ANI-MOVIES, *Sailor Moon Eternal

Sailor Moon Crystal was a retelling of the original manga without all the monster-of-the-week fillers that padded out each season of the 90s series adapted into five separate story arcs. However, the TV remake only covered the first three arcs, leaving room for Sailor Moon Eternal to do the Dream saga, otherwise labeled as Sailor Moon SS(or "Super S"). This was produced by Toei Animation as a two-part theatrical release which is supposed to be followed up by simliar production covering the Sailor Moon Stars saga.

Picking up where Sailor Moon Crystal left off, Chibiusa's trip back to the future is cut short by the arrival of a new enemy, the Dead Moon Circus. These mirthful monsters are from the literal dark side of the moon where the original Queen Serenity banished them to and finally broken free during an eclipse. Lead by the lethal Queen Nehelenia, the DMC send out their agents of the Amazoness Quartet who in turn dispatch their minions, the Amazon Trio, to give each of the Sailor Guardians their own evolution and power up. Chibiusa learns that Nehelenia has captured a pegasus called Helios who guards the Earth's inner realm of Elysion. This causes Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask to become ill as this invasion blocks the connection to each of their respected magic crystals. The outer guard of the Sailor Guardians along with a rejuvenated Sailor Saturn who has grown back into her prior age arrive to help the rescue the other Sailors from the Amazoness Quartet, each of whom are revealed to be Sailor Guardians in the future acting as Chibiusa's personal guard. All the planetary protectors eventually combine their powers to smite Nehelenia's plans to take over the world by freeing her grip on Elysion.

The animation done for this massive production was a step above what was done in the Sailor Moon Crystal series, although not substantially as it was filled with stock footage of transformations and special attack sequences. This could have easily been released as a single TV season instead of breaking it up into two movies. The major draw for it is the superior retelling of the manga bringing in obscure characters like Mars' companions Phobos and Deimos, or Artemis finally in his human form. Sailor Moon Eternal makes for a spectacular watch for 90s Moonies completionists, but anyone going strait into the Sailor Senshi story will probably end up being lost.