Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 198 and 199 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 198 - Galaxia

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars is almost complete! This week we get episodes 198 and 199 on Hulu and Neon Alley which leaves us with only one episode left for next week. As we left things Sailor Uranus and Neptune were evil for some reason and we’re slowly building up to the final confrontation between Galaxia and Sailor Moon. Episode 199 comes with a warning on Hulu stating “The following is intended for mature audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.”. Why? There’s a ton of nudity in episode 200 which we will see next week but nothing about this particular episode some any more “mature” than the last few. I guess there’s so much nudity in episode 200 that the warning spills over into other episodes!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 198 - Sailor Uranus slaps Sailor Moon

Episode 198, Dying Stars: Uranus and Neptune’s Last Stand, starts off with these two being evil. They kind of killed their good friends Sailor Saturn and Pluto last time which was not cool at all. Sailor Uranus attacks Sailor Moon with World Shaking, which good old Sailor Star Fighter attempts to block with Star Serious laser. This causes a sort of uncounscious semi dead Usagi who wakes up in a world of pastels where everyone is nice. All her friends are there and Haruka and Michiru are cool again. They were just faking it and we can all be friends again. Oh and guess what it’s Mamoru and Chibiusa. Remember them? They used to be in this show before the Three Lights showed up. Cool dream! All fake. Anyway Sailor Uranus and Neptune are still evil and when they’re just about to take the Sailor Starlights’ Star Seeds they … turn on Galaxia. So it really was a trick. Works decently too only when Galaxia is shot with those little spikey light things that look like something from a ramen bowl her Star Seed doesn’t come out. It’s like she doesn’t have one. We’ll find out why soon enough. Galaxia take her bracelets back and, as she’s already taken these two’s Star Seeds, they die. How sad.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 198 - Sailor Uranus and Neptune

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 199 - Sailor Galaxia seals Chaos

Episode 199, The Light of Hope: the Final Battle for the Galaxy, begins the confrontation with Galaxia. We start with a little background! Choas, this great evil thing in the universe, was sealed within the most powerful Sailor Guardian … Sailor Galaxia. Oh damn. Seemed like a good idea at the time I guess but it sort of made her evil and now she’s totally destroying the Universe and collecting Star Seeds. Sailor Moon, always looking for a solution that centers around love and friendship and such, wonders if there wasn’t a better way in which everyone worked together and did great things. We can finally have some sympathy for this seemingly terrible person. Evil Sailor Galaxia of course is totally happy with the arrangement since she likes being evil and collecting Star Seeds. There’s a bit of a chase and Sailor Moon tries to heal Galaxia which seems to work just a bit, but Galaxia shakes it off and destroys Sailor Moon’s Eternal Tiare weapon. Sailor Galaxia tries to kill the Sailor Starlights but Sailor Moon jumps in with her Star Seed in front of her. This seems like a good plan. What could go wrong? Oh no Sailor Galaxia took the Star Seed! Sailor Moon does that pink ribbon thing she is known to do. More backstory. As Chaos took over Galaxia’s body she removed her Star Seed and sent it away where Chaos couldn’t find her. The Light of Hope is Galaxia’s Star Seed. Sailor Chibi Chibi Moon cries and irradiates a light which Sailor Galaxia recognises as the Light of Hope. So… Chibi Chibi has the Light of Hope or is the Light of Hope?

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 199 - Sailor Galaxia's Star Seed

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 196 and 197 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 196 - Sailor Mars dies

This week on Hulu and Neon Alley‘s new episodes of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars everyone dies! With episodes 196 and 197 Sailor Galaxia has laid siege to the city and she’s going through Star Seeds like candy. This includes some favourite characters and someone who it turns out has been dead for most of the season. Also we find a convoluted reason to get good guy superheroes fighting each other, something I despise and which film critics seem to be sick of too!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 196 - Galaxia takes over TV

Episode 196, Countdown to Destruction: the Sailor Guardians’ Last Battle, is pretty much what the title says. Galaxia is destroying the city and collecting Star Seeds. She got one earlier in the season, then one last episode and now she’s going for a whole bunch. Did she get others through the season on other planets or did she do that earlier? Not really important. What is important is the return of Sailor Saturn! She arrives already transformed of course, because there was no money for a transformation sequence I guess. We start off with the Sailor Starlights confronting Galaxia and then Sailor Chibi Chibi Moon brings the gang in to assist. This does not go very well as she kills Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus. It’s really all about Sailor Mars though. It’s always all about Sailor Mars. This mirrors the first time everyone died in the first season where Mars is the last to go and the first ghost to touch Usagi. It’s never Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus. It’s Mars and the rest. It’s Rei and the rest. Once again we see Sailor Moon single out Sailor Mars as her single closest friend. She has a big heart and has a love for all of her friends, but there is something special about this relationship which transcends all others. As if that weren’t enough we see the Star Seeds join others and Sailor Moon recognizes one that shines brighter than any other. Mamoru’s Star Seed. It turns out there was a good reason he hasn’t been returning her letters and that’s because he’s dead. Having Usagi be generally unaware of Mamoru’s death was a big change from the Manga, but one which I think worked well with the story of the Manga. Usagi thought he was being distant and her relationship with Seiya was a distraction from this. Turns out he was not being a jerk at all. Sailor Star Fighter sees this Star Seed and all I can read from her face is “Wow. Even this guy’s Star Seed is cooler than me.”. Poor Seiya never had a chance.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 196 - Mamoru's Star Seed is better than Seiya

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 197 - Tuxedo Mask chilling on a wing

Episode 197, Ruler of the Galaxy: the Menace of Galaxia, isn’t done killing people off. First we see what happened to Mamoru. As we know he never got to the states, but it wasn’t clear what happened on that plane. Galaxia faced off against him and took his Star Seed. Tuxedo Mask’s reaction to this is priceless. He does not fear what she will do because he knows that Usagi will defeat her. I wonder what happened to the rest of the plane. Surely if it had gone down or everyone had been killed it would have made headlines and Usagi would have heard about it. Perhaps in this world of superheroes and weekly monster attacks on the city a missing plane doesn’t get noticed. So the gang is teleported away from Galaxia, which is very temporary. Enter Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn who are once again already transformed. We learn that Sailor Galaxia is the one who orchestrated the return of Nehelenia to awaken Sailor Saturn so that she could have another True Star Seed that wasn’t otherwise in the game. This is like using a cheat device to catch Mew even though he’s not in the game. This makes me wonder why Hotaru didn’t have a True Star Seed inside of her prior to becoming Sailor Saturn again. Is that really how this works? After a little fight it seems like Sailor Uranus and Neptune decide to be evil. Is this what happened with the Sailor Animamates? It got the impression that they were slaves but getting Sailor Galaxia’s bracelets does not seem to cognitively affect these two. We get a fight between good guys. This is a pet peeve of mine in comics and comic based properties, but here it isn’t about who would actually win. I’m sick and tired of excuses in Avengers movies for the heroes to fight each other and now in the summer of movies that are nothing more than convoluted reasons to have good guys fight each other I think I’ve hit a saturation point of tolerating this kind of Batman V Superman and Civil War nonsense. So Sailor Uranus and Neptune kill Sailor Pluto and Saturn. The rest of the gang arrives just at the right time to see them die. Oh well I guess this means no transformation sequence for Sailor Saturn ever! Maybe in Sailor Moon Crystal we will see this. So Sailor Uranus and Neptune seem to be evil and Usagi’s next. To be continued!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 197 - Sailor Uranus attacks Sailor Saturn

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 197 - Sailor Pluto and Saturn die

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 194 and 195 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 194 - Seiya and Usagi

The two latest episode of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars have been added to Hulu and Neon Alley. This week with episodes 194 and 195 we learn a lot more about Sailor Galaxia as we get pretty much all of the anime’s time with Princess Kakyuu. It’s a bad week for Seiya’s relationships as Usagi starts to come to terms with Mamoru’s absence. Also to note there are no more monsters of the week for the rest of the series. The last Phage was in episode 192!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 194 - Sailor Galaxia

Episode 194, Crusade for the Galaxy: Legend of the Sailor Wars, gives us a ton of back story. Princess Kakyuu is here and she seems to be the one with all the answers, and is willing to give us just a few of them. We get a description of the Sailor Wars. Some great Sailor Guardian sealed Chaos inside herself and became totally evil. That’s Sailor Galaxia. She’s treating Star Seeds like Pokémon and she won’t stop until she’s caught ‘em all. Usagi is missing Mamoru quite a bit and calls him and … his answering machine picks up. Did Mamoru keep his massive apartment in downtown Tokyo while he went to study in the United States where a physical answering machine is located or has he just left his phone line with voice mail set up? Did he pay for all of this with his part time job at the resort he showed up for once a year ago? Who exactly is continuing to pay these bills while he’s not even available to return phone calls and mail to his girlfriend? Seiya meanwhile gets a busy signal while calling Usagi who is trying to call her boyfriend. Oh boy, that’s a symbolic busy signal! Seiya then mistakes Kakyuu for Usagi. Tell me about it. There are a bunch of jokes about keeping Usagi safe in this episode. Fair enough! She’s the princess and that’s kind of what these people need to be doing. Sailor Tin Nyanko shows up at the school, masquerading as student Nyanko Suzu. Once again no monster as Sailor Tin Nyanko attacks Usagi, who tries to take her on alone. The fight is interrupted by a red rose which is tossed into the fray. Wow! WTF? Chills. The rose was tossed by… Seiya. Damn. A fight ensues and Sailor Moon half heals Sailor Tin Nyanko with Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss. We’ll see how that goes later. Usagi breaks down crying at this point with the rose reminding her of Mamoru. Seiya asks if he’s not good enough for her. It’s not looking great for Seiya.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 194 - Seiya's rose

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 195 - Sailor Tin Nyanko is confused

Episode 195, Princess Kakyu Perishes: Advent of Galaxia, is sort of a double spoiler title. It’s just doubly terrible. Anyway. The Three Lights are doing one last concert! Why? They found their Princess! Well now they are looking for the Light of Hope, which apparently is the thing that can stop Galaxia. Why just do one concert to call the Light of Hope? Either they’re done and don’t need to sing anymore or they aren’t and it should just be status quo. Whatever. It’s their last concert. More importantly, Mamoru is totally off the grid. Usagi admits to Rei that he hasn’t actually responded to any of her letters. When Ami looks into it he never arrived in America. He’s not in his old apartment, which still has an active phone line and perhaps an answering machine, so where is he? How is he paying his bills? So Mamoru is not in US but we saw him and the plane with that light and the … oh boy let’s think about something else. So concert. Sailor Tin Nyanko attacks the concert and she’s totally messed up. She was half healed with the Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss “attack” last episode so she’s sort of like Two Face only without the coin. This is sort of tragic. The Animamates aren’t evil at all. They are being controlled. Sailor Moon has the power to heal them but has failed to do so at every attempt. Tragic. Lots of other people are at the fight like Sailor Uranus and Neptune. Oh wait of course no Sailor Saturn. Whatever. Galaxia shows up and she’s collecting all the Star Seeds. She takes Sailor Tin Nyanko and then Princess Kakyuu tries to hold her off while the Starlights escape. Princess Kakyuu has her Star Seed taken. Wow that was kind of quick. I kind of thought maybe she’d transform into a Sailor Guardian and maybe have some kind of fireball attack but she doesn’t really do much. Oh well moving on. As Kakyuu is dying Sailor Chibi Chibi Moon takes her hand and with her last breath says that Princess Kakyuu feels the Light of Hope. Whatever that is! I guess this means Princess Kakyuu isn’t Chibi Chibi like I thought!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 195 - Princess Kakyuu and Sailor Chibi Chibi Moon

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 194 - Usagi listening to Mamoru's answering machine

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A Pokémon/Sailor Moon Crossover? Is the Golden Crystal or Mamoru’s Star Seed in the Pokémon Moon logo?

Pokémon Sailor Moon Crossover?

Could it be that the upcoming Pokémon games Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon include a Sailor Moon Crossover? Zack Compton, who created this image and left it on our Facebook page, seems to think so. The Japanese Pocket Monsters Moon logo includes a small gold coloured gem which looks suspiciously like a True Star Seed. The picture above shows Galaxia with (spoiler!) Tuxedo Mask’s Star Seed which happens to closely resemble the Golden Crystal from Sailor Moon SuperS and the Dream arc of the manga. Though the similarity is a bit of a stretch the game also has Moon in the title so why not? Check out the games official Japanese logo below. The “Confirmed” comment is a reference to a trend in the Pokémon fandom to confirm remakes throughout the years.

Japanese Pokémon Moon logo

Here is Sailor Chibi Moon with the Golden Crystal, quite similar to the gem from the image and of course nearly identical to Tuxedo Mask’s Star Seed. There are minor differences with Star Seeds being partially transparent with a shiny star inside and the Golden Crystal being a fairly uniform colour.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 165 - Sailor Chibi Moon and The Golden Crystal

The Pokémon/Sailor Moon crossovers don’t end there! As I’ve previously mentioned Makoto’s father, as seen in Act 17, looks just like Brock from Pokémon! This may largely be due to the fact that he’s closing his eyes in the photo. Who does that? Maybe Makoto’s father is French Stewart.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 17 - Makoto's father was Brock from Pokémon

Brock from Pokémon

Source: Zack Compton on our Facebook Page

The Sailor Starlights are first seen in the US today as Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 172 and 173 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - The Sailor Starlights

At long last Sailor Moon fans in the United States can now see the Sailor Starlights in a legal release! This week on Hulu and Neon Alley‘s new episodes of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars we get to see the Sailor Starlights Sailor Star Fighter, Maker and Healer, also known as the Three Light Seiya, Taiki and Yaten. But first we must wrap up this short 6 episode arc and close the story of Nehelenia. Many have noticed that I’m often negative in my reviews so I will just say that this week we are getting two absolutely fantastic episodes of the series. Now let me talk about these wonderful episodes as I complain about little problems I have with them.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 172 - Sailor Saturn

Episode 172, Moon Power of Love: The Nightmare Ends, is the last in this mini arc that we are starting out the Sailor Stars season with. The main focus here is on Sailor Chibi Moon and Sailor Saturn. For some reason Sailor Chibi Moon is disappearing. This is somewhat like how Marty McFly was disappearing while time traveling when it looked like his parents weren’t going to get together. This is nonsense in a time travel movie and is double nonsense here. Time travel isn’t involved. Nehelenia does not come from the future and is not affected by time travel. Galaxia, who we will learn is the one that released Nehelenia, is also not traveling through time. Many things have threatened Mamoru and Sailor Moon but they don’t generally result in this Marty McFlying of Chibiusa. Beyond this time travel is not used to resolve the situation and to save Chibiusa either. Whatever. This episode isn’t about Chibiusa McFly. It’s all about Sailor Saturn being awesome! Sailor Saturn appears so late in Sailor Moon S that we don’t get much of a look at her. She is gone for SuperS and although she will be around for this season, she actually doesn’t get much screen time. She never actually gets a transformation sequence or any stock footage attacks. She does manage to use two moves in this episode. First she uses the Silence Wall to block Nehelenia’s attack. She then uses Silence Glaive Surprise which, in the Manga, just makes mist, but here it seems to be much more important. It releases a massive amount of energy even though it is blocked by Sailor Chibi Moon so that it isn’t completed. The insinuation seems to be that this attack would destroy Sailor Saturn and Nehelenia if used to completion.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 172 - Young Nehelenia

Finally Usagi shows up after climbing through a bunch of rose bushes. She takes pity on Nehelenia. This is what Sailor Moon is about! This is how Sailor Moon SuperS should have ended. Nehelenia is evil, sure, but she has a rich back story where we can see her as young and innocent and then corrupted. Usagi and her friends feel her pain and this is something which hurts her much more than hostility would. In the Sailor Moon Manga the Sailor Guardians kill the bad guys. In the Sailor Moon Anime they use compassion to find non violent solutions to their problems and this is what I love about the anime. This all works out well. Mamoru is healed, Sailor Chibi Moon returns and sticks around until the end of the episode only. Young Nehelenia is seen waking up from what seems like a bad dream. It’s not clear exactly what her fate is. Either there is some sort of reboot or she’s trapped in a dream of an ideal world, possibly not unlike death. Whatever it’s all good.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 172 - Mamoru and Sailor Chibi Moon

I must stop for a moment to discuss what isn’t happening now. Chibiusa leaves at some point and isn’t seen again for most of the season. This is done without any fanfare. I mentioned in my thoughts on episode 167 that her fake leaving should have been retooled as a better departure either at the end of 172 or the beginning of 173. Either place would have been fine. As the final insult when I grabbed my Japanese R2 DVD for Sailor Stars volume 2 to get screenshots of episode 173 it has Sailor Chibi Moon and Sailor Saturn on the cover. Nonsense! Chibiusa is not on this disk at all, which includes episodes 173 to 178. The original laserdisc containing this same image contained episodes 171 to 174, and so it included the majorly Sailor Saturn and Sailor Chibi Moon centric episode which this refers to. So I am sad to see Chibiusa leave, even though I understand why she is gone and the story of the season works best without Usagi having her family around, but it is still an unfortunate departure from the manga, where all 10 Sailor Guardians are present throughout.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars volume 2 Japanese R2 DVD

Sailor Stars Volume 2 on DVD

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars volume 2 Japanese Laserdisc

Sailor Stars Volume 2 on Laserdisc

Finally we get to episodes 173, Farewells and Encounters: the Transitioning Stars of Destiny. We open with a look at the new idol group the Three Lights! It seems everyone is a fan. Minako and Makoto like Seiya. Rei likes Yaten. Ami likes Taiki. Usagi doesn’t seem to know anything about them and is instead preoccupied with the fact that Mamoru is leaving for America. No only did Chibiusa leave between episodes, but her boyfriend is going too! At the airport Mamoru gives her a ring and puts it on her ring finger. He does not flat out ask her to marry him but the symbolism of the ring and its placements is essentially a marriage proposal. The two kiss in the airport as strangers walk by. A North American audience may not find this noteable but in Japan kissing in public is uncommon, which is why it will often seem important for characters to verify that they are alone before they kiss. This public gesture demonstrates the strength of their feelings for one another. Mamoru leaves in this episode, and there is a strange light seen outside of his plane. We won’t learn until much later what that is specifically about. For Usagi, Mamoru has gone to America to study.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - Mamoru kisses Usagi at the airport

As Mamoru leaves, Seiya enters. It’s not even a little bit subtle and it isn’t supposed to be. Even while they are still at the airport the Three Lights arrive, and so Usagi’s potential love interest Seiya enters her life. As he crosses Usagi he senses something about her. The target for this episode is an actress Alice, who is doing a movie with the Three Lights. This puts Usagi once again in Seiya’s presence. She doesn’t know who he is and assumes he is trying to pick her up by suggesting she should. The combat starts and we see one of my favourite villains of the series, Sailor Iron Mouse. She is one of the Sailor Animamates, the Sailor Guardians who work for Galaxia. Sailor Iron Mouse extracts a Star Seed from Alice but it isn’t a True Star Seed so it’s just like a Mirror of Dreams that isn’t Golden or a Heart Crystal that isn’t a Talisman. The Sailor Starlights show up and fight alongside Sailor Moon. For no real reason Usagi decides not to tell her friends about this encounter.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - Sailor Iron Mouse

A note on gender. Things get a bit complicated when it comes to the Three Lights and the Sailor Starlights. In the manga they are women who dress as men when they are the Three Lights. In the anime they are men in their civilian forms and women in the Sailor Guardian forms. We can debate weather they are originally or truly men or women. I tend to feel that their true forms are their Sailor Guardian selves and that the Three Light male identities are their disguise. This does not really matter at the end of the day, as gender is fairly fluid in this series, with sexual preference being an independent vector to gender. They are who they are, they love who they love and they are loved by whoever loves them, regardless of their gender. All said I will refer to the Three Light with masculine pronouns and the Sailor Starlights with feminine pronouns.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - Seiya Kou

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - Taiki Kou

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - Yaten Kou

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - Usagi is sad that Chibiusa and Mamoru are leaving

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - Galaxia

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - Mamoru proposes to Usagi

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - Mamoru meets Seiya

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - Mamoru leaves for America

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - Mamoru sees something on the wing

Volume 11 of the Sailor Moon Manga is out now

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Sailor Moon Manga Vol. 11 cover Sailor Chibi Chibi

Volume 11 of the Sailor Moon Manga’s new English edition by Kodansha is in stores and available online today. This book features Sailor Chibi Chibi on the cover, a character so shrouded in mystery that if I were to tell you who she is I would spoil the whole story for you! This book covers the beginning of the “Stars” arc, the final story arc of the Sailor Moon manga to be completed with the next volume. In this book we have the appearance of Chibi Chibi as well as the Sailor Starlights posing as the Three Lights. Buy this book through the Amazon link below to support our site.

The book as always comes with some nice looking colour pages. Check out a couple of previews of that below.

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