Shabon Spray

Shabon Spray, carried in the Viz Media English release as Bubble Spray, is a fog and bubble technique built around concealment rather than raw force. When Sailor Mercury casts it, a thick haze rolls across the field and blots out sightlines for anyone caught inside, and the temperature in the immediate area slips down by a few degrees. Because its main value is protective, it tends to buy time and disorient a foe more than it wounds one.

To trigger the move, Mercury cradles gathered water in cupped palms, spins on the spot, and then flings it outward, at which point the mist blooms across the battlefield. In its rare defensive turns it does more than hide her: during the forty-fifth episode she leaned on the spray as a thin shield to blunt searing heat and open flame. The technique also crossed into gaming, showing up in Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S and Another Story, where the bubbles streak toward a foe on screen; in Another Story a successful hit sapped the enemy's offensive strength so the party absorbed less damage.

Sailor Mercury is the principal wielder, and Pollux of the Castor and Pollux pair also demonstrates it. Throughout the first season this was Mercury's workhorse move before the stronger Shabon Spray Freezing and Shine Aqua Illusion eventually took its place. The dubs shuffled its name repeatedly: DiC first branded it Mercury Bubbles Blast, later re-releases and Viz settled on Bubble Spray, and two DiC episodes mislabeled it Mercury Ice Storm Blast, a title actually meant for Shine Aqua Illusion.