Taiwanese brand Ocean Bomb announced a line of Sailor Moon-themed sparkling waters, and of course, as an otaku of the series, I was required to purchase and consume these. ^_^ I reviewed the Inner Senshi-themed sparkling waters at the end of 2022. They were bad to okay, so please read that review first. Certainly read it before you buy and drink any of them.

I really didn’t feel like I needed to get any more of those… although I have another can of Jupiter/cucumber in my fridge if I ever need. “Need.”

But then, the news came of Outer Senshi flavors and, despite the fact that I can still taste and smell the Chibi-Usa rose soda, I found Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune flavors and drank them. So here we are for another round of…

(Thank you, Christian, for this image.)

Okay, so the Inners were not great. I’m saying “Outers” but there are only two to get through. I wondered about how   was going to manage this. Well, I learned with drinking Sailor Mars that food pairing was critical – strawberry was not good with a cheeseburger.  ^_^;

These drinks were purchased this time on Arcaera, a rando online shopping service I found and trusted to take my money and send me cans of sparkling water, which they did. The packaging was not fantastic, so Uranus has a small dent, but she and I survived.  They have limited amounts of these (or so their websites says.)

With all that in mind, here we go! 

Sailor Uranus – Pineapple Flavor

Do You Like Piña Coladas, or a walk in the Silver Millennium?

Pineapple is not my favorite flavor in the world, but….this was really good. I joke about Piña Coladas, but there was a coconut-y bottom note that worked fine. This flavor wasn’t nearly as sickly-sweet as the Inners, which helped a lot. 

As for food pairing, I think I was very clever. We had ordered from a local Taiwanese place and one of the dishes was Singapore Mai Fun which was a curry noodle dish. The pineapple was a smashing success with that. Highly recommended.

9/10 Would drink again, with appropriate food pairing

Sailor Neptune – Kiwi Flavor

So. Kiwi. I actually love kiwis, but can’t eat too much raw. Luckily no one ever gives me too much. I had leftovers of the above noodles and figured that would be a good comparison point. 

The kiwi flavor was there, but a little muted. It honestly tasted more of the cucumber flavor, but much less sweet, with a kiwi finish. I thought it was pretty darn good. It was even better when I doused the noodles with a hot sauce. It made the “coolness” of the kiwi/cuke flavor stand out.

Again, I’d drink this again, when paired with something spicy.

8/10

Both of these were significantly less sweet than the Inners and had no floral overtones. They tasted like sparkling water, which really improved the overall drinkability.  The overall order for all the flavors is: 

Sailor Chibi-Moon – 0/10
Sailor Venus – 4/10
Sailor Mars – 5/10
Sailor Mercury – 5/10
Sailor Jupiter – 6/10
Sailor Moon – 7/10
Sailor Neptune – 8/10
Sailor Uranus – 9/10

There are no Sailors Pluto or Saturn sparkling waters available. My wife and I propose the following flavor suggestions: Grape for Saturn and Pomegranate for Pluto. We will await Saturn and Pluto options with anticipation (and some slight fear.) ^_^

In commemoration of these drinks, I have rebranded my ko-fi account to a Sailor Senshi sparkling water account, and now have the following button for tips! If you enjoyed this post, why not buy me another? ^_^

Thanks for joining me on this taste adventure!

Very many thanks to Okazu Superhero Eric P. for sponsoring today’s review! Eric has been a huge supporter of Okazu since the early days and I am very thankful to him. Today, because of his generosity, we are looking at the newest work in the Legend Of Korra-verse, The Legend of Korra: Patterns in Time, out now from Dark Horse Books.

This collection of short stories set in and around The Legend of Korra timeline, are very entertaining. These are mostly short, character-driven stories, which add depth to the characters of Korra, Asami, and Tenzin and his family. The back cover says that Bolin and Mako are included, but they don’t appear at all. Meelo and Jinora do feature in stories. We also get a few cameos from some of our favorite Beifongs. ^_^

This anthology features some terrific art; each story interprets the characters differently, but in doing so, each finds something specific to bring out for that character. Most stories are done by separate writers, artists, colorists and letterers, except one. Blue Delquanti (creator of O Human Star,) handles all roles for their own story.

My favorite story was the opening gambit, “Friends For Life,” written by Korra co-creator, Michael Dante Di Martino, with art by Heather Campbell, colored by Killian Ng and lettered by Michael Heisler. The second story, “Skyscrapers,” written by Rachel Silverstein, illustrated and colored by Sam Beck, lettered by Richard Starkings and Comiccraft’s Jimmy Betancourt, was a close second. These two featured a young Korra and, separately, a young Asami, and both gave us a moment in their formative years, with some happy times. Also notable is Blambot’s Nate Piekos’ lettering in the Meelo and Korra adventure “Lost Pets.”

Ratings:

Overall – 8

If you enjoyed The Legend Of Korra and you wanted a few more moments in the company of these characters, I’d recommend this collection. There’s no grand world- or plot-building here, just one-offs that give us time to enjoy the idea of Meelo and Bumi bonding or Jinora getting her mojo back or young Avatar Korra getting a night off her studies.

In thanks to all of you who support our work here on Okazu, on Yuri Studio and on Yuricon with financial (and emotional) support , we will be having a relaxing and fun end-of-year party today, so no review. I hope I’ll see more of you in 2023 on the Okazu Patreon.

I’ll see you back here tomorrow, with one last review for 2022, followed by one of the most difficult Top Ten Yuri list I have ever had to writing in nearly 20 years of doing this. ^_^

Over the years there has been a lot of research into Boys Love and BL fandom and it seemed time to set up something to get a feel for what Yuri fandom is like in the 2020s, now that it has an established presence in most Japanese pop-culture media.

I would like you, readers of Okazu and members of Yuri fandom, to participate in  a 2022 Yuri Fandom Survey.

I’m sure I was not alone in my enthusiasm/skepticism when Taiwanese brand Ocean Bomb launched a collaboration of flavored sparkling water with the Sailor Moon franchise. Because I am an otaku, of course it was my duty to both acquire and consume these. I found the first several at my local Mitsuwa marketplace, but the remainder were obtained online from Yami. I found them to be a perfectly fine provider of random items from Japan. The prices were fine and everything came in good time and safely packaged. I am not an affiliate, but links will lead there.

In chatting about them on the Okazu Discord, it was decided that it was likewise my obligation to review them. And here we are. As I am spending my last day at Anime NYC doing panels and selling books,  here for your enjoyment is my review of the first 6 Sailor Moon sparkling water flavors from Ocean Bomb from worst to best.  This is – obviously – in my opinion. Your tastebuds may vary.

#6 Sailor Chibi-Moon / Lychee Flavor

Of course, you’re saying. You loathe Chibi-Usa, Erica. But no!  That’s not it! I like lychee.

This was not lychee. There was maybe a lychee flavoring used, but the overwhelming flavor and scent was rose. This was straight-up like trying to drink your great-aunt’s perfume in soda form. Rose water soda. Honestly, this was the only one that was wholly undrinkable.

I guess using a rose floral scent was, like, “look how clever we are,” as a concept, but bleeeaaaarrrgh as a flavor.  It didn’t even smell that nice.

0/10

#5 Sailor Venus / Mango Flavor

What a disappointment. We are huge Minako fans in this house. She’s a got great chaotic bisexual energy that we adore. And mango! How can you ruin mango?

Friends, they ruined mango. This one tasted like laundry detergent.

When I popped it open, it instantly smelled like a new age store…you know, that sweet incensey-perfumey thing that wafts into all the books and stuff you buy there, so months later, your new Tarot bag still smells like sandalwood and…something? Mango soda should not taste like a New Age store, is all I am saying.

This was my biggest disappointment. I had hopes for mango. But you’ll see that almost all of these were ruined by a floral overtone that choked the life out of the fruit.

When we were discussing the sodas, my wife joked that Minako should be cheese flavored. By the time I finished this can, I thought it probably would have been better cheese flavored.

4/10

#4 Sailor Mars / Strawberry Flavor

So…strawberry soda. Well kind of know where that’s going. It’s a “kiddie” flavor.

And, indeed, this tasted like the kind of Captain Crunch Crunch Berries I ate as a kid, which were all pink and stained the milk pink and tasted – as I know now – of “strawberry flavor.” By the end of the can, the taste was something between Crunch Berry and strawberry syrup that goes over a Japanese strawberry parfait, with a floral scent that lost out to the strawberry.

It wasn’t terrible, but I wouldn’t want more and it was terrible with a cheeseburger. ^_^

5/10

#3 Sailor Mercury / Pear Flavor

This was the second one I tried and while I would have liked it to be less floral and more fruity, I thought this one wasn’t bad.

Because it was pear, there was that weird flatness to the the flavor that pear flavoring has that real pears do not, unless they are a cider, and then you get that flatness, as well.

Again, this would have been better but for the floral overtone that made it hard to enjoy and the abundance of HCFS which made it too sweet, as well, something that they all shared.

This and the strawberry are pretty much tied in the middle. They could have been better, but they weren’t terrible. Except they were all kind of terrible. ^_^;

5/10

#2 Sailor Jupiter / Cucumber Flavor

Yep, you read that right. Cucumber. So, this is totally YMMV. I like cucumber water. I find it refreshing. I…well, I just really like cucumbers pretty much any way they are served to me. So I was game for this and…it might have been really good, only it wasn’t.

The floral scent and the high-fructose corn syrup were at odds with the cucumber flavor. It made for a weird, but not intolerable combo, like cream soda with a cucumber aftertaste. My wife described it as tasting like a “face mask.”

Overall, I’d say do this one again, not sweet and it might actually be pretty good.

Which brings us to the winner…

6/10

#1 Sailor Moon / Pomelo Flavor

All the things that worked against the others…the floral scent, the too-sweetness…actually worked okay for this. Pomelo is a ridiculous fruit, that is 45% pith and never worth the effort of eating it.

As a flavor, it’s a sharp, soury citrus that worked well for a sweetened sparkling water. Of all of them, I’d drink this one again…if I was required to. On the whole, I’d rather have something else.

7/10

Thank you for joining me for today’s review. There are, apparently, Sailor Uranus (pineapple) and Neptune (kiwi) sparkling waters that are available in Taiwan, so as soon as I get a hold of them, I’ll be glad to share my impressions. ^_^