Let's Play Sailor Moon: Another Story! Chapter 1

[Current OST: Intro]

We open up with the game's intro, complete with narration. The music in this game is nice, if a bit too loud sometimes. This song in particular has a "yearning" feeling that I absolutely adore.

Here's more text:

"From the depth of the darkness, he continues to wander. Soon, the void of darkness is interrupted by something..."

Ominous... if a bit redundant.



Oh god the big blue fire ball is going to hit us, aaaa!



Ms. Naoko Takeuchi is the lady that made Sailor Moon to begin with while Nakayoshi is a magazine for shoujo manga. This LP is more or less going to be a giant trivia bomb for the series, so expect that from now on.



"The light covers the darkness, and the darkness is no more. Then the light and the darkness are one. The light makes light, and the dark makes darkness. I seek the darkness... and before long... he and I will become one."

This is dialogue that would make Kingdom Hearts blush, like jesus christ. There's so much "darky darkness of dark" that it goes into silly territory.

I don't know if the original Japanese text was like this, but yeesh. There's being "mysterious" and then you have this.



Roasting aside, the wonderful music for this game was made by Arisawa Takanori. I tried to look up details for Passion Play, but all I got back was a literal play for the death of Jesus Christ.

Something tells me they're not the same.



Ooooh boy, this is going to require a lot of explaining when we have to get down to it. So... yeah, Tokyo becomes a crystalline paradise in the future. That's all I'll say about it for now.



"Have discovered a significant celestial object approaching Earth. It's determined to be a meteor of enormous size."

So they're referring to the giant blue fireball a few screens before. You know, for a licensed game, this isn't a half bad plot.

I mean, Ansem the Seeker of Darkness dialogue aside.



"And while all this is happening..."

I would hope people show concern for the meteor that's hurtling towards Earth. It's a pretty big deal to have some massive space rock come around and destroy the planet via chain reaction.



Oh yes, all of the main cast have their own little voice clips. They even got the anime's voice actresses to make it authentic. I think it's a cute addition to the game.



"Meanwhile, several youths have banded together to form a vicious gang!"

So Earth in the future is being threatened by an evil magic comet and a group of teens who probably worship the thing. I wonder if they're connected. Hmmm.



"In search of answers, Neo Queen Serenity begins to pray to the legendary Mystic Silver Crystal, Ginzuishou."

... Oh hell, there's the real bump of this script. The Ginzuishou literally stands for "Silver Crystal" anyway, so they just repeated themselves for no reason.

Long story short, it's an incredibly strong lotus-shaped gem that not only gives Sailor Moon her powers, but it's the heirloom of the Moon Kingdom. Basically, it's the most important artifact in the story for a ton of reasons.



"Why is the Silver Crystal vibrating so wildly?!"

I will also vehemently refuse to call it the Ginzuishou because it's too much of a hassle and because well, (almost) everything else is in English. (I will call the Sailor Soldiers "senshi" instead because it rolls of the tongue for me.)

: "Evil energy has appeared..."



Yeah, the cat is saying that. Her name is Diana and I don't think she appears past this scene.

Only the cats that work with Sailor Moon and pals can talk. I dunno, they're like intelligent aliens that can morph into cat forms or something, so you got me there.



"... Huh? This Death Phantom is a new... enemy? The era of the Great Peace is finally over. It was bound to happen sooner or later... This is a very serious matter. We must call upon the Sailor Senshi!"

Alright, so... the Death Phantom was the main villain of season 2, Sailor Moon R. He was a criminal that basically went "nah screw you" to the peace of Crystal Tokyo, reinventing the concept of crime, until Neo Queen Serenity banished him to a forbidden planet called Nemesis. If that doesn't sound gnarly enough, this is what he looks like:



Now that's a spooky skeleton. It is a damn shame he doesn't appear in this game at all.



[The Silver Crystal stops shaking]

: "Strange... "



"The ominous tremblings, what do they mean? Undoubtedly, this is in some way related to the comet."

Is it a comet or a meteor? A little consistency for this would be nice.

: "... Could it be so?"

: "... Yes! It must be so. The Great Peace of the Universe must be protected using the power of the Silver Crystal. The New Silver Millennium must remain!"

I apologize to everyone that doesn't know what the hell she's talking about. I can imagine this being incredibly confusing for anybody who's never even seen this series, but just stick with me here.



Cut to current-day Tokyo with Usagi (Sailor Moon's civilian identity) and her young ward Chibi-Usa (literally her daughter from the future, but that's an entire other can of worms to open) going to school, I think.



: "Hehe... Certainly, this is what we were sent here for. This must be where they live."

: "Should I spy on them? It is our Destiny."

These two are part of the "vicious gang" mentioned earlier and they are brand new characters made just for this game. Yeah, they have the power to time travel, so what?

Also, get used to the game capitalizing certain words for no reason.



"It is Destiny..."

[The girl flash-steps away]

: "Princess... I, like my sister, vow to make our Destiny come true."

I think green-haired boy looks cool but I'm trying hard to not spoil what he and his sister are up to. You know, aside from generic anime bad guy shenanigans.



: "I just had a vision from the future!"

: "Yay! So what's it about? Was your boyfriend in it?"

Foreshadowing???

Also, don't ask me why Chibi-Usa has pink hair if she came from people who are blonde and black-haired respectively. It's, uh... moon magic. There you go.

: "It was about Mamo-chan!"

It's hard to follow who was saying what during this intro scene due to the lack of portraits, so I just assume Usagi said this. Yeah, it's easy to forget, but she is a ditzy 14 year old.

Whether you find that entertaining or not is all up to you, though.

: "Idiot... It's more important than THAT!! ... Usagi... It was about a new enemy. Some kind of aliens... We're all going to have to work together. We have to defeat them!"

[Usagi laughs]

: "That's pretty weird, Chibi-Usa!"

Oh come on, I know she has pink hair but you've seen way weirder things happen before.

: "But still, the peace must continue uninterrupted even if evil aliens invade Earth. I am Sailor Moon..."



Ayyyy, she said it! (Albeit a bit incorrectly.)

That's the end of the intro, jeez. Went on a little longer than it needed to, but I think we get the general gist of what's happening.



The title screen pops up complete with a SNES remix of Moonlight Densetsu, the main opening theme of the anime. It sounds a bit more somber for some reason, but I can't blame it with what happens in this game.

As for the actual title screen itself... it looks fine? I like the picture of Crystal Tokyo.



[Current OST: File Select]

But then you have this silly music complete with a tiny cat and a diary full of doodles. Not gonna lie, this is one of my favorite tracks in the entire game.



[Current OST: Mysterious Happening]

If I'm not mistaken, this song is a semi-remix of Daimon Creation from the Super soundtrack. It's fitting for what's about to happen, honestly.



[The black cat hops on the bed]

: "Usagi-chan, wake up!!"

This cat's name is Luna and she's Usagi's sidekick, more or less. She's the one who granted her the power of Sailor Moon in the first place via a special brooch.

: "Num num... what's wrong, Luna?"

: "There's something peculiar about the town. I don't know what it is exactly... but there's something funny going on."

[Usagi turns in her sleep.]



"Are you sure it isn't your imagination, Luna?"

Would it actually be her imagination though? She has cat senses, you know.

: "No, there's something about the people as well."

: "Hmmm, ok. Be careful out there. G'night."

Wow. I knew Usagi was lazy but this is ridiculous.



"Get up and go check it out!"

I know, right? Smack her out of bed, Luna.



Hah. If you choose no, Usagi stays asleep while Luna pounces on her some more.



: "Come on, Usagi-chan! Ah! I just remembered. Remember to take along your diary."

[Luna hands(?) us the diary]

: "Use your Diary to save the game. You can save everything you've done so far. But you can only save when you talk to a Luna-P Ball.

Our method of saving is using a cat-shaped ball on a diary. I just imagine Usagi slamming it against the page and making words appear.



Roll credits. But no seriously though, this game has an obsession with the concept of destiny. I would say "take a shot every time the word Destiny is mentioned", but that'd probably kill some of you.



This little guy is Shingo, Usagi's younger brother. All I really remember him doing is annoying Usagi and he doesn't really appear much in the show, but he plays a way bigger role in this game.



Anyway, here's the main menu! It's pretty standard in terms of a JRPG, but there are a few things here I have to explain.

Accessories are our "equipment" and Formation I'll show off in a second. Link Techs and "Puzzle" are not important right now, so we'll skip them.



Here's Sailor Moon's techniques. Moon Tiara Action is a weak attack that takes up 1 MP while Moon Healing Escalation is, well, a healing move. It was used to heal people who had been turned into Youma, until Sailor Moon's weapon upgraded and she started using Moon Princess Halation (used to kill Droids in Season 2)

Moon Spiral Heart Attack is currently Usagi's most powerful technique, although she currently doesn't have enough MP to shoot one off.



Going to Status shows you the stats and miscellaneous information about your Senshi of choice, such as their astrological sign, birthday, blood type (because in Japan they have a thing where blood types determine personality or something), their hobbies and the gemstones that define them the most.

The gemstone is actually relevant towards their "preferred" equipment, at least.



Alright, so... Formation is one of the unique features that set Another Story apart from other RPGs of its type. This is effectively a "choose your position" mechanic that changes how much damage you do/take based on which formation/position you have.

Unfortunately, poor usage of the formation system can make the game go on longer than necessary, so that's definitely a problem.



Cluster is easily the best of the four due to offering the most versatility/strength boosts, although the other ones have their uses.



This lady is Usagi's mother, Ikuko. I love how they manage to put in cameos of every character from the show, even if some of them aren't really that important.

Like Mom gets her own portrait despite the fact nothing plot-relevant happens with her.



Sailor Moon? More like Sailor Nyooom~

You can run, walk or straight up Sonic Sprint if you hold L or R. This is not sped up in the slightest too, so holy shit that's fast.



"I seem to have lost my way... Oh? You look pretty tired. This medicine should recover your health."

Remember kids, if you meet a stranger in your neighborhood and he hands you a funny drink, don't be Usagi and fuckin drink it.

Like I know he's a helpful NPC, but I can't help but bring it up.

Explorer: "There's always lots of tired people!! Now, where's the exit..."

Words to live by.



I don't think Usagi has eyes for anybody that isn't Mamoru, though. I mean, you get an A for effort, but it's not happening.



You can walk through cars in this... hell, pressing L/R lets you run even faster than them. Now that would be a sight - "local schoolgirl casually outpaces car!"



This was a cosmetics store that only appeared in Sailor Moon R. I think it's neat that they add in details like that, even if it is closed.



"That's very bad luck."

what'd you say about best cat, you vermin



Anyway, there's not much to do in town aside from go in here. This is where plot happens.



Oh boy, someone's in trouble. Given that accessories and jewelry give you stat boosts in this game, it's almost as if the armor shop is being raided.

We can't have that.

[Screen scrolls over]



[Screen scrolls back to Usagi]

: "Ah! It's Naru-chan!"

Naru is one of Usagi's earliest friends and in the old English DiC dub they gave her this horrendous Brooklyn accent that didn't fit her at all. Thank god Viz came in to re-dub it years later.

[Current OST: Suspense and Illusion]

: "Naru-chan's being attacked by that Daimon!"

(I like this song too because it really tells you things are getting crazy.)

: "Usagi-chan! Transform into Sailor Moon!"

Thank god nobody's around to see us do this or it'd be pretty awkward.



Normally this would be a minute long transformation sequence full of psychadelic colors and a lot of close angles, but the game just makes a pillar of light cover Usagi and that's it.

I've heard from someone that every action in this series is actually instant but the show just extends them for the sake of ~aesthetics~ (and padding out the run-time because a manga chapter isn't enough to fill an entire episode).

Here's what Moon Cosmic Power looks like in the anime.

[Usagi runs over to the monster]



Daimon: "Who's there?"

: "For love and justice, I am the Sailor Suited Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon! Listen up, you Daimon who attacks helpless girls! I, Sailor Moon, in the name of the Moon..."



It's almost as if I'm playing through the anime. That's arguably the highest mark you can give to a licensed game, really.

Daimon: "What impudence!"



[Current OST: Boss Theme]

(The Boss Theme in this is based off of the Moon Prism Power theme, and I think it's great. I just wish it wasn't the only boss theme for a majority of the game.)

Name: Persian-Cut
HP: 21
Attack: 3
Defense: 0
Speed: 5
EXP: 3
Yen: 500
Item Drop: Life Water (Revives with 200 HP)
Monster Type: Daimon
Based off of: Cenicienta

• If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon Super (Season 3, Episode 12)

The first battle in the game, folks! Persian-Cut is a Daimon, a species of demonic aliens from an alternate dimension called the Tau Nebula. They are planted into objects (or people if you're reading the manga) via Daimon Eggs and appear as humanoids (mostly women) that take on the features of the item they're possessing.

Persian-Cut is based off of Cenicienta, a Daimon that possessed a glass shoe and took the form of a muscle-bound crystal warrior... with the cutest high pitched voice. Her name is even Spanish for Cinderella, so you got me there.



The icons at the top of the screen are what we can do. Left to right:

* Punching icon: A regular attack.

* Scepter: Your magic attacks. Usagi currently has 2 MP, as indicated by the purple crystals under her health. You can have up to a maximum of 12 MP, although you have to level up first.

* Two people pushing: Link attacks. See, you can pair up different Sailor Senshi (no, not in that way.) to do special attacks together. Since we're alone right now, it doesn't matter too much.

* Three people standing side-to-side: Super moves that requires at least five people to do. Changes based on the formation (and, in one case, the type of Senshi you use) and generally do a lot of damage.

* Bunny Bag: Your items. Don't skim over the items in this game - you will definitely need them.

* Blocking person: Your guard option. It's more useful than you think - blocking enemy attacks tends to really cut down the damage they can do.

* Hilarious picture of a person screaming: Your escape option. As long as one person gets this off, the battle ends.



Since Sailor Moon only has two MP right now, she uses Moon Tiara Action to smack the Daimon around. I'm glad it works, to be honest, because this would never fly in the anime.

Context: It's practically required for Sailor Moon to upgrade her powers every new season. What would overkill a monster in season 1 wouldn't even scratch a Daimon, so I just find it amusing.



Shoot (7) vs Cluster (30).

Like hot damn, what a difference. Yeah, where you place Senshi in the different formations dramatically impacts the amount of damage they do/take. It requires you to know how the Formation system works in order to play effectively, and I can applaud that.



[Current OST: Victory]

It's the easiest fight in the game so you shouldn't have much trouble regardless.



[Current OST: Tokyo City]

: "So this is what you were talking about, Luna."

Oh yes, this is immediately after the end of Super. The Daimons should be gone! How did they come back?

: "Thank you, Sailor Moon."

: "It's alright now. If you're ever in danger again, just call for me."

I wonder what kind of magic allows Naru to not immediately recognize her as Usagi. Does she see a completely different person from her point of view? That'd be neat as fuck.



This is Naru's mother. She runs the jewelry store and is infamous for getting replaced by the monster Morga in almost every version of Sailor Moon.



We're clever for beating up a monster. I mean, fighting is more than just brute strength so I have to give it to her.



"I think I'll go back home and take a nap."

[Screen cuts to black]

... Well, that was a short game. It was almost like watching an abridged version of the anime, so I hope you all enjoyed it and -





Okay, no, I just felt like having a laugh.



[Current OST: Moon Kingdom]

: "... Where am I?"

This, my friends, is Mamoru Chiba - he's Usagi's boyfriend and the token guy of the Sailor Soldiers. He takes on the Tuxedo Mask disguise and throws roses that somehow stop every enemy they come across, but other than that he never actually defeats anyone himself.

In a past life, he was known as Prince Endymion, the prince of the Earth during the Silver Millennium (The time when the original Moon Kingdom was still around.)

???: "... Master."

: "That voice I just heard now was..."

[The screen slowly scrolls up, followed by a man with white hair appearing in hologram form]



: "Y... you're... Kunzite!"

This is a little confusing to explain, but Kunzite was originally one of Endymion's generals until they defected and joined Queen Beryl and the Dark Kingdom. In the anime it was never explained where they came from, but at least the manga has the details.

Kunzite was part of a group called the Shi'tennou (Four Heavenly Kings) and was one of the four leaders of the Dark Kingdom aside from Beryl herself. Also, for some reason I can't understand, they changed his name to Malachite in the DiC dub.

He seems to have turned back into a good guy for some reason, though.

: "Master... Destiny draws near. An evil comet is approaching from an evil star to return Destiny to its origins. A horrible comet with the power to return everything... In the present, in the future and in the past... It is giving birth to an existence in which all shall be returned to what has been."





The only appropriate reaction, really.

From what I can gather, the comet is summoning a demon that will return everything to zero. This is how all the villains are coming back to life - they're turning Sailor Moon and pals' efforts irrelevant, basically.

: "Returning destiny... When will this happen?"


: "This is from the distant future."



I would normally question worrying about an incident so far into the future, but Usagi and Mamoru become the king and queen of Crystal Tokyo later on, so of course they have to do something about it.

How do they live that long? MOON MAGIC.


: "Do I have something to do with it now?"

: "You shall choose which future."

[Kunzite disappears]

: "W... wait! Kunzite...

"You son of a bitch, you nearly tried to kill my girl and now you're leaving me with cryptic advice!"



"But I get to choose which future..."

I can't help but see this as a "choose your own adventure" novel now because of what Kunzite said.

[Mamoru looks over to the shiny thing on the night-table]

: "The Four Heavenly Kings' Box is glimmering..."

It was originally called the Shi'tennou no Hako, but I might as well translate it to what it's called in English. It's a glass box that contains gem shards of the generals after we killed them in the first season of Sailor Moon.

With that said, that's all I can show off for now. Next time on SM: Another Story, we get more trouble in the streets! See you then!



--------------------------------------------------------------

Team Set-Up (Cluster formation):

(Sailor Moon, level 1, , Inner Senshi) - "Num num..."

-

~Fun Sailor Moon Fact~:

This is a segment where I dump info about the series that I forgot during the chapter proper or misc. info that wouldn't fit anywhere else anyway. With that said:

There are (currently) five different versions of Sailor Moon: the original manga, the 90's anime (which Another Story is primarily based off of, barring some weird manga details), a musical series called Sera Myu, a live action re-interpretation called Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon and Crystal, the reboot anime launched in 2014.

Out of all of these, the only one I've seen (almost) to completion is the 90's anime.