Sailor Moon manga or anime

[The Count]

Mmm... That's better. Well, that's kind of what I imagined. Now it's a struggle to get the last two or first five crystals. Wonder what'll be next, post when you can Marty.

 

[Drtooth]

Found some info on the live action/animated Saban thingy...

http://www.animefringe.com/magazine/00.12/feature/2/index.php3

 

[MartyMuppets]

That was very interesting. Thank you Dr.tooth.

I've been away visiting my mother again who is still doing well.
But my commentaries will return ASAP

 

[MartyMuppets]

I've completed disc 5 now.

An imitation Sailor Moon has appeared doing brave deeds and gaining everybody's attention. Serena isn't happy about this. The others wonder if she could be the fifth Sailor Scout and Serena says if she is she has no business assuming her title. So they set off to investigate and they discover her tied up apparently a prisoner of the Negaverse. Malachite is watching over her and when the Scouts challenge him he traps them inside a large magic force-field which slowly begins to shrink. None of their powers can penetrate it and things look bad.

Meanwhile Tuxedo Mask also finds the duplicate Sailor Moon and rescues her. But she stabs him in the shoulder and throws off her disguise revealing herself to be Zoicite. They start duelling for the two remaining crystals he has on him. During the fight Darian's mask is knocked off and Queen Beryl, who is watching on her crystal ball gasps. She recognizes Darian's face. Zoicite has him at her mercy when a mysterious girl appears in the shadows and shoots her weapon out of her hand with a yellowish-orange beam of light. By the time she recovers both Tuxedo Mask and the strange girl have disappeared. She cannot understand it. She thought all the Scouts were trapped by her sweetheart Malachite. She goes to him and explains what happened. He says it can't be so. All the Scouts are clearly trapped in the dome. They decide it must have been some illusion and call out to Tuxedo Mask that if he's nearby he'd better come and hand over the last two crystals for the Scouts are going to be crushed as the dome contracts very soon now. Luna is watching helplessly by the sideline and Tuxedo Mask appears reluctantly prepared to give his treasure up.

However before anything else happens the mysterious girl re-appears and wounds Malachite's hands with her light beam attack breaking his magic spell and freeing the Scouts to Luna's immense joy. The fifth Scout introduces herself as Sailor Venus and the white cat introduces himself as her guardian Artemis. My friend said as soon as he saw this "So the white cat has appeared at the same moment as the last girl."
Zoicite and Malachite prepare to fight but Queen Beryl calls them back saying it's too risky and they need a better plan to beat them. They say they'll be back and get the crystals next time. Tuxedo Mask meanwhile has slunk off home with his wounded shoulder and the Scouts are over-joyed to be united with their final member at last.

Later Queen Beryl tells Zoicite and Malachite that she knows the identity of Tuxedo Mask and that she wants him brought to her kingdom as well as the crystals he stole.
So Zoicite communicates with Darian through his own television screen at his apartment challenging him to a duel one on one. The winner getting to keep all 7 Rainbow Crystals. He decides he has little choice and agrees to meet at a deserted high block tower. On the way he runs into Serena who notices that his shoulder is bleeding and follows him. Her hatred for him placed aside out of compassion for his being hurt. Before she knows it she is scooped up in the magic net that transports Darian to the middle of the tower as he approaches it.
Zoicite places her five crystals in the middle of the floor and Darian the same with his two then Malachite materializes and snatches them. Serena is unconscious at this point and doesn't notice.She wakes up just as Zoicite is saying that their duel will be held on the top floor. She and Malachite disappear leaving Serena and Darian to race to the elevator as the floor starts to collapse under them. As they are ascending Zoicite decides to take matters into her own hands and sends a fireball hurtling down the elevator shaft. When it explodes she thinks she'll tell the Queen it was an accident. She thinks she won't mind since Malachite has taken all seven Rainbow Crystals back to the Negaverse for her.
But Serena had transformed into Sailor Moon and rescued Darian from the fireball. And when Zoicite confronts him he transforms too revealing himself to be Tuxedo Mask. Serena is flabbergasted and thinks this will take some getting used to now she knows the creep she can't stand is her hero. Zoicite is still fighting dirty though and conjures up a small mini-spear out of the floor to shoot from behind and stab Tuxedo Mask in the back. Sailor Moon is devastated and so are the other Scouts, who tracked down where the Negaverse was at work and burst into the tower. They arrive just in time to see Tuxedo wounded and Sailor Moon start to cry.

Then a strange thing happens. When she cries the seven Rainbow Crystals suddenly fly away off the container on which Malachite has arranged them to his shock and appear near Sailor Moon joining together to form the Silver Imperium Crystal which attaches itself to the Crescent Moon Wand used to restore the crystal carriers back to normal. And when Sailor Moon reaches out and takes it she transforms into the Moon Princess herself. Serena is the Moon Princess as well as being the Sailor Scout of the Moon to everybody's amazement including Serena herself. But the episodes on this disc end on this cliffhanger point. More reviews to come when I commence disc 6

 

[The Count]

So... Was that one episode or two? Rully looking forward to the rest of the episodes/commentaries... It's great fun and helps others gain a liking for the series.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Those were two episodes Ed. And I hope you get the last of it when you read this little reply, if you haven't already seen the completed review

 

[The Count]

OK... Now that makes more sense... And makes us await the reviews of Disc 6 that much more.

I'm tempted to do a similar thread for the Yu-Gi-Oh series, though I don't have the episodes on DVD or anything like that... Maybe another project for later days.

 

[MartyMuppets]

So far I've watched only the first episode on disc 6, but that one has a lot to say for itself.

First of all while Darian is apparently dying in Serena's arms with the other Scouts and Luna and Artemis watching their memories come back to them. She is Princess Serena of the Moon Kingdom and he is Prince Darian from Earth. They were engaged to be married but the last time she ever saw him was when he went off to war against Queen Beryl and the army of the Negaverse and now they are together again in this tragic moment.
Zoicite tries to get the Imperium Crystal but the Moon Princess repels her with a blast of energy from it knocking her against the wall. Malachite appears and takes her in his arms back to Beryl, where to his dismay the Queen mercilessly executes her for disobeying orders to take Tuxedo Mask alive. He holds back his grief as Beryl orders him to get the Imperium Crystal back from Sailor Moon.

Meanwhile the Moon Princess has changed back into Sailor Moon again but while the Scouts are talking about how to help Darian Malachite re-appears and transports him to the Negaverse.

Luna and Artemis begin to remember what happened on the Moon and tell the girls how they were all princesses and Sailor Scouts of their own respective planets and members of Serena's court. Queen Serenity sent them all to earth in new identities hoping they'd be happy in peace, but if the Negaverse ever re-appeared on Earth she sent the talking cats to locate and activate the Sailor Scout team to protect earth from the same fate as the Moon Kingdom. Serena is very unhappy about losing Darian now she knows about their past but her friends promise to find him. Malachite comes back and tries to get the Crystal but is fought off, while Queen Beryl is talking to the unseen negaforce about how she intends to brainwash Darian so he will retrieve the Crystal for the Negaverse. The negaforce says they have enough power and the plan will be worthwhile and the Queen is delighted. And the Scouts are left wondering what has become of Darian.

This is the first time the history of the battle on the Moon begins to be revealed and my friend said it's interesting to think after such a deadly wound Darian can still be alive but in a fantasy I suppose his fatal wounds can be magically healed the same time as he is undergoing his brainwashing. He was very curious as to what would happen with this development. Also he wondered how Malachite will react to what Beryl did to Zoicite in the long run. After all they had been in love. Would he stay loyal or rebel for revenge?
And what about the shadow warriors? They are all still trapped inside the Imperium Crystal. Presumably Beryl hopes to finally free them when she retrieves it with Darian's controlled help.

Wait and watch for more comments coming soon.

 

[MartyMuppets]

I've seen the next two episodes and things are heating up.

Darian has been brainwashed and Malachite is ordered to train him in his task and to make sure where his loyalties lie.
The Scouts have been trying to comfort Serena in her grief but they are all devastated to discover what Beryl has done to Tuxedo Mask.
Malachite is setting traps to get the Moon Crescent Wand with the Imperium Crystal attatched to it and he is continuing to use for his helpers innocent people magically transformed into Negaverse servants just like the original carriers of the Rainbow Crystals had been. Serena heals them in battle of course. She cannot destroy the manipulated innocents

Darian appears at the end of the first episode talking to the Negaforce asking it why it sent him as Tuxedo Mask rather than as Prince Darian. He says he would feel stronger in the latter identity but the Negaforce says the idea is theoretically to put the Scouts off their guard since they are fond of Tuxedo Mask. So Darian submits though as my friend pointed out there are question marks sometimes as to whether at moments he is able to throw off Beryl's brainwashing temporarily. The roses he customarily throws have turned a ghastly black but sometimes you see them flashing briefly back to red. And in the second story he effectively ruins Malachite's plan on the pretense of wanting to get the Crystal off Sailor Moon.

Serena is positive they'll come up with a way to break the spell completely in the end. But there are more episodes to come before that.

One good point of note is that my friend agreed with me that while Beryl is the Queen of the Negaverse, the real supreme enemy is the invisible being referred to as the Negaforce, and he was wondering just how it would be defeated in the end.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Right I've seen the rest of disc 6 except for the last episode now.
So far the plot is basically the same. Malachite is still turning humans into negaverse monsters to serve him and Tuxedo Mask is still opposing Queen Beryl despite the limited control she has over him.
Malachite only puts up with having Darian in the negaverse because of Queen Beryl, though one cannot help but wonder if Malachite would lead a rebellion against her in revenge for Zoicite, if he could get enough members of Beryl's gang to rally voluntarily by his side.

Anyway Tuxedo Mask asserts that he wants to get the crystal for the Queen. But it seems he remembers from time to time that Serena is his long-lost princess, though he is unable to shrug off her influence completely.
He regains control of his senses just long enough to save the day. But he always says next time he will get the Imperium Crystal for the negaverse.
Evidently Malachite is suspicious of his reliableness though he would never dare question Queen Beryl. She is so sure of her brainwashing that she seems blinded to what is happening and no doubt she would display her wrath if Malachite attempted to point it out to her.

So the fight goes on and the Scouts are hopeful of setting Darian free one day and Raye says she wishes they could find a way to enter Beryl's realm and wipe her evil organization out once and for all. I told my friend that sounds very interesting since Queen Beryl herself never seems to leave her world to come to earth at all. Therefore they will have to confront her eventually one way or another in order to defeat her.

More reviews soon.