Sailor Moon R episodes 67 and 68 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon R episode 67 - Rei, Chibiusa, Ami, Makoto, Minako and Usagi playing beach volleyball in swimsuits

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon R are now available on Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get an episode which was previously unreleased in North America. Episode 67 was never dubbed and was omitted from ADV’s terrible subbed only release.

Sailor Moon R episode 67 - Chibiusa riding Kirin

Episode 67, The Beach, the Island and a Vacation: The Guardian’s Break, was not part of the original English dub of Sailor Moon. Why it was skipped it not terribly clear but it shares a lot in common with episode 20, The Summer, the Beach, Youth and Ghosts, which was also not original dubbed. Both episodes have no actual monster and are beach episode. One reason for which this episode may have been skipped it that, not involving the main villains for the ongoing arc, it did not have any implications to the ongoing story so nothing is really missed. It’s also possible that it was skipped due to the swimsuit content being considered too racy for a young audience, even though these tame one piece suits were not terribly scandalous. This episode was also not included in the ADV’s subbed only release and the reason given for this was a lack of source material as they were acquired from DiC.

Sailor Moon R episode 67 - Ami, Rei, Usagi, Minako, Makoto, Artemis, Luna and Chibiusa on a boat

This episode has the gang intruding on Rei’s training to go on vacation. Chibiusa quickly becomes annoyed at the group because she doesn’t want to eat fish. She gets lost at sea and befriends a Plesiosaur named Kirin. Plesiosaurs have been extinct for about 65 million years but hey Chibiusa isn’t born yet so that’s no big deal. There are no Droids to fight in this episode. Instead the main threat is a volcano! Also included is an impromptu game of extreme beach volleyball.

Sailor Moon R episode 68 - Mamoru and Usagi's wedding

Episode 68, Protect Chibi-Usa: Clash of the Ten Warriors, gives us a lot of looks at the future of Crystal Tokyo. We get to see Neo Queen Serenity in the future as well as a look at the rest of the Sailor Guardians, the city of Crystal Tokyo and a young Chibiusa. We also get a look at Usagi and Mamoru’s wedding which takes place at an undetermined time, likely prior to the birth of Chibiusa and the scenes of Crystal Tokyo seen in this episode. As with a number of other episodes Chibiusa gets upset, this time due to wetting the bed, and then tries to go back to the future, freaks out, makes a light come out of her forehead, and gets the attention of the enemy. The ensuing fight is epic and pits the Ayakashi Sisters against the Sailor Guardians and Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask against Rebeus. This epic battle is all to the tune of the song Ai No Senshi, which is Japanese for Soldier of Love.

Sailor Moon R episode 68 - The Sailor Guardians and Chibiusa in Crystal Tokyo

Support this site by buying these episodes and the Blu-Ray and DVD sets through the links below.

Sailor Moon R episode 68 - Chibiusa and Sailor Moon

Hello Kitty/Sailor Moon inspired t-shirts on sale today at TeeFury

Hello Senshi and Hello Serenity shirts at TeeFury

Today and today only these cool looking Sailor Moon and Hello Kitty inspired shirts area available at TeeFury. These shirts are Hello Senshi, featuring Sailor Moon, and Hello Serenity, featuring Neo Queen Serenity. As with all TeeFury shirts these are available for $11 but only for one day so you can only pick these up until 11pm Easter Time on December 29th.

Hello Senshi t-shirt at TeeFury

The shirt’s artist is Gilles Bone who has done a lot of other Sailor Moon inspired designs we’ve posted about on this site. For more of his work check out his personal web site, Red Bubble store, Facebook, Twitter, deviantART or tumblr pages.

Hello Serenity t-shirt at TeeFury

Chibiusa and Sailor Pluto revealed in this Sailor Moon Crystal second season trailer

Sailor Moon Crystal season 2 trailer - Chibiusa pointing a gun at Usagi

A trailer for the second story arc of Sailor Moon Crystal, set to begin on January 17th, has been added to the official Sailor Moon web site. This trailer features scenes with Chibiusa and Sailor Pluto. Check it out below.

This was shown at an event in Japan today where Misato Fukuen was revealed to be the voice of Chibiusa and Ai Maeda was revealed as the voice of Sailor Pluto.

Sailor Moon Crystal event revealing the voice of Chibiusa

Clips in this trailer cover many events from the second story arc, which though technically part of Sailor Moon Crystal’s first year and therefore first season, is being referred to by many as the second season of the series. This second story arc is also being referred as the second phase. The main thing shown is Chibiusa, who appears from the future to threaten Usagi with a gun. More clips show her with Luna P and jump ahead quite a bit to show us the Space-Time Door, Sailor Pluto, Crystal Tokyo, Nemesis and the Evil Black Crystal. Also pictured are new transformation items for the Sailor Guardians including Sailor Moon’s Star Pendant.

Sailor Moon Crystal season 2 trailer - Sailor Pluto

The note at the end of the trailer mentions the next episode showing on January 3rd though it does not seem likely that any of these clips will be appearing in act 13 which will be released on that date. Chibiusa will be appearing in act 14, An Ending and Then a Beginning – Petite Étrangère, along with the Black Moon Clan who are not shown in this trailer. The banner in the image shown from today’s event mentions January 17th when act 14 will be available. This will mark the end of the Dark Kingdom arc and the beginning of the Black Moon arc.

Keep reading for more screenshots from this trailer.

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Sailor Moon Crystal Volume 3 Deluxe Edition Blu-Ray review

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 3 Deluxe Edition

The 3rd Sailor Moon Crystal Deluxe Edition Blu-Ray disk was released on December 10th. Like with the other versions is cames with a number of extras and contains a whopping two whole episodes in 1080 HD. The episodes included are act 5, Makoto – Sailor Jupiter, and act 6, Tuxedo Mask.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 3 Deluxe Edition - Full Cover

The box is quite nice looking as always. This one features Sailor Mars on the cover, even though her introductory episode was in the last set. The square box contains a lot. The Blu-Ray box itself has a full image of Sailor Mars and her crows Phobos and Deimos. The charm included in this set is of Sailor Mars’s transformation item. It goes with the charm bracelet included in volume 1.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 3 Deluxe Edition - Sailor Mars charm

Included in this set is a 20 page full colour booklet featuring episode descriptions, art designs from the episodes and a couple of interview. The first interview is with series writer Yuji Kobayashi and the second is with Rina Sato, the voice of Sailor Mars.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 3 Deluxe Edition - Booklet -

The image quality on this releases is top notch. I tend to watch the Crunchyroll feed because I like the image quality they have. The Blu-Ray version looks better as the image is much more fluid, less choppy. A lot of scenes have been reanimated or touched up with these episodes, and I suspect all episodes will get this same treatment. Act 7 has what I consider to be the worst animation so I’m hoping that episodes gets a good facelift.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 3 Deluxe Edition

Again I would recommend this set only to serious collectors. Unless you’re a real completist you may find it perfectly fine to just watch the streaming version. If you’re curious about the changed scenes there are surely some other ways to get your hands on these episodes. The audio is Japanese only, no subtitles. There are also audio commentaries included on this disk but as I don’t speak Japanese I can’t comment on them. I mentioned in earlier reviews that the Blu-Rays were region A, which covers Japan and North America, but it turns out they are actually region free. The DVDs on the other hand are region 2 so they are not playable in a North American DVD player unless you are lucky enough to have one that isn’t region locked.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 3 Deluxe Edition

You can buy the Deluxe Limited Edition Blu-Ray now for 5194 yen or $43 US (Amazon Japan, CD Japan), or pre-order the regular edition Blu-Ray for 3566 yen or $30 US (Amazon Japan, CD Japan) or DVD for 2722 yen or $23 US (Amazon Japan, CD Japan) which will be released on January 14th.

Keep reading for more images of the packaging including photos of all pages of the included booklet.

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Sailor Moon R episodes 65 and 66 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon R episode 65 - Calaveras and Petz

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon R are now available on Hulu and Neon Alley. This week for episodes 65 and 66 we have the Sailor Guardians face off against Petz and Calaveras … twice.

Episode 65, Dispute Over Love: Minako and Makoto’s Conflict, has Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus sharing an episode! We recently saw Ami and Rei get their own episodes but I guess Makoto and Minako weren’t able to hold their own! Instead they fight with each other for a while, which is mimicked by Calaveras and Petz’s bickering and fighting in this same episode. Sailor Jupiter uses Sparkling Wide Pressure for the first time in the ensuing fight while Sailor Venus uses her Venus Love Me Chain for the first time. The Droid in this episode is made out of wine which is kind of cool!

Sailor Moon R episode 66 - Usagi, Chibiusa and Mamoru

Episode 66, Usagi’s Parental Love: the Curry Romance Triangle is all about making curry! We get a good look at the future version of Usagi and Mamoru in this episode. Normally when we see Crystal Tokyo in other episodes we see Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion all decked out in their royal garb. Here we seem to be seeing them in civilian clothes, though those are fairly fancy clothes. Chibiusa thinks a lot about her parents as she gets close to Usagi and Mamoru. So right. Curry. Chibiusa needs to make curry for a school curry party. Is this a thing in Japan? In North America we do pot lucks but diversity is the key. Having a pot luck where everyone brings the same food is a bit of a waste of time. Whatever. Usagi, Chibiusa and Mamoru go to Juban Super, the supermarket in Azuba Juban, to get some meat. Too bad Calaveras and Petz took over the supermarket and turned all of the patrons into zombies! Unfortunately the zombies’ black skin makes it look a bit like all of the zombies are really just dark skinned minorities.

Sailor Moon R episode 66 - Dark Fruit turns people in to black zombies

Finally Chibiusa and Mamoru ditch Usagi and run into Rei. Rei reluctantly agrees to help them make curry, but ultimately Chibiusa decides to go back to Usagi. This makes us wonder what the Curry Romance Triangle mentioned in the title actually is. Is it Chibiusa/Mamoru/Usagi? This love triangle is always a problem and at the heart of the Sailor Moon R series, culminating in some rather incestual behaviour between Black Lady and Tuxedo Mask. The other love triangle here is the Usagi/Mamoru/Rei combo. Rei and Mamoru were a legitimate couple in the first season, something which ended abruptly when Mamoru was mortally wounded, regained memories of a past life and then was turned evil. The Moonlight Knight only recently gave Mamoru his memories of him and Rei’s relationship back at which point there was an assumed romance between him and Usagi, but the choice was never really presented to him. We can see Rei’s obvious hesitation at getting in the middle of existing relationships. Where does this hesitation come from? Does she not want to take Usagi’s place in her relationship with Chibiusa or is is that she’s worried she may rekindle some old feeling between herself and Mamoru? Luckily Mamoru is wearing the absolute worst shirt so there’s no risk of a hot girl like Rei falling for that!

Sailor Moon R episode 66 - Rei, Chibiusa and Mamoru

This is supposed to be one of those mosquito repellent things, right?

Next week is episode 67, The Beach, the Island and a Vacation: The Guardians’ Break, which was not previously dubbed into English or released in Viz’s subbed only set.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 12, Enemy – Queen Metaria, Review

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 12 - Evil Tuxedo Mask threatening Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 12, Enemy – Queen Metaria, began streaming on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico on December 20th. Endo, the guy who looked just like Mamoru, was revealed to actually be Mamoru! Shock! We’re really ramping up to the end of the Dark Kingdom story arc this week as a lot of important plot develops. This episodes deviated more from the original Manga equivalent story than any other episode to date. We’ll look at some of those differences.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 12 - Sailor Moon killing Queen Beryl

We begin with the final battle with Queen Beryl. This is where everything changes. In the manga Queen Beryl ties up Sailor Moon with her hair and Sailor Venus uses her Venus Love Me Chain to cut her hair and free her. In Sailor Moon Crystal Queen Beryl ties up all five of the Sailor Guardians with her hair. Sailor Venus uses her sword to cut them all loose. The battle quickly ends in the Manga as Sailor Venus runs her sword through Queen Beryl but Sailor Moon Crystal has Beryl defending herself with a sort of force field. Sailor Mercury identifies Queen Beryl’s necklace as controlling Queen Beryl and it’s Sailor Moon who then takes the sword to break the necklace, which causes her to wither away and die. This change bothered me a bit, even as someone who’s always excited for deviations from the original story. For a show that’s otherwise been so faithful what does this change accomplish? No “good guy” actively kills the enemy for one, which keeps their hands clean, but if it’s just about toning down the violence later events in the episode are not consistent with that. The idea is that Beryl is being controlled by Metalia and has no choice in the matter, just like Mamoru and the Shitennou. So where are the necklaces controlling them? They all seem to be able to have their minds be cleared up through other means.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 12 - Ancient Moon language on the Holy Sword

Another less important change occurs as a side effect of this changed scene. When the words appear on the sword in the manga Sailor Venus is still holding it and read them easily. Here the sword is in Sailor Moon’s hands, and the words appear facing her, while Sailor Venus who is on the other side of the sword manages to read them. Sailor Venus’s contribution to the story continues to be marginalized as Tuxedo Mask leaves alone, with Sailor Moon in pursuit as opposed to the original story where Tuxedo Mask takes Sailor Venus and is pursued by Sailor Moon. This is sort of necessary because of the next scene.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 12 - The Shitennou

We finally have the Shitennou’s surviving this long play out in a somewhat brief exchange between the Sailor Guardians and the Shitennou. As we have mentioned before the Shitennou used to be good and there was insinuation in the manga that they were coupled with the Sailor Guardians. This was confirmed in an earlier episode. This week we have a brief fight between them and the Sailor Guardians followed by them being healed by Sailor Planet Attack. We learn that each was a knight that represented something. Zoisite was the Knight of purification and healing, Kunzite was the Knight of purity and affection, Jadeite was the Knight of patience and harmony and Nephrite was the Knight of intelligence and comfort. Unfortunately their moment of clarity was short lived as Queen Metalia quickly killed them. While I very much appreciated the addition and inclusion of this scene I was a bit upset that it was so brief. There really wasn’t room for a much longer scene without cutting anything else out. Perhaps if a full episode had been added we would have had a chance to get more in depth with this story but then we wouldn’t have been able to included two entire story arcs in a year of 26 Sailor Moon Crystal episodes. This was the end of the bigger changes with this episode.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 12 - Sailor Moon killing herself

The interaction between Sailor Moon and evil Tuxedo Mask is largely unchanged. By the very fact that they are together alone for a while makes for a more intimate scene. Sailor Moon tries to win over Mamoru by showing him his watch, a symbol of their love for each other, which mirrors a similar scene from the original anime. Because they are alone we don’t get to see Sailor Venus’s new attack, Venus Rolling Heart Vibration. When things get hopeless Sailor Moon’s last resort is to kill Tuxedo Mask and then, devastated by losing him, she takes her own life. This very violent scene is sort of integral to telling the story but it’s inclusion makes one wonder why they would be cutting the earlier much less violent killing of Queen Beryl.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 12 - Enemy - Queen Metaria

Note on the spelling of Metalia. The title of this episode has her referenced as Queen Metaria but she is referenced as Queen Metalia in the subtitles throughout the episode. The English version of the manga similarly referred to her as Metaria in the act 12 title but as Metalia within the translated pages of the story. This is due to the fact that in the Japanese title for both the words “Queen Metaria” were spelled out in English letters and translating them would have looked quite odd. The spelling of this word is highly debated amongst fans, as the meaning of the name is also subject to some interpretation. As the Dark Kingdom villains are named after gems one idea is that Metalia’s name comes from “Metal”. I do not pretend to know all of the absolute answers explaining all names but I have decided to use Metalia as the spelling. I think this looks more like the word is pronounced and makes more sense. As for the choice to spell it Metaria as the manga title, I simply attribute this to someone writing a Japanese word phonetically which does not necessarily conform with English spelling. There are tons of similar examples of this in Sailor Moon. If you’re not sure, just as Singo.

Singo

Once Sailor Stars gets a new dub I’m sure we’ll have plenty of opportunities to debate the translation and spelling of words once again.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 13 - The Sailor Team defeating Metalia

Next up on January 3rd is Act 13, Final Battle – Reincarnation. Are Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask dead or did they learn a lesson from 1990 the hit film Problem Child? The episode, despite it’s title, will not likely include the Final Battle but it should include all of the build up to it! This will be the last full episode covering the Dark Kingdom story arc as Chibiusa is expected to arrive at the end of act 14, premiering on January 17th.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 13 - Final Battle - Reincarnation

Keep reading for more screenshots from this episode and the next episode preview.

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Watch Sailor Moon Crystal Act 12, Enemy – Queen Metaria, starting December 20th at 5am Eastern Time

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 12 Preview - Evil Tuxedo Mask and Queen Beryl

Set your alarm because the next episode of Sailor Moon Crystal will be available tomorrow morning. Act 12, Enemy – Queen Metaria, will stream on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico December 20th starting at 7pm Japan Standard Time, which is 5am Eastern Time and 2am Pacific Time.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 12 - Enemy - Queen Metaria

Sailor Moon has finally discovered that the man that looks exactly like Mamoru is actually Mamoru and she’s heartbroken! In this episode we’ll get some backstory for Queen Beryl and get a look at the evil energy that is Queen Metaria, who’s spelling is constantly debated. We will also get a look at Sailor Venus’s new attack Venus Rolling Heart Vibration and see lots of swordplay.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 12 Preview -

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 12 Preview -

Sailor Moon R episodes 63 and 64 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon R episode 63 - Rei's lecherous grandpa

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon R are now available on Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get episode 63 and 64 which has Sailor Mars getting a new attack and a little backstory for the mysterious Chibiusa.

Sailor Moon R episode 63 - Rei and her Grandpa fighting

Episode 63, Women Must Be Strong and Beautiful: Rei’s New Special Technique, is all about Rei and her lecherous grandfather. Rei’s grandpa is having martial arts classes at the Hikawa Shrine with Yuuichirou’s help. This has Rei all upset. The backstory of this is of course that Rei’s grandfather spends all of his time chasing young girls, including those he’s trying to attract to this class. Koan, along with the monster of the week, comes along to create further friction between Rei and her grandfather by suggesting the class focus more on combat. In the ensuing fight Sailor Mars uses her Burning Mandala attack for the first time.

Sailor Moon R episode 64 - Chibiusa crying

Episode 64, In Search of the Silver Crystal: Chibi-Usa’s Secret, gives us a bit more backstory on Chibiusa. Due to the Tsukino family being a bunch of dead beats, Chibiusa is stranded at school alone after all of the other kids are picked up. The ensuing thunder and lighting scares her greatly. Chibiusa uses Luna P to communicate with a mysterious figure from the future, who we will learn more about later. Unlike many not so well kept secrets of the show Pu’s true identity is not that obvious to those who don’t know where the story will lead. She gets sick of the 20th century and tries to use the Key to Space and time to go back to the future. This doesn’t work for whatever reason, possibly because it’s used indoors and the beam bounces but this is never clearly explained. This causes gravity to go wonky in the building. As luck would have it the Sailor Guardians happen to be in the same building and experience this weird anomaly as well. The girls are floating around and Rei ends up with her head up Minako’s skirt! Hilarity ensues.

Sailor Moon R episode 64 - Pu - Sailor Pluto

Support the site by downloading these episodes on Amazon Instant or buying Viz’s DVD and Blu-Ray releases using the links below.

Sailor Moon R episode 64 - Rei with her head up Minako's skirt

Listen to a preview of the upcoming Sailor Moon Crystal Soundtrack

Sailor Moon Crystal Original Soundtracks Video

The official Sailor Moon YouTube channel has posted an 8 minutes and 51 second preview of the music from their upcoming two disk Sailor Moon Crystal Soundtrack. Included in this preview are a number of tracks such as the various Sailor Guardians’ themes which haven’t been featured in the show yet. Watch the clip below!

The soundtrack will be released on December 24th and will feature music from the Dark Kingdom and Black Moon Clan story arcs. Check out this earlier post for a full track listing. You can pre-order the CD from Amazon Japan, CD Japan or YesAsia.

Thanks to Dulcyn from our comments for finding this video.