I was really looking forward to this episode, and while it didn’t deliver quite everything I wanted, it was a pretty good episode.

We once again tone down some of the violence of the manga by having Saphir attempt to stab Usagi with a dark crystal instead of choking her.  I really don’t get this one… Choking is a lot more personal, and I think it would have heightened the tension of the scene more effectively than using a random black crystal as a weapon.

Sailor Moon killing Saphir’s two droids just by transforming was great.  The subsequent awakening and freeing of the senshi was great but could have been better.  In the manga, Sailor Moon created a huge rift in the floor with her power.  The Crystal version of the scene wasn’t as impressive, and most of the damage came from the senshi pushing through the floor.

At least she went full-on Avatar Mode.

About the only real cons of this episode were the lack of full-on Black Lady and the really weird slow-mo animation near the end of the episode.  There were some bad animation direction choices throughout the episode but nothing really terrible.  Most of them were of the Senshi in the chamber.  They don’t react at all to the rotting, suddenly walking corpses all around them.  Probably would have helped if they were there in the previous episode like they should have.  Also, they wonder where Sailor Moon’s voice is coming from and look straight forward instead of up, which would make more sense.  It really makes the animation seem stiffer than it should.

Finally, I just feel sorry for Pluto and her constant pining over King Endymion.  There aren’t nearly enough doujins where he reciprocates.  I looked.

Next episode we finally get us some Black Lady action