Synopsys

Rei Hino (Sailor Mars) has been plagued by disturbing visions of an Apocalypse just as a new enemy appears in the city. The maniacal Professor Tomoe, the leader of the Death Busters, has been targeting innocent citizens in a search for three special pure heart crystals. Usagi Tsukino (Sailor Moon) and the other Guardians must confront this new powerful foe that’s stronger than any enemy they have ever faced before. Two new mysterious Sailor Guardians who have no interest in working with Sailor Moon and the other Guardians are already seeking the crystals. Where did they come from, and what is their plan for the talismans?

Packaging and Content

Sailor Moon S, Blu – Ray and DVD combo pack comes six Discs, 3 Blu – Ray Discs and 3 DVDs. It contains 19 episodes (from 90 – 108). The set has a nice box cover with a holographic finish, this is a rather charming concept to go along with the Sparkly theme of the series. The Disc printing itself is more modest, somewhat of a contrast to the outer packaging with a stencil like design. The set comes with a fair number of extra features. You receive interviews with the English cast, some trailers, an art gallery, and then some. You can also watch in either Japanese or English, subbed and unsubbed, the choice is yours! The Blu – Ray Disc comes in “1080P” but we will discuss that later in the review.

Review

Sailor Moon S is the third season in the Sailor Moon Franchise, following Sailor Moon R this is loosely based on the infinity arc of the manga. Middle School is nearing it’s close, with the high school entrance exam approaching for Usagi and the Sailor Guardians. They devote much of their time throughout the season to study for this exam, forming study groups, but as usual Usagi has trouble being productive and focusing on the task ahead. But a much bigger threat is afoot. The New Villain Professor Tomoe, who appears as a total crackpot is searching for 3 Talisman crystals, that appears in persons with pure hearts, he is clearly on a hit and miss basses with them as he almost randomly seeks them out. In the shadows appear, two mysterious new Sailor Guardians, Uranus and Neptune, also seeking the talismans to apparently save the world from the silence, however, they are willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to attain the talismans. Now I’ll be hung by the noose for this by Sailor Moon Fans (I’m also a long-time fan) but, while watching, there were many times I had to keep myself from throwing up from the high level of corny lines, yes I know it came from the 90’s but it’s just something that I had to mention, but all in all I guess that’s what makes Sailor Moon so cute.

Characters

Let’s talk characters, Usagi and the other guardians return for this third season. By now you either love them or hate them. Usagi is as dull as ever but also retains her passionate side and loyalty to her friends, although there were some interestingly questionable moments when I had to wonder, is she serious!!? One scenario is her usual obsession with her boyfriend “Mamoru” (Tuxedo Mask), even after always declaring her love for him and wanting to be with him, she quickly manages to be dumb fumbled by the site of a cute boy, for example, Haruka Tenou “sailor Uranus” (Usagi thought she was a guy). Now, this leaves me with questions about Usagi, is she just one who likes to admire the hot masculinity of men, or is she actually a harlot??? Hmmm, the questions… As for the other characters, just like Usagi, they continue to have strong independent personalities which are explored through this season.
What rubbed me wrong in this season, however, is Haruka Tenou and Michiru Kaioh. Now they seem to have two totally different personalities to their Sailor Guardian forms Uranus and Neptune respectively. In one light, they are the perfect pair of girls, popular in school, great and instruments and driving, they seem like a pair who could do no wrong. But in actuality, their morals are distorted. On several occasions, it’s seen in their Guardian forms, they act like totally different people who could care less about the little matters in the world, who dies, or doesn’t, they only care about what they call “the mission”. I don’t like the light that these characters get but at least their stories quickly wrap up in this season’s midpoint
The villain Professor Tomoe will often have you rolling, from his overzealous personalities to his awkwardness he is truly one of the best villains in this series. There are other characters along the way that add a lot of rejuvenated life as the season progresses like Chibi Usa.

The Animation

The art style for Sailor Moon S is what you would guess from a remastered 90s series. It is dated, to say the least. If you are a fan of the ‘new and sparkly’ it may have you cringing for the most part, as for long time Sailor Moon fans, there will definitely be feel good moments as you wonder to yourself ‘Wow did I really go crazy for this animation?’ With this set, it comes on Blu-Ray and DVD and honestly I don’t particularly see the difference in the both. The Blu – ray is definitely sharper than the DVD with wider fonts for the subs other than that, it’s basically left-hand right-hand kind of differences. Because the show was remastered and upscaled from a older aspect ratio it won’t actually be real HD per-say. Also, you would notice that frame doesn’t fill the screen (you would need to use some kind of wide or zoom feature on your Blu – ray player or tv). I won’t say much more on this as I think everything else is straight forward facts that you would expect this kind of conversion.

Sound

As all the music from the original series is kept intact you will take a trip back to the 90s. You will hear game show type music, rock and roll, old “Europe” flavour ‘it’s the final countdown!’ type music. Oh… I’m constantly reminded of old sci-fi movies with the sound effects.
As for the voices for the first time in my life, I can safely say that I prefer the English dubbed over the Japanese voices (Sailor Moon, a clap for achieving this award from the spaceman community). Seriously for me, the voices complimented the characters well, just the right amount of exaggeration, playfulness and mood. Indeed, they hit the nail on the head with the casting of this one.

Final Verdict

For all ‘US’ sailor moon fans, this is going to bring back memories. This is exactly the sailor moon you would remember in bigger better “HD!”. For the none fans, if you like all things sparkly, a nice romance with an action twist and or a fan of the 90s shows you can get into sailor moon. This is not a bad set, with 19 episodes it’s a good watch. If after reading this review you are still amped to see it then go pick it up else there is an ocean of anime out there that will keep you entertained.

The copy of Sailor Moon S Blu-ray/DVD Combo used for this review was provided by VIZMedia.