majestic

@Amentepprobably. He's ancient and timeless, like the Lady of Pain.

What I meant was that if you're someone like me and don't know the distinction you might end up thinking that the first season has some sort of interesting plot. Which it doesn't. That reminds me a bit one of the bigger disappointments when people made me believe that Dark Souls (the first one) has this great, subtly told storyline. When I finally played the game, I... was positively thrilled to find out that it's about you being the chosen one and your character has literally zero motivation to do anything beyond: Here's an enemy, go beat him, because he is in the way and has loot. The only interesting thing about being the chosen one was that you were also an undead. And that felt more like cop-out explanation why you can die and resurrect over and over again (and why "humanity" is a stat). Granted the actual setting of Dark Souls was much more interesting than that of Sailor Moon, that's not hard. edit: Amazingly enough, in Crystal, where they have like 14 or so episodes for the entire first arc, they still waste all that time showing off the transformation sequences. Sigh. edit 2: edit 3. Silly manga fact of the day: Naoko Takeuchi originally wanted Ami to be a cyborg, but her editor shot the idea down really quickly.

I've also been trying to put my thoughts on Sailor Moon Sailor Stars and Sailor Moon as a whole into perspective. The problem here is simply because I loved the final season and I'd like to post about it, but I know from experience this is exactly the type of season that often gets hate from fans of the earlier ones, and I am not oblivious to the fact that it has a few glaring issues that can rightfully turn people away. In a way, Sailor Stars feels like watching the later seasons of How I Met Your Mother (although Sailor Moon is much better as a whole). Even started to watch some reviews on YouTube, but they all seem to be made from one extreme point of view: Either from pure hate (mostly because filler and changes from the holy grail that the source material apparently is, it is too campy, it is too comedic, Rei sucks in the anime because she doesn't hate men, you get my point here, I guess) to utter and unthinking adoration ("I promise you these villains have great arcs!"). If I had to pick one side then I'd have to let nostalgia take over and pick the extreme unthinking adoration, because that source material is... not very strong. I'm sorry. This probably really is because deep down inside I am a toxic male and just love the fanservice in my shojo anime. Or... whatever else the guy whose review I just watched would have said had I not shut it off prematurely*. Seriously. Sits there and claims the 90ies anime has no character development in the filler episodes to make them worthwhile. What? Tuned out after the first season, did you? But even in the first season. Geez. It has far, far more character development than the manga has. It just happens naturally. it is SHOWN to you, not TOLD. That's not to say that the anime doesn't suffer from pacing issues. I guess if you actually really cared about the storyline of the first season, then you'd be deep in the poopie when watching the original anime. Try as I might, I do not understand these people at all. The "storyline" of the first story arc in the manga is EVIL B*TCH QUEEN looking for Magical McGuffin, sends her four commanders to be brutally murder-death-killed by 14 year old girls who plow through them easily and without batting an eyelash or even a hint of second guessing. Spoilered for IC mostly: And it is even worse for side characters. The manga, like the anime, tells us that Naru is Usagi's best friend in the world, and then after Usagi finds some magical friends she ditches her like a hot potato, almost never to be seen again. Well how's that for love and friendship? Jesus, what was my point now? Yeah, I need some more time to figure things out before I post something more concrete on Sailor Stars. Or maybe I'll just wait for all of you to catch up. * Well, my fault, I guess. Should have known better than to check out a channel called Magical Unicorn. Guy's probably a fan of edit 2: edit 3:

Moar Crystal.

edit: The manga explains Usagi's crying as ultrasonic sound waves when it shatters glass and defeats enemies.

I'll see soon, I guess. At this pace the storyline reveal will happen in episode 4 or 5 (maybe 6?), and then I'll see just how much... Anyway, the second episode isn't playing fair, Ami joins the team. Can do no wrong with her, right? I mean... Or maybe you can... Good job Crystal by updating the tech Ami works with but not taking care of putting the storyline in a different time. I wonder how that is going to continue. As you all might remember, Ami does study at this new energy collection scheme school Jadeite cooked up, right? The computers got a nice face lift. Ami sits in front of a sweet 16:9 LCD screen with a Windows 7/10 style task bar and is given the magic disk that should sap her energy, but only this time it is a compact disc (or DVD, BR, etc.). That's fine guys, really. Really... fine. Will the girls have mobile phones now? Why do they go to the arcade to play games when the rest of the computer technology got a boost to our current time? Am I overthinking this? Very strong contender for the best joke of the series. That's such a killer line for this situation.

I just watched the first episode of Sailor Moon Crystal. It's... uhm. Yeah. Honestly, please, stop using CGI and go back to a shoestring budget. This looks wrong, plus every scene feelts kind of flat, the framing is boring and the backgrounds are somewhat lifeless and lacking and detail. Maybe that'll get better, who knows. I'll try to explain one thing by comparing the original anime to what happens in Crystal (and the manga, more or less). In Crystal, Usagi doesn't forget her lunch and mindlessly runs down the street and steps on Luna's tail. She removes the band aid from her head after Luna scratches her. In the original anime she forgets her lunch, comes back for a funny scene, and then sees three kids torturing Luna and intervenes even though she's already late for school, and removes the band aid, no scratching. See, adding a scene like that to pad out the running time immediately also adds character development. We see Usagi help an innocent cat by chasing away three terrible kids, and forget her lunch. I'll leave you to decide what does a better job at showing us her personality, but... Oh, and Crystal has Usagi immediately develop a crush on Mamoru, because she monologues how her heart is still racing from seeing a snobby stranger in a tux on the street who insulted her. Oh, right. Mamoru's actually wearing a tuxedo in front of the jewelry store. Yeah. Just so you don't miss the hint that he's Tuxedo Mask. Beause, yeah. Uhm. You somehow could miss that, for some reason. Uhm. Yeah. Sigh. At least it's only 39 episodes.

You're drinking stuff that isn't vodka or beer.

Oh, and lest I forget to post this for the umpteenth time. I've read a bit throuh the manga by now, and Sailor Moon might just be one of rare instances of an adaptation elevating* the source material. If you ever stop and wonder why the villains in the anime are a little on the underdeveloped side, wonder no more. They all get like 20 pages (30 if they're lucky) and then die in the manga. To put that into perspective, chapters tend to have 45 or so pages (and that includes the title and an opening drawing), and an entire arc has between 11 and 13 chapters or so. So yeah, having villains with even less personality? Sure possible. Count your blessings, I'd say. *The other major one that comes to mind is Alan Rickman's Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies. Rowling even wrote the character in the later books with Alan Rickman's portrayal in mind because she thought that he did a better job at being Snape than her actual Snape did. So far the anime characters are all doing a better job at being actual characters than their manga counterparts. Not going to lie, I'm not looking forward to trying Sailor Moon Crystal. But try I will. From the clips I've checked out the problems there are more than just the art style and CGI used. The framing of the scenes is weird, there's a lack of attention to detail compared to the first anime, and all that probably on a better budget. Huh? How did that happen? edit: Naoko Takeuchi and J. K. Rowling share something else too. They've both managed to create endearing characters in a magical setting, but their storytelling and writing is a bit, let's say, lacking.

Ah, there's always a way. *cough*

Like what? I find the idea of a makeover interesting (particularily if I could keep my memories and knowledge intact) but being a kid today? Uhm. Not so sure about that.

I'd readily go back to school if that meant enjoying school life again, and perhaps doing it the way it should be done. Alas, since there's no such thing as time travel, I doubt that's possible, so thanks, but no thanks, I know what you mean. Sort of. I mean, not at all. I know the feeling, but the place where it's coming from is totally different I think.

Oh, so that's a new set of names. This is going to be super confusing in the future. So for the record: Tsukino Usagi - Sailor Moon Mizuno Ami - Sailor Mercury Hino Rei - Sailor Mars Luna - Usagi's cat Naru - Usagi's friend from school Umino - Nerd kid with the hypnotic glasses Sakurada Haruna - Usagi's teacher Chiba Mamoru - Tuxedo Kamen / Tuxedo Mask Plus various others, but we'll cross that bridge when and if you come to it. I had to snicker a lot watching this because I kept thinking how much @Bartimaeus would despise that anime. it liberally ticks off checkboxes from his "why I don't like anime" list from earlier in the thread. Oh, and @Bartimaeus turns out I was wrong, our Netflix has only the fourth season of Steven Universe available. My brain can't handle starting a show right in the middle, so I'll have to look into, uhm, how to watch the first season. Shucks.

I lost any interest in that the moment I started to earn my living as software developer. It's like some switch flipped in my mind. I can sit for hours upon hours and then some more tinkering at work, reading up on things, having interesting conversations with other developers, that's fine, but once I'm out of work mode, uhm... yeah. Count me out. Not doing any of that in my spare time. Don't get me wrong here, I love my job and wouldn't want to trade it for anything else, but the times where I sat at home happily hacking away for fun are gone. Not sure if they'll ever come back. Maybe if I ever switch jobs or after retiring. Heh.

I was once like that. Before the dark times. In years gone by I imagined myself as a frequent contributor to open source software, but that never happened. Another dream sacrificed at the altar of money. Eh. But I like moneys. Hm. At the current exchange rate that's some 1850€ per month net income. That makes you better paid than similar positions at the company I work at. Or at least... from what I know from 10 years ago. I doubt a lot has changed. Not sure how cost of living compares, but I know that our groceries are upwards of 25% more expensive than in Germany.

Self-empoyed software developer. I mean, he is. heh.

It's called exaggeration for effect, and shush, don't kill my point here. For that kind of money you could get a 120m² house with a lot less of a garden somewhere in suburbia here. Well, probably more (or for cheaper) if you move a bit further out, but close to Vienna? Have fun, good luck...

I just watched the final episode. Gee, I remembered how it ended but not the episode all that much. Ending narration: Final thoughts perhaps a bit later. I'll say one thing for now, while the final episode heavily draws from elements already established prior in various mythology (particularily Usagi's looks and the enemy she's fighting), the entire ending arc seems to have had a more widespread influence than I realized, considering its original air date in '97. Although that's hard to say, much of it could be concidence and rely on the same mythological core concepts. I, uhm, tried the first two episodes of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. I have to admit, it is aptly named.

Is that 24000 SEK before or after taxes (I'm presuming that's a monthly wage, given the current conversion rate)?

You sure have weird unions in Sweden.

Ninjagi'ed!

That's because her original name is Mizuno Ami, she was Amy in the original English dub. What's the name of the other characters in your dub?

Well, so here we go. Seven episodes to go, and per usual that means the final episodes are almost purely storyline, traditionally the weakest part of the season for me (major spoiler: It is in this one too!).

It's been a long time since I saw Heidi. A very long time. I wonder if it would be worth revisiting.