ADV Films presents

Sailor Moon (DiC) #12: The Wrath of Emerald (1995)

"This will be your last battle ever."- Rubeus (Robert Tinkler)

Stars: Tracey Moore, Jill Frappier, Karen Bernstein, Tony Daniels, Naz Edwards
Other Stars: Mary Long, Katie Griffin, Dennis Akayama, Terri Hawkes, Kirsten Bishop, Julie Lemieux, Kevin Lund, Colin O'Meara, Stephanie Morganstern, Roland Parliament, Nadine Rabinovitch, Susan Roman, Ron Rubin, Norma Dell'Agnese, Jennifer Griffiths, Kathleen Laskey, Robert Tinkler, Alice Poon
Director: Junichi Sato

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (nothing objectionable)
Run Time: 02h:10m:32s
Release Date: 2002-11-26
Genre: anime

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
B	B-	B+	A-	D

 

DVD Review

Continuing the story started in the last episode of disc eleven, the first of these six installments winds up the Rubeus story arc, as Emerald waits in the wings to take over as principle baddie. With her sceptical accomplice, Sapphire, a new plot for converting the Earth to the dark force of the Negamoon by opening the dark gate begins, which is really just a new twist on an old routine.

While Serena, Darien and Rini managed to escape, the rest of the Sailor Scouts remain imprisoned on Rubeus' spaceship. While Luna and Artemis try to come up with a plan to rescue them, Serena decides to take matters into her own hands and go it alone, but Rini tags along putting both of them in danger. It's the final showdown when Rubeus Strikes Out.

Prince Diamond decides to try a new tact by going after Rini in her subconscious. Rini is being plagued by nightmares, but when the Scouts learn The Secret of Luna Sphere, they enter the young girl's dreams to fight against the dark crystal. We get an introduction to a new Sailor Scout.

Rini seems back to normal, and more attached to Darien than usual. Emerald an Sapphire conspire to contaminate the twentieth century with dark power, by exploiting the weaknesses of their civilization. While Emerald enthuses over her new task, the Scouts discover a new pastry shop that has Serena wanting her cake and eating it too, when Emerald Bakes Up Trouble.

Serena is increasingly distraught over Darien's distancing himself from her. She hopes that making one of the love bracelets that become all the rage will help her win him back. The love bracelets have a more devious purpose, as Emerald's agent is using them to spread her evil in Promises Fulfilled. Sabrina shares her prophetic dream with Darien.

When all her friends come down with the flu, Mina decides to lend a helping hand, much to the chagrin of the other Scouts, who say No Thanks Nurse Venus. When she accompanies Rini to get medicine, they discover that Emerald is behind the spread of the disease, and it's up to Sailor Venus to try to save the day.

It's a Dog Day for Artemis when Luna's ribbing about his clutziness gets a bit overboard. Meanwhile Emerald discovers a power point at an animal shelter, and hatches a plan to turn the creatures into slaves of the Negamoon. When the girls discover Artemis is at the shelter, Serena insists that Luna make up with her feline companion, but the dark forces are out to create a cat-astrophe with its animal army.

After a couple of decent episodes where the overall story moves forward, it again takes a back seat as the show gets back to its well-trodden formula. The Scouts show up like clockwork to defeat the monster of the week, with Tuxedo Mask's encouragement when the going gets too rough. The silliness gets turned up an extra notch in places, and the dialogue continues to show its age in the choice of dated expressions. Like some her predecessors, the new villain doesn't really play a huge role in the show, instead she opens and closes the episodes, leaving her monsters take on the ever invincible Sailor Scouts. The Sailor Says installments still manage to find some hook with the story for its moral message of the day.

Rating for Style: B
Rating for Substance: B-

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: Image quality is consistent with previous discs. Colors, while muted, are good, and black levels respectable. Cross-coloration is minimal, as is aliasing. Print defects are also pretty minor and infrequent. There are a couple of places where the edits have some unnatural freeze frames, but this is source-related.

Image Transfer Grade: B+
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	English	no

Audio Transfer Review: The English mono audio remains impressive with a nice, full sound extending well into the lower registers. Dialogue is easy to discern. There is a little bit of hiss briefly in the first episode, but nothing major. This suits the show well.

Audio Transfer Grade: A- 

Disc Extras

Full Motion menu with music
Scene Access with 6 cues and remote access
6 Other Trailer(s) featuring Princess Nine, Dai-Guard, Queen Emeraldas, Sakura Wars TV, Chance POP Session, Ruin Explorers
Packaging: Alpha
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: dual

Extras Review: No extras to speak of other than trailers for Princess Nine, Dai-Guard, Queen Emeraldas, Sakura Wars TV, Chance POP Session, and Ruin Explorers.

Extras Grade: D
 

Final Comments

With Rubeus and the sisters out of the picture, things have returned to the standard Sailor Moon routine which, while reasonably entertaining, feels like way too familiar territory much of the time. Emerald doesn't really have anything new to offer in terms of technique, she pretty much does what many before her have done, conjure up an agent to do her bidding, only to fail at the hands of the Sailor Scouts. A couple of good episodes, then back to filler, though it was nice to see Artemis get the spotlight for a change. If you like the formula, this is more of the same.

Jeff Ulmer 2003-03-13