Meatbag

Think about it. Not one, but two major storylines have the same premise for Usagi's arc: a future version of her reaches back to learn a lesson from her past self. That is a little frustrating, isn't it? Usagi’s development is not open. Her future is constantly reaching backward to ensure its own conditions. I did watch that Galaxy Cauldron movie, which was my gateway back into the hyperfixation after 10+ years, and while the immediate experience was nostalgia, my reflections keep circling ever since how absurdly narrow the cosmology gets.

Infinite potential, and somehow, the final debate is still Usagi arguing with Ultimate Usagi over whether existence should continue on Usagi’s terms. I don't know; it might be me, but I hope it is understandable why I think it gets a little absurd if the party arguing for terminating existence is the same person as the one deciding it should continue. What are we doing? Infinite potential, and somehow two major storylines serve as a child and a toddler version of future Usagi Interations and how her struggles of the future are defining the present and everyone else. Infinite potential, and somehow, even the villains have only one target. The lore keeps insisting that the menu of reality is rich and endless, but it only serves Serenity in different textures.

That detracts from Usagi. It also detracts from her relationships with the other characters, I think. Another thing I find frustrating about the Galaxy Cauldron movie is how every other Guardian gets like four lines of dialogue before they die. One by one. That is their contribution to the resolution of the conflict. Their job in this arc is to die. I apologize, but I have amotions about this. In the end, their bravery, their talents, their skills, their disagreements, their history, their strengths, their sacrifices, their joy, their pain, their lives, etc., are irrelevant to the resolution of the conflict. Even their bond to Usagi only contributes to the victory because it is motivational fuel to refine Usagi's conclusion and decision. Usagi gets choices (does existence continue? does everyone get a new life or continue their old?), and the rest are cast to be grateful. I think that bears the question: why did the story spend all this time telling us about bonds, teams, guardians, planets, stars, and possibilities if the final moral agency collapses into one individual’s self-dialogue?

My frustration with the narrative architecture extends to the villains. What do you mean, they are also just iterations of the same Evil Essence that is endlessly and exclusively fixated on its Counter Essence? Infinite potential, but we are just getting one Entity in beef with another Entity? It basically tells us that all the previous arcs weren't really about anything but a choreography of the same dynamic. You think you experienced meaningful conflicts, but, no, it is all the same in different costumes. Instead of each antagonist being allowed to represent distinct political, emotional, or cosmological problems the Sailor Senshi have to confront, they repeat one binary.