This third volume of the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon wraps up the Dark Kingdom arc in act fourteen, about halfway through the book. Finally having discovered the identity of Queen Beryl and what part she played in the war between the Moon Kingdom and the Earth all those years ago, the Sailor Senshi make ready to battle her on her own ground.
However, things are made infinitely more difficult for our heroine Usagi as she discovers that Tuxedo Mask, the young man she loves, has been brainwashed by Beryl. In order to stand against Beryl and the darker evil that lurks behind her, Usagi will need to stand up against Tuxedo Mask.
The climax of the battle against the Dark Kingdom is properly exhilarating, exciting, and its stakes are high. Usagi needs to fight with all her might to protect her friends and fellow Sailor Senshi, using the Legendary Silver Crystal to do so – but the power and strength of that crystal depend on the strength of her own heart, and how powerful can your heart be when you need to fight the person you love most?
This volume definitely puts poor Usagi through emotional turmoil, but also manages to show her development into an at first tentative but eventually resolute leader. It also fleshes out her relationship with Tuxedo Mask and the other Senshi, and fully establishes her role as the reincarnation of the Moon Princess Serenity.
The other half of the volume marks the start of the Black Moon arc. Just as Usagi and her friends are enjoying the peace, and Usagi and Tuxedo Mask (or Mamoru Chiba, in his civilian identity) have some time to focus on their romantic relationship, a new plot point comes falling out of the sky – quite literally. Enter a small lady with pink hair who looks a lot like Usagi with a bratty attitude and who also wants to get her hands on the Legendary Silver Crystal.
Our characters soon take to call her Chibi Usa, since the child swears her full name is Usagi Tsukino, just like our heroine Sailor Moon. And Sailor Moon is more than fed up with the shenanigans of Chibi Usa, who soon charms her way into her family and circle of friends while not divulging whether she’s a friend or an enemy. Meanwhile, a gang by the name of Black Moon are terrorizing the town, luring Rei Hino – Sailor Mars – out first through a supernatural club and wrong predictions of people's futures. Despite the Sailor Senshi’s efforts, Rei eventually gets spirited way by the enemy... and the gravity of the situation only increases after the same happens to Ami Mizuno, Sailor Mercury, after the Black Moon members lure her out on her own for a chess contest. Heartbroken by the loss of two of her friends, Usagi feels lost.
Readers always seem divided on the role of Chibi Usa, who I must admit is very bratty and annoying from the moment you meet her. And Usagi, still just entering her role as a leader of the Sailor Senshi and as Mamoru’s girlfriend, cannot properly focus on the battle against Black Moon while having the ambiguous Chibi Usa running around and messing up her life.
A satisfying conclusion to the Dark Kingdom arc, but a somewhat shaky start to the Black Moon arc, though both Usagi’s and Chibi Usa’s emotional reactions and annoying behaviour are (eventually) quite understandable.