Anime - A Rollercoaster of Emotion

[majestic]

37 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Spoiler

Plot-wise, I still think Michiru and Haruka make the most sense for various reasons, but none of those really looked like something either of them would own. It's possible I'm overlooking something, though.

 

Double spoilered the interesting parts, you can probably guess that you're not too far away from the reveal anyway. Just don't click or come back and read this post in handful of episodes.

Actually, no, don't read this. I just deleted everything.

 

 

Edited February 11, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

There's one thing I've always wondered about Sailor Moon.
 

Spoiler

 

Just how rich are all of them? Mamoru is an orphan that constantly drives sports cars and has a massive appartment in the middle of Tokyo, the cousins have...

Spoiler

a motorcycle, also an expensive sports car, an indoor pool at home (or otherwise Michiru walks home from the pool in pouring rain in her swimsuit at one point) an a

Spoiler

helicopter

to boot later in Sailor Moon S.

 

It's not really a deal breaker (because who cares, it's Sailor Moon) but the only one who has an explanation for having these kinds of funds is Ami with her mother, who as a doctor would certainly have the financial resources. The properties they all seem to own in the Juuban district of Tokyo are worth hundreds of millions of Yen (per piece!). How come Rei* is the only one of them that goes to a private school, while from everything we have seen she should be the poorest of them (with her grandfather having a Shinto shrine, and those commonly are supported by charity and the selling of a trinket or two)?

*Well manga Rei's father is a successful politician who abandoned her when she was little, presumably he pays for the tuition, I guess.

Oh, and @Bartimaeus, welcome to the KaineParker signature quote club.

Edited February 11, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I think all the indicators of wealth are there in service to the story and unfortunately doesn't get factored into characterization. For example I think Mamoru has an apartment and a bike because he needed to be separate from the Pretty Guardians and displayed as older, even if it doesn't make sense for an orphan doing grunt work at a TV studio. Or maybe in Sailor Moon's universe rent is affordable and everyone gets paid living wages.

15 minutes ago, majestic said:

Oh, and @Bartimaeus, welcome to the KaineParker signature quote club.

It's the most prestigious club on this site.

[majestic]

For a while I entertained the notion that Mamoru is secretly Usagi's sugar-pup (disturbing as that may seem), and in all the episode where she complains she has no more spending money beause her allowance is gone is simply because, uhm, she already spent it all on frivolous pursuits.

But that doesn't work at all, she beings the show with not having enough money to buy discount jewelry, let alone being able to afford a college hunk for fun.

Edited February 11, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

It would've been interesting and a good idea to have at least one of the girls be poor, I think. This show has attempted to display common problems faced by girls growing up, and it's a simple reality that a huge percentage of the world (something most people try to never really think about that everyone could always use a reminder of so they better consider people outside of their bubble) do grow up and live in poverty - even in Japan, where the poverty rate is apparently 16% right now. Ami probably would've made the most most logical choice out of the five, I think - her intelligence and dedication to both her job and schoolwork would've made a good contrast to her poor upbringing, and made clear that even if you're disadvantaged relative to your 'more equal' peers, you can still do better than them and also make friends and be important outside of your station in life. (Well, that's the IDEAL world we live in, anyways...) Additionally, she's so severe and restrained as it is that it would not have made that much of a difference for her anyways. Rei also would've made a good choice in addition to that, given her more traditional lifestyle compared to the others and yet still having plenty of ambitions outside of that and actually working on some of them throughout the series - that and her personality would've just *dared* others to ever question or make fun of her on it. Hell, it could've been used as a primary reason for her being aggressive about life in general. Usagi and Minako would've made the worst choices for being poor, given their lack of desire to accomplish basically anything, . Some interesting things could've been done with that, but I guess the writers already had more than they could handle!

(e): 3000 edits later, I more or less have my complete thoughts on this finished

(e): nope, had more

Edited February 11, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[HoonDing]

There should have been a rogue Sailor Senshi villainess

Sailor Nibiru

[Bartimaeus]

I don't know the significance of that word, and since it's HoonDing saying it, I'm afraid to look it up.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 minute ago, Bartimaeus said:

I don't know the significance of that word, and since it's HoonDing saying it, I'm afraid to look it up.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm

It's pretty much Planet X

[majestic]

23 minutes ago, KaineParker said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm

It's pretty much Planet X

Yeah, pretty much Nemesis where the Black Moon Clan lived, although the hypothezised Nemesis is a brown dwarf.

Spoiler

's not that there isn't a rogue Sailor Senshi in the show.

Spoiler

The villain in Sailor Moon Sailor Stars is

Spoiler

Sailor Galaxia.

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2021 by majestic

[Malcador]

49 minutes ago, HoonDing said:

There should have been a rogue Sailor Senshi villainess

Sailor Nibiru

Was https://sailormoon.fandom.com/wiki/Dark_Nibiru

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Malcador said:

Was https://sailormoon.fandom.com/wiki/Dark_Nibiru

I wonder if there's any way to watch these Sailor Moon musicals. Not going to lie, I'm not a big fan of musical theatre, but from the images alone they look bad enough to be really entertaining. Like that live action show that looks like it had a ten dollar budget. Heh.

  

4 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Some interesting things could've been done with that, but I guess the writers already had more than they could handle!

They also already got enough of a talk down from fans and the mangaka involved when changing Rei's personality. Deviating that much with the entire backstory wouldn probably not have been accepted at all.

But that's really just a minor quibble, the show's really good as it is when it depicts the problems and rigors of daily life with its signature combination of humor, commentary and complete ridiculousness while giving you a good character piece every now and then. Plus I think it is really at its best when it just depicts everyone interacting.

Generally Sailor Moon S does a decent job with getting more interesting monsters (but not more interesting battles, but that's not what Sailor Moon is about). Ideally they're a minor culmination at the end, like in that episode with the Japanese tea ceremony (Usagi being completely oblivious to her own culture is also hilarious, the things she does... like blowing her nose in public, showing affection for Mamoru and even fighting with Chibi-Usa over him for everyone to see).

Edited February 11, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, I guess I should've been thinking of the author of Sailor Moon herself, not the show writers. Though I don't usually care too much about 100% adherence to source material as long as there's at least reasonable explanation for changes (and it doesn't end up a colossal failure). Some things work better in written form than on the screen and vice versa. However, I know there's a history of shows aping their source material more or less literally scene for scene in Japan...

S has done pretty much everything better. Some great character episodes, a likable and funny main villain, a better marriage of plot vs. nonsense than either season 1 or 2 (season 1 was more heavy on nonsense, season 2 more heavy on plot - this feels like it's more successfully in between the two), more ridiculous minions, and going to some new places for funnies. Oh yeah, and Mamoru has been a lot better compared to how he was in season 2 (and has actually had some really good moments, even if he's still not being used all that much - that's okay with me, as long as he's used well when he does show up). You were correct when you called it the best season.

Edited February 11, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

The last three episodes have been great: Minako plays nurse, Artemis runs away, and Ami gets called a cheater. I think I'm getting near the end of this season, so soon I'll get to see if S really is the best.

[majestic]

3 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

You were correct when you called it the best season.

But you haven't seen SuperS or Sailor Stars yet. Don't take my irritation for gospel here.

However, on a whole, even though you're not done with S yet, you can already appreciate how that must have been a really tough act to follow (and in my opinion, it didn't quite work).

Spoiler

Even in S itself, the last third has a tendency to drag its feet a bit.

edit:

S was also really strong thematically, with some excellent writing in the serious mode episodes (and even in those that were silly). Everything has a decent set up, and a payoff, it's not on the nose but still noticable and it generally practises a good amount of showing, not simply telling.

Spoiler

Even if some purely expository dialogue is coming up soon for you, and one that might look exceptionally weird involving Tuxedo Mask.

 

Edited February 12, 2021 by majestic

[InsaneCommander]

6 hours ago, KaineParker said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm

It's pretty much Planet X

Well, considering there are a lot of ice bodies like Pluto, you could have dozens more characters, like Sailor Eris, Sailor Sedna, Sailor Salacia...

Edit: There are estimated to be perhaps 70,000 TNOs, each at least 100 km across, between 30 and 50 astronomical units from the Sun.

Edited February 12, 2021 by InsaneCommander

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

3 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

Well, considering there are a lot of ice bodies like Pluto, you could have dozens more characters, like Sailor Eris, Sailor Sedna, Sailor Salacia...

Sailor 2002MS4 is what I'd like to see.

[Bartimaeus]

I loved that Minako-Chibiusa nurse episode. I think that was the episode that finally clued me in that Minako was officially my favorite...which has only gotten repeatedly confirmed and even further strengthened over and over again since then.

Speaking of...spoilers for the Minako episode I just watched:

Spoiler

Wow, what an episode. So much great meta stuff. Minako's full-on psychotic break was the cherry on top of her increasingly bizarre and twisted personality this season...and then getting assassinated, reveling in her own death, and then doing what no-one else has done by stealing and running off madly with her own removed heart like she was a coked-up zombie Joker or something. I don't recall her being nearly as insane in season 1 or 2 as she has been in 3...but I'm all for it.

Also, what a great minion this episode, too - one of the best that I can remember. Poor thing wanted no part of any of that, and still ended up getting blasted in the crossfire anyways, .

 

[majestic]

Doorknobder was great, yeah.

It is done. I'm done. Done with SuperS, I mean.

I knew from before that the anime didn't manage to follow up Sailor Moon S all that well, but like I said, it was a year in between the airing of S and SuperS, and being happy to see the girls again and go on adventures with them outweighed the dip in quality entertainment.

Watching the seasons back to back made really obvious: Nothing in SuperS is as good as in S, except the animation. The show sure never looked as good before. That much is noticable right from the start with the new intro, which is actually fantastic, if you ignore the bit where all the girls and Pegasus go skinny dipping in his dreamlake. In hindsight, that should have been the first indicator that something's going to be seriously wrong.

Spoiler

 

So let's the get to the two very obvious elephants in the room immediately:

The Amazon Trio

I read around a bit and saw that the entire Amazon Trio subplot was censored in South Korea. How exactly, I am not sure, but they apparently didn't even show up. Huh. It's hard to imagine a situation where leaving an entire subplot on the cutting floor could improve a show, but if there ever was, this is it. There's absolutely nothing redeems this subplot in any way. It goes nowhere and shows that the Amazon Trio are a horrible bunch of abusers who do nothing but objectify their victims and then result to assault when said victims have the good grace to deny their advances. They have no, absolutely no, redeeming qualities.

Even Fish-Eye, who is the only one who seems to really, well, if nothing else, likes his victims, is a vain, pathetic creature who does not deal well at all with rejection or criticism, and to make matters worse, just like Tiger's-Eye he gets an episode where he shows that he has no qualms going after children. In fact, he likes little boys because they don't have adult body proportions yet.

The absolute low point, other than their constant attacks on people, which you could potentially overlook if you take the search for Pegasus in their dreams at face value - which, mind you, is all but impossible for an adult with the tiniest streak of empathy (@Malcador, there goes your sociopath theory, I guess ) - is when Hawk's-Eye and Tiger's-Eye discuss the finer points of women and why they each prefer older and younger women.

Hawk's-Eye compares women with shiitake mushrooms. They're nice and juicy when fresh, but their full flavor only comes out after they were dried and aged. If you guys end up watching the entire run of this seaon, please tell me if that dub meaningfully changes that dialogue.

With this in mind, the show eventually, after a boatload of episodes, gets rid of these three creeps by making their dream of becoming fully human true (if this wasn't clear before, they are a hawk, a tiger and a fish transfigurated into human beings by the Dead Moon's magic). They get one episode and a teeny tiny bit of characterisation once every 10 episodes to redeem themselves after they find out that - oh what wonder - the evil organization they're part of is going to discard them if they keep being beaten by the Sailor Senshi.

I have no idea who came up with the idea of redeeming these three asshats. I don't want to know. Every single villain in Sailor Moon deserved redemption more than these three. Except maybe for the Death Phantom or Queen Metalia, but the two are just true evil energy beings with no real desire or motivation other than exinguishing all life in the universe. Like the Emperor in Star Wars, they can't be redeemed because they exist solely as a means for the heroes to have character growth and overcome challenges, or for the minor villains along the way to find a path to redemption.

This one you can blame squarely on the writers of the anime. In the manga, while Tiger's-Eye is set on Rei to secude her and consume her, body and soul, the latter part is supposed to happen when Tiger's-Eye has morphed back into a tiger. Ami and Makoto are "just" mind-raped by their opponents, but they're summarily destroyed in literally a single panel after the girls shake off their confusion and gain their power up.

Chibi-Usa's pedo-beastiality romance arc:

The other really problematic part is Chibi-Usa's love for her magic pony. Here too, I've prowled the depths of googling for phrases like "Is Helios a peodhile?" and "Does anyone else think Pegasus is creepy?" but these searches - unlike virtually any other Sailor Moon topic you can think of - yield preciously little in terms of results. At most a few forum posts like mine here and a review that wonders the same thing as I do right now: How in the internet is everyone else fine with this ceepy ass romantic love of a girl for her winged pony? 

And it clearly is not platonic love. Chibi-Usa desires Pegasus in the same way she wants Mamoru. As a woman. This is made terrifyingly clear in the manga when Chibi-Usa has an inner monologue about not being certain whether or not she should give up her pursuit of Mamoru for Pegasus, but it feels wrong for her to love (desire) more than one person, so this one is purely on Naoko Takeuchi. I mean she also drew Usagi trying to seduce Mamoru while she had the body of Chibi-Usa. That happened. There's no denying it.

Since the writers had more episodes to fill and drag out Chibi-Usa's interactions with Pegasus they invented a way for Chibi-Usa to communicate with Pegasus without him simply showing up from one panel to the next like he does in the manga, and that's the so called Stallion Rêve, or as I've called it, Pegasus' palantír.

What you can blame squarly on the writers in this part of the SuperS plotline is adding even more creepy subtext by having Pegasus tell Chibi-Usa things that a pedophile would while talking to little girls - whether directly or through a video chat, but it should be noted that the idea of a video chat and it's inherent dangers for young children on the internet when exposed to ceeps was very, very far away at the time when this was written.

So what does he do? First he takes Chibi-Usa to a beatiful clearing with a lake in his crystal forest, only to tell her that she must not tell anyone of their meeting (with the clear implication that they wouldn't be able to meet again if they did), and when Chibi-Usa finally tells him that she wants to be friends with him and that he should trust her, he first denies her, and after she's shown him that she can keep mum about everything (well, and wouldn't want to use his power for her own gain, but that makes for a less scathing read), he gifts here the palantír video chat system.

From what I've read Pegasus also talks like a child in the original Japanese version. I don't mean being voice acted by a child at the time, but in terms of pronouns and speech patterns. This wasn't at all conveyed through the subtitles, but there is at least a chance that this makes the initial impression less disturbing. I don't remember enough about this season from the original run, but I'm sure I was not being nearly as creeped out by this as I am now. This is either due to the age difference or the dub fixing the, uhm, problematic part of Pegasus' dialogues, or perhaps a combination of both.  

Strange as that may seem, this is the less problematic part of the two. In the end, Helios is really just a perpetually 12 to 14 year old boy who is on the verge of failing the one job he has, i.e. make sure that people like Queen Nehelenia do not destroy the world by rubbing his horn. He attaches himself to Chibi-Usa because her dreams showed him the way out of confinement and he actually really can't or shouldn't trust anyone at this point. However, while the manga has everyone talking about Pegasus really quickly, the anime, in order to make this last for 39 episodes, any information that makes this less problematic only comes in the final stretch of the season.

So what else?

That is a good question. A disappointing resolution for a dream rape arc alone isn't enough of a basis for this to feel so disjointed and uneven. The second biggest problem is that the show takes everyone's character development from Sailor Moon S and pretends it never happened. Usagi and Chibi-Usa go back to feuding over Mamoru in almost every other episode (and sometimes even more) except for one where Chibi-Usa is concerned that if Usagi never marries Mamoru, she'll never be born. Well girl, that is a decent concern, but shouldn't you think about that while you try to get into his pants? What do you think your mother would do if you were sucessful in seducing your father? Make this entire situation worse by joining in?

I know from a bit of internet browsing from back in the day that this is actually the subject of a lot of fanfiction. A disturbing lot of fanfiction. And drawings. Not even Clay, the sick mind behind the Sexy Losers comics went there when he drew his second Sailor Moon parody strip where Usagi catches Mamoru cheating on her with Rei, and Rei complains that it's not fair that she gets a piece of the only hunk on the show, so Usagi gets the others and they yell SAILOR SCOUT ORGY.

The actual punchline then comes from Mamoru going to the drug store to ask for more viagra or a suicide pill because he can't keep up. Keep it up. You know? *wink wink* Man, what a world we live in, when a Sexy Losers strip is less disturbing than the actual source material.

There is one single episode that is potentially the worst episode of Sailor Moon - and the weirdest part is that it's one that contains an awful lot of fun jokes. But everyone acts so wildely out of character for the jokes to happen that I'm not sure what kind of alien was involved in writing this, because it can't really have been the same writer that was with the team since season one (the episode beings with Usagi flying into a hissy fit beause Ami asks Mamoru a question, and it goes only downhill from there).

So what could be worse than that you ask?

The creative decision to link both Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi Moon's attack and transformation sequences. Yes, both. What that means is that Usagi and Chibi-Usa are either always both on screen or they run into each other in the most unlikely of manners just right before an attack. This gets so bad that the writers actively went and made episodes where the other girls don't even show up at all because they couldn't figure out how to include them within that framework.

I'll make this one a bit more obvious by the magic of numbers. Pegasus gifts the girls their upgraded transformation sequences in episode 143 and it takes until episode 151 for one of them to be shown on screen. Oh every now and then an already transformed Sailor Senshi shows up, but that's about it. They mostly don't do anything, and not because they were outclassed or unecessary for some episodes like in Sailor Moon S - but really, very noticably beause the writers had no clue what to do with them.

Still, there are a few fun episodes, and the ending isn't half bad, but it's still below the others.

 

Next up, after I get some sleep and work done, perhaps an episode guide on how to skip most of the Amazon Trio while still seeing the better episodes. This is going to be an awful lot of work though, so it might take a while. Let me know if you plan on watching the entire run anyway (I would recommend that, if only for the sheer alienation you feel), then I won't bother.

Edited February 12, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

18 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

Well, considering there are a lot of ice bodies like Pluto, you could have dozens more characters, like Sailor Eris, Sailor Sedna, Sailor Salacia...

The manga features a whole bunch of them. Like Ceres.

  

13 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I loved that Minako-Chibiusa nurse episode. I think that was the episode that finally clued me in that Minako was officially my favorite...which has only gotten repeatedly confirmed and even further strengthened over and over again since then.

Speaking of...spoilers for the Minako episode I just watched:

  Hide contents

Wow, what an episode. So much great meta stuff. Minako's full-on psychotic break was the cherry on top of her increasingly bizarre and twisted personality this season...and then getting assassinated, reveling in her own death, and then doing what no-one else has done by stealing and running off madly with her own removed heart like she was a coked-up zombie Joker or something. I don't recall her being nearly as insane in season 1 or 2 as she has been in 3...but I'm all for it.

Also, what a great minion this episode, too - one of the best that I can remember. Poor thing wanted no part of any of that, and still ended up getting blasted in the crossfire anyways, .

 

Well now that that's out of the way, have a look at the title of the next episode. It's all spoilery and you're immediately going to see it anyway once you start watching.

Spoiler

Oh, and right, Minako trying to get herself shot because she was the only one left out was pure Minako. Cackling like mad and running with her heart removed was something else though, but it fits with her depiction of being really athletic and determined outside of being Sailor Venus.

 

Edited February 12, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

4 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I loved that Minako-Chibiusa nurse episode. I think that was the episode that finally clued me in that Minako was officially my favorite...which has only gotten repeatedly confirmed and even further strengthened over and over again since then.

So far she's my favorite as well. Maybe I'm not paying enough attention, but it seems like Makoto hasn't got much attention in a long while. 

[Bartimaeus]

24 minutes ago, majestic said:

the new intro, which is actually fantastic, if you ignore the bit where all the girls and Pegasus go skinny dipping in his dreamlake

In fact, he likes little boys because they don't have adult body proportions yet.

Chibi-Usa desires Pegasus in the same way she wants Mamoru. As a woman.

literally everything else in this post about the amazon trio, the pegasus, chibiusa, mindraping

What I'm more looking for is just a simple "hey, this episode isn't good - but this one is!". They don't need write-ups, just a simple "actually good, ok I guess, this was bad, good lord don't watch this one" rating system would do. It helps manage expectations and make it so that I'm not going in blind and constantly being annoyed and frustrated by switching between good and bad - I'll be much more likely to find the bad bits amusing instead of incredibly frustrating if I know in advance that the episode'll be bad. ...Although some of this sounds so bad that I may less find it amusing and more that I'll just be ready to skip portions if it gets to be too much.

@KaineParker Each of the four main characters that are not Usagi get a bit of attention in S, thankfully. R didn't really have a lot of room for character stuff that wasn't to do with Chibi-Usa.

Edited February 12, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

What I'm more looking for is just a simple "hey, this episode isn't good - but this one is!". They don't need write-ups, just a simple "actually good, ok I guess, this was bad, good lord don't watch this one" rating system would do. It helps manage expectations and make it so that I'm not going in blind and constantly being annoyed and frustrated by switching between good and bad - I'll be much more likely to find the bad bits amusing instead of incredibly frustrating if I know in advance that the episode'll be bad. ...Although some of this sounds so bad that I may less find it amusing and more that I'll just be ready to skip portions if it gets to be too much.

I can do that. I wouldn't have made any more write ups anyway, these were just to accentuate my... irritation with what I was seeing.

[majestic]

セーラームーンSuperSリスト？ マジェスティックは評価を行います！

Sailor Moon SuperS list? majestic does ratings!

Japanese provided by google translate. It's probably totally wrong and reads something totally different.

Sailor Moon SuperS consists of thirty nine episodes, making it the third longest season after Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R. Questionable creative decisions and the thematic premise of the material this is loosely adapted from aside, there are some episodes that were quite good, some that were okay, but also - and I think that is a first for the run of Sailor Moon up until that point - episodes that are actually terrible.

Or at least they were for me. This list is written under the premise that:

• An episode can be extremely hilarious but still bad because everyone acts like they have been replaced by alien shapeshifters
• Ignoring character development in Sailor Moon S is annoying even if it makes for fun scenes
• Usagi and Chibi-Usa being immature and/or fighting over Mamoru is a joke that cannot carry more than half of the 39 episodes by itself
• You can are enough for fictional, drawn characters to feel bad for the victims of the dream mirror rape scenes, because these scenes are really, really uncomfortable to watch if you do

The last point is not a character judgement in general. I know that there are people who cannot identify at all with drawn characters or non-human characters like robots in films for instance (Jay Bauman is someone like that, and doubt that he's a sociopath incapable of understanding emotional distress in others).

If you're not bothered by the first three then you might have a good deal of fun. The anime tried to go back to its focus on the super silly from Sailor Moon rather than trying to keep a good balance of fun, thematic exploration, character pieces and serious mode episodes like they did in Sailor Moon S.

Every now and then you get the feeling that parts of these episodes were drawn and made based on the early manga chapters but for some reason shuffled back to almost the end of the season run. It adds to the immensely disjointed feeling this season gives when watching. Some of the themes and scenes were maybe made before the show was re-tooled into aping the first season more than building on what happened before. This would also explain where these complete filler episodes come from where seemingly nothing happens at all, filled with random characters that show up once, where Usagi and Chibi-Usa are only there because they need to defeat a monster, and no other main character appears.

The presence of this very clear sexual assault theme in the first part of the Dead Moon arc speaks for this, in my opinion. This is really, really out of place in the otherwise childlike fun feeling the episodes are supposed to (and do!) transport. This was probably meant as the underlying thematic exploration for at least a part of the season, but it falls completely flat because nothing happens with it.

That the season's enemies aren't nearly as fun, interesting and, ahem, loveable as the Death Busters from Sailor Moon S, even if the Amazoness Quartet comes close, isn't that much of a problem. Following the Professor and his weird bunch of assistants was a tough act to follow even if everyone brought their A-game for Sailor Moon SuperS.

The Amazoness Quartet are just children that were given immense magical power by the Dead Moon. Their dialogue, mannerisms and actions all perfectly reflect this (unlike, say, the mannerisms of a certain creepy horse). They're childlike, innocent at times, but utterly creepy in a good way. In other words, they're exactly what would happen in real life if you'd give four immature young girls the magical power to do whatever they want (and prevent them from ever growing up).

Now, for the list, with some annotations perhaps.

Spoiler

 

128    Meeting of Fate: The Night Where a Pegasus Flies

Overall rating: Fine, Non-Filler. Alien factor 2/5 - Chibi-Usa plays the most mature character in the episode for no reason. Creep factor: 5/5, Pegasus and the Amazon Trio show up.

Spoiler

This was an okay episode, and it has some fun and sweet moments, Pegasus shows up (and tells Chibi-Usa to tell no one of him). Tiger's-Eye pulls one of the creepiest stunts this season. Unlike many of the other ways the trio  tries to seduce their victims, this one is played completely straight. The entire sequence is immensely disturbing. The Amazon Trio pick victims from a bunch of photographs.

The victim is poor Unazuki, she can't catch a break, can she? She just shows up to be a punching bag, or in Sailor Moon R to make Usagi jealous (what a crappy move, Mamo-Chan).

129    Super Transformations Again! Pegasus's Power

Overall rating: Fine, bordering on good due to the nice interactions of the girls with each other and the minor recurring character. Alien factor 1/5. Creep factor 5/5

In spite of the title, this is mostly filler. Pegasus powers up Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi-Moon. The girls do something fun. Tiger's-Eye really drives home the rape allegory.

Spoiler

Reika, Motoki's girlfriend from many episodes ago is back from Africa, but is offered a position somewhere in Europe. When Tiger's-Eye approaches her after strapping her to the knife throwing board, she blushes, begs him to not look (in to her "dream mirror") and SCREAMS for him to PLEASE STOP when he does. Just in case you've properly missed what this is supposed to represent in the first episode.

130    Protect a Mother's Dream! The New Attack for Double Moon

Overall rating: Uhm. First instance of "who are these people?", still generally fun. Alien factor 3/5, Creep factor 4/5

Spoiler

Usagi and Chibi-Usa spend the entire episode fighting over food. Usagi even insults her mother and storms off, and Chibi-Usa actively wonders why there are no pictues of her as a baby in the picture collecton of Usagi's mother. Hey writers, you know she came from the future, right?

Hawk's-Eye says he likes older women because they more easily let you do the weird stuff, Pegasus talks some more to Chibi-Usa.

Usagi's mother gets raped by Hawk's-Eye. It's never brought up again.

First instance of the animated double attack by Sailor and Chibi Mmoon. Terrible decision. Great animation, terrible decision. Storyline relevant.

131    Capture the Pegasus: The Amazons' Trap  

Overll rating: What the hell. Alien factor 5/5 - the characters look like fan art in this one.  Creep factor 4/5

Spoiler

Tiger's-Eye shows what happens when his advances go nowhere. Complete filler.

Poor Naru gets raped in this one. Because she wasn't the victim in a LONG time, huh? This puts Tiger's-Eye into the likes REALLY young women category, but it is Naru, and she's used to dating much older guys, right?

132    A Couple Made for Each Other: Usagi and Mamoru's Love   

Overall rating: Fine. Alien factor 3/5. The characters do things that make sense, but Chibi-Usa and Usagi fight over his affection in front of his college friends. Creep factor 2/5 (at this point you're getting used to it). Complete filler.

Spoiler

Rape victim of the week gets a bonus point for figuring out who Sailor Moon is. Hilariously ridiculous monster though.

133    Artemis's Affair?! A Mysterious Kitten Appears   

Overall rating: Good. Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 2/5.

Creep factor 2/5 will be the default rating for any episode that has a rape scene in it that doesn't go out of the way to make it worse, as long as Pegasus doesn't show up beyond the attack animation or a short conversation with Chibi-Usa. Storyline episode that explains why there's suddenly a grey kitten around.

Spoiler

Tiger's-Eye assaults a nun, and Artemis meets someone that gets him into trouble with Luna. For those that haven't seen the Sailor Moon S movie yet, in the movie their romance officially starts. Artemis is hard pressed to explain how he suddenly is father of a talking kitten, it is Diana from the future, and Chibi-Usa confirms that. I feel the need to point out that cat pigmentation does not work that way, so even if Luna ends up being okay with the explanation of how Artemis has become a father without her knowing, she shouldn't. A black and a white cat cannot have a uniformly grey offspring, they'll either be all black or calico (maybe tortoiseshell).

134    Makoto's Friendship: A Girl Who Adores a Pegasus  

Overall rating: Fine-ish. Highlights a constant problem in all of the SuperS episodes, Alien factor 3/5 - Makoto does things that are both in and somewhat out of character for her. Creep factor 2.5/5

Spoiler

Makoto apparently has an old school-friend who wrote a book about Pegasus that everyone loved. Makoto is seen both helping said friend and berating her for having low self esteem. The book about a Pegasus adds .5 to the creep factor. Tiger's-Eye is seen breaking into a house for some sweet tiger on author action.

The biggest issue of this episode is that it should be a Makoto focus piece. It's bad enough to introduce a hitherto unknown friend of Makoto's (who conveniently happens to be the victim of the week) 109 episodes after Makoto is added to the Sailor Senshi team, but then to make the mistake of making this an episode focused on said random friend that only shows up once makes this all the more odd. At least at this point in the season the formula hasn't worn completely thin yet, but oh boy, it will before this is over. It will. Complete filler episode.

135    Hearts that Communicate: Chibiusa and Pegasus

Mostly forgettable storyline episode until the end. Overall rating: Dear Lord make it stop. Alien factor 3/5 - Chibi-Usa and Usagi are somewhat fun (they're for once just fighting, not fighting over Mamoru), but most of this week's characters are aliens in disguise. Creep factor OVER NINE THOUSAND!

Spoiler

Fun monster though, they tried something differently. Too bad it backfires into Pegasus knowing that Chibi-Usa can be trusted and his little grooming project can proceed into the regular contact phase. Pegasus installs the palantír in Chibi-Usa's bedroom to sideglance at her changing into her pyjamas.

Here's Creepasus' reaction to seeing Chibi-Usa naked:

Oh, right, Chibi-Usa's art teacher is assaulted. You're really starting to no longer care at this point. This is sad and should not ever happen.

136    Protect Mamoru: Jealousy of Usagi the Ninja   

Overall rating: No, just no. Alien factor 5/5 - who are these people, and where are the characters I love and care about? Creep factor 2(4)/5. Creep factor depends a bit on how upsetting it is for you to see one of the main characters assaulted instead of a random one-off kind of deal.

Theoretically a killer episode with a lot of fun. In reality potentially the worst Sailor Moon episode ever. Filler.
 

Spoiler

 

"Highlights" of this episode include Yuichiro and Rei's grandpa groping random women in the street, Usagi flying into a jealous rage over Ami asking Mamoru a math question and Rei being as klutzy as Minako and Usagi. Usagi dresses up as a ninja to creep (in a literal sense) around Rei's Shinto shrine and keep an eye on Mamoru. Rei accidentially walks in while Mamoru is taking a bath. She blames Yuichiro for not telling her that Mamoru is bathing, and later Mamoru for letting him look at her when Usagi confronts her about it, and Yuichiro ends up attempting to boil Mamoru alive.

Rei is the assault victim in this episode.

Huh? What? Oh, right, last episode that features Yuichiro and Rei's grandfather.

137    Forest of Illusion: Invitation of a Beautiful Fairy   

Overall rating: No. Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 3/5 - Chibi-Usa shows Pegasus a book full of topless fairies. Pegasus is suitably unimpressed.

Fish-Eye's first mission.

Spoiler

The girls getting lost in a forest because they're chasing after a cute artist is fun enough, but the rest is so... SuperS. Fish-Eye is rejected because he rolls over a flower and complains that it stained his dress and the douchey artist he wants to seduce is put off by his blatant disregard for life forms. It bears noting that the artist at this point thinks Fish-Eye is his personal fairy because Fish-Eye can walk on water. But fairies are supposed to care for plants, right?

The episode begins with Usagi and Chibi-Usa buying a book, going out of the book store and immediately crashing into the author and illustrator of said book, who just happens to be the victim of the week. "Classic" Sailor Moon SuperS filler episode. Always the same template. Chibi-Usa and Usagi are somewhere, meet the victim of the week and become entangled with them for no other reason than plot demands.

138    Drive to Heaven: Love Riding on the Car of Dreams   

Overall rating: No. Alien factor 4/5 - Ami please stick to being yourself, Creep factor 4/5 - Hawk's-Eye attempts to look like a widow's late husband, and copious amounts of Ami upskirts. Filler episode.
 

Spoiler

 

Ami sees Mamoru coming out of his appartment with a women. She hands him a key, he thanks her for her service. Ami does the only sensible thing in this situation, she accosts Mamoru without knowing what's going on, apparently thinking Mamoru just hired an escort. Really, Ami?

Ami is later seen working on a car like she's always been a grease monkey because she became fast friends with the escort over night and decides to help out in her auto shop. The monster of the week ends up putting Chibi-Moon, Sailor-Moon and Ami on a trapez for some convenient panty shots.

 

139    Try for the Best of Japan: The Worries of a Beautiful Girl Swordsman   

Overall rating: No, please, no. Just. No. Alien factor 5/5 - this is for far outside of what Sailor Moon usually is that it might as well be from a different show altogether, Creep factor 5/5 - Tiger's-Eye gets to show that he likes to assault little girls.
 

Spoiler

 

This episode was written by someone who only has one writing credit on Sailor Moon to their name. Nothing at all makes sense, it is completely weird, Tiger's-Eye assaults someone who's smaller than Chibi-Usa and call's her cute, and that he likes her pointy noise and little mouth. But it's okay, even her mother is shown beating her up with a wooden sword to drive a point home.

Sailor Moon and Chibi-Usa agree that tough love is the best love, and that the little girl has a great mom. Even if she's a bit on the abusive side. A "bit", yeah.

 

140    Love Those Minis: The Fashionable Guardians   

Overall rating: Fun. Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 2.5/5.

Total filler, and of course the girls immediately meet the victim of the week, but this one is fun.
 

Spoiler

 

Minako and Makoto once again prove that their gaydar is completely broken when they fall head over heels for such an obviously gay fashion designer that you even immediately forget how much this reinforces a stereotype.

Naturally, with a man being the victim of the week, Fish-Eye gets to chase after him. He gets really catty (get it? A fish, getting catty!) when he finds out that the fashion designer has no love for him and is just really using him as inspiration.

Also, fashion is REALLY gay, you guys. REALLY REALLY GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY. .5 creep points for that.

 

141    Storm of Love: Minako's Grand Two-Timing Plan   

Overall rating: Hilarious (up to a point), Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 3/5 - Chibi-Usa talks to Pegasus about why Minako is chasing two boys at the same time.

Spoiler

Minako is dating both Hawk's-Eye and Tiger's-Eye at the same time, who have a small competition going: Who's going to get into Minako's pants dreams first. This is a really fun episode up until the very end, where, obviously, Minako gets the dream mirror rape treatment after Hawk's-Eye and Tiger's-Eye are utterly offended by Minako not being able to choose between them.

142    Mansion of Secrets: The Menu of Love to You   

Overall rating: Meh. Alien factor 3/5 - old alien lady from Beta Eridani inhabits an expensive mansion in Toyko, Usagi becomes jealous again. Creep factor: 5/5

Spoiler

I don't even. This can't even be saved by giving the cats something to do for a change. Usagi spends half the episode annoyed because Mamoru shared his umbrella with a rich old lady. Hawk's-Eye explains that older women are like mushrooms, Pegasus implies that Chibi-Usa is important to him.

I think I'm writing tihs list more as therapy than helpful guide. I still hope you guys like it though.

143    Time to Believe in Pegasus: The Super Transformations of the Four Guardians   

Overall rating: No, please stop. Alien factor 2/5, Creep factor OVER NINE THOUSAND. Story episode.
 

Spoiler

 

Pegasus becomes jealous when a 13 year old asks Chibi-Usa out and Fish-Eye talks about how much he likes adolescent boys because of their cute body proportions. Then he dresses up as a woman and talks to the boy, who is a budding soccer star player and says... *drumroll*

"I like soccer players, their muscular thighs. It's like please, land a goal inside ME."

Why, why? Whyyyyyyyyyyyy? Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

 

144    Sparkling Summer Days: Ami, the Girl in the Ocean Breeze   

Overall rating: No, Shingo, Ami is mine. Mostly meh. Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 2(4)/5.
 

Spoiler

 

Well here we have it, it wouldn't be a complete run without having Ami assaulted too. That only leaves Makoto and Usagi at this point. Well don't worry gals, it'll be your time soon enough. Especially yours Makoto. The writers just hate you.

Anyway, in this episode Shingo develops a crush on Ami, and she's assaulted by Tiger's-Eye. It has a few fun bits like Rei and Minako spying on boys on the beach, but mostly this is just bad, and then comes the probably worst monster ever (it swallows balls that become its boobs and spits them out again). This... oh boy. Poor Ami, at least Makoto's episode is overall one of the better ones.

 

145    Aim for the Prima: Usagi's Ballet   

Overall rating: Fun enough. Alien factor 2.5/5, Creep factor 2/5.
 

Spoiler

 

This is actually a fun overall episode, except for the end when Tuxedo Kamen suggest that Usagi should go on a diet because she's gained weight again. A small amount of jokes, okay, but this is just giving Usagi a terrible body image. Even Chibi-Usa is jealous of her slender body, long legs and cute little, eh, I digress (arms, I was going to say, arms). Everyone trying out ballet but sucking at it is fun, at least until you remember that Makoto is an ice skating godess, Rei a warrior priestess and Minako a volleyball player who can salto dive and catch a pure heart crystal with no problems - and none of them would just fall over like that doing the simplest of ballet dance steps.

Awesome monster though.

 

146    Holiday in Juban City: A Carefree Princess   

Overall rating: Feels like a remake from Sailor Moon. Probably because it is. Somewhat fun. Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 2/5
 

Spoiler

 

A foreign princess is visiting Japan again. She escape her staff and meets Usagi and Chibi-Usa, who go to a local festival with her and conveniently forget to bring their friends along because the writers had no idea what to do with them, or the wanted to reduce the voice cast necessary for this episode. Who knows? This was written by Megumi Sugihara, the only writer of this season that was on board for the entire run so far (just like that travesty that was Rei's mirror assault episode), and she really should know what to do with the other girls, right? 

One of the better jokes of the season comes from Diana here.

 

147    The Fated Partner? Makoto's Innocence   

Overall rating: Wow. Alien factor 1(5)/5, Creep factor: I WILL CARVE YOUR HEART OUT WITH A SPOON, Tiger's-Eye!

This is one of the episodes I made a long-ass post for in the older thread. It focuses on Makoto. Potentially a 5 of 5 alien factor, depending on how you look at it. 

Spoiler

 

Tiger's-Eye wants to speed things up, so he picks up every victim card and wants to do some serious mass rape dream mirror assault. He accidentially drops Makoto's picture, and it all goes downhill from there.

This, along with the powerup episodes and one where the girls are trapped in a mirror maze, is the only time there is some real characterization going on. Makoto is shown, once again, to be the completely undesirable outsider that she is, and Tiger's-Eye uses her to draw in all his planned victims. He blithely tells her to wait for him, never really planning on going back to her. She was just the odd one out that the jock danced with to attract the attention of the pretty girls.

Makoto does what she does, she waits. A long, long time. Usagi and the girls realize that Makoto never went home from the dance and find her still waiting, outside, in the pouring rain. With a broken voice Usagi asks her why, and Makoto tells her of her hopes and dreams, and that she just can't but wait some more. She knows already that this is probably not going to end well for her, but she doesn't want to look back later and wonder what could have been had she waited some more.

Just writing about it again makes me sad. Wow. I feel for Makoto. This hurts. The girls just wait with her and keep her company. Last post I called this the sweetest display of friendship in this show, and it still is. None of them tell her what they all know. Asshat isn't coming back for her. Oh, how I wish they were right about that.

Because one Fish-Eye gives Tiger's-Eye Makoto's picture he's really delighted to see that she's still there. That dream mirror sequence is probably the most terrible of them all. The first two are much more uncomfortable and disturbing, but this one is really... something else.

I hate you Tiger's-Eye, and I hate that you got redemption in a show where Nephrite had to die. F*ck you. So much.

 

I don't know what to think of this one, to be honest. Sailor Moon has the occasional gut punch every now and then, but they're usually... not like this. This is just cruel for the sake of being cruel. The worst part of this episode is that everything that happens makes sense. It's beautifully written and everyone acts in character. Even Chibi-Usa being around to help with the fight makes sense this time (and the show has the good sense to split her and Usagi up and still come up with a decent way to get them together again).

Do I really want Sailor Moon to make me feel like I did after watching Ulrich Seidel's Dog Days? The answer's probably no.

Here's a short review of Dog Days, snatched from IMDB:

Spoiler

It is often said that the purpose of all art is to at as a mirror to life in ways that common observation cannot. In Dog Days, one finds that mirror shedding some brutal, uncompromising and deeply disturbing light on modern day life.

At the core of the film is a deep sense of loneliness. Seen through the lives of its characters, the film begins with an over-possessive boyfriend and his abusive relationship with his girlfriend.

The opening scenes of the film quickly set the tone for the rest of the film. The brawl in the strip-club and the highly disturbing scene of physical abuse in the car leave you in no doubt that this not a film will be apologetic or polite.

The rest of the film does not disappoint on this count. There is the old widower whose only companion, his pet dog, is poisoned. The mentally unbalanced hitchhiker who meets with some rather tragic consequences. The security equipment salesman who spends endless hours trying to sell his wares, with little success. The estranged couple that lives under the same roof, mourning the death of their little daughter but refusing to speak with each other. And finally, and possibly the most unhinging of all, the aging woman and her inexplicable love for her sadistic, violent and abusive man.

The film offers little in terms of relief from the dark and disturbing lives of its characters. Often described as highly pessimistic, the film chooses to focus on the extremities to make a larger point about the isolation of modern urban life and the redemption we seek from it.

Highly realistic and engrossing, this a truly gifted piece of film making from, astonishingly, a débutant film-maker.

148    Shadows of the Great Evil: The Trio is Cornered   

Overall rating: Okay. Maybe good. Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 2/5.

Mamo-Chan gets to be the victim too this season. That means it is Fish-Eye's turn.
 

Spoiler

 

At this point the Trio is told that they're going to be discarded if they don't finally find Pegasus. The magic that turns them into humans is fading away, and can only be replenished by Pegasus. In fact, finding Pegasus will grant them their wish of becoming human. Fish-Eye also really doesn't expect Usagi to turn up and talk to him and trying to help him. Mamoru of course doesn't have Pegasus in his dreams, that's Chibi-Usa's part, and Fish-Eye has to deal with the fact that they probably will not make it out of this alive. 

Not that they deserve Usagi's help. When you watch this, remember this is the guy who wanted a 13 year old boy to score a goal inside of him.

 

149    Mirror of Dreams: Amazons' Final Stage   

Overall rating: Good, if not for... Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 5/5
 

Spoiler

 

Usagi is the victing this time, and unlike the other victims, she has her dream mirror shattered in the process. Hawk's-Eye is killed by an attacker from the Dead Moon, and Fish-Eye convinces Tiger's-Eye to use their remaining magic power to repair Usagi's dream mirror. They morph back into animals and die. Pegasus shows up, transforms them into humans, gives them dreams and takes them to the same place he's using to meet Chibi-Usa.

The dreamlake from the intro.

 

150    Amazoness! Nightmare from Behind the Mirror   

Overall rating: Good. Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 1/5.

We're entering a stretch of episodes with barely any Pegasus in it. The new enemies are batsh*t crazy children with way too much power, but at least they have a way of finding out if someone has Pegasus in their dreams without the dream mirror assault sequence. This becomes like Sailor Moon S in the sense that the victims are simply attacked. 
 

Spoiler

 

They're also saying a creepy rhyme that reminds me a bit of The Nightmare on Elm Street. So this is actually good stuff here. Usagi and the gang go to the circus where the performers aren't just fun to look at, but also do some soul searching (just in others) of their own.

This being Sailor Moon means that they don't manage to make the connection between the circus performers and the attackers until the very end. But hey, why not.

 

151    True Power Explodes: Ami's Song of the Heart   

Overall rating: Good! Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 1/5.

Ami faces a reflection of herself to power up.
 

Spoiler

 

This is an Ami focused episode that has her fangirling about a composer she met on the internet. The composer is the random victim of the week, but unlike in the other episodes so far she is the focus. This is good, even if it doesn't reach the quality of Sailor Moon S's character pieces. But if the rest of SuperS would have been like this I wouldn't need to write this long assed post. Man.

This episode is infamous for Ami being naked when she's facing herself.

 

152    Burning Passion: Mars's Furious Deadly Attack  

Overall rating: Good! Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 1/5

Rei examines her hopes and dreams while being a complete hypocrite to someone who worships her like the older sister she never had.

Spoiler

Also a really good episode, and an examination of Rei. Her giving a speech to the other girls that you shouldn't become a shrine maiden if your dream isn't helping others with their dreams while her small companion overhears it makes her examine her own position. She gains her power up by giving Nakoto her dreams back.

153    A Dentist of Terror? PallaPalla's House   

Overall rating: Funny episode with a season one throwback that's actually fun. Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 1/5
 

Spoiler

 

Chibi-Usa and Usagi go to the dentist.

Who happens to be a magical construct by PallaPalla, the most unhinged of the Amazoness Quartett. This is a riot and ends with Usagi and Chibi-Usa dispelling her illusions by crying so hard and loud that they shatter.

 

154    Confrontation in Dreams: Minako and Makoto's Broken Friendship   

Overall rating: Goodish. Bad pacing. Alien factor 2/5, Creep factor 1/5.

Minako and Makoto chase the same boy, and both gain their power ups.
 

Spoiler

 

Makoto finally finds someone who might be interested in her, but Minako can't be upstaged by Makoto, can she? She spends the entire episode being a complete douchwaffle and ends up hurting her friend, who just yells at her that she should never speak to her again. Artemis convinces Makoto to come with him to Minako. It's nice that they made Artemis do something for a change, but it required Usagi not giving a sh*t about two of her friends fighting. They have a talk, fight some more and Minako admits she's jealous of Makoto because her dreams seem so much closer to coming true than hers. Makoto chides her for this, and they go and fight the monster of the week.

Also has some pacing issues, and since it is Makoto, the guy ends up being married and having a kid anyway. So much for her dream being closer than Minako's. Minako repairs a plush toy she ruined and hands it over to Makoto, you can see that she hurt herself a lot repairing it (this reminds me of an earlier episode, huh, could this be a rehashed plot point? Can't be, can it?). The annoying little dispsh*t that was running around all the time wants the bear. It's the principal's kid. He probably figured out that the two are Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus. Yeah. Must be.

 

155    Over the Fear: Jump to Freedom   

Overall rating: Meh. Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 5/5

Chibi-Usa gives up chasing Mamo-Chan for Pegasus.
 

Spoiler

 

Do I need to say more? The rest of this episode is ridiculous filler that's occasionally fun, but mostly pointless, and it has some of the same old tired Usagi/Chibi-Usa fighting over Mamoru's attention.

Oh, you really want to know more? Fine then! The 5/5 is earned when Chibi-Usa puts a picture of Mamoru on her pillow, jumps on it face first and says "hold me Mamo-Chan" while wiggling her behind back and forth while hugging the pillow. Pegasus shows up in the palantír, and just in case you weren't certain at this point, Chibi-Usa turns tomato-red in an instant and hides Mamoru's picture from Pegasus.

She totally wants a slice of that sweet, sweet Mamoru, but she probably also wants to figure out if Pegasi...

Spoiler

...are also hung like horses. There. This is probably the worst joke I've made in this thread, but what else is left for me as a recourse but the obscenely absurd?

 

156    Don't Lose Your Dreams: The Truth-Reflecting Mirror 

Overall rating: Okay. Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 1/5

Chibi-Usa and Usagi find a starving artist. He's so desperate for food he like's Usagi's cooking.

Spoiler

Well I don't have anything to say about this one, funny, witty, lame, or otherwise. Completely forgettable, too much focus on the random victim of the week again. At least you get a chuckle or two out of the girls and their interactions. Oh, how little makes me happy at this point.

Ends on a really sweet note from Chibi-Usa.

157    Pegasus is Gone?! Swinging Friendships   

Overall rating: No, no. No (actually there's a nice episode hidden in here)! Alien factor. 1/5, Creep factor 5/5

Chibi-Usa's and her schoolfriends learn the power of teamwork. Pegasus does a number on Chibi-Usa, and Usagi behaves like she should for the first time since the first episode in this season.
 

Spoiler

 

So, while it would be a nice episode about working together as a lesson for Chibi-Usa and her friends, what we really get is Chibi-Usa wanting to know more about Pegasus, and him telling her he can't tell her more than she already knows. Chibi-Usa pushes a little, and to make it clear to her that she needs to be punished, he just abandons her. Chibi-Usa over the course of this episode learns that people sometimes have secrets the can't talk about, no matter how much they like you.

Usagi acts like a normal person in this episode too, for once. Too bad it's marred by Pegasus' successful attempt at guilt tripping Chibi-Usa. You're almost there Pegasus, almost there. Keep going.

 

158    The Secret of Pegasus: The Handsome Guardian of the Dream World   

Overal rating: No, no. No! Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor OVER NINE THOUSAND

Usagi and Chibi-Usa trade places. Chibi-Usa becomes an adult, Usagi turns into a six year old, and Pegasus' grooming of Chibi-Usa finally pays off.

Spoiler

Chibi-Usa likes her new body a whole lot, especially the nice and supple breasts, and is really glad that Pegasus will now see her as a real woman. Except he no longer shows up for her at all. While sleeping, she finds Pegasus in her dreams. She gets to ride him and he tells her that it was her dream of becoming an adult that made him find her. He summons a magic barrier for Chibi-Usa to cross in order to shake off the evil magic that turned her into an adult, and when she does he kisses her for the first time while a love song plays in the background.

159    Chibiusa's Little Rhapsody of Love   

Overall rating: If it weren't for the subject matter, fun. Alien factor 1/5. Creep factor 3/5

The girls figure out that Chibi-Usa has a boyfriend and pull out all the stops to figure out who it might be.

Spoiler

This is a cute and funny episode if you can somehow disregard that Chibi-Usa's boyfriend is both a boy and a horse and told her in the last episode that they can only be together if she turns back into a nine year old. Yeah, that puts a bit of a damper on this one, right?

160    Dream to be an Adult: The Amazoness' Bewilderment   

Overall rating: Okayish. Alien factor: 4/5, Creep factor 1/5

Minako coerces the girls into helping her. Usagi, Rei and Makoto were replaced with alien shape shifters that are afraid of heights. 

Spoiler

This episode lays the groundwork for the Amazoness Quartet's eventual redemption. Not known their real identities, they become friends of a sort with the Sailor Senshi. Half the team develops vertigo so that the Amazoness Quartet can show off their circus skills. Just to drive home that the girls really can't put one and one together. They've been attacked by circus themed enemies the entire time, and they even were attack at the circus when they attended a showing. The other seasons sometimes bent suspension of disbelief with playing this trope straight, but here it gets dangerously close to breaking.

161    Coming Terror: The Dark Queen's Evil Approach   

Overall rating: Okayish, occastionally fun. Alien factor 3/5, Creep factor 3/5

Spiderwebs show up all over Tokyo even though it's winter. This begins the endgame. I'll sum up the other episodes because they're just all one connected arc by now. The Sailor Senshi and the Amazoness Quartet learn each other's civilian identities. Mamoru falls ill.

Spoiler

Chibi-Usa is apparently forced to partake in a marathon. Usagi and the girls are playing at the arcade instead of watching Chibi-Usa crossing the finish line. Wait, what? I mean, not that this isn't something that Usagi would do, but all of them? Really? They're even at the run and leave right before Chibi-Usa arrives to wait for her at the Crown, and end up playing games instead. At least Mamoru waits for her. Jesus. I mean she was annoying for the entire season but come on, really?

Pegasus leaves again, because he knows the endgame is coming. Plus he already had fun with Chibi-Usa, time for the next girl?

162    The Center of the Darkness: Dead Moon Circus   
163    Labyrinth of Mirrors: Chibi Moon Captured   
164    The Golden Crystal Appears: Nehellenia's Spell   
165    Time for the Crystal to Shine: Beautiful Power of Dreams   
166    Dreams Forever: Light Throughout the Sky   

Overall rating: This is probably between the Sailor Moon R and Sailor Moon S endings in terms of being interesting. It's stronger than R's ending, but held down by being attached to this season. Alien factor 1/5, Creep factor 5/5
 

Spoiler

The girls face their fear one final time before facing off Queen Nehelenia, who makes a fatal mistake that costs her the victory that would be otherwise all but certain. The creep factor should be self-explanatory, but in case it isn't: Copious amounts of Pegasus and Helios, and Queen Nehelenia recounts a story of just how much she wanted Helios in the past. He rebuffed her though. Granted, this could ALSO mean that she just wanted to consume him, because in order to stay young for eternity she did a little Elisabeth Báthory on her underlings and ate all their dreams. Guess bathing in the blood of virgins was deemed too problematic for a kid's show full of rape, allusions to incest and a pedophilic alicorn. 

Chibi-Usa, and therefore Pegasus, is captured, and Queen Nehelenia forces Pegasus to return to the actual body of Helios, then rubs his horn until the golden crystal appears. She covers the entire world with darkness, and betrays the Amazoness Quartet by attempting to absorb their power too. Sailor Moon helps them, and they steal Nehelenia's crystal. Yeah, don't piss off children with magic powers.

Nehelenia is more amused at Sailor Moon's feeble attempt to wield the golden crystal. It does nothing, because the entie world's homes and dreams have been crushed. Chibi-Usa saves the day, and the world, by giving a heartfelt speech to everyone through the golden crystal (who is now a world wide PA system for some reason) that they should believe in their dreams. She gets everyone to yell MOON CRISIS MAKE UP, unleashing the golden crystal's power and defeating Nehelenia, who does the only sensible thing and grabs Sailor Chibi-Moon. If she goes down, at least she'll take that brat with her, right?

Well Sailor Moon saves the day, but Chibi-Moon and herself fall down to Earth. You get three guesses who's saving them from ending up a bloody smashed puddle of goo. The end.

 

 

 

Just FYI, I started writing this post yesterday. That took a while. Well, I did some other stuff in between, but this was the longest I've spent writing on a forum since 2003's Iraq war discussions on YYOP back on the IPLY forums.

Edited February 13, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

5 minutes ago, majestic said:

Japanese provided by google translate. It's probably totally wrong and reads something totally different

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

snip

Thanks. It should prove highly useful when I get to SuperS. In spite of its name, season 4 doesn't seem particularly super, much less super^2 (given that the S for season 3 already stood for super...). Maybe they were actually trying to divide and get super^0?

1 hour ago, majestic said:

• An episode can be extremely hilarious but still bad because everyone acts like they have been replaced by alien shapeshifters
• Ignoring character development in Sailor Moon S is annoying even if it makes for fun scenes
• Usagi and Chibi-Usa being immature and/or fighting over Mamoru is a joke that cannot carry more than half of the 39 episodes by itself
• You can are enough for fictional, drawn characters to feel bad for the victims of the dream mirror rape scenes, because these scenes are really, really uncomfortable to watch if you do

All of these things bother me! I was tired of the fighting-over-Mamoru thing like halfway through R, never mind a bad rehash of it! And I'm a complete child - of course I have empathy for fictional characters, particularly if they're cartoon characters I love. If Donald Trump, a man I thoroughly and utterly despise and 99% wish was dead, can somehow garner empathetic responses from me, I don't see why fictional characters shouldn't, . And of course, ignoring character development or just straight up writing characters as if they're alien or alternative universe versions of themselves is always horrible. So yeah, SuperS should be a great time.

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Japanese provided by google translate. It's probably totally wrong and reads something totally different.

Japanese is really difficult to translate outside of the direct loan words it took from English after World War II. I'm reminded of this every stinking time I have to try to translate a music album from Japanese into English when it has no official English translation...like, say, for this nearly 300 track music box set: https://wikimoon.org/index.php/Memorial_Music_Box It might be easier to just learn Japanese so I can keep it in its original text than to keep doing this...but uh, probably not actually.