Welcome back to the Summer Comics Binge of Naoko Takeuchi’s “Sailor Moon,” this week we’re starting the fourth arc of the series, the ‘Dream’ saga, which many of you will have just revisited, as it formed the basis of last year’s Sailor Moon Eternal movies. For those who need a refresher, this story pits the Sailor Guardians against the mirror entity Queen Nehelenia and her Dead Moon Circus, while aided by visions of the winged unicorn Helios. More importantly, it’s about the girls’ hopes, fears and (surprise) dreams, and Chibiusa falling in love.
Created by Naoko TakeuchiPictured: Pluto & Saturn
Art by Naoko Takeuchi
Translated by Alethea Nibley & Athena Nibley
Lettered by Lys Blakeslee[Official blurb is the same as the previous volumes. (“Teenager Usagi is not the best athlete, she’s never gotten good grades, and, well, she’s a bit of a crybaby…”)]
Art by Takeuchi
On the surface, the ‘Dream’ arc is a visually brighter, more child-friendly story than its predecessor, with an emphasis on fairy tale and circus imagery, from Helios himself, to the Circus’s Amazoness Quartet, who possess cartoonishly elaborate hairstyles that make them more feel childlike than previous villains. Mirrors play a major role in the story, since Nehelenia is trapped behind one, instantly bringing to mind the Wicked Queen from “Snow White,” and there’s a lot more animal symbolism than Helios, with the Quartet transforming a fish, a tiger, and a hawk into the flamboyant Amazon Trio, while three of the Guardians’ own pets also appear in human form.
It’s possible Takeuchi was throwing a bone to the creators of the TV show after the relentlessly dark and sinister ‘Infinity’ (tellingly, the older Guardians do not appear in the anime version of this arc), but it does not mean ‘Dream’ is a less mature arc: just like fairy tales, which were frequently terrifying anyway, it’s a psychologically rich story reflecting (no pun intended) the fears and anxieties of its target audience, who (in case you forgot) are young girls who may be apprehensive about growing up, or falling in love. This is an introspective tale that sees the girls being tested by nightmares from the Circus’s Lemures, who prey on their desires for normal lives, and it is easily the best exploration of the supporting cast’s inner lives so far.
is to protect her loved ones
As with the first half of every “Sailor Moon” arc, each chapter shines the spotlight on an individual Guardian while progressing the main story, namely Ami, Rei, Makoto, Minako, and the Outer Guardians. We see Ami’s parents for the first time, and how their separation causes her to worry she’ll wind up a workaholic spinster too; her nightmare causes her to realize her true dream is to be there for all of her friends, which must be an uplifting message for any reader struggling with loneliness. Rei is tempted by the notion of abandoning her duties as a Shinto priestess for love; Mako finds herself rising above her insecurity about being masculine and feminine, a warrior and a carer; and Mina learns to not get so consumed with being a leader that she forgets her friends are there to help.
On rereading, I noticed Ami and Mako both discover their self-worth, and confirm their commitment to their roles as Sailor Guardians, after encountering miniature representations of themselves (Mako’s one, amusingly, slaps herself out of the nightmare); in contrast, Rei and Minako are guided out of the darkness respectively by their pet crows Phobos and Deimos, and cat sidekick Artemis himself. Since this was the penultimate arc, it should’ve come as no surprise Takeuchi was seeding the final issues, but it’s still striking to see how early in advance she was implying which of the Guardians might end up together in the Crystal Tokyo era.
Speaking of LGBTQ+ representation, the Outer Guardians’ chapter is not preoccupied with taking the older characters on a journey of self-discovery, instead just filling us in on what they’ve doing during the six months between appearances, but it is still striking to see a lesbian couple co-parent a child with another woman. To wit, Hotaru — who has grown rapidly into a happy-go-lucky sprog during the interval — calls Haruka “papa,” proving a family can be a genderqueer woman, her violinist wife/fiancée, a tall lady with impossibly long hair, and their supernatural adopted kid, in a huge countryside mansion. (I also love how Haruka demonstrates good fatherly behavior by taking on diaper duties.) Their life seems so perfect, it’s almost a shame Saturn reawakens to lead them out of retirement.
Continued belowHowever, this is first and foremost Chibiusa’s story, exploring her private despair at playing second fiddle to her future mother’s story. In the first chapter, while sleeping together, she expresses a desire to be as beautiful — and fully grown — as Usagi, a wish the Amazoness Quartet are happy to turn into a prank by swapping their physical ages. This accidentally causes Helios to toy with her emotions, as he initially believes she’s the “maiden with a beautiful dream” he had a vision of helping him, until he sees Usagi after their ages are fixed. When Chibiusa runs off to cry over that, Helios comforts her by revealing his true form is actually a handsome, age appropriate boy, and kissing her — now I know “Sailor Moon” is a power fantasy for girls, but having a horse turn out to be her love interest is still rather amazing.
Helios reveals he is the priest of Mamoru’s old kingdom, who kept the Dead Moon’s forces at bay with his prayers until he no longer could. It’s great how, after all the emphasis on the Moon kingdom Usagi is heir to, we’re getting some insight into Earth’s history in the series, and that Mamoru is getting some spotlight after he’s been repeatedly possessed and benched as Chibiusa’s chaperone. Even though the series is inherently rooted in references to Greco-Roman mythology (given the names of the planets), it is very evocative to learn the center of Mamoru’s kingdom is Elysium (Elysion in some translations), the paradise of the Greek underworld itself, making the series and the characters’ destinies as a whole feel genuinely mythic.
See you next week for the second half of the arc, where Nehelenia makes her presence truly known.
