The first full episode from the Black Moon Clan story arc is now available to view in English on Hulu and Neon Alley. Act 15, Infiltration – Sailor Mars, introduces us to a bunch of character from the Black Moon Clan including Rubeus, Demande, Esmeraude, Saphir and the Ayakashi Sisters. This episode focuses mainly on the rivalry between Sailor Mars and Koan. Many new voice actors are showing up this week, who are all reprising their roles from the new English dub of the original Sailor Moon anime. Those actors are:

Claudia Lenz as Koan
Cindy Robinson as Berthier
Cassandra Lee Morris as Calaveras
Jessica Gee as Petz
Steve Cannon as Rubeus
Rena S. Mandel as Esmeraude
Greg Felden as Saphir
Matthew Mercer as Prince Demande

This week also gives us a better look at Chibiusa who first showed up at the end of Act 14. Amongst some background character we see a boy who looks an awful lot like Heero Yuy from Gundam Wing. What do you think?

The Black Moon Clan will be joining the English version of Sailor Moon Crystal this Friday as, Act 15, Infiltration – Sailor Mars, is released on Hulu and Neon Alley. We’ll see a lot more of Chibiusa, who we saw briefly at the end of last week’s episode, as well as the Black Moon Clan which includes Rubeus, Demande, Esmeraude and the Ayakashi sisters.

This episode focuses more heavily on Koan and Sailor Mars. We’ll go through this formula for the next handful of episodes the as Ayakashi Sisters face off against Sailor Guardians. One scene features a guy who looks a lot like Heero Yuy from Gundam Wing. What do you think?

The latest release of Sailor Moon Crystal on Blu-Ray was released on May 13th. Volume 8 collects acts 15 and 16. It’s packaging showcases Chibiusa. You can buy this volume on Amazon Japan and CD Japan. It only has Japanese audio with no English subtitles, though it will play in North American Blu-Ray players.

The charm included this time is Sailor Mercury’s Star Power Stick. Her original transformation item was released with volume 2 when Sailor Mercury first appeared on the cover. It’s a safe bet that the next 3 releases will have Sailor Mars, Jupiter and Venus’s Star Power Sticks as charms.

The 20 page special booklet included this time has the same breakdown as others, included episode summaries, screenshots, character art and a special page by Fumio Osano, Osabu. The interviews included in this release are with Yu Kaminoki, producer for the series and Misato Fukuen, the voice actress who plays Chibiusa. The character art included mostly focuses on Chibiusa but also has Koan and Berthier of the Ayakashi Sisters. There’s a heavy amount of focus on Chibiusa with her gun. Can any gun nuts identify exactly what model of gun this is and whether or not it can be equipped with an optional flower clip?

The episodes included are Act 15, Infiltration – Sailor Mars, in which Sailor Mars faces off again Koan, and Act 16, Abduction – Sailor Mercury, in which Sailor Mercury faces off again Berthier. Chibiusa showed up at the end of the last release so now we begin focusing on the battle with the Black Moon Clan. Both episodes on this disk have minor changes to their animation that’s been done for the Blu-Ray release. I didn’t note anything terribly significant as far as changes go. You can check out the differences in Act 15 and Act 16 on Crystal Comparisons, which details the changes between the streaming version and home video versions of the show.

Chibiusa in her incorrectly coloured uniform from the next episode preview for Act 17

Chibiusa in her correctly coloured uniform in Act 17

More shocking here is the lack of change! The next episode preview for Act 17 shows Chibiusa with a short sleeved but dark blue uniform. As we’ve covered in our review of Act 17, this was an incorrect colour which was actually corrected for the episode proper. The animators change things like this up until the last minute and update all kinds of things for the Blu-Ray but no one is bothering to fix up the next episode previews so that they don’t include these errors! Shameful!

As always as I don’t speak Japanese I can’t comment much on the audio commentary. There are three people appearing on these commentaries. You can hear Rina Sato, the voice of Sailor Mars, Hisako Kanemoto, the voice of Sailor Mercury and Munehisa Sakai, the series director for Sailor Moon Crystal.

As with other releases it’s hard to justify buying a fairly expensive release for just two episodes. I don’t imagine I’ll change anyone’s mind on buying these at this point. Either you’ve bought the other releases and will buy this too, or you won’t be buying any. With free viewing options available for Sailor Moon Crystal and an English version inevitably happening in the future, this isn’t something many English speaking fans will find much value in.

Keep reading for more images of the packaging and all pages of the included special booklet.

Last month Viz announced the voice actors you’ll be hearing as part of Viz’s new dub of Sailor Moon R once the Black Moon Clan shows up. You can currently listen to the dub of episode 60, which features the voices of Rubeus and the Ayakashi Sisters. We will be getting a lot more of these voices tomorrow as we get the dubbed versions of episodes 61 through 68 on Hulu and Neon Alley as part of the Mini Moonlight Party. The voices of Esmeraude, Saphir and Prince Demande will not be showing up as part of the first half of the season so we won’t be hearing them until later this year.

Here’s the cast of the Black Moon Clan:

Claudia Lenz as Koan
Cindy Robinson as Berthier
Cassandra Lee Morris as Calaveras
Jessica Gee as Petz
Steve Cannon as Rubeus
Rena S. Mandel as Esmeraude
Greg Felden as Saphir
Matthew Mercer as Prince Demande

These are mostly newly cast actors with the exception of Cindy Robinson who was previously cast as Queen Beryl and is now voicing Berthier. The cast of Viz’s new dub of the original Sailor Moon anime will be reprising their roles in Sailor Moon Crystal so we will be hearing these same voice actors once the second story arc of Sailor Moon Crystal gets dubbed.

Yesterday we even received a Tweet from Rena Strober (credited as Rena S. Mandel) to let us know that she’s currently working on dubbing Esmeraude! We can’t wait to hear what she sounds like.

@SailorMoon_News I was back dubbing my favorite evil lady Esmaurald today!!! Can't wait to share her laughs!

— Rena Strober (@RenaStrober) May 6, 2015

It was previously announced that Chibiusa would be voiced by Sandy Fox and Sailor Pluto would be voiced by Veronica Taylor.

The first season of Viz’s new dub is currently available on DVD and Blu-Ray. Sailor Moon R part 1 will be released in June. Buy these sets using the links below to support the site.

Source: Anime News Network

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal is now available on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico. Act 15, Infiltration – Sailor Mars, gives us a better look at the mysterious Chibiusa and then pits Koan of the Black Moon Clan’s Ayakashi Sisters against Sailor Mars.

The first thing to note this week are the changes to the intro. Despite a few minor cosmetic changes the scenes specific to the first story arc, that being Queen Serenity and the Dark Kingdom, have been replaced with images of the Black Moon Clan, Chibiusa and Sailor Pluto. This is actually a very short part of the intro, as most of it is fairly generic not having anything season specific. That said if you look closely at Sailor Moon’s brooch you will see that it is still the one she had in the first story arc.

The Black Moon Clan are finally here! We get a good first look at pretty much all of the characters on their home planet of Nemesis (which Rubeus mistakenly refers to as a star, which may be a subtitle issue). We see Demande, Esmeraude, Saphir, Rubeus and Wise Man. We also get a look at the Ayakashi Sisters though this episode heavily features Koan.

Chibiusa’s gun wasn’t real! It just had a flower in it. She decides to follow Usagi around, a good instinct as she has the Silver Crystal and is Sailor Moon, so she brainwashes the Tsukino family into thinking she belongs there. This causes Luna to hit Usagi and Mamoru in order to avoid them being brainwashed. Nice to see Luna hitting Mamoru right in the face. It’s also nice to see Shingo again! He is dropped so quickly in the original anime that it’s good to see that he’s still around.

The girls receive new transformation items and communicators in this episode. These transformation pens are called the Star Power Sticks and the girls mention that they feel more powerful after transforming with them, which explains Sailor Mars’s new power Burning Mandala and Sailor Mercury’s new power Shine Aqua Illusion.

Arcades are so 1992! The Crown Arcade has been replaced with the Crown Fruit Parlor as the main hang out place of our characters. I’m not sure if this was meant to reflect the dwindling popularity of arcades when the manga was first published, the aging interests of the characters in the series or just a way to make it easier to tell the story. It’s easier to have exposition happen as the girls drink some juice rather than amongst noisy arcade games. A new character, Asanuma, is introduced at the Fruit Parlor. A scene from the manga has him commenting that he thinks that a beautiful girl like Rei is more fitting as a girlfriend to Mamoru than Usagi. Indeed, I support this manga shipping of Mamoru and Rei but unfortunately Sailor Moon Crystal chose not to include this.

The main plot develops at Rei’s school, T. A. Academy. It’s an all girl’s school. All kinds of pseudoscience surround this episode’s plot as students investigate UFOs, spontaneous combustion and fortune telling! One character that is seen in the hall of T. A. Academy looks suspiciously like Heero Yuy from the 1995 anime series Gundam Wing. I find the other characters in this scene look a bit like they could be from other anime series, but no specific ones come to mind besides a girl showing a passing resemblance to Miki from Marmalade Boy.

One student of T. A. Academy is the white haired Kotono Sarashina. She is investigating all these pseudoscientific things that in the context of this completely fictional story happen to be real. Her white hair is a bit odd to see. I suppose she’s simply meant to have very light blonde hair, but she looks a bit like a ghost or a really old person! She is just one of the many characters who isn’t given any colour in the manga, so the artists behind Sailor Moon Crystal are free to give her any hair colour they chose.

Rei is spending her time at the festival reading fortunes, which in the real world is nonsense but is a thing she can really do in the fictional world in which this story takes place. She has competition with Koan who is using her fortune telling powers to predict when people will die in the hopes that they will decide to join the Black Moon Clan with their remaining years. Not a terribly great plan.

The other plan the Black Moon Clan has in this episode involves burning people alive! Originally in the Manga Rei has a vision of a young girl being burned alive by Koan. This is not quite as terrible in Sailor Moon Crystal as the young girl is replaced by an adult man. The Black Moon Clan has a number of drones who originally pose as nuns and then run around making sounds very similar to those made by the Snow Dancers in the Sailor Moon S movie.

Once the combat starts, Koan and Sailor Mars face off. Sailor Mars gets frozen by Koan’s fire. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask summon the new attack item the Cutie Moon Rod which uses Moon Princess Halation to kill Koan. A pity, really, that she has to die. Indeed, this is how it was originally written in the manga. I always came to appreciate how the anime played out with Rei befriending Koan and sacrificing herself to protect her, ultimately making her abandon her evil ways to open up a makeup business which her sisters join her in. It shows a side of Sailor Moon that is more about forgiveness and friendship and less about power.

Sailor Mars is kidnapped. That’s it. She’s gone for a bunch of episodes now. How terrible!

Next week is Act 16, Abduction – Sailor Mercury. This will be an Ami heavy episode as she faces off against Berthier. The episode will also feature puppet Tuxedo Mask!

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

The next episode of Sailor Moon Crystal will be available this coming Saturday February 7th. Act 15, Infiltration – Sailor Mars, will start streaming on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico at 7pm Japan Standard Time which is 5am Eastern Time and 2am Pacific Time. With the first full episode covering the second story arc we will be seeing a lot of new characters from the Black Moon Clan.

The main villain we’ll be seeing this week is Koan of the Ayakashi sisters. We will also likely be seeing her 3 sisters who appeared mostly in the background in the manga. We will also be seeing other Black Moon Clan villains Demande, Rubeus, Esmeraude, Saphir and Wise Man. Chibiusa is integrating herself into the Tsukino family while Rei is looking into UFOs which she thinks could related to a new enemy. Tune in Saturday to see how that turns out!

The next wave of Sailor Moon Petit Chara figures has been revealed on the Sailor Moon Official Site. The new figures include the Ayakashi Sisters Koan, Berthier, Calaveras and Petz as well as Sailor Moon with her Cutie Moon Rod which she had during the Black Moon Clan arc of the manga which was the Sailor Moon R season of the anime. These figures will be released in June 2015.

In the past Petit Chara figures, a line of Super Deformed blind box figures by MegaHouse, have all been of heroes. The first set had Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus as well as Tuxedo Mask. The second set contained Super Sailor Moon, Sailor Chibi Moon, Sailor Pluto, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn. The third set included civilian uniform versions of Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, Minako and Mamoru. There are usually 6 figures to a set, with 6 of them being packaged in one box. Expressions vary so while a set will have all 6, each figure has one of two facial expressions. A Princess Serenity figure that is not part of a set will be released on Amazon on February 18th. It’s unknown who might included as the 6th figure in this set, if there even is one, or if they will have different facial expressions. It seems a bit odd to include these characters but not other villains such as those from the Dark Kingdom story arc. This may simply be due to the fact that Sailor Moon Crystal will soon be showcasing these characters, though by June the Black Moon Clan story arc will be nearly complete and the Ayakashi Sisters will be long dead.

I bought the first two sets of these figures and found them to be very nice. They’re small and easy to display. A minor amount of assembly is required but they hold together well and the included stand will make sure they don’t keep falling over.

Support the site by buying some of the previously released figures on Amazon.

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.

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.

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