Kunihiko Ikuhara
The third season of the "Sailor Moon" anime series, titled , was produced by Toei Animation and directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. It began broadcasting on TV Asahi on March 19, 1994, and ended on February 25, 1995. It adapts the "Infinity" arc of the "Sailor Moon" manga series by Naoko Takeuchi, and follows the adventures of Usagi Tsukino and her fellow Sailor Guardians. In this season, they must fight against the Death Busters, who are planning to take over Earth. In 2000, Cloverway Inc. licensed the season for an English-language broadcast in North America. Optimum Productions dubbed the season, continuing over from the first two seasons that were licensed by DIC Entertainment. The series aired on YTV in Canada, who adjusted the episode numbers to match those of the original Japanese version, from June 12, 2000 to August 1, 2000. The season later aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block in the United States. Edited and unedited VHS tapes and uncut bilingual DVDs of their adaptation were released by Pioneer Entertainment. In contrast to DIC's handling of the first two seasons, Cloverway retained the background music and sound effects from the original Japanese version. Eventually, the season was re-licensed by Viz Media in 2014 for an updated English-language release, produced by Studiopolis. The first 18 episodes of the season were released as Part 1 on November 15, 2016, and the remaining 18 episodes were released as Part 2 on June 20, 2017. While "Sailor Moon S" began very similarly to the first two seasons, it eventually took a darker, more emotional turn.