Danica Davidson
April 5, 2017 
With Sailor Moon S, it’s a new season and a new story arc in the beloved anime series. While Usagi is still whining about how badly she’s doing in school, Rei is having apocalyptic visions of the future. Who is their newest enemy? Again and again we visit a dark laboratory, where a mad scientist with an obscured face is making diabolical concoctions. He wants to find the three Pure Heart Crystals (literally to be found in people’s hearts) in order to get the Holy Grail and control the world.
In his lab, he cooks up daimon eggs. The eggs attach onto objects— everything from a tree to a vacuum cleaner—and this turns the objects into living, breathing, conscious enemies. (It also leads for some really interesting—if odd—looking villains.) Pretty soon the episodes fall into a pattern where the Sailor Scouts have to go after the new daimon the mad scientist has unleashed.
Sailor Moon S is also notable for its introduction to the characters Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. One of the things so celebrated about VIZ’s new dub is its accuracy to the original, and the relationship between Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune is one of the key things fans point out. In this version of Sailor Moon, the girls can finally be a couple, and when you see them interact with each other it’s hard to imagine how the 90s version ever managed to convince anyone that these were cousins. (Though even now Usagi still manages to convince herself briefly that Sailor Uranus is a guy, and a cute one at that.)
The first part of Sailor Moon S really feels like a setup, and the story gets much more dramatic in the second part, when things come to a head. But this part is important, too. Even though parts of Sailor Moon can feel silly, rewatching it also shows why it’s so popular—the fun, flighty relatability of Usagi (who, even though she can be difficult, always rises to the challenge when she needs to), the emotional attachment and fights among friends, the humor mixing with the more serious elements; there’s a reason Sailor Moon remains so beloved to anime fans.
VIZ is releasing Sailor Moon S in a handsome package that includes both DVD and Blu-ray. This is the first part of the season, and the package includes room for the second part. It also has a booklet that gives episode information and character descriptions and has a chart showing how all the characters are connected.
Studio/Company: VIZ Media
