Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie

Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie
Promotional release poster
Directed by	Hiroki Shibata
Produced by	Toshihiko Arisako Go Yamamoto
Screenplay by	Yōji Enokido
Based on	Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi
Starring	See cast
Music by	Takanori Arisawa
Cinematography	Motoi Takahashi
Edited by	Yasuhiro Yoshikawa
Production company	Toei Animation
Distributed by	Toei Company
Release date	December 23, 1995 (1995-12-23)
Running time	62 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie, known in Japan as Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon SuperS: The Nine Sailor Soldiers Unite! Miracle of the Black Dream Hole (美少女戦士セーラームーンSuperS (スーパーズ) セーラー9戦士集結！ブラック・ドリーム・ホールの奇跡, Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn Sūpāzu: Sērā Kyū Senshi Shūketsu! Burakku Dorīmu Hōru no Kiseki) and Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie: Black Dream Hole in the English adaptation, is a 1995 Japanese anime fantasy film directed by Hiroki Shibata and animated by Toei Animation. It is the third film in the Sailor Moon series created by Naoko Takeuchi.

The film debuted in Japanese theaters on December 23, 1995, accompanied by a 16-minute short film titled Sailor Moon SuperS Plus: Ami's First Love (美少女戦士セーラームーンSuperS外伝 亜美ちゃんの初恋, Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn Sūpāzu Gaiden: Ami-chan no Hatsu-koi), stylized on-screen as Special Present - Ami's First Love - Sailor Moon SuperS Side Story (スペシャルプレゼント 亜美ちゃんの初恋 美少女戦士セーラームーンSuperS外伝, Supesharu Purezento Ami-chan no Hatsu-koi Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn Sūpāzu Gaiden).

Plot

Ami's First Love

Japanese theaters showed a trailer before the Sailor Moon SuperS film: a 16-minute short named Ami's First Love (Ami-chan no Hatsukoi),^[1] in which Ami Mizuno (Sailor Mercury) struggles to focus on her studying amidst various distractions including a pruritus-inducing love letter found in her school locker and a rival known as "Mercurius" who ties Ami's perfect score in mock high school entrance exams, and who Ami believes is either a female monster that makes her forget math and English or a handsome boy who looks like a young Albert Einstein. The short featured a new transformation sequence ("Mercury Crystal Power Make Up!") and special power ("Mercury Aqua Mirage") for Sailor Mercury. The short is based on a side story from the manga of the same name, and was part of a series of side stories for each of the Guardian Senshi.

Black Dream Hole

Somewhere in Europe, a young man named Poupelin (ププラン, Pupuran) plays a song on his flute to hypnotize children, following him into a mysterious ship before sailing off into the sky. In Tokyo, Usagi Tsukino, Chibiusa, and the other girls bake cookies together at Makoto Kino's apartment. Usagi ends up with cookies that look perfect but taste terrible; Chibiusa produces the reverse. Chibiusa sets out to give her cookies to Mamoru Chiba, but is stopped by a butterfly wing-shaped boy in strange white clothing standing outside the sweets shop. They befriend each other, and he causes some of the treats inside the shop window to dance by playing a tune on his flute before revealing himself as Perle (ペルル, Peruru). Meanwhile, Usagi visits Mamoru with her cookies, and they argue over his strong and close friendship with Chibiusa. They hear a report on the radio about the mass disappearance of children all over the world. Around the same time, Chibiusa gives her bag of cookies to Perle before going their separate ways.

That night, Chibiusa wakes up, and begins walking through the city. Diana wakes Usagi, who along with the other girls, follow Chibiusa, and the other children. They save Chibiusa, but get into a fight with Poupelin, and his "Bonbon Babies." Poupelin then hypnotizes the girls into seeing a Gingerbread House. In turn, Mamoru appears, and snaps the girls out of the spell. Queen Badiane (女王バディヤーヌ, Jo'ō Badiyānu) orders Poupelin and her other henchmen Banane (バナーヌ, Banānu) and Orangeat (オランジャ, Oranja) to hurry up. Perle says that he no longer believes in her, but she orders that Chibiusa be captured. The ship lands, along with two others, in Marzipan Castle. When the doors are opened, the children run out into the darkness, except for Chibiusa. Looking into the shadows, she witnesses "Dream Coffins," each containing a sleeping child. Badiane lifts her into the air, commenting on the power she senses from Chibiusa, and explains her purpose. In the castle's center, a massive Black Dream Hole is forming, gathering the magical "sugar energy" of the sleeping children. Eventually it will overtake Earth, and all humans will enter into Dream Coffins.

Meanwhile, Perle leads the other Sailor Guardians to a flying ship of his own. He tells them that Badiane promised that the children would be happy and safe in her world of dreams and where they can remain children indefinitely, but he thinks also of Chibiusa, his friend. As they reach the castle, they are attacked, and after crash-landing fight Poupelin, Banane, and Orangeat, as well as three sets of Bonbon Babies. Just when the situation seems hopeless, the girls are saved by Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, and Sailor Pluto. With this advantage, they are able to break the flutes of the three fairies, changing them into small birds. Afterwards, the Guardians infiltrate the castle and confront Queen Badiane, who has drained enough dream energy from the children, including Chibiusa, to create the Black Dream Hole. The power drain is enough to force all the Sailor Soldiers except Usagi into a half-transformation. Taking Chibiusa with her, Badiane enters the hole itself, and Usagi follows. Usagi then finds herself in Mamoru's apartment, carrying Chibiusa. Mamoru lays her on the bed, then wraps his arms around Usagi and tells her not to worry about anything, just to stay there with him. She asks him again who is more important, herself or Chibiusa; he eventually tells her that she is. Usagi lifts Chibiusa in her arms once again, and eventually realizes that this experience is all just a dream.

As Usagi tries to flee, Badiane demands that she give back Chibiusa. When Usagi refuses, Badiane assimilates herself into the black dream hole and attacks her with fire. Hearing her mental cry, the other seven Guardians send their power and strength to Usagi, awakening Chibiusa and allowing them to finally obliterate Badiane with their Moon Gorgeous Meditation technique. After the battle, Marzipan Castle is destroyed, and with Perle's help, the Sailor Guardians escape. The airships, each carrying children, return to Earth.

Later, at a beach, Perle gives Chibiusa his glass flute, telling her that he is the fairy who protects children's dreams, and will always be with her, and Chibiusa kisses him goodbye on the cheek. As Perle flies away, the Sailor Guardians watch the sun rise.^[2]

Cast

Ami's First Love

Production

Originally, Kunihiko Ikuhara envisaged that Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune were going to be the main characters in the Super S film, and it was going to be independent of the main series. Sailor Neptune was going to be in a deep sleep at the end of the world, and Sailor Uranus would have had to steal the talismans from the Sailor Soldiers to revive her. However, both Ikuhara and producer Iriya Azuma left the series. Ikuhara's concepts were later used in Revolutionary Girl Utena.^[3]

English release

The film was first released in North America on VHS by Pioneer Entertainment on August 31, 1999 in Japanese with English subtitles.^[4] Pioneer later released the film to uncut bilingual DVD on August 15, 2000 alongside another VHS release containing an edited version of the English dub.^[5] Pioneer re-released their DVD on January 6, 2004 under their "Geneon Signature Series" line.^[6] 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.

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, while retaining the insert song, Sanji no Yosei (The Three O'Clock Fairy). 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. However, no DVD or VHS release contained the "Ami's First Love" short.

In 2014, the film (including the "Ami's First Love" short) was re-licensed for an updated English-language release in North America by Viz Media, who has plans to produce a new English dub of the film in association with Studiopolis in Los Angeles, California and re-release it on DVD and Blu-ray.^[7] It has also been licensed in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment.^[8]

See also

• The Pied Piper of Hamelin
• Dream world (plot device)

References

External links

• Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie
• Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie on IMDb
• Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie at AllMovie
• Animerica review at the Wayback Machine (archived April 7, 2004)

Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi
Media	Chapters Codename: Sailor V Sailor Moon episodes Season 1 R S SuperS Sailor Stars films R S Super S Sailor Moon Crystal episodes Live-action series Musicals Video games Collectible card game
Music	Soundtracks "Moonlight Densetsu" "Kaze mo Sora mo Kitto..." "Moon Pride"
Characters	Protagonists Sailor Moon Tuxedo Mask Sailor Mercury Sailor Mars Sailor Jupiter Sailor Venus Chibiusa Sailor Pluto Sailor Uranus Sailor Neptune Sailor Saturn Antagonists Dark Kingdom Black Moon Clan Death Busters Dead Moon Circus Shadow Galactica