Animation Sailor Moon: Crystal

[Manic]

You know what I didn't notice about SuperS back when I watched it as a teenager? The Amazon Trio were a bunch of sexual predators. So far (on Hulu's releases) Hawk's Eye and Tiger's Eye have made every attack, and their victims are always women they're attracted to. They're always flirting and making sexual advances to lure them somewhere isolated. Then when the women get uncomfortable and start to reject them, they drop the facade, pull out weapons, strap them to a table, and shove their faces into the women's chests (okay, the mirrors floating over their chests, but still).

It's not even subtle. I mean, the Witches 5 were monsters for ripping your hearts out of your chests, but the Amazon Trio look like they're straight-up violating their victims before trying to kill them. It's really disturbing.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I don't know what happened when they decided to adapt the last two seasons, they just deviated so much for some reason.

 

[Leenie]

You know what I didn't notice about SuperS back when I watched it as a teenager? The Amazon Trio were a bunch of sexual predators. So far (on Hulu's releases) Hawk's Eye and Tiger's Eye have made every attack, and their victims are always women they're attracted to. They're always flirting and making sexual advances to lure them somewhere isolated. Then when the women get uncomfortable and start to reject them, they drop the facade, pull out weapons, strap them to a table, and shove their faces into the women's chests (okay, the mirrors floating over their chests, but still).

It's not even subtle. I mean, the Witches 5 were monsters for ripping your hearts out of your chests, but the Amazon Trio look like they're straight-up violating their victims before trying to kill them. It's really disturbing.

This is actually a big part of the reason why the Amazon Trio episodes rank among my least favorite episodes of the entire anime. They always creeped me out because of how rape-y they were. Glad I'm not the only one who notices this. A lot of Sailor Moon fans don't seem to talk about it or notice it ... Maybe they're just avoiding an elephant in the room? I don't know, but I've always noticed this.

A lot of people say they don't like the SuperS season because it's too lighthearted as a followup to S and that season's "dark" themes, but I disagree with that notion. Sure, the SuperS season may look more feminine and pastel, but the stuff with the Amazon Trio was really messed up, in my opinion. The final episode of SuperS (which is actually a fantastic episode in its own right, despite the overall quality of the season) was pretty dark and twisted too ... But in a good way. Nehelenia was pretty awesome. SuperS is easily my least favorite season, but it's not because it isn't edgy or dark ... Because I think it is, but in a really awkward way with the Trio.

In a way, I guess you could interpret the Senshi versus the Amazon Trio as a message of respect towards people (especially women) and consent (which can be a really positive message to young girls), but I've always felt the whole thing was so unnecessary and uncomfortable for what is supposed to be a kid's show. At least the show didn't display the Trio's actions as a positive or comical thing? I much prefer the SuperS episodes with the Quartet; they were much more fun and likable.

When it comes to the SuperS and Stars seasons deviating so much from the original manga, I think it hurt SuperS, but helped Stars. I overall prefer the 90's anime to the manga, but the Dream arc is VASTLY superior to the SuperS anime. When it comes to Stars, though, I think the anime is far better. The Stars manga got very convoluted by the end to the point where I didn't care all that much ... Jeez, can you imagine Crystal doing the Stars Arc? Crystal is messy enough as is ... I think it would be unwatchable if they did the final arc ...

 

[Manic]

There are people out there saying that a season of Sailor Moon was too light, feminine, and pastel? What anime had they been watching previously? Sailor Moon herself literally gets more colorful and accessorized as she gets more powerful.

Anyway, apart from the creepy undertones with the Amazon Trio, I also didn't like how long SuperS felt (even though it's not longer than other seasons, it just drags on). And the extra focus on Chibi-Usa, not to mention the anime had to contort every episode's plot to make sure Usagi and Chibi-Usa were right next to each other whenever they needed to transform/attack.

Speaking of their transformation/attacks, my god I hated Moon & Chibi Moon's Super upgrade during SuperS. It's so vestigial. They're not really any more powerful. Chibi Moon's only power is to use that bell to summon Pegasus, and Moon can't attack at all unless Pegasus is there to give her kaleidoscope power. Sailor Moon looks like the butterfly-winged Messiah from S, but she's useless without Pegasus.

And there's a stupid plot point for you: Pegasus. The Dead Moon Circus is searching for Pegasus, but he keeps popping up right in front of them. Every time Moon needs to destroy a lemures, Chibi Moon summons Pegasus. He's not doing a very good job of hiding from his pursuers, is he? It just defies all logic.

Were the Outer Guardians in the Dream arc of the manga? Because I really miss the Outers.

 

[Leenie]

Oh yeah, my main complaint with SuperS is that the filler is a chore to get through. At least the filler in the previous seasons added character development and fun. The filler in SuperS mostly dealt with one-shot characters that we never see again, with lots of Chibi-Usa stuff added in.

I also completely agree that Super Sailor Moon seems so much weaker in this compared to S, which is pretty sad. I think my favorite part of Super Sailor Moon in this season, is the Moon Gorgeous Meditation attack itself (it was well-animated and fun) ... But I do agree that she shouldn't need Pegasus to do every single thing.

I also agree with you about The Dead Moon Circus's plan. There is one episode, though, where the Trio makes an attempt at being smart (they set a trap for when Chibi-Moon uses her Twinkle Yell).

The Outers are in the Dream Arc of the manga, and they are awesome in it. That alone makes the Dream Arc better than the SuperS anime, in my opinion. The Outers were very missed in SuperS.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I am not looking forward to Mini Moons debut and her take over of the show for the next 2 seasons, let alone having to listen to her and Moon so much.

 

[Manic]

In fairness, Chibi Moon doesn't really get much to do during S outside of bond with Hotaru. She doesn't even get a real transformation sequence. She doesn't even show up until 14 episodes into the season. If anything, her role is slightly downgraded from the attention she got during R.

Can't defend SuperS.

 

[Leenie]

I really liked Chibi-Usa in Sailor Moon S, to be honest. The comedy with her was funny, and she was actually a really sweet person all around. I love her friendship with Hotaru, too. That's my favorite use of the Chibi-Usa character, I suppose.

In Sailor Moon R, she didn't bother me for the most part. She was just a scared little kid, and understandably so. I also liked the dynamic between her and Usagi throughout the season, and how the season showed Usagi growing to care a lot about her. And whenever Chibi-Usa did something really bad and brash, Usagi would react in a way that most of us would react as well. I don't know, it's been something I've liked about the R season and Usagi's character development all around.

In SuperS, there was just too much of Chibi-Usa. I like most of her interactions with Pegasus (and some of those dream sequences are some of the best bits of animation from the entire series; very pretty), but I feel that the season put her on the front stage far too much. With Usagi growing as a leader and a character throughout the show, I feel that her maturity took a few steps back in SuperS just to make Chibi-Usa look more mature. That's an aspect of SuperS that I've never enjoyed.

All in all, I don't mind Chibi-Usa ... But as a main character, I don't find her to be all that interesting. She's at her best when she's able to bring out the best in Usagi, if that makes any sense. That said, there are still some really good and clever episodes in SuperS. It's just that the bland episodes far outweigh the good ones.

 

[Manic]

Is Fish's Eye a man? All this time I thought he was the girl of the Amazon Trio. Turns out the whole trio is male, and he's just very feminine. I wish I could blame Cloverway's old dub for confusing me, but I honestly didn't realize while watching these subs until one of the episodes Hulu released today.

 

[Leenie]

Is Fish's Eye a man? All this time I thought he was the girl of the Amazon Trio. Turns out the whole trio is male, and he's just very feminine. I wish I could blame Cloverway's old dub for confusing me, but I honestly didn't realize while watching these subs until one of the episodes Hulu released today.

Yup, Fish's Eye is a man. Save from a few shirtless scenes he has in the series, he could easily pass for a female. And yeah, Cloverway's dub changed his sex.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I was fine with them turning Zoisite and Fisheye into females tbh. It added diversity to the teams and wasn't a constant Males vs. Females.

 

[Manic]

I can't even begin to imagine how Cloverway would've handled the constant gender-swapping in Sailor Stars. But then I guess they couldn't imagine how to do it either, because they just stopped. They didn't even have the decency to dub the first part of the season, which was just a carryover from SuperS.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Well that was more because they lost the rights to StarS. Naoko just pulled the plug for some reason.

 

[Manic]

She probably saw the writing on the walls for that season, or got tired of listening to Sailor Moon's dubbed voice.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Death Busters underway.

 

[Leenie]

I don't feel strongly about this announcement one way or another, to be perfectly honest.

I don't have favorable opinions about Crystal, but I'm still going to check this arc out, because I feel like I have to. I hope it's a massive improvement over the previous two arcs, but I highly doubt that will be the case. My expectations are low.

To those who love Crystal, though: Congrats, you're getting more of what you want.

 

[Manic]

Death Busters underway.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I don't feel strongly about this announcement one way or another, to be perfectly honest.

I don't have favorable opinions about Crystal, but I'm still going to check this arc out, because I feel like I have to. I hope it's a massive improvement over the previous two arcs, but I highly doubt that will be the case. My expectations are low.

To those who love Crystal, though: Congrats, you're getting more of what you want.

I'm the same. Especially with these chapters being way longer then the first 2 arcs, if they keep the same format of 1 episode for each chapter, it will fail miserably.

 

[Manic]

In hindsight, DiC missed a golden opportunity to come up with equally punny names for the Sailors when they renamed everybody. Usagi Tsukino could've easily become Bunny de Lune, Makoto Kino could've been Faith Forest, Minako Aino could've been something like Belle Love.

Just something that crossed my mind when seeing the characters' Japanese names translated on a wiki page.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Lol, so glad they didn't. Their english names are perfection.

 

[Manic]

I don't know. I kinda preferred Bunny over Serena, which was what the translations of the manga called her.

And the name Lita seemed to come out of nowhere. Ami to Amy? Makes sense. Rei to Raye? Basically the same. Minako to Mina? Hardly noticed a difference. Makoto to Lita is just pulling a name out of a hat.

Darien too, for that matter. You'd think they'd at least go with a name that starts with M for Mamoru.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Unless they called Makoto, Mack, I don't think there was a good way to adapt her name. But I prefer Lita to her OG name anyway. Rei to Raye was weird, I didn't even notice it, I always spelled it Rei. But I always call them by their English names except for Haruka since Amara just doesn't flow.

 

[Manic]

I only know it was spelled "Raye" because it was in the title of one of the episodes. I did like that Rei and Hotaru were the two characters who appeared so unquestionably Asian that their names remained in tact.

Makoto could've been called Markie. It's a girl's name (short for names like Marjorie and Margaret) and it's still unisex like Makoto.

I always hated the name Amara for Haruka. They actually released toys of Sailor Uranus long before S was dubbed, and her name on them was listed as Corrine. There was also a lot of speculation on the internet back in the late 90's as to what they could call her, and a majority of fans liked Alex.

Then there's Trista. Did no one at Cloverway's offices know that the name Susanna existed? Setsuna, Susanna. It's a perfect fit.

 

[Leenie]

For the Inner Senshi, most of the DiC dub names make perfect sense: Serena (Serenity), Amy (Ami), Raye (Rei), and Mina (Minako). I don't think that Lita suits Mako-Chan at all, though. To me, something like Meghan (with "Meg" as her nickname) would have worked. Same goes with Samantha/Sam (if DiC had not changed Shingo's name to Sammy, that is).

Heck, I think even a really feminine name like Lily or Rose would have worked better than Lita; at least that would have linked back to her Japanese name's meaning (with nature/plants).

I was really into the 90's Sailor Moon fandom on the internet; I used to own a few AOL mailing lists back in the day (good times; it was really fun to run those at the time). I can totally confirm that YES: Alex was a really popular name for Haruka prior to the Cloverway dub. Alex just made too much sense for Cloverway, apparently. Fans were big on Michelle back in the day as well, and so lots of people were happy that ended up being Michiru's dub name.

My feelings on Trista are mixed. Susan and Susanna were popular among the fandom, but Trista does sound pretty. I think it fits Setsuna's personality well enough, even though they could have picked a name that translated better.

I'll never understand why they kept Hotaru's name. How lazy of Cloverway. If you're going to change everyone's name, then change EVERYONE'S name! Fans were really fond of "Holly" before the Cloverway dub came out.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I was fine with them not changing her name, it fit the character to stand out from the rest of the characters. Nothing about her is normal so why give her a ordinary name?