Anime - A Rollercoaster of Emotion

[majestic]

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

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

Hah. Maybe. Super^0 it is then, they did want to go back to the style of season 1 after all.

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

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

That was mostly a preface for other readers, should there ever be any. Slim chance, I guess, but anyway. For some episodes I tried to look up reviews online, but there's preciously little to find for single episodes, and those that I did find focused on different things. Take that episode that simply makes up a friend Makoto never had before or never mentions again afterwards. Comments are usually up in arms about inventing a friend.

To be honest, so am I. However, the actual problem of that episode is that the focus of it is squarely on that friend, instead of Makoto. Why waste all that time developing a character that is never seen again? This is a season spanning issue. Prior seasons of Sailor Moon used characters that appeared once as a means of getting the girls to interact with each other or their enemies, not as a way to waste ten minutes of a 20 minute episode.
 

Spoiler

 

If that episode in Sailor Moon S where Usagi and Minako stalked Haruka happened in SuperS, the main focus of that episode would have been the mechanic Haruka goes to. The episode would take care to explain his hopes and dreams, he'd get half the sceen time instead of a few lines and a weird car monster to attack him. One big issue is that it never seems clear why they wrote the episodes like that in SuperS. It isn't necessary and limits the screen time of every other character. The assaults are horrific enough without it.

The final nail in that episode's coffin is the way Makoto talks to her friend, and that includes giving her a dressing down for having low self esteem. See back in the first season, would this have bothered me? Probably not. As much as I like the first season, it was mostly silly and the characters were only coming into their own, things were uneven, some elements were picked up but quietly faded out (remember Sailor Mercury slapping Sailor Moon to get her to snap out of crying?). This is typical first season stuff, and mostly the reason why I give a TV show the benefit of the doubt for at least an entire season after deciding to watch it.

In SuperS? Sailor Moon S took some time exploring the deep seated problems Makoto has with her own self worth, and how she overcompensates that, and what happens when the overcompensation fails for a moment (her second focus episode about not being strong enough to help her team, so what good is she really?). Her dream mirror assault episode takes that even further, where she's shown to have absolutely no confidence in herself as any else than a soldier, and it is also echoed in the episode of SuperS where she gets her new attack. Makoto is so mad at Minako for ruining everything, but Minako is equally frustrated because she sees Makoto as close to achieving what she dreams of, and Makoto ends up telling her that for her, her dream is just as far off as Minako becoming a pop star is.

This comes up again later in SuperS where a mirror version of herself tries to convince Makoto to finally let go of fighting, because being a Sailor Senshi makes her even less of a woman (much less one desired by Japanese men) than she already is.

Would Makoto try to help her friend achieve her dreams? Oh, sure. Would she actively and aggressively push her out of her comfort zone by angrily telling her to grow a pair and show some self respect and confidence? Yeah, right. When push comes to shove, not even Rei does that, and certainly not to her friends (not even to Usagi after Mamoru breaks up with her in R). When it comes to the dream assault episode, all her friends just talk to her and sit with her, waiting. Well, Usagi runs off in the morning to get food for everyone. Comments on that episode usually go like "Wtf, this is dumb, who would wait that long?" and "Jeez gurl, GFTO!" and "why don't they slap some sense into her an drag her away?" with the last one being the most stupid of all, because that wouldn't even be possible if they tried. You can't drag Makoto away from anything, much less in a physical sense. How can you watch this anime without figuring that out?

 

And then there are the people who react to these kind of episodes with "Sailor Moon is stupid anyway, who cares?" that make me angry. I care. And yes, the show is usually silly. That's fine. But it's not stupid. Or at least, up until SuperS, it wasn't. Oh, I get that the distinction is not an easy one to make. People confuse child like with childish all the time too.

7 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

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

Yeah, probably not. I don't know a whole lot about Japanese, just enough to make the joke about future Usagi still writing letters in Hiragana funny. I was once interested in at least trying to pick up Japanese because I'm interested in how their grammar works because it is supposedly much easier than ours (at least when it comes to tenses), although that is not hard when it comes to German at least, German grammar is a complex mess (don't let people tell you otherwise just because it is easy enough to pick up German for casual conversation).

I dropped the idea quickly enough.

[majestic]

Oh, wow. Just started Sailor Stars.

I never realized it had a different opening theme song in the original version. It's weird, they've changed it to a J-pop track. Intro contains no spoilers:

 

And I've learned that there are two versions of the German dub: One where the Sailor Moon theme song always stayed the same (the German Eurodance track was so awesome is was adapted for the Netherlands, Croatia  and Russia) and apparently one where the music was changed for each opening sequence for re-runs. I only ever heard the same track, and if someone would have told me that the German dub of Sailor Moon had more than one theme song I would have laughed at them. Huh, this is weird.

I just checked, the updated versions are on YouTube as well, with people arguing back and forth that this was never the theme song. Huh. The hell, German TV stations, the hell?

This is the first opening with the Eurodance track that I heard for the almost 200 episodes (there are 200 episodes, but I apparently missed some the first time around).

 

edit:

I totally love how the first Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode pretends like SuperS never happened, except for one key detail* everything looks like it just picked up from the end of Sailor Moon S.

Spoiler

*Queen Nehelenia is freed from her prison. Admittedly not the most creative of choices to pad out the time until the manga's finished, but I'll take it. It's not like she was used all that well in SuperS. 

 

Edited February 13, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

6 hours ago, majestic said:

Hah. Maybe. Super^0 it is then, they did want to go back to the style of season 1 after all.

That was mostly a preface for other readers, should there ever be any. Slim chance, I guess, but anyway. For some episodes I tried to look up reviews online, but there's preciously little to find for single episodes, and those that I did find focused on different things. Take that episode that simply makes up a friend Makoto never had before or never mentions again afterwards. Comments are usually up in arms about inventing a friend.

To be honest, so am I. However, the actual problem of that episode is that the focus of it is squarely on that friend, instead of Makoto. Why waste all that time developing a character that is never seen again? This is a season spanning issue. Prior seasons of Sailor Moon used characters that appeared once as a means of getting the girls to interact with each other or their enemies, not as a way to waste ten minutes of a 20 minute episode.
 

  Hide contents

 

If that episode in Sailor Moon S where Usagi and Minako stalked Haruka happened in SuperS, the main focus of that episode would have been the mechanic Haruka goes to. The episode would take care to explain his hopes and dreams, he'd get half the sceen time instead of a few lines and a weird car monster to attack him. One big issue is that it never seems clear why they wrote the episodes like that in SuperS. It isn't necessary and limits the screen time of every other character. The assaults are horrific enough without it.

The final nail in that episode's coffin is the way Makoto talks to her friend, and that includes giving her a dressing down for having low self esteem. See back in the first season, would this have bothered me? Probably not. As much as I like the first season, it was mostly silly and the characters were only coming into their own, things were uneven, some elements were picked up but quietly faded out (remember Sailor Mercury slapping Sailor Moon to get her to snap out of crying?). This is typical first season stuff, and mostly the reason why I give a TV show the benefit of the doubt for at least an entire season after deciding to watch it.

In SuperS? Sailor Moon S took some time exploring the deep seated problems Makoto has with her own self worth, and how she overcompensates that, and what happens when the overcompensation fails for a moment (her second focus episode about not being strong enough to help her team, so what good is she really?). Her dream mirror assault episode takes that even further, where she's shown to have absolutely no confidence in herself as any else than a soldier, and it is also echoed in the episode of SuperS where she gets her new attack. Makoto is so mad at Minako for ruining everything, but Minako is equally frustrated because she sees Makoto as close to achieving what she dreams of, and Makoto ends up telling her that for her, her dream is just as far off as Minako becoming a pop star is.

This comes up again later in SuperS where a mirror version of herself tries to convince Makoto to finally let go of fighting, because being a Sailor Senshi makes her even less of a woman (much less one desired by Japanese men) than she already is.

Would Makoto try to help her friend achieve her dreams? Oh, sure. Would she actively and aggressively push her out of her comfort zone by angrily telling her to grow a pair and show some self respect and confidence? Yeah, right. When push comes to shove, not even Rei does that, and certainly not to her friends (not even to Usagi after Mamoru breaks up with her in R). When it comes to the dream assault episode, all her friends just talk to her and sit with her, waiting. Well, Usagi runs off in the morning to get food for everyone. Comments on that episode usually go like "Wtf, this is dumb, who would wait that long?" and "Jeez gurl, GFTO!" and "why don't they slap some sense into her an drag her away?" with the last one being the most stupid of all, because that wouldn't even be possible if they tried. You can't drag Makoto away from anything, much less in a physical sense. How can you watch this anime without figuring that out?

 

And then there are the people who react to these kind of episodes with "Sailor Moon is stupid anyway, who cares?" that make me angry. I care. And yes, the show is usually silly. That's fine. But it's not stupid. Or at least, up until SuperS, it wasn't. Oh, I get that the distinction is not an easy one to make. People confuse child like with childish all the time too.

Yeah, probably not. I don't know a whole lot about Japanese, just enough to make the joke about future Usagi still writing letters in Hiragana funny. I was once interested in at least trying to pick up Japanese because I'm interested in how their grammar works because it is supposedly much easier than ours (at least when it comes to tenses), although that is not hard when it comes to German at least, German grammar is a complex mess (don't let people tell you otherwise just because it is easy enough to pick up German for casual conversation).

I dropped the idea quickly enough.

Yeah, it should be noted that when I've said "Sailor Moon [the show] is really dumb", it's not to mean that the show was unintelligently made, it's more that, uh...even with all of the show's/manga's shortcomings (most of which are a result of following its formula way too heavily when there really was no need for it ever do so, since it's clearly written more than well enough that it could have eschewed its formula plenty of times without any issue...) and the fact that it was primarily made for young teen girls, it's really more that *I'm* so dumb that I still find it so good. Even more amazing since it was only just barely produced and only on the absolute shoestringiest of budgets to begin with - there's no reason for it to be as funny, lovable, and well-made as it is. The shortcomings are there, but they got the most important bits right...well...up until SuperS anyways, .

I'd actually already heard the Sailor Stars theme since I'm a complete data hoarder and have all the music collections for each season/movie (plus that giant 10 CD box set of just instrumentals from all 5 seasons and the movies). Not that I've listened to each track yet, but I did a small amount of perusing in advance to make sure that I liked the music well enough that I'd want each one, and the Sailor Stars theme was one I happened to hear. I don't like it as much as the original theme, but with that said...it's a lot more restrained and at least half-decent compared to some of the other jpop music I've happened to hear that was made for this show, so at least there's that, . And then I hear the German version and...suddenly I'm a lot more thankful for the jpop song, .

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

So future Mamoru also wears a mask.....despise being a monarch who is presumably well known to Crystal Tokyo. I can handle monsters who shoot avocado bombs and time travel stuff but this is a little much.

And of course the evil prince is really horny and captures Usagi.

[majestic]

33 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Yeah, it should be noted that when I've said "Sailor Moon [the show] is really dumb", it's not to mean that the show was unintelligently made, it's more that, uh...even with all of the show's/manga's shortcomings (most of which are a result of following its formula way too heavily when there really was no need for it ever do so, since it's clearly written more than well enough that it could have eschewed its formula plenty of times without any issue...) and the fact that it was primarily made for young teen girls, it's really more that *I'm* so dumb that I still find it so good. Even more amazing since it was only just barely produced and only on the absolute shoestringiest of budgets to begin with - there's no reason for it to be as funny, lovable, and well-made as it is. The shortcomings are there, but they got the most important bits right...well...up until SuperS anyways, .

I don't remember you posting that the show is dumb, only that it is a complete meme in itself, and that's true (for the most part). But that's not exactly what I meant, mostly, that was about dismissing the flaws of SuperS' writing purely based on the "it's a stupid show about magic girls, who cares anyway?" excuse that is all too often employed to excuse terrible writing and bad creative decisions - or at its worst, used by someone who never watched the show to dismiss it entirely out of hand based on the premise.

You can find plenty of posts by, say, otherwise reasonable forum members here where they defended Star Wars: The Last Jedi or Rey's ridiculous character "arc" in The Force Awakens with: "You guys, really, it's a pew pew movie with laser swords to take your children to, just have fun!" as if that would excuse everything. It's not meant to be serious, so don't be seriously annoyed when it's no longer good? Yeah, sure.

Perhaps I am too critical. When I watched Pr. Plinkett's Star Trek 2009 review, it was not what I expected. At all. This movie was a complete waste of my time, a flashy mockery of everything that Star Trek should be, even promoted as such ("This is not your daddy's Star Trek!"), and then Mike goes ahead and likes it and calls it his guilty pleasure. Jesus Christ Mike. Really?

Then again he also somewhat liked Star Trek Beyond, the first movie I've seen in cinema where I actually contemplated leaving just after the opening scene. How I wish I had. Gah. Tripe, pure tripe.

Watched any more, by the way? If you're afraid of KP reading the spoilers, just PM me.

33 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'd actually already heard the Sailor Stars theme since I'm a complete data hoarder and have all the music collections for each season/movie (plus that giant 10 CD box set of just instrumentals from all 5 seasons and the movies). Not that I've listened to each track yet, but I did a small amount of perusing in advance to make sure that I liked the music well enough that I'd want each one, and the Sailor Stars theme was one I happened to hear. I don't like it as much as the original theme, but with that said...it's a lot more restrained and at least half-decent compared to some of the other jpop music I've happened to hear that was made for this show, so at least there's that, . And then I hear the German version and...suddenly I'm a lot more thankful for the jpop song, .

There's a German verison of Sailor Stars too. This was made primarily becaus the song shows up in the episodes (at the end). This is the opening credits sequence underscored by the German version.

And hey, I liked our Sailor Moon intro. Eurodance is my guilty pleasure. Heh. 

Makes for fun visits though, when people browse my record collection. It's full of music that is mostly off the mainstream (except for some metal bands that topped the charts, almost everyone knows Metallica or Iron Maiden, after all, and... psst, don't tell anyone that, but I also have Nickelback and Creed albums* ) and the reactions to finding Venga Boys, Aqua and E-Rotic in between are hilarious.

*I feel the need to defend myself by pointing out that I had both before they became the mainstream smash hits that they ended up being. I was contemplating burning their albums on the altar of forced counterculture around the same time I was originally watching Sailor Moon, but I ended up not doing it. I still like listening to Creed's Higher. It's a great track, regardless of... other people's opinion of the band. *nods sagely*

Edited February 13, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

8 minutes ago, majestic said:

E-Rotic

I remember stumbling across some of their music videos and thinking "what in the ****". Though I suppose "Max don't have sex with your ex" is always relevant. 

I like how when Usagi is fighting with Rei Mamoru's present and future selves exchange an exasperated look.

Edited February 13, 2021 by KaineParker

[majestic]

1 minute ago, KaineParker said:

I remember stumbling across some of their music videos and thinking "what in the ****". Though I suppose "Max don't have sex with your ex" is always relevant. 

As is "Willy use a billy...boy."

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

"King Kong ring my gong"

[Bartimaeus]

I think I've used the phrase "supremely stupid" for the show a few different times in here (particularly early, and then again when KaineParker was contemplating watching), but I only meant it in the best of ways. Yeah, I know exactly what you meant re: dismissing criticism out of hand, I can basically never get behind that either. I've said it before, but I almost always take negatives of stuff a lot more strongly than I do the positives, so it's difficult for me to just brush off issues - I'm just not that kind of person. Even with literally my all-time favorite show, Steven Universe, I have an endless laundry list of different things that I think (and know) that they could've done better. The key is to have enough stuff that I like while minimizing the actually terrible stuff (as opposed to simply not-so-good stuff) that I can forgive and love it.

I have not been able to watch any more. Too busy with a few other things at the end of this week, and the little time I've had for watching shows has instead gone to stupid Speed Racer on the insistence of someone that is not me (shockingly, no, I'm not the only person dumb enough to watch this crap - ideally, though, I'd like to finish S before KaineParker does because S is probably the part of the show that I'd be most sensitive to spoilers for...but I fear that I won't).

And don't talk to me about music - I'm the type of person that will listen to an industrial or darkwave album and immediately follow it up with something like Studio Ghibli, Weird Al, Disney, or Sailor Moon, then immediately go in reverse. I'm pretty retarded about music, .

Edited February 13, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Chibi-Usa transforming into Black Lady was uncomfortable. It was extremely awkward how the view focused on her butt and breasts to show them growing. I can see why the creator of Sailor Moon wasn't happy.

[majestic]

14 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

And don't talk to me about music - I'm the type of person that will listen to an industrial or darkwave album and immediately follow it up with something like Studio Ghibli, Weird Al, Disney, or Sailor Moon, then immediately go in reverse. I'm pretty retarded about music, .

First things first, Weird Al is a genius. I love his music, and I enjoy parodies in general - more so than most comedy types, Kabarett aside. One of my favorite groups is EAV, which was an Austrian comedy group (they recently retired) that made everything from complete nonsense to scathing satire and social commentary. Musically they emulated whatever theme their songs required which, funny as they were, if you don't understand the lyrics, you might find offensive.

Look at this video, it has the entire band in yellowface, seemingly making a mockery of the type of generic east-asian music that you'd maybe hear in any Faux-Chinese restaurant (at least in ours) and faking an indistinct asian German accent while singing (warning, not safe for work):

Spoiler

 

It's a complete riot.

Right. Well you know already that I'm really focused on vocalists, something that immensely limits what I can enjoy listening to, e.g. the Metallica albums I have are there simply for the sake of having them, I don't actively listen to Metallica, I can barely stand James Hetfield's singing at the best of times.

Not sure why, but comedy music is an exception where the fun of the lyrics outweigh the vocalist if they're not at the top of their game. Weird Al can do both though. I was surprised to hear him rap (and that quite well even, I of course can't stand most rap) in White & Nerdy.

Uhm, lost track of the point.

Oh, right, well maybe you can get two or three episodes further somehow, that should make you immune to most of the more annoying Sailor Moon S spoilers you could potentially get from carelessly clicking around in this topic, or we can keep posting to a minimum for a bit.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

27 minutes ago, majestic said:

Look at this video

What the **** did I just watch?

[Bartimaeus]

that's almost verbatim what I was going to say: I had "what the hell was that lol" written up and was searching for something else to say lmao

[majestic]

1 hour ago, KaineParker said:

What the **** did I just watch?

 

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

that's almost verbatim what I was going to say: I had "what the hell was that lol" written up and was searching for something else to say lmao

Wait, you really watched the video? Heh. It's about sex tourism in Thailand, set against a backdrop of virtually every common (south)eastern asian stereotype. That's why the song is called Samurai even though it's story is set in Pattaya, you see random kanji popping up and people being pulled about on a rickshaw. The titular hero, an uptight and otherwise unremarkable person from a German speaking country flies to Thailand once per year to break through his inhibitions and is called her "Samurai" by his Thai prostitute Madame Butterfly* who is apparently young enough to be his daughter (ugh).

The song ends with him flying home, with a little gift from the trip in the form of itchy balls.

*Not sure if I neet to point out that Madame Butterfly was a geisha, not a prostitute. It's another common misconception about Japan that geishas are sex workers.

[Bartimaeus]

Oh yeah, I can't believe I didn't get all that. What was I thinking?

[majestic]

18 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Oh yeah, I can't believe I didn't get all that. What was I thinking?

 

I didn't expect either of you to actually watch it. There went my one chance to actually rickroll someone, and I wasted it. Well, no, showing someone the glory that were the early EAV music videos is not a waste. Be optimistic here.  

On topic, for a change:

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars...

Spoiler

Makoto finally got a school uniform that she can wear.

 

[Bartimaeus]

Good lord, this show could've used somebody else writing the titles. Not only are they ridiculously long, they spoil waaay too much. This episode had the worst title I've seen yet.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

beeg spoilers ahead, no look

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

no really, you've been warned

Spoiler

"Die, you station wagon snail woman." Uh...that came out of nowhere, but not gonna lie, "station wagon snail woman" is a pretty good insult - the alternating "S"s and "W"s make it really roll off the tongue.

I completely forgot that Sailor...uh...er...um...Pluto? existed. I suppose she must have the third one.

Is Eudial seriously using some kind of foosball table to attack them? Alright...aaand suddenly she's a pianist. Oh. No, uh, never mind, hah.

Well, this is one of those cases where you hate to have been right. I just, uh, didn't expect it to end quite like that in what I thought was a children's show. That was brutal.

Oh wow, Pluto actually gets a transformation scene. Oh gosh, the Talisman was in her staff, I didn't pay enough attention to her initial appearance back in R to remember that. Wait a second, if her Talisman was already in her staff, why do they have to die for theirs?

Oh, I guess I should've waited a minute before I asked this.

It's a good thing talking is a free action, 'cause otherwise Eudial could've absolutely smoked them (somewhat literally) while they were all talking to each other.

Eudial had like a 10 second start on Usagi, but okay, go off I guess.

Man, Eudial got done dirty. She was by far the most successful of all the mid-level villains.

Oh hey, it's Sailor Suicide or whatever her name is. Man, The Professor is nuts.

(e): lmao, the new lady took over the next episode preview to introduce herself, that might be the first time a villain has done that

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 13, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

12 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Good lord, this show could've used somebody else writing the titles. Not only are they ridiculously long, they spoil waaay too much. This episode had the worst title I've seen yet.

  Reveal hidden contents

  Reveal hidden contents

  Reveal hidden contents

  Reveal hidden contents

beeg spoilers ahead, no look

  Reveal hidden contents

  Reveal hidden contents

  Reveal hidden contents

  Reveal hidden contents

  Reveal hidden contents

no really, you've been warned

  Reveal hidden contents

"Die, you station wagon snail woman." Uh...that came out of nowhere, but not gonna lie, "station wagon snail woman" is a pretty good insult - the alternating "S"s and "W"s make it really roll off the tongue.

I completely forgot that Sailor...uh...er...um...Pluto? existed. I suppose she must have the third one.

Is Eudial seriously using some kind of foosball table to attack them? Alright...aaand suddenly she's a pianist. Oh. No, uh, never mind, hah.

Well, this is one of those cases where you hate to have been right. I just, uh, didn't expect it to end quite like that in what I thought was a children's show. That was brutal.

Oh wow, Pluto actually gets a transformation scene. Oh gosh, the Talisman was in her staff, I didn't pay enough attention to her initial appearance back in R to remember that. Wait a second, if her Talisman was already in her staff, why do they have to die for theirs?

Oh, I guess I should've waited a minute before I asked this.

It's a good thing talking is a free action, 'cause otherwise Eudial could've absolutely smoked them (somewhat literally) while they were all talking to each other.

Eudial had like a 10 second start on Usagi, but okay, go off I guess.

Man, Eudial got done dirty. She was by far the most successful of all the mid-level villains.

Oh hey, it's Sailor Suicide or whatever her name is. Man, The Professor is nuts.

(e): lmao, the new lady took over the next episode preview to introduce herself, that might be the first time a villain has done that

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the titles look like BruceVC sentences.

[majestic]

4 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Good lord, this show could've used somebody else writing the titles. Not only are they ridiculously long, they spoil waaay too much. This episode had the worst title I've seen yet.

  Hide contents

  Hide contents

  Hide contents

  Hide contents

 

beeg spoilers ahead, no look

  Hide contents

  Hide contents

  Hide contents

  Hide contents

  Hide contents

 

no really, you've been warned

  Hide contents

 

"Die, you station wagon snail woman." Uh...that came out of nowhere, but not gonna lie, "station wagon snail woman" is a pretty good insult - the alternating "S"s and "W"s make it really roll off the tongue.

I completely forgot that Sailor...uh...er...um...Pluto? existed. I suppose she must have the third Talisman.

Is Eudial seriously using some kind of foosball table to attack them? Alright...aaand suddenly she's a pianist. Oh. No, uh, never mind, hah.

Well, this is one of those cases where you hate to have been right. I just, uh, didn't expect it to end quite like that in what I thought was a children's show. That was brutal.

Oh wow, Pluto actually gets a transformation scene. Oh gosh, the Talisman was in her staff, I didn't pay enough attention to her initial appearance back in R to remember that. Wait a second, if her Talisman was already in her staff, why do Neptune and Uranus have to die for theirs?

Oh, I guess I should've waited a minute before I asked this.

It's a good thing talking is a free action, 'cause otherwise Eudial could've absolutely smoked them (somewhat literally) while they were all talking to each other.

Eudial had like a 15 second start on Usagi, but okay, go off I guess.

Man, Eudial got done dirty. She was by far the most successful of all the mid-level villains.

Oh hey, it's Sailor Suicide or whatever her name is. Man, The Professor is nuts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

That's enough I guess.

Spoiler

 

Yeah... that episode is a bit like like trying to catch a sledgehammer with your face. It was brutal enough and then they added the heart locket piano theme song just to drive it home with extra force. I'm guessing that this episode is the reason why the studio wanted the show retooled back to its roots for SuperS. This ran over me like a freight train when I was 16, can't imagine what that wold do to an actual kid tuning in for their favorite kid's anime this week.

In a way this is was way worse than the first season's ending for me, because while it is clear that there's no way the show will let everyone die, it's not so clear in this case. Sacrificing someone to obtain the talismans was a theme for 20 episodes before that, after all.

How did you like their answer whether or not they would let nothing stop them in their mission to obtain the talismans? Even right before they entered the cathedral they swore to each other that they wouldn't risk their lives for each other and then Haruka walks into a clear trap for Michiru, who frees herself and does just the same.

And even after Usagi saves Haruka, she doesn't just take Michiru's talisman and goes on like she promised Michiru over and over again. No. She even tells Usagi that she doesn't believe in her even though it is clear that she does, the star locket theme song version starts playing, she pushes Usagi away and... does that.

It's also such a beatiful answer to the question why they so stubbornly refused to join with Sailor Moon. When you know your resolve to do what's necessary is probably not strong enough you can't afford to join a wide eyed idealist on her quest to save everyone.

Oh, and say hi to Sailor Saturn, the single most anime character on the show, a Broken Bird Woobie Mysterious Waif. I wonder what you'll think of her. 

PS: Sailor Pluto showed up in the opening credits by the way. Her staff was plain to see there every time, and while you probably skipped the animation most of the time, I didn't catch it on TV where it wasn't skippable. Hiding in plain sight indeed. Heh.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bartimaeus]

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When? I just sat through the intro with my eyes glued to it the entire time twice and I didn't see her. Am I blind?

Sailor S was already crying too much in her very first (two second) appearance. Not a good start!

Love conquers all. It was, of course, totally predictable that they did what they did, but it made sense and worked. Also, the dramatic build-up to it made me think they were actually going to be toast, but I knew right at the start of the next episode that the tone and how everybody was acting was wrong for that to be the case. It's just as well, really, though.

 

 

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

Spoiler

Curious. Does your Italian video source have different opening credits then? Stop the episode at 1:45 and check, on the left side. She fills like a third of the screen.

Hah, yeah, actually, for real. There is a version of the intro without Pluto in it. Damn.

This is probably your intro:

This is the one I have on my episodes:

Hey maybe I wasn't a complete dolt during the original run then. Nice.

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

Anyway, huh, I just checked my SuperS episodes and yeah, they all have the same opening too even though there I know there were two separate versions. They all have the Amazoness Quartet one. Talk about lazy. So, sorry about that, your episode probably don't have opening spoilers in them. Unlike mine. Whee!
 

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Being predicatble isn't entirely bad. I know I wrote about this earlier, subverting expectations is fun and all, but it also needs to make sense. That scene could not have played out any other way with the characters involved, at least... I think so. I figuered it was clear tha they wouldn't let each other die.

This season is beautiful in that way that the writers managed to make everything come together. Mostly. It does have a few issues here and there, and there's some odd last minute exposition just to explain what's going to happen on the screen in the next few minutes, but it was a really, really good effort. 

Still hurt though. Even watching it a second time. There's someting about this show that makes me like the characters more than on many others.

edit: Curious fact, in the manga they all have their talismans right from the start. They're just pretending to look for them. Huh.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

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yuge spoilers ahead

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really big news, be warned

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last chance fellas

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[Bartimaeus]

Don't know whom that is, but it got a burst of laughter from me, .

@majestic Each season has had two intros, so I took a guess and opened up the last episode of S and what do you know, it has your intro. So even the first episode of S has the second intro for you? Whoever put these Italian DVDs together seem to have know what they were doing more than everyone else in every other region, . Also, for kicks, I tested the first and last episode of SuperS - there are two different intros there too, although they're very similar (only a few scenes were changed, similar to S's first and second intros).

Yep, I'm always in favor of going with the outcome actually setup by previous events rather than simply "SURPRISE, literally nothing that previously happened had any effect on the outcome and instead we're going with something totally out of left field!". Really, if you're going to do something out of left field, it should be the result of a more unpredictable/lesser known character(s) doing something that changes the situation radically, and not the main characters whose personality and intentions are already known and set (and the main characters should, of course, still react in ways that make sense!).

also wth @ the manga thing lol, that sounds so dumb (although admittedly I'm sure there are details to be had...)

Edited February 14, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[InsaneCommander]

I started watching Sailor Moon. Just finished the first episode.