Welcome back to more Sailor Stars reviews! This time we FINALLY see Sailor Uranus & Neptune show up again! Then we see the final episode for Sailor Iron Mouse… and the much-dreaded debut of CHIBI-CHIBI, who was one of the least-liked Sailor Moon characters to the ’90s fandom (who of course had mostly only heard ABOUT her, not actually seen her).
EPISODE #180:
And finally… FINALLY… we come to a Uranus/Neptune episode! Now, Michiru is doing a joint concert with the Three Lights, and homina homina homina- WHITE EVENING GOWN WITH SHOULDER-LENGTH GLOVES, Y’ALL! Michiru is congratulated by Seiya after the show is a success (weird how the Three Lights are Pop Idols but NEVER SING- why not use this to make some new songs? They redid the entire soundtrack of the series, but didn’t use many with words! Edit: aaaaaaand after I write this, I become aware of the song that shows up in every goddamn episode and I’m cursing myself for writing this), and he promptly begins flirting, attracted to the mystery of her personality, and her joking about how his fans might go crazy on her.
She politely leads him on and teases him, at which point HARUKA shows up and is immediately jealous- kind of hilarious that Haruka is the jealous one, given how often she flirts with other girls. Michiru is unapologetic and like “oh, JEALOUS?”, too, while Seiya just cracks wise (“you really had me going, Michiru”). Haruka mutters “get the hell out” at Seiya and he coolly takes his leave. That whole interaction was great fun, and very unusual for the show- most people flirt in a one-sided nature- with a confident aggressor and a blushing recipient- real Shoujo shit. This was straight-up “two cool, confident equals” in a contest of words. Meanwhile, Sailor Iron Mouse is threatened by Sailor Galaxia, and her two smirking rivals now appear in full to taunt her.
In any case, today’s victim is actually an elderly conductor, and there’s a neat bit where he correctly guesses that the Lights’ songs are “sending a mysterious wave of energy” outward, like “a message to a loved one”. This delights Seiya, who has assurance that their mission is working. The man is of course turned into Sailor Conductor and throws stuff at Sailor Moon, but is promptly beaten by a Star Serious Laser and the Therapy Kiss… and I realize that Uranus & Neptune don’t get involved in this fight AT ALL. But then Sailor Moon & Star Fighter make a truce and THERE THEY ARE- and Sailor Uranus fires out a “World Shaking” at Seiya! Snarling “Get lost”, she says, as a narrow-eyed Uranus & Neptune arrive and chase the Starlights away, declaring that they “come from outside the solar system!” and that “beings like them can’t be trusted!”. The Starlights are PO’d and bail, with a heartbroken Moon wondering why this has to be- the Guardian Bitches just go all “Well it’s our job to protect you”, which is a new one from them, who are usually as unhelpful as humanly possible.
A pretty good episode, with some fun interactions- the annoying Phage Fights are getting increasingly short and tiresome and distract from some pretty good stories. Sailors Uranus & Neptune being adversarial to the Starlights is a twist you can probably see coming, seeing as how obsessively-separate they are- that the Starlights have adopted many of their Sailor Moon S traits as mysterious outsiders with a separate mission that might involve sacrificing people… now that’s just irony.
(First Appearance: Sailor Lead Crow, Sailor Aluminum Siren)
EPISODE #181:
So with Sailor Iron Mouse on her last shot at a Star Seed (complete with a fun bit where telephones simply appear to harass her wherever she goes), she targets the Three Lights, while Seiya just aggressively asks Usagi out to meet him at the park! Not realizing he means it’s a date, she goes along, despite being annoyed at how demanding he is… and she finds Haruka & Michiru, who now engage in their most MASTER-CLASS example of P.D.A., as Michiru drags Haruka off after warning Usagi not to let the wolf “devour” her- Haruka: “Be more gentle”, Michiru: “Maybe when we’re alone”. This is probably the most infamous example of “YUP- THESE TWO BONE” to the fandom.
Usagi & Seiya hang out at what is obviously the Ueno Zoo (the pandas behind glass is a dead giveaway), then an amusement park, and we even see a cutesy Archie Comics-ish gag with a “Panbresto” prize machine (Banpresto being a big company for making Japanese figurines and such). Usagi is annoyed at his consistent flirting, but he’s taken aback by how serious she is in defending her relationship with Mamoru, finding her similar to his “Princess”. Though it’s again pointed out that he never replied to her letters (because he ded). Then he takes her to an exclusive club that the Lights always visit, and through Comedic Misunderstandings ™, Usagi thinks he’s about to mount her when LOL turns out he just meant “first time” as in “first time going dancing at a club”.
Then the true push of the writers to make Usagi/Seiya a thing happens, as Iron Mouse turns out the lights at the club, and Seiya holds Usagi close- “A warmth just like Mamo’s- but a different scent”. Yeah, they disliked Mamo THAT MUCH that we now get a big Seiya “shipping” push, lol. Usagi runs off to transform, but Seiya avoids Iron Mouse’s “Star Seed Blaster” and transforms right in front of the villain! Sailor Moon arrives, and her concern over Seiya makes Sailor Star Fighter realize that she & Usagi must be the same person, and just as Iron Mouse threatens them one last time… Sailor Galaxia appears, coldly takes away her bracelets, thus vaporizing the general once and for all. Then Galaxia taunts the other Sailors, and the Starlights confirm that she’s the one who destroyed their home.
We end things with Seiya apologizing for bailing and gifting Usagi the prize he won at the theme park, and he goes all “Nah, she couldn’t POSSIBLY be Sailor Moon…” before leaving. And so Sailor Iron Mouse is dead, having never really had an effect on the plot or been a serious threat. What a ho-hum villain- a Wannabe Mimete.
Episode #182:
OH GOD IT’S THE DEBUT OF CHIBI-CHIBI!! This is, by far, the major Sailor Moon character I know the least about, as the fandom hadn’t really “gotten” to that point when I first got into the series. She was treated as a pariah by ’90s fans because she was a sign of the show pulling a Cosby Show and falling entirely to “Uh, well they don’t like the old kid anymore, so let’s make a NEW kid”, creating another, even younger, cutesy “Kid Focus” character.
In any case, Sailor Galaxia talks to two of her remaining “Sailor Anima Mates”, Aluminum Siren & Lead Crow, and they announce that they now control 80% of the galaxy (!!), and have collected many “True Star Seeds” (what the late Iron Mouse was searching for). Aluminum Siren is the new “General”, sporting an extremely elaborate look- a weird “X”-mask over her face, long white hair, and a stripperific mega-cleavage outfit with a blue theme. It’s very solid, but nearly EXACTLY like the colors used for Berthier & Viluy- past Generals- that she comes off as them running out of ideas.
The gang contemplates the Starlights being evil, now that they know both they and the Anima Mates are from outer space, and now SETSUNAH shows up again! Yay, a Pluto-focused episode! Except she’s sharing it with Chibi-Chibi! And the new villains! Oh, Pluto- nobody on the creative team loves you. In any case, we find out that Siren & Crow are actually “eternal rivals” for “#1 Anima Mate”, but Crow is actually sweetly concerned with how her rival is doing on “this godforsaken planet!”… but is terribly annoyed at how flighty and ditzy Siren is being, as she stress-eats and cleans up Mouse’s old crap and throws it away. Okay, these two are fun.
Aaaaaaaaand Chibi-Chibi arrives, says only her name (like a Pokemon or something), and ultimately does the old “Brainwash Usagi’s family to think she’s the baby of the family” thing… except only Ikuko-Mama is seen, because Shingo had his last episode in SuperS (like 20 episodes ago at least), and Usagi’s poor dad hasn’t been seen for literally a HUNDRED EPISODES by now! The girls try to theorize her origins (thinking she’s another daughter of Neo Queen Serenity & King Endymion), but Pluto refutes this, and warns them not to trust her (naturally). Chibi-Chibi is lost temporarily, but found by a “Police Chief For A Day” Seiya (REALLY? They had to jam the Starlights in here, too?), and the police chief is our Victim of the Day, given about ten seconds of dialogue before he turns into the huge, robotic Sailor Cop. Sailor Pluto’s only contribution to the fight? A missed attack against the Anima Mates (Siren hilariously introduces herself to Sailor Moon via BUSINESS CARD EXCHANGE, presumably having heard this is how Japanese people introduce themselves). Star Serious Laser stuns the Cop after he fires his laser pistol, and he’s beaten.
The fact that Sailor Pluto is barely even a character continues to be an issue in these- both of her “Focus Episodes” consist of her being a generic ally, seemingly knowing but still investigating everything. And the episode had a half-dozen things to accomplish at once- introducing Chibi-Chibi, still featuring the Usagi/Seiya adversarial stuff, etc., so it was super-full. But I really like the “feuding buddies” aspect of Siren & Crow- they have terrific designs, and Crow being “The Serious One” admonishing “ditzy but dangerous” Siren is fantastic.
(First Appearance: Chibi-Chibi)
And that’s it for now! As I slowly run out of episodes and near what has been a 3+ year project, I’m a bit shocked, haha. There was one guy on the old site I posted these one who was reading weekly, but sadly I haven’t heard from him in a long time.
SWO Productions 