Anime - A Rollercoaster of Emotion

[majestic]

SMC, Act 21.
 

Spoiler

 

Exposition dump episode for this arc #2. We get the backstory how Chibi-Usa took the Silver Crystal because some guys (presumably at school) bullied her. Force ghost Endymion tells the group that's now only Tuxedo Mask and Venus (Sailor Moon is off to Prince Demande's evil, dark palace on Nemesis to be forcably fondled kissed by the guy) that she's 900 years old but at some point simply stopped aging.

Chibi-Usa reflects on how she and Usagi are really similar, then she goes off to visit Pluto and finds her talking with Force Ghost Endymion, however this force ghost looks pretty solid because apparently they've run out of budget in this episode and simply animated him without a filter. Sailor Pluto is head over heels in love with Endymion, Chibi-Usa sees that and becomes angry and jealous that Sailor Pluto smiles for someone that's not her. She runs off to somewhere in the space and time gateway dimension and is picked up by Death Phantom.

I sense some BRACK RADY incoming. I might just switch this so original with sub from now on to enjoy the engrish that is certain to be present from now on.

Chibi-Usa is given more character development in the last three or so episodes than the entire main cast has gotten in 18 prior. It takes the form of exposition dumps and flashbacks, but it mostly works. Mostly. Being jealous of Pluto is a bit weird. That is supposed to draw a parallel between her and Usagi doing the same with Mamoru but it kind of falls flat.

Funny how all that focus makes her the best and most likable character right now. She's scared, angry at herself for being bullied into taking the Silver Crystal right at the time when the DIABOLICAL BLACK CRYSTAL shard falls from the sky and OBLITERATES EARTH and completely confused about her not being nearly as ladylike as the queen or even a smidgen as powerful as Sailor Moon. She feels useless at this point and blames herself.

Her small size also means the giraffe alien effect isn't as extreme. It's there, but one can ignore it. I... think I like SMC Chibi-Usa, a welcome reprieve from the ennui that watching this causes.

 

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I'm still going on Sailor Moon, but it's too much to go over every episode

The Professor's identity has been revealed and Kalionite is still alive or has a clone.

Minako getting her heart pushed out only to run away was ****in great lmao

[Bartimaeus]

11 hours ago, KaineParker said:

I'm still going on Sailor Moon, but it's too much to go over every episode

 

  Hide contents

The Professor's identity has been revealed and Kalionite is still alive or has a clone.

Minako getting her heart pushed out only to run away was ****in great lmao

 

That was a great one. What I wrote about that one a couple of weeks back:

Spoiler

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

@majestic

Spoiler

Those two SU episodes are pretty good. I'm very sorry to say that you've expended your initial allotment of strongly food-related episodes. Not that, uh, food of any kind won't be appearing, just that...you know, there won't be any more episodes where the main object of interest is a cheeseburger backpack or possessed fry costume. It's probably for the best anyways, right?

Yeah, from what you've been writing, I'd gotten the feeling that Chibi-Usa is the least hateable character out of her, Usagi, and Mamoru. Like I said earlier, maybe they're just doubling down on Chibi-Usa because she was a fan unfavorite during the original show. Well, congratulations guys - it worked. It only came at the expense of everyone else...

The goof-Minako I know and love is dead. Long live robo-Minako!

(e): live not love

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

SMC, Act 22:
 

Spoiler

 

With Sailor Moon abducted too we're stuck with Prince Endymion, Force Ghost King Endymion and Sailor Venus, who so far has no character traits what-so-ever. Ghost!Endy and Prince!Endy leave to go see Sailor Pluto (with Chibi-Usa abducted something is... wrong!).

Interestingly enough that leaves Minako alone with Luna and Artemis in the Crystal Palace Library looking for information. So she suddenly finds herself with having to say something and... gets this weird kind of look and goes: "I can't stand waiting around, I need to do something!"

Sure Minako. Your real self from the other anime would have probably said that if she were left alone. But you? Just be grim and determined and get your research done like the good soldier you were until now. Don't pretend to have a personality, your entire goal in life until now was to protect the princess. You failed, hey, but with some research you could potentially go rescue her. I'm surprised she doesn't fall on her Legendary Sacred Sword (that was never once mentioned in this arc, I think) for failing in her duties. 

Also... outside of Sailor Moon and Prince!Endymion no one is affected by the weird time travel paradox issue from the earlier episode, even though, and here's the real kicker, we're shown that the bodies of King!Endymion and the Future!Senshi are laid out next to each other. So what now? Why is Minako not at risk in the Crystal Palace when Prince Endy was, and Prince!Endy doesn't show any issues right now anyway. Sailor Moon is fine in the DIABOLICA BLACK CRYSTAL Palace anyway.

I, unlike many other sci-fi and fantasy nerds, usually like time travel plots, but SMC is trying to convince me that they all suck. That paradox existed in one episode for only one reason, to have Prince!Endymion, Sailor Venus, Chibi-Usa and Sailor Moon jump back in time so Usagi and Mamoru can have a fight over who gets to watch over Chibi-Usa that causes Chibi-Usa to run away and travel back to the future again.

Crystal and the old anime are good showcases for when plot holes matter and when they don't. It's not like the old anime is free of plot holes or plot related issues. They just don't really stand out as much because everything else is engaging enough to gloss over any inconsistencies or problems.

Hahahaha, Death Phantom gets a background story. He was once human, he had "magic hands" and the "evil eye" and destroyed Crystal Tokyo in the past. Neo-Queen Serenity exiled him to Nemesis, beause as he was human she could not execute him.

Wait, what? Sailor Moon shows absolutely no compunction when blasting regular humans out of existence whose crimes were far less than the complete and utter destruction of an entire city. Four dead Ayakashi Sisters and an obliterated Esmeraude give lie to that statement.

Yeah. Okay. Good on the old anime to not give him any background and just make him a malevolent evil force. That wasn't very good either, but it sure beats this.

Oh, yeah, and the Black Moon Clan gets a philosophical reason for being at odds with the queen. They think her rule that brought peace, prosperity and happiness to all of mankind strangles any progress. Without conflict to act as a crucible, mankind will forever linger in a state of non-progress. Beings of flesh and blood should not be immortal. Only conflict and victory will bring strength, and with strength, true peace.

Henceforth I will refer to Prince Demande as Darth Demande, Saphir will be Darth Saphir and the other guys Lord X. Not that there are many left. Only Lord Crimson Rubeus (get it, Crimson and Rubeus both mean red, the names in this show are awesome) is left of the lower ranking people. Death Phantom gets to be Emperor. So there.

Usagi finds Darth Saphir in the DIABOLICAL BLACK CRYSTAL fusion reactor of Nemesis and he tells her that he's concerned by his brother's inability to follow their plan, apologizes for obliterating Earth and freely tells her that following Wiseman (aka Emperor DEATH PHANTOM) was a bad idea. He, of course, draws the only logical conclusion from this: It's Uasgi's fault because her brother really wants her, so he decides to stab her with a DIABOLICAL BLACK CRYSTAL shard.

That... well that makes Sailor Moon wake up the hitherto not functioning Silver Crystal and transform. Yay! Darth Demande and Lord Rubeus show up too, Darth Demande calls forth the Emperor who appears with Fallen Padawan BRACK RADY in tow, but she apparently took a few levels as Shadowdancer and hides in shadow in plain sight. Lord Rubeus wants to leave because the power of the Silver Crystal has a destabilizing effect on the Nemesis fusion reactor core. Lord BRACK RADY calls him a coward and the Emperor snuffs out his life for it. A pity Rubeus, in the other show you got to go out in a neat exploding Crystal UFO.

Master Pluto shows the four girls the way home after being called by Knight Moon who was possesed/infused with Grand Master Serenity's power (or her force spirit, depends on how you want to look at it). Minako is also super happy that Usagi is back, because now she no longer needs to come up with lines to say on her own. Phew. She also did absolutely nothing so far in this arc except saving Chibi-Usa from Esmeraude. Good job girl.

The other girls obviously weren't in any position to do anything at all, except failing in their fight against their Ayakashi counterpart. Good job!

The episode ends with them reunited with Knight Venus and Padawan Tuxedo Kamen abducted by Lord BRACK RADY. Padawan seems appropriate seeing how he is the most useless of the bunch. Not only his is only attack a bog standard laser beam, but it's also called TUXEDO LA SMOKING BOMBER and doesn't even explode or anything and he learned it just recently, while the other Knights can cut off entire areas from space time, blast enemies out of existence or fry entire armies of Droids with fire and lightning.

I'm not sure if that was meant as a cross-language pun. Smoking is the German and French (plus Italian and more) word for tuxedo, which is different from the English term smoking jacket.

Looking at Wikipedia and Google translate, the Japanese word for tuxedo is タキシード, in Romaji Takishīdo. That doesn't help, because that's clearly just tuxedo in Engrish. Although maybe Smoking is used as synonym in Japanese. *shrug*

 

 

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Spoiler

 

26 minutes ago, majestic said:

Sure Minako. Your real self from the other anime would have probably said that if she were left alone. But you? Just be grim and determined and get your research done like the good soldier you were until now. Don't pretend to have a personality, your entire goal in life until now was to protect the princess. You failed, hey, but with some research you could potentially go rescue her. I'm surprised she doesn't fall on her Legendary Sacred Sword (that was never once mentioned in this arc, I think) for failing in her duties. 

...I feel like you may be taking out on Minako something that's really the entire show's fault rather than specifically Mina's here, and I also feel that it's my duty to defend her here. ...Well, I did feel that way for a moment, but then I remembered we're talking about Sailor Moon Crystal, so off with her head and all that.

26 minutes ago, majestic said:

[It] wasn't very good [in the original show] either, but it sure beats this.

This seems to be a running theme. It's actually really quite amazing that Death Phantom was even dumber originally than he was in the original show.

Given that he's such a useless, incompetent scumbag who the show is constantly trying to act like is cool and great, maybe the better Star Wars translation for Tuxedo Mask would be Tuxedo Fett.

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

 

I dunno in the prequels I think the Jedi were shown as incompetent relics of a crumbling civilization who are partially to blame for the rise of Space Fascism, so it does fit. Of course Crystal Tuxedo Kamen is probably closest to Padme, because they both groomed a significantly younger person to be their spouse. I guess this all means SMC is as much of a mess as the Star Wars prequels.

Edited February 28, 2021 by KaineParker
Autocorrect

[Bartimaeus]

Spoiler

Yeah...but the key word there is "shown to be", as opposed to "inexplicably being so in direct contrast to the framing and tone" like Jango and Boba are. Both of them are hilariously incompetent throughout both sets of movies and do almost nothing useful and die in hilariously ignominious fashions, but for some reason are treated like they're hot stuff, probably because Boba is loved and has a huge following for reasons beyond me. Then again, I generally hate male action characters, whether they're heroes or villains, unless they're hilarious memes...the Fetts should be memes, but for some reason they're not. Tuxedo Mask is mostly a meme in the original show, and so I can also similarly mostly like him, .

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

17 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Yeah...but the key word there is "shown to be", as opposed to "inexplicably being so in direct contrast to the framing and tone" like Jango and Boba are. Both of them are hilariously incompetent throughout both sets of movies and do almost nothing useful and die in hilariously ignominious fashions, but for some reason are treated like they're hot stuff, probably because Boba is loved and has a huge following for reasons beyond me. Then again, I generally hate male action characters, whether they're heroes or villains, unless they're hilarious memes...the Fetts should be memes, but for some reason they're not. Tuxedo Mask is mostly a meme in the original show, and so I can also similarly mostly like him, .

 

In that case I'd disagree for the anime Tuxedo Kamen, because without his roses or yelling "now Sailor Moon" Usagi would have been defeated early on. Crystal version seems bad and fits that, but most things I hear about it are bad anyways.

When I think about it you're right about the Fetts, they just look supremely competent when compared to the Storm Troopers or Battle Droids who are practically useless. I guess looking iconic goes a long way.

To stay on topic, where I'm at Chibi-Usa has a sickly goth friend who may be the anti-christ Messiah of Silence but she seems nice. But her dad is the Professor and he seems to be nice aside from wanting to destroy the world lmao. Since we've now got Sailor Guardians for every planet besides Earth (for which we got Mamoru instead) and Saturn, so I'm wondering if we'll see a Sailor Saturn show up. Mimette is annoying and I wish she'd get offed by one of the other Witches 54.

[Bartimaeus]

Spoiler

Oh yes, my comment was said purely in the context of Majestic's watching of SMC, not the original show. Tuxedo Mask is a meme in the original show - this is a good thing - but he occasionally does legitimately helpful stuff too. Also, he isn't a complete creep, so that helps a lot.

lmao @ your description of The Professor. Not wrong, either. I actually liked Mimete...for the most part, especially in comparison to flat-line, no-pulse Kaolinite and others in her mold. There are a few times where she goes too far. Oh boy, there's one episode coming up where she goes much, much, MUCH too far.

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

Mimetto-kun causes what's probably the best joke in the entire run of the show, so regardless of what else you might think of her, I love her for that alone.
 

SMC vs. Star Wars discussion:

Spoiler

 

If we want to put SMC into a Star Wars context for the Black Moon's similarity with the Sith philosophy then we'd need to look at the Legends timeline (formerly Expanded Universe) because in the normal canon there is nothing that would fit. In Legends, there are only two occasions that I know of where the Sith militarily threatened Coruscant, and only one where it was actually attacked but not conquered, 30 years before Star Wars: The Old Republic begins.

The other one plays far into the future and was actually "just" a Sith engineered the war between the Galactic Alliance and the Fel Empire, a successor nation to Palpatine's empire that is ruled by a Moff council and the whoever is emperor, i.e. someone from Jagged Fel's family, one of the few humans who were integrated in Chiss society. Jagged Fel married the only surviving issue of Han and Leia, Jaina Solo, and founded the Fel dynasty (by his son Jagged Fel II).

The Fel Empire emerged victorious and Darth Krayt took leadership of the unified galactic empire by staging a coup.

Anyway, Death Phantom can't really be Darth Krayt because his only motivation seems to be to consume everything in the galaxy (and potentially the universe). Luckily, Darth Vitiate, also know as the Sith Emperor in 3653 BBY when the Sacking of Coruscant happened wanted to do exactly the same. Becoming immortal some 1500 years prior by consuming all life on Nathema (formerly known as the Sith world Medriaas) he wanted to repeat the ritual to consume all life in the galaxy, making him not only effectively immortal and invincible, but also a real force god. Like Death Phatom, he is stopped by a Force Chosen One.

Anyway, Tuxedo Mask can't really be Jango or Boba Fett then, right? But that area in time has no shortage of ridiculous characters that could all be Tuxedo Mask, the biggest issue is that the Mandalorians of that age are allied with the Sith Empire.

Maybe Carth Onasi has some surviving family?

You know what the worst part about this post is?

Spoiler

The only thing I had to look up for it was the exact year of the Sacking of Couruscant. I knew it was sometime in the 3600s BBY, but not exactly when. *whistle*

 

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Whenever I hear the absolute pants dates from Star Wars, I'll never not think of RLM's "Top Ten Things You Didn't Know About Darth Vader's Suit".

Spoiler

 

14 minutes ago, majestic said:

Mimetto-kun causes the best joke in the entire run of the show, so regardless of what else you might think of her, I love her for that alone.

I don't know which one you're talking about specifically...but can I assume it happens in *that* episode? There are a few..."""jokes""" by her in that particular episode. It's probably best we don't talk about that episode yet for KP's sake.

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

SMC Act 23, liberal edits incoming probably:

Spoiler

I switched to Japanese with German subs. BRACK RADY just used atashi as pronoun. She's grown up, but still retains a girl's speech pattern (presumably, it's one of the few things I know about Japanese, atashi being the girl/young woman version of watashi, the normal/formal "I"). Oh boy. I hope this isn't going to the dark places I imagine in my mind. I wouldn't put it beyond this show (or the source material) to have her really try to *gulp* seduce her father now.

edit: Turns out I was wrong, seduction is not at all implied, the way this is going implied all out rape. Great job SMC.

Not entirely sure if a royal family shouldn't use different pronouns. Given Usagi's complete lack of social grace... yeah, no, that makes perfect sense.

Stay tuned for some more edits!

edit:

Everyone's off into the spacetime storm caused by Death Phantom turning Chibi-Usa into BRACK RADY. Usagi stops for a bit and cries, wanting to see her Mamo-chan, then she faints. Usagi, really, get your act together. At this point in the old anime you stood up to Rubeus in a 10G gravity field to protect everyone, not faint because dear sweet Mamo-chan is not around.

edit 2:

Okay, Wiseman gave BRACK RADY a major boobjob.

Death Phantom told me Mamo-chan likes them buxom. Not sure what he sees in my mother then! Hah, who cares. I'm going to cast Dominate Mind on him anyway. Who needs consent for some incest.

edit 3.

Wiseman just cast Dominate Person on both Saphir and Demande. Demande at least uses the properly rigid and formal pronouns that fictional kings in Japanese use these days. Oh, just like Nehelenia does in SuperS.

edit 4:

Woops, here we go.

Oh boy. Man. I really don't want to know what else she did to Mamoru while he's under her Dominate Mind spell.

The girls brought Usagi back home to the 20th (21st?) century after she collapsed. Hu, okay, why not. With time travel, it doesn't really matter anyway. Makoto says Usagi snored. So how and why are they all around at the exact time when Usagi wakes up after collapsing from exhaustion? Just how long did they wait in her room? Uhm. The girls have a very, very awkward scene where Usagi smiles a bit, everyone assures each other again how much they love each other and how good it is to see Usagi smile, then she remembers for a minute that both Mamo-chan and Chibi-Usa are gone and... the other girls tell her she's the worst for not properly appreciating the situation.

I hope that's just the terrible transaltion in the subtitles, beacuse this is... fansubbed. Pretty sure.

edit 5:

They spend like 2 minutes in the present, then some timey-wimey-wobbly thing happens, the intern who animated the show clicked on some Adobe After Effects filter and now they want to go back immediately instead of making a plan like Ami suggested. What was the point of this interlude? Except nothing.

Guys, the intern clicked on invert colours again, and we have no idea how to fix it and no time left. Let's just release this!

edit 6: BRACK RADY just told King!Endymion that only family members of the Imperial family can enter the palace. That is really odd. How did the Senshi get in there then? Are Luna, Artemis and Diana part of the family? Do they need an extra key?

Or did she just mean "family" in the sense that Serenity and Endymion can define who has access and who doesn't?

Anyway ForceGhost!Endymion doesn't seem to deal too well with how rebellious his daughter has become. The palace security system throws her out. I'm guessing that means family is really defined by the king and queen. Okay.

BRACK RADY introduces herself as BRACK RADY, Queen of Darkness. Yeah. Okay.

Black Lady, Queen of Darkness. @KaineParker and @Bartimaeus episode is over, this is the final edit. You can read the entire post now, it's complete...

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

50 minutes ago, majestic said:

You know what the worst part about this post is?

That the Jedi don't have magic moon lasers.

 

[Bartimaeus]

Now that I think about it...Usagi sort of owns and/or is the moon, why the hell doesn't SHE have a magic moon laser?

@majestic

Spoiler

And there it is.

Alright, so let me get this straight...all this weird creepy stuff happens in the manga, right? And now, in SMC, Chibi-Usa's chest is even larger and more exposed than it was in the original anime.  Didn't Naoko Takeuchi complain about that for the original show? Are we sure that Naoko Takeuchi wasn't complaining that Chibi-Usa wasn't exploited *enough* in the original show? Because at this point, that'd probably make more sense than the reverse. Maybe SuperS was the one season she actually had oversight over and approved...

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

1 minute ago, Bartimaeus said:

Spoiler

Alright, so let me get this straight...all this weird creepy stuff happens in the manga, right? And now, in SMC, Chibi-Usa's chest is even larger and more exposed than it was in the original anime.  Didn't Naoko Takeuchi complain about that for the original show?

 

 

I think that's also in the manga, I don't entirely know 100%.
 

Spoiler

 

What definitely is in the manga is Chibi-Usa not being sure if she should lust after Mamoru or Pegasus in the Dream arc, and what also is in the manga is bodyswitched!Usagi trying to fondle Mamoru in Chibi-Usa's body.

Therefore the only logical conclusion is that this is also... wait, let me check. Where's that act 23 PDF.

Oh dear god no.

Okay, this is even worse in the manga. SMC "softens" this by making Mamoru appear like a dominated sex doll, the manga does nothing of the sort. It looks like Mamoru is really into this. Great. Except that minor dead eyed stare in the panel before (remember, right to left, this ends with the passionate kiss). 

 

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

It seems I used the Oh My God compilation too early.

[Bartimaeus]

Okay, so that's kind of what I feared. So...I believe that if we put all the evidence we've (well, you've) put together thus far, we can pretty safely conclude that Naoko Takeuchi is a weirdo hack fraud incestuous sex pervert that got the break of her lifetime when the original show was greenlit, and happened to get supremely lucky that the writers/adapters for the original show tried to minimize some of this garbage for at least most of the show, and additionally decided to try to adapt the material so it could be...you know, an actual show.

Spoiler

It'd be different if Sailor Moon was supposed to be for adults. Like, you could explain away this stuff with a Leon the Professional-type excuse and say "hey, Chibi-Usa was beyond horrifically traumatized as a small child: her parents were killed, she's been on the run/in-hiding for most of her life, her entire civilization is dead - it makes sense she's so messed up". That would make sense. Thing is, in most other ways, this stuff is pretty clearly for kids/young teens, so that type of reasoning just doesn't fly. So...what the hell, Ms. Takeuchi? Is there some sort of Japanese cultural barrier that makes the way all of these characters are behaving totally normal and okay? I hope not, but I guess I don't know for sure.

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

36 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Okay, so that's kind of what I feared. So...I believe that if we put all the evidence we've (well, you've) put together thus far, we can pretty safely conclude that Naoko Takeuchi is a weirdo hack fraud incestuous sex pervert that got the break of her lifetime when the original show was greenlit, and happened to get supremely lucky that the writers/adapters for the original show tried to minimize some of this garbage for at least most of the show, and additionally decided to try to adapt the material so it could be...you know, an actual show.

  Reveal hidden contents

It'd be different if Sailor Moon was supposed to be for adults. Like, you could explain away this stuff with a Leon the Professional-type excuse and say "hey, Chibi-Usa was beyond horrifically traumatized as a small child: her parents were killed, she's been on the run/in-hiding for most of her life, her entire civilization is dead - it makes sense she's so messed up". That would make sense. Thing is, in most other ways, this stuff is pretty clearly for kids/young teens, so that type of reasoning just doesn't fly. So...what the hell, Ms. Takeuchi? Is there some sort of Japanese cultural barrier that makes the way all of these characters are behaving totally normal and okay? I hope not, but I guess I don't know for sure.

 

 

Imo the problem with the manga and SMC is that they're neurotic, torn between the sex stuff and gruesome battles on one hand and the more childish nature of the Sailors on the other. The page posted by majestic represents this problem well, BRACK RADY goes from omnicidal maniac who wants incest sex with her dad's younger self to a teenage girl kissing her crush in a way that gives me whiplash.

Edited February 28, 2021 by KaineParker

[Bartimaeus]

Right, exactly. You can be dark and twisted and for adults, or you can be for and empowering young teen girls. Uh, it's a little difficult to do both at the same time in a way that resembles any sort of consistency or sanity. Just about impossible, really. Majestic said they originally wanted to make a show for Codename: Sailor V, but Naoko convinced them to make a show for a new manga, Sailor Moon, that she was making as they were producing the show, if I'm recalling correctly? That's why there's a lot of 'filler' episodes in the show, as well as entire arcs that don't show up in the manga. Did she pull a fast one on the show-runners and just make crazy stuff that strongly deviated in tone from Codename: Sailor V, hence why they were like "uh yeah, nah, we're going to have to 'adapt' this"? What in the world happened?

I (and/or Majestic) am going to eventually read Codename: Sailor V, so I guess I'll figure out if that's just as messed up or not.

Edited February 28, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Right, exactly. You can be dark and twisted and for adults, or you can be for and empowering young teen girls. Uh, it's a little difficult to do both at the same time in a way that resembles any sort of consistency or sanity. Just about impossible, really. Majestic said they originally wanted to make a show for Codename: Sailor V, but Naoko convinced them to make a show for a new manga, Sailor Moon, that she was making as they were producing the show, if I'm recalling correctly? That's why there's a lot of 'filler' episodes in the show, as well as entire arcs that don't show up in the manga. Did she pull a fast one on the show-runners and just make crazy stuff that strongly deviated in tone from Codename: Sailor V, hence why they were like "uh yeah, nah, we're going to have to 'adapt' this"? What in the world happened?

I (and/or Majestic) am going to eventually read Codename: Sailor V, so I guess I'll figure out if that's just as messed up or not.

Most of this is second hand information, but yes, I've read that Minako's continously more and more goofball personality in the first anime was based on her in Codename: Sailor V. Sailor Moon manga Minako was the experienced leader type with a hotheaded streak who could be pretty pigheaded at times (in a side story she apparently goes and ruins a school festival Rei was helping out with, this might have parallels with the SuperS episode where she tries to ruin Makoto's attempts to flirt with an elementary school principal).

Codename Sailor V was originally a one-shot manga. Successful enough to cause Toei to want to make an anime adaptation that lead to Sailor Moon and the situation that Naoko Takeuchi apparently started doing new Sailor V and Sailor Moon manga releases each month. The utter mess that the storytelling in the Black Moon arc is seems to be sufficient evidence that she indeed bit off more than she could chew, or was talked into it, because the other thing that I read is that she originally thought Sailor Moon would be a one arc manga. I suppose that she took the contract for more Sailor V and then gave in when Toei wanted more Sailor Moon. This then lead to the filler arc of R, to give her a two or three months headstart.

From what I have read, however, Codename: Sailor V was more lighthearted than Sailor Moon, up until Codename: Sailor V had to prepare the story for Sailor Moon as a sequel, from where it then took a dip into being a little more grimdark. I can't corroborate that, yet, but it seems more and more likely that reading Sailor V seems to be a better use of my time than reading Sailor Moon.
 

Spoiler

 

There are some people in reviews and YouTube videos that are straight out lying. The Sailor Moon manga was not a success that was turned into an anime. Pre-production on Sailor Moon began months before the first manga chapter was released, there are interviews to be read of the storyboard designes at Toei at the time that confirm this. You can't untangle one or the other by asking the question what came first or attempting to look at whether the manga was successful because the anime was or vice versa. Objectively that is impossible to say.

Spoiler

But clearly it was the anime that drove the popularity of the franchise, if not in Japan (but there probably too, what with the Sailor Moon characters dominating the most like anime characters polls at the time) then everywhere else, and I do suspect that Ms. Takeuchi harbors(ed?) some resentment over this. More on that later.

From everything I've read Naoko Takeuchi and Kunihiko Ikuhara hated each other's guts. Ikuhara apparently was also to "blame" for giving Rei a personality and make her interested in boys (something she was in her manga backstory too, until she was disappointed by all the men in her life), and he took over as series director after episode 60 (where Black Moon Arc starts in Sailor Moon R). Fanboys of the manga also accused Toei of releasing pre-scripted interviews where the seiyuu of Rei stated that she was fine with the changes to her character. What does that matter? Prior to the changes she had no character at all.

Anyway, Ikuhara took Yoji Enokido and left Toei at the end of Sailor Moon SuperS over creative differences and founded his own studio/collective Be-Papas and made Revolutionary Girl Utena together with mangaka Chiho Saitō and the animation director of Neo Genesis Evangelion. Considering how SuperS turned out an understandable decision. It also seems to confirm my pet theory that studio interference caused SuperS to be the way it was.

I haven't seen (or read) Revolutionary Girl Utena (yet), but I know it released to immense critical acclaim, but from what I've heard it's not fun in the way Sailor Moon was, but serious and somtimes even Lynch-ian entertainment. That seems to make sense with two people who worked on Evangelion involved and Ikuhara being the director responsible for the thematic focus of Sailor Moon S.

It's easy to see how a strained relationship between the series director and the mangaka can lead to certain issues. There were also some things that allegedly the anime did, like having the Sailor Senshi go down fighting at the end of Sailor Moon, that she wanted to do in the manga but wasn't allowed to by her editor. I'm not sure of the veracity of these claims, because having an attempted murder-suicide in there speaks to very little editorial oversight. Suicide is a major problem in Japan after all, and the editors let her do increasingly weird stuff like the incest or a romance between a nine year old and a winged unicorn.

So what in the world happened? I have no idea.

What maybe happened? The anime likely changed too much of the source mateiral for her liking, until it was no longer "her" artistic vision (Rei, Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru, the villains getting actual backstories instead of being exchangeable stand ins for the girls to overcome) but the one of the anime writers and directors, she then had a falling out of some sort with Ikuhara, either before or after she complained that the anime was too male gazey for her liking. Not that the first manga arc didn't have underwear drawings by her, but she mostly complained about how they were sexualized in the anime while they made sense in the manga.

When the anime became a runaway success and Toei wanted more, she gave in, but from the story structure of the Black Moon arc it looked like she deliberately tried to sabotage the anime by including themes that were far out of scope for the show at the time and creating a storyline that removed Rei (whose anime counterpart she hated) first and Ami, the most popular character by far, second in order for them to be unavailable for at least 5 or 6 months. Not a big loss in the manga anyway. In Sailor Moon Crystal one doesn't even notice that the girls are gone. They're just window dressing for Usagi's romance with Mamoru and her jealous fits over Chibi-Usa. Some peope in YouTube comments claim that the manga has a little more character development than Crystal, but also not nearly enough.

If Sailor Moon R didn't have that filler arc in the beginning where it gained 3 months of manga time that would have been a disaster. Or maybe the writers of the anime already knew what she had planned and made a filler arc accordingly.

That's my pet theory anyway. It assumes that Naoko Takeuchi is the sort of artist that takes changing her artistic vision seriously and gives her a vengeful streak over creative disagreements with the showrunners. In other words, for it to have any merit it requires her to be petty and potentially jealous of the popularity of the anime.

I realize that makes the theory vulnerable to Hanlon's razor. It could also be called sexist because it has an undertone of making Ms. Takeuchi a petty b*tch. To the former I can say, yes, it probably wasn't sabotage, just an average writer who had a lucky streak being under too much pressure to deliver, and to the second, well, I can only say that I'd accuse a male mangaka of being petty under the exact same circumstances. Not dealing very well when one questions their artistic vision isn't a gender based issue that artists have. It's very much universal in my experience.

Lastly I want to say that my opinion on a lot of things chaged after I began reading the manga and watching Sailor Moon Crystal. I originally was under the impression that the manga was this feminist masterpiece that was adapted into the world wide phenomenon that the Sailor Moon anime was, but that some parts of the manga were sacrificed on the altar of mass appeal and male gaze. Now that I know this wasn't the case, I can honestly say that I'd rather look under Minako's skirt on the pier in her tragic background story episode again than watch Black Lady stick her tongue into Mamoru's mouth for real instead of an attempt by Death Phantom to break Usagi's will (and huge props to Usagi for seeing through it, SMC's Usagi would immediately believe it).

The one scene sexualized a fourteen year old girl who had the love of her life taken away by her best friend for a very brief moment, the other implies forced incest, even if it is a rather uncommon father/daughter type where the initiative and the forcefulness originate from the daughter (hm, go and read about Lot in the bible if you want, he happens to share a similar fate, except that it leads to children being born).

It is made all the worse because there is a lot of potential in the story with Chibi-Usa. She could have been used to shine a light on the problems that teenage mothers would have. Usagi's insecurity is understandable, and it is also understandable that she would attempt to fight with her daughter over Mamoru's affection. She's just 14 and emotionally immature, in addition to being responsible for saving the world at least once per year.

But that would require a lot more time to build characters and a, let's face it, better writer than Naoko Takeuchi is.

 

And I can honstly say that I do not understand how there can be manga fanboys that hate both the original anime and Sailor Moon Crystal. I'm not sure how anyone can be a manga fanboy. Or fangirl, when everything about the adaptation is simply superior, but de gustibus non est disputandum, right?

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

Hahahahaha.

SMC, Act 24.
 

Spoiler

 

Begins with Black Lady hurting Luna-P who is saying "Small Lady!" and bouncing about all happy because it's now repaired and finally united with Chibi-Usa. She calls it an annoying toy and smashes it against a rock.

You know what? I feel bad for Luna-P, but not for any of the other "people" in the scene.

Yay, Mamoru whacks Usagi with her Moon scepter. Yeah well. Not bad Mamoru. Also, not bad manga fanboys by claiming Usagis and Mamoru's relationship is much healthier and loving in the manga.

Sure, Mamoru is currently Dominated by Black Lady, but still. Geez. Why whack her with the scepter? A simple slap not effective enough?

Black Lady sticks her tongue up Mamoru's mouth in front of Sailor Moon afterwards. Man. How can anyone like this over the anime adaptation?

Look at Prince Demande doing a face turn. He promptly obliterates Saphir and politely apologizes for it. He promptly obliterates Wiseman/Death Phantom too. Black Lady points ot the sky and says BEHOLD THE TRUE FORM OF WISEMAN.

And out of the clouds slowly descends Nemesis. Eh, okay. Death Phantom was a disembodied skull that represented an evil energy being bent on the destruction of everything. Here it's a planet. Well, why not.

Pluto is struggling with her duty to stay and guard the gateway of time. It's blatantly obvious that she will violate that duty and save the day soon.

Nemesis is descending upon the Crystal Palace and beings to lay waste to everything. Diana shows up and offers a heartfelt speech to Pluto and convinces her to intercede. Her expression is one of resolve and infinite sadness. See, Sailor Pluto is so far the character with the least screentime of them all, but a little development goes a long way. Poor Pluto, she's going to suffer for this.

Usagi gives up and Endymion grabs her brooch. Holding both the Moon Scepter and the Silver Crystal seems to have weakend Small Lady's dominate person spell.

Anyway, Prince Demande grabs both Silver Crystals. Apparently making them touch will cause everything to explode. Or something. You learn something new each day. Cue to be continued. How... exciting.

I'm betting now that Pluto will cast time stop. Serenity told her of the three taboos she must not break: Time travel (already done), leaving her post (already done) and... <fade to white> which is most likely time stop.

S spoiler:

Spoiler

It was time stop in S, after all.

 

SMC, Act 25:

Spoiler

Look at Pluto casting Time Stop. Beats watching everything you've sworn to protect go up in flames I guess.

It's so sad to see Pluto die here, in this waste of a show, in this wasteland of a plot. She regrets having failed to protect Chibi-Usa, and tells Sailor Moon how much she admires her. She also gets one last look at Endymion. Ah, unrequited love, such is thy sting.

Still the characters can't helpt but state the obvious. Writers, really, a comic necessitates a certain amount of exposition through text. You don't have to adapt every written line into dialogue. It's distracting and pointless, just let the animation play out and god dammit find some better music than this choral piece that underlies everything. EVERYTHING.

The original anime had the Star Locket melody for this, or the orchestral piece of Heart Moving. Both much better.

How fitting that this version of Black Lady is transformed back into Chibi-Usa by the only other character in the show that has undergone some development in what little time she had. The death of her surrogate mother hits her so hard that she also unlocks the Silver Crystal's power and she transforms into Sailor Chibi Moon.

I have no idea where she got a Silver Crystal, Sailor Moon should be holding both right now. Eh...

Wow, Chibi Moon crying over Pluto's dead body is immensely painful. This really is the first time watching this that I feel something, other than ennui and revulsion. It's made so much worse knowing that Chibi Moon indirectly caused Pluto's death. I wonder if she knows that too?

Usagi uses her raw Silver Crystal to transform into Sailor Moon. She and the Planeteers fire Water, Fire, Earth and Wind as well as Love at Nemesis and... I don't know. Banish it? Destroy it? It deflates like a balloon and leaves. Good job animation team, that looked awful.

Oh, wait. Prince Demande is still alive, and he immediately knows that Death Phantom just played dead. Well, why not.

Death Phantom obliterates Demande and engulfs everything in darkness. A floating, disembodied skull appears and introduces iteslf as DEATH PHANTOM. Looks like Naoko Takeuchi played Star Fox and faced the true form of Andross. Ho ho ho. I hope Sailor Moon saved some nova bombs.

To be continued...

Well, tomorrow at the earliest. Time for some sleep. I just hope that this will not be a 20 minutes fight between Sailor Moon and Death Phantom in the final episode of the Black Moon arc.

This was the last edit of this post @Bartimaeus and @KaineParker

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

The more I hear the more it seems that the Sailor Moon manga was a piss take.

So it looks like Sailor Saturn is the Messiah of Silence and was almost assassinated by Puu

[majestic]

2 minutes ago, KaineParker said:

The more I hear the more it seems that the Sailor Moon manga was a piss take.

 

  Hide contents

So it looks like Sailor Saturn is the Messiah of Silence and was almost assassinated by Puu

 

 

Spoiler

Chibi-Usa doesn't take too kindly to Puu trying to kill her friend.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

12 minutes ago, majestic said:

 

  Hide contents

Chibi-Usa doesn't take too kindly to Puu trying to kill her friend.

 

Does she learn to control her breathing and blast Puu with HAMON BEATO?

[majestic]

Spoiler

No, Sailor Chibi-Moon only becomes useful in fights once she starts lusting after a winged horse with an extra horn.