Reviews

Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 4 by Naoko Takeuchi

dearhhound27's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ifiwasapuppet's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

michaelgreenreads's review

3.75

I honestly just let Sailor Moon’s story wash over me. It frequently feels like a fever dream, especially with the multiple timelines, the big poetic archetypes, and all of the crystal talk. Little Chibi Usagi turning evil was striking. Pluto giving up her life to stop time was powerful. The kisses near the end are so cute.

sortagoth's review

adventurous challenging hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

literarygoblin's review against another edition

4.5

 There’s just something about Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon that absolutely mesmerized me, because even if there are narrative choices I dislike or a story arc that’s a little lackluster, I can’t help but adore this series every time I pick up a book.

Volume 4 continues the Black Moon arc, throwing us right back into the action. It also sets up a new element of the narrative - Chibiusa becoming Black Lady at the hands of Wiseman. Narratively it made for a really interesting turn of events to have a main character become villainous, but the handling of that choice is where a lot of us Sailor Moon fans struggled with the story, and rightfully so.

The romantic - and even sexual - tension between Black Lady and Mamoru was incredibly strange and entirely unnecessary to the story. There were hints in Volume 3 that Chibiusa may have had a crush on Mamoru, but as that story developed the suggestion of that disappeared. However, there was a lot of attention drawn to this weird relationship in Volume 4, and I can’t understand why it’s here. I think there was a big opportunity to have a cute, familial narrative about father and daughter, but no, instead we ended up with a super uncomfortable incest subplot.

Despite that distracting and uncomfortable addition to the narrative, however, the remainder of the Black Moon arc was so incredibly well-told. The artistry of the visuals is so beautiful and dynamic, Usagi having to keep fighting to win was very engaging, and we even got a really lovely narrative arc for Sailor Pluto.

Pluto managed to become my favorite character within the first few pages of my seeing her, so it was actually quite emotional for me when she sacrificed herself for everyone else.

In relation to Sailor Pluto, I’m still wanting more for the other Guardians. Yes, we got a really charming side story for Rei, but I want the main plot to actually feature the Guardians in a greater capacity. We still know next to nothing about Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter, and the only way some of us know anything about Venus is due to the fact that we also read her manga. Yes, Usagi and Mamoru’s story is beautiful and engaging, but I just want to see the other Guardians do something and not just be used as plot devices or when it’s convenient.

On the note of Rei’s side story, like I said it was really charming and I loved the melancholic tone of it. It was a great glimpse into Rei’s life away from her fellow Guardians as well as a look at her dynamic with Mako. This and the Chibiusa Diaries were a nice reprieve from the heavy narrative of the Black Moon arc, so I really enjoyed both of these stories immensely. The Chibiusa Diary was very cute and silly, feeling reminiscent of Codename: Sailor V, and I think this type of story can serve as a nice bookend between the big story arcs.

Although I feel like I had a lot of critiques in this review, I need to reiterate that I think the conclusion of the Black Moon arc was really, really well written. It was dynamic and engaging, it was absolutely gorgeous visually, all of the Guardians got a power-up, and I loved seeing the growth that both Usagi and Chibiusa went through. There were many times throughout this volume that I realized the focus was on these two rather than either their relationships to Mamoru, and that was so nice to me - although Sailor Moon is heavy on the romance between Usagi and Mamoru, it’s not always the sole focus of the narrative.

So, despite the storytelling choices that I didn’t agree with, all-in-all Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 4 was a really well-told and engaging story that developed its characters and set everyone up nicely for the story arcs to come. I’m so eager to see what happens next in this series. 

alananestorovski's review

adventurous lighthearted

3.0

captwinghead's review

2.0

Finally the end of the drawn out 30th century plot. I remember why people preferred the 90s anime to the Crystal version, even though Crystal was more faithful to the manga. All the episodes and character moments the 90s anime just added in made the character development and progression of relationships make a lot more sense. When characters say they care about each other or that they’ll miss each other in the manga, I just ask why? They haven’t known each other very long and it seems like they call each other friends without having actually become that.

I remembered being annoyed at the jealousy plot with Chibiusa, Usagi and Mamoru in the anime and it was annoying here. Made worse by the unnecessary incest plot where Wicked Lady (Black Lady was uncomfortable to read

mt0698's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

msrcreation's review

5.0

Finally continuing my read through of Sailor Moon. Growing up with the anime I've been having a good time reading the manga for the first time. So I was excited to jump into the 4th volume and continue. The main story was wonderful. The extra short stories at the end I probably could have never read and wouldn't miss much but they weren't bad by any means. 

malalaisee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5