Sailor Moon, Vol. 8: The Doom Tree Strikes (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

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• Existential confusion
• Many screeching children
• Dangerous monsters

Released by: ADV
Region: 1
Rating: NR, safe for all ages
Anamorphic:
Anamorphic: N/A; episodes appear in their original 1.33:1 format.

My Advice: Get it.

Another disc has arrived full of exciting Sailor adventure and battle. The Doom Tree saga is heating up, with Alan and Ann fooling everyone into thinking they’re just normal students, each with a crush on a main character. Meanwhile, however, they are unleashing terror and danger onto the streets of Tokyo; can the Scouts, newly reunited, do a thing to stop them and find out the source of the troubles?

In "A Knight to Remember," though Tuxedo Mask is gone, a mysterious new stranger with a hauntingly familiar face shows up to help the Scouts. But how could the Moonlight Knight be there, when Darien is right here? "VR Madness" is a very keen episode about a VR arcade and how Alan and Ann are using the energy from it to feed the Doom Tree. In "Cherry Blossom Time," it is the national festival of the spring blossoms, and Alan and Ann send a new monster to collect more energy for their ailing Doom Tree. Next in "Kindergarten Chaos," Sailor Venus makes friends with a child who has the bad luck to be in the next group targeted by the Doom Tree. Can she and Serena save a busload of kiddies all by themselves? "Much Ado About Babysitting," the estranged Serena and Darien are left babysitting the infant of a sick mother while Darien’s bad dreams continue, and finally, in "Raye’s Day in the Spotlight," Raye decides that she can handle the temple’s festival all by herself, unaware of how Alan and Ann plan to make use of it for their own ends.

These episodes introduce new Sailor powers, as each girl learns a new skill in turn to match Serena’s new healing abilities. They also ratchet up the distress as Darien continues to evade Serena for some reason and treat her as if he does not care for her at all. As she has to cope with this crushing blow, she grows up a bit and is less of a crybaby over all...but still our goofy, beloved Serena.

A note about the lack of features...whereas a series as venerable, important to anime in general, and as beloved as this one is more than deserves a fancy DVD treatment, I cannot help but feel that with six episodes on a disc and a very low per-disc price, there is a reason why ADV chose not to pay extra for the rights to also publish the uncut Japanese versions on the same disc. Yes, it’s a bit of a bummer. But it would have doubled the disc price, and since not everyone could afford that or cares enough about reading their visual entertainment to be that anal about it, this was probably the best option for the majority of fans.

As an aside, the cherry blossom monster is probably one of the most beautiful and interesting monsters in the Sailor Moon series, at least in my opinion. She calls to mind the lake demon from the previous episode "Last Resort."

In short, if you love Sailor Moon, and you know you do, then you’ll need to have this disc, as well. If you only wanted to collect one Sailor Moon saga, then this one isn’t a bad choice, though of course any of them would be good.