(L+CR) Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal

[minaku]

Originally Posted by ginger02

It was a nice episode. I never saw the first episode so it's nice to finally see it.

Some issues

-Usagi's voice is incredibly grating (though no disrespect to her voice actor). Though perhaps it will change has Usagi does. Being a dub watcher, I kind of miss Serena's voice. Wonder if anyone will dub the show.

-The CGI during the transformation. I wonder why they decided to use that. Is it easier?

-How come Usagi never questioned why Luna can talk?

I really like the animation for the tiara attack though. Also enjoying Luna's voice. I liked her voice in the dub, but she had a more refined, older lady feel to her voice then.

She actually was shocked by the fact Luna talk

[PreSage]

I wonder if Kotono's voice for Usagi will improve once Usagi's character matures in later events. I think there'll be less ditzy screaming once things become more serious (as I remember, the manga plot does become more serious and darker later).

[playmaker2k]

Originally Posted by Arlia

I'm so in.

I was already gonna watch this for the long haul, but giving a "shounen-style" action sequence in the OP like that only made it better.

Plus, I'm here for Rei and Minako.

Minako's just

Rei is my first introduction to Bishoujos.

To this very day, her influence is still relevant.

*Points at avatar and sig*

[Mazryonh]

Originally Posted by CrowKenobi

Viz has already announced the dub cast for their Sailor Moon dub.

I'm sure quite a few people will be disappointed that the original English VAs from the 90s won't be reprising their roles for this remake. Then again, they're in good company, as the 90s Japanese VAs aren't doing so either.

[JagdPanther]

Okay, so I am in the middle of watching the episode. Gotta ask this now or else I'll forget.

I haven't read the manga in a really long time nor have I seen Season 1 in a really long time. Did Usagi not know who Sailor V was in either the manga or Season 1? I was taken aback just now by Usagi asking Umino who Sailor V was. I could've sworn Usagi was hooked on Sailor V in the original anime and the manga.

Oh, and some of this animation is making me cringe. When Usagi was standing outside the classroom something seemed really wrong with her face. Very weird edges...

But, so far, it IS bringing back the memories... I need to rewatch the anime and reread the manga starting, like, NOW....

[YourIdeas]

Originally Posted by Mazryonh

I'm sure quite a few people will be disappointed that the original English VAs from the 90s won't be reprising their roles for this remake. Then again, they're in good company, as the 90s Japanese VAs aren't doing so either.

The English dub actually went through enough cast changes that the only character who consistently kept her VA was Sailor Jupiter.

Even if their VAs were preserved, VAs are much less prominent outside of Japan, with the most well known ones generally being people who voiced a long running character or had a very distinctive role/voice. Mila Kunis as Meg, Nancy Cartwright as Bart, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, etc. The Sailor Moon cast doesn't have many (if any) big names, as far as I know.

[novalysis]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

It's easy to forget this, but prior to Nanoha and the Pretty Cure shows, the magical girl lead character often started out as being kind of loser-ish. They'd be a bit whiny, a bit superficial, average-seeming at best and utterly uninspiring at worst. I think the idea was to give the character a lot of room for positive character growth, and also an attempt at an "everyman" (or, in this case, "everygirl") appeal.

The good news here is that Sailor Moon will gradually get better in most respects. Still, I do recall her being a tremendously clutzy fighter who relied fairly heavily on special long-range magical attacks to resolve battles.

If that's the case, I think it demonstrates that Usagi has not aged very well as a character - Sailor Moon is not just an originator of many magical girl tropes, but uses characterizations that rarely appear in the genre anymore, or indeed, in most of anime. Then again, I have never watched magical girl shows of the Sailor Moon era, so Sailor Moon probably comes as a bit of a shock for me.

Actually, a terrifying thought occurred to me - Usagi, if she was a male, and Sailor Moon was written today, would make a very fitting type of Male Harem Protagonist - the kind of protagonist who are utter losers. The strategy of "everyman" appeal (by designing the character along the lowest common denominator) still exist today in some genres in anime (Harem LNs is one notorious example- though even in the harem genre, that strategy seems to be dying out too).


It doesn't help that Usagi's borderline infantile behavior in the first episode is at odds with her character design. The blonde hair of course, is partly a problem - Usagi immediately seems to fit the Dumb Blonde trope to the T, which I am not particularly fond of seeing used. Furthermore, her character design makes her look 18 - older than she is, which is ironic, given modern anime tend to make females look younger than they are. I suspect modern anime has conditioned me to mentally adjust a character age upwards. This probably creates a dissonance between apparent age , and behavior - had Usagi a more age accurate appearance (that's one crazily tall and well developed 13 years old), I suspect she could have gotten away with quite alot more.

After hearing the responses, I am now more reassured that Sailor Moon is a coming of age story, rather than the glorification of the Idiot hero.

[Dark Wing]

Originally Posted by novalysis

After hearing the responses, I am now more reassured that Sailor Moon is a coming of age story, rather than the glorification of the Idiot hero.

Ding! Ding! Right you are and I do hope more people keep this in mind while watching. I know we're all used to bad ass girls being bad ass but Usagi was never like that Rei (Sailor Mars) was more of a leader type before Usagi started to step up and even then she was still kind of a girly girl.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Sailor Moon never took itself too seriously (except for the big boss battles), so you really shouldn't either.

[BloodyKitty]

I'm not very fond of the lips gloss thing for the female characters. It looks ok in their Sailor transformed state, but I don't quite like how they have that in their normal state.




Just look at the edited picture without the lips thing, I think Usagi looks more like her age and her usual character now than the real picture.

Usually I think the strength of Sailor Moon is that their female cast is varied and each girl has their own personality and backstory that girls in real life can relate to and draw strength from. So even if I myself don't really relate to Usagi as a character, there are other girls that interest me more, so I'm definitely looking forward to meeting more of them.

[PreSage]

Originally Posted by JagdPanther

Okay, so I am in the middle of watching the episode. Gotta ask this now or else I'll forget.

I haven't read the manga in a really long time nor have I seen Season 1 in a really long time. Did Usagi not know who Sailor V was in either the manga or Season 1? I was taken aback just now by Usagi asking Umino who Sailor V was. I could've sworn Usagi was hooked on Sailor V in the original anime and the manga.

Oh, and some of this animation is making me cringe. When Usagi was standing outside the classroom something seemed really wrong with her face. Very weird edges...

But, so far, it IS bringing back the memories... I need to rewatch the anime and reread the manga starting, like, NOW....

Usagi knows about Sailor V; she's a major fan of Sailor V. I think she was asking who the real identity of Sailor V is.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by PreSage

Usagi knows about Sailor V; she's a major fan of Sailor V. I think she was asking who the real identity of Sailor V is.

The episode made it appear that she had never heard of Sailor V before. Not just in that scene, but also when she saw the poster at the arcade.

[konart]

Meanwhile

YouTube

https://youtu.be/V-n-VFA0FAs

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[Kismet-chan]

Originally Posted by BloodyKitty

Just look at the edited picture without the lips thing, I think Usagi looks more like her age and her usual character now than the real picture.

I have mixed feelings because while I personally prefer how she looks without the gloss, it's not like it doesn't make sense for a girl her age to be wearing it.

In the end, they likely did it for manga art accuracy above all else.

Usually I think the strength of Sailor Moon is that their female cast is varied and each girl has their own personality and backstory that girls in real life can relate to and draw strength from. So even if I myself don't really relate to Usagi as a character, there are other girls that interest me more, so I'm definitely looking forward to meeting more of them.

This I definitely agree with. When I was younger, I identified with various bits of pieces of characteristics/backstory across the different girls. Usagi's never been my favorite, but she often made me laugh, and whatever I couldn't get out of her on an emotional level was easily found in her fellow scouts.

[Benigmatica]

Originally Posted by konart

Meanwhile

YouTube

https://youtu.be/V-n-VFA0FAs

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

You know it would be best if Toei Animation would use some of the music from the tribute album... Even though Moon Pride is good (thanks to Revo from Sound Horizon, as well as Momoiro Clover Z), I think Moonlight Densetsu fits better!

[minaku]

Originally Posted by JagdPanther

Okay, so I am in the middle of watching the episode. Gotta ask this now or else I'll forget.

I haven't read the manga in a really long time nor have I seen Season 1 in a really long time. Did Usagi not know who Sailor V was in either the manga or Season 1? I was taken aback just now by Usagi asking Umino who Sailor V was. I could've sworn Usagi was hooked on Sailor V in the original anime and the manga.

Oh, and some of this animation is making me cringe. When Usagi was standing outside the classroom something seemed really wrong with her face. Very weird edges...

But, so far, it IS bringing back the memories... I need to rewatch the anime and reread the manga starting, like, NOW....

Usagi didn't know who Sailor V was in the first episode of the old anime and the first chapter of the manga. When she learns from Umino about her she becomes a fan of her. And the rendition of Moonlight Densetsu made by MomoClo is awful... They at least decided to saves us from hearing our favourite song buchered like this for 26 episodes.

[Sakuya]

I have a feeling they will do a better job with the romance aspect what with the foreshadowing dream sequence and the "deja vu" stare scene. Someone mentioned earlier that they would be incorporating some of Naoko's original ideas that didn't make it into the anime or manga. I'm kind of excited about that.

As for the animation, I think it's best if we further lower our expectations. They only have 2 weeks to work on each new episode whereas they had a bit longer for the first episode, right? Do you think Mercury's transformation would look better?

Originally Posted by Benigmatica

You know it would be best if Toei Animation would use some of the music from the tribute album... Even though Moon Pride is good (thanks to Revo from Sound Horizon, as well as Momoiro Clover Z), I think Moonlight Densetsu fits better!

Haha, I knew someone would come up with that kind of video!

[minaku]

Originally Posted by Sakuya

I have a feeling they will do a better job with the romance aspect what with the foreshadowing dream sequence and the "deja vu" stare scene. Someone mentioned earlier that they would be incorporating some of Naoko's original ideas that didn't make it into the anime or manga. I'm kind of excited about that.

As for the animation, I think it's best if we further lower our expectations. They only have 2 weeks to work on each new episode whereas they had a bit longer for the first episode, right? Do you think Mercury's transformation would look better?



Haha, I knew someone would come up with that kind of video!

I am sure they have many things animated for at least 6 or 7 episodes, but they make finishing touches till the very end. But I really hate this tribute album, this songs were beautiful, they had proper instrumentals with pianos, violins, guitars. This tribute album is entirely made on sound synthesizer. Yes, Moon Pride can't replace Moonlight densetsu, but at least has a proper reach instrumental.

[creb]

Wait...that was Kotono Mitsuishi doing Sailor Moon's voice? It sounded nothing like her, and was easily the most annoying character voice I've heard in...well...years.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Kismet-chan

I have mixed feelings because while I personally prefer how she looks without the gloss, it's not like it doesn't make sense for a girl her age to be wearing it.

I think it has to be considered how this is typically handled in anime in general, though. Usually, lip gloss and lipstick are reserved for adult female characters, or at least teenagers in their late teens (17 or older). It's very rare for me to see a lot of lip gloss or lipstick on female anime characters in their early teens.

Combine this with Sailor Moon's more adult-like physical frame, and it really is very hard to see her as a girl in her early-to-mid teens.

So I'm inclined to agree with BloodyKitty. If we're supposed to take the Sailor Scouts as being in their early teens, losing the lip gloss would definitely help.

[Vegard Aune]

On all the comments on Usagi's voice being all horrendously bad though... I will admit my exposure to what I am referring to is extremely limited but... I remember being far more put off by her dub-voice from S and SuperS. Where she literally sounded like a middle-aged woman not even trying to sound younger. Actually, the first I ever saw of the Sailor Moon anime was a dubbed clip from an episode of SuperS, and as soon as Serena spoke, I was just like "That sounds absolutely nothing like a teenager what the hell."

...Though I will not deny that she sounds miscast here too. If they were gonna change the entire rest of the cast anyway, they might as well have also given us a new actor for Usagi herself. Of course, then we would undoubtedly have people going "BRING BACK KOTONO MITSUISHI DAMMIT!", so...