From: paradoxtxs@yahoo.com   
      
   Chris Kern wrote:   
   > Episode 45 - The Sailor Senshi die! The tragic final battle   
   >   
      
   The episode starts with Usagi cooking a meal for her family.  She hides   
   it well, but clearly, this is her “one day left to live” action, just in   
   case.  She later teases Rei along similar lines that she should have   
   kissed Yuichiro, just in case.   
      
   This episode went down hard for me.  I can relate far more easily to the   
   inners than I can to Usagi, so this was just plain hard to watch.  I can   
   see why it caused such an uproar in Japan.  I can't imagine wanting   
   small kids to see this.   
      
   Makoto is the first to go, and I’d say it’s the most gripping of them   
   all.  For one, it’s first.  After this point, the entire tone changes.   
   One of their own has died.  For Usagi, this isn’t about making silly   
   speeches, or playing superhero, or even chasing Tuxedo Kamen anymore,   
   it’s about keeping her friends alive, and she spends the rest of the   
   episode in a futile attempt to do just that.  Next to their lives, the   
   whole mission is worthless, and she’s quite willing to give up the   
   Crystal, if it’ll keep them safe.   
      
   It’s very appropriate that Makoto is the first to go, though.  She’s the   
   protector of the group, the shield if you will.  If anyone else had died   
   first, it would have been a failure on her part, so she had to do it.   
   That expression on her face at the end was very well done, it very much   
   said, “I’m taking all you ******* with me!”  She got two out of five, at   
   least.   
      
   Ami slapping Usagi – Very interesting, not even so much that she did it,   
   but the facial expression, and the rather calm tone of voice.  To me, it   
   says that Mizuno Ami has shut down inside, and right now, is only   
   letting herself think about the task at hand.  She can’t think about the   
   body laying behind her that used to be someone so close to her.  She   
   just can’t right now, so she’s not.  It’s a rather common reaction to a   
   grievous loss, really, particularly when you’re used to being the stable   
   one in a group.  You force your own emotions down, justifying it by   
   saying that you need to help everyone else.   
      
   Ami’s end is, appropriately, the most chilling of them all.   
      
   Ami had to know that she couldn’t win three on one.  Tactically, it’s   
   possibly the biggest blunder she ever makes.  She’s probably going to be   
   easy pickings, and the Senshi are down to three when the DD girls catch   
   up with them.  So why does she do it?   
      
   Honestly, I think she’s following Makoto’s example.  Not so much in an   
   act of deliberate suicide, but with the thought that if she can get one   
   or two as she goes down, without putting the Princess in danger, Minako   
   and Rei can take care of the rest.  Regardless, she’s not stupid.  She’s   
   most likely lying to Usagi, and she knows it.  Even the simple line   
   “Come and get me” or however it was phrased, is rather telling.  Ami   
   isn’t the type for bravado.  She knows what’s coming, and she’s   
   accepting it.   
      
   That little smile when the DD girls try their trick.  Part of it is that   
   she’s not going to fall for it after seeing it already, but there seemed   
   to be a bit more to it, as if it never could have worked.  Given all the   
   other little bits of evidence that have gathered, one imagines that   
   Makoto’s image might have drawn a much different reaction.   
      
   In the end, Ami just gets the illusion jewel.  Usagi knows that Ami has   
   died, even from a good distance away.   
      
   Minako’s end is very quick.  She appropriately ends up taking the place   
   of her Princess when needed, knocking her out of the way of an attack   
   from below.  Just as a side note, Fukami Rika’s voice acting here is the   
   best of the four.  She has a fantastic scream.  ^^;;;;   
      
   Rei is the last one, as expected.  It’s interesting to see how naturally   
   she’s accepted her place as Usagi’s protector.  She has no intention of   
   dying like Ami did, but she knows why she’s there, to keep Usagi safe   
   and ready for Beryl.  Her whispered “Fire… SOUL!” is just fantastic.   
   That thing isn’t going to touch her Princess.   
      
   It’s almost funny how quickly Usagi jumps up at the command of Rei’s   
   spirit.  Afterwards, when Usagi takes off running toward her destiny,   
   she never once stumbles or trips up.   
      
   SK   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)