Headscratchers / Sailor Moon Crystal

• The girls get their tech (the transformation pens and the watch communicators) by playing an arcade game. Why does Luna make them go through that instead of just giving them the items? Rei didn't have to do that. That's a lot of wasted hours that could be devoted to training and continuing their mission.
  • The first instance — Mercury's transformation pen — was a bit of sneaky planning on Luna's part, getting the pen into Ami's hands early so that, if she did manifest the power of Mercury, she'd be all ready to go with just a bit of prompting on Luna's part. She may well have planned to give the disguise pen to Usagi directly, but when Usagi began shaking the game console demanding a prize of her own, Luna decided "oh, well" and handed it over the same way. Rei, on the other hand, was never anywhere near the video game, so Luna simply tossed her the henshin pen when it became clear she was going to need it.
    As for the communicator watches, I got nothin', but the episode does not give the impression that the girls are at any point playing the game specifically to get equipment; rather, they were playing the video game anyway. Those "wasted hours" were never going to be spent on training and mission prep whether Luna chose to use the game console as a vehicle for their equipment or not. It's just a convenient means of handing out items without leaving the audience wondering where the heck Luna is pulling this stuff from.
  • As far as the Sailor Senshi are concerned, that game is a combat simulator for training. So, playing it is training.
    • Just like in the manga, Artemis created the Sailor V game so Minako could know how to use the weapons, in Crystal the Senshi use the same tactics in the game as in real battles, that's why Ami used strategy and fast thinking, how Rei could learn to play quickly and Makoto even pointed out how she became so good in minimal time as she said that is not different to an actual fight, even Ami suspected something about Mako-chan when she saw her playing that good, she knew the game is related to senshi duties.
  • In fact, in the manga (and sadly not in Crystal) Ami specifically asked Luna if she did something to the machine to give them their items. Luna just winked.
    • The official English subs have been updated. Ami indeed asks Luna at the end of episode 2.
  • As of Act 8, Artemis told the others that the Sailor V Game is a combat simulator and used it to train them.
• After Rei gets kidnapped on the bus, Usagi uses her transformation pen to become a... flight attendant. Why? As one reviewer pointed out, if you're trying to catch a speeding bus, the last thing you'd want to wear is a tight skirt and heels. She was even lugging a rolling suitcase with her! You'd think she'd transform to an Olympic-class runner for that kind of task.
  • It's pure fourteen-year-old-girl logic. Usagi's not the bravest of souls; she psyches herself up to chase the bus by becoming someone whose job it is to look after passengers — and since buses don't have cute attendants, a flight attendant is the next closest thing.
  • It makes even less sense than in the old anime, where she transformed into a flight attendant to get into the bus, while here she's just trying to get a grip on it before it disappears into the portal.
  • Rule of Funny, people. A flight attendant is supposed to look after the passengers. It's a joke. As a general rule, anything that's meant to be justified by Rule of Funny doesn't really warrant a Headscratcher. You might as well ask why Yosemite Sam doesn't die from having a bomb blow up in his face.
    • Thing is, it works better in the manga (and even the first anime) than here. Because the manga is full of silly sight gags, chibi art shifts, etc., the silliness of Usagi becoming a flight attendant is more acceptable. This series has not been playing itself as silly, so it doesn't work as well.
    • It still fits with her character. Psyche herself up (changing clothes really does do wonders to your confidence), rush into danger, then freak out later.
    • This is actually lampshaded in the Manga. Luna, completely baffled, asks Usagi why she choose a flight attendant/stewardess. Usagi's response was that it was her responsibility to look after the passengers.
  • Now maybe I'm wrong didn't Usagi turn into a bus attendant? And like the flight attendant thing was a misconception that came from the DiC dub?
  • Nope, the flight attendant/stewardess gag is consistent cross-version, which is why Luna's reaction is always quizzical.
  • Perhaps Usagi's idea was that wearing a uniform would make her feel braver and/or more important, so she'd have the courage to chase after the bus. And a flight attendant was the first idea in her head that requires a uniform.
• From the same review, if people know exactly which vehicle the Demon Bus is and when it arrives, why is no one attempting to track it, set up a barricade, get it on camera, interrogate the driver, etc.? It's also shown that the bus goes through some kind of portal, but that happens in the middle of a city, near a large intersection, within sight of several buildings. How are there not hundreds of witnesses or people trying to stop the bus?
  • A) Magic, or b) Weirdness Censor?
  • At a guess, Jadeite prevented the police from doing just that, and the people didn't do anything because it's Japan and they would be inclined to let the police do the job. And knowing the manga, the police probably called in Sailor V, who decided to just let things go when she recognized Rei as Sailor Mars but was ready to intervene if necessary.
• In Act 6, Usagi doesn't think she can transform in front of Tuxedo Mask, until he assures her that he already knows that she's Sailor Moon. Considering that Usagi just a few moments ago was telling him that she didn't feel confidant about being the leader of the Sailor Scouts because she didn't have the same power to control the elements as her teammates, why would she assume that he didn't already know at that point?
  • Because what she had said could have been mistaken for something else: she had just said she was supposed to be the leader but didn't have special abilities like the Sailor Soldiers, without saying exactly what. And given Usagi's naivete, she expected him to not have guessed (nor she had realized that Tuxedo Kamen wouldn't have been there in the first place had he not already known she was Sailor Moon).
  • The context for that scene was that Tuxedo Mask told her that he really wants to find the Silver Crystal, but doesn't have powers like the Guardians. Usagi tells him she feels the same way because she is supposed to be the team's leader (no direct mention of the Guardians here), yet is powerless and can't do anything. It's only after he tells her to transform that she specifically mentions not having Elemental Powers like other Guardians. That said, in the manga, Tux tells her to transform almost right away, so her freaking out over his knowledge of her Secret Identity was more understandable - and yes, she does freak out in the manga, despite the events of the previous chapter where he brought her to the enemy's location suggesting that he is aware of her powers. (And then you get fans arguing over whether this change makes Usagi a weaker character by showing her lack of self-confidence, or whether it was worth it for the "you have the special power to make everyone smile" speech.)
    Watch Usagi closely during these scenes. When she wakes up in Tuxedo Mask's arms, she is - quite understandably - surprised to see him, but listens to his story, which is about how he caused all that mess. As soon as he brings up the Sailor Guardians, she abruptly stands up and picks up her school bag (as though she is trying to pretend she is just a normal girl). What she says after that was probably not quite thought through, because she was nervous, but basically she was trying to encourage him (and herself) by telling him honestly what she feels without giving away her secrets (again - she does not mention specifically that she is the leader of the Guardians). Also, she does not exactly look that much shocked when he tells her to transform. Remember, she had reasons to suspect he is aware of her Secret Identity (Act 5) - but because she wasn't sure, she decided to not reveal it in case he doesn't know. Her reaction is less "OMFG you know I'm a Guardian", and more "So you knew this after all". Then she tells him that she is useless compared to other Guardians. It's subtle, but this scene shows that Usagi isn't very good at hiding her emotions, which is not unusual for a teen.
• How did Luna and Artemis manage to set up that Arcade machine in the first place, let alone create the secret passage under that specific Sailor V Arcade game.
  • The Sailor Senshi are implied to have a large economic support (for example, the Outers initially lived in three different luxury apartments in Tokyo and own a Ferrari and two helicopters), Artemis (because it was his own idea) probably used those connections to set up the original machine (with more being set up when the game proved successful). On how they created the passage under that specific machine... It's actually the opposite: they put that specific machine over the passage, that was already there.
    • AFAIK, the moon cats didn't meet the Outers until Usagi and the Inners did. Whether the wealth the Outers have access to is anything to do with their status as senshi or if they simply happened to be filthy rich (after all, Michiru is a famous classical musician and Haruka a famous racecar driver) is a different question, but Artemis and Luna wouldn't have had access to that wealth back in the first two arcs of the story.
  • Still raises the question how did they keep it a secret for centuries.
  • Magic?
  • The Sailor V manga specifically shows Artemis dragging the (still packed up) game machine to the Crown Game Center. And Sailor V, of course, had the mysterious Boss, who was probably responsible for creating it. The base itself also appears to have been set up by Boss, whoever it was. If Crystal loosely follows the same continuity (and Minako does make a comment about not having visited the base for a while, just like in the Sailor Moon manga), and if Boss is not Luna, there might be stronger powers involved.
• In the Act 7 Zoisite uses the word 'Dark' for the name of the fake rental shop he uses to plant the brainwashing dvds. If this has any continuity with the Codename: Sailor V manga, that name is screaming "Here be Dark Kingdom activity, Sailor V please destroy us". What the hell?
  • If memory serves me correctly, Kunzite was the only one responsible for the Sailor V plots. Zoisite may not be aware of what Kunzite had to face, or if he was, did not expect Venus to come all the way from England to kick his butt. Likewise, the non-V Senshi have no reason to know about the Dark Kingdom's activities in the Sailor V manga, so it wouldn't be a particular tipoff for them.
  • Thing is, this takes most things from the manga. Where the closest Sailor V had been to London was a brief vacation to Greece (and that only because she took the wrong plane: she was planning to go to Hawaii), the Shitennou worked closely with each other (as shown by Kunzite's subordinates working in what was pretty much Jadeite's hunting ground), and, as evidence that this is based closely on the manga, by her debut in the main series Venus knows the Shitennou's backstory better than themselves. That's why I wonder.
    • Even assuming that Zoisite did know the details of the plans Kunzite's people were running and Sailor V's involvement in foiling them, by this point in Crystal, Sailor V hadn't been publicly active for a while. If Kunzite himself never thought to tell his minions to stop using the "Dark" name for everything, the possibility that V would recognize it and get involved probably just isn't on Zoisite's radar, focused as he is on Sailor Moon and the other active senshi.
• So if the main title is all about how they aren't weak little flowers that need to be rescued by a man... Why has Tuxedo Mask rescued them (and particularly Usagi) in pretty much every episode? It's getting to the point where they're barely fighting at all!
  • They're still learning, and slowly taking levels in badass. And the one who rescued the Sailors and Tuxedo Kamen in Act 7 was Sailor Venus...
  • Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask's involvement tends to get severely overstated. Out of eight episodes to date, Tuxedo Mask has only "saved" Sailor Moon in combat in three of them (Acts 2, 7, and 8), and only once (Act 7) has he even attempted to fight himself. By comparison, in four of the eight episodes he has encouraged her to fight; during Act 5, his response to noticing something spooky going on with Motoki and Makoto is to go get Sailor Moon and lead her to the trouble-in-progress, clearly indicating that he thinks she's better equipped to handle the situation than he is.
    What we can take away from this is that Tuxedo Mask is consistently trying to help Sailor Moon by catching and shielding and encouraging her when she needs it because that is the only way that he can help her, because in fact she is stronger than he is. That she does need help sometimes - and as mentioned above, her overall record really hasn't been all that bad - does not mean that she's a weak little flower who needs to be rescued by a man, it only means that she's a fourteen-year-old girl with no previous training or experience. In the series thus far, the senshi have rescued one another much more than Tuxedo Mask has rescued anyone, and the intended message, as made clear in Act 8 by the girls' words to Sailor Venus, is that it's not shameful to need help and that they are all stronger for having one another to rely on and being able to accept one another's help when they need it.
    The issue in Crystal isn't Mamoru, it's the series' overall tendency to have established cast members far too easily floored for the sake of creating drama and setting up someone else to rescue them. More often than not, as mentioned, the rescuer isn't Tux - in Act 2 it's Ami, in Act 3 it's Rei, in Act 5 it's Makoto, in Act 6 it's Usagi, in Act 7 it's ultimately Minako, and in Act 8 it's the whole non-V Sailor Team. Tuxedo Mask only really gets the save once, in Act 7, and only briefly before he too is flattened to let Artemis and Sailor V be the Big Damn Heroes.
    • A bit on the last part; it's justified given that the main reason the Senshi have had any victories at all is the element of surprise. The Senshi are teenage girls who just got their powers while the Shitennou given that they also reincarnated likely had theirs for a few years at least. The Shitennou are clearly shown to be currently more powerful, and they only lost when something or someone they didn't expect popped up. When the Senshi try to charge in up front...yeah, they're screwed.
  • Still, it does seem like Moon Pride would have been a better fit for a later season, once the girls came into their own as fighters.
  • Compare Tux protecting Moon from enemies in Crystal and in the first anime. In the latter, he was a relatively skilled, if underpowered, warrior, who acted as a deus ex machina for the senshi and could often incapacitate the enemy on his own, to the point Moon just needed to cleanse it. Crystal!Mamoru, on the other hand, is based on his manga self, which means that at the time of the Dark Kingdom fight he has no combat powers, neither offensive nor defensive (and he is a bit younger than in the 90s' anime, also); he even outright admits it in Act 6. Yet he punches Zoisite. In other words, the only power he possesses is the sheer desire to find the Silver Crystal and to keep Moon safe. This difference, by the way, is what makes the manga/Crystal scene where he Takes The Bullet for Moon superior to its 90s' anime counterpart: he is very much aware that he is just an Ordinary High-School Student trying to save a Magical Girl, and he still pulls a Heroic Sacrifice for her sake, as that was about the only way he could save her (ever wondered why, in the 90s' anime, Tux didn't just throw one of his roses at that crystal?).
    Let's examine Crystal!Mamoru's involvement more closely:
    • Act 1 - Tux simply encourages Moon to stop crying. Identical to the manga.
    • Act 2 - Tux actually saves Moon from a direct enemy attack. The manga scene has him simply assisting her when she gets an opportunity to attack the monster, but what he does in Crystal is still a far cry from his deus ex machina antics in the first anime; remember, he doesn't have any powers. And before that, Ami saved Moon from another attack.
    • Act 3 - Tux isn't involved in the main fight at all, since all he managed to do is to catch Luna who fell off the bus when it got sucked into that portal. Identical to the manga.
    • Act 4 - Tux tries (and fails) to save Moon when she falls from the balcony, until the latter transforms her pen into a parasol, and she saves him instead. Identical to the manga.
    • Act 5 - Tux isn't involved in the main fight, his only contribution is bringing Usagi to the monster's location so she could deal with it. Identical to the manga.
    • Act 6 - Tux finds Usagi in the streets, nearly drained of energy, and encourages her to fight. About the only major change from the manga here was the extrapolation of his encouragement speech beyond "Hang in there, Sailor Moon, only you can do this!", which one could argue was a positive change. (Crystal clearly has a thing for the "Usagi brings the team together" aspect which the first anime explored in the Sailor Moon R movie.) The rest of the Guardians being already defeated by that point had nothing to do with Tux at all, it was Beryl getting angry for extra drama and Moon being absent - this is what was changed, and Moon eventually forced her to retreat with her own attack.
    • Act 7 - Tux tries (and ultimately fails!) to defend Sailor Moon from Zoisite. This one is a major change from the manga, but in the latter he actually couldn't do anything to help Sailor Moon because of Zoisite's energy barrier (which doesn't exist in Crystal), which was what ultimately encouraged him to Take The Bullet for her in the next chapter. Here, he punches Zoisite to free Sailor Moon, but that was about all he could do, as Zoisite demonstrated quite clearly - because Tux really doesn't have any powers, so Sailor V ends up being the true saviour, just like in the manga. In other words, Crystal simply showed what would happen if Mamoru did attempt to fight - and because in this version he is a regular 17-year-old instead of the Batman-esque deus ex machina of the first anime, he loses. The senshi are the only ones who can fight.
    • Act 8 - Tux catches Moon when she falls off the Tokyo Tower, then a few scenes later Takes The Bullet for Moon. Identical to the manga, and in both cases the act was partially encouraged by his guilt over his inability to save her in Act 7.
    • Act 13 - Tux briefly shields Moon from Metaria's attack (which quite possibly did more harm to him than it would to her), then encourages her to fight (which is identical to the manga).
      Evidently, half of the scenes involving Tux actually come from the original manga. The change in Act 7, considering its results, was probably meant to underline the fact that Mamoru is completely powerless compared to the senshi. He is really an ordinary high-school kid trying to help a superheroine who just happens to be unable to utilize her special abilities to the full yet and is prone to doubting her own powers.
  • Yet all this still does is hammer home just how useless the Inner Senshi are, as they don't get any more capable as the series goes on. In fact it gets worse. Especially since Crystal likes to hammer home the fact that Mamoru was far more important to Usagi then her 'friends' are. Heck by the second arc, it practically is the Tuxedo Mask and Usagi show.
    • Blame the source material - the same is true of the manga. Crystal is simply following in its footsteps.
    • Why only blame the manga? In the anime, all the Senshi except for Sailor Moon were useless and the anime made it even worse by putting even more focus on Sailor Moon's abilities. At least in the manga, the Senshi had more relevance and upgrades in every arc.
  • Which still doesn't excuse how much spotlight and relevance he steals away from the Inner Senshi. What is clearly a flaw in the manga, is a flaw here also.
• Why tease Luna's human form? Are they that confident that they'll get another season?
  • Either that or perhaps it was a referential nod to the Snow Princess Kaguya sidestory.
  • They're probably just trying to incorporate extra material from the manga. Also, even in the manga, Artemis compares Luna to the goddess Selene in that scene, so the image of human Luna makes sense (Takeuchi originally hadn't designed it yet by that point, but Crystal takes advantage of being a new adaptation of a finished story here).
    We'll have to wait and see if they attempt to show human Artemis and Diana somewhere just for the sake of it. If not, then they were just "upgrading" that scene with a character design that came from later chapters, and that's it.
• Am I the only troper who thinks that the creators of Sailor Moon, in general, and now Sailor Moon Crystal, absolutely loathe the idea of anyone else, aside from Usagi, getting a love interest. This troper begins to believe that the only mission in the Inner Senshi's lives it to focus solely on keeping Usagi happy, consequently neglecting their own individual happiness. This troper understands that the idea of friendship is forwarded a lot in the anime, but we as the viewers are left to believe that the happiness of just one person is what is going to keep us happy.
  • Much of the problem stems from Usagi originally being Naoko's glorified self-insert/wish fulfillment character in the Manga. As a result pretty much everyone's existence revolves around her, giving the others very little to do other then to prop her up.
  • This is actually discussed in the Sailor Moon manga, and further hammered in during the final chapters of the Sailor V manga. The idea is that the Inner Senshi, being Serenity's guardians, will always choose their duty over their potential love life. So they never bother with the idea of getting boyfriends. And while Danburite's words in Sailor V can be taken with a grain of salt (after all, he did have an unrequited love for Venus), both Minako and Rei outright state that they have no need for boyfriends because their lives are dedicated to their Princess. This is one of the reasons why the Senshi/Shitennou subplot has its divisive status.
    • On the other hand, in Stars Minako also tells the Starlights flat-out that as important as her duty as a senshi is to her, she has her own dreams which are important to her as well, and that neither she nor her princess see those dreams and her duty as mutually exclusive. She's talking about her ambitions toward becoming an idol singer, not romance, but there's no reason it shouldn't be equally applicable to the case of a senshi whose dreams involve finding love (thinking specifically here of Makoto, whose dream for her future includes marriage and a family). Duty before self is an important part of Minako's characterization, but to take that to mean that none of the Inner Senshi will ever be able to pursue their own desires over the course of their (incredibly long, given Crystal Tokyo) lifetimes seems pretty sad. Particularly in the context of Minako's speech to the Starlights, it creates an implication that it's good and healthy for girls to have dreams... unless those dreams include romance.
• How the hell did the Inner Senshi not anticipate the fact that if they cured the Four Knights, they would be exposed? It's as if they were saying "We can live together at last." and then they get vaporized. Seriously, how could they not think of that?
  • The Senshi didn't have much of a choice here. The Shitennou were sent to stop them (from getting to Sailor Moon, in this case). So the only two available solutions were to kill the Shitennou (which they clearly couldn't bring themselves to do), or talk the Shitennou out of Metaria's mind control, which is what led to Metaria getting rid of them. The whole scene is written in such a way that there was no possibility of the Shitennou surviving, which makes sense when you realize that, had Crystal followed the manga a little more closely, they would've been long dead anyway. The fact that it's a deliberate fit of sadistic scriptwriting is obvious from their very last exchange: "Venus..." "Kunzite..." *Metaria kills the Shitennou* Venus was the one explicitly forced to accept the "duty over love" dilemma at the end of the Sailor V manga, with an equally tragic aftermath.
• In Act 15, one of the Droids disguised as nuns doesn't hide its Black Moon mark. No real nun would have any mark on her forehead, unless it's a scar or a birthmark, and clearly that wasn't either. Given the illusory nature of the disguise, why didn't they hide the mark too?
  • Ask Naoko on this one, since it comes straight from the manga where there is one panel from the corresponding chapter that shows a nun with the mark. Maybe it didn't occur to Koan that it would be such a dead giveaway?
• What was the point of sparing Minako from being taken by the Black Moon Clan, and then not have her do anything remotely noteworthy for the remainder of the entire arc? For that matter, what was the whole plan in abducting the Inners (at the expense of the Ayakashi Sisters) to begin with? Since they don't do anything beneficial with them. It felt more like a convenient way to remove them from the plot.
• It's kind of disappointing that Usagi has all of her four guardians, while Mamoru has absolutely no-one and has to rely on his girlfriend and her friends for support. It's even worse in Crystal because a team of his own is teased and then erased. It wouldn't take much from the Girl Power message of the show and it would have the added bonus of making Mamoru less of a Distressed Dude and waste of battle time.
  • This is merely staying true to the manga where Mamoru didn't have any guardians. The Shitennou were killed and he carried their stones around with him in the first arc and they act more like spiritual advisors when he uses his power to communicate with them.
• Episode 10: where the F did Endo (the real one) go? He was still alive, with the show not going the manga route of implying Brainwashed and Crazy Mamoru outright killed him, so what happened? Did he travel to the land of Chuck Cunningham?
• What have Rei and Ami's guardians been told about their disappearance? We haven't seen or heard of Rei having relatives, but she might. Ami lives with her mom and it's assumed her father has visitation rights. (Makoto is orphaned and assumed to have emancipated minor status.) Even teachers might start to wonder after several absences. Isn't anyone going to call the police? It's not like their friends could tell them the truth.
  • For all we know, all that is happening offscreen. There could be an investigation going on by the Tokyo police into the disappearances of both girls (or at least Rei since she's technically high priority as the daughter of a politician). We're just not seeing it cause they're not part of this story. Hero of Another Story and all.
• In Act 26, Neo Queen Serenity says she can't meet her past self because that's something that would change history. Well, so is giving all of the cast new powers. What is the point of this? By the time she says that, Usagi and her friends have already met her future daughter and exploded a planet with her help, been informed of the disasters to befall Earth and witnessed Pluto die. If history hasn't changed up to that point, then why would it now? This is even more confusing when we take into account that Mamoru has been hanging out with his future self for a damn long time.
  • It was mentioned in an earlier episode that being too physically close to your future self for too long was dangerous to both parties, so I rather took that to mean that if Neo Queen Serenity actually met with Usagi, it would change history because they'd both disappear or something. And Mamoru was able to hang out with Endymion because he wasn't actually hanging out with Endymion's physical body, he was hanging out with a spirit projection because Endymion's body was in the same sort of healing coma as Serenity and the future Senshi.
  • This Troper could be wrong, but recalls that after Sailor Moon defeated Wiseman properly, Neo Queen Serenity's wand was returned to her looking like a longer version of the cosmic wand, the one for the Mugen arc. And Neo Queen Serenity only gave them their powers after this happened so... Usagi defeating Wiseman created the new powers, but they were given to her by her future self, who gave it to her team to begin with...?
  • It may be that she just didn't want to alter the future any more than it already had (the part about being too close to your past/future self might also apply) so she was trying to be the responsible Queen by letting her old self leave, but since she's still Usagi at heart, she couldn't resist seeing her old self and thanking her. I think that it was less a hard rule (then can obviously be around each other for a little bit) and more of a guideline that she tried—and failed—to follow in order to prevent any further alterations to the timeline.
• What exactly are the Inner Senshi around for in Crystal? It just feels like they didn't get to do anything or get much in the way of character development. Or dialogue. The Senshi didn't score...any notable kills. They didn't even really get to fight Mooks. In the first episode of the Dark Moon arc, Rei was taken out with her own element by a gloried Mook immediately after getting a power up and then was benched for the entire arc. Ami and Makoto faired a little better and joined her soon after. Minako actually avoided getting captured but didn't really get to make an impact at all. Even when Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter did make a return it didn't make a difference. Once Neo Queen Serenity finally woke up she passed right by the future versions of the Inner Senshi and didn't bother to ress them until after the world was already saved. Does that mean that even the future versions of the Senshi with all of their power ups aren't considered combat assets? If the world was at stake wouldn't having the present and future Inner Senshi fighting only be a good thing? It just seems like the Crystal version of the Inner Senshi aren't there to fight...so is there some other reason for them to hang around?
  • Both cases (the Inners being captured and NQS going past the future!Inners) come directly from the manga. And there the characters' fighting capacity was all over the place, but the manga did have a thing for beating up the Inners for drama. About the only arc where they successfully fought off their evil counterparts for good was Dream, and even there the killing blows were normally delivered by Moon and Chibimoon.
  • The Inners were (sadly) pretty much irrelevant after the first arc. Naoko never really seemed to know quite what to do with them. Especially with the advent of her shiny new Outers, who made a point in outclassing them in every area. Of course, Usagi herself became so ridiculously overpowered towards the end of the Manga, that she really had little use for a team at all.
    • This statement and the original one about the Inner Senshi above is more true for the 90's anime adaptation, to be honest. People need to stop acting like the Inner Senshi's uselessness only exists in the manga/Crystal when the 90's anime had this and made it worse.
• Where does Sailor Pluto fit into the Outers' plans in the Infinity Arc? Act 33 establishes that Neptune and Uranus intend to kill Hotaru before she can awaken as Sailor Saturn (in order to prevent Saturn from destroying the world) and that they had been locking Sailor Moon and the Inners out of the loop because they knew Sailor Moon would not agree with this plan - okay, fair enough. But Setsuna has only just awakened as Sailor Pluto at this point, so she could not have been party to plans the other two made prior to her awakening, yet she shows no particular reaction when Neptune and Uranus admit their intentions. Is she somehow aware of what they're planning due to her status as time guardian and the general timey-wimey nature of her presence? If so, are we meant to understand that she agrees with their plan based on her equal lack of reaction to the two lying their asses off to Serenity about the reasons for their behavior in the previous episode?
  • With Naoko, characters always come second to the storyline. Pluto was only resurrected just so she could have the full team of Senshi. It doesn't matter how or why. She just brought her back to buff up the Outers ranks as a third wheel, and that's really all she does.
• Similarly to the above, Pluto has also not been a part of any of the Inners-Outers friction, and unlike Neptune and Uranus she's worked with Sailor Moon in the previous arc. So while it makes perfect sense that Neptune, Uranus, and the Inners would be nursing hard feelings toward one another that Cyprine and Ptliol could amplify to make them fight, what beef does Pluto have with the Inners that would cause her to attack them under Cyprine's influence? For that matter, are we meant to assume that Makoto has negative feelings toward Chibi-Usa given how readily she takes a shot at Chibi Moon during the fracas? Or is Cyprine exaggerating/lying about the nature of what she's done to the senshi in order to demoralize Sailor Moon?
  • Frankly, the entire fight between the Inner and Outer Senshi was horribly contrived. It was clearly put in for the sake of having one, without taking character, reason or logic into consideration. Because it's really quite pathetic how easily they fell under the spell with zero attempt to resist. Also note how Mamoru is conveniently protected, but not the Inners, despite the fact they were right next to Usagi.
• Did the Inner Senshi suddenly forget who the Witches were or something? Because why is that when they encountered them in Kaolinite's illusions, did they not immediately attack them, or at least act remotely suspicious. Instead they just stand there and gullibly lap up everything they're fed, allowing themselves to be easily captured without a struggle. Rei especially, is kicked and pinned to the floor by Eudial (in a rather creepy manor), yet even then doesn't make any attempt to fight her off. The way the whole scene plays out just ends up making them look like weak-willed and disloyal friends to Usagi, which effectively makes a complete joke out of their supposed bond. Or is this yet another case of the writers getting a kick out of making them look worthless?
• Chibiusa steals Usagi's Transformation Trinket. Uh, why?? Their relationship is already strained, there is a high chance they will need Usagi to transform, she knows she cannot take the Crystal from it into the future because it can only be used in the past, and she also knows she cannot use both of them. (She herself admits she knows this as soon as Usagi catches up with her.) So, just, why?
• Just what is it with Usagi and her jealousy of Chibiusa? She herself admits how stupid it is especially after they find out (at long last...) who she is, but she keeps on doing it.
  • Recognizing your feelings are unjustified does not necessarily mean you stop feeling them. This is true for adults, let alone teenagers who are prone to feeling things much more intensely and irrationally. Usagi demonstrates a high degree of emotional intelligence in even recognizing that her jealousy is uncalled for, but since she's not yet secure in her relationship with Mamoru, she can't help having a knee-jerk reaction when it seems like Mamoru is paying more attention to someone else.
• In every depiction of the past or future, less powerful characters are depicted as using very basic weapons like swords (and even in Crystal Tokyo, the palace guards are shown standing at attention with spears). What exactly to they plan to do against superpowered threats with weapons that were outdated hundreds of years ago? Both the past and the future are shown to be more advanced than the present day, so why aren't they carrying better weapons like directed-energy rifles or powered exoskeletons? Sure, whatever threat they face could be more powerful than that for drama's sake, but with such a lack of effort, it's like they're TRYING to get themselves killed