Format: Region A Blu-ray, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles. Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles.
Length: 43 episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 1993 - 1994
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes
After the events of the first “Sailor Moon” series, the Sailor Senshi have no memories of their battles against the Dark Kingdom or indeed the fact they were Sailor Senshi to begin with. However the peace is disturbed with the arrival of two humanoid aliens; Ail and Ann. The pair infiltrate Usagi’s school in human guise as siblings Seijuro and Natsumi Ginga. They cause a minor ruckus with Natsumi being ogled by the boys and Seijuro taking an interest in Usagi, much to Natsumi’s disgust. The pair are on planet Earth to obtain energy for their Makaiju (Hell Tree) which in turn provides them with energy. They use monsters who usually take the form of cards (called Cardians) in order to collect the energy from humans. Soon Ail and Ann are cussing rouble all around the Juban area while collecting energy from humans. Luna can’t handle the mess on her own and reluctantly decides to reawaken Usagi’s memories I order to fight the pair as Sailor Moon.
Later Ail and Ann trick people who audition for a TV drama role into taking their energy. Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako are called into audition, but as the potential cast members are attacked and Sailor Moon finds she is unable to defeat the new Cardian, Luna and Artemis make the decision to reawaken the rest of the Sailor Senshi. Only Mamoru remains unawakened. Usagi attempts to make him remember their past but has no luck. Worst is the fact Nasumi is trying to woo him and make him her boyfriend. As the Sailor Senshi fight off the various Cardian monsters, a mysterious hero who calls himself Moonlight Knight will often come to their aid much like Tuxedo Mask once did. While Usagi suspects it is Mamoru in disguise, the Moonlight Knight shows up in the presence of Mamoru and the Sailor Senshi, which only leads to more mystery surrounding the Moonlight Knight.
After the conclusion of the Makaiju arc, things return to normal in the Juban area of Tokyo. Mamoru’s memory has also retuned and Usagi is once again in his arms. As the couple embrace and kiss, a pink hired little girl and her ball like cat robot appear out of the sky from a pink cloud, forcibly separating Mamoru and Usagi. She says her name is Usagi and clutches onto Mamoru as tight as possible, infuriating Usagi. Searching for the Silver Crystal, the pink haired girl infiltrates Usagi’s family by using her robot cat, Luna P, to alter their memories into thinking that she is a cousin visiting them. However much to her disgust they end up giving her the nick name Chibi-usa. It is later revealed that Chibi-usa is from the future and lives in a city called Crystal Tokyo. She wants to steal the Silver Crystal in order to save her mother.
Meanwhile Black Moon Clan arrives with two objectives in mind; creating negative energy points where the future Crystal Tokyo stands and to eliminate the “Rabbit”, known as Chibi-usa in the current time period. Agents of the Black Moon Clan set up businesses in spots which are important to the creation of the future Crystal Tokyo in order to create negative associations with those areas. However the Sailor Senshi discovers their plots and manage to thwart every single one. At the same time Mamoru begins to have strange dreams where a voice warns him stop seeing usage in order to avoid a catastrophe. Feeling that the prophecies are true, Mamoru reluctantly breaks off his relationship with Usagi, but continues to protect her and the Sailor Senshi as Tuxedo Mask. This causes much confusion and heartache for Usagi and the Senshi.
This second season of “Sailor Moon” saw the departure of director Junichi Sato after the Makaiju arc and future “Utena” co-creator and director Kunihiko Ikuhara taking over the directorial reins. Certainly by the end of the Makaiju arc, things had become a little tired and formulaic. Ail and Ann would release a Cardian monster which the girls would fight and Tuxedo Mask would show up to save the day, and Sailor Moon would finish off the monster. And then you had Ann after Mamoru, Ail after Usagi. Even the rest of the girls had become clichéd with Ami always obsessed with studying and Makoto and Minako obsessed with lost loves.
While Ikuhara’s direction doesn’t drastically change up the format of the show, there’s enough variations to make it more engaging and interesting than what has come before. First up is the introduction of Chibi-usa. While a bit bratty at the beginning, by the end she is a far more sympathetic character. Along with her appearance is the introduction of the fabulous Sailor Pluto (whom I wish would have more screen time in this series) and the Black Moon Clan, who are the alien invaders of the future Crystal Tokyo. It’s interesting that pretty much all of the villains in these arcs are made far more sympathetic and human than any of the villains in the previous series. There’s a theme of redemption and humanisation throughout the series in regards to the villains.
Viz’s adaption, Um, yes… First up, the video is just as shit as ever. Perhaps even more shit than the first set. The source is obviously some sort composite video. It seems to me that they’re run the video through some sort of weird filter that makes what should be solid block colours look blotchy. It’s like they’re trying to cover up some weird pixilation/banding issues in the original source material and made everything look worse. There is so much blatant aliasing and moiré patterns in the video as well as some strange ghosting going on, which looks even weirder, I’m assuming due to video filtering. Compare the clean closing and opening animations found on the two sets which make up the series; they haven’t been touched and look brilliant compared to the episodes. Even worse is the final episode (89) in the set which is a clip show setting up the next series. It looks just dreadful, like a VHS tape was the source. The best you could say is that video and audio are a leap up from the old ADV Films DVD set, but that’s not saying much.
Putting aside the video problems, there are quite a number of positives with this release. As per the first series, the packaging is really good with a lovely chipboard box and attractive booklet. However the booklet could have been improved. Instead of useless episode synopses, some info relating to creators or interviews wouldn’t have gone astray, especially when you consider the mountains of archive of material from Animerica magazine that could have been included. Episode 67 “The Beach, the Island and a Vacation: The Guardians’ Break” (where Chibi-usa befriends a baby plesiosaur), is finally included commercially in English for the first time. The on disc extras, apart from clean openings and closings, are a waste of time. I do not care about interviews of Viz’s English dub cast or what gushing, cosplaying US fans have to say about the series. One thing I found interesting though was the fact that time and time again in those segments was the observation that “Sailor Moon” meant a lot to US female fans because of the lack of strong female roles in the media at the time. That observation is really damning of 1990’s western pop culture.
“Sailor Moon R” is a better than expected sequel to the original series. The final seven episodes (specifically episode 82 to 88) are a fantastic end to the series. For me there’s so much of an emotion punch and genuine excitement and anticipation in those episodes. I forgot how good this series can be. Certainly the “monster of the week” episodes can get tiring, but the end more than makes up for it. Also it’s clear that Ikuhara’s direction in the Black Moon arc improved the show quite a bit. The awful video quality is rather distracting as is Viz’s glacial slow release of the series. Part 2 of “Sailor Moon R” was released in October 2015, yet there is not a peep from the company about any home video release for “Sailor Moon S”. 7.5 out of 10.
Remaining Backlog: Eight series, three movies, one OVA also waiting for second parts for three shows to be released before viewing them.
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