When Sailor Moon was originally renewed after a successful first season, the change in art quality was immediately apparent. Toei, for once, was actually spending a little money on the animation. And so, the newly remastered version of Sailor Moon, Season 2, aka Sailor Moon R, looks fully drawn in a way that the first season never did.

Viz sent me  Part 1 and Part 2 of this set on Blu-Ray/DVD combo, so I’m watching the first half on Blu-Ray. I’m gonna have to say that as much as the art has improved from Season 1, I don’t think Blu-ray is the right way to watch this series. The art doesn’t hold up to being seen in high resolution is on a large screen. It looks much better on my laptop, with it’s smaller 15″ screen.

The sound, however, works the other way around, coming out of my reasonably new laptop speakers as a tinny almost monotone track, and coming out of my TV much more balanced. So I have to decide if I want it to sound good or look good, but both is not an option, which is not Viz’s fault per se, but is a little strange.

As Sailor Moon R begins, we recall that Princess Serenity removed everyone’s memories of being Senshi and we all returned to our normal lives. But a new threat arrives as aliens Ail and An (ailu-an=alien, get it?) chose “transfer student” as their cliche of choice. What follows, plot-wise, is relatively uninteresting, with the monsters of the day, this time called Cardians, being neither people introduced for the purpose of possessing them nor everyday objects that turned into monsters in order to be defeated. The aliens might be sympathetic if they just asked for help, so the entire plot of this arc revolves on them not having a conversation. It’s not good writing, nor need it be, as it’s not about them. The entire arc is a holding pattern while the Senshi get their memories back, then a longer holding pattern until we deal with Mamoru, who seems to have become a split personality, in which all possible versions of Chiba Mamoru are cheesy. ^_^

The high point of this arc is the episode when Usagi, heading to see what a mysterious thing is, sees Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako in the crowd and understands that, while they don’t remember who they are, they seem to have somehow gravitated there anyway.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 5
Characters – 8
Yuri – 0
Service – 2

Overall – 7

One of the best things about Sailor Moon Crystal was the compression of the R series. Without the massive amounts of filler, the story was relatively tight and, IMHO, more interesting. Back here with the original anime, we’ve got a *lot* of filler to wade through before we get to the meat of the season, and then more filler before anything is done with it. Of all five seasons, R may well be the hardest to rewatch in the original.

Sailor Moon R: Season 2, Part 1 (Blu-ray/DVD Hybrid)

We’re approaching the climactic ending of the first season with Sailor Moon, Season 1, Part 2, Disk 3. So, of course, you’d expect the story to get right into saving Mamoru/Endymion from Beryl’s clutches. I know I expected that, at least.

Instead, we take a quick side trip to give both Ami a boyfriend (a good choice, at the very least and one that will be completely forgotten after this season concludes) and Minako a sort-of boyfriend, but really an onee-sama, story. This is followed by an mostly pretty good onsen episode and a very silly tabloid episode that indicates to the viewers that Mamoru is not quite as brainwashed as the Dark Kingdom might want.

Which brings us to the final three episodes. Join me as I rewatch them for the first time in almost ten years.

The animation is better in many ways. The watercolor-wash backgrounds have more depth, and the figure art is more heavily outlined and finished than we’ve seen yet in the series.

Plot wise, we finally have all the holes filled in. The Senshi now remember their past lives. Kunzite does his level best to be a genuinely bad guy, but the more I think about it, the less it makes sense to me.

And as the Senshi hand their power over to Sailor Moon and you’re ready from her to be amazing, she’s still given dialogue that made the viewers in this room cringe.

Kunzite gets a decent death, with Zoisite’s name on his lips, rather than mooning (no pun intended) over Endymion. At least in the manga, Mamoru gets a vision of the boys after death. There is no connection in the anime between the generals and the Earth Prince. Lost opportunity, particularly when you think how many crappy filler episodes there were, we could have had one about the boys.

The pentultimate episode is subtitled “Death of the Senshi”, so no suspense here. You know what you’re in for. Lots of screaming and crying and death at the end of it. But no stress, no one stays dead.

In the meantime, we’re assured that the Senshi are all deeply committed to their path. Which is good, because we have another monster of the day before we deal with any of the actual bad guys!  And, one at a time, we lose the Senshi. We know why, of course. It’s because Usagi can’t be strong until she’s lost everything, but dammit, I really hate these bits. It’s annoying to watch Usagi whining and complaining when people are dying for her. Argh.

Of note, Sailor Moon can tell that Ami is dead. I’ve always felt that they ought to be able to feel each other’s transformations. Also interesting that they don’t die in the order they appeared, which seems to be standard for series like this. Rei cheerfully heading off to her death is horrible. Far worse than the manga. But it takes her death to give Usagi any strength. For the first time, but not the last.

Oh yes, now I remember why I loathe Mamoru. He’s a tool. Beryl, dump him and renaimate Jadeite. Seriously, he is twice the man Mamoru is. This whole series is a war of obsession with a complete tool. Ugh.

Usagi’s switch from “Mamo-chan” to “Mamoru-san” is jarring and distressing. It’s one of those rare flashes her parents (ironically, to us) comment on, where she seems suddenly much more mature and competent. And, again, it’s loss that strikes a spark in Usagi, and allows her to release her true power.

I’m a sucker for the use of the OP in a final battle scene.

I like Beryl, despite the fact that she’s a terrible evil queen. I found myself wondering this morning what she did while her generals were spawning their awful ideas for gathering energy.  Evil CEOs in the real world go on TV and do cringe-making interviews with TV “journalists,” but Beryl wasn’t even collecting energy for herself. My wife suggests that she spent her time plotting.

A miracle occurs, as Usagi loves everyone right back into life. And the season comes to a somewhat banal end.

The thing that occurs to me is that those brief flashes of maturity and strength are what I watch for. I know they’ll come and they have inordinate power to soothe me. But then, I think of people I know and it works pretty much the same way – it’s those moments, when everything aligns and all the energy is focused that makes it all worthwhile. In the end, maybe we’re all Senshi, trying to carve out lives while surrounded by forces beyond our control. Or maybe not, but I might just have occasion tonight to pick up one of my henshin stick pens and mention casually to the universe, “Planet Power, make up.” Maybe.

Ratings:

Art – 8 -Noticeably better this disk
Story – 8 Death of the Senshi
Characters – 8 Death of the Senshi
Yuri – 2 Because Minako
Service – 3 Some actual service, mild by today’s standards but enough to make this a massive popular series with the college crowd in pre-Internet days, when you had to sneak Dad’s Playboy.

Overall – 8

The preview for ‘R’ starts right off with much better art, which is interesting to me. It clearly had a bigger investment.  I’m not looking forward to Chibi-Usa, but I am looking forward to the dinosaur episode and Emeraude for reasons that make sense in my own mind.

And that, in the end is how we love Sailor Moon, for reasons that make sense in our own mind. We’ve built this structure of things we love and decorated it with Senshi goods, and call it Sailor Moon. A fascinating idea for study – loving the characters in a series that is massively influential, but not actually a masterpiece. I guess that’s most of anime, huh? ^_^

Many thanks to Viz Media for the review copy and thanks to everyone who made a decent release of the series possible!

There are some really good things about Sailor Moon, Season 1, Part 2, Disk 2. Plot just happens to not be among them. ^_^

First of all and most importantly, Sailor Venus has arrived! She’s so cool, having been a Senshi for a whole year or more without any help. So as to not have to respect her too much, she is a bubblehead. I’ll take the Venus of the manga (and Crystal) over this Minako any day. (I’m in a minority I know, but I hated “Nurse Minako”. Blecch.)

Secondly, Zoisite steps up to be the new baddie after having dispatched Nephrite, then blows it almost immediately. The best part of Zoi is his death, in which we get confirmation that he and Kunzite were an item, and it wasn’t our imagination. In 1992, this was huge, let me tell you.

The third thing that happens is that MamorugetskidnappedbyQueenBerylandishypnotizeintofightingSailorMoon, but since I do not care even a little, I like to call this part of the season, the “OH GOD, WHEN WILL THIS END?” arc. ^_^

So one the good side, all the Senshi are gathered. On the bad side, filler episodes, auuuuggggh. Remember the time Usagi goes to Princess School? No? There’s a reason why we wiped this out of our memeories. On the good, Zoisite is dead and he had a very beautiful, very gay death in Kunzite’s arms. On the bad side, Kunzite’s a bore, Mamoru’s a bore, Queen Beryl’s obsession is  a bore (sorry Beryl, but really…) and Metallia…6 episodes to go and I know it will feel like 60. Much of Usagi’s character development was wiped away after she discovers she is the Moon Princess so we’re back to whiny, crying Usagi all over again. On the good side…did I mention Zoisite’s beautiful death? Well, yes, that was the volume’s high point. I guess for other people it might have been the Moon Princess reveal. I am not other people.

I’m still entirely fascinated as I stack up the complaints about Crystal against the reality of Season 1. We didn’t actually get much time with any of the Inners and they have very little personality a mere handful of episodes from the end. So, no…Crystal did not erase tons of character development. The first season is just weak all the way around. We’re not being rational when we compare 200 episodes, 12 volumes of manga and megatons of fanfic we read and wrote to the actual story.

Ratings:

Art – 5  It’s not getting any better.
Story – 7, then filler episodes from hell – 3
Characters – 7 Minako fits right in, Usagi and Rei get a tad more development.
Yuri – 1 Usagi and Rei get a tad more development ^_^
Service – 1 on principle

Overall – 6

Best character of the Volume? Umino. I give that boy serious props.

At the end of a long day of tile cutters and sanding and drilling and sawing in my home,  I really want to chill with a relaxing TV show. Sailor Moon, Season 1, Part 2, Disk 1 is not that show. ^_^

Usagi is, as the intro of the show now states, “figuring it out.” But this disk starts in a brutal place, as Nephrite, who is showing signs of being a decent being, is killed. Killed, horribly and pointlessly, although not quite *as* pointlessly as Jadeite.  This means that Naru becomes the focus for a little while, as Usagi does her best to be a good friend. Remember, it is this friendship that gives Usagi the first real taste of what being a “soldier for love and justice” means, so Usagi hanging on and being there for Naru while she works through everything, is critical to us being able to like her.

At last, we add Sailor Jupiter. It’s always hard for me to pick an Inner Senshi I like best, but Makoto is usually my first choice, then I say, “well, Ami’s adorable and I like Rei, and Minako’s a goof” in that order. So, yeah, she’s  my fave. ^_^ Her appearance is steeped in the tropes of the gang-girl yanki she was originally meant to be. All that was shed in favor of the uber-girly flower shop, or perhaps bakery, owner she turned out to be. But still I love Makoto’s first few minutes on screen. ^_^

Now we’re up to four Senshi, but it’s not getting any easier…and Zoisite seems to be slightly more intelligent than his predecessors. We also get a hint of his and Kunzite’s relationship. We’ll never see it without kid’s anime filters off, but it’s obvious to all of us even the bad guys know some kind of love.

We’re about to head into what I think the slowest bits of the season, but when Usagi and Rei aren’t bickering, she doesn’t whine quite as much. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 5  I didn’t say “god, look at that art” as often this disk
Story – 7 Nephrite ftw
Characters – 7 They are starting to seem more like “friends”
Yuri – 1  Makoto is a girl magnet, even if they never show that. ^_^
Service – 1 on principle

Overall – 7

The monsters of the day designs are so 1990s.

Many thanks to Viz Media for the review copy. Despite my first sentence, it is a pleasure being able to rewatch this series.