Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Season 5 is the final season of the original anime. Created by manga artist Naoko Takeuchi, Sailor Moon is one of the forefront masterpieces of Japanese manga and animation. Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Season 5 is produced by Kenji Ōta (Sailor Moon, Cutey Honey Flash), Kouichi Yada (Sailor Moon SuperS, Cutey Honey Flash), and Toshihiko Arisako (Sailor Moon SuperS, Sailor Moon SuperS Plus - Ami's First Love).

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars features production by Toei Agency, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi, Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Season 5 features animation by Toei Animation (Digimon Adventure, Dragon Ball Z). The series features theme song performances by Kae Hanazawa (opening), Alisa Mizuki (ending one), and Moon Lips (ending two). Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Season 5 features Japanese vocal performances by Kotono Mitsuishi, Aya Hisakawa, Emi Shinohara, Michie Tomizawa, Rica Fukami, Tōru Furuya, Kotono Mitsuishi, and Kae Araki.

Sailor Moon ‘Usagi Tsukino’ (Kotono Mitsuishi) and the other Sailor Guardians – Sailor Mercury ‘Ami Mizuno’ (Aya Hisakawa), Sailor Jupiter ‘Makoto Kino’ (Emi Shinohara), Sailor Mars ‘Rei Hino’ (Michie Tomizawa), and Sailor Venus ‘Minako Aino’ (Rica Fukami) are back for new adventures as the justice team fighting for the futures of tomorrow. Despite the heavy load of heroic duties, Sailor Moon and everyone else in the Sailor Guardians are facing new struggles at school.

This time High School has challenged them all. Can the girls pass with good grades while defeating their enemies? Things are complicated when the mysterious evil Queen rises to fight them. Who can defeat the villainous and diabolical Queen with plans to defeat the Sailor Guardians? Now the Sailor Guardians have two big challenges – passing their classes and defeating a new villain! What’s a girl to do?

The team also faces difficulties with the Sailor Star Lights. The Sailor Star Lights don’t seem interested in playing nice. Why is it so hard to get the Sailor Star Lights to work beside them? There are even romantic complications – don’t forget about Tuxedo Kamen ‘Mamoru Chiba’ (Tōru Furuya). Romance, adventure, and epic action continues.

The series has some of the best characters in history. The lovable cast of characters makes the anime an essential masterpiece. These beloved characters are brought to animated life with character designs by Katsumi Tamegai (Kirakira Precure a la Mode: Paris to! Omoide no Mille- Feuille!, Yes! Precure 5 GoGo! Okashi no Kuni no Happy Birthday). The designer did an excellent job with showcasing these Sailor Guardians and their allies.

The animation is top-notch and there is so much to love about the art style. The outstanding hand-drawn animation is one of the reasons Sailor Moon has such an adoring fanbase. Sailor Moon Sailor Stars features art direction by Takamura Mukuo (From the Apennines to the Andes: The Movie, Adieu Galaxy Express 999). The animators made something special with the series and the art is beautiful and lush. The artistry of the animation is one of the reasons Sailor Moon is so enduring.

The score composed by Takanori Arisawa (Sailor Moon R, Sailor Moon S) and Masaki Araki (Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie) adds to the excitement of the series. The score is epic, thrilling, and adventurous. Fans of classic Japanese anime scores will love the music.

Written by Ryota Yamaguchi (Sailor Moon SuperS, Ranma ½), Sailor Moon Sailor Stars explores more fun and energetic adventures with the Sailor Guardians. The characters have wonderful personalities and strengths. The heroes are worth championing. The fun dialogue and characterizations is half the fun.

Directed by Takuya Igarashi (Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon S), Sailor Moon Sailor Stars brings the series to the close. Fans of the Sailor Moon anime series franchise won’t want to miss the exciting conclusion. Wrapping up the original Japanese anime series before the future reboot, the original remains an essential gem of Japanese animation and one of the greatest classics in the history of anime.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by VIZ Media, Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Season 5 is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame. The high-definition presentation is an upscale from standard-definition material. The series presentation is somewhat soft compared to a native high-definition presentation.

Due to the standard-definition upscaling, the presentation isn't quite as razor-sharp or crisp as a native high-definition film scan provides. Unfortunately, Toei Animation either can't locate the original film elements or won't pony up (at least so far) to financing an expensive restoration of the original film elements. I still hope to someday be surprised by Toei announcing an elaborate restoration of the original film elements. As it stands, the release still has a commendable upscale. Perfect? By no means. However, the animation still impresses and the encoding is better than DVD. The colors look nice on the release, too.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Blu-ray release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (with English subtitles). The audio sounds clear and easy to understand. The score is well reproduced and sounds nice and clean during the presentation. The English subtitles are well-done and are free from egregious spelling or grammatical errors.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The first print run of the release includes a nice o-card slipcover. The slipcover looks nice in hand and on the shelf. The slipcover adds some extra collectability to the package.

On disc extras include:

Disc 1:

Art Gallery includes 3 click-through illustrations.

Disc 2:

Art Gallery includes 21 click-through illustrations.

Disc 3:

An Interview with Stephanie Sheh (Sailor Moon) (HD, 13:04)

An Interview with Stephanie Shen (Chibi Chibi) (HD, 3:03)

An Interview with Laura Post (Queen Nehalennia) (HD, 14:34)

An Interview with Suzy Goldish (HD, 45:12)

Clean Opening (HD, 1:37)

Art Gallery includes 10 click-through illustrations.

More from VIZ (HD, 1:40)

Disc 4:

Art Gallery includes 10 click-through illustrations.

Disc 5:

Art Gallery includes 4 click-through illustrations.

Disc 6:

Interviews:

An Interview with Melissa Hutchison (Seiya Ko) (HD, 13:43)

An Interview with Erika Harlacher (Taiki Ko) (HD, 9:53)

An Interview with Sarah Williams (Yaten Ko) (HD, 10:38)

An Interview with Carrie Keranen (Galaxia) (HD, 11:00)

An Interview with Katie Leigh (Sailor Iron Mouse) (HD, 10:46)

An Interview with Faye Mata (Sailor Aluminum Siren) (HD, 9:35)

An Interview with Corina Boettger (Sailor Tin Nyanko) (HD, 10:31)

An Interview with Robbie Daymond (Tuxedo Mask) (HD, 10:17)

Clean Opening and Ending (HD, 3:12)

Art Gallery includes 11 click-through illustrations.

It is nice to see such a extras-focused box-set for Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Season 5. The set includes such a nice plethora of features and is especially focused on highlighting a wide range of interviews featuring voice-actors involved with the production. English dub fans will be especially thrilled with these supplements and find the effort made by VIZ commendable. It is certainly a more feature-oriented collection of extras than some anime sets include and this is always something to commend when these companies go the extra mile to make a more well- rounded box-set.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Season 5 wraps up the original series run. Sailor Moon is a masterpiece of Japanese anime and one of the most essential series. Fans of classic hand-drawn Japanese anime shouldn't go without having this essential classic as part of their collection.

The Blu-ray release is presented with a high-definition upscale (hopefully someday in the future a native HD scan will materialize in Japan). The release comes jam-packed with bonus features, too. Fans will want to add the release to their Sailor Moon collection. Highly recommended.