Rainbow Chara X
Impossible to gauge!
- 129
- Posts
- 9
- Years
- Shiny Hunting in Sinnoh
- Seen May 12, 2025
Just gonna warn you right off the bat, this is when the game starts getting really tough.
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Chapter #10 - Black Moon Rising[/font][font=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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Teehee.
Last time on Sailor Moon Another Story, we reunited the team and revived Mamoru from his coma. Let's see the fruits of our labor, shall we?
: "Usako... are you there...?"
: "Don't worry Mamo-chan, Usagi's right here. I'm with Chibi-Usa. I was protected all thanks to your help, Mamo-chan."
: "I'm happy both of you are safe... "
He goes on to mention that he had another premonition dream - this one revealing the true identity of our enemies. Chibi-Usa asks if it was Anshar, but he says no. (That must be a small relief to her, at least.)
There was also something about a "Sea of Serenity" and how the enemy went to a "time long ago", but we'll get there in a bit.
He has a coughing fit, unfortunately. Man, he must have really gotten roughed up by the Opposito's attack if gathering five shiny stones to revive him wasn't enough to bring him back to full health.
"For Usagi's sake, use your strength and open your eyes. Did Mamoru-san say anything?"
... Somehow I feel the first part of that text was meant to be Chibi-Usa but they messed up again. Also, Luna, you were in the same room, what do you mean what did he say?
: "He said the enemy traveled far back into the past..."
: "But the past is... Huh? This is weird. I can't remember anything about Princess Serenity."
[Minako shakes her head]
: "I wonder why?"
... You know, except for her name and the fact she existed. That said, this can't be good.
"Oh no! I wonder if I didn't study enough?!"
Studying something that just ceased to exist seems like a wild goose chase, but then again there's an entire wiki for discovering lost media. (I also love to hunt for deleted videos on youtube, so.)
That's still pretty silly though, Ami.
: "Wa... wait a sec, everyone. So you don't remember me at all?"
: "They remember 'Usagi-chan', but everyone seems to have forgotten... er... This is strange."
Keep in mind, Luna is supposed to be a high-ranking court lady of the Moon Kingdom and she's generally not played for laughs regarding this sort of thing. If even she forgot about them, then we're in some deep shit now.
: "Wait a sec Luna, what are you saying?"
: "Huh? W... well, I'm saying..."
: "Are you saying that something caused our memories to disappear?"
: "Maybe, in the past, the Opposito Senshi did something to change world events... Perhaps the Destiny that made Usagi-chan be born as Serenity changed."
: "And just maybe... Usagi-chan won't be able to become Sailor Moon?"
Oh shit. Ami goes on to say that the Opposito might even go as far as making sure Mamoru and Usagi never meet. Usagi reacts accordingly.
Poor Usagi has to deal with so much junk that it kind of rolls back into being hilarious.
[Rei walks up to Usagi]
: "Hey, that won't happen. It seems we have to return the past to normal."
This is especially notable given that this is coming from Rei of all people. If you remember correctly she's (kinda) still lusting after Mamoru.
The girls (and me) question how we're going to go back into the past, but Minako gives a big brain answer:
: "Easy! We can just use the Time-Space Door."
: "But it's too dangerous, there are enemies using the door."
: "... Where's Pluto? I wonder if Sailor Pluto's okay?"
... Yeah, it is kind of peculiar that we haven't seen her all game. She's pretty much a second mother to Chibi-Usa, to the point where Chibi has an affectionate nickname for her.
: "Do you know, Chibi-Usa?"
: "Nuh uh. I don't know where Puu is at all."
This is especially troubling because Setsuna (Pluto's civilian disguise) is normally around to oversee Chibi-Usa, so I'm just wondering what the hell even happened to her.
Luna mentions how we need the Time-Space Key to even enter the Door.
: "This is where I come in!"
: "Since Mamoru-san's woken up again, it'd be a disaster if the enemies tried to take advantage of this situation."
Good point, Michiru. I do like how the enemies don't exactly sit around in this game at the very least, they actively chase us around and stuff like that.
: "Okay, besides Usagi-chan, who should go to the Time-Space Door...?"
: "Well, to get there we need me, Chibi-Usa, and three more people. Who wants to go?"
Oh snap, we actually get to choose?
That we do! Chibi and Moon are fixed, but we get to bring whoever we want, so...
Venus, Saturn and Mars it is. Saturn is bulky, Venus because of a Link Tech I finally want to show off and Mars because she has some unique dialogue coming up.
[Current OST: Let's Go]
The girls recite their transformation phrases and that's just dandy.
: "Please, Chibi-Moon!"
"Open the Time-Space Door in the sky for us! We call upon the true name of Time! The Almighty God of Time, Father of the Protector, Chronos! Guide us, protect us, and show us the way of the light!"
I like that speech even if it was a little bit cheesy.
[Fade to black, followed by the Senshi appearing in a white desert-like area]
[Current OST: Corridor of Time]
(... Not to be confused with that OTHER theme.)
This song is honestly kind of creepy, which fits the area it appears in. We're in an extradimensional realm outside of normal time and space, so who knows what kind of crazy shit we'll find in here?
There's also no cutscene the instant we step in here, so that gives me more time to prepare.
This is our formation, for one. Both Moons go in the back for support while Mars takes center stage. She's our most prominent damage-dealer behind Saturn with the Red Pupil, although .
Healing Shower, contrary to its name, boosts attack for every member in the party much like the Fragrance item. I'm not quite sure if it stacks with the attack-boosting items, but it'd be amazing if they did. (Also, you can't continuously raise your own attack doing this, unfortunately.)
This is gonna be necessary to tackle the later enemies in the game because whoo boy, the difficulty really spikes up from here.
: "Sailor Pluto! You're alive!"
Oh shit, it's the homey! What's poppin', Pluto?
: "Sailor Moon, since you have the Silver Crystal, you must leave here immediately."
: "Huh...? Why?"
: "Because the Time-Space Door is full of evil energy. The Silver Crystal won't be able to handle the evil power within. Now quickly, please!"
Hmm. If you say so, I guess.
: "I... I understand."
THOT DETECTED
: "Sailor Moon! That person isn't Puu."
: "Huh...!?"
: "Because, Puu never ever called me 'Princess'!"
Chibi-Usa knows her so well that even this one mistake (Pluto normally calls her Small Lady) is enough to instantly suss out an imposter. I love that.
: "Damn, you found me out. Guess I couldn't help it."
[The fake Pluto levitates into the air and reveals herself as Nergal. Luna runs to the Senshi side immediately]
(A detail I love, by the way.)
: "Yeah, it's me again, Sailor Mars. This time you will die."
: "Huh? Are you hunting me?"
Uh...
: "Don't dare to think I have the same power as before. Let's go!"
: "Just what I was thinking!"
Bring it on!
You can see why I brought Mars along, yeah?
If Mars isn't in your party for this cutscene, Nergal will ask where she is instead. I do like that they keep that consistent, because their rivalry really isn't that important in this part of the game.
[Current OST: Opposito Senshi Battle Theme]
Name: Nergal (2)
HP: 1500
Attack: 65
Defense: 25
Speed: 54
EXP: 300
Yen: 5000
Item Drop: Life Can (Fully revives one party member)
Allegiance: Opposito Senshi
Official Art: Here.
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: N/A
Nergal, you actually got weaker! What the hell. I know she wasn't that tough in her original fight, but this is just pathetic.
Also, if you couldn't even take on Sailor Mars alone, what makes you think you'll be able to fight her with a full party? Just... just take a look at this:
A demonstration of Healing Shower along with the team nuking Nergal in two hits. That's nasty.
The Life Can she drops is the most powerful revival item in the game, so I consider it part of the Too Good To Use Club.
No kidding. Like what was your game plan, bud?
"That's okay though, the Time-Space Soldier Sailor Pluto is in my hands. She is completely at my mercy."
[Nergal vanishes into thin air]
"HA HA HA Haha..."
... For a villain she's a giant dork.
: "This must be a trick of theirs."
: "Even if it is a trick, I'm going to help Puu."
Such a sweetheart.
: "... Of course... Whatever happens, you can never abandon your friends. Well, if Sailor Pluto isn't here, then the one who sent you here will disappear. Look, let's go!"
I have no idea what she means by "the one who sent you here will disappear", but I'm just gonna roll with it and walk into the Door anyway.
Side-note, I like how the Door has the different moon phases to represent the passing of time. That's a hella neat detail.
... Whoa...
I didn't expect the game to go all Earthbound on me, but I kind of love it. This place is trippy, man.
Especially when you can see the galaxy through the holes in the floor, like jesus.
The Playing Cards is a rare item that you're meant to sell off to the collector in Tokyo City while the Garnet Pin is unique equipment for Sailor Pluto.
Way to spoil that we're going to get her later, game.
Name: Canpanura
HP: 900
Attack: 55
Defense: 23
Speed: 58
EXP: 160
Yen: 2000
Item Drop: Nothing
Monster Type: Plant alien
Based off of: Campanula
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: The Sailor Moon R (second season) Movie
Name: Darian
HP: 800
Attack: 55
Defense: 20
Speed: 55
EXP: 152
Yen: 3000
Item Drop: Nothing
Monster Type: Plant alien
Based off of: Dahlian
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: The Sailor Moon R Movie
Oh hey, I didn't know they brought in movie-exclusive villains. That's sure to give us some... interesting cameos.
Campanula and Darian (Who has a disturbing similarity to Darien, Mamoru's english dub name) are monsters spawned from the Xenian Flower, a parasitic, extraterrestrial flower creature that saps planets of their energy and blows them up.
... Much like a certain other giant spiky alien from an RPG I like. *wink, wink*
The Xenian Flower is accompanied by her ward, an alien called Fiore. I'll talk about him later because he shows up later in Another Story, believe it or not.
The plant girls aren't that much of a threat, and it was Venus anyway. They lack crowd control moves, so this should be a piece of cake.
Here's Fire Soul Bird again. I don't see why you would ever use it over Burning Mandala unless you were short on MP, but there's so many MP recovery items in this game that it's crazy.
I love how these random enemies give as much experience as Nergal, who was a boss. She was easy, yes, but that's still pretty sad.
Whoa, what's happening here?
Oh, it just teleported us to this room. Yeah, the Time-Space Door is full of invisible spots that act as one-way teleports to different rooms.
It's actually something to be careful about because you're only in this area twice in the whole game, so be sure to grab everything here! (Again, lost forever items are a bitch to deal with, no matter the game they appear in.)
The Chocolate Parfait heals 100 HP and makes me drool because I'm craving sweets as I write this. The lad in the center is a shop, but we don't really need his services.
Man, this place just keeps getting better and better the further we go in.
Foundation Cream is a defense-boosting item, surprisingly enough. It may not be as useful as the Manicures/Fragrances, but that extra defense can prove vital in making sure your squishier Senshi don't bite it during a fight.
The Garnet Earrings are also Sailor Pluto's, so we've already got her full set of equipment before even meeting her.
Special Dish?
I wonder what's made of. Oh well, more cash for us!
... Oh yes, something I should mention while we're still here. There's a monster in this area I want to cover, but we never actually encounter her in a proper fight:
Name: U-Camasen
HP: 720
Attack: 65
Defense: 25
Speed: 58
EXP: 160
Yen: 10
Item Drop: Nothing
Monster Type: Daimon
Based off of: U-Ikasaman
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon S, Episode 29
Meet U-Ikasaman, my favorite Daimon in the entire show! She was created after one of the Death Busters overloaded the Daimon-creating machine with a whole bunch of junk, causing it to explode and distort the spatial area of Hotaru's house.
Ikasaman could control the distorted space of the house, throwing people into jungles, tundras, basically wherever she wanted, but that's not the most interesting thing about her... even if it's the most logical reason why she's in the Time-Space Door to begin with.
See, she was a rare "pacifist" villain that wanted to play games over actually fighting. (An interesting concept I've ever seen one. This also explains her subpar stats in-battle, hilariously enough).
Ikasaman challenged each member of the Inner Senshi to a game... that'd she'd win because she's a big fat cheater. It's even in her name! She beats each Senshi with some underhanded trick (the most hilarious of which being rigging a racing game to make Moon and Venus's cars go backwards instead of forwards), leaving Chibi-Usa and Hotaru to save the day with a game of Old Maid.
This show gets kookier the more I recount it, I swear.
Not only does she have an interesting design (being the queen of hearts mixed with a playboy bunny, which is just silly), she made some amazing faces and is overall a super fun minor villain.
I'll be taking that, thank you.
The Crystal Burger heals 200 HP, which leaves me wondering how the hell it even does that. (Though granted, I should ask the same question about the other food that isn't explicitly magical, like the dozen Nigiri Sets we have that heal everyone for 300 HP a pop. Sushi is powerful, apparently.)
Guys, did you think we were overpowered with only one Red Pupil? How about two?
There's no limit to what kinds of accessories you can wear, so it's possible to wear two Red Pupils and the game can't do anything about it. This is gonna turn into a bloodbath, you might want to step back a bit.
Our puzzle picture is looking clean. Only a few more pieces and it'll be finished!
... I'm curious as to what we'll get aside from an admittedly very nice looking picture.
The Life Crepe revives a dead party member for 300 HP, which is nice, but you also have to traverse your way across the warp point to even grab this.
It would have been more logical to put the Red Pupil here instead, but I'm not complaining.
: "Puu!"
: "Watch out! Small Lady!! Don't come any nearer! This tree is draining my energy. If you carelessly come too close, Small Lady, you too will be caught up by this tree."
It's the real Pluto! Don't worry fam, I'll get you out of there in a snap.
: "Please, take the Garnet Rod that's over there. On Earth, there's lots of enemies grouped together. Use the Garnet Rod there. If you use the power of people wishing for peace, even if I disappear, the past will return to normal."
Um... Okay. If I had to bother and translate what this means, she wants us to user her magic staff to control time. I have no idea what she means by "the power of people wishing for peace" because that's just corny.
Chibi-Usa has the same idea as me:
: "We can't just leave you behind, Puu!"
: "Yeah! We can't just decide to let someone be killed!"
Of course! Let's burn down this damn tree and get Pluto back!
Name: Dimension T.
HP: 2500
Attack: 75
Defense: 30
Speed: 40
EXP: 1200
Yen: 10
Item Drop: HolyWater (Cures 80 HP)
Monster Type: Youma?
Based off of: Nothing, but looks like the Makaiju
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, Episode 1
I like how the Dimension Tree is a part of the background and not a normal enemy, but its sprite is still pretty neat. (Where did Pluto go, though?)
It also shares a striking resemblance to the Makaiju tree from the first non-Black Moon arc of Sailor Moon R... which kind of explains why all these plant monsters are around.
We finally pull out the Fragrance and it increases our entire party's attack by 15 points, which is a massive boost no matter what level you are.
Combine it with Healing Shower and you can probably steam-roll through any boss you want, provided they don't one-shot you. (The attack boost runs out when someone dies)
That was just Saturn's attack, mind you. That was a fair chunk of the Tree's health even though the battle just started.
Love Me Bird immolates the tree without much resistance. (Although how it's not hitting Pluto is beyond me.)
If I used Mars Snake Fire, there wouldn't even be ash left of the damn thing.
Yeah, it really is part of the background given how it didn't disappear on death.
I would ask why it drops so little yen, but it's also a tree created to sap the life out of Pluto, so duh.
No prob. Of course we weren't going to leave you back there, Pluto.
[The screen shakes]
: "The Time-Space Doorway is shaking..."
: "If you don't go quickly, it'll collapse! Everyone, let's go!"
Oh jesus, I didn't know things were that dire. At least she teleports us out of here instead of forcing us to go through a timed escape.
[The tower in the back shakes rapidly]
I'm not quite sure why it cuts to this shot of a tower other than it implying this is the Time-Space Door, but as a set-piece by itself this is really cool looking.
[Current OST: Hikawa Shrine]
: "But we still can't relax. The enemy still seems to be changing Destiny in the past."
Time travel stories are always a mess because they always raise those unfortunate questions, you know? Interfering with history tends to have some unfortunate effects no matter which side you're on, so...
: "Destiny changing Destiny... Maybe this tragedy... is what caused the Silver Millennium to fall... Should we really be changing it?! It would be nice if we could all become people who lived on the moon again... But if that happened..."
Oh boy, Minako is showing some cracks.
Let's see what -
: "Idiot! What are you saying!?"
[Mako runs up to her and gets in her face]
: "The enemy is changing the world's Destiny for their own selfish ends! Don't you want to continue living in the world we live now? Do you hate everyone as they are now?!"
[Mako looks down]
"... I'm sorry. But I couldn't just let that pass."
Well said, Mako.
This is an interesting point to raise because as much as the show is about magical girls fighting monsters and demons in weird clothes, the most relatable thing about Sailor Moon is that these girls are flawed.
Minako isn't exactly right in her thinking and Mako came on as a bit aggressive, but of course they'd have these thoughts after all the shit they've been through. The fact they can share a difference of opinion like this and still remain friends is actually rather powerful, so make of that as you will.
The rest of the girls pretty much all agree that changing history would be empty and disingenuous.
: "The enemy is changing Destiny without thinking about the repercussions. That is absolutely not allowed."
I love how stern she is, because you know she means it. She also mentions how to stop enemies from changing Destiny, we have to stop them from using the Time-Space Door.
: "Yeah, but... I want to know where the city of Marle Serenitaties is first..."
... The hell is she talking about? (Marle??)
*looks it up*
Oh she means the Sea of Serenity. In fact, I've finally figured out what both those things are - a lunar mare is a large basaltic plain on the Earth's Moon while the Sea of Serenity is where the original Moon Kingdom was located in Sailor Moon's history.
This game and its confusing terminology, I swear.
: "Hold on, I'll try to calculate it from here..."
[Mercury does some beeps on her Supercomputer]
: "It's useless, 'data not found.' There's not much data about the Moon."
I'm surprised she couldn't find it, given how I was able to google the real thing in less than a second... but this is like, the 90s after all.
Usagi volunteers to go the bookstore, so this ought to be fun.
You can't actually buy anything from this soda machine, but I love how it just barely says "coca cola". Way to dodge copyright, guys.
[Current OST: Tokyo City]
: "Umm... I'm looking for stuff about the moon."
Shopkeep: "Wait a second, I might have something for you."
He shuffles across the shelves and finds a cooking book and an arithmetic book... yeah, the food is nice and all but math is my sworn enemy? How about we don't.
(Wait, does the cookbook have details on what they put into their miraculous 300-HP healing sushi or - wait, stop I'm not done!-)
: "You... This is a book about the moon!"
No, I would have assumed it was a book about the nyoom. (But we've already mastered that if our overworld speed is any indication.)
Shopkeep: "Ummm... this book costs... "
(For the uninitiated, that's about 8936.80 US dollars. What, is it some secret lost tome about the history of the Moon Kingdom??)
Even Usagi has the appropriate reaction:
: "What!? How the hell!!"
Shopkeep: "But, you're cute, young lady. I'll take the price down to 300 Yen."
Christ, don't give me heart attacks like that, game. I'm pretty sure you can't go beyond 999,999 in the game itself anyway, so...
The guy questions why Usagi would even want a book about the moon and assumes she wants to become an astronaut when she grows up, which is surreal when you realize how many advanced alien civilizations have existed in this setting. (The Moon Kingdom included)
He even says Usagi looks like a moon princess. That's real cheeky, game, I like it.
Excellent. Ami takes the book and uses it to calculate the location of the Sea of Serenity.
(When this came up I thought she lost her goddamn mind, but it's really just her typing into the supercomputer again.)
: "Found it! It's in Harumi, Tokyo."
: "Why Harumi, Ami-chan?"
: "That's where the Moon Castle is. The Moon Castle existed on the Sea of Serenity on the Moon. Sea of Serenity means a clear ocean, and Harumi is a clear ocean."
... You know what? I can't argue with that. (For an additional challenge, take a shot every time they say moon from now on.)
: "If we go there, maybe we can travel to the past. Let's go and check it out."
Hey, at least we get to hear one of the cooler songs on the soundtrack again.
[Current OST: Harumi]
: "Hmm, and there's no show here either today."
: "Here in Harumi, there's always a Sailor Moon show on. I wonder if the voice actors are taking a day off. That's bad luck, Rei-chan."
This is one surreal meta joke.
: "Oh yes, taking it slow is much better... If we don't wanna get anything done! Let's look in Earth's Sea of Serenity for Mamoru-san."
... Wait, so is there two different Seas of Serenity? I thought the point was that there was only the one. This game, man.
I still love Rei's snarkiness, though.
[A distorted noise plays three times in a row]
: "What was it?"
: "Wh... what's that?!"
Oh boy, what kind of madness are we getting ourselves into this time?
[The girls run ahead and see a large object flying overhead]
: "That's the Black Moon's UFO!"
Awwww snap. It's time to go into Sailor Moon R territory. (Given how we've already beaten Beryl, this is perfect.)
: "Has the Black Moon's Destiny been changed so they could be revived?"
no
: "Hmm... that Cooan... And her friends have all been leading happy lives... Everyone transform!"
It's not immediately obvious as to who she's talking about, but we'll get to them in a bit.
The girls all recite their transformation phrases again, but this time every single Senshi does it. I... think we can skip reading "X Star Power" repeated multiple times.
[Make-Up! SFX, followed by everyone transforming at once]
: "Wait! If we all get on the UFO, then no one can look for the Sea of Serenity. While you're on the UFO, history could possibly change."
: "Uranus is right. Let's separate into two groups."
: "Ahhh, that would be more efficient."
I love how you can play as every member of the Sailor Senshi - it really adds to the charm of Another Story and it helps that everyone has a specific role to play as team members.
At least this time we can choose to leave behind Chibi-Moon. (Her squishiness might be a problem even with her going in the back row.)
We have an (almost) full Inners team with the exception of Pluto. This is for a very good reason and also to show off what she can do, because we need her.
"Everyone! Sailor Teleport!"
[Current OST: Apsu]
We're on board the Black Moon UFO... I wish I had the official art of this place's exterior because I remember it looking sick.
I also like how this place looks. Like a lot. The black crystal motif is really cool, and Apsu's theme makes this place stand out in my memory.
Please, please, please make sure you save here and grind on the enemies here. Just trust me.
(Sailor Pluto) -
* HP: * (Worst)
* Attack: ** (Awful)
* Defense: ****** (Above Average)
* Speed: **** (Below Average)
* Evade: ***** (Average)
* Moveset:
- Dead Scream (3 MP - weak damage to one enemy)
- Chronos Cyclone (4 MP - medium damage to one enemy)
- Time Stop (All MP - stops all enemies for three turns)
* Preferred Gemstone/Equipment: Garnet
The final Sailor Senshi and... honestly, the most broken one yet! That said, with stats like those, it can be hard to see why I was hyped about getting her.
She's too weak to serve as an attacker and kind of brittle as support, even in the back row. Dead Scream and Chronos Cyclone may have rad names, but you're not going to be killing anything with them any time soon.
So why would you use her out of all ten Sailor Soldiers? Two words:
TIME. STOP.
Time Stop as used by Sailor Pluto prevents enemies from making moves for three turns, which is good by itself, but there's three things that make it extremely overpowered:
* It can't be blocked. Even bosses are stopped by this and they can't do anything about it.
* It may cost all of her MP, but it's trivial to refill it with a Cologne or Toilette in the turns enemies are halted... let alone if you're paralyzing mooks in random battles.
* You can spam it to your heart's content - there is no downside to using this move aside from the MP cost.
Like this is easily the most disgusting move I've ever seen in an RPG, bar none. No wonder they saved her towards the end of the game!
Not quite sure why I brought Mercury over a fighter, but this might be a Smart Dan Move that was planned out subconsciously due to what's up ahead.
We hand the other Red Pupil we have to Jupiter because I forgot to remove it from Saturn... oops. Having at least one should suffice, though.
I appreciate the Toilette (
) while the Aqua Bracelet is a piece of equipment for Neptune. Good to know when we bring her back on as a party member.
(Also, how did this lad get on the Black Moon UFO if it took us a Sailor Teleport to do so? Did he get abducted?)
The Black Moon UFO has teleport spots much like the Time-Space Door, but these are at least visibly marked via the big green mirrors and... scary-looking stone wells?
You can backtrack, at the very least.
Name: Luacks
HP: 1100
Attack: 77
Defense: 20
Speed: 66
EXP: 200
Yen: 500
Item Drop: Nothing
Monster Type: Droid
Based off of: Ryuax
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, Episode 36
Name: Jarmanen
HP: 920
Attack: 75
Defense: 25
Speed: 52
EXP: 250
Yen: 400
Item Drop: Nothing
Monster Type: Droid
Based off of: Jamanen
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, Episode 20
So a red slime woman and a genie. Sounds about right for Sailor Moon.
Ryuax is notable for being one of the most powerful Droids of the Black Moon Clan, seeing as she can warp time to deflect enemy attacks back at them and was able to appear in the Time-Space Door of all places. (Yeah, okay, it doesn't seem that special given how everyone and their mother has been able to go to that place, but today was a special occasion.)
To let you know how tough she is, it took a Sailor Planet Attack just to kill her... and it shows, given how she has as much HP as Nergal despite being a regular enemy.
Jarmanen is much less interesting, but there was a time when she wore the cutest little yellow bow-tie.. (Also she could turn her hand into a sword, which is cool I guess.)
Keep in mind Sailor Moon has one of the highest defense scores in the game, so to see this is a worrying indicator of the enemies' strength.
... Granted, when we can blast them for nearly double to triple their health, it's hard to be scared.
I ran into this room that doesn't seem to have anything, so I can only assume this is a reference to the anime or the manga or something.
... Or it could just be a dead end designed to waste your time, who knows.
Oh shit.
: "We've been waiting, Sailor Moon."
: "Petz! Why? Why do you want to fight again?"
: "Sapphire forced us back when he came back to life. My sisters got all mixed up in this... If you beat me, my sisters will be able to return to their Destiny. Sailor Moon, beat me."
Long story short, these are the Ayakashi (Phantom) Sisters - they are four sisters of the Black Moon Clan who were in charge of taking over the Crystal Points that would serve as the foundation of Crystal Tokyo's defenses in the 30th century.
They were actually redeemed at the end of R and went on to become normal people, but this game is gonna shatter their hopes and dreams.
"If I beat you, will you understand? You can't choose whatever Destiny you want."
: "Yes, I already understand. But, I couldn't run away all by myself. Please beat us. Fighting is so terrible."
The way she's phrasing this makes it seems like they're being controlled like puppets... which is pretty disturbing, not gonna lie.
: "Why, Petz? Weren't you happy before?"
: "Jupiter... please forgive us foolish people. We want to return to that happy Destiny!"
"You must feel it first."
: "I can feel it. I can feel my sisters' love. But we regrettably chose this destiny. I beg you, please stop us!"
(I know we're already ten chapters in, but this translation consistently slays me with how... awkward it is.)
You may have noticed that the purple one didn't speak... this is because we didn't bring Mars. (We bring her for Nergal but not this? That's some amazing shortsightedness on my behalf.)
This is what that conversation would have looked like:
: "Tell me, Cooan, don't you feel true love?"
: "Mars... I don't really want to fight. But, our life of fun won't change back while we are still in our Destiny of fighting with you."
I'm confused as to how this works, but I'm just going to take it as their bodies being puppet-controlled to fight the good guys.
(This is the only time you get to see Koan's portrait, so of course I have to do this.)
: "Forgive us, Sailor Senshi!"
[Current OST: Boss]
Name: Cooan (Koan)
HP: 8000 (!!)
Attack: 80
Defense: 30
Speed: 75
EXP: 1925
Yen: 4000
Item Drop: Fragrance (Boosts the entire party's attack)
Allegiance: Black Moon Clan
Official Art: Manga / Anime
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, episode 14 / Act 15 - Infiltration, Sailor Mars
We've finally made it boys, the exact point when the game goes from Easy to Actually Kind of Difficult.
Koan is the Sailor Mars of the Ayakashi Sisters, to the point where she has her own technique called Dark Fire. She was the first one the Sailor Senshi encountered and was in charge of looking for Chibi-Usa (they referred to her as "the rabbit" due to her pink swirly twintails).
Koan got the most character development out of the sisters in that she wanted to prove herself to someone named Rubeus (we'll get to him) and was obsessed with looking beautiful. Her relationship with Rubeus wound up being toxic and she was heartbroken, so you can imagine how that went.
... She also kind of looks like a cat with how her hair's shaped.
Okay, we're not going to pull our punches with the Sisters because they're the most powerful opponents we've encountered so far. Time Stop is going to be our life-saver for this part.
... It being a spammable move is ridiculous because when Pluto used it in the anime, she died. It's strictly taboo, so to see her use it so freely in the game is just silly to me.
Koan is immediately super dangerous if she's able to this much damage to Moon, so we go Super to bring that HP back.
Excellent! Now she won't be able to do anything for three turns.
Here's a Rainbow Moon Heart Ache to obliterate the Season 2 villain. Two of these and she's super dead. (I wish Sailor Moon had more internal consistency like calling back to previous enemies outside of internal crossovers like this, but oh well.)
I find it interesting that Koan drops a Fragrance when she dies, because she was kind of the cosmetics freak of the family. (Thanks for the attack boost, though.
)
Name: Beruche (Berthier)
HP: 9000
Attack: 85
Defense: 31
Speed: 92
EXP: 2125
Yen: 6000
Item Drop: Moon Shard (Cures 120 HP)
Allegiance: Black Moon Clan
Official Art: Manga / Anime
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, episode 14 / Act 16 - Abduction, Sailor Mercury
Berthier is the Sailor Mercury counterpart and somehow even more powerful than Koan? She possesses the Dark Water attack and yes she looks very much like a certain Disney princess that can also control ice.
She was the second youngest of the Sisters and honestly I don't remember that much about her aside from the fact she tried to freeze herself and the Sailor Senshi to death as her final stand... but a newly redeemed Koan came to the rescue and convinced her to turn good. (Also, Sailor Moon purified her with Moon Crystal Power but that's just expected.)
In Another Story, she's super deadly because she likes to spam the Dark Water move like crazy.
Yeah, Moon is on the verge of death after that one! Healing Shower plus a full-party recovery item was necessary to survive for this one.
Like look at this damage!
It's not even that we can't beat her, she just deals a lot of damage to every party member... and you still have the other two sisters to deal with when you win, so bringing Pluto is pretty much required if you don't want to grind forever.
... The reward was kind of lame compared to Koan's, but I'm just happy we survived.
Name: Karaberas (Calaveras)
HP: 14000
Attack: 88
Defense: 29
Speed: 110
EXP: 2725
Yen: 7000
Item Drop: Yaga Soup (Cures all HP)
Allegiance: Black Moon Clan
Official Art: Manga / Anime
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, episode 18 / Act 18 - Invasion, Sailor Venus
14,000 HP, ARE YOU KIDDING ME
The boss we had immediately before the Ayakashi Sisters only had 2,500 tops! Who was in charge of balancing during this part of the game, god damn!
Anyway, Calaveras is the second eldest of the Sisters and is the counterpart to Sailor Venus. She's often paired up with Petz to deal with Crystal Point stuff and possesses a whip called Dark Beaut (which in this game is an evil counterpart to Venus Love-Me Chain.)
Calaveras is also strange in that she's not explicitly named after a gemstone like her sisters. (Koan is named after the mineral Kermesite which is called koanko in japanese, while Berthier is named after an iron sulfide.)
At first it seems like she's named after the spanish word for skull (which doesn't match up with her design??), but there's a mineral out there called calaverite... and suddenly it all made sense to me.
Back in the actual fight, she hits hard but at least we can deal with that.
Here's a Shabon Spray to lower her attack because she needs to be debuffed quick.
This was a foolish time to show off Dead Scream, but I was confident the Shabon Spray would make Calaveras hit us for nothing.
I didn't make Moon go Super because I wanted to keep using Healing Shower (blame Jupiter's poor defense).
2,829 would have been an instant-kill a few screenshots ago, so it's disgusting to see that change so quickly.
There's Shabon Spray Freezing and Chronos Cyclone for you, even if they don't do much.
The Freezing version doesn't seem to have a special gimmick, so as far as I'm concerned one of those weird "useless" attacks that are just used to fill up movesets.
Had to use a Toilette of all things to keep us fighting. She's no joke, alright?
You can imagine how relieved I was to finally kill Calaveras... only to realize Petz is still left.
Name: Petz
HP: 14000
Attack: 90
Defense: 32
Speed: 130
EXP: 2925
Yen: 20000
Item Drop: Life Can (Fully revives one party member)
Allegiance: Black Moon Clan
Official Art: Manga / Anime
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, episode 19 / Act 17 - Secret, Sailor Jupiter
Wow, they really wanted you to grind for this part of the game, huh?
Petz is the eldest of the Ayakashi Sisters, named after petzite, and is the Sailor Jupiter of the group (surprisingly enough). She's known for the Dark Thunder attack and is notable for being possessed by an evil stick that magnified her malice (even to the point of back-stabbing Calaveras), only for it to be destroyed by the Sailor Senshi.
She is, without a doubt, the most dangerous of the sisters if Dark Thunder here isn't proof enough for you.
You have to defend and set up a strategy to defeat her, because 14,000 HP with a strong party-hitting attack will ruin you.
In hindsight, it's pretty sad how she and her sisters were forced to become evil against their will, given how well off they were after the end of R.
... But she's also a dummy that likes to use Sonic Wave. If you see this over Dark Thunder or her regular attack, take a sigh of relief.
*Not pictured: Dan reviving, healing and buffing party members for over 15 minutes but I'm not quite sure how long it really was*
This better be it, I swear.
AAAGH
DAMN IT USAGI, DO
thank you
Jesus christ. If this game ever gets a modern remake (though I doubt it, this is currently the Sailor Moon Crystal generation), I really hope they fix the balancing and tone down these bosses because mama mia, that was painful.
"Sorry indeed, holy what" was the save state I put up for this bit, because I was just astonished at how beefed up the Sisters were compared to every other enemy before this.
: "I promised not to hurt anyone I loved... And to not let anybody be killed..."
[Moon steps forward]
: "As time goes by, people's lives could be ruined, like Cooan and her sisters. I don't want to fight to do stuff like that to people."
I do feel bad for Petz and the rest, but that was just rough, man...
[Luna sends a message via the communicator]
: "Sailor Moon."
: "It's a message from Luna. What's wrong?"
: "We've found where the Sea of Serenity is!"
Well hot damn! I needed some good news.
She tells us the way to get back to the ground is via that mirror, so that's good.
That sure was a whopper of a chapter. Next time on Sailor Moon: Another Story, we're going to do something about all this time travel nonsense and travel to the Sea of Serenity.
See you guys then!
--------------------------------------------------------------
Team Set-Up:
(Sailor Moon, level 24,
, Inner Senshi) - "... This doesn't feel right."
(Sailor Mercury, level 23,
, Inner Senshi) - "Usagi, don't lose hope. I know the Sisters were tough, but as long as we keep calm we can win."
(Sailor Venus, level 24,
, Inner Senshi) - "Hey, Mako... I just want to say sorry for what I said earlier. I wasn't thinking straight and..."
(Sailor Jupiter, level 23,
, Inner Senshi) - "You don't have to apologize because I already understand. It's been rough on all of us lately." [Slides an arm over Venus's shoulder and chuckles]
(Sailor Pluto, level 23,
, Outer Senshi) - "Our enemies are growing stronger faster than I had predicted. I can only pray my strength is enough to save the other soldiers."
-
~Fun Sailor Moon Fact~:
Sailor Pluto's full name, Setsuna Meioh, translates to "sorrow" / "dark king" (aka. sorrowful dark king), which represents her connection to the god Pluto.
She's a strange one among the Outer Senshi because it's implied in the manga she's the daughter of Chronos (the god of time) due to "the blood of Chronos" flowing through her.
Her talisman is the Garnet Rod that she carries around with her, she likes to study physics (clever considering she's the time-space soldier) and one of her dislikes is cockroaches. (A woman after my own heart.)
Also, she's the first Outer Senshi introduced because she made her appearance in R, not Super.
[font=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Chapter #10 - Black Moon Rising[/font][font=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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Spoiler:
Teehee.
Last time on Sailor Moon Another Story, we reunited the team and revived Mamoru from his coma. Let's see the fruits of our labor, shall we?
He goes on to mention that he had another premonition dream - this one revealing the true identity of our enemies. Chibi-Usa asks if it was Anshar, but he says no. (That must be a small relief to her, at least.)
There was also something about a "Sea of Serenity" and how the enemy went to a "time long ago", but we'll get there in a bit.
He has a coughing fit, unfortunately. Man, he must have really gotten roughed up by the Opposito's attack if gathering five shiny stones to revive him wasn't enough to bring him back to full health.
"For Usagi's sake, use your strength and open your eyes. Did Mamoru-san say anything?"
... Somehow I feel the first part of that text was meant to be Chibi-Usa but they messed up again. Also, Luna, you were in the same room, what do you mean what did he say?
[Minako shakes her head]
... You know, except for her name and the fact she existed. That said, this can't be good.
"Oh no! I wonder if I didn't study enough?!"
Studying something that just ceased to exist seems like a wild goose chase, but then again there's an entire wiki for discovering lost media. (I also love to hunt for deleted videos on youtube, so.)
That's still pretty silly though, Ami.
Keep in mind, Luna is supposed to be a high-ranking court lady of the Moon Kingdom and she's generally not played for laughs regarding this sort of thing. If even she forgot about them, then we're in some deep shit now.
Oh shit. Ami goes on to say that the Opposito might even go as far as making sure Mamoru and Usagi never meet. Usagi reacts accordingly.
Poor Usagi has to deal with so much junk that it kind of rolls back into being hilarious.
[Rei walks up to Usagi]
This is especially notable given that this is coming from Rei of all people. If you remember correctly she's (kinda) still lusting after Mamoru.
The girls (and me) question how we're going to go back into the past, but Minako gives a big brain answer:
... Yeah, it is kind of peculiar that we haven't seen her all game. She's pretty much a second mother to Chibi-Usa, to the point where Chibi has an affectionate nickname for her.
This is especially troubling because Setsuna (Pluto's civilian disguise) is normally around to oversee Chibi-Usa, so I'm just wondering what the hell even happened to her.
Luna mentions how we need the Time-Space Key to even enter the Door.
Good point, Michiru. I do like how the enemies don't exactly sit around in this game at the very least, they actively chase us around and stuff like that.
Oh snap, we actually get to choose?
That we do! Chibi and Moon are fixed, but we get to bring whoever we want, so...
Venus, Saturn and Mars it is. Saturn is bulky, Venus because of a Link Tech I finally want to show off and Mars because she has some unique dialogue coming up.
[Current OST: Let's Go]
The girls recite their transformation phrases and that's just dandy.
"Open the Time-Space Door in the sky for us! We call upon the true name of Time! The Almighty God of Time, Father of the Protector, Chronos! Guide us, protect us, and show us the way of the light!"
I like that speech even if it was a little bit cheesy.
[Fade to black, followed by the Senshi appearing in a white desert-like area]
[Current OST: Corridor of Time]
(... Not to be confused with that OTHER theme.)
This song is honestly kind of creepy, which fits the area it appears in. We're in an extradimensional realm outside of normal time and space, so who knows what kind of crazy shit we'll find in here?
There's also no cutscene the instant we step in here, so that gives me more time to prepare.
This is our formation, for one. Both Moons go in the back for support while Mars takes center stage. She's our most prominent damage-dealer behind Saturn with the Red Pupil, although .
Healing Shower, contrary to its name, boosts attack for every member in the party much like the Fragrance item. I'm not quite sure if it stacks with the attack-boosting items, but it'd be amazing if they did. (Also, you can't continuously raise your own attack doing this, unfortunately.)
This is gonna be necessary to tackle the later enemies in the game because whoo boy, the difficulty really spikes up from here.
Oh shit, it's the homey! What's poppin', Pluto?
Hmm. If you say so, I guess.
Chibi-Usa knows her so well that even this one mistake (Pluto normally calls her Small Lady) is enough to instantly suss out an imposter. I love that.
[The fake Pluto levitates into the air and reveals herself as Nergal. Luna runs to the Senshi side immediately]
(A detail I love, by the way.)
Uh...
Bring it on!
You can see why I brought Mars along, yeah?
If Mars isn't in your party for this cutscene, Nergal will ask where she is instead. I do like that they keep that consistent, because their rivalry really isn't that important in this part of the game.
[Current OST: Opposito Senshi Battle Theme]
Name: Nergal (2)
HP: 1500
Attack: 65
Defense: 25
Speed: 54
EXP: 300
Yen: 5000
Item Drop: Life Can (Fully revives one party member)
Allegiance: Opposito Senshi
Official Art: Here.
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: N/A
Nergal, you actually got weaker! What the hell. I know she wasn't that tough in her original fight, but this is just pathetic.
Also, if you couldn't even take on Sailor Mars alone, what makes you think you'll be able to fight her with a full party? Just... just take a look at this:
A demonstration of Healing Shower along with the team nuking Nergal in two hits. That's nasty.
The Life Can she drops is the most powerful revival item in the game, so I consider it part of the Too Good To Use Club.
No kidding. Like what was your game plan, bud?
"That's okay though, the Time-Space Soldier Sailor Pluto is in my hands. She is completely at my mercy."
[Nergal vanishes into thin air]
"HA HA HA Haha..."
... For a villain she's a giant dork.
Such a sweetheart.
I have no idea what she means by "the one who sent you here will disappear", but I'm just gonna roll with it and walk into the Door anyway.
Side-note, I like how the Door has the different moon phases to represent the passing of time. That's a hella neat detail.
... Whoa...
I didn't expect the game to go all Earthbound on me, but I kind of love it. This place is trippy, man.
Especially when you can see the galaxy through the holes in the floor, like jesus.
The Playing Cards is a rare item that you're meant to sell off to the collector in Tokyo City while the Garnet Pin is unique equipment for Sailor Pluto.
Way to spoil that we're going to get her later, game.
Name: Canpanura
HP: 900
Attack: 55
Defense: 23
Speed: 58
EXP: 160
Yen: 2000
Item Drop: Nothing
Monster Type: Plant alien
Based off of: Campanula
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: The Sailor Moon R (second season) Movie
Name: Darian
HP: 800
Attack: 55
Defense: 20
Speed: 55
EXP: 152
Yen: 3000
Item Drop: Nothing
Monster Type: Plant alien
Based off of: Dahlian
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: The Sailor Moon R Movie
Oh hey, I didn't know they brought in movie-exclusive villains. That's sure to give us some... interesting cameos.
Campanula and Darian (Who has a disturbing similarity to Darien, Mamoru's english dub name) are monsters spawned from the Xenian Flower, a parasitic, extraterrestrial flower creature that saps planets of their energy and blows them up.
... Much like a certain other giant spiky alien from an RPG I like. *wink, wink*
The Xenian Flower is accompanied by her ward, an alien called Fiore. I'll talk about him later because he shows up later in Another Story, believe it or not.
The plant girls aren't that much of a threat, and it was Venus anyway. They lack crowd control moves, so this should be a piece of cake.
Here's Fire Soul Bird again. I don't see why you would ever use it over Burning Mandala unless you were short on MP, but there's so many MP recovery items in this game that it's crazy.
I love how these random enemies give as much experience as Nergal, who was a boss. She was easy, yes, but that's still pretty sad.
Oh, it just teleported us to this room. Yeah, the Time-Space Door is full of invisible spots that act as one-way teleports to different rooms.
It's actually something to be careful about because you're only in this area twice in the whole game, so be sure to grab everything here! (Again, lost forever items are a bitch to deal with, no matter the game they appear in.)
The Chocolate Parfait heals 100 HP and makes me drool because I'm craving sweets as I write this. The lad in the center is a shop, but we don't really need his services.
Man, this place just keeps getting better and better the further we go in.
Foundation Cream is a defense-boosting item, surprisingly enough. It may not be as useful as the Manicures/Fragrances, but that extra defense can prove vital in making sure your squishier Senshi don't bite it during a fight.
The Garnet Earrings are also Sailor Pluto's, so we've already got her full set of equipment before even meeting her.
Special Dish?
I wonder what's made of. Oh well, more cash for us!
... Oh yes, something I should mention while we're still here. There's a monster in this area I want to cover, but we never actually encounter her in a proper fight:
Name: U-Camasen
HP: 720
Attack: 65
Defense: 25
Speed: 58
EXP: 160
Yen: 10
Item Drop: Nothing
Monster Type: Daimon
Based off of: U-Ikasaman
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon S, Episode 29
Meet U-Ikasaman, my favorite Daimon in the entire show! She was created after one of the Death Busters overloaded the Daimon-creating machine with a whole bunch of junk, causing it to explode and distort the spatial area of Hotaru's house.
Ikasaman could control the distorted space of the house, throwing people into jungles, tundras, basically wherever she wanted, but that's not the most interesting thing about her... even if it's the most logical reason why she's in the Time-Space Door to begin with.
See, she was a rare "pacifist" villain that wanted to play games over actually fighting. (An interesting concept I've ever seen one. This also explains her subpar stats in-battle, hilariously enough).
Ikasaman challenged each member of the Inner Senshi to a game... that'd she'd win because she's a big fat cheater. It's even in her name! She beats each Senshi with some underhanded trick (the most hilarious of which being rigging a racing game to make Moon and Venus's cars go backwards instead of forwards), leaving Chibi-Usa and Hotaru to save the day with a game of Old Maid.
This show gets kookier the more I recount it, I swear.
Not only does she have an interesting design (being the queen of hearts mixed with a playboy bunny, which is just silly), she made some amazing faces and is overall a super fun minor villain.
I'll be taking that, thank you.
The Crystal Burger heals 200 HP, which leaves me wondering how the hell it even does that. (Though granted, I should ask the same question about the other food that isn't explicitly magical, like the dozen Nigiri Sets we have that heal everyone for 300 HP a pop. Sushi is powerful, apparently.)
Guys, did you think we were overpowered with only one Red Pupil? How about two?
There's no limit to what kinds of accessories you can wear, so it's possible to wear two Red Pupils and the game can't do anything about it. This is gonna turn into a bloodbath, you might want to step back a bit.
Our puzzle picture is looking clean. Only a few more pieces and it'll be finished!
... I'm curious as to what we'll get aside from an admittedly very nice looking picture.
The Life Crepe revives a dead party member for 300 HP, which is nice, but you also have to traverse your way across the warp point to even grab this.
It would have been more logical to put the Red Pupil here instead, but I'm not complaining.
It's the real Pluto! Don't worry fam, I'll get you out of there in a snap.
Um... Okay. If I had to bother and translate what this means, she wants us to user her magic staff to control time. I have no idea what she means by "the power of people wishing for peace" because that's just corny.
Chibi-Usa has the same idea as me:
Of course! Let's burn down this damn tree and get Pluto back!
Name: Dimension T.
HP: 2500
Attack: 75
Defense: 30
Speed: 40
EXP: 1200
Yen: 10
Item Drop: HolyWater (Cures 80 HP)
Monster Type: Youma?
Based off of: Nothing, but looks like the Makaiju
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, Episode 1
I like how the Dimension Tree is a part of the background and not a normal enemy, but its sprite is still pretty neat. (Where did Pluto go, though?)
It also shares a striking resemblance to the Makaiju tree from the first non-Black Moon arc of Sailor Moon R... which kind of explains why all these plant monsters are around.
We finally pull out the Fragrance and it increases our entire party's attack by 15 points, which is a massive boost no matter what level you are.
Combine it with Healing Shower and you can probably steam-roll through any boss you want, provided they don't one-shot you. (The attack boost runs out when someone dies)
That was just Saturn's attack, mind you. That was a fair chunk of the Tree's health even though the battle just started.
Love Me Bird immolates the tree without much resistance. (Although how it's not hitting Pluto is beyond me.)
If I used Mars Snake Fire, there wouldn't even be ash left of the damn thing.
Yeah, it really is part of the background given how it didn't disappear on death.
I would ask why it drops so little yen, but it's also a tree created to sap the life out of Pluto, so duh.
No prob. Of course we weren't going to leave you back there, Pluto.
[The screen shakes]
Oh jesus, I didn't know things were that dire. At least she teleports us out of here instead of forcing us to go through a timed escape.
[The tower in the back shakes rapidly]
I'm not quite sure why it cuts to this shot of a tower other than it implying this is the Time-Space Door, but as a set-piece by itself this is really cool looking.
[Current OST: Hikawa Shrine]
Time travel stories are always a mess because they always raise those unfortunate questions, you know? Interfering with history tends to have some unfortunate effects no matter which side you're on, so...
Oh boy, Minako is showing some cracks.
Let's see what -
[Mako runs up to her and gets in her face]
[Mako looks down]
"... I'm sorry. But I couldn't just let that pass."
This is an interesting point to raise because as much as the show is about magical girls fighting monsters and demons in weird clothes, the most relatable thing about Sailor Moon is that these girls are flawed.
Minako isn't exactly right in her thinking and Mako came on as a bit aggressive, but of course they'd have these thoughts after all the shit they've been through. The fact they can share a difference of opinion like this and still remain friends is actually rather powerful, so make of that as you will.
The rest of the girls pretty much all agree that changing history would be empty and disingenuous.
I love how stern she is, because you know she means it. She also mentions how to stop enemies from changing Destiny, we have to stop them from using the Time-Space Door.
... The hell is she talking about? (Marle??)
*looks it up*
Oh she means the Sea of Serenity. In fact, I've finally figured out what both those things are - a lunar mare is a large basaltic plain on the Earth's Moon while the Sea of Serenity is where the original Moon Kingdom was located in Sailor Moon's history.
This game and its confusing terminology, I swear.
[Mercury does some beeps on her Supercomputer]
I'm surprised she couldn't find it, given how I was able to google the real thing in less than a second... but this is like, the 90s after all.
Usagi volunteers to go the bookstore, so this ought to be fun.
You can't actually buy anything from this soda machine, but I love how it just barely says "coca cola". Way to dodge copyright, guys.
[Current OST: Tokyo City]
Shopkeep: "Wait a second, I might have something for you."
He shuffles across the shelves and finds a cooking book and an arithmetic book... yeah, the food is nice and all but math is my sworn enemy? How about we don't.
(Wait, does the cookbook have details on what they put into their miraculous 300-HP healing sushi or - wait, stop I'm not done!-)
No, I would have assumed it was a book about the nyoom. (But we've already mastered that if our overworld speed is any indication.)
Shopkeep: "Ummm... this book costs... "
(For the uninitiated, that's about 8936.80 US dollars. What, is it some secret lost tome about the history of the Moon Kingdom??)
Even Usagi has the appropriate reaction:
Shopkeep: "But, you're cute, young lady. I'll take the price down to 300 Yen."
Christ, don't give me heart attacks like that, game. I'm pretty sure you can't go beyond 999,999 in the game itself anyway, so...
The guy questions why Usagi would even want a book about the moon and assumes she wants to become an astronaut when she grows up, which is surreal when you realize how many advanced alien civilizations have existed in this setting. (The Moon Kingdom included)
He even says Usagi looks like a moon princess. That's real cheeky, game, I like it.
Excellent. Ami takes the book and uses it to calculate the location of the Sea of Serenity.
(When this came up I thought she lost her goddamn mind, but it's really just her typing into the supercomputer again.)
... You know what? I can't argue with that. (
Hey, at least we get to hear one of the cooler songs on the soundtrack again.
[Current OST: Harumi]
This is one surreal meta joke.
... Wait, so is there two different Seas of Serenity? I thought the point was that there was only the one. This game, man.
I still love Rei's snarkiness, though.
[A distorted noise plays three times in a row]
Oh boy, what kind of madness are we getting ourselves into this time?
[The girls run ahead and see a large object flying overhead]
Awwww snap. It's time to go into Sailor Moon R territory. (Given how we've already beaten Beryl, this is perfect.)
no
It's not immediately obvious as to who she's talking about, but we'll get to them in a bit.
The girls all recite their transformation phrases again, but this time every single Senshi does it. I... think we can skip reading "X Star Power" repeated multiple times.
[Make-Up! SFX, followed by everyone transforming at once]
I love how you can play as every member of the Sailor Senshi - it really adds to the charm of Another Story and it helps that everyone has a specific role to play as team members.
At least this time we can choose to leave behind Chibi-Moon. (Her squishiness might be a problem even with her going in the back row.)
We have an (almost) full Inners team with the exception of Pluto. This is for a very good reason and also to show off what she can do, because we need her.
"Everyone! Sailor Teleport!"
[Current OST: Apsu]
We're on board the Black Moon UFO... I wish I had the official art of this place's exterior because I remember it looking sick.
I also like how this place looks. Like a lot. The black crystal motif is really cool, and Apsu's theme makes this place stand out in my memory.
Please, please, please make sure you save here and grind on the enemies here. Just trust me.
* HP: * (Worst)
* Attack: ** (Awful)
* Defense: ****** (Above Average)
* Speed: **** (Below Average)
* Evade: ***** (Average)
* Moveset:
- Dead Scream (3 MP - weak damage to one enemy)
- Chronos Cyclone (4 MP - medium damage to one enemy)
- Time Stop (All MP - stops all enemies for three turns)
* Preferred Gemstone/Equipment: Garnet
The final Sailor Senshi and... honestly, the most broken one yet! That said, with stats like those, it can be hard to see why I was hyped about getting her.
She's too weak to serve as an attacker and kind of brittle as support, even in the back row. Dead Scream and Chronos Cyclone may have rad names, but you're not going to be killing anything with them any time soon.
So why would you use her out of all ten Sailor Soldiers? Two words:
TIME. STOP.
Time Stop as used by Sailor Pluto prevents enemies from making moves for three turns, which is good by itself, but there's three things that make it extremely overpowered:
* It can't be blocked. Even bosses are stopped by this and they can't do anything about it.
* It may cost all of her MP, but it's trivial to refill it with a Cologne or Toilette in the turns enemies are halted... let alone if you're paralyzing mooks in random battles.
* You can spam it to your heart's content - there is no downside to using this move aside from the MP cost.
Like this is easily the most disgusting move I've ever seen in an RPG, bar none. No wonder they saved her towards the end of the game!
Not quite sure why I brought Mercury over a fighter, but this might be a Smart Dan Move that was planned out subconsciously due to what's up ahead.
We hand the other Red Pupil we have to Jupiter because I forgot to remove it from Saturn... oops. Having at least one should suffice, though.
I appreciate the Toilette (
(Also, how did this lad get on the Black Moon UFO if it took us a Sailor Teleport to do so? Did he get abducted?)
The Black Moon UFO has teleport spots much like the Time-Space Door, but these are at least visibly marked via the big green mirrors and... scary-looking stone wells?
You can backtrack, at the very least.
Name: Luacks
HP: 1100
Attack: 77
Defense: 20
Speed: 66
EXP: 200
Yen: 500
Item Drop: Nothing
Monster Type: Droid
Based off of: Ryuax
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, Episode 36
Name: Jarmanen
HP: 920
Attack: 75
Defense: 25
Speed: 52
EXP: 250
Yen: 400
Item Drop: Nothing
Monster Type: Droid
Based off of: Jamanen
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, Episode 20
So a red slime woman and a genie. Sounds about right for Sailor Moon.
Ryuax is notable for being one of the most powerful Droids of the Black Moon Clan, seeing as she can warp time to deflect enemy attacks back at them and was able to appear in the Time-Space Door of all places. (Yeah, okay, it doesn't seem that special given how everyone and their mother has been able to go to that place, but today was a special occasion.)
To let you know how tough she is, it took a Sailor Planet Attack just to kill her... and it shows, given how she has as much HP as Nergal despite being a regular enemy.
Jarmanen is much less interesting, but there was a time when she wore the cutest little yellow bow-tie.. (Also she could turn her hand into a sword, which is cool I guess.)
Keep in mind Sailor Moon has one of the highest defense scores in the game, so to see this is a worrying indicator of the enemies' strength.
... Granted, when we can blast them for nearly double to triple their health, it's hard to be scared.
I ran into this room that doesn't seem to have anything, so I can only assume this is a reference to the anime or the manga or something.
... Or it could just be a dead end designed to waste your time, who knows.
Oh shit.
Long story short, these are the Ayakashi (Phantom) Sisters - they are four sisters of the Black Moon Clan who were in charge of taking over the Crystal Points that would serve as the foundation of Crystal Tokyo's defenses in the 30th century.
They were actually redeemed at the end of R and went on to become normal people, but this game is gonna shatter their hopes and dreams.
"If I beat you, will you understand? You can't choose whatever Destiny you want."
The way she's phrasing this makes it seems like they're being controlled like puppets... which is pretty disturbing, not gonna lie.
"You must feel it first."
(I know we're already ten chapters in, but this translation consistently slays me with how... awkward it is.)
You may have noticed that the purple one didn't speak... this is because we didn't bring Mars. (We bring her for Nergal but not this? That's some amazing shortsightedness on my behalf.)
This is what that conversation would have looked like:
I'm confused as to how this works, but I'm just going to take it as their bodies being puppet-controlled to fight the good guys.
(This is the only time you get to see Koan's portrait, so of course I have to do this.)
[Current OST: Boss]
Name: Cooan (Koan)
HP: 8000 (!!)
Attack: 80
Defense: 30
Speed: 75
EXP: 1925
Yen: 4000
Item Drop: Fragrance (Boosts the entire party's attack)
Allegiance: Black Moon Clan
Official Art: Manga / Anime
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, episode 14 / Act 15 - Infiltration, Sailor Mars
We've finally made it boys, the exact point when the game goes from Easy to Actually Kind of Difficult.
Koan is the Sailor Mars of the Ayakashi Sisters, to the point where she has her own technique called Dark Fire. She was the first one the Sailor Senshi encountered and was in charge of looking for Chibi-Usa (they referred to her as "the rabbit" due to her pink swirly twintails).
Koan got the most character development out of the sisters in that she wanted to prove herself to someone named Rubeus (we'll get to him) and was obsessed with looking beautiful. Her relationship with Rubeus wound up being toxic and she was heartbroken, so you can imagine how that went.
... She also kind of looks like a cat with how her hair's shaped.
Okay, we're not going to pull our punches with the Sisters because they're the most powerful opponents we've encountered so far. Time Stop is going to be our life-saver for this part.
... It being a spammable move is ridiculous because when Pluto used it in the anime, she died. It's strictly taboo, so to see her use it so freely in the game is just silly to me.
Koan is immediately super dangerous if she's able to this much damage to Moon, so we go Super to bring that HP back.
Excellent! Now she won't be able to do anything for three turns.
Here's a Rainbow Moon Heart Ache to obliterate the Season 2 villain. Two of these and she's super dead. (I wish Sailor Moon had more internal consistency like calling back to previous enemies outside of internal crossovers like this, but oh well.)
I find it interesting that Koan drops a Fragrance when she dies, because she was kind of the cosmetics freak of the family. (Thanks for the attack boost, though.
Name: Beruche (Berthier)
HP: 9000
Attack: 85
Defense: 31
Speed: 92
EXP: 2125
Yen: 6000
Item Drop: Moon Shard (Cures 120 HP)
Allegiance: Black Moon Clan
Official Art: Manga / Anime
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, episode 14 / Act 16 - Abduction, Sailor Mercury
Berthier is the Sailor Mercury counterpart and somehow even more powerful than Koan? She possesses the Dark Water attack and yes she looks very much like a certain Disney princess that can also control ice.
She was the second youngest of the Sisters and honestly I don't remember that much about her aside from the fact she tried to freeze herself and the Sailor Senshi to death as her final stand... but a newly redeemed Koan came to the rescue and convinced her to turn good. (Also, Sailor Moon purified her with Moon Crystal Power but that's just expected.)
In Another Story, she's super deadly because she likes to spam the Dark Water move like crazy.
Yeah, Moon is on the verge of death after that one! Healing Shower plus a full-party recovery item was necessary to survive for this one.
Like look at this damage!
It's not even that we can't beat her, she just deals a lot of damage to every party member... and you still have the other two sisters to deal with when you win, so bringing Pluto is pretty much required if you don't want to grind forever.
... The reward was kind of lame compared to Koan's, but I'm just happy we survived.
Name: Karaberas (Calaveras)
HP: 14000
Attack: 88
Defense: 29
Speed: 110
EXP: 2725
Yen: 7000
Item Drop: Yaga Soup (Cures all HP)
Allegiance: Black Moon Clan
Official Art: Manga / Anime
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, episode 18 / Act 18 - Invasion, Sailor Venus
14,000 HP, ARE YOU KIDDING ME
The boss we had immediately before the Ayakashi Sisters only had 2,500 tops! Who was in charge of balancing during this part of the game, god damn!
Anyway, Calaveras is the second eldest of the Sisters and is the counterpart to Sailor Venus. She's often paired up with Petz to deal with Crystal Point stuff and possesses a whip called Dark Beaut (which in this game is an evil counterpart to Venus Love-Me Chain.)
Calaveras is also strange in that she's not explicitly named after a gemstone like her sisters. (Koan is named after the mineral Kermesite which is called koanko in japanese, while Berthier is named after an iron sulfide.)
At first it seems like she's named after the spanish word for skull (which doesn't match up with her design??), but there's a mineral out there called calaverite... and suddenly it all made sense to me.
Back in the actual fight, she hits hard but at least we can deal with that.
Here's a Shabon Spray to lower her attack because she needs to be debuffed quick.
This was a foolish time to show off Dead Scream, but I was confident the Shabon Spray would make Calaveras hit us for nothing.
I didn't make Moon go Super because I wanted to keep using Healing Shower (blame Jupiter's poor defense).
2,829 would have been an instant-kill a few screenshots ago, so it's disgusting to see that change so quickly.
There's Shabon Spray Freezing and Chronos Cyclone for you, even if they don't do much.
The Freezing version doesn't seem to have a special gimmick, so as far as I'm concerned one of those weird "useless" attacks that are just used to fill up movesets.
Had to use a Toilette of all things to keep us fighting. She's no joke, alright?
You can imagine how relieved I was to finally kill Calaveras... only to realize Petz is still left.
Name: Petz
HP: 14000
Attack: 90
Defense: 32
Speed: 130
EXP: 2925
Yen: 20000
Item Drop: Life Can (Fully revives one party member)
Allegiance: Black Moon Clan
Official Art: Manga / Anime
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R, episode 19 / Act 17 - Secret, Sailor Jupiter
Wow, they really wanted you to grind for this part of the game, huh?
Petz is the eldest of the Ayakashi Sisters, named after petzite, and is the Sailor Jupiter of the group (surprisingly enough). She's known for the Dark Thunder attack and is notable for being possessed by an evil stick that magnified her malice (even to the point of back-stabbing Calaveras), only for it to be destroyed by the Sailor Senshi.
She is, without a doubt, the most dangerous of the sisters if Dark Thunder here isn't proof enough for you.
You have to defend and set up a strategy to defeat her, because 14,000 HP with a strong party-hitting attack will ruin you.
In hindsight, it's pretty sad how she and her sisters were forced to become evil against their will, given how well off they were after the end of R.
... But she's also a dummy that likes to use Sonic Wave. If you see this over Dark Thunder or her regular attack, take a sigh of relief.
*Not pictured: Dan reviving, healing and buffing party members for over 15 minutes but I'm not quite sure how long it really was*
This better be it, I swear.
AAAGH
DAMN IT USAGI, DO
thank you
Jesus christ. If this game ever gets a modern remake (though I doubt it, this is currently the Sailor Moon Crystal generation), I really hope they fix the balancing and tone down these bosses because mama mia, that was painful.
"Sorry indeed, holy what" was the save state I put up for this bit, because I was just astonished at how beefed up the Sisters were compared to every other enemy before this.
[Moon steps forward]
I do feel bad for Petz and the rest, but that was just rough, man...
[Luna sends a message via the communicator]
Well hot damn! I needed some good news.
She tells us the way to get back to the ground is via that mirror, so that's good.
That sure was a whopper of a chapter. Next time on Sailor Moon: Another Story, we're going to do something about all this time travel nonsense and travel to the Sea of Serenity.
See you guys then!
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Team Set-Up:
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~Fun Sailor Moon Fact~:
Sailor Pluto's full name, Setsuna Meioh, translates to "sorrow" / "dark king" (aka. sorrowful dark king), which represents her connection to the god Pluto.
She's a strange one among the Outer Senshi because it's implied in the manga she's the daughter of Chronos (the god of time) due to "the blood of Chronos" flowing through her.
Her talisman is the Garnet Rod that she carries around with her, she likes to study physics (clever considering she's the time-space soldier) and one of her dislikes is cockroaches. (A woman after my own heart.)
Also, she's the first Outer Senshi introduced because she made her appearance in R, not Super.