From: phoenix@mediaone.net   
      
   Chris Kern wrote:   
      
   >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.   
      
   As bad as the deaths were in this arc, I think the death scenes in   
   season one were much more brutal.   
      
   >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).   
      
   Bathroom break? ;) Funny how superheroes never have to answer nature's   
   call. Although that finally did happen in episode 194. Seriously, I   
   think she wanted Sailor Moon to see just how hopeless her situation   
   really was, to show how totally under her control U&N were and   
   finally, to take revenge for her own loneliness.   
      
   >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.   
      
   That was a sad moment. I do wish that Chibiusa could have come back   
   for real in the end. It would have been nice to have all ten senshi   
   together for the final scene.   
      
   >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.   
      
   And yet Fighter tells her that U&N did what they did because, in the   
   end, they believe in Sailor Moon. They know that they won't really be   
   dead unless Sailor Moon gives up and they know that she will never   
   give up even though she came darn close after U&N died.   
      
   >The death scene of U&N is pretty touching.   
      
   It was. Uranus telling Fighter to protect Sailor Moon, that she was a   
   bit of a crybaby. And then turning to Neptune for that final moment to   
   touch hands.   
      
   >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.   
      
   This part of the episode was really, really hard for me to watch. The   
   utter defeatism in Sailor Moon was unbearable.   
      
   --   
   Phoenix   
   www.phoenixanime.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)