Welcome back to our Summer Comics Binge of Naoko Takeuchi’s iconic girls’ manga “Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn,” or “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon” (lit. “Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon,” to which we say: huh). Today we’re carrying on with the second half of the comic’s original story arc, the ‘Dark Kingdom’ saga, as collected in “Sailor Moon Eternal” Vol. 2.
Created by Naoko TakeuchiPictured: Sailor Mercury
Art by Naoko Takeuchi
Translated by Alethea Nibley & Athena Nibley
Lettered by Lys Blakeslee[Official blurb is the same as the previous volume. These chapters see Sailor V/Venus and Artemis join the Sailor Guardians, Tuxedo Mask getting captured and brainwashed by Queen Beryl, the main characters’ past on the Moon Kingdom being revealed, the final battle with Metalia, and the arrival of a certain “little stranger.”]
Last time, we looked at the first seven chapters of “Sailor Moon” as a microcosm of the whole comic: today, we’ll look at the merits of each chapter before our overall thoughts on the arc.
‘Act 8. Minako – Sailor V:’ Sailor V reveals herself to the other Guardians as being the Moon Kingdom’s reborn Princess Serenity, as well as Minako Aino, a fellow middle school student. She is commanding and forthright, explaining the history of Queen Metalia and the fall of the Moon Kingdom to the girls — she is, as Usagi puts it, “bold and fearless,” everything she is not. However, Usa starts taking pride in her role as Sailor Moon and leader of the princess’s literal guardians, which puts her in harm’s way when Kunzite attacks Tokyo — Tuxedo Mask winds up sacrificing himself to take the brunt of a deadly blast intended for her.
There’s a lot of exposition and action in this issue, but it still finds space for humor, character development, and romance: Usagi, waking up early for once, “jokes” to her surprised father that she’s not the girl he believed she was, but actually Sailor Moon. She bumps into Mamoru at the park, a sweet scene full of lovely close-ups, that makes his sacrifice here all the more heartbreaking. Kunzite’s attack is pretty evocative: he causes a blackout that surrounds the girls in complete blackness, meaning they have to illuminate the battle with their own powers.
‘Act 9. Serenity – Princess:’ As Mamoru lies dying, Usagi is revealed to be the real princess, as they remember their past lives and doomed romance as Serenity and Prince Endymion. (Minako turns out to be her decoy Sailor Venus.) Usagi’s tears cause the Mystical Silver Crystal to manifest, allowing her to revive Mamoru, but also causing Kunzite to spirit him away under the mistaken impression the light of the crystal transferred to his body.
There’s a lot going on here as always — we even find out Beryl’s four generals were originally Endymion’s — but the chapter dedicates its remaining pages to emphasizing Usagi’s grief, including a disturbing nightmare about his corpse (complete with the charming sound effect, “GLORP.”) A conversation between the other girls and her mother tells us she skipped school for a week and stopped eating, which is immensely relatable, and the sight of the girls consoling her by brushing her hair brings the catharsis needed before she can go forward and do what’s needed next time.
‘Act 10. Moon:’ The Guardians head to the Moon to find a way to relight the Crystal, and discover a sword in a stone — which Minako is able to pull out — and a hologram of Princess Serenity’s mother, Queen Serenity. This chapter is dragged down by how it much it is a recap of everything we’ve learned before, though it is bookended by solid moments like the build-up to the girls’ expedition (which feels as momentous as a real spaceflight), and Jupiter’s quip that Usagi is a rabbit on the Moon (which leads to an embarrassed Usa being rendered as her namesake.) It ends on a satisfying cliffhanger, as the girls finally kill Kunzite, but before he can give Mamoru’s location, while Beryl turns Endymion himself into her final puppet.
‘Act 11. Reunion – Endymion:’ Mamoru, his eyes now sinister clumps of gradient dots instead of pencil outlines, hypnotizes everyone into believing he’s Endō, a charismatic new patron of the arcade, who encourages Usagi to lose herself in gaming. It’s a prescient and topical story about a vulnerable girl being preyed on, but the pacing is quite abrupt, as the story skips a few weeks within a couple of pages so Usagi becomes an arcade addict, making her friends look incompetent. “Endō” manages to gain access to the girls’ base of operations beneath the arcade, and Usagi accepts he is not the boy she loves after he strikes Luna. However, Beryl finally reveals herself to Usagi to twist the knife, confirming this is her prince, brainwashed beyond recognition.
Continued below‘Act 12. Enemy – Queen Metalia:’ Beryl restrains Usagi with her Medusa-like hair, forcing Minako to intervene and kill her with her sword, cleansing it of its curse. Overwhelmed, Mina collapses, allowing Endymion to take her, and Usagi follows them through his portal to Metalia’s lair in the North Pole. After much agonizing, Usagi takes the sword and kills her possessed love herself, before taking her own life.
This chapter, more than any other, resembles a modern TV show, as it features two dramatic and exciting fights that sandwich a relatively plodding sequence, where the other girls and the cats search for Usagi, Mina and Mamoru in the Arctic, although the desolation is beautifully drawn. The real weak links here are how the flashbacks to Beryl’s past are shoehorned in as she dies, and the ton of exposition thrown at us over how Metalia needs to be defeated, even if that does ramp up the intensity a little.
‘Act 13. Final Battle – Reincarnation:’ Usagi’s sacrifice restores the Silver Crystal’s power, and it grows and envelopes their bodies to protect them, but at the cost of feeding Metalia to the extent she can escape from her prison. The Guardians sacrifice themselves to revive their princess, and Usagi awakens, but she and the crystal still aren’t enough to defeat Metalia: she needs Mamoru, who, buoyed on by the spirits of his generals, gives her the strength she needs to turn to turn her Moon Stick into a sceptre worthy of a future queen.
This is a spectacular and emotional chapter, with much to love, from Usagi waking up in a black void only illuminated by the Silver Crystal, to the sheer worldwide mayhem caused by Metalia’s escape, and Luna and Artemis comforting each other during the end of the world. (It’s amazing how much these talking cats aren’t played for comic relief.) Metalia’s smokey appearance isn’t as interesting as her look in the anime, where she and Beryl merged into one, but it certainly does save time on drawing another character, and adds to the overwhelming sense of chaos, as if the very paper was smudged with her evil. All in all, it’s just a shame it ends before Sailor Moon actually destroys Metalia.
‘Act 14. Conclusion and Commencement – Petite Étrangere:’ Anyway, Usagi channels the light of the Moon itself to blast Metalia to smithereens, and is then awakened with a kiss from her lover. (How romantic.) She’s granted the choice to use her newfound power to restore the Moon Kingdom, but she chooses to return to Earth, and resurrect her friends. Life returns to normal, although Rei senses a new evil on the horizon… cue Usagi and Mamoru meeting at the park, where a much younger girl with similar hair, also named Usagi, falls out of the sky and lands (painfully) on top of our hero. She then pulls a pistol and demands she hand over the Silver Crystal.
It’s such a wild cliffhanger, one that’s hard to imagine in a modern comic since it takes up a good fifth of the chapter — it certainly makes you want to read the next issue though, instead of calling it a day and possibly returning to the comic at a later time. Tonally, it’s completely at odds with the dramatic nature of the previous pages, a return to the comedic spirit of the earlier half of the arc: Usagi may have turned out to be a Moon princess, but her daily life is still a farce where a little girl can wave a gun (a gun!) at her.
I must admit, before rereading the ‘Dark Kingdom’ arc, my memory of it was that the second half was rather plodding and melodramatic, especially after the introductions were done, and most of Beryl’s charismatic generals were killed off. While it undeniably has a lot of padding (it could’ve just been 13 chapters), there’s plenty of sweetness and light to make sure you don’t become completely burned out by Usagi and Mamoru’s tragic love story. Make no mistake: if you feel like skipping this arc for the less familiar later ones, you will be doing yourself a disservice.
See you next week for the start of the ‘Black Moon’ arc proper.
