Embedded Files
Being the resident girl here and also being the resident Sailor Moon fan, I decided to do a short article on one of my fav anime/manga series. What does a mahou shoujo have to do with halloween? Nothing much, except that this one has VAMPIRES.
Yes, you heard right. Vampires.
The episode I bring you today is from the Dream Arc of Sailor Moon also known as Sailor Moon SuperS. This one is actually part of a special episode set that includes a short flashback of Usagi's first 3 series, a short Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus vignette (as the four senshi out the outer planets actually are absent throughout the Dream Arc), and this anime version of one of the manga side-stories--Chibiusa's Picture Diaries. Note, this has made this episode next to impossible to find in its entirety (as its a 3 part episode: flashback, Haruka and Michiru and then this story told back to back in 22 minutes or so) subtitled in english, so this article no long will include the video post. If anyone can find it, or even this portion of the episode streaming, please email one of the writers to let us know.
Chibiusa has a classmate, Ririka Hubert, who's very pretty, and the boys all seem to like her. She lives out at the nearby embassy, which is purportedly haunted. Boys that walk her home are never seen again, which seems pretty suspect, but is nothing compared to other weird behavior Chibiusa and her friends Momo and Kyuusuke witness; eating flowers, commenting on how delicious Chibiusa is, her often odd outlooks on life, or her chillingly cold hands.
Recipe for a vampire? That's what the girls think, when Chibiusa brings up the subject to Usagi and her friends.
But their criteria of what makes the undead the undead are also pretty suspect, something I think the mid-90s anime writers simply guessed at. How many vampires do you know smell sweet? If you're to believe vampire killing handbooks, they all either reek of dying flesh or are redolent of blood banks. Also, watching Rei, the shinto miko, stake Minako is pretty hilarious considering most japanese vampires aren't weak to western means. Nonetheless, we are treated with Usagi's to-the-point remedy for vampire troubles:
Makes sense to me, honey, what's YOUR problem??
While this may be a thinly disguised ploy to get Mamoru to treat them all to korean bbq (which is, like italian food, full of delicious, live-giving garlic :9), and it IS, this ploy eventually comes in handy later. Chibiusa, Kyuusuke, and Momo all go to see Ririka at her mansion, where she gives rather weak explanations for her behavior (she's eating sugar coated flowers, but that's the extent of her cover-up), then attacks Momo when she goes to use the restroom. Chibiusa and Kyuusuke attempt to find them, and upon discovering Ririka drawing blood from Momo's neck, Ririka henshins into a vampire woman/lemres, and proceeds to knock out Kyuusuke and go for Chibiusa's jugular.
Of course, Tuxedo Kamen intervenes and with their super garlicky breath (I am not joking), the senshi paralyze the vampire yokai, giving Double Moon enough time (with some gentle prodding on Tuxedo Kamen's behalf) to destroy the enemy. Now freed of possession, Ririka awakens to Chibiusa, who gently assures her she was in a long dream.
Because that's a good enough explanation with Sailor Senshi hanging out in a picture window. There's a denoument involving Zirconia and the Amazon trio, which places this episode close to the beginning of the Dream Arc, and another epilogue that closes out the entire special as Chibiusa and Usagi race off to fight another enemy.
The End. For now anyway.
EDIT: Recently the episode has disappeared off most streaming services, so until I can track a new one, please enjoy the manga version found below.
But that's not all! This special was based on a series of 4 Picture Diaries, the only one of them to be animated (much like the movie special Ami's First Love, also worth checking out). So here are 2 links to the scanned comic, the first a scan of the english Tokyopop version, and the second a fantranslation of the japanese version.
Chibiusa's Picture Diary, presented by Miss Dream in collaboration with Neo Nobility.
So read and try to watch them, or we'll punish you. ^_^
By Dio (10/3/12)
Screencaps from nanohathai's youtube upload, manga art by Naoko Takeuchi and scan from Manga Style!, and links to manga by Miss Dream and Neo Nobility.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse