Review: Sailor Moon Vol. 5 by Naoko Takeuchi
Sailor Moon Vol. 5
by Naoko Takeuchi
To see reviews of the previous books in the Sailor Moon series, click here. This review does contain spoilers.
One thousand years in the future, Sailor Moon and her friends are fighting the evil Black Moon gang from the planet Nemesis, but the fight isn’t going well. Mars, Mercury and Jupiter are prisoners of Black Moon’s leader, Wiseman, while Usagi has been captured by the mad Prince Demande. Chibi-Usa has disappeared and Tuxedo Mask is looking for her. With everyone scattered, it looks as though defeating the villains will be nearly impossible - especially when a new one appears in the form of the beautiful but deadly Black Lady!
The Black Moon story arc wraps up in this book, and as it came to a close I felt rather disturbed. Certain things happen in this book that are really rather troublesome. The big one is this: Chibi-Usa’s attachment to Mamoru is downright wrong. It’s always been a little iffy; he’s her father, albeit a younger version of him, so Chibi-Usa’s crush has always had a strong whiff of Electra complex. Here, it morphs into a full-blown stench here. After Wiseman turns her into the Black Lady, she hypnotizes Mamoru into her love slave and proceeds to make out with him at every available opportunity. EEEEEW. I hope that for his sake that Mamoru can’t remember any of it.
Secondly, at the very end, after she’s been freed from Wiseman’s influence and returned to her child-self, and everyone has been returned to the 20th century, Chibi-Usa tells Usagi that she must return to the future. So sad, right? Usagi starts crying because she’s gotten rather attached to her future daughter. Before any time passes, however, Chibi-Usa returns - sent back into the past by her mother to ‘train’ with Sailor Moon! All I could think was, “Dude. Neo Queen Serenity, she’s your daughter - why don’t you try raising her instead of foisting her off on your younger self?”
I don’t know. I know that Chibi-Usa is a popular character - at least, she was in Japan - but I’ve always felt like her presence just caused problems. I mean, first off all there’s all the paradoxes and issues inherent to time travel. Her presence also adds a bizarre twist to the relationship of Usagi and Mamoru. In their late teens, the two of them are essentially already raising their daughter, so they’re missing out on that whole courtship portion of their relationship and going straight to parenthood. That’s a letdown- where’s the romance in that? They don’t even get to have fun shenanigans before a kid is dropped in their laps.
3 out of 5 stars
To read more about Sailor Moon Vol. 5, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
by Naoko Takeuchi
To see reviews of the previous books in the Sailor Moon series, click here. This review does contain spoilers.
One thousand years in the future, Sailor Moon and her friends are fighting the evil Black Moon gang from the planet Nemesis, but the fight isn’t going well. Mars, Mercury and Jupiter are prisoners of Black Moon’s leader, Wiseman, while Usagi has been captured by the mad Prince Demande. Chibi-Usa has disappeared and Tuxedo Mask is looking for her. With everyone scattered, it looks as though defeating the villains will be nearly impossible - especially when a new one appears in the form of the beautiful but deadly Black Lady!
The Black Moon story arc wraps up in this book, and as it came to a close I felt rather disturbed. Certain things happen in this book that are really rather troublesome. The big one is this: Chibi-Usa’s attachment to Mamoru is downright wrong. It’s always been a little iffy; he’s her father, albeit a younger version of him, so Chibi-Usa’s crush has always had a strong whiff of Electra complex. Here, it morphs into a full-blown stench here. After Wiseman turns her into the Black Lady, she hypnotizes Mamoru into her love slave and proceeds to make out with him at every available opportunity. EEEEEW. I hope that for his sake that Mamoru can’t remember any of it.
Secondly, at the very end, after she’s been freed from Wiseman’s influence and returned to her child-self, and everyone has been returned to the 20th century, Chibi-Usa tells Usagi that she must return to the future. So sad, right? Usagi starts crying because she’s gotten rather attached to her future daughter. Before any time passes, however, Chibi-Usa returns - sent back into the past by her mother to ‘train’ with Sailor Moon! All I could think was, “Dude. Neo Queen Serenity, she’s your daughter - why don’t you try raising her instead of foisting her off on your younger self?”
I don’t know. I know that Chibi-Usa is a popular character - at least, she was in Japan - but I’ve always felt like her presence just caused problems. I mean, first off all there’s all the paradoxes and issues inherent to time travel. Her presence also adds a bizarre twist to the relationship of Usagi and Mamoru. In their late teens, the two of them are essentially already raising their daughter, so they’re missing out on that whole courtship portion of their relationship and going straight to parenthood. That’s a letdown- where’s the romance in that? They don’t even get to have fun shenanigans before a kid is dropped in their laps.
3 out of 5 stars
To read more about Sailor Moon Vol. 5, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.