Sailor Moon R: The Movie

Sailor Moon R: The Movie is the first of three theatrically released Sailor Moon films. Its full name in Japanese, , became Sailor Moon R the Movie: Promise of the Rose in the English-language dub. The film debuted in Japanese theaters on December 5, 1993 and Pioneer Entertainment released it in the United States on February 8, 2000. It takes its name from the second arc of the Sailor Moon anime, Sailor Moon R, as Toei distributed it around the same time. The events portrayed seem to take place somewhere in the very end of the series, as Chibiusa knows about the identities of the Sailor Senshi, knows that Usagi is her mother and is still around, the characters are in the present rather than the future, and Mamoru and Usagi are back together.
==Plot==
In his youth, Mamoru hands a mysterious boy a rose before he disappears, vowing to bring Mamoru a flower. In the present day, Mamoru meets up with Usagi Tsukino and the Guardian Senshi at the Jindai Botanical Garden. Usagi tries to kiss Mamoru, but when he suspects the other senshi of spying on him, he walks off outside alone.
The stranger appears from the garden's fountain. Usagi tries to break the man's grasp from Mamoru, but is knocked down. The man vows that no one will prevent him from keeping his promise before disappearing again. Mamoru tells Usagi that the stranger's name is Fiore. At Rei's temple, the senshi discuss an asteroid which has started to approach Earth and on which Luna and Artemis have discovered traces of vegetal life. The talk turns into gossip about Mamoru's and Fiore's possible relationship, while Usagi thinks about how Mamoru had told her that he had no family and was alone, and how she had promised him she would be his family from now on.
Fiore sends a flower-monster, Glycina, to Tokyo in order to drain the population's life-energy, but the Guardian Senshi free them and destroy the monster. Fiore appears, revealing his responsibility for the attack, and uses a Xenian flower before severely injuring the senshi. Tuxedo Mask saves Sailor Moon from death and tries to talk Fiore out of fighting. However, the Xenian flower controls Fiore's mind and has him attack Sailor Moon. After Tuxedo Mask saves her from being killed, Fiore takes Mamoru to an asteroid rapidly approaching Earth and begins to revive him in a crystal filled with liquid. While in the crystal, Mamoru remembers meeting Fiore after his parents died in a car accident. Mamoru had previously assumed that he had made up the boy as an imaginary friend. Fiore explains that he had to leave Mamoru because of the Earth's unsuitable atmosphere; Mamoru gave Fiore a rose before disappearing. Fiore searched the galaxy to find a flower for Mamoru, finding the Xenian flower in the process. Seeking revenge on the humans for his loneliness, Fiore returns to Earth.
Meanwhile, Luna and Artemis tell the senshi that the Xenian flower can destroy planets using weak-hearted people. Sailor Mercury realizes that the energy from the asteroid matches the flower-monster's evil energy, deducing that Fiore has hidden there. The Senshi decide to rescue Mamoru; Sailor Moon is reluctant to do so, but the Senshi and Chibiusa convince her to save Mamoru and confront Fiore.
After the Senshi fly to the asteroid, Fiore reveals that he will scatter flower-seeds to drain humanity's energy on Earth. The Senshi then fight hundreds of flower-monsters, but the Guardian Senshi are captured. After Fiore orders Sailor Moon to surrender, Sailor Moon is unable to feel his loneliness; Fiore begins to drain her life-force. Mamoru escapes and saves Sailor Moon by throwing a rose at Fiore. The rose embedded in Fiore's chest blossoms, freeing him from the Xenian's control. The flowers on the asteroid disappear, but it continues to hurtle towards Earth. Usagi uses the Silver Crystal to transform into Princess Serenity in order to change the course of the asteroid. Fiore tries to stop Usagi's transformation, but he soon realizes that Usagi had given Mamoru the rose that was once given to him. The immense power and energy from the Silver Crystal obliterate Fiore and the Xenian. Mamoru and the Guardian Senshi lend Princess Serenity their powers and abilities to sustain the Silver Crystal as the asteroid descends towards Earth. The Silver Crystal shatters, the asteroid disintegrates and Usagi dies. On Earth, despite Luna and Artemis' concern over why the senshi are taking too long, Chibiusa assures them that the senshi are all right.
Meanwhile, on the disintegrated asteroid, the girls and Mamoru cry over Usagi, but Fiore reappears and thanks Mamoru. Using a nectar-filled flower with Fiore's life-energy, Mamoru wets his lips with the nectar and kisses Usagi, reviving her and repowering the Silver Crystal. Fiore, reduced to the form of a child again, returns to space to live in peace.
==Cast==
* Kotono Mitsuishi as Usagi Tsukino
* Tōru Furuya as Mamoru Chiba
* Megumi Ogata as Mamoru Chiba (kid)
* Michie Tomizawa as Rei Hino
* Aya Hisakawa as Ami Mizuno
* Emi Shinohara as Makoto Kino
* Rica Fukami as Minako Aino
* Keiko Han as Luna
* Yasuhiro Takato as Artemis
* Kae Araki as Chibiusa
* Hikaru Midorikawa as Fiore
* Tomoko Maruo as Fiore (kid)
* Yumi Tōma as Xenian Flower
* Wakana Yamazaki as Glycina
* Hiromi Nishikawa as Campanula
* Mahito Ōba as TV newscaster
==New characters==
===Fiore===
thumb|200px|right|Fiore in his adult alien form
 is a lonely alien who takes great strength from his friendship with Mamoru Chiba, spending many years searching for a worthy flower for Mamoru. The film heavily implies that he possesses an unrequited love for Mamoru, but never specifically confirms or denies this. He had arrived on Earth at around the same time that Mamoru's parents had died. The two boys became close friends at this time, but Fiore found Earth's atmosphere unsuitable for breathing, so he had to leave the planet. Mamoru gives him the gift of a rose, and Fiore resolves to return some day with a worthy flower for Mamoru. This quest for a flower puts him in the path of the Xenian flower.
Fiore in the Italian language means "flower". According to the Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn R Movie Memorial Album, director Kunihiko Ikuhara noted that Fiore's full name appears in written Japanese script as Etymology Information from Dies Gaudii by Ian Andreas Miller.
Fiore and the Xenian Flower are intended as homages to Al and En, the Makaiju children from the first arc of Sailor Moon R.
Fiore appears in the "Sailor Moon: Another Story" video game. He has been restored by Apsu and guards the Gates of Time. Tuxedo Mask states to Fiore that Apsu has deceived him which Fiore doesn't believe. This causes Tuxedo Mask to end up dueling Fiore.
In the original Japanese version, Hikaru Midorikawa voices Fiore as an adult, and Tomoko Maruo voices him as a child. In the English dub, Joel Feeney voices him as an adult, and Mary Long voices him as a child.
===Xenian Flower===
thumb|200px|The Xenian Flower.
The Flower, known as the "Kisenian Blossom" in the English dub is a flower used by Fiore. The name reflects the botanical term "xenia", which according to the OED is a term for a specific action of hybridization which refers to "direct action or influence of foreign pollen upon the seed or fruit which is pollinated". The word itself is based on the Greek concept for hospitality.OED Online (subscriber license required to access) See also: Xenia on Dictionary.com
The Xenian Flower has to destroy stars and planets in order to survive. Alone, she holds no power. Thus she needs a host: preferably someone with a "vulnerable heart" (like Fiore). Luna calls the Xenian the "most dangerous flower in the universe", and Artemis says that hundreds of planets have been destroyed in this galaxy due to a Xenian Flower.
Once she has picked her prospective victims, the Xenian Flower begins pouring "hatred" into their weak hearts, causing them to fall under her spell and carry out her every whim. Eventually, through her subject, she will have grown powerful enough to destroy the entire planet along with the unfortunate individual whom she had deceived. After the flower has destroyed any star or planet, she sits and waits once more for the next unsuspecting person to come along and succumb to her allure.
Yumi Tōma voices the Xenian Flower in the original Japanese. Susan Aceron voices the Kisenian blossom in the English dubbed version.
===Flower Youma===
A race of plant-like Youma of unknown origins that are known to feed off energy. They are spawned from the seeds of the Xenian Flower and come in different types. They are in no relation to the Youma from the Dark Kingdom.
====Dahlian====
The Dahlians are the weakest variety of the Flower Youma. Though they make up for it by attacking in numbers. Their lower bodies were snake-like and they were highly agile, displaying the ability to move as a single mass when required. The Dahlians seems to remain connected to a source-flower while the independent is the flower itself. Most of them were destroyed by each of the Sailor Senshi's attacks.
Dahlian appears as one of the monster types in the "Sailor Moon: Another Story" video game.
====Glycina====
The Glycina are a power variety of the Flower Youma and often work alone. In their dormant form, only their lower bodies were visible, consisting of six legs that were almost insectoid in nature. When necessary, they could grow to full size and reveal their humanoid upper bodies. Their arms could transform into energy-draining vines, and the energy they collected was stored in a large flower on their backs. One fought the Sailor Senshi after Rei exorcized its control vines off its victims. Glycina tried to absorb the energy of the other Sailor Senshi until Sailor Moon freed them with her Moon Tiara Action. It dodged the attacks of the Sailor Senshi before being destroyed by Sailor Moon's Moon Princess Halation.
Glycina appears as one of the monster types in the "Sailor Moon: Another Story" video game.
Voiced in the Japanese version by Wakana Yamazaki.
====Campanula====
The Campanula are dragonfly-like Flower Youma that bear a close resemblance to humans of all known varieties. They were able to fly at great speeds, and could extend blades from their arms for defensive purposes. The Campanulas are never seen with or as its flower so it's unknown what its design is in relation to its original flower. It attacked the Sailor Senshi upon their arrival on Fiore's asteroid before being destroyed by the Senshi's Sailor Planet Attack.
Campanula appears as one of the monster types in the "Sailor Moon: Another Story" video game.
Voiced in the Japanese version by Hiromi Nishikawa
==English Release==
This movie's English adaptation produced by Pioneer and Optimum Productions was released both edited and unedited. The cut version, seen in the VHS and television formats, used the original DIC music from the series, and had the transformation sequences airbrushed to remove bodylines that were tracing the characters' breasts. During the beginning of the end song "The Power of Love", Serenity is completely nude with ribbons flowing around her. When viewed completely from the front the shot is lowered to remove any signs of her lower half below the naval area. The uncut version, only seen in the DVD release, kept the original Japanese music and bodylines as well as the original format during the end song with Serenity complete nude scene untouched. A special uncut subtitled version of the movie had earlier been released on VHS on August 31, 1999.
==Reception==
Alison Hynes of Anime News Network said the Sailor Moon R film is an ideal introduction to the series. Chris Beveridge of Mania said the film was essentially "a solid long episode". Rob Lineberger of DVD Verdict said the film stays true to the Sailor Moon formula and also said that the film contains "real drama and emotion". Ikuhara's direction has also been praised, and the artwork in the film is superior to that of the series, although it has deteriorated slightly, and that the pacing is good.Anime Jump:: We put the 'dumb' in anime fandom!The Anime Critic - Sailor Moon R: The Movie Review Patrick Drazen considers the opening flashback to be "reminiscent of François Truffaut".
==Make Up! Sailor Senshi==
Japanese theaters showed a trailer before the Sailor Moon R movie: a 15-minute short named Make Up! Sailor Senshi. Usagi and Chibiusa overhear two girls talking about the Sailor Senshi after they see a poster. As the girls debate over the smartest, most elegant, strongest, and the leader of the Senshi, Usagi grandly claims those titles for herself. Chibiusa shakes her head at Usagi's delusion. Clips appear from the debut of each Sailor Senshi, and that girl's image song plays in the background. When even Tuxedo Mask has been mentioned, and the girls are about to leave, Usagi butts in on their conversation and asks them directly about Sailor Moon. The girls give a series of glowing compliments about Sailor Moon, but unlike they did for the other Senshi, they also list her faults. After the girls leave, Usagi sarcastically apologizes for being a clumsy cry-baby and then bursts into exaggerated tears.
The poster the girls see uses artwork from the R movie advertisements, with a new background and sans logo.
==References==
==External links==
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*Animerica review
Category:1993 anime films
Category:Children's fantasy films
Category:Fantasy anime and manga
Category:Geneon Universal Entertainment
Category:Japanese-language films
Category:Magical girl anime and manga
Category:Romance anime and manga
Category:Sailor Moon
Category:Supernatural anime and manga
Category:Japanese films
Category:Toei Animation films