Anime - the emotional rolercoaster.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

17 minutes ago, majestic said:

Wait, what?

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run.

It's very very very weird but really well done, you can also drop right in because while it is part 7 of JoJo it takes place in an alternative timeline. It's been my favorite part of the series and where Araki's style seems to have ended up.

[Bartimaeus]

Unrelated to Sailor Moon:

 

I'm gonna have to try out this show sometime.

[majestic]

Wow, Speed Racer is a blast from the past. That ran here on TV ages ago, and I was so little at the time that I only have the barest of recollections. I know I'v watched some episodes on TV, the characters are familiar and that car he drove was awesome (at least as a kid).

By the way, I checked, Steven Universe is available on Netflix here, but only the first season. I plan on watching it after I'm done Moonie-ing around, whenever that will be. Hopefully more will be available on Netflix by then, or some other streaming service. I hate distribution licensing. Why does this have to be so complicated? Ugh.

edit: Speed Racer also has a horrible, horrible, bad, terrible, horrible, bad, bad, bad, terribad live action movie adaptation. It's not even fun if you like trash. Meh.

Edited February 7, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Steven Universe: It probably won't be, licensing with Cartoon Network shows is almost always terrible, I'm genuinely surprised the first season is somehow on Netflix (99.9% sure it's not in the U.S.). I jumped in while the fifth season was just starting, and used a combination of re-runs, live-airing, and illegitimate* sources to watch it. I don't know how you'd want to solve that. It's a shame, too - the second season is when I became fully convinced it was my favorite show due to a particularly great stretch of episodes.

*Gabe Newell once said that piracy is usually the result of service problems. Well...he wasn't wrong.

Edited February 7, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

Watched three more episodes of SuperS. Oh, and while trying to look up who wrote which episode (hint: it apparently really doesn't matter) I've noticed that...

Spoiler

The body switching that happens in the manga also happens in the anime, that's an episode I must have missed. Eh, something to look forward to, huh? Yeah. Uhm.

Anyway, two of the three were only filler, one of them was fun filler, the other went back to this feeling that the writers tried to adapt parts of the manga that no longer have a place in the show. Or at least should have been set up better. But most likely left out. In a sense reading the manga helped me understand where the seemingly random creative choices come from, on the other hand it doesn't help at all in realizing why they were successful in transporting the intents and themes present in the Dream arc into the anime in some cases and not at all in others, and you can't even pin it on one writer being better than the others, because they all equally produced both good and supremely trashy episodes this season.

Except for the one time they apparently had a guest writer. Only one credit to the name and the episode was forgettable, weird, and... about something or other, I'm sure (okay I obviously remember what it was about, but I want to use hyperbole to convey just how forgettable and alien that was).

Story/somewhat filler episode discussion:
 

Spoiler

 

Makoto and Minako's power up was fused into a single episode where they fight with each other over a preschool principal. Or rather... Minako is super jealous that Makoto is so good at all this, as she calls it, "domestic stuff" while she can't do anything at all to help out, so she makes a mess of everything trying to flirt with the principal that Makoto clearly likes, and Makoto gets so mad at her that she refuses to talk to Minako at all.

Artemis fixes this by making the two talk to each other. It's nice to see him get to do something useful for a change (or anything at all, the cats have been doing nothing useful lately), but it takes making Usagi do something out of character to achieve it (namely ignoring the problems between Makoto and Minako). They talk a bit, Makoto feels that her dreams aren't taken seriously by Minako just because they're "only" about getting married and running a florist shop or a bakery.

Oh Makoto is such a wonderful vehicle for the concept that you can be a girl, be strong, kick some serious ass, but at the end of the day still want and strive towards what is seen as traditionally female.

She tells her she's working hard to achieve her dreams, and that it isn't easy for her. Minako on the other hand is just frustrated that she's not getting anywhere with her life*. This feeds back into her focus episodes in S. Their talk is interrupted too early by an attack, but during that attack they realize that they shouldn't be fighting each other, but for each other. Off-sceen and some time later Minako also tries to fix some of the things she broke earlier in the episode and hurts herself in the process, Makoto appreciates the gesture.

In the manga it is Makoto and not Minako who feels that her life as Sailor Senshi is in the way of her dreams, and Hawk's-Eye feeds into this emotion until it overwhelms her. She powers up by realizing that protecting her loved ones is also a large part of what she wants from life.

Combining them and creating some conflict between Makoto and Minako was a good idea that ended up feeling too rushed at the end. They should not have spent so much time showing Minako doing super dumb Minako-things and more time on the girls talking to each other, but still, the effort is appreciated, and Minako doing what she does best in the show? Yeah, count me in.

Both of them end up being frustrated when the principal turns out to be married and already has a kid. Poor Makoto, can't catch a break.

* Also weird for 15 year olds to have this sort of discussion, but then again... they're reincarnated semi-immortal ageless princesses from the Silver Millennium, so who's to say what's normal here. Although I do wonder how that should work should they ever really find someone to marry. I mean, they're all clearly still alive one thousand years in the future (and don't look a day older), so, uhm... good luck with your dream there, Makoto.

Oh, and manga Chibi-Usa is 903 years old at the time. I'm not sure anyone thought this through before writing it. Eh, okay.

 

Fun filler discussion:
 

Spoiler

 

So fun filler has one of the Amazoness Quartet, PallaPalla, prove that she's completely insane by playing dentist and fixing her patient's tooth ache by ripping off the doll's head entirely (no teeth, no pain) while the evil hag in charge of the Dead Moon Circus wants the girls to go attack someone, but comes up with no target that's likely to have Creepasus tucked away. So instead PallaPalla finds an empty lot in Toyko, creates an illusion that makes kids in the neighborhood have cavities and transforms her doll house and her dolls into a real dentist's office.

Usagi and Chibi-Usa spend their entire evening eating (it's hilarious) but don't brush their teeth when told to do so.

Next day everyone has a toothache, and so... well, the rest is hilarious and fun, and the episode ends with Chibi-Usa and Usagi defeating the enemies by crying so hard it shatteres PallaPalla's illusions, throwback to season one time, huh?

 

Odd flller discussion (this one has a minor connection to the manga that makes it all the more odd):
 

Spoiler

 

Oh boy. So the episode is nominally about one of the jocks, and victim of the week, from Chibi-Usa's class having an irrational fear of... vaulting boxes. Chibi-Usa also hates them, but there's an athletic school competition coming up, and said vaulting box is part of the obstacle course. The girls make Chibi-Usa practice by jumping over Usagi, they both mess up and hurt each other. It would be hilarious if not for the manga themes that cropped up at a point in the storyline where they no longer belong. Not even when only looking at SuperS as a contained season. More on that later!

To be honest that is something that resonates with me because I hated vaulting at school. My eyesight is, well, no sense in sugarcoating this, terrible. I'm highly myopic and astigmatic. How bad is it? In terms of myopia, anything that is farther away than two or three inches from my eyes becomes blurry, at a distance of five regular text becomes unreadable. However, and here's the fun part of astigmatism, everything that is close to my face than roughly a foot is split up into two overlapping and noticably out of focus images (i.e. double vision similar to what people who are cross-eyed get, except without being cross-eyed, my cornea focuses the light to a point where it is not supposed to be, differently for each eye to boot, so it's horizontally and vertically out of alignment). Everything further away my brain manages to put together, but it's still blurry from the myopia and out of focus from the astigmatism. This does a number on my depth perception as well. That can't work if your brain can't put the images together properly.

Anyway, my PE teachers up until 9th grade (yeah, really) forced us to attend PE without glasses for fear of breaking them, and "how bad can that be?", so you can guess how well anything worked out where I had to gauge just how far away something is. Like, I don't know, when to jump to get over an obstacle or when to catch a ball (obviously catching an incoming ball should happen before it smashes into your face, right? Because that's what my teacher told me back then. Very helpful you arsehole, VERY helpful).

I'm still convinced that people who "teach" PE only take it up to indulge in their sadistic streak that they can't live out anywhere else.

Wow, I digressed hard. So even though the theme works for me in general, that episode was a bit of a bust. It's a totally random tangent filler storyline that is padded out by another appearance of Creepasus and almost all of the humor relates to Chibi-Usa wanting a slice of Mamoru, much to the annoyance of Usagi.

I said it when I began watching SuperS that I don't like all the humor hat comes off of this seemingly forced Chibi-Usa/Usagi/any other girl jealousy thing, no matter how funny it is - and there are scenes that are supremely hilarious (in Rei's dream mirror assault episode Usagi even dresses up as a Ninja and stalks Rei) I still don't, even after realizing that it's present in the manga. It no longer fits the anime version of Usagi, and at least one of the writers agreed there (the one that's been doing Usagi's character growth in S, I guess).

Then comes the scene with Creepasus. We're 28 epidoes into a 39 episode season at this point, and Chibi-Usa who has been clearly having a thing for Creepasus the entire season is seen cuddling a pillow with Mamoru's photograph on it. Creepasus turns on the Palantír and asks Chibi-Usa what's going on. She immediately blushes and pushes the picture under the blanket so that Creepasus doesn't notice that she's really into father-daugther incest. Not that the old pedo-horse would mind, I guess. They talk a bit, and Creepasus tells Chibi-Usa that she's more free than he is when she tells him that she really would like to be able to fly (to get over that box, presumably).

In the manga, Creepasus is locked up from the start, and can only manifest in the outside world for short stretches of time.  In the anime, Creepasus can only manifest himself in the real world for short moments because reasons.

But there's something else that happens in the manga. Creepasus manifests himself as pedo-horse in the real world and kisses Chibi-Usa while she's distraught over being useless. While kissing, he transforms into his human Helios form. Chibi-Usa then realizes that she loves Helios and even declines to visit Mamoru (who is seriously ill in the manga and a complete douchewaffle to Usagi about it, trying to "protect" her from the truth, hello Sailor Moon R sub plotline of Mamoru being a total douchewaffle), with Usagi wondering what the hell's going on.

From the episode list, the Chibi-Usa kisses a horse thing is coming up in a couple of episodes. This is such a confusing mess because in the Dream arc that happens early on. The body switch also happens before Chibi-Usa realizes that she's more into creepy unicorns than her father, while all of this is still coming in the anime.

I can't help but feel as if a lot of this was intended to be show in a different order, was recut or potentially reshot at some point. The fact that you can potentially cut out 90% of the Amazon Trio arc from the anime without affecting the story beats at all also speaks to that. Well, well...

 

Thematic discussion about Creepasus in the manga and in the anime (read this only if you don't want episode spoilers).
 

Spoiler

 

So where does that leave us here? In the anime, Creepasus has a problem with his pedophile subtext, and that's not just because he like Chibi-Usa more than a regular dream horse probably should. The way he interacts with Chibi-Usa virtually screams sexual predator, but the framing of the interactions is so innocent and well-meaning that there's no malice present. This isn't making any statement.

In the manga, on the other hand, Creepasus doesn't need a palantír to interact with Chibi-Usa. When he wants, he just shows up. In his first appearance, he puts Chibi-Usa on his back and says "you can ride me if you like" and then they fly around and he shows her Tokyo from above (this is where I should point out that Chibi-Usa is dreaming at this point, but the bell Pegasus gives her is real). This is mostly done to show Chibi-Usa that the Dead Moon Circus is doing something nefarious to the city, but the fact remains, Creepasus is drawn to Chibi-Usa and picks her up in the middle of the night when he feels like it. He gives her a bell so she can summon him when she needs him, and very early on asks her to give him her power.

Can we blame the showrunners for thinking that Creepasus is a pedophile? I don't know. He doesn't do most of the creepy pedo-stuff like asking Chibi-Usa to hide his interactions with him from the others, but he also suddenly appears and kisses Chibi-Usa as both horse and man... at a time where she's emotionally distraught and clearly vulnerable, yet this is also framed to be completely innocent, and it also cures her of her unhealthy obsession with her father.

 

I began reading the Dream arc in hopes for clarity, and all it did was make everything even more confusing. Ah well.

Edited February 7, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

I'm really looking forward to meeting that pegasus. For sure. Yeah.

...Remind me to read these posts again when I actually get to these episodes. I'll be able to more properly respond to them when I've actually seen them, . My hope is that I'm not quite as creeped out by some of this as you are...but uhh, probably a fat chance of that, huh?

(e): Also a sufferer of astigmatism (and the double-vision phenomenon you just described is exactly what I get), I always thought it was completely normal and never told anyone, but it apparently isn't. On the other hand, I've always had good hand-to-eye coordination and depth perception even with it (no myopia, though), so I don't know how that works out.

Edited February 7, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

So the horny alien teens that constantly tried to cheat on each other found the true meaning of love and ran off to space with a sapling. After having a breakdown and threatening to destroy the world because they got rejected of course. Better than the Dark Kingdom, but these villains really need to get their hands on better monsters.

Chibi-Usa appeared. I'm not sure why she was hated so much, right now she seems to be a more extreme version of (anime) Rei. Maybe it's because she's a kiddo. The new gang of villains don't seem too interesting from the start, but Usagi feuding with a child is better than the monster fights.

[Bartimaeus]

How'd you like Chibi-Usa's introduction? It just about killed me.

I certainly don't hate her, but I did find her a little wearing in some of the episodes where the majority of the episode was told from her perspective.

[majestic]

22 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'm really looking forward to meeting that pegasus. For sure. Yeah.

...Remind me to read these posts again when I actually get to these episodes. I'll be able to more properly respond to them when I've actually seen them, . My hope is that I'm not quite as creeped out by some of this as you are...but uhh, probably a fat chance of that, huh?

There's a decent chance that my perception of Pegasus from the anime colored what I've read in the manga in a more negative light than what it might be, but otherwise, yeah, I'm sort of looking forward to your reaction to the entire plot of SuperS even though I'm not really looking forward to you watching this season... heh.

Edited February 7, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

20 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

How'd you like Chibi-Usa's introduction?

It was funny as hell. But her hypnotizing Usagi's family with an umbrella was better for me.

[Bartimaeus]

15 minutes ago, KaineParker said:

It was funny as hell. But her hypnotizing Usagi's family with an umbrella was better for me.

 

Spoiler

The specific way they animated Usagi dropping dead after being shot point-blank in the face was one of the funniest things I've ever seen in anything TV-related. I actually believed it for a moment. The entire sequence was amazing, though.

Edited February 7, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Bartimaeus]

Spoiler

Holy crap, I can't understate how much I love Minako. If Ami is the one I identify with the most in ways that I *don't* like about myself, Minako is the one I identify the most with in the ways that I *do* like (and maybe, further, would like to be more like), and this particular episode, S3E11, made that clear. Gosh dang I wish she had more episodes, they're literally always the best.

It was also nice and sweet to see Artemis get a moment with Minako at the end of this episode.

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

8 hours ago, majestic said:

Speed Racer also has a horrible, horrible, bad, terrible, horrible, bad, bad, bad, terribad live action movie adaptation. It's not even fun if you like trash. Meh.

There has never been a Speed Racer live action movie my dude. Sounds like you had a bad dream or something.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Holy crap, I can't understate how much I love Minako. If Ami is the one I identify with the most in ways that I *don't* like about myself, Minako is the one I identify the most with in the ways that I *do* like (and maybe, further, would like to be more like), and this particular episode, S3E11, made that clear. Gosh dang I wish she had more episodes, they're literally always the best.

It was also nice and sweet to see Artemis get a moment with Minako at the end of this episode.

 

Something I noticed is how Minako doesn't really get too much focus. Like in general the show follows Usagi very closely (often to the point of taking away from the rest of the Moon gang) but even then it seems like we've gotten much more focus on Ami, Rei, and Mako than Minako, even when accounting for her late appearance.

It seems very telegraphed that Artemis is going to be paired with Luna. Even the cat has more of a love life than Minako lmao

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, it stinks, especially since every time she does get her moments (or, in this case, an entire episode dedicated to her!), it reinforces that she's my favorite. I said early into R that I think she would've made just as good or even better of a protagonist as Usagi, and I continue to stand by it! I think Usagi was meant to be a little more of the every-man (well, girl) that unites everyone else, though...but I would've been perfectly good with a little different protagonist type, too. Also, Minako is similar enough that she probably could've fulfilled that role anyways.

I've also heard that Crystal is so much worse - apparently, the show revolves around Usagi and Mamoru like 100% of the time, which just sounds miserable to me. Not that there's anything necessarily wrong with those two, but in a cast full of fun colorful characters representing a number of different personality types, strengths, and weaknesses, it's a huge waste to not have fun with them. And also, Mamoru, speaking personally, was at his best early into the show when he was that odd and mysterious mix of sarcastic and suave (as opposed to increasingly solemn as well as flat...when he decides to show up at all), so that doesn't exactly excite me. The team is a big part of the show's strength - it's literally what it makes it so fun for me, at least.

Edited February 7, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

I guess Minako got a bit of the short end of the stick when the director attempted to fix anime Rei's popularity by giving her some of the personality traits and story beats of Minako. Remember that season one episode where Rei organized that school festival and was shown to write music and sing?

Yeah that's actually Minako's dream: To become a beloved pop idol, but Minako showed up really late in the first season and so there we are. At least she got to do a bit more in the third season. She gets more episodes where she's featured prominently and even is allowed to kick off the mid-season storyline reveals in an incredibly hilarious, dare I say very Minako-y, fashion.

Spoiler

Also, yes, that moment where Artemis gives her the flowers is wonderful, also because the show's always struggled a bit with giving him something to do. So mostly he's just there being an idiot or being the butt of a joke.

There's also this immensely great moment in this episode where Minako talks to Haruka and flat out asks her if she wouldn't prefer to be more... average. Normal, as it were. Haruka isn't having any of it, like I said before, she's perfectly at ease with who she is. Yoji Enokido sure knows how to write character focus pieces.

It's moments like this that are sadly absent from the early episodes of SuperS, and yes, even in episodes written by him. 

The focus on story beats where she's Minako and not Venus also means that they really made an effort to give her something to do, because the Inner Senshi aren't very useful in S as they're constantly outclassed and not necessary for the central conflict with either the Death Busters or the Outer Senshi, in which Sailor Moon is used to represent the entire team being at odds in terms of philosophy with the more focused and mature, uhm, cousins.

In the two parter 12 and 13, Minako gets to do something super hilarious too, and don't let Usagi's short upskirt shot bother you (eh... I mean, it is in there, so no beating around the bush, pardon the joke, but it's more hilarious when keeping Japan's weird pubic hair taboo in mind - cross culturally enhanced puns for the win!).

 

[Bartimaeus]

That makes way more sense for Minako than Rei. I thought it was really strange at the time that it was Rei with the singing part. Guess now I know why.

Spoiler

Also, in regards to Artemis...honestly, Luna has fallen by the wayside too. But she's not constantly the target of jokes like Artemis is - in fact, it's usually her giving them out to him and Usagi. Maybe Usagi should team up with Artemis, a kindred soul, and Minako can have Luna instead,

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

By the way, when I'm done and we're maybe doing the best episodes list, can I skip SuperS and instead give double the amount to S?

SuperS is really the first season of the show where filler episodes actually feel like typical filler, even if it never gets to 20 minutes of internal monologue level bad. And even though I don't speak Japanese I swear I can hear them reusing voice samples all over the episodes. Or maybe kawaii is really a word used by 9 year old girls for everything they see. Jesus Christ Chibi-Usa.

Spoiler

Oh boy, Creepasus is talking to Chibi-Usa and Usagi butts into her room because she thinks she's secretly calling Mamoru and that's why his line is constantly busy. Man, Usagi, are you really the same person that saved the world four times over by now, or were you secretly replaced by an alien reptiloid shapeshifter that came out wrong?

And hello writers, this probably the 30th time I've seen that joke in as many episodes. Make.It.Stop.Please.

I mean, okay, the joke that his line was busy all the time because he was online is sort of fun, for the time this came out. I have no idea how modern audiences would react to that. Ah, the joys of dial-up internet... when it took you two hours to download a Sailor Moon themepack for Windows 95 and your mother tried to call someone the minute before you were done.

edit 2:

10 minutes later Usagi sees Mamoru and Chibi-Usa who were just talking about whether or not him and Usagi are hiding things from one another or having arguments.

Usagi tries to find out what's wrong with Chibi-Usa (Creepasus and her had an argument), Chibi-Usa yells at Usagi. She looks at Mamoru, he only nods, and Usagi says "okay, I'll go ahead, see you later" figuring out that Chibi-Usa needs to be alone or talk to Mamoru about something that she can't tell her (yet).

So how does that make it into the same episode? Why? Proofreading guys? Use a transformation scene or two if you're starved for time then.

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by majestic
Added spoiler! Added more...

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

22 minutes ago, majestic said:

By the way, when I'm done and we're maybe doing the best episodes list, can I skip SuperS and instead give double the amount to S?

Why not? Like if a season didn't really deliver that makes it the fault of the season and we shouldn't cut that season slack based on seasonal accounting or anything. If we have some memorable monster battles (god damn I feel like a broken record) I'll sure as **** pack up the best list with that ****.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, KaineParker said:

Why not? Like if a season didn't really deliver that makes it the fault of the season and we shouldn't cut that season slack based on seasonal accounting or anything. If we have some memorable monster battles (god damn I feel like a broken record) I'll sure as **** pack up the best list with that ****.

Yeah, because I think we discussed seasonal lists. But works for me.
 

Spoiler

 

Okay, so the anime took both the body switch and Creepasus kisses Chibi-Usa as a horse and as a man story from the manga and fused it together in the worst possible way (they're weird enough in the source material as it is).

The episode starts with PallaPalla, who is the only competent bad guy in this season doing mass dream mirror extractions by hosting puppet shows where all the characters simply die for no reason at the end.

Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi-Moon show up, and start arguing, PallaPalla realizes that they would like to trade places and switches them. They didn't switch bodies in this case, because Chibi-Usa is now really an adult and Usagi looks more like a six-year-old. Chibi-Usa is confused but can't help but stare at herself while Sailor Moon tucks on her skirt. She says that they should fight, only it doesn't work.

Obviously it doesn't work, because Creepasus is not interested in women. Not being able to go home like that, Chibi-Usa and Usagi show up at Mamoru's who seems to really have trouble not leering at Chibi-Usa's adult body while wondering how long it'll take before he can bang Usagi again. Okay so unlike in the manga, this never really comes up directly in the anime, but there is an episode in SuperS where Mamoru wants to buy a fish and Usagi says that his aquarium will be too small, and the other girls ask her about the aquarium because... well apparently because they don't know where it is, so it can only be in Mamoru's bedroom. They've been everywhere else in his apartment, and Usagi's head getting redder than lobster just all but confirms it.

Well and Sailor Moon S's conversation about Unazuki about her first "kiss" I mean... yeah, that had some subtext, right? Never mind, not the point here.

Usagi and Chibi-Usa take a bath, and Chibi-Usa stares at herself in the mirror, thinking to herself how she now has the long arms and legs and the wonderful soft breasts she always wanted (taken from the manga here, but Chibi-Usa muses that while looking at Usagi sleeping).

Adult!Chibi-Usa is seen trying to talk to Creepasus over the Palantír but he's not answering. Wait, this is confusing. When and how did she get home? Anway, Creepasus won't have any of that, and Chibi-Usa is as confused as we are why he wouldn't want to look at her now that she's grown up and beatiful.

Spoiler

Hint: It's because he likes prepubescent girls my dear sweet Chibi-Usa. Got back to lusting after Mamoru please, that's just as weird but probably less unhealthy in the long run, you'll grow out of that eventually.

Chibi-Usa and Usagi are sleeping and Chibi-Usa dreams the dream where she's flying on Pegasus' back like in the beginning of the manga arc, only she's an adult now. Pegasus shows her the dream land that's been invaded by the Dead Moon and tells her that he only escaped confinement by Queen Nehelenia (ruler of the Dead Moon and presumably the evil sister of Queen Serenity, I'm not sure how much of that is fan theory/headcanon) because he saw the light of her dreams. He also calls her "my maiden" which is also taken from the manga but never once was mentioned in the anime so far.

He tells her that he can no longer see the light of Chibi-Usa's dream (because her dream came true through dark magic) and that the Dead Moon obfuscates everything, explaining why she can't call on him to appear and help any more. A new moon appears on the sky, creating a trickle of light that's falling down.

Chibi-Usa walks through it, returns back to her normal self and pedo-horse goes in for the kiss while transforming into Helios, Protector and Ruler of Elysion, Land of Dreams.

Now let's talk about the obvious problem with Helios:
 

Spoiler

 

The name. Helios is a blunder in naming that I can't understand. He was the Greek sun titan, and brother to Selene, goddess of the Moon, i.e. he should not have dominion over the land of dreams at all, and Elysion isn't the land of dreams either, but the part of the underworld that is essentially Greek paradise. Actually, if Helios were the actual Helios that would potentially make him Princess Serenity's uncle and... Chibi-Usa's great-uncle. My mind is melting, let me out of here!

In Greek mythology Selene and Endymion had 50 daughters, not just one, and Selene / Queen Serenity from the Silver Millennium isn't his lover. I mean I hope he wasn't, because that would make Usagi his own daughter and that would again be creepy (although not unheard of when it comes to gods, they sure loved their families).

The closest analogy, assuming we're talking about the ruler of dreams, would be Morpheus and his brother Phobetor, who either were the sons of Hypnos (and therefore grandson's to Nyx) or asexually spawned sons of Nyx, goddess of the night. Morpheus would appear as human in dreams, while Phobetor would appear as an animal.

So how come Helios is named Helios then, when he can't be the sun god nor lord of dreams. What's the point of the name then? Ran out of ideas? Naoko Takeuchi wasn't shy borrowing Roman names (*cough* Luna and Diana *cough*) when out of Greek ones. Why Helios then?

Let's presume for a moment that we were actually talking about Elysion, then the most appropriate choice we'd have is Hades, as lord of the underworld. Hades was the firstborn son of Chronos (Lord of Time) and Rheia (mother of gods). The problem here is that Hades is also known as Pluton in Roman mythology, and we already have Sailor Pluto, and she's pretty much a woman. She can't be Helios either.

Any ideas?

 

 

 

 

Given the confusing way this episode hopped from one locale to the other without explanation I'm now more convinced than ever that some sort executive meddling lead to this being recut, retooled and rewritten in some way somewhere down the line.

Edit: Sadly that's somewhat hard to piece together. I can't find the original release dates of the manga chapters in their monthly form, only for the chapter collections. That means that the first chapter collection came out half a year after SuperS began airing. If we assume a release schedule of one chapter per month and give them a month to create the collection and print it before distribution* - that would mean the anime was airing up to two (maybe even three) months before the manga actually came out. That seems wrong, and I presume that there was at least a bit of pre-production that went into creating SuperS.

*The chapter collections seem to have come out once every four months, each of them containing three chapters, so I didn't pull the monthly release and a month break for distribution entirely out of my arse as it were. There might be overlaps though, especially later on, and the December issue had only two chapters and side stories that were also made into episodes (at least I think so, not there yet with my reading).

Well it's of course also possible that the mangas came out way earlier, but in that case the anime would have not incorporated chapter one Dream arc storylines in such a confusing way almost at the end of the season.

Edited February 8, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

So I don't have a problem with Chibi-Usa so far (even her attempts to steal the crystal are cute) but Mamoru doing a heel turn and breaking up with Usagi is just really badly executed. It's just too fake, with the flashes of the crystal city and all that you just know it's some "I gotta leave to protect her" bull**** that will get resolved with them getting back together. More than half the time this damn trope pops up the scenario is something that would have made more narrative sense to have the characters talk through than to try and wring drama out.

I really dislike how Ami is just written as a gag who just thinks studying is great, like come on fellas you can let us know she's dedicated to studies without having her use every waking moment to study. Even with what feels like reduced screen time none of the other sailors have been reduced to a one note joke about I dunno a shrine maiden/psychic or someone that can't get over their ex. 

Oh and finally a memorable monster showed up. Avocado grenades is just funny.

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, I thought Mamoru stunk in R as well. Really forced, and really does absolutely nothing for him. Best as I can figure, they just wanted an excuse for Usagi and Mamoru not slobbering all over each other in season 2 as well as introduce some kind of major conflict...but there's already enough going on that they don't need to really worry about the latter, and for the former...um, like, they completely avoid that problem later on with virtually no explanation (and there never really feels like there's any need for it), so what the heck was the point?

As I've mentioned many times before, I'm also not too big on Ami - she's always the responsible one, always making the correct choices, always chiding others for their lack of both of those...but lacks much else going on, doesn't really get a lot of good or likable characterization. Comes across as a bit of a Mary Sue.

Spoiler

However, I do think she eventually does redeem herself, especially because there's a particular episode in season 3 that takes literally all of those things and turns them completely on their head. Interestingly, while Ami isn't very likable for us, apparently she's very popular and a favorite for other people, including our very own majestic!

@majestic Don't know enough about that character to say, I'm more curious to see what the end result of that character actually is, since I'm not really sure where the hell it's going, .

Edited February 8, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

I think the point was to show that Mamoru is a right douchewaffle. They succeeded. But before we pass blame around, at this point in time neither of them were super mature characters anyway. It's hard to forget but Sailor Moon R somehow plays concurrently to Sailor Moon (no other way Usagi can stay 14 for two years unless they weren't reincarnated as much as there was a time-reset where for some reason they and Luna kept their memories, but perhaps I am overthinking that). Talking it out would have been the mature approach.

Spoiler

Usagi turns 15 in Sailor Moon S, and they solve their problems in R by talking to each other, or rather, by Usagi finding out and being the more mature part for a change in tellig Mamoru that they will solve it together, right?

You're right, Ami was the most popular character of Sailor Moon by far, at least in Japan. I think in the West that might have been Makoto (also Malcador's favorite), but Makoto comes without the burden of all the cultural issues she represents for us (it's not just that she's tall, she also wears long skirts and has wavy hair, everything that's not normal for Japanese women, and it stands in the way of achieving her dreams so much). Poor girl. 

Not gonna lie (and as I already mentioned that in the metal thread anyway):

Spoiler

I had a major crush on Ami when I was 15. And no, she wasn't the only fictional character where that happened (but the only drawn character).

But Ami represents much, much more than that for me, and it's mostly identification and not "I like what they've done with the character", although admittedly I am looking at this from a perspective of having seen the entire run (mostly, apparently, because I definitely missed some SuperS stuff). I might go into more detail on that later (if any of you are really interested, but that's going to become super long winded and might up reading as if I'm trying to come across as... better than I am? I don't know..., it's also probably better served as PM, but hey, uhm, what... completely lost track of what I wanted to type here), but today's super busy. Man, if there's one thing I miss about school - and that's not a whole lot, to be honest - it's having f*ck all responsibilities and virtually endless free time. Meh.

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by majestic

[majestic]

Well, never say watching anime won't teach you anything, I just learned that a part-time job in Japan in called Arbeit, which is the German word for... work (edit: I mean I know what Arbeit means, just didn't knew that it was used in Japan for part-time jobs ).
 

Spoiler

 

Minako is trying to rope the other girls into helping her with what she calls a part time job, then is super coy about what the job will actually be and what the pay's going to be. Ami immediately figures out that it won't pay much, otherwise she'd not tip-toe around this much. But Minako, ever determined, gets another Japanese proverb wrong. I find these jokes relatively funny even though I don't understand any of them, but they're explained in the subtitles. It's not the same as understanding them properly but still, it's enough to chuckle.

The girls are off and Minako brings them to where the work is, and they immediately figure out that it isn't a part time job as much as volunteer community service. Makoto and Usagi aren't exactly thrilled to hear the word volunteer as it implies that working here won't help with their allowance, and Usagi complains that Minako promised them Arbeit, to which Minako replies that Arbeit just means work (well, labor, as it were) in India. Ami of course points out that Arbeit is Doitsu (Japanese for German/Germany).

Usagi of course doesn't care at all for either India or Germany. And then of course the real reason why Minako wants to volunteer (but do as little works as possible) becomes evident when three attractive young men also show up to volunteer, which is enough for Rei and Makoto to force Usagi to come along.

Off to a decent start here.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

6 hours ago, majestic said:

Man, if there's one thing I miss about school - and that's not a whole lot, to be honest - it's having f*ck all responsibilities and virtually endless free time. Meh.

Very poignant for me, given the last episode I watched was S3E11.

Spoiler

...Where Minako is facing a sort of life crisis where she realized that she was spending what should be the funnest years of her life being exhausted and having no time because of doing stupid homework and fighting stupid bad guys, the former of which she does not care about in the slightest, the latter of which...should really not be her problem. Growing up, and even now, I've always had much the same mindset, even going so far as she did in admitting being a cheater when she could be - so long as it doesn't hurt or exploit anyone else, who the hell cares? The only difference is that I've always been the smart-lazy one, so I've always gotten away with being extremely lazy and never really applying myself to anything particularly useful while still doing what appears to be a "good job" so that people have thought highly of me...but I know differently. It was a little bit of a gut-punch to hear her talk like that - knowing that you're a lazy fraud and not really measuring up to whom you should be...and yet still not caring enough to do anything about it because you really just want to goof around and have fun. Similarly to her, in my teen years, I was always absolutely terrified of time passing and growing up - I would've been perfectly content with staying a student in the aim of avoiding adult entanglements for forever. I really don't feel any differently now - being an adult sucks.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

9 hours ago, majestic said:

Man, if there's one thing I miss about school - and that's not a whole lot, to be honest - it's having f*ck all responsibilities and virtually endless free time. Meh.

My school experience was being bored senseless then going to work part-time, so I can't completely relate to that. I do remember [redacted] on the weekends and staying up till 3 in the morning playing videogames or watching movies, neither of which I regularly do these days.

5 hours ago, majestic said:

I just learned that a part-time job in Japan in called Arbeit, which is the German word for... work

I didn't know the former, I knew the latter due to being familiar with a horrible phrase roughly translated from German to English as "work makes you free".

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Very poignant for me, given the last episode I watched was S3E11.

  Reveal hidden contents

...Where Minako is facing a sort of life crisis where she realized that she was spending what should be the funnest years of her life being exhausted and having no time because of doing stupid homework and fighting stupid bad guys, the former of which she does not care about in the slightest, the latter of which...should really not be her problem. Growing up, and even now, I've always had much the same mindset, even going so far as she did in admitting being a cheater when she could be - so long as it doesn't hurt or exploit anyone else, who the hell cares? The only difference is that I've always been the smart-lazy one, so I've always gotten away with being extremely lazy and never really applying myself to anything particularly useful while still doing what appears to be a "good job" so that people have thought highly of me...but I know differently. It was a little bit of a gut-punch to hear her talk like that - knowing that you're a lazy fraud and not really measuring up to whom you should be...and yet still not caring enough to do anything about it because you really just want to goof around and have fun. Similarly to her, in my teen years, I was always absolutely terrified of time passing and growing up - I would've been perfectly content with staying a student in the aim of avoiding adult entanglements for forever. I really don't feel any differently now - being an adult sucks.

 

Same boat, the feelings of guilt for not living up to my potential combined with seeing the work I was doing as useless and irrelevant was very distressing for me. I pretty much sailed out of high school because of my test scores, and could have failed due to not doing projects and busywork. Maybe this all shows how the school system is ****ed and how current working hours are too much. But that would be in politics and something something the market can never be wrong in its divine wisdom bootstraps.

Anyways I guess dinosaurs exist in Sailor Moon because of course they ****ing do.