A Helping Hand

Argh! The batteries are out again? They just don't make wands the way they used to.

I've always wanted a cel of the Crescent Moon Wand.(I'm blanking on it's Japanese name right now, although I think it's something very similar. Moon Stick?) I don't care about Sailor Moon's various other doodads and gewgaws-- perhaps because the Moon Wand was an actual part of the plotline unlike her other various weapons. The Cutie Moon Rod, Spiral Heart Moon Rod (what's with all the rods?

), Kaleid Moon Scope(?), and Eternal Tier were all just accessories that appeared when Sailor Moon started her attack. (I guess she stored them all in hammerspace.

) The Moon Wand was something she had to actually physically lug around (and which she mis-placed a couple of times

) and it had many more uses then just as a weapon. Healing device! Rainbow Crystal tracker! Silver Crystal Holder! And it actually had a past in the Moon Kingdom. (Supposedly so did the Spiral Heart Moon Rod although the first we heard of it was when it appeared.) And yes, I do have a Crescent Moon Wand toy, why do you ask?

Anyway, as I was saying, I always wanted a cel that featured the Moon Wand. So I leaped at the chance when Anime Chaos uploaded several Moon Wand cels a couple years ago. There was a cel of the Moon Wand in Sailor Moon's hand as she is gathering power to complete the 'Moon Healing Activation' (originally known as 'Moon Healing Escalation'). Unfortunately the layer with Sailor Moon's head wasn't included, so the hand and wand was kinda hovering in mid-air. There was also a cel of the Moon Wand, Silver Crystal in place, glowing as it was about to send the Sailor Senshi back to the moon, and finally there was the cel I bought.

Now, why did I chose the cel that I did? Especially since I also want a cel of the Silver Crystal (originally called the Ginzishou) which is not featured in my cel? Well, while the first Moon Wand cel is actually a bank cel used many times during the first season and the other two cels come from episode 44 'Usagi no kakusei! Choukako no message' known over here as 'The Past Returns'-- which just so happens to be my very favorite Sailor Moon episode (the only thing I like better is the R movie)-- the cel I chose features Queen Serenity's hand ! (And good grief, that was a run on sentence! ) Yes, I went with this cel because of the original Serenity's hand in it. (Which is probably as much of her as I can afford anytime soon. I rather wish I'd gotten the other wand cel from The Past Returns as well, but ah well, spilt milk and all that.)

I love the first season of Sailor Moon, I love the Crescent Moon Wand, I love the Silver Crystal in its original form, I love The Past Returns, and I love the original Queen Serenity. I rather wish that I had a cel of the wand before the Silver Crystal was removed from it, but in recompense, this cel comes from Queen Serenity's death scene. (Which I suppose is a bit of a spoiler, but if you didn't know that the High Queen from 1000 years ago was dead by the beginning of the story... ) She's just bid farewell to the spirits of her daughter and all the other inhabitants of the moon, her head falls to the side as she dies, the wand slips from her fingers, the cats gasp, and the flashback to the Silver Millenium ends. I would have so loved it if they spent more time on the Moon Kingdom.

Colors are off due to my scanner blah, blah, blah...

Included is the matching B-9 sketch. Oddly, the sketch is much more detailed then the cel which completely lacks the shadowing that is depicted on the douga. Perhaps the shadowing is on another layer? I also wonder about the missing A-layer-- I didn't think there was anything behind the wand during the sequence besides the background. The sketch itself has a red border which depicts the area that will be shown on screen.