Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie

Children begin vanishing all over the world, lured to a mysterious ship by a haunting tune.  When their mysterious abductors come to Japan, Chibiusa finds herself their latest captive.  Guided by a rogue Fairy, Sailor Moon and the rest of the Sailor Senshi give chase.  High above the clouds, they come face to face with Queen Badiane, who is determined to drive the people of Earth to eternal darkness via the Black Dream Hole, and Chibiusa is the most important part of her plan.  The Inner and Outer Senshi unite alongside Sailor Moon to save not just the planet once more but also the hopes and dreams of the children of tomorrow.

After spending a month struggling to get through Sailor Moon SuperS, my expectations for the third and final of the original trilogy of movies was basically zero.  But then again, if the SuperS Season is basically rock bottom for the franchise, there’s nowhere else to go but up, right?  Turns out…yeah, that’s exactly what the SuperS Movie, originally released in the US as “Black Dream Hole”, does.  It’s not a flawless outing but its way better than the TV Season it spawns from.  Not only that, this might be the first of the three movies to really carry over several of the themes and core elements from its parent season: dream energy is a factor, Chibiusa has a love interest.  Heck, the plot even has shades of a certain Dragon Ball Z movie involving a kidnapped offspring and the villain opening a Black Hole to try and win the day.  Short version: this isn’t bad and at the end of the day, that’s a win that Sailor Moon has needed for over a month now.
 
The intro of the SuperS Movie really stood out to me.  It was like the beginning of a very creepy Studio Ghibli movie, even the hypnotic tune used to lure out the children feels suited to one.  It’s very spooky and sets up the threat the Sensi will have to face quite well.  Even Perle looks like he belongs in a Miyazaki movie and I have to say, I like Perle better as a love interest for Chibiusa than Pegasus.  He comes off as far more warm and likeable than Pegasus and he even plays a central role in helping the Senshi rather than tell them next to nothing and let them do all the work.  While their time together is criminally brief, I do buy the connection Chibiusa and Perle form and give it my seal of approval, as does Usagi, who even calls Perle Chibiusa’s boyfriend at one point.
 
Speaking of Usagi, one of the SuperS Seasons many faults was regressing Usagi back to her bratty and less heroic character from way back in the beginning of the series.  The SuperS movie recitifes this big time.  Sure she’s freaking out over whether Mamoru likes her or Chibiusa more.  But when Chibiusa gets captured, Usagi’s mind goes right into Future Mama mode and doesn’t hesitate to throw herself into danger, be it flame attacks or into the Black Dream Hole itself.  I’ve missed this proper heroic side to Usagi which was largely absent from SuperS.  The Movie also reminds us that while they are destined to be mother and daughter in the future, Usagi and Chibiusa’s sisterly bond in the present is still a thing of beauty and one of the strongest parts of the entire franchise. 
 
While all of the Usagi and Chibiusa material is top notch, along with the animation (this might be the best looking movie in the trilogy), it’s not flawless even if it is better than SuperS overall.  The short plot could fill out a couple of episodes of the series, even if the scale of the Black Dream Hole itself is impressive.  Queen Badiane is just another loud and boisterous figure who has no depth and is just there to monologue and freak out when things don’t go her way.  Perle’s fellow Faries aren’t much more than cannon fodder either, standard Movie lackies there to get wrecked before moving on.  But the biggest head scratcher is the inclusion of the Outer Senshi: Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.  Ok it’s not that head scratching.  These three were entirely absent from SuperS.  So them being here is entirely for fan service.  Seriously, they show up and help with Queen Badiane’s lackies and then sit out the rest of the action along with the rest of the Inner Senshi while Usagi saves the day.  Also, kind of like with the Sailor Moon S movie, the canonicity of this movie is pretty murky.  Given Pluto’s fate at the end of S and how things stood with Uranus and Neptune, personally I don’t think they should be here, nor did they need to be.  But hey fans who missed them in SuperS will no doubt love to see the trio even if they don’t do much to advance things.
 
Overall, Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie is a major step up from the TV Season that came before it and it’s probably my second favorite of the three Sailor Moon movies, after Sailor Moon R: The Movie.  Sure the plot, villains and fan service appearance of the Outer Senshi aren’t special.  But the stellar character work that’s been done with Usagi and Chibiusa is back in full force and powers this quick watch with a strong emotional center.  Add in an actual decent love interest for Chibiusa and you’ve got something that SuperS never was…passable and watchable.  Not a bad note to end this trilogy on.
 
7/10
 
And with that, we’re really, really done with Sailor Moon SuperS.  A month of Horror Anime awaits us in October, starting with Vampire Hunter D on Monday.  But Sailor Moon’s battle against evil is far from over.  We’ve still got one more season left, the one I’ve been looking forward to since greenlighting this project.  Man I cant wait.  Sailor Moon: Sailor Stars, the final chapter of Sailor Moon, arrives in December, right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.