Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 162 and 163 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 163 - Nehelenia

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon SuperS have been added to Hulu and Neon Alley this morning. This week with episodes 162 and 163 we have some very story rich episodes that delve into the origins of Queen Nehelenia, the Dead Moon Circus, Elysion, Helios and all that stuff as the Golden Mirror is revealed and the Sailor Guardians are captured.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 162 - Elysion being destroyed

Episode 162, The Source of Darkness: Dead Moon Circus, gives us some backstory we’ve been waiting for. Pegasus does a bit of exposition and explains that the Dead Moon Circus and Nehelenia destroyed Elysion, his home, looking for the Golden Crystal which is actually his horn. The Golden Crystal is this all powerful thing that can destroy planets and cause all sorts of problems if someone evil gets it. Sound familiar? There are vines starting to grow around the city and as we’ve seen, Mamoru is dying. The girls fight their way past a bunch of Lemures to get into the tent. Finally the Golden Mirror, and therefore the person who’s dream Pegasus was hiding in, is revealed to be Chibiusa! We pretty much knew this and Fish Eye told us straight up in case there was any confusion. Sailor Chibi Moon gets her Golden Mirror removed and tries to put it back in with no success. To be continued.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 162 - Sailor Chibi Moon and her Golden Mirror

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 163 - Nehelenia on the Dead Moon

Episode 163, Labyrinth of Mirrors: Chibi Moon Captured, gives us even more backstory than the last episode! We get the scoop on Queen Nehelenia. Back in the day she observed the White Moon from… another Moon? Wait what? Now we know that there is just one Moon around the Earth so what exactly is going on here? Are we to believe that there used to be a second Moon or is it just that this second Moon is somehow not visible to us because it’s like… Dark? It’s best not to try to tease out the astronomical implications of this. A large Moon sized object rotating around the Earth would be very detectable not only because of its gravitational effects on objects in our system but also because of its ability to mask other objects, such as stars. The Dead Moon is sort of like the Moon when it is eclipsing the Sun, but showing it as a second celestial body is a bit odd. Anyway Nehelenia is into Helios and covets his Goidlen Crystal, but she’s evil so that doesn’t work out. Elysion is shown to have architecture reminiscent of ancient Greece, not unlike that seen in Silver Millennium, though the timeline is not specifically stated. Nehelenia has Chibiusa captured and tied up so the Amazoness Quartet, who can’t manage to obey anyone for long, bust her out by replacing her with a rag doll. They try to put a bridle on Pegasus to tame him as a pet, but this causes him to start a massive fire and all sorts of bad things happen. Meanwhile the Sailor Guardians are seduced with mirror like copies of themselves that are really Ziriconia. How fitting since she’s sort of like a mirror version of Nehelenia. The Amazoness Quartet get busted too and are themselves stuck in mirrors. Looks like everyone is trapped and all hope is lost!

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 163 - Swapping a Sailor Chibi Moon doll for Sailor Chibi Moon

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Sailor Moon SuperS episode 163 - Elysion

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 163 - The Amazoness Quartet stuck in mirrors

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 163 - Two Sailor Moons

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 162 - Tuxedo Mask dying

Meet Linda Ballantyne, the voice of Sailor Moon, and Susan Roman, the voice of Sailor Jupiter, at Wintercon in New York December 5th and 6th

Lita and Serena, Susan Roman and Linda Ballantyne

New York City Sailor Moon fans will have a chance to meet two voice actors from the original dub of Sailor Moon at Wintercon next weekend, December 5th and 6th, at the Resorts World Casino New York, near the John F. Kennedy Airport. In attendance will be Linda Ballantyne, the voice of Sailor Moon for Sailor Moon S and SuperS, and Susan Roman, the voice of Sailor Jupiter for the entire series.

Linda Ballantyne, the voice of Sailor Moon, at Wintercon

Susan Roman, the voice of Sailor Jupiter, at Wintercon

The English version of Sailor Moon Crystal Act 3, Rei – Sailor Mars, is now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 3, Rei - Sailor Mars

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal has been released in English on Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get Act 3, Rei – Sailor Mars, which introduces us to the third Sailor Guardian Rei Hino. Fans of the original Sailor Moon anime will notice this is quite similar to episode 10, The Cursed Bus: Enter Mars the Guardian of Fire, though there are still some differences. Usagi has a more obvious crush on Rei in this show. The manga, and Sailor Moon Crystal which is very faithfully based on it, progresses at a much faster pace than the original anime. We will be seeing a one to one ratio for manga chapters to episodes of this show as we progress through the 13 episode Dark Kingdom story arc.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 3, Rei - Sailor Mars

As with other episodes this has the improved animation from the Japanese Blu-Ray and DVD release of the show. The changes are minor, but some that viewers of the streaming version may not have seen yet. For my full thoughts on this episode read the review I wrote when the episode first became available to stream in Japanese.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 3, Rei - Usagi loves Rei

Next Friday, December 4th, is Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4, Masquerade Dance Party. It looks like dubbed episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal will only be available later in the evening, unlike what happens on Monday mornings for the subtitles episodes of the original Sailor Moon anime.

Watch the English dubbed version of Sailor Moon Crystal Act 3, Rei – Sailor Mars, this Friday November 27th

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 3, Rei - Usagi and Rei

English fans will finally be seeing the first of Sailor Moon Crystal’s Sailor Mars as the latest dubbed episode is released on Hulu and Neon Alley this Friday, November 27th. This week we get Act 3, Rei – Sailor Mars. Rei Hino will be voiced by Cristina Vee who voiced her in Viz’s new dub of the original Sailor Moon anime. All other actors from Sailor Moon Crystal are also reprising their roles. You can follow Cristina Vee on Twitter at @CristinaVee.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 3, Rei - Sailor Mars

I don’t exactly at what time of day the episode will air. The subtitled episodes released on Monday always come out early in the morning however we didn’t get the first two English Sailor Moon Crystal episodes until late last Friday evening to coincide with Moonlight Party 5. That was around 6pm Pacific Time, 9pm Eastern Time. So much to say if the episode is not up first thing in the morning do not panic. Viz still plans on releasing the episode at some point on Friday November 27th.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 3, Rei - Phobos and Deimos

Celebrate Black Friday in style with Rei’s crows Phobos and Deimos.

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Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 160 and 161 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 160 - Minako, PallaPalla and Usagi

We’re starting to wrap up Sailor Moon SuperS with this week’s new additions to Hulu and Neon Alley. Today we get episodes 160 and 161 which focus on the Amazoness Quartet. It’s a bit difficult to say when a Sailor Moon episode is fully standalone or part of an arc of episodes. Episode 160 has its own contained story but episode 161 ends in a bit of a cliffhanger which is why I’ve always considered it to be the first of a six part season finale for Sailor Moon SuperS. Yes that’s right. Sailor Stars is only 3 weeks away! If all continues at the rate it has we should be seeing the first episode of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars on Monday December 14th. If they play only the final episode of Sailor Moon SuperS that day we will get Sailor Star on December 21st.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 160 - CereCere, VesVes and JunJun

Episode 160, Dream to Be an Adult: the Amazoness’ Confusion, has the Sailor Guardians and the Amazoness Quartet getting along. The girls are setting up for a coming of age ceremony as they wear tags saying “20 age”. What is this? It’s a Japanese holiday called “Coming of Age Day” which celebrates a person coming into the age of majority, 20 years old. It’s sort of like an older Bar Mitzvah. Until 2000 the day was celebrated on January 15th. This episode aired on January 20th 1996, the Saturday following that year’s Coming of Age Day. How topical! The gang is setting things up and the Amazoness Quartet come along to help. This launches them into some deep questions about whether or not it’s good to become an adult. All of the girls here are under the age of majority, with the Sailor Guardians being around 15 years old and the Amazoness Quartet girls being somewhere between that age and Chibiusa’s age, ignoring of course that Chibiusa is over 900 in the manga. They clearly identify as children in most respects with their love of play. Perhaps in 1996 this was more of a question as adults of older generations more commonly abandoned the joys of youth as they graduated to adulthood. As a 37 year old Sailor Moon fan myself it’s easy to say there are many adults, including those who are reading this site most likely, who still find time and a place in their hearts to pursue interests which are more commonly aimed towards children. Peter Pan syndrome is much less of a taboo as adult toy collecting, comic book reading, video game playing and other such interests are common for mainstream adults. This episode’s Lemures, BiriBiri Yarou, is a large catfish that somewhat resembles Pac Man as he swims around in the air eating Dream Mirrors like little pellets of fish food.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 160 - The Amazoness Quartet

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 161 - The Dead Moon Circus Tent

Episode 161, Terror in Motion: The Dark Queen’s Evil Hand, is a somewhat slow paced episode. The main things that happens here is that there are a bunch of spider webs. There are not only spider webs around houses and trees and such but they seem to cover the sky itself. I’m reminded of the old 60s Spider-Man cartoon where Spider-Man would be swinging from webs that anchored high above him as the tops of buildings were clearly seen in the background. What, I wondered, were these webs sticking to? Perhaps the clouds? It’s nonsense but what else is up there for the webs to stick to? Whatever it is, that is the same thing that this week’s spider webs are attached to. As the webs get more and more prominent the sun gets darker and darker which is hurting Mamoru. The gang head to the Dead Moon Circus tent because after a season of this we’re finally putting two and two together and suspecting this thing. They find the Amazoness Quartet with tons of bodies and Dream Mirrors in a pretty creepy sight. Finally there’s a surprise eclipse which blocks out the sun which makes us wonder just what was the point of all of these spider webs anyway? The webbing was blocking out the sun but an eclipse does a much better job of that. This is having quite a toll on Mamoru who is very sensitive to negative impacts to the Earth. I wonder if Mamoru will sweat more and more as global warming slowly heats our planet. I guess we all will! As a bit of a cliffhanger in the final scene Pegasus shows up to tell us all that things are getting real.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 161 - The Amazoness Quartet killing people

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Sailor Moon SuperS episode 161 - Tuxedo Mask sick

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 161 - Pegasus appears

Watch Act 1 and 2 of the English dub of Sailor Moon Crystal on Hulu now

Sailor Moon Crystal English Title Screen

Sailor Moon fans who have been holding out for the English version can finally watch the new Sailor Moon anime. The first two episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal are now available to watch on Hulu and Neon Alley. We also have some news about the home video release. The Dark Kingdom story arc, which includes Acts 1 through 13, will be released on DVD, Blu-Ray and Limited Edition Blu-Ray February 9th. The three versions are available to pre-order on Amazon. The DVD will be $44.82, the DVD and Blu-Ray combo pack will be $69.99 and the limited edition combo pack will be $79.98.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.1 Usagi - Sailor Moon - Usagi and Luna

For many fans this may be the first time they watch this series. Act 1, Usagi – Sailor Moon, is the first episode of the series based on the first act of the Sailor Moon manga. In it young Usagi meets Luna who lets her transform into Sailor Moon. Act 2, Ami – Sailor Mercury, wastes no time in introducing us to the second Sailor Guardian the genius girl Ami. Long time fans may note strong similarities between Sailor Moon Crystal’s first two acts and the original anime episodes 1 “The Crybaby: Usagi’s Beautiful Transformation” and 8 “The Girl Genius Is a Monster: The Brainwashing Cram School of Horror”, but this is just because of similarities to the manga. The original anime series told the story at a much slower pace and quickly deviated from the manga so fans will be surprised to see just how much things change along the way with this story. Sailor Moon Crystal was a very faithful manga adaptation, so this is a great way to appreciate the original story. Next week will be Act 3, Rei – Sailor Mars, which again moves the story along quickly by introducing yet another Sailor Guardian. This gives a good indication of the faster pace Sailor Moon Crystal is taking.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.2 Ami - Sailor Mercury - Sailor Mercury

For those fans living in Canada, or elsewhere who can’t view the region restricted content on Hulu, I would suggest using some sort of proxy to view the content. There are many options to do this, some of which you will need to pay for, but a free option is Hola.org.

Support the site by preordering Sailor Moon Crystal on DVD or Blu-Ray using the links below.

Watch the first two episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal in English this Friday November 20th during Moonlight Party 5

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.1 Usagi - Sailor Moon - Sailor Moon

As we previously mentioned, the English dubbed version of Sailor Moon Crystal will start being released this Friday, with a new episode being released every Friday after this. These can be streamed online on Hulu and Neon Alley. To mark this event Viz will be holding Moonlight Party 5, at 6pm Pacific Time, 9pm Eastern Time, this Friday. This event will stream on YouTube. The episodes themselves are not part of the stream, which does not suffer from the same region specific problems that Hulu does. As always there will be contests where you can win prizes. You can watch the event in the embedded video below.

To learn more about Moonlight Party 5 check out the Facebook Page for the event.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.2 Ami - Sailor Mercury - Ami and Luna

Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 158 and 159 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 158 - Chibiusa kissing Pegasus

As with every Monday two new episodes of Sailor Moon have been added to Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 158 and 159. A ton of plot is given as Chibiusa switches ages with Usagi, deepens her relationship with Pegasus and keeps it all from her friends.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 158 - Old Sailor Chibi Moon and Young Sailor Moon

Episode 158, Pegasus’s Secret: the Boy Who Protects the Dream World, is sort of like the plot of a 1988 comedy movie. That year brought us Vice Verse and 18 Again, two movies where the main characters envied each other’s ages and through magic switched bodies! Something like this happens as Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi Moon, bickering in front of PallaPalla, are complaining that the other has it better at their age. PallaPalla uses her magic to grant their wish, and high jinx ensues. Usagi is young which is mostly silly. Chibiusa gets older which to her is a big change. This hasn’t happened since that time she was evil! Oddly old Chibiusa doesn’t look that much like Black Lady which doesn’t make much sense to me. Well Chibiusa is old but it seems Pegasus isn’t all that into her anymore, which is oddly inappropriate. Chibiusa meets him once again in her dream and he gives her the exposition of all exposition. We learn that he’s really a boy named Helios and that his kingdom of Elysion was attacked and that he’s being held hostage by the villain who we still don’t really see. We kind of get more plot now than we have all season. Chibiusa finally goes back to being young again, sparking Pegasus’s interest once more. They go to kiss each other as Pegasus reveals his true form as Helios.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 158 - Chibiusa kissing Helios

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 159 - Makoto and Rei quizzing Chibusa about the mysterious boy

Episode 159, Chibi-Usa’s Little Rhapsody of Love, is a great comedy episode. Chibiusa’s love of Pegasus is beginning to become obvious to Usagi and her friends, but Chibiusa is never actually seen with any boys so everyone is wondering just who it is she’s infatuated with! Thus begins the inquisition! First Rei and Makoto try to drill her for information, but this just results in Makoto repeatedly assuming it’s her “sempai”. When Minako and Ami try to get to the bottom of it they learn that Chibiusa is in love with someone who is white with a long face. The audience knows this is Pegasus but without knowing this is a horse this sounds like the description of a frightening looking man with a horse face. Chibiusa is at a pond looking at some fish and there happens to be a terribly unattractive man there who everyone decides must be the object of Chibiusa’s affections. Sadly he is not but by sheer coincidence he is being targeted by JunJun so a little battle ensues.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 159 - And ugly man with a long face

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Sailor Moon SuperS episode 158 - Young Super Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 158 - Old Chibiusa

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 158 - Helios

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 159 - Chibiusa and Pegasus flying

Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 156 and 157 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 156 - Kamoi paints Usagi

Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 156 and 157 were added to Hulu and Neon Alley this morning. This week’s episodes are all about Chibiusa as she befriends a starving artist and a kid who has a dream of making a flying bike.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 156 - Kamoi paints CereCere

Episode 156, Don’t Lose Sight of Your Dreams: the Mirror of Truth, is all about starving artists. Literally. Chibiusa makes a painting of Usagi, but Usagi doesn’t think it’s as pretty as her. This sheds light on what this episode tries to tell us is a common problem with artists as we meet Kamoi, who has the same problem with all of his clients. He makes extremely accurate portraits of his clients but they are all upset, wanting him to make them prettier than they really are! Usagi and Chibiusa feed Kamoi because he is literally starving, letting his artistic integrity get in the way of profits. Enter CereCere, who is apparently interested not only in finding pure hearts but also in corrupting them. She offers to fund Kamoi if he paints her in a flattering way, which he reluctantly agrees to. There’s a fight and then Kamoi gets his groove back, pledging to always be honest in his work. Once Chibiusa has completed her portrait of Usagi, Kamoi asks her what the work is titled. In a rare moment of insight into Chibiusa and Usagi’s real relationship she reveals that she has named it “The Person I Most Admire”.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 156 - Chibiusa's painting of Usagi

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 157 - Hiroki and the St. Louis

Episode 157, Pegasus Disappears: Wavering Friendship, explores the plausibility of a flying bike! Now I know this is a show about magical girls who defy science and logic at every turn, but I just can’t get my mind around the physics of this flying bike. Young Hiroki basically is trying to construct a bike which is all pimped out with wings which will fly. This isn’t working because you can’t really make a bicycle fly. Kyuusuke, who is always kind of a jerk, plainly states that what he is doing is impossible. His evidence is simply that if bikes could fly there would be flying bikes all over the sky! This is actually a pretty decent point. The best evidence that bikes can’t fly isn’t so much an in depth exploration of the physics involved but rather the realization that in about 200 years of bicycles and 100 years of planes we don’t have flying bikes. This isn’t the FAA keeping the little man down. It’s just incredibly impractical. This said what Hiroki is trying to do with his machine, the St. Louis, is actually more of a glider. He’s not going full tilt on a flat surface trying to get some lift. He’s speeding down a hill and off a cliff trying to glide. Gliders exist so from that point of view what he’s doing isn’t total nonsense. Ultimately, with Kyuusuke’s help, Hiroki is able to get the St. Louis off the ground. A bit far fetched, but he’s not exactly propelling himself indefinitely in the sky with this thing. It’s likely that, moments after we see Hiroki and Kyuusuke flying off into the horizon, they would quickly lose altitude and crash very hard, perhaps into a the side of a building or into a busy street, destroying the St. Louis and breaking a few bones in the process. But this is a show about girls with super powers fighting monsters so maybe not.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 157 - The St. Louis flies

I did a bit of research to see if there were any real flying bicycles. One can find a lot of images of people on the ground with flying bikes, but none of them soaring through the skies. The video embedded below shows what such a device is like. It’s much more light weight than the St. Louis with a much larger wing span and manages to get airborne for only a few seconds. Still it is a bike and it flies, so the concept is not total nonsense. Don’t expect to be flying to and from work every day without some external power source though.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 157 - Why bikes don't fly

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Holy Grail and Cosmic Heart Compact PROPLICA Toys are coming next year

Sailor Moon PROPLICA Holy Grail

A few great PROPLICA toys from Sailor Moon S are being released by Bandai. Sailor Moon’s Holy Grail, used to transform into Super Sailor Moon, will be released in February and the Cosmic Moon Compact will be released in May. For whatever reason Bandai refers to the Holy Grail as the Rainbow Moon Chalice. They used that name when the first toy was released in the 90s and they are using that name again, even though this item was only ever referred to as the Holy Grail in the Sailor Moon manga and anime. It makes sound and light, as can be seen in the promotional video below which has the voice of Kotono Mitsuishi, who plays Usagi, saying “Crisis Make Up” while the Holy Grail shines in a number of colours. Watch a video below of the Holy Grail.

Cosmic Heart Compact PROPLICA

The Cosmic Moon Compact is the transformation item used by Sailor Moon in Sailor Moon S and the Infinity arc of the manga. It opens to reveal a heart shaped crystal which makes plays the music of Sailor Moon’s third transformation, while the crystal blinks. This toy once again uses the voice of Kotono Mitsuishi. You can watch a video of this below.

A Spiral Heart Moon Rod PROPLICA item was previously announced. It is released this month. I just never got around to posting about it.

Spiral Heart Moon Rod PROPLICA

PROPLICA items are high quality but they aren’t cheap. These replicas are perfectly to scale and look just like you’d imagine these items to look like in the real world. The Holy Grail will cost 10,800 yen, which is about $90 US. The Cosmic Moon Compact will cost 6500 yen, which is about $63 US. The Spiral Heart Moon Rod costs 11,880 yen, about $96 US.

Source: The Sailor Moon Official Site (Holy Grail, Cosmic Heart Compact) & Tamashii Nations (Holy Grail, Cosmic Heart Compact, Spiral Heart Moon Rod)

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