Things I’m Obsessed With Right Now: Guys it’s SO COLD

So I know I was supposed to write about Sailor Moon today, but I was out in the city last night, so instead I’m doing things I’m obsessed with right now! Here we go!

• New Cosplay that I’m working on! I’m planning for the conventions (yes that’s a plural!) that I’m going to this year. I plan on doing what’s called in the Doctor Who fandom as “50’s Rose,” which is the adorable bobbi soxer outfit that Rose wears in the episode “The Idiot Box.” I have the dress. I need to figure out the jacket and hair and I’m there, and I’m really excited about it.
• Empire. I love it sooooooo much you guys. I love the music, I love the characters, I love the ridiculous story lines. I loooovvvveee Cookie. Who doesn’t love Cookie? She’s amazing. Taraji P. Henson is amazing. Just, amazing. “What do you do Yoko? DO YOU PLAY THE TAMBOURINE?” I might just start saying this to people in my life, for no reason. Also Jamal came out. And sang an adorable song with child-who-might-be-his-daughter-but-probably-isn’t-because-come-on-guys-really? Also Andre? So crazy! Right? And it turns out Hakeem has feelings and isn’t the worst. Wow. Good for Hakeem. I could keep going. This post could basically be all about Empire.
• A new podcast! Tales From The Jungle Crews, where a guy who used to work on The Jungle Cruise at Disneyland interviews other people who used to work for The Jungle Cruise and it is fascinating and awesome and you wouldn’t expect it to be, but it’s really cool.
• Talking about how cold it is. Look, if you’re not in the Northeast, you’re probably sick about hearing it. It’s not even that cold anymore, but before yesterday, it was so cold. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW COLD IT WAS!
• Listening to songs from Empire. Even if you don’t watch the show listen to “No Apologies,” and “You’re So Beautiful,” and also maybe “Drip Drop.” Or just watch Empire. WATCH EMPIRE!
• Editing my manuscript. I’ve rewritten nearly 20 pages now. It’s terrible. I hate it. But I’m invested enough to keep going. Which counts as an obsession…I guess.
• Choosing what Cons I want to go to this year. Obviously, I’m going to New York Comic Con. There’s no question there. That’s my con. I know I’ve only gone twice, but I still feel protective of it. I might go to Special Edition New York as well, that’ll be a little more last minute. I’m also looking at Atlantic City Boardwalk Con, and Dragoncon in Atlanta…that’s going to come down to money. (Believe it or not, Atlanta might be cheaper because I have family there to stay with…pretty much, I need someone to split the hotel room with me in Atlantic City to make it worth it…Anyone want to go with me? Split a room? Let me know.)
• Taraji P. Henson. And Empire. Have I mentioned that I’m obsessed with Empire?

So that’s where I’m at these days. Enjoy your obsessions! I know I’m enjoying mine.

10,000 Candles In The Wind

Parks And Recreation and Parenthood ended.

And I find myself, for the first time, not regularly watching an NBC show.

For most people, this would not be a big deal, but for me this is kind of a huge deal.

The first shows that I really followed, were Friends and ER. The first death of a TV character that I will never get over for as long as I live was Mrs. Landigham on The West Wing.  The first time I ever said, “I really miss those guys,” was when I realized that there weren’t reruns of Will & Grace on anywhere. (This has been, mercifully, rectified. Now there are Will & Grace reruns, ALL THE TIME. And it is glorious.) I realized there was a whole world that loved my kind of movie quoting, semi sarcastic, more heart than head but still a lot of head, comedy with 30 Rock and The Office. I watched every last stinking episode of American Dreams, Heroes, and Smash.

I’m an NBC girl, I guess is my point.

So saying goodbye to these two shows that I loved so much, isn’t just saying good bye to them, but, it’s saying good bye to my network. Now, I guess, I’m a Fox person…which is weird, but yeah. Gotham, Mindy Project, New Girl, Brooklyn 99 and Empire are my shows now, there’s no turning back. It’s a part of my pop culture identity that has shifted and it’s a weird one to say good bye too, because even in the scheme of the trivial things that I spend too much time analyzing, is unbelievably trivial. I’m sure next year I’ll fall in love with some doomed NBC project, whatever the next Up All Night or Smash is that I’ll keep assuring people, is “like really good though,” even though it kind of isn’t, at all…

But Parks & Rec and Parenthood were good. They were really good, and I’m going to miss them. I’m going to miss that these were both shows about good people who loved each other and wanted to make the world a better place. They were about and families, and friends, and barbeques, and waffles, and baseball, and board games, and one tiny horse.

So bye, bye, little Peacock, you’re 10,000 candles in the wind.

Here’s The Sitch: Kim Possible Season 2 Episodes 1 &2

And we’re back! I missed Kim and Ron and Rufus last week, and I was really excited to see how we progress from here. But, let’s get started.

Season 2: Episode 1 “Naked Genius”

Ron is failing algebra, which, shouldn’t really surprise anyone, but the opening, which features Ron waking up from a nightmare where he’s failing to learn that he is actually failing is a lot of fun. Kim tells Ron that he’s not stupid, he just has untapped potential and he scoffs at her.

I don’t blame him, that’s a crappy thing to be told about yourself.

Meanwhile, Drakken and Shego are trying to steal the top secret Project Femus, of course Kim and Ron stop them, but the machine shoots a ray in the meantime. As it turns out, Rufus gets the brunt of it. A return to The Possibles shows that Rufus now understands algebra!

Also, The Dr. Possibles go line dancing and Kim gets to ground the tweebs when they blow something up.

Drakken is trying to design a doomsday device but keeps just doodling, because he didn’t get the genius. Ron, in the meantime, is using Rufus to do his homework, but they get noticed and get a lot of attention. So, Drakken and Shego kidnap him to build the Doomsday device. He manages to build it, perfectly by accident.

In the meantime, Kim figures out that Project Feebus does by talking to it’s creator, a unibomber type genius who’s wholed up in a shack in the woods. Kim and Rufus save Ron, and the genius ray wears off…or does it? 

Season 2 Episode 1 “Grudge Match”

Hey look! Another episode that I could apply some serious feminist theory to! Kim, Ron and Monique go to the movies, and Ron insta-crushes on the new girl working there but insists based on the unwritten “rules” of dating, he can’t ask her out. Monique sympathizes, and Kim is immediately not into the idea of rules. Then Mr. Dr. P. buzzes them for help.

Apparently an AI robot, who was destined to go to Jupiter, has been stolen, and Kim has to find it. The Robotics expert, Dr. Fen, points them in the direction of his old assistant, Vivian. Vivian is a typical curvy blonde, speaks with a lilting valley girl accent, and is dating a nerd for no outlined reason.

Hey want to guess who the real robotics expert is?

Anyway, Kim figures out that Fen was in fact leeching off of Vivian, who publishes academically, as Dr. VF Porter, and her nerd boyfriend is in fact an A.I. she built as a cover because, “my colleagues weren’t ready to accept someone who looks like me.”

Hey, you want to know what sucks? When women are reduced to being one thing. It’s just the worst, ever.

Meanwhile, Ron is buying tickets for every movie, trying to get up the guts to break the rules, which Kim insists don’t exist, and ask out Zeeta, the ticket taker girl. He doesn’t succeed, but they run into each other and she’s clearly into him too. It’s fun.

Aside from the awesome message of not judging books, or whatever, we also get my favorite kind of Kim here, which is exasperated Kim. She’s really great. She’s had it with Ron and his stupid rules. She’s had it with Cousin Larry, who helps them track down Vivian. She’s had it with the tweebs, when a robot they built goes after her. She’s just had it. And it’s pretty fun to watch.

Boo-Yas and Nacos

• In Kim Possible news (didn’t think there would be any!) Will Friedle has been cast as the voice of Star-Lord in Guardians of The Galaxy: The Animated Series. I’m really excited about this. It makes for Will’s 3rd (4th if you count Ron) superhero. We can only hope that Christie Carlson Romano shows up as Carol Danvers…or maybe even Kitty Pryde. (COULD YOU IMAGINE?)
• Kim and Ron’s algebra teacher is voiced by Mindy Cohn, best known as Natalie from The Facts of Life. 
• Wade gets really annoyed at Ron’s genius and it’s really cute. There’s also a fun gag where trying to teach Ron math literally makes Wade bang his head against his desk.
• Drakken’s kid-like drawings are amazing, as is Shego’s dismissal of them. Also, Drakken knows that he knows Ron when he sees him on TV, just not from where. The villains forgetting Ron is a fun gag.
• Kim gets a new street clothes look. Purple cargo pants and a white crop top with a heart. I miss the jeans and green tank top, but it is cute.
• New almost catch phrase for Ron: “I am what I is!”
• Not a lot of stand out stuff in “Grudge Match,” but the Romantic Comedy that Ron goes to when he’s trying to get his guts up is hilariously cliched, and when the crowd urges him to “Go to Kim! She’s waiting for you!” it’s incredibly funny.

Alright, so we’re back. Next week, I’ll be back to posting on Tuesday. It’s going to be weird getting back in this rhythm, taking the week off was necessary, but I almost forgot to do it this week!

Batman Eternal 43-46

We are so close to the end of Batman Eternal Season 1. (I didn’t call it that, I think Mark Doyle did). I still haven’t decided if I’m going to keep this monthly recap going. I’m definitely still going to read the book weekly, because well, it seems like it’s the only place we’re going to get to Steph and Harper for a while. (Unless Convergance really shakes things up, but since even The New 52 barely touched the Bat Books, I seriously doubt that’s going to be a factor.)

Anyway, let’s talk about this month. Harper is officially Blue Bird and she’s a total bad ass. She saves Steph from Selina, well, kind of. But it’s clear that our little Spoiler knows more than she’s let on, and Selina wants that information. So when Bruce and Harper go to extract Steph, well, they’re floored when she doesn’t want their help.

Oh, also, Tim shows up all mysterious and bad ass in sunglasses, and I just want to hug him and tell him that it’s OK, he can be the lame little nerd that he is and no one will judge him.

We judge him for the feathers.

Anyway, Steph explains that she doesn’t trust Batman because she overheard her father receiving instructions from Bruce Wayne, which is insane and Harper tells her so. Also, Harper doesn’t tell Bruce this, for her own reasons. Also she and Steph really don’t get along, but I get the feeling that Harper is one of those “girls that doesn’t get along with other girls,” or they’re trying to make her one, since they also had her butting heads with Babs.

Anyway, Batwing is fighting ghosts in his apartment, which it turns out are actual ghosts that were released when Hellfire opened the portal to Hell, quite literally. I wish I’d paid more attention to that storyline, but as you may recall that was during all of the Jason/Barbara stuff…so…anyway…he was fighting ghosts and so was Bruce, and then Bruce figured out that R’as Al Ghul was probably behind this and then he hallucinated ALL OF THE BATMEN EVER, including multiple futures (Dick-Bats, Terry and Damian…I don’t know who I want to see more.) And it turns out that Ra’s is in bed and not in charge of the burning of Gotham.

So, not Falcone, not Hush, not Riddler, not R’as.

So it’s Joker then. There’s no one else big enough. But I’m also not going to guess, because I really thought it was R’as.

It’s not Bruce right? That would be ridiculous…Maybe it’s Owl Man? Did he stick around after Forever Evil? (Note to self, read Forever Evil…) I don’t know. But I guess we’ll know soon. Or soon ish? I don’t know. I miss Jason and Barbara flirting.

Oscar Bait

I really love award shows, as I’ve mentioned before, and I was really excited for the Oscars this year, which shouldn’t surprise anyone.

I was also really excited that I’d seen the best picture winner…this um, isn’t always the case, as Oscar fare, isn’t always Reenie-fare.

But yay! Birdman won, and that’s a movie that I really enjoyed and found thought provoking. JK Simmons also won, and he’s one of my favorite actors. Actually, it was generally a really good night for character actors, which is an odd thing to say, but really and truly. If I’d pursued a career I would have been categorized as “character” just because that’s where my skill set lays, (I’m funny, and not interested in losing 30 pounds thank you…) so I always like seeing those people be celebrated.

Also. Anna Kendrick threw a shoe at Jack Black in the opening number, and I love that we live in a world where that’s not the weirdest thing to say about this telecast.

NPH was off his game, he seemed really nervous and jumpy, which, he’s such a seasoned host, I was really surprised by that.

Patricia Arquette called out equal pay, which shit man, yeah. It’s a complicated issue that has mountains of bad statistics around it, but it makes sense that an issue that has probably effected her directly moves her to action. Empathy will only get people so far.

I really enjoyed the show, but it was quite long. I was willing to accept the length, because a lot of it went to Lady Gaga singing that Sound of Music medley.

And HOLY CRAP! She’s was amazing. She hit every note, and was doing full vibrato, I mean, look, she’s a talented woman and it’s pretty awesome to see. I mean, she made Julie Andrews cry.

In the end the only thing that really surprised me was that Richard Linklater didn’t win best director. I still haven’t seen Boyhood, and I really loved Birdman, but it was such a staggering achievement, I don’t know. I was also glad the Grand Budapest Hotel’s many artists were recognized. Anderson gets a lot of credit for his singular vision, but that the people who help him execute it were on display last night.

The fashion was stellar and believe it or not my favorite dress was Oprah’s. Not only was it a beautiful garment on it’s own, it so suited her and was a phenomenal color.

So, this week’s post schedule is going to be a little bit screwy. Tomorrow is Batman Eternal, then I’m starting KP season 2 on Wednesday (back to Tuesdays next week) and Sailor Moon on Thursday. Friday is wild card, but I’ll probably talk about Bitch Planet, who are we kidding?

We’re All In This Together

Sorry for skipping yesterday. I was in a VERY minor car accident (I’m fine, my car is also fine.) So I was a little bit shaken up and didn’t feel much like writing, or reading, or doing much of anything but lying in a tub and listening to podcasts, and then lying on my couch in my Wonder Woman Snuggie (BEST VALENTINE’S PRESENT EVER! Thanks Mom!) cleaning out my DVR.

But I’m back today, and let’s talk about High School Musical

Katie and I are deep in our “denial and whining” phase of planning our summer show, and the other day I was looking through a couple of the collections that were options and I clicked on Disney, just for fun. (We really can’t afford or pull off a Disney show.) And I decided to look at High School Musical and was reminded of how awesome I thought it was when it first came out.

I was very young. This was even pre Twilight in my nerd journey.

I decided to revisit it. I didn’t watch the movie again. I’m not that much of a masochist. I did however listen to the soundtrack. Here is a song by song description of my reaction to revisiting the craptastic gem:

Start Of Something New

This is really sweet, but wow, Drew Seeley really sounds nothing like Zefron. I keep remembering his hair from this movie during this song in particular. Also, I recall that Gabriela was wearing a very snazzy scarf.

Get Your Head In The Game

Not a one of those boys looked like basketball players, but this is when I fell in love with Corbin Bleu’s bouncy bouncy hair.

What I’ve Been Looking For

Why isn’t Lucas Grabeel more famous? He’s SOOO good in this, and everyone else is kind of terrible. I know he’s on Switched At Birth, but I mean, come on, dude deserved better than that. He also deserved better than this series ever gave him.

What I’ve Been Looking For (Reprise)

I get why Troy and Gabriela only sing ballads, but this version is so much more boring and features exactly 0 jazz squares. And as we all know, it’s a crowd favorite, everybody loves a good jazz square.

Stick To The Status Quo

This and “What I’ve Been Looking For” are probably the only straight up “musical” numbers in this mess and so it’s no shock that they’re the ones that hold up the best to me. Everything about this song is cheesy and wonderful and great. The Stoner, but not a stoner because this was Disney Channel, kid talking about his cello might be my favorite part. Although, the line “creme brulee,” is so perfectly placed. I could go on about this song, but I won’t.

When There Was Me And You

Wow, oh wow. This song is bad. Just, so bad. She doesn’t sound good singing it. The lyrics are insipid even by Disney Channel standards, the music is boring. It’s just so bad.

Bop To The Top

God, again with the Lucas Grabeel. Also, I used to know this dance by heart, because my cousin Bobby made me learn it. I will not ever let him forget that.

Breaking Free

“We’re soaring! Flying!” By this point I’d drunk the HSM cool aid, “Bop To The Top” will do that to me. Also I was remembering Zefron doing that weird airplane dance he did around Vanessa Hudgens. Super cute.

We’re All In This Together

I will never not love this song because all of my lame friends and I danced to it (the real choreography) at my high school graduation party. We didn’t PLAN for it to happen but the DJ played the song at the request of my younger cousins and we just couldn’t help ourselves.

So, that was a fun little revisit. If anyone wants to get drunk and watch the movie again with me, I might be up for that. Not alone though, that seems pathetic.

Under Onus

Hey guys!

I wasn’t sure what to write about today and then I remembered that Sparks Nevada Marshall On Mars #1 comes out today, so I’m going to talk about The Thrilling Adventure Hour, and why I’m so excited about this.

The Thrilling Adventure Hour is a live show in the style of old time radio, which is also broadcast once a week as a podcast.

The show is separated into several segments, the two largest of with are Beyond Belief and Sparks Nevada. But since Beyond Belief  #1 doesn’t hit stores for another month, we’re just going to talk about Sparks Nevada today.

Sparks Nevada is a space cowboy, in the distant future he “rights the outlaw wrongs on Mars,” which is pretty amazing. Excuse me, Ga’loot Pra’ctaw. He’s joined by a cast of amazing characters, but most importantly, his faithful Martian Companion, Croach.

Sparks and Croach are best friends, which is complicated because Martians don’t really have emotions, and Sparks is 12 years old, emotionally speaking. So they fight a lot. They also, for a time, had a relationship with the same woman, The Red Planes Rider. Red is a human who was raised by Croach’s tribe, and now she’s with Croach.

There are so many things about this that I really love and while the live show is ending, (NOOOOOOO), we’re getting the comics and I can’t wait to play around in this world a little bit more. Right after New York Comic Con, the Sparks Nevada #0 came out and it showed the real and true canon meeting of Sparks and Croach, which was very exciting and it was a lot of fun.

I’m generally looking forward to seeing where the comic book goes, and I badly hope that we’ll see some of Drunk Croach throughout the run of the book.

See, there was a run of the show for a while, where Sparks was elsewhere for some reason, I don’t remember the details, and Croach discovered alcohol and we all met Drunk Croach, who is both belligerent and self righteous, and spews his favorite insult, “Butt-Milk,” at anyone who gets in his way. This is altogether my favorite thing in the world. (Except for when the Artificial Intelligence of The Space Saloon had a crush on Croach, I ship them, which sounds weird, but in the world of the show makes perfect sense.

Sparks, in the meantime, is just a really fun character. He’s immature, petulant and a hero in his own mind. But he also does a lot of heroic things, but he’s just kind of a dick about it. But there’s a whole world of characters here that I’m really looking forward to getting to know better. Update some other time this week or next about the issue itself.

The problem this month is that it comes the same week as Bitch Planet, Ms. Marvel, and Batman & Robin, which is an embarrassment of riches leaves me in a huge “where to begin,” place.

I genuinely considered giving up comics for Lent, but realized the pressure it would put on me to catch up at the end of the 5 weeks would be way too much, and while I have a real sacrifice (I’m revising The Chronicles of Cammadan for an hour a day…that’s a huge deal for me) I wasn’t ready to quite go all the way on this one.

Anyway, shine your astro spurs and don your robot fist, because it’s time our favorite thrilling adventure!

There was some kind of clown, but that’s not important

So, we went to the circus on Gotham this week.

Which, for most people meant getting to meet a kid who is probably the Joker but you know that wasn’t even a little important to me. (I like my Joker origin niiiicce and Alan Moore-ish, with plenty of ambiguity and no real answers. Or maybe he’s just a literal fear demon…Thanks Scott Snyder.)

Because you know what else happened?

Jim Gordon met his future inlaws. Probably.

I mean definitely. I mean come on, this is a universe where Jim Gordon is in a relationship with Leslie Thompkins for no reason, except that they look nice together. It’s also definitely a universe where Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson eventually get their act together and get married.

So, future tangent over, we met John and Mary Grayson. Or, Mary Lloyd, as they weren’t married yet. He is from an old acrobat family, and she’s from an old clown family and their families hate each other and they’re circus Romeo and Juliet and it’s the most fricking beautiful bit of fanfiction that this million dollar per week fanfiction has given us.

I mean, I’m pretty sure I’ve read that story somewhere, at some time.

There’s actually a moment I keep dwelling on, in a moment of sniping, Mary says, “I can’t believe I ever thought I loved you,” and John looks very confused and then smiles this little smirky smile, and I died because they are clearly setting up so much of Dick’s personality in these two, and it’s hamfisted and ridiculous and so appropriate to this stupid show.

Oh, also their Uncles were sleeping with Probably-The-Joker’s mom. Because of course, of course Dick’s great Uncles were boning Joker’s mom, because this is Gotham and this is the most ridiculous world of all worlds.

And Joker’s dad is a blind fortune teller who wears that purple fedora that Joker always wears except when he doesn’t. You know the one.

Look, this episode was kind of stupid, but it did have Carole Kane singing “When You’re Smiling,” and ended with John and Mary engaged and looking adorable. (Seriously? I was at a family wedding this weekend, and my preppy little heart was already overflowing, but that blue checked blazer on John Grayson made me way too happy. Also he said they were going to name their son “Gordon,” which Mary rolled her eyes at. I bet she already has Richard picked out.)

Also, she called them, “The Flying Douchebags,” which, is frankly, my new favorite thing ever.

I bet they went back to the circus to make an adorable baby boy. Go make him. Let’s meet Jack Drake next.

Still Crazy, After All These Years

Last night was the SNL 40th Anniversary special.

I didn’t expect a lot from it, mostly I knew there would be some fun moments, some stuff that got my feels, and other things that probably would either go over my head or just be you know, not funny. 40 years is a long time and a lot of really talented people worked very hard for that time to make some comedy that I really loved and also that other stuff.

Mary and I were the only ones home, and while we felt ridiculous, that we had to sit through a fifteen minute Kanye performance before getting a glimpse of Wayne and Garth (over reliance on catch phrases), we generally really liked the show. The Californians was too long, but it always is (and it ended with Spade’s flight attendant because YES) The running gag that Jon Lovitz died. The argument over the best kind of host. (Which is ridiculous, as we all know that the best kind of host is Justin Timberlake, just because he doesn’t have the numbers, yet.) That Martin Short/Beyoncé number. Everyone yelling at Kanye to stay in his seat. Miley singing “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” (She was going to perform, would you have preferred “Wrecking Ball?” I wouldn’t have…)

SNL is a huge driving force in culture, but it’s also just always been this thing that my family rallied around. I would come home from school to my mom making dinner and an SNL rerun on the TV. Ten years ago, there were a series of specials about SNL classics, and I watched every single one. SNL is so much to me, much like my description of The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings and Harry Potter, this show is too inside of me, too much a part of just my general vocabulary to analyze it much.

I was happy to see characters I loved show up again. (Having both Debbie Downer and Mary Katherine Gallagher in that opening Jimmy/Justin number was wonderful.) We heard, “Chopping Broccoli” which to this day remains one of my favorite skits. I really liked the Andy Samberg/Adam Sandler song, mostly because I always love it when Samberg descends into madness and everyone is just baffled by him and it was also the most engaged I’ve seen Sandler (also a huge part of my sense of humor development, though not quite as large as Dana Carvey and Mike Meyers. I’m pretty sure The Church Lady demonstrates about 90% of things I find hilarious.) And Meyers and Carvey having a “Lorne-off” might have been the highlight of my life. (Though, um, Meyers’s Lorne was just Doctor Evil right?)

But then there was update. Giving the desk to the three women who’ve anchored (but not Cecily? REALLY? Tina and Amy? You let that happen? REALLY?) was really great, and you know that Tina’s wanted the shark to eat her for her entire life. Jane Curtain seemed as acerbic and perfect as I’ve ever seen her. And letting Melissa McCarthy do Matt Foley seemed odd and then perfect. Again, I mean, you can just see the influence there and it’s really lovely.

I enjoyed myself, but it was very long. Just, so long. Definitely check out the Jimmy/Justin number, the Short/Maya as Beyoncé bit, and the Sandler/Samberg song.

And the night ended with “Still Crazy,” and Paul Simon giving Lorne Michaels a hug, which felt so very right.

Sailor Moon Check In: Seriously Though, The Cats

Hey everyone, due to packing and planning and Spider-related nonsense, it took me a while to get around to this week’s Sailor Moon Stuff. But I managed to squeeze it in!

Manga

Nopety, Nope, Nope

Original Anime

Three week’s worth and all I can think of is how much I love Luna. Seriously, she’s just the best. But other really cute and fun things happened, like everyone went to a desert buffett, where they met Esmeraude, and then they all got the flu, and Minako and Chibi-Usa were very bad at taking care of them. Oh right, and Pluto sent them all into Chibi-Usa’s subconscious, to save her from being in a bad dark moon coma or something. And they made friendship bracelets. And then they all went to the zoo and Artemis got all angry because Luna can be kind of a jerk sometimes and he decided to save the animals, but I mean, he’s just a tiny little boy cat and this is Sailor Moon, so it’s not like he can do much. Also Usagi and Mamoru are back together which has no plot bearing at all, and a dog peed on Esmeraude.

Also a bunch of stupid boys said that Ami was cheating because of sexism I think? But then Mako just beat them up, because she’s the best.

Crystal

I really liked this episode of Crystal, after the sort of underwhelming choices made in the finale, I was worried, but I’m already attached to Chibi-Usa, who seems way less ominous here, just sort of confused and determined, and I like that. Also, the scene where Mamoru met Usagi’s family for the first time and they just didn’t care about him, because there is this adorable pink haired child in front of them. We’ve already met most of the Dark Moon clan and disposed of Koan, which is, like, crazy. We already know that Prince Demande is the one in charge here, except he’s answering to Wise Man. Also, we’ve got an updated opening with Sailor Pluto and Chibi-Usa and the new baddies.

I’m excited to watch this arc plays out, and I think it’s going to suit Crystal’s style a lot better than the first arc.