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A review by laurak23
Sailor Moon, Volume 10 by Naoko Takeuchi
5.0
There's a lot going on in this volume. We finally learn more about Helios and Elysion. (I also want to take a moment and just say that Usagi and Mamoru were super cute in her dream.) Then there's a big fight and everyone gets sucked into nightmares (which were quite creepy) until Tuxedo Masks gets them all to snap out of it...by slapping them. Eventually Sailor Moon goes into the mirror and meets Queen Nehelenia (I noticed they spelled it with only one "L," though I've usually seen it spelled with two). After she rescues Saturn and Chibi-Moon, everyone eventually transports to Elysion to fight. We get a big, long flashback and basically we find out that Nehelenia's pissed because she didn't get invited to Princess Serenity's party and then she put a curse on the Princess and the Silver Millenium and this is basically the plot of Sleeping Beauty. I felt a little "eh" about the whole thing, to be honest. Though I did really like seeing everyone's Princess forms.
But can I just take a minute to talk about how weird human-Artemis's clothes are? I mean, like, why is there a little circle to show his bellybutton? And what's with all the weird straps that look like they belong to a garter belt? Okay, I'm done.
And, of course, it is always cool to see a new incarnation of Sailor Moon, this time we see Eternal Sailor Moon. I've always thought this was the most beautiful version of her fuku. I also loved seeing Mamoru release the power of the Golden Crystal, along with the other senshi's crystal powers, to help create her new form.
Does anyone else find a lot of their battle phrases to be really weird? Most of them are okay, but Eternal Sailor Moon's new battle cry is one of the strange ones: Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss. Ooookay...
Also - was Zirconia basically the true form on Nehelenia? She wound up looking like her, and we never found out what really happened to Zirconia...Weird.
It was fun to see the true form of the Amazonness Quartet. I already knew what it was, but it was still exciting to see the other reactions to the reveal. I also liked the little flashback to little Princess Serenity talking to Queen Serenity after a bad dream. I sometimes wish we had more stories from back then. It also occurred to me (not for the first time) that they never have said anything about Princess Serenity's father. I wonder who he was and what happened to him...
Anyway, this was a nice conclusion to the Dream Arc. There was so much beautiful art in this volume. Not just in the story itself, but the art at the start of each act. One of my favorite pictures was used before Act 46, Dream 8, with Usagi, Chibi-Usa, Mamoru and Diana sleeping. You can see it here if you're not familiar with it. Of course it's not in color in the book, but still, it's beautiful. The princesses are also drawn beautifully, as well as Menaeds, the Elysion priestesses. I know other sites spell their name differently, but the translation notes gave a great explanation as to why it was spelled this way.
Speaking of translation notes...remember how volume 9 had panel numbers in the translation notes? Well, issue 10 doesn't have them. So much for a new, neat addition. Ah well, at least this volume had them!
I did consider dropping my review down to 4 stars because I felt like the whole Sleeping Beauty storyline was cliché and unoriginal. However, I eventually decided that I'm just so excited to read the manga, and that it's just so beautifully illustrated that I could forgive a bit of cliché in the storyline. I admit that I'm biased.
But can I just take a minute to talk about how weird human-Artemis's clothes are? I mean, like, why is there a little circle to show his bellybutton? And what's with all the weird straps that look like they belong to a garter belt? Okay, I'm done.
And, of course, it is always cool to see a new incarnation of Sailor Moon, this time we see Eternal Sailor Moon. I've always thought this was the most beautiful version of her fuku. I also loved seeing Mamoru release the power of the Golden Crystal, along with the other senshi's crystal powers, to help create her new form.
Does anyone else find a lot of their battle phrases to be really weird? Most of them are okay, but Eternal Sailor Moon's new battle cry is one of the strange ones: Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss. Ooookay...
Also - was Zirconia basically the true form on Nehelenia? She wound up looking like her, and we never found out what really happened to Zirconia...Weird.
It was fun to see the true form of the Amazonness Quartet. I already knew what it was, but it was still exciting to see the other reactions to the reveal. I also liked the little flashback to little Princess Serenity talking to Queen Serenity after a bad dream. I sometimes wish we had more stories from back then. It also occurred to me (not for the first time) that they never have said anything about Princess Serenity's father. I wonder who he was and what happened to him...
Anyway, this was a nice conclusion to the Dream Arc. There was so much beautiful art in this volume. Not just in the story itself, but the art at the start of each act. One of my favorite pictures was used before Act 46, Dream 8, with Usagi, Chibi-Usa, Mamoru and Diana sleeping. You can see it here if you're not familiar with it. Of course it's not in color in the book, but still, it's beautiful. The princesses are also drawn beautifully, as well as Menaeds, the Elysion priestesses. I know other sites spell their name differently, but the translation notes gave a great explanation as to why it was spelled this way.
Speaking of translation notes...remember how volume 9 had panel numbers in the translation notes? Well, issue 10 doesn't have them. So much for a new, neat addition. Ah well, at least this volume had them!
I did consider dropping my review down to 4 stars because I felt like the whole Sleeping Beauty storyline was cliché and unoriginal. However, I eventually decided that I'm just so excited to read the manga, and that it's just so beautifully illustrated that I could forgive a bit of cliché in the storyline. I admit that I'm biased.