Featured LaserDisc artwork by Ikuko Itoh.
Welcome back to Mooniversity, our column for all things “Sailor Moon,” and happy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate (coincidentally, it’s now the Year of the Rabbit.) Today we’re revisiting the third season of the ’90s anime, Sailor Moon S (as in Super), which adapted the ‘Infinity’ arc of the manga across 38 episodes from March 19, 1994, to February 25, 1995. Arguably the darkest season of the show, it’s a reasonably faithful adaptation that pits the Inner Guardians against the Death Busters, led by Professor Souichi Tomoe, and their significantly more ruthless counterparts Sailor Uranus and Neptune.
The season sets out a more intense tone from the start, with Rei having disturbing visions of the apocalyptic devastation that the Death Busters will wreak, and tougher monsters-of-the-week, the first of whom actually causes Usagi to lose her powers. Professor Tomoe’s entire lab set-up evokes horror, not fantasy, and his face is only ever seen as a creepy, smiling silhouette for the first two cours (arcs) of the season. Even the formula of the season, in which the Death Busters’ Daimons attack civilians for their Heart Crystals, is inherently darker and more violent than any of the previous evil schemes from the show.
Which isn’t to say it’s completely bleak: in fact, S is probably the embodiment of darker and funnier, with offbeat and genuinely funny comedy sequences, beginning with the unforgettable third episode, “A Handsome Boy? Haruka Tenoh’s Secret,” in which everyone labors under the assumption Haruka is an attractive boy. Lead director Kunihiko Ikuhara, who took over from series co-creator Junichi Sato during the production of R, has a notoriously surreal sense of humor, and he really got to weave it into the show’s personality, with utterly off-the-wall moments like everyone spying on Rei by hiding behind a waitress, or Chibiusa (unfortunately) getting harassed by a full-on Crayon Shin-Chan homage.
Despite his sinister lighting, Tomoe himself turns out to be a quirky and endearing archfoe, constantly trying to find ways to liven up his work hours; unsurprisingly, he receives a much more sympathetic backstory than his manga counterpart, and a plot twist revealing he was possessed by a Daimon the whole time, making him the latest of Takeuchi’s villains to earn a redemption arc in the anime. Otherwise, in stark contrast to most of the anime, the Witches 5 aren’t given redemption stories, even though the time spent with Kaolinite, Eudial and Mimete as Tomoe’s enforcers during their respective cours meant they would’ve earned ones, as they prove to be much more interesting than the Black Moon Clan. (The rest of the group are dealt with rapidly during the fourth and final cour as events escalate, making this season even closer to the manga in that respect.)
Perhaps the show’s staff felt they had enough moral complexity to deal with in the conflict between the Inner and Outer Guardians, which is significantly more antagonistic than in the comic, culminating in the penultimate episode, where Uranus effectively challenges Usagi for leadership over her decision to surrender the Holy Grail to Mistress 9. Time and again we see Uranus, Neptune, and even Pluto are so focused on their mission that they’re completely indifferent to helping Usagi or pals, or civilians who are suffering, when it’d probably take less effort to lift a finger. Haruka’s such a great character, effortlessly cool, convincingly earning Usagi, Minako, Makoto, and even Chibiusa’s affection, and she gets an episode revealing her origin, so it’s a shame she ultimately comes across like the Sailor Guardians’ bad boyfriend.
Despite that, S is probably the strongest season of the show, with its great comedy, dark drama, the additional opportunities to get to know Hotaru before her transformation into Mistress 9, and most strikingly, the ease with which Usagi and Mamoru grow into the responsibility of being Chibiusa’s parents. The latter two elements really pay off in the climax of the season, when an anguished Usagi begs and pleads against the forces of destiny to summon “Moon Crisis Make-Up” after Saturn sacrifices herself; it’s a devastatingly quiet scene, absent of any background noise except thunder, where she begins beating the ground and screaming in anguish as she slowly realizes her daughter’s best friend may be permanently lost to all of them — it is undoubtedly the most emotional scene in the whole series.
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What’s ironic about the “silence” of that scene is that S has composer Takanori Arisawa’s best score for the series yet: from the stirring, string-based action themes for Uranus and Neptune (which beautifully calls back to Michiru’s background as a violinist), to Hotaru’s eerie melody of a leitmotif, and the campy yet unsettling Death Busters music, S‘s score had it all — even Sailor Moon’s own transformation music for this season was far more energetic and confident than its predecessors. If R was about the original songs (one of which, “Ai no Senshi,” was reused here in the 13th episode), S was all about the score.
See you all next time for Sailor Moon SuperS.
