[b]Kaolinite & Eudial[/b] [spoiler]When the Black Star Clan first appeared in R, they never really felt as threatening as the Dark Kingdom from season 1. After all, at the end of Season 1, we just watched everyone get murdered, but now we're right back to good ole monster of the week shenanigans. While this worked fine, thanks to the introduction of Chibi-Usa, shifting the plot from whether the Sailor Guardians could beat the new enemy to whether they could protect this child, the fact still remains that they didn't feel any more threatening than the villain we already saw. The Death Busters were very different. Their very first Daemon nearly killed Sailor Mars, stopped Tuxedo Mask from saving the Sailor Guardians, and just straight up broke the Silver Crystal. Especially if we regard the R movie as non-canon this is the first time we saw a Sailor Guardian just be ripped out of their transformation, followed by her being unable to transform in the next episode. Like, what an entrance! I really loved the double life dynamic going on with Uranus and Neptune. Usagi & friends saw Haruka and Michiru as literally perfect, to the point where Mako even had a crush on Haruka, and yet they were consistently at odds with Uranus and Neptune, once again perfectly illustrated by Mako absolutely hating Uranus, I love it. Like the Four Kings of Heaven, and in sharp contrast to the Black Moon Clan, S did a great job with differentiating its various villains from each other. Kaolinite was a very no-nonsense serious villain, and when she died she was followed up by Eudial, who was very reckless and quick to anger. Eudial also just straight up shot people with a gun, which was kinda hilariously effective. Everyone from the Dark Kingdom, to Ail & An, to the Black Moon Clan, to the other Death Busters, they all came up with these convoluted plans to get the job done, and Eudial's just like "have you tried shooting them with a gun?" Though the plot twist with the Talismans being inside Uranus and Neptune was a bit obvious, it was still a really powerful scene when Eudial finally got them captured and subsequently killed. I had zero doubt they were going to come back to life, and sure enough they did, but it was still a really powerful episode. I dig it. Though also... [quote]Sailor Neptune: "I, Sailor Neptune, have been firmly established to have one of the most powerful ranged attacks out of any of the Sailor Guardians! Uranus is being threatened by Eudial on the other side of this bridge that bombards anyone who walks across with arrows! Surely, the best course of action is to slowly walk across this bridge to Uranus on the other side!"[/quote][/spoiler] [b]Mimette[/b] [spoiler]After Eudial's death, the plot kinda took a shift that I was iffy about at first. Chibi-Usa came back from the future, and Uranus and Neptune kinda faded into the background. However, I quickly grew to love it with the introduction of another new character, Hotaru. It was kind of a cheesy setup, I suppose--the youngest character of the good guys being best friends with the daughter of the big villain--but it turned out to be really fun. Uranus and Neptune fell right back into their "the ends justify the means" attitude, only this time they were joined by Pluto, and the means they were justifying was straight up murdering Hotaru. Especially since Chibi-Usa is probably closest to Pluto, this created some sweet, sweet character drama. I also just, like, really loved Hotaru as a character. She had all but given up on having a happy life, until Chibi-Usa rolls along and decides to be her light. Yet, the whole time, Hotaru is terrified she's going to do something to hurt Chibi-Usa. I love it. Chibi-Usa, of course, is also no longer defenseless. She's now Sailor Chibi-Moon, and her contributions to fight scenes were absolutely hilarious. The fight between her and the tea Daemon might just be one of my favorite in the entire show. I love how despite objectively being the weakest Sailor Guardian, she's kind of, like, always leading the charge into battle when she's there. And of course, we also have Mimette. Mimette was just kind of a whiny goofball, and it was great. All of her plans involved chasing after some celebrity, and it was yet another fun contrast with the previous villains to have someone -blam!- just doesn't take her job seriously. Honestly, though, Mimette was kind of just playing second fiddle to Hotaru & Chibi-Usa's friendship. Far from being a bad thing, though, I actually really liked this. I mentioned in Season 1, I enjoyed how it felt like the slice of life stuff came first, and the superhero stuff served mostly to provide a catalyst for that, and this particular stretch of the show recaptured that feeling. I loved it.[/spoiler] [b]The Ending[/b] [spoiler]Quick note on the remaining three Witches 5. I feel like this was a bit of missed potential. Like, the pacing was really weird here. First we have entire arcs for the first two Witches 5, and then the remaining three pop up for one episode each and get killed immediately? I suppose it was supposed to feel like a "moving up the chain" thing, but even so, I would've liked at least a couple more episodes with the remaining three. Like, I don't even remember their names. It was also kind of weird how their plots involved gathering up a large number of Pure Heart Crystals. Like, does [i]everyone[/i] just have a Pure Heart Crystal? The first part of the season implied to me that Pure Heart Crystals were rare, which is why they were going after individuals, but the last 3 Witches 5 all tried to steal hundreds of them all at once, and it felt like they were stealing them from pretty much everyone. And, I guess I should also mention Kaolinite getting resurrected, because that was a thing... I feel like we were supposed to be more scared of her coming back than I was. I kinda felt like Eudial was a much bigger threat than Kaolinite was, though. I get why you'd resurrect Kaolinite instead--she's not part of the Witches 5 like Eudial was, but even so... It was fine, I suppose, but I'm not actually sure what the point of it was. But okay, onto Mistress 9. Like with Black Lady the previous season, there was kind of this weird thing where the villain is a child turned into an adult. With Black Lady, this felt really off, because Black Lady [i]WAS[/i] Chibi-Usa, just being manipulated by Wiseman. But with Mistress 9, the show was pretty clear that she's not actually Hotaru, but rather that Hotaru is possessed, so when Hotaru turns into an adult, it feels more natural. Like the entity possessing Hotaru has finally taken full control. There's also a really specific trope that I love, and that's when you have a group of objects or people, but they aren't just acting as a unified whole. It's why I loved DBZ Frieza Saga, and the first season of Xiaolin Showdown, and it's why I love this part of Sailor Moon, too. We have the five main Sailor Guardians who are just doing their best to fight the Death Busters while seeking a way to save Hotaru, then you have the Outer Guardians who are doing their darnedest to find and murder Hotaru before the others get in their way so they can save the world, then you have Chibi-Usa who is kind of solely focusing on Hotaru, and not really caring about the Death Busters as a whole. And of course, this is all topped off by Hotaru supposedly being Sailor Saturn, the evil Sailor Guardian who's going to end the world, only for it to turn out that actually, Mistress 9 is the one possessing Hotaru, not Saturn... Which is then of course followed by the reveal that Hotaru [i]IS[/i] Sailor Saturn, except she's not evil like Uranus and Neptune thought, and she awakens to deal the final blow to the true big baddie, Pharaoh 90... Who we never actually see. And honestly, I really liked how we never saw Pharaoh 90. It made him feel kind of eldritch, and mysterious. Like him even showing up would've been the end of the world. The actual ending episodes were kinda fun, but I feel like I don't have anything to say about them. It's neat that the last Daemon was the Daemon machine itself, and it's neat that Hotaru is a baby now. The whole Chibi-Usa farewell episode was real sweet. It's always nice to see Chibi-Usa and Usagi getting along. While the ending's not as good as the first season, it's honestly not very far behind. It was a lot of fun. Definitely my favorite season so far.[/spoiler] And finally, [b]The Movie[/b] [spoiler]The movie was really stupid, but in a sort of endearing way. It was better than the Sailor Moon R movie, at least, because while it's premise was a bit less interesting, it was a lot more plot-focused rather than focusing on a big flashy battle. It was kind of a classic "lovers who can never be together" kind of story, with Luna (a cat) falling in love with a human... And, it never really goes any deeper than that. We did get a Sailor Chibi-Moon transformation sequence out of it, though, which was kind of fun. The pacing always felt really off when she'd join in the transformation montage in the main series, only for her to not actually get a full transformation sequence like everyone else. It's fine, and I don't really feel like there's too much to say on it besides that. I'm glad I watched it once, but I don't see myself including this, or the Sailor Moon R movie on a rewatch.[/spoiler] But now it looks like my work here is done! Farewell! *jumps out another window*