Sailor Moon, Vol. 2: Sailor Scouts to the Rescue (1995)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

English Adaptation Written by Mycheline Tremblay, Gary Plaxton, and Lisa Lumby
Based on the manga by Naoko Takeuchi
Directed by Junichi Sato
ADR Director: Roland Parliament

Features:

• None
  

Released by: ADV
Region: 1
Rating: Safe for all ages
Anamorphic: N/A; presented in original 1.33:1 TV aspect.

My Advice: Buy it if you like adventures

This second disc of the Sailor Moon saga brings us six more episodes of evil Negaverse machinations. Serena, the Sailor of Justice, has her hands full trying to stop them, but luckily, she can rely upon the help of Amy, Sailor Mercury, and now the addition of the third Sailor Scout, Rei Hino, Sailor Mars. As a priestess, Rei can call upon the power of her prayer scrolls to banish evil, but will it be enough to stop the evil Jadeite, as well as the clever new Negaverse general, Nephlite? Nephlite relies upon astrology to choose his victims, and the Sailor Scouts plus the enigmatic Tuxedo Mask have to somehow find each victim before Nephlite steals their energy.

As Sailor Mars joins the team, we have another character to follow, and already we have a handle on who Rei is and what she will bring to the team. She has a very strong leadership drive and the smarts to back it up, creating a lot of friction with Serena, the current leader of the team. This leaves Amy to try and be the peacemaker, adding yet another facet to her personality as well. Each Scout has untapped talents, as well as a couple of flaws, like arrogance or clumsiness.

As another addition, as Nephlite chooses his victims, he endows them with the power of the Negaverse so that he can harvest their energy. This usually emphasizes the person’s hidden evil aspects, making them evil. It is an interesting message that while they are in part possessed, we all have the capability to be villains inside us and need to be careful how we use our own energies. It’s a nice touch and adds complexity to the idea of “good guys” and “bad guys.”

The audio and video quality are about what you would expect; the film stock is the same as when it was broadcast on TV in the mid-1990s. The art is beautiful, but some of the colors are starting to fade a bit. There aren’t any obvious problems with fuzzing, jagged edges, or staticy sound, however. It looks surprisingly good for its age.

I only have a couple of small quibbles about the show: one is in production, and the other is in writing and voice acting. The first quibble is that none of the signs from the Japanese animation are subtitled. The other is a question: why must Serena become a nearly intolerable brat whenever Rei is around?

Overall, this is another great installment in the saga. The disc is English only, which is something of a drag, but given that the company only had the rights to dub it and not present it with subtitles, they would have had to pay more to present it to us here in both languages, adding a great deal more to the disc price. Besides, if you fell in love with Sailor Moon on American TV, this is probably what you saw and what you want. Fans of adventure and ensemble anime will get a kick out of this, as will anyone who likes talking cats, monsters-of-the-week, and fun, intriguing villains.