The English version of Sailor Moon Crystal Act 5, Makoto – Sailor Jupiter, is now available on Hulu

Posted on December 12, 2015 by Adam

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal is now available in English on Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get Act 5, Makoto – Sailor Jupiter. Makoto Kino, Sailor Jupiter, is voiced by Amanda Celine Miller who also provided her voice for Viz’s new dub of the original Sailor Moon anime. You can follow her on Twitter at @amanda_celine.

Fans of the original anime who are new to Sailor Moon Crystal will find resemblences to two episodes of that series. The first is episode 25, Jupiter – the Powerful Girl in Love, which introduces us to Sailor Jupiter but generally doesn’t have much in common, instead introducing us to the concept of the Rainbow Crystals and “Game Machine Joe”. The other is episode 16, A Girl’s Dream: Usagi Becomes a Bride, which is all about wedding dresses. These are similarities to the original manga, to which Sailor Moon Crystal is very faithful, which the original anime was itself based on. We can see just how fast the story is progressing with Makoto being introduced so early, but keep in mind this season will only have 13 episodes in total.

Next week is Act 6, Tuxedo Mask, in which we will see Mamoru with his shirt off.

Watch the English dubbed version of Sailor Moon Crystal Act 5, Makoto – Sailor Jupiter, this Friday December 11th at 9pm Eastern Time

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Adam

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal will be released in English this Friday at 9pm Eastern Time, 6pm Pacific Time, on Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get Act 5, Makoto – Sailor Jupiter, which introduces us to yet another Sailor Guardian. Makoto Kino is a new student at school and her and Usagi become instant friends. The episode focuses on a Bridal Boutique which is at the center of the Dark Kingdom’s plot. Fans will see an obvious similarity to Sailor Jupiter’s first appearance in the original anime in episode 25, Jupiter – the Powerful Girl in Love, but also to episode 16, A Girl’s Dream: Usagi Becomes a Bride, which centers around a wedding dress contest. This is a bit backwards of course. This episode of Sailor Moon Crystal is based on the equivalent chapter of the manga, as all episodes are. The original anime is more loosely based on the manga which accounts for these similarities.

The English voice of Makoto Kino is provided by Amanda C. Miller who also voiced her in the new English dub of the original Sailor Moon anime. You can follow her on Twitter at @amanda_celine. Let us know what you think of her voice!

Edit: The title originally said Act 4, though the content reference Act 5, which is the actual episode we are getting this week. This was a copy/paste error. It has been corrected.

Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 164 and 165 are now available on Hulu

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Adam

Sailor Moon SuperS is nearly over with the two latest episodes which were just added to Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get episodes 164 and 165, after which there will be only one episode left. This focuses a lot on the Amazoness Quartet, who redeem themselves yet again, as the final confrontation between Nehelenia, Helios and the Sailor Guardians takes place.

Episode 164, The Golden Crystal Appears: Nehelenia’s Magic, finally gives us some background on the Amazoness Quartet. We see them playing innocently in the forest of Elysion. They don’t seem the least bit mischievous, but instead seem to be getting along. They fall upon a mirror in which Nehelenia is trapped. She gives them magical powers which are houses in magic spheres and uses them to escape. All said the Amazoness Quartet are innocent pawns in this whole game. Ultimately they destroy those orbs to sacrifice their own power to save themselves and turn on Nehelenia. The manga actually has them becoming Sailor Guardians to protect Chibiusa as she is to follow her mother once her reign of terror is over some 900 years later. None of this is really dealt with in the anime. Stuff goes bad at this point. Nehelenia retrieves the Golden Mirror from Sailor Chibi Moon, which we kind of already did, and she finally gets her hands on the Golden Crystal. She exits this mirror world she inhabits and by doing so destroys Ziriconia. It’s never clearly indicated but Ziriconia seems to be some sort of copy or puppet of Nehelenia. Nehelenia is kept forever young in the mirror but we will later see how old she actually is and Ziriconia appear to look as she would if she continued to age outside of this mirror.

Episode 165, When the Crystal Shines: The Beautiful Power of Dreams, is sort of the epic ending of the battle, though there will be one more episode of Sailor Moon SuperS to follow it. All hope seem lost as Sailor Planet Attack doesn’t cut it and Sailor Chibi Moon appears to be dead. Luckily the Amazoness Quartet have turned on Nehelenia and swap out the Golden Crystal for a pineapple. Hilarity ensures when this is discovered and the Golden Crystal is given to Sailor Moon, who is unable to use it to defeat Nehelenia. Sailor Chibi Moon has a plan! She uses the Golden Crystal to talk to all of the innocent children and ask them to save the Earth from this evil. She pleads to them to say “Moon Crisis Power” and they do, like a bunch of zombies, which removes the shadow from the Earth and saves the day. Hooray!

Only one episode of Sailor Moon SuperS remains. We will get that next week along with the first episode of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, seen for the first time in the United States!

Support this site by buying the first two seasons of Sailor Moon on DVD and Blu-Ray using the links below.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars will finally be released in the United States starting December 14th 2015

Posted on December 5, 2015 by Adam

At long last the final season of Sailor Moon, Sailor Stars, will be released in the United States of America. This season, released in Japan way back in 1996 was never dubbed into English and was never released on video in English speaking North America. Hulu and Neon Alley have been releasing the original Sailor Moon anime series subtitled at a rate of two episodes per week and we will finally be getting the fifth and final season on Monday December 14th. It was not clear whether or not we would see the episode on the 14th or 21st, as the current schedule would have the final episode of Sailor Moon SuperS, episode 166, playing on that day. Viz has a precedent of only including the final episode of the season on one day so as to not break up the season. We now have official confirmation, from the Neon Alley schedule for the month of December, that episode 167 will indeed be released on Monday December 14th. The schedule does note that the “Start of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars” is on the following Monday, with episode 168, which is actually the second episode of Sailor Stars. There is still the possibility that someone has made the mistake with this schedule and that episode 167 will be held off until the 21st but at this time the schedule does indicate that episode 167 will be December 14th.

Fans who have not seen Sailor Stars before will be excited to see Eternal Sailor Moon, the return of Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn as well as the Sailor Starlights and many more. It will still be a while until they all show up though as the first 6 episodes of the series are sort of like a follow up to Sailor Moon SuperS, giving us more closure on Queen Nehelenia. Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Pluto will show up right away as Sailor Saturn is also brought back into the fold. This conveniently brings the story back in line with how the Dream arc of the original Sailor Moon manga left off with the whole group together. Sadly Chibiusa and Tuxedo Mask won’t be around for long, so enjoy them while you can.

What new character are you most excited to see? Sailor Iron Mouse? Princess Kakyuu? Sailor Chibi Chibi? So many to chose from!

2015-12-06 Update: The original article title and content stated that this was the first release of Sailor Stars in North America. While Sailor Stars was never released in the US and Canada, it was released in Mexico which is part of North America. I often use the term North American when referring to the series because I am a Canadian so in many cases specifying United States of America is not the whole story. In this case however, Hulu is still not available to Canadian Sailor Moon fans and so the series is really only being officially released in the United States. Canadians may use a proxy to watch Hulu, as I have been doing, but this isn’t an official release. The original French dub of Sailor Moon also did not included Sailor Stars and only a small part of what was seen in France was ever broadcast on Canadian television. Sailor Stars will likely remains unreleased officially in Canada until either some streaming option can be made available or until the home video release for Stars makes its way here.

Thanks to reader Julian for the note about Mexico.

The English version of Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4, Masquerade Dance Party, is available now on Hulu

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Adam

The latest English dubbed episode of Sailor Moon Crystal has been added to Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get Act 4, Masquerade Dance Party. The Kingdom of D has a very impressive gem and everyone, Tuxedo Mask, the Sailor Guardians, the Dark Kingdom, wants to know if it’s the Silver Crystal so they all crash the party and check it out! This version of the dub has decided to refer to Princess D as “The Princess of D”, though she is also called Princess D in the episode. The Japanese reference of the name Princess D was likely a reference to Princess Diana, often called Princess Di, who was popular in the media in the early 90s. As her death in 1997 was over 13 years ago the reference is less relevant and so no adapting it certainly makes sense. The original Sailor Moon anime referred to her as Princess Dia, a mix between Princess Di and Princess Diana. The original English dub named her Princess Diamond.

This version of the episode features updated animation used in the Japanese Blu-Ray and DVD home video release. I had mixed feelings about this episode when it first streamed and my feelings haven’t really changed. The big moment in this week’s episode is when Tuxedo Mask kisses and unconscious, somewhat drunk, Usagi. This isn’t cool! A sleeping person can’t consent, even when you have an existing relationship in a past life. That excuse sounds absurd here, though we must consider that within the reality of the Sailor Moon mythos, this past life did exist so there some precedent for this kiss. There was a similar scene in episode 22 of the original Sailor Moon anime, Romance Under the Moon: Usagi’s First Kiss, but in the old English dub the dialogue was changed so that it was insinuated this was a dream. Certainly kissing in a dream is hardly the same kind of violation as the rape kiss featured in this episode.

New episodes are released every Friday evening at 9pm Eastern Time, 6pm Pacific Time. Next week is Act 5, Makoto – Sailor Jupiter, we will be introduced to Makoto Kino.

Watch the English dubbed version of Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4, Masquerade Dance Party, this Friday December 4th at 9pm Eastern Time

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Adam

As with every week we will be getting the next English dubbed episode of Sailor Moon Crystal this Friday at about 9pm Eastern Time, 6pm Pacific Time. This week Act 4, Masquerade Dance Party, is added to Hulu and Neon Alley. Usagi abuses of her super powers to crash a posh dance party and has a romantic time with Tuxedo Mask who is also investigating the D Kingdom’s prized jewel. Fans of Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask’s relationship will be happy to see what this episode has in store.

Fans may note similarities between this story and episode 22 of the original Sailor Moon anime, which was based on Act 4 of the manga. Once again we can see how much faster a pace Sailor Moon Crystal is taking as it goes through the 13 Act Dark Kingdom story arc which corresponds to Sailor Moon’s 46 episode first season.

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

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Adam

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.

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.

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!

Support this site by buying the first two seasons of Sailor Moon on DVD and Blu-Ray using the links below.

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

Posted on November 28, 2015 by Adam

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.

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

Posted on November 27, 2015 by Adam

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.

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.

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

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Adam

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.

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.

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

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

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