(L+CR) Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal

[Frumix]

Episode 3... I'm so confused now!

Originally Posted by Baldurkai

Otherwise they just did a final fantasy 13 on you loyal fans.

Hahaha wow hyperbole much

[Flower]

Ep 3

Another good ep for me - I really continue liking the faithfulness to the manga source and also found Rei's intro ep very enjoyable. (Her transformation sequence was nice too.)

Must admit though - even I noticed the artistic corners cut (a rare thing for me) and Jadeite calling Sailor Mars a "rascal" while he was being burned sounded pretty clumsy. ^^ Must be a better word tl wise....

Also was surprised about Tuxedo Mask catching her in the process of a transformation sequence ... things move fast here!

Also continue to really like the ED. Am such a sucker for stuff like that.

[Baldurkai]

Well that was at least a slightly better episode than ep 2, however the quality is still poor. Weird faces still popping up all over the place. Still very disappointed that in 2 weeks this is all they could do with improvements (if there even was any).

What i did like was Sailor Mars transformation sequence, rather flashy and did not look too bad apart from the weird face popping in to visit her at the very end pose.

Sigh not much hope for episode 4... 6 weeks in and this is what they give us ...

[BloodyKitty]

It seems the only things the staff know what they're doing are the storyline and foreshadowing. *sigh*

Also, I have my suspicions from ep 3 preview (which mostly spoiled Mars transformation that must have been done before all else and not much new footage) but the footage for ep 4 preview are mostly from episode 1, it seems they have all first 3 episodes done in a rushed manner (by outsourcing if the rumors are right) and they had to finish the Moon Pride MV as well, so maybe for now episode 4 hasn't even been done much yet.

At least Beryl looks gorgeous every time she appears.

[GDB]

Mikoto... or rather Rei, for best Guardian.

[BloodyKitty]

^ Who's Mikoto? Her name is Hino Rei

[novalysis]

A potentially blasphemous though occurred to me. Were Sailor Moon written today, it might well be published in a LN, with the Second Year High School Student, Mamoru as our main Protagonist, the Sailor Senshis as Middle Schoolers, and the story indulging in Harem tropes and cliches, where Usagi is an Idiot Main Girl with her Genkiness emphasized and her interactions with Mamoru slanted towards the Tsundere trope.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by novalysis

A potentially blasphemous though occurred to me. Were Sailor Moon written today, it might well be published in a LN, with the Second Year High School Student, Mamoru as our main Protagonist, the Sailor Senshis as Middle Schoolers, and the story indulging in Harem tropes and cliches, where Usagi is an Idiot Main Girl with her Genkiness emphasized and her interactions with Mamoru slanted towards the Tsundere trope.

I disagree. First, SM is a shoujo manga IIRC, so why would a shoujo manga for girls suddenly need to turn into harem LN for males just because it’s written in this era? Second, the magical girl genre is still alive and well to this day. Do you see Pretty Cure, Nanoha, Madoka, etc need to turn themselves into harem stories to survive the market? I don't think so. So, were Sailormoon written today, it doesn't have to turn into a harem. It just needs better writing without losing the core/spirit of the story.

[Benigmatica]

Originally Posted by BloodyKitty

^ Who's Mikoto? Her name is Hino Rei

Mikoto Misaka is from To aru Kagaku no Railgun (part of Index series). Both Mikoto and Rei shared one voice actress, Rina Satou.

Speaking of Rei, is Toei trying to make a "meguca" out of her?

[novalysis]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

I disagree. First, SM is a shoujo manga IIRC, so why would a shoujo manga for girls suddenly need to turn into harem LN for males just because it’s written in this era? Second, the magical girl genre is still alive and well to this day. Do you see Pretty Cure, Nanoha, Madoka, etc need to turn themselves into harem stories to survive the market? I don't think so. So, were Sailormoon written today, it doesn't have to turn into a harem. It just needs better writing without losing the core/spirit of the story.

Like I said, it was thought - a potentially blasphemous , and probably quite stray thought. That being said, neither Nanoha nor Madoka were based out of Mangas - but rather, out of the anime medium. Are there actually Magical Girl Mangas gaining prominence in recent years (besides CCS) ? I get the impression that the number of Mahou Shojou's stories published have fallen off considerably- and I can't recall any Mahou Shojou Mangas that actually got an anime, in the last few years. Gen-ei and Vividred were Anime Originals, not Mangas.

I suspect that it is very probable that the story has to be Anime Original, or go LN to stand a chance to hit prime-time, in the current market. You have a very valid point when it comes to Anime-originals - there are substantial examples of Anime-Originals Mahou Shojous being highly successful, and very well done. But when was the last time we had a BIG Magical Girl Franchise that started as a Manga - and I don't mean Prisma Illya, since Prisma Illya is a Nasuverse spinoff ?(The last I can recall is CCS, so I apologize for my possible ignorance ahead of time - and yes, Nanoha is similar to Prisma Illya, in that they both are spinoffs from VNs). Of course, this is a counter-factual what-if , given the impact of Sailor Moon on the Industry itself.

Don't get me wrong - I know there are well selling Shojou Mangas that are highly successful - but I don't recall big Shojou Magical Girl Mangas, that aren't spinoffs or Manga adaptations of Anime-original series or popular VNs. And given how Male Gaze seems to be driving Sales in the Shojou Market right now (the sales of Free! is a good example), the tenor of Sailor Moon may well be substantially different.

I don't think it's that far-fetched though, to imagine the idea of Sailor Moon ending up in a LN - it's not a given, but I think it's a possibility. And that's where it becomes vulnerable to all those harem tropes, although, I do acknowledge that this isn't necessarily a gurantee

[HandofFate]

hm..
Railgun Mars doesn't really hit, but once transformed, I found her 'battle voice' fits really well.
Just that regular mode, I'm too reminded of Misaka.

What's with this Sailor V arcade game giving guardian tools as prizes.

Wow, the faces were really derpy this episode. The other two episodes, some stuff was off, but I could ignore it. 3rd episode, it seemed the whole episode, every face was flat.
Its just kind of surprising since its a bi-weekly/high profile IP, you think the budget and effort would be at least average.

I like the small detail of Rei wearing earrings in her miko attire. Such a mix of sexiness and 'pure' since I don't think your suppose to have jewelry or makeup on while performing such duties. But its what you expect for one willing to do battle in high heels.

Was hyped for Mars transformation, but it felt like the most eye-candy part, it had the least frames out of any. It was like watching things skip 1 sec after the other. And way too much fire that you can't actually see her spinning and pose. Mercury's was much more refined and you can appreciate the water turning into her clothes.

Her rollcall is nice though. These girls don't take long to think up their catchphrases out of the blue.


Please chastise me mars!

[Benigmatica]

If Sailor Mars leaned down a little bit, it'll scream Jojo pose! But yes, Rei's face is flat and inconsistent on Ep. 3.

[Kanon]

I don't get how a show that's released every two weeks can look so bad. They must have only 3 animators working on this. For a big franchise like Sailor Moon, this is pretty shameful. If this goes on, I'll just drop the show and read the manga. What's the point of watching this if they don't put any effort into it?

I'm interested in the new voices though, so I'll at least keep watching until the end of the season. I really want to hear Shizuka Itou as Venus!

There's one that surprised me quite a bit while watching this episode: Zoisite looked and sounded pretty damn manly. So much so that I thought he was Kunzite at first. A big departure from the original anime Zoisite who was quite effeminate. I'm expecting other things to change regarding him.

Rei was also different from her original anime counterpart, but I was already told about it so no surprises there. Looks like she'll be the pure maiden of the group.

[Random Wanderer]

Leaving complaints of quality aside, what caught my attention was how well Rei and Usagi got along here. I never saw the episode where they met in the original series, but what I do recall of their relationship included a lot of bickering.

[Arkeus]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Leaving complaints of quality aside, what caught my attention was how well Rei and Usagi got along here. I never saw the episode where they met in the original series, but what I do recall of their relationship included a lot of bickering.

More or less all the bickering in the previous anime were 'Fillers'.

[JagdPanther]

Originally Posted by Flower

Must admit though - even I noticed the artistic corners cut (a rare thing for me) and Jadeite calling Sailor Mars a "rascal" while he was being burned sounded pretty clumsy. ^^ Must be a better word tl wise....

That was HILARIOUS. I burst out laughing at that.

[Dop]

So... Am i starting to get used to Usagi's voice, or has Mitsuishi Kotono toned it down a bit?
Because I'm not getting the 'fingernails on a blackboard' reaction I had in episode 1.

Have to admit, 'rascal' is not the word I'd use if someone lit me on fire.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by novalysis

I suspect that it is very probable that the story has to be Anime Original, or go LN to stand a chance to hit prime-time, in the current market. You have a very valid point when it comes to Anime-originals - there are substantial examples of Anime-Originals Mahou Shojous being highly successful, and very well done. But when was the last time we had a BIG Magical Girl Franchise that started as a Manga - and I don't mean Prisma Illya, since Prisma Illya is a Nasuverse spinoff ?(The last I can recall is CCS, so I apologize for my possible ignorance ahead of time - and yes, Nanoha is similar to Prisma Illya, in that they both are spinoffs from VNs). Of course, this is a counter-factual what-if , given the impact of Sailor Moon on the Industry itself.

Don't get me wrong - I know there are well selling Shojou Mangas that are highly successful - but I don't recall big Shojou Magical Girl Mangas, that aren't spinoffs or Manga adaptations of Anime-original series or popular VNs. And given how Male Gaze seems to be driving Sales in the Shojou Market right now (the sales of Free! is a good example), the tenor of Sailor Moon may well be substantially different.

I don't think it's that far-fetched though, to imagine the idea of Sailor Moon ending up in a LN - it's not a given, but I think it's a possibility. And that's where it becomes vulnerable to all those harem tropes, although, I do acknowledge that this isn't necessarily a gurantee

When i said “magical girl genre is still alive & well today” I meant it in various media (yes, that includes anime originals too). It shows you that the genre itself is far from dying out and won't resort to turning itself into harem for males. Some anime even explore it further like Madoka and the over-the-top Kill la Kill. As for popular mahou-shoujo mangas after CC Sakura, from the top of my head, I remember Tokyo Mew Mew (adapted into 52-ep anime & games), Ask Dr. Rin (adapted into 51-ep anime), and Mermaid Melody (adapted into 52 + 39-ep anime). Those series were released after 2000 and at that time for a shoujo manga to be adapted into anime for more than 50 episodes, it must be quite popular (at least among girls as their target readers). Of course, those titles didn’t create BIG franchises like SM, CCS, Nanoha & Madoka as those are really exceptions to the rule, just like you can’t expect every actor playing villain to be as stellar as Heath Ledger’s Joker. As for less prominent manga titles, there’s always something like Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne (adapted to 44-ep anime), Kamichama Karin (adapted into 26-ep anime), Pretear (adapted into 13-ep anime), and many others that escape my mind. Manga is still a strong media for adaptation materials, the problem now is how many mangakas still want to write good mahou-shoujo mangas.

[Nerroth]

When Rei said "In the name of Mars, I will chastise you!", I couldn't help but think of Aldnoah.Zero; another show where the power of Mars is summoned in anger (albeit for very different purposes).

As someone unfamiliar with the source material, I think it would be ironic if the "princess" ended up having the same VA as Asseylum.

[Mazryonh]

Originally Posted by Arkeus

More or less all the bickering in the previous anime were 'Fillers'.

It might have been filler, but seeing Usagi and Rei stick their tongues out at each other (like near the end of Episode 43 of the 1st season) every so often was pretty funny.

Besides, does anyone else remember how in the run-up to Crystal's airing, we got a small set of segments with the new generation of the Senshis' voice actresses?

According to the subs provided by MissDream, Rina Satou (Sailor Mars' new seiyuu) "never thought a day would come when she would get to play Hino Rei." So this is a dream come true for her. It'll be very interesting to see how she handles herself during the series' more intense moments.

Given that everyone here's talking about the lack of quality in the show, I wonder if someone in Japan will mash together the "off model" moments in the show in an internet video, and then use that for a cause to get the various fans over there to demand better quality on the BD releases or the like. It's not like this isn't going to be a bestseller, especially with all the merchandise they're selling pretty fast.