Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 170 and 171 are now available on Hulu

Posted on December 28, 2015 by Adam

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars are now available on Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get parts 4 and 5 of the 6 parts mini series that starts off this season. We have the Sailor Guardians split up into unlikely pairings as they are left to make due with what they have and fight Queen Nehelenia. This gives us interesting explorations of all of the Sailor Guardians. Next week this arc will wrap up and we will also see the first of the Three Light and the Sailor Starlights Sailor Star Fighter, Sailor Star Healer and Sailor Star Maker.

Episode 170, Night of Destiny: The Sailor Guardians’ Ordeals, spends a nice amount of time having the gang prepare for battle. The girls are all together in civilian mode to talk about what to do about this whole problem of Mamoru getting kidnapped by Nehelenia and sucked into a world of mirrors. Usagi gets real upset and has an epic transformation into … Eternal Sailor Moon. Okay this is getting lame at this point. Eternal Sailor Moon is the new Super Sailor Moon. We need to stop making a big deal of it every time this transformation happens. This leaves the rest of the girls ready to transform and I know what you’re thinking! Will we finally see Sailor Saturn’s transformation sequence? No. Transformation is done off screen and the gang use Sailor Teleport to go after Usagi and save the day. Unfortunately as they are flying around they are broken up and left into a series of unusual pairings. Though most of the core group have been paired together with one another at some point in the series there has been very little one on one contact between the original Sailor Guardians and the newer ones. This next couple of episodes gives us a bit of that. First off we have Sailor Mercury and Sailor Uranus left in some sort of ancient ruins. When the two run we learn from Haruka that although she always thought Michiru was keeping up with her when they ran the truth is that Michiru was pacing herself. This is indicative of the power balance between the two. Haruka sees herself as leading in that relationship but Michiru is able to hold her own and is willing to let Haruka believe what she would like. There’s a nice flashback of Ami when she was a kid. She was basically terrible at basketball but after reading a bunch of books on strategy was able to help her team in other ways. This is indicative of her overall role in the group. Bubbles and other lame water based attacks aren’t beating the bad guys but Sailor Mercury is able to use her brain to save the day. She does so to find the source of the Nehelenia’s power. After the defeat the two are trapped in mirrors anyway. Next up is Sailor Mars and Neptune. I wasn’t crazy about this one. It’s insinuated right away that Sailor Neputune has a better power of prediction than Sailor Mars. All this time we see Rei as having a strong power but it is instantly neutered in this simple interaction where Sailor Neptune knows what’s right and Sailor Mars seems to be bluffing. To be continued…

Episode 171, For Love: the Endless Battle in the Dark World, continues where we left of fighting these evil Nehelenia monsters. Sailor Mars and Neptune quickly dispatch the one they are fighting but then inexplicably fall unconscious into a pond and are trapped in mirrors. What is the point of beating these things if they lose anyway? Defeating these Nehelenia clones seems roughly equivalent to being found innocent by a Quintesson. Next up is the unlikely paring of Sailor Venus and Sailor Pluto. They don’t fair so well. They fall into a chasm and Venus uses her Venus Love Me Chain as a rope to save both of them. The Nehelenia monster shows up and drops them in the ravine. Their fate is no different than that of their friends who beat their Nehelenia clones as they as well get stuck in mirrors. Oh well. Meanwhile Usagi marched through the snow to find a field of flowers which made her lose all memories. Sailor Jupiter shows up to save the day and takes a beating protecting Usagi. She loses her rose shaped earring in the process and this reminds Usagi of Tuxedo Mask’s roses. How lovely would it have been if Usagi had been reminded of her cherished friendship with Makoto instead but she is looking for her boyfriend and so this memory is what breaks the spell. She continues to march towards her destination on a giant stairway which is filled with thorny rose bushes. Back at the top of the tent we have the common pairing of Sailor Chibi Moon and Sailor Saturn. Sailor Saturn means business as she threatens what seems to be the real Nehelenia with her Silence Glaive. To be continued…

Next week we will wrap up this Nehelenia story with a real high quality final episode. After that we are introduced to the Sailor Starlights at last!

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 168 and 169 are now available on Hulu

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Adam

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars were added to Hulu and Neon Alley this morning. This week we get episodes 168 and 169, which takes us half way through this 6 episode mini arc which starts off the season. Sailor Saturn finally returns and then the town is enthralled with mirrors for mysterious reasons.

Episode 168, Saturn Awakens: the Ten Sailor Guardians Unite, gives us more Sailor Saturn than we’d previously seen in the entire series! We had only seen here briefly at the end of Sailor Moon S before she was turned into a baby. She has been growing at an astonishing rate and seems to be developing the language skills to go with it. Judging by what is happening with Usagi and Mamoru it doesn’t look like much time has passed at all since the last episode, so there’s really no implication that Hotaru could have possibly learned all of these things at a normal rate. She is speaking easily, referring to her three parents as Haruka Papa, Michiru Mama and Setsuna Mama. At night Hotaru is visited by the ghost of Sailor Saturn who gives her the memories she had lost. This insinuates that her functional memories returned as she aged but her specific memories of her life are unlocked all at once from her alter ego. She remembers many things including her relationship with Chibiusa. How sweet! It would be a shame if Chibiusa would leave and never return in a few episodes. Another thing she sees is a memory of Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, who are now her parents, trying to kill her. She doesn’t struggle with this at all. She also has no bad feeling when seeing her loving father who is still very much alive and was recently separated from her. So Hotaru transforms into Sailor Saturn. We need a monster so this week we still have these Nehelenia glass monsters. Sailor Moon powers up into Eternal Sailor Moon and uses an attack which resembles, but is not named, Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss. This is done with her new weapon the Eternal Tiare. This doesn’t last long.

Episode 169, The Cursed Mirror: Mamoru Caught in a Nightmare, is all about teenagers being addicted to looking at themselves in the mirror! Replace the mirrors with cell phones and you’d have a scathing commentary on 2015 society! This one reminds me a bit of episode 5, Scent of a Monster: Chanela Will Steal Your Love, where students were infatuated with these Chanela pets. This time a lot of people, including Mamoru, are almost hypnotized by mirrors. The girls first notice this in their school but then Usagi notices this at Mamoru’s place. When she goes to see him she sees a suspicious boy looking for him. This is the one and only anime appearance by Ittou Asanuma, who we’ve seen in the manga and Sailor Moon Crystal. Inside Mamoru can’t stop starring at mirrors and he even buys a ton of them. Since we need an action beat we once again face off again the Nehelenia mirror monsters! Not compelling at all! It turns out Nehelenia is the one in the mirror and she manages to somehow pull Mamoru into it! To be continued…

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 169 - Ittou Asanuma

The first episode of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars and final episode of Sailor Moon SuperS are now available on Hulu

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Adam

At long last Sailor Moon Sailor Stars now has an official release in the United States. Enjoy Hulu’s new banner featuring characters we won’t be seeing until 6 or more episodes from now! This morning the final episode of Sailor Moon SuperS and the first episode of Sailor Stars were added to Hulu and Neon Alley. New episodes will be added every Monday until the series completes. With this we finally wrap up the story with Queen Nehelenia… and then we unwrap that story because well the anime didn’t quite match up with the manga and we need to go back and fix a few things. Sailor Stars was first released in Japan back in 1996 but it was never released in English when the series was originally dubbed. Fans who were looking to see the end of the series originally had to trade fan subbed video tapes, buy the expensive laserdiscs and later buy either bootlegged DVDs or expensive imports with no English subtitles. Some of us actually did all of those. I’d like to thank VKLL for keeping me in Sailor Stars fansubs over the years. Before we get to the first episode of Sailor Stars, we have one more episode of SuperS to take care of.

Episode 166, Dreams Forever: Fill the Heavens With Light, finishes up a story which already sort of seems finished. The enemy seemed defeated as the children of the world, including the viewers, were asked to say “Moon Crisis Power” and vanquish evil, but Nehelenia has one last trick up her sleeve! The circus tent she’s on is floating away in the sky towards the Moon. We get some backstory on why Nehelenia is evil. She was afraid to become old so she ate the mirrors of all of the people who loved her. Before retreating into her mirror she tosses Sailor Chibi Moon off of the tent to her death. Sailor Moon, being the bad ass that she is, does not hesitate and dives after her. This shows Sailor Moon’s true strength. She has no plan. She does not have any reason to expect this to work out but she refuses to give up even for a moment and jumps to her certain death to save her daughter. What follows is a fairly long but tense plunge down to the Earth as Sailor Moon eventually catches up to Sailor Chibi Moon. She finally wakes and summons Pegasus just in time to give them wings and save them right now the ground. Never mind that they are seen breaching the top of skyscrapers over a minute before being rescued, much longer than it would take a person falling at terminal velocity to hit the ground, but this is just for dramatic effect. The world is saved. Chibiusa is saved. Everyone is happy. Chibiusa and Helios say their goodbyes as the Amazoness Quartet decide it wouldn’t be their style to do the same. It is a bit sad that these characters don’t get to become Sailor Guardians like they should have, but the first six episodes of Sailor Stars have enough to fix without doing anything about that.

In the final scene of this episode all characters are wearing familiar clothes. They are actually wearing the exact same things they were wearing at the beginning of the Sailor Moon R movie both in the credits, at the flower garden and then at the Hikawa Shrine. All of Sailor Moon S and SuperS have taken place since the R movie! What are the chances that six people happen to be wearing all of the same clothes on the exact same day after two years? Chibiusa, naturally, is wearing something different. She would not likely have fit in her old clothes and it may not have been kept after her trip to the future and back. What do the movie and this episode have in common? I couldn’t find much though they were both directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. This may be one reason for the similarity.

The Sailor Moon R Movie	Sailor Moon SuperS episode 166
The Sailor Moon R Movie	Sailor Moon SuperS episode 166

Episode 167, The Flower of Nightmares Scatters: The Queen of Darkness Returns, is the first episode of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, but we won’t be seeing the Sailor Starlights, Star Crystals, Sailor Animamates or Sailor Chibi Chibi for a while. Why not? Well because we have to redo a bit of Sailor Moon SuperS to get things to the baseline they need to be at for Sailor Stars. A recurring problem with the original Sailor Moon anime is that it gets written while the manga is still in development so the stories deviate a lot. The main problem that this episode has to make up for is that Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn were in the later half of the Dream arc of the manga but did not appear in Sailor Moon SuperS. There was this whole story in the manga where Hotaru grows at a fast rate and then they come join the rest of the gang. In the manga Professor Tomoe died in the big battle but in the anime he survived and kept Hotaru, his daughter who he loved. His daughter who he literally sold his soul to protect. The single only important thing in the world to him, his beloved daughter, is snatched away by Setsuna in this episode. This is completely unforgiveable and this is the kind of mess you end up with when your show deviates too much from the source material and then you have to play catch up.

Annoyingly we have to pretend Chibiusa is leaving again. This scene is absolutely terrible. I just can’t stand anything about it. We’ve seen Chibiusa try to leave and fail in Sailor Moon R a bunch of times, and then we see her leave in what is actually a very touching scene. Then Sailor Moon S wraps up with the fake leaving, which is lifted from the manga, which has Chibiusa make a big deal about leaving but then come back immediately. So now Chibiusa tries to leave but can’t because there are shooting stars which it turns out aren’t really what they seem. To make matters worse we do all of this song and dance but Chibiusa’s days are actually numbered and she will leave the series between episodes, with no tearful send off, and is erased from the show like Pootchie going back to his home planet. Surely some may have felt that there was too much focus on Chibiusa in Sailor Moon SuperS, but the answer to this is not, as Sailor Stars plays out, simply to erase her from the story. This scene should have been removed and placed when Chibiusa actually leaves, a time which should have had a stronger emotional impact, but here we are. So Nehelenia is back and the gang is all back together as Setsuna shows up with this new baby while Haruka and Michiru are fighting bad guys. They get their suits upgraded and now we’re all but caught up. Mostly. More on Saturn next episode.

Oh boy that was a pretty negative review. I guess I have strong feelings on some of these things. Don’t let my pessimism keep you from watching! There’s a lot of good stuff in Sailor Moon Sailor Stars to come and this first chunk of six episodes is a very good short arc of episodes which just doesn’t have much to do with the rest of the season.

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Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 164 and 165 are now available on Hulu

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Adam

Sailor Moon SuperS is nearly over with the two latest episodes which were just added to Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get episodes 164 and 165, after which there will be only one episode left. This focuses a lot on the Amazoness Quartet, who redeem themselves yet again, as the final confrontation between Nehelenia, Helios and the Sailor Guardians takes place.

Episode 164, The Golden Crystal Appears: Nehelenia’s Magic, finally gives us some background on the Amazoness Quartet. We see them playing innocently in the forest of Elysion. They don’t seem the least bit mischievous, but instead seem to be getting along. They fall upon a mirror in which Nehelenia is trapped. She gives them magical powers which are houses in magic spheres and uses them to escape. All said the Amazoness Quartet are innocent pawns in this whole game. Ultimately they destroy those orbs to sacrifice their own power to save themselves and turn on Nehelenia. The manga actually has them becoming Sailor Guardians to protect Chibiusa as she is to follow her mother once her reign of terror is over some 900 years later. None of this is really dealt with in the anime. Stuff goes bad at this point. Nehelenia retrieves the Golden Mirror from Sailor Chibi Moon, which we kind of already did, and she finally gets her hands on the Golden Crystal. She exits this mirror world she inhabits and by doing so destroys Ziriconia. It’s never clearly indicated but Ziriconia seems to be some sort of copy or puppet of Nehelenia. Nehelenia is kept forever young in the mirror but we will later see how old she actually is and Ziriconia appear to look as she would if she continued to age outside of this mirror.

Episode 165, When the Crystal Shines: The Beautiful Power of Dreams, is sort of the epic ending of the battle, though there will be one more episode of Sailor Moon SuperS to follow it. All hope seem lost as Sailor Planet Attack doesn’t cut it and Sailor Chibi Moon appears to be dead. Luckily the Amazoness Quartet have turned on Nehelenia and swap out the Golden Crystal for a pineapple. Hilarity ensures when this is discovered and the Golden Crystal is given to Sailor Moon, who is unable to use it to defeat Nehelenia. Sailor Chibi Moon has a plan! She uses the Golden Crystal to talk to all of the innocent children and ask them to save the Earth from this evil. She pleads to them to say “Moon Crisis Power” and they do, like a bunch of zombies, which removes the shadow from the Earth and saves the day. Hooray!

Only one episode of Sailor Moon SuperS remains. We will get that next week along with the first episode of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, seen for the first time in the United States!

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Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 162 and 163 are now available on Hulu

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Adam

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon SuperS have been added to Hulu and Neon Alley this morning. This week with episodes 162 and 163 we have some very story rich episodes that delve into the origins of Queen Nehelenia, the Dead Moon Circus, Elysion, Helios and all that stuff as the Golden Mirror is revealed and the Sailor Guardians are captured.

Episode 162, The Source of Darkness: Dead Moon Circus, gives us some backstory we’ve been waiting for. Pegasus does a bit of exposition and explains that the Dead Moon Circus and Nehelenia destroyed Elysion, his home, looking for the Golden Crystal which is actually his horn. The Golden Crystal is this all powerful thing that can destroy planets and cause all sorts of problems if someone evil gets it. Sound familiar? There are vines starting to grow around the city and as we’ve seen, Mamoru is dying. The girls fight their way past a bunch of Lemures to get into the tent. Finally the Golden Mirror, and therefore the person who’s dream Pegasus was hiding in, is revealed to be Chibiusa! We pretty much knew this and Fish Eye told us straight up in case there was any confusion. Sailor Chibi Moon gets her Golden Mirror removed and tries to put it back in with no success. To be continued.

Episode 163, Labyrinth of Mirrors: Chibi Moon Captured, gives us even more backstory than the last episode! We get the scoop on Queen Nehelenia. Back in the day she observed the White Moon from… another Moon? Wait what? Now we know that there is just one Moon around the Earth so what exactly is going on here? Are we to believe that there used to be a second Moon or is it just that this second Moon is somehow not visible to us because it’s like… Dark? It’s best not to try to tease out the astronomical implications of this. A large Moon sized object rotating around the Earth would be very detectable not only because of its gravitational effects on objects in our system but also because of its ability to mask other objects, such as stars. The Dead Moon is sort of like the Moon when it is eclipsing the Sun, but showing it as a second celestial body is a bit odd. Anyway Nehelenia is into Helios and covets his Goidlen Crystal, but she’s evil so that doesn’t work out. Elysion is shown to have architecture reminiscent of ancient Greece, not unlike that seen in Silver Millennium, though the timeline is not specifically stated. Nehelenia has Chibiusa captured and tied up so the Amazoness Quartet, who can’t manage to obey anyone for long, bust her out by replacing her with a rag doll. They try to put a bridle on Pegasus to tame him as a pet, but this causes him to start a massive fire and all sorts of bad things happen. Meanwhile the Sailor Guardians are seduced with mirror like copies of themselves that are really Ziriconia. How fitting since she’s sort of like a mirror version of Nehelenia. The Amazoness Quartet get busted too and are themselves stuck in mirrors. Looks like everyone is trapped and all hope is lost!

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Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 158 and 159 are now available on Hulu

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Adam

As with every Monday two new episodes of Sailor Moon have been added to Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 158 and 159. A ton of plot is given as Chibiusa switches ages with Usagi, deepens her relationship with Pegasus and keeps it all from her friends.

Episode 158, Pegasus’s Secret: the Boy Who Protects the Dream World, is sort of like the plot of a 1988 comedy movie. That year brought us Vice Verse and 18 Again, two movies where the main characters envied each other’s ages and through magic switched bodies! Something like this happens as Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi Moon, bickering in front of PallaPalla, are complaining that the other has it better at their age. PallaPalla uses her magic to grant their wish, and high jinx ensues. Usagi is young which is mostly silly. Chibiusa gets older which to her is a big change. This hasn’t happened since that time she was evil! Oddly old Chibiusa doesn’t look that much like Black Lady which doesn’t make much sense to me. Well Chibiusa is old but it seems Pegasus isn’t all that into her anymore, which is oddly inappropriate. Chibiusa meets him once again in her dream and he gives her the exposition of all exposition. We learn that he’s really a boy named Helios and that his kingdom of Elysion was attacked and that he’s being held hostage by the villain who we still don’t really see. We kind of get more plot now than we have all season. Chibiusa finally goes back to being young again, sparking Pegasus’s interest once more. They go to kiss each other as Pegasus reveals his true form as Helios.

Episode 159, Chibi-Usa’s Little Rhapsody of Love, is a great comedy episode. Chibiusa’s love of Pegasus is beginning to become obvious to Usagi and her friends, but Chibiusa is never actually seen with any boys so everyone is wondering just who it is she’s infatuated with! Thus begins the inquisition! First Rei and Makoto try to drill her for information, but this just results in Makoto repeatedly assuming it’s her “sempai”. When Minako and Ami try to get to the bottom of it they learn that Chibiusa is in love with someone who is white with a long face. The audience knows this is Pegasus but without knowing this is a horse this sounds like the description of a frightening looking man with a horse face. Chibiusa is at a pond looking at some fish and there happens to be a terribly unattractive man there who everyone decides must be the object of Chibiusa’s affections. Sadly he is not but by sheer coincidence he is being targeted by JunJun so a little battle ensues.

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Tag Archives: Nehelenia

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 170 and 171 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 168 and 169 are now available on Hulu

The first episode of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars and final episode of Sailor Moon SuperS are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 164 and 165 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 162 and 163 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 158 and 159 are now available on Hulu