Sailor Moon S - Usagi Ai no Senshi e no Michi Review
First Impressions: This musical is very streamlined, much in the way its predecessor Gaiden was. There isn’t too much fluff; the enemies are introduced very early on and the plot runs in a pretty straightforward manner. The songs don’t overtake the acting; there’s a good balance. Overall, it’s an improvement on Gaiden in many ways, I think.
Story: 5/5
The story of this myu is well-constructed. It takes elements of both the S anime and the S manga (as well as a bit of R) and presents them in a non-confusing way that is fairly easy to follow. While following this basic plot, it also focuses a lot on Usagi herself and provides a lot of character development moments for her. But this isn’t overdone; there is a balance. Also, the focus is where it ought to be – on the senshi – rather than on the villains as in other musical incarnations of S, like Last Dracul Jokyoku and the Mugen Gakuen myus. Not that focusing on the villains is bad, but focusing on them shouldn’t take away from the heroines. Also, the R elements – Ami going to Germany, the similarity of Chibiusa’s appearance to her initial one in R, and the use of Pluto and King Endymion (in silhouette), both key characters of the R season, as motivators for Usagi – work well even within the S framework.
Costume: 3/5
There is definite improvement in the costumes in this myu versus the ones in Gaiden. The girls’ casual clothes are still dated by today’s standards, but not over the top. We see the senshi wear school uniforms more often in this myu, as they would do in the anime or the manga (except for Usagi, who’s never seen in her school uniform in this myu). Haruka and Michiru are even shown briefly in their Mugen Gakuen uniforms. The wigs have improved overall, except for Minako’s, which looks like it’s sticking up somewhat in most of the play. Usagi’s wig has definitely improved.
There are a few costumes here I’m not crazy about – that pale green jacket on Mamoru, for instance. Why ever did they put that jacket on him? They do this later in Black Lady and Ai no Sanctuary too – pretty much exactly the same jacket. It’s not a very attractive jacket. Yet, the Tuxedo Kamen costume looks great – it’s as if they dress Tuxie better than Mamoru. The villain costumes are also a bit overdone, Kaolinite’s mostly, and maybe the Death Mannetjes too. Death Ra’s “powered up” outfit (if it can be called an outfit, since he wears practically nothing in that form) is very odd but also very typical for Kasahara Ryuuji’s roles.
Set: 4/5
The producers did a good job with the set work in this musical. Somewhat like Gaiden, very few set pieces were actually used; the only major set we see is the Death Busters lair. Instead, settings were mostly just suggested through minimal set pieces and the use of existing stage structures such as stairs. Most scenes were done with just a bare stage and some stairs, actually – such as the scene at Rei’s shrine, where a torii (shrine gate) on upstage right is the only set piece used to signify the locale. (This trick is also used to suggest Hikawa Shrine in Mugen Gakuen). The airport is suggested through a hanging sign and a few chairs. Even the gondola scene, which contains the only set piece characters really interact with besides the stairs, is pretty sparse, with only some creative dappled lighting to suggest the pond. The only set piece I didn’t quite understand was the huge present-like set piece in the scene at the Hikawa Shrine. It seemed like its only purpose was to temporarily hide Minako, something which could’ve been accomplished just as well with lighting.
Acting: 4/5
I give this a 4 because the acting is not outstanding all around. Most of the lines in this musical go to Ooyama Anza (Moon) – naturally, because the myu focuses a lot on Usagi. Morino Ayako (Mercury) would be second place. Both of them do an outstanding job acting in this myu. Kotani Misako (Mars, credited here as Iwana Misako), Kanoko (Jupiter), and Suzuki Nana (Venus) don’t get much time on stage, except for Kanoko’s brief stint in silhouette as Pluto. I’m not totally thrilled by Nana-san’s acting here; it was a little better in Gaiden, where she got more lines. Misako-san plays a good Rei but doesn’t quite reach the range Anza and Morino reach; then again, it is her first myu so maybe I should cut her some slack. Kanoko is probably the best of these three, but only because she gets the saving grace of counseling Usagi as Pluto (and they do a good job of disguising her voice – you can’t even tell it’s Kanoko if you didn’t know beforehand).
This myu introduces some new faces as well. It’s the first myu to feature Uranus, Neptune, and Chibimoon. Uranus is played by Kimura Sanae, the second-longest running Uranus. She does a great job, though neither Uranus nor Neptune gets very much stage time in this myu. Kahoru Sakamoto (Neptune) is all right but not my favorite Neptune of all time. Chibimoon is double-cast, played by both Miyakawa Ai and Kawasaki Mao in their first myu appearances. According to the curtain call, Miyakawa-chan plays Chibiusa and Mao-chan Chibimoon. I can’t really say anything about Mao-chan’s acting in this musical since, similar to Mugen Gakuen, Chibimoon’s unconscious about 90% of the time she’s on stage. Miyakawa-chan, on the other hand, does a good job as Chibiusa, particularly with “Mata Mata Chibiusa Desu” and even with the few spoken lines she gets. I don’t know if she’s the best Chibiusa I’ve ever seen, but she does a good job.
This is also Mochizuki Yuuta’s first released myu as Tuxedo Kamen. It’s crazy to see him so young after seeing some of his later myus. He does a great job acting, even with that awful green jacket on. His great chemistry with Anza begins to show here in many ways, mainly in the gondola scene.
This is the first released myu for all the villain actors, and for most of them, their only released myu, since most of them only appeared in this myu and one or both of its two unreleased sequels (the S “Henshin” myus). Kaolinite’s actress Hanayama Keiko is quite good, though I don’t know if she really compares to Kawasaki Miki’s Kaolinite in Mugen Gakuen. She’s definitely very evil. Yajima Shunsaku (Tomoe) is a much more evil Tomoe than I’ve seen before; he’s not crazy like Undead Berserk Tomoe from Last Dracul Jokyoku or a solemn guy/creepy monster like Mugen Gakuen Tomoe, he’s just plain evil. I mean, he tries to blow up everybody with the Daimon Atomic Bomber, even his own minion Death Ra. He does also provide some clever comic relief with some well-timed break-the-fourth-wall exchanges with Kaolinite, where he says “next time, I want to [fill in the blank]” and Kaolinite says she thinks that’s a wonderful idea.
The minions don’t do much in this myu except execute attacks on the senshi that Kaolinite and Tomoe are too lazy to do themselves. The Death Nightmares in particular are not that distinct from each other. But one can’t ignore that one of them is Endou Ado, who would later become the longest-running myu performer ever, in her myu debut. It’s a pity she doesn’t get many, if any, lines. Two others besides Ado – Ishikawa Kaori and Matsumoto Yuuko – would go on to play other minor villain roles in the myus; Ishikawa-san would also later play the semi-major role of Nehelenia. The fourth Nightmare, Ikemoto Eri, only appeared in this myu and the S Henshin myus and thus is never seen on video after this myu. The Death Mannetjes (romanized in Japanese as Manechas; it’s a play on words: “mane” in Japanese means “to imitate,” which is the Manechas’ specialty) are the comic relief of this myu for sure and they do a great job being the comic relief. It’s the first myu for all of them except Ozaki Masayuki (Death Ru), who had played Zoisite in Gaiden - Dark Kingdom Fukkatsu Hen (Kaiteiban), and Kasahara Ryuuji (Death Ra), who had replaced Mochizuki Yuuta as Kunzite when Mochizuki stepped into the Mamoru role in Gaiden K. Gaiden K wasn’t released on video, though, so this is the first time on video for both. Ryuuji-san is probably the best of the four, and like Ado-san he would become known for villain roles.
Singing & Dancing: 4/5
I decided to combine the singing and dancing into one category. The dancing in this myu is pretty good; I particularly like the moves for “L’amour D’amour Moonlight.” This musical marks the first use of flies (those special ropes that, when attached to stage actors, allows them to "fly" over the stage) in the myus, and thus they are used frequently (perhaps TOO frequently) during the songs for added effect. The singing is really hard to judge; it’s great, but one must remember that in this myu they were still lip-syncing the songs. Thus, they sound almost too perfect – even, I’m sad to say, Anza’s solo in “Tabidachi.” But that aside, the songs are good, are spaced out well, and seem to have a function in the story.Canon Continuity: 4/5
It’s hard to pin down the canon sources for this myu. It’s called an S myu and does follow that basic storyline; yet, as aforesaid, it has bits of R in it as well. Also, there are some original elements, such as the changes in the Death Busters’ minions, and some changes made most likely to condense the plot. There is also a bit of the S manga in this myu, like Uranus and Neptune already knowing they possess two of the Talismans, Chibiusa being a primary target, and the attacks the Inners use in the final fight, which are manga-only attacks they obtained after gaining their Planet Power henshins (which they got from Neo-Queen Serenity after defeating Nemesis/Death Phantom). Based on the absence of Pluto and the presence of the Planet Power attacks, this myu would likely be set early in the S arc, since the Inners first used their Planet Power attacks early in the Infinity Arc of the manga (Jupiter and Mercury also used theirs in their Exam Battle side stories). So, even with the convoluted nature of the plot’s origins, the myu does seem to stick to whatever canon it’s based off of quite well; I’m only giving it a 4 due to the fact that the canon basis is rather ambiguous, making continuity hard to judge.Final Score: 28/30