Sailor Moon S: The Movie

Sailor Moon S: The Movie
Japanese release poster
Directed by Hiroki Shibata
Produced by Iriya Azuma
Screenplay by Sukehiro Tomita
Based on Sailor Moon
by Naoko Takeuchi
Music by Takanori Arisawa
Cinematography Motoi Takahashi
Edited by Yasuhiro Yoshikawa
Production
company
Distributed by Toei Company
Release date
  • December 4, 1994 (1994-12-04) (Japan)
Running time
 61 minutes
Country Japan
Language Japanese

Sailor Moon S: The Movie, known in Japan as 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) and Sailor Moon S the Movie: Hearts in Ice in the Pioneer English adaptation, is a 1994 Japanese anime fantasy film directed by Hiroki Shibata and written by Sukehiro Tomita. It is the second film in the Sailor Moon series. The film is adapted from a side story of the original manga series created by Naoko Takeuchi, The Lover of Princess Kaguya. The storyline is loosely based on "The Snow Queen" fairytale by Hans Christen Andersen. The film was released on December 4, 1994 in Japan as part of the Winter '94 Toei Anime Fair.

Plot

An extraterrestrial ice entity named Princess Snow Kaguya (プリンセス・スノー・カグヤ, Purinsesu Sunō Kaguya) arrives on Earth in an attempt to freeze it, but a fragment of her comet has been lost and she is unable to proceed without it. She has her henchwomen, the Snow Dancers, search for the missing fragment. In Tokyo, a young astronomer named Kakeru Ōzora (宇宙 翔, Ōzora Kakeru) finds the fragment and keeps it in his observatory to study it further.

Meanwhile, the Sailor Guardians are enjoying a day in the Juban Shopping District. Luna falls ill and decides to go back to Usagi's house. Along the way, 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 on the cheek in his sleep, leaving Artemis crushed. Luna herself ends up with unrequited love because it is revealed that Kakeru himself has a girlfriend, an astronaut named Himeko Nayotake (名夜竹 姫子, Nayotake Himeko), and more importantly, because Luna is a cat. The two are devastated because Himeko is oblivious to Kakeru's belief of Princess Kaguya's existence. Later, after finding herself unable to reconcile her differences with Kakeru, Himeko leaves on a space mission.

The fragment of the comet attaches itself to his life force, and begins slowly stealing his life-force energy, causing him to become very ill. Kaguya later steals the shard, but because it is linked to his life-force, he is brought even closer to death when Kaguya throws the shard into the ocean and creates an enormous ice crystal that will continue to drain away Kakeru's life-force energy completely. She and her Snow Dancers then begin freezing the entire Earth, little by little. The Sailor Guardians attempt to stop her, but every time they kill the Snow Dancers, Kaguya keeps reviving them using the Crystal. Just before Kaguya could kill the Sailor Scouts, Sailor Moon arrives and tries to stop her by explaining all there is in the world- about friendship, love, happiness, even heartbreak and sorrow. Wanting more strength, she activates the mighty powers of the legendary Holy Grail ( renamed "the Purity Chalice" in the English dub) to evolve into Super Sailor Moon. She uses her far more powerful atack ,Rainbow Moon Heartache, but is easily overpowered by Snow Queen Kaguya. Determined to protect the Earth and its people, Usagi/Serena prepares to activate the Legendary Silver Crystal's immense energy and power. The eight Sailor Guardians, along with Sailor Chibi Moon, combine their own strength and Sailor abilities at once to further strengthen the healing power of the Legendary Silver Crystal, and it hits Snow Queen Kaguya head-on. The Silver Crystal's power also destroys Kaguya's Snow Dancers, the ice crystal in the ocean, as well as her comet.

With peace once again returned to the Earth, Usagi wishes for Luna to become the mythical Princess Kaguya for one night. Concerned about Himeko's safety, Kakeru wanders in the snowstorm and is saved by Luna at the exact point Kakeru saved her, transformed into a black-hired, golden-eyed human woman. She takes him near the moon, where Himeko, on her space mission, witnesses the phenomenon and realizes that Princess Kaguya is indeed real. Luna tells him that he needs to start focusing on his relationship with Himeko, and the two kiss. After returning to the Earth, Kakeru takes up Luna's advice and meets Himeko at the airport, where the two lovingly hug. Artemis meets up with Luna, and the cats reconcile.

Cast

Character name Japanese voice actor English voice actor
(Pioneer/Optimum Productions, 2000)		 English voice actor
(Viz Media/Studiopolis, 2018)
Usagi TsukinoKotono MitsuishiTerri Hawkes as SerenaStephanie Sheh
Ami MizunoAya HisakawaKaren Bernstein as AmyKate Higgins
Rei HinoMichie TomizawaKatie Griffin as RayeCristina Vee
Makoto KinoEmi ShinoharaSusan Roman as LitaAmanda Miller
Minako AinoRica FukamiStephanie Morgenstern as MinaCherami Leigh
Usagi "Chibiusa" TsukinoKae ArakiTracey Hoyt as RiniSandy Fox
Haruka TenohMegumi OgataSarah Lafleur as AmaraErica Mendez
Michiru KaiohMasako KatsukiBarbara Radecki as MichelleLauren Landa
Setsuna MeiohChiyoko KawashimaSabrina Grdevich as TristaVeronica Taylor
Mamoru ChibaToru FuruyaVincent Corazza (Vince Corroza) as DarienRobbie Daymond
LunaKeiko HanJill FrappierMichelle Ruff
ArtemisYasuhiro TakatoRon RubinJohnny Yong Bosch
Princess Snow KaguyaEiko MasuyamaUnknownMelissa Fahn
Kakeru ŌzoraMasami KikuchiJeff LumbyChris Hackney
Himeko NayotakeMegumi HayashibaraJen GouldClaudia Lenz
Snow DancersMariko Onodera
Yūko Nagashima		Catherine DisherTBA
AnnouncersTomohisa Asō
Yasunori Masutani		Tony DanielsTBA
JournalistYoshiyuki KōnoUnknownTBA

See Also

Production

Sailor Moon S: The Movie is 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.[1] 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."[1] She modeled the antagonist after an Art Deco antique named "Salome", while the Snow Dancers are modeled after a German china piece, which Takeuchi thought resembled "a character dancing in a snowstorm."[2] 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.[1] She enjoyed working on the film, and liked the overall result, particularly Luna's transformation sequence.[1] The film was soft matted for its theatrical release, as it was animated in 4:3 aspect ratio.

English release

The film was first released in North America on VHS by Pioneer Entertainment on August 31, 1999 in Japanese with English subtitles.[3] Pioneer later released the film to uncut bilingual DVD on May 23, 2000 alongside another VHS release containing an edited version of the English dub.[4] Pioneer re-released their DVD on January 6, 2004 under their "Geneon Signature Series" line.[5] The DVDs later fell out of print when Pioneer/Geneon lost the license to the film. The edited version was also shown on TV in Canada on YTV and in the US on Cartoon Network's Toonami block on November 9, 2001.[6]

The English dub was produced in association with Optimum Productions in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and featured most of the original DiC English cast reprising their roles. The edited version of the dub was censored for content and replaced the music with cues from the DiC version of the first two seasons of the anime. The uncut version of the dub was only seen on the bilingual DVD, featured no censorship, and all of the original Japanese music was left intact, with the exception of the DiC theme song being used.

In 2014, the film was re-licensed for an updated English-language release in North America by Viz Media, who have produced a new English dub of the film in association with Studiopolis in Los Angeles, California and re-released it on DVD and Blu-ray on October 2, 2018.[7] The film was released to North American theaters with one-day screenings nationwide as a double feature with Sailor Moon R: The Movie, in association with Fathom Events. Dubbed screenings were on July 28, 2018 and subtitled screenings on July 30, 2018.[8] It has also been licensed in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment.[9]

Reception

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.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Takeuchi, Naoko (October 2001). Sailor Moon. 11. Los Angeles: Tokyopop. pp. 138–141. ISBN 978-1-892213-99-0. OCLC 48491100.
  2. ↑ Takeuchi, Naoko (October 2001). "Antique Talk". Sailor Moon. 11. Los Angeles: Tokyopop. pp. 178–9. ISBN 978-1-892213-99-0. OCLC 48491100.
  3. ↑ "Sailor Moon S: Sailor Moon Vs. Snow Queen Special Uncut Subtitled Edition [VHS]". Amazon.com. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Sailor Moon S The Movie - Hearts in Ice (VHS)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-08-15.
  5. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/Sailor-Moon-Movie-Geneon-Signature/dp/B00012QLVO/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1426805966&sr=1-2
  6. ↑ "Sailor Moon Season 3 Episode Guide". TV.com. Retrieved 2011-08-15.
  7. ↑ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-05-16/viz-licenses-original-sailor-moon-anime-franchise
  8. ↑ "Viz Media to Screen Sailor Moon S The Movie, Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie Films in N. American Theaters". Anime News Network. May 19, 2018. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  9. ↑ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-11-28/madman-entertainment-acquires-sailor-moon-series-and-sailor-moon-crystal/.81519
  10. ↑ "Animerica Feature: The Sailor Moon Movies". Animerica. Viz Media. Archived from the original on April 7, 2004. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
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