Now that I look a the title of this article again, I’m starting to think I could use this title again for an article about the Starlights. I mean, Taiki fits the bill of Frankenstein’s Monster pretty well, with that absurdly-large forehead.
But I digress. We’re here to talk about Usagi, Ami, and Rei’s beach adventure. Yes.
Usagi and her friends go to the beach on a training trip, but their lodging turns out to be a creepy old hotel run by scary-looking people.
That’s right, kids. This is a notorious beach episode.3 But what interests us about this episode is that, while we in the west may associate October and Halloween with the time for ghost stories and the paranormal, those things are more generally associated with August in Japan.
One of which is the name of the name of the hotel itself: Pension Adams.
Of course, you didn’t click on this article in order to read about the Addams Family. We’re here to talk about the three staff members of Pension Adams: the mistress of the house (Dracula/vampire), the cook (werewolf), and the bellboy (Frankenstein’s monster).
There’s some debate about the what the woman in, with some people online claiming she’s a ghost, but that’s not true. She is not only a vampire, but more specifically, she is supposed to be Dracula. Don’t worry, I’ll follow up on this.
Taro Kaibutsu – the titular Kaibutsu-kun – is joined on his misadventures by his three comrades in arms: Dracula, Wolfman, and Franken.
In case that wasn’t enough for you, it might be worth pointing out that Wolfman is also a famous cook in Monster Land. Just a coincidence, I’m sure.
I can’t say for sure, but I feel like there’s probably some sort of hidden reference going on with the young girl, Sakiko, and maybe some sort of movie plot or old Japanese legend, but I’ve been unable to dig up anything. There may be something out there, but I haven’t found it.
The jig is up for our monster friends!
But that pretty much explains why Dracula, a werewolf, and Frankenstein’s monster made a guest appearance in Sailor Moon! I know I’ve mentioned it time and again, but it always amazes me how for both Ms. Takeuchi and the production staff behind the anime went to sneak in little references like this. There are actually a few more in this episode, but that will probably have to wait for another time.
If there are any episodes you’d like me to take a look at, or maybe there’s something that just doesn’t sit right and you think might have a deeper story, let me know! I’m always looking for more ideas.
← Why Does Ami Think Vampires Like to Eat Flowers?
This was such a weird episode. I actually never saw it until I was rewatching the series around 2013, I was shocked to learn that I had only seen 199 of the episodes and had missed one all of this time! Then sort of disappointed, as I discovered that this is one of the worst episodes of the series, just weird and nothing like the regular show at all.
Either one or two of the flashback scenes in the Sailor Moon R movie were to this episode (Ami remembered talking to Usagi on the beach)… I never knew where the footage in the R movie came from until I finally saw this episode. I always thought it was weird that some of the flashbacks were from older episodes but I didn’t know where Ami’s was from.
The hotel’s name was an easy reference to get, but the workers confused me. I’ve seen some fans say they were also supposed to be a reference to the Addams Family, but I always thought the workers seemed more like a Munsters reference if anything. I should have known we were both wrong and it was actually a Japanese pop culture reference. XD Never heard of The Monster Kid before but it looks kind of cute.
It’s interesting you haven’t been able to find what Sakiko is a reference to. I kind of like that, in a way. Makes this episode even more strange and mysterious. Part of why I love to watch it every Halloween!
My first gut instinct was that there must have been an Addams Family connection that I was somehow missing (… maybe the wolfman was supposed to be Cousin It??), but no matter how I looked, I just wasn’t finding anything. It was only after googling different combinations of monsters in Japanese that I finally stumbled across this series and made the connection.
Every time I find a small thing like this, it always makes me want to rewatch other old episodes and see if there was anything in there that I never quite noticed before. It’s a lot of fun, to say the least!
Makes sense. The reason I thought it was a Munsters reference is on there, Herman is a Frankenstein, mom Lily is a vampire, and the son Eddie is a werewolf. That’s just like our trio here, but the difference in ages/lack of family relationship is what made unsure if that really was the case. It’s kind of funny finding out that there’s more than one show out there with a similar odd bunch of paranormal beings!
Me too! I tend to take advantage of any excuse to rewatch Sailor Moon, even if it’s only a single episode, lol.
Wow, even though I know both stories, I’ve never made the connection. But, yes, of course!
No worries — thanks for pointing it out! The typo’s fixed now.