Bartimaeus

I thought that moment between her and Ikuko was sweet, but now it makes no sense. Retroactively ruined by a lack of continuity - good job, SuperS.

I kiiind of forgot that Chibi-Usa apparently brought a whole album of photoshopped photos with her when she brainwashed Usagi's family. Sort of clashes with that moment at the beginning of SuperS where Chibi-Usa had the sad realization that there weren't any photos of her with Usagi's family. Also...............it occurs to me that Chibi-Usa is Usagi's "cousin". This is really, really not good, guys. However, at least Usagi seeks to remedy this situation by turning Chibi-Usa into a fine red paste - very nice of her, very heroic. Well, you're in for something. It sometimes amazes me how large the U.S. is in terms of area. I was musing what the maximum distance in time that two people could be apart in Germany...and then I realized that Germany isn't really that significantly larger than just my own state, so that distance is probably only like 5 hours, which is a bit if that's the case...but not like literal several days' worth of hours such as it is in the U.S. overall. Europe is so much denser than the Americas, .

It definitely does. The faster you go, the sooner you'll have to find something else (probably something else that's not quite as good!) to occupy your time and brainspace... That's one of the very few benefits of the old style of weekly episodes - when you have to watch only an episode every week, it's much more of a long journey that sort of strengthens your bonds with the characters over time. If you watch three entire freaking seasons of a show in 3-4 days *COUGH*, man, I just don't know - that's such a compressed timespace to really let the characters, themes, story, etc. occupy your brain, . This is also probably why shows we watched as kids stuck with us a lot longer...I'm seeing with my own nieces with streaming and having shows downloaded that you can get through them so much faster and then you're just onto the next thing because there are piles of different shows, old and new, to watch - it's weird. "Luckily" for myself personally, I take so long to watch anything that this isn't a problem...and I definitely don't get OCD panic attacks and/or existential dread because my "movies and shows to watch" folder is now over 2 TB large with literally dozens of different things in it! No, not at all! As for Peridot...well, that just makes sense: only the great and lovable Peridot can compare to Pearl, the greatest birdmom that ever was, anyways! Also, you're going to be watching an episode called "Onion Gang" pretty soon, if you haven't already. I apologize in advance for its foul presence in season 4.

how would that even be a consolation for me anyways lmao

KP got to Bismuth before I got to Galaxia, so I guess you finally got your answer, majestic. RIP me.

You could take my approach: do both! It's okay to be critical of and realize there are major flaws in your favorite things while still defending and loving them, particularly in light of their circumstances, . That's more or less what you've been doing anyways! Well, it both makes her more sympathetic in regards to specifically Mamoru because what the actual hell is Mamoru thinking or doing and it kind of seems like he's almost emotionally manipulating her in a way...but it also makes her *less* sympathetic because she's treating this poor little girl who's even more messed up than her like garbage. So, eh. Hey, now that you mention it, then we could cut out Black Lady entirely (note for any other readers of this post who have not watched Sailor Moon: "Black Lady" is not what you think it is), and that's a plus in of itself, .

Hm...in a way, I guess it pays to be incredibly picky about what I like or even want to try to watch like I am: the stuff that actually works for me feels a lot more meaningful whenever I find it, .

What KP said: it *already* takes up a lot of time throughout the series (less so in S, not at all in Sailor Stars of course), it's just that...what's there is not good for a variety of reasons, . Maybe there's mercifully not as much of it as either the manga or Crystal, but still - don't need more of it, just needed what's already there to be better! But like you said, literally everything back then was completely written on the fly with no time to think about how it literally comes across or anything else, so the fact that they at least made it not completely creepy all the time like either Crystal or the manga is...something at least! I very much prefer that they stick together not because of any past memories or lives, but because they actually like and want to be around each other. The whole "you gotta do this because your past life did as well" convention is an utterly lousy one at best, and way less strong than simply showcasing their current lives bonds (sadly, this also doesn't work for Usagi and Mamoru - who cares what happened thousands of years ago, what matters is the present that we've been seeing them 99% the time as). Based on the fact that they never recall memories of their past lives or helpful experiences from them or knowledge of their relationships or what it's like to be an adult (obviously), my assumption is that they're never given them in the anime anyways, which I am perfectly okay with. The idea that this is basically him throwing up his hands in frustration with the garbage he's having to write is pretty funny. Might actually even be true, since as you said, he ended up leaving shortly after! Did I skip that? I probably did. Don't remember it - it's for the best, . I've always been amazed with the 11-minute format for cartoons, actually. The sheer amount of stuff you can pack into like an episode of even like SpongeBob without seeming like it's utter breakneck speed (well, at least for the first couple of seasons, before that show fell off the world's largest cliff) is pretty ludicrous, and shows just how tightly made some of these more time-constrained shows can be - have to be, actually. Writers and storyboarders really have to figure the exact most critical bits to making characters and plots work while discarding the rest. It's a feat.

Totally makes sense, and is something I actually vaguely had in mind myself, but I kind of lost myself halfway through that post because of interruptions. They feel like they're together because they have to be together because that's just the way it is. Except this is a highly character interactions/relations-driven show, so while that may fly for shows like Speed Racer where the two main characters are together with no explanation ever given or really needed because the show is stupid and simple, it doesn't work as well for Sailor Moon. So yeah, Usagi and Mamoru actually working together as a couple needed a lot more "show, don't tell" for it to be more convincing. Gosh, I forgot about that. Why, SuperS...why? Don't feed into Usagi's Mamoru psychosis! See, this is why I asked you and saved my own sheltered mind and eyes, . I've already been traumatized by other Steven Universe fans enough, Sailor Moon trauma is your job! No, I think the writers pretty clearly wanted Makoto to be sad for forever, so that just wouldn't fly I'm afraid!

Hey, two paragraphs is not an essay! Thanks for the additional context: it helps...a little. I guess we can chalk it up to weirdities with the original manga and not being able to figure out how to adapt it on the fly in a way that really worked (particularly given that the manga material is simply...not very good). It also occurs to me that there's honestly not a whole lot of successful or healthy relationships going on in this show very much at all. Who's the best and least weird couple? ...I suppose as bizarre, inexplicable, and frustrating as they can be in regards to OTHER characters, it seems like it's gotta be Haruka and Michiru, right?

My understanding has always been that those 'prestigious' schools are much more about networking and making connections than anything else. If you're really truly ambitious and want to try to make it to the top of the rat race, knowing the right people is unfortunately and undoubtedly the most important thing in life. I'm an incredibly introverted and somewhat asocial bozo, so trying to network is not entirely dissimilar to pulling teeth for me...but that's just as well anyways, seeing as I'm not in any way ambitious for much of anything besides some hobbies.

The Sailor Moon Says channel just posted this: And so, on the back of Serena and Darien's comments here, now seems like a better time than ever to bring this up. This may come as a shock to all of you, but...

The way you boil down emotional cruxes of episodes is...interesting, to say the least, .

The way S2 ends is really odd. In the original airings, you had to wait 5 months to get those two episodes that actually properly ended the season. Doesn't seem like the best planning to me, .

Does anyone have any thoughts/feelings towards either Future Boy Conan (1978) or Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990)? My show-watching partner wants to watch one or both of two of these sometime in the future (after we've finished up Speed Racer and Sailor Moon*), but we don't know anything about either except that they look good (well, Nadia's strange clash of character designs notwithstanding). *No, I didn't forget about Madoka Magica.

Well, my initial reaction to her was worse than that, so that's fair. Some voices must just take some time to get used to, I guess... Oh yeah, that's the season 3 and beyond voice. IIRC, there's a season 1 VA that is properly young-sounding but also kind of airy and idyllic (almost to the point of sounding like she's sleepwalking through some of her lines) who was then fired and replaced halfway through that season (because apparently she was putting the entire schedule behind with too many takes). The second VA is Terri Hawkes, who is widely considered to be the best, but she only played Sailor Moon up until the end of R. S and SuperS...you get Linda Ballantyne, who ironically was actually the youngest of all three VAs, but sounded like a complete meme of a middle-aged woman. Whenever clips of S and SuperS are posted on the Sailor Moon Says channel, people are always in shock with how Usagi sounds, .

But that's literally how I was sold on it! You're not American or Canadian, you just couldn't ever understand how perfectly ingenious the original dub is, . ...Am I going to watch the entire thing in the the original English dub, you ask? Well...maybe someday, but I'm very busy right now, so please stop asking!! Glad I don't know German and can't tell then! Also, what did you think of Asuka's VA in general in that clip? I remember the first time I heard her, and I was like "whoa, she sounds SUPER strange for what's supposed to be a teen girl, and I'm not sure that I like it or will be able to get used to it"...and then a few episodes later I couldn't imagine her sounding anything EXCEPT like this VA. Don't know how that happened, and wondering if she sounds very strange to you (or KP) as well.

Sir, you seem to be applying implying that the original dub is *not* "actually good". Let me construct my reply in a series of YouTube reaction clips: Oh dang it, this last one is from SU season 4 - even though it doesn't really have any spoilers, KP might not appreciate seeing it, so here it is spoilered:

If someone had described Sailor Moon to me, there's not a chance in hell I would've ever been interested. On the other hand, one little incredibly stupid 30 second clip on YouTube and I was like "okay, now we're getting somewhere". So based on my experience, if the YouTube clips don't appeal to you on at least some level, then it may indeed not be for you, .

Okay, so I watched the entire show all in one sitting (like the only time that's ever happened in my entire life), and I watched the original English dub (i.e. not the new Netflix English dub). It's possible that some of this got lost in translation because of dub differences...but it's also possible that I just don't remember because all of what I remember of Evangelion is one big blurry blob - point is, I only have the vaguest memory of what you're talking about, so I need to go back and check. I just opened up the Asuka debut episode, opened up to like halfway in the episode, and was greeted with this screen. It was paused, so I was like, wow, body proportions are a lot more realistic than I remember! Hm, cool. Unpause... Oh. I've been bamboozled! Well, if anything, the first one was a little *too* much for anime, but still... Okay, here it is. Heh, funnier than I was able to remember: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/n1eomrwo4gbnm2h/zJgg0EBtr2.mp4 (accidentally cut off half a second there from where I wanted to, but good enough) This lady have better or worse German than the Japanese lady?

Episode 193: Episode 194: Okay, episode 194 done.

I really should've figured that out. Well...Asuka was my favorite character, followed pretty shortly by Rei - if it hadn't been for those two, I don't think I could've finished the show, Shinji made me too mad. As for Asuka's German...heh, that's kind of funny. Writers should really stop trying to write characters that are supposed to be native speakers of a language and culture they don't know without expert advice, .

@ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP @majestic Aha, I had a fragment of a memory of the whole "Ami is inexplicably good at video games" thing already happening (hence the question mark when I said she'd never played video games before), but I couldn't figure out from which episode it was from if it had actually happened. But there's a world of difference between being better than Usagi at something and joining an actual competition while having never played nor practiced before...it was just, yeah, it was bad. If you're trying out something entirely new that requires quick reflexes, then it doesn't matter if you have the quickest reflexes in the history of humanity - you're gonna get whooped by someone who already has the muscle memory. Whatever, though - there have only been two poor episodes this entire season, which after SuperS is fantastic. All three other seasons that aren't SuperS also had either 1 or 2 poor episodes that didn't work too well, so that's right about in line. I guess I'm gonna see pretty soon here if these last story episodes truly are terrible or not...

that episode is one of my favorite S2 episodes, between all of the gems looking like an absolute trainwreck, Pearl having her wonderful """dream'"", Pearl being an absolute creeper staring straight into Steven's face while sitting literally like an inch away while he's sleeping (seriously, what the hell pearl), Lapis' waterfall horror face