Anime - A Rollercoaster of Emotion

[Bartimaeus]

47 minutes ago, majestic said:

The Witches have levels by the way. Like in character levels. Kaorinite propmises a level up for the one who kills the Senshi.

Hey, was this a thing at all in the original show in Japanese? I recall once upon a time somebody mentioning power levels or some crap in Sailor Moon and going "huh, what?", and not being sure if it was something they completely cut out of the English version because it obviously literally mattered not even the tiniest bit, or what.

Yeah, I would say you could probably cut down your write-ups a bit - I know I did a bit from when I was watching S, and you're writing way more than I was and this is torture instead of fun. At this point, we know everything with the show stinks, and it's not going to change. It is a little funny though, because while I was reading all of that, I was thinking that even stuff like characters saying something dumb or really obvious for no real reason, which did happen some in the original show because it's nominally aimed at children, is beginning to be really annoying to you. Or villains just deciding to leave or stand around while their minions fight when they could've actually helped out and defeated the Sailor Guardians - that happened literally constantly in the original show. But stuff like that you would've forgiven and completely forgotten about within like 5 seconds while watching the original show - Sailor Moon Crystal is not nearly so lucky, and is it any wonder why?

In other news, I just remembered yesterday that I still have Sailor Moon S: The Movie to watch. Completely forgot about that, so I can do that before I move onto SuperS. Aw yeah, .

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Does this ever get tired?

How many breads have you eaten?

I honestly forgot that about Chibi-Usa in this intro. Small favors.

I dunno, the write-ups are funny but having to stare at the screen with shiny skin split mouth creatures (I noticed the split mouth thing with Motoki and Chibi-Usa in Super S, albeit briefly) cosplaying as Sailors doesn't sound pleasant.

@Bartimaeus Not that I remember, from what I recall there's been no mention of power levels beyond off-hand stuff about evil energy being prevalent in some places.

Edited March 3, 2021 by KaineParker

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Yeah, I would say you could probably cut down your write-ups a bit - I know I did a bit from when I was watching S, and you're writing way more than I was and this is torture instead of fun. At this point, we know everything with the show stinks, and it's not going to change. It is a little funny though, because while I was reading all of that, I was thinking that even stuff like characters saying something dumb or really obvious for no real reason, which did happen some in the original show because it's nominally aimed at children, is beginning to be really annoying to you. Or villains just deciding to leave or stand around while their minions fight when they could've actually helped out and defeated the Sailor Guardians - that happened literally constantly in the original show. But stuff like that you would've forgiven and completely forgotten about within like 5 seconds while watching the original show - Sailor Moon Crystal is not nearly so lucky, and is it any wonder why?

In other news, I just remembered yesterday that I still have Sailor Moon S: The Movie to watch. Completely forgot about that, so I can do that before I move onto SuperS. Aw yeah, .

 

Ah, the S movie. It's a little infamous, because, mild spoiler here:

Spoiler

You get to see Luna's boobies, and unlike other boobies in Sailor Moon they do have a nipple outline.

If that does read like it makes no sense, it will once you see it.

To be honest I am probably a little too hard on the flaws of Sailor Moon Crystal. I especially like to beat up Rei over her uselessness precisely because Ms. Takeuchi complained about the liberties taken with her character.

The actual reason that this is so problematic in Crystal is something else of course, and I guess you know that anyway, but it bears typing out: It's arguably the weakest and least interesting part in the 90ies anime, and it is mostly there because the showrunners had to put in manga story beats and pad the runtime of each episode by having a more or less pointless monster fight, and some neat repetition for the actual target audience. Sailor Moon Crystal on the other hand is purely focused on these elements, and when they aren't good - and let's face it, they're not, and dare I say it, they could not be with such a direct adaptation - then that is much, much more in the foreground. Much more noticable. It becomes something worth complaining about, instead of something you shrug off because when one's lying on the floor laughing about Minako being hilariously goofy, Ami being awkward, or Rei and Usagi fighting, or Makoto thinking that random boy she just met looks like her old senpai, there barely is any time or reason to think about it.

Spoiler

Or you're perhaps sitting there with a tear in your eye because you really think that Haruka and Michiru died, like I did long ago.

Mike and Jay mention this in one of the Half in the Bag episodes that prove that not even their taste in movies is infallible. Yep, talking about the Skyfall Half in the Bag here. I disagree with what they're saying, that movie's ridiculous plot points distract me enough to dislike it. It crosses the point where the plot holes can be ignored and they become glaring and stupid. The entire movie is a crapfest for me, but they liked it well enough and therefore weren't bothered as much by the plot holes and contrivances.

I have, however, also hated every single Daniel Craig Bond film. I'd even go so far as to rank Timothy Dalton's films above them. That by the time of Skyfall I had no good will left over didn't help either. That was strained to the breaking point in Casino Royale already and completely evaporated in the mess that Quantum of Solace was. The same happened to JJ's Kelvin Star Dreck. Beyond might be a fun movie, maybe. All I could think of watching it was why, if he has a swarm of nearly invincible mining ships that destroy everything in their wake, would the bad guy bother to go and look for some biological agent? Why?

He has an invincible swarm fleet of mining ships which which he can conquer the galaxy. You moron, you don't need anything else. Just go and... dunno, conquer everything.

Like Nero in Star Dreck 2009: Hey Nero, you're sitting on a mining vessel that is more powerful than the entire Star Fleet combined in this age. Maybe get your ass over to Romulus and conquer the galaxy? I mean, you can have your revenge later. It's not like it takes a while for Spock to show up, right? RIGHT?

Spoiler

And there's the minor detail that the Witches 5 are sent with direct orders to kill the girls, not to find a MacGuffin, so it makes even less sense for them to not help their Daimon or just leave once it is defeated. It just takes something that's already less than stellar writing and makes it worse.

I've thought about this a bit because in the funny stuff thread someone posted a picture of the old Star Trek episode where Apollo (or, rather, a powerful alien who fancied himself a Greek god, implied to have actually been to Earth, like... yeah, Ancient Aliens guys believe) grabs the Enterprise in his oversized green hands, with a caption that went like: "To everyone who thought only Star Trek Discovery had dumb ideas."

It's true that this was one of the lesser Star Trek episodes of yore, but such things do happen in a series' run. It's no problem insofar because the very next episode, "The Changeling" was a milestone of sci-fi and one of the best episodes in Star Trek history. Plus you can use seemingly stupid ideas to make a decent point, or shine a light on an issue, philosophical, social or otherwise. In Discovery, nothing of that happens. Everything that does happen is merely in service of something either stupid, totally stupid or GOD DAMNED STUPID.

Well, and the PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW action scenes. God damned stupid action scenes. I can't believe that I complained about the purple space bazooka in Insurrection 20 years ago. That was harmless.

Hey maybe Star Trek Nemesis is a good film by now. I'll go watch that.

Spoiler

No, just kidding, I won't.

Plus you're absolutely right about the point you made earlier, when you don't have any decent explanation, just leave it out. The Daimon eggs of Crystal de-evolving creatures and turning them into violent GIANT MONSTERS makes no sense. Sailor Moon S never explained what these things were, or how they could bond with inanimate objects. Why bother? It made for sometimes funny, sometimes weird and sometimes really terrible monster designs. The entire world is magic anyway.

Nobody's asking how Gandalf summons light in Moria. He just can.

Funny minor Sailor Stars spoiler:

Spoiler

The villains in this season, who are completely useless and otherwise forgettable, constantly simply leave while Sailor Moon gives her speech about punishing them in the name of the moon. It's hilarious every time, and Usagi sometimes yells: "Now wait a minute! I'm not done!" after them.

 

1 hour ago, KaineParker said:

How many breads have you eaten?

Fair point.

Edited March 3, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

>Luna

what

>James Bond, Star Trek

Man, you need to stop watching stuff that you know you'll hate - in 99% of cases, if I get a feeling that I won't like something, I don't watch or play it. The other 1% is when somebody else literally holds a gun to my head with the safety off and their finger on the trigger a la @KaineParker and Thus Spoke Henry Kissinger. No, I'm never going to be able to remember its name. That or someone else is watching it and I guess I have I'm around and don't feel like doing anything else...which, now that I think about it, is actually how I've seen a couple of 60s/70s James Bond films AND a few of original/TNG Star Trek films. If that's what you're doing, that's understandable, but it mostly sounds like you enjoy torturing yourself

[majestic]

Before I return to hatewatching Sailor Moon Crystal so I can be done with it and focus on more fun things like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Steven Universe I'll take some time to introduce something I mentioned earlier: ReBoot.

But! Not the reboot of ReBoot because that was so bad it's good gone so wrong that it's so bad it's good it's horrible. But anyway. I'm sure there are posters here who haven't seen the original ReBoot. I think @Malcador did, at least he expressed some desire to see the terrible reboot at some point.

What is ReBoot? ReBoot is a fully CGI TV show from '94 that... whoa whoa whoa you say. TV, '94, CGI?

Indeed! So we can get the prime issue out of the way then. The show looks dated. To say it aged poorly is the understatement of the century. The designs are simple, the animation is super stiff and even the highest quality sources you can potentially find look desastrous. For a long time this only existed as poor VHS scans. There's a DVD version now, but it still doesn't look good. With that out of the way, what is it about?

Life in a mainframe!

The first season is mostly episodic until the second season introduces a story arc. The creators constantly had to deal with cencorship (the show aired on ABC), which sometimes lead to hilarious episodes where they spoofed having to constantly rewrite parts of their scripts so they would pass evaluation. One of the best episodes of the entire run, the first season's "Talent Night" features a censor that is constantly banning acts from appearing. The episode ends with Bob summoning his "BFG"...

It also features a YMCA spoof "BSnP" by a group called Small Town Binomes:

Instead of monsters of the week most of the time like in other shows at the time (ahem...) in the first season the user simply uploads a game, and Mainframe's guardian Bob (sort of an anti-virus software) has to win against the user. Should the user win the game, any sprites, binomes, numerals or other inhabitants of Mainframe will be reduced to nulls. This is later phased out for a more story driven format.

When it's not user interference that troubles Mainframe it is the two computer viruses that are around. Megabyte (voiced by the magnificent Tony Jay) who wants to control all of Mainframe and Hexadecimal, a complete nutjob whose only goal is to cause as much wanton destruction and chaos as possible.

The show really kicks off in the second season when a web creature invades Mainframe. At the end of the season, a group of ABCs is seen attacking Mainframe too (ABC and the creators had a ,uhm, falling out over creative differences).

It's delightfully full of every possible piece of nerd humor and reference you can dream up. From the command line of Mainframe called Phong, to the Diner owner Dot Matrix, the freelance hacker called Mouse and the fun viruses. It even has an X-Files spoof episode in the second season that features CGI Special Agents Fax Modem and Data Nully (voiced by none other than Gillian Anderson herself).

Fax Modem, Data Nully and Bob also have one of the best dialogues ever. Assuming one knows X-Files and liked it. Modem keeps telling Bob his conspiracy theories, like how there is no user and the Guardians perpetrate the User myth to keep control over computer systems or that his friend Mouse is maybe a web creature in disguise. Bob eventually asks Data Nully: "Is your partner completely random?"

Spoiler

Turns out that Mouse isn't a web creature, but she has contact with the Guardian council who once they have confirmation of a web creature in Mainframe decide to solve the problem by doing a complete wipe of the system, much to the dismay of Bob. Instead of wiping the system the episode ends with tearing down the wall between the web and Mainframe.

 

[Amentep]

4 hours ago, majestic said:

 

The same happened to JJ's Kelvin Star Dreck. Beyond might be a fun movie, maybe. All I could think of watching it was why, if he has a swarm of nearly invincible mining ships that destroy everything in their wake, would the bad guy bother to go and look for some biological agent? Why?

He has an invincible swarm fleet of mining ships which which he can conquer the galaxy. You moron, you don't need anything else. Just go and... dunno, conquer everything.

The fact that Kirk & co defeated the "invincible swarm of mining ships" with a jury-rigged ship of pre-Nero technology proved it wasn't undefeatable, and Krall would have been keenly aware of that he wouldn't be able to sustain a fight with the Federation in the long term with just the mining ships.  It'd be inevitable that someone would find their weakness.

 

ObTopic: I got nothing, sorry, I'll get me coat.

[majestic]

5 minutes ago, Amentep said:

The fact that Kirk & co defeated the "invincible swarm of mining ships" with a jury-rigged ship of pre-Nero technology proved it wasn't undefeatable, and Krall would have been keenly aware of that he wouldn't be able to sustain a fight with the Federation in the long term with just the mining ships.  It'd be inevitable that someone would find their weakness.

 

ObTopic: I got nothing, sorry, I'll get me coat.

Yeah, no. The mining ships were more than sufficient to being a campaign without having to look for a super weapon. It's not like everyone has a Beastie Boys CD lying around. At least... I hope that's not the case in the 23rd century. 

Speaking of on topic, you could join us watching Sailor Moon.

[majestic]

50 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

>Luna

what

>James Bond, Star Trek

Man, you need to stop watching stuff that you know you'll hate - in 99% of cases, if I get a feeling that I won't like something, I don't watch or play it. The other 1% is when somebody else literally holds a gun to my head with the safety off and their finger on the trigger a la @KaineParker and Thus Spoke Henry Kissinger. No, I'm never going to be able to remember its name. That or someone else is watching it and I guess I have I'm around and don't feel like doing anything else...which, now that I think about it, is actually how I've seen a couple of 60s/70s James Bond films AND a few of original/TNG Star Trek films. If that's what you're doing, that's understandable, but it mostly sounds like you enjoy torturing yourself

You'll see when you watch the S movie. It... makes sense in context. S might have been the best Sailor Moon season, but I think the movie is the worst of the bunch, but that depends on how much you like the SuperS movie story, because that was a Japanese take on European fairy and folk tales.

No, no gun to my head, but anything Star Wars and Star Trek related I go watch with a friend of mine who is a very active fanboy (I mentioned them being part of the official fan club, and they're often out doing promotional work when there's no pandemic, so that's free tickets - I can at least claim that I haven't given Disney money for the new trilogy ).

The Bond films I went to see with my mother. So there.

But, and there comes the caveat, I'd watch them without any external impetus just as well. I'm like the moron kid who burns his fingers on the stove every time because he doesn't learn.

[majestic]

Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 28: I thought I could do this without typing something up. Turns out I can't. But it'll be shorter, hopefully. edit: Nope, turns out this also took an hour and a half and is just as long. Meh.
 

Spoiler

 

Chibi-Usa is really into Hotaru. Love at first sight. She marvels at her alabaster skin. Well, at least that's consistent. Won't be long now and she'll be lusting after a white horse. That one has really pale skin too. The Professor shows up. He's... deadly serious. Really, really, really serious.

The girls keep stating the obvious, this time Minako is allowed to figure out that Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune really are Sailor Senshi. Ami plays dumb and says they didn't get a good enough look at her even though the super secret command bunker viewscreen plays a close up replay of the last episode.

Mamoru. Chibi-Usa and Usagi are sleeping in the same bed in his appartment. Normally this would be an inconspicuous scene (they ARE a familiy of sorts, and Chibi-Usa is still young), but my mind is going to really terrible places right now. At least Usagi and Chibi-Usa are sleeping and Mamoru is up and about (because he had a nightmare).

Look at Usagi figuring out who Michiru and Haruka are, but she still has no idea that Haruka is a girl. Geez. The girls are also really mad at Haruka and accost "him". Yes, the respect between them is palpable. Rei in the meantime is in the mountains doing what Makoto did in Sailor Moon S, standing in a waterfall. The girls spend 30 SECONDS being normal girls, and then... then it is revealed that there's an Infinity Academy outpost nearby and Rei wanted to observe them. Man, show, really, let them have a bit of fun for once? No?

Oh, and just in case you needed any more confirmation, the girls are all Reapers from Blade 2.

Look at Makoto wanting to suck Haruka dry. And I mean that in the blood-sucking vampire way. Also, look at my shiny spots, I have an extra one on the nose and some on my hair!

Rei has much better and more clearly defined contours in her transformation sequence than Makoto. She even has a belly button and Makoto doesn't. Why?

Eudial introduces herself as "Eudial of the Witches 5, Level 78, Death Busters" and that she's happy to see Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter, because once she kills them she will get a level up. No, really. Actual dialogue here (in all fairness she says "rise a level" but still). I'm so jealous right now, when I had to camp named mobs in Everquest 2 hey didn't come to me (and some of them only spawned once a week!).

Eudial handily defeats both Jupiter and Mars and would have killed them if not for Ami dousing her fire attack with water. Usagi shows up and smashes her to bits with MOON SPIRAL HEART ATTACK. Poof. Seriously. The now Witches 4 are shown to have watched the fight without batting an eyelash.

If this goes in the same sequence as in S, next episode or so will kill Mimetto-kun. Poor Mimet.

Usagi sees Haruka as Sailor Uranus and Haruka jumps away. Usagi runs after her, but she's too quick.

Sailor Moon, you can fly. And you can teleport if need be. You've been shown to do both in the past two seasons. Hey. Usagi. Hey. Maybe... maybe teleport yourself close and fly after her if you want to chase her down? Why are you running? Usagi-chan, Usagi-chan, oi! Hello. Anyone in there? You're supposed to be smarter than 90ies anime version Usagi. Heeeeeeeeello!

Yeah so that's the problem with introducing stupid powers that allow your characters to zip around the world willy nilly. Season one they teleported to the moon and back when they felt like it. Here they can't even chase down Haruka.

Oh and Usagi gets less jealous seeing Mamoru talking to Michiru than with him talking to Chibi-Usa. That's really healthy Usagi. Really, really healthy. Or potentially even more super creepy than this whole mess already is.

Final scene has Sailor Uranus being super respectful towards Sailor Moon. She calls her a damned fool and says "I thought I warned you.", then "Playing at war is not for children." and finally, because **** consent:

And yeah, I looked that up. Happens in the manga too.

How very, very, VERY respectful towards your queen. Serenity should probably have her executed for this.

Manga version:

So, great. How awesome.

Now I know that Shojo manga in particular has a history of using sexual assault as a means for the heroine to show that she's able to tough it out (rivals and enemies really like to steal kisses), but that's a questionable trope at best and that it really IS in the manga just shows that Naoko Takeuchi should do what the admiral whose name I don't care about said to Picard in Star Trek Picard when it comes to complaining about the 90ies anime:

What the hell. Seriously. Respect. Nothing but respect. Using a kiss to intimidate Usagi. You go Haruka. Because if... if it is fine to use that trope in a Shojo feminist masterpiece (and why not, it is historically there, many Shojo mangas of the time had it - not having it would have been out of place, much like having no panty-shots would have been out of place in the anime), then it is also okay to draw some underwear under Minako's skirt when the wind blows the way it does. Sorry Mina.

Also, very emphatically, f*ck this relationship version between Haruka and Michiru. Haruka pretends to be a boy all the time for what reason exactly? So it's less obvious that they're lesbians? Haruka being mistaken for a man was playful and funny in the original anime, but at the end of the day nobody would think that she really is a man, except three characters that were regularily shown to be not very perceptive and having a case of the dum-dum every now and then.

Haruka and Michiru were in love and it was fine. Just like it should be. Nobody cared.

Here? Here for all intents and purposes she is a man. Why? Who knows. Maybe the "editor" of the manga wanted a heteronormative spin on the relationship. Because this isn't trying to make a point about how Haruka has to hide from society because she's not accepted, or anything. It didn't in the first three episodes, and it most likely isn't going to anytime in the future.

Yes, it was still progressive for its time, of course, to even have a lesbian relationship. But hey manga, hey! Manga! Hey! You've been outdone by your anime brother. Again. Sucker. +1 for the theory that Ms. Takeuchi was just a petty, whiny and jealous person (read: sexist word starting with "b" here) about the success of the anime in spite (and beause of!) its changes.

Professor Tomoe insane laugh counter: 0

Professor Tomoe doing fun things counter: 0

(I'm guessing both will stay at 0)

 

 

Edit: I realize that I once stated that I don't think that the few panty shots that made it into the Sailor Moon 90ies anime should be used to detract from its overall message because it was the wont for the time (and eh, it still is, for anime, I guess), much like one should not attack Star Trek: TOS for having the woman of color on the bridge answer the phone when actually having a woman (let alone one of color) on the bridge was leaps and bounds ahead of its time.

It does not apply in this case, because the manga and the anime came out concurrently. The anime was clearly the more progressive of the two even with the sexualization aspects of it, and also the less creepy, even with everything that happens in SuperS. Yes, featuring a relationship like that in any Shojo manga was progressive, but dropping the terrible kiss-stealing trope and making said relationship much more openly seen speaks very much in favor of the anime.

edit 2: I'm also really angry at the manga, Crystal and all the fanboys for some reason. That poor unicorn-guy is just my stand-in punching bag. But mostly I guess... I don't know. I expected more from the manga to be honest, not less. And it is, well, a lot less. Really. Such a disappointment.

Edited March 4, 2021 by majestic

[Amentep]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Yeah, no. The mining ships were more than sufficient to being a campaign without having to look for a super weapon. It's not like everyone has a Beastie Boys CD lying around. At least... I hope that's not the case in the 23rd century. 

Speaking of on topic, you could join us watching Sailor Moon.

They didn't need the Beastie Boys just something to jam the signal with by broadcasting. It could have been "Heading out to Eden" and still worked as I understand it.

Don't have a way to watch Sailor Moon, so can't join in.

[majestic]

1 minute ago, Amentep said:

They didn't need the Beastie Boys just something to jam the signal with by broadcasting. It could have been "Heading out to Eden" and still worked as I understand it.

Don't have a way to watch Sailor Moon, so can't join in.

Don't ruin my point.

(but yes, you're right)

You should find a way to join. It's fun, and wholesome, and occasionally really creepy. But don't let that bother you.

Spoiler

It only implies the hot 9 year old on horse action.

I'm not making a good case here, am I?

[Bartimaeus]

Guys...I'm starting to think that all Sailor Moon Crystal and no Sailor Moon non-Crystal makes Majestic a very crazy boy.

Spoiler

You know, I never really got the impression that Chibi-Usa was out and out in love with Hotaru. Had love for her certainly, but I'm not convinced it was necessarily romantic. I think she was saving it for the unicorn...

While I have some appreciation for early 3D stuff...I don't think I could endure that ReBoot show from the video you sent of it. Maybe it's something you had to have seen when it came out, .

Edited March 4, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Amentep]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

You should find a way to join. It's fun, and wholesome, and occasionally really creepy. But don't let that bother you.

  Hide contents

It only implies the hot 9 year old on horse action.

I'm not making a good case here, am I?

I actually watched Sailor Moon (DIC dub so only series 1. Iirc) in syndication back in what was it - 1995? Could be fun to revisit but I dunno if I'll be able to swing it.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

4 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

The other 1% is when somebody else literally holds a gun to my head with the safety off and their finger on the trigger a la @KaineParker and Thus Spoke Henry Kissinger

1 hour ago, majestic said:

That poor unicorn-guy is just my stand-in punching bag

You must battle him to the death over Sailor Moon. I don't make the rules.

I can be more forgiving of the manga than I can be of SMC, if only because it was working at a breakneck pace, while still not liking it. SMC had two decades to learn from the mistakes of the manga and the anime and apparently didn't.

[majestic]

12 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Guys...I'm starting to think that all Sailor Moon Crystal and no Sailor Moon non-Crystal makes Majestic a very crazy boy.

  Reveal hidden contents

You know, I never really got the impression that Chibi-Usa was out and out in love with Hotaru. Had love for her certainly, but I'm not convinced it was necessarily romantic. I think she was saving it for the unicorn...

While I have some appreciation for early 3D stuff...I don't think I could endure that ReBoot show from the video you sent of it. Maybe it's something you had to have seen when it came out, .

Yeah, in the original anime that was a normal friendship.

Spoiler

As "normal" as a friendship between the future princess of the world and  a gothic queen mysterious waif with the power to end all existence can be, at any rate.

And yeah, I can understand if the look of ReBoot puts you off. I'd say the show gets better in time, which it does, because every season improved the animation, but even in the end it's a far cry from being impressive, beyond being impressive for its budget and being on TV at the time. Sadly this fine wine already turned into vinegar.

The show gets the biggest technical upgrade in season 3 (season 4 was way later, and remains only half-finished, sadly, so I pretend it doesn't exist). It also has the opening narrated by Megabyte, because at the end of season 2 he manages attack Mainframe and in force and tries to turn it into... Megaframe!

I just love the nerd stuff in this, and the references.

The opening narration alone, when Megabyte introduces himself. My format: Virus. To Corrupt & Conquer! And it gets only better from there.

Also pretty sure one of the top comments on this video is right. If Sam Raimi or Bruce Campbell watched that episode when it aired, they'd probably have laughed their asses off.

And now, regarding Crystal: Well... that's a tough one. It doesn't make me "crazy", although I have to admit looking at that picture of Makoto with her spliced open mouth - really, that's what I see when I look at this, it is UNNERVING - doesn't help my mental state when watching this.

I honestly do wish that I would have never known about it. I could still live in my happy filter bubble where the 90ies anime was great to watch and the mysterious manga in the background was something better that I heard of but never checked out because I can't read Japanese.

However, @KaineParker is right of course. Given the circumstances of the manga, the time when it was released, the stress it was put out under and the pacing issues it can be more readily forgiven for its problems than Sailor Moon Crystal. The show is a great showcase of what happens when you directly adapt source material without giving it any thought, like Tuxedo Kamen being a complete creep or the girls having internal monologues stating what is happening on the screen.

Edited March 4, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 29:
 

Spoiler

 

This is shaping up to be a love rectangle between Mamoru, Haruka, Michiru and Usagi. What?

SMC-Michiru is currently only serving as window-dressing for Haruka. I wonder if that will change or if she'll stay an even worse non-character than Rei, Makoto, Minako or Ami are. Usagi is a bit slow in figuring out who Sailor Uranus is, but there's no indication that Haruka doesn't know who Sailor Moon is. She just goes from threatening them to being interested in Usagi and going to meet her even though the girls have warned her to stay away.

At the rate this is going both Haruka and Michiru will go from calling the girls fools and threatening them to "We've always wanted to work with you!" in an episode or two.

I found something interesting in watching SMC - the meta aspect of it compared to the manga and the manga fandom's opinions. It's not what I thought this would be, but it's all right. It is now engaging and entertaining on a different level. I can live with that.

Mimi is having a concert along with Michiru. Poor Mimet, she really seems to be the next one to die. Bye, we barely knew you.

Minako is going nuts over that. She loves Mimi. Yes, this is goofball Minako all right. Well, why not. Just weird after she was the dogged determinator for 26 episodes. But I'll take it. Anything's better than the flat, boring characters of the first two arcs.

Okay, Haruka just confirmed that she knows who Usagi really is. Haruka has distractingly large breasts all of a sudden. There's no way she can pretend to be male all the time with these dangling in front of her. Not even if she binds and tightly wraps them to her body or wears sports bras. They pick Chibi-Usa up and shuttle her home on one of their helicopters in the middle of the night, landing directly on the street in front of Usagi's home.

Pretty sure you can't just do that because you feel like it. I don't know about Japan though.

Next scene has Haruka not showing any signs of having breasts. Let alone the melons she was sporting 30 seconds ago. I'll have to admit that this was also something that happened in the 90ies anime, but there it was a little more consistent (and outside of the SuperS movie Haruka doesn't get a boob job on screen).

Oh, Minako uses a Sailor V gadget to transform into a man. I see. So that's probably the explanation where Haruka's girl-melons went. They were Sailor powered away. That's... okay-ish. I mean, no, not really, but I'll take it.

Meet Guynako, Sailor Moon's blonde Harry Potter: 

Woha, look at Mimetto-kun summoning three GIANT TICK MONSTERS at once.

That lasted all of 10 seconds, stock attack animations not factored in. The girls show up, obliterate the three GIANT TICK MONSTERS, Mimete attacks Chibi-Moon, Neptune shows up and saves her with a DEEP SUBMERGE and Sailor Uranus obliterates Mimete with WORLD SHAKING. Bye Mimi. Sailors Uranus and Neptune introduce themselves. End of episode.

Rei playing Deanna Troi counter: ∞ +2

Professor Tomoe insane laugh counter: 0

Professor Tomoe doing fun things counter: 0

 

 

[majestic]

Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 30:
 

Spoiler

 

Sailor Uranus and Neptune attack the other Sailor Senshi. This'll be the final time I'm saying this, but: Such respect. Much affection. Big wow. Okay, at least I know now that the Unicorn guys is talking out of his... arse. Not that I'm entirely surprised, but he seems to have the reading comprehension of a certain keen Polish poster who beleives himself a witty and smart one and the cognitive capacity of a Kanadian troll/South African Banker hybrid.  

Feels like the beginning of Mr. Plinkett's The Phantom Menace review. If you think the manga is better because the anime is the most boringest then you better you away before I tell you what a f*cking idiot you are. Video with timestamp:

So... uhm. The girls are now in their super secret command bunker under the arcade after the attack knocked Usagi out for a while. They wonder if they're actually enemies and decide that they are, if not enemies, then at leat not allies. I wonder what left you guys with that impression. They show nothing but resp... oh, wait, I said I would stop.

Usagi says that the can't be enemies when they're also Sailor Senshi like them. Good grief Usagi, where's your "You hurt my friends, you die!" attitude all of a sudden? So Haruka gets special consideration because you think she's hot when she's pretending to be a man?

Usagi and Chibi-Usa are again staying over night with Mamoru. Usagi's parents are really weird. Okay, for her to stay over with Mamoru every now and then, why not. She's 15 by now, or close to it, but Chibi-Usa? What reason could you possibly have to believe that it would be okay for her to stay with them when you believe she's your 9 year old daughter? Hello? Ikuko-mama? Kenji-papa? Anyone there? Do you care at all?

I mean, yeah, it seems to fit though, considering her mother throws her out when her grades are bad. Not exactly parents of the century.

Haruka touches Usagi from behind after that attack and casually flirts with her. The girl's a loonie. Haruka tries again to kiss Usagi and says "what does it matter if I am a man or a woman?" which is the first sensible thing she said so far. Mamoru sees the scene and... is jealous for a change. Hey. Not bad. Mamoru I'd like to remind you that you casually and with no second thought accepted Michiru's invitation earlier.

Look at them talking it out. Hey. More of that please. Less of the crap that's usually in this show.

The girls also developed shiny spots directly underneath the point where their lips go missing. Yep. This just all but confirms it. They are reapers.

Viluy has character level 202. Not bad. What's the max level here?

Viluy handily defeats Ami, then is attacked by Rei and Makoto from behind, but she tanks their attacks like it's no big deal. Haruka and Michiru show up, Viluy summons two GIANT TICK MONSTERS. Haruka whips out her talisman and obliterates the two GIANT TICK MONSTERS and Viluy in 5 seconds (plus some stock footage time). Yeah. You go you beatiful kickass giraffes. Rei manages to count to two. Two talismans now! Good job Rei. Without your internal monologue we would not have known that.

Usagi is rightfully confused, and so am I. Are these two enemies, allies or something else entirely? Wish I knew. Haruka seems to suffer from manic mood swings. *barf*

Rei playing Deanna Troi counter: ∞ + 2

Professor Tomoe insane laugh counter: 0

Professor Tomoe doing fun things counter: 0

 

 

[Bartimaeus]

Deanna Troi being the closest comp for Rei in Crystal is...very ungood. She was always by far the most annoying character on (what I've seen of) TNG for me, especially once you consider how much screen time she gets. I guess that's the point of the comparison.

Don't need to link me the Phantom Menace review - I have that whole thing just about memorized, including that line, .

Why is everyone such a...creep in Crystal? Ugh.

 

[majestic]

13 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Deanna Troi being the closest comp for Rei in Crystal is...very ungood. She was always by far the most annoying character on (what I've seen of) TNG for me, especially once you consider how much screen time she gets. I guess that's the point of the comparison.

Don't need to link me the Phantom Menace review - I have that whole thing just about memorized, including that line, .

Why is everyone such a...creep in Crystal? Ugh.

 

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.

Edited March 4, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

44 minutes ago, majestic said:

Not that I'm entirely surprised, but he seems to have the reading comprehension of a certain keen Polish poster who beleives himself a witty and smart one and the cognitive capacity of a Kanadian troll/South African Banker hybrid

Channel your hatred and strike him down.

[HoonDing]

This was on TF1 right after Sailor moon

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

More Sailor Moon Stupid S

Watched the seasonal Naru and Umino episode, so I guess we can forget about Usagi's bff until next season.

Next up was a surprise, because someone realized who Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi Moon were based on how they looked. Just kidding, it's because of how they reacted to Mamo-chan being in trouble.

Monsters were both forgettable, and so far it's only been the cradle robber and the milf hunter who have been in action. I'm not sure what Fish's Eye is going to do but I'm pretty sure it won't be good.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, HoonDing said:

This was on TF1 right after Sailor moon

I don't know why, but for some reason I seem to usually like silly 80s-90s jpop such as this. It's not like I listened to anything like it growing up, but it's just kind of...pleasant easy-listening. Also, did we just ID HoonDing as being from France? A mystery I've been waiting way too many years to solve, and he just goes ahead and drops it in the anime thread thanks to Sailor Moon. ...Kind of explains his reality-skeptical nature, really.

@KaineParker In Usagi's defense, I don't think she's made any claim that Naru's been her best friend for a long, long while (indeed, when the subject of "best friends" comes up, it's...always been in relation to Rei, I'm pretty sure?). It'd be super crappy to be Naru in that situation.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

58 minutes ago, KaineParker said:

More Sailor Moon Stupid S

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Watched the seasonal Naru and Umino episode, so I guess we can forget about Usagi's bff until next season.

Next up was a surprise, because someone realized who Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi Moon were based on how they looked. Just kidding, it's because of how they reacted to Mamo-chan being in trouble.

Monsters were both forgettable, and so far it's only been the cradle robber and the milf hunter who have been in action. I'm not sure what Fish's Eye is going to do but I'm pretty sure it won't be good.

 

 

Spoiler

No, not for the season. You've just seen the last of Umino and Naru. They're not going to be back. Poof! Although the girls do switch school after SuperS, so maybe Umino and Naru are at a different High School, or do something else. Who knows?

How do you mean, not memorable? You think a giant beach ball that almost suffocates Usagi until Mamoru stabs it with a knife isn't memorable? Well that's a shame because that thing is going to be reused once or twice. It has... siblings. No, really. Uhm...

 

43 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

@KaineParker In Usagi's defense, I don't think she's made any claim that Naru's been her best friend for a long, long while (indeed, when the subject of "best friends" comes up, it's...always been in relation to Rei, I'm pretty sure?). It'd be super crappy to be Naru in that situation.

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?

Spoiler

It gives Minako cancer and she dies, I mean, the hell Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, the hell? How can you do that to Minako?

 

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Also, did we just ID HoonDing as being from France?

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.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Whelp that's a damn shame, even if it makes sense.

I've seen Usagi get turned into a tennis ball, a Droid mock her for not having a boyfriend, and a vacuum cleaner Daimon who tries to such up the Sailors. At this point giant beach ball is pretty standard