Sailor Moon Crystal Act 31, Sailor Pluto – Setsuna Meioh, review

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 31 - Setsuna

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal aired on Japanese TV on Monday May 9th and is now available to stream on Crunchyroll, Neon Alley and Hulu. This week Sailor Pluto returns as Setsuna Meioh while Makoto faces off against an evil plant lady! Overall I thought this was a really great episode with fantastic animation, though I found some of the subtitles a bit distracting. There seemed to be some fairly basic grammatical errors or just sentences that weren’t written like people really talk.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 31 - Setsuna Meioh

The big thing this week of course is the return of Sailor Pluto. Throughout most of the episode Setsuna Meioh, Sailor Pluto’s civilian identity, doesn’t have any memory of being a Sailor Guardian. What exactly is going on here? The Sailor Pluto we saw in the future did not come from the present. While the Space-Time Corridor can be considered to exist outside of time in some sense, I always assumed that Sailor Pluto guarded it throughout time. So there should be a Sailor Pluto in the past, present and future, living through time. Which Sailor Pluto is this? We will get a bit of an explanation next week which really only raises more questions. I have a lot of thoughts on this but I will get into them in my Act 32 review.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 31 - Reika and Motoki argue

Reika and Motoki show up again, as they’re going to school with Setsuna. The two are bickering and fighting a bit as Motoki has mentioned Makoto, one of the many young girls that comes into his arcade, and Reika doesn’t really appreciate this. Imagine how she’d feel if she watched the live action series! While on the train Motoki suggests going to have dinner near the Mugen Academy. Reika doesn’t want to because of the ominous clouds! Oddly when we see the buildings in the distance there does not appear to be any more clouds there than over the train the two are on, where it’s also raining. What?

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 31 - Chibiusa's hot teacher Sailor Moon SuperS episode 135 - Kyuusuke, Chibiusa and Momoko badmouth Morino

Back at Chibiusa’s school we make an important discovery. Chibiusa and her friends have a hot teacher! Where did she come from? She looks nothing like this in the manga. In the anime we see their teacher in the Sailor Moon SuperS season, but this does not appear to be that same character. That character was struggling with aging while being single and Kyuusuke teased her for not being able to get a man. This teacher shouldn’t have any such problems! Meanwhile Kyuusuke is not subtle about his attraction to Chibiusa. As the class is encouraged to give the items they made to someone special, Kyuusuke choses to give his Sailor Moon pencil holder to Chibiusa. She misses the point obviously. Shouldn’t she be totally into this guy because he looks just like her father?

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 31 - A Brock looking guy who's into Makoto Sailor Moon Crystal Act 17 - Makoto's father was Brock from Pokémon

Speaking of guys who look like fathers, who’s this guy who’s hitting on Makoto in the botanical gardens? He kind of looks like Brock from Pokémon. You know who else looks like Brock from Pokémon? Makoto’s Dad! If Chibiusa is any indication girls really dig guys who look just like their Dad so Makoto should be all over this dude! Instead she daydreams about her Sempai, who we learn is named Nichogi. This episode, and the manga equivalent, are the only time we hear his name which was never mentioned in the original Sailor Moon anime. He doesn’t look like Brock from Pokémon which just doesn’t make sense if Chibiusa, Freud and Jung are to be trusted and all things considered I don’t think they should be.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 31 - Makoto and Nichogi Sempai

This week’s villain is Tellu of the Witches 5 who is posing as Ruru Teruno. She’s in charge of phys ed and the botanical gardens. What an odd combination of interests that also overlap with Makoto’s very specific mix of girly and tom boy tendencies. Her power level is 404, double that of last week’s villain, but because this manga is from the mid 90s it’s unlike it’s a reference to http code 404, page not found. Tellu has created the Tellun flower which is this evil flower which drains people’s energy, a plot not unlike that of the Sailor Moon R movie. The Tellun plant in bloom blankets the floor with pink flowers which looks a lot like the asteroid which was blanketed in Kissenian flowers in the film.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 31 - Tellu

Lots of Hotaru going on this week as we see that girls are terrible to each other sometimes. The other students at her school comment about how weak she seems and that she wears long sleeves even in summer. A change that we saw last week was that Mugen Academy students were starting to wear different uniforms with short puffy sleeves over the longer sleeve versions we’d seen earlier, and that Hotaru continues to wear. Next week we will see just why it is that Hotaru wears long sleeves and stockings. She’s not just hiding scars but also something kind of evil as she gets upset at her classmates and crushes a metal pencil box in a frightening display.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 31 - Hotaru might be kind of evil

Usagi starts to suspect Hotaru, as she’s the daughter of Professor Tomoe, and so she comes along with Chibiusa to visit her. If only Chibiusa had been honest and shared Hotaru’s secret that her father makes monsters we would be able to avoid a lot of this stuff but whatever. Usagi snoops around Hotaru’s house while Chibiusa helps her friend get her Silver Crystal fix at which point she once again shows signs of being some sort of evil being stuck inside the body of an innocent looking young girl.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 31 - Pink Sugar Heart Attack

Sailor Chibi Moon steps it up this week by finally getting her Moon Rod. She pleads to her mother to get a weapon and then Luna P turns into this item. I’m not sure her mother did this because I thought Luna P was more related to Sailor Pluto. So she uses this device to do her ridiculously sweet Pink Sugar Heart Attack move which is animated nearly identically to how it was in the manga.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 31 - Sailor Pluto is not dead

Finally Sailor Pluto shows up with her Dead Screen attack killing Tellu, who somehow turned into a big monster, and saving the day. Unfortunately this appearance is not preceded by a transformation sequence. Based on what happens in the manga it is entirely possible that we won’t be seeing Sailor Pluto or Saturn transforming in this particular story arc, though we can hope that a minor change will allow them to transform on screen.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 32 Preview - Sailor Chibi Moon reunited with Sailor Pluto

Next week Act 32, Infinity 6 – Three Soldiers. will give a bit of an explanation as to where and when Sailor Pluto came from. We’ll get some back story on the new Sailor Guardians and face off against the final members of the Witches 5.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 32 Preview - Cyrpine

Keep reading for more screenshots from this episode and the next episode preview for Act 32.

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Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27, Infinity 1 – Premonition – Second Part, Review

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 Part 2 - Sailor Neptune and Uranus

Well isn’t this just confusing. The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, the 28th episode, is also called Act 27. Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27, Infinity 1 – Premonition – Second Part, is now available on Crunchyroll, Neon Alley and Hulu. This episode covers the second part of the manga chapter which is Act 27, and so in order to keep the numbering for future episodes, Act 27 is used for both parts. This will be a bit confusing in the future as the Act number for every episode will not accurately reflect how many episodes have been released to date. Crunchyroll, Hulu and Neon Alley all refer to it as Episode 28 – Act 27 … I will continue to refer to episodes as “Act XX” so it will be Act 28 next week, even though this is the 29th episode and some services may use 29 to refer to it.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 Part 2 - Chibiusa and Usagi fighting

Since this episode covers half an Act of the manga, the pacing is a bit off, but with two monster attacks in that original story it actually works decently. Overall this was another great episode full of lovely animation. I enjoy all of the cute animation things they’ve included which have super deformed characters and silly little things. These are often unrealistic such as Usagi pulling a hammer out of hammer space or Sailor Chibi Moon breaking the forth wall by blowing away a balloon which Sailor Moon pops up in.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 Part 2 - Sailor Chibi Moon breaks the 4th wall

There’s a massive Luna book in the Tsukino living room. What’s that about? I guess if I saw a book with a picture of a cat that looked just like mine on it I might buy it but I have a sort of generic looking black cat who is also named Luna. Coincidence? Of course not I named the cat after the Sailor Moon character.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 Part 2 - What is that Luna book about?

A big change this week is this new fancy communicator that Mamoru has but absolutely refuses to use. First we see Mamoru on this ancient assed phone talking about his communicator, but not using it. It’s odd enough to see a man of Mamoru’s age and lack of family attachments not using a cell phone, but having him use a land line to refer to his communicator is absolutely absurd. Are there limited minutes on this thing? I don’t think it’s using the cell service of Tokyo. Pretty sure it’s being relayed through the massive super computer hidden under the arcade. Pretty sure these things can be used to do point to point or conference type calls as much as needed. Mamoru has no one in his home and given his willingness to divulge secret identities last week, it’s hardly a security concern to use the communicator which he’s openly wearing on his wrist as it’s designed for. In reality in 2016 he should have a cell phone and the communicators are not really something that needs to exist, but with this being such a faithful adaptation of the manga it’s not simply a case of upgrading a disk to a CD and a tape to a DVD when things are so closely tied into the story. This isn’t the live action series which beautifully adapted period relevant cell phone technology to suit the story after all. So Mamoru uses a lame phone and doesn’t really use his communicator like he should.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 Part 2 - Mamoru not using his communicator

We get a decent look at the Witches 5 this week. They aren’t really supposed to be in it as much as they are. In the manga they don’t show up at the battle but then they needed to stretch out the battle with something. They’re supposed to show up one at a time starting with Eudial in the next Act. That seems to still be happening. Cyprine is shown but Ptilol is not. This may be because there are 6 members of the Witches 5 and showing them all makes their name seem stupid.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 Part 2 - The Witches 5

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 Part 2 - Asanuma crushing on Mamoru <3

Chibiusa heads to the amusement park with her friends. Mamoru accompanies her and brings Asanuma along and how in love is this guy with Mamoru? Also in attendance are Chibiusa’s friends who are all basically slightly younger versions of characters we’ve seen elsewhere in the series. Kyuusuke, who we’ve seen before, is basically a small version of Mamoru. Chibiusa’s relationship with him isn’t that weird considering she’s totally made out with the fully adult version of her actual father. The Umino looking kid is Sorano. He also looks like Amano from the Sailor V comic. Speaking of originality, his name, Sorano, is like Hikaru Sorano, Minako’s Ami looking friend from Sailor V. I’m not sure what that other kid’s name is but he looks like a tiny Asanuma. Maybe he’s totally in love with Kyuusuke. Why not? I’m shipping those two.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 Part 2 - Chibiusa's friends

Chibiusa loses her hat. This is a big deal because Ikuko Mama, who’s pretty much her 3rd most important mom, gave it to her. This hat travels really far, behind a massive building, and so far that Mamoru can’t follow. Chibiusa runs after it and Mamoru leaves immediately afterwards, but never quite manages to catch up. More than anyone needs to say about that later.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 Part 2 - Chibiusa's very important hat

Usagi transforms into a student from Mugen Academy. Great plan! This school is huge, having student from all levels and with 60 floors! Somehow though she gets called out by a student that doesn’t recognize her. She must be really good with faces. Mugen Academy is a new school, but somehow one that has produced a great number of celebrities. I expect it didn’t actually spring up between seasons but I feel it can’t have produced that many important graduates in such a short time. The Daimon this week is a cat that really doesn’t seem to care about being turned into a monster. Classic cat!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 Part 2 - Usagi as a Mugen Academy student

Cue the transformation sequences. We did this last week. Stock footage has its cost savings purpose and when used properly it can look good and not be annoying. This week’s purely stock footage transformations, most of which we saw last week, ran from 13:55 to 18:22. That’s four and a half minutes of transforming and posing. The show is 24 minutes long with a minute long opening and ending. We don’t have time for this. This is excessive. I like what the new episodes are doing and the love improved animation but this is one aspect which I did not appreciate and I hope it is improved in the future. New here is only Sailor Chibi Moon’s transformation sequence which is cool if not kind of like the rest. She does a somewhat humorous “you have a small penis” pose with her fingers which I find funny but, given the wide variety of perversion on the Internet, I’m sure will actually be appreciated by someone out there.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 Part 2 - Sailor Chibi Moon thinks you have a small penis

Sailor Neptune and Uranus appear in this episode as cardboard cutouts. I felt like I was looking at frames of the manga. I get that they don’t really do much in this fight but they are so briefly shown in flashes that it’s a bit disappointing. Sailor Uranus in a mask and cape is cool though. Her gender is still ambiguous and Usagi seems to recognize her.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 Part 2 - Tuxedo Uranus

Hotaru is all over this episode. She doesn’t do a ton but it’s nice to see her and her wicked new hair cut. She seems to have changed the most of the new characters with just this. She seems to immediately discover everyone’s secret identities by asking “Who the hell are you?” and then Sailor Chibi Moon seems to think there’s no more reason to hide things. A funny exchange. Naturally we’ll be seeing a lot more of her as this season goes on because it’s not the original anime which downplayed everything about this character.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 Part 2 - Hotaru

Enter Mamoru. Remember this guy? Yeah he just fails on every level in this episode. He ran after Chibiusa and her hat. Chibiusa is a child. He’s a grown man! He jogged in the original anime. This guy can’t keep up with a child and the wind. He even had an extra four and a half minutes to catch up while everyone was transforming and posing for the cat Daimon that didn’t really care about anything. If only Mamoru had some way to find out where everyone was! Oh right, he very specifically mentioned his communicator as a tool to keep in touch with Usagi at this exact time and he’s just not using it! Does this fossil from the 90s need a land line to stay in touch with his girlfriend? Maybe the girls should have started a fire and sent out some smoke signals so that Mamoru can keep up!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 Part 2 - Mamoru is so late

Next week is Act 28, Infinity 2 – Ripples, which is a confusing name for the 29th episode and 3rd part of the Infinity Arc but here we are. This episode will air next Monday, April 18th, and be available to stream at 10:30am Easter Time. The gang head out to a sort of school retreat by students of Mugen Academy where Eudial of the Witches 5, posing as a student, gets up to no good. She’s the paired Rei villain of this story arc, so it becomes a Rei episode! Since Act 27 Part 2 actually went a bit into the story of Act 28 it’s hard to tell where exactly this one will end. It should be easy enough to just wrap up the episode where the manga chapter does.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 28 - Michiru kissing Haruka

Good job if you made it this far. My review seems a bit more unhinged than usual this week. Keep reading for more screenshots from this episode and the next episode preview for Act 28.

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Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 156 and 157 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 156 - Kamoi paints Usagi

Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 156 and 157 were added to Hulu and Neon Alley this morning. This week’s episodes are all about Chibiusa as she befriends a starving artist and a kid who has a dream of making a flying bike.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 156 - Kamoi paints CereCere

Episode 156, Don’t Lose Sight of Your Dreams: the Mirror of Truth, is all about starving artists. Literally. Chibiusa makes a painting of Usagi, but Usagi doesn’t think it’s as pretty as her. This sheds light on what this episode tries to tell us is a common problem with artists as we meet Kamoi, who has the same problem with all of his clients. He makes extremely accurate portraits of his clients but they are all upset, wanting him to make them prettier than they really are! Usagi and Chibiusa feed Kamoi because he is literally starving, letting his artistic integrity get in the way of profits. Enter CereCere, who is apparently interested not only in finding pure hearts but also in corrupting them. She offers to fund Kamoi if he paints her in a flattering way, which he reluctantly agrees to. There’s a fight and then Kamoi gets his groove back, pledging to always be honest in his work. Once Chibiusa has completed her portrait of Usagi, Kamoi asks her what the work is titled. In a rare moment of insight into Chibiusa and Usagi’s real relationship she reveals that she has named it “The Person I Most Admire”.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 156 - Chibiusa's painting of Usagi

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 157 - Hiroki and the St. Louis

Episode 157, Pegasus Disappears: Wavering Friendship, explores the plausibility of a flying bike! Now I know this is a show about magical girls who defy science and logic at every turn, but I just can’t get my mind around the physics of this flying bike. Young Hiroki basically is trying to construct a bike which is all pimped out with wings which will fly. This isn’t working because you can’t really make a bicycle fly. Kyuusuke, who is always kind of a jerk, plainly states that what he is doing is impossible. His evidence is simply that if bikes could fly there would be flying bikes all over the sky! This is actually a pretty decent point. The best evidence that bikes can’t fly isn’t so much an in depth exploration of the physics involved but rather the realization that in about 200 years of bicycles and 100 years of planes we don’t have flying bikes. This isn’t the FAA keeping the little man down. It’s just incredibly impractical. This said what Hiroki is trying to do with his machine, the St. Louis, is actually more of a glider. He’s not going full tilt on a flat surface trying to get some lift. He’s speeding down a hill and off a cliff trying to glide. Gliders exist so from that point of view what he’s doing isn’t total nonsense. Ultimately, with Kyuusuke’s help, Hiroki is able to get the St. Louis off the ground. A bit far fetched, but he’s not exactly propelling himself indefinitely in the sky with this thing. It’s likely that, moments after we see Hiroki and Kyuusuke flying off into the horizon, they would quickly lose altitude and crash very hard, perhaps into a the side of a building or into a busy street, destroying the St. Louis and breaking a few bones in the process. But this is a show about girls with super powers fighting monsters so maybe not.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 157 - The St. Louis flies

I did a bit of research to see if there were any real flying bicycles. One can find a lot of images of people on the ground with flying bikes, but none of them soaring through the skies. The video embedded below shows what such a device is like. It’s much more light weight than the St. Louis with a much larger wing span and manages to get airborne for only a few seconds. Still it is a bike and it flies, so the concept is not total nonsense. Don’t expect to be flying to and from work every day without some external power source though.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 157 - Why bikes don't fly

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Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 154 and 155 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 154 - Minako in a ridiculous dress

This morning the two latest episodes of Sailor Moon SuperS, episodes 154 and 155, were added to Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get a couple more funny episodes. First Minako and Makoto compete for the affections of a kindergarden teacher and then everyone is having trouble with the pommel horse.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 154 - Minako on stage

Episode 154, Clash of Dreams: Minako and Makoto’s Broken Friendship, seems like a bit of a repeat of a Sailor Moon R episode in which we similarly had Minako and Makoto fight with each other. It seems these two characters only interact for the purpose of ruining their friendship! The two of them have a crush on the same teacher, Honjou, who happens to have a class full of brats including the especially annoying young Kotarou. This particular kid gets on Minako’s nerves and in the ensuing chaos one of Makoto’s bears becomes destroyed, which causes a fracture in their friendship. Minako tries to win over the class with a nice concert where she dresses in the most ridiculous costume! After the teacher gets targeted and the fighting is done Minako repairs the damaged bear and bygones are bygones. Then comes the big shocker, Kotarou is Honjou’s son! This dashes Minako and Makoto’s dreams, as if they somehow would not have expected him to be unavailable if it weren’t for the fact that he had a child. This is odd as he may very well have been in a relationship if he didn’t have a child and there are plenty of single parents out there. Regardless, this settles the whole affair and there’s nothing more to fight about!

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 154 - Honjou and Kotarou

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 155 - Kyuusuke hates the Pommel Horse

Episode 155, Overcome Your Fear: the Jump to Freedom, shows us the evils of the pommel horse. Are these things that popular in Japan? Judging by Anime I feel as if this is a dreaded thing in the formative years of all Japanese children, where they are forced to jump over a pommel horse or they will fail phys ed and be held back a year. I similar recall an episode of Pretty Sammy which centred around a pommel horse. In this episode there are not one but two characters who are afraid of the pommel horse! First Chibiusa tries to duck out of school event due to her fear of the thing, possibly because in the 30th century they are still subjecting Japanese children to it, and then we learn that Kyuusuke is also afraid of it, a fear which goes back to childhood. The solution to both aversions to the pommel horse? Keep trying until you stop running into it! This is nonsense for a number of reasons. We must break down how this thing works. To jump over it you jump up and try to clear it, pushing yourself up with your hands while going over. Failing to clear it will mean either having the top of it hit your stomach or groin, or if you clear the front you will just land over it. For whatever reason all characters in this episode are seen failing to clear it by slamming right into it as if it was a wall. There is no in between where they almost clear it, just smashing into it. Beyond this no proper technique of progression used to surmount this problem. This is clearly a modular pommel horse which could be set to a lower height. This is how problems such as this should be approached! If the pommel horse is too daunting a task one should simply try it at a lower height and then raise it once comfortable! This is not the approach that Kyuusuke uses however, as JunJun of the Amazoness Quartet helps him get over his fear. This has to come down to fear of course. The pommel horse is not vanquished with hard work and training, but by overcoming an irrational fear of the pommel horse brought on by a traumatic experience. Anyway, Chibiusa pommel horses the Lemures and Kyuusuke manages to jump over the pommel horse as well. Hooray!

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 155 - Kyuusuke masters the Pommel Horse

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Sailor Moon SuperS episode 154 - Minako fixes Makoto's bear

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 155 - Young Kyuusuke hates the Pommel Horse

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 155 - Kyuusuke and JunJun

Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 134 and 135 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 135 - Chibiusa the artist

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon SuperS, episodes 134 and 135, have been added to Hulu and Neon Alley this morning. This week we get a couple of episodes focusing on some artists first as Makoto’s friend writes a novel about Pegasus and next as Chibiusa deals with a teacher who’s lost her groove.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 134 - Rei has 3 books for autographs

Episode 134, Makoto’s Friendship: The Girl Who Admired Pegasus, has the Sailor Guardians excited about a new book release by a local writer. As the gang are ready to get autographs we once again see that Rei takes her autographs seriously, bringing three copies of the book to get signed. We previously learned about this obsession way back in episode 21 when she brought a bunch of autograph paper to the animation studio working on the Sailor V movie. The book, which is all about Pegasus, was written by author Tomoko Takase who turns out to be Makoto’s friend. Who knew the Sailor Guardians had friends who weren’t each other? The girls have always been presented as having been lonely prior to encountering Usagi. In a flashback we see that Makoto and Tomoko befriended each other while Makoto was at her old school so this is prior to us seeing her in the series. Her relationship with Tomoko began somewhat like her relationship with Usagi had, as she help protect her from a bunch of bullies, which leads her to read the story she’s writing. I guess Makoto didn’t remember having dreamed of Pegasus as a child at this point, something we later learn all of the Sailor Guardians did but mostly forgot. Tomoko has lost her motivation after seeing a boy she likes with a girlfriend. Chibiusa is shocked at the book, as it’s all about Pegasus who comes and fights with her and sometimes shows up by her bedside, and tells Tomoko about it. Tomoko is targeted and in the ensuing fight sees Pegasus which helps her get her groove back.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 134 - Makoto and Tomoko

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 135 - Kyuusuke, Chibiusa and Momoko badmouth Morino

Episode 135, Connecting Hearts: Chibi-Usa and Pegasus, is not the most feminist episode. Chibiusa and her friends are painting in a park, and Chibiusa is all about doing crazy crap. She has a moustache, because she thinks artists should have moustaches, which doesn’t say much for female artists! She also draws Pegasus into the landscape because she’s a free thinking hippie who can’t follow the assignment. Her teacher, Morino Sensei, is not happy about this one bit and threatens to fail her for it. Kyuusuke gives Morino a bit of trouble mocking her singleness and blaming her stubbornness for not having a man. Harsh criticism from a little runt. Momoko also appears here and we see that her hair colour has somehow changed from a natural brown to a less normal looking purple. She still has normal looking hair when compared to her friend! When Usagi and Chibiusa run into Morino this triggers and unusual parental reaction in Usagi, who otherwise usually does no such thing. This whole exchange is quite humorous. Ultimately Morino is targeted by Tiger’s Eye, which would make her his oldest target to date. In the final scene of the episode we get a sort of weird scene in which Chibiusa changes in front of Pegasus which makes him blush, insinuating there is some sort of attraction there not typical of a human/horse relationship. There seems to be more to this winged horse than meets the eye!

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 135 - Moroni, Usagi and Chibiusa

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Sailor Moon SuperS episode 134 - Chibiusa sees Pegasus

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 134 - Tomoko sees Pegasus

Sailor Moon R episodes 81 and 82 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon R episode 81 - Momoko and Kyuusuke

The latest episodes of Sailor Moon R have been added to Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we very slowly make the decision to go to the future as Chibiusa decides to go back to Crystal Tokyo and then we take an entire episode to chill in limbo trying to get there.

Sailor Moon R episode 81 - Droid Chiral and Achiral

Episode 81, The Dark Gate Is Completed? the Targeted Elementary School, introduces us to Chibiusa’s school friends Momoko and Kyuusuke. Momoko is presented as Chibiusa’s good friend, as she will be later in the series. Kyuusuke is kind of along for the ride and will later be seen as having a crush on Momoko. We haven’t gotten much of a look at her circle of friends outside of the main characters from the show but it would seem that part of Chibiusa’s plan to get the Silver Crystal and save the future involves enrolling in the local school and attending each day. We learn in a bit of a flashback to Chibiusa’s first day at school that Kyuusuke gave her the nickname of Chibiusa while teasing her for being small. Chibi is a slang term to mean small person or small child in Japan, so this fits. The Usa part is simply short for Usagi, the name which she got from her mother, whoever that will turn out to be. Esmeraude has filled Chibiusa’s school with evil energy, causing children to hilariously attack each other. This brings us to our villains Chiral and Achiral. These two appear as members of the Black Moon Clan in the manga. Sailor Moon kills them with her Moon Princess Halation which would, if they are humans, be the only people she kills in the entire season. While Sailor Moon kills many Droids she has a great record when it comes to humans this season. She heals the Ayakashi Sisters one by one. For liability purposes it is fire and less so Esmeraude that kills Rubeus. Without getting into spoilers Esmeraude is not technically killed as a human and then Saphir and Demande do not die by Sailor Moon’s hand. So what are these characters? They have gems on them which indicates that they may be Droids, but are not clearly referred to as such in the episode and we do not see them created or get turned into a pile of ash like other Droids. I pondered this question for years until finally I saw the Sailor Moon R Memorial. The Memorials are single season summaries narrated by Luna which were released on video. In the Sailor Moon R Memorial all of the season’s Droids are listed including, as the caption in the image below shows, Droid Chiral and Achiral. Indeed, Sailor Moon’s hands remain unsullied by murder for the Sailor Moon R season! As the episode wraps up Chibiusa decides it’s time to go back to the future and save her family.

Sailor Moon R Memorial - Droid Chiral and Achiral

Sailor Moon R episode 82 - The Space-Time Door

Episode 82, Journey to the Future: Battle in the Space-Time Corridor, covers our long trip to the future! I remember how excited I was, back in the 90s, having waited so long for new episodes and watching VHS fan subs of Sailor Moon R. I just wanted to see them get to the future already! How exciting that we are finally going, and we spend a whole damned episode just traveling through time! Chibiusa has finally decided to bring the Sailor Team and Tuxedo Mask to the future with her to rescue her mother with the help of the Key of Space-Time. This doesn’t go as smoothly as one would hope. First things first, we see Sailor Pluto! While she had a decent part in the Black Moon arc of the manga Sailor Pluto doesn’t get much attention during this season of the anime, as her appearance is limited to what we saw in a dream and her protecting the Space-Time Door. She tries to attack Sailor Moon, not recognizing her, but stops when Chibiusa interjects. Sailor Pluto sort of exists outside of time so it’s not really clear how old she is or just what time she comes from or goes to, but it doesn’t really matter in this season’s context as she just exists in this vortex which is between time. What follows is a lengthy walk through the Space-Time Corridor where it’s terribly important not to let go of your partner’s hand, only that is exactly what happens. Chibiusa sees a familiar looking face in her mother who turns out to be a Droid. The monster is killed and everything is great until they get to the other side of the corridor. It turns out that really terrible view of Crystal Tokyo we saw in Chibiusa’s dream was actually incredibly accurate. The future really sucks and everything is really wrecked. More on that next week when we actually get to spend a little time in the future!

Sailor Moon R episode 82 - Sailor Pluto and Chibiusa

Sailor Moon R episode 82 - Crystal Tokyo destroyed

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