Yeah,
I know the banner up top says "1960-1990." But the sad
truth is that rules were made to be broken, that time marches on, and
that 1995 and even 2005 are getting further away all the time. In
that spirit I present my 2005 Anime Jump review of a DVD set of a 1995
television series starring five good-looking young people from all
walks of life who team up, don primary-colored outfits, and battle
evil with their super Sailor powers!
SAILOR
MOON SUPER S
TV
SERIES COMPLETE COLLECTION
39
episodes
English
/ Japanese w English subtitles
Geneon
Pity
poor Sailor Moon. Too old to be watched like a regular show, too
young to be remembered with nostalgia, not quite silly enough to be
enjoyed as camp. It's sad, really. Sailor Moon once proudly bridged
the gap between the cutey-pie magical girls shows watched by 10-year
old girls and the five-color fighting team series enjoyed by their
younger brothers, with enough style to attract the 12-and-overs and
enough cheesecake to keep dads and lads riveted. As a Japanese comic
and cartoon it was a bona fide phenomenon, and as an import it is THE
series that broke the gender barrier and made it once again okay for
girls to watch cartoons and read comic books. Especially comic
books. The impact of manga on the American bookstore market is
phenomenal, and it is driven by comics that are read by girls, and
the one that started it all was Sailor Moon.
But
enough philosophizin'. This is a review of Sailor Moon SuperS, not
a freakin' thesis statement. And I'll be blunt. If you already know
and like Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon, you'll probably like Sailor Moon SuperS (or "Super S" as it's sometimes known as).
All the ingredients you've come to expect are there: mysterious
enemies from beyond the portal of time, sexually ambiguous
characterizations, yet another fashion makeover for Sailor Moon, a few subplots involving dates and important life decisions
for secondary characters, and at least one third of every episode
occupied by your various transformations, magical weapon attacks,
pleas for help from mysterious otherworldly beings, statements of
intent on the part of the Sailor Scouts, and the et cetera.
If,
on the other hand, you have never seen Sailor Moon, you will find
yourself getting bogged down with such basic questions as Who Are
These Girls and Why Do They Have These Powers, before moving on to
more advanced questions like Why Do The Mysterious Extradimensional
Invaders Always Pick Sailor Moon's Neighborhood To Spearhead Their
Invasion, and How Old Is Chibi Moon Supposed To Be Anyway. This
show's got no time for explanations.
Originally
a TV Asahi broadcast from March 1995 until March of the next year, SuperS was the fourth Sailor Moon television series from Toei and the third to
be directed by Maple Town veteran Kunihiko Ikuhara. America got the
show in 2000 as part of Cartoon Network's Toonami, a DVD and VHS
release from Pioneer/Geneon later in the decade, and more recently,
Viz re-licensed the series for an updated release later this year
(2018).
The
gist of SuperS is that a mysterious circus-themed universe of evil is
erupting forth into the pastel-colored Tokyo of Sailor Moon and her
teenaged chums. Commanded by the Yoda-esque Zirconia, the fighters
of Universe Ringling are methodically abducting people from all walks
of life in order to steal their dreams! No, not take away their
student loans or their publishing deal, but actually stealing the
actual dreams themselves.
 |
| the circus is in town. Or on top of town, whichever |
It's
all because Queen Nehelenia, the leader of this acrobat-and-clown
infested dimension, seeks a magical crystal that can restore her to
her rightful place as the absolute ruler of all creation. This
crystal is held for safe keeping by, naturally, a Pegasus, and this
Pegasus is hiding out inside somebody's dreams. And THAT somebody
with the flying horse dreams is Chibi-Moon, Sailor Moon's annoying
daughter from the future who was sent to the past because childcare
in the future is very expensive.
Finding
out she's got a Pegasus living inside her dreams works out well for
Chibi-Moon. She's got somebody to talk to when things get lonely,
and what's more, when battles frequently erupt between Sailor Moon
and the varied minions of Planet Big Top, the Pegasus clip-clops into
our world and destroys the villian with one wave-motion blast from
his magical unicorn horn. So that's convenient.
Sailor
Moon is not a show that really responds well to critical examination,
because that's not what it's about. Nobody cares whether or not any
of this stuff makes sense; the important thing is that Sailor Moon
and her friends and her friends' friends are friends for life and
even though they feud with each other they're still friends, because
friends should be friendly. Even the villains become friendly;
they're monsters because they've been mistreated, because they've
never known real friendship, and once they realize that these Earth
creatures are willing to be their friends, they quit being villains,
and the head villain has to destroy them, and that makes Sailor Moon
mad, and several magical power weapon attacks later the Earth is
saved so that everybody can be friends.
This
is the kind of show that pre-teens watch once a week or once a day
and think is terrific- even adults can watch the occasional episode
and marvel at the spiffy animated sequences and the long, flashing,
mini-skirted limbs of the heroines. But watch more than one episode
in a row and you'll notice a third of every episode is taken up with
the same transformation, magical beam, whatever sequences. In a 22
minute show that means that - do the math with me - 7 minutes and 20
seconds of a typical Sailor Moon SuperS episode is stuff you saw in
the last episode, and in the episode before that, and the episode
before that, etc.
 |
| big or small, they all fall when this girl hits them like a cannonball! |
Now
this is a kids show, and kids eat this stuff up. Part of the appeal
is knowing that Sailor Moon has a ritual, and kids love seeing the
cool transformation sequences in the same way they like always having
the crusts cut off their sandwiches. Adults, on the other hand, find
themselves going to the kitchen for another drink. Sure, there are
several episodes that stand out. One episode, dealing with the candy
monster that gives all the neighborhood kids tooth decay, is
exceptionally funny and has a scary dentist, to boot.
As
it happens Queen Nehelenia goes through about seven different
henchvillians and even Zirconia his- (or her, depending on which
language you view the show in)-self is betrayed. Pegasus turns out
to be a cute boy with a little unicorn horn, and Sailors Mars, Venus,
Jupiter, Mercury, and Moon use their magical force beams to blast
Nehelenia back to where she came from, probably winter quarters in
Sarasota.
 |
| these are the carny folk you don't want to end up like |
Sailor
Moon SuperS is the, let's see, fourth different Sailor Moon TV
series, and the last to be translated in its entirety into English
for the North American market. The Toronto-based dubbing is
lackluster; stiff, unconvincing, and casual with the genders of some
of the characters (though admittedly sometimes it's hard to tell with
this show). Many times the dub will take a sharp left turn away from
the original dialog, and usually this means annoying catch-phrases
and "hip" slang that's already dated.
 |
| they're tired. Get it? |
Geneon's
set - labeled "The Complete Collection", and referred to as
"The Pegasus Collection" on the DVD menus - is packaged
smartly with the DVDs in slimline cases that fit neatly into a cute
little box. Extras include... well, there aren't many extras. You
get the original Japanese openings, and Karaoke versions of the
original Japanese openings and endings, and that's about it.
If
you're liking some Sailor Moon you'll enjoy SuperS, though I can't
say how many episodes in a row you'll be able to watch before the
endless stream of strangely worded magical attacks and transformation
sequences become too much to bear. Out of 39 episodes there are
maybe 8 that don't follow the "monster of the week" format,
so the less dedicated Mooninites out there may want to skip to the
good parts or simply enjoy the show in smaller quantities. But for
those occasions that require a big chunk of Sailor Moon SuperS, the
"Complete Collection" is a must-have. What exactly, if
any, those occasions might be, is a question I leave to you.
-Dave
Merrill
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