a.k.a. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie
Genre: Magical Girl/Romance
Company: Toei Animation
Format: 1 movie
Dates: 12/23/1995
“This really is a heartwarming town… all the candies look happy, too.”
As children begin vanishing in the dead of night, the Sailor Senshi uncover a nightmarish plot that will cast the world into an eternal (and deadly) dream. Will the heroines be able to resist the temptation of their own dreams in order to protect the ones they love?
Reviewed: 08/15/2021 by
Grade: 83% 
Highs: fluid animation, nice blend of action and drama, Sailor Moon’s growth
Lows: feels gratuitous at times, predictability
As Sailor Moon‘s viewership began to wane in the mid-90s, Toei ultimately did not release a film for the series’ fifth and final season, ‘Stars’. Their last dive into the theatrical world of Sailor Moon (until recently) was with the companion movie for the series’ fourth arc, entitled Black Dream Hole. But what begins as a familiar romp soon unravels into quite a psychedelic (and intergalactic) nightmare, one that seemingly exists in its own timeline entirely.
While the other two feature films of the 90s can arguably fit somewhere into canon, Black Dream Hole appears to be taking place in an alternate universe. This one-shot approach adds a level of freedom to the series that feels not only refreshing, but welcome. Many elements of the ‘SuperS’ season —Chibi-Usa’s relation to Helios, the absence of the Outer Senshi, the whole “requiring Pegasus to perform this attack” thing—seem retconned to incorporate what essentially feels like a condensed retelling of the story. While somewhat puzzling (and more or less pointless), it adds a whimsicality to the story-telling that even casual fans will appreciate.
The animation is top-tier for the series, and the musical score does much to make the film feel all the more cinematic. Even the pacing feels grander, moving from comedic hallucinations to more endearing moments, all which show the amount of growth our namesake heroine has gone through. It goes without saying that there is a predictability to the entire affair; but, after becoming familiar with a formula that’s lasted for four seasons, it’s hard to expect much more, especially when considering the series’ younger demographic.
For continuity’s sake, sure, Black Dream Hole can appear mismatched among the larger scheme of things in the Sailor Moon multiverse. It seems to exist for the sole purpose of entertainment, which is something it does successfully, by representing the best aspects of the SuperS season in a fraction of the time.
Reviewed: 10/11/2002 by
Grade: 64% 
In the middle of the night, children rise from their beds, listening to the haunting melody played by a mysterious flute player. One by one, they sleepwalk to a ship, waiting to take them away to a faraway place where the energy of their dreams feeds an evil queen’s power. Sailor Moon and the Sailor Senshi must rescue the children and stop Badiyanu and her plot to destroy the Earth with her Black Dream Hole.
summary by Madoka
Sailor Moon Super S is your basic Sailor Moon story. In fact, it’s so predictable that you could play Sailor Moon Mad Libs and come up with the plot: Sailor Moon must stop the evil ____ from stealing the ____ people, forcing them to create the fiendish ____ and destroy ____.
In this case, it’s the evil Badiyanu trying to steal the energy from the dreams of children to feed her Black Dream Hole and… you get the idea. Since the focus of the story is children, there are some memorable glimpses into the childhood of the Sailor Senshi, with flashbacks in the opening sequence so adorable that they are really the highlight of the entire movie.
Because of this childhood theme, Chibi Usa also plays a larger part in this film than in the others. Here she fills the same role as she did in the Super S season of the television series: she meets a strange boy who she helps and later seems to have a bit of a crush on. Like the rest of the movie this seems recycled from Sailor Moon and leaves no real impression on the characters or the overall story.
As a stand-alone movie, Super S manages to barely entertain as it rehashes all of the worst elements of Sailor Moon. As part of the whole saga, its only worth is a few cute moments of the Senshi out of uniform. If you’re looking for a worthwhile Sailor Moon story without a large time commitment, I would recommend Sailor Moon S instead of wasting your time on this one.
Anime Academy 