Tethys was that rarest of things, a monster-of-the-week with a history, a goal, a hint that she existed before the episode where she appeared to die. I'd like her for that even if I didn't think she was cool in and of herself. She actually, possibly even unintentionally, lived up to her billing as one of the most potent youma. Hell, she had more powers than any of the actual Dark Generals ever displayed. Plus, even her name had mythological allusions just like the heroes, which is cool.

Which exposes the frustrating nature of the strange adherence Sailor Moon had to the monster-of-the-week concept. Why couldn't she have interacted with Jadeite BEFORE that episode? Why couldn't she have survived and launched some sort of revenge plot, even one episode later? An entwined mini-arc offers much more storyline rewards, and it's not like they couldn't do it - Zoicite did it, after all. Is it really THAT necessary for the Senshi to kill something every single episode (obviously not, since Senishenta didn't cause the universe to implode)? Most complaints I have about Sailor Moon I eventually chalk up to "It's a kid's show, and despite what fanboys would have it, Japanese kids shows are not really much better written than American ones". This one totally baffles me, though. It didn't even have to be Tethys. EVERY season could have benefitted from a few lesser minions hanging around for sub-arcs before dying... and every season also had major villains who could have badly benefitted from interaction with sub-arc villains and character development hopefully gained therein.

Oh well. For all my complaints above, for what she was, Tethys was quite cool. And she looks cool, too. So enjoy the pictures!

Tethys Pictures

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