Sailor Moon R

Sailor Moon R
Season 2
The anime series logo, originally translated to Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon R, and later as Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon R.
No. of episodes43
Release
Original networkTV Asahi
Original releaseMarch 6, 1993 (1993-03-06) –
March 12, 1994 (1994-03-12)
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 1
Next →
Sailor Moon S
List of episodes

The second season of the Sailor Moon anime series Sailor Moon R (originally released in Japan as Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon R[1][2] (美少女戦士セーラームーンR, Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn Āru), and later as Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon R[3]), was produced by Toei Animation and directed by Junichi Sato and Kunihiko Ikuhara. According to the booklet from the Sailor Moon Memorial Song Box,[4] the letter "R" stands for the word "Romance", "Return" or "Rose".

Like the rest of the series, it follows the adventures of Usagi Tsukino and her fellow Sailor Guardians. The first 13 episodes consist of the "Makai Tree" arc, while the following 29 episodes consist of the "Black Moon Clan" arc which adapts the fourth through seventh volumes of the Sailor Moon manga series by Naoko Takeuchi. After defeating the Dark Kingdom, the Sailor Guardians are living normal lives, but their memories and powers are then restored after the arrival of the Hell Tree aliens, who are harvesting energy from people and challenge the Sailor Guardians. Afterwards, the Black Moon Clan have travelled from the future to the present and start planning an operation to steal energy at the Star Points of the future Crystal Tokyo, forcing the Sailor Guardians to confront them with her daughter from the future, Chibiusa.

This season makes use of two pieces of theme music: one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme, titled "Moonlight Densetsu", is performed by the idol group DALI.[5] The ending theme "Otome no Policy" is performed by Yoko Ishida.[5] DIC Entertainment used an English-language version of the Japanese opening theme as both the opening and ending theme.[6]

The season aired from March 6, 1993 to March 12, 1994 on TV Asahi in Japan. In the 1994 "favorite episode" polls for Animage, "Protect Chibiusa! Clash of the 10 Warriors" came in eighth place.[7] The following year, "The Final Battle Between Light and Darkness! Love Sworn to the Future" came in seventh place.[8]

The season was licensed and heavily edited for a dubbed broadcast and VHS/DVD release in English by DIC Entertainment. It was the last season to be dubbed by DIC. The first 25 episodes of their adaptation were aired on the Canadian channel YTV from October 25 to November 28, 1995.[9] Eventually, the remaining 17 episodes aired from October 4 to November 21, 1997, omitting only one of the season's 43 episodes. A year later, General Mills-sponsored The Program Exchange in partnership with Seagull Entertainment to syndicated those episodes as "The Lost Episodes" on Cartoon Network's programming block Toonami. Starting with the third season, Cloverway Inc. took over dubbing new episodes for broadcast on Cartoon Network. Later, ADV Films re-released the series in an uncut, albeit subtitle-only, DVD box set, which also omitted episode 67 from the release. Afterward, in 2014, Viz Media began redubbing the series from the start for an uncut release, and released R in two DVD/Blu-ray boxsets on July 14 and October 27, 2015.

On December 29, 1993, Bandai published Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon R for Super Nintendo Entertainment System.[10] On April 22, 1994, Angel, a subsidiary company of Bandai, developed and published Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon R for Game Boy.[11]

  1. ^ "美少女戦士セーラームーンR DVD-COLLECTION Vol.1". toei-video.co.jp (in Japanese). Toei Video Online Shop. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  2. ^ "美少女戦士セーラームーンR DVD-COLLECTION Vol.2(完)". toei-video.co.jp (in Japanese). Toei Video Online Shop. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  3. ^ "美少女戦士セーラームーンR BLU-RAY COLLECTION" (in Japanese). Toei Video Online Shop. June 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  4. ^ Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Memorial Song Box(1997) Nippon Columbia. ISBN COCC-14459~64
  5. ^ a b "ムーン復活! 謎のエイリアン出現". Sailor Moon R. Episode 131. March 6, 1993. TV Asahi.
  6. ^ "Serena Times Two". Sailor Moon. Episode 54. November 10, 1995. YTV.
  7. ^ 第16回アニメグランプリ ［1994年5月号］ (in Japanese). Animage.jp. Archived from the original on October 19, 2010. Retrieved July 19, 2009.
  8. ^ 第17回アニメグランプリ ［1995年5月号］ (in Japanese). Animage.jp. Archived from the original on October 19, 2010. Retrieved July 19, 2009.
  9. ^ "YTV - Shows - Sailor Moon". Archived from the original on February 4, 2002. Retrieved October 15, 2006.
  10. ^ "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon R (Super Nintendo)". GameFAQs. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  11. ^ "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon R (Game Boy)". GameFAQs. Retrieved October 21, 2019.