Watch Sailor Moon Crystal Act 29, Infinity 3 – Two New Soldiers, April 25th at 10:30am

Posted on April 23, 2016 by Adam

The next new episode of Sailor Moon Crystal will air in Japan on Monday April 25th at 11pm Japan Standard Time. It will be available to stream on Crunchyroll, Neon Alley and Hulu immediately afterwards starting Monday morning at 10:30am Eastern Time, 7am Pacific Time. Act 29, Infinity 3 – Two New Soldiers, has Sailor Uranus kissing Sailor Moon and these two are definitely not cousins! The villain this week is Mimete of the Witches 5 5 and she’ll be facing off against Minako.

Readers may notice the lack of screenshots despite the fact that a preview for Act 29 was no doubt included with Act 28. Since I’m traveling this week I scheduled this post ahead of time, prior to the release of Act 28, and used some images from the equivalent manga chapter as teasers. I’ll try to get updated with all of my reviews soon enough.

The final episode of Sailor Moon is now available on Hulu

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Adam

This is it! Episode 200 of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars is now available on Hulu and Neon Alley. This is the last episode of the series, making the entire 200 episode run of the original Sailor Moon anime available to watch in Japanese with English subtitles for free… if you live in the right country. There’s no telling how long these episodes will remain available to free Hulu users as older episodes of some shows will often be available only to those with paid Hulu Plus subscriptions. This episode is rated TV-MA, no doubt because of the lengthy nude scene which isn’t terribly high on detail. I first watched the second half of this episode before seeing any of Sailor Stars at my local anime club. It was unsubtitled and I really didn’t know what was going on, but thanks to VKLL I later saw the rest of the series and figured out what was what.

Episode 200, Usagi’s Love: The Moonlight Illuminates the Galaxy, wraps everything up quite well. Chibi Chibi became a light and then turns into a Star Seed and then into a sword. A bit crazy but the idea is basically that Chibi Chibi is the light of hope, which is not at all what she is in the manga. She is Galaxia’s Star Seed, ejected out of her when Chaos began to take over her body. How does a Star Seed continue to have autonomy outside of the host? The Silver Crystal never seemed to have a mind of its own, but Chibi Chibi is sort of like the good half of Galaxia, removing itself from the body which is evil. Usagi transforms into Princess Serenity with wings, which is a very cool form I’ve always appreciated. Princess Serenity, ever kind and forgiving, does not want to use the sword to attack Galaxia. This is messed up! Galaxia’s Star Seed is begging Usagi to kill Galaxia and she’s refusing. Can you imagine if a part of you left your body and gained some sort of agency and then tried to kill you? Galaxia is like Devon Sawa in Idle Hands! Galaxia lost her Star Seed and now it’s time for Sailor Moon to lose her clothes. This is where the TV-MA rating comes in. Usagi starts flying around totally naked. What are they going to do, cancel the show? This is the last episode! There’s a bit of sparring and finally the light of the Silver Crystal reaches good girl Galaxia who is somewhere inside evil Galaxia. The good Galaxia inside evil Galaxia’s brain takes Sailor Moon’s hand just as real Galaxia does and poof, she’s healed! We assume at this point that Galaxia’s true Star Seed is somehow reincorporated into Galaxia, merging their memories. Does Chibi Chibi die? Does the Silver Crystal let Galaxia be good without a Star Seed while Chibi Chibi still exists, as she’s seen flying around later? Speaking of Star Seeds, all those Star Seeds Galaxia gathered are released like Pokémon let back into the wild. This is good news for all of Usagi’s up to now dead friends, including Mamoru who returns as Endymion because that is his coolest form. Chibiusa? Not around. Makes me wonder why Galaxia didn’t go to the future to get her and Diana’s Star Seeds. Perhaps she should have captured a bunch of Sailor Guardians and bred in a sort of Star Seed farm to keep making more!

Everyone’s alive and it’s time for the Sailor Starlights to head back home. Seiya says his farewells to Usagi who is still ignorant of how he really feels about her. Luna shows some serious lust for Yaten, which doesn’t make Artemis very happy. We then see Hotaru and Setsuna, happily chilling with their murderers Haruka and Michiru. I guess that was all part of the plan? Hotaru must be getting used to those two trying to kill her at this point. Usagi and Mamoru share a moment alone in front of the moon, exchange pleasantries and kiss. With a series full of constant interruptions to their romance, they are at last at peace and can be together. In an homage to the famous quote from the first season, Usagi states that she’s 16 years old and a bit of a klutz and a crybaby, but that she’s actually a Guardian of love and justice, Sailor Moon. When Usagi used to say these words it was more like “Oh isn’t this weird but I’m a superhero” but here her tone is totally different. It’s like she’s saying “I look unsuspecting and I’m a bit emotional, but I’m a badass superhero and I’ve got this shit covered.”. What a perfect line to bookend the series and demonstrate just how much she’s grown not just in power but as a character who uses love and kindness over her sheer power. These final end credits are accompanied by the original opening theme, Moonlight Densetsu, which was not used elsewhere in the season, as well as a lovely montage of images.

The end.

For those who’ve seen the series before, I hope you enjoyed revisiting it. For those who are seeing it for the first time, I hope you loved it. The manga is its own thing in many ways, so check that out if you haven’t. Hopefully Sailor Moon Crystal makes it all the way to the end and we can see a totally different ending to the series and a very different origin for Chibi Chibi.

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Meet Linda Ballantyne and Susan Roman at Emerald City Comicon April 8th to the 10th

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Adam

This weekend is Emerald City Comicon at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. In attendance will be Linda Ballantyne, the voice of Sailor Moon, and Susan Roman, the voice of Sailor Jupiter. Linda Ballantyne was the 3rd voice of Sailor Moon who appeared throughout the Sailor Moon S and SuperS seasons. Susan Roman voiced Sailor Jupiter throughout the entire series.

The two will be hosting a panel, Stories from the Moon Kingdom, on Saturday from 12:15pm to 1:1pm. They will also be signing autographs throughout the day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

There are a lot of other cool guests at the convention including Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable!

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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Meet Stephanie Sheh and Michelle Ruff and see Viz’s Official Sailor Moon Panel at C2E2 in Chicago this weekend

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Adam

This weekend is the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo at McCormick Place in Chicago. This event will feature an Official Sailor Moon panel hosted by Viz and voice actors from the new dub of the original Sailor Moon anime and Sailor Moon Crystal. In attendance will be Stephanie Sheh, the voice of Sailor Moon, and Michelle Ruff, the voice of Luna. The official panel will be held on Saturday March 19th at 11:30am. This will be run by Viz Media staff including Charlene Ingram so we may have some news about the dub of Sailor Moon S that we are long overdue to get more information about. This is probably the topic I get the most e-mails and messages about! If things proceed as they have in the past we may very well be getting an announcement for a new Moonlight Party, some episodes to be released on Hulu and news about Sailor Moon S on DVD and Blu-Ray. We may also get news about Sailor Moon Crystal’s DVD and Blu-Ray release. This is all speculation of course. Keep checking this site for any significant news that may come from this event.

In additional to taking part in the Official Sailor Moon panel Stephanie Sheh and Michelle Ruff will also be holding a panel Bringing Characters to Life – An Hour with Michelle Ruff and Stephanie Sheh on Sunday, March 20th, at 10:45am. Both of the voice actors will also be available to signs autographs Saturday from 1:15pm to 3pm, 5:30pm to 7pm and on Sunday from 2:45pm to 4:30pm.

Charlene Ingram, the Viz Media rep who runs all of the Sailor Moon panels and Moonlight Parties, will also be holding the VIZ Media Industry Panel on Saturday, March 19th, at 4:15pm. While the important Sailor Moon info will probably be covered earlier in the day at the Sailor Moon panel, Sailor Moon may be covered a bit at this time.

Watch the English dubbed version of Sailor Moon Crystal Act 19, Time Warp – Sailor Pluto, Friday March 18th at 9pm Eastern Time

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Adam

The next English dubbed episode of Sailor Moon Crystal will be available this Friday on Hulu and Neon Alley. Act 19, Time Warp – Sailor Pluto, will be available at 9pm Eastern Daylight Time. Daylight Savings Time is in effect so if you’re lucky enough to live in an area that doesn’t celebrate, Sailor Moon Crystal may be released at a different time than you had been expecting it! This week we go to the future and on the way meet Sailor Pluto who pretty much wants to kill Sailor Moon. Sailor Pluto will be voiced by Veronica Taylor. Anime fans may know her best as the voice of Ash Ketchum in Pokémon! Also appearing in this episode is the adorable cat Diana, though I am not sure who will be performing her voice at this time and we won’t actually hear her speak until Act 20, unless there’s some unexpected ADR.

Fans of Usagi and Mamoru will be excited to see them have sex in this week’s episode! This was strongly hinted at in the manga but not at all subtle in Sailor Moon Crystal. We’ll see if the English dub tries to smooth over this sex scene or if they fully embrace it.

Meet the cast of Sailor Moon at Toronto ComiCon this Saturday

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Adam

This weekend, March 18th to the 20th, is Toronto ComiCon at the Metro Toronto Convention Center in downtown Toronto. In attendance on Saturday March 19th will be a ton of voice actors from the original English dub of Sailor Moon. This includes Linda Ballantyne, the voice of Sailor Moon, Katie Griffin, the voice of Sailor Mars, Susan Roman, the voice of Sailor Jupiter, Toby Proctor, the voice of Tuxedo Mask, Jill Frappier, the voice of Luna, and Ron Rubin, the voice of Artemis.

A “Meet the Cast of Sailor Moon” panel will be held Saturday afternoon at 4pm. The cast also has space at the autograph area near the food court, though it is not clear at this time what the schedule for autographs will be.

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.