Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie

Genre: fantasy (could be considered comedy, female themed) Length: 60 minutes (theatrical film) Audience Age: 3+ (If you view the dubbed version)

Opinion: It definitely feels like a rushed TV episode.

This is a review of the subtitled VHS version.

One of the first notable animes to get imported to the United States.

I know many huge anime fans do not consider Sailor Moon to be anime despite it being from Japan, but I think that maybe a tad unfair.

If it was not for Cartoon Network's Toonami line up bringing back shows I watched when I was five or six I would not have become a major league anime fan, but I was originally turned off by this two hour afternoon cartoon block when they would always remove one of my favorite shows like Voltron or Robotech to fit Sailor Moon into line up. I did not have any intentions of watching Sailor Moon, but when you do not have a job during the summer, you watch anything on TV.

It took some time, but I soon realized that Sailor Moon may have been the best show on the Toonami line up until they picked up Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. Not my favorite show, but I guess Robotech may have lost a little to much in the translation, so I recognize that the series in the states was only slightly superior to 80s American toy based cartoons like G.I. Joe and Transformers. What makes Sailor Moon one of the best shows offered to kids are the somewhat serious plots, it has enough totally off the wall characters so the show would not grow stale too quickly, and the best aspect being that the series is full of almost all of the best anime clichés* (examples of anime clichés: giant heads when characters are angered and the giant sweat drop when characters are nervous).

Perhaps the fact that you could not obtain loyal to the original Japanese translations is why it not considered to be anime. From viewing some of the original Japanese episodes with subtitles by the show's fans, I do know that the show may have been aimed at a much more mature audience before Time Warner and Disney owned DiC (the original distributor for U.S. TV) got a hold of it. Personally, I think that those who do not consider Sailor Moon to be anime are just bitter that their favorite shows have not crossed over to the American audience (anyone offended by this comment can e-mail me about it at bitemeotakus@animeflow.cubs).

If you have not seen any of the Sailor Moon episodes on American TV to allow you to pass judgment I advice that you do not. It maybe an expensive recommendation, but I advice you go out and buy one of the subtitled videos to determine if the series is or is not an anime.

NOTE: Rarely do I recommend spending the extra $5 to $10 to buy a subtitled version of an anime, but I do feel that this is the best way to view Sailor Moon. Otherwise, I will always recommend saving money until companies like A.D.V. Films, Pioneer, and Central Park Media pay me to do otherwise.

Chibi-Usa, Sailor Chibi-Moon and Usagi's daughter from the future, meets a boy named Peruru who has the ability to control the movement of baked goods by playing his flute. She becomes an immediate friend with him but he has to leave for some mysterious reason. That night the children of Tokyo including Chibi-Usa are being led to a levitating boat by a piper who is using the children's unconscious state to his advantage.

After a failed attempt to rescue the children by the Sailor Soldiers, Chibi-Moon's new friend explains what is going on. Him and his brothers are capturing children who have beautiful dreams to help their leader, Badiyanu, to create her "Black Dream hole" to engulf the earth. So it is now up to Usagi, Sailor Moon, all of the remaining Soldiers, and their new ally to prevent the success of Badiyanu's plan.