Anime: Emotions on a Rollercoaster

[majestic]

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Nah, that sappy-but-well-written character-driven garbage is exactly what I live for with characters I love, so I totally get it (and is why I recommended Steven Universe in the first place on the basis of what I thought you most loved in regards to the Sailor Moon characters - that and the fact that it has other good qualities besides just that). It's impossible to get the feelings you do without actually seeing the show and loving its characters like you do, but I get it on an empathetic level.

 

Spoiler

 

I include that disclaimer every time I talk about the show, because even other Andromeda fans sometimes (no, often) don't like the episode, saying that it's ridiculous and that it doesn't make sense, especially the part where she wants to take Gabriel and just run off. Except it makes perfect sense, given the actual age of her avatar. She's the AI equivalent of a teenager (first love, and all) at this point, and nobody complains about Romeo and Juliet being ridiculous because two 13 year olds commit suicide over not being allowed to be together.

And of course, without liking the characters nothing of this works (liking a character isn't the same as finding the role sympathetic..., I loved Joel de la Fuente's Kempetai character in Man in the High Castle, but not because he was such a good guy). It's weird seeing Kevin Sorbo in this, because he's actually really good at the role he was given. His acting is as it always was, of course, but they sure knew what they were doing when they cast him. Sort of, I bet nobody expected im to upend the production and turn everything into Hercules. It's also hilarious how Tribute made a fifth season even though the story more or less ended in the fourth, just so they could make the 100 epsiodes necessary for syndication.

 

 

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

This is one of my favorite character types (when executed well, of course) - unfortunately for Makoto who most strongly represents this in least Sailor Moon, it comes right after the difficult-to-adequately-encapsulate (oxy)moron/paradox character who's all over the place that is Minako, .

Heh. Good thing Minako gets more to do than the others in Sailor Stars. Not that it is much, there's... man, yeah, the short run time for actual fun stuff really hurt that season.

Spoiler:
 

Spoiler

 

There's an episode where Seiya and Usagi join the school's softball team on a bet that Seiya takes on without realizing that Usagi is a completely hopeless case when it comes to any sports outside of playing with frisbees. When the actual game happens you suddenly hear Minako commenting, and the scene pans over to her, with the actual commentator being bound and gagged behind her.

Either nobody is uploading Viz dub footage of Sailor Moon, or they're not just going hard after Sailor Moon Crystal videos, but everything. Ah well, so, Japanese wit subs it is. Just to help you smooth over that SuperS finale. Plus I'm guessing you're going to watch the SuperS movie first, right?

 

 

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Once again, a big middle finger to Kevin Sorbo (...and anyone else that was a part of that show's willful slide into 'Hercules in Space'), .

I think it's pretty telling that one of the actors, Keith Hamilton-Cobb (playing Tyr), who before Andromeda more or less only starred in a soap opera, left the show in the third season because he hated what they did to his character. That should actually really drive home the point how annoying that must have been to have Sorbo be the executive producer. Soap opera actor leaves his steady paycheck over creative differences about his characterization in the show.

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

(e): also my b about the Evangelion thing, thought for some reason you'd seen Evangelion already

I can understand how you got the impression. I've talked about the Gainax ending of Puella Magi Madoka Magica after all. I'm familiar with the memes and the legacy of the show, just not the show itself. Fun fact, Shinji in NGE is vocied by Megumi Ogata, i.e. Sailor Uranus.

That's also how I can find the barrage of DBZ references funny in Steven Universe, but I haven't seen any Dragon Ball. Like, none. Just the OVER NINE THOUSAND clip, because that's so obiquitous that you can't escape from it. It's more meta-fun than actual "I get that" fun, but it's still funny.

[Bartimaeus]

Viz Sailor Stars: It should be noted that Sailor Stars was never dubbed in the U.S. outside of the Viz release, and the Viz release of it was released at the end of 2019, so it's still a bit more new than everything else in terms of people posting clips from it. I've only seen exactly what you've linked (also, great scene, ).

1 hour ago, majestic said:

I can understand how you got the impression. I've talked about the Gainax ending of Puella Magi Madoka Magica after all. I'm familiar with the memes and the legacy of the show, just not the show itself.

Funny, I have no idea what the memes for Evangelion are. I watched the entire show except for the movie in literally one sitting (probably the most TV I've *ever* watched in a single sitting in literally my entire life - it wasn't even that the show was particularly great or anything, it was just weird and interesting and I had a totally free day, so...I just kept pressing that next episode button and soon enough the entire day was gone and the show was over) and never interacted with the community in any way.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Viz Sailor Stars: It should be noted that Sailor Stars was never dubbed in the U.S. outside of the Viz release, and the Viz release of it was released at the end of 2019, so it's still a bit more new than everything else in terms of people posting clips from it. I've only seen exactly what you've linked (also, great scene, ).

Oi, okay. I had no idea the Viz dub of Sailor Stars was that recent. I knew Sailor Stars wasn't part of the original dub because of, well, uneditable issues most likely, and I bet someone already regretted forking over money for SuperS, with it being what it was (in addition to it being doubleplusungood).

I hope SuperS didn't boot Sailor Moon off your list of favorite shows. While I really like Sailor Stars (that should be obvious by now) I'm not sure it's enough to bring it back there.

[Bartimaeus]

Imagine being an American Sailor Moon fan in the 90s/early 2000s and SuperS being the official end of the show - ay, caramba!

Nah, it's still up there. Most every show has chunks that you'd like to revisit less than the rest...SuperS is I guess that chunk for Sailor Moon, .

[majestic]

Eeep, there's a Pegasus in Steven Universe, even if it's just a book cover?

Spoiler

Looks like Ronaldo was right and the gems were really hollowing out the Earth. Figures. Poor Amethyst.

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

 

[majestic]

"Terrible graphic novel adaptation" with a Pegasus on the cover. Any chance... that's a hint? At all?

edit:

Spoiler

Is that the episode you meant earlier? Because that was really a tear jerker.

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, I figured it out, I never even noticed the cover - I'm glad Steven specified that it was a part of the "disastrous graphic novel adaptation", .

Although that episode is indeed one of the great ones of season 1, it is *not* the episode I had in mind. I bet you didn't expect that from that episode given how it started! If you saw the titles of the next handful or so of episodes, you might be able to figure it out...maybe! Probably not!

(e):

Spoiler

Although now that I think about it, this episode makes me feel a lot, too! Poor Amy...

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Super S finished last night.

What a cluster****.

Queen Nehelia is actually one of the better Sailor Moon villains, so far second to the Professor (whose appearance as a Daimon sucked but stole the show otherwise) and could have been interesting as a dark mirror universe version of Queen Serenity. Unfortunately we got the sexual predators for most of the season instead, and then some old bitch (who may be a projection of Queen Nehelia, but she was boring) yelling at kids instead of any focus on Nehelia till the end.

There's not much more to be said about Pedosus, everyone reading this hates him already. But how hard would it have been to tone down the romance angle and have him reveal from the beginning that he was a kid (never mind the aging ****) that needed help and not a magical rape horse? It's like this was designed for maximum creep. To boot, he's not even interesting.

I think @majestic said reading the manga showed why filler really helped the show because it allowed more time for supporting characters to develop that they just didn't get in the manga. The season shows how that could have been terrible if instead of doing that the spotlight was solely given to Usako, Chibi-Usa, and Mamo-chan. Like other than a handful of episodes, the other sailors and cats hang in the background only to show up for stock footage or one liners outside of episodes specifically about them.

So final verdict on this season? **** it. While all previous seasons had bad spots, not all of which can be blamed on the manga, this season doubled down on them hard and cut out the things that worked. If I ever watch Sailor Moon again, I will probably watch a smattering of Super S or just skip it entirely.

[Bartimaeus]

@ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP

One thing you're probably overlooking for SuperS:

Spoiler

Sorry, I couldn't resist - what I was actually going to say:

Spoiler

Just kidding, that was it. Wait, actually, no - please look at the next spoiler!

 

 

Spoiler

Bet you were expecting another tongue, but no! Nehellenia does at least have more going on than Queen Beryl and...uh...what was the name of the guy in R? Wise Man? ...Death Phantom, I had to look it up. Anyways, she had more going on than those two did. Unfortunately, the last four episodes were so boring, slow, and awkward that I couldn't get into it at all (especially given the entire preceding season and just wanting it to be freaking over), so it didn't really matter. A whole lot of wasted opportunity and potential fun - it's a shame. Sailor Stars awaits.

 

[majestic]

Well, I'm sure you're all happy to realize soon that Sailor Stars...

Spoiler

Begins with Galaxia freeing Nehelenia. Yay filler arc, I guess.

  

8 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

@ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP

One thing you're probably overlooking for SuperS:

  Hide contents

Sorry, I couldn't resist - what I was actually going to say:

  Reveal hidden contents

Just kidding, that was it. Wait, actually, no - please look at the next spoiler!

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Bet you were expecting another tongue, but no! Nehellenia does at least have more going on than Queen Beryl and...uh...what was the name of the guy in R? Wise Man? ...Death Phantom, I had to look it up. Anyways, she had more going on than those two did. Unfortunately, the last four episodes were so boring, slow, and awkward that I couldn't get into it at all (especially given the entire preceding season and just wanting it to be freaking over), so it didn't really matter. A whole lot of wasted opportunity and potential fun - it's a shame. Sailor Stars awaits.

 

By the way, maybe you could really edit that so it properly plays the frames backwards instead of resetting like that, we could originate a totally new meme here. Think of the potential. This could be the Sailor Moon version of the DIO memes.

Edited March 28, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

46 minutes ago, ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP said:

Super S finished last night.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

What a cluster****.

Queen Nehelia is actually one of the better Sailor Moon villains, so far second to the Professor (whose appearance as a Daimon sucked but stole the show otherwise) and could have been interesting as a dark mirror universe version of Queen Serenity. Unfortunately we got the sexual predators for most of the season instead, and then some old bitch (who may be a projection of Queen Nehelia, but she was boring) yelling at kids instead of any focus on Nehelia till the end.

There's not much more to be said about Pedosus, everyone reading this hates him already. But how hard would it have been to tone down the romance angle and have him reveal from the beginning that he was a kid (never mind the aging ****) that needed help and not a magical rape horse? It's like this was designed for maximum creep. To boot, he's not even interesting.

I think @majestic said reading the manga showed why filler really helped the show because it allowed more time for supporting characters to develop that they just didn't get in the manga. The season shows how that could have been terrible if instead of doing that the spotlight was solely given to Usako, Chibi-Usa, and Mamo-chan. Like other than a handful of episodes, the other sailors and cats hang in the background only to show up for stock footage or one liners outside of episodes specifically about them.

So final verdict on this season? **** it. While all previous seasons had bad spots, not all of which can be blamed on the manga, this season doubled down on them hard and cut out the things that worked. If I ever watch Sailor Moon again, I will probably watch a smattering of Super S or just skip it entirely.

 

You're right, but a focus on the three wouldn't necessarily have to be bad. Not as interesting as giving everyone somewhat more equal screentime, but not a priori bad. But everything is just so SuperS in SuperS.

Stars for instance also focuses a good deal on Usagi, but it's more fun than annoying. Although your milage may vary.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

47 minutes ago, majestic said:

This could be the Sailor Moon version of the DIO memes.

Possibly but

There's a lot more DIO memes you won't get yet.

They're all great lmao

[majestic]

SU:
 

Spoiler

 

Conny just said itadakimasu. Haha. No one bats an eyelash at random Japanese words being thrown around. Guess that happens in a show made by anime turbo nerds.

Anyway, now with that having been on screen, Garnet's future vision pretty much look like Trance's abilities. Ah... hmm.

 

edit:

Spoiler

Oh no Greg. Well that was... odd.

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Unfortunately, I think you were actually right when you said it probably looked better just cutting...something about this looks pretty silly:

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But on the other hand, now I can do this!:

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Truly stupendous.

SU:

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Did you watch Horror Club? I get a little confused by which episodes you're watching sometimes, since it seems like the order of our episodes has been slightly different here and there. I always go by air dates unless there's something truly outrageously wrong with the air dates, but season 1's air dates very mildly differ from the "official" order, and I THINK you're watching the official order.

Futurevision sure helps explain some of the odder things Garnet has said over the first season...

 

[InsaneCommander]

Episode 182:

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This was an interesting one. More time traveling children, Setsuna picking up some habits from the other girls and new BDSM villains.

 

Siren eats even more frequently than Usagi and her relationship with Crow reminds me of Usagi and Rei. These images from a later episode* show it perfectly:

 

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*This one deserves its own post.

 

And she had to clean Mouse’s office because it was as dirty as you would expect. Siren was really nice introducing herself, but Setsuna is one of the few smart people that won’t waste time chatting when you can do an attack.

 

Chibi Chibi is very suspicious, but maybe it is just that I remember Chibiusa’s first episode. Usagi doesn’t seem to have a problem though, she is already sleeping with her. “Just a sweet and innocent girl”. Yes. Never mind she hypnotised your mother and was suspiciously watching the battle.

 

 

183:

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Chibi Chibi’s master plan seems to be working just fine. Nobody asks questions anymore. If she is not Usagi’s daughter, but looks like her, then is she a granddaughter? One way or another, I bet Usagi will see Chibiusa with other eyes now. At least Chibiusa could take care of herself most of the time.

 

Was it intentional that Chibi Chibi opened the door hitting Seiya and making him fall over Usagi?

 

 

[majestic]

Sailor Stars for IC:

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Personally I found it hilarious how Chibi Chibi shows up and NOBODY on the cast bats an eyelash about another weird girl falling from the sky. It's perfectly normal for them at this point.

SU:

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I'm watching a 1080p stream rip, so I honestly can't answer the question without lookup up episode numbers, and... you very much advised against that. I just watched the one where Peridot attempts to reactivate Kindergarten (called S01E44 - Marble Madness).

But yes, Horror Club I've seen already. That one helped Lars being much less of a... well, dweeb.

MOAR SU:

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Uhm, Pearl, are you ok? I know how you feel my dear, but... hum.

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Spoiler

I really only brought Horror Club up because I figured you would've loved Ronaldo just sacrificially chucking Lars into the giant monster mouth, .

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

39 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

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I really only brought Horror Club up because I figured you would've loved Ronaldo just sacrificially chucking Lars into the giant monster mouth, .

 

Yeah, that was pretty neat.

48 minutes ago, majestic said:

MOAR SU:

  Reveal hidden contents

Uhm, Pearl, are you ok? I know how you feel my dear, but... hum.

 

Okay, I did not expect... this.
 

Spoiler

 

Poor Pearl, being constantly reminded every day what she's lost can't be easy to deal with. Seems like she got shafted a bit there, huh? Following Rose like that (presumably out of love), giving up everything for her, and then she goes and disappears to produce a human/gem hybrid that sticks around all the time.

Oi, I hope she doesn't snap at some point and join the enemies. That looks like the perfect setup for betrayal.

Oh, nad Steven pulling the sword from the Lion looks like something from Revolutionary Girl Utena, where the duelist's that owns the Rose Bride is pulling a sword from her. That scene has super sexual connotations in Utena. I guess that doesn't apply to Lion, but hey, ever since Pedosus I'm liable to see creepy stuff everywhere.

 

edit: No, the episodes are ordered according to air dates, with season one being the pilot + 49 episodes and season two having 29, not 26 (+1). So, yeah. Seems like it doesn't matter too much though.

And it's like 02:30 am. Geez. Gotta try to sleep a bit.

Edited March 29, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

@majestic

That was my episode, . Though I can't yet explain why this particular character episode is "my" episode until you're later into the series, not without partially spoiling some things - there is more to this story, obviously!

Okay, good to know. Man, seems like you had finally just made the halfway mark like last week or so, and now you're near the end of the season all of a sudden.

Edited March 29, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[InsaneCommander]

Episode 184: Omg. Another hilarious episode.

 

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Is Mamoru dead? He might as well be…

 

Chibi Chibi again:

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If Galaxia has a Sailor Copper ****roach in her ranks then victory is assured.

 

And then EVERYONE comes to the house. Michiru didn’t even need to use her premonition abilities to say that the fun was about to begin. I was even expecting Siren and Crow after the tv guys. And of course they came.

 

Why did they let these people enter? Where did they find slippers for everyone? Why did Usagi hide? With Seiya and Chibi Chibi? Can’t they go to her room and avoiding hitting their heads all the time?

 

Why is Chibi Chibi so interested in following Usagi and Seiya? Is she worried she will never be born?

 

Siren got some pizza and Crow had a whip. If Usagi’s parents arrived, they would totally think Usagi is shooting a BDSM adult video there…

 

What was going on here???

 

Spoiler

 

Haruka and Michiru fell for Siren’s trick and let the enemy scape. Or maybe it wasn’t a trick, she did look worried about shoes on the table. And where were they hiding that they could transform and Usagi had to go to the Attic?

 

How did the house survive all of this?
 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Sailor Stars for IC:

  Reveal hidden contents

Personally I found it hilarious how Chibi Chibi shows up and NOBODY on the cast bats an eyelash about another weird girl falling from the sky. It's perfectly normal for them at this point.

 

Spoiler

Seriously, is she mind controlling everyone? The girls arrived at Usagi’s house and didn’t even say hello to Chibi Chibi. Same with Haruka and Michiru, who hadn't ever seem her.

 

[majestic]

8 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Okay, good to know. Man, seems like you had finally just made the halfway mark like last week or so, and now you're near the end of the season all of a sudden.

I figured it would be better to get the shows done with some focus, and the shorter runtime makes it a lot easier to fit an SU episode in here and there. Hence the sudden increase in watched episodes. Eh, and I watched like 10 today because it really upped the game there at the end of the first season.

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, that's fair. Now tomorrow, go back and re-watch episode #4 (Together Breakfast) and marvel at the complete tone shift, .

[majestic]

7 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

Spoiler

Is Mamoru dead? He might as well be…

 

 

Spoiler

Uhm, you did see the Galaxia yellow energy blast thing that's been ripping out Star Seeds for the entire season hitting the plane with Mamoru on it, right? Just checking here...

 

Also, that episode is a riot. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to be honest, but it's probably one of the funniest episodes in the entire run.

  

2 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Yeah, that's fair. Now tomorrow, go back and re-watch episode #4 (Together Breakfast) and marvel at the complete tone shift, .

That's okay. I know an anime we all seem to like that can do that too, go from completely goofy to heartbreaking in an instant. Like, dunno, from joking about having more romance to dying horrific deaths at the north pole, far from civilization with nobody ever knowing what happened.

Edited March 29, 2021 by majestic

[InsaneCommander]

1 minute ago, majestic said:

 

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Uhm, you did see the Galaxia yellow energy blast thing that's been ripping out Star Seeds for the entire season hitting the plane with Mamoru on it, right? Just checking here...

 

Also, that episode is a riot. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to be honest, but it's probably one of the funniest episodes in the entire run.

Spoiler

 

To be honest, I had actually forgotten about that until you commented on the "farewell". But why hasn't anyone talked about a missing plane?