Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S

The Sailor Guardians and their leader, Sailor Moon, continue their duty of protecting Earth from any who would dare cause it harm. However, Sailor Mars' apocalyptic visions and the appearance of two new guardians—Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus—signal that a new battle will soon begin.

These newcomers seek three Talismans that are inside the Pure Heart Crystals within human beings. Once brought together, these objects form The Holy Grail, a magical relic with extraordinary abilities. They want to use the Grail to save the world, but an evil organization known as the Death Busters seeks its power for their own desires.

The removal of a Talisman from a person's Heart Crystal will cause their death, something that Uranus and Neptune see as a necessary sacrifice to form the Grail, while Sailor Moon and her group deem it unforgivable. But can any sacrifice be worth the cost if it saves the lives of the entire human race?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tsukino, Usagi Main

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Hino, Rei Main

Tomizawa, Michie Japanese

Aino, Minako Main

Fukami, Rica Japanese

Kino, Makoto Main

Shinohara, Emi Japanese

Tomoe, Hotaru Main

Minaguchi, Yuko Japanese

Tenou, Haruka Main

Ogata, Megumi Japanese

Mizuno, Ami Main

Hisakawa, Aya Japanese

Chiba, Mamoru Main

Furuya, Toru Japanese

Kaiou, Michiru Main

Katsuki, Masako Japanese

Chibiusa Main

Araki, Kae Japanese

Maseba, Yutaka Producer

Simone, Jamie Producer

Ikuhara, Kunihiko Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Endou, Yuuji Sound Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Mar 16, 2009

Skadi

Recommended

It always seems that the longer a series goes on that it almost inevitably gets worse. That can pretty much be said for Sailor Moon S, the third season of the franchise. While it is not a bad series (far from it), I found that it was the most difficult of the three I have seen so far to watch.

It has always been a peeve of mine when a story develops to a point and then mystically finds itself reverting back. Sailor Moon S suffers from the introduction of some pretty unlikable characters plus the reintroduction of an annoying one. The ... later is Chibi-Usa, the future daughter of Usagi and Mamoru who pointlessly returns from the future, apparently to just become a pest. The progress made in the relationship between Usagi and Chibi-Usa apparently is meaningless as we are again treated to constant arguing and disrespect shown to her "mother". Honestly the whole time I just wanted Usagi to take her over her knee and throttle her back to the future. Even more inexplicable is Chibi Usa's constant interference in Usagi's and Mamoru's relationship. I mean she does realize if they aren’t together she won’t be born... right?

The other new characters are the introduction of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. A pair of completely unlikeable, cruel, and arrogant girls who never do answer for their own crimes as they ruthlessly pursue their own goals. Their rude and despicable attitude towards Usagi and the other guardian senshi despite being saved by them multiple times made them, for me at least, difficult to like.

For the most part these are my early impressions, and made it hard to get through the series until it starts to reach its climax. Chibi-Usa does become less annoying and she really isn’t in the series as much as it appeared she was going to be by the end. Though my dislike for Uranus and Neptune remained until the end. The story is pretty good but really not as strong as the first two series. The motivations of the villains don’t feel as defined as in previous seasons and the plot really feels repetitive for almost three quarters of the show. The weaknesses of the first two series remain, though the action is a little better. Mostly because of the addition of the new warriors the numbers of combinations increase which makes the battles a little more diverse. Though they are still pretty boring. I also felt that the Inner Senshi characters that are really important took too much of a backseat to the unlikable Outer Senshi. While each girl does have a couple episodes devoted to them it does feel like they have been mostly neglected. Also the romance elements were almost nonexistent in this series, which was a major disappointment for me. Despite all these things, the ending arc is very well done and I did enjoy the whole Sailor Saturn/Mistress 9 part of the story.

The art is probably the best it has been up to this point. Though there are a number of issues I had with the animation. Mostly this has to do with the really silly and overly long cut scenes, the biggest offender being Usagi's use of her special attack. Really was all that dancing around and spins necessary? Also the music really suffers here as well with the introduction of some of the corniest anime music I have ever heard. Now when the sailors transform we get treated to individual songs for each girl. I wasn’t sure whether I should laugh or cry when listening to it.

Overall though I still did end up liking this series, and it is particularly saved by the last arc involving Sailor Saturn. It has a number of flaws but it is still the Sailor Moon I know and love. It seems to know when you are really getting annoyed or frustrated with something and stops in time before you want to turn it off. Fans of the first two seasons will still enjoy this but you will probably be a little let down, particularly on the romance side, like I was.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jan 26, 2014

Eeame

Mixed Feelings

Sailor Moon was my introduction to anime back on Toonami and i really enjoyed Sailor Moon and R a lot. With this season I felt very let down.

I didn't enjoy the different voice actress for Usagi/Serena. I found her trying overly hard to sound like the previous actress and it really annoyed me.

I also didn't really find the plot too interesting. I felt like I really didn't connect with the characters and found them just uninteresting. This season I usually skip while I watch Sailor Moon (I have all the seasons on dvd) and I feel like I don't miss a lot at all ... when I do so.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 6, 2024

Animelover875

Not Recommended

Sailor Moon S, if you ask any Sailor Moon fan, will usually agree that Sailor Moon S is one of the most hyped and exciting seasons of the anime, and a lot of people consider it their favorite. These are also for really good reasons: while the "Inner Senshi" (Mercury through Venus) were established as being kind-hearted, emotional, and "idealistic" (which is a word frequently used to describe them in the season), the Outer Senshi form not only a solid contrast but actually a quite interesting one layered with complexities and nuances. While it should go without saying that Usagi especially has a great deal ... of depth and probably needs no explanation of her character by this point (after all, I spent the two reviews of prior seasons analyzing her character endlessly), the Outer Senshi actually have what are some pretty debatable reasons and philosophies. I have little doubt that this was actually intentional, meant to contrast a sort of cold, unfeeling, but logical and practical approach versus the Inners' "soft" approach to life and kindness. I know this is very divisive in Sailor Moon, but I'm actually perfectly fine with this, because a lot of the Outer Senshi's actions are understandable and reasonable from their perspective, just as the Inners' are.

The main thing to like about the Outer Senshi (of course, besides their cool factor, which they definitely deliver on) is how they deal with the consequences of their actions. They understand that sacrifice is necessary and while they do show little emotion, they actually do seem to feel at least slightly sorry for the people being sacrificed. As this was also literally "their fight" (with the Death Busters being from outer space), I'm also slightly inclined to actually buy the idea that they are truly stronger than the Inners, and that it was intended to be "their fight" (or even "their season", if you will). Additionally, the series has a really unique blend of action and comedy. It arguably coalesces the best parts of Sailor Moon as a whole: their comedy and tense episodes have previously been generally wholly separate, but through Daimons, we get the first season where we're actually truly able to combine these two, with Daimons being over the top and ridiculous, which lets the filler and plot episodes stay "cool" and focus on tense action or drama. This is really refreshing as it hardly happened before, and really gives some leeway to whether an episode or particular fight was outright bad or good. The Death Busters are the same way: the professor is a really interesting and complexly nuanced villain. Even though he may seem like a generic mad scientist (which is true), he's given the same treatment, which nuances him as a character into not just a maniacal madman who can crack jokes, but also into a tense and serious villain who can genuinely amp up tension to terrifying heights rather quickly. This is also mirrored by his and Hotaru (arguably the other star of the season)'s "dual personas", who switch back and forth between their sides, further highlighting their rather interesting relationship with not only the cast, but each other, which only grows more complex and obscure with each passing episode. The Outer Senshi even have to challenge their philosophy with a shocking plot development in the middle of the season that makes one question if they'll re-evaluate their entire direction. The other Death Busters are really interesting and have a great design as well.

Unfortunately, despite all the good that Sailor Moon S has going for it, it's an INCREDIBLY tough sell to make this a truly recommended season due to a multitude of factors. All of those good parts of the series that were just mentioned only come into play when the series actually is on the right footing; otherwise, even the good aspects of the plot (such as a lot of filler episodes) tend to be outright boring and pointless, especially when they're back to back with top notch action.

Even one of the Witches 5, the best part of the season, (Mimete, in particular) takes a staggering 9 episodes of screentime, while Kaolinite and Eudial also stick around a long time. Even though this is really innocuous in of itself, the fact is that Mimete's entire story and pacing brings a whole host of problems and essentially grinds the progress to a screeching halt. The series neither has the chance to nor the timing, pacing, or execution to successfully give both Mimete AND Hotaru the time they deserve to truly flesh out as characters; when one of them has a really good episode, the other suffers, usually by not appearing at all. This is made worse by the fact Hotaru wasn't even in the season before the end of Eudial's arc (which was also rather long, as was Kaolinite's), and Hotaru gets pushed to the side in most of her own episodes even. She has only about 2-3 interactions with any of the Inners (not even in-depth ones at that, mind you), which makes the entire relationship blatantly feel very shallow and superficial, and she hardly even interacts with Usagi herself. It's also extremely tough to establish her relationship to Chibiusa in that timespan; even with Usagi and Mamoru, most fans probably needed around at minimum 30 episodes to build up to the idea of them being together, and the series can't afford to cram all that development into the timeframe given without seriously mangling the plot.

Thus, Sailor Moon S feels very 'cramped': the series struggles to focus on more than one plot point at a time, which is crucial considering how intense the story is, although half the time the actually dangerous and creepy parts never get a chance to be more than a passing mention at a time. Even the other Witches 5, scary or one-dimensional as they are, are completely shoved aside: the last three members of the Witches 5 have their screentime completely consumed, and they only get ONE episode each as a main villain.

Now, I'll say that it's one thing to do this for a monster of the day. After all, Cenicienta was a brief but intimidating villain, but she needed the two-episode buildup to really show that she was a threat, as an example. It's another thing entirely when the actual core of the series' pacing is so bad that the MAIN VILLAINS the series has actually been TRYING to show as threats don't appear as more than silhouettes for more than a single episode, and this is meant literally in the most sincere sense possible. Even the Outer Senshi aren't free from the constraints of this. I mentioned earlier that when they get into plot-relevant action, they show their best stuff, which is definitely true. However, when they DON'T, they wind up useless.

As badass and worth watching for intense drama as the Outers are, they are completely stifled in the latter half of the season. Essentially, they have their inner conflict resolved only halfway through the season. After this, Sailor Moon S seemingly has no clue what to do with them, and they languish practically in limbo, watching the episodes from the sidelines and contributing exactly nothing until it's time for the plot to begin again. I WISH I could say this was an exaggeration, I truly do. But Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna go from interesting, conflicted and flawed characters to....not one-dimensional, for sure. But they lose a lot of their depth and motive to do much of anything besides what the plot requires, and all the buildup and lore in the world can't save them from that.

Overall, Sailor Moon S definitely has a lot of praise to be given as a fan favorite series to many. But it has also has some serious, horrible flaws that prevent it from unlocking its whole potential as one of the true "best of the bests," and I'm afraid the positives, numerous as they are, can't even begin to excuse all of the numerous flaws Sailor Moon S had from the ground up. Others may enjoy this series, and I truly wish I could have as well.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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