Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		1.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Sailor Moon R: Season 2, Part 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 14, 2017

Viz Pictures has released 'Sailor Moon R: Season 2, Part 1' to Blu-ray as both a standalone three Blu-ray (plus 3 DVD) set as well as part of a pricier, but more desirable, limited edition box set which does include space for R Part 2, sold separately. This set, as with the previous 'Sailor Moon' releases, will certainly prove to be controversial considering its troubled and disappointing 1080p video presentation. Read on for more on the season and the Blu-ray presentation.

Some spoilers follow.

Sailor Moon R: Season 2, Part 1 has been divided somewhat strangely. The story picks up where season one ended but branches into two distinct parts, if one divides based on the Guardians' enemies. Episodes 47-59 deal with two aliens bent on draining energy from Tokyo to feed their tree and, by extension, themselves, while episodes 60-68 deal with the Black Moon Clan attacking Tokyo in search of the Silver Crystal. Below are separate plot synopses for each.

As Season Two begins, the Sailor Guardians have no memory of their fight against the Dark Kingdom and, worse, don’t remember being friends with one another. Only felines Luna and Artemis are aware of the past. The furry animals wish only for the girls to live normal lives, but when two aliens -- Ail and An -- attack Tokyo, the cats have no choice but to reactivate the Sailor Guardians to protect the city. Mamoru, however, does not regain his memories, leaving Usagi to wonder if he will ever remember her. And all of the Sailor Guardians are left contemplating the identity of the mysterious Moonlight Knight who comes to their rescue.

In the half-season's second arc, just as Mamoru regains his memories, a girl falls from the sky, disrupting everyone’s lives. The skydivers, Chibi-Usa and her magical companion Luna-P, quickly take center stage as Usagi struggles with jealousy over this mysterious young girl who manages to steal not only Mamoru’s attention but her family's as well. When the Sailor Guardians realize their new enemies, the Dark Moon Clan, seem overly interested in Chibi-Usa, Usagi must come to terms with the disruptions in her life so she can protect the strange girl from DMC's nefarious plans.

Season 2 Part 1 sees the Sailor Guardians develop well beyond season one, deepening their friendship and learning how to use new attacks as their powers increase, opening up new avenues of exploration for the audience, too, watching their favorites grow and mature as heroes and teenagers alike. And the season gives both plenty of room to do so. While the more recently released Sailor Moon Crystal Season 2 covers the same story arc as Sailor Moon R, Crystal cuts the episode count dramatically, resulting in far less time to build and explore the characters. Sailor Moon R, in contrast, takes its time, featuring more than 40 episodes to cover the same material Crystal flies through in far fewer. R fills those extra episodes not with fluff but utilizes the extra screen time to expand upon each character and explore both their strengths and their weaknesses. To be sure, there are times when the episodes drag and seem overly long and redundant with the "monster of the week" structure. Yet it's nevertheless interesting, and usually enjoyable, too, to watch the Sailor Guardians develop into a more cohesive and more powerful team.

Part of the show’s charm comes from not only the action and character development but also in how relatable the girls are. This half of season two also takes time to explore those relatable qualities. From Makoto showing off her cooking skills to Rei organizing a school festival, it's always interesting to see the more human side of each girl instead of just witnessing their transformed poses and powers, doing what they do in their fight against evil.  Even the more childish Usagi displays remarkable character growth as she learns (with some help from Luna, of course) to think about others more than herself and help her quasi-antagonist Chibi-Usa despite their somewhat rocky relationship.

There's certainly more here, obviously, beyond girls with powers staving off monster attacks, and it's in these added moments and through the greater world around the characters that the show has found its audience and inspired generations of fans through its various seasons and iterations. Not only are the girls able to successfully fight off a variety monsters (even when they need Tuxedo Mask to save them, they always deliver the killing blow), they are otherwise normal girls living normal lives, complaining about school, dreaming about boys, and worrying about what to wear and how they look. Even the monsters tend to deal with a variety of everyday teen issues, at least in a roundabout way. The result is a continuous string of fresh and relatable storylines through which the audience can cheer for the characters beyond their battles and in their everyday lives.

Sailor Moon R: Season 2, Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sailor Moon R: Season 2, Part 1's 1080p transfer regrettably and irritatingly carries on with the previous split season's well-documented problems. Rather than regurgitate all the drama and dissect the image all over again, it seems best to simply refer readers to the previous releases' comprehensive breakdowns and know to expect more or less the same basic visual presentation here. All of the core problems remain, and though the image maintains a base foundational boost in overall color and clarity thanks to the 1080p resolution, it's otherwise a disaster, so troubled even those who generally dismiss any video deficiencies will be left wondering what went wrong. Few Blu-ray releases exhibit so many problems, consistently and egregiously, as this; a poor master has been put through the processing ringer and come out much worse for wear. Please click here and here for more.

Sailor Moon R: Season 2, Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sailor Moon R: Season 2, Part 1 features a pair of audio tracks, the dubbed English and native Japanese, both in the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 configuration. Dialogue images well to the center in both languages. The Japanese track's dialogue feels a little more natural, a touch less piercing, but both deliver clear, clean, and well prioritized speech. Positioning occasionally wanders a bit further from center than one might like, but rarely is it an issue. Music is usually widely spaced along the front, occasionally more stuck towards the middle, but instrumental clarity satisfies. Various effects present with satisfying spacing and clarity of delivery, whether action details such as the girls' transformation sequences or minor environmental ambient details that fill in some sonic blanks and pull the listener into the show's world.

Sailor Moon R: Season 2, Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Sailor Moon R: Season 2, Part 1 contains galleries on the first two discs and several supplements, including another gallery, on disc three.


 Disc One:

• Gallery (1080p): Still images of Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Venus, The Moonlight Knight, Luna, and Artemis.


 Disc Two:

• Gallery (1080p): Still images of The Sailor Guardians, An, Ail, Shingo, Motoki, Kenji, Ikuko, and Miss Haruna.

Disc Three

• AX Cast Interview (1080p, 20:01): Cherami Leigh (Sailor Venus), Christina Vee (Sailor Mars), Robbie Daymond (Tuxedo Mask), Stephanie Sheh (Sailor Moon), Kate Higgins (Sailor Mercury), and Amanda Miller (Sailor Jupiter) answer a variety of questions about their roles in the show and their thoughts on the franchise both now and when they were children.
• Dub Recording Behind-the-Scenes (1080p, 15:41): Christina Vee and Amanda Miller go more in-depth about their characters, the recording process, landing the roles, and their thoughts about the franchise in a pair of one-on-one interviews.
• Gallery (1080p): Still images of Neo-Queen Serenity, King Endymion, Wiseman, the Dark Moon Clan, Sailor Moon's Cutie Moon Rod, and the Sailor Guardians' Watches. Some of the images are for elements that appear in the second half of the season, which is a separate release.
• Clean Opening (1080p, 1:33): Available with English and Romaji subtitles.
• Clean Ending (1080p, 1:31): Available with English and Romaji subtitles.
• Trailers (1080p): Additional Viz Pictures titles.

Sailor Moon R: Season 2, Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sailor Moon R: Season 2, Part 1 is a fantastically executed and fun continuation of the saga, but it's also a frustrating continuation in terms of its Blu-ray presentation, notably Viz's 1080p picture quality. The well-documented, much-discussed, widely derided, and continuously disappointing problems continue here and in full force; even non-videophiles will likely find this a frustrating watch. The show deserves much, much better. Sailor Moon R: Season 2, Part 1 itself is a must-see, but the Blu-ray is, sadly, a must-avoid unless the price drops drastically.