Sailor Moon Sailor Stars
Toei, 2000


The series finale to the universally popular magical-girl anime spares no expense in bringing the anime version of Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon to its end. But this time it's literally Sailor Vs. Sailor in all-out war. But the seven first eps summarized here wrap up the Super S storyline, so the full review of the series will be in Part Two.

Part 1: Super S finale Summary


The final series begins with the immediate re-introduction of both the Outer Senshi, who didn't appear at all in Super S and its principal villain, Queen Neherenia.

Usagi and the other Inner Senshi are preparing to enter high school; all of them have completed their entrance exams and have passed (including Usagi and Makato), and will all be attending classes at Usagi's school with the exception of Rei, who attends a different school across town. Also at this time, Chibi-Usa and Diana (daughter of Luna and Artemis) are preparing to return to the 30th century.

However, in a dimension just outside of theirs, Neherenia, who had exiled herself back into confinement to perserve her eternal youth is contacted by an unknown female entity who releases her from captivity and reveals to her that her enemies, who are gathered in a nearby park to see Chibi-Usa off, are still alive. Spurred into a rage by the mysterious entity's urgings, Neherenia forms a black mirror from her own soul and shatters it, causing thousand of glass shards to rain down over the city. Elsewhere in the park, the glass shards cause the time portal to dissapate, preventing Chibi-Usa from returning home and in the process, one of the shard strikes Mamoru and embeds itself in his eye, which takes on a strange golden glow.

Meanwhile in another part of the city, Haruka and Michiru are spending time at a local indoor aquarium--the same one from S--and observe the falling shards from the rooftop. Haruka is struck by one and Michiru removes it from her hand. But to their alarm, the shard forms itself into a female monster in Neherenia's image and then a dozen more appear seconds later. Just as the monsters attack, they are quickly destroyed by Sailor Pluto, who arrives with Hotaru Tomoe, who had been reduced to infancy at the end of Salior Moon S. Haruka and Michiru henshin into Uranus and Neptune and do battle with them, but as they reform and multiply whenever they're destroyed, the three are quickly outnumbered. But just as the battle goes hopelessly against them, salvation comes from a most unexpected place: Hotaru herself, who unleashes a wave of energy that not only destroys one of the mirror monsters attacking her, but also upgrades the Outers into Super Sailors, like the Inner Senshi, and they quickly make short work of the remaining monsters. However, Hotaru's energy has produced another surprise: she is rapidly growing from an infant to the age she was previously.

The following morning, the Inner Senshi are attacked by the mirror-monsters as well. The Outer Senshi arrive and Super Sailor Saturn (whose appearance surprises the Inner Senshi) tells them that they need to combine their power to awaken the "real Princess" of the moon. Through this energy, Sailor Moon attains her greatest power as a Sailor Soldier as "Eternal Sailor Moon" and annihilates the mirror monster army.

Some time later, people in Tokyo are acting strangely; they are all staring into mirrors. This applies to Mamoru to a greater extent due to the fact that he has one of the shards of Neherenia's soul mirror in his eye. Soon, the Senshi realise that Neherenia is involved and quickly rush to Mamoru's apartment. After a brief struggle, Neherenia successfully captures Mamoru and abducts him into the world behind the mirror.

Some discussion follows about the importance of Mamoru after Chibi-Usa grows weak. Without Mamoru, Chibi-Usa obviously cannot exist. Affected by this information, Usagi is consumed with grief. One of her tears strikes her transformation broach which enables her to henshin into Eternal Sailor Moon without the others aid. She does so and flies after Neherenia.

The rest of the Senshi follow, utilizing the Sailor Teleport, but Neherenia disrupts the transpost and all of the Senshi find themselves in a void separated into five pairs: Mars and Neptune, Venus and Pluto, Chibi-Usa and Saturn, Mercury with Uranus and Jupiter with Moon.

Each group of Senshi are tested via obstacles set up by illusions created by Neherenia, but in the end, the other Senshi are captured and only Chibi-Moon and Saturn are left to oppose her. During a struggle between Neherenia and Jupiter, in which Usagi is hypnotized into forgetting Mamoru, Jupiter saves Usagi by taking several attacks. Jupiter is finally dragged into a mirror but in the process, loses a earring. Upon seeing it, she remembers Tuxedo Kamen and frees her mind from Neherenia's illusion, finding herself at the foot of her castle fortress. Neherenia then bars Usagi's way by creating a barricade of thorn covered vines in her path, but Usagi presses through them, ignoring her own pain.

In the castle, Chibi-Moon is rapidly losing discorporating and Saturn is left with no alternative but to unleash her power of Death against Neherenia to stop her. Neherenia, in her phenomenal arrogance dares her to do so, knowing if Saturn uses that power, she will die as well. But Saturn tells her it is a sacrifice she is all too willing to make to save their Princess. Realizing that Saturn isn't bluffing after all, she attacks, but it proves fruitless as Saturn brings her full powers to bear and unleashes them against the evil Queen. A blast of white light engulfs the castle from outside, driving Usagi, who is almost to the entrance to her knees. The interior of the castle is in ruins, and a cowering Neherenia discovers that Chibi-Moon stopped Saturn from completing her attack at the last moment. Chibi-Moon collapses again, weaker than before and rapidly fading from reality. Neherenia quickly disarms the distracted Saturn and seals her into a mirror along with her other captives.

Finally Usagi arrives inside, weakened and struggling, only to have Chibi-Moon dissolve into nothingness in her arms. Neherenia taunts her with the loss as well as disclosing the full secrets of why she sought vengeance against the White Moon Kingdom so long ago. Uasgi however, feels only sympathy for Neherenia's past, which in turn enrages the Evil Queen, who takes brutal vengeance against her. But Usagi's resolve never wavers and finally Mamoru and the Senshi are feed from Neherenia's curse, and the entire Super S plotline is finally and neatly resolved.
But somewhere in space, the mysterious entity who freed Neherenia in the first place laughs with sinister intent.

End of Super S Summary

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2

Starlights Storyarc

This storyarc begins with the arrival of the idol group the "Three Lights" arriving in Tokyo. The group, consisting of Seiya, Yaten, and Taiki are extremely popular; so much so that even Ami is interested in them. The Inner Senshi are all infatuated with them except for Usagi, of course, who has eyes for no one but Mamoru, who is leaving Japan for America to attend college and is not scheduled to return for a year. Before he leaves, he gives Usagi a ring which could be interpreted as an engagement ring. En route though, the plane Mamoru is in falls prey to a mysterious phenomenon and vanishes.

The principal villain in Stars is Sailor Galaxia, a Salior Soldier of unbelievable power. Her goal is to obtain Star Seeds from uniquely powerful individuals (in most cases, other Sailor Soldiers) to complete her conquest of the galaxy. However, there is one Seed she covets over all others: the Supreme Star Seed. To find them, she deploys the first of her agents, Sailor Iron Mouse, who assumed the human identity of Chuuko Nezu - a television producer from the Galaxy TV studio based in the city of Tokyo, Japan - in order to use her press credentials to gain easy access to her victims, whom she selected at random after consulting a variety of media sources after the star seeds. To extract a star seed for one of her targets, Sailor Iron Mouse fires a pair of gold energy blasts from the braclets she wears (which also serve as Galaxia's control over her agents, as removal of said braclets will result in death--Galaxia infuses them with her own power in order to maintain her servants lives after their Star Seeds are extracted) at suspected carriers. A flower appears at the point of attack on the victim (no, I'm not kidding), revealing a small white crystal that remains pure (if they are carriers) or the crystal turns black and the individual becomes a monster known as a Phage, who strangely enough turns out to be a monstrous Sailor Soldier (if they are not carriers).

In Sailor Moon's first battle against Sailor Iron Mouse, Sailor Iron Mouse is able to escape. However, Sailor Moon is at a loss as to how she can possibly fight the Phage that Sailor Iron Mouse leaves behind, since it's not some soulless creature she can blast into oblivion, but an innocent victim. Before things can escalate further, three women in black leather outfits appear, calling themselves the Sailor Starlights: Sailor Star Fighter, Sailor Star Healer and Sailor Star Maker. They immediately attack the Pahge with the intent to destroy it, but Sailor Moon pleads with them to stop. But then Sailor Moon's inner desire to restore the Phage to normal triggers the manifestation of her new weapon, the Eternal Tier. Utilizing its attack, Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss, she restores the transformed Phage to normal. The Starlight acknowledge her power, but leave without explaining who they are.

The next day, the girls discover that the Three Lights have enrolled at Usagi's school, causing quite a stir among the other students. The Inner Senshi are thrilled by this, of course, and Seiya wastes no time in making advances on Usagi; Usagi rejects these advances for the most part. Usagi does eventually go on a date with Seiya and has a very good time; but her devotion to Mamoru is completely unwavering and she begins to worry when her letters to him go unanswered (due to the dissapearence of Mamoru's plane). Uranus and Neptune urge Usagi to stay away from Seiya because of his unknown motives and because he is an intruder into the solar system. Nonetheless, she still continues to see Seiya.

After numerous failures on the part of Sailor Iron Mouse, Galaxia decides to eliminate her. But unfortunately, Galaxia makes the all too common mistake of a master villain: eliminating an underling who had just unearthed something crucial at the last moment--Iron Mouse discovered Seiya's secret identity. Galaxia ignores Iron Mouse's desperate attempt to save herself and removes the life-sustaining bracelets from her doomed minion, who vanishes into nothingness.

Sometime after this, a little girl with red hair styled in the fashion of Usagi's odango atama appears out of nowhere and meets Usagi and Luna on the street. Usagi finds the little girl cute and then walks home. The little girl follows them leading Luna to ask who she is; the only words she says are "Chibi Chibi". Usagi looks behind later and sees the girl has disappeared. At home, Usagi is surprised to have her mother chastise her for not taking her little sister, Chibi Chibi out with her. This little sister is the same girl that Usagi and Luna met earlier.

Some time later, the Inner Senshi follow Chibi Chibi as she explores the city and they speculate on who she is. Ami suggests that she could be Chibi-Usa's sister but Setsuna, who has also become aware of Chibi Chibi's sudden arrival says that Queen Serenity's only child is Small Lady (Chibi-Usa).

After the end of Sailor Iron Mouse, Galaxia then calls on two of the Anima-Mates to find the rest of the star seedss. Assigned to this task are former rivals Sailor Aluminum Siren and Sailor Lead Crow. Siren is something of a scatterbrain and has a tendency to get distracted easily, while Lead Crow is the more determined and serious of the pair.

Sometime after this, in one of the attempts to find the star seed, Sailor Lead Crow attacks an individual at Usagi's high school. Usagi transforms, but Sailor Aluminum Siren sees the glitter of the transformation pendant and thinks it is a star seed. Thus, in an attempt for redemption in Galaxia's eyes, Sailor Aluminum Siren attacks Usagi. In the battle, Chibi Chibi enters and touches Sailor Moon's Eternal Tier. After a brief dream sequence, Sailor Moon is given the new power "Silver Moon Crystal Kiss" to heal the monster.

However, Siren gains another chance to take Usagi's Star seed when she crashes a Three Lights fan event on board an airplane viewing of the Three Light's new movie, which the other girls are attending. Usagi manages to get to the plane before it takes off, but she is confronted by Siren, who's taken the plane hostage. Demanding her Star Seed, Siren exposes Usagi as Sailor Moon to the Three Lights and orders her to surrender. But then Seiya henshins into Star Fighter before Usagi's eyes. Left with no other option, Taiki and Yaten henshin as well, stunning the Inner Senshi. Star Maker and Star Healer attack the three transformed stewardesses under Siren's control and tell the Inner Senshi to escape while they can. Rei refuses and prompts Usagi and the others to transform, which they do, to the shock of the Starlights, Star Fighter in paticular. After defeating Siren's minions, Siren, finding herself outnumbered, retreats, vowing to return, leaving the Inner Senshi and the Starlights speechless with the revelation of each others identities.

Galaxia, needless to say, is not pleased with Siren's failure, who treats the whole ordeal a little too casually for Galaxia's liking. Lead Crow tries to reason with Galaxia, but to no avail as Siren is swiftly eliminated for her failure. Lead Crow is devestated over the loss of Siren since even though they were rival, she felt protective of Siren to a certain extent. Lead Crow now finds herself partnered with the deviously ambitious Tin Nyanko, a slinky, scheming Sailor Soldier in a black leather catsuit. Friction between the two is immediate, and Nyanko, in her first field mission undermines Lead Crow's attempts to secure another Star Seed, and in the processes, Seiya is severly injured saving Sailor Moon, adding to the already tense atmosphere between the Inner Senshi and the Starlights. Eventually, Seiya tells Usagi about his past and that his planet is destroyed in the action preceeding and that they have come to Earth to find their princess.

Later on, after examining Siren's old information, Sailor Lead Crow learns that Usagi is Sailor Moon. This leads to a major battle between Sailor Lead Crow and the Senshi, in which Lead Crow is able to hold the Senshi at bay by means of threatening to unleash a concentrated gravity well at Usagi's school. Refusing to allow anyone to be harmed, Sailor Moon allows Lead Crow to extract her Star Seed--which turns out to be the Ginzuisho (Silver Crystal). However, Tin Nyanko, who was spying on Lead Crow, attacks and shatters the containment crystal containing the gravity well, causing Sailor Lead Crow to be absorbed into it. At the end of this struggle, it is revealed that Chibi Chibi held the key to the Starlights' Princess' location and she emerges, saving Usagi andthe others from the gravity well.

Princess Fireball explains the struggle against Galaxia to Usagi, explaining to her and the other Senshi in detail of the holy war, known as the Sailor Wars, in which the Sailor Senshi are on the side of good opposing Galaxia. Chaos was, in the action preceding the story, sealed by the most powerfil of all the Sailor Senshi but now, it has escaped. Princess Fireball continues and says that Galaxia wants to get the star seeds in order to return the galaxy to a state of chaos and finishes by asking for Sailor Moon's help. After some intervention from Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, Princess Fireball leaves with the Starlights saying that she believes in Sailor Moon.

Things culminate soon after with the Three Light's last concert, in which they hope to finally find the Light of Hope, the one force in the galaxy that can thwart Galaxia, she attacks in full force and the losses begin. At this point, I won't go into exposing the final episodes, except to say that as in previous seasons, final battles have a tendency to put Usagi through emotional hell, and Sailor Stars tops them all.

Review

Sailor Stars was my second favorite season of the SM anime--S being the best, IMO. Stars keeps the familiar balance the early seasons maintained of humor and drama and the addition of the Sailor Starlights adds to that even more. Sailor Galaxia is a fantastic and ruthless antagonist--something she proves time and time again as the series goes on. The Outer Senshi don't get quite as much screentime as they did in S, especially Saturn, who only shows up in the Neherenia arc and the last few eps of the finale.

Characterization has always been one of SM's strengths and Stars keeps the momentum going, especially in Usagi's case. Although she still retains her simple ditzy charm, Usagi has also grown emotionally, and this shows the most in the finale when she is tested and pushed beyond her limits. But in spite of all that, Usagi retains the unconquerable strength of will and belief of the inner good in everyone that has servered her well through 200 groundbreaking eps of this now-lengendary anime. And that, at its core, is true heroism.

There are no plans for Stars to be released domestically, so do whatever you can to find this series in its entirely and savor it. While the current live action incarnation of Sailor Moon is creating its own niche in the fandom, the anime fondly lives on in the hearts and minds of those who experienced it and I can't imagine a more perfect way to conclude it.

-FreedomBlack