Sailor Moon

[Spark Of Spirit]

Watching episode 5 really highlighted a fundamental problem with this remake. The episode itself was the usual formula, which itself isn't the main problem, but rather the fact that they allowed it to be that way. What I mean is that, while thus is meant to be a more direct adaptation of the manga, perhaps that is NOT a good thing. For its time I'm sure it was great. However, compared to many series of today, it's silly, and downright demeaning for its target audience, which is young girls.

I've read the original manga. The original series, filler aside, actually tried to improve on the source material. This is exactly why I was never that interested when everyone kept jumping up and joy about it being centered on the manga only. The original manga was fine for its time, but its far too bare-bones.

The main point that highlighted this was at the very end of the episode, where Usagi was declared the leader....just because. Yeah, for any viewer with half a brain, it's clear that she is the least qualified to lead any team. It would be better if another Sailor Scout was sinitially selected to be leader (and any of them are more qualified than Usagi currently is). In turn, Usagi could have worked her way up to becoming a leader as she matured. It may be different than the original, but it SHOULD be different. Having a remake like this would work much better as an update of a classic franchise for modern day kids. Instead it's just a lazy adaptation, and many fans will blindly hide behind the belief that the manga is like the series' holy bible and it must be followed at all times. Quite frankly, I'm sick of this notion, and honestly, series like these could really do with some innovation.

Usagi is a terrible leader at the beginning, yes. That's why the unofficial leader is supposed to be Minako who is actually used to this sort of thing. Until she joins, it's pretty much a free-for-all without anyone having much of a clue about what to do. The original anime worked it in by having more standalone episodes where Usagi actually learns more about being a leader before everyone joins. That's the downside to making the beginning of the series so fast.

And, that doesn't just apply to this series. Series like Hunter X Hunter could also benefit from this treatment. While I like the 2011 anime, they hardly did anything to Improve upon the weaker elements of the manga. The Greed Island arc was still lackluster, and the narration-heavy half of the Chimera Ant arc wasn't re-worked to be better suited to animation (breaking the fundamental concept of "show, don't tell"). It's an adaptation that almost feels pointless to view if you've already read the manga, a big reason for why I prefer the 1999 anime. And for that matter, earlier anime series really did put in a lot more effort to spruce up some stories to make them better, and anime like Ashita no Joe 2, Dragon Ball, and Yu Yu Hakusho are all examples of how to do these sorts of adaptations well.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that Japan has gotten super lazy with anime adaptations of manga, and SMC is the prime example of this. They prefer a quick buck over true innovation, creativity, and quality improvements.

A good adaption of Sailor Moon would have taken what worked best from the manga and the anime, cut out a lot of the filler, and worked from there. But then, adaptions have recently been a lot more straightforward with a lot less involvement in the staff in trying to work out the kinks of the source material.

There is solid stuff here, but no one is really taking advantage of it.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

In this week's episode, Usagi admits to Tuxedo Mask that she is Sailor Moon, and literally a few minutes later, she is surprised that he knows her identity when he calls her Sailor Moon. Do people actually refuse these scripts, or do they literally just pull it out of their ass and go with whatever's on the first draft. On top of that little mishap, Usagi and the rest of the characters are made to be the most incredibly bland cast of any series ever. It's funny because, in the little that I saw of the original anime, I know that they weren't nearly this bland, but this anime literally sucked any fun out of any of the characters. They literally have no personality at all. I mean, just listen to all of their dialogue, and tell me just one time that ANY of them (in the context of this anime alone) have even sounded remotely intereresting, or inspired, or genuine. This while reboot/remake so far feels like an over-long commercial to sell Sailor Moon merchandise to a new generation of kids, and has absolutely no heart to it, whatsoever. Fuck you, Toei. If I ever do get into this series, it'll be through the manga. I refuse to keep watching this crap.

[Dr. Insomniac]

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, so, seriously, who writes this shit? Was this really dialogue from Takeuchi's manga?

[Daikun]

Toei will fix Crystal's shitty animation.

[Speedy]

^ Wow, that is a huge improvement.  I'm actually interested in the series now!

[LumRanmaYasha]

Wow, they are basically re-drawing almost every frame of this. They should have just fixed all the inconsistencies the first time and save themselves time and money. Well, at least we know the show's drawings and animation will be better in the home video version, whenever Viz gets around to dubbing this and releasing that. Whether the versions we already have online will be replaced by these remains to be seen though.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Crystal is finally getting dubbed.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Somehow, this just makes me want to watch the original even more while ignoring this version.

[LumRanmaYasha]

A second season of Sailor Moon Crystal has been confirmed. It will start in the summer, promptly after the first season ends.

[gunswordfist]

Time to give up on humanity.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Why the first anime is better than Crystal.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Crystal's dub will debut at Anime Expo.

[Daikun]

Crystal gets a third season.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I gave up on the show towards the end of the first arc, but I heard that the Black Moon arc was handled a bit better. Death Busters/Infinity is my second favorite arc in the series after Stars, so I'd hope they'd do it justice and don't fuck it up. But this is Toei we're talking about, and after the lack of quality shown from the first season, I expect it to be just as bad.

Seriously though, Crystal, Super...it's one thing for Toei to not give a shit about making World Trigger good, but how can they stand to make such piss-poor, lazily made series based on their most popular and profitable properties? Do they really not have the talent needed to make good shows in their employ, have they spread themselves so thin that their production schedules don't allow them to make anything better, or do they seriously just not care enough to make something good? Thinking about what we should have gotten with SMC and DBS, and what we've been actually given, really annoys me.