Feature film by moonlight!
The folks again at Viz Media sent me a Blu-Ray DVD to check out, this time the Sailor Moon R Movie. This movie had an a theatrical release recently as well and that shows the popularity of the series still after all these years but let’s get right into this DVD review!
The Sailor Guardians will need to save the Earth from evil, stop me if you’ve heard that one before. However, there’s more to it than that, revolving around Usagi’s love interest and future husband Mamoru. In the movie, you find out more of Mamoru’s backstory and how he tried to cope with the loss of his parents.
During that time, he meets a strange little boy at the hospital named Fiore who is actually an extra terrestrial being that Mamoru befriended. Fiore has to leave Earth and Mamoru gives him a rose, sort-of a parting gift to remember him by and Fiore pledges to someday return the favor. Years go by, Mamoru forgets about him, and Fiore returns to Earth with the Xenian flower. This flower is the flower that he feels is perfect for Mamoru but it is detrimental to the Earth. How will Sailor Moon and the Guardians handle this new threat to the Earth?
The story for the movie just didn’t work for me. It fits in with the rest of the Sailor Moon universe but it just didn’t work for me. I don’t want to spoil the ending but the length of the movie felt like it was going to go longer and then it just ends; something you don’t expect.
Something Viz has gotten really good at is the special features for the DVD box sets. The Sailor Moon DVDS always have illustration galleries to look through as well as Viz Media trailers. This time around, the box set also had the Opening Night theatrical Q and A from LA with most of the English Cast as well as other separate interviews.
It’s always interesting to hear the voice actors opinions and interpretations of the series that they’re working on and their opinion of the business/product in general. One other extra was the Sailor Moon short, Make Up! Sailor Guardians. This short was shown in theaters before the movie and the best way to describe it is a mini clip show. Two girls are describing the Sailor Guardians and Usagi/Sailor Moon isn’t getting any love. It’s a fun way to get theatergoers and fans of the series hyped for the movie!
I would like to thank Viz Media for the review copy.