Welcome back to our Summer Comics Binge of Naoko Takeuchi’s “Sailor Moon” manga: this week we’re taking a look at the four ‘Chibiusa’s Picture Diary’ specials, featuring Usagi and Mamoru’s future daughter on all kinds of wacky and bizarre adventures during and in-between the events of the main series.
‘Beware of the Transfer Student!:’ Taking place early on in the ‘Black Moon’ saga, this sees Chibiusa enrolling at Juban Elementary School, and encountering… a vampire. This is a fun little foray into gothic horror, where boys start disappearing after accompanying home a pale girl named Lyrica, who’s supposedly the daughter of the ambassador of the “U Kingdom,” and who has eerily blank eyes. Takeuchi clearly relishes introducing her audience to vampire folklore, with Makoto, Ami et al. revelling in spooking Chibiusa and Usagi with details about the suspected creatures.
The comic also introduces Chibiusa’s best friends, who had minor roles in the main book: Momoko, whose family owns a Chinese restaurant, and wears a traditional mainland dress to boot; Kyuuske, an obnoxious boy and Sailor V fan; and Sorano, a nerd who resembles Usagi and Minako’s friends Gurio and Amano, complete with comically spiral glasses. They accompany Chibiusa into Lyrica’s home, and are rescued from a whole coven by Sailor Moon and V. Momo doesn’t recall anything after being bitten, and thinks the whole adventure was a dream, while Lyrica is supposedly transferred to another school; however Kyuuske has gained a new respect for Chibiusa, and gives her a Sailor Moon badge made by his sister.
It is interesting that Venus appears in her original guise; while justified in-universe by Kyuuske’s admiration for Sailor V, it was presumably intended to promote her own manga. Minako reappears later as V in ‘Beware of Cavities,’ albeit without any justification for doing so, other than the apparent cross promotion of “Sailor Moon” and “Codename: Sailor V.”
‘Beware of Tanabata:’ Set early on in the ‘Infinity’ arc (complete with a brief appearance from Haruka and Michiru), this takes place during Tanabata, the Star Festival held every July 7, where the Japanese mark the annual meeting of the married star gods Orihime and Hikoboshi (Vega and Altair in English). Here, Mamoru gives Chibiusa a Sailor Moon pocket watch he bought from a mysterious, hooded old woman, which unsurprisingly turns out to be a bad idea, since the watches are designed to brainwash anyone who buys them into joining a cult.
Chibiusa goes to spy on this cult during a midnight gathering, and discovers the old woman is Shokujo, this story’s version of Orihime; she believes her husband is no longer interested in her, and was manipulated by the stars Epsilon and Zeta into posing as Sailor Moon to start a manhating cult. After Chibiusa destroys the two villains, Shokujo’s husband Kengyu appears, and tells he still loves her, even though he no longer finds her as physically attractive as he once did. This was a weird story, thanks to its dated depiction of radical feminism and body standards, but at least it ends on a sweet note.
‘Beware of Cavities:’ Speaking of sweet, this post-‘Infinity’ adventure sees Chibiusa discover what cavities are after she and Usagi develop them (turns out sugar’s not a problem in the 30th century.) The pair are taken by Usagi’s father, Kenji, to the local dentist, but he turns out to be a decrepit old man who uses doors and strings to pull teeth, causing Mr. Tsukino to take his girls home. With the dentist’s fortunes clearly failing, the building’s guardian spirit decides to transform him into a younger man, and the building into a new, more attractive location.
Chibiusa goes in for her appointment at the “reopened” building, and gets bolted to the chair, where the spirit (posing as an assistant) plans to inject her with the ghosts of cavities past. Diana alerts Usagi and Minako, who burst in and rescue her; however, this transforms the dentist back to his old self, meaning Usagi and Chibiusa’s cavities wind up being removed the “old-fashioned” way. This is another absurd outing, but it’s an effective piece of messaging about looking after your teeth, and the running gag about Kenji daydreaming of meeting an attractive assistant was a funny way to flesh out his character.
Continued below‘The Secret Hammer Price Hall:’ Set shortly before ‘Stars,’ this comic co-stars Hotaru, who’s now at school with Chibiusa, and adds two new schoolfriends, the tanned, valley girl-esque Ruruna and Naruru, whom Hotaru doesn’t get on with at all. (Naruru also turns out to be the younger sister of Usagi’s classmate Naru — boy, do they struggle to come up with names in Juban or what?) The plot sees the girls visiting the titular pawn shop, the Hammer Price Hall, which is full of Sailor Moon merchandise and costumes. Ruruna and Naruru buy Sailor Guardian outfits, causing Chibiusa and Usagi to begin breaking the fourth wall over being upstaged by these wannabes.
It transpires the kindly manager, Makoto (yup, same name as Sailor Jupiter), is being threatened by the yakuza after his parents were tricked into selling the land. When the mob attacks and damages the building, its angry guardian spirit possesses Hotaru, and opens a wormhole to consume everyone. (Poor Hotaru, this must be getting pretty tiresome.) Makoto, who is a rare example of an overweight hero in the series, risks his life twice to protect the girls, although he disappointingly (and predictably) dubs himself Chubster Mask after donning a Tuxedo Mask outfit — still, at least Ruruna and Naruru comment they find him dreamy afterwards, implying he might not be a lone ranger for long.
The comic concludes with the fan girls finding and ripping up the gangsters’ deed to the land, allowing Makoto to upgrade the shop into a spiffy new block. They then tell Hotaru they suspect Chibiusa may be Sailor Chibi Moon, and she agrees to keep their “secret.” A bonus page shows Ruruna and Naruru participating in a beauty contest, where a gust of wind blows their skirts upwards, causing a Tuxedo Mask cosplayer to mock them — although flustered, they can’t believe the “real” Tuxedo is also a pervert.
This was certainly a bunch of amusing if dated shorts — see you all next week for more “Sailor Moon” stories, this time showcasing (the female) Makoto, Ami, and Rei.
