Aqua Sceptre (film)

Aqua Sceptre is an upcoming stop motion fan fiction film that will be the fifth film in the Sailor Moon Cinematic Universe by KB Fan Fiction. The film focuses on Ami Mizuno or Sailor Mercury.

Plot
The film opens with prodigy genius Ami Mizuno preparing for an inter-school water sports competition at Juuban Municipal Junior High School. After a water polo training session at school, Ami finds a letter in her locker, and becomes shocked when she discovers that the letter is a love letter. Later, Ami helps up Minako Aino, another student, who slipped. She tells Minako about the letter, and about her strange reaction to them. After school, Ami receives a call from Minako who invites her for a picnic at the seaside. At the picnic, Ami discovers a glowing sapphire attached to a sceptre. The girls bring it to Ami’s apartment afterwards, and later that night, the sapphire from the sceptre floats in the air, illuminating Ami’s bedroom. The sapphire then attaches itself into Ami’s body.

The next day, Ami discovers that the incident has caused her to perform better in her preparations for the competition, despite balancing it with studying for her tests. Her performance shocked Minako, who is becoming curious about the sceptre. Minako requested Ami to meet Michiru Kaioh and show her the sceptre. Later, the girls visit Michiru’s mansion, where Ami meets her for the first time. Michiru finds out that the sceptre is a legendary staff that guards a mystic sapphire said to have a power over water. Michiru becomes Ami and Minako’s coach to train for the water sports competition.

The next day, Ami shows the girls a magazine with the national scores for practice exam. She directs their attention to a page that shows someone with the name of "Mercury" scored 100% on all five subjects. Ami goes on to explain results are sent in with code names and that hers is Mercury, but the problem is that another person is tied with her, a person whose nickname is "Mercurius". Ami believes Mercurius is challenging her and may be a new enemy.

On the day of the water sports competition, the Juuban Municipal Girls’ School team, represented by Ami and Minako, is joined by Michiru, to Ami and Minako’s surprise. With some teamwork and a little assistance from the mystic sapphire inside Ami, the trio overcame various odds and made their way to total victory for Juuban Municipal Girls’ School. Later that evening, Ami, Minako and Michiru celebrate by having a picnic at a nearby island. However, the girls are late for their ferry back and are stranded on the island. They took shelter at an abandoned house during a rainy night.

The next morning, the girls are awakened by a Youma that threatened a school boy. Ami uses her sceptre to destroy the Youma with Bubble Spray, saving the boy. The boy reveals that his name is “Mercurius”, and he had also been stranded on the island with the girls the previous day. Mercurius and the girls later reside in a cave where they discuss the sceptre. Mercurius explains that he also wanted the sceptre to complete the statue of Mercurius at a hidden temple somewhere on the island. Just as the group is about to leave the cave, the cave begins to rumble, and the girls realize that they are inside a Youma. After its reflexes were triggered by Ami’s sceptre, the Youma sneezes out the group before going into the water. Ami manages to place everyone including herself into an air bubble after falling into the sea, catching a glimpse of an underwater temple in the process.

As the girls are about to enter the temple, they are attacked by its guardian, a Youma resembling a sea serpent. Michiru transforms into Sailor Neptune and defeats the Youma with Deep Submerge. They eventually find the statue of Mercurius in the temple, and reunited with the boy Mercurius. Mercurius asks for the sceptre, while Neptune sensed something strange about the boy Mercurius. Ami says to Mercurius that she wants to return the sceptre to the statue. Mercurius offers the girls a high price for them to give the sceptre to him, but Ami insists that the sceptre belongs to the statue. After a brief scuffle, Ami unintentionally knocked Mercurius unconscious, and Neptune sensed a dark presence in the temple.

The presence is seen exiting Mercurius’ body and showed itself to be the Demon King Asura. Minako transforms into Sailor Venus to join the fight alongside Ami and Neptune. In the battle, Asura overpowers the girls and takes the sceptre, intending to use it to destroy them. In her coma, Ami encounters the spirit of Queen Serenity who reveals that the powers of her sceptre can be unleashed by the one who has Ami’s sapphire, which is revealed to be a Sailor Crystal. Serenity then transfers the sceptre’s powers to the sapphire, which merges with Ami, transforming her into Sailor Mercury for the first time. Sailor Neptune says to the reawakened Sailor Mercury that she does not need the sceptre anymore to use her power, as she had already received its power. Sailor Mercury uses Mercury Aqua Rhapsody to finish off Asura. Queen Serenity later showed that the real sceptre has been converted into a Crystal Change Rod for Sailor Mercury, and gave it to her. Relieved from the evil presence, Mercurius wakes up and is sent back to the island by the girls, where they are picked up by the next ferry.

The next day, the girls go for another picnic at the beach after finding out that Mercurius is still in the rankings, having tied Ami again. Suddenly, the beach is attacked by another Youma, and the girls transform and charge into battle, ending the film.

Cast

 * Ami Mizuno is Sailor Mercury
 * Minako Aino is Sailor Venus
 * Michiru Kaioh is Sailor Neptune
 * Mercurius
 * Usagi Tsukino

Youma

 * Reingar, an aquatic Youma.
 * Vorracon, a six-legged, aquatic Youma that resembles a sea dragon.
 * Vrithra, a sea serpent-based Youma.
 * Fuzhor, a crustacean-based Youma that appeared at the movie’s ending.
 * Asura, a divine being who sought the Aqua Sceptre.

Trivia

 * The film bears numerous references to the Hong Kong horror comedy series, Happy Ghost:
 * The water sports competition is inspired by a similar competition in Happy Ghost II (1985).
 * The final scene is based on a seaside scene from the same film.
 * The film also contains several references to the 2013 film, Carrie:
 * The titles scene is loosely based on Carrie’s second opening title sequence.
 * The training montage of Ami training with Michiru in aquatic sports is accompanied with “Dare” by Stan Bush. The scene is a reference to a training scene from the 2017 series Glow.
 * Like most films in the first arc of the series, Usagi Tsukino appears in the film as a cameo. Her cameo is much bigger in this film compared to her other cameo appearances in the first arc.

References to the Sailor Moon series

 * Portions of the story are based on Ami’s First Love.
 * The swimming segment during the training montage is based on a similar scene from episode 97 of the original Sailor Moon animated series.