Anime - A Rollercoaster of Emotion

[Bartimaeus]

Spoiler

You know...I'm starting to get the feeling that Sailor Moon Crystal is, and tell me if I'm being crazy here, simply not very good, .

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

40 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

  Reveal hidden contents

You know...I'm starting to get the feeling that Sailor Moon Crystal is, and tell me if I'm being crazy here, simply not very good, .

 

[majestic]

4 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

  Reveal hidden contents

You know...I'm starting to get the feeling that Sailor Moon Crystal is, and tell me if I'm being crazy here, simply not very good, .

 

 

Spoiler

 

There's also one other thing. Pressure to delivery a chapter each month for two mangas or not, the storyline she came up with for the Black Moon arc isn't very workable for a concurrent anime adaptation. Naoko Takeuchi made Sailor Moon specifically because Toei wanted to make an anime out of Codename: Sailor V and she felt it wouldn't be a good idea to have an anime with only one focus/main character and a bunch of sidekicks in it. 

And then she goes and makes a story arc that removes one of the main characters per month for four or five months while the anime had to cough up up to 25 episodes in the same time span. Would you like 4 filler episodes without Rei, then 4 filler episodes without Rei and Ami and finally some 4 filler episodes without Ami, Rei and Makoto and then... four more filler episodes until the entire thing with Rubeus is resolved (IF that is one manga chapter, which I don't know right now)?

Anyway, browsing through reviews a bit, well, yeah. It does become clear that both the Dark Kingdom and Black Moon arcs in the manga are a mess, and translating them directly into an anime without proper adaptation leaves you with exactly what Crystal is. Not terribly interesting or good.

When you look at the final minute or two of Sailor Moon R for instance (as in the second to last episode, not the silly clip show/preview that comes afterwards), you have this incredible scene between the girls, Usagi and Mamoru when Chibi-Usa is leaving.

Chibi-Usa says goodbye to Ami, Makoto, Rei and Minako and then turns to Usagi and Mamoru. The two of them don't say anything, just standing there with tears in their eyes, until they hug and Chibi-Usa just says Arigatou, mama. The rest is left to the music (the orchestral version of Heart Moving), their body language and their character development over the season. Now while it's not entirely fair to the manga because it obviously doesn't (and can't) have animation or music, this is the same scene as manga panel:

Yeah, why don't you do dump crude and on the nose exposition all over this. Browsing through the chapters a bit, this is exactly what always happens. Direct exposition dumps even where they would not be needed, or maybe should not be needed if the rest wouldn't feel as messy or rushed as it does.

Adapting this directly, unthinkingly into an anime then ends with what Sailor Moon Crystal is. A team that never really shows being friends on the screen constantly telling each other and others how much they're a team, how good friends they are and how much they love each other, even if all you can see is Usagi hogging the spotlight with her magical chosen romance with Mamoru, and the ultimate display of friendship and courage in the face of adversity: Slashing Endymion and stabbing herself just to get away from it all.

Imagine for a moment that there are fans of the manga that complained about Usagi wanting to give Queen Beryl the Silver Crystal after seeing the horrific death of Makoto because it isn't very Sailor Senshi-ishy to give up. Well what does she do in the manga? She gives up. In a much worse way, at a point in time when everyone is still alive and could be saved yet.

Hey, what do you guys think would happen to a 14 year old who had just seen one of her friends die horribly? Fierce resolve to strike onwards? From Usagi, at this point? When she isn't even ready to accept the role that fate has deigned to thrust upon her, let alone assume the responsibility that comes with it? Sure, right.

I don't really have any high hopes for the third season at this point. I already know the storyline will be worse, regardless of what else happens. And how much of that "what else" can happen in two handful of episodes anyway?

Oh, and before I forget, how do you think that last Black Moon arc chapter ends?

Yeah, let's just ruin the emotional impact of Chibi-Usa leaving for home by bringing her back immediately. Good job!

To be fair, the show writers pulled the same crap right at the end of Sailor Moon S...

 

Edited February 26, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Spoiler

Tonally, doing the Chibi-Usa thing does indeed make zero sense. Realistically, it makes total sense because time traveling means you can TIME TRAVEL! ...Which is to say, if at some point in the future you decide to go back in time again, you can literally just go right back to the moment when you left. So...tone vs. realism + being able to make a joke out of it. Yeah, tone is more important, but at least there's some kind of reason to do it, so it's semi-forgivable.

>Slashing Endymion and stabbing herself just to get away from it all.

I'd probably want to do the same if I were in Usagi's shoes in this terrible story, too... With hindsight, it's kind of amazing the original show ever made it or evolved into something good. Those show writers had to basically re-think everything through and come up with all the little details of...well, basically everything and everyone, because the manga apparently just didn't really have them (and what it did have was frequently just wrong). Understandably for a show on a shoestring budget, not everything worked one hundred percent of the time, and for some reason they went #SICKOMODE...or rather #PEGASUSMODE in the fourth season, but hey, all in all, a job pretty well done in being able to capture the essence of the manga while also somehow stretching the show out to literally like 5x its natural length via improving the characters through "filler" content. Gold stars all around!

Except for the people responsible for Crystal - black stars for them. Who *is* responsible for Crystal, anyhow? Was Ms. Takeuchi the driving force behind it being made the way it was?

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Actually Chibi-Usa coming back right after she leaves is great. Not only because of time travel, but because it implies that future Usagi and Mamoru want to dump their daughter in the past so they don't have to deal with her. What would have made it better is if Chibi-Usa came back as a teenager.

[majestic]

4 hours ago, KaineParker said:

 

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Actually Chibi-Usa coming back right after she leaves is great. Not only because of time travel, but because it implies that future Usagi and Mamoru want to dump their daughter in the past so they don't have to deal with her. What would have made it better is if Chibi-Usa came back as a teenager.

 

There's a great joke in SuperS:
 

Spoiler

 

There is an episode where the victim of the week is a princess visiting Japan that ditches her entourage and bodyguards and goes off to explore Tokyo on her own (before meeting Usagi and Chibi-Usa of course). When the princess doesn't show up for some interview there's a statement on TV where the other officials state that the princess isn't feeling well and has taken to bed with a fever.

Diana immediately says that the future king and queen also always seem to have a fever whenever some stuffy ceremony comes up.

Luna looks completely defeated and just goes: "What, Mamoru too?"

 

So yeah, that theory has some merit.

YouTube just recommended me this:

Well. She can't sing and there's no accounting for taste (the artwork does leave a lot to be desired and the music is just plain annoying in my opinion) but I still laughed.

 

4 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

  Hide contents

Tonally, doing the Chibi-Usa thing does indeed make zero sense. Realistically, it makes total sense because time traveling means you can TIME TRAVEL! ...Which is to say, if at some point in the future you decide to go back in time again, you can literally just go right back to the moment when you left. So...tone vs. realism + being able to make a joke out of it. Yeah, tone is more important, but at least there's some kind of reason to do it, so it's semi-forgivable.

>Slashing Endymion and stabbing herself just to get away from it all.

I'd probably want to do the same if I were in Usagi's shoes in this terrible story, too... With hindsight, it's kind of amazing the original show ever made it or evolved into something good. Those show writers had to basically re-think everything through and come up with all the little details of...well, basically everything and everyone, because the manga apparently just didn't really have them (and what it did have was frequently just wrong). Understandably for a show on a shoestring budget, not everything worked one hundred percent of the time, and for some reason they went #SICKOMODE...or rather #PEGASUSMODE in the fourth season, but hey, all in all, a job pretty well done in being able to capture the essence of the manga while also somehow stretching the show out to literally like 5x its natural length via improving the characters through "filler" content. Gold stars all around!

Except for the people responsible for Crystal - black stars for them. Who *is* responsible for Crystal, anyhow? Was Ms. Takeuchi the driving force behind it being made the way it was?

 

 

Spoiler

 

There are times, and they are indeed plentiful, where I very much prefer tone to either realism or something making sense, but of yes of course, in theory she could have been home for a year before coming back. I included that mostly because it feels so weird. I get it, she wanted to keep Chibi-Usa around and the joke itself isn't half bad, but her sense for where to put fun and where to put drama in the story - or heaven forbid, let something breathe for a while - just doesn't exist.

In a way that perfectly encapsulates why SuperS was so disappointing this time around. Aside from the extremely uncomfortable feeling that the assault scenes conjured up, or the creepy romance Chibi-Usa has, it's tonally weird and characterization is all over the place.

There's one thing that would be interesting to find out. With the anime and Sailor Moon more or less launching concurrently in Japan, was the anime driving the success of the manga, or vice versa? Would either have been popular without the other?

The manga that actually caused Sailor Moon to appear was Codename: Sailor V, and from what I read so far Minako's anime goofball version is based on her in Sailor V, which would make her immediately more likable than she is in Crystal. Apparently manga Minako from the Sailor Moon manga is also more fun than Crystal Minako. Not sure yet. Crystal Minako is boring. Maybe her upcoming focus episode will change that. 

There's one thing that's objectively trackable in this. Aside from Sailor V and Sailor Moon, every other manga Ms. Takeuchi made wasn't very successful. Altough, in all fairness, how can you measure up to such a resounding success? Isn't everything else you make after something like Sailor Moon doomed to fail to live up to the hype?

I've always wondered that when it comes to artists. What do you do after you're created something like Sailor Moon? Are you always chasing that success then? Do something else entirely? How annoying is it really to be constantly asked about your opus magnum if you have one? Do you enjoy it? Do you hate it? Are your more a Mark Hamill who to this day is really excited about having played Luke Skywalker or are you more a Harrison Ford that noticably turns sour when you ask him about Indiana Jones or Han Solo?

The closest equivalent I can come up with to answer that question for me is a pvp tick based browser game that I played years back, with a persistent universe with permanent loss of everything you've worked for when you were defeated (and yes, that's pretty much as brutal as it sounds, because it takes months and years to build yourself up) where the alliance I was in became so successful it forced the administrator and developer of the game into a soft reset to stop the player bleed that we caused. We kept playing for a year and a half longer, completely decimated every opposition* and then more or less disbanded over night after our president's account was hacked and not even the administrator intervened to give us back our alliance tag.

A lesser group of players took over our resources and continued to dominate the game by the sheer difference in resources, not skill, until the game went through a hard reset. I still hang around the forums and every now and then someone asks me if I want to come back. The thought alone fills me with revulsion. It's vile. I do not want to do this ever again... and to be honest, I don't think I could do as well as I did back then, and even if, what would be the point? I've seen everything, done everything, achieved everything possible. Hm.

I would probably be more like a Harrison Ford, right? But... I'm no artist. *shrug* But I've also seen the same reactions from people who made something for fun only to  have it turn into a major success and simply drop it before finishing it. There was a german audio play based on World of Warcraft that was dropped one episode before the end on a major cliffhanger. It took like 10 years for the conclusion to come out. I mean to listen to it, but I never seem to find the time to listen to the full 20 hours again.

*I'll put this in separate spoilers because it's long and has nothing to do with anime. It still makes for a nice story, I think.

Spoiler

 

The game taught me what Sun Tzu meant with Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win. When the soft reboot happened it happened in a way that put us and the largest opposing force left on more or less equal terms in two separate areas of the game world that were locked away from each other for nine months. More or less, because we managed to predict the way the soft reset would work and had a much better start thanks to it. To give an example, the game removed all neutral territory to condense the map - the more territory you hold, the more upkeep you pay (a percentage of your income, nothing until 14, then 10% each up to the hard cap of 100% - 24, so at 24 your daily income was 0) so it's impractical to hold up to the hard limit outside of wartime. Just a few hours before the soft reset we all went to the maximum hard limit and carried over much more territory in a much easily condensable fashion for it.

The other large part was that territory investments were slashed by a much lesser factor than money in your banks. Plenty of us wanted to have some last ditch fun (in game titles like Commodore, Fleet Captain and Admiral, etc.) were locked behind the amount of money you invested. My sinking 400 billions (average player potentially had something like 20 at best) into the development of territories to reach Vice Admiral massively paid off when the soft reset reduced everything to level one and cut investments by a factor of 10... and bank accounts by a factor of 100.

Our enemies immediately thought the admin told us how things would go down and began complaining about a cospiracy. It's scary how closely the microcosm of the game mirrored real life.

Anyway, back to the rambling. We cleared out everyone that was left who was not an ally, consolidated and waited. The enemy tried to do the same, but they were not as successful and not quite as diplomatically apt. There was some, well, let's call it resistance. The enemy coalition wasn't that tightly knit, and there were those that were somewhat unhappy with the self-declared leadership there (they made a massive power block with only one goal, to defeat us).

One other player and myself started negotiations with two of the alliances that were more than unhappy with the current leadership (the two of them formed a power block inside the closed off territories that was almost on par with the one made to attack us).

We promised not to attack them and protect them from any attacks from our territories in exchange for providing an easy access to enemy territory (there were things called hypergates that fixed travel time to 10 hours regardless of the distance between to territories). So instead of having to fly 250+ hours to land on an enemy that could potentially react we'd be able to attack much more quickly. Strike hard and fast, right?

That wasn't the only point though. We also knew that there were spies in the other two alliances. Not at the highest levels, no, but somewhere below, and people were getting restless, so when one of the guys asked me if they could make the agreement public in their alliance I immediately agreed, not even bothering to ask anyone else in my alliance. It just meant I didn't have to leak the information myself.

Things from there on moved as predicted. Even though they were formally at peace (they had an agreement of non agression and mutural defense), the one group reacted to what their leader saw as betrayal in the only way they could, by a sneak attack. The other side, being almost on par, fought them off for a long while (even to a standstill). When the opening did happen, we had our easy access point, one very grateful new ally (the other one got wiped out in the war) and a lot of new territory to prop us up with. Wars cost money, and they wasted it all fighting each other.

We won, before going to war.

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

SMC, Act 18:
 

Spoiler

 

Off to a really good start. Chibi-Usa is bawling her eyes out after Mamoru, Minako and Usagi accidentially killed off her good mood and visit from a new friend from school by bringing a piece of Black Moon jewelry that was left over from evil lady #3 from last episode (well it was Petz, but these guys are complete non-starters in SMC so why bother remembering their names).

Minako and Usagi meanwhile have nothing better to do than to press her for information. Keep going girls, that'll help. I'm sure. Just a little more pressure and she'll break.

Well that worked out fine, and Usagi storms off in frustration. The scene neatly transitions to Usagi being at school (where else would she meet Naru and Umino, who are back, ah, hey, that's semi-nice) where Usagi looks longingly out of a window and exposition-dumps us with how much she misses the friends she has lost.

Yeah Usagi. Still don't believe you. Sorry.

Wait a minute, how does Mamoru still have a piece of the four mineral generals from the first arc. Usagi slashed through them in her failed murder-suicide attempt.

Okay. Instead of throwing roses Tuxedo Kamen gets to fire off a bright white laser beam from his hand. I'd call that a defnite upgrade.

+1 for laser beams. Still think it should be moon based, but hey, I'll take it.

Well, Minako was unable to fight of Calveras on her own, Sailor Moon shows up and obliterates her in 10 seconds. Man... and people complained about the other girls being useless in the original anime?

And Chibi-Usa just said: Help me Sailor Moon, you're my only hope! Huh.

Things learned about Minako in this episode: She's worse with children than Usagi. Gee. Good job.

Final meaningful name entry of the Inner Senshi:

Aino Minako. So seeing how Mercury was Water Star, Mars was Fire Star and Jupiter was Wood Star befor romanization, what would you think Minako's name means when Venus was called Gold Star?

If you thought Love's beautiful small child (well small/little child of love), then you'd be right. That's because she got her name in Sailor V before this entire planet based Sailor Moon character outline became a thing.

Edited February 26, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

20 minutes ago, majestic said:

I'd call that a defnite upgrade.

I wouldn't.

Energy beams are way overdone in anime/manga while the roses are both funny and iconic. Now if he shot rose beams or energy roses or some **** that would be a bat**** crazy upgrade.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, KaineParker said:

I wouldn't.

 

  Hide contents

Energy beams are way overdone in anime/manga while the roses are both funny and iconic. Now if he shot rose beams or energy roses or some **** that would be a bat**** crazy upgrade.

 

Before that he couldn't do anything at all in Sailor Moon Crystal.

Spoiler

Usagi just asked Mamoru if he's a pedophile. Well not exactly like that, but remember how she asked Mamoru if he likes Chibi-Usa more than her after he douchewaffles their relationship off in Sailor Moon R? She just did that in Crystal, only... with no emotional trauma as excuse (plus it does look weird to have Chibi-Usa at home while Usagi comes to talk and he throws her out in R). She's just jealous of a scared nine year old that begged her for help 2 minutes ago.

edit:

Boy I shouldn't post before a scene is over. Mamoru asks Usagi if she sniffed too much glue, saying that Chibi-Usa is way too young, and Usagi actually... she... uhm. She says "That doesn't matter, you could still find her beautiful!" (or maybe she says you could still like her like that, that depends on how you want to translate that sentence, one is a bit weirder than the other).

What.The.Actual.Hell.

Usagi apologizes for the idiotic outburst and asks if she can stay a while longer. Hey Usagi, that creep essentially abducted you and kept you in his appartment for an entire night a couple of episodes back, do you think he would mind having you around a bit longer?

They hug and kiss and rose petals fly over a bright silvery moon in the background.

No, please stop that sappy stuff. That was terrible in the first arc, and... ah. Whatever.

Oh, Usagi. A silhouette of the two kissing appears in the top right corner of the screen, and slowly tilts into a horizontal position.

Okay. We went there, I guess. Look at the images...

Okay Mamoru you creep you just used a super-insecure moment of Usagi where she was actually jealous of a nine year old and accused you of being a pedophile to score. Good job my man, good job.

Epsiode just confirmed that SERA PRUTO is actually the daughter of Chronos. Not bad. Technically that makes her Neptune's and Jupiter's sister. Quite a family you have there Makoto.

Does that mean Hestia, Demeter and Hera were gender flipped too?

Okay, so Pluto, Sailor Moon, Sailor Venus and Tuxedo Creep are fighting when Chibi-Usa shows up. Pluto is super happy, and then a really playful fight between Usagi and Chibi-Usa breaks out.

Guess that means Usagi just needed to get laid really badly to stop being such an whiny b*tch towards Chibi-Usa.

How is that empowering for girls again?

@KaineParker and @Bartimaeus I'm done editing this post, by the way, in case you looked at it and missed the updates. The "funniest" one came in a 15 minutes after the original post.

Hey guys, be sure to read the edit in this one.

Edited February 27, 2021 by majestic
Oh boy...

[majestic]

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Except for the people responsible for Crystal - black stars for them. Who *is* responsible for Crystal, anyhow? Was Ms. Takeuchi the driving force behind it being made the way it was?

I have no idea. Crystal was supposed to release for Sailor Moon's 20th anniversary, but got deleayed to 2014.

In other words, I think the actual reason it was made was to rake some sweet Yen in, but I can see Naoko Takeuchi being all over a way to bring her original vision to the screen. She wasn't too shy to very vocally disagree with some of the original anime's choices.

[InsaneCommander]

17 hours ago, majestic said:

 

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Only to have Makoto do the same silly thing with the Motoki illusion and paying the price for it.

 

Oh yes, I forgot that.

On 2/24/2021 at 9:51 AM, majestic said:

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.
 

  Hide contents

 

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?

  

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:
 

  Hide contents

 

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*

 

 

The next arc in Crystal should be against the real villain there: whoever makes this terrible decisions.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

58 minutes ago, majestic said:

Before that he couldn't do anything at all in Sailor Moon Crystal.

  Reveal hidden contents

Usagi just asked Mamoru if he's a pedophile. Well not exactly like that, but remember how she asked Mamoru if he likes Chibi-Usa more than her after he douchewaffles their relationship off in Sailor Moon R? She just did that in Crystal, only... with no emotional trauma as excuse (plus it does look weird to have Chibi-Usa at home while Usagi comes to talk and he throws her out in R). She's just jealous of a scared nine year old that begged her for help 2 minutes ago.

edit:

Boy I shouldn't post before a scene is over. Mamoru asks Usagi if she sniffed too much glue, saying that Chibi-Usa is way too young, and Usagi actually... she... uhm. She says "That doesn't matter, you could still find her beautiful!" (or maybe she says you could still like her like that, that depends on how you want to translate that sentence, one is a bit weirder than the other).

What.The.Actual.Hell.

Usagi apologizes for the idiotic outburst and asks if she can stay a while longer. Hey Usagi, that creep essentially abducted you and kept you in his appartment for an entire night a couple of episodes back, do you think he would mind having you around a bit longer?

They hug and kiss and rose petals fly over a bright silvery moon in the background.

No, please stop that sappy stuff. That was terrible in the first arc, and... ah. Whatever.

Oh, Usagi. A silhouette of the two kissing appears in the top right corner of the screen, and slowly tilts into a horizontal position.

Okay. We went there, I guess. Look at the images...

Okay Mamoru you creep you just used a super-insecure moment of Usagi where she was actually jealous of a nine year old and accused you of being a pedophile to score. Good job my man, good job.

Epsiode just confirmed that SERA PRUTO is actually the daughter of Chronos. Not bad. Technically that makes her Neptune's and Jupiter's sister. Quite a family you have there Makoto.

Does that mean Hestia, Demeter and Hera were gender flipped too?

Okay, so Pluto, Sailor Moon, Sailor Venus and Tuxedo Creep are fighting when Chibi-Usa shows up. Pluto is super happy, and then a really playful fight between Usagi and Chibi-Usa breaks out.

Guess that means Usagi just needed to get laid really badly to stop being such an whiny b*tch towards Chibi-Usa.

How is that empowering for girls again?

@KaineParker and @Bartimaeus I'm done editing this post, by the way, in case you looked at it and missed the updates. The "funniest" one came in a 15 minutes after the original post.

Hey guys, be sure to read the edit in this one.

Man everything I hear about Crystal makes it sound like it took everything the manga (which I have not read aside from wiki) did badly and just makes it worse instead of adapting it to fit a series.

2 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

The next arc in Crystal should be against the real villain there: whoever makes this terrible decisions.

They're already against the creators since they get fired after every season lmao

[InsaneCommander]

I have watched only one episode of Sailor Moon R so far.

Spoiler

I'm glad they are recovering their memories in the next episode, as shown in the preview. It's much better to have them interacting with each other as they were at the end of the first season than rebuilding everything from scratch.

Oh, and this episode had an older version of a famous meme:

[Bartimaeus]

To everything I just read about Sailor Moon Crystal:

This crap is irredeemable.

[majestic]

10 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

To everything I just read about Sailor Moon Crystal:

This crap is irredeemable.

 

Spoiler

 

If you want your brain melted, look up any given review or summary of Sailor Moon Crystal online, they almost universally agree that Mamoru's and Usagi's relationship is better handled in Crystal. It wasn't a high point in the original anime, that's for sure, but it sure beats this. Even in SuperS where it mostly comes down to Mamoru being visibly uncomfortable around his future wife (and the implications that they actually already slept with each other from that fifth episode in S becomes really problematic, because I don't believe Unazuki and Usagi were really talking about kissing there, I mean, Mamoru kissed Usagi way back in season 1 already, and for real in R, even in public and everyone knows it, she has no reason to blush like that ).

Apparently people - both men and women - find it romantic* when a weirdo shows up at your window sill to take you away, hold you back at your shoulder when you try to leave in order to sniff your hair (well that's not exactly what he did, "just" what it looked like) after he takes your unconscious body to his home (not hers!) and lastly that scene where Mamoru shows her that he loves her, not Chibi-Usa by sleeping with her. What? How is that better? How is it better to show that she accepts Chibi-Usa more or with more playfulness than jealous anger just beceause Mamoru showed her physical instead of emotional love.

That's like the worst stereotype ever, the b*tchy girl that just needs to get boned hard to go back to normal. That's some locker talk level grade A bullsh*t in what's supposed to be a girl power show. Man. The ridiculous part is, and I don't know if that's better in the manga (I'm not sure I want to continue reading it), but you can see what the scene was supposed to mean, showing Mamoru's devotion to Usagi to make her feel more secure about herself and Chibi-Usa, it was just handled in the worst way possible.

I really... REALLY am afraid that once Chibi-Usa turns into BRACK RADY that she'll somehow end up kissing Mamoru for real, and not in a vision from Death Phantom that's meant to break Sailor Moon's will.

*On the other hand, when you read how successful 50 Shades of Grey was...eh... Christian Grey is an A-grade stalker control freak creep** that won't let Anastasia do anything on her own. The worst scene is when Anastasia goes off to visit her mother without telling him where that is, and he uses his resources to find out who her mother is and where she lives, then hops onto his private jet to to be there before her. Anastasia finds her mother engaged in conversation with Christian Grey.

And her mother isn't even bothered by this act of a complete creep that should be slapped with a restraining order just for that alone, no, she even congratulates Ana on finding such an attractive and romantic boyfriend. You know, one who goes out of his way to spend time with her even though he's such a busy businessman. Ana at least finds it weird, but ultimately accepts it. She only leaves Mr. Grey after she asks him to show him the full depth of his depravity and she ends up having a) the best orgasm of her life and b) the knowledge that she doesn't want any more of that lifestyle.

Spoiler:

Spoiler

But of course she forgot to take the pill once and immediately ends up pregnant.

**Not talking about his sexual preferences here. The depiction of sexuality and BDSM in these novels is a whole different bag of problematic, not because it is about BDSM, but about how it is portrayed (much to the dismay of both doms and subs).

Spoiler

Oh, and my favorite sex scene in the first book was when Anastasia the virgin stays with him for the first time, and Mr. Grey is being described as hung like a horse, but Ana who has never seen or touched a **** before manages to deep-throat him with no problems because she wants him to feel good. Talk about realism. E. L. James is married and has children, but I wonder how that happened, because she clearly has no idea what she's writing about.

Guessing her sons are both the second coming of Christ, kinda conceived like Anakin Skywalker was. One day she was just pregnant or something.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Whoa, whoa, stop, hold on a second. Sir...this is a Wendy's the Sailor Moon thread. I've spent my entire life avoiding learning anything about 50 Shades of Gray, and now you've gone and ruined that in this most sacred of places. How could you do this to me, to KP, to any of us? Now I'm going to go watch some Steven Universe or the new season of Hilda...or something, and try to forget that anyone ever made a connection between Sailor Moon and...that, and I hope you spend some time thinking about what you've done.

Spoiler

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

If you want your brain melted, look up any given review or summary of Sailor Moon Crystal online, they almost universally agree that Mamoru's and Usagi's relationship is better handled in Crystal. It wasn't a high point in the original anime, that's for sure, but it sure beats this. Even in SuperS where it mostly comes down to Mamoru being visibly uncomfortable around his future wife (and the implications that they actually already slept with each other from that fifth episode in S becomes really problematic, because I don't believe Unazuki and Usagi were really talking about kissing there, I mean, Mamoru kissed Usagi way back in season 1 already, and for real in R, even in public and everyone knows it, she has no reason to blush like that ).

Apparently people - both men and women - find it romantic* when a weirdo shows up at your window sill to take you away, hold you back at your shoulder when you try to leave in order to sniff your hair (well that's not exactly what he did, "just" what it looked like) after he takes your unconscious body to his home (not hers!) and lastly that scene where Mamoru shows her that he loves her, not Chibi-Usa by sleeping with her. What? How is that better? How is it better to show that she accepts Chibi-Usa more or with more playfulness than jealous anger just beceause Mamoru showed her physical instead of emotional love.

That's like the worst stereotype ever, the b*tchy girl that just needs to get boned hard to go back to normal. That's some locker talk level grade A bullsh*t in what's supposed to be a girl power show. Man. The ridiculous part is, and I don't know if that's better in the manga (I'm not sure I want to continue reading it), but you can see what the scene was supposed to mean, showing Mamoru's devotion to Usagi to make her feel more secure about herself and Chibi-Usa, it was just handled in the worst way possible.

I really... REALLY am afraid that once Chibi-Usa turns into BRACK RADY that she'll somehow end up kissing Mamoru for real, and not in a vision from Death Phantom that's meant to break Sailor Moon's will.

*On the other hand, when you read how successful 50 Shades of Grey was...eh... Christian Grey is an A-grade stalker control freak creep** that won't let Anastasia do anything on her own. The worst scene is when Anastasia goes off to visit her mother without telling him where that is, and he uses his resources to find out who her mother is and where she lives, then hops onto his private jet to to be there before her. Anastasia finds her mother engaged in conversation with Christian Grey.

And her mother isn't even bothered by this act of a complete creep that should be slapped with a restraining order just for that alone, no, she even congratulates Ana on finding such an attractive and romantic boyfriend. You know, one who goes out of his way to spend time with her even though he's such a busy businessman. Ana at least finds it weird, but ultimately accepts it. She only leaves Mr. Grey after she asks him to show him the full depth of his depravity and she ends up having a) the best orgasm of her life and b) the knowledge that she doesn't want any more of that lifestyle.

Spoiler:

  Reveal hidden contents

But of course she forgot to take the pill once and immediately ends up pregnant.

**Not talking about his sexual preferences here. The depiction of sexuality and BDSM in these novels is a whole different bag of problematic, not because it is about BDSM, but about how it is portrayed (much to the dismay of both doms and subs).

  Reveal hidden contents

Oh, and my favorite sex scene in the first book was when Anastasia the virgin stays with him for the first time, and Mr. Grey is being described as hung like a horse, but Ana who has never seen or touched a **** before manages to deep-throat him with no problems because she wants him to feel good. Talk about realism. E. L. James is married and has children, but I wonder how that happened, because she clearly has no idea what she's writing about.

Guessing her sons are both the second coming of Christ, kinda conceived like Anakin Skywalker was. One day she was just pregnant or something.

 

 

 

 

 

51 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I've spent my entire life avoiding learning anything about 50 Shades of Gray, and now you've gone and ruined that in this most sacred of places.

One thing I do know is that people into BDSM seem to hate it.

[majestic]

JoJo's dialogue sure is something else at times. I'm not yelling because I want to!

2 hours ago, KaineParker said:

One thing I do know is that people into BDSM seem to hate it.

Everyone should hate this drivel.

3 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Whoa, whoa, stop, hold on a second. Sir...this is a Wendy's the Sailor Moon thread. I've spent my entire life avoiding learning anything about 50 Shades of Gray, and now you've gone and ruined that in this most sacred of places. How could you do this to me, to KP, to any of us? Now I'm going to go watch some Steven Universe or the new season of Hilda...or something, and try to forget that anyone ever made a connection between Sailor Moon and...that, and I hope you spend some time thinking about what you've done.

  Hide contents

 

But... but making connections that others can't see is the one thing I'm good at.
 

Spoiler

 

I'm...

Spoiler

 

really...

Spoiler

 

very...

Spoiler

Spoiler

...surprised that you have managed to avoid 50 Shades of Grey until now.

 

 

 

 

Doesn't that meme go more like "Sir, this is an Arby's"? Not that I really know either.

But rest easy that it was not me who made the connection. I just shone a light on it, right?

*runs off crying*

Edited February 27, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

You know, the more I look at this Dio guy, the more googley-eyed he seems. Is that just me?

I think I heard something about 50 Grays of Shade once upon a time in an Lindsay Ellis video, but either I didn't watch all of it or it was only in passing, so I mostly forgot. I usually do a pretty good job at avoiding absorbing pop culture garbage I don't want to absorb.

I've heard it as Arby's too, but I always thought Wendy's was the main version. Let's test it on Google: 84k results for "sir this is a wendy's", 6k results for "sir this is an arby's". Perhaps if you only count the LEGAL memes, Arby's might be your eventual presidential-elect winning meme, .

Edited February 27, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

17 minutes ago, majestic said:

JoJo's dialogue sure is something else at times. I'm not yelling because I want to!

Like most of JoJo, it's even weirder in context.

1 minute ago, Bartimaeus said:

You know, the more I look at this Dio guy, the more googley-eyed he seems. Is that just me?

I dunno, it was in motion so maybe it was just the way the animation gets paused.

As spoiler free as I can be, Dio is absolutely crazy and a massive ****, so they were probably trying to make him look manic.

[majestic]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I think I heard something about 50 Grays of Shade once upon a time in an Lindsay Ellis video, but either I didn't watch all of it or it was only in passing, so I mostly forgot. I usually do a pretty good job at avoiding absorbing pop culture garbage I don't want to absorb.

E. L. James comes up in her video Dear Stephenie Meyer video, because Shades of Grey started out as Twilight fanfiction - much like Anna Todd's "After" series was One Direction fanfiction before it became a similar smash hit for no reason. I think After is even worse to be honest.

It is aptly named however. After is the German word for anus, and that's where that book series came from.

And yes, that's the last of what you will hear from me about that, unless asked. Sorry. I mean, at least in this thread.

  

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I've heard it as Arby's too, but I always thought Wendy's was the main version. Let's test it on Google: 84k results for "sir this is a wendy's", 6k results for "sir this is an arby's". Perhaps if you only count the LEGAL memes, Arby's might be your eventual presidential-elect winning meme, .

Ah, the left and their massive meme fraud.

2 hours ago, KaineParker said:

Like most of JoJo, it's even weirder in context.

I love how almost every seiyū in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure practises Shatnerian overacting regardless of what's happening on the screen. It had a rough start, but it's beginning to grow on me.

Spoiler

JoJo just learned how to Dim Mak Hamon strike through a wall to instantly obliterate Jack the Ripper. This is really great stuff.

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

SMC, Act 20:
 

Spoiler

 

Unlike in Sailor Moon R, Endymion and the Sailor Senshi are all dead, only Serenity survived, encased in the Silver Crystal. King Endymion's force ghost appears and explains who Chibi-Usa is and what happened. Mamoru promises his future self to take care of their daughter, then there's some Time-Coppy explanation of how they can't be in the same space at the same time because <timey wimey paradox> and everyone goes home again. Funny, Endymion is more or less dead and only his force ghost is around, but he's affecting Mamoru in the same way Serenity's proximity is affecting Usagi.

So, not really knowing how this ends, what do you guys think? Will the Crystal Toyko that's been pretty much blown away by the Black Moon Clan get better again, and if so, will that be by another helping of Silver Crystal revives everything or will the Black Moon Clan/Death Phantom be wiped from history and never attack in the first place?

Back at home Minako lands on the other three and remarks that it's really comfy and she'll just stay where she is. I laughed at that, at least until Minako finally realizes where exactly she's sitting, gets up and starts apologizing in earnest (can't possibly sit on the future queen, how embarrassing). No, please, I want the goofball Minako back. This dogged determinator Minako is... eh. B-O-R-I-N-G.

Usagi throws another hissy tantrum when Mamoru wants to take Chibi-Usa to his appartment instead of leaving her with Usagi, whom he tells to go and rest to prepare to get the others back now  that they have an idea where they are.

She yells at him, calling him out for caring about his daughter more than her abducted friends (who wouldn't, given their "characters" in this) or her, starts crying, says "I can't do this any more" and runs off. Then she's lying in bed hating herself for the ridiculous tantrum she just threw. Okay that I can get behind. Somewhat. She should hate herself at this point, because damn Usagi, aren't you an unlikable moron right now?

Chibi-Usa runs off and goes back to her own time with Mamoru not noticing anything. Good job again, prince. For something that was describde as one of the terrible taboos that can't be broken, there's some liberal time travelling in this one. Jeez.

Hey, look at Endymion casting TUXEDO LA SMOKING BOMBER (dear god), obliterating Esmeraude in the process.

So that's six episodes and Koan, Petz, Berthier, Calveras and Esmeraude dead, and the fifth episode of this arc didn't kill anyone mostly because it was an exposition dump. Yay.

Oh, also two more episodes of Steven Universe.

Spoiler

One was about pants fighting an animated fry costume and the other about Steven almost turning into a horrifying amalgamation of cats. I still have no idea what the hell is going on or where this is going, but it's fun.

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

I love how almost every seiyū in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure practises Shatnerian overacting regardless of what's happening on the screen. It had a rough start, but it's beginning to grow on me.

I know, you watch it for the memes but it turns out to actually be a really good, if extremely silly, show. Since you've already met the Baron...are you watching the sub or dub?

Spoiler

 

 

[majestic]

8 minutes ago, KaineParker said:

I know, you watch it for the memes but it turns out to actually be a really good, if extremely silly, show. Since you've already met the Baron...are you watching the sub or dub?

Japanese with German subtitles. I just watch SMC dubbed, because why bother, at least that way I don't need to stare at the screen all the time to catch the dialogue.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Just now, majestic said:

Japanese with German subtitles. I just watch SMC dubbed, because why bother, at least that way I don't need to stare at the screen all the time to catch the dialogue.

Okay then, you're in for some very funny Engrish.