The beginning of the high school days for Usagi Tsukino
and friends is marred by darkening skies, heralding the return of an old
enemy. Freed from her isolated prison by
a mysterious force, Queen Nehelenia swears to enact her revenge on Usagi by
destroying anything and everything she loves, starting by enslaving Mamoru
under her spell. But this return has
been foreseen and the Inner Senshi are getting some extra backup from some
unexpected allies. Two teams of Senshi
unite together for an epic rematch. And
with the fate of Mamoru, Chibiusa and the people of Earth at stake, failure is
not an option.
Whew, it’s only taken most of 2023 but we’ve come to it
at last Dear Readers.
This is possibly
my most personally anticipated series of the year and for good reason.
When Sailor Moon originally aired on Toonami
back in the early 2000s, only the first four seasons were shown.
The reasons for the Fifth and Final Season,
Sailor Stars, being omitted from broadcast vary but the most glaring reasons
involves three new characters that we wont be getting to in the premiere (more
on them next time).
As a result, Sailor
Stars was never released in the US until ViZ Media acquired the Sailor Moon
licenses for the entire 90s series plus Crystal, Eternal and Cosmos, in
2014.
I know very little beyond the
three newcomers when it comes to this season.
So, more so than SuperS, I’m in uncharted territory and expectations are
high.
But, sadly before we can get on
with the brand new story…there’s still some unfinished business from Sailor
Moon SuperS that needs to be dealt with.
Does the Premiere of Sailor Moon’s Final Season accomplish what the
nearly 39 pointless episodes of SuperS could not?
The answer to that question is HELL YES!!!!
The Season Premiere of Sailor Stars is both
an apology and a redux of SuperS, and even some aspects of Sailor Moon S as
well.
In 6 tightly paced and exciting
episodes, the battle with Queen Nehelenia plays out with all the drama and
intensity I wanted the follow up to Sailor Moon S to always have.
It largely dials back the humor but it isn’t
totally devoid of it.
And what funny
scenes we do get don’t come at the cost of constantly character assassinating
the Senshi.
Michiru’s playful ribbing of
Rei during battle or Usagi and Minako rushing to get to class on time despite
the fact that theyre in high school feels like a welcome return to form .
That’s not to say that scaling back the humor is a downside.
Far from it, the renewed focus on Usagi and
her friends dealing with a proper powerful threat in Nehelenia feels like
Sailor Stars is picking up where all the amazing character development left off
at the end of Sailor Moon S and advances everyones arcs to a whole new level. No
longer are the girls overlooking the obvious evil lair in the middle of town or
the evil organization operating out of it.
The Sailor Senshi are focused and on the case from the start cause,
while SuperS tried to ignore this, Usagi and her friends have grown as people
throughout this entire series.
In my review of the finale of Sailor Moon SuperS, I
mentioned that Queen Nehelenia felt like she could have been the most personal
foe for Usagi were she utilized more properly.
Being the lonely ruler of a neighboring Moon Kingdom driven to madness
by lonlieness and jealousy made her the Anti Princess Sereinity.
Whereas SuperS squandered all of that
potential, Sailor Stars seizes it and gives us the Queen Nehelenia worthy of
being a solid foe for Usagi and the others.
Her mere presence is more than menacing, it’s terrifying.
Nehelenia has one of the hottest designs of
any villainess I’ll admit, but those eyes man, those sharp eyes of death sure
do leave an impression.
Everytime she
appears, everytime she speaks, Nehelenia isn’t just laying it all out for all
to hear, she’s making sure Usagi knows she hears the promise of revenge and she
is going to carry it out.
And boy does
she.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen
Usagi and the Senshi pushed this far by anyone.
This is a major redemption for one of SuperS’ biggest sins: Queen
Nehelenia now sits as one of, if not my absolute favorite, Villainess in the
entire 90s series so far. So beautiful.
So tragic and 100% Scary as Hell.
The Sailor Stars Premiere also marks the long awaited
return of the Outer Senshi and they all have major parts to play.
I was surprised to see Hotaru brought back
into the action so soon.
Starting out as
the adorable newborn we last saw her as in Sailor Moon S, Hotaru goes through a
bit of a rapid aging process (think Spock from Star Trek III and youre on the
right track).
It’s as rushed as the
story needs it to be but I’ll be darned if I didn’t think hearing her call
Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna “Daddy Haruka, Mommy Michuru and Mommy Setsuna”
just felt so right (especially Haruka as Daddy because come on, who else in the
trio would be?).
It’s Hotaru’s
reawakening that draws the Outers back to the fight and they’ve changed so
much…well mostly Haruka and Michuru, Setusna is still fine.
The two biggest pains in the ass of Sailor
Moon S feel more lighthearted and librerated following the end of their big
mission from Season Three.
They’re now
helping civilians and the Sailor Senshi without ulterior motives.
Theyre not trying to kill Hotaru despite
knowing she’ll have to become Sailor Saturn again.
And even their dialogue with each other feels
more playful and naughtier than before (if it wasn’t clear before theyre def
sleeping together).
It also helps that
pairing Haruka and Michuru up with other Senshi like Ami and Rei (as is what
happens in the Premeire), goes a long way to show just how much they’ve missed
out on by being jerks to the Inner Senshi for an entire Season.
The Outers are back and they feel more
naturally part of the team at last (definitely more so than their forced
inclusion in the SuperS movie when they weren’t even in Season Four).
The biggest problem I had with this mini intro arc for
Sailor Stars is that is it so good, it really makes the bulk of SuperS that
much more pointless.
Really, there are
like 3 or so episodes from the whole of SuperS you might need to watch to get
the full idea of why Queen Nehelenia is so pissed with Usagi and even then, the
Premiere does a good job of filling viewers in without them.
This is beyond good and even better than the
normal filler arcs we’ve gotten in Sailor Moon.
There’s an almost theatrical level of quality to the story, especially
the operatic music.
Frak, THIS should
have been the SuperS movie when you get right down to it.
Then of course, there’s Mamoru.
I didn’t have too much to say about my least
favorite Sailor Moon character because he was mostly sidelined in SuperS in
favor of Chibiusa’s love interest, Pegasus.
Well he’s back in Sailor Stars and once again the damsel in distress who
gets cursed and hurts Usagi at various points.
Yes, he isn’t himself, but really I have never been ok with Usagi being
with Mamoru for four seasons now, that’s not gonna change in the final
season.
Possibly the biggest reason to
care about him making it out alive is Chibiusa painfully fading in and out of
existence because if Mamoru isn’t saved, she cant exist.
Still…are we sure Usagi cant just hook up
with someone else and Chibiusa will still exist? Just sayin, it’s something
worth exploring.
The first six episodes of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars blew
me away.
I was afraid of the need for a
follow up to the cliffhanger ending of SuperS.
But somehow I feel the writers knew they had to do some serious damage
control and man did they.
Queen
Nehelenia became the biggest bad I knew she could be.
The Sailor Senshi were back to their normal
caring and bad ass selves and the Outer Senshi were folded back in naturally,
with Uranus and Neptune finally living up to their iconic couple status.
THIS IS WHAT SUPERS SHOULD HAVE BEEN.
And had it been that, the season would have
gotten a 9 or even a 10/10 as a properly well done follow up to Sailor Moon
S.
As it is, this is still a beyond solid Season Premiere
worthy of all the praise and we haven’t even gotten to the Sailor Starlights
yet.
We’re gonna get to those long
awaited arrivals on Friday when we get into the official continuation of the
main storyline.
Strap in folks, Sailor
Moon Sailor Stars has begun at the Gundam Anime Corner and now, somehow,
anything that follows next is gonna have to work its ass off hard to top this
stunning redemption of a Season Premiere.
See ya then.
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