From: chriskern99@gmail.com   
      
   Episode 198 - Disappearing stars!  The end of Uranus and Neptune   
      
   The body count of this season surpasses anything from before, with 9   
   major characters being killed in the conclusion.  There's a persistent   
   (though IMO false) rumor that after the deaths of the senshi in   
   episode 45, letters of protest flooded the TV station -- it seems like   
   this would have drawn even more.   
      
   Where is Galaxia going when she leaves everyone alone near the   
   beginning of the episode?  Does she have something more important to   
   do?  Also I think perhaps her most crucial mistake is here, when she   
   decides to have Uranus and Neptune play with Sailor Moon before taking   
   her Star Seed.  But of course this is kind of borne out of her refusal   
   to accept that companionship is anything but a lie (something that   
   seems to have been in her personality since before she turned evil).   
      
   In the continuing line of dark scenes, that one always gets me where   
   Usagi sees everyone, including Mamoru and Chibi-Usa (this being C-U's   
   final appearance in the series).  Then she looks down for a minute and   
   says "Welcome back, Mamo..." but they're all gone and she's back in   
   Ginga TV.   
      
   I'm still not sure I understand why U&N had to wait so long before   
   trying to attack Galaxia.  Did they hope that if they showed her they   
   were loyal, that she would let her guard down more?  I wonder if there   
   might not be a second motive to what they did.  Based on her behavior   
   in S, Uranus and Neptune have to expect what finally happens in 199   
   and 200 -- Usagi refusing to fight Galaxia.  Perhaps in addition to   
   getting a surprise attack on Galaxia they hope to convince Usagi that   
   she's going to have to fight to win this battle and that everything's   
   not going to magically get better if they all become friends.   
      
   The death scene of U&N is pretty touching.   
      
   Two important plot points are revealed here -- first, that Galaxia has   
   no Star Seed, something that's important in the final episodes.  Also   
   the hopes of the good guys probably reaches its lowest point in this   
   episode when it's revealed that the "strongest sailor senshi" that   
   left behind the Light of Hope is none other than Sailor Galaxia   
   herself.  On the other hand, the fact that she is a Sailor Senshi   
   gives Sailor Moon the hope that they can work together.   
      
   -Chris   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)