Just finished watching the storyline in Sailor Moon where Sailor Mercury gets captured by the Dark Empire and is transformed into the evil (and admittedly pretty sexy) DARKURY. This story arc (spread between chapters 20-28) is DEFINITELY my favorite of the series so far, and that’s no small feat, considering how much I’ve loved each episode up until this point!
So many things happen in this one! Storylines get concluded, mysteries get answered and everything gets set up for the next volume in the series…and of course there’s the actual Darkury story itself, and I have to say that it was Hama Chisaki’s acting that really did it for me- (in fact, I’ve noticed that just about all of my “favorite” episodes seem to center around her) playing the double role of both protagonist AND antagonist and making them both believable and sympathetic, she REALLY sold the character and I found myself just LOVING her more and more!
That I loved this arc is even MORE impressive when you consider that this storyline ALSO featured two of the only things I’ve HATED in the series so far, namely turning Luna into a 8(?) year old girl, as well as featuring a silly episode where Rei becomes an idol singer. An Idol Singer?!
Fortunately, everything gelled by the time of the arc’s conclusion and the ending was very, very satisfying!
