Sailor Moon Crystal Act 34, Infinity 8 – Infinite Labyrinth 1, review

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Adam

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal aired on Japanese TV Monday May 30th at 11pm Japan Standard Time. Shortly afterwards, starting at 10:30am Eastern Time, it was available to stream on Crunchyroll, Neon Alley and Hulu. Act 34, Infinity 8 – Infinite Labyrinth, has Chibiusa dead and the gang reluctantly fighting to save her.

First off we have a new opening theme. Once again it’s In Love With the New Moon but this time sung by Momoiro Clover Z. They sang Moon Pride, the opening theme for the first two story arcs. This version is fine but I prefer the first version by Etsuko Yakushimaru. Not sure I have much else to say about that. Momoiro Clover Z seems like a perfectly mediocre J-Pop band.

Chibiusa is dead. The day fans have been waiting for since the 90s is here! With her soul ripped out, Chibiusa’s body dies. The doctor announces quite clearly that she went through cardiac arrest and then passed away. All hope is not lost though, as Mamoru is able to keep her alive through some sort of healing touch. It’s as if he’s able to keep her blood pulsing with his heart which only makes sense considering he has magic healing powers. In the manga he mentions that her body is so small that supporting her is easy, but in Sailor Moon Crystal we get the impression that this is draining on him.

Usagi is heartbroken by this, and really feels as if Chibiusa is dead. What option is there to save her? Well they just need to kill Hotaru! Actually they don’t have to kill anyone, they just need need to defeat Mistress 9. Not every enemy needs to be killed when they’re defeated! Oh right this is the manga version where Sailor Moon kills pretty much anyone. Original anime Sailor Moon seems to win over and heal more villains. Anyway the trolley problem is a bit different now. Instead of kill Hotaru vs. the world it’s Hotaru vs. Chibiusa vs. the world. And now the trolley has run over Chibiusa and is heading towards the world and pulling the lever will make it roll back in time, bringing Chibiusa back to life and then killing Hotaru. I’m not sure I want to attempt to illustrate that. So much to say despite hesitation everyone, including Mamoru, supports the idea of moving forward and trying to get Chibiusa’s soul back.

The whole thorn thing seems to be new to Sailor Moon Crystal. There are thorns around the building at Mugen Academy which makes it seem something like when the Makaiju grew all over the apartment building in Sailor Moon R. There are thorns and roses all around the lobby. What’s more Hotaru’s soul, which we see occasionally inside of Mistress 9, is held down by thorns. The manga doesn’t have this level of thorniness, and Hotaru is just seen sort of floating around in nothingness. This is a sort of physical visualization of the way she’s restricted inside of Mistress 9. All this really means is that Hotaru is still alive, so there’s still hope.

The Witches 5 return and now there are 6. Everyone seems to be getting a dream of something they would like. Sailor Mars sees a version of Eudial which pretty much just want to make out with her. She pins her down holding her hand and seems to want to kiss her. Did I ever mention that Eudial is my favourite of the Witches 5 and that Sailor Mars is my favourite Sailor Guardian? I’m totally shipping these two. The rest of the gang are presented with predictable things. Sailor Mercury sees a powerful artificial intelligence supercomputer, which is cool but probably nothing compared to the supercomputer on the Moon which has the consciousness of Queen Serenity uploaded to it. Sailor Venus holds a microphone for a while but doesn’t actually sing, which is disappointing. Sailor Jupiter likes flowers. The recurring theme is making them all want to quit being Sailor Guardians.

Sailor Moon gets a whopper of a dream. Chibiusa tries to choke and kill her! This is fake, unlike the time Chibiusa tried to shoot her in the head! This really is a great episode for Chibiusa haters! Sailor Moon doesn’t buy it though.

Turns out Kaolinite is actually a monster! This is not in the manga and new to Sailor Moon Crystal. She transforms into this weird kind of Daimon who the Sailor Guardians quickly dispose of. We see a couple of new attacks with Sailor Neptune’s Submarine Reflection, which is awesome, and Sailor Pluto’s Chronos Typhoon, which is completely disappointing.

To wrap up the episode Mistress 9 eats the Chibiusa’s Silver Crystal! How terrible! Does she even know that Chibiusa’s soul is in there? Good news for Hotaru though. She’ll have some company inside of Mistress 9.

Next is the new ending theme, Only Eternity Brings the Two Together, sung by Kenji Nojima, the voice of Tuxedo Mask. This ending theme contains wet shirt Mamoru which I find looks like something out Yaoi fan art. I guess some readers will appreciate this!

Next week is Sailor Moon Crystal Act 35, Infinity 9 – Infinite Labyrinth 2. Mistress 9 has reunited Chibiusa and Hotaru inside her being. Isn’t that great! Even in death these two good friends can hang around together! We’ll also see naked Usagi in this episode if that’s something that interests you.

Keep reading for more images of this episode and the next episode preview for Act 35.

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The first 14 episodes of Viz’s new dub of Sailor Moon R are now available on Hulu

Posted on April 11, 2015 by Adam

You can now watch the first 14 episodes of Sailor Moon R on Hulu and Neon Alley. This includes the entire Makai Tree story arc as well as the first episode featuring Chibiusa and the Black Moon Clan. Like with the previous releases of dubbed episodes on Hulu these will only be online for a limited time. They will be removed on June 7th 2015.

Episodes 47 to 59 are a non manga story arc focusing on the characters of Ail and An, aliens posing as humans Seijuro and Natsumi. They arrive on Earth with the Makaiju or Makai Tree and proceed to drain human energy to feed it and keep themselves alive. Episode 60, Angel or Devil? the Mysterious Girl from the Sky, is the first episode to feature Chibiusa and the Black Moon Clan. The episodes included are somewhat strategic, meant to showcase a wide variety of voices and get us excited for the upcoming DVD and Blu-Ray release of Sailor Moon R. Sailor Moon R Season 2 Part 1 collects episodes 47 to 68 and is set to be released on July 14th. It can currently be pre-ordered from The Right Stuf.

One notable inclusion is episode 54, The School Festival Is for Me?! Queen Rei’s Song, which includes a couple of songs as performed by Rei’s voice actor Cristina Vee. In the original Japanese version Rei performs the song Eien no Melody which is translated here into English as Eternal Melody. In the original DiC dub of Sailor Moon had the song Oh Starry Night included, which has roughly the same melody as the original song but very different lyrics. The other song performed is Hottokenai Yo or I Can’t Leave Her Alone though only a short part of it is heard.

Sailor Moon R episodes 59 and 60 are now on Hulu

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Adam

This week’s new episodes of Sailor Moon R on Hulu and Neon Alley end one arc and start another. We see the last of Ail, An, the Makaiju and the Moonlight Knight in episode 59 and we see the introduction of Chibiusa and the Black Moon Clan in episode 60. As with every week these two new episodes are in Japanese with English subtitles by Viz.

Episode 59, True Love Awakens: The Makai Tree’s Secret, wraps up the story of the Ail and An. The seemingly evil tree has trashed a building and is attacking everything. It kills An, causing her and Ail to realise how much they love each other, but is then cut short of killing Ail too when it hears Sailor Moon’s call to stop. The Makaiju communicates and tells us it’s origin story. Ail and An were part of a species of aliens born from the tree on a distant planet. They are seen coming from the same pod, which means they are not only siblings but in a way twins. What a scandalous Luke and Leia twincest affair they have! The aliens fought for the tree but it turned out it was love that nourished it! What a hilarious misunderstanding that resulted in many deaths and injuries. We then learn the true identity of the Moonlight Knight. Who knew he was actually Mamoru? But wait… how are they always seen together? The Moonlight Knight is just a spirit born from Mamoru’s desire to protect Usagi despite his blocked memories. Sailor Moon heals the tree, leaving nothing but a little sprout. An is revived and her and Ail go off to live in the lonely depths of space. This concludes the Makaiju story arc. Fans have mixed feelings on these episodes but I always thought they were fantastic.

Episode 60, Angel or Devil? the Mysterious Girl from the Sky, introduces us to Chibiusa! Usagi and Mamoru are very briefly happy in this episode as they share their first consensual kiss! The only time they actually kissed in the first season was when Mamoru took advantage of an unconscious Sailor Moon who was unable to consent. Once their past lives were revealed Tuxedo Mask was injured and wisked away to be made evil. Since Usagi didn’t kiss his dead body and didn’t get any action while his memories were blocked, this is the first kiss they actually exchange. Not content to keep them together their happiness is soon thwarted by Chibiusa who literally falls from the sky kissing Mamoru. She then pulls a gun on Usagi in a hilarious scene. Chibiusa proceeds to brainwash everyone into thinking she’s Usagi’s cousin after which Usagi gets her revenge by spanking her. So what is this girl’s secret? Surely by now most people know the full story but unlike the secret identity of Princess Serenity or The Moonlight Knight, this one isn’t terribly obvious from the beginning. The Black Moon Clan also show up this week but they aren’t interesting for another few episodes.

Support the site by buying these episodes of Amazon Instant or getting the DVD or Blu-Ray released through the links below.

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 R episodes 53 and 54 are now available on Hulu

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Adam

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon R are now available on Hulu and Neon Alley. Every Monday two new episodes in Japanese with English subtitles by Viz are added to these streaming services. This week we have episodes 53 and 54 which focus on Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars.

Episode 53, Mamoru and Usagi’s Babysitting Mayhem, is technically a Sailor Mercury episode in that she gets a new attack but it’s not really about her. Ail and An have a Cardian that attacks babies, because the one that attacked children from last week wasn’t bad enough. I know we eventually find out that vampire tree isn’t really evil, but these Cardians are just jerks. Baby Manami’s mother is hospitalized while protecting her son and the completely irresponsible and unprofessional hospital choses to entrust the safety of the baby to Mamoru, who is a complete and total stranger. Oh but Mamoru must have known the baby a little, right? Not at all. Mamoru and Usagi are so unfamiliar with this baby that they are actually surprised to learn that Manami is a boy when they see his penis! Manami’s penis eventually proceeds to urinate all over Natsumi’s face when she drops by to visit. Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship strengthens throughout this episode as they care for Manami together, witnessing both his first steps and first words! This is in sharp contrast to their relationship with their future child who’s already very capable of walking and talking when they first encounter her! It doesn’t really matter that Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship improves throughout this episode as that will all become irrelevant when his memories return anyway, but it seems like progress. Ami’s involvement is pretty loose, but she gets mad at the Cardian and uses a Shabon Spray Freezing attack.

Episode 54, The School Festival Is for Me?! Queen Rei’s Song, is a legit Sailor Mars episode. There’s a festival at Rei’s school which she is super controlling and bossy about. Rei works really hard to write songs she will perform at the festival, which goes super well until it is attacked by a monster. Rei gets all upset and uses a new attack, Fire Soul Bird. Also at the festival are Natsumi and Seijuro’s fashion show where they dress in all sorts of strange costumes. They do this for completely selfish reasons as it builds up the crowd’s energy level, which they drain to feed their vampire of a tree. As the episode closes Rei and Usagi share a brief pleasant moment with each other which is quite nice.

Rei performs the song Eien no Melody (Eternal Melody) in this episode, which was translated into English in the DiC version as Oh Starry Night.

Support the site by buying these and other episodes on Amazon Instant, or buying the DVD or Blu-Ray release of season 1 part 1.

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.

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