Video Backlog: “Sailor Moon S”

Publisher: Madman Entertainment (Australia)
Format: Region B Blu-ray, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 38 episodes x 24 mins
Production Date: 1994 - 1995
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

In the time that has passed since I’ve reviewed “Sailor Moon R”, Madman Entertainment announced new Blu-ray sets based upon masters used in a 2015 broadcast on NHK Premium Broadcast Satellite. I was rather sceptical that these set of masters would be much of an improvement over Viz’s dreadful sets. However I was really impressed with the video quality. First though, let’s talk about the show itself;

Rei has started to have disturbing apocalyptic dreams where the city is engulfed in darkness and destroyed and the Sailor Senshi are tuned to stone then eventually rubble as the darkness destroys everything in its wake. Attempting to gain more insight as to what her dreams mean, Rei preforms a Shinto fire ritual reading. When that yields few results, Rei later places a prayer on a sacred tree. The tree suddenly transforms into a monster who pins her to nearby wall and proceeds to draw out her heart in the form of a floating, glowing crystal. Usagi hears Rei’s screams and transforms into Sailor Moon, but is unable to defeat the monster. The remaining Sailor Senshi appear to help out but are also pinned down. Tuxedo Mask manages to distract the monster and Sailor Moon attacks it using Moon Princess Halation, but it has no effect. In response the monster overpowers Sailor Moon and ends up breaking her Crystal Star brooch. She reverts back to Usagi and all seems lost until two mysterious energy blasts destroy the monster. Two shadowy figures in Sailor Senshi outfits take Rei’s crystal heart but return it after determining it isn’t the talisman they’re looking for.

It is later revealed that the monster was born from a Daimon Egg, cultivated and sent from a mysterious new enemy called the Death Busters headed up by a strange scientist, seemingly always hidden the shows, named Professor Tomoe, he orders his subordinate, Kaolinite, to plant the “eggs” into inanimate objects. Once a pure hearted person touches the object, a Daimon monster is born and draws out the person’s Pure Heart Crystal. Tomoe reveals he needs three of these crystals (or talisman as he calls them) to order to obtain a Holy Grail which will bring him great powers. After the Daimon’s attack on Rei, the Sailor Senshi discover a second monster attempting to take a young girl’s Pure Heart Crystal. As the Sailor Senshi struggle in the ensuring battle and are once again saved by the mysterious pair of Sailor Senshi, Usagi regains her ability to transform again through the power of her and Tuxedo Mask’s love. Sailor Moon’s damaged Crystal Star brooch transforms into the Cosmic Heart Compact, and she gains the Spiral Heart Moon Rod and, along with it, the ability to transform and defeat the monster.

Usagi and Minako later meet Haruka Tenou, an attractive student of a prestigious high school. Both are smitten by Haruka but are soon disappointed to discover she is a woman. Her constant companion, Michiru Kaiou, is a talented violin player. The pair always seem to be present whenever Daimon are present. The attacks from the Daimon increase, facilitated by Kaolinite and later Eudial of the female scientist group in Death Busters called the Witches 5. In one attack, Haruka and Michiru become trapped in an underground carpark with the Daimon and Usagi. Having no choice but to transform and reveal their identities to each other, the Sailor Senshi are shocked to discover Haruka and Michiru are in fact the mysterious Sailor Senshi Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. Sailor Moon asks why they need the talisman, but they refuse to tell her. In the midst of this, Queen Serenity sends Chibi-usa back to present day Earth in order for her to continue her training. As the Daimon continue their attacks, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus tell Sailor Moon and the rest of the Sailor Senshi to stay out of their way and not to interfere.

With the sudden and unexpected resurrection of Sailor Pluto and Eudial of the Witches 5 creating a computer program to find the talisman, the story arc comes to a thundering conclusion with Eudial setting a trap for Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. However of course Sailor Moon and the rest of the Sailor Senshi manage to save both of them and thwart Eudial’s plans. In the second story arc, Chibi-usa encounters the sickly and lonely 12 year old Hotaru, whom she quickly becomes best friends with. As their friendship continues to blossom, Usagi pays a visit to Hotaru’s home where they meet her father’s assistant, a woman who looks just like Kaolinite. Usagi is initially taken aback, but comes to the conclusion that the woman merely just looks like her as the real one was defeated. However Hotaru is in fact living the in same house as Professor Tomoe and is supposedly his daughter. A mysterious being called the Messiah of Silence, who has the same appearance as Hotaru, is shown living in the house as well, and demands Tomoe deliver her Pure Heart Crystal. Sailor Uranus accidentally witnesses Hotaru using a mysterious power to fight off a Daimon and warns Sailor Moon that she and Chibi-usa should stay away from her.

By the third season of this series (actually called “Sailor Moon Super” as evidenced by the next episode previews) the format of each episode had been set in stone. While the “monster of the week” formula is rather predictable, the creative staff manages to make things interesting by creating some really hilarious and bizarre monsters. All of the Daimon monster names are puns on whatever the theme of the episode is such as festivals, an episode revolving around a planetarium etc. The women of the Death Busters sent out by Professor Tomoe also spice things up, in particular the Witches 5. While their main goal is pretty dark, taking the hearts of innocents, a lot of the time they are used for comedic purposes. In particular Eudial and her station wagon and Mimete’s continual obsession with celebrities. By this series Kunihiko Ikuhara has really stamped his influence on the show. There are some really surreal moments in this which at times seem like experiments and ideas that would be refined for “Utena”. A lot of the Witches 5 sequences in the lab look and feel similar to those in “Utena”. In one episode directed by Ikuhara himself, he uses a set of bespectacled triplets which look very similar to the triplets in “Utena”.

One of the biggest changes in this series is the addition of an overt yuri-like subplot. The addition of Haruka Tenou and Michiru Kaiou is quite interesting as we are never in doubt of the nature of their relationship. Apart from their relationship and despite obviously being Sailor Senshi, their goals and allegiances are not made clear to at least the half way point of the show. Even then at times it’s unclear if they actually have the same goal as Sailor Moon and the rest of the Senshi. Besides the sudden resurrection of Sailor Pluto, the other big surprise is the return of Chibi-usa and her ability to transform into Sailor Chibi Moon. Her attacks are of course hilariously ineffectual. But Chibi-usa’s reintroduction into the series isn’t just for comedic effect. Her relationship with the lonely and sickly Hotaru is what makes the second story arc work, as well as her and Professor Tomoe’s tragic backstories and redemption. In amongst all of this are some really good episodes focusing on individual members of the Sailor Senshi. In particular I liked the episode where Minako’s self-doubt kicked in as the Daimon hadn’t attacked her for her pure heart.

Interestingly as the series progresses, it increasingly focuses in on the Sailor Senshi at the detriment of the secondary cast established in the first two series. By this series they only make fleeting appearances. Some only appear in a single episode such as Umino, Naru, Rei’s grandfather and Usagi’s family. However one of the episodes highlights Yuuichiro and Rei’s feelings for each other. It’s a fantastically sweet story with Rei finally letting him know how she feels. This series also contains the infamous Shin-chan parody sequence with Chibi-usa which baffled many fans of the show who were unfamiliar with “Crayon Shin-chan”. Both shows were huge at the time of broadcast and featured on the same TV network. As a result the voice actors for Shinnosuke (Shin-chan) and his mother, Akiko Yajima and Miki Narahashi appeared in that episode. “Crayon Shin-chan” included a parody of “Sailor Moon” within the show called “Sailor Mufoon” and Aya Hisakawa (Sailor Mercury), Emi Shinohara (Sailor Jupiter), and Kae Araki (who voiced Sailor Moon when Kotono Mitsuishi was ill in the final episodes of the first season) reciprocated by appearing in an episode of “Crayon Shin-chan”.

The video quality of Madman’s Blu-ray box set is miles ahead of Viz’s substandard video. As I previously mentioned before, it seems the video for the series was remastered for a 2015 broadcast of the series. While it is a major improvement, it’s certainly not perfect. There is some banding visible at times and for some odd reason lighter optical camera effects, such as light strobing effects or scene transitions to white screens, don’t look that brilliant. In those shots the video can look rather “splotchy” (forgive me; I don’t know what the technical term is). Darker scenes fare much better. Overall it’s more than passable and the vast majority of the time it looks very good. Other aspects of the set don’t live up to Viz’s admittedly excellent looking box sets. While the video on the discs is vastly better, the discs oddly have no pop up menu and no chapter stops before the pre-episode preview, which means you have to rewind to the end of the opening if you want see that preview and skip the opening. Other than the clean opening and closing animations (which seem to be from an unremastered composite tape, and look rather mediocre when compared to episodes), there’s no other extras. The set comes in a chipboard box with the same artwork used for Viz’s set, but complied in a different way making it look totally different to Viz’s set. It also contains a much smaller booklet which only has artwork, character bios and a relationship chart. The discs are definitely region B coded and not region free like some other Australian discs which state region B on their covers.

Overall, this is a very good release of one of the best magical girl shows ever produced. The “monster of the week” formula can be frustrating, but there’s more than enough variety to keep things interesting. Of note is Kunihiko Ikuhara’s style seeping into the series with some sequences looking like early prototypes of what would be used in “Utena”. The story revolving around Hotaru and Professor Tomoe is well written, as is the climax of the series. But I think the two episode post climax could have been truncated or cut all together. This series has pretty much escaped the ravages of time, but I think the magical girl shows which came after it probably topped this show and as result the series doesn’t feel quite as exciting as it first did. 7.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 25 TV series, 4 OVAs, 10 movies and one TV special. In addition I am also waiting for additional parts of three TV series and one movie to be released before viewing them.