Moon Sailor 1995

I'm sure that some of you have heard of the franchise "Sailor Moon." For those of you who are not familiar with it, it's an anime show where this teenage girl goes on many adventures with her Sailor Scout friends as they fight against the evil. In Japan, the series got adapted in the year 1992 and ended in 1997. It premiered in Canada and the USA in the middle of 1995 but later got postponed over to September, despite low ratings from the two seasons. There has been a miscount of sorting episodes on Wikipedia, making the arrangements of these said episodes inconsistent.

The reason for this is because there was a controversial episode that got aired deliberately on a couple of worldwide networks, particularly TV Asahi. It was known as the infamous pilot episode of the show, originally called: "Moon Sailor 1995." Years ago, reports of people, (from the Sailor Moon forums), clarified that a copy of the first episode got hijacked and stored in the archives of Toei Animations. They declared that five people who stumbled upon the tape, they had endured unusual and unexpected symptoms. Two individuals had relentless anxiety, two others had undergone insomnia, and one person had mental instability from watching it. Reports never knew the accurate identity of this group, and nobody knew what happened to these people. The creator of the episode is never named.

Pushing that information aside, I will now tell you guys my experience of this videotape. My friends and I were a diehard fan of the classic Sailor Moon anime. One day, I was on the VIZ website, scrolling and searching through new shows my buddies and I are willing to watch. Ten seconds through in, a subscription bar popped up from the page, asking for my information to join a Sailor Moon Fanclub. Obliged, yet a tad hesitant, I jotted down my full name, user handle, and e-mail and finally signed up. My buddies and I were so thrilled to see what would arrive in the mail.

A few days later, I awoke from my nap on the sofa to hear the noise of a mailbox rudely shut. Hopping out of the couch, I rushed out of the front door to open the mail. I received what resembled to be a regular package. The front and back of the box had a blue and yellow backdrop, showing all of the Sailor Moon characters and its usual logo.

Excited than I ever was before, I hurled the door shut behind me, and skipped throughout the living room. My friends stayed up late the night before, and for whatever purpose, I can't even remember. Other than that, they were still resting like infants, but I had to wake them up anyway with my loud mouth. One of them jolted and rubbed their eyes, and the other just stared at me with their cold eyes for a few moments. I brought the package over from downstairs to show the guys, and we all jumped and danced around like a pack of wild monkeys. We head over downstairs and into the living room to rip the package open. There was a VHS tape lying at the bottom of the box with a label torn off. My friends even barely made out the words on the tape. I assumed that the words on the sticker were in black marker, addressed: "Moon Sailor 1995."

One of us held puzzled looks on our faces at this moment, but I still had a smile on my face. To me, I thought it was more than just a foolish joke. For example, it could either be the mailman might have shipped the wrong tape, or they were probably in a rush to find another. As a joke, I blamed it on the mailman to my friends, and some of them laughed a bit. I turned the TV on, popped that old' sucker into the Sony VCR, and we all gathered around the big screen to watch as the VHS proceeded into playing the episode.

The Episode

The chapter started with a blank screen. For a couple of seconds, the background faded into the usual opening sequence, and played the iconic theme song we all know and love today as "Moonlight Densetsu." As the beginning played ordinarily, we shouted the first chorus to the song out loud. No matter how choppy and off the vocals were, or how iffy the distortion of the tape got, we still sang it. As the song got to the middle of the first bridge, the audio droned, rambled and lagged as well with the visuals, and finally got cut off. The opening scenes were still going with the poor syncing, but until twelve seconds in, the clip ricocheted to a realistic illustration of Serena and Chibiusa. I can distinguish some details:

Serena's long yellow hair seemed like it was reaching for the screen. She had a happy facial expression and did a subtle pose. Her red eyes were big and looked threatening. Blood was flowing down her neck, her necklace torn, one of her sleeves were missing, and burst open. Parts of her shirt and skirt appeared torn and disintegrated as well, revealing nothing but portions of muscle and bone.

Chibiusa, on the other hand, her clothes were ripped apart and decayed too. Her eyes were red and bleeding as well as blood was dribbling down her legs.

My friends and I turned heads to each other in total confusion. We peered back at the screen, and the image cut to black as a big noise of glitching burst the television speakers for an instant. A couple of my buddies and I jolted and quivered. My friends capped their ears as I turned down the volume with my TV remote. My blood ran cold to my heart at that point as the blank screen progressed to the title card. The writing of the font and backdrop were the same. Instead of the genuine episode name displayed onscreen, "The Crybaby: Usagi's Beautiful Transformation," the episode was written alternatively as "Moon Sailor 1995." After a few seconds, the title screen faded out to black and dissolved back to a picture of the exterior of Serena's usual house.

What's peculiar about this scene was that Serena, Rei, and Ami all had no mouths or noses; no soundtrack or dialogue was added in this section either. Judging by their body and eye movements, I never really recognized them talking about something. Serena showed a natural expression, Rei appeared to be moderately startled, and Ami looked just comfortable. We were confused at this moment. This scene lasted for ten seconds until a home video of a dead female in an oversized bathtub flickered casually on the screen.

Her hair was unkempt, head upside-down in the water, eyes flew out of their sockets, and her rear was abnormally twisted out of the bathtub. Every portion of her skin beet red, besides her rump that had a darkish shade. What startled the bejesus out of me the most was that her face was viewed visibly in the boiling water with pieces of skin ripped apart and away from both cheeks. The girl's mouth wrinkled into a smile, and the camera zoomed in closer to her expression at that period. During the segment, a loud holler of a man caught my awareness, and this noise was beyond powerful than the first one. I set the volume down much lower, and one of my friends was gagging and covering their mouths.

After the sound played, the picture went to the same blank screen once again before cutting back. The episode played just fine this time as the camera zooms to the outside view of Serena's house. The picture cuts to Serena, including some of the Sailor Scouts having a conversation. The scene was different than the one we saw before. The camera shot up close to Rei and Serena arguing about something, I didn't know what was happening. I turned up the volume a small degree to hear their voices. Serena asked Rei why she was a chump towards her. Rei went close to Serena and gave her usual reasons, and I quote:

1. "You're too annoying and troublesome to hang out with, like, I can't even start with any of that right now."
2. "You're always heeding other people's business instead of your friggin' own."
3. "You're a dull-witted impudent and poor brat that needs the center of everyone's attention!"
4. "You cry over every little thing, and it pisses all of us off!"

"Why can't you act like everyone else in a fucking situation?" Rei pushed her arms to Serena's chest. "Be a grown-up, like, for hell's sake!"

"Jesus Christ," I meditated to myself. "How can any of these voice actors get away with profanity in such an innocent kids' show?" Not only that, but I've seen more screwed up crap in the earlier scenes than this one. Let's hope this one doesn't turn out that bad and pretend it's all a parody or some sort.

Serena stood still, and the camera struck close to her face, nearly tearing up. Her eyes glistened at her as she softly whimpered and stuttered. I was anticipating to see Serena usually crying, but I never expected much worse from that. Out of embarrassment and frustration, Serena's face became completely red. She kept her head down as some of the Sailor Scouts and Rei were laughing with each other. The camera zooms in close to Serena, who had an infuriating look upon her face. She ran over and shoved Rei back on the floor with all her energy. She proceeded to fight with her. Rei recoiled in fear and asked what the fuck Serena was doing to her. Serena answered that she couldn't stand any of her bullyings and that it was just too much.

Rei stood up, pushed her back once more, and told her enough was enough. The girls both stopped fighting, and Serena still had teardrops in her glimmering eyes.

"What did I EVER do to you?" She asked, almost crying.

"Stop it, Serena," Rei walked away from Serena.

"No, why do you have to act like this all the time? You know, you could've been more friendly to me the first time we've met," Serena followed her. "How come it's not like that anymore?"

"ENOUGH!'" Rei ran over to Serena and grabbed her neck. Serena told Rei to let go, and she retorted back if only she would stop. Serena took her hand off her neck and shoved her.

"Why are you so MEAN to me?" Serena asked her, with clenched fists. "I don't get it from you!"

The camera cuts to Ami and Minako, watching the girls both quarrel once again. As the part struck back to Serena and Rei's fight, their voices became sharper and harsh than before. I never knew what they were saying at all. They were now screeching random stuff out of their mouths, and it wasn't even in our language. The noises were too torturous to hear for my human brain. For thirteen seconds straight, Rei then grasped Serena's throat. All I heard at this point were a bone snapping sound, and Serena gasping.

Two of my friends and I screamed, "whoa!" with a hesitant smile upon our faces. I covered my mouth, trying not to laugh at this tragedy. The camera cut close to her face as she was trying to scream and gasp for air. Nothing came out of it a few seconds later, other than her gargling noises we heard.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed.

Serena's facial color turned a mixture of blue and red, as Rei tried to strangle her harder than already. She shushed and told her to shut the fuck up. The music of broken chimes was playing in a loop in the background of this segment.

"What are you doing?" Ami shouted. "This is not how you treat an innocent human being! You should be completely ashamed of yourself." Ami ran over to Rei and tried to take her hand away from Serena's throat.

"You don't know what you're even doing, cut it out!" Ami hollered at her. Rei used her choking hand and brutally smacked her across the face. Ami had tears in her eyes and started crying as well. She sat on the floor with her hands upon her face. Minako walked away from the scene at this point. Ami's crying sounded terrifying and practical as if it wasn't faked by the voice actress.

Hear Rei and Serena struggling and fighting once more, Ami had a harsh tone, begging, screaming, and pleading at the top of her lungs at both of the girls to stop fighting. She shrieked again and again before she rolled onto the floor, with her legs kicking up and down. The music got distorted and offbeat at this point.

Rei made her sit up, pointed at her, and shouted: "You shut the fuck up too!" She then smacked Ami across the face, not comically this time; but more severe. Ami covered the side of her face and screeched. Rei took her hand off, placed hers upon Ami's left cheek, and smacked her on the opposite side. As the smacks and screams get loud for the next couple of seconds, the audio stopped, and the camera cut to Ami's face that got beaten and bruised red. She got strangled by Rei too, and her face turned an instant shade of blue, almost as her hair. Her mouth was closed, but all I heard from her was her distressed gargles out of pain, agony, and help.

For a few moments, one of her eyes burst out of her sockets in slow motion, and her lips morphed into a twisted grin. The revolting song played again. I didn't want to scream or cry at this part. All my friends and I thought of saying: "What the fuck"? The scene flashed three times before Ami fell immediately on the concrete floor, bleeding from her sockets without any expression whatsoever. The music got so disturbing and out of place that I wanted to turn the sound off, but the taunting of its melody reeled me in.

Ami's hands were motionless, behind her back, and her blue hair was in a pool of her blood. The camera zoomed in close to her for a few moments before the scene cut out to Serena as well. Her beat-up corpse was lying down next to Ami's body. Marks and scratches were all over their legs and throats, both of which were beet-red and bruised.

Serena's hands twisted from both sides, one of Ami's legs bent very crudely and unnaturally, and Serena, too, had one of her eyes darted out from a socket. Between them, Luna's head decapitated and detached from her neck.

The camera zoomed into the picture for what seemed to be about a minimum of fifteen seconds until Serena opened her mouth, narrowed her eyebrows, and alarmed a booming warbling shriek that filled out speakers. I don't recall what was happening behind the illustration during those couple of seconds, but I can assume throughout that moment, one of my buddies, ran upstairs to the nearby bathroom to vomit. I could've sworn I turned the volume down, but I realized it was up a few notches already.

The music ended abruptly, but I noticed earlier Serena's eyes appeared to be more pragmatic appealing than before. They didn't look like ordinary human eyes, more like big blue shiny orbs, and black like-beads as pupils.

The picture skipped to black and faded into the ending credits, while a slow ballad song played in the background. There were no animators, sound editors, or storyboard directors that made the episode whatsoever. All there remained on the screen was a list of names that, to my surprise, could be the victims. During the credits, the song gets sometimes skipped and distorted. The credits sync out and cut to some montage of bizarre scenes. Scenes that are the most repulsive and twisted a sick fuck could've ever done. I can remember them all and too well.

I was in utter shock as I saw a video of a person lying down on the sand, before winding up getting their body exploded by a landmine. The other people in the clip tried making a run for it, but a few got involved with the disaster as well.

The next clip featured a juvenile daughter barfing uncontrollably in a mother's mouth. Later, the daughter was spluttering out what resembled to be an animal type of manure from her mouth. We all looked away from the screen as the sound of a man distressfully moaned for a bit. The scene quickly flashed to red and back to a short movie of a father incidentally firing a Beretta M9 at his son. Blood from half of his head splattered and tore all over the wooden wall behind him, as the camera dropped. Believe me, I've heard and seen various types of guns on television. I nearly memorized a few at the top of my head now. But I swear to god, as soon as the camera was about to stop filming that video, I could've heard someone in the background asking what the hell that was. Every part of my body ran cold at that second.

Another video showed a topless female with high heels spontaneously poking an infant's eye out on some sort of bed. The woman was wearing a face mask it looked like, and she was stepping on the poor crying baby's chest. As soon as I knew this episode got too far at this limit, my body felt numb.

The last video showed the woman (related to the one we saw at the beginning of the tape), was arguing incoherently with a man wearing all black and in dark shoes. She was nude in a bathtub, and there was a towel rack beside the door. The room looked old fashioned, and the bathroom curtains were wide open. The girl that was bickering sounded very rough and similar to the voice of Mars from the previous scenes. The man rushed over to the girl, grabbed her neck, and drowned her. He did this a few times before offing her on the spot, as her head sank into the freshwater. The pool turned blood-red as he dug his hand out of there, and rushed out of the room. The gun in his hand looked similar to the one the father had in the other clip. The camera was still as the body of the girl twisted, and her head turned over, showing her brutalized face.

This brutal scene disturbed and saddened me so much that I wanted to pause the fucking tape. I was about to bawl my eyes out, but I didn't want to in front of my generous friends. They were going to think that I was a maniac at first, but they overall understood how I felt. As I was about to wipe the tears out of my eyes, the video continued to the credits. As the song was finished and everything else quieted down in the last few seconds, I heard a faint male voice weeping and murmuring before the entire footage dissolved to the static from our videotape. I thought this was the end of the tape, but the static cut to an anchorman who sat in a wooden desk. He was wearing all black and had a shade gray vest that roughly matches his shirt color. The camera zipped in close to him. He had an odd facial expression as if he was feeling alone or upset. I sort of felt bad for him.

He adjusted and sorted the papers out on the desk and lightly hesitated.

"Hey kids," he announced, "Stay tuned for more Sailor Moon. Don't go away." He then smiled after this concise sentence. He snickered for a good solid five moments as a hand, (I'm assuming one of the staff members), grabs him offscreen. The footage finally ceases to static.

Aftermath

I still don't know how this tape ever got around, and to this day, no one else knows. I advised the VHS to the police, and they arrived at my house within a mere two minutes. They were inquiring to know what the hell was going on. I addressed them the whole story, and they were concerned. One wanted me to watch the tape again, and just examining the entire damn thing on repeat made me stay up that evening. I have no other words to explain this insanity of a shenanigan. I'm sorry if I ever wanted to join that fanclub in the first place.

As the police reviewed the episode frame by frame, all the videos featuring the girls and boys were speculated to be the same people, and are unknown family members who were willing to start an online internet cult at who knows where. Some officers theorized that all of the ending videos were murder plots, and the man (in the videos) attempted to kill his entire family. It turned out to be that after all incidents got displayed onscreen, nothing came out of it. No exact location to where these people are, no identities, nor any connections were possible. The police recommended me to report the tape to the VIZ website as is, and they all left and drove off.

My friends and I were speechless. One gave a bogus excuse of dropping their car off to a care center because of how bad their bonnet was crudely bent, another one left after I got told that they had to be home around an early time before their parents would arrive home. What cunts.

I went on my laptop and contacted the website about the found tape of the Sailor Moon episode. I felt so weak after, and I had much trouble napping that night. I jolted as my phone rang in the middle of the night. I grasped the phone off of my night table, and in my hand, I skimmed through email notifications to see if I encountered any responses, and luckily, I have.

I received a reply to an administrator from the site, and this is what they told me:

"We have no findings of 'Moon Sailor 1995' anywhere in our search records, but I have to ask how you discovered that episode. I know that is a rough experience you've encountered, and I'm super sorry to hear about all of that. We never accessed the so-called 'subscription feed' to our site, but I can honestly assume it got hijacked by someone around a time where one of us remained inactive. 

I was told that the tape dawned from the archives of Toei Animations and that the studios got hijacked by someone in the editing room and aired inadvertently years before. I haven't seen it myself, nor have I know anything else besides that. That was all. 

I wish you have a great rest of the night, and I hope you get well soon." 

I was petrified to even move from my bed. What was the purpose of producing that frightful episode on air anyway? Who was even behind all of this? Out of all people, why was I the chosen one that received such a thing?

I thought up of many answers: maybe the admin lied about the episode and knew everything. Perhaps they were the creator who remained anonymous and kept the tape a secret. But I thought that they were so friendly. As habeas corpus defines, an honest person would never do a terrible thing unless proven guilty.

I further guessed that the postman was probably the creator of it, and intentionally sent the wrong tape to us. What haunts me to this very day is that I've remembered looking out the window to see who the man was. I've recognized his face, body shape, boots, and the entire outfit. The boots and the clothes he wore were the same ones I saw from the two scenes in that obscene episode. I remembered him staring at me, and I was glaring back at him until he shuffled down the cement stairs and took off.

After the flashback, I thought to myself sinking into the covers, "He's out there. I hear him scurry around in those tight boots, stopping at my doorstep to see what I want from him. Holy shit, what am I saying? Don't overreact, Matt. Don't overreact."

I heard two knocks on my front door as I hastily calmed down. "Damn it," I said in my head.

Another two knocks, but they were louder than before. I heard a voice call out if anyone was in the house, and that they would like someone to return them something. What could a person be doing on such a fine, typical night like this one?

I swore I heard a voice mumbled to me the most horrifying thing ever,

"I guess not. But I know you're in there, you poor worthless child. Let me tell you something. You are nothing but a big, fat disgrace. You waste your entire time talking to your useless friends. They mean nothing to you, and you mean absolutely nothing back at them. Your parents are out at work, and all you do is say how much you love and care about them. But no, you don't. Besides, you don't believe what anyone says to you because you only give a shit about yourself. You are nothing but a dull breath of fresh air that squandered existence. I know you can hear me bang on your front door. I know you are waiting for me to stop and leave any minute now. I know you have trouble napping like a baby. I'll go away as you please."

He paused. "But now hear this, Matt."

Holy fucking shit on a stick, how did he know my name?

"When I come back the next night, I'll be waiting for you. I'll watch your every move this time. I'll observe you through all floors, and all rooms," he chuckled deeply.

"And when I finally spot you, you're no more. Your parents don't know where you are. They will look out for you. You're an only child. But that doesn't matter because I will clear up and keep all our evidence as a secret after I'm done with you." The voice changed into a deeper tone.

"You're mine, Matt. I will come back. If I come back again soon, you're dead. Have a pleasant night." The voice stopped. The last I heard from him that night was the sound of his boots scampering away in the grass. There was no sign of him anywhere.

I looked around the room as I utterly felt puzzled, yet dumbfounded.

I nervously chuckled to myself and thought: "Hey, that's his problem now." I didn't have any sleep, but I heard the sound of a car turning into my driveway.

"My parents," I thought. "Shit, I'm fucked. What to do, Matt, what to do?" I went downstairs, trying to talk it out. As soon as I opened the door, my parents dragged me into my bedroom.

"Son, we need to talk," my dad suggested.

"Who was that person?" my mom asked me politely.

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about, guys," I stammered and lied.

"Why were they running away?" my dad asked in a stern tone.

I explained to them the whole mishap and remembered that I had the tape with me. I memorized all details about the Sailor Moon episode and shuddered after reporting the whole story. I guess second time's a charm. My parents tucked me into bed, and my mom said that I did the right thing to report it to the police and to contact the website about it. They asked about watching that damn episode the next morning, but I refused. They understood how I felt about this whole situation.

I wished I never watched that video at all, or at least anymore. The experience will still haunt my dreams to this very day. When my parents left for work every night, I just knew that man will come back. I've been up for the preceding few nights, tossing, turning, and looking at the ceiling.

One afternoon, as I was sitting and recording my horrible experience down in my notebook outside, I heard someone snickering at me out of the corner of my eye. It was that man, all in black, peering over my shoulder and holding a severed statue head that resembled to be Sailor Moon.

I sighed quietly, wishing that he would just leave. I also heard the loading of a gun, specifically some kind of Beretta M9. I realized the gun he had, was the same one he fired at the son and the bathtub lady.

I knew I was screwed at that point. He could be filming my every move. He saw my reaction. I felt him put the gun to my head and hear his index finger touch lightly on the trigger to aim at my brains.

The last thing I've heard from his mouth was three words:

"You. Never. Existed." 

He pushed his finger on the trigger as I passed out on the cold floor. I heard a loud crack of the gun as my vision faded out to white, then black. All was silent.

Part 2

I woke up to see my friends and family encircling my hospital bed. The nurse said I experienced a traumatic brain injury, and that they suspected a severe gunshot wound to my head. She told me to stay in the infirmary for a solid twenty days until I went to rehab to resume the TBI program and head home. I took mannitol prescription after every meal and slept at earlier times. Nothing else happened during the past few months.

A year or two later, I was almost better recovering from the fatal injury. My parents and I moved close to our cousin's house, and I'm glad things got better over the next couple of months. I got in touch with my friends, and they arrived over to my house to play videogames and eat pizza one day. They noticed a huge stitch across my scalp, and one of them asked what had happened. I told them everything, and how much I appreciated them coming over to my house. The distress of that schizophrenic man was no more and the reminiscences of that videotape were finally misremembered. Who knows where it could be now. I'm just sharing this story because this incident happened to me a few years back.

If anyone hears their mailbox open and shut, heed my warning. Don't take out whatever's in there. If you find a colorful package that resembles Sailor Moon colors, do not move it. Leave it there, and stay inside at all costs. Hopefully, the postman will return it and bring it to someone else.

Don't make the same mistake as I did.

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