Sailor Moon S: The Movie

This article is about the movie. For the third story arc of Sailor Moon, see Sailor Moon S.

Sailor Moon S: The Movie
Japanese Theatrical poster New characters Kakeru and Himeko are at the bottom. Luna's human form is also pictured.
Directed by	Hiroki Shibata
Produced by	Iriya Azuma
Screenplay by	Sukehiro Tomita
Based on	Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi
Starring	Kotono Mitsuishi Masami Kikuchi Megumi Hayashibara Eiko Masuyama Keiko Han
Music by	Takanori Arisawa
Cinematography	Motoi Takahashi
Editing by	Yasuhiro Yoshikawa
Studio	Toei Animation
Distributed by	Toei Company, Ltd.
Release date(s)	December 4, 1994 (1994-12-04) (Japan)
Running time	61 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Sailor Moon S: The Movie is the second of three theatrically released Sailor Moon films. Its full name in Japanese is Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S The Movie (劇場版 美少女戦士セーラームーンＳ, Gekijōban Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn Sūpā). The English dub is called Sailor Moon S the Movie: Hearts in Ice. The Japanese version was released on December 4, 1994. The film was soft matted for its theatrical release, as it was animated in 4:3 full screen. The same was done with Sailor Moon R: The Movie and Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie. The film is named thus for the third arc of the Sailor Moon anime, Sailor Moon S, as it was released around the same time. The events portrayed seem to take place during approximately the same time period - presumably during the mid-to-late episodes of the season, as Sailor Pluto is still present (she disappears in the anime during episode 124, near the end of Sailor Moon S, and is not seen again until Sailor Stars, in episode 167). Also, Hotaru Tomoe is not present until later on in the series. The "S movie" is the only one of the three to have been based on a story which actually appeared in Naoko Takeuchi's original manga series. The side story, entitled The Lover of Princess Kaguya (Kaguya hime no koibito), was published as Volume 11 in the original release of the manga. It was accompanied by a shorter side story called Casablanca Memories, featuring Rei Hino.

Plot

Long ago, Princess Snow Kaguya tried to cover the Earth in ice, but failed when the Imperium Silver Crystal melted the ice and saved the planet. She has now made her way to Earth to try again. A piece of her comet has been lost and she cannot proceed without it. She sends her minions, the Snow Dancers, to search for the missing shard. A young astronomer named Kakeru Ōzora finds the shard and keeps it in his observatory.

The Senshi are enjoying a day in town. Luna develops a cold and leaves the Senshi to go back to Usagi's house. On the way there, she collapses while crossing the road, and is almost hit by a car, but is rescued and nursed to health by Kakeru. Luna then develops romantic feelings for him, even kissing him in his sleep, leaving Artemis feeling rejected. Luna herself ends up with unrequited love because it turns out that Kakeru has a girlfriend of his own, an astronaut named Himeko Nayotake, and more importantly, because Luna is a cat. It turns out the two are unhappy because the scientific Himeko cannot come to terms with Kakeru's belief of the existence of the mythological Princess Kaguya; Himeko later leaves on a space mission without reconciling with him.

The shard of the comet that Kakeru collected attaches itself to his life force, and begins slowly stealing his life force energy, causing him to become very ill. Princess Snow Kaguya later takes the shard, but because it is linked to his life force, he is brought even closer to death when Snow Kaguya throws the shard into the Pacific Ocean and creates an enormous ice crystal that will continue to draw away Kakeru's life force energy until he dies. She and her Snow Dancers then begin to freeze the Earth. The Inner and Outer Sailor Soldiers attempt to stop her, but none of their attacks seem to work, as everytime they destroy the Snow Dancers, Kaguya keeps reviving them using the crystal. Just before Snow Kaguya could finish the soldiers off, Sailor Moon tries to stop her. She uses Rainbow Moon Heartache, but is overpowered by Kaguya's power. Determined to protect the Earth, Sailor Moon prepares to activate the Silver Crystal's immense power. All of the eight Sailor Soldiers along, with Sailor Chibi Moon, combine their powers and abilities to activate the Imperium Silver Crystal's immense power, which destroys Princess Snow Kaguya, her Snow Dancers, the ice crystal in the ocean, and her comet.

When the Senshi defeat Princess Snow Kaguya, Sailor Moon wishes for Luna to become Princess Kaguya. Kakeru, worried about Himeko's safety, had been wandering in the snowstorm and is saved by Luna at the exact point Kakeru saved her, transformed into a woman. She takes him near the moon, where Himeko, on her space mission, witnesses the odd phenomenon. Luna tells him that he needs to stop focusing on his work so much and to pay more attention to Himeko. She shares a sad kiss with him, then they return to normal. Kakeru takes up Luna's advice and meets Himeko, who now believes in Kaguya, at the airport. Artemis then comforts Luna and they reconcile.

New characters

Princess Snow Kaguya

Princess Snow Kaguya (プリンセス・スノー・カグヤ, Purinsesu Sunō Kaguya) is a powerful alien entity that travels by comet from planet to planet, freezing them and making them part of her "collection". Princess Snow Kaguya's name comes from the Japanese legend, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. Princess Snow Kaguya is not her real name. When she appears in Kakeru's observatory, she reminds him of Princess Kaguya. He mentions the story to her, and she says that she likes it and takes it for her own. She is afterwards referred to as Princess Snow Kaguya. Whether or not she had a name before that, and if so, what it was is never revealed.

Sailor Moon uses her Holy Grail to gain more power and tries to eliminate Princess Snow Kaguya with Rainbow Moon Heart Ache, but failed to Princess Snow Kaguya's stronger attack. Her appearance is a glassy-blue, female body entirely made of ice with a draped dress that is completely translucent and veil-like on her upper body, and white at the bottom covering her lower half. She has a white crown-like head-covering with no hair.

Princess Snow Kaguya appears as one of the monster types in the "Sailor Moon: Another Story" video game.

In the Japanese version, she is voiced by Eiko Masuyama. In the English version, she is voiced by Linda Ballantyne, who also voiced Serena/Sailor Moon in the English dubbed versions of Sailor Moon S and Sailor Moon Super S.

Snow Dancers

Monsters used by Princess Snow Kaguya, the Snow Dancers appear as identical pure-white women in dresses. They are made of snow and ice and seem to be formed from the ice-like structure Princess Snow Kaguya uses as her base. They are able to attack and are capable of freezing human beings in blocks of ice. While individually weak enough to be killed by any attack from the Senshi, they are seemingly countless in number. When defeated, they release a high pitched scream.

The Snow Dancers appear as one of the monster types in the "Sailor Moon: Another Story" video game.

The Snow Dancers are voiced by Mariko Onodera and Yuko Nagashima in the Japanese version.

Kakeru Ōzora

A brilliant young astronomer who nevertheless believes in the Japanese legend, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. He is obsessed with Princess Kaguya from that legend, and he studies the moon because of his obsession.

Kakeru Ōzura was ahead of the game but considered crazy by his peers. He would often say that a thousand years ago there was a kingdom on the Moon and such, everything that people our day would deem crazy. As he nursed the sick Luna, he talked to her, but then stopped himself, thinking Luna was not capable of speech. The princess he believed ruled on the Moon Kingdom was Princess Kaguya. Princess Snow Kaguya took that name after Kakeru confused her with the Moon Kingdom princess. He was in love with an astronaut named Himeko, who thought he was crazy as well, until she saw the transformed Luna in space.

In the Japanese version, he is voiced by Masami Kikuchi. In the English version, he is voiced by Jeff Lumby, who also voiced Professor Tomoe in the English dub of the series.

Himeko Nayotake

This young woman is Kakeru's childhood friend. When they were both young, they dreamt of going to the moon and meeting the legendary Princess Kaguya. Intelligent and resolute, she is saddened by Kakeru's refusal to keep trying to become an astronaut after he is surprisingly rejected in his first try. Despite this, she does not renounce her dream and successfully becomes an astronaut herself. In both the movie and the manga, Kakeru and Himeko become lovers (breaking Luna's heart), but it is only in the manga where it is later revealed that Himeko is pregnant with their child.

In the Japanese version, Himeko is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara. In the English version, she is voiced by Jennifer Gould, who also did the voice of Hotaru Tomoe in the Sailor Moon S TV Series as well as Palla Palla (Para Para) in the English dubbed Sailor Moon Super S TV series.

Production

Sailor Moon S: The Movie is closely based on the 135-page side story "Princess Kaguya's Lover" (かぐや姫の恋人, "Kaguya hime no Koibito"), written and illustrated by series creator Naoko Takeuchi and later published by Kodansha. Dissatisfied that she had left the production of the previous Sailor Moon film to others, Takeuchi envisioned "Princess Kaguya's Lover" as the plot of Sailor Moon S: The Movie, and proceeded to write the story "all in one go." She modelled the antagonist after an Art Deco antique named "Salome", while the Snow Dancers are modelled after a German china piece, which Takeuchi thought resembled "a character dancing in a snowstorm." On July 8, 1994, she traveled to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as part of her research; there, she watched the launch of space shuttle Columbia. She enjoyed working on the film, and liked the overall result, particularly Chibiusa's transformation sequence.

An English dubbed format was released on VHS on May 23, 2000. The VHS version would air on television on November 9, 2001 during Cartoon Network's Toonami block. The film's English adaptation has had two versions: an edited format and the other version is a special uncut. The edited version, seen in the VHS and television formats, used the original DiC music from the series, and had the transformation sequences airbrushed to remove bodylines that were tracing the characters' breasts, also Luna's transformation into a human is cut short removing the growth of her breast and keeping the screen above her breast as well. The uncut version, only seen in the DVD release, kept the original Japanese music and bodylines as well as the full version of Luna's transformation into a human. A special uncut subtitled version of the movie was released on VHS on August 31, 1999.

Reception

Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Wook Kim negatively rated the film 'D', describing it as "nauseatingly saccharine". Animerica noted that the film incorporates aspects of the Japanese folklore The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (竹取物語, Taketori Monogatari) and Yuki Onna (雪女, snow woman) in the antagonist's character.

External links

• Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S The Movie
• Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S The Movie at the Internet Movie Database
• Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S The Movie at AllRovi