An HD remastered version of the original Sailor Moon anime will be airing on TV in Japan starting April 6th

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Adam

Soon in Japan the Sailor Moon anime will be airing in an HD remastered version. It will be airing starting on April 6th 2015 at 6:30pm Japan Standard Time on NHK BS Premium, a satellite channel by NHK, the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation.

Nothing official about the remastering process has been revealed at this time. A high quality image of Sailor Moon from the original anime is included on the Sailor Moon official site along with news of this broadcast. This image is of great quality, though at 670×447 resolution this does not appear to be an actual screenshot from an HD version of the show given it’s low resolution and improper aspect ratio. An HD screenshot would need to have 1080 or 720 lines of vertical resolution and the aspect ratio would need to be 4:3 or 16:9 if it were cropped for a widescreen display, not the 1.2:1 that this image has. If it is a screenshot, it’s been scaled and cropped to look best on the web to the point where not much can be told about the state of the remastering. Perhaps this will simply be an upconverted version of the standard definition video. Hopefully they will be going back to the film source to get better quality footage. Although this method is more difficult and sometimes impossible depending on what source material is available, it will result in the best quality HD version. With the Japanese DVD release of the series the first season of the anime was remastered in progressive scan though this was not done for later seasons.

With a new HD version of the anime being made, a Blu-Ray release in Japan may be coming as well, though no such announcement has been made at this time.

Sailor Moon R episodes 77 and 78 are now available on Hulu

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Adam

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon R have been posted to Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get episodes 77 and 78. Everything is on the table about Mamoru and Usagi’s relationship and then while everyone is sick nurse Minako tries to help them get better.

Episode 77, Shared Feelings: Usagi and Mamoru in Love Once Again, somewhat but incompletely wraps up a pretty terrible storyline. As we have seen since the beginning of the Black Moon story arc, Mamoru is being haunted by dreams that show Usagi dying as a result of their being together. Though it’s never said how this could happen or why they should stay apart, Mamoru won’t take the risk and so he breaks up with Usagi. This logic on his part makes sense and is similar to that seen by other fictional series time and time again. What changes this week is that Usagi finally sees the same vision. The result of this is that she confronts Mamoru about the dream and makes the decision for both of them that it really doesn’t matter. This really does nothing to wrap up this story arc as we don’t actually learn where these visions are coming from. This will be learned in a later episode in an even less satisfying conclusion to this ridiculous story arc. The main story of the episode revolves around promise rings that aren’t really rings. They are bracelets that are exchanged between lovers. When I was a kid it was all about gimp bracelets. I guess this kind of bracelet made of string was big in the 90s in Japan. These days it’s all about those little elastics. Usagi and Chibiusa try to use these to get Mamoru to get over his love troubles. It doesn’t really work. The most important part of this episode however is not about Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship. It’s about Minako and Artemis’s relationship! When things get serious and Chibiusa is attacked by her “promise ring” all of the Sailor Guardians are called in. We see Minako receive the call on her communicator while wearing nothing more than a towel. She then, still in the towel, tells Artemis that it’s time to go as he is right in front of her. Scandal! Minako is completely comfortable letting Artemis see her get out of the shower or bath wearing nothing but a towel. Perhaps he was around for the shower as well!

Episode 78, Venus: Minako’s Nurse Mayhem, is a great comedy episode. Everyone is sick with the flu and while the people of Tokyo are walking around wearing face masks as they do when they are sick Minako is in great shape! She travels from home to home with Artemis and Chibiusa offering to help everyone try to get better! Hilarity ensues as she does a terrible job of doing so, serving food that is too salty or hot, messing with people’s stereos and generally not helping when she is trying to. In one scene we see Rei breathe fire for the second time in the series. She last had flames spew from her mouth when Usagi put hot sauce on her hamburger while they were watching the cherry blossoms in episode 51. Ultimately we learn that the flu is actually a plot by Esmeraude. Sailor Venus defeats her only to fall ill herself! In a perfect act of revenge Usagi shows up to help her get better.

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Sailor R episodes 75 and 76 are now available on Hulu

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Adam

As with every Monday two more episodes of Sailor Moon R have been added to Hulu and Neon Alley. The episodes are in Japanese with English subtitles by Viz. This week we get a glimpse of things to come and then dive right into some filler with episodes 75 and 76. Having previously seen mostly Rubeus and the Ayakashi sisters we’re now getting a look at Esmeraude, Diamond and Saphir of the Black Moon Clan.

Episode 75, The Mysterious New Guardian: Sailor Pluto Appears, gives us a better look at Sailor Pluto and Crystal Tokyo. We still don’t see her in the flesh but she communicates with the Sailor Guardians through Luna P. Previously Chibiusa had been seen communicating with her through Luna P’s eye but the image we saw of her was heavily pixelated to the point where her identity remained hidden. Chibiusa has fallen ill and so the gang must travel into her mind to fight off this manifestation of the Dark Crystal. Although they are in Chibiusa’s mind, it looks like 30th century Crystal Tokyo. Shocked at how terrible it looks Rei reassures them that it just looks bad because it’s a nightmare in Chibiusa’s mind. Um… actually that’s pretty much exactly how Crystal Tokyo looks in the future. It’s a real mess. Chibiusa is actually pretty spot on. Sailor Moon fights off the monster that really isn’t a monster and in the process is able to make Chibiusa fly. So is this a real move or something she can just do because she’s in a crazy dream world where anything goes? Not really clear. In a most ridiculous scene the girls see Chibiusa’s mom lying asleep. They are quite aware that it’s Chibiusa’s mother but Sailor Moon is completely incapable of noticing that she is wearing a dress that’s nearly identical to the one that she wears. The whole gang generally shrug off everything important about this dream as being irrelevant because it’s simply too early, plot wise, for them to have been exposed to this information at this time.

Episode 76, Magic of Darkness: Esmeraude’s Invasion, finally gives us a proper look at Esmeraude as the new villain. She’s been kicking around for a handful of episodes but hasn’t actually done anything. Now that we’ve gotten a few plot episodes out of the way we can get right back into the habit of filler for a while! Esmeraude is great for that as she randomly targets spots to stick these Dark Henges into in order to make the future more vulnerable. This week’s plot is all about yummy deserts! The monster attacks people and covers them in various foods like donuts, cakes and frosting. When I was younger I had no idea what the monster’s name “Magipan” meant but it’s actually marzipan, a sweet confectionary. Not to be confused with marzipan castle from the Sailor Moon SuperS movie. Esmeraude laughs loudly and bickers with all of the girls, getting called old and making fun of their lack of hips and breasts. A good time was had by all.

If you’re looking for the difference between this version and the dub which was released back in the 90s you should check out my reviews of episodes 75 (cached version) and episode 76 (cached version) from 1997 on the Sailor Moon Page of Funk!

Support the site by buying the first season of Sailor Moon on DVD or Blu-Ray.

Sailor Moon R episodes 73 and 74 are now available on Hulu

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Adam

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon are now available on Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get episodes 73 and 74 which may be memorable to many fans from the 90s as the first new episodes of Sailor Moon seen in years. Following the show’s original run of 65 episodes in North America back in 1995 there was a lengthy hiatus before the second half of Sailor Moon R was finally released. The final 17 episodes of Sailor Moon R played on YTV here in Canada starting in September of 1997 and in the US starting in November of 1998, billed as “Lost Episodes” by Cartoon Network’s Toonami.

Episode 73, A UFO Appears: The Sailor Guardians Abducted, introduces us to Esmeraude who will be the new villain for the next chunk of episodes, but before we start out with her we need to warp up things with Rubeus! More importantly, Chibiusa now knows that Usagi is Sailor Moon and has seen that her transformation brooch, the Crystal Star, contains the Silver Crystal. Naturally, she steals it. Conflicted at first she uses cognitive dissonance to convince herself that Usagi is a bad person and that this is the right thing to do. She ends up visiting Mamoru who shows her the very awesome Tuxedo Mask puppet, reminding us that despite her somewhat evil actions this is really just a young frightened girl we’re dealing with. Since Usagi doesn’t have her brooch she can’t transform which in the end means that the rest of the Sailor Guardians get abducted by Rubeus’s UFO. Usagi is upset and tries to slap Chibiusa at this point, but Mamoru stops her.

À suivre! Right away. Having two episodes at a time sure is convenient for two parters like this!

Episode 74, Defeat Rubeus: The Battle in Space, will be the end of a most hatable character! The Sailor Guardians have been kidnapped but it’s okay as Usagi finally has her brooch back. Rubeus wants the rabbit, known to viewers as Chibiusa, but giving up a (somewhat) innocent kid isn’t what Sailor Moon is all about. What are our heroes to do? Luna and Artemis have a plan! They’ll dress up like Chibiusa and try to trick Rubeus! On second thought that’s a terrible plan. Chibiusa proceeds to jump out of a window and turns herself in. Usagi follows, a big fight ensues and hooray the terrible Rubeus is defeated. But Sailor Moon is being pretty good at this point and not killing a ton of villains so for liability purposes they just kind of leave Rubeus on his spaceship which is blowing up. Esmeraude is more responsible for leaving him to die. Is this horrible? She doesn’t do it because he’s a terrible horrible man. She does it because she’s terrible and just wants him out of the picture. What a dragon! Spaceship explodes, let’s have some pancakes, have a nice day.

Back in 1997 when these episodes first aired on YTV I was all about making a really terrible Sailor Moon site. I guess some things never changed! I like to think my Internet skills have improved since then. For historical purposes, check out The Sailor Moon Page of Funk!, my very old ad ridden Sailor Moon web site which features reviews of dub episodes 66 (episode 73) (cached version) and 67 (episode 74) (cached version) complete with my somewhat thorough list of all of the differences I spotted between the original Japanese version and the dub. The pages are full of broken links and images. The cached version on the Internet Archive has a few less ads and some of those images preserved.

Support the site by buying the first season of Sailor Moon on DVD and Blu-Ray. Isn’t this non intrusive Amazon ad better than the assault on your senses that is Angelfire?

Sailor Moon R episodes 71 and 72 are now available on Hulu

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Adam

The latest two episodes of Sailor Moon R were added to Hulu and Neon Alley this Monday morning. This week we see episodes 71 and 72 which deal with the fate of the rest of the Ayakashi sisters Berthier, Petz and Calaveras. These episodes were the last two included in DiC’s original dub of Sailor Moon. Following these was a lengthy break of a couple of years before the next episodes were finally dubbed. For a lot of people who watched Sailor Moon in the mid 90s and grew out of it, these were probably the last episodes they watched!

Episode 71, For Friendship: Ami vs. Bertheir, is all about chess. Ami has been hanging out as this chess tower which is shaped like a giant rook. Berthier, of the Ayakashi sisters, who happens to have a very similar power as Sailor Mercury also happens to have a similar interest in chess! It made a bit more sense that Koan happened to face off against Sailor Mars twice since she simply attacked the shrine she lived and worked at twice but the coincidence of Berthier encountering Ami twice is a bit silly. Regardless, a fierce all or nothing chess game is played and amped up with some magical chess pieces that freeze the loser. Sailor Mercury wins, since she’s incredibly smart, and Berthier gives up on life. Having learned from the last episode that she can be healed, Sailor Moon heals Berthier and she’s happy with her sister Koan once again! Hooray!

Episode 72, Rubeus the Heartless: The Tragic Sisters, takes care of the last two Ayakashi sisters. The first event isn’t really relevant to the episode itself but has some importance in the next few episodes. As Sailor Moon and the rest of the Sailor Guardians transform Chibiusa is shoved in a closet type thing and sees them all transforming. This is a huge revelation for her as she always liked Sailor Moon but hated Usagi. Hard to reconcile these two things! Such are the perils of a secret identity. Finally when Chibiusa sees Sailor Moon use the Silver Crystal later in the episode Chibiusa realizes that she needs to get a hand on that thing to go back to the future to save her mother. The main plot of the episode has Petz and Calaveras fighting over this magic wand thing, nearly killing each other, and of course getting healed! Ultimately all four of the Ayakashi sisters are reunited and they open up “Beauty Quartette”, a small shop which sells beauty supplies. I’m not sure the business model is rock solid, as one person would easily have been able to run this small shop, but now these four are splitting the profits not to mention being stuck in 20th century Tokyo with no credit history, valid ID or a past. It won’t be easy making a life for themselves, but it’s probably better than trying to live on a dead, desolate prison planet.

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Sailor Moon R episodes 69 and 70 are now available on Hulu

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Adam

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon R are now available on Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get episodes 69 and 70, both of which deal with unhealthy relationships and how not to treat your partner!

Episode 69, Awaken the Sleeping Beauty: Mamoru’s Distress, gives us a better look at what’s been keeping Mamoru and Usagi apart. We once again see a flash forward to Usagi and Mamoru’s wedding but this time we see what has Mamoru concerned. It’s actually a prediction of doom! Dump her or she’ll die, basically. A tough situation. What’s a good guy to do? Sort of forced conflict which if there’s a good reason for it, makes a lot of sense, but we’ll learn later on just how stupid the reasons really are. So Mamoru knows just how to make Usagi know it’s over, that’s to make her think he’s with another girl! Enter Motoki’s younger sister Unazuki. When Usagi sees them on a bike together she is pissed, which sends her into an eating binge. This is some pretty real stuff, dealing with your problems by crying into an open fridge. The monster, who by chance comes along at the right time in Usagi’s life, plunges her into a dream where she is all chibi. Luna, who is all over it, figures that Mamoru’s kiss might get her out of this for some reason, as she can tell that Usagi is upset about something he’s done. She then jumps into his apartment and jumps onto his penis to wake him up (animated gif included below). He kisses her, she’s fine, everyone’s happy. Well not really at all. Mamoru and Usagi are still split up until further notice, so that’s kind of crappy.

Episode 70, Battle of the Flames of Love! Mars vs. Koan, covers two abusive relationships. The first is Koan and the horrible Rubeus. He’s completely terrible to Koan, threatening her and ultimately tossing her life away as if it were nothing. Rubeus isn’t terrible because he’s evil and wants to destroy Crystal Tokyo. It’s because of the way he treats women. This is very real horrible behaviour that is a real problem in our society, not some fantastical caricature of what a bad person might be. The other abusive relationship is Rei and Yuuichirou! At the beginning of the episode he’s carrying around her bags like a lap dog. She generally mistreats him for most of the episode, and it’s played up as a bit of a joke. It’s funny but this is kind of terrible. Rei isn’t all bad in this episode, as her behaviour with Koan shows the real strength of the show. Koan is trying to do evil at the Hikawa Shrine, again. It’s a Crystal Point after all. When the fighting starts Rei realizes that there’s good in Koan, and while the Sailor Guardians are attacking her she comes to her defense, putting herself in harm’s way to protect her, getting hit by Sailor Jupiter’s knee. Ultimately when Koan had all but given up and was ready to give her own life and killing her off seemed like an easy option, Sailor Mars wouldn’t have it. The real strength of Sailor Moon and it’s characters is not in their ability to harm someone, but in their compassion and willingness to help even an enemy. Koan is then healed by Sailor Moon’s crystal and is able to return to a normal life, all thanks to Rei. Similar transformations will be seen with the rest of the Ayakashi sisters in the coming episodes, but Rei really set the precedent for this behaviour. With all this considered, we can forgive her mistreatment of Yuuichirou.

There are a couple of odd references in this episode. This is actually the final appearance of Zoisite, who actually died back in episode 35. He is seen in a single frame of animation as Koan snatches her bag back from Yuuichirou. Later at Rei’s, Usagi is seen reading reading what looks a lot like a Run Run magazine featuring Sailor V and Artemis on the cover. This isn’t that odd since it’s well established that Sailor V is an anime, manga and video game in the Sailor Moon universe, but seeing a real world manga in the anime is a bit weird.

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

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Adam

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Posted on December 25, 2014 by Adam

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

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Adam

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!

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.

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 R episodes 63 and 64 are now available on Hulu

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Adam

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.

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.

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.

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

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Bringing you the latest news about the new anime series Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal and all things Sailor Moon.

Category Archives: Sailor Moon Anime (1992)