Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38, Infinity 12 – Infinite – Journey, review

Posted on June 29, 2016 by Adam

The entire Infinity arc of Sailor Moon Crystal is now available to view online. The final episode we’ll see for a while, Act 38, Infinity 12 – Infinite – Journey aired on Japanese television on Monday June 27th at 11pm Japan Standard Time. Immediately afterwards it was available to view on Crunchyroll, Neon Alley and Hulu, starting at 10:30am Eastern Time. This week is a bit of a mixed bag as we wrap up the story of Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn and then move on for a teaser of the upcoming Dream arc. We still have no official confirmation that this new arc will be adapted. This episode is just doing exactly what the equivalent manga chapter did. While it seems likely at this point that we will be seeing more episodes this would certainly not be the first show to have a really awesome cliffhanger final episode which we never saw a follow up to.

As always we start with an unreasonably long flashback! This week’s spans 3 minutes and 13 seconds which covers half of the last episode! At least we see a lot of Sailor Saturn. The opening theme, In Love With the New Moon, is the first version sung by Etsuko Yakushimaru. The full length version of this song is also heard in the episode itself. This is my favourite version of the opening so it was nice to hear. The ending theme used is Eternal Eternity sung by the voices of Sailor Uranus, Junko Minagawa and Sailor Neptune, Sayaka Ohara.

Sailor Moon blasts out of the Pharaoh 90/Mistress 9 monster juice thing and in doing so causes some damage. She gives everyone super transformations! Well almost everyone. How come Tuxedo Mask doesn’t get an upgrade? He’d look great in some transparent shoulder pads! Poor guy. At least he has his male privilege to fall back on.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Sailor Saturn smiles

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 - Super Sailor Moon going to her death

Sailor Saturn, who was supposed to be destroying the world at the end of the last episode, decides to attack Pharaoh 90 and go to her death. She turns and smiles to her friends just like Sailor Moon had last week. This was a nice touch, as both seem willing to sacrifice themselves to save others.

Unfortunately Sailor Saturn has to die. Sailor Pluto is the one to do this. She’s upset about it, although this was kind of the plan all along. Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were ready to kill Hotaru in order to save the world. The solution now is to lock her, Pharaoh 90 and the Tau Star System away forever. Sailor Pluto does this with the Dark Dome Close attack. Her penance for killing Sailor Saturn? Her and her friends have to raise the reincarnated baby version of her! There’s some sort of odd justice here. This will be a tough conversation when she gets a bit older and asks why she has three moms! This is basically a genderbend version of Three Men and a Baby, a mediocre 80s comedy movie by Leonard Nimoy. “Well you see we helped killed your Dad and then killed you, so you’re adopted. Sorry not sorry.”

Sailor Moon becomes Neo Queen Serenity. OMG she was the one we saw in the visions. This isn’t the future version of Neo Queen Serenity possessing Sailor Moon in some way. This is Usagi in full control of her faculties. There’s no other consciousness in there. So I wonder why she doesn’t seem to remember what happens. Sailor Moon asks where this baby came from, and Sailor Uranus basically says it’s “From precious you”, which no doubt is a terrible translation, but basically she believes that Neo Queen Serenity caused Sailor Saturn to reincarnate as baby Hotaru. Sure. The original Queen Serenity is the one that sent everyone to reincarnate in the present time after they were all killed. Future Neo Queen Serenity is the one who sent Sailor Pluto back in time to reincarnate as Setsuna. It stands to reason that Sailor Moon, the present version, is the one that did this. There’s no other consciousness which is doing stuff here. It’s not insinuated that old lady uploaded consciousness computer simulated Queen Serenity on the Moon has any real power here. Why doesn’t Sailor Moon have full memory of doing this? It doesn’t really add up to me.

Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn leave and then we have a commercial break. There’s meant to be a massive passage of time here but I don’t feel that this is well conveyed at all. In the original manga the Infinity arc concludes here which is the end of a chapter. Following this we get The Lover of Princess Kaguya side story which is a full manga book which is the equivalent of the Sailor Moon S movie, which then has a side story about Rei. There are a bunch of other side stories published later which are understood to take place during this break which is basically the time when the girls are preparing for their high school entrance exams. Ami’s First Love, which was adapted in an anime special, falls into this period as well. The first three story arcs all follow one another directly, but the Dream arc was never meant to do so. When the manga was rereleased in 2003 the chapters were broken up differently so they ended up breaking this particular Act up very poorly so that this passage of time isn’t properly demonstrated and happens between pages of the same story. I think Sailor Moon Crystal had a good chance to pace things out a bit differently and have the season end here, but they didn’t do that and instead, it’s time to go to high school.

This episode is kind of like the first episode of Sailor Stars from the original Sailor Moon anime. Those first 6 episodes of Sailor Stars basically fix the problems that the SuperS season skipped, including some characters which will be returning later in the Dream arc. The girls are supposed to be in high school before meeting Pegasus as we see here. Most of the girls have Juban High School Uniforms. Rei does not, as she goes to her own school which does not use high school entrance exams. We don’t really have an equivalent to these in the West. I suppose maybe the SATs are something similar but as a Canadian this is also something I only know of through TV and movies. I’ve never had a test so important in my schooling that it required me getting addicted to caffeine pills like Jessie Spano. So much to say Japanese high school entrance exams are a big deal and the source of a lot of stress, and the girls are meant to have been preparing for this during the long period covered by the commercial break which we don’t even get in the streaming version.

Chibiusa says she’s going to leave on April 1st, at the time of a Solar Eclipse. The next Solar eclipse that will occur on April 1st is in 2098 and there certainly wasn’t one in the 90s when the manga was written, but this is pretty nitpicky even for me. She mentions in her letter to her mother “Please come to pick me up”. How exactly does this work? Is Neo Queen Serenity from the future going to travel to the 30th century to come pick up Chibiusa? Who’s guardian the Space-Time Door with future Sailor Pluto dead and Diana in the past?

Speaking of Diana! Usagi says to Luna, who isn’t present when this is said, that she will see Diana “very soon”. What does this mean? From the frame of reference of Diana then she would see her parents soon, in the future. From Luna and Artemis’s point of view they won’t see her soon at all. Diana is a kitten. Chibiusa, who is born in less than a decade, is 900 years old in the 30th century. Is Diana a permakitten born in the 20th or 21st century and never aging? Permakittens would revolutionize the pet industry! Kittens are most of the reason people have adult cats!

So the gang are watching the eclipse and they hear a bell. They turn around to see… Pegasus! Well we don’t see Pegasus but in the manga version of Act 38, the final image has Usagi and Chibiusa seeing Pegasus. There’s no preview for another episode, but we will likely at some point be seeing Act 39, Dream 1 – Eclipse Dream. This will be part of the 4th story arc which, if current trends continue, will likely be referred to as Season 4 or Season IV in Japan. I’ve still been calling them arcs or phases but I may start using the term season if that becomes well established. We have no specifics on if and when we might get new episodes but perhaps we will learn something tomorrow at the live event to celebrate Usagi’s birthday.

Keep reading for more screenshots from this episode.

Continue reading →

Does a Chibiusa and Pegasus Figuarts Zero statue confirm that more episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal are coming?

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Adam

The International Tokyo Toy Show is on now, running from June 9th to the 12th. One thing which has been revealed is this great looking Figuarts Zero statue featuring Chibiusa and Pegasus from the Dream arc of the Sailor Moon manga. This on its own is not odd as we’ve gotten a lot of figures from throughout the Sailor Moon series in the past couple of years, not all of them tied to stories being told in Sailor Moon Crystal. Something important to note though, as noticed by the Moon Sisters Facebook page, is that the sign for this statue refers to it as a Sailor Moon Crystal figure. We are currently seeing the Infinity arc of Sailor Moon Crystal and we’ve had no official confirmation of episodes covering the next story arc, the Dream story arc, which covers the manga chapters which were adapted as Sailor Moon SuperS in the original Sailor Moon anime.

This isn’t just branding. The Figuarts Zero statues have had two distinct lines of figures. The Sailor Moon figures are in a style closer to that of the original anime and the Sailor Moon Crystal figures have designs that colours that match those used in Sailor Moon Crystal. It’s hard for me to tell what style this figure is in. The main indicators of a Sailor Moon Crystal specific Figuarts Zero statue are the colours, such as Sailor Moon being a bit more pink in her reds, and some proportions. Without two Chibiusas to compare this figure to there isn’t much to go on. Her dress does not use standard colours. Her legs are hidden so we can’t see their shape. The face does look a bit more like the rounder Sailor Moon Crystal Figuarts Zero statue than the normal Sailor Moon statue. Have a look at both below to see the difference.

Sailor Moon Crystal Sailor Moon Figuarts Zero

Sailor Moon Crystal Figuarts Zero figure

Sailor Moon Figuarts Zero figure

Is this conclusive? Absolutely not. Many things could mean this does not actually indicate that the Dream arc of the manga will be adapted in Sailor Moon Crystal. Perhaps someone just made the sign incorrectly. Note that it says Chibi-Usa and Helios but this is clearly Helios in his Pegasus form. We don’t call something an Usagi figure if she’s in her Sailor Moon form. Perhaps the toy is done in a Sailor Moon Crystal style but does not reflect any plans to actually adapt these particular episodes. Figures take a long time to sculpt and approve. Perhaps when this figure was originally conceived and approved there was no indication of what the future of Sailor Moon Crystal might bring. Perhaps when the figure was planned there was an expectation that the Dream arc would be adapted but since then any number of complications has put a halt to development of those episodes. Perhaps there’s some other scenario I’m not even thinking of that is causing a disconnect between what this figure represents and what we will see in the show. There are a lot of unknowns so we should always wait for official confirmation before jumping to conclusions. That said, we may very well be getting our very first look at Pegasus from Sailor Moon Crystal!

The figure is due out in January and will sell for 6912 yen, about $65 US.

Image source: Hobby Maniax (Twitter) via Sailor Moon Italy

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!

Support this site by buying the first two seasons of Sailor Moon on DVD and Blu-Ray using the links below.

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.

Support this site by buying the first two seasons of Sailor Moon on DVD and Blu-Ray using the links below.

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

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Adam

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.

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.

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!

Support the site by buying the first two seasons of Sailor Moon on DVD and Blu-Ray using the links below.

The first two episodes of Sailor Moon SuperS, episodes 128 and 129, are now available on Hulu

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Adam

This morning the two latest episodes of Sailor Moon which were added to Hulu and Neon Alley were the first two episodes of Sailor Moon SuperS. This is the 4th season of the original Sailor Moon anime loosely based on the Dream arc of the Manga. This introduces us to the Dead Moon Circus which at this point is Zirconia and the Amazon Trio. Hulu updated their banner now that the new season is available. This new banner shows the Sailor Guardians in their powered up Super forms, including an image of Chibiusa and Usagi in their Princess dresses with Pegasus wings from the final episode of the season. What a spoiler! Many fans don’t seem to like this season that much given the amount of focus that is given to Chibiusa. My feelings are mixed. While most of the season spends a lot of time with filler without focusing on the main story I find that those episode are still quite well done, giving us some very interesting well fleshed out villains and hilarious monsters in the form of the circus inspired Lemures as well as providing very good character development for Usagi and Chibiusa, though this is done at some expense as there is of less development amongst the other Sailor Guardians present and Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna and Hotaru don’t appear in the season at all.

Note that Sailor Moon SuperS is pronounced “Sailor Moon Supers” in Japan. The previous season, written as Sailor Moon S, was itself pronounced “Sailor Moon Super”. This can cause some confusion when hearing the names of the seasons spoken, rather than written, in Japanese. English speaking fans still have a habit of stating the title as “Super S”. As this site is written, I have no requirement of pronouncing it one way or the other as you aren’t hearing what I’m saying out loud anyway.

Episode 128, Meeting of Destiny: The Night Pegasus Dances, starts out with Chibiusa’s dream. This dream, which is a mix of dream and reality, has her encountering the winged horse Pegasus. Pegasus is the proper name of an individual, much like the Pegasus of Greek Mythology. I’ve had many debates about whether or nothing there is such a thing as “A pegasus”, a species, as is used in such places as the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual, or whether it is a proper name as it is here. For Sailor Moon purposes, Pegasus is not “A pegasus” but rather a winged horse with a golden horn who is named Pegasus. This means he is also a unicorn, which is not a typical way to portray a standard pegasus. Pegasus exists in Chibiusa’s dream but he is not a figment of her imagination, as we learn later in the episode when he appears to save the day during combat. Pegasus uses his powers to transform Sailor Moon into Super Sailor Moon, which she can’t do without the Holy Grail which she should still have but doesn’t use, and also transforms Sailor Chibi Moon into Super Sailor Chibi Moon for the first time. Pegasus will not be using his powers to power up the rest of the Sailor Guardians for about another half season. He also gives Sailor Moon the Kaleidomoon Scope, which is a weapon named after a kaleidoscope, a toy used by children to use mirrors in order to make a cool design when you look into a tube.

This episode introduces us to the Dead Moon Circus who’s big top appears during a solar eclipse where the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth. Though a flying big top appears over Tokyo no one seems to question it. The in story reason for this that is given is that people do not question things that change, assuming it happens for a reason. This is an appealing thought, and one used by promoters of pseudoscience to explain why sheeple don’t see evidence for UFOs or other conspiracy theories, though the opposite is generally true. Humans are wired to detect patterns and we often see some that aren’t there. The flip side of this is that we don’t often miss patterns that are there and that we are more likely to assign meaning to the meaningless than to assign no meaning to something meaningful. For the purposes of this fiction though, the idea that no one notices the big top is an effective plot device and a funny idea. It does somewhat resemble the idea of bystander apathy, where everyone assumes something is someone else’s problem, so no one does anything, but that doesn’t really work in the way the big top goes unnoticed. The target for this episode is Unazuki, Motoki’s sister. The targets for this season are pursed by the Amazon Trio which is comprised of Hawk’s Eye, Tiger’s Eye and Fish Eye. Since Unazuki is a young girl, she is pursued by Tiger’s Eye. Once captured Hawk’s Eye makes Unazuki’s Mirror of Dreams appear before her. When looking through it the victim screams as if the violation of having their dream probed was a serious assault. Fairly creepy.

Episode 129, Super Transformation Once Again: Pegasus’s Power, is a title as ridiculous as the hyped second transformation it refers to. OMG Pegasus showed up again! OMG we transformed for a second time! This will happen repeatedly throughout the season as Pegasus is (almost) always required for Moon Crisis Makeup (although Sailor Moon did it without any aid in order to save Sailor Saturn last season) so we will constantly have him show up as part of the lengthy transformation and attack sequence of this season. This week’s target is Reika, Motoki’s girlfriend. Hawk’s Eye targets older women, so Reika falls under his domain. Apparently older doesn’t mean much older, as Reika is college aged. Tiger’s Eye’s upper age limit seems to be pretty low. While Reika is the focus this is also a Chibiusa episode. There will be a lot of these in Sailor Moon SuperS. Reika’s horse reminds Chibiusa of Pegasus and so she asks her, by using a carrot to indicate his horn, if she’d ever seen a horse like him. Reika recalls such a horse from the world of dreams. This comes back later in the season as all of the Sailor Guardians have a revaluation of “Oh that’s right I used to dream of Pegasus, I guess I just forgot”. We still have a lot to learn about the mysterious Pegasus and because of how Sailor Moon SuperS plays out, it will be a really long time until we get answers to any of the questions we have about him.

Support the site by buying the first two seasons of Sailor Moon on DVD and Blu-Ray using the links below.

Volume 9 of the Sailor Moon manga is out now

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Adam

English Sailor Moon manga vol. 9 - Sailor Pluto

The 9th volume of the new English release of the Sailor Moon manga was released today. This version features Sailor Pluto on the cover. You can purchase the book through the amazon link below to support this site.

This book covers acts 2 to 6 of the “Dream” arc, which is the equivalent to the Sailor Moon SuperS season of the anime. This focuses on the story of Pegasus/Helios. In the final chapter of this book we see the return of Sailors Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn. Be sure to check it out!

Volume 8 of the Sailor Moon manga is out now

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Adam

Sailor Mars reading Sailor Moon manga vol. 8 - Sailor Neptune cover

Volume 8 of Kodansha Comics’ English release of the Sailor Moon manga hit stores yesterday. You can pick it up from many comic and book stores or from Amazon at the link below. These books will also be available on the sidebar of the main page. Ordering from these links will help support the site which is greatly appreciated.

This volume has the lovely Sailor Neptune on the cover. In this book we see the conclusion of the “Infinity” arc involving Sailor Saturn and Mistress 9 and move on to the “Dream” arc which introduces us to Pegasus. Keep reading for a few photos of the inside of the book.