Synopsis

This musical is based on the first half of the Sailormoon S series, before Hotaru/Mistress 9 appears. A new enemy has come to Earth; the Death Busters. Their plan is to steal pure heart crstals and search for the Talismans. Meanwhile, Usagi-tachi are enjoying their last few moments of junior high. Usagi-chan is on a date with Mamoru-san but would later be interrupted by Chibi-usa, youma and the elusive couple, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. While at Rei-chan's temple, Ami-chan told everyone that she was leaving to study in Germany, much to Usagi-chan's dismay. Before she could leave, Ami-chan is attacked by the Death Busters (mainly Kaolinite). Also, Chibi-usa is kidnapped by them. The senshi go to fight the Death Busters and almost won but didn't have enough power to destroy them all. It would be Sailormoon and later Sailor Planet power that delivered the final blow. The Senshi all celebrate as evil has been banished once again. sidenote: a revision was made of this musical but it was not released on tape and would be remade into another musical several years later.

Just about every review I've read for this musical were all negative; I've only read two that were positive. I was kinda curious, so I went ahead and bought it, expected it to be awful. I was very suprised. It wasn't bad at all. In fact it was very funny, cute and very close to the anime(although there are no Witches 5 or Hotaru). Now don't get me wrong, it's not a bad musical, it's become one of my favorites but it's far from the best. But you have to put into perspective that this is just their second musical.

In my opinion, this is the best cast, as far as the Inner Senshi actresses go. You have Anza, Ayako, Misako, Kanoko and Nana, need I say more. Ooyama Anza-sama is so awesome and cute as Usagi-chan. I don't care what anyone says, she is Usagi. She has Usagi's mannerisms down and can change from being goofy to sad really well. She also has a very pretty singing voice, filled with emotion (in one of her solos, you can see her about to cry) She just awesome, she must be because she continued to play Usagi for the next 3 shows and their revisions. Another great actress who would continue to play the same role for years is Morino Ayako-sama as Ami-chan. She's so cute, she squinches her eyes when she smiles and she looks just like Ami-chan when she's in her Juuban school uniform. Although she doesn't have a lot of lines, she does have two solos... kind of. She even gets to do Sailormercury's attack from Ami no Hatsukoi, Mercury Aqua Mirage. Like Anza-sama, she would continue to play Sailormercury for the next 3 years. Yet another great actress is Iwani Misako as Rei-chan. She acts a lot like Rei-chan in the anime, especially when she fusses at Usagi-chan. The only thing is her voice can get a little shrill but it's not too bad. This is her first musical as Rei-chan and I think she did a good job and she gets better in the later musicals. Next is Kanoko as Mako-chan. She is by far my favorite Sailorjupiter, because in my opinion, out of all the actresses to play Mako-chan, she acts and looks the most like her. And she's the only actress who does not have the annoying habit of talking and singing with a deep voice; her voice is not deep but not as high as other others, but just right like Mako-chan in the anime. The only thing about her is she has a habit of not smiling when she's dancing and sometimes when she's singing. She sometimes looks like she confused when she's dancing. I don't know why because she dances pretty well. This is her second musical and her last, which is a shame because she's really good. Lastly there's Suzuki Nana-sama as Minako-chan. The best word to describe her is "genki". She is constantly smiling; sometimes she smiles so much that she forgets to sing. Her "genki-ness" works to her advantage because you need that to play Minako-chan. Nana-sama captures the happy, easy-going, sometimes bird-brained side of Minako-chan and very few actresses actually capture and portray those qualities as well as her. Although she's not as pretty as Minako-chan, you can overlook it because of her acting. I wish she would have had a better, less thick and less corn yellow wig though. The 5 actresses have great chemistry together, mainly because they are all friends from the days when they were members of Sakurakko Club. It's a shame that this would be their last musical all working together. Mochizuki Yuuta-sama was awesome as Mamoru-san. This would be the first time we'd get to see him in this role. Although he looks nothing like Mamoru-san, he acts just like him. The scenes with him, Usagi-chan and Chibi-usa are funny. He also doubles as King Endymion.

The Outer senshi make their first appearance in this musical....well two of them anyway.There is a scene where you see the shadowy figure of Sailorpluto (she makes her first real appearance in the revision). Uranus and Neptune don't do much in this musical but they do have a snazzy duet together. Kimura Sanae-sama makes her debut as Haruka-san, and like Anza-sama and Ayako-sama, she would continue to play her for the entire First Stage musicals and gradually got better in the role. Her singing voice is a little too high and her mannerisms are a little too feminine. Sakamoto Kahoru-san was just WRONG for the part of Michiru-san, period! She has a deeper voice than Sanae-sama's; it gets deeper when she does "Deep Submerge". She's chubby and almost look like Shirly Temple in that frizzy curly wig she had on. The only good thing about is she has a really good voice (although too sultry for the elegant Michiru-san) and she looks good alongside Kimura-sama. There's a scene where they walk onstage, arms around each other in their Mugen Gakko uniform. Kimura-sama whispers in her ear and Kahoru-san does a cute but un-Miciru-like giggle.

There are two Chibi-usas, why I don't know. Miyagawa Ai-chan was very cute as Chibi-usa and just as annoying as the Chibi-usa in the anime. The scenes with her and Usagi-chan fighting over and around Mamoru-san were funny. Kawasaki Mao-sama makes her first debut as Sailorchibi-moon. She wasn't very good, mainly because she was too young for the role. She could barely pronounce her linesand a lot of times looked confused. I personally think that Miyagawa Ai-chan could have handled being both Chibi-usa and Sailorchibi-moon.

Finally there are the villains. Shunsaku Yajima-san was pretty good as Professor Tomoe, although I think he played the role a little too seriously; he does get maniacal every once in awhile. sidenote: watch closely during La Soldier, he doesn't look too happy about dancing. I have issues with Hanayama Yoshiko as Kaolinite. I mean, her acting was ok but she wasn't seductive or sinister enough. And she lip-synchs terribly and she moves stiffly and jerkily. She has a nice voice though and she looks a lot like Elizabeth Taylor. The Death Managers were really funny. Kasahara Ryuji-sama made his first "debut" as the Death Manager's leader, Desuraa (although he played Kunzite in the revision of Gaiden, Dark Kingdom Fukkatsu Hen, it was never released on tape). sidenote: Ryuji-sama would later play Professor Tomoe in a later remake of this musical. The funniest scene with the Death Managers is when Deburee and Desuruu appear as Rei-chan's two crows and Desuraa and Desuree dress up as Haruka and Michiru. The Death Nightmares, who were double-cast as both the chorus/dancers and youma, were ok, not too much you can say about them. Edo Ado-sama makes her first debut in Seramyu period in this musical. Ishikawa Kaori-san also makes her debut and even has a few lines.

The score for this musical was pretty good. It would have been better if all of the songs weren't lip-synched though. I was surprised that the show opened with La Soldier. The Inner Senshi sang the whole thing except the first chorus. Solar Miracle Make-up is one of my least favorite battle songs and it seemed a little out of place. Talisman wo Sagase is a cool song and is one of my favorite villain songs along with Muma no Odori which is really seductive and erotic. Choubi Uranus to Neptune is such a cool song and Sanae-sama and Kahoru-san sound and look good together. Dream Yume wa Ookiku is really cute, although the oversized props may have been too cute. Tabidachi is kinda sad and you can hear and se the emotion in Anza-sama's voice and face. Anza-sama and Ayako-sama sounded really good in duet part of the song. Tuxedo Mission is one of the better Tuxedokamen image songs.... and funny (Tuxedokamen-sama ga ippai!!!) I don't care for the military version of Sailor War 94; the words are different from the Gaiden version. L'amour D'amour Moonlight is such an awesome battle song... well, it's more of celebratory song for beating the bad guys. La Soldier was sung again at the end. This would be the last time the entire cast dances to it.

The effects were both good and bad, ranging from a flash of blue light and bubbles for Sailormercury's Aqua Mirage to lasers, glitter, fireworks and strobe lights for Sailor Planet Attack. This was the first musical to use wires and they didn't do a good job. Not only did they use wires constantly throughout the show but you could see them even from far away. The sound effects were kinda cool; they used a lot of sound effects from the anime, like Sailormercury's entrance and Sailormoon's Moon Spiral Heart Attack. There wasn't much a set; just Professor Tomoe's laboratory, a gondola for Usagi and Mamoru's date, a torii-like sign leading to Rei's temple, and a few chairs and a flightboard to simulate an airport. The costumes were okay, except for that lime-green jacket Yuuta-sama had on..... and the one Ryuji-sama had on at the end... eeewwwww!!!!

All in all, this a pretty good musical, better than what I expected. A lot of things were handled carefully and nicely, like a glittery sound to simulate heart crystals and the scene when Usagi and Mamoru's gondola turns into a daimon. They also added the senshi's manga attacks, such as Jupiter Coconut Cyclone and Venus Wink Sword. Also this is one of the few musicals not to have a musical number for the big fight scenes. This musical could have been A LOT better though. First off, they should not have used wires wires so uneccessarily. Why do Sailorjupiter and Sailorvenus have to fly during Solar Miracle Make-up? Do Tuxedokamen and Desuraa have to fight in midflight? Since when is Sailormoon's Moon Spiral Heart Attack done in the air? Also, instead of the Death Nightmares, they should have had the Witches 5 instead and they should have featured Hotaru in this musical instead of the next one. Then there's that infamous Usagi henshin scene where shares wears this huge, hideous, over-gliterry Serenity dress over her Sailor fuku.... not cool. Aside from all the negatives, this is still a good show. Don't believe the hype; it's not as bad as a lot of people say it is. And if you are a First Stage fan, like I am, or into are Sakurakko Club, then this is definitely the musical to get.