Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38, Infinity 12 – Infinite – Journey, review

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - The 10 Sailor Guardians

The entire Infinity arc of Sailor Moon Crystal is now available to view online. The final episode we’ll see for a while, Act 38, Infinity 12 – Infinite – Journey aired on Japanese television on Monday June 27th at 11pm Japan Standard Time. Immediately afterwards it was available to view on Crunchyroll, Neon Alley and Hulu, starting at 10:30am Eastern Time. This week is a bit of a mixed bag as we wrap up the story of Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn and then move on for a teaser of the upcoming Dream arc. We still have no official confirmation that this new arc will be adapted. This episode is just doing exactly what the equivalent manga chapter did. While it seems likely at this point that we will be seeing more episodes this would certainly not be the first show to have a really awesome cliffhanger final episode which we never saw a follow up to.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Title Screen with Sailor Saturn

As always we start with an unreasonably long flashback! This week’s spans 3 minutes and 13 seconds which covers half of the last episode! At least we see a lot of Sailor Saturn. The opening theme, In Love With the New Moon, is the first version sung by Etsuko Yakushimaru. The full length version of this song is also heard in the episode itself. This is my favourite version of the opening so it was nice to hear. The ending theme used is Eternal Eternity sung by the voices of Sailor Uranus, Junko Minagawa and Sailor Neptune, Sayaka Ohara.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Super Sailor Venus

Sailor Moon blasts out of the Pharaoh 90/Mistress 9 monster juice thing and in doing so causes some damage. She gives everyone super transformations! Well almost everyone. How come Tuxedo Mask doesn’t get an upgrade? He’d look great in some transparent shoulder pads! Poor guy. At least he has his male privilege to fall back on.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Sailor Saturn smiles Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 - Super Sailor Moon going to her death

Sailor Saturn, who was supposed to be destroying the world at the end of the last episode, decides to attack Pharaoh 90 and go to her death. She turns and smiles to her friends just like Sailor Moon had last week. This was a nice touch, as both seem willing to sacrifice themselves to save others.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Three Women and a Baby

Unfortunately Sailor Saturn has to die. Sailor Pluto is the one to do this. She’s upset about it, although this was kind of the plan all along. Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were ready to kill Hotaru in order to save the world. The solution now is to lock her, Pharaoh 90 and the Tau Star System away forever. Sailor Pluto does this with the Dark Dome Close attack. Her penance for killing Sailor Saturn? Her and her friends have to raise the reincarnated baby version of her! There’s some sort of odd justice here. This will be a tough conversation when she gets a bit older and asks why she has three moms! This is basically a genderbend version of Three Men and a Baby, a mediocre 80s comedy movie by Leonard Nimoy. “Well you see we helped killed your Dad and then killed you, so you’re adopted. Sorry not sorry.”

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - The Messiah

Sailor Moon becomes Neo Queen Serenity. OMG she was the one we saw in the visions. This isn’t the future version of Neo Queen Serenity possessing Sailor Moon in some way. This is Usagi in full control of her faculties. There’s no other consciousness in there. So I wonder why she doesn’t seem to remember what happens. Sailor Moon asks where this baby came from, and Sailor Uranus basically says it’s “From precious you”, which no doubt is a terrible translation, but basically she believes that Neo Queen Serenity caused Sailor Saturn to reincarnate as baby Hotaru. Sure. The original Queen Serenity is the one that sent everyone to reincarnate in the present time after they were all killed. Future Neo Queen Serenity is the one who sent Sailor Pluto back in time to reincarnate as Setsuna. It stands to reason that Sailor Moon, the present version, is the one that did this. There’s no other consciousness which is doing stuff here. It’s not insinuated that old lady uploaded consciousness computer simulated Queen Serenity on the Moon has any real power here. Why doesn’t Sailor Moon have full memory of doing this? It doesn’t really add up to me.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Super Sailor Chibi Moon

Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn leave and then we have a commercial break. There’s meant to be a massive passage of time here but I don’t feel that this is well conveyed at all. In the original manga the Infinity arc concludes here which is the end of a chapter. Following this we get The Lover of Princess Kaguya side story which is a full manga book which is the equivalent of the Sailor Moon S movie, which then has a side story about Rei. There are a bunch of other side stories published later which are understood to take place during this break which is basically the time when the girls are preparing for their high school entrance exams. Ami’s First Love, which was adapted in an anime special, falls into this period as well. The first three story arcs all follow one another directly, but the Dream arc was never meant to do so. When the manga was rereleased in 2003 the chapters were broken up differently so they ended up breaking this particular Act up very poorly so that this passage of time isn’t properly demonstrated and happens between pages of the same story. I think Sailor Moon Crystal had a good chance to pace things out a bit differently and have the season end here, but they didn’t do that and instead, it’s time to go to high school.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - High school girls

This episode is kind of like the first episode of Sailor Stars from the original Sailor Moon anime. Those first 6 episodes of Sailor Stars basically fix the problems that the SuperS season skipped, including some characters which will be returning later in the Dream arc. The girls are supposed to be in high school before meeting Pegasus as we see here. Most of the girls have Juban High School Uniforms. Rei does not, as she goes to her own school which does not use high school entrance exams. We don’t really have an equivalent to these in the West. I suppose maybe the SATs are something similar but as a Canadian this is also something I only know of through TV and movies. I’ve never had a test so important in my schooling that it required me getting addicted to caffeine pills like Jessie Spano. So much to say Japanese high school entrance exams are a big deal and the source of a lot of stress, and the girls are meant to have been preparing for this during the long period covered by the commercial break which we don’t even get in the streaming version.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Solar Eclipse

Chibiusa says she’s going to leave on April 1st, at the time of a Solar Eclipse. The next Solar eclipse that will occur on April 1st is in 2098 and there certainly wasn’t one in the 90s when the manga was written, but this is pretty nitpicky even for me. She mentions in her letter to her mother “Please come to pick me up”. How exactly does this work? Is Neo Queen Serenity from the future going to travel to the 30th century to come pick up Chibiusa? Who’s guardian the Space-Time Door with future Sailor Pluto dead and Diana in the past?

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Artemis and Luna cry for Diana

Speaking of Diana! Usagi says to Luna, who isn’t present when this is said, that she will see Diana “very soon”. What does this mean? From the frame of reference of Diana then she would see her parents soon, in the future. From Luna and Artemis’s point of view they won’t see her soon at all. Diana is a kitten. Chibiusa, who is born in less than a decade, is 900 years old in the 30th century. Is Diana a permakitten born in the 20th or 21st century and never aging? Permakittens would revolutionize the pet industry! Kittens are most of the reason people have adult cats!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Usagi and Chibiusa see Pegasus

So the gang are watching the eclipse and they hear a bell. They turn around to see… Pegasus! Well we don’t see Pegasus but in the manga version of Act 38, the final image has Usagi and Chibiusa seeing Pegasus. There’s no preview for another episode, but we will likely at some point be seeing Act 39, Dream 1 – Eclipse Dream. This will be part of the 4th story arc which, if current trends continue, will likely be referred to as Season 4 or Season IV in Japan. I’ve still been calling them arcs or phases but I may start using the term season if that becomes well established. We have no specifics on if and when we might get new episodes but perhaps we will learn something tomorrow at the live event to celebrate Usagi’s birthday.

Keep reading for more screenshots from this episode.

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A new Sailor Moon official app and game are now available for Android and they’re terrible if you aren’t a Fan Club member living in Japan

Sailor Moon Official App - Bust a Move type game against Morga

Update: July 3rd 2016: Users can sign into the app to play the game if they have a Fan Club account that hasn’t completed registration. You can do this without living in Japan. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way to sign up for a new account at this time.

News has been posted on the Official Sailor Moon site about an Official Sailor Moon app. No this is not Sailor Drops, the addictive and frustrating puzzle game which everyone loves to hate. This app is basically just an interface to the official Sailor Moon site with a built in game which it seems you can only play if you’re a member of the Fan Club, which you can only do if you live in Japan. For now the app is only available on Android devices. An iOS version, for iPhone devices, will be available soon. Android users can download the app from the Google Play store.

Sailor Moon Official App - Menu screen

I had to rummage through some old Gameboy games and NES controllers to find my old and busted Android phone which has a bad power button so I can’t take screenshots with it. That’s okay because there’s not much to see. It’s basically a wrapper around the site. I got an error at one point and it just said it couldn’t load sailormoon-official.com. There is a button at the bottom which I believe is the link to play the game but it prompts me to log in to the Fan Club which I am unable to do as I could never sign up since I don’t live in Japan. Check out this great photo I got of the app in action!

The Sailor Moon Official App is lame

All in all this app seems like a colossal waste of time if you aren’t part of the fan club. This may change in the future but for now I don’t think there’s any value in this. Have you been able to get the app to do anything but surf around the official site and Fan Club page?

Sailor Moon Official App - Fan club info

Sailor Moon Official App - Level progression

Watch Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38, Infinity 12 – Infinite – Journey, Monday June 27th at 10:30am Eastern Time

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 Preview - Sailor Saturn

The Infinity arc ends this week! Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38, Infinity 12 – Infinite – Journey, will air on Japanese TV Monday June 27th at 11pm Japan Standard Time. Immediately afterwards it will be streamed on Crunchyroll, Neon Alley and Hulu starting at 10:30am. This is the final episode in the current story arc. After this we will likely not have any new episodes for a while. Some viewers have remained optimistic that we will be following directly into the Dream arc next week but I don’t think this is likely. We have received no official confirmation that there will be new episodes. We don’t have any cast information or art. We’ve had information about CDs, home video releases and all other sorts of tie ins to the Infinity arc, referred to commonly as season III, but nothing about the Dream arc or a season IV. I think more episodes are likely at this point, but barring any official confirmation we can’t say with certainty that this will happen and we have no idea of when this might occur at this time.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 Preview - Sailor Saturn

When we left off last week Sailor Moon was dead and Sailor Saturn was destroying the world. How will the gang manage to avoid dying and having the world be destroyed? What happened to Sailor Moon? Will she be holding someone in her arms?! The answer to this and more in Act 38!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 Preview - Super Sailor Moon Crying

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37, Infinity 11 – Infinite – Judge, review

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 - Sailor Saturn attacks

We’re almost done with the Infinity arc of Sailor Moon Crystal. The latest episode aired on Japanese TV on Monday June 20th at 11pm Japan Standard Time and was available to stream immediately afterwards starting at 10:30am Eastern Time on Crunchyroll, Neon Alley and Hulu. Act 37, Infinity 11 – Infinite – Judge, is all about the appearance of Sailor Saturn! This was a long time coming. More on that later in the review!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 - Rainbow Double Moon Heart Ache

The episode starts out with a ton of repeated footage. This happens occasionally as the first scene repeats the last few seconds of the last episode but it was for two and a half minutes this week! This is a build up to a new attack, the Rainbow Double Moon Heart Ache, performed simultaneously by Super Sailor Moon and Super Sailor Chibi Moon. Another new attack! Too bad it doesn’t do much but feed Mistress 9!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 - Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber

Mistress 9 merges with Pharaoh 90 which is kinky and sort of terrible. It’s not really clear what this does instead of just making the gang fight Pharaoh 90 now. We didn’t really see what he was capable of before this. The two grow and grow with power the more they get attacked. It absorbs power so we need to really give it a lot more power to kill it! I guess that makes some kind of sense. Sailor Moon doesn’t often distinguish between energy helping and nourishing something and destroying it. A source of electricity can power a building but if you stick your tongue on it you might end up electrocuted! So everyone joins in and attacks. We even get Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber which is always fun.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 - Super Sailor Moon going to her death

This isn’t working, and Sailor Moon decides she needs to take the Holy Grail right into the belly of the beast and release it. She smiles to her friends and dives in. There’s something so inspiring and tragic about this look she gives. She knows what she has to do and doesn’t hesitate. As far as we can tell she dies in there.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 - Sailor Saturn

Sailor Saturn. At long last. I don’t hide that Sailor Mars has always been my favourite but I also have a fondness for Sailor Saturn. Unfortunately we see so little of her in the original anime that we are always left wanting to see more of her! No transformation sequence, very few attacks. Now is the time for that to change! Finally Sailor Saturn in Sailor Moon Crystal! We don’t really get a transformation sequence, but what we see is like the tail end of one. This was more than I expected so I’m happy to see it! Sailor Saturn looks so bad ass and I love her attitude. She’s come to destroy the world and doesn’t seem to be concerned with the mild inconvenience this may cause for everyone around!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 - Sailor Saturn

Sailor Saturn makes an interesting comment. She says that history is twisted. She insinuates that Hotaru should have died during her accident, but was allowed to survive as a cyborg which somehow seems to have been a fundamental change to the timeline. What is that about? Did something happen here that went against the causal fabric of the universe? I’m a determinist so as far as I see it things are playing out the way they always would have and always will. The one thing which could interfere with this of course is time travel, as we had last season, but that does not apply here. What order of events led to the lab accident which would have lead to Hotaru’s death but did not lead to Professor Tomoe resurrecting his daughter as a cyborg? These two events are linked. The Death Busters showed up afterwards. Is that some sort of unaccounted for outside influence? Saturn states that Professor Tomoe attracted the Death Busters. Why does Professor Tomoe go against the causal fabric of the universe? Does he and only he have free will, while the rest of the inhabitants of the Earth do not?

Tokyo in the 21st Century vs. 30th Century Crystal Tokyo

Sailor Saturn mentions that what drew the Death Busters to this area was also that it was the chosen land. This area would be where the Crystal Palace would be in the future. During the Black Moon story arc I mentioned how it was interesting that images of Tokyo Bay seemed to show the palace on reclaimed land that seemed to be a new island in the bay. Since Mugen Academy and the surrounding area was built on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, this seems to add up! This specific placement of the Crystal Palace was not originally included in the manga version of Crystal Tokyo but it actually aligned itself well with what was mentioned here, a tie which I did not think of until rereading this chapter recently.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 - Sailor Saturn

Another new attack with a questionable name! Sailor Saturn uses Death Reborn Revolution but it is referred to as Death Ribbon Revolution. The two names sound so alike that one can easily see how they might get confused. Additionally this attack uses a bunch of ribbons to destroy the world! A SuperS fighting game has an attack Death Ribbon Revolution. Is this meant to be the same attack or something different with an almost identical name? I tend to think this all has to do with inconsistent interpretations of this move and how it should be spelled in Japanese kana and then translated back into English. That said I do believe that the correct name should be Death Reborn Revolution.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 - Death Reborn Revolution

And so Sailor Saturn destroys the world. What a great way to end the episode! Sailor Moon is lost, probably dead, and Sailor Saturn just used her attack which destroys the planet. Fade to white, just like Total Recall. Series finale! Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this program you should watch 48 and a half episodes of the live action series now!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 Preview - Sailor Saturn

I kid of course. Next week is Act 38, Infinity 12 – Infinite – Journey. How to survive an attack which really should destroy the world without destroying the world! Next week’s episode will be the last for a while but hopefully not the last ever!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 Preview - Sailor Chibi Moon

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Watch Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37, Infinity 11 – Infinite – Judge, June 20th at 10:30am Eastern Time

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 Preview - Sailor Saturn

We’re almost done with the current run of episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal. This Monday we will get the second last episode of the Infinity arc, Act 37, Infinity 11 – Infinite – Judge. The episode will air on Japanese TV on Monday June 20th at 11pm Japan Standard Time. After that, starting at 10:30am, it will be available to stream on Crunchyroll, Neon Alley and Hulu. This week is all about the appearance of Sailor Saturn!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 Preview - Sailor Saturn

I’ve long griped about barely being able to see Sailor Saturn in the original Sailor Moon anime. Well now we’ll be able to see her first, but still somewhat brief, appearance in Sailor Moon Crystal. A transformation sequence seems unlikely at this point as Hotaru doesn’t really turn into Sailor Saturn, she’ll just sort of show up intent on destroying the world. Let’s see how that turns out for everyone!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 Preview - Sailor Saturn

The next Sailor Moon musical, Amour Eternal, has a terrible name

Amour Eternal - Did you mean Amour éternel?

An update has been posted to the official Sailor Moon site which reveals the name of the latest musical, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Amour Eternal, as well as a complete cast listing. The new musical has been confirmed to be covering the Dream arc of the manga, adapted as Sailor Moon SuperS in the original Sailor Moon anime. This title is just the worst! Amour, as most probably know, is the French word for love. Eternal however is not French at all. It’s a full on English word. What the hell? Why not Amour éternel, which would actually be proper French? Are we supposed to pronounce it in French? It just sounds gross to say Amour Eternal. It’s just bastardizing two languages. It’s gross. The last two musicals all had fully French names. Is this supposed to be a misspelled French word or is this intentionally terribly mismatched English and French words? This is just bad and it will not stop bothering me and I will probably not be able to avoid mentioning how terribly stupid it is at least once in any post referencing this musical. This offends me as both and English and French speaking person and it should bother you too.

Everlasting love translates to Amour éternel

This title will just lead to more confusion on what the name means. Amour éternel would translate roughly to everlasting love or eternal love. I guess eternal is more the word we’re going for since it’s the actual English word in the horrible title.

Here’s an English translation of the cast, courtesy of Wikimoon:

Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon: Hotaru Nomoto
Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury: Yume Takeuchi
Rei Hino/Sailor Mars: Karen Kobayashi
Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter: Kaede
Minako Aino/Sailor Venus: Rimo Hasegawa
Haruka Tenou/Sailor Uranus: Syu Shiotsuki
Michiru Kaiou/Sailor Neptune: Sayaka Fujioka
Hotaru Tomoe/Sailor Saturn: Karin Takahashi
Sailor Pluto: Mikako Ishii
Sailor Chibi Moon/Chibiusa: Airi Kanda
Helios: Hikaru Hiyama
Queen Nehellenia: Sayu Otsuki
Zirconia: Kanami Sakai
Tiger’s Eye: Chihiro Ando
Hawk’s Eye: Riona Tatemichi
Fisheye: Yumi
Dead Moon Circus: Yoshika Kobayashi, Risa Kawamura, Yoshimi Hidano, Chiemi Doi, Ayano Nagasawa, Ayumi Sagisaka
Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask: Yuga Yamato

Some newcomers and some repeat performances here. Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus are all new actors, as we’ve seen announced previously. We already saw that Yuga Yamato would return as Tuxedo Mask. Shuu Shiotsuki, Sayaka Fujioka, Mikako Ishii and Karin Takahashi will be reprising their roles as Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn. Airi Kanda will also be returning as Chibiusa. Riona Tatemichi, who previously played Rubeus in the Petite Étrangère musical, will be playing Hawk’s Eye. The rest of the cast are newcomers to the musicals, as those characters have no appeared before.

We Are The New Pretty Guardians - The cast of the next Sailor Moon musical

We previously reported that Hikari Kuroki would play Ami Mizuno, Sailor Mercury. This role is now credited as Yume Takeuchi. I don’t know what prompted this change in casting, but this replacement was posted as a separate update on the Sailor Moon official site on the same day as this updated cast listing was shared.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 36, Infinity 10 – Infinite – Upper Atmosphere, review

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 36 - Hotaru dies

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal aired Japanese TV Monday June 13th 11pm. Immediately afterwards, starting at 10:30am Eastern Time, the show became available to stream first on Crunchyroll and then on Neon Alley and Hulu. Act 36 is the first of a three part finale for the Infinity arc, as this was once a single long chapter of the manga. The episode is all about Hotaru freeing herself from Mistress 9 and the consequences of that as well as a power up for Sailor Chibi Moon.

Phanto from Super Mario Bros. 2 Sailor Moon Crystal Act 36 - Pharaoh 90 happy face

We get an idea of the Death Busters’ end game here. Pharaoh 90 wants to vesselize the planet. How odd! Up until now we’ve only seen the vesselization of living being but he wants to do it to the planet. What will this look like? Literally a comical smiley face on planet earth. No this isn’t a bad photoshop but rather a screenshot from the episode! Looks like Phanto from Super Mario Bros. 2/Doki Doki Panic to me! They seek to make the Earth a second Tau Star System with this. Wait a minute how do you make a planet a star system which is shown as a galaxy? I don’t really understand the scope of the astronomical references of this arc.

Sailor Moon Manga Act 36 - Mistress 9 with elf ears Sailor Moon Crystal Act 36 - Mistress 9 has elf ears

Mistress 9 is some weird looking in this episode. What’s with the elf ears? This could be a reflection of the monster inside. She does have a more monstrous looking face as time goes on in the manga. I think, however, that those ears are inspired but a misinterpretation of some art in the manga. Only one panel shows Mistress 9 with pointy ears and I don’t think it was meant to be elf ears at all. She has all sorts of things sticking out of her in this one image and the sharp things near her ears just happen to look like pointy ears. She has normal small round ears in all other panels in the manga. She’s also got bulging Total Recall dying on the surface of Mars eyes.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 36 - Hotaru protects the Sailor Guardians' souls

Mistress 9 is chowing down on hostes or souls. She eats Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus’s but this doesn’t last long. Hotaru protects them, along with Chibiusa’s soul and Crystal, and decides it’s time to GTFO. She leaves Mistress 9’s body, which is actually her body, and is able to take those souls with her. Great news? Actually it means she’s going to have to die.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 36 - Hotaru and Chibiusa

Hotaru uses her last bit of life to bring Chibiusa’s soul back to her, along with her Crystal. What follows is a tearful and heart wrenching farewell. She mentions that she feels like her encounter with Chibiusa was destiny, pointing out that this seems odd because they’re both girls. The obvious interpretation of this is that destiny is usually something that would connect lovers. In Japan there is an idea, shared amongst other Asian cultures, that a red thread connects lovers together through fate or destiny. Why does Hotaru think this is odd? Because they aren’t lovers, or because their relationship is not heterosexual and therefore not fitting with her expectation? This story arc, and the show as a whole, has precedent dealing with same sex relationships. Ultimately the romantic aspects of Hotaru and Chibiusa’s relationship are subject to interpretation. There’s nothing overt about this relationship, but this is one of the many insinuations that it has romantic undertones. In case you were wondering, of course I’m shipping these two!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 36 - Sailor Chibi Moon flies

Mamoru encourages Chibiusa to go out in fight. You can see this is hard for him, but he pushes her for it anyway. Chibiusa is totally bad ass here. She digs deep and finds the will to fight to save the world. A lot of fans may not have liked her portrayal in the original anime but it’s hard not to like Chibiusa now. She seems to have immediately increased in power and she jumps out the window and flies to where she’s going. We previously saw that Chibiusa appeared to be the only member of the team that was not able to fly.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 36 - Tuxedo Mask transforms

I was really hoping that this episode would have an amazing transformation sequence for Tuxedo Mask. In the manga we see him transform and get a look at his nakedness. Sadly this doesn’t occur here. I was hoping for a full on elaborate stock footage calibre transformation for Tuxedo Mask. Instead we see him glow and quickly transform behind his cape. I blame the patriarchy.

Ryuk from Death Note Sailor Moon Crystal Act 36 - Mistress 9's Daimon

When Hotaru left Mistress 9’s body, it meant that Mistress 9 was also no longer bound to that body. The Daimon inside escaped, destroying the body, which killed Hotaru. This Daimon kind of looks like Ryuk from Death Note. I don’t know much about this series, and only ever saw the terrible live action movie adaptation, but this guy from that show immediately came to mind when I saw it.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 36 - Super Sailor Moon and Super Sailor Chibi Moon

What’s the gang to do? Sailor Chibi Moon does an effective Pink Sugar Heart Attack for a change but that isn’t enough. We need Super Sailor Moon … but wait! Chibiusa gets a grail too and she becomes Super Sailor Chibi Moon. Unfortunately we don’t get a full transformation sequence for Super Sailor Chibi Moon. Oh well.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 Preview - Sailor Saturn

Next time is Act 37, Infinity 11 – Infinite – Judge. Sailor Saturn. That’s all. Who cares what else happens in this episode because it’s Sailor Saturn! We’ve been waiting for this for like… ever! Finally we will start seeing a proper representation of Sailor Saturn in an animated series after she got totally shafted in the original Sailor Moon anime. I can’t wait!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 Preview - Sailor Saturn

Keep reading for more screenshots from this episode and the preview for Act 37.

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Meet Vince Corazza, Tony Daniels, Jennifer Cihi and more at the Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration July 9th

Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration banner

The second Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration will be taking place next month, on July 9th, at the Ontario Science Center. This year has some great guests in store yet again. Voice actors Vince Corazza, the voice of Alan Granger and the third voice of Tuxedo Mask, will be there. Tony Daniels, the voice of Jadeite, will be making his second appearance at the convention. Jennifer Cihi, who provided the vocals for many songs in the original English dub of Sailor Moon, will be there to perform a concert. Fan Fiction The Show, who have previously done comedy shows in Toronto about Sailor Moon and other fandoms, will be putting on a live comedy performance at the convention.

Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration - Fanfiction the show

There will also be a lot of Cosplay guests including Yume and Kitsurie from Cosmeko, Jelly Cosplay, and Ammie Cosplay. I met Cosmeko at Unplugged Expo a couple of years ago and they had some great tips for making Sailor Moon costumes and accessories.

Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration cosplay

I had a great time at the Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration last year and even had a chance to participate in a few of the panels. Unfortunately I won’t be able to make the trip to Toronto this year.

For more details check out the event’s Facebook page, official web site or Moon Chase. You can also read the press release below for details on everything planned at this event.

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Watch Sailor Moon Crystal Act 36, Infinity 10 – Infinite – Upper Atmosphere, Monday June 13th at 10:30am Eastern Time

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 36 Preview - Hotaru

The next episode of Sailor Moon Crystal will air on Japanese TV tomorrow, June 13th, at 11pm Japan Standard Time. Afterwards, starting at 10:30am Eastern Time, the episode will be available to stream on Crunchyroll, Neon Alley and Hulu. . Act 36, Infinity 10 – Infinite – Upper Atmosphere, is the first of a three part conclusion to the Infinity arc. These next three episodes were originally one massive chapter of the original Sailor Moon manga. Because of this the pacing may seem a bit off.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 36 Preview - Sailor Moon cries

Hotaru is a big deal this week, trying to free herself from the evil Mistress 9 who’s ingesting human souls like they were candy. One major thing we just might see in this episode is a Tuxedo Mask transformation sequence. The equivalent manga chapter, which we expect should be faithfully adapted as all others before it have, shows Mamoru transforming into Tuxedo Mask. We never got an elaborate stock footage transformation for Tuxedo Mask in the original Sailor Moon anime. This happened a few times but these were quick and nothing like what the other Sailor Guardians did, and by that I mean we didn’t see a glowing naked version of him. Fingers crossed!

Sailor Moon Manga Act 36 - Tuxedo Mask transforms

Meet Linda Ballantyne, Katie Griffin, Susan Roman and Toby Proctor at Eternal Con in Long Island this weekend, June 11th and 12th

Eternal Con Sailor Moon Reunion

This weekend is Eternal Con at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, New York. New York City Sailor Moon fans will have a chance to meet Linda Ballantyne, the voice of Sailor Moon, Katie Griffin, the voice of Sailor Mars, Susan Roman, the voice of Sailor Jupiter, and Toby Proctor, the voice of Tuxedo Mask. Though the convention runs from June 10th to the 12th these voice actors from the original dub of the Sailor Moon anime will be there on Saturday June 11th and Sunday June 12th.

A panel will be held on Sunday, June 12th, at 1pm with all of the voice actors. Photo ops will be Saturday at 11am and Sunday at 12pm. I did not see any specifics about autographs on the site but the cast likely be available throughout Saturday and Sunday when they are not otherwise occupied.

Also appearing at the convention is Yuuta Mochizuki who played Tuxedo Mask in a number of Sailor Moon Musicals. He was the second Tuxedo Mask and first appeared as Kunzite in the very first musical. Many Sailor Moon and Sentai fans may also know him as the original Red Power Ranger in Zyurangers, the series which was adapted as the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.