Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 196 and 197 are now available on Hulu

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Adam

This week on Hulu and Neon Alley‘s new episodes of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars everyone dies! With episodes 196 and 197 Sailor Galaxia has laid siege to the city and she’s going through Star Seeds like candy. This includes some favourite characters and someone who it turns out has been dead for most of the season. Also we find a convoluted reason to get good guy superheroes fighting each other, something I despise and which film critics seem to be sick of too!

Episode 196, Countdown to Destruction: the Sailor Guardians’ Last Battle, is pretty much what the title says. Galaxia is destroying the city and collecting Star Seeds. She got one earlier in the season, then one last episode and now she’s going for a whole bunch. Did she get others through the season on other planets or did she do that earlier? Not really important. What is important is the return of Sailor Saturn! She arrives already transformed of course, because there was no money for a transformation sequence I guess. We start off with the Sailor Starlights confronting Galaxia and then Sailor Chibi Chibi Moon brings the gang in to assist. This does not go very well as she kills Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus. It’s really all about Sailor Mars though. It’s always all about Sailor Mars. This mirrors the first time everyone died in the first season where Mars is the last to go and the first ghost to touch Usagi. It’s never Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus. It’s Mars and the rest. It’s Rei and the rest. Once again we see Sailor Moon single out Sailor Mars as her single closest friend. She has a big heart and has a love for all of her friends, but there is something special about this relationship which transcends all others. As if that weren’t enough we see the Star Seeds join others and Sailor Moon recognizes one that shines brighter than any other. Mamoru’s Star Seed. It turns out there was a good reason he hasn’t been returning her letters and that’s because he’s dead. Having Usagi be generally unaware of Mamoru’s death was a big change from the Manga, but one which I think worked well with the story of the Manga. Usagi thought he was being distant and her relationship with Seiya was a distraction from this. Turns out he was not being a jerk at all. Sailor Star Fighter sees this Star Seed and all I can read from her face is “Wow. Even this guy’s Star Seed is cooler than me.”. Poor Seiya never had a chance.

Episode 197, Ruler of the Galaxy: the Menace of Galaxia, isn’t done killing people off. First we see what happened to Mamoru. As we know he never got to the states, but it wasn’t clear what happened on that plane. Galaxia faced off against him and took his Star Seed. Tuxedo Mask’s reaction to this is priceless. He does not fear what she will do because he knows that Usagi will defeat her. I wonder what happened to the rest of the plane. Surely if it had gone down or everyone had been killed it would have made headlines and Usagi would have heard about it. Perhaps in this world of superheroes and weekly monster attacks on the city a missing plane doesn’t get noticed. So the gang is teleported away from Galaxia, which is very temporary. Enter Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn who are once again already transformed. We learn that Sailor Galaxia is the one who orchestrated the return of Nehelenia to awaken Sailor Saturn so that she could have another True Star Seed that wasn’t otherwise in the game. This is like using a cheat device to catch Mew even though he’s not in the game. This makes me wonder why Hotaru didn’t have a True Star Seed inside of her prior to becoming Sailor Saturn again. Is that really how this works? After a little fight it seems like Sailor Uranus and Neptune decide to be evil. Is this what happened with the Sailor Animamates? It got the impression that they were slaves but getting Sailor Galaxia’s bracelets does not seem to cognitively affect these two. We get a fight between good guys. This is a pet peeve of mine in comics and comic based properties, but here it isn’t about who would actually win. I’m sick and tired of excuses in Avengers movies for the heroes to fight each other and now in the summer of movies that are nothing more than convoluted reasons to have good guys fight each other I think I’ve hit a saturation point of tolerating this kind of Batman V Superman and Civil War nonsense. So Sailor Uranus and Neptune kill Sailor Pluto and Saturn. The rest of the gang arrives just at the right time to see them die. Oh well I guess this means no transformation sequence for Sailor Saturn ever! Maybe in Sailor Moon Crystal we will see this. So Sailor Uranus and Neptune seem to be evil and Usagi’s next. To be continued!

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 194 and 195 are now available on Hulu

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Adam

The two latest episode of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars have been added to Hulu and Neon Alley. This week with episodes 194 and 195 we learn a lot more about Sailor Galaxia as we get pretty much all of the anime’s time with Princess Kakyuu. It’s a bad week for Seiya’s relationships as Usagi starts to come to terms with Mamoru’s absence. Also to note there are no more monsters of the week for the rest of the series. The last Phage was in episode 192!

Episode 194, Crusade for the Galaxy: Legend of the Sailor Wars, gives us a ton of back story. Princess Kakyuu is here and she seems to be the one with all the answers, and is willing to give us just a few of them. We get a description of the Sailor Wars. Some great Sailor Guardian sealed Chaos inside herself and became totally evil. That’s Sailor Galaxia. She’s treating Star Seeds like Pokémon and she won’t stop until she’s caught ‘em all. Usagi is missing Mamoru quite a bit and calls him and … his answering machine picks up. Did Mamoru keep his massive apartment in downtown Tokyo while he went to study in the United States where a physical answering machine is located or has he just left his phone line with voice mail set up? Did he pay for all of this with his part time job at the resort he showed up for once a year ago? Who exactly is continuing to pay these bills while he’s not even available to return phone calls and mail to his girlfriend? Seiya meanwhile gets a busy signal while calling Usagi who is trying to call her boyfriend. Oh boy, that’s a symbolic busy signal! Seiya then mistakes Kakyuu for Usagi. Tell me about it. There are a bunch of jokes about keeping Usagi safe in this episode. Fair enough! She’s the princess and that’s kind of what these people need to be doing. Sailor Tin Nyanko shows up at the school, masquerading as student Nyanko Suzu. Once again no monster as Sailor Tin Nyanko attacks Usagi, who tries to take her on alone. The fight is interrupted by a red rose which is tossed into the fray. Wow! WTF? Chills. The rose was tossed by… Seiya. Damn. A fight ensues and Sailor Moon half heals Sailor Tin Nyanko with Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss. We’ll see how that goes later. Usagi breaks down crying at this point with the rose reminding her of Mamoru. Seiya asks if he’s not good enough for her. It’s not looking great for Seiya.

Episode 195, Princess Kakyu Perishes: Advent of Galaxia, is sort of a double spoiler title. It’s just doubly terrible. Anyway. The Three Lights are doing one last concert! Why? They found their Princess! Well now they are looking for the Light of Hope, which apparently is the thing that can stop Galaxia. Why just do one concert to call the Light of Hope? Either they’re done and don’t need to sing anymore or they aren’t and it should just be status quo. Whatever. It’s their last concert. More importantly, Mamoru is totally off the grid. Usagi admits to Rei that he hasn’t actually responded to any of her letters. When Ami looks into it he never arrived in America. He’s not in his old apartment, which still has an active phone line and perhaps an answering machine, so where is he? How is he paying his bills? So Mamoru is not in US but we saw him and the plane with that light and the … oh boy let’s think about something else. So concert. Sailor Tin Nyanko attacks the concert and she’s totally messed up. She was half healed with the Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss “attack” last episode so she’s sort of like Two Face only without the coin. This is sort of tragic. The Animamates aren’t evil at all. They are being controlled. Sailor Moon has the power to heal them but has failed to do so at every attempt. Tragic. Lots of other people are at the fight like Sailor Uranus and Neptune. Oh wait of course no Sailor Saturn. Whatever. Galaxia shows up and she’s collecting all the Star Seeds. She takes Sailor Tin Nyanko and then Princess Kakyuu tries to hold her off while the Starlights escape. Princess Kakyuu has her Star Seed taken. Wow that was kind of quick. I kind of thought maybe she’d transform into a Sailor Guardian and maybe have some kind of fireball attack but she doesn’t really do much. Oh well moving on. As Kakyuu is dying Sailor Chibi Chibi Moon takes her hand and with her last breath says that Princess Kakyuu feels the Light of Hope. Whatever that is! I guess this means Princess Kakyuu isn’t Chibi Chibi like I thought!

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 192 and 193 are now available on Hulu

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Adam

This week’s new episodes of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars on Hulu and Neon Alley are all about Yaten threatening people! First he gets upset at Minako for trying to do the thing he’s doing and then he tries to steal an incense burner from innocent little Chibi Chibi! It’s also all about fetish costumes as Minako auditions to be an idol in all form of ridiculous costume and then the gang dress up as maids for a sort of school run Maid Café. This week also features the double whammy of two piece swimsuits and Usagi holding a child in her arms.

Episode 192, Go for Your Dream: Minako Becomes an Idol, continues Minako’s quest to become an idol. Didn’t we already see this episode? Episode 114 is kind of exactly this as Minako faced off against Mimete to become an idol. Minako made it to the final five in the episode before losing. Usagi herself tried to be an idol in episode 7 as well. In the live action series Minako is an idol all along, but in the anime she has to work for it! This is a popular topic in Japan. Frankly I was a bit baffled by these kinds of episodes back in the 90s, as such a thing was not that common here. I’d seen shows like Star Search but in this pre American Idol world it seemed to be a bigger thing in Japan. These days there is no shortage of shows which are pretty close to what is depicted here, somewhat of a mix between American Idol and a beauty pageant. While stars for such shows are often picked with their physical appearance in mind, this is less overtly stated as a requirement than it might be in Japan. What’s more the circus in Japan seems to just be amped up to 11, with competitors showing up with rabbit ears, tuxedos, school uniforms and other costumes that are indistinguishable from cosplay. Yaten is real upset at Minako for trying to be an idol. Yaten, an idol himself and member of what is surely the most popular boy band in Japan, thinks being an idol is incompatible with Minako’s duties as a Sailor Guardian. I wonder if throughout this episode Yaten, when coming face to face with Artemis, has noticed that he has a crescent moon in his forehead that looks just like the one Luna has. Artemis doesn’t seem to be very jealous of Yaten either, which is odd considering both loves of his life, Minako and Luna, have shown overt signs of being attracted to him. Oh well Artemis and Luna are great at hiding their emotions. They never even talk about their daughter who went back to the future between episodes with no fanfare. The competition of course includes a swimsuit portion. This must be good news to some readers, though sadly Minako only sports a one piece suit. Some other competitors wear bikinis though. Minako performs Route Venus at the competition. Though this song first appears in Sailor Moon SuperS it is a Sailor Moon R character song for Sailor Venus and is performed by Minako’s voice actress Rica Fukami. The target this week is Takuya Moroboshi who is like the Japanese Simon Cowell. He turns into Sailor Musician who is totally ridiculous looking, like most Phages. During the fight Usagi asks Luna to watch Chibi Chibi. I always find this funny as Usagi did it to Chibiusa in Sailor Moon R as well. Minako ultimately wins the competition, but decides not to pursue it at this time. I guess hypocritical Yaten got through to her! She seems to think she can become an idol at any time because she forgets that she lives in Japan and that her chances of success diminish with each passing year.

Episode 193, The Stolen Silver Crystal: Princess Kakyu Appears, is all about a Maid café though I’m not sure it was called that at the time. A little poking around tells me the first Maid Café dates back to 2001 but this episode aired in November 1996. Regardless of the specifics, this a restaurant where the girls dress up as French maids to serve their customers. It’s nice to see these school girls replace the highly fetishized Japanese school uniform with a French maid outfit. Seiya takes a page from 80s romantic comedies as he appears outside of Usagi’s balcony to chat with her. Usagi is there with Chibi Chibi who is dressed a rabbit. Could Chibi Chibi’s rabbit outfit be a clue to her actual identity? No. The rabbit outfit is in no way related to her identity in the anime. At this point on my first viewing I still thought she was Princess Kakyuu which we’re about to learn is not the case. Chibi Chibi got that incense burner a few episodes ago which is surrounded with butterflies and smells like Princess Kakyuu. This causes jerk faces Taiki and Yaten to try to get it from her. This is pretty sketchy, seeing large teenage boys threatening a little kid to fork over something. Naturally this causes Makoto and the rest of the girls to come to her defense. The target this week is … Sailor Moon! Sailor Lead Crow does something right for a change and targets someone who actually has a True Star Seed. She threatens to destroy the school with a black hole, as if a school which endorsed a fetish café was worth saving, and this seems to work on Usagi who submits to those bracelet things. Her Star Seed is the Silver Crystal and when it is retrieved Sailor Moon turns into Usagi. Let’s tease this apart for a moment. A normal person, when deprived on their Star Seed, becomes a Phage who is Sailor something which has to do with their interest. When Sailor Moon loses her Star Seed her Phage is Usagi dressed as a maid, which happens to be what she was wearing before. Is Sailor Moon’s Phage Usagi? So Lead Crow is sucked into the black hole, because these things are dangerous, and so are Usagi and Chibi Chibi but that’s okay because Princess Kakyuu shows up and it seems like she’s the one to destroy the black hole somehow. Wow it’s great this big climactic thing we were waiting for finally happened. I can’t wait to see what Princess Kakyuu does!

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 190 and 191 are now available on Hulu

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Adam

This week on Hulu and Neon Alley‘s new episodes of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars things get really emo! Seiya got hurt last week and we spend two episodes fixating on that and being all Shinji about it. Also a ton of video game references and inspiration from the Sailor V comic.

Episode 190, Truth Revealed: The Star Lights’ Past, is all about how to scam a free concert. No actually it’s mostly about silly drama. Seiya got hurt helping Usagi and now the Three Lights don’t like the Sailor Guardians and then Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Pluto get into the mix. They confront Sailor Star Healer and Maker, and everyone seems to agree that it’s best for everyone to be hostile for no terribly good reason. Forced drama! So where the hell is Hotaru? I mean she still hasn’t had a transformation sequence and we never get to see her when her friends show up. She’s probably in bed at home alone without a babysitter. She should have stayed with her father. This anime doesn’t seem to like Sailor Saturn at all. Anyway it’s all about trying to cheer up Usagi while still keeping her away from Seiya which is ultimately what is making her miserable. Drama, drama, drama. Finally Seiya breaks his silience and asks Usagi to come to a live performance he’s doing, with two other guys who are intent on keeping her away. Too bad it’s sold out! But this doesn’t stop Usagi who for once can’t just use her contacts to see a free concert. She goes to the top of a Ferris Wheel to watch the concert from there! This reminds me of the Sailor V comic which has Amano, the Sailor V version of Umino, uses some sort of radio receiver to scam free music from a concert. For a comic and show that frequently features musical artists, they sure do like to teach us how to scam music! Seiya is able to see Usagi in that far off ferris wheel, and so it’s like he’s singing for her. This gives us cool backstory for the Sailor Starlights. We see their planet getting destroyed and them following their Princess to Earth. Seiya passes out from his injuries. The target this week is the amusement park manager who turns into Sailor Amusement. The bad guys are so bad at their job! Guess who shows up to fight?! Not Sailor Saturn!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 191 - Cosplay

Codename: Sailor V Volume 2 - Minako as a game character

Episode 191, Butterflies of Light: A New Chapter On the Horizon, continues with last episode’s Usagi/Seiya drama. Chibi Chibi is chasing a red butterfly which coalesces with others to form an incense burner. Full confession. At this point in the series, upon my first viewing in the 90s, I was convinced that Chibi Chibi was Princess Kakyuu. The Three Lights know that these butterflies indicate that their Princess is around. Back to the drama Usagi is crying on her bed while listening to her walkman. Total Shinji moment. Terrible. Chibi Chibi has a slipper that says Chibi^2. Witty! There’s a video game event and Taiki is going to be present! The gang go out in costume. Ami is dressed in a toga that somewhat resembles Palutena from the Kid Icarus games. Why is this relevant? In Kid Icarus Uprising for the 3DS and the Super Smash Bros. games the voice of Palutena is provided by Aya Hisakawa, the voice of Sailor Mercury. Of course she was cast in this role some 15 years after this episode aired, so the resemblance can’t be more than a coincidence. A lot of little video game references follow. A trophy thing that looks like Mario, fighting games that looks like Street Fighther and Virtual Fighter. Even a t-shirt referencing Sailor Moon musical actress Anza Ohyama. Cosplayers dressed as all kinds of characters like Chun-Li and Felicia. I have no idea what Rei, Makoto and Minako are supposed to be dressed as but they seem to be somewhat generic video game characters. Maybe from fighting games. Minako’s costume somewhat resembles that of a game character she dressed as in Volume 2 of the Sailor V comic, Minako in Game Center Crown. Similarly Ami’s rival in the final round, Yukihide Ohbayashi, looks just like Taku from that same issue. It should have been Minako to fight him if this parallel was to continue but for whatever reason Ami episodes are as common as Taiki episodes this season. The target this week is idol Reiko Kanagawa who turns into Sailor Gamer. How many of our readers would turn into Sailor Gamer? Probably a few!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 191 - Yukihide Ohbayashi who looks like Taku

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 191 - Ami dressed as Palutena

Palutena from Super Smash Bros. Wii U and 3DS

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 188 and 189 are now available on Hulu

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Adam

This week on Hulu and Neon Alley‘s new episodes of Sailor Stars everyone’s secret identities are revealed! Episode 188 and 189, which seem to directly follow each other, span a time period of over 9 months if tickets are to be believed!

Episode 188, Invitation to Terror: Usagi’s Night Flight, centres on a very impractical movie premier. The Three Lights movie which was filmed earlier in the season has somehow now been edited and is being released! The special preview, available only to fan club members, is taking place on an airplane in flight. This seems like a really terrible idea. The expense alone would be considerable. Where is the plane going? Is it flying in circles for 2 hours or more? What does a ticket cost? How is there possibly enough room on this plane for all of these fans? Rei is fan club number 2906. This is a big plane with three rows and a second level but it is still tiny compared to even a small movie theatre. Usagi receives a ticket from Sailor Aluminum Siren saying that there is a special seat saved for her. That seat is 12A. The date on the ticket appears to say January something. How does this make any sense? Throughout the season dates have generally closely followed release dates of the episodes, but this episode released October 12th 1996 is nowhere close. Usagi arrives at the airport and tells them to abort the takeoff. In this naive pre 9-11 time the flight attendant responds by showing her to her seat. Seat 12A. I had to do a bit of research into Japanese planes but it seems that they, like planes I’ve been on, have the letter for the seats starting from the left, or port, side. In this case 12A should be a window seat with her window on the left. Usagi boards the plane and is sitting in first class with the Three Lights but once sitting the window is on her right! Scandal! In all likelihood Usagi could have moved, but it looks like nothing on this ticket makes any sense. So everyone is on the plane and Sailor Aluminum Siren makes the flight attendants into Phages, in this case Sailor Stewardesses. Things are tighter than Usagi’s dining room in first class so there is no choice but for everyone to transform in front of each other. First Seiya transforms into Sailor Star Fighter and then the rest of the Three Lights follow suit. Next Usagi transforms into Sailor Moon and Sailor Star Fighter is shocked. Wait a minute didn’t she put all of this together a bunch of episodes ago when Sailor Moon knew the little toy bear belonged to Seiya? I guess not! Basically everyone transforms and that will make for great drama next episode but at this point they just take care of the monster. Sailor Aluminum Siren, so close to getting some True Star Seeds, is naturally killed by Sailor Galaxia. Her semi replacement is Sailor Tin Nyanko, though Sailor Lead Crow is still around. So many villains at a time in this season.

Episode 189, Duty or Friendship: Conflict Between the Sailor Guardians, is all about brooding! Last episode everyone figured out who everyone was and now Usagi and Seiya are kind of upset at each other but not for any good reason, just a bit of drama. Rei is working as a fortune teller and happens to have Seiya and Usagi come in asking about advise for the same problem. Yo just talk it out it will be fine! Rei gives Usagi a ticket to a Three Lights event at good old FM No. 10, the radio station that keeps coming up. We first saw this radio station in episode 3 when it had a different looking sign. The date on the ticket is September 28th at 7:30pm. Yes it seems like the better part of year has passed since last episode’s mid January Three Lights plane based movie premiere! The Three Lights are doing a live thing and Seiya and Usagi stare longingly at each other both during and after the show. The target this episode is DJ Jack of FM No. 10 who turns into Sailor DJ. Seiya is injured which causes Usagi to hold him in her arms, and there is some tension from the other Sailor Starlights because the story would progress too easily if we could all be friends.

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 186 and 187 are now available on Hulu

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Adam

This week is all about Chibi Chibi with the two latest episodes of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars added to Hulu and Neon Alley. First in episode 186 Chibi Chibi found the world of sweets or rather some old dude’s mansion and she gets into all kinds of trouble and next she transforms into a Sailor Guardian, Sailor Chibi Chibi Moon!

Episode 186, Chibi-Chibi’s Mystery: The Big Noisy Chase, is all about Chibi Chibi getting into mischief. Chibi Chibi is so mysterious! She’s got a nice fancy looking doll and she’s always got treats. Usagi suspects she might be traveling to the world of sweets which we can all laugh at but is it all that weird? I mean is the world of sweets more weird than Chibi Chibi’s actual origin story? In this world of magic and superheroes maybe she’s been hanging out at Marzipan Castle with the Bonbon Babies! Anyway Chibi Chibi keeps almost dying but being perfectly fine, getting into a confrontation with a dog that is nice and similar such things. She ends up at a mansion, cue the mansion music because that’s how many mansions there are in Sailor Moon. She has been befriending this old dude Jotaro Kiriyama that has a bunch of antiques. You guessed it! He’s the target this week and he turns into Sailor Antique because he has antiques! He calls a horse, just like Chibiusa calling Pegasus, and that has hilarious consequences. Throughout the fight all of these priceless antiques get wrecked which is all fun and games.

Episode 187, The Shining Power of a Star: Chibi-Chibi’s Transformation, is all about Sailor Chibi Chibi Moon! But first we learn all about the Three Lights Fan Club and its immense power. We’ve learned before about this club, which all of the girls are part of. Ami is member 25! A shocking revelation which tells us what a super fan she is. Who’s member #1? Well it’s Sonoko Ijuuin, a student at Juuban High School, where the Three Lights happen to go to school. Sonoko does not approve of Seiya and Usagi’s friendship. She thinks Usagi is beneath Seiya and does not want them to associate with each other. She suggests a bet, over a baseball game. If she wins, Seiya stops seeing Usagi. If Seiya and Usagi win, they can continue to have a relationship. I don’t really understand where she gets the ability to demand this. Can’t Seiya just tell this lady to screw off? These guys are the Three Lights. They will get along just fine without a handful of ungrateful disrespectful fans! I’m pretty sure the #2 member of the fan club would be perfectly happy to be the new #1. If not then maybe #3 and so forth because I’m pretty sure #25 is cool with Usagi! Whatever they agree to this charade because they literally hate freedom. Sonoko is the target and becomes Sailor Leaguer. In the fight Usagi drops her Eternal Tiare. Chibi Chibi picks it up and transforms into Sailor Chibi Chibi Moon, a pint sized Sailor Guardian! Well that sure is weird! She also upgrades Sailor Moon’s item to the Moon Power Tiare. This new weapon uses Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss as an attack, which has the exact same effect as her last attack, healing Phages. So they beat the bad guy and then they win the baseball game which means two people who had no valid reason not to be friends are allowed to be friends again.

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 184 and 185 are now available on Hulu

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Adam

This week on Hulu and Neon Alley‘s new episodes of Sailor Stars we get a real mix of emotions. First in episode 184 we get one of the more comedy filled episodes of the entire series and then things sober up real quick for episode 185 which is about a little girl who might die in surgery.

Episode 184, A Night Alone Together: Usagi in Danger, is a bit of a contradiction. How can you be alone together? How can you be alone together when there are a dozen or so people in your dining room? I’m getting ahead of myself. There are burglaries in Usagi’s neighbourhood so Seiya offers to be a sort of bodyguard. Luna thinks this is a bad idea, likening Seiya to a dog or worse a wolf that wants to eat the sheepish Usagi, an obvious metaphor for some sort of unwanted sexual advance. Seiya comes over anyway, and seeing a photo of Mamoru and Usagi together, gets quite upset. Usagi is happy in the photo, which is no doubt at the core of what’s really upsetting him, but he then becomes upset at Mamoru for hurting Usagi. Things get a little intimate as it seems Seiya is about to kiss Usagi… and then Chibi Chibi stuffs some cake in his face. Classic Chibi Chibi! Next up is a sexy shower scene where we see a partial nude butt for Seiya! This shower is perfectly timed with the arrival of Usagi’s friends who see Seiya in a ridiculous tiny towel, which Chibi Chibi tries to take with humourous consequences. Yaten and Taiki join the party and things are really staring to get crowded. They play a card game which appears to be Hearts and then… Haruka and Michiru are down the street with car trouble so why not. Then a TV crew shows up to ask what they’re having for dinner which means the Three Lights need to hide because I guess it’s scandalous that they’d be at Usagi’s house, even though the convoluted explanation of events is totally legit. Sailor Aluminum Siren and Lead Crow show up to target the TV show guy, because once again we are completely passing up opportunities to steal Star Seeds from Sailor Guardians for whatever reason. Usagi has trouble finding a place to transform but finally does so in Chibiusa’s attic room. This makes me wonder what is going on with this room. When Chibiusa left and the Tsukino family forgot that she existed, did they also forget that there is a room in the attic or do they just use it for storage now? Chibiusa seems to have left with a backpack too small for most of her possession. Is it full of children’s toys, clothes and a dusty Stallion Rêve that smells funky? A fight breaks out and there are way too many people and it’s all funny. Still all considered Usagi’s family must have a ridiculously expensive house given its size and the neighbourhood.

Episode 185, Taiki’s Song Filled With Passion and Faith, is unfortunately another Taiki episode. I won’t pretend to hide my dislike for this character, and this episode is another example of why I don’t really appreciate him. A young girl Misa is in the hospital awaiting important surgery. I know what you’re thinking. It’s a TV show for little kids. She’s definitely going to survive the surgery. They wouldn’t have a character in a children’s show like Sailor Moon die in surgery. Right. So Misa draws Princess Kakyuu which is kind of weird, since we haven’t seen this character yet. Interestingly enough there are also three stars in the sky above the Princess, which I imagine represent the three Sailor Starlights. I don’t know what little green celestial body is, but it’s cool. Taiki is given to young Misa as a gift, complete with bow on his head, but he draws the line at autographs! He notices Kakyuu and mentions that it’s the Princess they’ve been singing for, but Taiki is losing faith! It seems the image of Kakyuu came to Misa when she heard their music, but it hadn’t been there lately. Oh no! Taiki sings for Misa but her surgery is delayed because the Doctor gets turned into a Phage. I don’t know about Doctors but if I get my Star Seed removed and I turn into a monster I’m at least taking the rest of the day off, but the Doctor does his job and Misa is fine!

During the fight the monster x-rays Eternal Sailor Moon. We see her skeleton and there are no bones in her wings. A bird, who’s wings Eternal Sailor Moon’s most resemble, has bones in its wings. So what exactly is holding these feathers in place?

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 182 and 183 are now available on Hulu

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Adam

This week on Hulu and Neon Alley‘s new episodes of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars we are introduced to Chibi Chibi. It’s a sort of mid season change up with two new villains, Sailor Aluminum Siren and Sailor Lead Crow, as well as the arrival of the mysterious Chibi Chibi. Episodes 182 and 183 have it all! We have Usagi holding Chibi Chibi in her arms followed by a swimsuit episode. At least one fan will be very happy with this!

Episode 182, Invaders from Outer Space: The Coming of Siren, is all about Chibi Chibi! But first we have some new villains. As we saw last week, Sailor Iron Mouse has sadly been killed. It seemed like she did not have a lot of choice in her situation, and we get a bit of a hint at why that is as Galaxia is seen holding the true Star Seeds of three Sailor Animamates, including the new villains Sailor Aluminum Siren and Sailor Lead Crow, though two of them actually look like Sailor Lead Crow, making the identity of the third unknown and not like that of any character seen in the series. Sailor Aluminum Siren is a bit of a goof, always eating, and Sailor Lead Crow is embarrassed that she is her rival. Through this hostility the two seem to have a great deal of affection for each other. The Animamates are all great, but no one will replace Sailor Iron Mouse to me! Enter Chibi Chibi! She arrives from the sky floating down with an umbrella. Sure is more graceful than Chibiusa who just falls on people. Is that comparison even relevant? We don’t need to wonder whether Chibi Chibi us Usagi’s second daughter as the characters ask themselves this same question. Something seems up when Chibi Chibi seems to have brainwashed Ikuko mamma much like Chibiusa had. Setsuna, who apparently is still around, does not believe that Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion ever had a second child. What is the story with Chibi Chibi? I won’t get into the specifics of course but so much to say the truth deviates quite a bit from the manga, which had not been completed at the time this series was written, so that they didn’t know exactly how to finish things. It seems odd for this episode to make a strong statement about Chibi Chibi not being a second daughter when for all the writers knew, that might be what was actually in store for the character! One could always use time travel to write around this, as it’s unlikely that the Sailor Pluto we see here was around to see the King and Queen die or otherwise become infertile, creating the possibility of more children. Neo Queen Serenity does have a second daughter, Kousagi Tsukino, though this is from an alternate timeline in the Sailor Moon manga named Parallel Sailor Moon. Throughout the episode Usagi wears the tank top that was designed by Yoshiki Usui in Sailor Moon SuperS episode 140. When Chibi Chibi gets lost, because she is a very independent child that can barely speak, she is picked up by Seiya who is acting as a police officer for a day. This is apparently a thing that can happen in Japan. The target is the Police Chief who becomes Sailor Cop, who is a really cool looking robot cop. This faces us off against the new villains. Finally the episode ends with a tender moment where Usagi invites Chibi Chibi into her bed and holds her in her arms.

Episode 183, The Screaming Dead: Terror of the Camp Monster, is all about Rei. Well sort of about Rei. We actually see Rei as a kid, which is sort of adorable, as she has these odd red dots on her cheeks. We meet her cousin, Kengo Ibuki, who makes art and is extremely self critical. He’s the target this week! Rei is out in some forested area where the Three Lights happen to be shooting a Power Rangers style movie. I always love it when Sailor Moon references Sentai, as it was itself meant to be a Sentai style series for girls. The live action series was a lot more Sentai style than any other incarnation, and the formula works quite well. The plot of the movie has a killer running around with a chainsaw, somewhat like Leatherface of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films. The monster of the week, Sailor Artist, looks somewhat like him which leads to some high jynx. In the ensuing combat Sailor Artist recognizes a piece he made which Rei took as a child, which makes Sailor Mars realize who he is. At this point she begs Sailor Moon not to hurt him. Well is this really necessary? When did Sailor Moon last kill a monster? It’s been a really long time. As always, she uses Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss and he’s healed. No need for anyone to get hurt! The episode wraps up with the gang chilling at a cottage. Chibi Chibi bumps Seiya while he’s talking to Usagi, which puts them in a compromising situation and causes everyone to blush at the situation. This episode happens to be this season’s swimsuit episode. There always seems to be a reason to have the gang in swimsuits at least once in the year. I know some people like these so here’s a screenshot of three very sexy Sailor Guardians in one piece swimsuits!

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 180 and 181 are now available on Hulu

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Adam

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars were (probably) added to Hulu and Neon Alley this morning. This week we get episodes 180 and 181 which are all about Seiya! First we ship Seiya and Michiru, then Seiya and Haruka and then of course it’s all about Seiya and Usagi.

Episode 180, Brightness of Calling Stars! Haruka and Michiru’s Entry into Battle, brings back the absentee Haruka and Michiru! These two aren’t in Sailor Stars much because apparently they’re hanging out with Hotaru and Setsuna, who are nowhere to be seen in this episode. Michiru is performing a concert with the Three Lights which the girls want to go to and they are trying to phone in to buy tickets rather than the obvious solution of asking the girl who is performing in the concert if she could score them some tickets, you know for old time’s sake since they saved the world together and because thanks to Usagi their pseudo adoptive daughter who there were trying to kill is actually still alive. Michiru comes through with the tickets because that’s what you do when you’re in a superhero team with someone. The girls go to the concert, scheduled for July 13th 1996. We don’t often get years so this is a nice benchmark. Sailor Iron Mouse almost figures out who has some Star Seeds in a very comical scene! She’s starring at a poster which includes Michiru and the Three Light and determines that the Star Seed must belong to… the conductor on the poster. The show is kind of poking fun at one of my silly gripes with Sailor Stars at this point. In all other seasons the Sailor Guardians all got targeted in episodes but now for some reason no one with a Star Seed is actually having their Star Seeds removed. Well none that we’ve confirmed anyway. The concert is cool and then we ship Seiya with everyone! First Michiru asks him to help her out of her dress, which is not at all subtle. When Haruka walks in on this she tries to punch him, which is just full of sexual tension. Fighting ensues as Mr. Underpants has his star seed stolen. After the fight it looks like Sailor Moon and Sailor Star Fighter are about to become friends but then Sailor Uranus turns their hands shaking into a World Shaking. Same old. Sailor Uranus and Neptune don’t want anyone to be on the same team or be friends. They protect Sailor Moon from enemies from outside of the solar system, which is why they got involved in Sailor Moon S. Since the Sailor Starlights are also from another solar system, they are not allowed to play with the good guys! Forced drama! Oh well.

Episode 181, Seiya and Usagi’s Nervous Date, is all about shipping Seiya and Usagi. Seiya wants to do something on his day off and decides to invite Usagi to come along for the fun. She doesn’t seem to realize this is a date and feels quite guilty about the whole endeavour. At one point she even thinks Seiya wants them to have sex, but he’s really just talking about dancing at a club. Oops! Sailor Iron Mouse is desperate at this point. She’s avoiding Galaxia and even hangs up on her! She has the bright idea that maybe the Three Lights have true Star Seeds, but when she tries to get one from Seiya he dodges the little bracelet thingy and flees. Ultimately Galaxia shows up and retrieves Sailor Iron Mouse’s bracelets, which kills her. We’ll learn more about the nature of these much later. For now lets mourn the loss of one of the coolest villains in the series, though the rest of the Sailor Animamates are cool too so we have something to look forward to. In true villain fashion Sailor Iron Mouse is killed right as she figured out who to target. If I’m ever a super villain I will always let my minions finish their sentence before I kill them. “But Adam I figured out who has the sacred amulet we’ve been searching for.” “Oh okay. Well tell me and I won’t kill you.” “It’s Ted.” “K. Thx.” *murder* While fighting, Sailor Moon sees a small bear toy that Seiya had and says his name, which causes Sailor Star Fighter to realize that Sailor Moon is actually Usagi. Good job Seiya!

Note: This is scheduled to be posted as I am sun bathing in St. Lucia. It was written last week. I’m assuming Viz went ahead and released these episodes on Monday as they always do. The episode titles I put may not match the translation Viz decided to go with. I usually add the titles and episode links before posting, though my screenshots come from my Japanese DVDs so much of this post is what it would have looked like anyway. I will fix up the links and titles once I return to the frozen wasteland that is Canada around February 8th.

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 178 and 179 are now available on Hulu

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Adam

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars have been released on Hulu and Neon Alley. Episode 178 and 179 were accidentally released early last Thursday but were taken down after a day, returning once again this morning. This week we get a great Yaten episode and a so so Taiki episode. I hope everyone loves shipping Luna with Yaten!!

Episode 178, Luna’s Discovery: The Real Face of Yaten, is an episode in which I don’t believe Luna actually learns that Yaten is Sailor Star Healer as the title seems to insinuate. It is possible that the title is not a reference to Luna learning Yaten’s secret identity but instead seeing his true self under the hard exterior he puts on. More on that later. This episode is all about shipping Luna and Yaten! What a lovely couple! We know that Luna is into humans from the Sailor Moon S movie. We can also infer from her jealousy of Artemis and the Nun she thought he was into as being a further sign of her acceptance that cats can be attracted to humans. When Luna goes missing it turns out that she’s been with Yaten, living the good life, riding around in limos, overhearing conversations about their mission that don’t reveal a ton. Yaten is shooting a movie with a really terrible woman name Noriko Okamachi, an actress who is always carrying around her persian cat. She hits on Yaten but is quickly shot down. She later accuses him of being gay for turning her down, which causes Luna to scratch her face. Meanwhile Luna has been dressed up in some adorable/ridiculous girly clothes! Iron Mouse show up and takes Noriko’s star seed. The episode title insinuates that Luna sees Yaten transform, but this does not appear to happen. Luna is injured and left by Yaten who then runs some distance before transforming, seemingly while no one is watching. Naturally should he have transformed in front of a cat, that probably wasn’t something he considered a security risk, but we know it would have been. During the fight Sailor Star Healer mentions a cat and Sailor Moon asks if it’s Luna, to which she responds that it sounds like a nice name. The next day at school Yaten sees Usagi with Luna, referring to her by name. He really should be putting two and two together and figuring out that Usagi is Sailor Moon at this point, but that is a discovery for another time by another person.

Episode 179, Friend or Foe? Star Lights and the Sailor Guardians, has a brief appearance by Haruka and Michiru. Great, so where’s Hotaru? Ah no of course we don’t see her. More on them next week! This episode is not about these cool characters we like. It’s about Taiki. Who likes this guy? He read poetry in this episode! Wow what a sensitive guy. Taiki seems to be all about slumming it on bad TV so he’s doing a cooking show this week, and Makoto comes along. This is a bad choice as the producers have clearly not properly vetted their guest to discover that she’s actually completely terrified of being on camera. Usagi to the rescue who manages to pretty much blow up the studio in a cooking mishap. The enemy is Sailor Chef and we see Taiki transform but we kind of already did a Taiki episode so there’s nothing really novel here. This episode includes a special sneak appearance by two new Sailor Animamates Sailor Aluminum Siren and Sailor Lead Crow. They are visible only briefly and partially obscured as we learn that Sailor Iron Mouse is doing a terrible job and is apparently replaceable. Oh no!

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Tag Archives: Sailor Moon Sailor Stars

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 196 and 197 are now available on Hulu

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Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 182 and 183 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 180 and 181 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 178 and 179 are now available on Hulu