Bartimaeus

We're very sorry for your marriage!

Oh, now you've done it. Look at what you did. Look at it! Now @majestic has to do it all over again. How could you do this to him? There's one good moment towards the end when Steven realizes it's not Onion but actually himself that's the one with no friends close to his age, but that's about it. You and everyone else, . Now I can finally post this: (removed because related videos spoilers pop up, whoops) Okay, uploaded to my dropbox instead: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/76ndwfzx9iiqpiq/You rePEARLsted in the Wrong Neighborhood-yH1-dR_dfNs.mkv

Not to mention atmosphere...D2's atmosphere isn't as good as D1's, but it sure is light years ahead of the pure high fantasy that is D3.

Agree to disagree, . And speaking of... If/when I ever watch Sailor Moon again, it's gonna be the original English dub. ...Except I'm going to have to skip a lot of at least the first season, because Molly (Naru) has the absolute worst voice I've ever heard in my life, and ain't no way I'm sitting through all of that during her Nephrite arc. I have problems with accents, especially when they're as bad as this on a voice that's like the complete opposite of new Naru. Yeah, I'm a big fan of the R filler arc too, now that you mention it. While the ending of it isn't necessarily anything to write home about, it was, once again, at least fairly short compared to everything that's not the Sailor Stars filler arc finale or the season 1 finale, so it's automatically up there as well as a result. I'd say so. The whole way it actually resolves with Queen Beryl and stuff isn't particularly better or anything than other arcs, but besides that it is more concise, less repetitive, and gives things to do for all five girls, so it kind of wins by default. No kidding: most shows have somewhere between very mediocre and utterly lousy endings. SU's a little strange in that most of its major story arcs usually had good to great build-up all the way to their ends, but then the final moment that would finally resolve the story arc had a tendency to feel...kind of flat and anti-climactic, in a sort of "oh, I guess that just happened" kind of way. I think the Cluster finale in S2/beginning of S3 best exemplifies this - literally just about everything leading up to the end moment was awesome, but the end moment itself where the Cluster just decides to take care of itself was totally deflating to me after all of that build-up, . Or the episode where Minako does her double-date, which is actually a fantastic use of the Amazon Trio...............um, right up until the end of the episode where it's not so funny anymore for reasons I don't want to talk about, . Ami's beach episode was also quite good...once again, right up until it wasn't. Like I said way back when, there were actually good ideas and even villains buried somewhere in SuperS - even the Amazon Trio could've been a hilarious group of bad guys with a little retooling. Unfortunately, buried they were indeed, and very deep at that. And there was, quite frankly, no way to save the horse romance plot - Ms. Takeuchi really dropped and then shattered the ball on that one, . Is that actually true? I could swear...I thought Makoto might have knocked one down at some point without transforming, but I guess I can't recall for sure if that's the case. Hotaru KILLED one without transforming, the shell lady that tried to help her in the Sailor Utena (S328) episode...but that doesn't really count given her, uh, personal problems at the time, .

Oh, I know who Bob Ross is and I'm familiar with that show, but what the actual hell was he doing in that anime show...and running away from and shooting up cops? Don't remember hearing about that part of his life, . I guess Ronaldo was right. The fight over subs and dubs indeed seem pointless...although for completely different reasons than when he mentioned it. Subs are just as liable to be as poorly or imprecisely written as dubs are, so just go with whichever one you like better, . Well, unless it pulls a Sailor Moon and just decided to inexplicably censor and/or rewrite characters, plots, and dialogues, I guess...in which case, you of course have to go with that version, . No kidding. They were perfectly fine outside of those circumstances...unfortunately, that's by and large when they most showed up, particularly outside of S. Hm, I'm not too big on any of the finales of the show, to be honest. I think my favorites would be between season 1 and this, though? If I'm not mistaken, I was somewhat mentally checked out with R's and S's endings, and obviously SUPER checked out with SuperS's. Ironically, I think...I think the filler arc of this season had the best finale of any arc? That's probably because the arc overall was pretty short and sweet and felt like it advanced at the proper pace without too much pointless/bad fighting, crying, standing around, over-explanation, repetition, or...other wastes of time that are kind of endemic to Sailor Moon finales, . That's usually my problem with these finales: if you want to get rid of all the fun stuff in exchange of severity and disaster, that's fine, but you're going to have to hit the mark just right. Characters need to not act totally unreasonably/stupidly - this happened in...maybe only the very first season, I think? It seems like somebody(s) is always being an annoying dummy in these finales for added forced conflict, and it unfortunately just never works or feels right to me. It also needs to be kept moving and not keep dwelling on the same points or repeating the same beats (I don't know if any season finales qualify for this - this show likes to drive home its themes and ideas over and over during its important story/finale episodes until you are practically beaten into submission with them, ). It should also have good and understandable character motivations and moments, even if they aren't fun or funny...I THINK seasons 1 and 5 probably best exemplify this trait, which is probably why they'd be my favorites. Suffice to say, the finales of this show have...tended to have SOME individual good points and moments, but they were never the crown jewels - not by far - of their seasons for me. And in the Sailor Stars filler arc, in addition to its other good points unique to it, we actually get to directly see Mamoru get corrupted and be taken away in the way that he was and that was actually pretty compelling and sensible stuff compared to most other Sailor Moon villainy, and Nehellenia herself was a fairly decent villain overall. She didn't seem as completely lazy, silly, or impotent/incompetent compared to most of the rest (ironic after how she was in SuperS, where she was all of those...both in intentional and unintentional ways). She wasn't as fun or wacky as The Professor, but then again, The Professor wasn't the ultimate villain of S, so that's not a fair comparison anyways. It also came directly after the ending of SuperS, which I'm sure helped...and speaking of SuperS, the absolute worst is SuperS, of course - it's literally ALL of the bad things I mentioned, then you throw in the fact that it came at the end of an already not good season and one of the focal characters being, well, You-Know-Who, and yeah, bleh.

boondocks: what the hell did I just wwatch lol Episode 195 of Sailor Moon, I'd started this episode about 4 or 5 times over the past week, but finally got it done: Episode 196: Episode 197: Episode 198: Episode 199: Episode 200, The End of Anime:

The OCD thing *I* have is that I simply need to have all of the files archived in the exact perfect order and state that I want them in, down to muxing every single episode of every single show to a perfectly consistent standard (I've made scripts that help do this, thankfully). As long as the files are there, then it doesn't really matter to me whether I've seen every last second of every episode or not, . SuperS is probably the single thing I've most skipped big parts of while still making myself watch every episode - I even stopped watching the intro song, which...I went back to watching all of for Sailor Stars, which makes no sense considering I hate the animation of the intro and the song changed*! Tells you how much I didn't have the patience for SuperS and just wanted it to be over, I guess. *Although I do admittedly like the song, so that helps.

This is @majestic we're talking about - he has his own kind of OCD for completing everything of what he started even when he'll be the first to admit that it makes no sense to do so, . majestic: I gotta say, it feels good to not know a lick of German and just be cool with whatever random broken German Asuka wants to say, .

I...think that's the version to watch if you're going to. There are like 3 different versions of the movie, one that was the initial cut that had a big chunk of The End of Evangelion added onto it (I believe that's Death and Rebirth), then one that was a cut down version that had not just that but also other stuff removed as well, and then a "final" version that was ONLY the recap no TEoE with the previously removed scenes added back in. I think that last one is ^2. I think I tried to watch ^2, realized it was not the correct English dub and immediately peaced out, then found a DVD copy of the original Death and Rebirth with the correct English dub, watched the non-TEoE half, and then wondered why I watched because I got absolutely nothing out of it, . Yeah, non-endings are great - glad you love them too!

Congratulations! 👁👁 👁👁 👁👁

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.