Anime - coasting on emotion rollers

[majestic]

6 minutes ago, ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP said:

The way of the househusband. The animation is ****, while it's not a cgi abomination it's very static and feels closer to a series of stills than properly animated. But it is, and I do not say this lightly, absolutely hilarious. The premise is a former yakuza is now a househusband and it follows his adventures like trying to clean the house or feuding with a crepe vendor. Each episode is less than 20 minutes and composed of several vignettes, so it doesn't take long to watch.

And that would be the most normal thing to happen.

I take that as a recommendation then? Because Netflix shilled that anime to me something fierce. It even tells me there's a 97% chance that I'll like this.

Oh, by the way, Sailor Moon Eternal trailer:

 

[Bartimaeus]

why does the logo look like this

ok I get that it's a minor gripe for a crappy trailer, but really, why does it look like this, it looks like it was made for some absolute abyss-tier edutainement like...pinkalicious or pj masks or daniel tiger's neighborhood - what is this crap? it's like it was whipped up in powerpoint in 10 minutes

the state of animation leaves a lot to be desired right now

Edited May 11, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

38 minutes ago, majestic said:

I take that as a recommendation then?

Yes.

[majestic]

12 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

why does the logo look like this

ok I get that it's a minor gripe for a crappy trailer, but really, why does it look like this, it looks like it was made for some absolute abyss-tier edutainement like...pinkalicious or pj masks or daniel tiger's neighborhood - what is this crap? it's like it was whipped up in powerpoint in 10 minutes

the state of animation leaves a lot to be desired right now

There's something about this trailer, I don't know. The AMV stills made this look better than it actually does. Rei and the Amazoness Quartet are the worst offenders. The show never looked good of course, but I was honestly surprised how uneven and bad the movie trailer makes the animation look compared to the scenes I've seen before. Stop the trailer at 0:12 for a nice shot of Palla Palla where she looks like... I have no idea what. The bug aliens are back.

Hotaru and Setsuna are the only ones that look okay-ish, I mean, as far as these uncanny valley abominations go. Haruka and Michiru still look like Reapers in disguise.

Then there is the scene where Minako's civilian form looks like she had a boob job from Wiseman while Black Lady was busy with Mamo-chan (00:34), and the overall conclusion, if THIS is the trailer they could make from the movie(s), just... just... how bad is this really going to be*? These days trailers are almost universally better than the movies they're shown for, and this trailer is about as uninteresting as they come.

Also not sure how I feel about them remaking attack sequences used in the old anime. But that happened in season three already because everyone watching complained about how bad the show looks.

*It was always kind of clear that it's not going to be fun, but from the AMV it looked like they were taking a few more liberties with the source material to make a better adaptation. Well, who knows, maybe I'll be in for a surprise in June and this will be awesome. I'm sure that will be the case. Yes. Indeed. Must... have faith in horse romances.

Edited May 11, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

man, screw you guys. wait, not that last person, they knew what they were talking about

Spoiler

5 hours ago, majestic said:

Then there is the scene where Minako's civilian form looks like she had a boob job from Wiseman while Black Lady was busy with Mamo-chan (00:34)

why must you notice the things you notice

 

 

[majestic]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

man, screw you guys. wait, not that last person, they knew what they were talking about

  Reveal hidden contents

 

why must you notice the things you notice

 

 

[majestic]

Kozue’s team wins a game but Mr. Hongo thinks the victory was not decisive enough, Kozue gets whacked with the ball some as punishment, then the girls find out that their former team member Yuri has been secretly informing the other teams about their strategy. Lots of slaps, tears and a heart rending secret later Yuri drops volleyball for good an resolves to become a track and field star. 

She even makes up with her stepmother. I’m beginning to see why I liked watching this. 

Still too much volleyball but more character drama too now.

Should have kept a slap counter. So far Kozue slapped Midori and Yuri while Yuri’s stepmom slapped her and someone on the team slapped someone once for wanting to give up. The current episode has the girls make some mistakes because they are nervous before the next game. More hard training ensues. 

Two instances of the girls calling their chubbier team member a lardass round the dated feel out rather nicely.

Edited May 11, 2021 by majestic
Man, posting on the phone is bad...

[majestic]

I have, by the way, finished the first arc of the Sailor Moon manga. While this is - for reasons we now know - by no means a masterpiece it's better than Crystal. Giraffes or no, there's something beautiful about the artstyle, minimalistic as it was out of necessity. We already talked at length about this, but there were a few things that the anime dropped that nobody missed.

Maybe I'm subjected to the SuperS/Sailor Stars conundrum. Does it look better just because Crystal was so bad? Who knows.

Can't say I'm looking forward to the Black Moon arc, but perhaps that will turn out better than Crystal's version too. I'm fairly confident that I'll manage to finish the manga by the time the Eternal movie pair hits Netflix though.

I've also watched three more episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura. I might have mentioned this once or twice, but everything about this is adorable, and it looks like this was the antecedent for Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

There's an episode with a school festival where Yukito and Toya (i.e. Sakura's crush and her brother) are playing in a theater rendition of Cinderella. Toya plays Cinderella, while Yukito is the can of mackerels that grants Cinderella her wish... yeah, this isn't entirely faithful, but hey, neither is Disney's version. In the original the evil stepmother mutilates the feet of the equally evil stepsisters so they fit into the glass slipper, and Grimm adapted it further to have birds hack out their eyes when they come to Cinderella's wedding ceremony. Karma's a bitch, bitches.

Anyway, so random one off character Yoko, who plays the prince that marries Cinderella, has a crush on Toya, but there's this rumor that he's blown off every single last girl that asked him out, and they all wonder why Yukito and Toyo are both still single. I wonder why that is. There's a certain beauty in this bewilderment, of course, because that implies that nobody thinks it's totally gay for guys to play Cinderella.

She tells him about her feelings, but he tells her that he's already in love with someone else (hint: It's Yukito girl, really!). She apologizes to him because she's going to cry now. Poor girl, work on your gaydar a bit, I've figured this out in the first episode simply because Yukito has the same voice actor as Shinji and Haruka.

Yoko and Toya, prince and soon to be princess. In the play, at least.

I'm pretty sure Yoko is supposed to be a deliberate Revolutionary Girl Utena reference.

Can't be 100% sure as this isn't nearly as subtle as Sailor Moon was in establishing that Ami and Makoto are really in love with each other.

 

[Bartimaeus]

24 minutes ago, majestic said:

I've also watched three more episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura. I might have mentioned this once or twice, but everything about this is adorable, and it looks like this was the antecedent for Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Netflix tried to recommend Cardcaptor to me a few weeks ago, and I ended up putting it on my watchlist and will probably give an episode or two a try at some point. Might not be Sailor Moon, but it may or may not work as a sort of substitute if I really want something kind of like it, .

[majestic]

2 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Netflix tried to recommend Cardcaptor to me a few weeks ago, and I ended up putting it on my watchlist and will probably give an episode or two a try at some point. Might not be Sailor Moon, but it may or may not work as a sort of substitute if I really want something kind of like it, .

I don't know exactly how to describe it. It's adorable. That's just about the only thing I can say about it, and the episodes have - at least the ones I've seen so far - a completely different approach to the "battles" that happen, the fights, so far, have been... I don't know. The enemies in this anime aren't even threatening, at their worst they're up to some hijinks that's commited without malice, like a card that wants to prove its strength and happens to come cross a zoo and tries to lift elephants.

Sometimes it's a card that just wants to be left alone, and there's no action at all, just Sakura trying to figure out how to approach the card without being sent away. I also have no idea if there's going to be some sort of villain or where this is going at all.

To be honest, I don't really care. I could watch Sakura and Tomoyo visit the Zoo without any card showing up and still would be happy with the episode. Or relive the day where she has a music exam and needs to play the flute in class.

It's... really hard to describe. I don't even have a real reason for liking it. It's just... dunno. Adorable.

[LittleArmadillo0]

Watched Sailor Moon episodes 2, 3, and 4.

Spoiler

If someone is being a creep, cry hard and loud enough so they will go away. Out of curiosity I did check up on the meaning of the devil card and it can mean obsession and temptation if it is placed upright it can have more positive meanings if reversed.

https://labyrinthos.co/blogs/tarot-card-meanings-list/the-devil-meaning-major-arcana-tarot-card-meanings

 

Most relatable thing in the episode was the teacher listening to that radio station and getting giddy as a schoolgirl. Just because you are doesn’t mean you should limit yourself the thing you love. I feel like that radio segment could become an ASMR video.
Love letter ASMR-Perfect for stealing your heart.

Her whole family and her cat called her fat. Damn that is brutal.

I know that the black haired boy is supposed to end up being Usagi’s love interest but that does not stop him from roasting her like the pork buns on her hair. I heard other people complain about the transformation sequences taking too long but honestly they aren’t as big of a deal as I thought they would be (plus I also really like the animation in it). Luna deserves a raise or at least some extra tuna for all the times Usagi ignores her and screws around. I’m looking forward to watching some more especially when the other sailors are introduced.
 

 

[Oner]

On 5/11/2021 at 2:05 AM, ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP said:

The way of the househusband. The animation is ****, while it's not a cgi abomination it's very static and feels closer to a series of stills than properly animated. But it is, and I do not say this lightly, absolutely hilarious. The premise is a former yakuza is now a househusband and it follows his adventures like trying to clean the house or feuding with a crepe vendor. Each episode is less than 20 minutes and composed of several vignettes, so it doesn't take long to watch.

And that would be the most normal thing to happen.

Way of the Househusband is great. 

[majestic]

1 hour ago, LittleArmadillo0 said:

I heard other people complain about the transformation sequences taking too long but honestly they aren’t as big of a deal as I thought they would be (plus I also really like the animation in it).

That's a bit of a process. Once the other Guardians show up, you'll very often have a lot of transformations on screen just to pad runtime out - showing the full team transform even if only one of them actually does something, Sailor Moon R being the worst offender, I guess. Then the seasons progress and eventually you'll end up missing the full team transformations and kind of enjoy seeing whem when they come up in a special.

It's like with the attack scenes. They're nice at first, but... endlessly repeated. Overall that's a minor issue and it never bothered me, but I can understand when people complain about it. The budget of the show was what it was, and stock footage is a decent way to stretch runtime.

If you like the Tarot card stuff you can also eventually look at how much Astrology hokum there is in Sailor Moon.

There are some things that these early episodes have that will eventually phase out. In a way, the show progresses in certain chunks. There's the first 13 episodes with a lot of little things that quietly get dropped, then everything up to episode 24, then everything leading up to the final Guardian showing up, then the final stretch of season one plus the filler arc of R, the rest of R, then there's S which is... widely considered to be the single best season of Sailor Moon, then there's the season none of us want to ever talk about again (but will, for your sake, if you stick with it that long) and finally Sailor Stars, which was mildly divisive*.

Yeah.

*On the board here. In the larger fandom that season sees a split between love and hate, with very little in between.

edit:

  

On 5/11/2021 at 5:06 PM, Bartimaeus said:

man, screw you guys. wait, not that last person, they knew what they were talking about

  Reveal hidden contents

 

why must you notice the things you notice

 

 

@Bartimaeus I don't get people who say crystal's reboot animation is so pretty. There's a pretty decent showcase in the Netflix trailer.

@LittleArmadillo0 minor spoiler for a later Guardian... it's pretty safe to click and all, but still.
 

Spoiler

 

Hand drawn Dead Scream attack:

Compared to the obviously similar scene in Eternal:

Trailer properly timecoded.

I know this is something very subjective, but... honstly, even at the low resoltion and with no pretty HD available, the hand drawn stock footage looks so much better. I don't even...

 

edit 2 (actual spoilers):
 

Spoiler

 

I can, up to a certain part, understand why people want more of Hotaru. When I first watched the anime, I loved her, as little as she was in the show. That changed a bit, and as Sailor Guardian... oh boy, really. Her and Pluto are so problematic with their deus ex machinaish powers, removing them from much of the show was one of the better ideas. It's a disservice to them, for sure, especially for Setsuna who was really the only great character in Crystal* (and the only one who isn't called Usagi - that includes Chibi-Usa - to get some character screen time).

No idea how Pegasus could save someone's life, if anything he should horrify people, especially those who were abused as kids, but to each their own. I won't hold it against anyone to be... well, you know, I can relate to Sailor Moon being important to people, but Pegasus out of all characters?

Sure hope the implication to take away from the comment wasn't that someone realized it was okay to like little girls.

*Easily the best part of the entire run so far was Chibi-Usa losing her surragate mother. I don't mean best part as fun, but as enjoyable on a character level. It was an incredibly touching and sad scene, and the next arc immediately took a dump on it by having Usagi resurrect her in the future.

But what do I know.

 

 

Edited May 12, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

Watching Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion right now.

Not finished yet, so can't really comment on anything, but... uhm, I want some of what the creators took before making this film. That's some serious tripping.

Spoiler

Mami keeping Charlotte as a pet is disturbing, to say the least, and I'm not certain Kyubey is any better when he's pretending to be Pikachu. Kyub kyub kyubey? Kyubey! Pika pika.

edit:
Literal foreshadowing in the film:

Spoiler

 

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Finished Great Pretender. I have to say it was a fun ride and while I'd be happy for more, I'd be fine if the Wizard of Far East was the last scam.

Looks like Castlevania is back so I guess it's vampires for the weekend.

14 hours ago, Oner said:

Way of the Househusband is great. 

The ****roach episode is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while.

2 hours ago, majestic said:

Not finished yet, so can't really comment on anything, but... uhm, I want some of what the creators took before making this film. That's some serious tripping.

Wait till you finish.

IT'S ALL A DREAM

[majestic]

6 hours ago, ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP said:

Wait till you finish.

  Reveal hidden contents

IT'S ALL A DREAM

 

Well that was something.

It's interesting how similar but completely different the series and Rebellion ends. The series (or the first two movies, they're almost but not quite equal) ends on a bittersweet high note that feels like a well deserved happy ending, while Rebellion actually has a happy ending that just feels hollow and sad, and there's an overall feeling of melancholy to this that lasts long after the credits have rolled. Dear readers, if you find that confusing, then you may just need to watch to understand.
 

Spoiler

 

I'm not certain that Homura being depicted as evil or a demon is all that correct, she essentially prevented the Incubators from reverting Madoka's wish. Without Homura's choice to commit the ultimate selfish act, Kyubey would eventually figure out how to control Madoka. Or, rather, the universe - again, just like last time (assuming for a momen we equal counteracting entropy with control of the universe). Besides there's nothing in the film that would suggest that the Law of Cycles wouldn't continue on its own now. It's only the Madoka part that is missing from it now. The small part she once was, and now is again. If anything, Homura removed the one flaw Madoka's wish had - that she would be the one who controls and metes out the cycle. With a controlling entity gone, it should be safe from interference now.

So, for magical girls, nothing has changed. For Homura, ironically, nothing has changed either. Madoka is still out of reach. But at least she's safe from Kyubey. 

In closing, the titular rebellion was Homura going against Madoka's wish to fulfill her own. She calls herself a demon because she's utimately making a perfectly selfish choice, and she really does rebel against God, in a somewhat literal sense even.

However, this isn't... really making a point on the duality of human nature, good vs. evil. Interpreting it as wordly attachment vs. enlightenment in a Buddhist sense doesn't work either, even though Homura could serve as the demons of Buddhism, with her emotions tying her to this world, unable to move on. Everything she does perpetuates her suffering, after all. But if that was meant to be shown, then ultimately, not making that choice would need to be shown to have been the correct path, which it clearly isn't (and with Buddhism not having a traditional God per se, removing Madoka from the Law of Cycles - the final destination for human souls, or at least he ones of magical girls - would make it more Buddhistic, not less).

Funny to see Homura being a Sayaka/Kyoko shipper. Makes sense given the last time she saw either before Madoka broke reality was Kyoko promising Sayaka that she'll never be alone again. That's one ship I can get behind. It's canon enough that an in-universe character makes it real in her create-your-own-reality labyrinth, after all. And, uhm, actually... Sayaka in that make believe world was actually the real Sayaka all the time.

This is about as canon as it will ever get, I guess. The writer likes toying with the fanbase way too much to ever confirm or deny it in any official capacity, after all.

edit: Also read in an interview that the original ending was supposed to have been Homura leaving with Madoka, but a suggestion from the director made Gen Urobuchi change the script. Guess there's some merit in it, beyond being sequel bait.

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

With Madoka finally wrapped up, it's time to go back to Revolutionary Girl Utena, where one of the characters is voiced by DIO, which I did not know when I started watching a while ago, but now can't unhear at all whenever he talks.

Not quite as buff as DIO, but can't all be gym gods, right?

Currently watching an episode - and I think I can say this without it spoiling anything - where Anthy and Utena switch bodies after Indian curry turned out to be so spicy it literally exploded next to them.

I heard Indian curry can be a little hot, but this is just ridiculous.

There was also a boxing kangaroo earlier that broke loose and beat up a few students. Yeah, so, this is definitely a little weird every now and then.

Tanz, Brüderchen!

Meanwhile, back in India, trying to find some more of that spice to change them back:

Yep. Surfing elephants. I don't even...

Edited May 13, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

18 minutes ago, majestic said:

With Madoka finally wrapped up, it's time to go back to Revolutionary Girl Utena, where one of the characters is voiced by DIO, which I did not know when I started watching a while ago, but now can't unhear at all whenever he talks.

Not quite as buff as DIO, but can't all be gym gods, right?

Are you expecting him to start screaming "MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA" or "WRRRYYYYYYYYYY"?

As the art style changes, DIO (and pretty much all other characters that reappear) get less buff even if they're still muscular.

He's still a gym god in part 3 though. Flashback spoilers for Part 6, collected edition covers, and art gallery paintings.

Araki really likes to draw DIO (half)naked lmao

[majestic]

16 minutes ago, ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP said:

Are you expecting him to start screaming "MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA" or "WRRRYYYYYYYYYY"?

As the art style changes, DIO (and pretty much all other characters that reappear) get less buff even if they're still muscular.

Well they talk an awful lot about cracking the world's shell and all that, at this point I'm not sure what to expect. Prior to this episode I would have said now, but surfing elephants is something that could just as well happen in JoJo's...

Fun fact, voice actors sometimes really don't look like you would imagine from their voices:

Spoiler

 

Well that's HIM, DIO!

 

Touga is also way too much of a feminist, lol:

edit:

Madoka trailer!

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

On 5/12/2021 at 5:54 PM, majestic said:

*On the board here. In the larger fandom that season sees a split between love and hate, with very little in between.

The last handful of episodes soured KP a little, but otherwise IIRC he thought it was great, and I certainly thought it was great - not that divisive! And we only have middle-fingers for (much of) the general fanbase, so far as I'm concerned, that does indeed mean that by consensus, it is indeed great!

On 5/12/2021 at 5:54 PM, majestic said:

No idea how Pegasus could save someone's life, if anything he should horrify people, especially those who were abused as kids, but to each their own. I won't hold it against anyone to be... well, you know, I can relate to Sailor Moon being important to people, but Pegasus out of all characters?

This is why I stick to Sailor Moon Says! Everyone on there knows what's up. ...Although I get the feeling that that's because half of the people on there have never watched Sailor Moon to begin with and are just seeing everything out of context through the lens of short and screwed-up original English dub clips...and the rest are 30-40 year old fans from when the English dub itself came out and have since realized that some parts were not perhaps quite as kosher as they might have once thought when they were younger. I started off in the first group, now I've graduated to a rare in-between where I've actually watched all of the show but not much of the original dub, .

Spoiler

 

On 5/12/2021 at 5:54 PM, majestic said:

I can, up to a certain part, understand why people want more of Hotaru. When I first watched the anime, I loved her, as little as she was in the show. That changed a bit, and as Sailor Guardian... oh boy, really. Her and Pluto are so problematic with their deus ex machinaish powers, removing them from much of the show was one of the better ideas. It's a disservice to them, for sure, especially for Setsuna who was really the only great character in Crystal* (and the only one who isn't called Usagi - that includes Chibi-Usa - to get some character screen time).

At least Pluto's cool and never detracts from the show. Hotaru...she's not as bad as she could be, but there were times, especially at the end of S, where she was indeed pretty bad. But seriously, screw Pegasus.

 

Madoka Magica should be coming up very soon(TM) for me - maybe by the end of this weekend even! Well, the first movie at least, . I'll refrain from watching the trailer - while I have an admitted love affair with posters, it's the exact opposite with me for trailers: I don't think I've ever seen a trailer for a movie or show that I've liked that I've really thought did justice or gave an accurate impression, and in fact, watching a number of trailers has made me turn away from watching stuff that I ended up watching and liking or loving later, so I just don't do trailers for stuff I already want/am going to watch anymore.

Edited May 14, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

5 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

The last handful of episodes soured KP a little, but otherwise IIRC he thought it was great, and I certainly thought it was great - not that divisive! And we only have middle-fingers for (much of) the general fanbase, so far as I'm concerned, that does indeed mean that by consensus, it is indeed great!

Unicorn of War has a new YouTube video out called "The Black Moon Arc Is Weird" - my first reaction was "no sh*t sherlock" and almost clicked on it because there's also his real name in the channel description and I didn't see the Unicorn of War part immediately... oh boy am I glad I noticed in time. Screw the fanbase.

Not entirely fair criticism in the spoiler:

Spoiler

While it's not exactly his fault, watching his YouTube videos is arguably worse than reading his drivel in written form. Some people... just have terrible narrating voices. I count myself among them and would never narrate a video. I can deal with this as long as the content is interesting enough, but in this case, yeah, nope. Middle finger it is.

 

5 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

This is why I stick to Sailor Moon Says! Everyone on there knows what's up. ...Although I get the feeling that that's because half of the people on there have never watched Sailor Moon to begin with and are just seeing everything out of context through the lens of short and screwed-up original English dub clips...and the rest are 30-40 year old fans from when the English dub itself came out and have since realized that some parts were not perhaps quite as kosher as they might have once thought when they were younger. I started off in the first group, now I've graduated to a rare in-between where I've actually watched all of the show but not much of the original dub, .

 

5 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

 

  Hide contents

 

On 5/13/2021 at 12:54 AM, majestic said:

I can, up to a certain part, understand why people want more of Hotaru. When I first watched the anime, I loved her, as little as she was in the show. That changed a bit, and as Sailor Guardian... oh boy, really. Her and Pluto are so problematic with their deus ex machinaish powers, removing them from much of the show was one of the better ideas. It's a disservice to them, for sure, especially for Setsuna who was really the only great character in Crystal* (and the only one who isn't called Usagi - that includes Chibi-Usa - to get some character screen time).

At least Pluto's cool and never detracts from the show. Hotaru...she's not as bad as she could be, but there were times, especially at the end of S, where she was indeed pretty bad. But seriously, screw Pegasus.

 

Spoiler

 

For me, liking Hotaru as much as I initially did was probably a product of my age. Before the rewatch, I would have ranked her among my favorite characters, but that has dropped significantly. That is perhaps also related to no longer hating Chibi-Usa. Hotaru did an admirable job in making Sailor Moon S Chibi-Usa give something else to do than being annoying - and without finding her all too annoying in Sailor Moon R these days, there's less reason for me to like Hotaru.

I still like Hotaru - but the truth is, her arc was pretty much complete in S and there was no real reason to bring her back. I guess she does something in the Dream arc, I'm not that far in yet, but I did just complete reading the first arc of Sailor Moon. Going by the trailer, she does some aging up by awakening as Sailor Saturn again, and then she probably does what the Stars filler arc made her do when fighting Nehelenia.

It's still strange writing that, but Pluto in Crystal was probably the only good part of the show. She was nice to Chibi-Usa, had a lot to do, talked to the characters and even got an incredibly sad flashback scene where Neo-Queen Serenity orders what looks like a 12 year old version of Sailor Pluto to never leave her post. She also gets some scenes that make it pretty clear that she likes Endymion more than she should. When Chibi-Usa finds her and talks to her even though she's technically forbidden to enter her domain it's the first time she has had any contact with people for what is an indeterminate amount of time that might as well have been centuries.

She's in a handful of episodes in the second season and gets more characterization than the core cast that isn't Usagi combined. When she dies and Chibi-Usa is crying over the loss of her surrogate mother it's the only really emotional scene in the show. Aside from some distant resemblance to characters I've loved in a different universe, I otherwise felt nothing watching Crystal. Not counting revulsion or bewilderment, I mean.

There's also something I've learned from reading the manga. It really is better than Crystal, and the manga fans weren't wrong in saying that Crystal is making it look worse than it is. But they generally like the third season, and I don't, so what do they know. I'm beginning to understand why some of them don't like the 90ies anime though. The manga has - and you've noticed that from the few parts you've read so far too, if I recall correctly - a much different tone and focus. The 90ies anime is character driven and very comedic in its filler, and sometimes, especially in S, it's both comedic and character driven drama, while the manga is much closer to regular young adult literature than that.

The minimalistic nature of it leaves a lot fo be interpreted by the reader, or imagined, the battles are really short - a couple of frames, each, at best. You can easily fill in the gaps while reading, and any adaptation is bound to not be what it was in your mind. If, for some reason, there is someone who enjoys the manga for what it is, then I can see why both the anime adaptations leave a lot to be desired. Mr. Unicorn of War excused the breakneck pacing of the manga with "you can read it at your own pace and fill in the gaps" - which is true, in a way. It still is only that, an excuse.

Personally, I don't fully understand that, because the manga's nature makes it somewhat unappealing to me (as an adult even more than for past me), but there are a lot of people who like Adam Sandler movies, Jennifer Lawrence's acting, X-Men: Days of Future Pants and Pegasus. I'd rather have Sailor Moon S than that, but to each their own.

However, I cannot deny that the plot holes are less problematic and much less distracting when you actively read the dialogue and look at still frames rather than seeing it in motion. The part of my brain that starts getting bored when watching terrible films and shows and begins picking them apart is busy reading and looking at things, I think. It's the same part that is engaged with interpretations or noticing interesting stuff when something's good.

Ami shunting off the secret command bunker in a space time shield bubble was "damn, what the hell just happened" in Crystal while it's a frame and a half in the manga and more like "eh, ok, that happened"...

 

 

5 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Madoka Magica should be coming up very soon(TM) for me - maybe by the end of this weekend even! Well, the first movie at least, .

Good news, everyone!

I mean, I'm really curious what you will think of it. I have to admit that with a second watching under the belt, Sayaka's character arc has become a favorite of mine across all anime - actually across everything. Apparently a lot of fans hated her... what the heck, how can you hate on Sayaka you idiots...

edit: Speaking of the general fandom fandumb, boy there's some bickering about the show vs. the movies. One of the scenes in the first film has a changed soundtrack. It changes the scene in question in an interesting manner. The movie version is much more profound, has a lot more gravitas added to it - mostly necessary because the film is a bit shorter than the anime (first film has a 2h 10 minute runtime for 8 episodes of 25 minutes each, which adds up, even if a lot of what is lost was stock footage in the opening and closing credits).

The interesting thing is that they both work perfectly within their respective frameworks, yet there's endless bickering about the change.

edit 2: Never mind that the English dub is different (re-recorded, same voice actors - one of the characters is Rei from Sailor Moon ) for the films, the english subtitles for both are different too. It's almost like the creators wanted to troll the fanbase... oh, wait. Yep. I'm going with that.

5 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'll refrain from watching the trailer - while I have an admitted love affair with posters, it's the exact opposite with me for trailers: I don't think I've ever seen a trailer for a movie or show that I've liked that I've really thought did justice or gave an accurate impression, and in fact, watching a number of trailers has made me turn away from watching stuff that I ended up watching and liking or loving later, so I just don't do trailers for stuff I already want/am going to watch anymore.

The actual teaser is much shorter than the upload would suggest. Probably because no actual footage is ready yet, it's a ~25 second collection of random scenes that will probably not even be in the actual film when it comes out.

Actually that's... probably just footage they made to create the posters in the first place.

Compare poster:

To timeframe 00:17 to 00:21 in the teaser (or even just the teaser thumbnail on YT):

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

lmao you weren't kidding, that really was a short "trailer"

6 hours ago, majestic said:

While it's not exactly his fault, watching his YouTube videos is arguably worse than reading his drivel in written form. Some people... just have terrible narrating voices. I count myself among them and would never narrate a video. I can deal with this as long as the content is interesting enough, but in this case, yeah, nope. Middle finger it is.

I definitely get that - if someone's voice is bad enough, I often immediately close out of a video regardless of what they're talking about, even if I'm super interested in the content. Just can't listen to you, pal - sorry! There was a poster (not here) who used to write some more long-form essays on some more interesting historical bits of American football, and I, being an American football watcher, used to read and enjoy them; then he stopped making the written essays and started making VIDEO essays on it instead, and while most other people seemed okay with it, I tried multiple times and could never hack it. Real crappy, but I just can't listen to you!

Reading, both regular and visual novels, in general is lot more forgivable/what you make of it experience, I think. If a book is bad, it's not like your senses are being directly assaulted by it in the same manner as when you're watching a show or playing a video game, and you can skip or skim exactly as much as you like at whatever pace you feel like - the experience in general is much more in control of the reader. The worst things that usually happen for a reader in books is when you're already super invested into a book or series that you enjoyed and thought was well-written and THEN something really poorly-written happens and the whole thing sort of deconstructs and invalidates itself, . 

[majestic]

Cardcaptor Sakura just had an episode without any fights. Minor spoilers ahead... not that it matters much.
 

Spoiler

 

Sakura and her family are off on a short vacation in a traditional horror movie setting, a cabin in the woods. Well, actually, it is a proper wooden house and this is Cardcaptor Sakura, so there's no ax crazy murderer running around.

Instead Sakura meets a kindly old man who gives her sweets and invites her for tea. Yikes! I mean, this is totally harmless, but after too much Pegasus... you know. But no, he's just a nice, lonely old man that seems to have been living on his own for a while. He tells Sakura that she reminds him of her granddaughter who died early. She used to draw pictures of rainbows for him because he likes rainbows, and they're often visible from the balcony of the house he's living in.

He gifts Sakura one of his granddaughter's dresses. When Sakura gives him some cookies her father made for him, the old man looks a little put out, asks about Sakura's father and eventually tries the cookies and likes them. He concludes that Sakura loves her father very much (and Sakura, once again, is simply adorable, when she's asked about her father she just starts talking a mile a minute).

Next day Sakura and her family go back home. She visits the kindly old man one last time and tells him that he should go out on the balcony when she has left and wait. He's confused, but goes up to the balcony. Sakura uses her Rain card to summon a rainbow for the old man.

In the final scene of the episode, Tomoyo's mother shows up and addresses the old man as her grandfather. Tomoyo's mother (Sonomi) and Sakura's mother (Nadeshiko) were cousins, and they had a falling out over Nadeshiko marrying Sakura's father. Her father and Sonomi just recently started to get along, so there's the implication that they wanted Sakura to meet her great-grandfather (and that explains the reaction of the old man when Sakura gives him her father's cookies).

This episode also establishes that Tomoyo and Sakura are second cousins, which makes Tomoyo's crush* on Sakura a little weird.

*Speculation on my part, supported by a few scenes so far. I'm also pretty sure nothing will ever come of it, the relationship between Tomoyo and Sakura seems to have been a deliberate mirroring of their mothers'. Sonomi's insistence that Fujikata stole her Nadeshiko is a little strange, to say the least. Welcome to anime!

 

 

[Bartimaeus]

That sounds quite good from your description of it - I'll do my best to forget it. This seems like the exact kind of episode that Sailor Moon could've benefited from every once in a while in lieu of following THE FORMULA, .

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

lmao you weren't kidding, that really was a short "trailer"

Probably should have just called it a teaser. That's really all it is.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

I definitely get that - if someone's voice is bad enough, I often immediately close out of a video regardless of what they're talking about, even if I'm super interested in the content. Just can't listen to you, pal - sorry! There was a poster (not here) who used to write some more long-form essays on some more interesting historical bits of American football, and I, being an American football watcher, used to read and enjoy them; then he stopped making the written essays and started making VIDEO essays on it instead, and while most other people seemed okay with it, I tried multiple times and could never hack it. Real crappy, but I just can't listen to you!

Well, that's a pity. This is a general trend that annoys me to no end, making videos instead of short written essays whenever it is possible, to slap some ads on it and make some sweet cash, I guess. I mean, that's idle speculation in your case, because I don't know the poster or the essays (and I know nothing about American Football other than that it looks super confusing to watch without knowing the rules), but that is certainly true for all the video guides to games when it comes to character building and attribute distribution.

Video guides are fine when they show actual footage that is useful (i.e. when dealing with bosses in games), but I don't want to watch 45 minutes of footage to know how to min-max my character build in an aRPG. Given the time that takes, I can calculate everything myself. Seriously.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Reading, both regular and visual novels, in general is lot more forgivable/what you make of it experience, I think. If a book is bad, it's not like your senses are being directly assaulted by it in the same manner as when you're watching a show or playing a video game, and you can skip or skim exactly as much as you like at whatever pace you feel like - the experience in general is much more in control of the reader. The worst things that usually happen for a reader in books is when you're already super invested into a book or series that you enjoyed and thought was well-written and THEN something really poorly-written happens and the whole thing sort of deconstructs and invalidates itself, . 

The absolute worst case scenario is reading a book series that will never get finished because the author accidentially got rich with a TV adaptation and now is even less motivated or capable of finishing the story he envisioned in the first place, only to have some hack frauds finish it for him on screen. Uhm...

I've read a few comments under the "The Black Moon Arc is Weird" video by Unicorn of War. Didn't start the video, but learned a few things. He called Black Lady "Wicked Lady" beacuse he doesn't want to say Black Lady on camera and he conveniently forgets to mention that manga BRACK RADY actually does a number on Mamoru and how utterly unlikable Usagi is in the arc in the manga while complaining about Sailor Moon R . Most of the commentors who actually read the manga in the video complained about Chibi-Usa's obsession with Mamoru in the 90ies anime.

Yeah. Reading something is less of an assault on your senses, it's also apparently much easier to be super selective about remembering things. It's true that the anime took Chibi-Usa's obession and ran with it for a while, but it was clearly in the manga too - to a much worse extent even, albeit much shorter lived, what with the pacing and the amount of chapters this has - at the very least up until Mamoru was replaced as an object of desire by a horse.

Honestly baffled by the disingenuity here. I guess that's me being ridiculous, because how am I still surprised by this after all this time.

Then there's this gem:

No, Mr. Mudassir, the reason this bombed isn't the pandemic or a lack of promotion. It's because it sucks (I haven't seen it yet, but this bombing at the BO... honestly, not surprised and just confirms everything the trailer made me fear it would be). Just like everything else that Crystal is.

What in the what now? Now that's a case of selective memory if I ever saw one. Yes, Sailor Moon S had episodes that weren't just fun, but out of the 38 that were made for the season, the ratio of utterly hilarious to serious is roughly the same as in SuperS.

Except that in SuperS everything was so bad that even the fun episodes weren't fun, and the serious ones were a disjointed mess (except for a total of three or so).

At least someone gets it... okay, that's enough now. I should spend my time doing something useful, not engaging with the fandumb of Sailor Moon. Now, where's a rusty nail I can drive up my foot for fun?

43 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

That sounds quite good from your description of it - I'll do my best to forget it. This seems like the exact kind of episode that Sailor Moon could've benefited from every once in a while in lieu of following THE FORMULA, .

Sailor Moon had plenty of episodes that didn't follow the all mighty formula. It's just that they were all attached to direct manga adaptations.

I kid, I know what you mean. Not sure if there are going to be other episodes without battles. I hope so, but I'm not entirely convinced. The entire series runs for like 60 or so episodes, so there's not an awful lot of content to go around.

Edited May 14, 2021 by majestic