Here’s our first look at Sailor Moon Eternal, a Sailor Moon Crystal movie covering part of the Dream arc of the manga, will be released in 2020

Sailor Moon Eternal -

Today is June 30th, Usagi’s birthday, and to celebrate this there was a birthday party event held in Japan. We often get Sailor Moon news at such events and this year was no different! We finally have our first look at the designs for the upcoming new season of Sailor Moon Crystal which will be taking place as two theatrically released films. It was announced that the first of these movies will be called Sailor Moon Eternal and will be released in 2020. This could be anywhere from 6 to 18 months from now, so we will have to be patient to see when this finally happens! Also keep in mind the original release of Sailor Moon Crystal was planned for 2013 but that it actually first aired in 2014, so delays at this stage are certainly still possible, but things are finally coming together.

Sailor Moon Eternal - Sailor Moon

Along with the news was the revelation of a number of character designs for the series. The first was the poster featuring Super Sailor Chibi Moon and Super Sailor Moon. A teaser trailer which was posted to the newly redesigned Official Sailor Moon Site also included images of Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Chibi Moon all of whom have those little transparent shoulder pad things to show that they’re Super. You can watch that trailer embedded below.

The music used in the trailer in Moonlight Legend, the opening theme for the first four seasons of the original Sailor Moon anime, but that doesn’t necessarily indicate that this music will be used in the film. While this is possible it may simply be that the new music for the new Sailor Moon Eternal film is either not ready or that they otherwise don’t wish to release it at this time.

Kazuko Tadano Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus sketch from 2013

A sketch by Kazuko Tadano from 2013

Now that we’ve gotten a first look at the designs for this film we finally see what Kazuko Tadano, character designer for the first two seasons of the original Sailor Moon anime, chose to do for Sailor Moon Crystal. A lot of fans have commented about how similar the designs look to the 90s anime, which certainly makes sense if we consider this! What we’re seeing is a bit of a mix of the aesthetic of Sailor Moon Crystal’s 3rd season designs, the original anime designs and a little something new. When Kazuko Tadano was announced as the Dream Arc’s character designer Sailor Moon sketches she made in 2013 (above) were used as a baseline for what we might be seeing. Though the designs aren’t identical we can certainly see some similarities to what we’re seeing now.

Sailor Moon Eternal - Sailor Mercury

Sailor Moon Eternal will cover the first half of the Dream arc of the Sailor Moon manga. This is the same story which was the basis for the Sailor Moon SuperS season of the anime, though in this case the manga and anime had some significant differences. Though we don’t know exactly where the two movies will split, it is likely this will include the introduction of Pegasus as well as the villains the Amazon Trio, the Amazoness Quartet and Zirconia of the Dead Moon Circus. It will probably include early appearances by Helios and Queen Nehelenia, though they will feature more prominently in the second film. Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn may not show up in this one as they are not present for the first few chapters, though they could show up at the end of Sailor Moon Eternal. Since they were completely neglected from Sailor Moon SuperS it will be nice to see them included in Sailor Moon Crystal.

Sailor Moon Eternal - Sailor Mars

What do you think of the new designs? I’m really liking them. While the animation in the first two seasons wasn’t stellar, I thought season 3 was a great improvement. I can’t say I’m so attached to any Sailor Moon Crystal designs to be too bothered by this change. As long as these new films continue to be a faithful adaptation of the manga storyline, as the first three seasons have been, then the core of what makes Sailor Moon Crystal what it is should remain, even if there isn’t a consistent visual style. As always it’s a bit difficult to get a full feeling of what’s in store with just a few images. To see this animation style in action will be something. For now we’ll have to wait a while longer but at this stage we can at least confidently say that Sailor Moon Eternal is real and after more than 3 years we are finally getting more Sailor Moon Crystal! It remains to be seen how or when the film will be released here in North America.

Sailor Moon Eternal - Sailor Jupiter

PS: Not to rub it in but I was totally right and this art looks nothing like the Sailor Moon Crystal x Monster Strike designs we saw last fall.

Sailor Moon Eternal - Sailor Venus

Get caught up with Sailor Moon Crystal before the movie comes out by buying the first three seasons using the Amazon links below, or save your money by streaming it on Crunchyroll, Hulu or Neon Alley.

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Here’s a tiny amount of new Sailor Moon Crystal information from an interview with the Dream arc’s animation director Kazuko Tadano

Kazuko Tadano Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Official Fan Club interview

The official Sailor Moon Fan Club did an interview with Kazuko Tadano, the animation director for the upcoming new season of Sailor Moon Crystal. What did we learn? Unfortunately not much. Fans have been hoping for new information about this series, which will be taking place in the form of two movies released in theatres, for what seems like forever. It has been nearly 3 years since the last episode of Sailor Moon Crystal aired.

The entire interview has been translated by Tuxedo Unmasked. I suggest checking out the full translation for some nice insight into Kazuko Tadono’s involvement in the original Sailor Moon anime. Tuxedo Unmasked is a great resource providing in depth insight into all things Sailor Moon which all fans should check out.

Kazuko Tadano from the Sailor Moon anime

So what was mentioned about Sailor Moon Crystal? A few things, just perhaps not what we’d been waiting for. First she discusses how she was picked for the role, and she mentions that she auditioned. This seems a bit bizarre to me. Did Kotono Mitsuishi audition for the role of Usagi in Sailor Moon Crystal? Why would someone with Kazuko Tadano’s cred from the vastly better looking original series need to audition for Sailor Moon Crystal? I won’t pretend to understand how this industry works. She also mentioned that it was interesting to work on the beginning and the end of Sailor Moon. Does this mean that after the Dream arc she also expects to work on a Stars arc or perhaps that she doesn’t think a Stars arc will ever happen? Beyond Sailor Moon Crystal can anyone really know when the end of Sailor Moon will really occur? We could very well be looking at a new series for the 40th Anniversary, assuming Sailor Moon Crystal has wrapped up by then!

Kazuko Tadano Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus sketch from 2013

Next she was asked how she is approaching the series which is potentially relevant! She says she will be faithful to the past but also to the manga and something modern. Well that’s all well and good but until we see what it looks like we won’t really know how much of the old, the new and the manga made it into the new design. We’ve seen what her newer art style looks like with the 2013 sketch included above but we don’t know how much her designs for Crystal will resemble this. Interestingly she doesn’t actually mention trying to make it look like other seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal, unless that’s what she meant by modern. Not looking like Sailor Moon Crystal might be a move in the right direction, though a lack of continuity might be odd.

All said this is something, it’s just not really what fans may have been hoping for. A release date would be nice, though too early and the date may not stick. Some sort of art would be really amazing! I suppose it’s just good to get confirmation that the project appears to still be proceeding, though we don’t have any indication as to how far along the films are, if any work has even been done at this point.

As always if we get anything resembling new information about Sailor Moon Crystal it will be posted to this site! Be patient fans!

Hisako Kanemoto, Sailor Mercury in Sailor Moon Crystal, returned to voice acting after a year studying abroad and missed no Sailor Moon Crystal

Hisako Kanemoto, the voice of Sailor Mercury from Sailor Moon Crystal

Earlier this month on March 1st 2019 Hisako Kanemoto, who voices Sailor Mercury in Sailor Moon Crystal, returned to voice acting after a nearly year long hiatus while she was studying abroad. Her lengthy absence from voice acting had no impact on the recording of Sailor Moon Crystal which had it’s last episode airing nearly three years ago on June 27th 2016. She left Japan to study abroad last summer around the last time that we heard any news about Sailor Moon Crystal’s fourth season. At the time we learned that Kazuko Tadano would return as animation director during an event on Usagi’s birthday, June 30th 2018.

Will Sailor Moon be this old when the new anime airs?

Were Sailor Moon Crystal adhering to a schedule similar to other anime series or even any other TV series airing elsewhere around the globe such a lengthy absence would surely have had an impact on the recording of the series. As an example of this when Phylicia Rashad was pregnant during filming of The Cosby Show they had to shoot around it, having her mostly appear in bed or sitting behind furniture. Even during the original Sailor Moon anime Kotono Mitsuishi was unable to voice Sailor Moon for the first season finale and some episodes of Sailor Moon R due to a relatively short illness, having her dialogue recorded instead by Kae Araki, who would later voice Chibiusa. Luckily for fans of Sailor Moon Crystal we have years to wait between seasons allowing voice actors to spend a couple of semesters studying abroad with no impact to the recording schedule. By the time we get the two movies that will be the Dream arc of Sailor Moon Crystal perhaps some of the voice actors will have had time to raise a large family or go to medical school and do a residency. On the flip side there is a growing chance that some of these voice actors, who were quite young when Sailor Moon Crystal was first announced and children when the original Sailor Moon first aired, may be retired or worse may have passed away of natural causes by the time we get more Sailor Moon Crystal. We certainly hope this is not the case but the ever patient fans know better than to set their expectations to a specific timeline at this point!

Sailor Moon R episode 62 - Ami, Chibiusa and Mamoru at the airport

Ultimately I find the fact that Sailor Mercury’s voice actor went to study abroad to be quite fitting as it was Ami who, in episode 62 of Sailor Moon R, nearly did the same. In this case Ami stayed behind in Japan as the Sailor Guardians would not be able to get by without her during the lengthy time she planned on studying out of the country! Luckily Sailor Moon Crystal’s schedule is much more forgiving than the life of a Sailor Guardian allowing for such lengthy absences.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 133 - Chibiusa is an old lonely cat lady watching Sailor Moon

Will we get more Sailor Moon Crystal before the heat death of the universe? I certainly am remaining optimistic that this is the case! As I have conceived and become father to two children and built a house since the last episode of Sailor Moon Crystal aired I’d say a lot might still happen before we see those movies! What sort of time consuming life accomplishments have you made since June 2016? What else do you hope to happen before we see Pegasus in Sailor Moon Crystal?

Source: Crunchyroll

Is the art for the Sailor Moon Crystal x Monster Strike collaboration based on upcoming season 4 character designs?

Sailor Moon Crystal x Monster Strike

Characters from Sailor Moon Crystal will soon be appearing in the popular Japanese mobile game Monster Strike. What is Monster Strike? It seems a bit like StreetSmash, the Street Pass mini game in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS where you smash round pieces into others on a board. The characters will be appearing in the game shortly, meaning no specific date has been given. A number of images, available on the Official Sailor Moon site and Monster Strike web site, show that this will include Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus, Tuxedo Mask, Queen Beryl, Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite and Kunzite. Some fans believe this art may be a first look at the designs of the upcoming fourth season of Sailor Moon Crystal. I’m not convinced.

Kazuko Tadano Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus sketch from 2013

We have previously learned that Kazuko Tadano, who was a character designer and animation director for the first two seasons of the original Sailor Moon anime, would be doing the designs for the Dream arc of Sailor Moon Crystal. What her take on the series is remains to be seen however she did a sketch of Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus back in 2013 which gives us an idea of what her art style is like more recently. If you’re looking to see how she drew Sailor Moon back in the 90s note that she did all of the laser disc cover art, which has been used for home video releases over the last 25 years. So much to say the image of Sailor Moon most people think of matches her style.

Sailor Moon Japanese Blu-Ray Vol. 1 - Comparison between Laserdisc and Blu-Ray

Usagi Tsukino in Monster Strike

I frankly don’t see the resemblance here. The art style and almost comically large heads in the Monster Striker images just don’t seem to fit with either anything that Kazuko Tadano has put out or what Sailor Moon Crystal was doing. If I had to venture a guess I would say this art is made by one of the artists who has done other Monster Strike art over the years. Further by the very fact that we only have characters from the Dark Kingdom story arc shown here I don’t think it’s likely that these are new Sailor Moon Crystal designs. We similarly never saw any of the characters unique to the first two story arcs done in the style of Sailor Moon Crystal’s 3rd season. There is plenty of art from the Dark Kingdom arc which could be used for purposes such as these if that was the desire here. Instead this appears to be Sailor Moon Crystal in the style of Monster Strike. The super deformed or chibi versions with very large heads seem to fit with in game graphics of other characters. This is only my own personal assessment of the art of course! You are free to make your own determinations about what you think and these will be confirmed in 2065 when we get the two Sailor Moon Crystal Dream Arc films.

Alice Sailor Moon in Monster Strike

Further to the art shown on the web sites there was a video stream which showed the Sailor Moon content. Start watching the video embedded below at 11 minutes for the relevant content. This included a number of images of mash ups between Monster Strike characters and Sailor Moon characters. The only name I could decipher was Alice who is Sailor Moon. The other Sailor Guardians and Tuxedo Mask have gotten a similar treatment.

In addition to being featured in this game there will be a number of Sailor Moon Crystal x Monster Strike products sold at the XFLAG store in Shibuya. This includes a number of food items.

Sailor Moon Crystal x Monster Strike food

Do you play Monster Striker? Do you plan on playing the game when these characters are out? What do you think of the designs? Do you believe these are Sailor Moon Crystal Season 4 designs, Monster Strike style designs or something else?

Sailor Moon Crystal x Monster Strike products

Keep reading for more art which will be used in the game.

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Kazuko Tadano returns to Sailor Moon after nearly 25 years as the animation director of Sailor Moon Crystal

Kazuko Tadano from the Sailor Moon anime

Today, June 30th, is Usagi’s birthday! As is often the case this meant a special live event was held in Japan. Many fans were hopeful to get some small tidbit of information about the upcoming two Sailor Moon Crystal films and we sure did get the smallest tidbit. Kazuko Tadano, character designer and animation director from the first two seasons of the original Sailor Moon anime as well as the Sailor Moon R movie, will be returning to be the animation director for the 4th story arc of Sailor Moon Crystal! As we have previously learned the Dream arc of Sailor Moon Crystal won’t be individual episodes as we had in the past but it will instead be two theatrically released movies. Not much else of interest seems to have been revealed today. This news was confirmed on the official Sailor Moon site.

Kazuko Tadano and Hiromi Matsushita from the Sailor Moon anime

Kazuko Tadano does fantastic work. The box art she did for the Sailor Moon laserdiscs is still used in releases in Japan to this day. Her designs from the first two seasons of the anime are the image of Sailor Moon that most people remember and certainly the one I have the most nostalgia for. The episodes she was animation director for are some of the best looking episodes of the series. I am looking forward to seeing what this new season will look like! I just wish we had a better idea of just when this would finally be released! Until then, we will just have to be patient. If nothing else this is some indication that things are progressing on the series. All indications seem to be that this is happening and fans should be used to waiting at this point. It has been over two years since the last episode of Sailor Moon Crystal aired. Let’s hope we don’t make it to three!

Sailor Moon Japanese Blu-Ray Vol. 1 - Comparison between Laserdisc and Blu-Ray

Fans interesting in watching the live event for Usagi’s birthday can check out this stream from the official Sailor Moon Twitter account. It includes a number of song performances, information presented by Fumio Osano and a teaser for the upcoming Sailor Moon Super Live musical.

Kazuko Tadano and Hiromi Matsushita as students from the Sailor Moon anime

Kazuko Tadano and her husband Hiromi Matsushita were both animation directors during the early episodes of the original Sailor Moon anime. They both worked on episode 21, Protect the Children’s Dreams: Friendship Through Anime, in which a version of them appeared as the two primary characters in that episode, named Kazuko and Hiromi. I was lucky enough to meet them when they made an appearance at Otakon in 2008! I asked them a question about the episode but unfortunately due to technical issues with the video camera I used at the time, I lost the footage of that panel. When I asked the two to sign my Volume Infinity Art Book they were surprised I had such a thing. When I told Hiromi Matsushita what I’d paid for it he called me “rich man”. This is of course not true as a substantial portion of my income goes to Sailor Moon merchandise!

The Dream story arc of Sailor Moon Crystal will be two theatrical films directed by Chiaki Kon

Sailor Moon 25th Anniversary Usagi's birthday live event

Yesterday there was a special live event to celebrate Usagi’s birthday, June 30th. The main news pertaining to new Sailor Moon Crystal, which is what everyone has been waiting for, was that the upcoming 4th story arc or 4th season will not be presented as episodes but as two theatrical films. These will be played in theatres in Japan but it isn’t clear at this time what that means for international fans. Will we get the films in theatres ourselves? Will it be streamed online at a later date, perhaps split into individual episodes? A free simulcast seems a bit unlikely as there wouldn’t be much of an incentive to get people into theatres if the movies were available online on the first day. We will have to wait and see for more details as we still don’t have any timeline of when this might happen. After the event this information was posted to the official site.

Chiaki Kon - Director of Sailor Moon Crystal phase 3

We’ve also learned that these two movies will be directed by Chiaki Kon, who was the director for the Infinity Arc of Sailor Moon Crystal. I really dug the animation style of the latest season so I’m happy to see her return, but it doesn’t look like all fans share that sentiment.

Sailor Moon 25th Anniversary Usagi's birthday live event - Happy Birthday

The rest of the live event wasn’t all that compelling. Since it was Usagi’s birthday there was a cake and Happy Birthday to You was sung, which it seems is now public domain and not subject to copyright.

Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final musical trailer - The Starlights and Princess Kakyuu

There was also a new trailer shown for the upcoming Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final. This included another look at the new characters from this musical. This trailer can be seen embedded below.

Sailor Moon 25th Anniversary Usagi's birthday live event - Reading a letter from Naoko Takeuchi

There was also a message from Naoko Takeuchi which was read by Sailor Moon’s voice actor Kotono Mitsuishi. No new information was included but it was about looking back at her time with the manga and thanking fans. This letter was also shared on the official site. This letter mentions that in 1992 she was 26 years old. This doesn’t match with many sources stating that she was born on March 15th 1967. If she was indeed 26 in 1992 this would put her year of birth at 1966. According to the Naoko Takeuchi Wikipedia talk page there are sources which indicate that she was born in 1966. It would seem plausible that this is in fact the case. This would mean that my most viral Tweet where I wished Naoko Takeuchi a happy 50th birthday in March of this year was in fact wrong as she would have turned 51 this year. Without confirmation of her year of birth we can’t be sure one way or another.

Sailor Moon 25th Anniversary Usagi's birthday live event - Sailor Moon Crystal season 3 intro

The most annoying part of the event was when they screened the intro and ending themes from the last story arc. This would have been a great time to see something new instead of something we’ve seen well over a year ago!

For now we must continue to wait for more details about these two movies and what they mean for North American fans or the possibility of a Stars story arc. Sailor Moon fans have certainly learned to be patient with Sailor Moon Crystal!

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It has been a year since the last new episode of Sailor Moon Crystal

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Usagi and Chibiusa see Pegasus

Today is June 28th 2017. The last episode of Sailor Moon Crystal which we saw was Act 38, Infinity 12 – Infinite Journey, on June 27th 2016. Surely we expected to have new episodes by now! Many fans are losing hope that we may ever see the Dream Arc of Sailor Moon Crystal but not all hope is lost. Later this week, on June 30th to celebrate Usagi’s birthday, there will be a live event in Japan. We don’t know what this live event will involve but it is possible that, after a long Sailor Moon Crystalless year, we might be getting some information about the upcoming season!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Viewing the eclipse

The last official thing we heard about the 4th season of Sailor Moon Crystal was back in January of this year when the Official Sailor Moon Site was updated to reflect the 25th Anniversary. This update included a mention that production would continue. No further details were mentioned and 5 months have since passed. Does the light of hope for Sailor Moon Crystal’s continuation still exist in your heart?

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 199 - The Light of Hope

A rumour is suggesting that Sailor Moon Crystal season 4 is coming in 2018

Facebook Messenger screenshot where Yasuhuru Takanashi suggests Sailor Moon Crystal season 4 will be in 2018

A couple of screenshots of alleged conversations with Yasuharu Takanashi, Sailor Moon Crystal’s music composer, are suggesting that Sailor Moon Crystal’s 4th season will be airing in 2018. People in the fan community are referring this as a rumour of further delays for the upcoming season. As rumours go, this one doesn’t seem to have much weight to it. I’m reporting this as it’s being discussed in the fan community and I wanted to weigh in on it’s legitimacy and not because I think there’s much validity to the rumour itself. Let us look at the evidence provided and consider how reliable the claim is.

Instagram screenshot where Yasuhuru Takanashi suggests Sailor Moon Crystal season 4 will be in 2018

I originally saw this in a Tweet by Twitter user Chase the CHECH (@iHasMangic) who included two screenshots. The first is from a Facebook Messenger conversation. When asked if season 4 was coming he stated “Season 4 for Sailor Moon 2018?”. The question mark is a bit questionable. The profile image and name match that of Yasuharu Takanashi’s Facebook profile. The second screenshot is of an Instagram conversation. When asked about the possibility of a 4th season in 2017 he responds “2018! (smiley face) (thumbs up)”. Again the user name, in this case @nassy_takanashi, and profile photo match his Instagram profile. Since originally posting this I’ve been in contact with the user who posted this to Twitter and Adrian, the user who originally had these conversations. Adrian also posted these screenshots to the Pretty Guardians Facebook group and a post on the Genvid Forums. These include alternate screenshots of the same chats.

We can ask ourselves a few questions. Are these screenshots legitimate? Is Yasuharu Takanashi indicating that Sailor Moon Crystal is delayed until 2018? If he is, is such a claim a reliable indication that the series is indeed delayed? I can’t make any certain claims about the authenticity of these screenshots. One could easily fabricate something like this, but would they? If I were going to fake a screenshot I might attempt to make a more clear confirmation without confusing question marks and emoji, but then I’m not in the business of doctoring screenshots these days. With matching avatars it doesn’t seem out of the question that these are legitimate. Having seen a number of different versions of these screenshots and spoken to Adrian about it I don’t think there’s much of a reason to doubt the validity of these.

If they are indeed real screenshots, what is actually being said? The language is a bit confused but it does seem like Yasuharu Takanashi is indicating that, in his opinion, the series will be continuing in 2018. If this is indeed what he means, we can again ask ourselves if that is a reliable source. Yasuharu Takanashi composed the music for the first three seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal. It is entirely feasible that he will continue in this role if the show should continue, and we’ve received indication via the official Sailor Moon web site that more Sailor Moon Crystal is coming. As someone working on the show he may have an idea of the schedule. He may not as well. He may have been working on the show, be working on it now or be scheduled to work on it in the future and not actually have a specific idea of when the animation, voice acting and other production work will be completed and when the final distribution is scheduled for. If he did actually know when the show would be coming he may not be at liberty to disclose this. This chat isn’t a confidential discussions between professionals or close friends but rather a fans who reached out and got an answer.

Take it all with a grain of salt! If others weren’t reporting on this I wouldn’t have bothered to post about it myself but as it’s being thrown around I wanted to share it for context. There are a lot of ifs going on. If they all turn out we may be getting new episodes in 2018, but with so many unknowns I wouldn’t make any certain conclusions about this actually happening. I tend to only give consideration to information shared through official sources such as those posted on the Official Sailor Moon site. Even when we get information through official sources we’ve seen that such situations are likely to change anyway. For now the only official word we’ve gotten is that more Sailor Moon Crystal is planned and we have gotten no timeline of when this would occur.

As always if we hear anything official on this topic we will be sure to share it as soon as we can.

New episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal have been announced

Sailor Moon 25th Anniversary project

The Sailor Moon official site has mentioned that a sequel to Sailor Moon Crystal is coming as part of their recently announced 25th Anniversary celebration. On their official web site in the “Sailor Moon Crystal” section of the 25th Anniversary page a message appears in Japanese which roughly translates to:

Animation “Sailor Moon Crystal”
Continuation production decision!

We have decided to produce the sequel of anime “Sailor Moon Crystal”!
More information will be announced shortly.
Please look forward to it ♪

So it looks like the series will be continuing in some form, and as usual we are asked to wait for more information. Will this be the Dream arc, continuing the story where it left off, or something different? More news as we learn it!

New episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal announced

Are you excited about the 25th Anniversary? I wonder if this one will go on until the 30th Anniversary!

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

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - The 10 Sailor Guardians

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.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Title Screen with Sailor Saturn

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 Crystal Act 38 - Super Sailor Venus

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.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Three Women and a Baby

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 Crystal Act 38 - The Messiah

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 Moon Crystal Act 38 - Super Sailor Chibi Moon

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.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - High school girls

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.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Solar Eclipse

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?

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Artemis and Luna cry for Diana

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!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Usagi and Chibiusa see Pegasus

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.

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