Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

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

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown February 24, 2015

Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Mars continue their quest for the Legendary Silver Crystal as two new powerful allies join the fight. Sailor Jupiter is the tall and tough Guardian of Thunder, and Sailor Venus is the Guardian of Love and the most experienced member. Sailor Moon herself gets an impressive new power and learns more about the mysterious Tuxedo Mask. Could their distant past be intertwined, and does that have anything to do with the Moon Princess they seek? The final ordeal with Queen Beryl looms on the horizon, and it will take everything the Sailor Guardians have to be victorious.

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

When last we left the VIZ Media/Sailor Moon debacle, things weren't looking too promising. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, little has changed in the three months between the Blu-ray release of Season 1, Part 1 and Part 2. VIZ's 1080p/AVC-encoded upscaled presentation is still fraught with issues; some of which trace back to the use of an already problematic 2009 master, others brought on by noise reduction, artificial sharpening and other spit-polish techniques that only worsen matters. If there's good news to be had it's that Part 2 represents a slight -- and I stress slight -- improvement over Part 1. Ghosting doesn't seem to be as prevalent or severe and... that's about it. Clarity is still wildly inconsistent. Grain has been wiped away (rather haphazardly), smearing is a continual distraction, the series' line art doesn't fare as well as it should, and many a shot, while already soft, has been rendered hazy, as if the animation cels have been coated with a thin layer of vaseline.

The worst of it, though, is the mosquito noise. Sometimes mistaken for grain, this particularly nasty breed of erratic, merciless noise swarms various areas of the image, flittering in and out of view, anywhere and everywhere, and making a general nuisance of itself. It's most noticeable near crisp(er) lines, but also finds its way into larger areas of color. (Mosquito noise is a video compression distortion that appears as random artifacting and aliasing. Most HDTVs have built-in noise filters that can reduce or eliminate this anomaly -- the primary reason one viewer may not detect the noise others are referencing -- but these filters can cause a variety of other irritations, and should be turned off to obtain the most accurate, high-quality picture.)

There are other, less obvious issues at play -- a mounting list of 'em actually -- but none that deviate from the real underlying problem: VIZ's belief that additional, on-the-cheap processing and tinkering could somehow right the wrongs of a terribly flawed master. An ideal restoration would require access to the series' original elements and a significantly larger budget, neither of which a small house like VIZ Media can afford. But that once again begs the question: why release Sailor Moon on Blu-ray at all? So much time was spent evaluating the condition of the master and the viability of the project before signing the dotted line. From the mouth of Senior Manager of Animation Marketing Charlene Ingram herself:

"We all took some good hard looks at the assets available, what type of Blu-ray restoration could be done, from key scenes to casual scenes to transformation scenes, just doing all kinds of Blu-ray tests on them and being brutally honest in deciding whether or not to even attempt it. It had to be a beautiful restoration that does it justice and doesn't make it look like something it's not. We didn't want to futz with the animation at all, we just wanted to make it as clear as it possibly could be. The first couple versions we tried were not-so-much, and we said "Mm. No." Then the teams went back and came up with some more workflows, more refinements to take it very slow and detailed instead. For that last Blu-ray test, we all watched it in the QC room and I was amazed. I said "Wow, this looks like a Sailor Moon Blu-ray, I'm sold." So that's when we all made the decision."

At any point, based on what we can see of the end result, the only appropriate decision should have been clear. Don't do it. Fans don't enjoy settling for less -- no one does -- and releasing such an imperfect, underwhelming product will only lead to reduced sales, a damaged reputation, and lower consumer confidence. VIZ's excellent Ranma ½ releases proved classic anime could be resurrected and revitalized on Blu-ray for a whole new generation. Sailor Moon suggests otherwise, and that's not good for fans, newcomers or anyone remotely orbiting anime.

Colors are still greatly improved and relatively striking compared to past DVD releases (the one plus I suppose), but it's worth noting that black levels, and really overall contrast, appears to be a bit darker and a tad more intense in Part 2. Whether this traces back to the original animation or more VIZ tinkering, I can't say. It isn't a problem exactly, so far as I can tell, nor does it help matters.

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

Like the Blu-ray release of Part 1, Sailor Moon: Season 1, Part 2 includes four DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo tracks: English without subtitles (featuring a complete dub courtesy of a new voice cast), English with English subtitles, English with English songs and signs (via new alterations to the original animation), and Japanese with forced English subtitles. It comes as little surprise that the English tracks are superior in technical quality to the Japanese mix, as the new dub allows VIZ to sidestep inherent issues in the Japanese audio mix (most of which trace back to the age of the series and the condition of the original audio elements). The remastered Japanese audio is serviceable enough, it just sometimes suffers from prioritization and fidelity mishaps. The English dub is crisper, clearer, brighter and more carefully balanced. Voices are more stable than music and other effects in the soundscape, as is to be expected, but it rarely amounts to a distraction. Bottom line: so long as you aren't expect a sonic revelation, you'll be largely pleased with the audio presentation.

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

• AX Sailor Moon Panel (HD, 26 minutes): The second Sailor Moon release features multiple extras, but each offers little more than back-patting and/or gushing fans. First up, an eager crowd gathers for the AX Sailor Moon voice cast-introduction panel, featuring VIZ Media senior marketing manager of animation Charlene Ingram, English dub producer Joshua Lopez and voice actors Cherami Leigh (Sailor Venus), Amanda Miller (Sailor Jupiter), Cristina Vee (Sailor Mars), Kate Higgins (Sailor Mercury), Robbie Daymond (Tuxedo Mask) and Stephanie Sheh (Sailor Moon). The panel also opens with a brief appearance by the '90s dub cast.
• Moonlight Memories Part 1 (HD, 9 minutes): Super fans answer a series of questions about why they love Sailor Moon and its characters, stories, action and humor.
• Cosplay Teams Interview (HD, 11 minutes): Cosplayers are selected to work the dub premiere floor and are then interviewed about their experience at Anime Expo 2014.
• Sailor Moon Day Highlights (HD, 6 minutes): "Childhood dreams just came true! It was unbelievable!" Ingram interviews more ecstatic fans about the AX premiere of Sailor Moon.
• Clean Opening & Ending (HD, 3 minutes): The series' opening and ending animations, minus the text. Optional English and Romaji subtitles are available for each animation as well.
• Ending Song (HD, 2 minutes): With English and Romaji subtitles.
• Gallery (HD): A collection of high definition artwork.

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

Sailor Moon heartbreak drags from Season 1, Part 1 to Part 2, with no sign or indication that future volumes will be any different. VIZ Media continues to turn a blind eye to criticism and complaints, all too content to embrace the praise of those who are so excited to revisit the classic anime series that they're willing overlook the BD presentation's many, many flaws. One can only hope a miracle lies ahead, though naiveté isn't exactly becoming, is it? The highlight of the subpar set is again the series' audio tracks. The supplements are repetitive -- offering next to nothing in the way of a series overview, a glimpse into the original production of the anime, or any insightful look at the remastering of the release -- and the video presentation is extremely disappointing (even if it is a bit better than Part 1).