Parents' Guide to Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie

Fans will have a great time with this conclusion to the Crystal saga. All your favorite Sailor Guardians are here in Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie for an epic finale that takes on an equally epic villain in Sailor Galaxia. For newcomers, this might not be the best place to start, however. In many ways, this two-part movie (also known as Sailor Moon Cosmos) should be considered season 5 and the finale of the modern reboot. So, it'd be like starting a show during its last season rather than from the beginning. But this series does follow the original manga more dutifully than the 1990s Sailor Moon, so fans of the manga will likely be better off. For the uninitiated, Sailor Guardians are teen girls who are bestowed planetary and cosmic magical powers that are also connected to planets, stars, and other celestial bodies, like moons. Usually, Sailor Guardians are meant to protect their planets and the cosmos. But in Sailor Moon Cosmos, the ambitions of a uniquely powerful villain threaten to literally take over the universe.

Viewers will differ over whether Sailors, in their short skirts and bikini tops and generally very conventionally "girly" costumes and stylization, are "good" for teen girls or not. But generally, this is a universe where teen girls are the heroes, powerful celestial beings, and protectors of everyone, nature, the planets, stars, moons, suns, and everything in the cosmos. For some, a few scenes may draw out the drama too long. Similarly, there's a feeling that these two parts could have been sharpened into one movie. And yet even still, the first part here also oddly seems rushed, blowing through many different characters and their involvement (or not) in the main progression of the story. But the performances are committed and emotional, from characters' announcements of their magic spells ("Honeymoon Starlight Therapy Kiss!") to mini monologues about the importance of friends and goodness. It's also refreshing to see that Sailor Galaxia's motivations aren't simply conceived and are more complicated than they could have been.