Let's Play Sailor Moon: Another Story! (LP #5)

[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 refrain 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 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.



[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?



"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!


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.



[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. In the show, it was actually used to damage enemies in Season 2, but it makes more sense here.

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.

[Current OST: File Select]

[Usagi walks into the scene]

: "Hey, everybody! Transform! Daimons have appeared again!"

Last time on Another Story, Usagi fought an enemy that should have been gone by now and that's definitely some cause for alarm.

: "I wonder what happened. Have the Death Busters been revived?"

This is Makoto Kino, also known as Sailor Jupiter. She's the tough guy of the Inner Senshi and attacks with electricity. (yes, there's two groups of Sailor Soldiers - Inner and Outer. The only difference are the planets they're named after and some uniform differences, along with the Inners being Usagi's closest friends.)

Makoto is an amazon with the face of a thug, but she's also a sweetheart that always fawns over her "senpai" aka. her old boyfriend... To the point where new guys she meets will remind her of him. Yeah, it's a bit silly.

I'll cover the stats of the Senshi when we get them as real playable characters, including Usagi. (We'll also just slide the Death Busters under the carpet until they're important.)



"Are you sure you didn't dream that?"

This firebrand is Rei Hino, the civilian identity for Sailor Mars. She goes to a private school and works as a miko (aka. shrine priestess) for Hikawa Shrine. Rei has the power of precognition and reads fortunes, so she's able to see the future in a sense.

Also, as Usagi is about to say:

: "Oohh, you're so mean, Rei-chan!"

This is not undeserved because Rei is... kind of a bitch at times, but Usagi's been friends with her for as long as they can remember so it's all cool.

[Usagi turns around]

: "Ami-chan believes me, right?"

Only to see, hey, nobody's there. Oops.



[A blue-haired girl walks in]

: "Sorry, I came as fast as I could. I just talked with Urawa-kun."

This is Ami Mizuno, aka. Sailor Mercury. She's the water one and originally starts off as a shy, collected bookworm with genius-level smarts but gradually grows to become confident and self-assured as the series goes on. 

She wants to become a doctor when she grows up and is the technical pacifist of the Inner Senshi in that she wants to avoid fights as much as possible.

The girls go inside of the house to talk about stuff, but not what you'd think.



As much as I really want to transcribe all the dialogue, all they talk about for the majority of this is just Ami's "crush" and not the impending danger that looms over everyone's head.

I get that they're teenage girls and all, but Usagi literally started this off with "hey guys, monsters are appearing again maybe we should do something!??"

Urawa came to Tokyo for the holidays and Ami wants to go to the library with him to practice for some national exams.



This disappoints everyone, even Luna the cat for some reason.

Usagi, Rei and Mako tease Ami about going on a date with her "boyfriend", but she's just like...



I keep forgetting that, even with all the superpowers these girls have, they're still technically in middle/high school. Our saviors, ladies and gentlemen.

[A girl with long blonde hair walks in]



"What's wrong, Ami-chan? Your face is all red."

Say hello to Minako Aino, the final member of the Inners and Sailor Venus. Minako is a love-crazy ditz that loves video games and plans to become an idol in the future, but that's nothing compared to her second secret identity as... Sailor V.

Yeah, before Sailor Moon even started (both chronologically and in real life), Mina starred in a prequel manga called Codename: Sailor V. It was originally a one-shot manga that inspired Ms. Takeuchi to make Sailor Moon, so how about that.

Essentially, Mina got famous for using a superhero version of her Senshi identity and got a ton of merch for it, including an in-story movie. She's also canonically the first person to get their powers as she's been fighting monsters before Usagi even became Sailor Moon.



This fine fellow is Yuuichirou Kumada, a bum that fell in love with Rei the instant he saw her. So, to be able to see her more often, she decided to become an apprentice shrine priest. 

He was actually a son from a wealthy family that ran away to improve himself, but that's about it for his character arc.

All he does in this scene is compliment Rei on her appearance, tells everyone to take it easy and leaves.

Usagi pokes at her and Rei just straight up asks Usagi who her boyfriend is.



"We'll be like this forever... He's kissed me already!"

[Usagi blushes]

: "Kyaa! I shouldn't have said that!"

: "Thanks for that."

Thank you, Rei.



Minako and Mako both admit that they're jealous of all the boyfriend stuff going on (they're mega thirstin') but Ami realizes that she has to go.



... Prompting Mina to want to stalk one of her best friends.

: "That's... really mean."

Mean isn't quite the word I'd use, but yeah.



Everyone leaves to go sneak on Ami. Makoto is initially like "nah fam, I'd rather not" but quickly changes her mind with "okay, maybe this once."



[A bus comes along and picks Ami up]

See, she does want him after all. 



Alright, I don't know how buses work in Japan, but this one comes to pick them up immediately after the last one.



Ah right, video-game convenience. Never question it.



"... Ah! Ami-chan's right there!"

[Screen scrolls up to show Ami looking around. Mina walks in front of Usagi]

: "Usagi-chan, hide!"

[Everyone but Mako hides behind something]

I find it funny because she's actually the third fastest of the group, so oops.



You can't go forward without talking to the girls first, so alright.



Rei asks how old Urawa is, but I decided to show this one off because Minako really is crazy enough about love to ask this.



"I hope Urawa-kun's alright. "

Oh boy, that Luna-P tells me something bad's about to happen. 



[Various NPCs walk by]

: "Those two must be having a wonderful reunion. "

: "Yeah... hm? Doesn't something seem funny?"

Makoto has super-vision and saw the Luna-P from here!



[Current OST: Suspense and Illusion]

[NPCs run by, but Mako stops one]

: "Wait a second, what's happened?"

Man in suit: "T... There's a monster in there! Get out of the way!!"

[The man runs past the girls]

: "Monster...!?"

[Another NPC runs up to Usagi]

Guy in a brown jacket: "The monster trapped a boy in there! Get the police!"


I find it extremely surreal to remember that police are a thing in Sailor Moon's universe with all the magic monster shit that happens per episode.


: "Everyone!! Let's go check it out!"





[Current OST: Mysterious Happening]

She's not even curious as to how we got here so fast? Oh well, at least she's not going to yell at us for stalking her.

: "Huh!? I can feel so many different auras."

: "Everyone, transform!"



: "Mars Star Power!"

: "Jupiter Star Power!

: "Venus Star Power!"

: "Moon Cosmic Power!"

Oh yeah, all the girls have a different transformation phrase from Usagi, complete with "Make-Up!". Make-Up seems to come out of nowhere, but their items are based off of beauty accessories to begin with.

Fun fact: A voice clip of "Make-Up!" plays every time we get into a battle regardless if the girls are transformed on the overworld or not.

Here's a video showing all the Star-level transformations.



Damn, the crew is lookin' fine.



This is arguably the best formation we can have for now. Mars and Jupiter go in front because they're the brawlers while Moon currently goes in the center because she's iconic. 

Mercury and Venus get the back end because they need to keep us up with support.

While we're at it, let's have some stats!

-

(Sailor Moon) -
* HP: **** (Bad)
* Attack: ***** (Average)
* Defense: ******** (Good)
* Speed: ******** (Good)
* Evade: ********* (Excellent)
* Moveset:
 - Moon Tiara Action (1 MP - weak one-enemy attack)
 - Moon Healing Escalation (2 MP - heals ally for half HP)
 - Moon Spiral Heart Attack (3 MP - strong attack)
 - Crisis Make Up (Use MoonCup1 to become Super Sailor Moon)
 - Rainbow Moon Heartache (6 MP - strong attack that hits all enemies. Super Sailor Moon only.)
* Preferred Gemstone/Equipment: Diamond

Sailor Moon is a good at taking hits due to her high defense/evade, but suffers from having low HP and no multi-hit move unless she transforms into Super Sailor Moon.

Despite being the person to take out all the monsters in the show, Moon has at best average attack. Fancy that shit. She's good at support and while Rainbow Moon Heartache hits real hard, it's also the only attack she has in that form... so it's either you overkill or waste MP.

I should mention that nobody "learns" skills in this game - you start out with everything but it's only the lack of MP that holds you back from using them all at once. I'll cover the other Senshi later because they actually get their own unique solo chapters (and also so I won't just fill this with Senshi profiles).



Name: Combater
HP: 50
Attack: 5
Defense: 1
Speed: 3
EXP: 26
Yen: 400
Item Drop: Life Water (Revives with 200 HP)
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Nothing in particular

• If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: N/A
  

This big boy is Combater, a monster they made just for the game. He's a little tougher than the Cenicienta Moon fought earlier, but he's still not enough to take down an entire group of Senshi. 



You can absolutely humiliate him if your formation is well-made, and there's nothing he can do about it.



WOW! That's a lot for this early in the game. 

They really wanted to prepare you for what happens later on, jeez.



We get a second one on top of that... it's almost as if he's a living present box at this point.



We hit him with Moon Spiral Heart Attack and end him with 86 damage. Well, we took out the bad guy and saved the hostage - good job, team.



: "Mi... Mizuno-san..."

So he's able to recognize her through the disguise? Either he recognizes her voice or my disguise theory was just proven wrong. I hope it's not the former.

: "Urawa-kun! Hang in there! Just hang on!!"

: "It's okay, he's only unconscious."

: "A youma... Surely, Queen Beryl has been revived..."

(The game mistakenly shows Usagi's civilian portrait here instead of Sailor Moon. I dunno what's up with that.)

Beryl was the queen of the Dark Kingdom and ruled over a legion of demons called the Youma. She destroyed the original Moon Kingdom and killed all of its inhabitants, including the original Sailor Senshi and the royal family.

Usagi and pals are their reincarnations, complete with looking exactly the same as their past lives.



: "Yes, I'm alright now. Well, Mizuno-san... I had a vision in my dream. The past and the future changed places... "

: "What?"

I swear I'll never stop finding the blatant "what" reactions funny. It summarizes how I feel without me having to say anything!

: "I don't understand it very well, but... History... No, Destiny will change."

Oh boy, I'd better take a shot for that one.

: "Destiny... So, the future has been replaced?"

: "No. The past has also been replaced."

: "The past!?"

I find it amazing that this exposition is coming out of a person that would otherwise have no bearing on the story. I mean, we did just save him, so this is all a bonus.



[Current OST: Hikawa Shrine]

"KATSU--!!"

[The fire intensifies]

: "That's...!? Who is it? An enemy?"



Sin is like the most obvious edgy name for a bad guy but in this context it actually stands for the Mesopotamian God of the Moon. Aw shit son, you can tell where we're going with this.

[The figure in the fire opens their eyes]

"This is merely a greeting!"

[The fire explodes in front of Rei's face, charring her body]

... Hell of a greeting, jeez.



"I'm all covered in soot."

: "What was that?"

: "I don't know." [Cough-cough]

: "Hey, Rei-chan. Your face is pitch-black."

: "Oh, shut up."



Thank you, everyone, I'll be here all night.



: "Yeah, I'm fine. My clothes are all dirty! I'm gonna go take a bath." [Cough cough]

[Rei walks offscreen]

: "Sin... hmm, that's what it said."

: "Who is it? A new enemy?"

I assumed it was the name of the pizza man, see.

[Telephone ringing SFX]



: "Ah, I'll take the call for her!"

Haruka is actually another Sailor Senshi, but I'll save my thoughts for her when we actually see her.



This fine Grand Dad is Rei's grandfather, a nice but perverted old man that runs the Hikawa Shrine. The only other thing about him is that he turned into a Youma called Jiji during the course of the show, but that's about it.



: "Ahh, Odango. Something terrible has happened. Hotaru's fallen ill."

This is a woman, folks. Haruka is about as butch as you can get on this show - to the point where everyone mistakes her for being a dude at first.

Odango is a prominent nickname for Usagi due to the ball-shaped hair buns she has. It's named after a dumpling that you skewer on a stick, so hurray for Japanese culinary jokes.

: "Huh? Is she sick?"

: "No... this is... The doctors don't know either, but this could be... If you don't come here, I can't tell you. So come to the Juuban Hospital right away."

Ominous... It has to be some real shit if we have to go in person. 

: "What's wrong?"

: "Something's happened to Hotaru-chan."

: "Huh? Hotaru-chan?"


: "I just have to go to Juuban Hospital for a while."

For the un-initiated, Hotaru is Japanese for firefly... I think it's a pretty name.



"I wonder what in the world is beginning to happen..."

Me too, Ami. This game's already getting pretty crazy.



"Usagi-chan, I have to check out a few things."

: "Okay, then."

: "If something happens, contact me."

[Luna scurries off]

Interesting, but the only thing she'd be able to do is to contact the other Senshi. Luna's not that good a fighter, see...



This bell is used for donations and notifying the gods or something. You can be a yutz and ring it for no reason, but I don't think Rei would let it slide.



I finally found the hospital after wandering around the town for a bit.



How does the Luna-P always appear where trouble is going to happen? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.



[Current OST: Mysterious Happening]

"Are you awake, Hotaru-chan? Odango's come to see you."

Talking to either Haruka or her green-haired friend will activate the cutscene, but now that we brought up Usagi's hair buns I can't help but be bothered by them.

How does she get them like that.



: "Huh? Why has Hotaru-chan grown into a child!? Hotaru-chan, are you okay?"

: [Coughs] "It only stopped hurting a while ago. I'm fine since you got here."

This cutie is Hotaru Tomoe, otherwise known as Sailor Saturn. She's arguably the most powerful Senshi due to her control of life and death, but using her powers could have disastrous consequences to herself, so of course.

She's the daughter of the leader of the Death Busters, an underground facility that created the Daimons and the main villains of Season 3. Despite this, Hotaru didn't even know about the group's existence for a while.

: "What could have happened?"

: "She just started stumbling."

This is Michiru Kaioh, Haruka's beloved (yeah, they're lesbians. The original English dubs tried to censor this due to having them as cousins, as stupid as that sounds.) and Sailor Neptune.

She's an accomplished violinist and elegant to the point where she makes everyone else look bad, although she can get a little snobby sometimes. 

: "She transformed back right in front of our eyes."

While we're at it, Haruka is Sailor Uranus. They were originally rogue Senshi with one mission - to obtain the Talismans and stop the Death Busters from getting them at any cost, even if it meant people would get harmed in the process.

They were initially opposed to the Inners due to them being "weak" and coldly told them to solve their problems by themselves, but Usagi and pals gradually won them over as the series passed.

Haruka was kind of a douche and actively picked a fight with Sailor Jupiter, but even she got her humble pie as time passed.

: "Yeah... but it was so painful..."

I don't know if it was a mistake or not, but they kept Haruka's portrait here for some reason. I got so confused as to who was talking that I'm still not sure if it was done on purpose.

: "And the Infinity Academy has been revived recently too..."

The Infinity Academy is a private school that acts as the headquarters of the Death Busters, so you know that's messed up.



"Yeah! Hotaru, have you ever felt this kind of pain before?"

: "It was like when I was under the influence of the Taioron Crystal. Usagi-san's Silver Crystal seemed to help relieve the pain."

The Taioron Crystal is a manga-exclusive item that held all the power of the main villain of that arc, Pharaoh 90... a tremendous Elder God from the Tau System that ate everything that came his way.

To let you know how powerful he is, we never get a clear shot of what he's supposed to look like. That's terrifying.

: "The Taioron Crystal... T...then, Hotaru-chan, are you going to turn back into Mistress 9?"

Mistress 9 was the "messiah of silence", the chosen one of Pharaoh 90. Season 3 had a lot of biblical analogies, with the Moon Cup that turns Usagi into Super Sailor Moon straight up being called the Holy Grail.

No, seriously.

: "I think it's okay now."

: "Yeah, Hotaru has opened her eyes and is a Sailor Senshi now. She won't turn into an enemy."

That's extremely optimistic, Haruka, but I don't quite think so.

: "When I collapsed, I felt that I was being enveloped by darkness. But that evil power... I felt like my destiny was being influence by something else..."

: "A strong new power..."

Keep in mind this is all pre-Season 4, so everything that happens past that doesn't count.

Still, this whole scenario has to be nightmarish for Sailor Moon and pals after how much they've already gone through... and how it's all coming back to haunt them.

[A nurse walks into the room]



: "Wait a minute! This room should be marked 'No Entry'. Who or what are you?!"

Nurse?: "... Hee, hee hee. I'm gonna get you troublesome Sailor Senshi!"

[The "nurse" throws off their disguise]



[Current OST: Boss Battle]

Name: Palmacon
HP: 95
Attack: 9
Defense: 3
Speed: 12
EXP: 3
Yen: 200
Item Drop: Bandage
Monster Type: Droid
Based off of: Pharmakon

• If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R (Season 2, episode 32)
  

Pharmakon is different from both the Daimon and Youma from before in that she is a Droid, a humanoid robot deployed by the Black Moon Clan. The Black Moon Clan being an organization of people from Nemesis, a forbidden planet with piss-poor living conditions whose inhabitants hold a grudge towards Earth.

The Droids are powered by colored crystals marked with an upside-down black moon crescent and were generally assigned to take over a part of Tokyo. Pharmakon is a nurse robot, with her name being inspired by the Greek word for "drug".



(Sailor Uranus) -
* HP: ******** (Good)
* Attack: ********** (Excellent)
* Defense: * (Worst)
* Speed: ********* (Excellent)
* Evade: * (Worst)
* Moveset:
 - World Shaking (3 MP - hits all enemies for medium damage)
 - Space Sword Blaster (4 MP - hits one enemy for massive damage)
* Preferred Gemstone/Equipment: Amber

Sailor Uranus is THE strongwoman of the Sailor Senshi with the highest HP and Speed stats in the game, but she's also a glass cannon. All that HP goes away pretty fast, not helped by her horrendous evasion stat.

Still, shoving a laser sword down a monster's throat is always extremely satisfying.

-

(Sailor Neptune) -
* HP: ****** (Above Average)
* Attack: ***** (Average)
* Defense: ****** (Above Average)
* Speed: ** (Awful)
* Evade: ********** (Excellent)
* Moveset:
 - Deep Submerge (3 MP - hits all enemies for medium damage)
 - Submarine Reflection (4 MP - hits all enemies for massive damage)
* Preferred Gemstone/Equipment: Aquamarine

In a sharp contrast to Uranus, Neptune is more about defense... and that's about it. It fits her level-headed personality and she's definitely great support, but other than that she's not too interesting.

Space Sword Blaster and Submarine Reflection are thanks to two of the Talismans they obtained during the course of Super.



Palmacon eats a Spiral Heart Attack and takes like 86 damage while the two Outers clean up. Normally Droids would just turn to dust when they get killed, but I'm just wondering how different it'd be if they had the all had the that death animation.



That's just pitiful compared to the EXP motherload we got earlier.



"Didn't we once beat that enemy before" - woman you weren't even a part of Sailor Moon R, what are you talking about?

: "This is the second time a Daimon has attacked today."

What? Pharmakon is a Droid. I know all the monsters become increasingly silly Lady Gaga ripoffs after a while but I think you would have noticed if they didn't drop a Daimon Egg upon death.

: "Why are enemies that we've already beaten being revived? I wonder what this could be..."

I dunno man, but it sure it making a great game for me to geek over.

: "If its Destiny was changed the same way as mine, I think it might be possible."

: "The power to change Destiny? That's stupid! I wonder who the heck these enemies are?"

I love Haruka, alright.

-

Continued in Part 2-2 because damn it forumotion.

[Current OST: Apsu]

Right as she asks that, we get a view of the real villains of Another Story. I find this song to be pretty haunting for a main villain theme, to the point where I listened to it in my own time.

Imagine if this game got a modern touch-up complete with an orchestrated soundtrack. That would be badass.

: "Apsu-sama."



"In a few places, previously beaten enemies have been revived and attacked some people. The Destiny of the Juuban district of the 20th Century has been changed."

How does "changing destiny" work? Are they pulled from an alternate timeline or were they literally taken from the time where Sailor Moon and pals would have otherwise won?

I'm going to go with the former just so my brain doesn't hurt.

: "I have put you through much... Take this as a present."



: "With this, you should become more powerful than the Sailor Senshi. You may step down."

I find it odd that Apsu's face is clearly shown on her overworld sprite and we know her name, but they decide to keep it a secret to us anyway. 

: "Thank you very much, Apsu-sama."



: "Ah, our Destines shall certainly be changed."

: "That's what I thought too. "

: "Are you people satisfied already? I'm still anxious."

These jumpsuit girls are the Opposito Senshi, a group of people who are unsatisfied with Crystal Tokyo for one reason or another and are effectively evil counterparts to Sailor Moon and pals.

In terms of original villains, I like them quite a bit. I love evil foils in fiction to begin with, so them being the villain group of the otherwise non-canon RPG gets me pumped to fight them.

It's also interesting to note that there is no other group like them in the entire series, even from Season 4 onward.



: "Anshar-sama."

They must hold this kid in high respect if they refer to him as "sama".

: "The Sailor Senshi are still not dead. To turn Destiny into what we truly desire, we must retrieve the Silver Crystal from those who possess it. We shall only have a chance if we get the Silver Crystal."

In a stark contrast to the Sailor Senshi's Greek-inspired motif, the Opposito are based off of Mesopotamian entities. I've already covered Sin, the not-Sailor Moon.

Anshar is named after the Sumerian sky god, with his pet Kishar being named after his consort, the Sumerian earth goddess. I adore his design the most out of the new characters, with one exception.

: "That's true. The power of the Silver Crystal is too strong to ignore. So, we have crossed over time protected by the Silver Crystal and arrived in this time."

This would be far much of a drag if I didn't replace "Ginzuishou" with Silver Crystal.

: "This is our chance, our power has become strong too."

: "At the moment, the Sailor Senshi are separated into two different groups."

: "Okay, now is the chance. We can get those girls."

This translation is nice and all but they really need to spice up their script, Ted Woolsey style. I can appreciate a direct translation but come on.

Actually, imagine if Another Story was properly released overseas. I'm not sure how well it'd perform due to a lot of its plot being derived from the middle of Sailor Moon's anime storyline, but a little tweaking here and there would let people enjoy the gameplay if nothing else.



[Four of the five girls vanish]

: "Do not act easy towards the Princess if you do indeed want to change Destiny."

[Sin vanishes, followed by Anshar]

By the Princess, she means Chibiusa. Aww, Anshar has a crush on the Princess. That's adorable.



: "Alright. Perhaps we can find a clue left behind by the enemy."

: "Yeah, ok."

I'm saying the same thing as Usagi but in a more sarcastic way like "how tho".

: "I can feel that something's about to happen... Let's go back to my house to make sure that everyone is safe."

One detail I should have mentioned is that I like how the first thing they do is show concern when something bad happens. Usagi thinks about her family when all this starts happening, and I find that admirable.

???: "Wait! I'm going too!"

[Hotaru runs out of the hospital]



: "I'm a Sailor Senshi too. I can't just rest while everyone fights. I don't want Destiny to be changed anymore than it already has."

Yes, yes, yes, join the team Hotaru please 

: "Can't we take Hotaru-chan along too?"

: ".... Alright. Okay, you can come with us."





: "Thanks, everyone..."

Honestly, Hotaru is much safer with the team than she is alone. She'd be far easier to pick off by herself.



 (Sailor Saturn) -
* HP: ** (Awful)
* Attack: * (Worst?)
* Defense: ********** (Excellent)
* Speed: * (Worst)
* Evade: ****** (Above Average)
* Moveset:
 - Death Ribbon Revolution (1 MP - medium damage to all enemies)
* Preferred Gemstone/Equipment: Fluorite

I know what you're thinking. Only one move and the lowest attack of every Senshi so far? What could possibly make Saturn worth a  emote?

See... Death Ribbon/Reborn Revolution is an inexpensive attack that hits every enemy on screen. There's items in the game that drastically boost attack and speed, so the horrible base numbers don't mean much if you have them. 

Saturn effectively becomes a free screen nuke every time her turn comes up, so why not right? 



["Make-Up!" SFX]

Wait, what the shit? Why are we going into battle?



[Current OST: Normal Battle Theme]

Oh god Another Story has random battles. I'm so used to the Earthbound style of RPGs where you can see every enemy on screen that I forgot how much I don't like these.

Again, if Another Story got a modern HD re-release with like 3D models or something, that'd be god damn amazing.

I also adore this battle theme for some reason I can't comprehend. It's ridiculously catchy and is one of those songs I always listen to outside of the game itself... something about it just gels so well with the setting of Sailor Moon and the fact we're fighting monsters from the show.

Name: Tesny
HP: 36
Attack: 6
Defense: 3
Speed: 25
EXP: 1
Yen: 200
Item Drop: Nothing
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Tesuni

• If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon Classic (Season 1, episode 14)
  

All of these early monsters are based off of the first few Youma Sailor Moon fought in the beginning of the series. Tesuni is a tennis Youma that launches flaming serves.

She sounds devastating, but really isn't... especially when she's the least durable of the bunch.

Name: Garoben
HP: 42
Attack: 6
Defense: 3
Speed: 20
EXP: 1
Yen: 120
Item Drop: Orange Juice
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Garoben

• If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon Classic (Season 1, episode 8 )
  

Garoben is arguably my shining example for the visual difference between earlier monsters and later ones. While Droids and Daimons onward tended to look like bad fashion models, the earliest Youma tended to be fucking terrifying or at the very least ugly in a monstrous way.

Garoben is an ogre woman that can turn her hands into axes. She ambushed Ami during an exam and was about to spill her brains out (literally) until she turned into Sailor Mercury for the first time.

Name: Jumoh
HP: 42
Attack: 4
Defense: 4
Speed: 9
EXP: 1
Yen: 150
Item Drop: Orange Juice
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Jumeau

• If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon Classic (Season 1, episode 18)
  

Jumeau is another example in that she's this creepy doll woman with detachable parts. Sailor Moon has a lot of doll-based monsters, with Jumeau being the second to appear.

She's the fastest monster of this area and I find it strange how both her and Garoben drop Orange Juice when they die. Like... where did they get them from?



The monsters don't drop much when they die, but given how we'll be backtracking quite a bit, I can agree with the low numbers.

The Puzzle Piece is part of an optional sidequest. See, the puzzle option in our menu allows us to see how the picture's progressing and when we complete it 100%, we can get special prizes.

You don't just get pieces in battle, you can also look for them later on and they're missable, so... yeah I'll have to keep a look out for them.



Here's World Shaking and Deep Submerge for you. I love how the attacks look in this game.



I know monsters don't appear near the Shrine itself, but... yeah, great weather we're having today as the town is getting ravaged by monsters. 



Here's Death Ribbon Revolution for you. It's a fancy animation and all, but it confuses me as to why it's called Death Reborn Revolution instead.

Oh well, whatever.



I grabbed some earrings, bracelets and chokers now that the jewelry store is open. Now I am the prettiest lady. 

Oh yeah, I didn't mention it before but why was Naru's mom's sprite so bad earlier but now it looks fine? She looked like some generic gray woman when we rescued her from Cenicienta.



Oh, then I guess you'd better walk out then. 



God damn Space Sword Blaster is cool. Submarine Reflection is nice too.



But isn't the comet in the future? Okay, let's just stop that train of thought right there...



There's a lot of stores in town and the entire place is a faithful recreation of Usagi's town. The Toy shop is kind of a ripoff though because even though the items here restore all of your HP, they cost way too much to be worth anything.



We had fought so many monsters offscreen that this was a normal non-Sailor Moon attack. My kingdom for a Repel.

... A Repel in this context would be pretty hilarious though, if just for the mental image of these big scary monster women running in terror from an aerosol can.



Alright y'all, listen up.

The cosmetics place in this is the best item shop in the game. Toilettes may sound weird, but they're pretty much the Megalixirs of Another Story.

They heal everyone's HP and MP to max, so the fact a shop has them so early is just plain mind-blowing to me. I wish I could get at least one, but I'm too poor. 





Enough goofing around though, let's do what we need to.

"It looks like nothing's changed around here."



: "Shingo!? W... wait a sec, what's wrong?"

Give it a second and...



Bingo.

: "A Youma?"

Shingo offscreen: "UWAAAAA!"

: "Oh no!"

: "Everyone, transform!"

What, like we weren't doing that a million times before we got here?



Well then. Shingo is a Nonverbal NPC, but I can't blame him with him being unconscious right now.

How's it going, my demon sister?



"Don't... Don't interfere!!!"

Sorry to disappoint you, but that's not how we roll.



[Current OST: Boss Theme]

Name: CureneyGreen
HP: 200
Attack: 12
Defense: 3
Speed: 23
EXP: 5
Yen: 2500
Item Drop: Bandage
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Kyurene

• If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon Classic (Season 1, episode 6)
  

They mangled the name, jeez. Kyurene is a vampire-like Youma summoned by Jadeite to drain energy from music listeners, and honestly she's my favorite Youma design in the entire show barring Castor and Pollux later on.

Her name is derived from Cyrene... the joke being that they're written the same in japanese even though there's nothing vampire related to the pun.

Why is she green though? You got me.

I should note that the episode Kyurene appeared in was not included in the DiC dub for some reason.



Alright. I'm not feeling particularly merciful and I don't think Usagi would be nice either after a Youma just attacked her baby brother.

Let's crank it up a notch.



You get a complete heal when you become Super Sailor Moon, complete with an altered dress. I adore the butterfly motif she got with it, so I'm disappointed to note she loses it in season 4.



Yeeeah, boi!



Christ that's a lot of damage! Kyurene is deceased.

In the game, Rainbow Moon Heartache is basically Luminaire from Chrono Trigger with a heart. No better way to show off the power than that, really. This is what it looks like in the show.



That 200 HP didn't amount to much, did it?

Oh, and Super Sailor Moon even has her own unique ending taunt. That's adorable.



: "It's alright, Shin... gottattatta."

: "Gottatta?"

I dun get it. 

: "Anyway Sailor Moon, those people wanted to know where the "Gunzaichou" is."

: "You mean the Silver Crystal...?"

It makes less sense when you translate it into English, but I don't know how make a pun from that.



I'm just amazed Shingo can't recognize his sister, disguise powers or not.



[Beeping SFX]

: "Ah, I'm getting a message from Luna."

: "Sailor Moon, I've found out some info about the enemy. Come to the Hikawa Shrine immediately."

We turn back into our civilian disguises even though there's still danger around. I guess since the townsfolk aren't being actively attacked by the monsters despite them being everywhere, we have to.



(It only took me like what, a few fights to get here?)

: "What do you know about the enemy?"

: "Ah... I looked up some info on the Crystal Palace's computer. It appears to be that the enemy has arrived from the future."

This cool cat is Artemis. Despite the name, he's a boy cat that lives with Minako and has been helping her ever since she was Sailor V.

He's a soldier as opposed to Luna, who's more of a court lady than anything.



These characters steal my reactions. I am not appeased.

"But, the Black Moon is..."

: "No, these enemies are from beyond the time of the Black Moon. They have the power to manipulate time. They've used the Time-Space Door to get here. It seems they've come to the past."

How? ~Villain magic.~

: "If we tell Serenity about this event... Then surely the enemy will just close the Time-Space Door."

Where the hell is Sailor Pluto in all this? She's the one in charge of the door! (Also, we'll get to her later.)

: "They must be planning something in the future as well."

: "This is one of the enemies that are blocking the Time-Space Door."

[Screen scrolls to the right, with a hologram of Sin appearing]



"Huh? The computer's making some strange sounds."

... Holy shit I just realized Artemis is a real keyboard cat. What have memes done to me?

: "What?"

: "Well... The computer must be broken."

Why did I flinch when he said that?

: "Oh, let me have a go!"



: "Ah! It moved!! That's really clever, Luna!"

: "Huh? But I haven't done anything yet..."

Oh boy, here we go.

: "Wait! There's something weird about this!"



"One of the Senshi who change Destiny. I shall kill you annoying Sailor Senshi. I completely rule 'Her Destiny'. Take a look at this!"




[Current OST: Suspense and Illusion]

[Sin shows off holograms of the other fallen Senshi]

Damn, she got everyone! This isn't good.



: "If you want Lady Serenity and the other four Senshi back... Come to Juuban Junior High School. We'll be waiting, Sailor Moon."

That's pretty cold-blooded, Sin. But you might regret this in the future...



"Everyone... Chibi-Usa..."

: "Sailor Moon, that's definitely a trap."

Luna speaking the most sense.

: "But they've got everyone. Are we just going to abandon them?"

: "I didn't say that. We should just check out our enemy a little more."

: "I agree with Luna."



"It's too dangerous to accept their invitation."

I mean, I'm kinda cheating by having a guide, but...

She is absolutely correct. We're basically rushing off to enemy territory with only a bare idea of what we're getting into, so this level of caution is necessary.

: "No, I don't think so. If there' s a trap, we can just destroy it as we go in, right?"

: "Uranus, but..."

Haruka, I know you're reckless and the strongest soldier yet, but that's practically suicidal. 

: "I'm going to go help Chibi-Usa."

: "Sailor Saturn..."

Pretty sure Saturn can tank everything they throw at us, so no worries honestly.

: "... Even when saving the world, I can't just abandon my friends. A universe without the other Senshi... I won't accept it!"

Usagi is a great friend, even if her judgement isn't always right. 

: "Sailor Moon..."

: "What'll you do, Neptune?"

: "... Not my loss."

That's ice cold, son.

: "Hmph... Okay, we've decided. Well, let's go to Juuban Junior High!"

Excellent.



We're gonna mess them up, dudes.



Next time on Sailor Moon: Another Story, we're going to brave the school and rescue our friends and I'm not gonna let any two-bit demon get in our way.

See you then. 



--------------------------------------------------------------
Team Set-Up:

 (Sailor Moon, level 7, , Inner Senshi) - "Rainbow Moon Heartache is far stronger than I remembered, wow..."
 (Sailor Uranus, level 5, , Outer Senshi) - "I don't think there's anything in there that'll give us any real trouble, honestly."
 (Sailor Neptune, level 5, , Outer Senshi) - "True, but it's better to have some form of caution at least."

 (Sailor Saturn, level 5, , Outer Senshi) - "Ugh... I haven't really fought as a Senshi until now. This'll take a bit to get used to."

-

~Fun Sailor Moon Fact~:

Moon Spiral Heart Attack is the most commonly deflected attack in the entire show. It was blown away by flamethrowers twice, shot down by a Daimon called U-Estern and straight up palm-blocked by a villain called Hawk's Eye in Season 4.

So, last time on Sailor Moon: Another Story, the bad guys were revealed to have kidnapped our friends and now we're going to do something about that.



: "They're wandering around inside our illusions, as usual. Only... Lady Serenity continues to be protected by the Silver Crystal."

: "While 'Lady' is in our hands, she can't be touched by a single finger. We just need to be patient a litlte longer."

[The screen scrolls over to Chibiusa on the ground]



That's a good view of the city, but god damn how tall is this school?

(Yes, I will comment on that instead of Usagi's future daughter being in mortal peril.)



This is normally supposed to be Usagi's school, but the evil knockoff squad took it over. It is also massive, standing at four stories tall for some reason.



[Moon starts snickering]

: "Oh no, I can already tell what you're going to do."



: "You can't stop me, Luna!"

: "Usagi, stop messing around and save your friends!!"

Teehee.



: "That's... Sailor Mercury's voice!"

Yeah, they will block you from proceeding if you haven't saved your friends, so we should get on that.



"I'll help you recover!!"

Okay, I could give him some leeway with him being in the middle of the street, but why is this guy inside of Usagi's high school?

Like come on, you're making it too easy for me.



"Do not intrude."

When the reaper says this, you know something's wrong.



"Thanks to your help, Dr. Mizuno, this child is healthy again."

: "No, it was nothing at all."

So yeah, I think I've said this before but Ami wants to become a doctor when she grows up. I would normally wonder why she has her schoolgirl portrait here, but she is just dreaming.



The "telephone" behind her makes an ear-ripping noise and it turns out it's her husband calling her for their anniversary. This would be so sweet if it weren't for the fact she's getting the life sucked out of her by a Youma.



Of course dummy, what did you expect?



Name: Muhreed
HP: 180
Attack: 20
Defense: 12
Speed: 32
EXP: 5
Yen: 500
Item Drop: App. Medicine (Cures status)
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Murido (Dream Princess / True form)
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon Classic (Season 1, episode 11)

Murido is one of the most terrifying early monsters on the show, mostly because she's the only one that could hold up a reasonable facade for an extended period of time.

She disguised herself as the mascot of a theme park attraction - the Dream Princess, and not gonna lie... it works really well. She's so cute and well-designed as the Dream Princess that when it's time to reveal the actual Youma behind it, it's done through this absolutely pants-shitting scene.

Like straight up, what the fuck.

(Also, today's chapter is even named after the episode Murido appears in)



Murido spits out toxic mist that hits the entire party for the "Numb" status effect - poison, effectively. It has a really low success rate, so there's not much to worry about, though.



Moon Spiral Heart Attack rips her apart, like it should. Sailor Moon from season 3 onward should be downright terrifying to the Dark Kingdom and Black Moon Clan, especially seeing as it takes one entire Rainbow Moon Heartache just to kill the stronger Daimons from the latter half of Super.

Oh don't mind me, I'm just nerding the hell out.



So to end it off in classic fashion, we nuke her with Moon Tiara Action.



The reward isn't that impressive (and Saturn got poisoned), but whatever.



"That dream is the Destiny that you truly desire. A... ahh...."

I mean, yeah, but I think she'd want to achieve it in a way that doesn't involve dying.



: "I... I'm alright. Go help everyone else first. I'll go and help them later."

And just like that, we saved Mercury! Hooray. 

But wait, there's still one thing I have to show off...



Link Techs!

It only took until chapter 3, but I can finally talk about it at least. 

See, Link Techs are special dual-triple techs between Senshi that range from negligible to great. (The Chrono Trigger parallels become even more obvious in hindsight. )



Some of them have really cool-sounding names like this. There's a guide on which combinations have link techs, but it's pretty obvious who goes where.

Moon can collaborate with anybody due to being the main character.



If you get a combination that doesn't have a tech, you get this instead. As a side note, I like the little sprites they have for all of the senshi.



Sometimes the techs are just combinations of normal attacks with the animations slightly changed. There's a good thing and a bad thing about this:

* The good - You can use the attack with both/all three members who know it in the same turn, so if it's really damaging it could be devastating.

* The bad - it takes MP from everyone in the tech every time. Combine this with the maximum of 12 MP, and you'll run out fast across multiple Senshi if you're not careful. Also, link techs aren't usually stronger than the sum of their parts, so using single techs would be better most of the time.



Really, the greatest utility of Link Techs are the non-standard ones like this one. Healing Shower, despite the name, raises attack for everyone in the party. It is as busted as it sounds, especially since the conventional attack-boosting item only applies to one person.

They might even stack, but I'm not quite sure.







That sounds like the ultimate triple attack, but... it's just a healing move. A bit lame.

Oh yes, the last important thing about Link Techs is that once you've assigned them, you know them permanently regardless if said team members are actually in your party. That's hella neat and I wish more games had this kind of dynamic, but alas that'd require a lot of effort that most people won't want to go through.




The fact the monster gives us a choice is hilarious in of itself... but if you actually choose no, they're just like "naw m8 what you really want is to beat me up, come on."

You know, kind of like this.



Instead if you choose yes, you get this far less interesting generic bad guy taunt.



Sailor Moon + Neptune: Spiral Reflection

This did quite a bit, although that's mostly because Moon in the center is pulling it off first. If Neptune did it, it'd do far less.



Here's Deep Shaking... yeah, it just takes the animation for Space Sword Blaster and mixes it with Deep Submerge. Not too cool visually but come on, they had to do this.



[Screen pixellates out]



"You're my only true love. You love me, don't you? You've always loved me, Chiba Mamoru. Now, don't say anything... We'll be together forever..."

Yes, this is how human speak. Beep boop.

: "Mamoru-sama... I'm so happy... I'm not dreaming, am I?"

Oh yeah, one of the things that got Usagi at Rei's neck for a while is the fact she tried to go after the same man... oops.



"REI-CHAN!!"

[Fade back into reality]



"Mamoru-sama..."

: "Mamoru-sama!?"

Oooh boy, we might have a catfight on our hands for this one.



: "What... did you just say Mamoru-sama's name? What the heck were you dreaming about?"

: "AH!!!"

[Rei falls to the ground, pretending she fainted]



Woman, you ain't slick.



"This girl's dreams are coming true."



: "?"

Monster: "Dating with that boy you like..."

[Luna motions Moon to walk over to the unconscious Jupiter]

Oh boy, do they really not notice what we're doing?



Oh my god, we're literally dragging Jupiter away while the monster's back is turned.

Monster: "Becoming an idol singer... you want to become... prettier..."



"Whoops! While I was busy investigating..."

[The monster charges at Moon and pals offscreen]

What a silly-ass game.



Name: Jarcock
HP: 200
Attack: 22
Defense: 9
Speed: 20
EXP: 5
Yen: 100
Item Drop: Toilette (Fully restores every member's HP/MP)
Monster Type: Droid
Based off of: Jakoku
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R (Season 2, episode 29)

J... JAR-COCK. Did they really think that was a suitable name to use? God damn it.

This is supposed to be Jakoku, a Droid that was personally employed by the leader of the Black Moon Clan to invade Chibi-Usa's dreams. He's Freddy Krueger in the form of the Grim Reaper and that's just... damn, that's metal.

His (actual) name translates to Evil Black just in case you thought he needed to be a bit more subtle. That aside, I don't know why every monster you see on the overworld looks like him.

In fact, this might be the only time where we legitimately fight him and not a monster just using his sprite.



Jakoku knows Sonic Wave, an attack that's supposed to put you to sleep but has a horrendous success rate like Toxic Mist... and it doesn't even hit everyone. Yeah, for being a Droid, Jakoku's already been upstaged by his Youma counterpart. That's pretty sad.

I do love the little detail of how the two dream-based monsters are the ones they're using to subjugate the Inners with illusions.



He goes down easy, and I'm left with the mental image of what World Shaking or Deep Submerge would do to anything pre-Super seeing as they were able to one-shot the first Daimon that showed up onscreen.



"I'm so quick to start a fight. But with no other tall guys like me around... There probably isn't anybody else for you, so...



"Th... then... Then we're...?"

Guy: "Yeah, well then... Could you bring along one of your home-made bentou lunches tomorrow?"

: "Sure!

After beating Not-Freddy, we get to peek into Mako's dreams and... well, she just wants to be with her senpai boyfriend. Awww.



"You came to help me... I'll be alright in a while, go help everyone else first."

Why would I not help Best Girl?



: "Ohhh..."

Monster: "This child is going to live in a dream world forever... Let her be..."



I actually thought that other girl was Ami for a second, but not quite.

Hikaru: "What is is, Minako? Who're you chasing after this time?"

I like how, even in her dreams, people are like "ok dude who is it this time"

: "No, no, this time it's true love!"

Hikaru: "Really? Who's it with?"



The only result that came up for Minami on the Sailor Moon wiki wasn't an actual character, but instead a voice actress for one of the Daimons. (Omi Minami)

That's, uh.... one hella crack pairing.

: "I'm gonna give him a love letter today!"

Hikaru: "Cool! You're really going to give him the letter?"

: "I'm really going to give him a letter this time... I've tried before, but something always stops me."



: "Cool! Sailor Moon-chan's made it all the way to a game."

That is some meta shit.

Hikaru: "I've heard a rumor that Sailor Moon's a secret detective for the police."

It's funny she brings that up because that's exactly what Minako was when she was Sailor V, more or less.

: "That's so cool... I wanna become like Sailor Moon too..."

Damn, and I thought Jupiter's was the most humble. Minako has some issues and god I just want to give her a hug.



It's just another Jakoku. Skipping fight because you already know how it's going to end.



"You sure are cool, Sailor Moon."

: "Venus..."

: "Chibi-Usa's being held on the roof. Go and help her quickly, she must be waiting for you."

Nice, all we gotta do is not mess up.



"You have to go get Chibi-Usa-chan."

Alright. I kinda feel naked without my cat following me, but I'll live.



: "Sin! So Chibi-Usa is safe, for now..."

: "Don't worry."

[Not-Mars teleports in]

: "This child is dreaming. And she has realized what's happening to her. She shall have a good Destiny and so shall you annoying brats!"

: "If you want to help this child, hand over the Silver Crystal. This child for it!"



"Don't give the Silver Crystal to them!"


(Prepare yourself for this one, my dudes.)

[The other Opposito teleport in]

: "We shall make her dream until we get what we want."

: "And she'll die if she keeps dreaming. Her happiness is only in her imagination."

Pretty tense. Just what's our answer to this?

: "Sailor Moon... the enemy's trying to scare you into giving them the Silver Crystal."

: "Yeah. So do't let them trick you."

Reasonable arguments, but given how this is a hostage situation and Usagi is Usagi...



: "It's true, Sailor Moon. Don't let them trick you."

: "I know... Sin. I'll give you the Silver Crystal."

Are you fucking kidding me.

: "Huh...!"

: "WHAT!!!"

Neptune's reaction is the one that slays me the most because they literally just told Moon to not do this, yet she decides to do it anyway because she's one giant martyr.

: "Stop! Sailor Moon!"

[Moon walks out in front]

: "I'll give you the Silver Crystal, but you must give back Chibi-Usa!"



: "I have to help Chibi-Usa."

: "Good. That's the right solution to this problem. Now, she shall wake up."



[Chibi-Usa flies in a slow arc towards Moon]

That's just silly-looking, especially with her pink marshmallow hair. But yeah... Sin, you kinda fucked up? You just gave them back the hostage and she didn't give you the Silver Crystal yet.

At this point Moon and pals should be like "nah m8" and run away without having to give away the Crystal, but you know... our protagonist is kind of a ditz.

: "Come now! Hand over the Silver Crystal!"

[A rose flies in from above and pierces the ground]



: "Who... who are you?!"

[Current OST: Tuxedo Mask Appears]

: "It's wrong to play around with young girls' dreams like that. You have such a cold heart. Apologize!"

Damn, just like the show again. Another Story really does hit all the marks of a good licensed game... I just wish the plot was a little better written and at least an explanation about how the formation system works aside from a static screen.



: "Don't give the enemy the Silver Crystal."

: "B... but, Chibi-Usa..."

Who is right behind you, you freaking idiot.

: "She's fine. She's being protected by the Silver Crystal's power. Soon, she shall awaken from her sleep on her own."

[Tuxedo Mask turns to face the Opposito]

: "Why do you want the Silver Crystal?"

I'm already getting sick of saying that word and I'm not even playing a drinking game! I swear it and destiny are in every other sentence!



: "Changing the fate of the world?"

Moon more or less repeats the same thing, with Sin changing world with planet a sentence afterward. I don't think even thrilling commentary would make this less of a drag, so I'll start skipping when it gets especially monotonous.

: "We want to control the future!"

: "You want to control the future...? Control... future..."

: "They're manipulating you! They're trying to make us imagine things."



Oh wow, this must be how they managed to hypnotize the other senshi. I think this also answers my question as to how they got the monsters on their side because you have at least three completely different factions serving the Opposito forces.



"Come home early today, won't you? Today's Chibi-Usa's... "

: "I know. Chibi-Usa's birthday, right? I came home late last time, but I won't this time. Well, I'm off!"

So Usagi's dream is being married to Mamoru and having Chibi-Usa as a daughter? That sounds about right.

: "Darling! "

: "Now, what aren't you meant to forget?"

: "Huh? Oh... oh yeah... I always forget this."



Kissing your wife is something you forget? Ooof, that's rough.

But yeah, again, if this was actually happening it'd be super cute.



[Chibi-Usa wakes up]

: "Ohhhhhh...."

[She sees the hypnotized Moon and Tuxedo Mask]

: "No! You tricked those two!"

: "Wake up, Sailor Moon! Tuxedo Mask! Everyone needs you!"

What the hell are Saturn and the rest doing in the back? They should be... I don't know, fighting off the Opposito who are right there?



[Current OST: Let's Go]

[The Opposito Senshi jump back a bit]



: "Die bastards!"

: "Die!"

: "Die now!"

: "Please die now. "

Yes, repeat the same thing. Like we need this to be more corny.

[Tuxedo Mask snaps out of his trance and jumps behind Chibi-Usa]



: "Gwaaaa!"

[He falls to his knees]

Oh damn, they used Black Luminaire! You know they mean business then.

: "Tuxedo Mask, are you okay?!

[Saturn runs out in front]

: "Hey..."

: "Big mistake!"

[Sin zaps Saturn with a thin beam of dark energy]



: "KYAAA!!"

[The Opposito disappear]

... Wait, what? Why did they leave?! They just took out two of our major members in less than a minute and their powers combined must have been strong enough to total our team... yet they run away?

I guess it's because we have the Silver Crystal, but come on.



After that debacle, we teleport back to Mamoru's house where we have to nurse him back to health.

"It was my fault..."

: "Usagi's not to blame. It was my... It was my..."

It kinda is Usagi's fault a little bit due to how she had already gotten Chibi-Usa back, but everything from the hypnosis scene onward can't really be blamed on either girl to be frank.

[Haruka and Michiru walk in]

: "Hey, let him get some rest. Two of our friends almost died."

: "But..."

: "Don't apologize. It's not what happened then, it's what happening now."

I like Michiru and the Outers a lot.




"Haruka, what do you think?"

: "It's hopeless! It's hopeless to continue! We're failures at protecting the King."

: "So you thought so too..."

I would normally feel bad for you two, but you did just stand there and do nothing. Just saying.



I'll summarize some of these last bits because they go on for quite a bit. Hotaru's been put back in the hospital, so all of our worries towards her being injured in the last chapter were justified. 

Next, Makoto feels guilty for falling into the trap, but Mina's just like "what could we have possibly done to prevent it?"... she's right, though? If they're able to hypnotize you without even trying, then I don't think any amount of Crescent Beams could have stopped it.



[Current OST: Four Heartful Kings]

(I like this song. It might even take some riffs from the Black Moon Theme)

: "Guardian Soldiers of King Endymion. We are now protecting him."

: "But aren't you Queen Beryl's...?!"

[Kunzite is replaced by the image of a man with long brown hair]

: "Yes, we did serve as Generals under Queen Beryl for a while. However, we were originally followers of the Prince of Earth, Endymion. And now we have returned to serve our former master once again."

This is Nephrite, the second of the Four Heavenly Kings. He was arguably the most developed in the anime because not only does he try to defect, he legitimately falls in love with Naru (I think? It's been a while since I saw Sailor Moon Classic) and tries to save her from three of Zoisite's Youma, the Plant Sisters... only to be gutted on screen complete with a spray of green blood.

If it was red blood, the anime would not be suitable for kids because Jesus Christ.



"Perhaps, Mamoru-san..."

[Nephrite is replaced by the image of an effeminate young man with blonde hair tied into a ponytail]

: "Heh heh. The reason for Master Endymion's inactivity is negative energy."

Speaking of Zoisite, here he is. He's the third King shown and he's had the most interesting conversion from Japanese to English.

They made him a woman when they ported the series over to America because not only did he look feminine, he had a gay relationship with Kunzite up there. Cause you know, the chilluns couldn't handle it.

He also disguised himself as an evil purple Sailor Moon at one point, by the way?

: "Well, what are you guys doing here?"

[Zoisite shifts to a man with short blond hair]

: "You see, Master's condition right now is quite abnormal. Perhaps the enemy is in possession of Negative Energy. Perhaps in large quantities."

This is the OG villain of Sailor Moon, Jadeite. He's the first Heavenly King encountered and arguably the most iconic villain considering how early you see him.

I find the bit where he mentions negative energy really amusing considering Jadeite's missions for his run in the series were all about gathering energy from people for Queen Beryl, more or less.

He was also kind of sexist, but only to the Sailor Senshi because he doesn't do it with Beryl for some reason. Something something about how he thought the Dark Kingdom was superior.

His ultimate fate was to get trapped in a glass coffin by Beryl herself after he lost one of her high-ranking Youma in a fight against Sailor Moon. Whoops.



Long story short, the Heavenly Kings have a plan. In order to restore Mamoru back to his old self, they need stones made of pure light and pure darkness so they can mix them together for a cure(?).

The stones belonged to the Kings and are hidden all around the world and they tell us where they are: Jadeite's is in Nepal, Nephrite's in Canada (oh boy), Zoisite's in Switzerland and Kunzite's is in Turkey.

When we have all of the stones, they mention that they'll be waiting with the Barazuishou... aka. the Rose Crystal. Yeah, Mamoru has a special fancy rock too.



The Kings disappear and give us the dark parts of the stones, leaving the Senshi to look for their light counterparts all over the world.

Mina says the hunt for the stones is a job for the Inners, so Haruka and Michiru can't come. Damn it, but alright.



Ami goes to Switzerland, Rei to Nepal, Mako to Canada (because along with being the thunder lady, she's also nature at the same time) and lastly, Minako to Turkey.

Where does that leave Usagi, though?



They motion that she stays behind in Japan to nurse Mamoru back to health. This seems about right - we need someone to take care of the home front while everyone else is away.



I like Mina's comment the most:

: "Usagi-chan's power of love will revive him!"

Then Rei motions that when they all come back, they can have some crepes together.



"Soon, I shall bring back the Rose Crystal..."

I love the devotion, but Chibi-Usa's just gonna go get in trouble. Can someone please keep an eye on her?



Oh hey, that's the end of Chapter 1! Luna will pop up on screen every time just so we can save, so that's nice at least.



Next time on Sailor Moon: Another Story, we'll be going to Switzerland. See you then!



--------------------------------------------------------------
Team Set-Up:

(Sailor Mercury, level 6, , Inner Senshi) - "Brrr. I can't imagine what being here would be like if I didn't have my ice powers."

-

~Fun Sailor Moon Fact~:

There's currently over 200 episodes of the 90s anime, including Season 4 and 5 which are not covered in Another Story.

Season 4's villains were the Dead Moon Circus, a kingdom of living corpses that were originally normal people until their queen, Nehellenia, ate their Dream Mirrors to stay eternally young and beautiful. This transformed her servants into Lemures/Remless, who are some of arguably my favorite monster designs in the series.

The Dead Moon Circus was sealed away by White Moon Kingdom / Princess Serenity while the Silver Millennium was still around, with the Dead Moon trapped inside of an eclipse.

[Current OST: Switzerland]

"Zoicite's Hi Stone is dormant somewhere under all this snow..."

Last time on Sailor Moon Another Story, all the Inner Senshi split up to look for the Light halves of the Four Heavenly King stones. Why? Something something Rose Crystal to heal Mamoru's injuries after he got trashed by the Opposito Senshi.



Today we're dealing with Mercury in Switzerland and I gotta say, the background looks hella pretty.



"Youma? How... How can I possibly fight off so many Youma? I can't do it all by myself!"

Normally I would just try to power through all of them, but Mercury is not an attacker so... yeah, we're kinda hosed right here?

[Mercury backs up but goes one step too far and falls off the cliff]





The brains of the team, everyone. All that test cramming sure went to good use, huh?

[Thud SFX, complete with the "Mercury damaged" voice clip]

You know, if Ami wasn't in her Sailor Mercury form right now, she'd be dead. A fall that high onto solid, icy dirt? Ooof.



"What's a girl doing here!?"



"I have to get her some medical help quick!"

I just like that sprite for some reason... But yeah, a girl in a sailor suit falls from the sky into your isolated village. Now that would be a good conversation starter.



"Where am I?"

[The guy who rescued her shows up]

???: "You were exhausted. You fell down here, underneath the glacier."

: "... Who are you?"

???: "I'm Hans. Who are you?"

Ah yes. He doesn't have a portrait yet he's still a significant character... for this part only, at least.

Still, I'm astonished Hans was able to cure sheer blunt force trauma via medicine. RPG mechanics come to the rescue!



"Thanks for helping me. Where am I?"

Hans: "Kainess Village. This village lies underneath the glacier."

: "Underneath... the glacier?"

Hans: "For 200 years, this village has been beneath the glacier. You're the first person to come here in years."

Okay, hold up. So, Kainess is a village situated underneath a glacier. Alright, whatever, they carved out an entire cave system and decided to build houses in there... but you're really telling me Ami is one of the only new visitors they've gotten over the span of 200 years?!

Jesus christ, that's a little much.

Hans: "Please, don't strain yourself."



"Well, I have been enough trouble. I really shouldn't impose on you anymore."


[Hans walks off]


Alright, no fuss, I guess. Just walk it off.



How about her stats now that she has a chapter all to herself?

(Sailor Mercury) -
* HP: *** (Bad)
* Attack: *** (Bad)
* Defense: ********* (Excellent)
* Speed: ******* (Good)
* Evade: ******* (Good)
* Moveset:
 - Shabon Spray (2 MP - weak one-enemy attack that lowers enemy attack)
 - Shabon Spray Freezing (3 MP - weak one-enemy attack)
 - Shine Aqua Illusion (4 MP - strong attack)
 - Mercury Aqua Mirage (4 MP - strong attack that hits all enemies)
* Preferred Gemstone/Equipment: Sapphire

Mercury is the tank of the Inner Senshi in that she can take a lot of punishment, even in spite of her limited HP growth. Her most important feature is actually not her defensive capabilities, but instead Shabon (Bubble) Spray. See, what it does is that it lowers enemy attack every time it's used.

This matters quite a bit in battles that would otherwise be devastating to even a full team - I'd argue as far to say it breaks the game! Fuckin' bubbles, man.

... I would forgive you for not knowing this, though, because they never even drop a hint for it.



Hmm. Looks like the person he's tending to has far bigger problems than us, but nothing we can do right now.



Dude has a nice house. Also, fire in this game is not actually animated - it's more or less a glowing tile with the illusion of movement.



[The stone glitters in Mercury's hands]

"Zoicite's Kage stone is glimmering... So the Hi Stone must be around here somewhere. Zoicite's cave should be somewhere near this village."

Side-note, I do like the theme/look for this chapter even if it's my least favorite of all the "Stone Hunt" mission locations.



Much like traditional RPG fare, you can rest in an Inn for a convenient price. Weird that a place outside of Japan will accept Yen, but let's just let that slide from now on...



[Current OST: Inn]

Interesting how the Inn ditty turns into a completely different song, almost as if it's going to be re-used later on.



"I wanna see what's outside too..."

So are these people a gated community? Are they physically unable to leave? I have a lot of questions, but I don't think it'd be quite wise to answer them considering that's not the point of why we're here.



This made me giggle though. Yeah, it's cool because we're a JRPG protagonist you see? We can break into people's houses, rob them and nobody would care.



Alright, this guy is pretty neat for an NPC. He's effectively a guide for this entire chapter - you can ask him what to do next if you ever get confused... a welcome addition, really.



Here's another note for the "brothers are important" subtext for the entire adventure.



There's also a shop here in case you need stuff. I strongly urge you to buy some chocolate, Ice Shards (they give you 4 MP), Schwartz Medicine and accessories for the road later on.

The instant you get to walk outside of the village, you'll get bombarded with monsters that will all murder you without proper planning. You'll see what I mean...



Hans will stop you from leaving due to the monsters... at first, anyway. Let's go see what he wants.



Hans's Mother: "Thank you Hans. [Cough, cough] You're always looking after me..."

Ah, so that woman on the bed is his sick mother. No wonder he's so concerned.



For a one-off character we'll never see again after this chapter, Hans has quite the expressive sprites. Like I don't think we get to see this "hands on hip" sprite past this scene.



"Someone must go to Andeng village. I need someone to get the doctor. For mother..."

[His mother coughs some more]

Hans: "Mother, hang in there..."

: "Wait... I wonder..."

[Mercury walks past Hans and checks the mother's forehead]

: "She really has a high fever! This fever medicine should work... Ah, there we go!"

Mercury to the rescue. That's my girl.

: "Hey, please drink this. It will lower the fever."



: "Huh? It's only some fever medicine..."

Hans: "Don't!!"

What the hell? Why not?

[He drags Mercury back]

: "Huh? Why?"

Hans: "We need Dr. Schwartz for this. No other medicines will work. He has to make a special medicine. It's the only way."

: "But this is Dr. Schwartz's medicine. I bought it in town. It should do the job."

Hans: "It's hopeless, we already tried!"

Oh jeez, the whole "this character has a non-specific super illness that can't be cured by normal items" debacle. Alright Hans, lay it on me.

[Mercury bows her head down]

: "... I see."

Hans: "... Forgive me. I really should be thanking you for your kindness."

At least he knows to thank us for showing a little bit of human decency, even if we don't have quite what he needs.

: "Well then... Could you please tell me where Andeng Village is?"

Hans: "Andeng Village is east of here..."



: "Yes. I am in your debt."

Hell yeah, boy.

Hans: "Take care outside of town. There are a lot of monsters. It's very dangerous..."

: "I'll be fine. Trust me. "

Hans: "I beg you, just be careful."

This is cute and all, but I really should stress that you don't discredit Hans's advice about the monsters because... well...



Name: WSenicienter
HP: 25
Attack: 24
Defense: 10
Speed: 28
EXP: 9
Yen: 200
Item Drop: Life Water (Revives and cures 200 HP)
Monster Type: Daimon
Based off of: Cenicienta
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon S (Season 3, episode 12)

That horribly mangled name aside, White Cenicienta is one of the new enemies here that might give you some trouble. She may be a palette swap, but...



whoaaa there

"I'll be fine" she says as she gets ripped apart by the first few monsters she meets.

Too much damage just for one enemy. It was because of this that I actually died on the first (offscreen) battle before this, so I swapped Mercury from the center row to the back just to guarantee her some survivability.

See, you have to be mindful about what you equip on your Senshi of choice and what position they're in from this point on because it matters. It matters a lot.



Center row does almost five times Palette Swap's health, but it's still too dangerous to stay like this.



(Keep in mind this is not the same enemy, I'm actually experimenting with different fights here)

Front row doesn't do as much damage, but it does allow Mercury to live a little longer and lets her deal a moderate amount of damage.

This attack is Shine Aqua Illusion, her attack for the majority of Season 2 (R). This is what it looks like in the anime.



Name: Breezer
HP: 20
Attack: 22
Defense: 11
Speed: 25
EXP: 8
Yen: 50
Item Drop: Life Water (Revives and cures 200 HP)
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Blizzar
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon Classic (Season 1, episode 38)

Oh my god... It's the dumbest Youma they ever designed in the show. Like what do you say to Mc. Snowman Tits here? To top it off, she has a snowman face on her crotch.

Like legit, there may be some villains later on that look ridiculous but it was around Blizzar that they started to get... noticeable. I do like how they chose her for the ice area, but maybe they could have picked someone else for that?

Droid Nipasu is one they could have used and she's a cutie.



This brutal-looking attack is Mercury Aqua Mirage, her only multi-hit spell for only 4 MP. Not only is it very useful, it's actually a reference to one of her strongest moves yet.

Aqua Mirage was first used in the manga against one of the Death Busters, but its most famous use was actually in a anime special called Ami's First Love. Basically, a specter called Bonnon latches onto Ami's body and makes her sick, forcing her to hallucinate that someone called Mercurius (someone that scored perfectly on some exams) is trying to sabotage her.

Unfortunately for Bonnon, Ami transforms into Sailor Mercury (under the impression that Bonnon is Mercurius when they're not) and unleashes this super-powerful move that she only uses once in the entire show, instantly killing Bonnon.

This is what Mercury Aqua Mirage looks like in the anime and boy howdy is it one of the most impressively animated attacks in the entire series.

It was actually so good that they re-traced the entire animation for Crystal.



[Current OST: Cave]

The cave music is nice, but I wish I could enjoy it a bit more without all these random battles.

You get here by going up and to the left. Going to the right takes you to Andeng Village, but that's not where the doctor is, so... yeah, we're going the long way.



Oooh, nice!

Remember how I mentioned the different Senshi have special gemstones? Mercury's is Sapphire, and they give her greater boosts than run-of-the-mill equipment.

Sure it drops her attack by four, but it increases everything else, including even her health. 



Name: Darkened
HP: 60
Attack: 40
Defense: 13
Speed: 35
EXP: 18
Yen: 80
Item Drop: Pork Chop (Removes "accident" status effect)
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Shakoukai
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon Classic (Season 1, episode 37)

Well... that's an interesting choice for the ice cave. Darkened, or Social Circle (aka. what her real name means) is a Youma from around the end of Season 1. She was originally an English aristocrat called Countess Rose but got turned into a Youma by Kunzite to find out Sailor Moon's real identity.

In a sharp contrast to Blizzar, I actually really like Social Circle's design with all the clams. She's like a high class clam mermaid.



That's nice and all, but her most dangerous aspect in not only the show but also in the game is her ability to trap people in this sticky green goo. In the game it's called Barrier(?) and if it hits you, you're stuck with the Accident status effect.

That sounds hilarious given the context, but it's actually Petrification. It's effectively the same thing as death, so you get a game over if it hits everyone in your party... given how it's just Mercury right now, that's a real dick move.

Doesn't help that they're uber beefy compared to most monsters we've encountered so far, with a staggering attack stat of 40. Like even with the defense boost Mercury just got with the Sapphire Earrings, they were still pounding her for 20-30 damage each.



Thankfully, Barrier rarely hits and the Social Circle gets disbanded by Aqua Mirage.

Pork Chops cure accidents (somehow? Do they whack the goo away with it?), so at least when we have a full team this won't be a problem later on.



Name: U-Choden
HP: 45
Attack: 43
Defense: 15
Speed: 44
EXP: 20
Yen: 300
Item Drop: Alarm Clock (Wakes up character from sleep status effect)
Monster Type: Daimon
Based off of: U-Chouten
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon Super (Season 3, episode 30)

Whoah, look at them big ol'... stars. In all seriousness, U-Chouten has to be the skimpiest villain they've ever put into the show. She only has like two star stickers covering her breasts for corn's sake. 

It was actually so much for the American side of things that they had to draw in a bra for her, so whoof. That said, damn she has like the cutest face out all the Daimons.

In Another Story, she's even stronger than Social Circle but only inflicts Sleep via Sound Wave. Since that move has a similarly low success rate, they're not too much trouble.



Wow, they sure give a lot of EXP. I guess since we're going to be here for a while, this is good. 

The best part is that button inputs you make are remembered through fights. Like let's say I ended a fight with Aqua Mirage. 

It will stay on Aqua Mirage the next time we get into a random fight and your MP is back to full after you run/win. If you really wanted, you could spam the turbo button on fights you already know you've won and speed through the dungeon.

I recommend this because, again, there's no Repels to stop the monsters from appearing... might as well get some use out of these.



Towards the end of this cave, we finally meet the good doctor himself. Only one problem, though...



[The doctor paces around the room, looks at Mercury for a solid few seconds and turns away]

He doesn't seem notice that we're here, oops.



Doctor Schwartz: "Huh?"

It takes Mercury being assertive to finally get his attention, hah.

: "Would you happen to be Dr. Schwartz?"

Doctor Schwartz: "Mmmm... yes, I'm Schwartz. You... how'd you get here? There are so many monsters around here. Huh...?"

[A heart balloon pops over his head. The doctor runs in front of Mercury]

Oh hell no.



[Current OST: File Select]

Oh no, we're really doing this.

Doctor Schwartz: "My dear, may I ask you how old you are?"

[Mercury backs up a step]

: "Huh?? I'm... er... 15."

Doctor Schwartz: "Excellent! I'm going to be 60 this year."

Sssstop right there.

Doctor Schwartz: "When's your birthday?"

: "Wha...? September 10th."

Doctor Schwartz: "So then, my pretty..."





What the fuck, I'm dying.

Kick him in the nads, do something. This is too much for me.

[Mercury hits her back against the wall]

Doctor Schwartz: "Do you have a boyfriend??"

: "Yes, I'm going out with Urawa-ku..."

[Mercury gets pissed]

Blast him with Shine Aqua Illusion. Do it.



Doctor Schwartz: "Oh... Ohh. I'm sorry."

[The doctor backs up]

Doctor Schwartz: "I tend to go a little crazy over cute girls like yourself."

: "What the... what a pervert!"

No kidding. Like I get it, he lives alone in an ice cave surrounded by monsters but that's definitely no excuse to act like an ephebophile... in fact, it's worse in his case because he's old enough to be her grandfather. 

Like Jesus Christ.

Doctor Schwartz: "Hmmm? What did you say? (oh no!)"

Freeze him already.

: "N... nothing."

Doctor Schwartz: "What did you want to tell me?"

: "It's about Hans's mother, from Kainess Village. She's very ill..."

Oh right, we came here to save the mom, not murder a man in literal cold blood.

Doctor Schwartz: "So you want me to visit him, right? But the problem is... There are so many monsters outside of this cave."

: "Well, I can go outside... Hey, doctor! You can come with me! We'll go to Kainess together."



[Another heart balloon pops over Schwartz's head]

"I'm going on a date with this cute girl... It's been such a long time. "



I'm watching you, boy.



With all that awfulness out of the way, we get another piece of Sapphire equipment.



Shabon Spray going to work. Keep in mind, this is the same enemy that was hitting me for around 30 before, yet now they don't even get past the double digits.

Good shit.

People underestimate Mercury, but she's a Sailor Soldier for a reason.



We make our way towards the neighboring town to rest a bit and to restock our supplies. There's nothing actually important here barring one thing.



A puzzle piece. Yes, you not only get them from battles but also from obscure, seemingly random pots on the overworld. You just have to scramble your way through them and hope they're the right one... also, get these while you can because they're unobtainable later on.

It's not too big of a deal if they randomly appear through battles, but at the same time don't have permanently missable stuff in your long-ass roleplaying game, please?



... I would hope a girl with blue hair in a decorated sailor suit running around in this arctic weather looks a tad off to the local people.

I know it's a fantasy story and Mercury has magic to stop from turning into a human popsicle, but it's that extra touch, you know?



... This is supposed to be the mom of this household, so this just reminds me of one particular exchange from Ed, Edd n' Eddy.

The point of this house is to talk about accessories being your equipment, but they do it in such a weird way.



"Let's be off then, Dr. Schwartz. She's over here."

[Everyone walks over to the ill mother]



"Mm mm mm!! I know now!! She needs some Halyomoss urgently!"

Hans: "Huh!? Is that some kind of mochi rice cake?"

How does Hans, a resident of Switzerland, know what a mochi rice cake is? Friggin' Japan has its tendrils everywhere in the Sailor Moon universe.

Dr. Schwartz: "The Halyomoss is the only cure to this very rare disease. I don't have any of it on me right now."

Halyomoss is something they made up just for the game, by the way, because the only search results I got lead me straight back to Another Story.



Dr. Schwartz: "There's a small cave behind my lab."

Hans: "Ok then, I'll just go and get some!"

: "It's too dangeous for someone like you, I'll go and get it."

Reasonable argument.

Hans: "No. It's even more dangerous for a girl like you. You can't go."

What the shit, Hans? Where did this sudden sexism come from? He was cool with us going before, knowing that we were going to wade through the same cave full of monsters yet now he's not?

I don't understand the reluctance because Mercury is arguably 100x stronger than him.

: "... I see. Well then, let's go together."

I love this woman.



And then he's suddenly cool with going again? Hans, sit down and take a break. You're clearly not alright.

Hans: "Dr. Schwartz, we're going to get some Halyomoss."

Dr. Schwartz: "Alright Hans, I'll take care of your mother."

Hans: "I'm in your debt. Thank you very much!! Let's go, Mercury!"

Nice. Now let's just cut through a million encounters and...



We're there! For you guys it was one image to another, for me it was an unholy slog through a long passage filled with random encounters. A little gratitude would be nice.



In his attempt to reach the green blob thing I mean, the Halyomoss, Hans accidentally creates an entrance! Excellent work, dummy.

: "Hans, are you okay?"

Hans: "I'm all right. Hey, where's the Halyomoss?"

: "Ah... got it! "

[An exclamation balloon pops over Mercury's head]

: "Could that be... !?"

Hmmm? What's the deal?



Oh shit it's what we came here to get in the first place!

So not only can we cure Hans's mom, we can actually finish our original mission. Sweet. Let's go grab it and -

[The screen shakes]

Hans: "Uwaa!! What's happening?!"

: "It's an earthquake!!"

[The screen shakes violently multiple times, followed by the Hi Stone falling into a sudden hole in the ground]



"Where did Zoicite's Hi Stone go? I wonder where it went... But I should give Hans's mother the Halyomoss first... Or should I?"

Now this is interesting. You have a choice to go back to the mother first or you can go down the hole to get the Hi Stone. Contrary to most choices we've made so far, this is NOT a but-thou-must situation - choosing no will take you straight to the final boss fight of Mercury's solo chapter, and they're tough.

I would actually recommend against the "no" option for once just so you can get some more time to prepare.



"I've gotta get back to Hans's mother first. Hans! Let's return to your mother first."

Hans: "Ok, Mercury?"

: "I always help my friends first. The stone can wait, I have to change another person's Destiny first."

Take a shot.

Joking aside, this is more in character for Mercury and it's just so sweet of her to do this.



"Let's get the Halyomoss to your mother."

He didn't even say anything before that, so I don't know where the "arguing stubbornly" bit came from.

Hans: "Thank you..."

: "Well then, let's go!"

Oh boy, another slog. Cutting straight to the house.



"You've come back!!"

He's very excitable, this doctor. Would it be weird to say that I'm actually more comfortable around the monsters than him? At least they're obvious.

Hans: "Doctor, here's the Halyomoss."

Dr. Schwartz: "Ohh, very good. You found it. If you'd been any later, it might've been a bit dangerous for your mother, Hans. Ok, I'll make the medicine at once."

Yeesh. Kinda glad it wasn't a timed mission to get the moss back to Dr. Schwartz otherwise that'd be a pretty gruesome non-standard game over on Mercury's behalf.



[Mercury walks away while his back is turned. The mother coughs a bit]

Hans's Mother: "Thank you..."

Hans: "Hey, it wasn't just me that got it for you. Mercury also helped..."

[He turns around and sees that she's disappeared]

Hans: "Huh? Where'd Mercury go?"

Why did we walk out of there? Strange that we wouldn't even bother to check if the mom is fine afterwards.

[Dr. Schwartz walks back in]

Dr. Schwartz: "The medicine is ready."



"Her face has gone back to normal!!"

Excellent! At least we saved one person, right?

... Also, you didn't see it, but the mom made this weird "KOKUKOKU" noise. I have no idea what that's supposed to sound like, especially since she's being cured, but it's just... there.

[The mother falls back asleep]

Hans: "Mother!!"

Dr. Schwartz: "Hey, she's okay. You can rest easy. Take it easy for a while. Soon, she'll be as good as new."

Hans: "Thank you very much, Dr. Schwartz!!"

At least he's a competent doctor if he was able to whip up a effective cure in less than a few minutes.



"I wish I could stay for a while. In case of a relapse or anything like that. Goodbye, Hans..."

Awww. Yeah, this seems like a nice place, but Ami has priorities to keep up, so...

[Mercury walks out the door, but he stops her]



[Hans runs into the scene]

Hans: "Are you going already?"

: "Yes... I'm sorry, Hans."

Hans: "Can't you stay a while before you go...?"

: "I... I can't... there are things ahead that cannot wait."

Hans: "Maybe, when it's over, you can come and visit me again?"

Awwwwww. I mean... come on, don't do this.

: "Huh?"

Hans: "Come back to this village and see me some day, won't you...?"

: "Huh!? It... it's all so sudden... (I can't.)"

[Mercury runs out the door]

Hans: "Mercury..."



With all the sad out of the way, we should probably get the stone before the Opposito get to it.



"It's too steep to climb down. Well then, there's still that other cave to the east."

Oh god damn it.



This is the cave she's talking about. You go up and to the right this time... also, keep track of these stairs for later because it'll be the site of one of the most dangerous fights in the game.

Right now it's already pretty tough, but I'm talking superboss levels. You'll see what I mean.



I'm finally confident enough to place Mercury back in the center of the Cluster position. Just watch how much she does against the regular enemies now.



Ahahahaha! Bow before me, puny mortals!

... I mean, yes. The attack multipliers in this game are insane if you know how to do them properly.



That said, this is like the worst cave of all. It has this aggravating winding maze-like quality that, when combined with the random battles, absolutely drives me up the wall.

This game would benefit so much from the Earthbound style of enemy encounters... and given how there's a super-sprint function right off the bat, it'd be even faster than Earthbound.

My head is spinning with all kinds of tweaks this game could get to make it even better.



Make good use of this Luna P ball because you'll need it.



[Not Mercury teleports in]

[Current OST: Apsu]



: "Who are you?"

: "You'll be dead in a while anyway, so there's no point in me telling you my name. I'll kill you, Sailor Mercury!"

Bring it on then! You won't even last a second!



[Current OST: Opposito Senshi Battle Theme]

Name: Nabu (1)
HP: 150
Attack: 45
Defense: 30
Speed: 30
EXP: 30
Yen: 10
Item Drop: Moon Shard (Cures 120 HP)
Allegiance: Opposito Senshi
Official Art: Here.
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: N/A

The first human boss in the game and the first Opposito we get to fight! I love the slower remix of the boss theme they used for the Opposite Soldiers, plus I like how she's effectively a moodier, emo version of Mercury, complete with the highest defense stat we've seen so far.

Also, she said she wasn't going to tell us her name, yet the game straight up tells us anyway via an interface spoiler. So much for that, huh?



... Not that it means much, considering she gets nuked by Shine Aqua Illusion immediately.

I meant what I said, you see.



(Yes, very edgy.)

"Indeed... Anshar-sama warned me of this."

: "Anshar? Is that the name of your leader?"

: ("What'll I do? Should I respond to her?")



I like how she doesn't give a straight answer and goes straight to the death threat.

: "Why are you doing this? What is your goal?"

: ("Our goal? Our goal is...")

[The screen pixellates out]



[Current OST: Crystal Tokyo]

"Are you okay with that? Isn't the Silver Crystal's power such a wonderful thing? Scientists haven't been able to understand its power... But how could such power, one that science can't understand... how could it protect the world? I wonder...?"

(As a side note, I adore the music that plays in Crystal Tokyo. It's so soothing...)

So... huh. She really is Evil Mercury after all. It's like if Ami decided to be incredibly pedantic with her advanced intellect.

Not-Venus is just looking at her all confused, like "what the hell are you talking about, my dude?"



: "Troubled people..."

: "Where did that voice come from?"

[The screen darkens]

: "You question the power of the Silver Crystal..."

: "The Silver Crystal... Y... yes..."

: "Certainly... It does have such wondrous power. But... such a power could never last for eternity. Alas, no one knows when its power will come to an end."

[Not-Venus walks in front of Nabu all confused]

I love Not-Venus's reactions to all of this destiny talk, to be honest.

Also, Sailor Cosmos would like to have a word with you, Apsu.

: "Recently, I've been thinking the same thing too..."



"What you say is true, that miracle could never last forever."

: "I'm gathering together people like you. Nabu... come join us. And we'll find out how the power of the Silver Crystal works. Yes... and what shall become of that power..."

I do find it interesting just how much weight the Silver Crystal holds in not just this game, but also in the entire series. It's what allowed Crystal Tokyo to come into existence and breathe in a new Silver Millennium, really... but just how does that affect the people?

Granted Another Story doesn't go quite deep enough to truly answer that, but at least this powerful macguffin and Usagi's actons as Neo Queen Serenity are being questioned.

: "Yes... I will go with you and help you achieve your goal."

[Nabu is brought up via a pillar of darkness, with Not-Venus running in. The screen fades back to Nabu and Mercury]



"I'll keep going till the end!!"

[She runs into Mercury again]

Nice flashback... but trust me, you'll learn to hate it due to the next part of this boss fight.



Name: Nabu (2)
HP: 220
Attack: 61
Defense: 40
Speed: 45
EXP: 270
Yen: 2500
Item Drop: Moon Shard (Cures 120 HP)
Allegiance: Opposito Senshi
Official Art: Here.
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: N/A

Rude Crude Dudes Alert!!

Despite looking the same as before, this version of Nabu is infinitely more difficult to take down... to the point where people have grinded on the monsters outside for hours just to do more than four or five damage to her.

That ten point increase in Defense may seem negligible, but holy hell it escalates this fight into a place it shouldn't have gone.

Also, while we're at it, Nabu is the Mesopotamian god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes and wisdom... very appropriate considering the Another Story one is Mercury's counterpart.



Not only is Nabu stronger (she must have used the evil version of Heroic Will that's so prevalent in anime protagonists), she has Toxic Mist to poison you so even if your defenses are high enough to shrug off her physical attacks, you still take a set 21 damage at the end of every turn.

It sucks, so be sure to carry some Schwartz Medicine to heal it off.



You see this? This is after all the grinding we did, being in the perfect position to do the most damage and having the best equipment (Sapphire Ring/Earrings + Attack accessory) and yet it still only does... 41 damage.

Like what the hell, man? You think you could have toned down the defense a little bit, maybe three points if you wanted to make it a little more fair and less grindy? Considering this is the first major boss fight you'll have on your own, it's ridiculous. I get it, she's tough, but come on.

If your attack stat is below 40 before you make it into this fight, you are not going to kill Nabu. Plain and simple. 



Doesn't help that you have to regenerate your MP via the Ice Shards from before due to how often you have to keep using Shine Aqua Illusion. Shabon Spray only takes two MP and does a consistent 12 damage, but that's so little compared to her gigantic 220 health.

You'd have to pepper her with Shabon Spray eighteen times to kill her and that's just plain no.



That said, she gives you a hella reward when you do beat her. I feel it's really unfortunate that such a durable boss is placed right at the start of the game like this, but can you do?

Video games back then didn't have patches to fix stuff like this.



"I'm so exhausted... fighting for the stones in such a small place like this. Letting you have this stone will be no hindrance at all. But you will be unable to get all the stones in time."

How much you wanna bet, Nabu? I would complain how she's just handing us the stone, but I think Mercury would brute force the stone into the inventory after all we've gone through.

Don't mess with the quiet ones, you see.



"If she can stop you, then you'll never be able to heal Tuxedo Mask."

A playable Tuxedo Mask would be super cool, but he's doomed to be a support character no matter where he appears...

[Nabu floats into the air]



: "Wa... wait!"

[Nabu vanishes]

: "Nabu's gone... She's quite a strong enemy."

If me and several other players of the game are anything to go by, then good god yes she is.



But hey, it all turned out alright in the end!

: "I must return to Japan now."



"I'll never be able to meet Hans again. If I saw Hans again... I'm sorry. Wait for me to come back. Important friends are waiting for me. I can't go back to everyone, but..."

Scratch everything turning out fine in the end - Ami broke some poor sod's heart.



She's stone cold, yo.



"Farewell..."

I mean, she still has to go to school in Japan and she has friends there, so unfortunately this long-distance relationship just won't work out.



Oooh boy, we completed Ami's chapter! Thank goodness too because the amount of backtracking through thin, long hallways were driving me insane.



Next time on Sailor Moon: Another Story, we meet up with Mars in Nepal! See you then.



--------------------------------------------------------------
Team Set-Up:

(Sailor Mars, level 6, , Inner Senshi) - "This place is overflowing with spiritual energy... but everything looks to be fine. I'm confused."

-

~Fun Sailor Moon Fact~:

Ami was originally designed to be a cyborg with an accelerator? This is kind of the reason why she has genius level intellect despite being a 15 year old girl. She was planned to lose an arm and die from it, but Ms. Takeuchi's editor was like "no" and they decided to make Ami just a regular human girl... with advanced intelligence.

This idea would be later re-used in the manga's version of Hotaru, where she has cybernetic limbs. Cyborg Hotaru wasn't included in the anime for some reason.

Also, Ami is a Virgo because the astrological sign has a connection with Mercury, so I see what you did there.

"The stone I have to return to Mamoru-san is around here somewhere."

[Current OST: Nepal]

Last time on Sailor Moon Another Story, we cleared up Switzerland and now we're in Nepal with Mars. I like the globe-hopping aspect of this game, really - at least we're not just stuck in Japan the whole game.

Nepal's theme song is arguably the best area theme in the game that isn't Crystal Tokyo, and that's saying a lot.



"What was that? I felt a surge of evil energy. I wonder where it came from..."

[Mars looks around]



[Mars walks up to a local and looks him over]

Local: "Wh... who are you?!"

: "Not from this person either..."

He just stares at her all confused like, "what in the world?" I love the little touches of humor the game drops here and there.



"For now, I'll go and investigate it."



We're about to trespass into the local temple. This is sure to end well.



Especially since the Luna-P is already here. I never knew a cute little ball like this could be such an ominous messenger of doom.

I mean look at it:





(Sailor Mars) -
* HP: ********* (Excellent)
* Attack: ******* (Good)
* Defense: **** (Below Average)
* Speed: *** (Bad)
* Evade: **** (Below Average)
* Moveset:
 - Fire Soul (2 MP - weak one-enemy attack that lowers enemy attack)
 - Fire Soul Bird (4 MP - medium attack that hits all enemies)
 - Burning Mandala (6 MP - strong attack that hits all enemy)
 - Mars Fire Snake (6 MP - strong attack that hits only one enemy)
* Preferred Gemstone/Equipment: Ruby

Mars has tremendous health and a damn good attack stat (better than Mercury and Moon at least) but suffers from bad speed and weak defenses.

Still, her health allows her to be a damage sponge and her high attack stat allows her to nuke anything she wants.



That... that is one funky-looking painting. I can't even tell what I'm looking at.



Hmmm. One of these is not like the others... it's me, obviously!



"That surge of evil energy must have come from this jewel... But, why is such an evil thing in a holy temple like this?"

Maybe they thought it looked pretty and put it as an artifact? All I know is that this isn't the Hi Stone and we should probably leave before -

???: "Hey!!"

[A group of gray-skinned monks run in]

[Current OST: Suspense & Illusion]



: "Oh, I wasn't doing anything at all. I was only having a look at this beautiful jewel. Anyway, I'll be going now..."

I mean... Is she lying? That's pretty much what we were doing. It's not like we were going to throw around the stupid gem.

Monks: "Wait, you suspicious-looking person!!"

Oh speak for yourselves. You all look like zombies.

[The monks crowd Mars]

Monks: "You must be trying to get our treasured stone, the Gemetus Ruby! DIE!!"

Wow, alright, this sure escalated quick.



Me and Mars have the same reaction to this.



[Current OST: Boss Theme]

Name: Destroyer A
HP: 1
Attack: 0
Defense: 0
Speed: 1
EXP: 2
Yen: 0
Item Drop: Nothing
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Game-only enemy
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: N/A

-

Name: Destroyer B
HP: 1
Attack: 0
Defense: 0
Speed: 1
EXP: 1
Yen: 10
Item Drop: Nothing
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Game-only enemy
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: N/A

... Okay, what the hell. They have nothing for stats. I guess the point is that you wipe them out in one attack, but this is ridiculous!

Still, I really like how they made some brand new enemies just for this area. It's a nice change of pace to see monsters that actually match the surroundings instead of being a random Youma/Droid/Daimon from the show.

(Plus, it helps that the one in the cloak is legitimately cool-looking.)



This is Mars's Fire Soul Bird attack - it's an anime and video-game exclusive move and a variation of her famous Fire Soul that she turns into a friggin phoenix bomb.

This is what it looks like in the anime. I can even give you context for the prayer she says before she attacks - it's a mantra for the Buddhist god Fudomyoo. In English it reads like this: "Homage to the all-pervading Vajras! O Violent One of great wrath! Destroy!"

Like god damn.



"Why would there be Youma here..."

"Monks": "Hey! You there! What do you think you're doing?!"

: "Wha! More of them?!"

You stirred up the hive. Good going, Mars.

"Monks": "You wouldn't have come in here if you didn't want something... Explain yourself!!"

: "I only came in here to break up some evil..."

Is there really much to explain to a group of monsters that just want an excuse to fight?



"Wh... What the!? I... I can't move my body! Wh... what!? That stone..."



I knew the gem was trouble, but wow it actually immobilized Mars! I was wondering what was stopping her from just nuking every evil monk in sight.

"Monks": "Now!!"

[The monks charge back and get into a group formation. They charge into Mars full force, knocking her down]



: "It... it's hopeless... Hrr... I can't even... think straight... Everyone, I'm sorry..."

[Mars collapses]

I can't believe Sailor Mars is fucking dead. 

... Okay, no, that'd be a stupid way to end the game. 

Real talk though, I'm glad this isn't one of those "The Many Deaths of You" games where choosing the wrong thing to do at any given moment will just murder you. It'd be interesting to see that format done right in an RPG, though.

???: "That does it!! Stop!"

[A man jumps down from above]



"Monks": "Who's that?"

A savior? He has a unique sprite, so he must be.

[The man charges through the evil monks and knocks them all out at once]



Damn son, he sure made quick work of them. I mean sure, they all have 1 HP, but at this point I'm not questioning it.

[The man runs over to Mars]

???: "Are you okay?"

: "Uh... Jadeite...? But I didn't get it yet... Wait, you're not... Who are you?"

Interesting. Either she got a concussion from that team attack or this guy somehow manages to resemble one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

???: "My name's Faregg. What's your name?"

: "... Mars. My name is Sailor Mars."

I like how they use their Senshi titles as codenames. Even if their costumes don't function as "disguises", we're never going to visit Nepal after this game so it doesn't really matter if they know who she is or not.



[Mars collapses and the screen pixellates out]



Both chapters so far have started with Mercury and Mars winding up in someone's bed after they get rescued. Make of that as you will. Why yes, I am Dr. Horrible, nice to meet you.



[Faregg walks in]

Faregg: "Are you conscious? I was worried, you suddenly collapsed. This is my house."

[Mars walks out of bed]

: "Is that so... Thank you very much."

He's a good boy.

Faregg: "Well, I have to go to the elder's house. Please rest some more."

[He walks out of the room]



[Mars shakes it off]

"It was just my imagination!"

You sure? It doesn't help that there's no official art of Faregg to compare it to Jadeite, so I don't know how correct the comparison is.

I find it odd because Hans wasn't really a Zoisite parallel back when we were in Switzerland, he was just A Guy.

Whatever, let's walk around town.



Fascinating. That's sort of what happened because he's... kind of a ghost right now. I'm not sure what quite turned him back to the good guys, but I'm not complaining.



Neat stuff, but keep the word "spirit" in mind for later because it's actually super-relevant. The lady next to her states that the atmosphere is thin here and that we need to steady our breathing, so that's a little bit concerning.



The local shop has some nice stuff, such as the incredibly powerful Yaga Soup that restores all of our health for only 500 Yen. Good god.

I'd recommend buying some defense accessories and at least two bracelets for Mars just so she can survive (you know, due to her subpar speed growth).

Also, I can't be the only person that finds it hilarious that you regenerate energy points by putting on lipstick. Who knew girly products had this kind of magical power?



"Please go back now."

Fancy house you have here. You can tell it's the elder's house by the fact it's bigger than one screen.



: "You're the elder of Yaga Village, right? I'm much better, thanks to you."

I thought Faregg was the one who nursed us back to health?



That's a cute sprite and all, but I'm more distracted by the treasure chest over the fireplace. My "kleptomaniac hero" senses compel me to take it, but it's too high up. Why can't these arms reach?

[Faregg walks in]

Faregg: "Indeed... why were you, a girl, all alone in that place?"

: "I can't tell you my reasons. But, I thank you for your help."

Elder: "Excuse me for interrupting, but I need to know something."

: "Y... yes... Of course, I understand."

Elder: "Why did you come to this place?"

Mars does look a little out of place. Just a smidge.



"For him to recover, a special stone called 'Jadeite' is needed."

... Hmm. Practically every Sailor Moon villain barring Nehellenia is named after a gemstone or a mineral of some kind, so it just begs the question - are the stones named after them or did they really name themselves after stones?



Elder: "Faregg, have you ever heard of such a stone?"

Faregg: "No, but maybe we could ask the High Priest at the Takra Kuhp Temple."

: "Where is this Temple of Takra... Koop?"



(You can't dangle that in front of me and not get a joke about it.)

Faregg: "That was the temple you were at before."

: "Gege... the temple from before...? I really don't want to go back there..."

[Sailor Mars sighs]

: "But I guess it can't be helped, can it..."

After what just happened, I'm surprised she's brave enough to want to go back.

[Mars tries to walk out the door but Faregg blocks her]



Faregg: "Women can't go there alone."

This is like the second time in a row the Sailor Senshi have been treated weird based on gender, but I can actually give Faregg the benefit of the doubt for not letting Mars go back.

His first impression was her getting reamed by a bunch of evil monks and collapsing almost immediately afterwards. Of course he wouldn't want a repeat of that.

: "But I'm a..."

Faregg: "Well, why can't you listen? I could go instead of you."

okay, don't get too ahead of yourself, bucko

: "It'd be too dangerous for you. The enemy wouldn't think twice about killing you."

Faregg: "Hmm... you're a stubborn one. It'd be much easier if you just listened. Do you even know what the Daisoujou looks like?"

Daisoujou just means "high priest", so we'll say that from now on. (Also, while I was looking for the definition, I came across the one from Shin Megami Tensei and he looks rad as shit.)



"I don't know. It'll be dangerous, but could you come with me?"

Faregg: "Oh jeez... you never listen, do you?"

And just like that, we absorb him into our body as an invisible party member. Anyway, let's get moving.



I'm actually going to show off a different formation than Cluster just so Mars can survive a bit. We may not have gotten a warning about monsters outside of the village, but trust me when I say that you still have to prepare.

Cluster may be the best for killing things, but you also take the most amount of damage... so I had to tone it back a bit.



Everything past this point is Monster City, so...



Name: Game Center
HP: 28
Attack: 31
Defense: 17
Speed: 20
EXP: 9
Yen: 50
Item Drop: Orange Juice (Restores 10 HP)
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Gesen
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon Classic (Season 1, episode 25)

Gesen is an... interesting monster to throw in for Mars's chapter. They are one of the Seven Great Youma, Queen Beryl's seven champions whose power was so great that they had to be sealed away by the White Moon Kingdom in rainbow-colored crystals.

Gesen was later reborn in someone called Crane Game Joe because you know, Gesen literally means "game center." Pun aside, he's honestly one of my favorite Youma designs aside from Murido and some others down the line due to the fact he's a robot demon guy.

He was originally defeated/cured by Moon Healing Escalation, so that just leaves the question of where all of these different Gesens are coming from.

-

Name: Abacodra
HP: 35
Attack: 32
Defense: 16
Speed: 22
EXP: 10
Yen: 700
Item Drop: Life Crepe (Revives and also cures 300 HP)
Monster Type: Droid
Based off of: Avogadora (Human form/Droid form)
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R (Season 2, episode 21)

Youma tended to blend in with society due to possessing/masquerading themselves as people, but some of them were just monsters summoned to fight up the Sailor Senshi. Droids took it a step further and made that their modus operandi, as Avogadora here took human form just to run an evil fruit shop.

Yes, really. It works because her human form is legitimately attractive. Heck, even her battle form is kinda cute in a weird amazon fruit warrior way.

That said, damn. Both of these two hit super hard for the first two random enemies you meet. At this point Mars only has about 18 Defense, so...



Yeah, this shit happens.

111 HP is currently our max right now, so my god that's disgusting.



Even in Victory formation they still manage to take a massive chunk out of my health. 

Anyway, this attack is called Burning Mandala, one of Mars's signature moves from R (Season 2) onward until she upgrades it to Mars Flame Sniper in Season 4.

Here's what Burning Mandala looks like in the anime. I need to show this so I can talk more about its relevance:

You see, the outer part of the mandala is commonly represented by a ring of fire. If you manage to pass through it, you gain enlightenment because it's supposed to be a metaphor for the universe/the physical world. Burning ignorance or human error or something like that.

In the center of the mandala is supposed to be a symbol of the Buddha surrounded by eight spheres that represent the eight corners of the world, and what does Mars's attack have?

I find it extra interesting because not only is Rei a shrine priestess, but due all of these connections, no wonder she was the one to go to Nepal. The mandala has been shown to originate from Nepal, Tibet, etc... so I'm just amazed at how much thought they put into this.



This whopper of an attack is Mars Fire Snake, a powerful move that only hits one enemy. It's a manga-exclusive attack (until Crystal came around) used to combat the Death Busters, but didn't really get much use otherwise.

Personally, Mars throwing out flaming animals to blow up her enemies sounds metal as fuck regardless.



I just had to check on the puzzle and you can see we're a fair amount of the way there. I can't wait to see it finished because not only will it be a good picture, but we actually get a reward for finishing it up! 

... It'll just take a looong time to do so.

Also, I can't be the only person that thinks it's odd that our enemies the pieces to a Sailor Senshi puzzle. It's like having a canvas of your mortal enemy in your house, it's just strange.



You sure? I didn't see much out of the ordinary aside from the evil gem and the horde of murderous gray-skinned monks.



"Have you seen that person around anywhere?"

You can answer yes or no to this.



If you answer yes, the monk will chase after them without knowing Mars was the intruder all along. If you answer "no", he tells you to kill the intruder for them.

Yeah, about that...



I decided to switch back to Cluster now that I've started to outspeed the enemies. Trust me, we're going to need it.



"Wh... what the heck? He's been turned to stone!"

: "Who could've done something like this?"

You could say he had an accident.  

(I still can't get over petrification being called that in this game, help me.)

Faregg: "Surely if you found Jadeite's stone, there'd be people that'd be annoyed?"

: "Yeah, there is... But, they don't know I'm here..."

Faregg: "If they notice you here, they'll know."

: "But who would do something to someone who's not involved in this at all?"

This conversation is not clear in the slightest, christ. So from what I think they're saying, Faregg is worried that the monks from before will throw a fit over Mars getting Jadeite's Hi stone even though the gem up there is clearly not the one.

Then Mars ponders why they'd turn the high priest into stone even though he's not involved.

You got me.



Mars blushes at Faregg here and that's all you need to know.

Faregg comes up with the brilliant idea to read the High Priest's mind (somehow??) so we can tell what's bothering him even in statue form.



Faregg: "Hmm... I understand. The Gemetus Ruby is freeing him!!"

... Excuse me? Don't you mean it's "freezing" him? In fact, it'd make more sense to say it's sealing him. It's definitely not letting him go, so that's just confusing.

: "Of course!!! The surge of evil energy was from that ruby! That Gemetus Ruby must have turned him into stone."

Even a quick glance and the events that happened before can tell you all of this information without words. Use your brain, Rei.



[The gem flies off of the pedestal and floats over the High Priest's head]



["Make-Up!!" SFX]

I didn't expect it to actually make the High Priest into a monster, but at least we get to beat the gem up.



Name: Daisoujou
HP: 250
Attack: 33
Defense: 20
Speed: 20
EXP: 100
Yen: 300
Item Drop: App. Medicine (Cures enchantment)
Monster Type: Cardian
Based off of: Yamandakka
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon R (Season 2, episode 12)

Now this is interesting. Given all the connections I made with Buddhism earlier with Burning Mandala, I find it incredibly clever that they threw in the monster that was almost explicitly designed after an asura.

Asuras are a race of warlike beings in Buddhism that, while they love combat and material goods over spiritual wealth, can be good, evil or anything in between. Multiple arms usually meant more power and multiple faces meant more wisdom due to being able to see more perspectives.



"Daisoujou" here hits super hard, so them using Toxic Mist is far more preferable than a physical attack.

This monster in particular is not a Youma, Droid or Daimon but instead a Cardian. See, before the Black Moon Clan stuff happened in the anime, there was a whole filler arc involving an entity called the Makaiju, or the Hell Tree. It was a Tree of Life that gave birth to a species of plant-like humanoids, with the only survivors being Ail and An. (Oh and someone else too but we don't get to see him until later in the game oops)

The plant siblings used the Cardians as their own personal Monsters of the Day so they can drain energy and give it to the Makaiju. If the tree dies, they go with it, so there's that.



I went Cluster on this to pile on the damage because no matter how many defensive items you put on, the boss here will hit you hard no matter what.

... That, and destroying enemies in one hit is how I do things.



"We beat the Youma from the Gemetus Ruby, and the people who were being controlled by it have returned to normal!"

Oh. If that's the case, then we did good. 

But wait, what about the evil monks we fought when we first got here? Were they turned into monsters or were they never real people to begin with? Well, whatever, it doesn't matter.



"You may think you've done it, but..."

: "Who's there?"

[The screen scrolls up, with Not-Mars teleporting in]

[Current OST: Apsu]



"I'm Anshar-sama's faithful servant, and... you are the Senshi I must kill!"

: "Why do you do all these mean things?"

Mean is kind of an understatement.

Also, her name is Nergal? Hmmmm.

But no, seriously, Nergal is the Mesopotamian god of the underworld and the sun... hence why the Another Story version is the evil counterpart to Mars. It's also interesting to note that Nergal is the only Opposito that doesn't have the same haircut as their Senshi counterpart.

: "We were testing ourselves, myself and my assassin. Ma... and now the test is over. Now it's time for the real performance!"

So she put the monster inside of the Gemetus Ruby? That makes sense, I guess.



She sucker punches Faregg in the gut, the absolute scumbag.

: "Faregg!"

Faregg: "Don't worry about me! Take care of that girl!!"

: "But!"

Faregg: "Do it quickly, I'll be alright! Kill that guy!!"



Nergal kicks him to the ground this time, so yeesh. 

[Two ravens show up out of nowhere and surround Nergal]



: "What annoying ravens... Disappear!!"

[She roundhouse kicks the ravens away]

I don't know what Mars was trying to accomplish there. But yes, this introduces yet another interesting thing: Rei has two pet ravens called Phobos and Deimos, named after the planet Mars's two moons. (Who are, by extension, named after the Greek deities who represented fear and dread respectively)

I didn't know she brought them to Nepal, though.

: "I'm taking this guy. If you want him back, come to Kritayuga!"

[Nergal teleports away]



I don't know who Sonna is, but Rei just lost three friends in one shot. No wonder she's disoriented.

[Mars gets up and looks to the right]

: "Ah... the Gemetus Ruby..."

[The Ruby shoots out a tiny red Luminaire, with a pillar of light surrounding the High Priest]



High Priest: "You were the one who released me, weren't you? You freed me from all those evil thoughts. Thank you very much!"

Oh hey, we saved him from being stoned!

... Wait, was he still conscious even in statue form? Holy shit that's terrifying.

High Priest: "If you ever need something from me, just ask."

: "Kritayuga... where's Kritayuga?"

High Priest: "Kritayuga is the name of the ruins north of the village called Yaga. Although, Yaga itself has also become ruins. The village of Kritayuga was in ancient times a place of worship for the god called Jadeite. Only, that exact place is..."



"Did you just say Yaga village has become ruins!? That's not possible! I was just there! I have to get back to Yaga Village right away!"

For those of you that are confused/lost track, Lasa Village is where we are right now. Yaga is where Faregg nursed us back to health.

That said, what the hell? High Priest, what are you selling me here?

High Priest: "Actually, Yaga Village has been in ruins for well over 50 years."

You what.

: "But..."

It suddenly got really spooky in here.

High Priest: "Do you plan to go to Kritayuga?"

: "Yes, I must."

High Priest: "If that's the case, then please take this."



Excellent.

But just... It's been in ruins for 50 years? Something tells me we need to investigate this.



The monks now have a healthy skin color and aren't evil anymore! Hooray.



Lasa Village also sells the amazing Toilettes, so I urge you to buy some while you're still here.



Did some extra grinding before going to the village itself. I find it kind of refreshing to fight random monsters after all this drama, really.



[The screen scrolls around the desolate village]



Oh wow, he wasn't kidding. But this place was bursting with life before... what the hell happened?



"What the high Priest said has become true..."

Mercury's chapter kept it simple, but Mars went as far as to throw in a plot twist.



[Current OST: Sadness]

I like this sad music. It's not on the same tier as Bottom of the Night from Chrono Trigger, but for what it is, it's really good.

[Mars runs forward]



Elder: "Mars-san... This village was only an illusion."



Why is this the most accurate summary of the game so far? I'm tempted to make Mars's reaction an LP staple because of this.

Elder: "This village was resurrected for you."

: "For me...!? Resurrected!?"



(Because just saying "Metal Geaaaar" isn't good enough.)

Joking aside, this is one of the most serious moments in the game.

: "... Was everyone in this village a ghost?"

Elder: "Yes, as you are a living human, if you saw this... We thought you'd react like you did."

So... Yaga Village was a literal ghost town? I gotta say, I never saw that coming... especially since they're not even evil ghosts.

When they said it was a spirit village earlier, they sure meant it.

: "W... was Faregg a ghost too?"



Elder: "Faregg was slightly different from us all..."

[The Elder's image fades out]

Elder: "Go to the northern cave. You will find the road to your success there."



"The elder disappeared... What kind of...?"

I swear in this one chapter there's more plot twists here than in the rest of the game. It's interesting how Rei of all people has the most developed sub-chapter of the Inner Senshi.



That said, the Elder left us some Ruby equipment!

You still can't pick up the chest that hangs over the fireplace, unfortunately. 





Mars is only level 11 or so when I put up this screenshot and she's already as powerful as Mercury who was level 16 when we ended her chapter.

Now that's some real firepower.



[Mars looks down at the ground]

"Ah, something fell down here!!"

You can choose to pick it up or not - either way it'll be equally bizarre.



"This is worthless!!"

Uh.



holy hell woman, calm down

It's not that big of a deal. Then again, she is a temperamental 15 year old and all of this crazy shit's happened to her in less than a few days, so... I can't really blame her.

: "This isn't the place to do this. I have to go help Faregg quickly."


... Yeah, what are we doing here? I'm surprised they coded this little cutscene in though.

If you choose no, the game itself says that Rei has gone against picking the thing up from the ground... for some reason.



Every other house is similarly ruined, but they have the Intro theme playing instead. Spoooky.



This is the cave we have to go through and thankfully it's more straightforward.

You know, something that just crossed my mind: How did the Sailor Senshi get across the world so quickly? It's not exactly a walk in the park, you know.

But then I remembered they have a move called Sailor Teleport, so 





: "You know where Faregg is? Then let's go!"

Oh hey, one of Rei's ravens are still alive... somehow? They just seem to love teleporting everywhere.



Name: Ruin Tempest A
HP: 47
Attack: 35
Defense: 25
Speed: 26
EXP: 16
Yen: 250
Item Drop: Colonge (Restores all MP to every member)
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Game-only enemy
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: N/A

-

Name: Ruin Tempest B
HP: 40
Attack: 33
Defense: 27
Speed: 22
EXP: 15
Yen: 300
Item Drop: Lasa Water (Restores 80 HP)
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Game-only enemy
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: N/A

Oh, now you guys have some backbone now that you're in palette swap form. Not that it matters much due to the Ruby equipment boosting Mars's speed to Sonic levels.



They sure give a hefty reward for such little effort, though. Free 80 HP restoratives are nice, but it'd be amazing if you get the Colognes due to them being a full party MP heal.



Just showing off Fire Soul on a random enemy. Fire Soul is one of Rei's most common techniques and she'll use it even if she has much better techniques to use later on.



Hello, Luna-P ball. You're kind of far away from where you need to be.



: "Isn't that a dead end?"

Is Rei able to understand what her pet raven is saying? I mean... she is psychic and all.

[The token shines in Mars's hand]

: "The High Priest's token is shining..."



[A bright light envelops the screen, with the stone in front of us giving way to a passage]

: "Wh... what now?! Ah, there's a road there now!"

In Switzerland, the stone entrance blocked off a small pillar to the Hi Stone, but here...



[Current OST: Heartful Kings]

We get an entire temple (in ruins, but still) complete with a statue of Jadeite. Man, Zoisite got shafted compared to the other Kings.

: "So, Jadeite was a god here... Fufu, it's still hard to believe... Of course, Faregg and Jadeite do look similar."



There's a tower here with multiple floors and they more or less all look like this. 



Name: Cureney
HP: 45
Attack: 35
Defense: 28
Speed: 29
EXP: 13
Yen: 15
Item Drop: Nothing
Monster Type: Youma
Based off of: Kyurene (Human form/Youma form)
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon Classic (Season 1, episode 6)

Oh hey, there's the actual Kyurene. It makes sense for them to be here because bats hide in caves, right? Still, I find it strange that the stronger palette swap version is encountered before the real thing.

In the show she attacks with sonic waves, which in Another Story translates to that useless attack that's supposed to put you to sleep. Oh well, can't win them all.

-

Name: Octave
HP: 40
Attack: 34
Defense: 29
Speed: 28
EXP: 14
Yen: 40
Item Drop: C. Colonge (Cures selfishness)
Monster Type: Daimon
Based off of: Octave
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: Sailor Moon S (Season 3, episode 4)

Octave is a violin turned into a Daimon, and there's not much to say about them aside from them having a horrible screechy voice in the anime.



They sure give good rewards though, including a random puzzle piece!



There are doors out of the upper rooms, but they just lead to these windows with not much else going for them aside from a nice view.



Oooh boy. Octave's rainbow attack there is Illusion, an attack that inflicts Selfishness. In this game, that's pretty much just the confusion stat where you hit enemies and allies alike, so at least its name is appropriate.

Also, for all that attack these guys have, they can't even do more than three damage to Mars anymore. Time to wreck.



[Current OST: Apsu]

"Ma... But you will not be any challenge. Nothing can stop us now. Let's fight."

: "Wa... wait a second, why do I have to fight you? I just want Faregg, so back off!"

She wants him, alright.

: "So, you want to know my motives? Well..."

[Nergal walks forward and pulls out a green stone]



: "That's Jadeite's stone! ... I see. This is why I came to Nepal too."

I like how she has to re-affirm that just in case anybody thought it was because we wanted to go on a world tour.



: "Wait, is Faregg okay?"

: "I'll tell you that when you lose!!"

: "Fine then, let's go!!"

If she tells you when you lose, though, then what happens if we win?



[Current OST: Opposito Senshi Battle Theme]

Name: Nergal (1)
HP: 300
Attack: 55
Defense: 34
Speed: 42
EXP: 300
Yen: 900
Item Drop: Moon Shard (Cures 120 HP)
Allegiance: Opposito Senshi
Official Art: Here.
* If applicable, what was their debut in the show/manga: N/A

I don't know how or why, but Nergal, despite being the Sailor Mars of the Opposito, is even weaker than the first one we fight. Yeah, this is pretty much all you're getting - no sudden comeback after you beat the first battle, nothing.

It's fast paced and fair, unlike Nabu's fight... but it just raises the question of why wasn't Nabu like this to begin with?



Anyway... Nergal may hit like a linebacker, but she sure can't take a punch. This is with Fire Soul of all abilities.



To contrast, this is how much Mars Fire Snake did.

Nergal has a move called Whirlwind Cut that hits everybody in the team, so she might be able to threaten a whole team... emphasis on "might". She also has Illusion for some reason, but that's one of her less useful attacks anyway. Might as well be giving us a free turn.



That was easy. What happened?!

I feel Mercury and Mars's chapters should be swapped around because not only is this far easier to navigate, it's less grindy and infuriating than Mercury's.

Heck, Nergal is even less of a pain than Nabu and doesn't come with a bullshit second battle out of nowhere. Yes, really. I get that they're doing the Inner Senshi chapters based on who joined the team first, but come on.



"Well, next time we meet, don't count on winning. Next time for sure, we will completely destroy the strength of the Sailor Senshi. Next time..."

Yeah, keep telling yourself that, buddy.



[Current OST: Crystal Tokyo]

"Who called out my name?"

: "... Nergal. I am the Shaman Apsu."

: "What do you want with me!?"

: "I heard your voice. I heard the voice in your heart."



You know, when I said this game made Kingdom Hearts parallels, I didn't expect for it to actually go with something like this.

I can't get over this - Nabu did almost everything wrong. You had the long exposition cutscene before the impossible battle, but here you get the cutscene after you beat Nergal and she's not even that bad.

It's just mind-boggling to me.

: "You've always wanted to be strong, haven't you?"

: "A... ah..."

: "So, you've also dreamed of being stronger than the Sailor Senshi?"

: "What are you saying...!?"

: "I understand what you're feeling. And I too have a power as strong as theirs."

[Nergal floats into the air and turns pitch black for a couple of frames]



"Wh... what are you saying? It... it's possible to have power like that!? Don't say such things..."

I like how she says this as she's already being cast into the air via magic.

Long story short, Nergal joined because she was tricked(?) into becoming power-hungry. This is a bit of a step back from Nabu who had an actual philosophy regarding the dubious nature of the Silver Crystal.



"It's the Jadeite stone that I promised to give to the winner."

[She throws it at Rei, who catches it in her hands]



: "... Again. When we meet again, we'll see who wins then. Sailor Mars, you are my trophy, and don't ever forget it!"

Trophy?? This got more personal than I was expecting.

: "Wait! Where's Faregg?"

: "That man is sleeping in the interior room. Later!!"

[Nergal teleports away]

She was surprisingly a good sport about this whole thing. We'd be screwed if she decided to keep the gem even after we won, so that was a thing.



: "Deimos!! You're all right, that's good."

So... the other raven was just in here for some reason? Did Nergal take not only Faregg but the birds too? That's weird.



"Please, wake up! If you're still alive, answer me! Answer me!!"

[Faregg opens his eyes and walks off the pedestal]

Faregg: "... What is this place?"

[Mars walks forward]

Faregg: "Hey, what's wrong? Your eyes are red."



She got really attached to him in such a short span of time, wow.

[Mars turns away from him with an "angry vein" balloon popping over her head]

: "I mean, I didn't know where you were! But... You're still alive!"

At least she cares about him at least.

[Mars runs towards Faregg to give him a hug, but she just phases through his body]



Faregg: "Forgive me, Mars... As a matter of fact, my body isn't real. My soul is the only thing left."

: "That's a lie! If it were true, I'd have to be a ghost too just to understand you. So I don't believe any of it. You're not a ghost!"

And makes no sense either if you were paying attention to what he was doing earlier. Let me list the ways:

#1: If his body wasn't real, how was he able to fight back the Youma from before and rescue Mars?
#2: If his body wasn't real, how was Nergal able to sucker punch him?
#3: If his body wasn't real, how was Nergal able to take him here?

Illusions are a hell of a drug.

Faregg: "Really...? Only, I disagree with you."



"Over many centuries, those people came to the village to pray... That is why I came."

: "To pray?"

Faregg: "Ah, no... that was my invitation. People from Kritayuga were many among those who protected the temple. Those people worshiped Jadeite-sama at Takra Kuhp Temple. And... those prayers gave us this appearance."



That's... an interesting result for a prayer. Imagine you're praying to a deity and you suddenly start looking like them. That'd be shock to your neighbors.

Faregg: "I'm sorry, these memories are so painful... I should've told you earlier... Mars, thank you... I won't forget what you've done... I'm disappearing..."

[He vanishes]

Faregg: "Farewell..."



[Current OST: Sadness]

[Rei falls to her knees]

: "Idiot... my tears won't stop falling. Why did you wait to tell me just as you disappeared... Why did you make me hate you so much!!"

This adventure has been one hella emotional rollercoaster for Rei. She met a cool guy only for him to turn out to be a ghost - now that's harsh.



: "Comfort me please, Phobos... Deimos... Thank you..."

Awwww.

[Ringing SFX]

: "Rei-chan, have you done it? Have you found Jadeite's stone?"

(Oh yeah, I should mention the Sailor Senshi are able to communicate to each other when they're transformed. I don't remember how, they must have like special brooches or something.)

: "Yes, I found it."

: "What's wrong? Your voice sounds a bit strange..."

: "It's nothing! I'm coming back to Japan very soon."



: "Usagi's being her usual self... Don't worry yourself! Phobos. Deimos. Let's go back to everyone!"

I love how even after having a tough time, she still doesn't want Usagi to worry about her. See, they do care about each other.



[Current OST: Intro]

Now that was a great chapter. Not too difficult, not too grindy and it's the most well-written of the subplots... I just wish we got this first.

For now though?



Next time on Sailor Moon: Another Story, we come across Jupiter in Canada and have some wacky shenanigans there. See you then!

--------------------------------------------------------------
Team Set-Up:

(Sailor Jupiter, level 6, , Inner Senshi) - "Oh wow, Canada is a really nice place. I should bring the girls here when we're not in mortal peril."

-

~Fun Sailor Moon Fact~:

Rei changed quite a bit since her beta designs. She originally had a different name: Miyabi Yoruno (夜野みやび Yoruno Miyabi) which meant "Elegance of Night." That, and she was going to have straight up armor as a reference to the actual Mars, the Roman god of war.

Some interesting things to note is that she also apparently hates television and modern society while liking small lizards and... plum juice?? She's even more of a hipster than I imagined.