Anime Hajime Review: Sailor Moon S (Part 3 of 6)

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Sailor Moon S. Reader discretion is advised.***

Season Synopsis – Sailor Moon S

After saving the future from the Black Moon Clan, life has begun to settle down for the Sailor Scouts. However, Rei Hino, Sailor Mars, keeps having a recurring nightmare of a pending cataclysm.

The Sailor Scouts soon encounter the creatures known as Daimons. Although they fight their hardest, the Scouts are unable to stand against this new enemy. Before they are defeated, the Scouts are rescued by two mysterious warriors.

The unknown pair makes short work on the Daimon, and they reveal themselves to be the reawakened Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune (voiced by Megumi Ogata and Masako Katsuki). The five original Scouts are overjoyed at the prospects of two new allies, but Uranus and Neptune have no intention of cooperating.

The duo says they are searching for three mystic talismans that make up a powerful relic known as the Holy Grail. They must complete their mission before the vile group known as the Death Busters use the Grail to awaken the Messiah of Silence, a being that will cover the Earth in eternal darkness. To Uranus and Neptune, their purpose is of the utmost importance, so much so, they are willing to let innocent lives die to prevent the Grail from falling into the wrong hands.

The Sailor Scouts and this new pair often find themselves at odds. The task Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus face is unlike anything they have come up against.

Luckily, they don’t have to do it alone.

To help in whatever way she can, Chibiusa returns from the future as Sailor Chibi Moon. And aiding the future daughter of Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask is the wise Sailor Pluto (voiced by Chiyoko Kawashima).

Unfortunately, Pluto is on the same mission as Uranus and Neptune. However, Pluto gives the Scouts one piece of advice.

Under no circumstance must the ninth Sailor Scout be allowed to awaken -- the devastatingly powerful Sailor Saturn.

Season Positives

Sailor Moon S walked a thin line.

For the time being, let’s focus on the side of that line that made this the most fun season of Sailor Moon thus far.

This series has only gotten better as it has moved forward. Granted the same exact formula has now been used now three times. However, the intensity and threat levels have been increasing, and the Sailor Scouts, in turn, have been getting stronger.

So, how did Sailor Moon S continue this streak?

The Villains

Sailor Moon R did a lot of things right with its villains. They had personalities and weren’t just evil for the sake of being evil.

That said, this didn’t apply to all the villains of last season.

Sailor Moon S rectified this by making all of its villains’ fun.

Compared to the Dark Kingdom and the Black Moon Clan, the Death Busters were an actual threat. Sure, this was the third group trying to bring forth yet another evil deity using pretty much the same method.

What made this round better, though, was how the Death Busters went about their businesses.

With the Dark Kingdom and, to a large extent, the Black Moon Clan, they tried to stay hidden as much as they could. The Death Busters couldn’t have cared any less.

This group always left an impact. They were trying to bring about the end of the world, so what did it matter to them if a building or two got destroyed. But while their tactics were a bit destructive, the actual members of the Death Busters weren’t all that serious.

Like the Scepter Sisters before them, the Death Busters were silly and extravagant. They were loud, egotistical, as well as lazy and fostered skewed motivations for selecting each of their targets. That said, I highly suggest not angering any of them.

Within the Death Busters, there was a group known as Witches 5. We only got to really see two of the five, and the remaining three were just kind of shoehorned in at the end. But by the time we got to the final three, there was a very well-established idea of who these people were, and they were ruthless.

In the first two seasons, only the main baddie was the one who killed anyone off. Witches 5 had no problem doing that to each other. For instance, one of the members, Mimet (voiced by Mika Kanai), was straight up murdered by one of her "comrades". Witches 5 may have had similar eccentric personalities like the Scepter Sisters, but they had no reservations about taking someone out for good.

Even though this season was littered with a myriad of silly moments, the Sailor Scouts never had to work harder.

Season Negatives

Now it’s time to finish off what I was talking about with Sailor Moon S walking a thin line. This may have been the most fun season of this series thus far, but it was also the most frustrating.

First, let’s talk time paradoxes.

Chibiusa was from the future and never once did she disappear or change personalities in Sailor Moon S. Therefore, that would suggest she was born in the future that was saved back in Sailor Moon R. That would mean, the current world destroying event in Sailor Moon S was never going to succeed. Hence, the Sailor Scouts were never in any danger of losing.

Time travel is a dangerous a plot device.

To be fair, I am making this out to be a bigger deal than it was. The focus of Sailor Moon S was about the conflict between the two groups of Sailor Scouts, and the show did a fantastic job of illustrating this.

Besides than timeline oddities, there were other problems made this season a bit headache inducing.

Over the past two season reviews, I’ve brought up how stupid it's been that no one has been able to figure out who the Sailor Scouts were despite the fact they have been putting in zero effort to hide their identities. Although this has been a reoccurring issue, it has only ever been the villains who have ever been this dense.

Not this time.

The Death Busters weren’t the only ones blind to the obvious. The Sailor Scouts were as well. This has been true since the beginning of the series, but I’ve managed to look past it since it has not played a huge role. Too bad Sailor Moon S completely blasted that out of the water. For most of this season, the Sailor Scouts had no idea who Uranus and Neptune were. And VICE VERSA. This was despite the two groups spending an incredible amount of time with one another.

Before I continue, I need to make it clear that this show and this season never treated the audience like idiots. Sailor Moon S didn’t try to hide the identities of everyone from us, the viewers. The problem, however, was when the reveal did happen, the viewer had been in the loop since the beginning, and thus this big moment felt hollow.

Plus, although this is a tad annoying, I would be lying if I said this tiny quick wasn’t a little amusing as well.

Besides, there was plenty of other things wrong with Sailor Moon S.

No Communication

For this, I’m mostly referring to Sailor Pluto and Neptune. But I need to be careful here because I don’t dislike these characters. They were only one part of a much larger problem.

The three new Sailor Scouts were adamant about not bringing the original five into the loop for some reason. Except, there was absolutely no reason for them to keep the five in the dark for as long as they did.

Not knowing people’s identities was humorously annoying, but this was annoying-annoying.

Given Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus’ plan was eliminating a girl named Hotaru Tomoe (voiced by Yuko Minaguchi) because the trio believed her to be the reincarnated Sailor Saturn who might destroy the entire world, I can see why there would be a little secrecy. After all the original five Scouts would have been and were one hundred percent against killing a person for actions they have not committed and may never commit.

I will give Sailor Pluto the benefit of the doubt since I did see where she was coming from. When introduced in season two, Pluto emanated this aura of wisdom that had built over centuries. However, that was why I was surprised she was so set on killing Hotaru.

It turned out that Pluto did have her doubts, but that made her actions even more confusing. Why didn’t she work with Sailor Moon to find a better alternative?

For Sailor Neptune, she was more on board with the killing Hotaru plan than Pluto. But like Pluto Neptune did seem open to a discussion. Had a dialogue ever occurred, I don’t think Neptune would have been swayed. Except there would have at least been the attempt.

Whenever characters refuse to talk to one another and not give reasons for their actions when they should be doing the opposite of that, they are wasting time. I don’t blame Sailor Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, or Venus in this particular exchange at all because they kept trying to get an answer out of the other three. And had Pluto not caved in, this necessary talk would never have occurred.

And this non-communication might not have been a problem at all if it were for one person.

Sailor Uranus

Sailor Uranus did everything humanly possible to be utterly unlikeable.

She was cold, arrogant, uncompromising, overconfident, stubborn, rude, bigheaded, cocky, egotistical, and conceited. Her one positive quality was her affection for Neptune. However, not even this would have stopped Uranus from letting her soul mate die for the sake of her mission. And if it weren’t for Usagi, Uranus would have done just that.

For both Sailor Pluto and Neptune, I honestly think they could have been convinced into finding another solution besides killing Hotaru. I don’t believe that for a second with Uranus.

Every chance she had, Uranus found a way to belittle and undermine the competence of the Sailor Scouts. Never mind the fact it was Usagi and her friends who were the ones actively trying to solve the crisis of this season.

Uranus wasn’t right once throughout the entirety of Sailor Moon S.

The whole point of the first half of this season was finding the three Holy Grail pieces that were embedded within pure hearts. The Death Busters looking for the Grail to bring about the end of the world, and Uranus and Neptune were working to prevent that. It makes sense why the bad guys would want to steal a person’s heart, but why did Uranus and Neptune have to?

Here’s an idea, how about not doing that and instead, why not try to protect the heart under attack? That should have been easy since Uranus and Neptune themselves were two of the holders of the Holy Grail pieces.

This pair didn’t know this about themselves and only discovered it when Neptune was defeated, and her Grail peice was removed. Rather than trying to return the piece and saving the person she loved’s life, Uranus did the much more logical act of REMOVING HER OWN PIECE so that it was out in the open for the villains to take.

Yeah, that was a much better solution, as opposed to Uranus keeping her piece within her. After all, it wasn't like Uranus had proven she was more than capable of defeating anything the Death Busters threw at her.

When the Grail came together, Sailor Moon was able to use it to turn into Super Sailor Moon. After this debacle, you would think there would now be eight Sailor Scouts working as a team. NOPE.

Thanks in large part to Uranus’ insistence, that was still not an option for reasons.

Then once Hotaru became the target, the Sailor Scouts rightfully insisted they be told what the hell was going on. To paraphrase, Uranus responded by saying the girls couldn’t understand the gravity of the situation.

This was when I proceeded to lose it.

What in the hell do you understand Uranus? All you have ever done is say over and over again that Hotaru is bad, Sailor Saturn cannot be awakened, and the other Sailor Scouts would only get in your way. On top of that, you have never stopped harping on Usagi’s self-perceived naivety. Screw you.

Uranus never once explained why her solution was best or how she had any true insight into what was happening.

Moving on.

Finally, the climax of Sailor Moon S arrived, and like the previous two seasons, it was great. But what made it better was this time, Uranus and Neptune were forced to look on as Usagi did the exact opposite of what they wanted her to do – thank God. Sailor Moon gave the Holy Grail to Sailor Saturn because, surprise, guess who was the only person who could defeat the big evil.

The whole time this was happening, Uranus, and to be fair, Neptune too, was just berating Usagi. As loudly as she could, Uranus slandered Sailor Moon’s integrity, actions, and role as the Moon Princess. But again, SURPRISE, guess who turned out to be right.

After all the insults Uranus had given Usagi, with them all being proven wrong, you would think that an apology was on its way. NOPE!

Instead, Uranus, and also Neptune but mostly Uranus, challenged Sailor Moon to one final fight because Uranus felt Usagi’s decision to trust Sailor Saturn, you know, the thing that ended up saving the day, made Usagi unfit to be the future Queen of Crystal Tokyo. Sailor Moon easily beat Uranus and Neptune in this fight. Only after being humiliated one last time did these two finally pledge their loyalty to Usagi.

And then they left without ever saying sorry.

This was when I proceeded to lose it even harder.

Uranus didn’t have the f@#$ing right to do what she did. This entire season, she had been nothing except wrong. In fact, some of Uranus’ actions made the situation even worse. Then at the very end, she had the gall to think she was still in the right. Uranus had done jack all to back up her claims of superiority, whereas the other Sailor Scouts had proven themselves, not once, not twice, but now THREE TIMES.

Every time Uranus was on screen, every time she opened her mouth, she was infuriating. To sit through that and then her not even acknowledge her mistakes was complete and utter BS.

Sailor Moon S Finale: Synopsis

The original five Sailor Scouts head off to the Death Buster’s stronghold. Young Hotaru Tomoe, the reincarnation of Sailor Saturn, has been possessed by dark energy. However, instead of awakening as Sailor Saturn, Hotaru is overtaken by a being known as Mistress 9.

The Death Busters are on the verge of summoning an ancient evil from its dimension. In a final attempt to stop its arrival, Sailor Moon calls out to Hotaru who she feels is still alive within Mistress 9.

After a fierce struggle, Hotaru breaks free of her control and becomes the true Sailor Saturn. To save everyone, Sailor Saturn sacrifices herself by jumping into the dimensional portal from where the evil was coming from. Not wanting to lose her friend, Sailor Moon gives chase.

After several minutes of silence, Sailor Moon returns victorious, holding a small child. The infant turns out to be Hotaru who has been given a second chance at living a normal life.

With the Earth saved once again, the Sailor Scouts say their goodbye to their new allies, Uranus and Neptune.

Thus ends Sailor Moon S.

Come back tomorrow for Part 4 – Sailor Moon SuperS.