Anime - A Rollercoaster of Emotion

[majestic]

6 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

I stopped watching when I saw the cats. They look horrible!

Everything looks terrible, but you're not supposed to look up spoilers for the parts where you aren't yet. I mean... not that it really matters for Sailor Moon, but still.

7 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

That video was painful. Look at all the comment about "wow, so much better than the original!", though, .

Also, so...what I heard about the show spending like 100% of its time on Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask and hardly any on the other Sailor Guardians was sadly true?

Clearly so much better than the original anime version. Cleary. Because that's what Sailor Moon needed, a murder-suicide over love. People in the comments talking about Romeo and Juliet is somewhat strange too. No evil energy being corrupted Romeo, and they both commited suicide.

And yes, the girls barely interact with each other.

Spoiler

Even when they're supposed to, i.e. they are having a pyjama party at Ami's (where they want to figure out what and how powerful the master sword is), Usagi just dozes off, dreams of Mamoru and then goes to the Crown because she can feel Evil!Endymion waiting there for her.

[majestic]

Uhm, girls, you forgot to take your Legendary Sacred Sword with you. Hey, uhm. I don't think Luna and Artemis can carry that on their own.

No, nope. They just teleported to the moon and left it lying there. Okay.

Humm, humm, ho humm. It's starting to brainwash me too. This is great stuff.

In the same way the Masters of the Universe movie was great.

edit: Ah, it's okay. The Legendary Sacred Sword teleports itself into Sailor Venus' hand when she needs it. This is fine. She doesn't even need to pull it out of the Sorting Hat.

edit 2: HOLY COW. Sailor Moon survived running herself through with the Legendary Sacred Sword which was shown two or so episodes ago to destroy even the hardest materials possible at the barest touch because it was deflected by Crystal's version of the Star Locket - Mamoru's moon phase pocket watch.

edit 3: Oh look, Prince Endymion survived being slashed in half by the sword too, because that blow was deflected by four crystals pieces made of jadeite, zoisite, kunzite and, yeah, you guessed it, nephrite. Wow. Such awesome.

Hey maybe SuperS wasn't that bad. Fly on the wings of love!

Spoiler

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Thank you for your service. This makes it so the rest of us don't have to try it out.

[majestic]

1 minute ago, Bartimaeus said:

Thank you for your service. This makes it so the rest of us don't have to try it out.

it's worth the experience for me. I feel like writing George Lucas a three hundred page apology letter for all the mean things I said about his Star Wars prequels.

However! Apparently they fired everyone for the third season and redesigned the animation and used different writers. There's a chance that Crystal's version of S is going to be good. Or, at least, not 50 Shades of Grey level terrible.

[Bartimaeus]

Me: Everyone?

You, hopefully:

Spoiler

 

[majestic]

Well, that was the first arc of Crystal. Or the first season, however you want to call that.

IC, you should NOT read this. I mean, not until you're done with the first season. You don't have much left anyway.
 

Spoiler

 

The four Sailor Senshi die in the final fight against Queen Metalia (they're not killed, they give up their energy to wake up Sailor Moon, no powerful final moment in which they die to protect their future queen/their dear friend(s) like in the first anime). Metalia consumes the Silver Crystal and destroys the world, laying waste to everything and killing everyone except Endymion and Serenity who are inside her (I have no idea how you can be inside an energy being with no corporeal form).

Luna watches this from the moon and begs the ruins of the Crystal Tower for some deus ex machina intervention. Meanwhile on Earth, Sailor Moon uses the Silver Crystal to attempt to fight off Metalia, but Metalia is too powerful, even after Sailor Moon combines the Moon Stick and the Silver Crystal. And then... then... then we see the best animation in the history of animation. A GLORIOUS two frame animation of Sailor Moon whirling about her upgraded Moon Stick.

No really.

It really IS two frames.

Apparently the, uhm, Blu Ray version has improved animations, but... who cares. Really.

Actually the animation in this series isn't only terrible looking, it is also full of mistakes and errors that scream crashgrab. They're so numerous that you can't possibly notice them all, but luckily the internet has a list:

https://ai-no-senshi.net/information/anime/smc/animation-errors

Anyway, let's continue the "review":

At least until Luna and Sailor Moon, by... praying together (in other words, the show makes sure that you KNOW that we're really getting a deus ex machina intervention here), finally manage to activate the crystal spire on the moon. For one glorious moment this looks like it will turn into complete schlock and fire a moon based giant laser beam at Metalia, but that doesn't happen.

Instead a crystal power reactor system activates on the moon and tranfers enough energy to Sailor Moon to deafeat Metalia. It's decidedly less awesome than a giant moon laser cannon would have been. So much wasted potential. Could have gone full ham here. Her transformation brooch goes kaputt.

Sailor Moon takes Endymion and teleports herself to the moon, where she tells ForceHologramGhost!Serenity that she wants to keep living on the Earth with her friends, family and the people she loves. Her mother gives her a new transformation brooch, she inserst the Silver Crystal into it and transforms back into Sailor Moon and uses the Silver Crystal enhanced Moon Stick to cast MOON HEALING ESCALATION on the entire Earth, fixing Metalia's destruction and reviving everyone (including her friends).

She and Mamo-Chan kiss in the park, then Chibi-Usa falls out of the sky and threatens Usagi with the gun. Cue "to be continued" screen.

 

Phew. So what do you think, is the next arc going to be as awesome?

  

11 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Me: Everyone?

You, hopefully:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Not entirely sure, but they do have a new director and a new writer for the third season (and the new movies from this year, and any perhaps coming adaptations for Stars). The animation looks completely different too, might as well be a completely new show. 4K difference video, I hope that one isn't locked in the US as well:

Still don't really like the way it looks, but it certainly is a major improvement nonetheless.

Final thoughts:
 

Spoiler

 

The emotional impact of this finale doesn't exist. Watching Sailor Moon the first time, like I've posted before, really had me shedding a tear or two (perhaps more) when Makoto, Ami, Minako and Rei died at the end of the first season. Even back then I knew they wouldn't stay dead, obviously (can't have new episodes afterwards without them surviving in some way, right?), but it still hurt.

Seeing Usagi break down and wanting to give up to save the others that are left. Wasn't too keen on Ami slapping her, but eh. Can't have everything. During the rewatch I knew what was coming, but it was still painful to see.

This? Who gives a damn. I have no emotional attachement to any of these CGI giraffe atrocities they call characters. Usagi stabs herself, *facepalm*, the Sailor Senshi give up their energy and die to save Usagi, *yawn*, everyone is brought back to life and they meet again, being super happy... *yawn*

 

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by majestic
Important notice added at the end in the spoiler tag.

[Bartimaeus]

I didn't realize how short Crystal is until I just looked it up right now. That pace seems like it'd be utterly brutal for all the characters, especially if you're new to the series and have no idea who these characters already are. If you've seen the manga or watched the original show, sure, you can kind of...supplement via your imagination/memory of the characters, but I can't imagine someone new to the property wanting to sit through what's basically SAILOR MOON: ONLY THE MAIN STORY (EXCEPT EVEN WORSE!), that sounds like a nightmare. I mean, it already sounds like a nightmare for a fan of the original show, but imagine how new viewers who have functioning brains would feel!

I was watching that animation video and thinking "eh, this is really only marginally better, it's still pretty ba-OH MY GOSH, Ami and Rei and the rest look so much better when they're not rendered in almost literally the world's worst 3D anime style, they no longer look like weird G-Mod tier anime puppets thank god". I could probably watch that with the character animation so vastly improved (even if it's still wrong)...if the show itself was good.

Season 3 will probably be better, but at the same time, with so few episodes, they're still going to have to focus overwhelmingly on the main story and Usagi + only the other absolutely critical characters, and who the hell wants to watch that? ...Well, I guess you'll let me know if it's even kind of worth watching, because I sure as hell ain't watching season 1, and I think we can all but rule out season 2 as well, .

Edited February 24, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

59 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I didn't realize how short Crystal is until I just looked it up right now. That pace seems like it'd be utterly brutal for all the characters, especially if you're new to the series and have no idea who these characters already are. If you've seen the manga or watched the original show, sure, you can kind of...supplement via your imagination/memory of the characters, but I can't imagine someone new to the property wanting to sit through what's basically SAILOR MOON: THE MAIN STORY (EXCEPT EVEN WORSE!), that sounds like a nightmare. I mean, it already sounds like a nightmare for a fan of the original show, but imagine how new viewers who have functioning brains would feel!

The first arc in the manga has as many chapters as Crystal has episodes. A few details are different between Crystal and the manga, but the pacing is the same. The problem is the somewhat faithful adaptation of the source material. The manga, at least in the first arc, spares no time for silly things like character development. This does get better a bit with time, but not entirely. It remains really fast paced and really short too.

Like I said, a chapter in the manga is 30 to 45 pages, and some of these pages are single images, or pages with a mere two panels. There is a reason for this, aside from not being the best writer (sorry manga fans, but that's the truth), Naoko Takeuchi was immensely pressed for time, having to come up with a chapter for Sailor V and Sailor Moon every month. There is a copious amount of asspulls in the storyline, like Ami's super dimensional time shield, her teleportation, the secret moon base power generator... geez. This reads, by far and large, like a first draft release of everything, with some editor interference. Kind of like Pr. Plinkett thinks the Star Wars prequel scripts were made.

Supposedly Ami should have been a cyborg. There are also rumors that she wanted Rei and Minako to have a relationship but was shot down. While there's nothing that would substantiate this, I've seen several manga panels that, well, let's say that they do have immense homoerotic subtext (plus Ms. Takeuchi liked to draw artwork that wasn't in the manga that made it even more clear). It's by no means canon, but there's also the fact that Ares and Aphrodite were secret lovers in Greek mythology (a great pairing that produced Phobos and Deimos, i.e. fear and terror...).

Oh, and this is what we're talking about when it comes to "subtext" - going by the looks of the third character this is from Stars (that's probably Yaten, which would actually be hilarious, since he's really a she).

I'm pretty sure a lot of really hot and steamy Minako x Rei fanfiction sprang from this.

Actually, and before someone comes along to post and accuse me of homophobia, I don't really care if the two are lovers, secretly or otherwise. It wouldn't fit the first anime version, but that's something else entirely. Rei was changed there, in my opinion, for the better, because she... well she actually has a personality in the original anime. Dedicated Miko with psychic powers who does not like men (i.e. is casually sexist framed as being fine, beause she's a girl - although Rei has every reason to dislike men what with her manga backstory and all, try to invert the genders for a moment and imagine the reaction this would get) isn't terribly interesting on its own.

Doubly hilarious in Crystal where Rei has the personality of a dead fish but introduces herself as Sailor Mars, the soldier of flame and passion. Yeah right. Flame and passion. There's no passion in any of the first Crystal arc, but least of all from Rei.

But the actual silly issue with the subtext, why not simply go and make it official?

Spoiler

At this point in the manga we already met Haruka and Michiru.

TL;DR:

The original anime did really well to shed the shackles of the source material and adapt story beats that fit but left a whole bunch of nonsense out that should never have made it in the manga in the first place. Like the super secret control bunker, the power generator on the moon or that suicide plot.

Edited February 24, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

On the contrary

There should have definitely been a giant moon laser in the anime

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, I would not care at all if Rei/Minako were in love with each other. My favorite show is Steven Universe, something like that could hardly ever be a problem for me - if anything, it could make them even funner characters (if done right), . Is Minako still a little twisted, obsessive, kind of lazy, definitely goofy and airheaded, kind-yet-quick-to-turn, randomly passionate and/or strongly opinionated about odd things, et cetera...you know, like a character? No? I didn't think so...and there's your actual problem.

Ami would've made sense as a cyborg. It would've been dumb as hell and I would've hated it, but it would've made sense, .

Edited February 24, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

2 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Is Minako still a little twisted, obsessive, kind of lazy, definitely goofy and airheaded, kind-yet-quick-to-turn, randomly passionate and/or strongly opinionated about odd things, et cetera...you know, like a character?

From what I've heard in Sailor V, yes it is. Sailor Moon manga, well, no idea yet. So far I've only read chapters that invovled Ami, Rei and Makoto from the first and the fourth arc.

Definitely not in Crystal. She's the sensible leader type there. The one with experience the other girls turn to, and bringer of lots of exposition. Let's see what the second season brings.

[Bartimaeus]

Honestly, her being the sensible leader type would make a lot of sense given that she's the first. You could make that work - she wouldn't be the same character at all like the original anime, and I'd miss the original, but you could make it work. You'd still have to give her other interesting things to be, though.

[majestic]

Huh, look at that. Episode 15 of Crystal has the girls sitting at the Crown Fruit Parlor eating ice cream, just talking a little, enjoying the peace and quiet. Rei already had a premonition about that changing really soon but doesn't have the heart to tell the others. 

Spoiler

Usagi complains about Chibi-Usa showing up and brainwashing her family, Luna gives them their new transformation and communication equipment without making them play the Sailor V game for it. Even a side character shows up and interacts with Makoto (not sure who that is supposed to be yet, someone at Mamoru's school but in a lower grade).

The four Spectre/Phantom Sisters also already showed up, along with Rubeus. Since they'll be replacing the monster of the week for the second season I'm pretty sure they'll start dying like flies really soon. No rememption for them in Crystal (and none in the manga either). To make sure you understand how evil they are, they get really evil glowing eyes.

Regarding the animation, either I'm starting to have Sailor Moon Crystal Stockholm syndrome or this is really better looking than it was in the first season. But probably just an illusion.

Although, wait, the video I have here is from the BR version, which really has improved animation compared to the original streaming release.

Edited February 24, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

From what I heard they firedchanged the creative teams with every season, so it very well may be that s2 looks better. Still looks like a giraffe safari to me though.

[majestic]

Final thoughts on Epsiode 15:

Okay, this was better than anything in the first 14 episodes. Sadly, with the way it ended, it also heralds that this is going to be the last time in this season where anything that's not break neck speed story stuff will happen. I hope I'm mistaken because the first half of the episode was actually enjoyable (if not entirely pretty to look at).
 

Spoiler

 

The girls get to interact with each other for a bit, Rei helps with her school's festival and plays fortune teller for a while (something that comes up in Sailor Stars in a really sweet way in the 90ies anime). Rei even laughs in the episode and muses that she's starting to behave like Usagi, and for a bright, brief moment this was really nice to watch.

Until Koan, youngest of the four Ayakashi Sisters (well, I'm watching the German dub this time, so no idea if they are still called Spectre Sisters in the English one or if the English dub went with the original Japanese name too) shows up and starts randomly burning people in a park and later at the school festival.

Whelp, this turned grim really quickly, huh?

The Sailor Senshi find Koan and a group of catholic sisters (Rei goes to a catholic school, I think I mentioned that before) who turn out to be some random mooks of the Black Moon Clan. They try out their new pens, and Rei just burns all the mooks down with her new Burning Mandala attack. Then she fights Koan, loses, and gets stuck in a blue flame version of Otiluke's Resilient Sphere.

Sailor Moon throws her tiara at Koan, who deflects it, only for Tuxedo Kamen to show up and save her. Their hands touch and this summons, uhm, the Moon Rod. Or Moon Scepter, or whatever. Her attack stick from Sailor Moon R at any rate. Sailor Moon wastes no time and casts MOON PRINCESS HALATION at Koan and just straight up murder-death-kills her. Phew. They sure don't mess around. I don't know, I kind of like the lovable dummy Sailor Moon with a heart of gold more than this... death driven, suicidal, maniac killer soldier that she's kind of turning into here. Or already is. Well, not sure yet where this is going.

Not that she shows any compassion for the monsters of the week in the old anime, but they're mostly mindless evil, mindless mooks anyway.

Rubeus shows up and takes Rei (still stuck in the sphere) with him. Curious, I always thought a wizard would need to concentrate to sustain a Resilient Sphere, but okay, this isn't D&D or maybe the Ayakashi Sisters are playing with house rules. Or maybe they're playing an older version. Not sure how that spells was in AD&D, but the wizard could always dismiss it. *shrug* Not that it really matters.

Reading up a bit on the wiki it seems that this patten will continue for alle the four sisters. They'll easily defeat their Senshi counterpart but will be blasted out of existence by Sailor Moon. Rubeus will abduct them one by one up until Sailor Venus because Tuxedo Kamen messes that up. I'm guessing that will be the first four episodes, and they will take care of the four Ayakashi girls. Then they'll kill Rubeus, Esmeraude, Saphire and Demand/Diamond and have a three episode final fight against Death Phantom and BRACK RADY.

Chibi-Usa witnesses their transformations in this episode already.

So, yeah. With Chibi-Usa knowing where the Silver Crystal is now (presumably, at least) and Rei abducted by aliens I don't think we'll get another episode of the girls doing stuff that isn't related to the storyline for a while. If at all. Certainly not until they're all reunited anyway. So that's 10 minutes of the girls being regular girls in 300 minutes of runtime now.

Speaking of ALIENS.

I can't believe I didn't notice this earlier.

In the R filler arc, the two Doom Tree Aliens are called Ali and En... AliEn. Alien! Get it?

I'll give this episode one more thing. It actually made me not dreading to watch the next one. What an odd feeling. 's got to be Stockholm syndrome.

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I didn't catch that in the filler arc of R.

Given how many ****ing aliens there are in Sailor Moon, including the Sailors themselves, it seems kinda weird

[majestic]

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Ami would've made sense as a cyborg. It would've been dumb as hell and I would've hated it, but it would've made sense, .

So, in case you thought I wouldn't respond to your little snide remark towards Ami here: You were wrong!

Ami is... <insert character defense here>.

So let's talk characters a bit now that I'm done rewatching the entire run of Sailor Moon, and I'll be talking about them purely in their civilian form. I'll leave discussing who has the cooler super powers or the better attacks to fans of the manga where these discussions belong. 

First time I watched Sailor Moon, indeed, I loved Ami. I still do, don't get me wrong, but it no longer is the same. My life simply moved to a point where she's no longer the most relevant of the characters for me, plus the parts that could still be relevant are criminally underused. I really enjoyed watching her fangirl about on the internet in SuperS and in real life in Sailor Stars and being all embarrassed about it when asked, but this happens in three or four episodes out of 200, and she has one episode where she wonders if there's more to her life than what she's currently doing. While this is probably one of the best episodes in Sailor Moon S, and perhaps even of the entire run, it's... not enough. Not any more.

The top spot now goes to Makoto and her attempts to move past being an outsider. Now to be fair to all the other characters, each of them - before meeting Usagi - is an outsider all on their own for various reasons. People are scared of Rei's abilities, think Ami is an aloof nerd girl looking down on them and Minako has all the problems that a girl realistically would have if she for some reason turned into a crime fighting super hero at age 13. 

Makoto though, Makoto's issues stem from an unhealthy body image and her lack of self-esteem and self-respect that come from that. That is something that will always stay relevant for me. Not that she gets more attention than Ami in focus episodes, but the relevance of her problems and how she deals with them is present all the time, so hey, here we go.
 

Spoiler

 

Super secret spoiler.

Spoiler

 

Spoilers here!

Spoiler

 

SPOILER!

Spoiler

You're still wrong for not liking Ami enough!

Spoiler

Hey, I can do that too, I've seen that episode already.

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Honestly, her being the sensible leader type would make a lot of sense given that she's the first. You could make that work - she wouldn't be the same character at all like the original anime, and I'd miss the original, but you could make it work. You'd still have to give her other interesting things to be, though.

It makes more sense in Crystal and in the manga (it's there according to the wiki) because we meet Minako like three quarters into Sailor Moon's 46 episodes (man, really, why couldn't they just number the seasons?) and by the time the other Senshi have had a good deal of interaction, character development and fighting as a team. Since they do none of that in Crystal, Minako being sensible and taking up a leadership role makes perfect sense. She stumbles upon a freshly awoken team of girls desperately in need of guidance.

In Crystal, like in the manga, she also pretends to be Princess Serenity until Usagi's memories surface.

Giving Rei a more active role and Minako a more goofball one was an adaptational necessity for the format, having to come up with 4 or 5 episodes between manga chapter releases.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I'm being serious, this actually is a spoiler.

I really wouldn't look if you haven't finished at least part 1 of JoJo, which is episode 9

Don't say I didn't warn you

I already did spoil it, DIO is the main villain of part 3, and he spends like 80% of the show with his face covered in shadow similar to the Professor.

[majestic]

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

25 minutes ago, majestic said:

This is why I like the Professor so much more than earlier villains, he's just wacky. He doesn't need an exposition dump or even a backstop, he's just memorable for being an insane scientist.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

More Sailor Moon

A wild two parter appears! Usagi loses her transformation item and almost gets found out as Sailor Moon. Luckily Minako looks enough like Usagi to fool Kalionite, whose super shield gets pierced by friendship and likely is crushed to death, liberating us from a boring henchmen only to have five witches teased.

Usagi volunteers to run a goldfish scooping attraction while Chibi-Usa and Luna-P return to shoot pink hearts at the Daimons. I'm not sold on the witches, but just driving off is a better escape than the teleports we'd gotten before.

[majestic]

Sailor Moon Crystal, Episode 16.
 

Spoiler

 

This episode gives some much needed backstory to Ami and she plays chess with Berthier in this one, but doesn't get frozen when she loses a piece, instead Berthier reads her thoughts and attempts to use her parent's divorce as a way to distract Ami. It has some more character development, Usagi yells a bit at Chibi-Usa who is later picked up by Mamoru. Usagi realizes that she's terrible with children, but keeps being a complete douchwaffle about a little child that is shown in a much more sympathetic, VERY VERY toned down way from what she was in Sailor Moon R. Mamoru and Luna call her out on this, but then there are like 30 seconds in the episode that OH MA GAAAWD DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?

Usagi and Mamoru are in the same frame for like 30 seconds, but he's being creepy again by pushing her around. It looks like he wants to kiss Usagi but she resists because she is super pissed off because Mamo-Chan let Chibi-Usa stay with him over night (also, Usagi's mother doesn't even bother to ask how or why her "second daughter" stayed away over night with a grown ass man and makes her breakfast, no wonder no one of them cared when Usagi stayed away over night last season, ironically with the same man, ha...), and then he pushes her down. I... what? Look at this and tell me if I'm wrong. I mean, please tell me I'm wrong and this doesn't look like it does. It's probably not meant to express what it does, or is it? Creeeeeeeeeepy. I set the link to the proper timecode. Hopefully this isn't copyright blocked.

What is Usagi's hand slumping down supposed to mean? Her giving up resisting him?

Luckily that's all of their interaction for this episode. Well it's more than enough. Just stay away from each other please. Dear god.

Berthier gets blasted by a fistful of Sailor Moon's MOON PRINCESS HALATION and is dead. Huh. So the manga actually spends four months of R's runtime killing off the sisters and having the Senshi abducted one by one. No wonder there is a two month filler arc and even then some weird pacing in the original anime.

I wouldn't exactly call this good though. It keeps being focused almost completely on a story I already know (in a way), but the absence of Mamoru douchewaffling Usagi is appreciated, but instead Usagi being a complete douchewaffle isn't. Their fighting in the classic anime is abit more playful than this, and Chibi-Usa sure deserves some of the verbal abuse she gets (not so much the spanking, but hey, 90ies...). I'm still hoping I misinterpret that scene because of the terribad animation*.

Eh, and Ami gets taken. The show also continues with the asspulls as Ami finds a busted pipe in the ground by sensing the water flow like a world grade drowser. Now the asspull isn't so much that she knows how, in Japan Mercury was called Water Star before the name became Romanized, but that the custodian randomly believes her for no real reason and finds leak in the pipe. But okay, that's really a minor complaint.

The actual big issue is the chess match and the plot hole that comes with it. It makes no sense. Berthier calls Ami out on TV, apparently knowing during the interview hat Ami will be watching at exactly the right time, and that her direct challenge to her will actually go answered, and that they will meet in the tournament as opponents.

Oh, and Berthier knows that Ami is Sailor Mercury and wants to abduct or kill her. So... bad guys... look, why not simply set an ambush? You could get her while she's at home and perhaps not while all her friends are around watching her play?

Finally, chess is really not the game of choice if you want to have a fast paced story climax to show. Could be worse, they could have played Cricket, right?

*No, this really just looks like what it is, right?

 

Random naming fun fact of the day:

Mizuno Ami literally means Water's Beautiful Center (or better put but less literal Beautiful Center of Water). Unless you want to read Ami as french loan word for friend. Which would make her name mean Water's Friend (Friend of Water). Since names never have Hiragana or Katagana it could be both if the Kanji representing her name were picked for sounding like Ami.

Friend of Water makes more sense for Ami, right?

Whelp, since I forgot this for Rei's Crystal Episode.

Hino Rei - Fire's Spirit / Spirit of Fire.

  

14 minutes ago, KaineParker said:

More Sailor Moon

 

  Hide contents

A wild two parter appears! Usagi loses her transformation item and almost gets found out as Sailor Moon. Luckily Minako looks enough like Usagi to fool Kalionite, whose super shield gets pierced by friendship and likely is crushed to death, liberating us from a boring henchmen only to have five witches teased.

Usagi volunteers to run a goldfish scooping attraction while Chibi-Usa and Luna-P return to shoot pink hearts at the Daimons. I'm not sold on the witches, but just driving off is a better escape than the teleports we'd gotten before.

 

 

Spoiler

 

Watching that Taiko Drum Daimon simply knock over Sailor Chibi Moon after her attack fails was one of the funniest things in this season.

Also, that look and Usagi's and Rei's faces when she shows up.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 25, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Saved by the coprtight again lmao

28 minutes ago, majestic said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Watching that Taiko Drum Daimon simply knock over Sailor Chibi Moon after her attack fails was one of the funniest things in this season.

Also, that look and Usagi's and Rei's faces when she shows up.

 

 

 

 

Rei's expression all through the episode were great, especially with the gag in the cafe. Something I noticed about S right away is how they are really more animated than in previous seasons, like Usagi's head expanding to 3x size and turning red and stuff.

[Bartimaeus]

@majestic

That sequence you linked in Crystal was pretty weird and creepy. But also, yeah, it was blocked, so RIP KP. It seems like everything SMC is blocked in the U.S.

Also, I do like Ami - maybe not enough by your standards, but still. It's just an easy button to press, .

Spoiler

One of my favorite "highly expressed" moments comes early into...I think actually your next episode, KP, E15. Of course, then it's pretty much immediately followed up with one of the absolute worst things I've ever seen in my entire life, so you know, you win some and you lose some.

 

[majestic]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

@majestic

That sequence you linked in Crystal was pretty weird and creepy. But also, yeah, it was blocked, so RIP KP. It seems like everything SMC is blocked in the U.S.

Also, I do like Ami - maybe not enough by your standards, but still. It's just an easy button to press, .

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One of my favorite "highly expressed" moments comes early into...I think actually your next episode, KP, E15. Of course, then it's pretty much immediately followed up with one of the absolute worst things I've ever seen in my entire life, so you know, you win some and you lose some.

 

Good to know, then I'll stop bothering with the Crystal videos. Dunno what's the issue here, Toei doesn't seem to mind the clips on YT. But what do I know, perhaps Viz knows it is better to protect the US from this show.

Spoiler

Ah, now I know what you mean, this... interesting Crayon Shin-Chan reference. Or uhm, that what comes after it.

Anyway, regarding Ami, it is ok. Haters gonna hate.

Just kidding. I originally thought I'd make a more interesting post out of it but then lost track, but really, my favorite characters shuffled around a bit.

Spoiler

Prior to the rewatch, I had ranked Hotaru much higher than she would be now, and Chibi-Usa dead last, and I'm not sure that's true any longer. At least when not looking at freaking SuperS. Usagi has probably risen a few ranks too.

There's a fun little joke (and one less fun) in the episode of S where Usagi gets her English test back, the one where she's got only 5 points. One of the questions on it was translating the word bubble from English into Japanese. It's not like her friend Ami runs around casting bubbles at enemies all day long for 60 episodes. Eh, but there's also a jokey question about someone accidentially picking up a new-half, so uhm. Best not to pause and read her English tests.

Sakurada-sensei seems to be a real weirdo.

Edited February 25, 2021 by majestic