This Japanese import featuring five teenagers with superhero powers may turn out to be for older girls what Pokémon is for the pee-wee set. The fantasy-action story lines of Sailor Moon (named for the leader) is typicalanimefare--which means it's far more creative than anything you'll see on Saturday morning. And far more complex--the stories are intricate and flashback sequences feature wordless narrative. Then again, what high-spirited girl wouldn't love the magical makeup that transforms hip schoolgirls into butt-kicking heroines? In this one-hour feature, we meet a new foe, a mysterious childhood friend of Sailor Moon's boyfriend who returns--from deep space! His evil plan to rid the Earth of life includes flowers with awesome powers, vine-covered foes, and telekinetics. Quite the challenge for Sailors Moon, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter. Despite the action, the series certainly has a different feel and color scheme than most male-drivenanime. The Japanese have two terms:shonen(for boys) andshojo(for girls), and if girls haven't had a chance to see theshojo anime, this is the starting point. This subtitled version is uncut from the original Japanese cartoon, and the reading crowd above 7 is the appropriate audience for the video's occasional spooky imagery. This unedited version was soaked up by kids in Japan, but the cultural differences might be questionable for American parents. There's a brief, nondescriptive conversation about homosexuality and ghostly ...
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