ALL THE CRAP AT THE END OF DARK KINGDOM WAS WORTH IT FOR THIS ONE MOMENT!

As always, let’s start out with the animation.

The first half of the episode was pretty lazy overall.  Stiff animations once again, and stupid, stupid facial closeups.  Perked up in the second half, as it should have.

Now that that’s done, on to the content.

HOOOOOOLYYYYYYY CRAAAAAAAAAAAAP, such a great character episode for Mercury!  They really made the best of that second half!

*ahem*

The first half of the episode was a bit of a letdown.  For me, the biggest was the lack of Furuhata discovering the command center.  It was a comedic moment and a significant departure from the 90s anime that I really wanted kept in.  I can see how it wouldn’t fit in with the seriousness of the rest of the episode, but dammit, sometimes we need a break!

Regarding the first half, there are two major scenes that I felt stood out.  The first was Chibi-Usa’s dream and the sudden shift to downright HORRIFYING imagery.  It hit all the right spots.

The second was when Mamoru tried to comfort Usagi, and she actually RESISTED him.  The best part was how she didn’t say anything during that scene, as she DIDN’T NEED TO.  That’s just downright competent directing right there.

Like I said earlier though, the second half REALLY picks up by focusing on Mercury and delving further into her backstory than even the manga does (at least at this point in the series).  The most significant departure from the manga is how much time is spent on the chess match, which didn’t even happen.  It kinda went straight from Berthier challenging Mercury to them fighting.  The entire segment was just a massive improvement and VERY effective.

I am legitimately surprised that they kept Shine Snow Illusion.  It was only ever used this one time, and Crystal made it BADASS.

Speaking of animation upgrades, it’s great that they managed to fix Moon Princess Halation.

Speaking of Moon Princess Halation, is it odd that Mercury takes the time to make sure the Droids are non-human before vaporizing them with snow, while Moon gives no fucks and just blasts the fuck out of Berthier?

Speaking of giving no fucks…

Overall, awesome episode.  The first half was passable, but the second half made it BRILLIANT.  The hype for the rest of this arc is nearing Moon Pride levels!