speaking fluently, and implores her to fight on, pointing out life will always be full of darkness and light, so it’s naive to think giving up here will bring about the end of all conflict. Goodness, this is a complex pep talk isn’t it? It’s not helped by the vagueness of the speech captions too, though at least it’s not as wordy as some Japanese comics.
Stunned by Usagi’s act of kindness, Galaxia listens to her sister-in-arms accept Chibi Chibi’s wisdom, and reaches out to her, but her crystals break and shatter, causing her to vanish too. Before flying off to overload Chaos with her light, Usagi tells Chibi Chibi not to lose hope in her future. Chibi Chibi transforms into an adult with an uncanny resemblance to Usagi, and kisses her goodbye. As Usagi dives into the abyss, she ponders if Chaos and all its extensions were driven mad by loneliness like Galaxia was, and states she will save everyone by embracing it.
‘Act 60. Stars 11:’ Usagi channels all the crystals to incinerate Chaos along with herself. The unconscious Quartet awaken and are greeted by Chibi Chibi, who explains she is Sailor Cosmos, Usagi’s counterpart from the far future: she went back in time to prevent the creation of a Guardian resembling Galaxia named Sailor Chaos. She describes herself as a coward for making that decision, and states Usagi is the real Sailor Cosmos, before sending the girls back to the future.
In the cauldron’s core, Usagi is reunited with all her loved ones, and is greeted by the Guardian Cosmos, who recalls her mother’s visit all those years ago, which led to the birth of Usagi. She asks her if they want to be reborn, or return to their old lives: Usagi chooses the latter, of course. Before Usagi remembers to ask what happened to Chaos, Cosmos send them on their way: the Guardian comments the shadow may reemerge someday, although their essence is too small to be found.
We move forward in time to Crystal Tokyo, where Usagi awakens in bed with Mamoru, and asks him to propose to her again. We transition to a church wedding, where Usagi can feel Chibiusa kicking (so to speak.) The Inner and Outer Guardians are all bridesmaids, while Mamoru gets the last word, telling us how his bride is the star that will burn brightest for all eternity. When this series began, Usagi was an anxious underachiever, so it’s incredible to hear her husband describe her this way, and I suppose that’s the secret power of love: that relationships will enlighten you as to how much of a light you are in your friends, partners, and family’s lives.
This arc was a dazzling and shocking end for the series, that demonstrated how much I cared for the characters by leaving me shocked, angry, and overwhelmed from the constant carnage. I have quibbles, like how soon the Starlights get written out, the aforementioned pontificating on fighting that every anime seems to suffer from, and the vagueness of the epilogue, which doesn’t clarify the fate of the cats or Usagi’s human family (if any series deserved an additional wedding issue, it was this one.) Regardless, it was an epic and often jawdropping finale, and I hope it similarly blows away many more fans who thought they knew “Sailor Moon,” when the Cosmos movie version releases.
See you next week for the prequel, “Codename: Sailor V.”
