Unlike the other two Sailormoon movies, the Sailormoon R movie does contribute to the television storyline by transforming Sailormoon's silver crystal from a simple, spherical shaped stone into a complicated, lotus blossom crystalline structure. This finalized form of her crystal is never defined; in the Sailormoon S season, the crystal is shown prior to the hybrid transformation brooch shown in Episode 125 while in the Sailorstars season, the crystal reappears not only as Sailormoon's "star seed", but in her final angelic state.

Another of my more favorite elements in this particular anime is how the storyline does feature many key Christian, Shinto and Buddhist religious features. The lotus blossom is the pinnacle embodiment of enlightenment in the Buddhist faith. The ginsuizhou transformed into this crystalline structure as a result of Sailormoon defeating Fiore not by violence, but by reminding him of the history of the rose given to him years ago. This is the first instance where the principle villian is not defeated by the combined powers of the Sailor Senshi, but rather by Usagi's pure heart. Because Usagi has chosen to use words instead of violence to defeat her enemy, she has demonstrated that she is slowly reaching the enligtenment state.

I had wanted a cel from this sequence since I avidly started collecting cels, however, due to my pickiness and demand for this sequence, I could never find the right one. I lucked out when this cel, along with the Ami no Hatsukoi cel also in this section, were sold on Yahoo Japan in December 2006. It's an absolutely gorgeous set-up with the ribbons gracefully flowing around Usagi and the transformed crystal shining above her head. It's definetely one of my more favorite cels.


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