Sailor Moon Crystal Act 20, Crystal Tokyo – King Endymion, Review

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Adam

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 20, Crystal Tokyo – King Endymion, is now available to stream on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico. The gang is in the future city of Crystal Tokyo and now it’s time to have the ghost of King Endymion give them exposition about the story to date, including a bunch of revelations of things we mostly knew about.

We meet King Endymion and with that we learn all about Chibiusa, Crystal Tokyo and the Black Moon Clan. King Endymion appears as some sort of non corporeal projection of the real King who is in another room. In the original anime he is a hologram but in the manga and here it’s not entirely clear what is happening. He’s not stored in a computer like Queen Serenity was on the Moon. It seem more like he’s a sort of ghost. But does that mean King Endymion is dead? More on that later.

Chibiusa is Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask’s daughter from the future. At this point we mostly already figured this out. If we hadn’t we can immediately infer this from the fact that Sailor Moon noticed that King Endymion is the future Tuxedo Mask and that Chibiusa calls him father. We can easily infer that this means Tuxedo Mask is Chibiusa’s father, but Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask do not have their “OMG WTF!!!” reaction until they are blatantly told what is what with Chibiusa. Their embarrassment seems to insinuate that these two have not previously had sex. We know this is likely not the case.

We get a description of what’s up with Crystal Tokyo and it seems that in all it’s glory it was … a bunch of islands? We don’t know a ton about Crystal Tokyo but what we do know is that it is the future city of Tokyo. Tokyo is not a series of islands like the Florida Keys. It’s just a city on the Ocean. So what’s up with Crystal Tokyo? It looks a lot like Dubai, a city on the shore of the Persian Gulf but which is also home to a ton of artificial islands along the coast giving it a somewhat similar look. It’s certainly possible that the inhabitants of Crystal Tokyo built these things on the ocean. They would have the technology, and magic, to make it possible. When Chibiusa travels through time she does not arrive in the past in the ocean or in the future on the main land far from the palace. I always assumed the time travel was tied to a specific place but in a different time but this is never clearly established. Regardless, Crystal Tokyo in the manga or original anime was never portrayed as a series of islands as it is seen here. It wasn’t even shown like this in earlier episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal.

This episode has the introduction of the adorable kitten Diana! She is Luna and Artemis’s daughter from the future. Luna and Artemis seem shocked and embarrassed to learn this which suggests that they do not currently have a relationship. Is their relationship a predestination paradox based on them now seeing they will be in one in the future? The show doesn’t appear to work that way.

We learn some interesting things about Nemesis in this episode. King Endymion mentions that it’s orbit is impossible to calculate. Indeed Nemesis is based on a real non existent planet. Many have searched for a planet which explains some inconsistencies in the orbits of other planets. These inconsistencies can better be explained by other phenomenon, but in the Sailor Moon world this is a real planet. In one shot we see the Black Moon Clan on Nemesis with a Moon in the background. This is a first. The Moon is even illuminated in such as a way as to highlight the crescent Moon that is seen on the foreheads of the Black Moon Clan. We have not seen a Moon around Nemesis in any other Sailor Moon canon.

The gang must travel to the past because Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask are disappearing. The excuse given is that Sailor Moon is disappearing because she’s in the same time as Neo Queen Serenity and that she’s occupying a space too close to her. This is fair as she’s lying right near them. Why then is Tuxedo Mask disappearing? Supposedly for the same reason, but this does not occur in the manga. Only Sailor Moon is seen as disappearing. Still King Endymion’s body is not far away so this makes some sense.

We learn that Chibiusa and Diana were the only two to survive the attack by the Black Moon Clan but that they don’t know why. The reason it turns out is that it was because Chibiusa had the Silver Crystal on her, and that she was holding Diana. Too bad we don’t actually see Diana in Chibiusa’s arms when she is attacked. This creates a bit of a plot hole as compared to the manga when Diana is clearly shown with Chibiusa’s at the time of the attack.

This episode also introduces us to Sailor Pluto’s crush on King Endymion! She immediately blushes when she sees him. Perhaps this is why she was so quick to try to kill Sailor Moon earlier! Eliminate Sailor Moon in the past and future King Endymion is all of a sudden back on the market! King Endymion asks Pluto to give Sailor Moon a Key of Space-Time, which she does. This whole exchange seems totally charged as no doubt Sailor Pluto is envious of the relationship Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask have and will share in the future.

What follows is just a ridiculous amount of time traveling. It was taboo to do so last episode but now we go back, spend a quick nap time in the past, then we fly back to the future like it was nothing. Mamoru doesn’t even sleep in his bed. Chibiusa is in the bed and he sleeps on the floor. This makes us wonder where exactly he and Usagi had sex earlier when Chibiusa was in the bed. Did they just do it on the floor? Not very dignified for the future royal family!

Back in the future we see Diana sleeping with future Luna and Artemis. She’s in a room with the bodies of the Sailor Guardians, who are said to have taken the brunt of the attack on Neo Queen Serenity, as well as King Enydmion. So what is up with these people? They appear to be pretty much dead, which would explain the state of King Endymion’s ghost. This isn’t really explained but they are at best near fatally wounded and at worst corpses like the rest of the city.

The enemy this week is Esmeraude and her ridiculous multi arms! This reminds me a lot of Queen Beryl’s hair. This is actually something which happens in the manga though then she has even more arms! She’s seen chocking Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Venus and Sailor Moon with two arms each in the manga though we don’t really see where each arm comes from. Here in Sailor Moon Crystal we have an arm awkwardly coming out of the back of Esmeraude’s neck which just looks weird.

Sailor Moon tries to use her Cutie Moon Rod which doesn’t go that well. It looks a lot like it did when it failed last episode. Actually it’s the exact same image only they fixed the weird half uncoloured animation error they had. Otherwise it is identical as can be seen above. The reason for the failure given is that her Crystal doesn’t work in the future, because you can’t have two Crystals in the same time. Oh that’s nice I guess we won’t have another Sailor Guardian running around the present with the 30th century’s Silver Crystal…

Luckily Tuxedo Mask saves the day with a Double Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber which he performs with the help of the ghost of King Endymion! This is yet another thing from this episode which did not occur in the original manga and for a good reason. If King Endymion’s ghost is fully capable of using his powerful Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber attack isn’t he vastly superior to physical King Endymion? Let’s just get all of the Sailor Guardians running around as ghosts using their attacks without being vulnerable to attack by the bad guys! The Black Moon Clan would really be on the ropes if that happened!

Next up is Act 21, Complication – Nemesis. Sailor Moon is kidnapped so I guess now we actually have to do something! With the previous three kidnappings rescuing them was a priority but now that Sailor Moon is actually gone what are we to do? Sailor Moon is the prisoner of Prince Demande. We will finally see what’s up with the other Sailor Guardians and some big changes may begin for Chibiusa!

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

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A Sailor Moon x Isetan Special Collaboration offers many expensive purses, accessories, jewellery and clothing in Japan

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Adam

As announced on the Sailor Moon Official Site a large number of Sailor Moon themed items are available in Japan as part of a Sailor Moon and Istean Special Collaboration. These items including some fairly expensive, and therefore supposedly high quality, purses, wallets, phone cases, jewellery, charms, watches and all kinds of clothes. These are on sale now in Japan as well as online.

First are a number of bags and purses from Samantha Vega. The Moonstick leather bags are fairly normal looking leather bags coming in white, pink, red and blue with a Sailor Moon pattern on the inside. These are fairly expensive selling for 48,600 yen, over $400 US. I guess Kobe beef isn’t the only way to buy really expensive cow pieces in Japan!

If you’re not a snob for real leather, or care about the suffering of non human animals, why not just get the Luna fake leather bag or Artemis fake leather bag for 21,600 yen, about $180 US. These fun looking leather bags have little cat ears and are much more obviously Sailor Moon themed than the more subtle Moonstick leather bag.

But wait. What about the rich students? They don’t need a purse. They need a
Moonstick Rucksack. What’s a rucksack you might ask? That’s what Japanese people call back packs. This school supply will set back students 30,240 yen, about $250 US. What else were you going to spend that money on, books?

So you have a bag but still need somewhere to put all of that money you have because you’re obviously rich if you’re buying these. Why not shove all those yen in the Sailor Guardian long wallets which cost a mere 21,600 yen, about $180 US each. These come in 6 designs. Two for Sailor Moon and one for each of the other Sailor Guardians.

Sure you’ve got a fancy purse and wallet but what to do with your cell phone? You can pick up a Sailor Guardian Mini Multicase for a mere 19,440 yen, about $163 US. Like the wallets these also come in 6 different designs.

Great! Now how about some cool charms to add a bit of bling bling to all of these things. The Sailor Guardian Elementmarc Charm are 6156 yen, about $50 US. There are 6 charms included. A crescent moon, a heart, and the symbols for Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus.

Casio is making a Baby G Watch. This sells for 17,280 yen, a bit over $100 US. It comes in a nice looking case that looks like the Crystal Star brooch, Sailor Moon’s transformation item from Sailor Moon R.

Sailor Moon is also teaming up with Honey Bunch to make a number of items. Many of them don’t really seem to have all that much to do with Sailor Moon but others, like this the Chibi Moon Crystal Carillon shirt are pretty Sailor Moon themed. At 8640 yen, over $70 US, this may seem cheap when compared to some of the items for sale but that’s a pretty expensive t-shirt.

There are also some Sailor Moon x Secret Honey clothing items which have some Sailor Moon references on them.

The Sailor Moon x Riccimie clothing items look fairly plain but upon closer investigation have things like Sailor V masks, Luna and other Sailor Moon designs on them.

Finally we have the Anna Sui Meets Sailor Moon items. These range from unimpressive phone cases, t-shirts and mugs to jewellery such as a replica Silver Crystal and Key of Space-Time (17,280 yen or about $150 US). Many items like t-shirts and folders just have an Anna Sui meets Sailor Moon logo but others like the jewellery have a bit more Sailor Moon related flair to them. The more expensive bags and jewellery in this collection cost hundreds of dollars like this bag which costs nearly $320 US.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 18, Invasion – Sailor Venus, Review

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Adam

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal was released on Saturday March 21st on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico. This week we have Act 18, Invasion – Sailor Venus, which as the title suggests focuses on Sailor Venus as she faces off against Calaveras, the final remaining Ayakashi Sister.

Things are getting pretty bad at this point! Sailor Mercury, Mars and Jupiter have all been kidnapped in standard character order so we focus on Minako, Sailor Venus this week! The Ayakashi Sisters have mostly been killed as well leaving only Calaveras. In her first scene we get a hint at a relationship between Rubeus and herself as he kisses her on the neck. She’s obviously upset over the death of her sisters as she summons their ghosts, doing channeling which is kind of her shtick. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from readers who don’t like my criticism of pseudoscience in my reviews. Indeed I’m not about to discount the magic and time travel aspects of the show but when the characters present pseudoscientific beliefs such as this week’s channelling as being true, I feel I must point out that such things are not legit. This is especially true this season as there is an obvious recurring theme with the Black Moon Clan reveling in pseudoscience which some believe to be true, as opposed to the general fantastic nature of the show which is obviously science fiction.

Calaveras does a public channeling of Rubeus, showing the future, but does she even need to do this? We see that she does actually have channelling powers but the people of Tokyo don’t really know this. She claims to have knowledge of the future because of this but that’s simply because she is from the future. Much like Koan’s ability to see the future could have been made up, so could have Calaveras. But the point of the show is not that the enemy is pretending to have great powers. They happen to actually have some and convince the world as such, while still relying on subterfuge.

Chibiusa’s friend Momoko is introduced this week. Her hair colour in the original anime was first brown and later purple. Here we see her with bright red almost pink hair. Though the manga is mostly black and white Momoko is shown to have bright red hair when presented in colour making this her correct hair colour. The rest of her image is a bit odd. She is given a thin waist and breasts, which is not fitting with a character that is meant to be Chibiusa’s class mate.

Naru and Umino appear in this act. While the original manga had a “video” mentioned it was not actually shown. It is assumed this was a VHS tape or less likely a laser disk as DVD did not exist in the early 90s. A DVD is seen once again in Sailor Moon Crystal, updating the technology of the show for 2015 standards but still not embracing Blu-Ray for whatever reason. Naru reveals that she knows that something is up with Usagi and her friends, hinting that she either suspects she is Sailor Moon or is otherwise involved. It’s nice to see this friendship continue despite Usagi spending so much time with her more super powered friends and her new boyfriend.

When watching the DVD we get a look at the computers at the school. These are clearly Windows PC type computers. In the past in the series it was all macs, with the tablets having what appeared to be a mix between iOS, Apple’s handheld OS, and Mac OS, the full fledge OS for Mac desktops and laptops. This does not have any of the Apple look to it. The desktop folders look like Windows folders, the S shaped icon is similar to the Internet Explorer E. There are icons matching the My Computer, My Network Places and Recycle Bin icons. The Media Player app showing the video looks like Windows Media Player, complete with the menu options, controls and window borders. The only thing which is out of place is the Opera icon on the task bar. Who uses Opera anymore? Just like with the DVDs the Opera web browser is something that is still around but certainly obsolete by anyone who cares about technology!

The Shitennou finally reappear in this episode! Fans of the original Anime would expect them to be confined to the first season but like with the manga Sailor Moon Crystal is not done with them. Mamoru still has the stones that represent the four Shitennou and he uses them to channel their ghosts, similar to the way Calaveras does with her sisters. He consults them about what’s going on as they are once again shown to be sympathetic heroes, loyal to Mamoru, not the villains they were when working for the Dark Kingdom.

Sailor Venus uses her Rolling Heart Vibration attack in this episode. In the manga she used this against Tuxedo Mask but in Sailor Moon Crystal this is the first time she uses it. Sailor Moon also uses her Moon Tiara Boomerang attack again. This did not occur in the manga. Artemis also gets some action this week as he is seen taking out a cameraman!

Tuxedo Mask is the one to get a new power in this episode as he gets his first attack Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber. As he does this he shoots a kind of energy from his hands. Why not smoke? The term smoking here does not refer to actual smoke. It’s a reference “smoking”, the French term for Tuxedo. As a French Canadian this term is not one I would use but I was exposed to it reading the French translations of the Sailor Moon manga which was my first exposure to the books. One thing to note about Tuxedo Mask in this episode is that he is no longer wearing his hat. If the manga is any indication he will not be bringing his hat to the future and so we won’t be seeing it again in the series. Tuxedo Mask in the original anime wore his hat consistently when in costume but in the Manga he wears it less and eventually stops wearing it altogether.

Chibiusa is a bit of a brat in this one. She steals Sailor Moon’s transformation item, the Crystal Star, because she wants the Silver Crystal. Usagi is mad at her naturally but when Chibiusa is in danger she is quick to defend her. This is a perfect illustration of Usagi and Chibiusa’s relationship. They get on each other’s nerves and are usually at odds with each other but when it really counts they do care for each other. Chibiusa returns Usagi’s broach, allowing her to transform. She then mentions that she took it because she want to take it to the future to save her mother. She mentions that she knows that a Silver Crystal out of it’s time period will not work but she still needs to try. Why does she think this? Clearly the Silver Crystal of the future works in the past or there would be no Sailor Chibi Moon! But that’s a story for another day.

Next time on April 4th is Act 19, Time Warp – Sailor Pluto. Indeed, we will be seeing Sailor Pluto for the first time! We will have the team heading to 30th century Crystal Tokyo in the hopes of helping out Chibiusa’s mother.

Chibiusa’s shirt gate continues! In the next episode preview we see Chibiusa in both her blue uniform, which she brought from the future, and her white uniform, which she gets in the past. The scene with the white uniform looks like some of the flashbacks we’ve seen. Chibiusa didn’t have her white uniform back in 30th century Crystal Tokyo so what is going on here? This doesn’t necessarily need to be a problem. The blue uniform could be a flashback to Chibiusa arriving and the white could be what she’s wearing when she arrives in the 30th century as it’s the uniform she wears to the future in the manga, and what she is wearing at the end of act 18.

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

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Sailor Moon R episodes 79 and 80 are now available on Hulu

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Adam

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon R are now available on Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we have episodes 79 and 80, where bullying is a recurring theme that both Artemis and Ami have to deal with.

Episode 79, Artemis’s Adventure: the Monster Animal Kingdom, is an Artemis episode. Hey we haven’t done one of those yet, so why not? I can’t actually think of any earlier episode which so heavily centred on a male character, a rare enough event for Sailor Moon. Artemis is being mistreated by pretty much everyone. He gets a bit annoyed with Minako, he get stepped on by Usagi and then her and Luna laugh at him. He’s had enough! He runs off and falls upon an adorable box of kittens, which leads him to discover the latest Black Moon Clan plot to hypnotize animals in order to attack people. Artemis wants to show he can do things on his own and faces off against the Droid Dogma and her legion of animals. This does not go well, as we see that Artemis as a cat is not actually capable of saving the day without super powers. Luna shows up to help, but gets attacked herself. Artemis does his best to defend her long enough to allow Sailor Venus to show up and save him. Ultimately no one learns anything as Artemis is later hurt, this time by Chibiusa’s bag, and everyone mocks him. There isn’t really a good story to learn here about bullying, but the next episode will do a bit better.

Episode 80, The Terrifying Illusion: Ami All Alone, has the students of Ami’s class accusing her of cheating. She does well on tests, as she usually does, but a student finds a cheat sheet and the class seems to turn on her. Something seems up though, as the classmates are darker skinned than usual, a somewhat racist sign of their being controlled by the enemy. The Droid Giwak uses illusions to convince Sailor Mercury that she’s being targeted not only by her classmates but also by her friends. This shows a very real kind of harassment which can occur amongst teenagers that is a real problem. Lucky for Sailor Mercury it’s just a monster causing this and she can just fight her way out of the problem. Real kids being bullied like this by their peers don’t always have super powers to save the day. An important lesson can be shown here as kids watching would known that such behaviour can seriously hurt a person and should not be tolerated. Meanwhile Esmeraude takes a thorough bath. Seems a bit too much like fan service to me.

Read all about the changes from the original dubbed version of these episodes and others on the Sailor Moon Page of Funk! (cached version)

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

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.

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

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 57 and 58 are now available on Hulu

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Adam

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon R, episode 57 and 58, were added to Hulu and Neon Alley this morning. This week we get a better look at Natsumi and Seijirou as we build up to the end of the Makaiju story arc. These episodes are in Japanese with English subtitles. If dubbed episodes are more up your alley be sure to check out episodes 25 through 36 which were added to Hulu’s Sailor Moon dubbed page for a limited time.

Episode 57, After-School Trouble: Usagi Is a Target, gives us a nice and funny look at the relationship between Natsumi and Usagi who are constantly fighting over Mamoru’s love. Both Usagi and Natsumi get in trouble in class and are punished by their unprofessional and spiteful teacher Haruna. She is upset after her date canceled on her and takes it out on her students. While the students are kept after school she receives a call, which is her date who is able to make plans again. Since this was 1993, the pre cell phone era, this call is taken in the office. She then forgets about her students and leaves! Usagi and Natsumi make a little bet over Mamoru, as if such a thing was binding, over who will finish their assignment first. Natsumi ends up with a pencil in the nose but then drains Usagi’s energy so it’s all even. Meanwhile we learn that Ail is not really capable of choosing a Cardian without An. His Cardian won’t listen to him, attacks a bunch of ducks and generally makes a mess for him. Ultimately Usagi and Natsumi get along quite well despite the injuries and we get to see a kinder side to Natsumi than we have in the past.

Episode 58, Disconnecting Love: the Raging Makai Tree, is where things really start to come together. In this episode we see some interesting things. When Usagi, Umino and Naru go to a Sailor Moon show we can see Jadeite, Morga, Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask and Luna recreated in large headed costumes. I suppose it makes sense that the public would have this knowledge. Morga was present in a jewellery store full of shoppers in the first episode. Jadeite, despite his many convincing disguises, chose to appear as a large hologram over the city threatening to set it on fire in his final episode. Usagi and her friends head over to visit Natsumi and Seijirou, which leads nosy Usagi to poke around in their secret room which is actually a massive open area housing the Makaiju, Ail and An’s evil energy sucking tree. Or is it? One wonders how many units in this apartment building were cleared out to make room for this humungous tree, or if this room is bigger on the inside like a bag of holding. After bringing back a piece of the tree and having Artemis nearly killed touching it, Usagi knows something is up and must confront Natsumi and Seijirou. She conveniently meets Mamoru on the way so they all have a nice time before Usagi is fed to the Cardian and tree, causing the Makaiju to freak out and wreck up the building. To be continued!

Next week is the epic conclusion to the Makaiju story arc as well as the first appearance of Chibiusa.

Support the site by buying these episodes of Amazon Instant or buying the DVD or Blu-Ray sets of season 1 part 1 and 2.

12 new episodes of the Viz’s new Sailor Moon dub will be released during Moonlight Party 2 Friday November 21st at 7pm Pacific Time

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Adam

This coming Friday will be Moonlight Party 2, featuring new Viz dubbed episodes starring Sailor Jupiter and Venus. Once that starts, Friday at 7pm Pacific Time or 10pm Eastern Time, you will be able to view it by following this link. This will include a behind the scenes celebration with Viz as episodes 24 through 36 of the new dubbed episodes are available through Hulu and Neon Alley. Like with the first Moonlight Party in September there will be interaction with fans, contests and a chance to meet some of the voice actors.

This event will also include watching episodes 24, 25, 33, 34 and 35. The episodes themselves will not be streamed on the YouTube link. Viewers will need to view these directly on the Hulu or Neon Alley sites, which are not available in Canada and other areas. Episode 24, Naru’s Tears: Nephrite Dies for Love, is as the title suggests the tragic death of Nephrite. Episode 25, Jupiter, the Powerful Girl in Love, is the introduction of Sailor Jupiter. We then skip over the other six Rainbow Crystals to episodes 33 through 35 which cover a short story arc which includes the introduction of Sailor Venus in Enter Venus, the Last Sailor Guardian, the revelation of the Moon Princess in The Shining Silver Crystal: The Moon Princess Appears and the aftermath of that in Returning Memories: Usagi and Mamoru’s Past.

Building up to this event Viz has released a couple of new clips from the upcoming second half of season 1 featuring the voices of Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus who did not appears in previously released episodes.

Here are a couple of clips of Sailor Jupiter from her first episode, Jupiter, the Powerful Girl in Love. In the first clip Makoto and Usagi talk over lunch for the first time and in the second we see her learning that she is Sailor Jupiter and her first transformation. Sailor Jupiter is voiced by Amanda Celine Miller.

Shortly before this clip was released Amanda Celine Miller joked on twitter that the inspiration for her Sailor Jupiter voice came from Harvey Firestein.

Two clips of Minako were also released. The first features Minako trying to cheer up Usagi while doing her hair in episode 36, Usagi’s Confusion: Is Tuxedo Mask Evil?. The second clip shows the Princess Seminar from episode 37, Let’s Become a Princess: Usagi’s Bizarre Training, which is really not a Sailor Venus centric clip but in it she does her Crescent Beam attack. Sailor Venus is voiced by Cherami Leigh.

In that second clip we hear a grunt by the new voice of Artemis, Johnny Yong Bosch, whose voice will be heard for the first time during the new episode we’ll see tomorrow.

This event is publicity for the DVD and Blu-Ray set of season 1 part 2 which will be released in February 2015. Season 1 part 1 was released last week. The dubbed season 1 part 1 is also available on Amazon Instant along with the first season and a half of subbed episodes.

Read the whole press release about the event below:

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Sailor Moon R episodes 51 and 52 are now available on Hulu

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Adam

This morning, November 3rd, the two latest episodes of Sailor Moon R were added to Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we have episodes 51 and 52 as Sailor Moon upgrades her transformation and attack item and we get a better look at Minako.

In episode 51, A New Transformation: Usagi’s Power-Up, the gang go watch the Cherry Blossoms. This seems a bit like a school trip but for convoluted reasons all of the Sailor Guardians, who are not in Usagi’s class, come along. Naru chokes Umino in a sleeping bag and everyone has a good time eating while watching the cherry trees bloom. An interesting animation technique is used in this episode as character are animated as talking to each other while a zoomed out version of the group appears in the background. During this interaction we see that Usagi is lazy and makes bad lunches but Rei is even lazier and brought fast food burgers. Usagi feeds Rei a sandwich covered in a spicy sauce causing her to breather fire, one of the last times she’ll use her Fire Soul technique and the only time it’s used while she is not transformed into Sailor Mars. A monster shows up, breaks Sailor Moon’s transformation broach and then she falls into a hole which takes her to visit Queen Serenity who upgrades her broach to the Crystal Star, returns the Silver Crystal to her and gives her the Cutie Moon Rod! Where was this weird subspace type world she visited? It’s never really revealed but it looks a bit like Silver Millennium.

Episode 52, The Targeted Kindergarteners: Venus to the Rescue, is a Minako episode which is all about shipping Minako and Artemis. The episode opens with Minako hugging Artemis in bed then she accuses him of peeping on her while she’s changing. Ultimately Minako runs into a young girl who is getting bullied and helps her out. The monster of the week is attacking kindergarten children and so Minako has decided to protect them. The young girl she befriends is a fan of Sailor Moon but, much to her chagrin, has never heard of Sailor Venus! This changes of course when Sailor Venus saves her life. Minako gets a new attack in this episode, her Crescent Beam Shower. The rest of the gang will eventually also be getting new infrequently used attacks in upcoming episodes.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 8, Minako – Sailor V, Review

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Adam

Sailor Venus is here! In the latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, Minako – Sailor V, we are introduced to Minako Aino, Sailor Venus and her trusty “partner” Artemis. I put “partner” in quotes because I’m totally shipping these two. The episode is available on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico. The main theme of this episode? Winking! Minako just loves winking, and it’s getting contagious! Artemis winks twice and Mamoru winks at Usagi in this episode. It’s a winking epidemic!

This episode is a big lie! Princess Serenity is revealed to be Sailor Venus which is complete nonsense. The identity of Princess Serenity is the worst kept secret in Sailor Moon! All flashbacks of her clearly show her to have very Sailor Moon like hair. Sailor Moon gets a new tiara this week with a crescent moon like Princess Serenity’s on her forehead and of course there’s the simple fact that the Moon Princess is from the Moon, which is what Sailor Moon is named after. Somehow we continue to act as if it’s a legitimate mystery. Usagi has dreams where she’s called Serenity by Endymion who’s face is also obscured. So who is Endymion supposed to be if not Mamoru? Shingo? Motoki? Kenji Papa? There aren’t many contenders here.

Things with the Shitennou continue to deviate from the manga. Zoisite is still alive and escapes. The original manga story has Kunzite talking to Zoisite’s decomposing body and eventually has him die as well, but none of this happens. In the next act the Shitennou are supposed to be brought back to life thanks to the power of the Silver Crystal, and then turned into gems. Perhaps they will just be turned directly into gems, or perhaps things will progress differently. We shall see! The past association between the Sailor Guardians and the Shitennou continues to be alluded to as Sailor Venus makes mention of Kunzite’s true past. This is likely something that will be revisited in a future episode. Kunzite kisses Beryl’s hand in this episode. How will Minako feel about this, assuming they get all hooked up like they should.

Kunzite uses Tokyo tower to essentially kill everyone in town, only in this anime version the people are seemingly alive and just having their energy drained, not partially decomposed corpses. Jupiter is meant to sense the effects of the blackout, due to her association with lightning and electricity, but instead Sailor Venus approaches Kunzite alone. This makes sense given she is basically a shield for the true Princess. When the rest of the Sailor Guardians come in, Jupiter is flying while carrying the rest of the girls. Cool trick!

Minako uses her transformation pen to transform. This is what she used to transform into Sailor V and Sailor Venus in the manga. Her transformation is full of ribbons. She uses her Crescent Boomerang attack in this episode, which is the attack she also used as Sailor V in the Codename Sailor V manga.

As the battle progresses we take a brief moment to share Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask’s first consensual kiss. This is important since the last kiss we got had Tuxedo Mask taking advantage of an unconscious Sailor Moon. Good thing they got this in, as Tuxedo Mask is then wounded defending Sailor Moon, as seen in the episode preview. Yes, the very last moment of the episode was in last week’s preview.

Next week is Act 9, Serenity – Princess. For all the stagnating deceptions of this week’s episode, the next episode will be jammed packed. Tuxedo Mask is severely wounded and kidnapped by the Dark Kingdom. The past events of Silver Millennium are revealed. Princess Serenity and Endymion are revealed. The Silver Crystal is revealed. All this an more coming Saturday November 1st.

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

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Sailor Moon News

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

Tag Archives: Artemis

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