Book Dragon is Reading - Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi

 

Act 3: Rei, Sailor Mars

I was very surprised to find myself immediately drawn to Rei. I regard myself as a spiritually tone deaf sort of person and so a shrine maiden really does not seem the sort of person I would match to.

It’s a bit annoying having a recap and re-introduction of Usagi at the beginning of each chapter but I suppose that is useful to do when you are writing a serialised story. I assume at some point that will become impractical to maintain and be dropped.

Also we do at last have as name for Queen Beryl and it turns out to be Queen Beryl. Also Jadeite joined by Nephrite, who possibly spares Jadeite a terrible fate for now. It is rather sinister that they have titles suggesting the villains are in secret control of much of the world already.

Forgot to mention about the Ami introduction chapter, it is very strange to have that recurring theme of the Sailor V game and especially that it dispenses tools for the protagonists to wield. I suppose there may be - I hope there will be - an explanation of some sort eventually.

Ami taking Usagi girl-watching.

I suppose Rei puts me in mind of Hana, the girl with electric senses and powers in Fruits Basket who I also felt drawn to. Actually, I ended up using a GIF of her as an icon on LiveJournal. They both have a sort of wise otherworldliness to them that I perhaps envy. She even has her own pair of moons!

We finally get to learn Tuxedo Mask’s name, Mamoru Chiba, which I write down here because I have been having difficulty remembering it. Most importantly to me, when they meet on the bus Usagi notes his resemblance to the Tuxedo Mask she’s been admiring. This immediately makes the signalled romance more interesting to me, since I am not finding a game of anonymity appealing at the moment.

This time I realise the strange mist from the last chapter must have been Sailor Mercury’s mist power, despite her not having been aware to use it at the time(?).

Bit disappointing having Jadeite vanquished so easily, I was assuming each of the actual villain characters would take a long saga before being defeated. Also hoping this is not going to be a trend of Usagi disguising herself briefly in what feels like a fetish costume each chapter.

Battle at the end felt like Luna was playing a computer game more than something serious going on. Aaalso Ami’s expression and speech in the background reminded me a bit of Hyatt from Excel Saga a bit.

I feel like I am waiting for this story to settle down into something more stable or less hectic. Maybe once it stops being ‘new lead character every chapter’ season.