Special Review: Anime

Most japanimation, or 'anime' comes from japanese comics, or manga. Over 30% of the japanese literature market is composed of manga, and 95% of all anime series or movies have their basis in manga predecessors. All of the 'classics' of anime, Akira, Ranma, Bubble Gum Crisis, all started in manga form.

Anime got its modern start in the late 70s, when the short-lived series "Starblazers" made its movie debut. It proved to be a surprise of a hit, and the phenomena continued to grow.

Anime gradually made its way across the ocean to America in the early 80s with such shows as Battle of the Planets and Speed Racer. These shows, even at that time, were quite violent in their original forms, and they were scrubbed down quite a bit before being released to American aduiences.

What Americans saw was a gentle new genre of cartoon which was easily sold to younger viewers.

What has made anime so popular has been that it continues to push the envelope of artistic ability and sensibility. Anime has obtained a reputation for producing pictures that are filled with sex and violence...and to an extent, this has added to the allure.

The hype is a bit over-rated. While certain shows, such as Sailor Moon are a bit more sensual in their original forms, anime is also responsible for such family-oriented series as a remake of Louisa Alcott's "Little Women", which was released in the late 80s, and the newly-released "Kiki's Delivery Service".

Anime writers are continuing to reinvent themselves as the technology continues to get better. Studios such as Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic monitor what comes out of the anime workshops in Japan. Formats are becoming increasingly a three dimensional work. "Ghost in a Shell" uses nearly three-dimensional backgrounds as backdrops for their two-dimensional characters. The effect is rather striking. "Vampire Hunter D" was re-released last year, and this excellent anime feature has been rewritten using 3D graphics and computer graphics and the effects are astounding.

Anime series will continue to impact the American market. There is consideration of several releases into American theatres...and this should continue to fuel the fan base of this genre for years to come.

Sailor Moon is an anime (Japanese style cartoon) about a group of young women who find that it is their destiny to defend the Earth and the universe from various evils. Along the way, they experience their own triumphs and trials, and are guided by each other, and their guardians, three cats named Luna, Artemis, and Diana.

Want to know more....check out the stuff below!

Sailor Moon Episodes: Episode One

In this episode, we are introduced to Serena, a young girl who is busy simply growing up. She is often late for school, she is obsessed with boys and shopping, and she is quite self-centered. In short, she is a normal teenager.

Serena has an anything-but-ordinary past. In a former life, Serena was the princess of the Moon Kingdom, and she was sent forward in time by her mother when the Crystal Palace was destroyed during an attack from the Negaverse. The plan was for Serena and her friends to live normal lives in the future, but if the Negaverse should again threaten Earth, the royal advisors, two cats named Luna and Artemis could summon the powers of the Sailors and disburse them to Serena and the girls.

With that out of the way, you can guess what happens...the Negaverse, led by Queen Beryl does reappear, and Luna tries to find the Moon Princess. During this search, Luna is saved from a pack of bullies by Serena. Luna secretly follows Serena around until she is convinced that Serena is the girl she's looking for.

Unaware she is being followed, Sarena goes to school and discovers that she has failed a test (again). During her commiserations, we are introduced to a few of her friends, Molly, a young girl (with an annoying New Yorker accent in the English dub), and Melvin, your stereotypical nerd. Molly convinces Sarena that she needs to go on a shopfest in order to forget about the test.

When Sarena finally does come home and shows her mother the test, her mother freaks out and Sarena flees the scene.. When we next see Sarena, she has gotten back into the house and is blissfully taking a nap.

Suddenly the window slams shut, waking Sarena, who is again confronted by this strange black cat (one of the best scenes in the episode), she flips out...thinking that she's hallucinating. Luna manages to entice Serena with the first moon locket, which Serena nearly mistakes for normal jewelry. When Luna gets Serena to transform into Sailor Moon, Serena freaks out when she sees her uniform...and she is the leader of the group once the group comes together...

The Negaverse has not sat still while all of this is happening. Beryl commands one of her generals to start stealing lifeforce energy from the people of Earth. Jedite starts by having a henchman possess Molly's mother, who runs a jewelry store. She then embues the jewelry with nega energy and starts selling it at ridiculously low prices. People soon drop, and a terrified Molly discovers the evil bad guy inhabiting her mother.

At about this time, Sailor Moon appears and proceeds to get her butt kicked. Of course! A few hours earlier, Serena had never heard of Sailor Moon. Anyway, Tuxedo Mask appears in the middle of the battle while Sailor Moon is sobbing in a corner, wailing that she wants to go home. Tuxedo Mask distracts the monster long enough for Sailor Moon to collect herself enough to dispatch the monster with her tiara.

Like a lot of series, and not just anime, one comes out of the first episode of Sailor Moon hoping that the overall quality of the series will continue. I will tell you here...and elaborate in future reviews, that it does not.

The quality of the first episode is first-rate. The opening scenes at Beryl's castle, and throne room scene show more about the castle than most of the rest of the series. The scenes are darker in tone, and have a bit more texture to them than they often do in the rest of the series.

The other characters also are done a bit better than in the rest of the series. The characters a just a bit sharper, and the animation is just a bit better than elsewhere.

Remember, I am not knocking the Sailor Moon series. I love the majority of it. Remember that I said that most anime, and quite a few live series have a hard time keeping the initial polish on after a few episodes.

Overall though, the first episode of Sailor Moon laid down a pretty good foundation for the rest of the series to build upon.

Episodes 2 - 10:

The episodes revolving around the Dark Kingdom and their efforts to gain energy for the Negaforce/wreak havok on Earth/kill the Sailors can be divided up into the episodes spanning the careers of the generals in charge of these efforts.

The first main villain was Jedite, a dashing, debonaire blonde who was as devious as he was charming. His main method of stealing energy from Earth was to gather a large number of people and grab a whole bunch of energy in a single swipe. Some of the monsters, or youma were referred to by name by Jedite and seemed to be nearly equal partners in his nefarious needs.

These episodes also focus on the evolving relationship between Sarena and Luna. Serena is at her most immature in these episodes, and Luna's patience is stretched pretty thin. However, gradually, as more Sailors are discovered, they balance off Serena's personality and cushion many of her faults.

There are some very nice moments in this part of the series. When Sailor Moon altered her heroic phrase trademark in "Talk Radio," Luna glanced up at her and remarked, "Hey, that's not how that goes..." To which, Sailor Moon replied, "Yeah, well I'm not done yet."

Another well-done episode was "Nightmare in Dreamland," which is so full of cute moments it'd take a page and a half to go through them. Let me list them in short order: Serena and the lion, Serena and the bunny, Serena and Darien arguing on the train. The bickering between Raye and Serena also also turned a bit comical here: Raye asks Serena: "Why are you always so stubborn?" and Serena shouts: "I'm not! I just think you're totally WRONG!" When Raye later asks: "Can't you ever be serious, Sarena," Serena yells: "Can't you lighten UP?"

Jedite is replaced soon after for his repeated failures to Queen Beryl.

Episodes 11 - 20:

These episodes centered around the efforts of Neflyte to complete the task that had been given to Jedite. His plans differed in that he was an devotee of astrology, and he felt that the stars guided the actions of humanity. If he could find individuals who were at their peak, whether that be creativity, or competitiveness, he could drain more energy from that person than Jedite was able to from an entire group. To aid himself, Nepflyte would appear and would imbue an item important to the target with dark energy. This would amplify the energy spiral until it was at its peak. Once this happened, Nepflyte could gather the energy, and a monster would be summoned.

Neflyte was a very handsome man, appearing to be in his early thirties. He was the one villain from the Dark Kingdom who concerned himself with earthly pleasures. He was also rude to his peers and insubordinate to Queen Beryl, and both of these had a hand in his eventual downfall.

While this section of the series contains few episodes which could be considered remarkable, one of the neat things about the first season was the romance that developed between Molly and Neflyte, this despite all of attempts of Serena to de-rail the relationship for Molly's own good, and Neflyte's dedication to his mission, which had changed to an attempt to find the Imperium Silver Crystal.

Neflyte's death at the hands of Zoycite and a trio of her goons was one of the most dramatic moments of the series.

Episodes 21 - 31:

This segment of the the series is a sort of lead up actually into the last few episodes of the first season. By the time it is over, the identity of the Moon Princess is revealed, and this caps off a lot of character development, perhaps more development than anywhere else in the series. Even Luna gets an epsiode in the spotlight (Kitty Chaos).

The minor characters also get developed a bit more, and thsi turns hilarious when Melvin assumes a hero identity to impress Molly (Tuxedo Melvin).Two major characters, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus, are introduced, and they rapidly take different paths within the series... Jupiter almost immediately takes the spotlight in "Too Many Girlfriends" and we become familiar with her infatuation with anyone who reminds her of her old boyfriend. On the other hand, Sailor Venus fades into a sort of obscurity, this despite the fact that she was the inspiration for the entire series.

Meanwhile, the Negaverse sets out to recover the Rainbow Crystals, each of which carries a "shadow warrior" which had been imprisoned by Queen Serenity as the final battle of the Silver Millennium wound down. As the series progressed through this part of the season, Zoycite attempted to collect all seven.

At the climax of this area of the series, Zoycite challenged Darien to a duel. A concerned Serena tagged along and got entangled in the battle. Zoycite attempts to kill Darien, first by throwing a fireball down down the elevator shaft he and Serena were in, and later by flinging a crystal shard at his back. These attacks force Darien and Serena to reveal their secret identities. "No fun getting toasted," Serena murmurs as she starts her trasnformation.

As Darien lay in Serena's arms, gravely wounded, the seven Rainbow Crystals merged to form the Imperium Silver Crystal.

Zoycite is forced to retreat and the Sailors begin to discover their history. Zoycite and Malachite appear before Queen Beryl and try to pass off their failure. Beryl agrees to give Malachite another chance, but Zoycite is killed because she disobeyed a direct order. Beryl then sets about brainwashing Darien, who had been taken from the battle scene soon after the Imperium Silver Crystal was revealed.

The strain of events, the battle, Darien's injury and disappearance, and the revelation of being the Moon Princess all were too much for Serena, who exploded, screaming: "I don't want any of this to sink in! I just want to be a normal teenager! Can any of you guys understand that? My name's Serena, not Sailor Moon, Moon Princess, not Moon Anything!"

This started a cascade of events. First Sailor Mars confronted her and said she had been wrong to doubt Sailor Moon's leadership. Next, Malachite showed up and demanded the crsytal. One by one, the Sailors fell under the assault of darforce Malachite hit them with until only Sailro Mercury and Sailor Moon remained standing. (I found it interesting that the "weakest" of the Sailors was the one who was the last to fall, and even she demonstrated tenacity in the face of Malachite's attacks, shouting: "Go bleach your roots, creep!" right before Malachite nailed her, and it took two blasts to knock her down.)

However, the evil general underestimated Sailor Moon's power. Using the power of the Imperium Silver Crystal, and along with the silent support of her friends, she banished Malachite back to the Negaverse.

Episodes 32 - 35:

The episodes directly after the discovery of the Imperium Silver Crystal proved why bad guys never prosper. Even with the loss of the crystal, had Queen Beryl not executed Zoycite, the Negaverse would have obtained the identities of Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, although the latter soon became irrelevant.

It also seemed to point out to me at least that Naoko should have taken a creative break following Episode 31. The plots here weren't simply bad...they were horrid. There are a couple of episodes which stand out by themselves for similar abysmal plots, but this was the first string of loser plots.

The episodes, "Bad Hair Day", "L:ittle Miss Manners", "Ski Bunny Blues", and "Ice Princess" all contain the same plot elements within them:

- The Negaverse was trying to identify Sailor Moon. (See my comments above for why executing one's stooges is a bad idea...) Also, along with that, why identify her at all? Why not simply cause terror and then beat the Hell out of the Sailors when they show up? Not only is this what they were doing before Sailor Moon's identity became akin to the quest for the Holy Grail, but it would save them a lot of work.

- The Negaverse used fronts to lure Sailor Moon to them. While this may not be a bad idea in theory, in a city the size of Tokyo, these plans all of a sudden fall under a weight that strains believability. (What? You want ONE girl in the entire city to walk into ONE beauty salon?)

- The monsters sucked. I am sorry, but with monsters the likes of Blizzard, you can almost just sit back and laugh it into submission. The best monster of the group turned out to be Polite Society, and in fact, "Little Miss Manners" was the best of the episodes in this part of the series.

- I believe I found the 12th Commandment! (The 11th is: "Disregard the first ten.") The 12th Commandment: "Thou shalt not meddle in your own plans." It seemed that Queen Beryl was just as driven by her hormones as any schoolgirl on the playground. Where before, open insubordination merited a shouted tongue-lashing, now it barely received notice. The rivalry however blew apart the evil plans that perhaps may have been successful.

In a way, this IS a criticism of the series. The entire Tuxedo Mask- As-A-Badguy arc could have been done a lot better, and a lot more could have been built into it, because in the end, Beryl was right... Tuxedo Mask was a weak point in the Sailors' armor, and it was very exploitable. And, if you have another subordinate who doesn't agree with you, you bash him or her in the teeth, and let them know who is running the show. Once Beryl lost that measure of control, she was doomed.

Episodes 36 - 41:

The plot of the Sailor Moon series steadily gets better throughout this portion of the series as the Sailors prepare for the final showdown with Queen Beryl, and her evil henchmen, Malachite, and Prince Darien (still under the influence of the Queen).

Very quickly gone are the rather disappointing plots of episodes 32 through 35. One again the Sailors are thrown into an epic battle of good versus evil, and again the quality of the series improves as the tension mounts.

Through all of this, a couple of themes are continued. Raye and Serena continue to bicker...(will they ever stop?) and the Sailors actually use this bickering to trick the Queen long enough to attempt to take readings on a warp portal that leads to the Negaverse. The bickering quickly ends when necessary and the Sailors present a more-or-less unified front to Malachite and his goons.

In the episodes leading up to the end of the first series, Serena appears more mature than ever, and this maturity grows almost exponentially through episode 39, where the entire group is thrown into the past and they witness the final days of the last Moon Kingdom, and in episode 40, where Sailor Moon is forced to watch all of her friends die before facing Queen Beryl by herself. Only by pulling herself together, and only because she was finally able to break Beryl's hold on Darien was she able to defeat the forces of evil.

The special effects and scene writing for the series also showed marked improvement through this stretch of the series. I was very impressed with the final entrance of Queen Beryl. It looked very eerie, and that effect was terrific. A lot of the other animation was spruced up a bit and the result is that the entire group of episodes are probably among the best written of the series...and this is a series that has its ups and downs in terms of the quality of the writing and plot.

As we entered the second series, we find that in order to return the Sailors to Earth, or from death in most cases, the memories of having ever met or having ever been Sailor Scouts has been purged from their minds. This allows the girls the opportunity to perhaps live a normal life. (Yeah right!)

Unfortunately, that plan is foiled when the next villains from the Negaverse crash-land in the city. These villains are a brother and sister duo from the Negaverse whose mission is to collect power for the "Doom Tree". They've landed on Earth because humans are a huge source of the power that the Doom Tree needs. Besides, we apparently waste our power on frilolous things anyway, so these two villains feel no pangs of conscience over ridding some of us of that obviously un-needed resource.

Everything may have gone OK had Molly not been one of the targets of the duo's first monster, a power-sucking vampire-like plant creature. Serena attempts to save Molly and gets drained by the creature. At that point, Luna reveals to Serena again that she is Sailor Moon. This is done through the "Lunar Mind Meld". (Gee, where have we heard that term before?)Serena accepts her fate as Sailor Moon with the minor complaint about simply wanting to lead a normal life, then proceeds to whomp the bad guy.

Minor Notes:

Although I realize that most everything in science fiction is ripped from somewhere else, I found it slightly annoying that the people responsible for the dubbing found it necessary to use the term: "Lunar Mind Meld", an extremely obvious rip from Star Trek.

Yo folks, simply calling it "Lunar Telepathy" or something like that would have worked fine.

At the opposite end of the spectrum: HORRAY! They got rid of those annoying moral speeches at the end of the episodes! (starting in Season 2 for all of you who have enough cartoons lecturing you without your favorite anime heroes doing it too.)

OOps...I spoke too soon..."Sailor Moon says" returned shortly after the beginning of the second season...oh well..it was good while it lasted...

Another quick note: The Doom Tree story arc was not written by Naoko. According to information in Guardians of Order's "The Sailor Moon Role-playing Game and Resource Book," the episodes in the initial season of Sailor Moon were animated as Naoko finished writing them. However, because nobody figured that the show would be the success that it became, Toei Animation's call for a second season came at a time when Naoko had not written any new material.

Thus, Toei animated a complete story arc to give Naoko time to write the continuation of the series. Perhaps this explains a few things that I will get into as I review this part of the series...

Episodes: 46 - 51

The "doldrums" between major episodes is missing in this series of episodes, mainly because the new villains, Anne and Alan, who happen to be runaways from the Negaverse, cook up some rather nasty ways to get energy for the Doom Tree, most of which involves draining energy from innocents.

A new hero appears in the form of "The Moonlight Knight," who replaces Tuxedo Mask for a good portion of the Doom Tree storyline. This is explained later.

Each of the characters got another chance to develop in this part of the series. Serena and Darien got some quality time when they babysat Jordan Winston in "Much Ado About Babysitting". The two spent a good deal of time together and at one point, Serena blew up at Darien after catching him with Anne. She complained about the way Darien treated her but was cut off when Jordan took his first steps.

Mina befriended a young girl in "Kindergarden Chaos" and much to Artemis' astonishment, revealed that she knew Sailor Moon. It is one of the few episodes to this point that centered on Mina to a large extent.

Raye was center-stage in "Raye's Day in the Spotlight" as she ran a talent show. She displays her demanding side in all of its glory as she yells at other school girls when they slack off. However, the finished product is worth it. Raye's song at the end of the episode is outstanding, and despite the minor accusations made mostly by the cats about grand-standing, Raye really deserved the credit she received from Serena.

The episode "Food Fetish" gave Lita a chance to have the spotlight a bit when she becomes convinced that Alan is the Moonlight Knight. A very funny moment happens when Sailor Mars shoots a fireblast at Sailors Moon and Mercury to free them from a monster's sticky, cocoon-like trap. Emerging from the fountain she fell into, Sailor Moon looks over at Mars and quips: "Thanks alot, Pyro." Sailor Mars replies: "Nothing is good enough for you, is it?" The two sounded alot like "The Odd Couple".

"Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" was about the group's attempt to put on a play. The play, "Snow White" was ruined when a jealous Alan sends a monster to attack the play during opening night because Anne planned to find true love by having Darien kiss her. Despite the appearance of the monster, the Sailors save the day and make the whole thing look like premium-quality play-writing.

My only disappointment with the whole episode was the rather lame excuse Amy gives for wanting to play Snow White: "I spend so much time on studying, and Snow White spends most of the play asleep, so I won't have to spend much time learning my lines." I expected her to be the one member of the Sailors who would bow out of the whole thing then try to settle the argument.

PG 13 - FV S M

DiC-bashing! Now that I have announced my intention here, please don't tune out...this is about something totally different.

Word on the Internet is that after the release of the 17 new episodes, DiC will not produce any more. At first, one might think this is a tremendous waste of a contract which gives DiC the rights to produce the entire series, but there is another facet to this that DiC is eager to avoid.

In today's atmosphere of political correctness, DiC will avoid at all costs what is coming up down the road. With the editors screening out what they consider to be excessive violence and sexual overtones, you can certainly bet that they are going to pull out all of the stops to keep anything about the lesbian relationship between Haruka and Michiru from reaching young, impressionable children in America.

If you thought the hack job on Raye was bad, and I for one have a different opinion, which I will divulge shortly, the hack job on Sailors Uranus and Neptune will have your blood boiling.

DiC may go ahead and continue to produce more episodes...the Internet has been wrong before. All of the outer Sailors have pre-dub names, which seems to suggest that they do plan to continue production.

I for one hope they continue production, even if they hack Haruka to bits. People who are fans of the original series discount the argument made by North American fans to defend the NA version when they say that without that maligned version, most people in America would not be acquainted with the series. They say that DiC did not have to hack the original version the way they did.

The fans of the original series are correct: DiC didn't have to hack the series. Howerver, they did so, for the most part, to make the series more attractive to a specific audience. For this reason, out went the sex and violence deemed extra, and out went the "in" jokes associated with the Japanese names. Sure DiC did not have to hack the series, but what 7 year old girl on the lower end of the Sailor Moon fan base would have heroes named Usagi, Makoto, Minako, Rei, or Ami? (although Rei and Ami aen't all that bad) DiC didn't have to hack the series, but in doing so, they have given it a chance to be a success in the North American market.

What galls me about the future production of Sailor Moon by DiC is that because of the political correct insanity in this country, another relationship will be damaged, not because of unfamiliarity with the characters or the story, but because the producers will be too cowardly to face the music they'd be confronted with if they even thought about keeping Haruka and Michiru's relationship in the cartoon.

Episodes 52 & 53:

Out of the end stories for the villains, the end of the Doom Tree arc was probably the most disappointing. There were several things I noticed that were either offensive or simply set bad precedents for the future (all but one fell into the later category).

Basically, the plot of the episodes is the Sailors vs the Doom Tree and its two minions, and that was about it. Through love, Sailor Moon is eventually able to defeat the villains...

Then the tree speaks, and 'Oh, let me tell you MY story,' it says... Why is it that every character in anime has a story that must be revealed before that character dies, surrenders, or otherwise goes away.

Then it gets bad...

"Long ago there was only me and the ocean. I lived alone for eons with not a soul to talk to. But then, I decided to change all that. Back then, I wasn't known as the Doom Tree; I was called the Tree of Life."

"Then, the Lord said, "Now that the man has become as we are, knowing good from bad, what if he also eats the fruit of the Tree of Life and lives forever?"

The first quote was from the Doom Tree in "Treed". The second was Genesis 3:22. GUESS WHAT CONNECTION I COULD MAKE!

I am not a practicing Christian, but I would certainly understand why Christians would shit bricks if they listened a bit too closely to what the Doom Tree's background is. As it is, it simply causes me to dislike this particular episode. (Come on folks, first the Doom Tree sounds a little too akin to God, what with all of the "I floated around for eons and then I decided to change things", and then it's former name just happens to be the same name as the tree that had the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden...give me a break.)

The entire story is too whiny anyway. The voice of the Doom Tree does to me what Luna's or Molly's voice does for other people... ::scrapes fingers on chalkboard:: And, oh by the way, it wasn't MY fault...my children turned evil, became total bastards, and I couldn't control them, so after a while, I stopped trying. Perhaps I should just go on welfare and collect food stamps...

Sounds more sympathetic when the Doom Tree says it, doesn't it? And the Sailors bought it hook, line, and sinker.

Episodes 54 - 65:

Now we begin a story arc with some truly evil vharacters, led by a villain that was simply diabolic. DiC originally released only the first 11 episodes of the Dark Moon storyline. The remaining 17 were released a bit later.

The story starts out simply enough: a pink-haired girl falls out of the sky, smashing into Serena and Darien. From there, a pattern emerges. The Dark Moon family is after the young girl, who they figure is carrying the Imperium Silver Crystal. The girl, named Rini, doesn't have a clue where the Crystal is, and starts a major search for it...starting with Serena. The Sailors meanwhile have their hands full fighting off monsters sent by the Dark Moon family and trying to discover the identity of this young girl who is demanding something no one should know about.

There were definately some good moments in this part of the series. "Cosmetic Capers" is perhaps my favorite episode. People complain that Serena is too much of a cry-baby. In this case, when Darien breaks up with her, Serena has a reason to be in the doldrums. What's even better, the way the episode was written, Serena is upset to JUST the RIGHT point...she doesn't overdo it, and by the end of the episode, despite the fact that you know what the deal is with Darien, you still feel like you want to kill him.

"Trouble Comes Thundering Down" and "A Curried Favor" were simply cute. I really liked seeing Serena trying to cook. "Prediction of Doom" was very touching as Darien had to rescue Serena despite the fact that he was trying (half-heartedly) to push her away...

After this, the first group of the Dark Moon family falls apart as the evil sisters are turned to good over the next three episodes.

Episodes 66 - 81:

Rubeus, the leader of the first group of Dark Moon villains attempts one last time to fulfill his mission. He fails, and is confronted by Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon is nearly crushed by the gravitic forces that Rubeus unleashes, but that power is disrupted by Rini, and the Sailors escape before the ship explodes.

Probably the most dynamic seriees of events, villains, monsters, and plots happens as the Dark Mooon changes its goal from strictly finding Rini to planting dark crystal shards to plant negative energy at strategic points in what will become the future city of Crystal Tokyo. Once enough negative energy is released into these points, the timestream will be corrupted to the point that Crystal Tokyo will cease to exist in the 30th Century.

After defeating a few monsters and the crystal shards they were guarding, Rini leads the Sailors into the future in order to rescue her mother, Neo-Queen Serenity.

While in the future, Serena and Darien discover their destiny...they are to be married, and Rini is their child...and Neo-Queen Serenity is Serena's future self.

Things begin to fall apart for the Dark Moon family. Emerald allows her greed to overpower her intelligence, and is killed by Wiseman. Saffire is framed as a traitor when he steals a power card from the Dark Crystal. Prince Diamond is killed shortly before the final battle.

In addition to orchestrating the deaths of the Dark Moon family, Wiseman brainwashed Rini into thinking she had been rejected by her parents, and the destructive emotions these false memories produced turned her into the "Wicked Lady".

The final battle of the Sailors against the Wiseman was very nicely done. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask manage to rescue Rini by doing something that I don't think people notice. They explained their acts as parents even though they as parents aren't required to do so. This showed a measure of respect that really can't be faked. In doing all of this, they showed that Wiseman's version of events was false.

Then there was the battle with Wiseman. Wicked Lady had already nearly handed him the victory, and it came down to Sailor Moon against the Wiseman with the fate of the Earth in the balance.

At that point, memory struck again, and Rini realized that the Imperium Silver Crystal that she had been looking for was the one that had been absorbed into her body when she had attempted to steal it "in order to be a lady, like mommie."

With one Imperium Silver Crystal, Sailor Moon, now in her Moon Princess form, was barely able to hold her own. With the second Crystal, along with the added powers of the Sailors, Wiseman was destroyed, and the threat to Earth disappeared.

Soon after that, Rini returned home to an eager pair of parents.

Episode 82:

This was an episode that one of my friends didn't want to record. "Follow the Leader" is a lead-in episode for the next season of the series, and it plays its own part in the dub/non-dub controversy. (Very simply, non-dubbers feel this episode shouldn't have been dubbed if DiC was not going to produce the next season. Dubbies hope that the production of this episode means that the door is open....even if it is just a crack, to future production of the series.)

The episode is a sort of playful contest between the Sailors to see who should be the leader. It allows the producers to weave a quasi-story into a flashback episode, but the only intriguing material is the two bits of information that are new...

The first is the mysterious appearance of two new characters. They are identified as Sailors Uranus and Neptune in Guardians of Order's "The Sailor Moon Role-Playing Game and Resource Book", but they also mention that the duo were not identified by name at this time in the series.

The other intriguing bit of juicy info was the appearance of a shadowy figure with huge glasses, who we later discover is Professor Tomoe.

With the beginning of a new season comes a new bunch of villains, a new plan for global domination or universal domination, or some sort of domination, and a new batch of adventures of the Sailor Soldiers as they try to oppose the badguys and thwart their evil plans.

The villains in this case are Professor Tomoe and his henchmen, the Witches 5. The objective of these badguys and their monsters-of-the-day are the pure hearts within people. The pure hearts containing the talismans of power will allow Tomoe to attain great power...at least that's how it is explained in the beginning.

In a production note, DiC lost the rights to produce the series. The new company, Cloverway Productions, signed as many of the original dub voice actors as they could and made changes in the production. Cloverway got rid of the DiC dub music and kept more scenes that probably would have been cut by DiC.

New voice actors replaced Terri Hawkes, who announced that she was going to have twins. Karen Bernstein announced that prior plans would keep her from reprising her role as Amy, but she hand-picked her successor.

Overall, production quality was very solid, perhaps the best to date.

Episodes 83 - 95:

The first henchman sent to find the talismans within pure hearts is Kaorinight (Kaolinite in the original), or Kaori for short. Kaori is Tomoe's assistant and is all-business when it comes to her job.

The daily henchmen are quickly more than a match for the original Sailors, but they are bailed out by two mysterious women who blast the villains with powerful energy attacks, then examine the pure hearts. In Episode 84, Sailor Moon receives an increase to her powers during a very intense battle when she receives the Spiral Heart Moon Scepter.

There is a minor problem that seems to smooth itself out after a few episodes. The new VA for Serena has a tad higher pitch and speaks faster than Terri Hawkes, which often means that she is often hard to understand.

On the other hand, there is a more humorous slant to some of the scenes in the episodes in this part of the series.

The "cousins" Amara and Michelle are officially introduced in Episode 85 after shadowing the Sailors since the beginning of the season. In short order, we discover that Amara is an excellent race car driver, and Michelle is an accomplished violinist and artist. Unfortunately, they are on a mission that makes pursuing their personal dreams an impossibility.

For the most part, the plotlines throughout this part of the series are quite well-made, the monsters are interesting and in some episodes have a few comic lines, such as the line in Episode 85: "Motorcycles! Those things don't belong on public streets!" The Sailors also have some comic moments, such as when Mercury reminds Jupiter that the concert hall is a historical building in Episode 86. (This was after the monster had done significant damage.)

Because the monsters target each of the Sailors, a bit of insight is gained into each of them.

There are very few things that could be imrpoved. For the most part, they fall into the category of bad dialogue. When Kaori predicts Neptune's doom in "Friendly Foes", Uranus answers with a stupified "Really?" The whole plotline in "Blinded By Love's Light" was a bit silly, and the silliness was doubled when Amara and Michelle jokingly enter the true love contest.

The original Japanese music adds a nice twist in "Mixed Emotions".

In the "Birthday Blues" two-parter, Kaori discovers Serena's identity as Sailor Moon and tries to steal her pure heart. The battle is intense, and Tuxedo Mask is captured and then used to lure Serena and the Sailors to the Tokyo Tower for another battle.

During the second battle, Sailor Venus uses the Disguise Pen to disguise herself as Sailor Moon. This throws off the villain long enough for the real Sailor Moon to make her appearance. The Sailors, including Uranus and Neptune then fight Kaori, who is apparently killed by Uranus' World Shaking attack.

Episodes 96 - 102:

Eudial is the next villain to try to capture the pure heart cyrstals for Professor Tomoe. Where Kaori used henchmen to actually gather the crystals, Eudial relies on technology. She blasts the heart crystals from her targets with a weapon that looks like a cross between a syringe and a rifle. The daily badguys are simply there as a diversion for the Sailors while Eudial attempts to capture the crystals.

Along with her preference for technology, Eudial also differs from Kaori in her attitude toward Professor Tomoe. Where Kaori was respectful as an employee is to her boss, Eudial is often disrespectful of Professor Tomoe and doubtful of his plans.

Side Note: Sailor Min Moon the Girl Wonder

Rini returns to the series in Episode 96 and we are quickly introduced to two rather big items that are the source of much complaining amongst the fans of the series.

The first is of course the name of Rini's heroic alter-ego. Sailor Mini Moon is an unfortunate choice of words, but it is also the most correct English translation of the Japanese "Chibimoon". When I looked up the word "chibi" in the online Japanese-English dictionary, I found that the direct translation is "dwarf" or "runt". Neither of those apply to Naoko's intent, which is "little" or "small". In this case, "mini" is the best choice.

I say it is an unfortunate choice of wording because the release of the dub fell within the collective memory of the fandom that remembered the latest Austin Powers film, "The Spy WHo Shagged Me", in which the main villain creates a minature clone, and then proclaims: "I shall call him, 'Mini-me.'"

Also, it seems that at first, Rini is only in the S series for her cute value. She says she is there for training, but we never see any of it. Because she is a child, she serves as a distraction for the other Sailors, who have to defend her. And last but not least, the only attack she does by herself at this point in the series is pathetic, when it works at all.

Basically, Rini is no Robin to Sailor Moon's Batman.

Each of the Sailors has to overcome personal problems during this part of the series. Starting in Episode 90, Amy overcame doubts about her academic success, Raye and Chad had some problems in their relationship, Mina came to regret dropping out of the school volleyball teaam, Lita started to doubt her strength, and Serena had to team up with Rini in the middle of a fight.

Tomoe clarifies his objectives in Episode 98, telling Eudial that special talismans are inside them.

Eudial is the first of the villains to have a special scene. After the daily badguy is created, Eudial is seen strapping herself into an ambulance-like car. One interesting note: on a safety issue, Eudial uses a seatbelt in her car.

Despite all of the talk to the contrary, the Sailors, both Inner and Outer, seem to cooperate quite well by this time.

One of the more interesting episodes in this part of the series is "No Turning Back". In it, Mina beocmes comvinced that she does not have a pure heart because she has not been the target of a heart snatcher. She becomes quite obsessive about this, until she does become the target of an attack. Then, when Serena tells her to put it back, Mina shouts, "No!", then runs off in an attempt to protect it. Other interesting events happen during this episode. Eudial discovers the identities of Sailors Neptune, Uranus, Moon, and Venus. In one of the few Biblical references in the series, as Sailor Moon readies her spiral heart attack, the badguy pleads with Eudial. "Cut off her hair! Maybe she'll lose her powers!" ( a reference to the Israelite judge Samson and his powers -- Judges 16:17 )

Episodes 103 & 104:

In episodes 103 and 104, Eudial discovers that Amara and Michelle have two of the three pure heart crystals. However, her time is running out. Her failires have caused Professor Tomoe to call Mimete and tell her that she is next in line.

Eudial arranges a trap for Sailor Uranus and Neptune, who in turn threaten Serena with ahrm if she continues to interfere in their plans to find the pure heart crystals. However, a third person, Trista informs Serena that Uranus and Neptune are heading to a fateful battle.

Eudial's trap works perfectly. Sailor Uranus is shot while attempting to rescue Sailor Neptune. Sailor Neptune breaks free of her bonds and tries to save Sailor Uranus, but she too is shot. Neptune still stumbles forward toward Eudial, who shoots her, revealing that she is a holder of a pure heart crystal. Serena manages to fend off Eudial temporarily, just before Uranus shoots herself, revealing the second pure heart.

Eudial quickly captures the two revealed talismans and fights off the Sailors with her improved flamethrower. Only Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Mini Moon are able to save the Sailors.

Sailor Moon runs after Eudial under the watchful gaze of Trista. When the two finally square off, Eudial deflects Sailor Moon's main attack with her flamethrower and it looks as though all is lost...when Trista appears and demands the talismans...before transforming herself into Sailor Pluto and informing the gathered Sailors and villain that she holds the last talisman.

The talismans react on their own and form the Purity Chalice. The reaction causes a shockwave that ripples through the Tomoe mansion.

Once the Purity Chalice is revealed, Sailor Moon outraces Eudial to get it. She and Sailor Mini Moon each gain a new transformation and Eudial is easily defeated. SHe races back to her car swearing to get revenge, but too late, she discovers that her car has been sabotaged. It rockets off a cliff as Mimete informs her that she has been kicked out of the Witches 5.

The victory is not complete however. Because Sailor Moon was unable to completely use the Chalice, Tomoe's evil plans were still not stopped, and a young girl in a darkened room apparently is his hope for using the Purity Chalice for evil.

Episodes 105 - 113:

Mimete is the next villain to try to get heart crystals, but she does so with a different goal. Professor Tomoe is seen conferring with the Sovereign of Silence, who demands more energy from pure hearts. So, the goal now is to retrieve pure hearts to revive the Sovereign of Silence.

Hotaru Tomoe is introduced in episode 105, and she quickly becomes a good friend to Rini. Hotaru is a receptacle for Mistress 9, whose powers start to appear at rather awkward times or when she is under stress. Professor Tomoe is revealed to be Hotaru's father in Episode 105.

Mimete, like Eudial before her has a special scene, where she picks up a briefcase containing the evil pod monsters, however, that's where the similarities end. Mimete has a different attitude toward the job. Her targets tend to be young and good-looking, and she often is too much of a fan of her targets. When her targets seem to spurn her, her fandom turns to anger and she proceeds to attack them. However, when confronted by the Sailors, Mimete tends to be a coward and seeks the first opportunity to escape.

One other pattern emerges. The daily monsters tend to be weaker simply because they have some flaw that renders them useless in a battle. This ranges from the extremely emotional henchman in episode 109 that is handicapped by a childlike psychology. As soon as the monster decides that no one wants to be her friend, she storms off and prmptly runs into Hotaru, who uses her hidden dark powers to defend herself. Another villain proves to be too vain to be an effective badguy, and a third actually tries to retreat after it discovers the full extent of Hotaru's powers. "You don't pay me enough," the monster says to Mimete.

Perhaps the most interesting episode of this part of the series is episode 111, in which Mimete attempts to create the ultimate monster in Professor Tomoe's absence. Instead, she ends up shifting the Tomoe mansion into another plane of existance where the normal laws of physics don't apply. The monster who rules over the plane challenges each of the Sailors as well as Rini and Hotaru to various games with their freedom on the line. In the end, Hotaru sees through the monster's attempts at deception and wins her game. The Sailors then defeat the villain and save the mansion, much to the chagrin of Professor Tomoe.

Mimete was killed after the defeat of a villain at the Mugen academy. She had discovered that Tomoe planned to replace her and decided to prove herself. After the battle, Mimete transferred her consciousness into a computer system just as Tellu arrived on the scene to remind her why Eudial had never used the device. With a laugh, Tellu pulls the plug on the machine, and Mimete's consciousness is sealed inside the machine.

The origin story of Professor Tomoe as a villain and the story of how Mistress 9 came to inhabit Hotaru's body is told in epsiode 113.

Episodes 114 - 117:

The three episodes in this part of the series are perhaps the most disappointing simnply because much more could have been done with the villains. Tellu, Viluy, and the twins Cyprine and Pikurl each get one epsisode to attack the Sailors and get heart crystals. This leaves very little time for any sort of development.

Kaolinite makes a return as Professor Tomoe returns her power to her because he needs all of the villains he can get. Kaolinite starts off by kidnapping Hotaru before she can ask Rini for help.

However, some things can be discerned from what we do get to see. Tellu is a distinct change from Mimete. She is very professional and concentrates on the mission. Her plan includes selling flowers infested with heart snatchers. She is killed when the giant version of one of her plants devours her.

Viluy takes up the cause after Tellu is killed. Viluy poses as a student at Mugen academy, and she is one of the top students in the country, along with Amy.

Viluy's biggest problem is her pride. She fels she is the best and the smartest, and she doesn't mind letting others know. She taunts Kaolinite and later gets into a physical brawl and manages to tick Amy off with her emphasis of technology over empathy and humanity.

Unfortunately, this particular episode also has Amy actimg very preachy in her defense of science. Her yakking ruins most of the ending of the episode.

Viluy is killed when the control device she wears backfires. The result is one of the more tragic death scenes for a villain. However, Sailors Uranus and Neptune discover the Sovereign of Silence, but Amy prevents them from immediately attacking, and the villain makes her escape at the end of the episode.

Cyprine and Pikurl are twin villains whose biggest weapon is their teamwork. They are killed when Sailors Mars and Jupiter trick them into using their powers against each other.

Kaolinite manages to awaken the Sovereign of Silence by kidnapping Rini and delivering her pure heart.

At the end of episode 117, Professor Tomoe reveals homself to the Sailors and uses Rini's pure heart to awaken the Sovereign of Silence, who then immediately kills Kaolinite.

The Sailors barely escape the Mugen academy building with Rini's body before the building explodes.

Episodes 118 - 120:

Professor Tomoe and Mistress 9 celebrate their apparent victory and prepare for the final triumph, which will happen if the Purity Chalice is captured. However, as they gloat about this, five Sailor Soldiers apprach the Mugen academy, resolute on stopping them, and the three Outer Sailors also approach from the air.

Mistress 9 senses that she is vulnerable and erects a force shield around the Mugen academy. Using the stored power of the heart snatcher pods, she sends a huge wave of ooze-like monsters. The Sailors manage to fight off the onslaught and prepare to teleport into Mugen academy, but Mistress 9 snatches Sailor Moon away before they can complete the procedure.

The ooze monsters reinforce the shield around Mugen academy and attack anything that comes close, which includes the helicopter carrying the Outer Sailors. The helicopter is destroyed by the monsters' attack and they would have fallen to their deaths but Sailor Pluto prevents this by stopping time.Sailors Uranus and Neptune are transported into the Mugen academy.

All is not well however with the villains. Mistress 9 finds that the tables are turned on her as the spirit of Hotaru tries to break the villain's hold on her.

The Sailors discover that the force shield around the Mugen academy is expanding. To counter this, they form a force barrier around the academy.

Sailors Uranus and Neptune fight their way into the academy, using the talismans to fight through the hordes of monsters opposing them. Professor Tomoe is freed from the evil influences at this point.

Sailors Moon, Uranus, and Neptune confront Mistress 9 just as she seems to gain full control of her body from Hotaru. Uranus and Neptune attack, but their energy blasts are blocked by Sailor Moon.

Professor Tomoe appears and tries to talk to Hotaru, but is attacked and seriously wounded by Mistress 9. His pleas for his daughter undermine the villain's control on her body.

Mistress 9 tricks Professor Tomoe into getting the Ourity Chalice from Sailor Moon. Mistress 9 uses the Purity Chalice to revive Pharoah 90. Sailor Moon tries to attack Pharoah 90, but her powers are ineffective. However, as Pharoah 90 attacks again, it also hits Mistress 9, who falls into the arms of Professor Tomoe. The love Tomoe shows for his daughter allows her to break through the final strands of control that Mistress 9 has on her, and she disappears, as the symbol for the planet Saturn appears on her forehead.

Sailro Saturn appears briefly to Darien and Rini in order to return Rini's pure heart to her. She then appears to Sailor Moon and informs her that she and she alone can destroy Pharoah 90. She also says that while she can succeed in this, she will be destroyed. Sailor Moon attempts to transform into her Super form, but fails. The scene of her pounding the ground in weeping frustration is one of the most moving scenes in the series. Only when the Sailors telepathically links and lend Sailor Moon their power is she able to make the transformation. She enters the core of Pharoah 90 and together with Sailor Saturn, the monster is defeated.

Sailor Moon reappears after the battle holding an infant, the baby Hotaru, who is placed in the care of Sailors Uranus and Neptune. Minor problems happen when Rini gets a letter from her mother asking for her to return, and Rini is torn between her parents and the "relatives" and friends she has grown attached to in the 20th century. Another problem happens when one heart snatcher pod finds the wreckage of the transformation chamber and transofrms itself. The monster is destroyed, and Rini is allowed to return after a brief visit home.

( I appear to be missing the second-to-last episode of the S series. The following is a short synopsis of that episode, which I believe I got from Bunny's Tour )

Uranus and Neptune return baby Hotaru to Tomoe Soichi who is hospitalized. It is revealed that he has lost part of his memory which he might never recover. Chibi Usa discovers that Hotaru has been reborn. Uranus and Neptune fight Sailor Moon. They are defeated and accept her as the True Messiah

Reviews of the SuperS season will be done soon.