If you go on social media around Christmas, you'll likely see a GIF of a jolly Santa ripping off his clothes to reveal that he is, in fact, Sailor Moon's heroic Tuxedo Mask. The movie this sequence comes from, Sailor Moon S: The Movie, is the perfect film to watch during the cold winter months -- and not just because of Tuxedo Mask's excellent Santa cosplay.
Sailor Moon S: The Movie is the second Sailor Moon movie. It acts as a companion piece to the then-airing Sailor Moon S series and was released in Japan in December 1994 as part of the Toei Anime Fair. In the US, the film has a fascinating and slightly confusing release history. The first release of the film was subtitled by Pioneer Entertainment that came out in 1999. Pioneer Entertainment would then dub the film, releasing it in 2000 and giving it the new title of Sailor Moon S: The Movie – Hearts in Ice. This dub was done in collaboration with Optimum Productions and featured most of the cast from the DiC dub reprising their roles.
Two different versions of this dub were also released. The first used the same content rules as the DiC dub, leading to some slightly weird edits and censorship. The second version was unedited. However, this version could only be found on the bilingual DVD. In 2014, VIZ Media acquired the rights to the film and used its own cast to make a new dub. This dub was released on DVD and BluRay in 2018 and also had a limited theatrical run as a double feature with the VIZ Media dub of Sailor Moon R: The Movie.
This film is an adaptation of Naoko Takeuchi's short story, The Lover of Princess Kaguya. This short story originally came with Volume 11 of the manga and was later re-released as part of the second volume of Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Short Stories. This makes Sailor Moon S: The Movie the only Sailor Moon movie to be based on the manga. Interestingly, this isn't the only time that Sailor Moon would be influenced by the traditional tale of Princess Kaguya. The franchise would return to this concept for 1999's musical The Legend of Kaguya Island, which could be seen as an inverted version of this film due to its tropical summer holiday theme.
When the mysterious Princess Snow Kaguya lands on Earth from outer space, she has one goal: To totally freeze the Earth. However, a magical fragment of her comet got lost and she can't finish her plan without it. So, she sends her minions, the Snow Dancers, out to find the crystal and bring it back to her so that she may wrap the Earth in a blanket of ice, freezing everyone in the process. Both the inner and outer Senshi must work quickly and use all of their powers to defeat this evil and powerful new foe.
The film also features a slightly strange and often forgotten B-plot. In this plot, Luna, Sailor Moon's cat companion, falls ill and collapses in the street, only to end up being rescued by a man called Kakeru Ōzora. Luna ends up falling in love with Kakeru, but this love has two major obstacles. The first being that Kakeru has a girlfriend, a talented astronaut who is soon going to head to the moon. The second bigger problem is that Luna is... a cat. Dating a cat is generally frowned upon. Kakeru and his girlfriend, Himeko Nayotake, are also at odds, mostly due to Himeko not agreeing with Kakeru's belief that the real Princess Kaguya lives on the moon.
The movie's animation is stunning, especially when it starts to snow. The pastel palette of the original Sailor Moon has always been very pretty to look at. But contrasting these pastel colors with the stark white of the snow and ice makes them pop even more. The bright colors of the Sailor Scouts also look great when contrasted with the snow, making the fight scenes look even better than usual. This leads to several very visually striking and aesthetically pleasing scenes that will stick in your mind long after the movie has come to a close. The soundtrack is the usual Sailor Moon fare of lush sweeping orchestral pieces during the emotional scenes and fast rock numbers during the combat sequences, and they really help tie the whole film together and build the atmosphere.
Sailor Moon S: The Movie is an interesting film as, because of its origin, it doesn't really feature the Sailor Scouts all that much. Much of the film is focused on Luna's infatuation and heartache, as well as her relationship with Usagi. However, this story actually sets the film apart from the other Sailor Moon movies -- once you get over the initial weirdness of a cat dating a human. However, the winter break theme really shines through, making this the perfect movie to watch in the run-up to the holidays.
