This is a mega-sized volume with the conclusion of the Death Busters arc, and inclusion of two side stories. Mistress 9 tries to use Chibi Usa's hostia and the stolen Mythical Silver Crystal to provide enough power to Master Pharaoh 90 to merge with Earth and make it their new home planet, However, Mistress 9 wasn't counting on her host's body being so difficult to control. And, after Mistress 9 awakened, no one thought the final Sailor Scout would awaken. The conclusion is sweet and wrapped up pretty tidy, but the final pages, of course, hint that the peace they just achieved is threatened again. There are also two side stories in this volume, contributing to its girth. Chibi Usa's second Picture Diary, "Beware of Tanabata," is a side-adventure where an enemy uses popular Sailor Moon watches to manipulate the emotions of young girls. The second side story is "The Love of Princess Kaguya." This beautiful story focuses almost entirely on Luna, and her falling in love with Kakeru, a human astro-physicist who saves her from being run over by a car. Kakeru and his childhood friend, Himē, both pledged to become astronauts and travel to the moon to see if the Princess Kaguya from legend really lives there. A new enemy manipulates Kakeru and puts his life in danger, while Himē is chosen for a NASA mission to save the Earth from a comet barreling towards it.
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This volume begins the "Death Busters" story arc, or the Sailor Moon S series for those watching at home. A new enemy is on the horizon, which means the hard-fought peace after dealing with Black Moon is over. The enemy seems to be centered around the Mugen Academy built upon a triangle of reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay. At the center of it all is an elite private school that attracts talented students, like violin virtuoso Michiru Kaiō, or the star race car driver, Haruka Tenō (spelled Ten'ô in this translation). Both have frequent run ins with Usagi and Mamoru, and seem to know more about the new enemy than they let on. Chibi-Usa makes a new friend, Hotaru, whose father runs the Mugen Academy and has been known to conduct questionable genetic experiments. Later, the Outer Sailor Guardians make their first appearance, but it's not the happy team-building moment that Usagi wishes it was!
Volume three is the start of the next story arc. In this portion of the story, the members of the Black Moon are trying to steal the Mystical Silver Crystal, and they’re after Chibi-usa, a strange girl who literally fell out of the sky and demanded Usagi’s Crystal. Chibi-usa pledges not to let Usagi out of her sight until she has the crystal, so she casts a spell over Usagi's family and moves in as a "cousin" of the family. The Black Moon pick off the Sailor Scouts one by one and weaken Usagi’s confidence in herself and her team. Towards the end, Chibi-usa finally opens up and reveals who she is, where her "home" is, and why the Black Moon is after her.
The five sailor scouts are finally all together, just in time for the Dark Kingdom, headed by the evil Queen Metalia and Queen Beryl, to start tearing them apart. Kunzite steals Tuxedo Mask away from them just as they all regain their memories of their past lives in the Moon Kingdom. The group finally finds their lost Moon Princess, and they must protect her from the Dark Kingdom. A trip to the moon helps shed some light on who the enemy is and how it impacted their former lives.
Vol 5: Imperial Phase: Part 1, illustrated by Jamie McKelvie and Kevin Wada, colored by Matt Wilson
The Pantheon has to deal with the repercussions of Persephone’s actions from the previous volume, and a disagreement on how to proceed has them in factions. Some favor taking their enemy head on, some favor researching their options more, while others believe a path of anarchy is the best. This volume is prefaced with an interesting edition of "Pantheon Monthly," a magazine that presents as one written in-universe, and that gives insights to how the remaining pantheon members feel about what’s happening. This also serves as a recap of sorts for some of the major incidents of previous volumes.
This review series will focus on the newly published Eternal Editions of Sailor Moon. I have also reviewed the entire series previously.
Usagi Tsukino is a 14-year-old 2nd-year middle school student who wants nothing more than to play games, sleep all the time, and eat delicious foods. She's not a great student, and she's not sure about what high school she wants to go to. One day, she meets a talking cat with a crescent moon spot on her forehead, and the cat, Luna, reveals that Usagi is a legendary guardian, Sailor Moon! Together, Luna and Sailor Moon must track down the rest of the guardians and protect the Princess of the Moon Kingdom. Along the way, they meet a strange figure named Tuxedo Mask, and it's not abundantly clear if he's an enemy or not. Sailor Moon and her Guardian friends must fight against the sinister Dark Kingdom and keep the Mystical Silver Crystal from falling into their hands.
Vol 4: Rising Action, illustrated by Jamie McKelvie, colored by Matthew Wilson
There is no way to summarize this volume without spoiling the ones that come before, so I'm not going to try. I will instead just provide my review. This volume provided a lot of clarity to some action in previous volumes, but the underlying motivation of our "bad guy" is still unknown. Every new chapter gets us closer, gives some small tidbit, but there's still a big mystery to solve. The art is back to normal, without guest artists and colorist, so that was a major improvement from Volume 3.
Vol 3: Commercial Suicide, illustrated by Jamie McKelvie, Tula Lotay, Kate Brown, Stephanie Hans, Leila del Duca, Brandon Graham
We are reaching the point where reviews will need to be super vague because of spoilers to previous volumes and future volumes. This volume provides some serious flashbacks into how some of the other pantheon was awoken by Ananke. To this point, we know nothing of Tara, but we see her awakening. We also see the beginnings of The Morrigan and the love of her life, Baphomet. Amaterasu makes another appearance, as we haven't seen her since volume one. There are some insights into some of the mysterious happenings from the first two volumes. Not all is revealed, and the reader is left with more questions by the end, but more to continue wanting to read the series.
Vol 2: Fandemonium, illustrated by Jamie McKelvie, colored by Matt Wilson, lettered by Clayton Cowles
Laura is reeling with the events of the first volume, something that other gods and Fans constantly bring up and remind her about. But Laura is determined to get to the bottom of the murder plot, and she dives head first into the Fandom scene to figure out who the guilty ones are. This means attending concerts, fan conventions, and asking questions. It also means communing with gods at their concerts, something Laura is afraid to venture into since her friend was murdered. Ananke, meanwhile, is busy finding the rest of the 12 gods to complete the pantheon, and you might be surprised at a couple of them.
Fushigi Yûgi has been in and out of publication since 1995. The original series, Fushigi Yûgi: The Mysterious Play, is one I've previously reviewed. There is also another series, Genbu Kaiden, that came out after the original, but not one I have had the chance to get my hands on. Genbu is a prequel to the original series. Byakko Senki is set after Genbu and before the original, but you don’t really have to read any of the others in order to understand this story. This book makes reference to Genbu, but Watase explains all you need to know.
Suzuno is a sweet, ten-year-old child who loves her parents very dearly, growing up in 1920s Tokyo. Her father has a book, The Universe of the Four Gods, that he forbids Suzu from touching. Then, the Kantō earthquake of 1923 strikes and destroys her home. Suzu’s father tells her to open the book in order to save her, and she is transported into the book to the country of Xi-Lang. There she meets Ning-lan, a woman who can turn into a tiger. Later, Ning-Lan and Suzu meet brothers Karm and Kasal, who tell Suzu the legend of the Priestess of Byakko. When Ning-Lan turns on Suzu, Suzu is transported back to Japan, and is immediately beset upon by human traffickers. She is rescued by a boy named Seiji and Dr. Oikawa, a friend of her father’s, but she loses the book in the process. A significant time jump occurs. Suzu is in high school, struggling with dreams and slivers of memories from losing her family to being attacked by a tiger. Seiji joins the military in hopes of establishing a life for himself, and while an injury ends his military aspirations, he asks Dr. Oikawa for Suzu’s hand in marriage. |
About MeI've been reading manga and comicbooks for years. Now, I write reviews and other helpful things for School Librarians, teachers, parents, and students. Search this siteRatings, Audience, and Subject Tags
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