Sailor Moon manga or anime

[MartyMuppets]

The concluding episode on disc 6 is very different from the usual sort of Sailor Moon episode.

The plot involves Serena going on a family holiday with her earthly mum, dad and younger brother Sammy to a hot springs resort near a large lake.
Malachite has informed Queen Beryl that he has detected a large source of power emanating from the lake that is very similar to their own evil power, but something is different about it. She sends Prince Darian to investigate and tells Malachite afterwards to follow and keep an eye on him. She actually has started to wonder if some of Darian's memories have been coming back to him and she wants to know if he can be relied upon. Darian is the key to retrieving the Imperium Crystal from Sailor Moon with the 7 Shadow Warriors trapped inside, so it is imperative he remains completely under her control.

Meanwhile at the lake Serena hears a legend from her mother about how a water sprite became jealous of another water sprite who married a prince and to stop her destructive attacks the prince and his bride harnassed all their power to seal her up under the waters of the lake for eternity while they travelled up to live among the stars. Darian who had been listening nearby decides to summon the jealous sprite out of captivity to obey him but once set free she doesn't want to serve anybody and goes on a violent rampage. She attacks Serena and her family and the other 4 Scouts inexplicably turn up to confront her. Serena manages to separate herself from her family when they run away and transforms into Sailor Moon to help her friends. The ugly sprite survives attacks from Jupiter and Venus and even Moon's lethal spinning tiara and they are almost despairing. But Mars senses that she's very evil but not from the Negaverse and Darian appears as Tuxedo Mask to say he's responsible for giving her liberty. Mars stuns her with her special paralyzing magic and tells Serena to try the Crescent Moon Wand. She applies it's healing power to the sprite and she is transformed from a monster to a very lovely creature. Having been purged of all her jealousy she ascends to the stars laughing and waving happily to the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask who all smile after her.

But when she's gone Tuxedo Mask reverts back to his brainwashed persona and leaves saying they'll finish their business regarding the Imperium Crystal next time. Serena is upset and says that she doesn't understand and Malachite who has observed all that took place in hiding thinks to himself that he can't understand either. What is Darian up to? A very good question.

Anyway Serena is happily re-united with her family who were concerned about her getting lost during their flight and she settles down to enjoy the rest of the holiday with her four friends' company.

Stay tuned for the continuation of the storyline in disc 7

 

[The Count]

Thanks for the updates Marty... Rully enjoying them. Makes me appreciate the series I enjoy a bit better.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Now here's commentary for the opening episode on disc 7

Another unusual episode.
Darian is on a mission for Queen Beryl as Prince Darian, champion of the Negaverse, and he's capturing all the 7 original carriers of the Rainbow Crystals sucking them into a dark oblong crystal. Malachite cannot understand why Beryl is doing this. He asks her, "Didn't Sailor Moon dispel the power of the Shadow Warriors residing in the carriers? What use can they possibly be to you now?"
She explains that they can still be used to harnass the Shadow Warriors powers. If the seven carriers can be gathered up in the dark Crystal they can become catalysts to getting the Shadow Warriors themselves trapped in the Imperium Silver Crystal to combine into one giant, single, un-beatable Shadow that'll break free and destroy the Sailor Scouts once and for all.
My friend said that he had had much the same sort of questions as that of the character Malachite while he was watching the start of it, but Beryl answered them for him of course

So anyway Darian ends up capturing five of them. Out of the remaining two Amy's dear friend Greg is visiting town with his family and calls her because he has foreseen this with his future-prediction abilities. Amy tracks him down as Sailor Mercury with Sailor Jupiter alongside her. Mercury runs off with Greg while Darian fights Jupiter in hand to hand combat. He blocks all her attacks and strikes back just missing her face by inches. Finally she closes her eyes as he aims a punch straight at her, but she realizes that he stopped it before it connected with her nose. Then he disappears into thin air and re-appears where Mercury is and sucks up Greg into the Dark Crystal. But Mercury tricks him and snatches it off him and smashes it releasing all the carriers. (Only Raye's Grandpa was never captured)

Sailor Moon arrives just in time to heal Darian and he collapses purged of Beryl's brainwashing but to her immense disappointment he vanishes in a black portal back to the Negaverse.
The last we see of him is Queen Beryl using her brainwashing device on him all over again to endeavour to erase all those memories she brought back to him.

Even though this is un-doubtedly the most control Beryl has ever had over him in any episode to date my friend agreed that it's a very good point that he was still unable to bring himself to really hurt Sailor Jupiter in the end and we wonder whether he may have sub-consciously allowed Sailor Mercury to out-smart him all too easily.

Stay tuned for more exciting storyline soon.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Now I'm ready for more commentaries.

I've seen two more episodes. In the first one Serena and the other girls are making out that they are ganging up on her wanting to kick her out as a trap to make the Negaverse think they can make a deal with a rejected Sailor Moon for the Imperium Crystal. Malachite is using a newspaper reporter he's turned into a servant to help him and in the end he meets Sailor Moon at 11pm with the reporter and offers to take her to the Negaverse to be with Tuxedo Mask who's very weakly drained after his experiences in the last episode. So Malachite claims. When Sailor Moon stalls for time they attack her and thus the other Scouts who were in hiding hoping to get readouts on Mercury's computer about the entrance to the Negaverse, are forced to come to their leader's aid. Malachite is successfully chased off though he swears he shall return and the reporter is healed in battle eventually.
Things didn't work out as the Scouts had planned in the end but tomorrow is another day.

And as for the other episode things are really significant now. Luna and Artemis show the Scouts a portal they've discovered, which they believe will lead to the Negaverse. They all enter and find themselves in some underground maze. Luna and Artemis go their own way leaving the Scouts to explore the other direction. Malachite appears in the Scouts' territory and fights them for the Crystal. During the course of the battle something strange happens and the five girls are sucked into another realm away from Malachite and find themselves on the moon among the shattered ruins of the Moon Palace. Serena's original mother Queen Serenity appears in a vision and reveals the full story of the past to them.
The Scouts are shown how they all lived in peace and joy until Queen Beryl invaded them. We see Malachite and his sweetheart Zoicite along with Jeddite and Neflite armed with swords leading her wicked army into battle. We also see how Beryl first encountered Prince Darian of Earth and offered to take him by her side so they could rule the universe together. When he refuses she snatches him and Princess Serena levitating them up into the air while the other four fight un-successfully against the foe. Queen Serenity is able to use magic to trap Beryl and her forces into a crystal jewel along with Serena, Darian and the others. She explains to Luna and Artemis that if she had destroyed the enemy she would have destroyed her daughter and everybody else as well. She sends them away to a new future on Earth and sends the cats there to awaken their memories if Beryl's forces should ever break free from their prison. And the Scouts are returned to where they last fought with Malachite after learning all about their complete past finally.
They find Malachite attacking Luna and Artemis and they defend them. Malachite endeavours to get the Crystal one last time and shoots a weapon at Sailor Moon who deflects it right back at him with the Crescent Moon Wand. It strikes him and as he's dying he calls out "Zoicite. It's me. I'm coming to join you Zoicite. Here I come now." And he de-materializes into nothing.
The Cats explain that Malachite had taken them by surprise when they had discovered a Negaverse base located somewhere in the Antarctic Region and that it looks like Beryl is preparing to launch an all-out attack from there. The five girls all agree they've had enough of that dreadful Queen and vow to put her away for good.
Queen Beryl is going down say the Sailor Scouts. To be concluded.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Incidentally I think it's very cool that my Sailor Moon thread has now become hot.

 

[MartyMuppets]

I promise to add more comments very very soon but for now let's bump it back up before it disappears off the boards again.

And if anybody else besides Ed and Katie have been enjoying my reviews as well, please reply and tell me if you'd like. I'd be happy to find out what you think of them thus far.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Actually I decided to log off and watch the conclusion and post my reviews now.

Luna and Artemis have sent the five Sailor Scouts magically to the Antarctic area at which Beryl has her negaverse base set up and she sees them wandering in the ice and snow through her crystal ball. She asks for any volunteers among her vast army to confront them and five female minions known as the Doom and Gloom Girls step forward.
Beryl sends them off and they make war upon the Scouts. They fight valiantly but one by one all the Scouts are taken into custody by the Doom and Gloom Girls except Moon herself who is spirited away by the Queen personally to her headquarters.

There Serena is shocked to see Prince Darian on one knee kissing Beryl's hand. She instructs him to kill Sailor Moon and get the Imperium Crystal with the Shadow Warriors inside for her. Serena tries to heal him without effect, then uses her tiara in a unique way just to keep him at bay. Beryl cries that she will never be able to turn him against her now. But Serena shows Darian the musical locket that he gave her 1000 years ago on the moon and when he touches it he is set completely free from the Queen's evil spell. Beryl is outraged and attacks but Darian pierces her heart with the stem of a rose. She transports herself weakly to the Negaforce which says it should leave her to die but it's giving her one last chance and use it well. So saying it enters itself into the Queen's body healing her fatal wound and transforming her into an enormous giant endowed with the Negaforce's power.

Serena has left Darian resting on account of his weakened state and transforms from Sailor Moon to the Moon Princess to fight a magic duel with Queen Beryl. She is attacked with savage blasts of energy which she holds at bay with the Crescent Wand and Imperium Crystal but she starts to weaken and knows she needs help, so her four buddies somehow astrally project their spirits from their bodies in whatever prison the Doom and Gloom Girls are keeping them in and they add their magic to Serena's magic and to Beryl's dismay she is blasted into nothing, putting an end to all her plans of universe conquest.

Thus all the Scouts return safely somehow along with Darian. Maybe with their Queen dead all her surviving minions just fled and scattered so they could make their escape with no problems at all. Luna and Artemis are so pleased but now everybody has forgotten everything about what happened. They don't remember ever meeting or being warriors fighting the Negaverse. It's like none of it ever happened. Artemis tells Luna he thinks they just need to meet again and make friends and perhaps they'll remember. Luna says she hopes he's right. After all what about Prince Darian and Princess Serena? What's to happen to their romance if they can't remember?

 

[MartyMuppets]

When my friend saw this he also watched the prologue at the end of the episode which recounts the end of the Moon Kingdom and Queen Serenity sending everybody good and bad to Earth. And how eventually Beryl broke free but Sailor Moon defeated her in a final cosmic battle, but all Sailor Moon's memories of the fight are now lost and she is just an ordinary girl.
The final line is "Already the Negaforce is sending a new evil and powerful enemy to Earth, and thus our story begins."

When he heard that he said "Ah. So Queen Beryl was destroyed but the Negaforce wasn't." And he eagerly awaited the next time we would get together so he could find out about this new threat.

He agreed with me that he was glad there was more to come. It was a rather sad and disappointing way to end the storyline. Somehow everybody had to get their memories back in order to fight against whatever the Negaforce was sending their way.
One final point of note is that this means that the Scouts never actually faced off against the Shadow Warriors themselves at all, because they are trapped inside the Imperium Crystal for good. And good riddance too I'd say

Next time I shall commence posting commentaries for the sequel storyline

 

[The Count]

This was great stuff Marty. Thanks for the commentaries, I'm awaiting the sequel story arch. Will ask questions at the end of that one. Have a great night.

 

[MartyMuppets]

The last two episodes on disc 7 commence the sequel.

It starts off with all the Scouts and Darian living their own ordinary lives when one night something comes crashing to Earth leaving an enormous crater in the middle of the road.
But there is nothing to be found in the bottom at all. In truth a male and a female alien have come to Earth riding a strange plant for a spaceship that they call the Doomtree. Their names are Alan and Anne and they take up residence in a high-rise apartment unit with the Doomtree concealed inside one of the rooms. Apparently they have come to Earth to look for fresh energy to feed the Doomtree to keep it alive for if it dies then they will also die. They begin terrorizing people to suck their energy out of them. They use cards with pictures of monsters on them that Alan can bring to life by playing a tune on his magic flute.
When they send their first one Serena is talking to her friend Molly on the phone and the monster bursts into Molly's room attacking her. Serena runs over as quick as she can and is briefly attacked herself. But Artemis counter-attacks and gets it to chase him out into the street while Luna uses mental power to restore Serena's memory to her and she becomes Sailor Moon again, fights the monster and destroys it with her tiara throw.
Alan and Anne appear briefly taunting Sailor Moon that Earth is now their planet and they will be triumphant over her in the end.

Another point is that the two aliens are able to make themselves look like humans and in this form they enroll as students in Serena's High School as a cover. A running gag throughout the plot is that they always make each other furiously jealous when Alan starts becoming attracted to Serena, not knowing that she's really Sailor Moon, and Anne likewise gets crazy about Darian. Each one thinks there's nothing wrong with their obsessive crushes, but they still get upset often over the other's antics.

So anyway in the second episode Alan and Anne invade a movie studio looking for young girl auditions for their new film. Molly has asked Serena to come along to give her moral support as she has been asked to attend the audition and the other four Scouts have also been selected as candidates. When the aliens send another of their card monsters to gather all the girls energy Molly faints in shock and Luna the Cat is able to use the same mental ability to turn Amy, Raye, Lita and Mina(not sure if I ever mentioned Sailor Venus's real name before) back into the Sailor Scout team and they all help Sailor Moon destroy the second monster. Alan and Anne go back to their hideout swearing to wipe out these meddlesome Sailor Scouts next time.

Something that worried my friend was that when Sailor Moon first saw the second monster she must have thought it was a possessed person but when she tried to heal it she found she had lost the Crescent Moon Wand. My friend said this means she has also lost the Imperium Silver Crystal. What is to become of it?
Darian still doesn't have his memories back though Serena hopes that he will soon.

My friend also noted how very different this storyline is already. Whereas Queen Beryl was out for absolute tyrannical dictatorship Alan and Anne seem to be perpetrating evil just for self-preservation since their lives are tied up with the life of the Doomtree. Before we had an evil society similar to a mafia, but Alan and Anne seem to have nobody with them other than the cards they bring to life.
Well anyway the new storyline reviews will continue when I get a start on watching disc 8.