Welcome back to our Summer Comics Binge of Naoko Takeuchi’s “Sailor Moon,” as we continue with the latter half of the second arc, the ‘Black Moon’ saga. As we resume, Usagi is captured by the titular clan in the 30th century, joining Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter in captivity on the planet Nemesis. Meanwhile, Chibiusa, Usagi and Mamoru’s daughter from the future, is transformed by the clan’s mysterious “advisor,” Wiseman, into the Black Lady, Queen of Darkness.
Created by Naoko TakeuchiPictured: Sailor Jupiter
Art by Naoko Takeuchi
Translated by Alethea Nibley & Athena Nibley
Lettered by Lys Blakeslee[Official blurb is the same as the previous volumes. “Eternal” Vol. 4 actually collects chapters #22-26 of the main series, as well as the short stories ‘Casablanca Memory’ and ‘Chibiusa’s Picture Diary’ #1, which we’ll cover in this retrospective separately at a later date.]
‘Act 21. Complication – Nemesis:’ Usagi wakes up on Nemesis, wearing her older self’s dress. Prince Demande tells her when he attacked Crystal Tokyo, Neo-Queen Serenity fought back, and he found the way she glared and shouted at him attractive. It’s a striking and extaordinarily accurate portrayal of how misogyny works; Demande believes he fell in love with her, when all he really wants is to see her submit, cowed and vulnerable, for ever having the strength to stand up to him.
The prince also makes his clan’s cult-like nature explicit when he tells Usagi granting humanity with long life through the Silver Crystal was a “blasphemy against God.” He kisses her, but she strikes him, something he and his entourage laugh off. Usagi weeps, but soon hears Mamoru’s voice, and eventually realizes her kidnapped sisters-in-arms are elsewhere on the planet; Demande talks a big game about God, but only Usagi and her friends can effectively communicate by praying — they have the power to reshape the world through the bonds of true love, unlike the possessive feelings he has for her.
Meanwhile, King Endymion reveals to his younger self, Venus, and the cats that Chibiusa is 900 years old, and has been bullied over the centuries over her stunted growth, and for not unlocking her Sailor Guardian powers. This loneliness is why Chibiusa developed such a close bond with the similarly isolated Pluto, but also indirectly helped the Black Moon Clan, as her frustrations led her to take the Silver Crystal for herself, leaving Tokyo vulnerable to attack. After she goes looking for Pluto again in the space-time corridor, Chibiusa accidentally drops her protective key, causing her to become lost, and she is ensnared by Wiseman, who notices her “dark heart”…
‘Act 22. Hidden Agenda – Nemesis:’ Prince Saphir expresses discontent with his brother’s plan, explaining he fears what Demande’s attempts to rewrite history will do — so he decides to kill Usagi before she ever becomes queen. (I don’t think he’s put enough thought into that one, but he clearly has a screw loose.) The spirit of Neo-Queen Serenity awakens though, allowing Usagi to use the Silver Crystal in this era and save herself, as well as her friends. The crystal’s energy causes Nemesis’s reactor to overload and erupt across the surface; Rubeus tries to flee, but Wiseman appears — now accompanied by a shadow resembling Usagi — and kills him for his cowardice. The girls return to Crystal Tokyo, but are informed Mamoru disappeared searching for Chibiusa in the time storm.
‘Act 23. Covert Maneuvers – Wiseman:’ The Sailor Guardians go searching for Mamoru and Chibiusa in the storm, but Usagi collapses, and is taken back home to the present day. In the meantime, an unconscious Demande and Saphir are woken up by the Black Lady, who takes them to Wiseman in Nemesis’s core, and reveals herself to be the aged up Chibiusa; she also introduces the princes to a brainwashed Mamoru, whom she kisses on the lips, an incredibly disturbingly Freudian turn for a girls’ comic. It’s odd Mamoru would be possessed like this for the second arc in a row, but it’s a justified way of conveying how, despite now looking like an adult, Chibiusa is still a child, unable to comprehend basic biology, or even true love.
Continued belowStrangely, Usagi seems to glimpse all this in a nightmare, but is none the wiser on returning to 30th century Tokyo, where Black Lady has launched a second attack on the city. Usagi and Endymion learn their new foe’s identity here, which feels odd and anticlimactic; to have the reader know who she is before her parents undermines the drama of the reveal, turning it into more plotting instead of storytelling. Perhaps it was deemed necessary to have everything clear for a young reader who might be a slow on the uptake, but if so, then the placement of the exposition here could’ve simply been rearranged.
‘Act 24. Attack – Black Lady:’ The continued deployment of Black Crystals on Earth threatens to destroy the planet’s existence, and Demande’s realization Wiseman doesn’t care compels him to kill him and Saphir; however, Wiseman turns out to be a skeleton animated by Nemesis itself, which descends into Earth’s orbit. As its presence continues to tear apart space-time, Pluto finds herself torn between her vows to never interfere, and her desire to help; Diana runs in, telling her the Guardians are exhausted from the battle, and tells her to go. Demande winds up grabbing both Usagi and Black Lady’s versions of the Silver Crystal, and decides to destroy everything by tapping the two together.
‘Act 25. Showdown – Death Phantom:’ Pluto intervenes by stopping time, at the cost of her own life, and her sacrifice causes Black Lady to cry, breaking Wiseman’s spell; she then transforms into Sailor Chibi Moon. After this emotional end, Sailor Moon and Nemesis resume their battle, and Demande decides he may as well kill her himself; however, Usagi and Mamoru quickly turn her Moon Rod on him, reducing him to smithereens. It’s a rather unsatisfying end to the villain, even though it’s emerged he’s not the true foe of this arc; it just feels like Takeuchi didn’t know what to do with the character after deciding he didn’t deserve a redemption arc. In any case, Nemesis makes it clear he’s the main villain when he finally reveals his consciousness to be Death Phantom, the criminal Serenity banished to the planet centuries ago.
‘Act 26. Replay – Never Ending:’ Usagi and Mamoru vanish after vanquishing Death Phantom, and Serenity awakens from her slumber to inform the other Guardians the planet in the sky was an avatar; it has taken her younger self to the other side of the solar system. She gives her daughter her Moon Rod, and Chibiusa joins her parents in space to end Nemesis once and for all. Before Usagi and friends return home to the present day, Serenity decides to alter her own history slightly, by bidding her younger self goodbye.
Back in the 20th century, Chibiusa fully reconciles with her future mother, who tells her she doesn’t find her selfish and annoying, and that she’ll be lonely without her. Chibiusa runs back into the future, and Usagi and Mamoru relax and reflect on everything they’ve learned in the park. But just when it seems they’ll have a moment to themselves… Chibiusa falls out of the sky and lands on Usagi again — turns out Serenity has decided to let her stay in the past. “Chibiusaaaaaaa!,” yells Usagi.
Overall, the ‘Black Moon’ arc is a strong one, and an important one, although the way most of the title villains are sidelined in favor of Death Phantom, who is (like Metalia) another smudge monster, means I’ll always prefer the anime version: the clan were a much more sympathetic bunch in the cartoon, and I’ll always have a fonder attachment to those versions (not to mention Death Phantom looked more like an actual ghost as Wiseman.) Similarly, Takeuchi still struggles with distinguishing the other Sailor Guardians, which isn’t surprising given how many of them were off-panel for most of the arc, but together they act more like a chorus than a group of characters with diverse opinions: you could swap any of their dialogue around, and it wouldn’t matter at all.
See you all next week for the start of the ‘Infinity’ arc, which introduces at least two of the best characters in the series.
