Review: Sailor Moon Season One

14-year-old Usagi Tsukino is just an average schoolgirl until she discovers that she is Sailor Moon, a superhero who fights for love and justice. With her talking cat Luna by her side, Sailor Moon must battle the insidious Dark Kingdom while also searching for her fellow Sailor Guardians in order to protect the mysterious Silver Crystal from falling into enemy hands.

The Viz DVD and Blu-ray releases for the first season of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, collects the first 46 episodes of the iconic 1992 anime series.

I have been a fan of Sailor Moon for as long as I can remember. I was first exposed to the series in 1995 when it was aired in Canada, dubbed by the now-defunct DiC. I stuck with it through the Cloverway dub, but my obsession and affection for the series wouldn’t fully kick in until I watched (and re-watched) the original series in Japanese with subtitles. Now over 20 years later, I’m getting to re-visit the series thanks to the home releases from Viz Media. This couldn’t possibly be more exciting because this is the first time that the anime has been officially released to English speaking audiences in their native language uncensored and uncut. Not only do the characters get to keep their original names, but the storylines and dialogue appears to be untouched from its earliest state.

Though it initially took me some time to adjust to the new English voice cast, Viz did an excellent job matching the new cast to the original Japanese one. Kate Higgins captures the same sweetness as her predecessor Aya Hisakawa did while portraying Sailor Mercury, Amanda Miller nails the nonchalant tomboyish attitude of Sailor Jupiter just like Emi Shinohara, and Cherami Leigh’s slight husky tone compares favourably with Rika Fukami’s. I also have much praise for Stephanie Sheh, who plays the titular heroine. Unlike her predecessors, Sheh is not shrill or excessively loud. She brings tenderness and femininity to the role that was previously downplayed in favour of a more comedic tone. She’s cute and has moments of hilarity, but never veers into being obnoxious like Kotono Mitsuishi, Terri Hawkes or Linda Ballantyne often did. The actress that really slays it though is Christina Vee as Sailor Mars. She balances the attitude of the character in a way that places her right on par with Michie Tomizawa and Katie Griffin. Of course, I could be biased due to my unwavering affection for Sailor Mars.

For the most part, the anime follows the plot of its source text – the manga written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. Sailor Moon and her allies fight the forces of the Dark Kingdom while simultaneously searching for the Silver Crystal and the Moon Princess. Since the series aired while the manga was still being published, it means that the writers and producers of the series had to come up with new and creative subplots to fill the gap while Takeuchi came up with more material. As such, the series can be broken down into four distinct arcs.

The first arc deals with Usagi’s solo adventures as Sailor Moon, which segues into the introductions of Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars. These early episodes are formulaic and are pretty basic in terms of storytelling. The next arc sees the trio of Moon, Mercury and Mars facing off against the villainous Nephrite as he gathers energy from innocents. This is when the first season finally hits its stride, particularly when it comes to character development. The dynamic between the three protagonists is fantastic, with the feisty Rei constantly sniping at the unreliable Usagi while the diplomatic Ami is stuck in between. This arc is also notable for the development of a tragic love story between Nephrite and Usagi’s best friend Naru. Though it’s intended to be romantic, as an adult I realize that the plotline was actually really forced and that there are parallels to abusive relationships in the dynamic between the two. Admittedly, this arc goes on a little too long. From the time Sailor Mercury is introduced to the time Sailor Jupiter shows up, there are nearly 20 episodes of filler content. As such, the pacing drags a bit and only picks up when the love story between Naru and Nephrite reaches its conclusion.

The fourth arc in the first season features Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask and the Dark Kingdom vying for possession of seven mystical Rainbow Crystals. The devious Zoisite takes over as the lead villain, while Sailor Jupiter joins the cast of protagonists. This section of the season is brisk and fast-paced, while also featuring ample opportunity for character development. We get episodes that focus on Ami, Rei, the new girl Makoto and even Luna. For the most part, these episodes actually deal with introducing potential love interests for our heroines – with varying results. Urawa, Ami’s love interest, is the only one who I felt seemed like a viable option for one of our heroines.

Finally, the series concludes once Sailor Venus joins the cast and the Dark Kingdom scrambles to retrieve the Silver Crystal in order to awaken the evil Metallia. This collection of episodes varies in quality, particularly because it is bookended by important multi-part narratives that push the first season to its finale. There are four episodes where the Dark Kingdom attempt to draw out the Moon Princess, while another four seem to be given randomly generated filler plotlines that do nothing to move the story forward. This makes the final three episodes all the more jarring. Even still, these last three episodes are among the best that the series has to offer. In episode 44, Usagi and the others travel to the Moon to learn about their past. It’s beautifully animated and helps to underline what our heroines are fighting to prevent. The two-part finale, however, serves as a poignant and bittersweet conclusion to the first season. Fan-favourite animation director Ikuko Itō handles the art for episode 45. Her work is nothing short of brilliant. It’s gorgeous, dynamic, comedic and breathtaking.

While on the subject of animation, the caliber varies greatly throughout the first season. Ikuko Itō is the standard with which everyone else is compared. Her style is incredibly expressive and detailed. In addition to episode 45, she also handles the direction for the emotional episode 24 and the hilarious episode 31. Another talented animation director for the first season was Hisashi Kagawa. He was responsible for the introduction of Sailor Jupiter in episode 25 and the Silver Millennium flashback-heavy episode 44. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s Masahiro Andō. His style is far more comedic and simplified, often to the point where characters all look like caricatures and hands look like formless blobs.

For fans of Sailor Moon, Viz Media’s physical releases of the first season are bittersweet. For the first time in years, the series is readily available for purchase on the English-speaking market and allows fans to rekindle their love for the sailor suited guardian of love and justice. Furthermore, Viz did an excellent job re-dubbing the first season in English. The new cast is stellar and the script closely matches the original Japanese version. Unfortunately, these releases are lacking in other areas. The video quality could be better, particularly since diehard fans know that Japanese audiences have been given crisper home releases. The extras and packaging are also bare bones. My biggest qualm, however, is the division of the seasons into multi-part volumes and the ridiculous price tag attached to the Blu-ray releases. The DVDs are far more affordable, but the fact that fans have to pay such exorbitant amounts for an incomplete release is questionable. All 46 of the episodes from the first season should be in one volume and that volume should be the same price as what is currently on the market. Regardless, I’m just happy to be seeing the series be given a more respectful and faithful treatment than DiC and Cloverway did previously.