In all my many, many, many posts about  the Sailor Moon franchise, I have never before reviewed any of the manga or anime from the second arc of the series, the Black Moon arc – colloquially referred to by fans who remember the original anime as the ‘R’ season.

But, because this newest edition of the manga is a “Perfect Edition” and it is therefore unlikely to undergo any changes after, I feel as if I ought to at least comment. Before I get to the meat of the series, first of all, many thanks to Okazu Superhero Jye N. for sponsoring today’s review of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Manga, Perfect Edition, Volume 3 and Volume 4 (美少女戦士セーラームーン)!

After the chaos of the first arc of the manga, in which 4 teenaged girls and one boy suddenly realize they have past lives, magical powers and destinies that come with karmic bonds, and who are suddenly tossed into a battle to protect Earth from a malevolent energy sucking being, they have about a page or two of relax and refresh time before something even stranger pops up. As Usagi and Mamoru kiss, a small child falls from the sky onto their heads, pulls out a gun and demands Usagi hand over the Legendary Silver Crystal.

Where the first arc is filled with the phantoms of the past, their past lives, past roles and past loves, the second arc is rooted in the future. A future that is likely to be destroyed, before they ever have a chance to live it.

My dislike of Chibi-Usa is contingent upon two unrelated things. The first, and most pressing is my general dislike of children. ^_^ The second is entirely due to the excellent voice acting skill of Araki Kae, whose characterization was the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. (Not that Araki-san’s voice was bad, just that all the whining was excruciating.)

And so, I have never reviewed the ‘R’ arc. There is no overt Yuri, although some fans more dedicated or desperate than myself have created elaborate tales around Sailor Pluto and Chibi-Usa, but then they also wrote stories about Sailor Pluto and King Endymion, and who am I to wag my finger at absurd fan pairings? ^_^

Two key things happen in this second arc – the rest of the Inner Senshi are basically sidelined for the story, as it revolves around new characters – Chibi-Usa, and the Mamoru and Usagi of the future, King Endymion and Neo-Queen Serenity on our side and the next set of gem-themed baddies; Rubeus, Emeraude, Safir and, amusingly for English readers, Prince Demando.  This trend will sadly continue for the rest of the series, until well into the next to last arc.

Secondly, we meet the first ‘Outer Senshi’, Sailor Pluto, who is originally drawn to be quite young, but sort of ages as the series goes on. Intentionally? It’s hard to tell.

After Crystal Tokyo is restored (we weren’t worried, right? This series is 20 years old. I declare it a “there can be no spoilers, it’s 20 freaking years old” zone) we find ourselves at what is actually my favorite of all the short stories in the series – and a moment when I completely lost my mind. The story follows Chibi-Usa at Earth school, making friends, meeting a vampire, then eventually defeating her with garlic breath. It’s really quite fun. But that was not what made me lose my mind.

I turned to the first page of the short story and suddenly realized that it was all in Japanese. “Man, people are gonna be pissed.” I thought, for some reason thinking that it was the English language edition I was reading. I totally fugued for about ten solid minutes until I suddenly realized that, duh, no, it was supposed to be in Japanese.  ^_^;

The final story is a tale about Rei, that is ambiguously empowering. She really doesn’t need a man, but is still not quite sure of it for herself. The pressure to want to be desirable actually cause a lot of woe for real girls, so in a sense I’m glad Rei has strength to put that fantasy aside, but kind of not glad that it’s an all or nothing for her. Ambiguously empowering lessons ahoy.

My last lingering thought on this arc before I never think about it again, was Prince Demando talked a lot, but wasn’t really a good leader, and that Big Bosses that are black masses with eyes are getting tired and oh, Jupiter is sucking on a Pocky, not a cigarette, in case you were wondering. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8 I think the larger format and higher quality repro work well for the art
Story – 7 It’s magical girls vs mooks, bosses and big boss, with lots of trage-romance thrown in. And Chibi-Usa.
Characters – 7 I still wish the Inners had more of a role than being disappeared, but Sailor Pluto. (Seriously, Senshi of Time but she can’t use it for anything, bleah)
Yuri- 0
Service – 1 on principle and for folks who find it anywhere

Overall – 7 Not my fave arc, not my least favorite, but I still cried at the end. Such a fangirl.

I really like the new cover images, in which any and all gem-like accessories the Senshi are wearing look like shiny gems and not just like plastic blobs.

Content-wise, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Perfect Edition, Volume 2 (美少女戦士セーラームーン) is pretty much the straightest volume of any story ever written ever. ^_^

The Earth is being attacked by minions of the Dark Kingdom, and the remainder of Queen Beryl’s Generals are falling at the hands  of the Senshi AND the true identity of the Moon Princess is revealed at last, but if you were just flipping through the manga, you might be hard pressed to tell with all that “Mamo-chan!”ing going on. ^_^;

Usagi’s memories are returned and she is awakened as Princess Serenity. That also means she now knows that she and the Prince of the Earth were fated to be together (which she would have known if she just listened to “Moonlight Densetsu” duh). And Mamoru takes on the role of damsel for the series with gusto being killed kidnapped, brainwashed and stabbed…all by the end of Volume 2.

The formula of minion–>boss–>Big Boss–>>Boss Boss is well established here. We’d better get used to it, because it isn’t going away any time soon.

My last thought about the Generals is that it was better that they were defeated by the Senshi than by Queen Metallia. That always made me crazy in the original anime.

The art gets really busy from the point where they all visit the moon, and after we learn Usagi’s real identity, the story shifts further and further away from the rest of the Senshi to her and Mamoru’s tragic love story.

The end of Volume 2 closes what we think of the first season of the anime and ends with the fateful moment when a small pink-haired child ruins Sailor Moon and all of voice acting forever.  Also the inexplicable and simultaneously under-and over-used magic bag of LunaP.

Ratings:

Art – I really liked it. The repro is crisp as all get out. 8
Story – Messy, but who cares, really? 8
Characters – Ami, Makoto, Rei who? 4
Yuri – 0, The only thing even remotely “Yuri” if you worked hard enough at it was Minako and Ami cheek-to-cheek in  the Christmas-themed color insert.
Service – Still hard for me to parse. Can someone ask an 11-year old niece if anything made her heartbeat faster?

Overall – 8

My takeaway from this volume is this: THIS is why you do not put a cat in charge of your operations.

What with the weather and all, it’s been a crappy month personally, and I really needed a pick up, and lo and behold, things arrived from Japan! Yesterday, Okazu superhero Jye N. has sent me Volumes 3-6 of the new Sailor Moon manga and today, the rest of my last order , which includes the  Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary  Memorial Tribute Album (美少女戦士セーラームーン) THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY MEMORIAL TRIBUTE). I am blasting it as I type.

When it arrived, I tweeted:

I have acquired the 20th Anniversary Sailor Moon Tribute Album. It comes with art, lyrics and feels. (T_T)

Mitsuishi Kotono’s message on the Tribute album site also basically says “Oh, god, the feels” only coherently and in Japanese.

It’s a good thing I already know the words to these songs, because the lyrics are written in hot pink over pastel backgrounds.  Clearly, they do not think you will ever need to read them. ^_^

The art was a sweet touch. Lots of pictures any fan would know, (including a bunch of Haruka and Michiru appearances). The album cover is, as you can see, an original piece, similar to the new cover for Volume 1 of the new manga edition. The back has a classic Takeuchi image of all of the Senshi.

It was the image on the final page that finally got me choked up.

I’ve already gotten grumpy responses about this album. Look, let’s be honest, the music was never good. It has positive associations for some us. If you’re in the habit of retconning your life, or insisting things were always better back then, or just generally hating on the music, that’s fine. I’m perfectly okay with a new version of “Otome no Policy” because it was never really a great song. If you’re all ready to hate this album, fine. Go for it, be a frowny grump. I’m on my second listen and I’m smiling happily.  ^_^

The album starts, as it must, with “Moonlight Densetsu,” sung by Momoiro Clover Z and it sounds pretty much exactly like one would expect. There’s no substantial changes to the song, and they do a good job with it.

The second track is “Heart Moving” sung by Nakagawa Shouko, known as Shokotan. Again, the song is substantially unchanged and she has a pretty confident voice. I wish they’d given her a better piece to sing, frankly. I know, I know, OP/ED, but there are better songs, dammit!

Track 3 is “Princess Moon” a song that I actually could not recall for a moment, by Fukuhara Haruka, a singer I do not know. She apparently performed this during the live concert. I have to say, her voice actually fit the “girlishness” of the song well. Once I recognized the song, I realized why I did not recognize it. It ended a portion of the anime I watched only a few times, compared with some of the other series, which I have watched over and over. And over. /cough/S/cough/

For Track 4, Yakushimaru Etsuko sort of breathlessly whispers her way through “Otome no Policy”. I kept waiting for the synth drum to pick up and the energy to rise. It wasn’t bad, though, just sort of quiet. It’s a song I can take or leave, so the remix was fine for me. ^_^

Tommy Heavenly 6 kicks on track 5, “La Soldier.” Honestly, if the preview for this track had not been good, I would never have bought the album, I love the hell out of this cheeseball song. Lightning strikes, rain and organ riffs, but no dogs howling. It’s still a hoot. We add the howls in ourselves.

Track 6 is “Ai no Senshi” and while I didn’t dislike it, I can’t say I liked it. Mariko Goto and Avu Chani sound like  Yumi and Yuki from Marimite singing one of the two standout Sailor Moon music hits – and the one I like best. Okay, but not to my taste. I wish this had been a stronger track.

Now, if I had produced this album right here is where I would have put “Moon Revenge.” I know it’s not a OP or ED, but neither is “Ai no Senshi”  and it’s absence is notable – Mitsuishi-san also makes the comment that she wishes they had included it.  It’s a great song (by my standard of “great” Sailor Moon songs, of course. ^_^) Oh well.

Instead, Track 7 is “Tuxedo Mirage” ably performed by Momoiro Clover Z.  This about where I started to cry. I have listened to this song so many, many times watching the anime. So many. I’m re-listening to this track right now…and I think they do a lovely job.  I’m really okay with them. It “feels” a bit like the Peach Hips’ version. Very nostalgic. (For those of you not familiar with the original anime, “Peach Hips” was the unfortunate group name given to the five Inner Senshi voice actresses – Mitsuishi Kotono, Hisakawa Aya, Tomizawa Michie, Shinohara Emi and Fukami Rica – when they sang songs for the series.) The wife heard it for the first time and also fell apart, so I’m glad it wasn’t just me. (T_T)

Momoi Haruko, known as Halco, does a fine job with “Rashiku Ikimashou”, but I’ll forever resent it. ^_^; On relisten, this is a very good version of what is a really annoying song. ^_^ The wife was like “wow, I haven’t heard this in forever.” And I said, “SuperS” and we both nodded, like, right, of course we wouldn’t have watched that more than necessary.

Track 9 is the best track, IMHO. Horie Mitsuko, voice of Sailor Galaxia in the original anime, is perfect for “Sailor Star Song” which, admittedly, is one of my top five songs from the series, so I am massively, unrepentantly biased. I could listen to this over and over and I imagine I will.

Track 10 is an interesting remix and  a very sweet rendition of “Kaze mo Sora mo Kitto” by Kawamoto Makoto. Many feels for this song because of the visual for the ED. The more I listen to it the more I like it.

The final track was an interesting and appealing choice. “Legend au clair de lune” is a French-language version of “Moonlight Desentsu” sung by Clémentine, a French singer who is based in Japan. This was really a nice nod to the support and popularity of this series in France. This track is a very “French”-sounding piano version; I almost expected to hear Jacques Brel start singing.  Quite nice, really.

I was ambivalent when I ordered this album, some of the previews sounded meh, but really, if you are already a fan, it’s a decent tribute album. Nothing is going to convince anyone who is not a fan that this is stunning music anyway, so go ahead, enjoy it. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Put it in your media player and unlock the feels!

Oh, and after listening to this album twice through, the snow stopped, the temperature rose 10 degrees and the sun came out. Just sayin’. ^_^