Sailor Moon Crystal Act 14, Conclusion and Commencement – Petite Étrangère, Review

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Adam

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, Conclusion and Commencement – Petite Étrangère, was released on January 17th on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico. This season finale of sorts wraps up the Dark Kingdom story arc and teases us about the upcoming second story arc with the appearance of the mysterious Chibiusa! Like many episodes this one was very faithful to the source material, with one major exception which I hope isn’t too much of a spoiler at this point as I’ve included it in the banner image.

Some funny stuff to start out the episode. Sailor Moon is all about praying and remembering her allies! She goes through the whole lot! Luna, Ami, Rei, Makoto, Minako. Yep. That’s everyone, right? What is Artemis doing exactly? No respect. Meanwhile he’s doing a very good job of keeping Luna company on the Moon!

This episode is all about Luna. Sailor Moon saves the day? Luna saves the day! They both pray. They are both responsible for restoring the Moon to it’s original splendour and as a special surprise we get a brief glimpse at human Luna! As Metalia is defeated and Luna is praying on the Moon, Artemis gets a short look at her as a full on human. Luna somehow doesn’t notice her wearing clothes, not having fur, having hair, being taller, being in a totally different position, but whatever, it’s still very cool. Anime fans would recognize human Luna from the Sailor Moon S movie. This corresponds fairly faithfully to a manga side story Princess Kaguya’s Lover which centres on Luna and has her turning human. She and the rest of the cats, Artemis and Diana, spend time in their human forms later in the Dream arc of the manga which we may see if Sailor Moon Crystal gets renewed for a second season.

Following the fight with Metalia there is a bit of a goof as Sailor Moon picks the Moon Stick off of the ground. We see the Silver Crystal clearly in the Moon stick on the ground, then it’s gone when she picks it up, then in the next shot it’s visible again. I’m sure they’ll fix that up for the Blu-Ray release!

Great news! The palace on the Moon is restored! Everyone on Earth is dead, but hey Sailor Moon is the new Serenity so she can rule over her Kingdom! Of course that Kingdom isn’t much at this point. She would rule over what, two cats and a computer simulation of who I guess is now the Queen Mother of Silver Millennium? Not a great deal. Usagi decides she wants to live on Earth, which has roughly 7 billion people on it who are all dead but that is easily resolved thanks to the power of the Silver Crystal. I wonder if Usagi would have been able to instead resurrect the long dead inhabitants of the Moon instead of or in addition to fixing the Earth.

Sailor Moon’s brooch was damaged in the fight with Queen Metalia. Too bad. But it’s okay! There are more toys to sell and so the Crystal Star Brooch makes an appearance! And on it is a small hole just big enough for the Silver Crystal. But the Silver Crystal is all big with that sort of lily flower thing around it. This big version of the Silver Crystal is not meant to fit in the Crystal Star! But lazy animation makes it work! We see Usagi take this huge Silver Crystal and with a simple finger she shrinks it and stuffs it in that hole. Pretty cheap and terrible looking!

We have a new brooch. What does it do? Pretty much exactly what the old locket did. Sailor Moon transforms yet again however her transformation sequence is essentially identical to her original one. This is a bit of a disappointment. The only real change is that the new brooch replaces her old one in the clip. With her powers back she heals the people of Earth including her friends and all is good. Minako and Artemis has a nice tender moment as they’re reunited. I’m so shipping these two. The moment of peace is heartwarming.

Rei has a glimpse of the new villain Rubeus. She prays that peace will remain. Sorry Rei! Your Shinto prayers are useless! If this episode has taught us anything it’s that the only way to get your prayers answered is to make them to the Moon! We’ll soon see that Rei’s prayers were indeed not answered as she’s first on the chopping block.

This peaceful normal live is rudely interrupted as Chibiusa show up! We had seen a lot of these clips in the trailer for the second story arc of Sailor Moon Crystal. Chibiusa kisses her future father and threatens Usagi asking for the Silver Crystal. Good call, as she actually has it.

I really enjoyed this episode. A nice end to the first story arc and it was just really good to see some of these things animated. With this behind us, we now move on to the second story arc and what some are calling the second season of the show. As it’s still part of the first year of Sailor Moon Crystal I’ve decided to refer to it as the second phase or second story arc until such a time when a term gets officially adopted.

The next episode, Act 15, Infiltration – Sailor Mars, will be released in three weeks on February 7th. A lot of stuff will be happening here. Chibiusa infiltrates the Tsukino family, we see the Black Moon Clan, new transformation items for the Sailor Guardians, the Cutie Moon Rod and much more!

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

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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 69 and 70 are now available on Hulu

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Adam

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

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

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

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

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 13, Final Battle – Reincarnation, Review

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Adam

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 13, Final Battle – Reincarnation, is now available to stream on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico. This is the last full episode to cover the Dark Moon story arc so in a sense it can be considered the season finale, but the story will not conclude until the beginning of next week’s episode which will also serve as a season finale. Last week’s episode had some rather disappointing deviations from the original manga source material. Fans will be happy to see that this week’s episode is fairly faithful, with a number of minor changes.

First, a comment on the title which, like with the manga, does little to describe what is actually going on here. We’re promised the “Final Battle” but no such thing happens. There is a sort of battle with Metelia but there is no conclusion here. The battle does not finish as the final blows are not taken. Secondly the title mentions reincarnation, which does not actually happen in the strictest sense. The end of the last episode has Sailor Moon killing Tuxedo Mask and herself but they aren’t actually reincarnated because neither actually died. More on that and the 1990 hit film which inspired both scenes later. But that’s just me being nitpicky. And speaking of nitpicky, this episode has some pretty messed up looking animation in it. This is nothing new to the series but I wasn’t this bothered by some of the less consistent animation quality since act 7 so I think it needs mentioning.

Luna continues to kick a lot of ass in this episode. She’s pretty scrappy in Sailor Moon Crystal and that doesn’t stop here. She attacks Metalia, this massive unstoppable evil energy. This fails, naturally, and eventually Luna asks Artemis to bring her to the Moon to consult with Queen Serenity and to beg her to seal Metalia away. In a flashback we get a look at Luna when she was a young kitten along with a much younger Queen Serenity, though still one with white hair. The Queen’s dress matches Princess Serenity’s quite a bit. I wonder is she was even Queen yet at this point, though we don’t really know much about Queen Serenity’s background or her parents. Once Usagi becomes Neo Queen Serenity she continues to keep the dress style she had as Princess. Similarly Chibiusa has that type of dress when she appears as a Princess.

Some minor changes occurred in the Sailor Guardians’ actions in the this episode. They first try to use Sailor Planet attack, which fails. This results in an odd bit of imagery showing them all with white eyes looking like zombies. Then instead of being transported back to their headquarters like they did in the manga they simply stay in the North Pole to attack again, giving up their transformation items and their lives. This is coupled with a number of inspirational flashbacks where Usagi is shown encouraging or befriending each of them, which helps them find the strength they need to keep fighting. This is very similar to a scene from the Sailor Moon R movie in which each of the Sailor Guardians has a similar flashback to encourage them to help Usagi on the asteroid.

While all of this goes on Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask are trapped inside the Silver Crystal which itself gets consumed by Queen Metalia. While they originally appear to be dead, they are both revealed to be alive. They are not resurrected in any way. Both escaped death by the same convenient plot twist, inspired by the 1990 hit film Problem Child. In this film John Ritter’s character is shot by Michael Richards but the bullet is deflected by a lucky dried prune which is in his pocket. Similarly Sailor Moon escapes death by having the sword deflected on the Orgel watch that Tuxedo Mask gave her. Tuxedo Mask escapes death by using the exact same Problem Child inspired trick of having the sword hitting the gems that he has symbolizing the Shitennou.

The scene with the Shitennou again shows a small change from the manga. As Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite and Kunzite appear as ghosts, now with their full memories and loyal to Mamoru, the gems they are linked to shatter. Originally in the manga these gems take some of the force but only chip a little. Tuxedo Mask keeps them as they make another appearance during the Black Moon Clan story arc. How this change will affect the next arc remains to be seen.

Another change is that Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask manage to escape from inside of Queen Metalia before the final attack. This is different even from the next episode preview at the end of Act 12 which shows Sailor Moon’s Moon Stick growing into a full staff with the sky filled with Queen Metalia, which is no longer the case with the clear view of the moon seen in the final version of the episode. The final battle itself is yet to come.

Next time on January 17th we’ll see act 14, Conclusion and Commencement, Petite Étrangère. The episode title as shown here has the spelling “Petite Étrangére”. This is incorrect, as the second E in étrangère has an “accent grave”, towards the back not towards the front. French titles also only capitalize the first letter of the first word but we’ll let that one slide. This is still an improvement over the manga title “Petit Etranger” which omits the accent for the first E (the correct spelling is Étranger), a practice which is generally discouraged and lazy for upper case letters, but it is also wrong because it uses the masculine form of both words which are incorrectly used as it’s a reference to Chibiusa who is by all indications very much female. I don’t mean to harp on spelling too much but this is an episode title so it would have been nice for them to have done a bit of research on this one, especially in light of them having properly spelled the title of last year’s musical “Petite Étrangère”. The spelling of “Materia” for act 12 seems more likely to be a mistake when this case is considered.

This next episode will have the real end of the Dark Kingdom arc and the beginning of the Black Moon Clan arc. Some are referring to this as season 2. This will mark the appearance of Chibiusa, though nothing in the preview mentions anything but the conclusion of the battle with Queen Metalia and the aftermath.

I’ll be traveling on the weekend of the 17th so my review may be a bit late but I will be sure to have something posted sooner or later.

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

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Sailor Moon Crystal Act 11, Reunion – Endymion, Review

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Adam

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal is now available. Act 11, Reunion – Endymion, can be streamed on Crunchyroll, Hulu or Niconico. This week a mysterious familiar looking fellow named Endo shows up in Tokyo.

So who is this Endo who looks exactly like Mamoru but has no costume? Everyone seems to very quickly notice that he is Mamoru but for some reason quickly discounts it because his eyes seem to look a bit different. It’s hard enough to accept the show’s basic concept that a tiny mask or tiara completely hides one’s identity. Indeed Sailor Moon Crystal, like the Manga, does a great job of not falling for this too much as people are pretty quick to recognize the true identities of other despite their costumes. Why is is that all of a sudden no costume and simply telling people your name is Endo is a perfect disguise? Then there’s of course the fact that the name Endo is clearly short for Endymion, but also the name of Motoki’s effeminate friend. I guess this is supposed to be a colossal coincidence since Evil Mamoru takes Endo’s name?

Endo instantly bonds with Motoki. His reason for targeting the arcade actually makes some sense. He senses something about the Sailor V video game, which is over the Sailor Guardians’ headquarters, and so he infiltrates the place by befriending Motoki. Endo and Motoki’s relationship in the Manga is a bit gay, most noticeably in a reach around arcade stick grab panel that is seen at one point, but generally in the way they hang off of each other. Brad from Moonkitty make an interesting observation on Twitter that it’s trouble to associate homosexuality with evil. Indeed the examples of homosexuality in the first arc of the manga and subsequently the first season of the anime, are amongst villains. Sailor Moon is fairly good about portraying their heroes as being gay or lesbian once Sailor Neptune and Uranus show up, as well as hinting at some same sex attractions amongst other characters earlier in the series. I like to think this early connection between evil and homosexuality was not intended as a correlation, but all things considered it’s nice to see it toned down.

Motoki’s heterosexuality is also present in this episode as we get a better look at Reika, Motoki’s love interest. We originally saw a brief glimpse of her in act 3 but this is the first time she is fully present. She seems a bit miffed at Endo and Motoki’s affections for each other.

This week we get a look at Ami’s apartment, which we are supposed to be really impressed with because it is fancy looking. Perhaps this is a cultural difference but I find the fact that Usagi’s family lives in a full on house in crowded Tokyo to be more impressive and desirable than Ami’s apartment living. Minako humorously asks if her carrying around a sword in an apartment lobby is conspicuous and everyone thinks it is. The sword’s strength is demonstrated as Minako then uses it to destroy one of Ami’s mother’s diamonds.

As things develop the headquarters is infiltrated by Makoto who is herself brainwashed into stealing the Silver Crystal. When things get serious I guess there wasn’t much to fill the episode as we painstakingly watch every character’s transformation sequence. There is a lot from the original anime that I miss but excessive stock footage is not one of those things! In the original manga publication this act and the next were actually a single story but they were split for later publications. This is why they likely needed to fill a bit of time. During the ensuing battle Venus uses her “Venus Love Me Chain” attack for the first time and Rei kicks evil Tuxedo Mask.

Beryl shows up and it’s revealed that Endo is actually Mamoru, and for some reason people are surprised by this. Does anyone actually ship Beryl and Mamoru? I mean, I love to ship all kinds of people and relish in how much it annoys fans but this coupling just doesn’t work for me.

Luna and Usagi’s relationship has some attention this week. She console’s Usagi at the beginning of the episode and later, after being attacked by a very evil Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Moon hugs her once more. Their complex relationship is obviously much more than owner/cat dynamic and closer to one of mentoring and close friendship.

Next time is act 12, Enemy – Queen Metaria. As I mentioned this next story was originally part of act 11 in the first manga publication. During the 2003 rerelease of the manga the story was split in two. Sailor Moon Crystal is following those chapter breaks for episodes.

On December 20th we’ll be seeing more of evil Tuxedo Mask, some Mamoru/Queen Beryl shipping and some pretty violent shocking events.

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

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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.

Sailor Moon cosplay for Halloween

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Adam

It’s Halloween weekend and this year I put together a Tuxedo Mask costume modelled after his new costume from Sailor Moon Crystal while my girlfriend dressed up as Sailor Mars. The Tuxedo Mask costume is mostly made from scratch and with modified second hand clothing though a normal suit is used as the base. The Sailor Mars costume is pre made though some modifications were done to make it reflect Sailor Moon Crystal designs. If you made a costume of a Sailor Moon character for this year’s Halloween let us know about it in the comments on the blog, Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr.

While I realize the coupling of Sailor Mars and Tuxedo Mask is not canon in Sailor Moon Crystal this relationship is legit in the first season of the original Sailor Moon anime prior to Sailor Moon stealing Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Mars due to pesky destiny. I’ll never stop shipping these two.

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Watch the first two episodes of Sailor Moon R, episodes 47 and 48, on Hulu

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Adam

The first two episodes of Sailor Moon R are now available on Hulu and Neon Alley. Two new episodes are added every week and now that we’ve worked through the first season Viz is starting to post episodes from Sailor Moon R. For the first 13 episodes of the series, including these two, we deal with what fans call the Makaiju arc as the enemies are Ail and An, aliens who steal human energy to feed their tree the Makaiju. Chibiusa and the Black Moon Clan will not be showing up until episode 60. Until then is this short “filler” story arc which was not in the manga which fans have mixed feelings about. I personally loved this story line and am not adverse to parts of the anime that aren’t in the manga. From a technical point of view seeing Sailor Moon R in HD is a treat. The R2 Japanese DVDs were progressive scan for the first season but beginning with Sailor Moon R the episodes were interlaced, as they had been in their original broadcast. This was not an issue back in the 90s when everyone watched Sailor Moon on their CRT TVs, but in the age of HDTVs and watching things on computer screens it’s certainly nice to see a show in progressive scan. Ultimately this show doesn’t look like newer shows animated in HD, it’s still an old master from the 90s with some processing done to it to make it look as good as it can. That said I still feel like the quality looks better on the Japanese DVDs than the Hulu feed, interlacing issues aside.

Episode 47, Moon Returns: The Mysterious Aliens Appear, is the start of something new. Sailor Moon is just a normal girl again, with Luna and Artemis alone remembering the events of all that happened. Two aliens arrive on Earth, along with a big tree! Ail and An, joke names for “alien”, are the new villains who use Cardians, monsters born from cards, to drain human energy. Their relationship is strong at first as Ail and An speak kindly of their love for each other, but this won’t last long. They disguise themselves as teenagers and enrol in the local school because… well I’m not sure why they bother to do this. It would be easy enough to just hide in their apartment and go out at night draining energy. There doesn’t seem to be much of an end game to integrating in to the local culture. As luck would have it they go to the same school as a bunch of superheroes, Usagi, Ami and Makoto’s school. Ail poses as Seijuurou and An poses as Natsumi, because An isn’t really a good Japanese name. When a monster attacks Naru, who is a magnet for monsters, Usagi comes to her defence. Luna has no choice but to restore her memories! This seems shocking as Usagi has memories of everyone including herself dying a horrible death. She transforms into Sailor Moon and saves the day.

Episode 48, For Love and for Justice: Sailor Guardians Once Again, deals with the rest of the Sailor Guardians not having their memories. Usagi is Sailor Moon again but can she fight the Cardians on her own? Auditions for a movie are a convenient excuse to get Naru, the monster magnet, as well as Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako in a room together. A monster comes by and so Luna gives all the girls their memories back as well! Poor Naru. At least the first time around Usagi’s abandoning of her friend was gradual as the rest of the Sailor Guardians appeared one by one. This time around they all show up at once and she’s dropped like a bad habit.

The real conflict doesn’t come from any monsters at all, but from Natsumi and Seijuurou’s interfering with Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship! Mamoru doesn’t get his memory back in this episode. In fact he won’t be getting it for a while. Natsumi is instantly infatuated with him, wanting to make him hers. What is Usagi to do to stop her? She has no relationship with Mamoru to fall back on and is unable to convince him to be with her without all those past memories to help. Let’s not forget that Mamoru was in quite a happy relationship with Rei before that pesky destiny put a stop to it. Beyond that, Seijuurou is into Usagi, trying to win her over. This naturally creates some friction between Ail and An who’s jealously only pushes them more towards the humans they are falling for.

Also check out Hulu’s new banner which they’ve added for Sailor Moon R. It would have been nice to see Chibiusa or some other new characters on here but since there are no new Sailor Guardians in this season, except for a very brief appearance by Sailor Pluto, we will have to contend with this.

Sailor Moon Crystal sanitary napkins to be released in Japan November 1st

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Adam

In an effort to monetize anything and everything, we are now getting Sailor Moon Crystal branded feminine hygiene products! These sanitary napkins, by Elle Air, will be on sale in stores across Japan starting November 1st. Sailor Moon characters will be featured on the Elis Ultra Guard pad packaging. A total of six designs are available in both nighttime and daytime versions. Characters paired on the boxes are Sailor Moon with Luna, Sailor Mercury with Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter with Sailor Venus. Check out the designs featuring various character logos in different colours that are shown in the circles in the images above and below.

Source: Official Sailor Moon site, Elle Air site

Sailor Moon episodes 41 and 42 are now available on Hulu

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Adam

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon were added to Hulu and Neon Alley this morning, September 29th. As with every Monday two new episodes subbed by Viz are added to these streaming services. This week we see episodes 41 and 42 where we reunite lost lovers and finally get some backstory on Sailor V.

First up we have episode 41, I Won’t Run Away from Love Anymore: Ami vs. Mamoru. The title is kind of silly. Mamoru, as Endymion and later Tuxedo Mask, spends a decent amount of time fighting Sailor Jupiter in an alley before doing much with Sailor Mercury. Ami makes the title because this episode is all about her being reunited and finally going on a date with Ryo Uwara, one of the Rainbow Crystal carriers. Mamoru has been collecting all the old Rainbow Crystal carriers, including Rhett Butler, the obese alley cat who fell in love with Luna. In one scene his owner has a sign with his image on it, as he has been cat napped. Not many of the humans affected seem terribly disturbed. What’s worse is that once Rhett Butler is finally freed Luna is right there and doesn’t seem to be terribly affected by his presence. After all they shared she just kind of ignores him. I guess new hotness Artemis is in town so she has no time for old and busted Rhett Butler. For shame.

Next is episode 42, Sailor Venus’s Past: Minako’s Tragic Love in which we get a look at what Minako did while she was Sailor V. The Dark Kingdom is trying to manipulate her via her old friend Katarina from back in the day. Minako was in love with Alan while in London working with Katarina of the police department to fight the Dark Kingdom, called the Dark Agency in the Sailor V comic. When Sailor V is thought to be dead she learns that Katarina and Alan were in love with each other and leaves them to be happy together. This episode also includes Usagi disguising herself as an actual sailor! Sailor Sailor Moon! Sailor Guardians aren’t sailors in name only as their uniforms, similar to Japanese school uniforms, bear a resemblance to sailor uniforms as we can see by the vague resemblance here.

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