This coming Friday will be Moonlight Party 2, featuring new Viz dubbed episodes starring Sailor Jupiter and Venus. Once that starts, Friday at 7pm Pacific Time or 10pm Eastern Time, you will be able to view it by following this link. This will include a behind the scenes celebration with Viz as episodes 24 through 36 of the new dubbed episodes are available through Hulu and Neon Alley. Like with the first Moonlight Party in September there will be interaction with fans, contests and a chance to meet some of the voice actors.

This event will also include watching episodes 24, 25, 33, 34 and 35. The episodes themselves will not be streamed on the YouTube link. Viewers will need to view these directly on the Hulu or Neon Alley sites, which are not available in Canada and other areas. Episode 24, Naru’s Tears: Nephrite Dies for Love, is as the title suggests the tragic death of Nephrite. Episode 25, Jupiter, the Powerful Girl in Love, is the introduction of Sailor Jupiter. We then skip over the other six Rainbow Crystals to episodes 33 through 35 which cover a short story arc which includes the introduction of Sailor Venus in Enter Venus, the Last Sailor Guardian, the revelation of the Moon Princess in The Shining Silver Crystal: The Moon Princess Appears and the aftermath of that in Returning Memories: Usagi and Mamoru’s Past.

Building up to this event Viz has released a couple of new clips from the upcoming second half of season 1 featuring the voices of Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus who did not appears in previously released episodes.

Here are a couple of clips of Sailor Jupiter from her first episode, Jupiter, the Powerful Girl in Love. In the first clip Makoto and Usagi talk over lunch for the first time and in the second we see her learning that she is Sailor Jupiter and her first transformation. Sailor Jupiter is voiced by Amanda Celine Miller.

Shortly before this clip was released Amanda Celine Miller joked on twitter that the inspiration for her Sailor Jupiter voice came from Harvey Firestein.

Two clips of Minako were also released. The first features Minako trying to cheer up Usagi while doing her hair in episode 36, Usagi’s Confusion: Is Tuxedo Mask Evil?. The second clip shows the Princess Seminar from episode 37, Let’s Become a Princess: Usagi’s Bizarre Training, which is really not a Sailor Venus centric clip but in it she does her Crescent Beam attack. Sailor Venus is voiced by Cherami Leigh.

In that second clip we hear a grunt by the new voice of Artemis, Johnny Yong Bosch, whose voice will be heard for the first time during the new episode we’ll see tomorrow.

This event is publicity for the DVD and Blu-Ray set of season 1 part 2 which will be released in February 2015. Season 1 part 1 was released last week. The dubbed season 1 part 1 is also available on Amazon Instant along with the first season and a half of subbed episodes.

Read the whole press release about the event below:

VIZ MEDIA HOSTS SAILOR MOON MOONLIGHT PARTY 2 TO CELEBRATE NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE OF LATEST DUBBED EPISODES

November 21st Virtual Live Stream Soiree Coincides With
Neon Alley Episode Premieres And Will Include Live Commentary, Real Time Q&A And Trivia Contests For SAILOR MOON Prizes

San Francisco, CA, November 18, 2014 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, continues to celebrate the triumphant return of the classic SAILOR MOON anime series and marks the premiere of the latest high definition Episodes 24-36 – featuring the brand new English dub cast – available to stream on Neon Alley and Hulu starting on Friday, November 21st beginning at 7:00pm (PST). The release time and date for the remaining English episodes of this epic first season will be announced during the event. These latest exclusive dubbed episodes will be available for a limited time only during the Holiday season!

Fans can join in on the festivities with VIZ Media and Neon Alley by attending Moonlight Party 2: A Celebration of SAILOR MOON Reborn! Building on the success and positive fan feedback following the first Moonlight Party held in September, the free virtual party will take place once again as a unique live stream event on VIZ Media’s YouTube channel at: http://bit.ly/SMMnLtP2 beginning at 7:00pm (PST) on Friday, November 21st.

Fans are invited participate in the event and stream SAILOR MOON Episodes 24, 25, 33, 34 and 35 (showcasing Jupiter, Venus, and Princess Serenity) via Neon Alley/Hulu and also take part in a real-time Q&A with VIZ Media staff that will run throughout the evening. Viewers can submit questions throughout the event via YouTube, in the comments sections of the actual live stream (as available), or on the official VIZ Media Facebook page, and via Twitter using the special hashtag, #MoonlightParty,

Fans also can interact with members of the VIZ Media SAILOR MOON team, which will be present during the live stream to answer questions and offer lively commentary and little known information about the series and these new episodes. A SAILOR MOON trivia contest also will take place and fans and aspiring Sailor Guardians are invited to submit their answers via Facebook and Twitter to win special prizes. SAILOR MOON fans nationwide are also encouraged to share pictures from their own Moonlight Parties by using the hashtag #MoonlightParty on their favorite social media platforms.

Neon Alley is VIZ Media’s consolidated online destination for FREE streaming anime content in the U.S. with over 3,200 subtitled and English dubbed episodes and movies from more than 36 series!

In the latest SAILOR MOON episodes, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars continue their quest for the Legendary Silver Crystal as two new powerful allies join the fight. Sailor Jupiter is the tall and tough Guardian of Thunder, and Sailor Venus is the Guardian of Love and the most experienced member. Sailor Moon herself gets an impressive new power and learns more about the mysterious Tuxedo Mask. Could their distant pasts be intertwined, and does that have anything to do with the Moon Princess they seek? The final ordeal with Queen Beryl looms on the horizon, and it will take everything the Sailor Guardians have to be victorious!

“Thousands of fans joined us for our very first SAILOR MOON Moonlight Party, and the enthusiasm and love that was expressed for this iconic series inspired us to hold another event to mark the dub premiere of the concluding half of Season 1,” says Charlene Ingram, Senior Manager, Animation Marketing. “Not only will viewers catch the dub debut of Sailor Jupiter voiced by Amanda Miller, and Sailor Venus, voiced by Cherami Leigh, we’ll be sharing plenty of commentary and trivia, as well awarding lots of SAILOR MOON prizes. We look forward to everyone joining us and hope this event might inspire fans to hold some Sailor Guardian soirees of their own!”

The smash hit SAILOR MOON anime series is inspired by the bestselling manga (graphic novel) series created by Naoko Takeuchi (published in North America by Kodansha). In the series, Usagi Tsukino is a clumsy but kindhearted teenage girl who transforms into the powerful guardian of love and justice, Sailor Moon. Meeting allies along the way who share similar fates, Usagi and her team of planetary Sailor Guardians fight to protect the universe from forces of evil and total annihilation!

VIZ Media’s SAILOR MOON Season 1 Set 1 Limited Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack as well as the Standard Edition DVD set are both now available for purchase. The SAILOR MOON Season 1 Set 2 Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack and Standard Edition DVD sets are now available for preorder from leading anime and video retailers.

Fans can also catch the brand new SAILOR MOON reboot – SAILOR MOON CRYSTAL – with new episodes (subtitled) available to stream each week on Hulu and Neon Alley.

For more information on SAILOR MOON, or other award-winning anime titles from VIZ Media, please visit www.VIZ.com.

About VIZ Media, LLC

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, VIZ Media distributes, markets and licenses the best anime and manga titles direct from Japan. Owned by three of Japan’s largest manga and animation companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media has the most extensive library of anime and manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. With its popular digital manga anthology WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, BLEACH and ONE PIECE, VIZ Media offers cutting-edge action, romance and family friendly properties for anime, manga, science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages. VIZ Media properties are available as graphic novels, DVDs, animated television series, feature films, downloadable and streaming video and a variety of consumer products. Learn more about VIZ Media, anime and manga at www.VIZ.com.

Two new episodes of the original Sailor Moon anime, in Japanese with English subtitles, have been added to Hulu and Neon Alley this morning, September 8th 2014. This week we have the aftermath of Usagi being revealed as Princess Serenity and Mamoru being abducted by the Dark Kingdom. Tired of listening to subtitled episodes? The first 23 episodes of Viz’s new Sailor Moon dub have also been added to Hulu and Neon Alley for a limited time.

Episode 35, Returning Memories: Usagi and Mamoru’s Past, takes off where we left with Mamoru mortally wounded and Usagi transformed into Princess Serenity. We get a pretty good look at the events of Silver Millennium in which Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion fell in love. Unfortunately with some memories revealed Mamoru is taken away by the Dark Kingdom for as of yet unknown purposes. Most of the episode deals with the Sailor Team trying to get out of the Starlight Tower. One interesting exchange occurs when Sailor Mars slaps Sailor Moon in the face. She’s upset that Mamoru sacrificed himself for a crybaby like Usagi and is probably a bit upset that she stole her boyfriend. Zoisite dies in this episode, killed by Queen Beryl for ignoring her order and trying to kill Tuxedo Mask. Kunzite is upset about this but not enough to actually do anything about it! Finally at the end of the episode Sailor Moon uses her Moon Stick to destroy a massive building. No big deal.

Episode 36, Usagi’s Confusion: Is Tuxedo Mask Evil?, has us introduced to Minako while there isn’t anyone getting killed. Sailor Venus’s first appearance was amidst a battle after which she just ran off. Usagi doesn’t actually get to meet Minako as a civilian until after the excitement which ended in the last episode. Usagi is depressed after having lost Mamoru to the Dark Kingdom and Minako has the solution to this problem. Makeover! Minako and Usagi head over to a local salon which is having a sale which as always is a plot by the Dark Kingdom to find Sailor Moon. Oh yes, that’s their new plan. Now that the Rainbow Crystal thing is all played out they’re trying to find out who Sailor Moon is so that they can steal her Crystal. This week it’s all about DNA testing! They find a blonde hair at the site of the last battle and, assuming it’s Sailor Moon’s, they use it to cross reference against everyone who comes in to the salon. Minako sets off the machine and they assume she’s Sailor Moon. It turns out she got one of Usagi’s hairs on hers when brushing her. Wouldn’t it also make sense that the hair that was found by the Dark Kingdom was actually from Sailor Venus and that this is what set off the false positive? Anyway, Tuxedo Mask comes back and he’s evil. Not really evil but kind of evil and without much of a memory. This is all very distressing but Usagi is in better spirits just knowing he’s alive.

Tune in next week to see how else Kunzite can try to find out who Sailor Moon is.

Sailor Moon is, in my opinion, the greatest series of all time. With that being said, what’s the best of the best? Sailor Moon at it’s best was epic, emotional, exciting and often hilarious. Picking my 5 favourites isn’t easy. I tried to put a little variety in here so I selected from different seasons and chose different kinds of episodes. I hope you like my choices, and I also hope you share your own list of favourite episodes in the comments.

5: Sailor Moon R episode 56 – “Steal Mamoru’s Kiss! Ann’s Snow White Strategy”

The first 13 episodes of the Sailor Moon R series centered around what some call the Makaiju arc. Though unpopular amongst some fans due to not being based on a manga story, the arc offered some great original characters and a lot of good episodes in this short contained story. Comedy was frequent in these episodes, and this one is a prime example of that.

The main focus of this episode is a production of the play Snow White. Mamoru has his entire theatre troupe flake out, leaving him needing to do a play, which Rei suggests be Snow White. This causes endless bickering as all of the girls think they should be Snow White, all giving their own reasons for this, including Makoto who thinks she should play the part because she has the biggest breasts. The role is decided by Natsumi who suggests they draw strings. She draws the white string by cheating, because she wants to kiss Mamoru, and make him fall in love with her, just like in the play.

Throughout rehearsals Natsumi, who we also know as the alien Ann, keeps trying to kiss Mamoru, which angers Usagi, who got stuck being the witch. The rest of the girls along with Naru and Umino get stuck wearing animal costumes which clash with the theme of Snow White pretty drastically.

Natsumi courting Mamoru is a pretty major theme of this story arc, and things get pretty intense in this episode as she makes her intentions to do so extremely clear, causing Ail to be quite jealous and to send the monster Pierrot to attack the play, ultimately foiling Ann’s plans. We get a clear picture of the dynamic between the two at this point, as their chasing down Usagi and Mamoru tears them further apart, which unbeknownst to them only worsens the condition of the Makaiju, their tree, which they are trying to protect and restore.

This episode is tons of fun, with a lot of silly gags.

4: Sailor Moon episode 31 – “Loved and Chased! Luna’s Worst Day Ever.”

Sailor Moon is no stranger to silly episodes, and this one is a great example of that. A sub plot at this part of the series was the search for the 7 Rainbow Crystals, found within the bodies of people who had been given super powers because of them. This time around, it’s not in a person at all, but in a big, adorable, courageous cat named Rhett Butler, who’s named after a character from “Gone With the Wind”.

The episode opens with Luna being attacked by alley cats, and Rhett Butler coming to the rescue. He is portrayed essentially as the Tuxedo Mask of cats, and these super abilities and a precognition when Luna is in danger can probably be attributed to the Rainbow Crystal that is inside him. That’s just the ability, Rhett Butler’s real greatness comes from what he does with that ability, putting it all on the line for that black cat that he protects.

Rhett Butler is himself no alley cat. He belongs to a young girl who’s parents are conveniently missing for the whole episode. As both Zoisite and Ami are tracking this Rainbow Crystal, they both assume the girl is the one with the crystal, though Rhett Butler once again escapes to help Luna when she is being protected by Usagi and her friends. The Sailor Soldiers run into Zoisite in an alley and trying to fight him end up stepping on each other as Ami falls over and Makoto blushes after looking up her skirt.

Zoisite quickly determines the cat to be the real host to the Rainbow Crystal and follows him through the sewers, having a creepy encounter with a ton of rats in the process. The gang is late to the party, realizing too late that the girl is not the one they’re looking for, but in the mean time Zoisite extracted Rhett Butler’s Rainbow Crystal causing him to become the monster Bakene. Showing a mental strength stronger than most human Rainbow Crystal carriers he has a moment of lucidity even in his state as he protects Luna once again.

Once returned to his natural form, Rhett Butler returns to his owner, and the rest of the girls pester Luna about her relationship with him. Though Luna denies any attraction, she ultimately remembers him quite fondly. This hilarious episode shows that even without any real advancement to the main story Sailor Moon had some really great individual episodes which held their own, and that single appearance characters frequently left a lasting impression on fans.

3: Sailor Moon SuperS episode 149 – “Mirror of Dreams! Amazons’ Final Stage.”

Sailor Moon has a bad reputation for having standalone filler episodes, which don’t advance the plot much, and the SuperS season is filled with these. Though the individual episodes are quite great, the season very rarely dealt with advancing the plot, though in the odd cases where it did, it did a stupendous job. This episode is one of those rare examples.

This is the second part of a two part episode where in the first part Fish Eye, of the Amazon Trio, targeted Mamoru, but his advances were rejected as Mamoru tells him that he doesn’t have any dreams. As the episode begins Usagi finds Fish Eye in the rain and takes him in. This is a prime example of Usagi’s strength. Not only has she shown time after time that she can forgive and show love for villains, but here she does it for who she assumes is an unknown girl after her boyfriend.

In talking with Fish Eye, Usagi reveals her dream of being with Mamoru and in talking about him says similar things that Sailor Moon had, causing Fish Eye to figure out her true identity. To top it off, he catches ChibiUsa talking with Pegasus, who they’ve been looking for all along. Fish Eye confronts Ziriconia, asking if they can really become human when they catch Pegasus, which causes her to attack Fish Eye. Assuming Usagi was the one with Pegasus, Hawk Eye attacks her and reveals her Golden Mirror. The monster Mr. Magic Pierrot gazes into it only to discover that Pegasus is not there, and so he turns his attacks on the Amazon Trio as Ziriconia had requested.

In trying to attack the Trio Mr. Magic Pierrot destroys Usagi’s Mirror of Dreams, leaving her in a kind of soulless, catatonic state. He then attacks Fish Eye again but Hawk’s Eye takes the hit and ultimately dies. Tiger’s Eye and Fish Eye decide to give up their lives in human form to resurrect Usagi and free ChibiUsa so that she may defeat Mr. Magic Pierrot. The Amazon Trio die, leaving only animals in their place as their true identities are revealed. Hawk’s Eye is a Hawk, Tiger’s Eye is a Tiger and Fish Eye is a Fish.

Pegasus immediately appears and not only return the Amazon Trio to their human selves, but also gives them their own Mirrors of Dreams, in essence giving them souls, and takes them back to Elysion to stay until the light returns to the forest. It’s not entirely clear if the Trio are actually dead or alive at this point. While they appear to have been resurrected, they are shown surrounded by glowing sparkles in human form and are then turned into balls of light which enter their Mirrors. This can be interpreted as their spirits passing on into Elysion as a form of afterlife.

This episode and the one preceding it give a great amount of depth to the Amazon Trio, who previously were shown as little more than a group of players and are now shown as heroes who sacrifice their lives for a worthy cause. We are made to care for them just in time for them to be taken away.

2: Sailor Moon S episode 110 – “Death of Uranus and Neptune? Talismans Appear.”

This episode, from around the middle of the Sailor Moon S season, features a lot of story development, but it is told at an odd pace, and the episode is composed visually in a very unique way. There are a lot of long shots with little motion, series of stills and even weird colourations on certain shots. The end effect gives the episode a very artistic feel which sets a very different tone which is fitting to the subject matter of the episode.

The story centers around the discovery of the true location of the Talismans. It is known only that the Talismans exist in a person with a Pure Heart, and the Death Busters have been looking for that person all season. Eudial discovers the identity of those that have them, and upon learning this she calls Haruka and Michiru so that they can meet. Haruka and Michiru are troubled, because they know that they will have to kill those who have the Talismans in order to save the world. Usagi is at odds with this plan and so they arrange a meeting with her, in which Haruka steals her transformation broach, leaving her incapable of transforming into Sailor Moon. They then leave to meet with Eudial.

Eudial has set a number of traps for Sailor Uranus and Neptune. Neptune is quickly captured, and Uranus is riddled with bullets while trying to come after her. Eudial reveals that those who have the Talismans are actually Sailor Uranus and Neptune. Trying to protect Uranus, Neptune runs at her, getting shot by numerous bullets on the way, and is finally shot by Eudial with a gun she has which extracts her Pure Heart, and leaves her essentially dead. Uranus’s Pure Heart then transforms into the Deep Aqua Mirror, the first of the Talismans.

Usagi arrives, as herself, still unable to transform. As she does this light shines through a butterfly shaped window causing Usagi to appear as the Messiah in the eyes of Haruka. Showing her courage and willingness to protect her friends, even in the face of unsurmountable odds, she charges at Eudial, knocking her out of the way.

She then tries to put Michiru’s Talisman back into her to revive her, but Haruka won’t let her. Haruka returns Usagi’s broach to her, as Usagi insists she can save the world without the Talismans. Haruka says she briefly thought Usagi was the Messiah and almost believed her, but ultimately didn’t, and so she turns the gun on herself, killing herself and revealing that her Pure Heart is also a Talisman, the Space Sword. The rest of the girls and Setsuna arrive to find Usagi sobbing over Sailor Uranus and Neptune’s bodies.

In the next episode Sailor Pluto manages to revive the two girls, but at the time of seeing this episode for the first time it was from a fansub of episodes taped off of TV that I had, and it was years until I saw the next episode, and even longer until I saw how this season played out. Surely not many people really die for good in Sailor Moon, but the emotion of the scenes as they happen are still quite effective.

1: Sailor Moon episode 45 – “The Sailor Soldiers Die! The Tragic Final Battle.”

This is the first episode in the two part finale for the first season. It’s hard to consider them separately, needless to say both are great. Essentially what happens in this episode is that Sailor Moon watches all four of her friends die. Not in one swoop, but in individual, personal, graphic deaths. Hard to watch, but masterfully executed and extremely emotional.

Having discovered the location of the D-Point in the North Pole, the girls travel there by using Sailor Teleport. It’s cold in the North Pole, and the girls are wearing nothing but mini skirts, but they soon get over it as they’re attacked by the DD girls. They begin to use illusions to tempt them starting with Sailor Moon, who naturally falls for them even when told what they are.

When Sailor Jupiter is confronted with an illusion of Motoki, she can’t help but run to him and by falling into this trap she is grabbed by the DD Girls. Seeing no other option she uses her Supreme Thunder attack and kills two of them, but not without fatally injuring herself. Usagi is in disbelief, telling Makoto that they have to go back and fall in love, but she dies. Usagi is ready to give up and give Beryl her crystal, because she can’t accept her friends dying.

Sailor Mercury slaps Usagi in the face, telling her that Makoto can’t have died for nothing. When her computer detects something, Ami stays behind encouraging the group to go on ahead. She is faced with the image of Urawa, but quickly determines it’s an illusion, and pinpoints the source to a gem on one of the DD Girls’ foreheads. As an explosion comes toward her she protects herself in a bubble, and as she’s being attacked she uses her last bit of strength to break the illusion causing gem with her computer, and then dies. While Ami was unable to defeat any of the DD Girls, she is able to give the other girls a strategic advantage. Ami’s death is felt by Usagi, Minako and Rei.

Sailor Venus spots something moving under Sailor Moon, and pushes her out of the way, sacrificing herself to save her life. She uses her Crescent Beam on one of the DD Girls, killing her and then dies herself.

This leaves only Usagi and Rei, the unlikely friends who despite arguing constantly have been shown time and time again to have a strong bond which I have always felt is the strongest of the show. As the two remaining DD Girls attack Sailor Mars she is enveloped by a mountain of ice, which appears to kill her. As a DD Girl emerges to attack Usagi, all hope seems lost.

A flame erupts from the mountain killing the DD Girl that was threatening Sailor Moon. An unseen fight occurs inside the mountain, and the final DD Girl emerges and discards Sailor Mars’s defeated body. Barely able to move, Rei grabs her foe’s tentacle and uses her Fire Soul attack not to shoot a fireball at her, but to send it up the tentacle up to her body, killing the final DD Girl. Rei tells Usagi that she regrets not being able to kiss Yuichiro and dies.

With all her friends gone, Usagi puts her head between her knees and sobs, but then she feel a touch on her shoulder. Her friends, as ghosts, appear to encourage her. Usagi runs off, to rescue Mamoru, to confront Queen Beryl and to save the world.

Sailor Moon kills it’s heroes all the time, and they usually come back. The deaths in this episode were still very effective. While Sailor Moon does ultimately use the power of her Crystal to bring them back, they did die for some time, and return with the memories of doing so.

Honourable mention

To be perfectly honest, if I had to rank all episodes in order, my top 5 would probably all have been from the first season, but I wanted to add a little variety to the list. With that in mind, here would be the other episodes from the first season which would have been part of my 5 favourite episodes were I not trying to balance things out.

Episode 24 – “Naru’s Cry! Nephrite Dies for Love.”

You have probably noticed from my list that I’m a sucker for episodes when characters die, and this is another fine example of this. Deaths are treated so powerfully in this show, and when Nephrite dies in Naru’s arms, we feel her pain. Here is a horrible villain, transformed by the power of love, such a fitting story for the Sailor Moon show. The effects of his death continue for a number of episodes as Naru morns him and ultimately finds comfort in her friends Usagi and Umino who help her work through it.

Episode 35 – “The Sparkling Silver Crystal! The Moon Princess Appears.”

This is the episode that got me hooked on the show. I tuned in early for something else one morning and caught the final act of this show, where Mamoru and Usagi learn each other’s identities and the Moon Princess is revealed. Such important scenes are told to us so well in this great episode which more than any other shows the relationship between Mamoru and Usagi developing independent of their destinies.

Episode 46 – “Usagi’s Everlasting Wish! A New Reincarnation.”

I wanted to include both episodes 45 and 46 as my top two favourite episodes, but I avoided doing so because it would have been too much of the same thing. This epic ending to the first season truly is the greatest season finale of all time. Usagi’s struggle against Endymion is heart wrenching, as she watches him die, and ultimately dies herself in defeating Beryl. Despite all this hardship, the end of the episode leaves us with a strong feeling of hope, as the girls regain normal lives, but at the price of their memories of each other. This could have worked as a series finale in many ways, either leaving the characters dead, or continuing with this ambiguous ending as it is. Ultimately we’re better for having gotten more seasons, but I believe that this first season as a single contained story, truly is the greatest story arc ever told on television.

This article was originally written for the Powet.tv website. You can find the original article here.