Anime: Emotions on a Rollercoaster

[Bartimaeus]

"damming"

is that a water joke because it was an ami episode

Edited March 21, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

16 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

"damming"

is that a water joke because it was an ami episode

I wish, it's because I'm hungover and posting from my phone.

[InsaneCommander]

5 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Episode 152:

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Hey...another decent episode. Maybe not quite as good as the previous because too much of it was more about some rando with than Rei, but it was also funnier, so that kind of makes up for it. Man, uh...kind of feels like the show is suddenly a different show compared to the first half of the season. Maybe...maybe you shouldn't have had a whole big ongoing mind-rape plot going on, writers? Maybe, just maybe?

"What, this is just awful! A girl with no dreams is a loser!" lmao I'm beginning to like Ves; pretty good fight too, that minion was pretty messed up especially when it just piled on the little girl who was already down for the count

Episode 153, this is a legitimately great episode:

  Hide contents

This Nehellenia lady stinks, she's somehow even more pathetic than Queen Beryl so far, although her and this weird plot in this episode is reminding me a lot of season 1. Palla also reminds me of Bubblegum from the Power Puff Girls, uh, wait, except that she just decapitated a toy's head while I was writing this, so never mind I guess.

lmao Usagi hitting us with the "OH MY GOD!!" over having to go to the dentist, this is a fantastic episode

Hah, Mamoru getting jealous for a change, and deservedly so: Usagi being a wanna-be womanizer isn't new to us, but she doesn't usually do it in front of him! Also, I never knew until now that I wanted to hear Mamoru talk and emote to himself like this!

holy crap Palla just has a room full of bodies lmao...and all she wants is a friend to play with 

Hey! Hey, the crying ability from like the first episode of the first season, Usagi (and Chibi-Usa) still has it! Wow...and it's their strongest power-up yet! They should probably use that more.

This is a picture of Usagi Tsukino:

what an episode

 

Yes, that one was great. Pallapalla is indeed the best villain of the season.

3 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

That Nazi thing sounds hilarious, although I'd probably be tempted to photoshop a character into being a Nazi rather than use an actual real life one. I could probably turn Lisa Simpson or Pearl or somebody else into a Nazi. ...Although, uh, why do it yourself when somebody apparently already has for you? Apparently many of my favorite cartoon characters are actually white supremacist symbols deep into the darkest places on the internet - who knew?

Plenty of anime girls pictures with Nazi uniforms. You don't even need to go to the deep places...

[InsaneCommander]

Episode 161:

 

Spoiler

 

The other Amazoness girls finally decided to try to catch up to Pallapalla. But since they are working together, it doesn’t take them any closer to Pallapalla “kill” count.

 

Poor Pallapalla got hurt. She was crying. Never mind that the girl who likes to destroy dolls has a voodoo doll of SM and she got hurt when Mamoru stopped her.

 

I thought the season was ending, but no, Pedosus didn’t want it now.

 

 

Episode 162:

 

Spoiler

 

Queen Nehelenia is jealous? Maybe she is not Pedosus’ type? What if she asked Pallapalla to turn her into a child, like happened to Usagi, would she win easily then?

 

Pedosus enters Chibiusa’s mirror, the same thing his creepy friends did in the first half of the season. Makes sense.

 

[Bartimaeus]

Episode 27:

Spoiler

Minako is terrible, I don't like her stomping all over poor Makoto like this, although it looks like she's completely failing at it as usual at least. "Because your face looks like an evil witch!" Now that you mention it kid, if Minako had black hair, she'd totally be a witch.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/vvshu673cqx31hf/She's a Witch.png

See? Told you she'd be a witch - clearly! Good thing I like witches.

Oh gosh Minako, this is like next level cringe, plus it's really sad and pathetic. Even when Makoto goes to try and talk to her, she's still being an utterly clueless jerk. ...They got power-ups? In this episode? This episode where they weren't able to resolve their differences or figure anything out directly before getting their power-ups, and Artemis just is like "yo you have power-ups!" out of the blue with no agency from either Minako or Makoto? Um...

This was kind of a bad episode, to be honest - and not just because it put Minako in pretty much the worst light possible, either. Oh well.

Episode 28:

Spoiler

"How much longer must I wait until you bring me the Golden Mirror!?"
"Until we get the right target!"

It's about time someone brought that up - neither the Amazon Trio nor the Amazon Quartet have failed even a single time to find and search the given target, so I'm glad Ves at least realized that. I know that they're trying to do something similar to previous seasons, but previous seasons had the low-level villains responsible for also choosing the target too, so at least there was a logic to it - there is none here, since they're being assigned the targets.

Wait, so Jun is legitimately coaching her own target? I guess she treats her job as a performer more seriously than her job as a rapist OOPS I MEAN

Usagi looks like she got run over by a car from the whole vaulting thing. Oh, Jun didn't realize that was her target, she just...decided to help him out? That's kind of sweet. Wait, now that she knows he's her target, she's STILL helping him! And...she turned into a bear to scare him into vaulting? Wow. Okay, she's pretty cool too - that makes three of them that I like. This would've been the perfect episode to not have a fight, though - after all that trouble and taking time out of her day to help a nobody she clearly did not initially plan on attacking, it would've been so much better if Jun just backed off and ran away when she realized he didn't have Pegasus instead of going through the whole bother of summoning a minion and making it eat his mirror. Formula gonna formula, though...but I'm re-writing the canon in my head, and you can't stop me!

Episode 29:

Spoiler

Usagi is practically bi-polar in how she switches between seething rage and sickly sweetness with Chibi-Usa.

"Stop messing around or we'll eat you." I like the Amazon Quartet more and more, especially because they're completely right about this whole idiotic setup between them and Zirconia. Though if this episode is any indication, I think Cere is probably the weakest of the group.

"Could it be that the person I see is not the real me?" Yikes: questions 12 year-olds should not be asking themselves...

Mediocre episode, but at least I wasn't upset about it.

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

Have you completely given up being creeped out by Pedosus or did you fast forward through Chibi-Usa's buttwiggling?

[Bartimaeus]

I did see that and was like "wat" but I'm pretty sure I skipped past his dialogue after because I just can't handle him or his voice. Anyone remember Hotaru and how she made it so that Chibi-Usa had a friend to hang out with and wasn't obsessing after Mamoru? I remember...

[majestic]

By the way, fun fact, since you called Hotaru Sailor Satan in the past, there are actually manga issues where her translated name really was Sailor Satan, because the Romaji for Saturn is actually... Sērā Satān. That's the sort of thing when you use a phonetic alphabet to approximate the English pronunciation in Katakana and then translate it back without paying attention.

Also, fully agree on what you said about that Minako/Makoto epsiode.
 

Spoiler

 

It would have been nice for them to have an actual scene where they resolve their issues. Writers really dropped the ball on this one.

Okay, Minako went and fixed the plush bear for Makoto and liberally hurt herself in the process, so that was a nice "sort of" apology on her part, but prior in the fight the two of them just powering up and high fiving themselves for no real reason was a bit weird. Yeah, you should be fighting the enemy and not each other for sure, just not... eh. Pacing, guys, pacing.

I fixed that episode with some headcanon and called it "good-ish" in the write up because I appreciated the idea, not so much the execution.

edit:

I'd say Venus Love and Beatuy Shock is a great contender for the best Inner Senshi attack. Can't quite keep up with World Shaking and Dead Scream, but it's close.

edit 2:

Now that you've seen the new attacks and transformations, you can watch the SuperS movie at any point. It's completely separated from the continuity. It doesn't fit in anywhere.

Edited March 22, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Now that you've seen the new attacks and transformations, you can watch the SuperS movie at any point. It's completely separated from the continuity. It doesn't fit in anywhere.

Alright, good to know, but I'll probably wait until the season is over to give it one last hurrah. Love and Beauty Shock actually made me a little sad - Love Me Chain is my favorite attack, and it seems whenever they get new attacks, the old ones are immediately phased out even if the attacks fulfill different purposes, (...although I think they have very rarely cast old attacks, like Ami casting Bubble Spray every blue moon, and I think Makoto has even done one or two Supreme Thunders as well).

@Hotaru: Nice, glad I settled on that instead of Sailor Suicide, although that one ended up being pretty prophetic too, now that I think about it...

The idea was decent, because it's something that's...almost come up a number of times but has been neatly averted or otherwise side-stepped, but yeah, sadly, the execution was...not good.

[majestic]

38 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Alright, good to know, but I'll probably wait until the season is over to give it one last hurrah. Love and Beauty Shock actually made me a little sad - Love Me Chain is my favorite attack, and it seems whenever they get new attacks, the old ones are immediately phased out even if the attacks fulfill different purposes, (...although I think they have very rarely cast old attacks, like Ami casting Bubble Spray every blue moon, and I think Makoto has even done one or two Supreme Thunders as well).

Minor Spoiler:
 

Spoiler

 

Actually... not much Inner Senshi attacking left in the show as a whole.

More minor spoilers:

Spoiler

 

Sailor Stars is super mild* with the regular stock footage (there's even a scene where the Outers transform without any transformation scene going on, which is really moody and brings down the threatening atmosphere this is meant to create). Most of the time it's one or two attacks, at best, and then Sailor Moon transforming and shooting her new attack. Venus Love-Me Chain does come up again though, at least once (and I think only once, but I'd not stake anything on the accuracy of that statement).

*There's enough stock footage with the new Starlights sequences to show off and Usagi's new attacks, but it's nowhere near the level the anime started out with. Like I mentioned once or twice, the fights are usually over in 2 minutes, unless there's a reason for them to be dragged out, i.e. the first encounter lasts a bit longer for some exposition.

Most of the time all that is in the fights is one of the Starlights showing up, using their attacks (also please let me know if they kept it STAR GENTLE UTERUS in the Viz dub, that's such a dumb attack name (c) Naoko Takeuchi, although the others aren't better. STAR SERIOUS LASER and STAR GENTLE INFERNO - geez. What's a gentle inferno or an unserious laser attack? ).

 

 

 

38 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

The idea was decent, because it's something that's...almost come up a number of times but has been neatly averted or otherwise side-stepped, but yeah, sadly, the execution was...not good.

No real spoilers, just mostly spoilered for KP's benefit.

Spoiler

 

It's such an obvious possible episode storyline that I'm surprised it really never came up properly, not necessarily between Minako and Makoto, but between any of them: Rei, Makoto and Minako (although in theory Minako could butt into one of Ami's crushes... seldom as they are, but that would instantly put her on a lot of hate lists). Might have even made a nice two parter, Makoto and Minako could have a falling out over someone, and Minako would strike out on her own (what with her being not entirely satisfied with the way her life is going), only to come back and save the day by working together with Makoto when the other girls get into trouble.

Artemis could go talk some sense into her without everyone else being out of character. The other girls are just ignoring Minako and Makoto fighting so that Artemis can talk Makoto into talking it out with Minako.

Certianly would have been better than sitting here hoping Tiger's-Eye comes back to dance with assault Makoto because that's "better" than seeing her heartbroken like this.

Not that I didn't like Makoto's episode, but it's not entirely what I want from Sailor Moon. Laughin, yes, the occasional heartache and some tears, sure, but a feeling of complete emptiness where all you want is to make sure mankind rots in the grave it deserves? Nah.

 

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Sailor Moon episode 152 

Wasn't particularly great, but wasn't bad or creepy either. About 3/4ths in the show and I think Rei and Usagi's relationship is really weird, perhaps it's the sub but sometimes Rei is a real bitch that goes beyond friendly bickering. The animation in this episode was really cartoonish and I did get a laugh in on the bit about how if Rei was good at love she'd have a boyfriend by now. Though I guess that really applies to everyone but Usagi, because she's the only one with a steady partner besides Uranus + Neptune or......Chibi-Usa and Pegasus.

Anyways next up is some **** about a dentist so that'll be interesting.

[Bartimaeus]

38 minutes ago, majestic said:

Minor Spoiler:
 

  Hide contents

 

Actually... not much Inner Senshi attacking left in the show as a whole.

More minor spoilers:

  Hide contents

 

Sailor Stars is super mild* with the regular stock footage (there's even a scene where the Outers transform without any transformation scene going on, which is really moody and brings down the threatening atmosphere this is meant to create). Most of the time it's one or two attacks, at best, and then Sailor Moon transforming and shooting her new attack. Venus Love-Me Chain does come up again though, at least once (and I think only once, but I'd not stake anything on the accuracy of that statement).

*There's enough stock footage with the new Starlights sequences to show off and Usagi's new attacks, but it's nowhere near the level the anime started out with. Like I mentioned once or twice, the fights are usually over in 2 minutes, unless there's a reason for them to be dragged out, i.e. the first encounter lasts a bit longer for some exposition.

Most of the time all that is in the fights is one of the Starlights showing up, using their attacks (also please let me know if they kept it STAR GENTLE UTERUS in the Viz dub, that's such a dumb attack name (c) Naoko Takeuchi, although the others aren't better. STAR SERIOUS LASER and STAR GENTLE INFERNO - geez. What's a gentle inferno or an unserious laser attack? ).

 

 

 

No real spoilers, just mostly spoilered for KP's benefit.

  Hide contents

 

It's such an obvious possible episode storyline that I'm surprised it really never came up properly, not necessarily between Minako and Makoto, but between any of them: Rei, Makoto and Minako (although in theory Minako could butt into one of Ami's crushes... seldom as they are, but that would instantly put her on a lot of hate lists). Might have even made a nice two parter, Makoto and Minako could have a falling out over someone, and Minako would strike out on her own (what with her being not entirely satisfied with the way her life is going), only to come back and save the day by working together with Makoto when the other girls get into trouble.

Artemis could go talk some sense into her without everyone else being out of character. The other girls are just ignoring Minako and Makoto fighting so that Artemis can talk Makoto into talking it out with Minako.

Certianly would have been better than sitting here hoping Tiger's-Eye comes back to dance with assault Makoto because that's "better" than seeing her heartbroken like this.

Not that I didn't like Makoto's episode, but it's not entirely what I want from Sailor Moon. Laughin, yes, the occasional heartache and some tears, sure, but a feeling of complete emptiness where all you want is to make sure mankind rots in the grave it deserves? Nah.

 

 

Yeah, that's kind of more how I imagined it going, but for some reason, it didn't. And yeah, although that Makoto episode was pretty good, it had such a dour ending (even if they tried to force it not to) that it decidedly felt un-Sailor Moon-ish. I'll let you know about the Sailor Stars stuff when I get to it.

@KP: Hm, odd: usually, when Rei and Usagi are fighting, I pretty much always think it's Usagi's fault that things escalate. Sure, Rei sometimes says something a little sharp, but Usagi always reacts so badly and usually starts to get violent. Hope you enjoy the dentist episode - I did!

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Hm, odd: usually, when Rei and Usagi are fighting, I pretty much always think it's Usagi's fault that things escalate. Sure, Rei sometimes says something a little sharp, but Usagi always reacts so badly and usually starts to get violent

What's confusing to me is if their relationship is supposed to be friends who fight or two people who really do not get along but are stuck together because of commitments and their friend circle. It seemed initially that it was the latter, developed into the former, then reverted back because Super S is dumb.

[Bartimaeus]

It's the same with Usagi and Chibi-Usa, really - beginning of R the relationship was totally adversarial and only worked/were together because they had to be, by the end of S they had seemingly developed a bit of a genuine mother-daughter relationship and solved most of their problems, and now...and now they constantly switch between the end of S and the beginning of R states within the same episodes for no real reason, and it's bizarre.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Yeah there are big parallels with Chibi-Usa and Rei, down to some things with Mamoru. What really gets me is that I can't recall Rei (or Chibi-Usa) being antagonistic with any of the other characters like they are with Usagi.

[Bartimaeus]

Can't recall that happening either, not even back to season 1. Outside of one-off episode exceptions, it's always Usagi being a problem with Rei, Chibi-Usa, and Mamoru, .

[majestic]

Seems like almost all the problems here could be solved by removing SuperS from Sailor Moon canon.

Spoiler

It's what the writers did for Sailor Stars.

Real spoilerish things:
 

Spoiler

 

The sixth episode of Sailor Stars, the end of the filler arc, has the entire Sailor Guardians team use their power to undo the evil mirror's (you'll see that when you come to it in SuperS) spell on Nehelenia, turning her back into the little girl queen who was afraid of growing up before she turned into Elisabeth Bathory and consumed her court's dreams to stay forever young, and then sends her back in time to give her the second chance she wishes for.

This does all sorts of things so the timeline, but most importantly nothing in SuperS will ever happen. Helios is never attacked and never has any reason to come to Earth. The Amazoness Quartet is never turned into perpetually young children by Nehelenia, she never attacks the White Moon kingdom, is never locked away and finally... we're saved from the entire season!

And Sailor Stars neatly picks up where S left off. With the girls haven gotten through their high school entrance exams. Except for Rei, because her private school has no exams. That was a bit weird, why host all the studying sessions then. *shrug*

 

 

 

Although, even in SuperS, I think the relationship between Usagi and Rei can be interpreted as Rei seeing her like her little sister, one that is occassionally annoying and that she fights with, but she still loves very much.  More than any other of her friends: Usagi is the family she never really had outside of her grandfather.

The original Japanese version supports this by Rei never using any honorifics when addressing Usagi. She just calls her Usagi. Always, not just when she wants to insult her, and Rei is clearly not Usagi's superior or teacher either (and even those tend to use -san, or -kun), and no other situation applies where the dropping of the honorific would be appropriate (they're all quite polite when it comes to honorifics, even Usagi, who is otherwise very Anti-Japanese in her behavior, like blowing her nose in public or eating in the hallway at school, she keeps addressing Tuxedo Kamen as Tuxedo Kamen-sama even after she finds out who Chibi-Usa is).

Very hard spoilers for Stars:
 

Spoiler

Last warning.

Spoiler

Just look who's tanking the attack meant for Sailor Moon.

 

 

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

29 minutes ago, majestic said:

Although, even in SuperS, I think the relationship between Usagi and Rei can be interpreted as Rei seeing her like her little sister, one that is occassionally annoying and that she fights with, but she still loves very much.  More than any other of her friends: Usagi is the family she never really had outside of her grandfather.

It can and I think that's what they were going for, but I think that Rei is often too mean to fit that and it's weird her relationship with the other Sailors isn't similar. All of this makes it seem likes she singles out Usagi specifically and lays it on her a bit too thick at times, which supports her not really liking Usagi but hanging out with her because they're Sailors and have the same friends.

[Bartimaeus]

Does anyone know if the Sailor Guardians ever dress up as lowercase sailors at some point? It would be an awful shame if they didn't. I almost feel like I have a memory of them doing so already in some past season, but it might be a false memory.

I forgot that this was also the episode where the villains actually got away with stealing a Crystal Heart for the first time...except the monster randomly decided to be a pal and make sure that Hotaru was feeling okay. Whoops.

Edited March 22, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[InsaneCommander]

Episodes 163-166 (last four of Super S):

 

I watched late at night so I’ll probably forget to mention something.

 

Spoiler

 

First of all, I won’t complain about the redemption of the quartet, even with them mysteriously abandoning all evil, since if the creeps can get it, then the girls should definitely have it too. But if they were being evil because of the spheres, then they should have explained that.

 

Wtf was Zirconia? A copy/projection of Nehelenia?

 

And... Queen Nehelenia confirmed as liking little boys too!* They should have sent the creeps to live with her in that freaking mirror.

 

*I don't read everything in this thread, but I glanced in a post above and apparently Nehelenia is a little girl too? In that case I'd have to know her age to judge this. It could be ok or she could be like Chibiusa.

 

When Chibiusa asked for the help of other people, they only showed children, the guy from the kindergarten, Motoki and his sister (Natsumi iirc). And of these, only Motoki didn’t know what was happening. So, what does this mean? Only children, Natusumi and the guy from kindergarten have dreams? Or did other teens/adults help and they wer not shown, implying that Motoki doesn’t have dreams?

 

@Majestic

 

Nehelenia wanted to live forever and you said soon people will stop aging, so everything she did was in vain? If she waited a little longer she would have gotten what she wanted? Ok, she couldn’t know that, but one more reason the abuse in this season was unnecessary (the other being the color of the mirrors).

 

Also, all the people we saw reincarnate came back with identical bodies, so maybe Nehelenia should just die and be young again?

 

 

I liked the ending, however, it could be just because it ended this terrible season.

Edited March 22, 2021 by InsaneCommander

[majestic]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Does anyone know if the Sailor Guardians ever dress up as lowercase sailors at some point?

Yes. I mean, Usagi does, by way of her transformation pen. 

First season, episode... 42, I think. Minako's backstory in London. One of the episodes that were dropped by DiC because, dunno. Too tragic?

  

2 hours ago, ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP said:

It can and I think that's what they were going for, but I think that Rei is often too mean to fit that and it's weird her relationship with the other Sailors isn't similar. All of this makes it seem likes she singles out Usagi specifically and lays it on her a bit too thick at times, which supports her not really liking Usagi but hanging out with her because they're Sailors and have the same friends.

I don't know how the English subs on Hulu are, but if you want mean Rei you really need to watch the German dub (eh, and, ideally understand it too). She isn't just mean to Usagi in that one, she's really insulting, like all the time.

Edited March 22, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

  

1 hour ago, InsaneCommander said:

Episodes 163-166 (last four of Super S):

 

I watched late at night so I’ll probably forget to mention something.

 

  Hide contents

 

First of all, I won’t complain about the redemption of the quartet, even with them mysteriously abandoning all evil, since if the creeps can get it, then the girls should definitely have it too. But if they were being evil because of the spheres, then they should have explained that.

 

Wtf was Zirconia? A copy/projection of Nehelenia?

 

And... Queen Nehelenia confirmed as liking little boys too!* They should have sent the creeps to live with her in that freaking mirror.

 

*I don't read everything in this thread, but I glanced in a post above and apparently Nehelenia is a little girl too? In that case I'd have to know her age to judge this. It could be ok or she could be like Chibiusa.

 

When Chibiusa asked for the help of other people, they only showed children, the guy from the kindergarten, Motoki and his sister (Natsumi iirc). And of these, only Motoki didn’t know what was happening. So, what does this mean? Only children, Natusumi and the guy from kindergarten have dreams? Or did other teens/adults help and they wer not shown, implying that Motoki doesn’t have dreams?

 

@Majestic

 

Nehelenia wanted to live forever and you said soon people will stop aging, so everything she did was in vain? If she waited a little longer she would have gotten what she wanted? Ok, she couldn’t know that, but one more reason the abuse in this season was unnecessary (the other being the color of the mirrors).

 

Also, all the people we saw reincarnate came back with identical bodies, so maybe Nehelenia should just die and be young again?

 

 

I liked the ending, however, it could be just because it ended this terrible season.

 

Spoiler

 

Nehelenia attacked the original Silver Millennium when it was still on the Moon. There's no indication that the longevity granted by the Silver Crystal reached Earth in any meaningful way, but it could be. At that time however she was already under the spell of the mirror anyway. In SuperS, I think there's no indication that she was a child at that point, that's just what Sailor Stars turns her back into, because it was her being a lonely child (par for the course as queen, right?) that turned her to desire immortality.

In SuperS she is just a fairy tale evil queen. Very... European fairy tale.

Oh, and here's Nehelenia as a kid in the mirror:

Zirconia is a projection of what Nehelenia sees when she looks into a mirror. Her fear of aging, of becoming ugly, the reason she began to bathe in the blood of virgins. No, wait, wrong psycho royalty. She consumed the dreams of her subjects, turning them into the creatures that were attacking the Sailor Guardians the entire season (lemures, restless, malignant spirits of the dead from Roman mythology).

That is why Zirconia is both seperate from and a part of Nehelenia.

That leaves Motoki not having beautiful dreams, well, that's something I really have no comment on, that entire sequence was way out and probably written after a coke binge with Stephen King, and Nehelenia liking little boys too. Going by SuperS alone that's creepy, if you factor in Sailor Stars and that Nehelenia might have been just a child transformed into an fairy tale evil queen because she was afraid of growing up, being lonely and die, then it's not so bad.

 

 

edit:

1 hour ago, InsaneCommander said:

I liked the ending, however, it could be just because it ended this terrible season.

No, it's not just that. As far as season endings are concerned, this is one of the stronger offerings. It's better paced than Sailor Stars, which might the the strongest ending in terms of thematic exploration, and it's better set up than R where Wiseman turns out to be Death Phantom out of nowhere.

It's not as good as the ending of S (the Professor and Hotaru were way more interesting, and Pharao 90 was sufficiently alien as far as weird deep space creatures go) or as... what's the word I'm looking for here, tight (no wonder, that was a mere two episodes, but was very well plotted out, all the other endings feel meandering in contrast) as the ending of the first season, but compared to Metalia and Beryl, Nehelenia is a veritable horn of plenty in terms of motivation and characterization.

I feel like a broken record, but for me she's being dragged down a bit by making her so obviously inspired by the fairy tales I grew up with. Your experience might differ, but it's really the same with the SuperS movie.

Edited March 22, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Spoiler

tbh I'd be an evil fairy tale queen to prevent myself from growing up too - at least it's a slightly better motivation than queen beryl????

 

[majestic]

Just now, Bartimaeus said:

  Hide contents

tbh I'd be an evil fairy tale queen to prevent myself from growing up too - at least it's a slightly better motivation than queen beryl????

 

I added an edit there, not sure if you read it.

But yes, next to Queen Beryl and Death Phantom, Nehelania looks like the villain of the century. But that feels a bit like ancient Confucian wisdom. Even old shirts look new if you put them next to older shirts!

 

[InsaneCommander]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

 

  Hide contents

Oh, and here's Nehelenia as a kid in the mirror:

 

Looks like a saint. But so does Pallapalla.

 

1 hour ago, majestic said:

 

  Hide contents

Zirconia is a projection of what Nehelenia sees when she looks into a mirror. Her fear of aging, of becoming ugly, the reason she began to bathe in the blood of virgins. No, wait, wrong psycho royalty. She consumed the dreams of her subjects, turning them into the creatures that were attacking the Sailor Guardians the entire season (lemures, restless, malignant spirits of the dead from Roman mythology).

 

Wrong psycho indeed. That would be Bloodless from Bloodstained.

 

1 hour ago, majestic said:

 

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That leaves Motoki not having beautiful dreams, well, that's something I really have no comment on, that entire sequence was way out and probably written after a coke binge with Stephen King, and Nehelenia liking little boys too.

 

Might as well bring Benioff and Weiss and make it as bad as possible.

 

1 hour ago, majestic said:

edit:

No, it's not just that. As far as season endings are concerned, this is one of the stronger offerings. It's better paced than Sailor Stars, which might the the strongest ending in terms of thematic exploration, and it's better set up than R where Wiseman turns out to be Death Phantom out of nowhere.

It's not as good as the ending of S (the Professor and Hotaru were way more interesting, and Pharao 90 was sufficiently alien as far as weird deep space creatures go) or as... what's the word I'm looking for here, tight (no wonder, that was a mere two episodes, but was very well plotted out, all the other endings feel meandering in contrast) as the ending of the first season, but compared to Metalia and Beryl, Nehelenia is a veritable horn of plenty in terms of motivation and characterization.

I feel like a broken record, but for me she's being dragged down a bit by making her so obviously inspired by the fairy tales I grew up with. Your experience might differ, but it's really the same with the SuperS movie.

Yes, it had good pacing, some funny moments with the Quartet and

Spoiler

Having a last episode with Usagi jumping to save Chibiusa is better than one with a lost daimon or random enemies coming out of nowhere, even though the professor and Hotaru are better as you said.

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by InsaneCommander