List of Sailor Moon S Episodes - Overview

Overview

The third season was produced concurrently with the third story arc (Mugen, meaning "Infinity") of the manga by Naoko Takeuchi, closely following the story of the manga. As with the two series before it, Sailor Moon S used "Moonlight Densetsu" as its opening song. For this series, the version by Moon Lips is used. The first two episodes use Sailor Moon R's ending theme, "Otome no Policy" (A Maiden's Policy). After this (from episode ninety-two and so on), the rest of the series uses "Tuxedo Mirage," performed by the five main voice actresses (Peach Hips).

Sailor Moon S is considered one of the darkest story lines in the series, partly due to the villains' ultimate goal of destroying, rather than conquering, all life in the world, as well as ethical themes of sacrifice. The arc is characterized by the appearance of three new Sailor Senshi: Sailors Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn. It also reintroduces the character of Sailor Pluto and gives her a civilian identity, Setsuna Meioh. In the anime, Chibi-Usa is seen for the first time in her capacity as Sailor Chibi Moon. The series antagonists are the Death Busters, led by Germatoid-possessed Professor Souichi Tomoe and the Witches 5.

This season was not dubbed into English until 2000, three years after the last episodes of the previous series, Sailor Moon R. By this time, the license had gone to Cloverway Inc., who did not cut any episodes, although they did edit the ones they produced for television and edited VHS releases (the later DVD and uncut VHS releases of these episodes were uncut and bilingual). The English dub produced by them and Optimum Productions used mostly the same voice actors from the previous seasons, however, several major characters were recast with new voice actors. The educational "Sailor Says" conclusions were not continued, and the dubbed episode numbers were adjusted by the YTV to match those of the original Japanese version. Because of this, episode numbers 83-89 were never used in that broadcast.

One of the controversies surrounding Sailor Moon S is in the romantic-lesbian relationship of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, who are subtly depicted as romantic lovers, although this is never mentioned directly. Takeuchi has openly admitted they are a romantic couple, and their voice actresses were instructed to play the characters "as if they are a married romantic couple." However, because of differing cultural standards, most countries outside of Japan have censored the relationship. Most notably, in the English-dubbed version this subtext is removed, and instead they are stated to be "cousins".

In the 1995 favorite episode polls for Animage, "Death of Uranus and Neptune!? Talismans Appear" came in first place, "The Bond of Destiny! The Distant Days of Uranus" came in eighth place, and "The Labyrinth of Water! Ami the Targeted" came in ninth place. The following year, "A Bright Shooting Star! Saturn, and the Messiah" came in fifteenth place.