The English version of Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22, Hidden Agenda – Nemesis, is now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Chibiusa wearing the correct top, with symbol of the Black Moon Clan on her head

The latest English dubbed episode of Sailor Moon Crystal is now available on Hulu and Neon Alley. This week is Act 22, Hidden Agenda – Nemesis. Black Lady is still not really here. She’s semi visible, mostly obscured in a kind of mist. The technique used for this was changed slightly between the streaming release and the DVD/Blu-Ray version which is what we’re getting for these English versions. This screenshot is, lazily, from the original streaming version.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Black Lady

Act 21 and 22 of Sailor Moon Crystal are based on the equivalent chapters of the newest version of the manga, but these were actually originally a single chapter, though it was a long one. This makes gives this and the last episode an odd pace, which is why Chibiusa’s transformation into Black Lady is teased out over such a long time that it seems like a powered up attack from Dragonball Z or maybe Ryu’s multi episode Hadouken from Street Fighter II V.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Hidden Agenda - Nemesis

Next week on Act 23, Covert Maneuvers – Wiseman, we will get a proper look at Black Lady.

Watch the English dubbed version of Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 – Hidden Agenda – Nemesis, Friday April 8th starting at 9pm Eastern Time

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Chibiusa wearing the correct top, with symbol of the Black Moon Clan on her head

The next English dubbed episode of Sailor Moon Crystal will be available on Hulu and Neon Alley this Friday, April 8th, staring at 9pm Eastern Time. Act 22, Hidden Agenda – Nemesis, is all about not really seeing Black Lady. We see these shadows of her throughout but we don’t get a clear look at her. The obscuring of Black Lady changed a bit for the Blu-Ray release, which is the updated animation we’re getting for the dub. This screenshot is actually from the original streaming version.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Black Lady

I feel like this episode is kind of slow. That’s probably because Act 21 and 22 were originally one manga chapter which was broken into two. It gives this episode a weird pace.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Hidden Agenda - Nemesis

Sailor Moon Crystal Deluxe Limited Edition Blu-Ray Vol. 11 Review

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 11 - Cover

Late as usual here is my review of the 11th volume of Sailor Moon Crystal on Deluxe Limited Edition Blu-Ray. This volume was released on August 12th and includes two episodes, Act 21 and 22, in a collectible set which includes a 20 page colour booklet and charm of Sailor Venus’s Star Power Stick. You can order this from Amazon Japan and other online retailers for about 5,194 yen, about $43 US, plus a ton of shipping. The next volume, volume 12, will be released next week on September 9th.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 11 - Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion

The art on the cover of this volume is of Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion, the future versions of Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask. Since a lot of this second story arc takes place in the future these characters feature prominently in the episodes on this disk.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 11 - Sailor Venus Star Power Stick Charm

The charm included this time is Sailor Venus’s Star Power Stick. As with all of the other ones you can put them all together on a charm bracelet and be really cool.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 11 - Special Booklet - Pages 2 and 3 - Act 21 summary

Included are Act 21, Complication – Nemesis, and Act 22, Hidden Agenda – Nemesis. These two episode are based on two chapters of the manga from the versions which were released in 2003 however both episodes were originally a single manga chapter, Act 20, Complication – Nemsis. Because of this the pace may seem a bit slow.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 11 - Special Booklet - Pages 6 and 7 - Act 22 summary

Like with other releases there are a number of mostly minor changes to the animation. These mostly result in touch ups which make the animation a bit nicer looking and very occasionally results in more significant changes to what appears on screen. I’m unable to take screenshots of Blu-Rays with my current AV setup but a great site for examining these differences is Crystal Comparisons.

Almost nothing of significance is changed for Act 21. In one scene a chair is added behind Usagi mostly to compensate for an earlier continuity issue where a chair disappeared and then reappeared behind her. Other than that the changes are mostly cosmetic.

The next episode previews remain unaltered. I’ve mentioned Chibiusa’s shirt gate time and time again. The next episode preview for Act 22 which appeared at the end of Act 21 originally included her blue long sleeved uniform, which was an error, and that uniform still appears in this version. This had been corrected in the streaming version of Act 22 and is still corrected on this release.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Chibiusa takes Wiseman's hand

If you check out the changes for Act 22, you’ll note some changes for the appearance of Black Lady. In the original streaming episode Black Lady first appeared pretty much as a shadowy black figure with glowing eyes who later became more visible. The intention was, and still is, to obscure her identity. Now in the Blu-Ray we see her as being more transparent and smokey than previously in her first appearance and then darker in her later appearance. It seems to do the job better, but was anyone really still wondering what her true identity was at this point? There are a couple of other minor changes to this episode. When Usagi is possessed by Neo Queen Serenity her eyes glow and in the streaming version they are a bit darker. The reactor effects have been redone a bit to add some circles around the main column of energy. We also see the Sailor Guaridans standing behind Sailor Moon in one scene where we previously didn’t.

Both episodes include an audio commentary. These feature Munehisa Sakai, director of Sailor Moon Crystal, Kenji Nojima, the voice of Mamoru Chiba and Misato Fukuen, the voice of Chibiusa.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 11 - Special Booklet - Cover

Also included is the 20 page full colour special book. This one features the usual episode summaries, character designs, backgrounds, page for Osabu and two interviews. The first interview is with Momoiro Clover Z, the musical group which performs the Sailor Moon Crystal opening theme, Moon Pride, and ending theme, Gekkou. The second interview is with the four voice actors who portrayed the Ayakashi Sister. Wasabi Mizuta provides the voice of Petz. Rumi Kasahara, who provides the voice of Berthier, had previously voiced many small roles in the original Sailor Moon anime including Ptilol of the Witches 5. Tomoe Hanba voices Calaveras and Satsuki Yukino provides the voice of Koan.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 11 - Special Booklet - Pages 4 and 5 - Interview with Momoiro Clover Z

As always I recommend this only to hardcore fans. English speaking fans should contend with the streaming version until the eventual multi language Blu-Ray is released by Viz. This is a cool set with some cool stuff in it, but it’s hard to justify the price tag for two episodes.

Keep reading for more photos of the set including all 20 pages of the special book.

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Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22, Hidden Agenda – Nemesis, Review

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Black Lady

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 22, Hidden Agenda – Nemesis, is now available to stream on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico. This week we get teased a bit more with Black Lady but we still don’t get a really good look at her. Instead we focus on more exposition and freeing Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter who are trapped on Nemesis.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Black Lady

Why does it take us so long to finally get around to showing Black Lady? The flow of the past few episodes seems a bit weird but this is partly due to the fact that the manga was originally broken up differently. This was changed when the manga was reprinted around the time the live action Sailor Moon series was out. Originally the last episode, Act 21, and this episode were part of one manga chapter, Act 20 Complication – Nemesis. This happened once in the first arc and will happen once again with the final Act of the Black Moon story arc. All in all we will have 26 episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal for what was originally 23 chapters of the manga. The original story that covered these two episodes was very long, almost 100 pages, so it makes sense to break it up into two episodes but the pacing seems a bit odd as it takes us forever to tease out the appearance of Black Lady. Sailor Moon Crystal is a 23 minute show but a manga chapter had no such restriction which is why there were some very long stories some months.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Chibiusa takes Wiseman's hand

Next episode preview at the end of Act 21

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Chibiusa wearing the correct top, with symbol of the Black Moon Clan on her head

Intro for Act 22

Shirt gate continues! This show can’t seem to make up it’s mind on this thing. I know I’ve mentioned this time and time again but as long as they keep screwing it up I will keep harping on them for it. As you can see above, the next episode preview that played at the end of Act 21 showed Chibiusa with her long sleeved blue uniform which she should absolutely not be wearing at this point. This is the uniform she wore when she came from the future which she traded for a short sleeve white uniform when she started going to school. She wore this on her trip back to the future and did not bring a change of clothes. The animators consistently mess up the colour of Chibiusa’s shirt in next episode previews, fixing it before the next one comes out. We can clearly see in this how last minute this show is prepared. Another change that can be seen is that Chibiusa, pre transformation, is seen with the symbol of the Black Moon Clan on her forehead. This is new to Sailor Moon Crystal. In the manga and anime Chibiusa doesn’t get this symbol until she transforms into Black Lady.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Volume 19 sure is popular

A new location featured this week is the library which houses many books. Funny when you actually get a nice look at them it looks like there are just a bunch of copies of the same book. So many volume 19s of some kind of book all over these shelves! The original Sailor Moon manga was collected in 18 volumes. Perhaps the most precious thing collected in this library is more Sailor Moon manga! These books are so important that Venus is tasked with just watching them. Tuxedo Mask runs off to find Chibusa and she is stuck there to protect a bunch of books!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Sailor Venus has lips

If you’ve ever wondered what Sailor Moon characters look like with lips we now have an answer! With another funny face frame this week we get to see Sailor Venus with lips and she looks a bit like a frog!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Death Phantom

We get another look at the Death Phantom, the Earth criminal who became Wise Man. It’s mentioned that he has Beast Hand and Evil Eye, though there is no indication of what that is. He seems to have used some sort of supernatural power to kill a bunch of people, but he is said to be a human. Indeed Sailor Moon is full of these kinds of magical people but there really isn’t much in the way of detail about Death Phantom. It seems this could be a whole side story on it’s own which never really gets investigated.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - A building on Nemesis

Nemesis is such an odd planet. When we see it from space it’s surface seems volatile. It does not appear to have a solid surface but perhaps one of molten lava or some sort of gas or energy. It’s mentioned that the reactor is the only place which opens to the outside, yet we clearly see buildings with the reactor’s energy coming out of it. What exactly is going on here? Is this a building on the surface of Nemesis? Is this an underground cavern with buildings in it? This doesn’t seem all that efficient when a cavern isn’t really exposed to the elements. Perhaps this is the surface but above them is a thick cloud or energy layer that can’t be penetrated? This brings up a ton of questions. Who are the labourers of the Black Moon Clan who make these buildings? What is the size of their population? Where do they get their food? The manga never shows actual structures so some of this doesn’t really come up but an anime series like this needs to have proper backgrounds and a level of detail that isn’t shown in a manga series.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Rei and dead people

Finally Sailor Moon is able to transform. This isn’t really explained but the key is that the reactor connects to the outside. As another suggestion that they are underground, Sailor Moon’s powers are blocked where she is. Being close to the reactor allows her to get her power and in turn transfer that to her friends. How gross is the room Sailor Mercury, Mars and Jupiter are in? It’s just full of dead bodies.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - The Sailor Guardians return

Next episode preview at the end of Act 21

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - The Sailor Guardians with a new background

Act 22

As another change from the next episode preview once the Sailor Guardians show up the reactor’s energy is shown in the background more prominently and shining through a bit. This is a fairly minor change but yet another reminder that these episodes are tweaked right up to the last minute.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Black Lady

Next episode preview at the end of Act 21

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Black Lady

Act 22

Yet another change is this shot of Black Lady’s eyes. Originally all we see are Black Lady’s eyes in the next episode preview but here in the episode proper they are using the sort of blurring effect to hide her identity instead. It seems that the method of obscuring Black Lady’s identity was still being worked out after a couple of weeks ago’s airing.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Black Lady

Black Lady is seen but not really seen throughout. In the manga she appears as a sort of ghostly whisp but here she’s just sort of blurry. Perhaps she has that same problem Bigfoot has where you can’t take a clear picture of him. We can see her clothes in Sailor Moon Crystal which is a first, this is something that normally wouldn’t show up until the next episode. She doesn’t do a ton but does manage to kill Rubeus which tells us she isn’t really on board with the Black Moon Clan but instead has some other agenda.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Wise Man Kawaii emoticon eyes

Wise Man has the most ridiculous eyes in this episode. Every time Black Lady does something amusing he gets these emoticon type eyes which look like something out of those letters that scroll across a Niconico feed. OMG! #kawaii ^_^; @_@;

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23 - Black Lady

Next in 3 weeks on June 6th is Act 23, Covert Maneuvers – Wiseman. This time we’ll get a proper look at Black Lady without any blurriness.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23 - Covert Maneuvers - Wiseman

Keep reading to see more screenshots from Act 22 and the next episode preview for Act 23.

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Watch Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22, Hidden Agenda – Nemesis, Saturday May 16th at 6am Eastern Time

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Tuxedo Mask and King Endymion

The next episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 22, Hidden Agenda – Nemesis, will be available this coming Saturday May 16th. The episode will be available to stream on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico starting at 7pm Japan Standard Time which is 6am Eastern Time and 3am Pacific Time. Chibiusa has disappeared but we won’t be seeing what has happened to her this week as we focus on what’s happening on Nemesis with various kidnapped people.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Hidden Agenda - Nemesis

Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter are still prisoners on Nemesis. With this we will get a bit of backstory about the Death Phantom also known as Wise Man. With Chibiusa gone Tuxedo Mask chases after her leaving Sailor Venus to hold down the fort and the kidnapped Sailor Guardians to save themselves! The end of the last episode teases us with Black Lady but we won’t be seeing her this week. We will only be seeing a sort of proto Black Lady without her iconic black and pink dress.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - Chibiusa takes Wiseman's hand

In the next episode preview shown at the end of Act 21 we once again see Chibiusa wearing the wrong school uniform! Chibiusa has two school uniforms. She came from the future wearing a long sleeved blue uniform but once she started school in the past she switched to a short sleeve white uniform. That is what she is wearing when she takes Wise Man’s hand at the end of Act 21 so why is she wearing her older long sleeved uniform in the next episode preview? Earlier mistakes with the uniform colour have been corrected between the next episode preview and the actual episode. It is expected that the same will occur here though we won’t know for sure until Saturday.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 22 - The Sailor Guardians return