Crunchyroll took an unprecedented 10 minutes to get their subs up.  As a result, I had to sit through 5 minutes of ads from refreshing.  I demand compensation.

Er, anyway… woot!  Back from a three-week wait for this episode!  It really delivered, in some ways improving on the manga chapter.  Who knew that in an episode with a five-senshi henshin sequence, they would actually have the time to extend a scene from the manga just to give us a tad bit more action?  I’m appreciative of that.

About 95% of this episode has great animation.  Or at least animation I can’t complain about.  There are some really wonky frames I didn’t notice until a second viewing.  Unfortunately, unlike most of the episodes in this arc, this episode DOES have something that immediately leapt out at me as bad.

There was something off about Black Lady that was difficult to pinpoint, but eventually, I figured it out: in EVERY single scene, she only has lipstick on her lower lip.  And I checked – other characters with lipstick do have it on their upper lip.  It’s an anomaly only present on Black Lady.  And maybe Ikuko.  It could be genetic.

Not much else to say about this episode overall.  It did well at introducing Black Lady as a villain proper, and it mostly stuck to the manga for better or for worse.  And it often is for the worse when it comes to places to end the episode.  It reaaaaally sucks to have to see that episode end card right when things are starting to pick up.

Anyway, next episode we should expect a whole lot more action!  And wow, can you believe there are only three episodes left in this arc?  We still don’t have any reliable news about starting work on the Infinity and Dream arcs, and unlike the final chapter of the Dark Kingdom arc, there is no immediate lead-in to the next arc in the finale, so… I’m pretty worried.  But hey, they didn’t announce the Black Moon Clan arc until two episodes before the end of Dark Kingdom.

Speaking of episode dates, Sailor Moon Crystal Episode 1 aired July 5, 2014.  We’re fast approaching a full year of Sailor Moon Crystal!  Seriously, holy crap!  Even if we get Infinity, Dream, and Stars with no breaks in between, we won’t expect to see the end of this until the end of 2016!  And that’s precisely why we need an announcement of Infinity ASAP: I DON’T WANT TO WAIT ANY LONGER THAN THAT!

By the way, I’ve been wondering if SMC will continue as Sailor Moon Crystal if we do get the later arcs.  “Crystal” works with the first two arcs and Dream, but not so much Infinity and Stars.  Personally, best case scenario would be a larger budget for the last three arcs and a name change to Sailor Moon Cosmos.  Four major reasons for this.

First, a name change at all helps signify a change in direction, which is something Sailor Moon Crystal sorely needs.  It’s bad enough that it gets a bum rap from 90’s anime purists (and, well, fuck them – there are literally people who expected SMC to be a continuation of the 90s anime and are faulting it for not being that), so what it doesn’t need is for people willing to give it a chance to get turned off by bad animation practices.  SMC HAS gotten a lot better overall since the Dark Kingdom arc, but it’s still plagued by bad art direction and hastily drawn frames.

Second, “Cosmos” invokes the idea of an expanding universe, which is exactly what happens with Infinity, which brings in the Outers and an enemy from another dimension.

Third, “Cosmos” is also derived from Sailor Cosmos, a character that is important in the manga’s finale and absolutely nowhere to be seen in the 90’s anime.  It’s a name that would be representative of how different this anime is from the 90’s anime.

And finally, as “Sailor Moon Cosmos,” the abbreviation would still be SMC, retaining some continuity with Crystal.  Yeah, this one’s not as major as the other points, but it’s an added bonus.

Do it, Toei.  Announce Sailor Moon Cosmos soon.