majestic

Are you psychic, how did you know I was typing up a storm just right now? edit: I also just realized that I barely touched on the production value aspects of the show, but I don't think there's anything left to be said. It looks terrible, it's animated terribly and evn the upgraded third season doesn't change that too much.

Final thoughts on Sailor Moon Crystal. Hard to say. In retrospect, this makes Sailor Moon SuperS look decent. I won't go as far as to say that it makes SuperS look good, unless you specifically want to look only at animation, because I think SuperS looks the best of all the five original seasons (and each of them looks better than Crystal). Sailor Moon Sailor Stars has some really good animation too, but with the entire team more or less changed in between, it does look noticably different. I've talked at length by now about how everything that was problematic in Sailor Moon was exacerbated by Sailor Moon Crystal. The worst part about watching this wasn't watching a cashgrab by Toei, even though that it clearly was in the first arc at the very least, or even watching a sub-par reboot of what isn't just one of my favorite animes of all time, but something that made a lasting impression on a younger version of me. No. That's not it. That would not bother me as much, the world is full of sub-par terrible looking CGI cashgrab reboots of shows that I watched as a kid, like Maya the Honey Bee. Watching Sailor Moon Crystal is like staring into the abyss and realizing that it would have taken just one wrong step at the wrong time, by the wrong person, and something that played such a large part in my life would have come out not only completely different, but absolutely, loathably terrible. Even now, I'm giving the manga the benefit of the doubt, even though I probably should not. It might be that Sailor Moon Crystal just distilled the really awful parts and made them worse, but that is certainly not the case for the major issues with the storyline(s). For now I'm hoping, against all reason, that the manga has more time for the girls and that it was a lamentable decision by the creative team of Crystal to put Usagi and Mamoru front and center, and that there is some reason why this was or is as popular as it is. Something beyond riding on the coattails of its anime adaptation. Because everything that could be called good in Sailor Moon Crystal has to do with other characters or their interactions with Usagi - every time she's not the sole focus of something it's at least potentially not terrible, and in a sea of darkness even the faintest of lights shine brightly. I liked Pluto's original role, even if it immediately took a dump over it five episodes later and reduced her to exposition lady #4 that talks about space and time really quickly afterwards. I like Chibi-Usa a lot in Sailor Moon Crystal, but I've also come to realize that I liked her in the original anime as long as I remove Sailor Moon SuperS from the continuity and pretend it doesn't exist. I wish I would remember more clearly why I hated her so much a quarter of a century ago, but I don't. It might have something to do with watching the German dub. I know for a fact that Rei was much meaner to Usagi in the dub than she was in the original, now that I've seen it with translated subtitles that were not the dub transcript. Dub Chibi-Usa might have been a lot brattier in R than in the original, and I hated how much she hogged screen time - and Mamoru in R. Mamoru was already being mean to Usagi for stupid reasons, and she just made it worse. I wanted the two to be happy (in some way this goes back to my self-hate at the time). I'm also somewhat certain that being older made me change my outlook a bit. Chibi-Usa blames herself for everything that went wrong in the future, and of course she immediately latches on the closest thing she finds to a father figure, thanks to time travel that happens to be her actual father. Back to Crystal for a bit now. I have no idea how Toei managed to adapt the material they were given into something as interesting, funny and moving as the Sailor Moon anime. This is like one of these rare once in a lifetime occasions where everything just comes together and works. From the time and budget starved artystle decisions, to the writing team that apparently was jackpot all of its own (until studio interference messed up SuperS), to the music made and used. You're probably getting tired of me bringing up X-Files, but it does share something interesting with Sailor Moon. When Chris Carter made X-Files, they initially had no idea what they were doing. The first season was a series of standalone episodes, but its massive success and fan reactions to certain characters led to them given much more expanded roles (and Fox demanding more, like Toei). Chris Carter came up with a conspiracy storyline the show would follow mostly out of necessity (Gillian Anderson was pregnant, so she was abducted by "aliens" on the show) until a somewhat satisfying conclusion in its 6th season - and afterwards the storyline just fell apart. It became clear much earlier on that the writers were just making everything up as they went along though. And like in Sailor Moon, while sometimes interesting, the story episodes of X-Files weren't the best episodes unless they focused on the characters and not the actual "plot". And like in Sailor Moon, over time, the strength of X-Files was in its incredible creative team, the way they shot and framed episodes and the on-screen chemistry of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. And like Naoko Takeuchi, nothing Chris Carter ever made came close to the success of X-Files. The creative team that worked on X-Files over the course of its run went on to make and work on, amongst others, Space: Above and Beyond, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, American Horror Story, Game of Thrones, Westworld, Supernatural, Smallville and The Man In The High Castle. This excursion is only there to illustrate that I think what is now known as The Chris Carter Effect apparently hit the Sailor Moon manga in full force. While the writing of the first arc - both in the manga and very much in Sailor Moon Crystal - leaves a bit to be desired (to put it diplomatically), at least it doesn't come across as schizophrenic. The story beats, while not really great, don't feel like they're made up just to fill a chapter each month. The second arc, but especially the third one do. This disjointed mess was clearly just written from one month to the next, with perhaps only the barest idea of where to go. How else would you go from "We will never be friends, or even allies!" to "We've always just wanted to be close to you and fight together!" in the span of 20 minutes? Then there's the creepy element. The first arc has Tuxedo Kamen be a stalker that abducts Usagi and he kisses her at a time she can't consent, being passed out from exhaustion. The framing of these shots isn't negative, unlike when the same thing happens to Usagi but it is done by a different character in the second arc. It's the same thing happening on the screen, just one is clearly wrong, the other isn't. This does leave one thinking that the line between flirting and sexual assault is the amount of attraction between two people. Is this the message you really want to transport today? The manga remains a product of its time, and as such should be left standing like that. I don't think it should be changed like it's all the rage nowadays, but if you make an adaptation it really doesn't hurt to overthink tropes or problematic scenes. It's also something that needs to be brought up again. This entire Black Lady business at the end of the Black Moon arc is deeply disturbing, and the implications have a lasting effect. I see Usagi, Mamoru and Chibi-Usa sleeping in the same bed, and it forms horrible scenarios in my head. One poor girl has a seizure on screen and I post what I thought not only once, but twice. Now don't get me wrong, before anyone accuses me of hyprocrisy. How can I read and enjoy Sexy Losers and then have a problem with (forced) incest or 12 year old girls in underwear. When I read Sexy Losers I know what I'm getting into. Sailor Moon isn't the right vehicle for topics like this, and I have no idea how or why Naoko Takeuchi got away with it in the manga, but it was a good idea to drop it. Lastly, one of the more annoying parts of Sailor Moon Crystal is when it unthinkingly takes internal monologue and dialogue from the manga and puts it on screen even though we see what's happening. I have no idea why that is in there. It is mostly pointless at best, and detracts from the scenes at worst. And it almost always is at its worst. So where does that leave us? Quick TL;DR: Go watch X-Files if you haven't already. The show was way ahead of its time, the lead actors are terrific and the writing is often outstanding. It does take a bit to find its footing in the first season, like many other TV shows, but unless you totally hate the supernatural (how or why are you watching anime then?) you should be good. It should also be noted that I loved the X-Files even though I normally can't stand police or detective procedurals. And unless you're curious, please, for the love of god do not watch the first two Sailor Moon Crystal arcs. I can't even recommend the Infinity arc, but it does make for a good comparison between the old and the new show (and how much better character development is when it isn't rushed).

Oh, you've found the fun part of SuperS. It'll stay that way for a while. Like... until the season's over almost. Are you having fun? I mean, honest question. What's your take so far? Given how far along you are there's ample reason to become really tired of the SuperS formula by now. edit: One more episode of Steven Universe. He made a bubble, and of course someone's eating popcorn. There's always some food, isn't there?

Well, Abeloth is a dark side entity that looks something like this: And is said to be untold ages old (at least one hundred thousand years) and could not be killed by the Ones (a weird pure force precursor species of some sort), only sealed away. Luke and company accidentially set her loose by destroying Centerpoint Station and preventing the failsafe system from destroying Kessel and the entire Maw area. She's called The Beloved Queen of the Stars, and sometimes the Bringer of Chaos. She can do typical Old Ones stuff, like making people explode at whim, dominate minds and change shape (and absorb people and "wear" their skin which apparently looks normal for most people but not for those that can see behind the veil). In the end she was only defated because the Jedi and Sith joined forces for a brief time. Just not before melting half of Coruscant or something near enough. That's why I call her Force Cthulu.

Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 38: Endgame. If anyone wonders why the Act names are lagging behind in the episode count, that's because Act 27 was two episodes long.

Works for me too. I also realized that Master Usagiwalker isn't nearly as good as calling her Master Moonwalker would have been. Tsk. Ah, well. Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 37:

It indeed is at times, especially during and after the time The Force Awakens is set in - part of the reason why Disney threw out the old EU. At that time extragalactical invaders show up that are way into self-mutilation and body modification, use organic technology instead of machines and have a cultural fetish for enduring pain (i.e. they strap themselves onto torture racks for some R & R). They cut a swathe of destruction across the galaxy, and in a grimdark low point crash New Republic starships filled with refugees into Coruscant's plantary shield to break it. Oh, right, and the side story of the same book follows a suicide mission led by Han's youngest son Anakin who, because nothing and no one else is left to spare, leads a team of Jedi teenagers to fight off a threat dangerous enough to be the final nail in the coffin of the New Republic. Predictably, while the mission is a success, half of them (including Anakin) die and Han and Leia's other son Jacen is captured (and copiously tortured later, of course). The book then ends with the New Republic in full retreat, Coruscant invaded and it's population taken captive to be used for forced labor, torture and sacrifices. All in all truly wholesome fun for the family that. I'll give Sailor Moon Crystal the highest honor: I will never look at it again. It is perfection and not to be seen more than once for fear of tarnishing the experience. Plus I still have the manga to read, the live action series, Steven Universe and JoJo's to watch, so I'm good for a while. I'm not sure in which order to tackle everything yet. I want to put off reading the manga for a while, but maybe I should just push through the crap and then get to the good stuff?

Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 36 Final stretch now. I've taken a very tentative first step towards looking if there's a way to watch the recently released Sailor Moon Eternal movies outside of Japan yet, and I seem to be in luck, that's a no so far. That means I can't subject myself to the full depravity of whatever the writers and animators made of the really disturbing things that are present in the manga for the time being. I did, however, find a way to watch something from the 90ies that I haven't seen yet, an Ami focused SuperS special called Ami's First Love. I'm looking forward to seeing this, even if it is just 15 minutes long. It's an adaptation of one of the manga side stories.

I'll let David Warner explain what I'm yelling at the screen when I do that:

Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 35. Gonna keep this one short unless something totally insane happens that I have to comment on. I want to get this over with, four episodes (including this one) left.

One of the best episodes to be sure. Seeing this with the Viz dub is a bit confusing though, after 200 episodes in German and 200 episodes in Japanese this is weird. Even though the voice actors are great.

Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 34

You need to be careful, lest I write another ten page essay on mythology and how it relates to Sailor Moon. However, here's the short version: If going strictly by the names, then yes, Saturn - the Roman equivalent of Kronos and therefore the God of Time - would be a better fit for what Pluto does in the show. But that would also make Saturn the father of Pluto, Jupiter and Neptune, and Uranus the father of Saturn... and I'm sure you're beginning to see the problems here. If you want to look at the girls, their personalities and their planets you need to delve a bit into astrology, where Saturn represents death, poverty, endings, but also fears and inhibitions (modern astrology sees Saturn as a planet representing challenges to be overcome, not something entirely negative per se). Its representation is similar to the Major Arcana card "Death", which not necessarily means the literal death of someone, but also an end to something, and perhaps a new beginning. In terms of Pluto we're reaching the limits here, there is nothing that would suggest any of the Sailor Senshi to be a good representation for a Guardian of Time. The closest you can get though, really is Pluto, but not as her being the Guardian of Time, but as a representation of transformation and upheaval - or, as she says in her introduction, guided by the planet of revolution. Pluto in astrology represents extremes: Change, transformation, upheaval and revolution without the ability to go back. Insofar her watching over time and making sure nobody goes back (which she really sucks at) does make a tiny bit of sense. As much sense as astrology can make, anyway, yes? Also, if you keep spoiling yourself with google we might as well stop bothering with making sure you don't read what you're not yet supposed to. Yes, absolutely. To my absolute shame I did not fully believe in your prediction. I shall repent. There seem to be an awful lot of animes that are called Fate /, are they all kind of connected? Where to even start?

Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 33 Oh that is so clever, no wonder I missed it. Maybe her brooch is a Cursed Brooch of Confusion?

Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 32

This was easily my favorite book as a kid: 600 pages full of diagrams and explanations of virtually everything, or - as the cover states: From ballpoint pens to nuclear fission.

You used there correctly (twice!), come on, you can do better than that.

How would I know, I only play **** Wars.

I see, but the one I meant finances itself through ads. No need to pay. The ads are pretty bad though, so I suggest private browsing (unless you want to have games like Hentai Empire in your browsing history ). I think they even have an Android app if you have a tablet or some such you'd prefer.

Dare I assume from your grin that you know that there are other streaming services available in Germany? I know for a fact that one of them has both Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal, but the latter is terrible. Don't watch that.

First point: The actual explaination for this is: Nobody involved (not even - or mabye especially not - in the source material) thought about time travel rules of the setting before they introduced it. Therefore a lot of these little inconsistencies crop up here and there. Not even the normal run of the show seems to have any linear passage of time. You have five seasons in there and a lot of seasonal changes in them, but the girls age for a grand total of two years. The most common way to reconcile this in terms of fan-canon is assuming that Usagi reset the entire timeline with the Silver Crystal at the end of the first season and the girls are 14 for two consecutive years, and the events of the first and second season of Sailor Moon essentially play concurrently at the same time. How or why the Dark Kingdom remains destroyed in the face of this reset is... well, let's face it, you can only go with the explanation that Lost offered: It's magic. Don't bother trying to understand, just enjoy the ride. However, and now it becomes really complicated, after you've watched the entire run (and this will be spoiler free), the closest you can get for explaining everything that happens on the screen in the least inconsistent manner is: Sailor Moon is a mutable single timeline with enforced time stability setting except for memories (people retain their memories of events that never will happen). This is only true for the show, by the way, and introduced as a concept in the filler arc of Sailor Stars. Therefore, every character involved, especially those from the future, must take care that events play out in the exact same way they originally did, because otherwise they would change history (they still kind of do, anyway, but that's something else). That explains the King's actions in R (and a few other things, later). Usagi resets the timeline at the end of season one and locks the girls' and her memories away so they can have a chance at a normal life. Luna's and Artemis' memories are kept intact so they can re-awaken them as Sailor Senshi if something goes wrong. While it is not shown directly, the only way for the Dark Kingdom to not show up again is for Usagi to have stopped the reincarnation of Queen Beryl from finding the sealed tomb of Metalia (like I said, it's magic). Sailor Pluto is a Time Lord. Her appearances on the show are set a different times of her personal timeline. The spacetime corridor from R exists outside of spacetime itself, because otherwise you couldn't have #3. Sailor Pluto isn't really that good at her job. Second point: No, it will not, you'll need to live with that. The show will almost neurotically stick to the established formula for its entire run. There are some exceptions, but expect it to be here to stay and you should be good.

@Bartimaeus I'm surprised you can link the wiki images, that doesn't work for me at all for some reason. Or at least it always shows a blank image in the preview. Hey look at that, Ami gets corrupted in this version and becomes DARK MERCURY. Woha, look at this image link working. Weird. I'm loving this already. Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 31. Look, an episode so amazing that I barely have anything to say about it. Well that's easy to fix, you clearly need to watch some 90ies Sailor Moon!

Guys... Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon is the schlockiest, campiest camp of all time. Imagine this like Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, only with less budget and more Japanese girls, and a lot less Kevin Sorbo. And a more contemporary setting. In fact it's nothing like Hercules at all, except for the cheap production values. Looks like they didn't have the budget to properly dye the girls' hair. Usagi, Naru, Ami... they all have dark hair. They put on wigs when they transform. Except Naru, obviously, Naru doesn't transform. Luna is a terrible CGI cat unless they need one of the girls to touch her. In which case she becomes a plush toy. An inanimate plush toy that only moves on its own if the take allows for someone to move it without their hands to be seen - or they have a hand puppet version of the toy too. Mamoru is rocking a killer mullet and is trying to find the Silver Crystal and Luna gives Usagi what looks like a pink clamshell mobile phone from 2003. Which it probably is. Usagi's transformation pen is actually her mobile phone. She just takes a picture and transforms into whoever she took the picture of. That's not bad. When she transforms into Sailor Moon, she actually puts on make up in the form of her magical lipstick. How old are these actors? Okay, Wikipedia says at the time this was made the girl gang was between 15 and 17, and Mullet Chiba was 20. Finally... this is clearly the best shot of the first episode: Feast your eyes on Tuxedo Mullet and Sailor Wig. Gotta admit, I had more fun watching this than in watching 30 episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal.

I think Usagi calls Naru her best friend once, and that is in the first episode, which was probably the closest the old anime ever got to a direct manga adaptation (and even then it changed certain elements for the better *cough*). Pretty standard early installation weirdness (in the manga Sailor Moon wears Sailor V style glasses when transformed, that goes away really quickly too). I wouldn't even hold it against the manga, and I guess you guys by now realize that I tend to do so with a lot of things. More than what's fair, mostly because of comments from the fandom and the creator herself. Neither Naoko Takeuchi nor the showrunners knew where the material was going. Having a normal best friend didn't work out, and it is easy to see why, both on a meta and an in-universe level. That Naru falls by the wayside is a logical development. The 90ies anime gives her much more screen time anyway, and both the old anime and the manga even give her a scene where you can guess that she knows about Usagi being Sailor Moon and has accepted that their friendship won't ever be the same again. It happens. From what I've read, in the live action series Naru gets a completely new arc where she becomes estranged from Usagi when she makes new friends. They eventually reconcile. That makes a good deal of sense. The more I read about that live action series, the more I like where it was going. Not sure I want to watch it though. Not sure I can watch it. Where would I even get it? TF1 is a french TV station, but that doesn't necessarily make HoonDing French. He could just as well be from Canada or Switzerland, certain parts of Germany or from one of the former French colonies. Or just a weirdo that watched French TV for fun. Still, sounds like a reasonable assumption.

More like doubleplusungood, right? However, believe it or not, that's unfair to Deanna Troi. Every now and then she did something else than play Captain Obvious, and she has some character development. However, Sailor Moon Crystal doesn't make an effort in giving Rei any meaningful screen time at all. If Rei wouldn't show up every now and then as Sailor Mars to throw some fireballs at enemies repeating what just happened on screen would be the only thing she does. I think in the five episodes of season three so far she had one or two lines of dialogue where she didn't do that (might be hyperbole, but not much, really). Otherwise she dreams of something (or else has a vision in the flames), we see what's happening in the dream (complete with narration of what's happening IN THE DREAM while she's DREAMING) and after she wakes up she just repeats the narration. Mamoru does that too, but he gets a lot of screen time and character development. I'll say this for Sailor Moon Crystal, in this season at least his relationship with Usagi is decent, and it is a nice change to see both being jealous over someone other than Chibi-Usa. It's nice. But that was one two minute scene in 30 episode with a runtime of 24 minute each (more like 15-20 when you cut out stock footage and opening and closing credits). A more apt comparison would maybe be Lt. Tawny Madison from Galaxy Quest. Because she really doesn't do anything else than repeat what is going on, but... the one's satire, the other's quite clearly not. edit: I'm linking the videos for fun mostly. I know you know the reviews (and everything else) but I still like the underscore it gives my texts. Plus with nobody else clicking on it nobody is bothered by the videos bypassing the, uhm, ahem, word filter here.