Greetings and welcome to the Hobby Haven! I've decided to do something slightly different with the rest of the reviews for Sailor Moon; instead of reviewing each set as it comes out, I'll be looking at the season as a whole. Because honestly, doing it the other way will be incredibly repetitive and fairly boring. And honestly, if you pick up half of a season, you're bound to pick up the other half as well. So be warned, there's quite a bit of text and photo bombage below the cut
To start with, I picked the first set up at Right Stuf this summer to the tune of $62.99. Included, like the first boxset of Season 1, is a chipboard box, Blu-ray case with the discs, and a booklet. Also included was a "gift with purchase" collector's coin, so it looks like Right Stuf will be continuing this trend for each of the first boxsets of each season. I think this is going to be their standard from here on out, and I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up getting some sort of limited edition collection of the movies with a coin gift with purchase.
To recap, Viz has announced that they will be releasing all of the original Sailor Moon anime; all five seasons, all three movies, and the few assorted "specials" and featurettes that were never released here in the U.S. All uncut, all with a new English dub. In true Viz format, they've decided to maximize their profit by breaking each season up into two boxsets. Each boxset is available in a barebones DVD release, a combo BD/DVD release, and a "limited edition" BD/DVD release. The LE usually sell out pretty quickly, so are pretty much only guaranteed if you pre-order.
What I can tell you lovely folks is this: I try to describe what I buy to give you an idea if this is the sort of release you feel comfortable with buying, or if you'd prefer one of the less "special" releases, or if you want to skip this altogether. Keep that in mind while reading through this. The physical add-ons are only present in the limited edition, as are the majority of the bonus features.
Here, we have the chipboard box made to house both sets of Sailor Moon R. It's described as "shimmery" (I think we heard this with the first season as well), which seems to mean "holographic." It has an ultra-feminine color scheme, with an ombre effect of white shading into pink. The graphic on the front features just Sailor Moon and the logo, and feels very bare. (I know I've groused about this before, and I will continue to do so, as long as I have a platform to do it.)
In fact, it looks pretty similar to the graphic on the front of the actual disc case. If this is a collector's box, why can't it be a little jazzier? The box feels too plain. It is, however, sturdy and well made. They provide good storage for the disc cases themselves, which is what I'm primarily concerned with.
I do like that the discs feature character lineart. The BDs have deep, rich background colors with pale lines (carnation pink, goldenrod, and royal purple), while the DVDs feature pale pastel backgrounds with darker lines. It makes it easier to tell the discs apart at first glance, which is nice. Some combo packs do little to distinguish the disc types, so Viz gets some points here. Disc 1 features Sailor Moon, Disc 2 has the kitties, and Disc 3 features the Ayakashi Sisters. Kind of odd that Tuxedo Mask still has not been featured. I'm guessing that the next set will have art featuring Chibi-Usa, the head honchos of the Black Moon Clan, and probably Neo-Queen Serenity. Maybe we'll see Tuxie on the discs in the third season's sets.
The reverse of the insert has a graphic with the Black Moon Clan. It's a really nice design, and it's a great little bonus. So often, you see disc liners with plain Jane reverse sides, so it's nice to have something fun for a change. I'm hoping that the next set will have a graphic of Crystal Tokyo. Word on the street is that Warner--who does distribution for Viz--shipped out a bunch of sets without the graphic. Just a head's up if you get this set and find yours is missing it. You can send them back through Viz to get a replacement, though, but hopefully they will have recalled those sets so it won't be a future problem.
The coin included with each set has a design that matches Usagi's transformation brooch in that season. The transformation phrase is updated on it, as well. Moon Crystal Power, Make Up!
This first set covers the first half (ish) of the second season of Sailor Moon, "Sailor Moon R." Fun fact: the "R" stands for "Romance," although I always thought that "R" for "Returns" would be more appropriate, being the second season and all. In any case, this starts at episode 47, and covers the entirety of the Makai Tree Arc, and ends at episode 68, covering the first third of the Black Moon Arc. We now get the one episode censored from R, which sees the Senshi taking Chibi-Usa to the beach. Baby dinosaurs are involved.
And here we have the second half in all its slipcovered glory. To the side is the gift with purchase that you can get from RightStuf (while supplies last, of course). I am probably going to be swimming in art cards by the time they finish releasing this series. The slipcover art is far better than the chipboard box art. What gives? I got the second set also at RightStuf, for $54.49.
This second set covers episodes 69 to 89, which is the bulk of the Black Moon saga. I'll be blunt in that I vastly prefer the Makai Tree story arc to the one featuring
Here's the back, featuring Chibi-Usa and her Luna-P toy. I'm kind of meh.
The discs for the second set feature Chibi-Usa, Sailor Pluto, and Queen Serenity, in shades of pink, red, and purple/white. Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask/Prince Endymion/King Endymion gets shafted. Better luck next season, buddy.
And just like the first set, the cover art has an image on the reverse. This time, it's all the Sailors (introduced at the time) standing at the Gates of Time. The background is pretty cheesy, but it's not a bad image overall.
I've spread the art cards out so you can get a good look at them. Here, we've got the Sailor Senshi that have been introduced so far, plus the royal family of Crystal Tokyo. All of the good guys, essentially.
The reverse side features the villains! In a very clever twist, Chibi-Usa's reverse side has Black Lady. Bask in the terrible, excruciatingly stupid costume designs given to the four Ayakashi Sisters. (Really, nipple decs on Petz' breastplates? REALLY? I could go on for a while, but in the interest of not losing you guys, I will restrain myself.)
You can fit both halves of the season in the box, even including the slipcover! It...does look a little weird, though.
As for the video/audio, people are still not happy with the quality, pointing to numerous "ghosting" issues and color saturation. Again, stuff that personally doesn't bother me, but the one thing that DOES is episode 80 in set 2. The video and audio isn't synced, and is all shuffled around. Ugh, ugh. Viz has, thankfully, owned up to the problem, and replacements will be made available.
Those issues aside, the new dub is serviceable, and better in several parts compared to the original DiC dub. The voices for the Ayakashi Sisters, in particular, are far better. I'm still not quite sure about Chibi-Usa; she's pretty much my least favorite character, and I'm not sure if her new voice will essentially make me hate her less.
The special features offered are very similar to the ones offered on the first boxset. There are cast interviews, "behind the scenes" featurettes on recording the dub, video footage of panels from anime conventions, stills of artwork, clean (no text) opening and endings, etc.
The release of the second season has been pretty disappointing, given all of the issues cropping up. I'm lucky, I suppose, in that I only really care about the odd-numbered seasons, so as long as they offer to fix the problems they've created, I will be fine. But it is certainly disappointing that Viz just can't seem to get their act together. As of publication, Viz has still not announced their plans for replacing the defective discs.
Miss Scarlett suggests: Sailor Moon fans should get this, but hold off on set 2 until Viz makes good on replacing the defective discs.
