SuperS is generally reviled as the worst of the five Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon series. OK, fair enough. But the inferiority of SuperS to the other seasons is often mistakenly linked in people's minds with the idea that the entire SuperS series is total garbage. The former does not necessarily equal the latter! Is being the worst of five stellar series the same as being entirely worthless, utterly lacking in redeeming features? I think not. That's rather like saying a graduate of Harvard is stupid just because she wasn't the valedictorian. SuperS is a perfectly decent series of episodes. Not Sailor Moon's best, but on the greater scale of anime, still darn good.

The SuperS haters' arguments can usually be summed up in one simple phrase -- cute sucks. I find this ironic, coming from people who adore the other four seasons of Sailor Moon. Which Sailor Moon series isn't cute? Did I miss the plot arc in which the senshi drop acid, fight with scalpels, and drink each others' blood? Did I miss the episode in which Sailor Neptune slaughters a bullet-train full of commuters with her violin of death? I must have also missed that story that was a crossover with the characters from Legend of the Overfiend.

Come on, people. Even Sailor Moon S, commonly regarded as the most "hard core" season, has plenty of cute episodes to go along with its general theme of destruction. And that destruction, incidentally, is pretty lightweight. Saturn's big beat-down with Pharaoh 90, the climax of the entire season, is completely obscured with a ball of flame. Wow, how brutal and shocking. Certainly makes up for that episode with Tamasaburo the tea-server.

You get the idea. If you're going to use the cute argument, fine. But don't be a hypocrite about it. The cute factor is an excuse only for those who aren't fans of the rest of the series, either.

I suspect the primary impetus behind the complaints of excessive cuteness is that Chibiusa is the focus of the SuperS season. Let's all be honest about this -- Chibiusa has uncomfortably high cute levels. Even people who like kawaii often recoil in horror upon sighting the pink overdose that is Usagi's future daughter. If you have a problem with cute, Chibiusa is going to fire up your allergies, period. But there are two problems with hating the entire series based on her presence.

First, SuperS isn't the only series in which Chibiusa appears. She features in two-thirds of the total Sailor Moon saga -- the second half of R, most of S, all of SuperS, and the first quarter of Stars. In fact, she doesn't just appear in the other series, she plays crucial roles in them. Can anyone truly say that her prominence in the R season is any less than it is during SuperS? In R, as in SuperS, the plot revolves almost entirely around Chibiusa's problems. In Stars she is not the center of the storyline, but her plight as she disappears is played to great dramatic effect. In S, her friendship with Hotaru is so critical that without it the ending would have been forever changed. Yes, it is true, Saturn fans. We owe Sailor Saturn's birth in great part to the friendship and support of Chibiusa. Love her or hate her, she is not merely cotton candy, but an important part of the overall Sailor Moon epic. If one is going to dismiss SuperS based on her prominence, then one must also dismiss the majority of the other seasons as well.

The second problem with using Chibiusa as an excuse to hate SuperS is, in a phrase, Star Wars: A New Hope. How so, you ask? Well, raise your hand if you actually think Luke Skywalker is anything other than a whiny putz in a white bathrobe. Uh huh. I see no hands. We can now reflect upon the fact that Luke's role as the main character didn't ruin Star Wars. The movie had a strong supporting cast that counterbalanced Luke. SuperS is no different. There are five individual senshi, two strong-willed cats, a vast assortment of well-developed villains, and a plethora of supporting characters like Unazuki and Ikuko-momma. Chibiusa's cute, but not so cute that she can single-handedly drag an entire season into the muck.

Of course, some would say that Chibiusa isn't working alone. Helios, the pegasus, also seems to stick in people's throat as being cute. I can see the validity of this point. He's a pegasus, a creature whose natural habitat is the home decor of seven-year-old girls. But if you look below the surface, what you see might surprise you. As the series progresses he is revealed to be a boy from another dimension, who took the form of a pegasus in order to enter Chibiusa's dream. On that basis, I'm willing to cut the guy some slack for the sake of plot. If you were trying to escape captivity by sneaking into the dream of a young girl, wouldn't you take the form of a pegasus? Or a fairy? Or something equally cute and stupid, like maybe Baby Spice or Britney Spears? It should also be noted that Helios' attitude is hardly as sticky sweet as one might expect. Until the end of the series, he doesn't trust Chibiusa as far as he can throw her. And that's not far, since a winged horse has no hands. Even when Helios does warm up to Chibiusa, there's a bizarre undercurrent of pedophilia and bestiality combined. This is not your average pegasus, folks. You won't find this fellow on a Lisa Frank school folder.

If people are going to accuse SuperS of being awful based on the cuteness of two of the main characters, then it's only fair to take a gander at an equal number of un-cute characters in the series. The obvious place to start is Zirconia. I know of at least two children who burst into tears upon seeing this character for the first time. She is that scary to the younger age group -- the exact age group for whom the series was designed. Zirconia is bizarrely deformed, inhumanly ugly, and disgustingly guttural. Most people don't even realize that she's supposed to be female! Zirconia manipulates the Amazon Trio cruelly and physically abuses the Amazoness Quartet. She is rarely used for comedy, and when she is, it's not because the character actually has a sense of humor. Instead, she is the butt of the Amazoness Quartet's cracks about death and old age. And let's not forget that her pet is a flying disembodied eyeball with a flame coming out of its head. Yeah, Zirconia's cute all right. About as cute as a corpse. There is no recurring character in Sailor Moon -- any season -- who is more visually frightening than this one.

The other obvious candidate for the un-cute award is Neherenia. Oh, sure, Neherenia is pretty, but in that same way that a burning house is pretty. Fangs, sharp blood-red fingernails, and cat's eyes make for a striking but distinctly alarming impression. Of more concern is the fact that the woman is utterly insane. She apparently wants to take over the world just because she can. Her actions have no justification. This is no Ail and Ann, looking to save their tree, the one source of love that they know. Nor is this the Black Moon Family, trying to make a home out of a world they think has rejected them. This is just a witch with a powerful ego. She's chock full of evilness, and she's sure as hell not cute. (Note: In the Stars series Neherenia is developed more sympathetically than she is in SuperS, and she is given backstory that provides a true motive. But we're not talking about Stars here.)

The truth is, SuperS is more than merely not cute. It's actually one of the more disturbing and mature Sailor Moon series. While the other seasons focus on the collecting of items such as pure hearts and star seeds, SuperS involves the exposing of private dreams. Not collecting them. Not using them for evil schemes. Just exposing and examining them in the hopes that Helios might be hiding there. This is the spiritual equivilent of a strip search.

The Amazon Trio's technique for exposing dreams is nothing short of appalling. Typically, the Trio starts by manipulating the target into a vulnerable spot, usually by intensive deception and exploitation of the person's fears. Then the victim, usually female, is strapped to a board and a dream mirror is yanked from her chest while she screams and struggles. At that point, usually with hysterical laughter, a Trio member will stick his head through the mirror to watch and ridicule the person's dream. When it is determined that Helios is not there, the victim is slated for immediate death. Is this sequence of events, by anyone's standards, even remotely cute? It's an assault bordering on rape! Yet the psychological horror of the quest for the dream mirrors provides potential for major character development. It also allows storylines that revolve around adult issues, such as what defines an individual. Try that with star seeds.

Towards the end of the series, the Amazoness Quartet arrives on the scene and replaces the Trio's distressing form of dream invasion with a new process. The Quartet members shoot a billiard ball into the victims' backs, which passes through them and causes their dream mirrors to pop out the front. Fortunately the four girls don't need to stick their heads in the mirrors, as they have been informed that the mirror they are looking for is of golden color. When the Quartet sees a purple or gray mirror, they walk away. Much less upsetting than the Amazon Trio's style! However, this is not to say that the attacks are cute. The Amazoness Quartet preys on people's hopes and dreams just as cruelly as the Amazon Trio, if not more so. A trip to the dentist -- frightening enough to most people -- becomes a true lesson in terror when PallaPalla is on duty. CereCere, for her part, reveals the dark side of comfort when she attempts to control a young artist by offering him wealth and security. As in the case of the Amazon Trio, these kinds of attacks provide a greater opportunity for character development than the simplistic "suck my energy" ploys of the first two Sailor Moon series. With the arguable exception of pure hearts in the S series, dream mirrors are the most brilliantly adaptable plot devices used in Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon.

In the midst of all the griping about the supposed cuteness, the strong points of SuperS are usually lost. What are those strong points? The animation, the music, and the original plot ideas. You know, just those pesky things that distinguish great anime from partially digested dog biscuits.

Let's start with the animation. Take a moment to review the attacks of the inner senshi, including Sailor Moon, in the first, second, and third seasons. Then take a look at the new attacks presented in SuperS. Congratulations, you've just taken a crash course in why SuperS animation is superior. The figures are more refined, the effects more lavish, and the drawings less sketchy. Granted, the occasional episode is off-key when led by a less refined animation team, but on the whole SuperS animation far exceeds that of the previous seasons. A bad-art day in the SuperS season is still better than the typical good-art day in the first series. Even the quality of the paint used to make the cels is superior. Ask any anime cel collector. (Note: For videos of SuperS henshins and attacks, please see the download area of the site.)

As far as music is concerned, it is well known that Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon R, Sailor Moon S, and Sailor Stars have excellent soundtracks. Yet for some reason the music of SuperS is ignored. Why? It is at least on par with the others, if not better. The music of SuperS is more unique and has more variety than any other soundtrack except Stars. The music of the first three seasons is nice but fairly generic, with only a few stand-out pieces. (The violin work on the S soundtrack comes to mind.) The music created for SuperS, on the other hand, is almost entirely stand-out. Take the violin-based theme of the Dead Moon Circus, for instance, or the charming music used when Chibiusa talks to Helios at night. For once, Sailor Moon's transformation and attack music is not flat and goofy. And the tune used when the members of the Amazon Trio prepare for and perform their notorious "one, two, three" sequence is a brief yet perfect moodsetter. In short, this is no routine soundtrack. This is a carefully crafted score worthy of any big-budget movie. I can only assume it is neglected because of the unfair association of SuperS with all things weak. Buy the CD. Give it a spin with a fresh mind. You won't regret it.

Perhaps the greatest strength of SuperS is its originality. Sailor Moon S is excellent, but it's based in large part upon Biblical prophecies of the apocalypse. The other seasons have similar cultural influences. However, I have yet to meet a single person who can trace any major element of the SuperS plot back to an existing tale.

Often there is a knee-jerk assumption that Helios, as a pegasus, must naturally be based on Greek myth. But that's not the case. The winged creature of Greek myth was most certainly not a young boy who, in the process of trying to guard a Golden Crystal, became captured by an evil queen and ultimately fled in the astral form of a pegasus to hide in the dream of a young girl. The Greek tale is about a simple horse with wings that is tamed by Bellephron with the help of a bridle from the gods. The two stories aren't even in-laws, much less child and parent.

There are only a few minor nods to classical myth in the entire SuperS series. First, a golden bridle is briefly used by a monster of the day, and later the Amazoness Quartet, to try and capture Helios. Second, the name of the land Helios protects is Elysion -- like the Elysion fields of Greek myth, where the good and honest went to live in paradise after they died. (Note: In some translations, Elysion is written as Illusion. It's a similar-sounding word, yes, but Naoko herself has indicated her intention to make the name classical in nature. It's not Illusion.) Lastly, the names of the Amazoness Quartet members are derived from Greek and Roman gods. However, all of these references to ancient myths are so unimportant to the plot, and so obscure to the average person, that they might as well not have been there at all. The SuperS story stands on its own as an original, non-derivitive tale.

The designs of the monsters of the day are particularly original and creative. The villains' association with a circus allows for some interesting -- and sometimes frightening -- caricatures. The elephant's balancing ball makes an unusual yet hilarious opponent, while some of the clowns are downright terrifying. The first monster the senshi encounter, a marionette doll who dismembers herself and sprouts blades from her hands, is perhaps the most bizarre enemy ever encountered. And let's not forget the Amazon Trio and Amazoness Quartet.

The Trio and Quartet aren't monsters of the day -- they're monsters of the year. These enemies are sympathetically and elaborately developed. The Amazon Trio learn of love and loyalty, and in the end are fighting to find Helios solely to save their own lives -- lives which they ultimately choose to sacrifice in order to help the forces of good. The Amazoness Quartet, on the other hand, are at their worst merely children -- cruel, yes, but refreshingly honest and fun-loving. They learn all too soon that no one can be a child forever. They do not choose to grow up so much as they are forced to by the raw reality of Zirconia and Neherenia's betrayal. Who would have thought a trio of animals and some orphaned children would make such fascinating and formidable antagonists?

For that matter, who would have thought that this defense of SuperS would even be necessary? The show holds its own quite well. Or would, if people would judge it with an open mind. No, the series is isn't the best season of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon. In fact, compared to the high drama of the first season, S, and Stars, I think it's fair to say it's the worst. But being the worst of the five seasons is not necessarily tantamount to being the lowest of the low. SuperS could use improvement, and constructive criticism of many of its episodes is not necessarily inappropriate. But I can think of many anime series that are much more deserving of a verbal lashing. Before you waste your time ridiculing SuperS, perhaps you should delve into anime a little more deeply. Then you'll really have some stinkers to complain about.

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