PickeBicke's Sailormoon Season Reviews  

Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon R

           Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon R is the second season of BSSM.  The first story arc in this season is the “Ail & Ann” arc.  This arc isn’t found in Naoko Takeuchi’s original manga; it was added to make sure the television series kept the pace with the manga, as they were released at the same time.  This arc concerns two aliens (a la Fiore in the Sailor Moon R movie) who come to Earth seeking energy (what else?) for their own source of energy, a giant tree.  

            This arc isn’t up to the standard of the rest of BSSM.  The characterization of the two aliens is weak, and the plot is basically “monster of the day” (motd) until the end of the arc.  Then, however, we come to…

            The Black Moon family!  Woo!  This is a good arc, considered by many fans to be the best in BSSM.  In this arc, a family long exiled from the future moon returns to the 20^th century to find and capture Chibiusa, who has come seeking Sailor Moon to help her mother.  Several different members of the family try their hand at defeating the senshi and taking the planet, beginning with Rubeus.  This continues through Esmeraude and then prince Diamando himself.  Diamando reveals a rather unhealthy obsession with Neo Queen Serenity, which quickly transfers to Usagi.  This arc is a little Monster-of-the-Day-ish in the beginning, but more than makes up for it in the later episodes, in which we meet the entire Black Moon family and the Black Lady.  The end is very suspenseful, and, as always, the good guys win.

Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon S

            This is widely considered to be the best of the BSSM seasons.  Chibiusa, who returned to the 30^th century at the end of BSSM R, has come  to the 20^th century yet again in order to complete her training as a sailor senshi and to “have experiences”, as Neo Queen Serenity put it.

            This season focuses on the Witches 5, or the Deathbusters.  It’s this season that brings Sailors Uranus and Neptune into the scene.  The Deathbusters are looking for pure hearts.  Three of the purest hearts will contain legendary talismans, which, when used together, will produce the Sacred Cup.  However, it seems Uranus and Neptune are also after these talismans.  If used by the “Messiah”, the Sacred Cup will save the world from an impending doom that is only called “The Silence.”  In the hands of the Deathbusters, however, the “Messiah of Silence” will use the cup, causing the end of the world. 

            This season also sees the introduction of Sailor Saturn, albeit at the very end.  This story is suspenseful, fast paced, and exciting.  It’s during S that we see the inner senshi “grow up”; each senshi gets a lot of character development.  There’s angst everywhere—self-doubt and low confidence abound.  In the end, however, our favorite sailor-suited soldiers pick themselves up and save the day.  And what a finale this one has!  If you see ANY BSSM, see this season.  It’s not to be missed.

Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon Supers

            To be very short about it, SuperS as a season focuses mainly on Chibiusa.  This is the season that Pegasus shows up.  The storyline concerns the Golden Crystal, and Queen Nehelenia’s attempts to obtain it, so that she may be eternally young, beautiful, and powerful.  She basically wants to rule the universe (what Sailormoon villain doesn’t?).  Pegasus plays a major role—he powers up Sailor Moon/Sailor Chibi Moon’s brooches, allowing them to transform in to their Super forms any time they want, and later powers up the inner senshi, giving them their Super forms.  The villains are the normal string of cronies, followed by the major villain.  In order, they are the Amazon trio, the Amazoness Quartet, Zirconia, and finally Nehelenia herself.  Though they were prominent throughout (and especially at the end of) the S season, the outer senshi are not seen in the SuperS season.  Presumably, they are off raising Hotaru, who was left as a baby after her sacrifice at the end of S.

            It’s this season that brings the “older” art style.  The senshi basically look as though they’ve grown up, beginning mainly with this season.  The art style is more mature looking and cleaner.  It’s also noticeably more colorful (which can be expected, given the circus theme.)

Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon Sailor Stars

            This is my personal favorite Sailormoon season.  This is the 5^th and final season of SM, in which we find that there are Sailor Senshi all over the galaxy, and not only in our solar system.  The season starts, strangely enough, with the return of Nehelenia, who isn’t gone and forgotten as we thought.  She is quickly and neatly disposed of with the help of the outer senshi (including Saturn!).   We know from the beginning that Nehelenia is being “persuaded” by an outside force to attack again, and when she’s defeated, we find out who this force is.  The major villain in Stars is Galaxia, who inevitably sends her batch of cronies to the earth to look for something.  The Sailor Animates are after “star seeds” from Sailor senshi.  The parade of villains in this season goes: Sailor Iron Mouse, Sailor Aluminum Siren, Sailor Lead Crow, Sailor Tin Cat, and finally Galaxia.  This season is thick with suspense; each villain gets “offed” in the same episode in which they find out that Sailor Moon is Usagi Tsukino.  Iron Mouse never gets the chance to tell Aluminum Siren what she knows.  Aluminum Siren never gets the chance to tell Lead Crow, and so on.  By the time we get to Sailor Tin Cat, we find out that each of these villains was once upon a time a senshi.  Each of them was defeated by Galaxia, and then offered the chance to become one of her henchmen.  She took their star seeds, giving them in return bracelets that allowed them to go on living without the star seed.  When one of Tin Cat’s bracelets gets knocked off, her uniform turns half white and half black, and she starts trying to warn the senshi about Galaxia, and encouraging them to fight.

            This season also brings us the Sailor Starlights.  These 3 are the senshi of a planet that Galaxia has already destroyed.  They are searching for their princess (their counterpart to Princess Serenity, presumably), and this search has led them to Earth.  They don’t play well with others; in their disguised civilian form (which is another paragraph altogether) they get along great with our girls, but in their senshi form, they’d just as soon ignore them totally.  Of course, by the end, Usagi has everyone working together, even if it DOES take until the last minute, literally.

            The Starlights are…interesting.  In their civilian form, they are the Three Lights, a MALE J-pop group.  However, as Sailors Star Fighter, Star Maker, and Star Healer, they are very female senshi out to find their princess.  It is noted many times throughout the season that the Starlights chose their male, J-pop idol singer forms because that’s what would attract the most women and get them the most publicity.  This way, they reasoned, they could send their message to their princess through their song.

            Mamoru has gone off to America for college in this season, and Usagi hasn’t heard from him since he left (at which point he gives her an engagement ring!  Woo!).  This leaves room for an interesting side plot with Seiya (Sailor Star Fighter’s civilian form).  Seiya is drawn to Usagi, and much to the annoyance of his fellow senshi, actively pursues her.  Usagi is blind as ever, and instead of realizing this person actually wants to take Mamoru’s place, she thinks he’s just a really good friend.  Everyone notices but her, even right up to the last episode.  This little plot diversion is even MORE interesting if you take the view I hold—that Star Fighter’s real form is female, and the male is simply a disguise.  Hmm. 

            At any rate, this is a highly entertaining season, with more suspense than most.  Among Sailormoon fans on the internet, this season seems to be “love it or hate it.”  Haven’t seen it?  I recommend checking it out!