Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S
(Season 3)
Shown in the USA?: Yes
Episodes: 37
Original Air Dates: March 19, 1994 - February 25, 1995
My thoughts:
This season is usually the favorite because the outer senshi play such an important role, but it's actually one of my least favorites. All of the villains annoyed me, save Mistress 9, and Chibi-Usa just got on my nerves. The only thing I like about this season is that Sailor Moon has a new transformation, and the outer senshi appear. Although, the relationship between Professor Tomoe and his daughter is touching. I also liked Sailor Moon's new transformation. Very cool!
Summary:
The Sailor Moon S season details the struggles of the senshi against Professor Tomoe and the Death Busters. Professor Tomoe appears to be the leader of the Death Busters; in reality, his body is possessed by the daimon Germatoid as a result of an exchange for his daughter's (Hotaru's) life.
The Death Busters' goal is to awaken the Messiah of Silence and bring about the Era of Silence on Earth. They need the Holy Grail in order to summon their master, Pharaoh 90, to achieve this. To create the Holy Grail, the Death Busters must find the three talismans, which will form the grail when brought together. These are the Space Sword, the Soul Mirror, and the Garnet Orb. The talismans are located in the heart crystals of three pure-hearted individuals.
To find them, Professor Tomoe sends an assistant Kaolinite out to search for the heart crystals. He also sends various daimons to aid Kaolinite in his quest. In almost every episode a different pure-hearted individual has their heart crystal extracted, but no pure hearts are found.
Near the beginning of the season, two new senshi, Sailor Neptune (Michiru) and Sailor Uranus (Haruka) are introduced. They have the same goal as the Death Busters in that they are also searching for the three talismans in an attempt to help protect the world; each time a heart-crystal is extracted from an individual, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus examine it to see if it is a talisman. Due to this quest, they sometimes oppose the inner senshi and in fact, think them inferior at times.
During this section of the season, Usagi and the rest of her friends meet Haruka and Michiru, two girls who are in Grade 10. After brief crushes on Haruka by some of the girls, compounded by Haruka's teasing, Haruka reveals she is a girl. Haruka and Michiru become friends with Usagi and the others.
About midway through the season, Chibi-Usa returns to Usagi. This time, her reason is that has been sent back by her mother Neo-Queen Serenity (Usagi's later form) for training as a sailor senshi.
The final failure for Kaolinite occurs during Episode 102. Kaolinite discovers that Sailor Moon is Usagi. However, another Sailor Moon (Sailor Venus in disguise) appears. Confused, Kaolinite runs away. At the top of the building, Kaolinite is weakened by the inner senshi's group attack (which succeeds due to Tuxedo Kamen serving as a distraction) and is knocked off the building by Sailor Uranus's "World Shaking" attack. The inner senshi also find out that Michiru and Haruka are actually Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus.
After Kaolinite's failure, Professor Tomoe turns over the job of finding the talismans to Eudial, one of the Witches 5. Eudial uses a computer to try and find pure-hearted souls. After a few failures, Eudial develops a program and discovers that Haruka (Uranus) and Michiru (Neptune) both contain talismans in their heart crystals.
After luring Michiru and Haruka into a trap, Eudial takes Michiru's talisman, the Soul Mirror. Sailor Moon rescues the two by pushing Eudial off a bridge, saving the talismans. Haruka then uses the Heart Buster (the gun that Eudial uses to remove heart crystals) on herself revealing the second talisman, the Space Sword.
Eudial then returns and takes the two talismans. At this time, Sailor Pluto arrives with the third talisman, the Garnet Orb; this causes the three talismans to form into the Holy Grail. After a brief struggle between Sailor Moon and Eudial, Sailor Moon gains possession of the Holy Grail and is able to become Super Sailor Moon. Eudial is immensely weakened by the reflection of her attack by Super Sailor Moon; she decides to flee and drives off in a car. This car is booby trapped by Mimete, another one of the Witches 5; Eudial drives off a cliff and dies.
At this point in the season, Chibi-Usa meets Professor Tomoe's daughter, Hotaru, and they both become very good friends. Mimete takes over after Eudial was killed. She is the second of the witches sent to find pure hearts When she finds someone with a pure heart, she would let the demon swallow it and take it back to Tomoe. Mimete dies when Tellu pulls the plug out of the machine that helped her grow stronger. Tellu is the third witch. She is in tune with nature and plants, and uses plants to steal pure hearts. During a mission she is killed by one of her own plants.
Viluy is the fourth witch to try to find the three tailsmans. She knows a lot about computers and uses them to find and extract the pure hearts from people. She sends a computer to destroy the senshi but Sailor Moon damages it and it kills Viluy by mistake.
Cyprine and Ptilol are considered one witch because they are twins. They are the last of the Witches 5. They are transporting crystals back to Tomoe when the senshi arrive. Their attacks go wrong and they kill each other.
Chibi-Usa is then kidnapped by Kaolinite (remember, she wasn't destroyed: just replaced). Chibi-Usa's heart crystal is extracted and then implanted in Hotaru; due to this, Hotaru is converted into the Mistress 9, known as the Messiah of Silence. Mistress 9 is a parasitic creature that was trying to awaken fully by eating the heart crystals. She was the master of all the daimons and Witches 5, and her job is to summon her master, Pharaoh 90, and give him the Holy Grail in order to bring about the Era of Silence. She kills Kaolinite for being useless. Mistress 9 convinces Sailor Moon to give her the grail, and uses it to summon Master Pharaoh 90, destroying the grail in the process.
Meanwhile, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus are able to destroy the daimon Germatoid and thus convert Professor Tomoe back to normal. Professor Tomoe then attempts to stop Mistress 9 but fails. Hotaru then gains control of her body and is able to destroy the Mistress 9 aspect of her, is able to return Chibi-Usa's heart crystal to her, and becomes Sailor Saturn. Sailor Saturn transports to Mamoru's apartment, where Mamoru is watching over Chibi-Usa's body, and returns Chibi-Usa's heart crystal.
Because Sailor Moon cannot transform into Super Sailor Moon without the Holy Grail, she is at first helpless to fight against Master Pharaoh 90. Sailor Saturn then decides to destroy the earth to protect the universe, which doesn't go down well with Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon attempts to stop Sailor Saturn but does not succeed, and Saturn enters into battle with Pharaoh 90. Sailor Moon then becomes Super Sailor Moon (without the grail) and is able to destroy the gateway to Pharaoh 90, stopping Sailor Saturn from destroying herself and the world. Sailor Saturn then reverts to being an infant and is taken by Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune who take the child to Professor Tomoe who is in the hospital.
-portions of summary from BSSM for Neophytes-
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