Sailor Moon

[Avaitor]

I have to respond to this. There?s no way I can?t.

The idea that you?re angry that, after twenty years, the people re-releasing the original anime and the new anime are remaining faithful to the original material is hypocritical at best, and worse at worst. ?Serena? was not the original Sailor Moon. She never was. She never will be. ?Serena? - and every other example you have listed -  are practically products of the very changes you rail on about and claim to be offended about, when citing your hypothetical George Lucas/Star Trek example. There never was a ?Serena?, save for what was created by DiC, Cloverway and the powers that be which ran the Sailor Moon license in English-speaking countries.

In fact, it is the fact so many changes were made to the anime and manga throughout, not just in English-speaking countries, but in a very large majority of the countries which licensed the show - thus perverting and watering down the original - that no new re-licenses for Sailor Moon occurred for countries outside of Japan in the past decade and a half. The creator you claim is ?ruining? the franchise by insisting the material she created be consistent and uncensored between languages, didn?t want her material - the material she created and also owns - to be censored once more. And yet you think this is a bad thing? She?s the bad guy? Why? Because we finally get to see Usagi Tsukino be spoken as a name in the English language as opposed to ?Serena?, a name Naoko did not approve of? Are you saying its a bad thing that an author has, heaven forbid, licensing control of their own work? Would you say the same thing about, say, J.K. Rowling?

No. But you would about Naoko Takeuchi, because how dare she write about a Japanese girl living in Japan. And how dare she expect something as little as someone respecting her original work.

Its because of ?high-minded? people such as yourself - the so-called ?moral guardians? of Sailor Moon - that we almost didn?t get Sailor Moon re-licensed in English to begin with. The difference is, you?re right. You now have very little power to change things. Why? Because times have changed and so have most fans of Sailor Moon. The days where something like the DiC dub could censor things wholesale and the companies who licensed it could get away with it without scrutiny, is dead and gone. In Sailor Moon?s case, the license also now belongs to the creator, and she has the final say on who she best believes will represent her brand in our country - and around the world.

More than that, though, thankfully. Fans are on a whole smarter about their dubs and the companies doing them than they were 20 years ago. They better understand that things like the imperfect DiC dub were precisely that - imperfect, if not outright offensive to the original material. The advent of the internet aided in the understanding that the dub was barely an accurate representation of the original series, and allowed for the viewing of the original series, translated by dedicated fans. There are entire websites dedicated to just how many changes were made to the original anime and manga to ?pass scrutiny? with the censors - up to and including taking out episodes and erasing out the Japanese culture  which permeated through the original Sailor Moon story from animation cels. Changing character?s sexualities and entire identities - including Zoicite, who was originally male (and in the anime, in a -GASP- homosexual relationship with Kunzite/Malachite!) - in an attempt to whitewash the series and make it more ?palatable? to the powers that be who didn?t want anything ?offensive? in their ?American programming was done wholescale.

That?s not something to celebrate and embrace. That is the truly offensive thing that has been done to Sailor Moon. But if you want to cling to the ridiculously outdated myth of ?Serena?, go ahead. Leave. Don?t support the Sailor Moon franchise anymore. The only one losing out on this is you and I doubt there will be many who will mourn your absence after your absolutely offensive words. If you can?t bother to educate yourself as to why ?Serena? is incorrect and always was - regardless of whether you learned of Sailor Moon through the dub - then you might never have been a fan to begin with.

"Serena" is dead. Long live Usagi Tsukino.

Goodbye.

This is a good response.

[Daikun]

The first four episodes are up now on Neon Alley!

http://www.viz.com/anime/streaming/sailor-moon

[LumRanmaYasha]

Crunchyroll will streaming Sailor Moon Crystal, as will Neon Alley and Hulu. Episodes premiere July 4th at 3pm PDT, new episodes every other friday.

[Dr. Insomniac]

[Commode]

^I saw a scene similar to that at Mardi Gras a few months back, except it was two dudes in a full embrace and everybody was cheering them on.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Trailer for Sailor Moon Crystal.

The animation and art design look really good, much better than I was expecting from modern Toei. I'm definitely more confident the series will turn out great, now.

[Lord Il]

^Still retains that rightful shoujo art style. Nice!
Animation is slick.

This is good to see because I was curious if they were going botch things up by changing the character designs.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I like the original designs, too.

Is this going to be 100% faithful to the manga? Some of the changes in the anime were better, in my opinion. Nephrite for one.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Is this going to be 100% faithful to the manga? Some of the changes in the anime were better, in my opinion. Nephrite for one.

That's what they claim. As far as the original anime's changes go, I liked how they gave most of the major recurring villains actual personality and characterization whereas most in the manga were just enemies for the Senshi to kill off in the span of a chapter. But since this adaption shouldn't have filler and whatnot, I doubt they'll expand on their characters like in the original series.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Leaked footage from the first episode of Crystal!

I don't care for the new opening theme, but the animation in it is pretty awesome, especially the part where the Senshi are performing their attacks. I don't know why they are doing the transformation sequences in CG for this, but it looked pretty decent to me so I can't really complain (it's leagues better than the CG in the Berserk movies, at any rate, though it's also a ways off from being Tiger & Bunny level good CG scenes either). Anyway, the show looks good animation and art direction wise, so I'm hopeful that the series will be well done. I anticipate friday.

[Daikun]

I've just been reminded that Crystal premieres THIS WEEK!

My, how time flies...

[LumRanmaYasha]

New dub cast for Sailor Moon revealed!

Good picks, I'd say. I think the choices for the Senshi are pretty perfect.

Anyway, I watched the first episode of Crystal, and thought it was alright.The production values are good and the acting is solid, though the occasional use of CG is a little bothersome and at some points I felt Usagi's seiyuu overacted. The opening has grown on me especially with it's incredibly feminist lyrics, the ending I can take and leave, and the OST is serviceable but not memorable yet. The episode was a pretty straightforward adaption of the first chapter of the manga, so I'd expect that the series will have one chapter an episode pacing (taking it through the Black Moon Kingdom story arc). I wouldn't say this first episode blew me away, but I liked it well enough and overall feel it'll be a fun series to keep up with.

[LumRanmaYasha]

The first blu-ray set of Sailor Moon is now available to pre-order on Rightstuf!

$57 bucks for 23 episodes is kind of a lot, and more than what I was expecting since the Ranma 1/2 blu-rays have the same amount of episodes for only $40 dollars. However, they are re-dubbing this damn thing and it is a blu-ray/dvd combo pack with an 88 page full-color premium booklet, so it's understandable why it costs that much. I'm not sure if I can keep up with these releases, since I'm already keeping up with the Ranma sets plus a bunch of manga purchases, but the fact this set is coming out on my birthday does make it sort of tempting to get it for that occasion. Still, this is sure to be a high-quality release that I'm sure a lot of people will be glad to finally have.

[Avaitor]

I'm going to watch the new series later tonight, but I can't say that I'm interested in owning the old one. There's just too much fluff in it to hold up, but I still think SM has some good ideas behind it.

Edit: Not a bad first episode. It's basically a remake of the original's first, but since I'm not very familiar with the manga, I can't tell if this is the first story period. Still, the animation is quite nice and works for the story, which is still pretty solid.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'll be honest, I was never that into Sailor Moon. Granted that, I haven't read the manga, which I would imagine is better than the anime, but the old anime was a bit too slow-paced and repetitive to my liking, and I did watch it subbed (albeit only the first 20 episodes or so). I recognize it as a classic, of course, but I never felt that compelled to continue on with the story. I'll give this version a shot, since it's supposed to be more faithful to the manga, anyways, without any filler, but I'm honestly not expecting much, which is probably for the best since it's easiest to change my mind when I have low expectations.