Moon, Prism Power On Stage at Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live

• Author: Seth Burn

• Editor: Samantha Ferreira

There was a wide range of ages at Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live show at the Palladium Times Square. There were plenty of younger Sailor Moon fans, and there were certainly a number of fans who were there back in the early ‘90s, when Naoko Takeuchi’s masterpiece premiered on television.

For me, it was pure nostalgia. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live covers the first arc of the series. To be clear, that’s an entire season of anime, on stage, in song, in 90 minutes. As such, having some familiarity with the story helped fill in some of the gaps in the stage show’s plot. After all, they couldn’t cover everything in such a short time frame.

There were numerous callbacks to the original anime, my favorite being the exam with a prominent red 30 on top. It is canon that Usagi Tsukino was not a great student.

That said, I had forgotten how often characters died in Sailor Moon. Or perhaps it wasn’t that I had forgotten, but rather, it hits differently seeing them die on stage. I don’t want to say that it was too violent for children; The show wasn’t gory at all, and we don’t see the characters suffer. It’s just worth knowing about in advance. After all, death and rebirth is very much a theme throughout the series.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live choreographer Satomi Toma had to prepare both dance routines and combat. I’m pleased to say that she did a masterful job in both regards. The fight scenes were genuinely entertaining, and the dancing was solid. In particular, I want to commend Queen Beryl’s minions, who were played by Ayano Nagasawa, Ayumi Sagisaka, Minami Watanabe, Izumi Niihashi, Kana Yanagihara, and Suzuka Osawa. 

The fantastic choreography was enhanced by the impression the cast made through their costumes. Queen Beryl’s minions were wearing what I can only describe as plum-colored Ghillie suits with a glow up for the stage. They worked well in person. Queen Beryl, meanwhile, was wearing her classic purple dress and tiara. 

Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako all appeared in their guardian uniforms, as well as fashionable outfits for their school clothes. I should note that, while the audience was clearly hoping to see Sailor Moon in her Serenity Dress, it was not to be. Perhaps in the 3.0 version of the show.

As popular as Sailor Moon was with the audience, she was not the character who received the loudest applause. That honor went to Tuxedo Mask (Riona Tatemichi), who naturally was clad in a tuxedo with a white bow tie. Classic.

With regards to the plot, Sailor Moon’s first season is, at heart, a love story. Usagi loves Mamoru. Mamoru loves Usagi. Queen Beryl loves Prince Endymion (Mamoru). Writer and director Kaori Miura did a great job in adapting this to the stage, making it clear that it wasn’t so much that Queen Beryl (Sayaka Okamura) was thirsty for power. She was, more than anything, just thirsty.

Queen Metalia was definitely hungry for power though. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live was promoted as a “2.5 Musical Entertainment,” and Queen Metalia is where the 2.5 nature of the show worked best. She was only viewed on screen, which gave her a galactic sense of scale when compared to the live performers. 

Luna was similarly also only seen on screen. And as much as I would have liked to see a live-action talking cat, this was probably the right move as well.

With regards to the soundtrack, I thought Go Sakabe and KYOHEI did a fine job with the score. Naturally, Moonlight Densetsu was the biggest hit with the audience. In terms of the other songs, though, Queen Beryl’s song “Burn Up The Dance Floor” would probably be my choice for the best live performance in the show. There was not a lot of exposition delivered through dialogue, so every song had to keep moving the plot forward. And, really, I felt that the show did a good job in that regard.

It’s kind of strange to say it, but the best part of the show may have been the thirty minutes of post-show song and dance. Riko Tanaka (Sailor Moon), Kanon Maekawa (Sailor Mercury), Rei Kobayashi (Sailor Mars), Kisara Matsumura (Sailor Jupiter), and Marin Makino (Sailor Venus) all shone brightly throughout the performance, and the light stick dance routine was exceptional. 

Also, a shout out to Sailor Venus for her breathy pronunciation of “love.”

From a fan’s perspective, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live was a smashing success. The kids loved it, and the generation that grew up with Sailor Moon loved it in equal measure. A good time was had by all, and that’s attending a show like this is really about.