Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal: Season III
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Sailor Sedna
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True, I'm afraid I will have to agree with this a bit. Usagi did deal the final blow a lot in the original anime, but the Inners did do damage most of the time (I was unimpressed by Mercury being useless vs Vilyui too, that pisses me off as she's my favorite Sailor. Mercury was able to freeze Vilyui's nano-robots in the 90's anime and was able to hold them off without falling unconscious.) and were able to hurt/stun the monsters also. I think the original anime handled them best (and they even get to destroy monsters by themselves sometimes!), they were useful and great fighters there, but not so much here. I'm afraid they'll be damsels in distress in the next episode, and if they are, I'm gonna be mad. But yeah, the 90's anime really improved some things. @SailorNaruto I agree, I loved Super Sailor Moon's transformation. I think both ways of the Holy Grail work good, but to be honest, I feel the whole Inners x Outers conflict feels a bit contrived in a way, and Sailor Moon just claiming she did that because they were all friends, just came off more like odd to me. They haven't really done much that would make me consider Uranus and Neptune to be friends to them, or acquaintances, other than just being saved sometimes. And because of the way it sounds, it almost sounds like Usagi could do no wrong and such, that's what I meant when I said Usagi seemed a bit too perfect in here and the manga (and on another note, it's said that the ages of her and Mamoru in the classic anime were a 5 year gap). @whiskeyii Yeah, I hate that too. At least we'll always have the great Inners from the 90's anime (and how anyone could claim they were useless is beyond me. Toei made sure to use them well in S, and they had great importance unlike what another anime site, THEM Anime thought in a shitty review they did on Sailor Moon S). I dunno how they're gonna be handled in the Stars arc...probably poorly, and I think the flaw is also once again, it's too close to the manga! Remember how I said I thought the Mercury vs Vilyui fight in season 3 was lackluster? It was due to the fast pace that worked in the manga, but doesn't work here in an anime. And I don't think Pink Sugar Heart Attack here is better than in the 90's anime as it hasn't done jack (and Chibi Moon sounds weird when saying it and her henshin phrase, like Misato's trying to sound all cutesy). |
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Sailor Sedna
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@CrowLia
Also forgot to mention, Usagi in the original anime also did sadly ask what they were fighting for all along, getting Chibi-Usa into a mess like that... |
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belvadeer
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Yeah, these poor English subs have become a bad habit. It wouldn't kill them to do some last minute grammatical and syntax checking. Anyway, the new Tuxedo Mask ending image song is really nice to hear. Definitely a substantial improvement over that horridly dorky Chibimoon song. |
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Sailor Sedna
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This episode was awesome, I loved parts of it like the Inners helping to fight against Kaorinite and not being useless at all (though Kaorinite's kinda goofy as a monster), Neptune and Pluto's attacks, Mistress 9 was cool, and the Witches 5 vs. the Inners too. Also loved the Tuxedo Mask ending too, way better than the crappy Chibi Moon one.
But some of the shots looked off, like Mercury's face when she's trapped by the Mosaic Buster (again, when it was wires in the manga, guess they thought it was too hentai-like), and why is it with some close up shots like with Usagi upset, they have no eyes? It looks weird frankly. The scene with Usagi almost being killed by Chibi-Usa and Mamoru along with the melting Inners also lost its scariness because they toned it down a bit, and I missed those wax dolls...I also feel we had a missed opportunity for another group transformation. The biggest problem of the episode is during the scene when the Outers come together. The scene with Uranus and Moon still feels like pandering to Usagi x Haruka fans, but that's not the reason; the biggest reason IMO was with the reason why they did so: it's already explained how the Outers saved the Inners when in trouble, so it feels a bit belaboring, (along with Usagi's worries on how they might not be able to work together) and secondly, if the Outers wanted to fight along with the Inners all along, why didn't they maybe explain that before or something? It kinda makes the whole Inners and Outers conflict feel a bit contrived honestly. Not saying it's bad, but it could have been done a little bit better. Other than those problems though, still a great episode, and season 3 has been so great, I consider it to be the true first season of Sailor Moon Crystal. Though, during that scene when we see Venus hypnotized...try sleeping after seeing her stare at you... 
What do you think? |
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CrowLia
 Posts: 5528 Location: Mexico |
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This episode really brought to light all the problems I have with Sailor Moon Crystal (and I guess the manga)
I'm glad Rebecca brought up the hospital scene, it seemed such a poor writing choice. First the doctor comes in (and the room doesn't look very sanitized tbh) and says "yeah, she ded" and leaves, without calling time of death or disconnecting the machines or like following any of the common protocol for such cases. One would argue the doctor said "she had cardiac arrest", but then why didn't he do anything to try and restart her heart? He just kinda left her there to stay dead. And then they were easily able to smuggle the corpse out in some way and transport it to Mamoru's apartment without raising suspicion (and none of them can drive btw). It was very stupid. The art really jumped shark this week, there were tons of off-model shots and they were obviously trying to save money there with all the reused footage aka flashbacks. The new OP & ED are better than the previous ones, but I still think the first pair with Etsuko Yakushimaru and the Neptune-Uranus duet were the best. But my real problem here was the Labyrinth part. It highlighted that #1 the Inners are carton moving figures with no depth or characters and #2 that the so-called friendship that's supposed to drive the main cast is flimsy and has been poorly established. #1 is the most obvious one. Apart from a vague mention of Jupiter liking plants barely a few weeks ago and Mercury's love for studying, it makes no sense for me, as a viewer not familiar with the characters from any other iterations of the franchise, why they succumb so easily to the temptations. This is the first time we're told Venus dreams of becoming an idol or that Mars is concerned with etiquette and spirituality (other than her introduction episode and her vision of the talismans early this arc, we haven't even see Mars doing any miko stuff). This is only even more noticeable by the lack of any individual introspection from any of them. We never see them fight back the temptation or affirm that the sacrifices they've done for Usagi are worth it (and what has Usagi sacrificed for them hm? Not a very equal friendship going on here) #2 is a consequence of the zero introspection given to the Inners, both now and when they were being brainwashed by forgettable Witches 5 #5. Because we don't see them reflecting on their friendship or struggling and freeing themselves from the brainwash and it's actually Usagi and the Outers who save them from the Labyrinth, there is no reaffirmation of their supposedly powerful friendship. It actually makes them look like shitty friends since they barely struggle -if at all- before falling for the Labyrinth's temptations and deciding they don't want to fight anymore. Once again, they remain completely useless and unable to do anything. Furthermore, when Usagi is trapped by the Labyrinth, it is Mamoru's voice that pulls her out of it, once again prioritizing the romance over the friendship. It would've been a lot more powerful if the Inners had been shown struggling against their temptations and calling out to Usagi, giving her the power to break free herself Finally, the coming together of all Senshis lacked impact because of the two points above -more than half of the senshis are underdevelopped, and the Outers are apparently a hiveminded unit, with Neptune having no character at all- but also because it's an exact repeat of the summoning of the Chalice last week. We literally saw the same "let's all work together and give Sailor Moon power" thing seven days ago and it's being repeated with little to no additional emotional punch. If they had saved the Super Sailor Moon reveal for this week, I feel the whole story would've felt slightly more potent -if still ineffective due to the cardboard cutout nature of the core supporting cast-. They could've tweaked it a little: have forgettable Witches 5 #5 be defeated in some other way that also forced the Outers to reveal the true nature of their mission and we'd be at the exact same narrative point. I also don't think the Inners were anything but useless in the fight against Kaolinite. It didn't look like any of their attacks made any impact on her, not even a cut or bruise or a burn mark from Mars's Snake Fire thing. If anything, she looked entirely unscathed after receiving all the attacks. Would've been cooler if they had all summoned a group attack (I'm sure the Inners have one at some point) that left Kaolinite on the brink of death, then Uranus telling Usagi to make the finishing blow would've made sense. |
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Sailor Sedna
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@CrowLia
Yeah, the Inners had very little character in the manga sadly, and I would have wanted to have the Inners snap out themselves here, but oh well. What's funny is that scene in the manga with them saying they're falling apart is pretty much almost like a visually accurate representation of the characters in the first two seasons, they've been getting the shit beaten out of them and were falling apart because Usagi was ignoring and forgetting them only caring about her Mamoru 
At least they're not getting knocked down and unconscious constantly though here or just singing praise for Usagi just for the hell of it. But yeah, that's the problem with the Inner Senshi in the manga and here, they've got no development at all and not much characterization and yeah, the friendship isn't done very well, the 90's anime (the Witches 5, or rather, Eudial and Mimette were so much better there too) did their friendship so much better than what Crystal's been doing. We do see the Inners sometimes tease Usagi and such, and Usagi do the same with them, but friends do that all of the time! It did the concept of friendship way better than what this shitty article even thought on it: http://angryanimebitches.com/2014/11/sailor-moon-crystal-episode-9-serenity/ (And IMO looking at that episode it sucked) Yeah, that's another problem I'd say is with the Outers joining, most of the Sailors being underdeveloped and not that likeable compared to other versions. If I had to list Pros/Cons/Neutrals IMO for any of the Sailors and characters, I'd put Chibi Moon, Venus, Pluto, and maybe Mercury as Pros, Neptune as a Con definitely (her 90's anime counterpart is SO much better), and Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Tuxedo Mask, and maybe Moon as Neutral. The group attack would have been cool also, spoiler[ we got this in the 90's anime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HG2fftHXiU (The Inners and Moon weakened Kaorinite there, but didn't kill her, Uranus also helped finish her off, and they must have done damage as Venus says "We (not Uranus) did it...") ] And to be honest, showing that the Outers saved the Inners in trouble again feels a bit of dumbing it down, to quote what Sailor Moon Uncensored said, things that are clear and simple do not need to be explained two or three times. Someone's told me that if they didn't come there, they'd be as bad as the Death Busters, which is true, but still, it just comes off as contrived and a bit forced, considering there's been little to no scenes of them being acquaintances, something the 90's anime did have. And I'm afraid if it was because of Usagi convincing them as though she could do no wrong, it is making her look a bit too perfect, when the final battle comes, it may have something else I feel the manga did was inferior... On another topic, Chibi-Usa just went straight to Mamoru's apartment in the 90's anime, guess the original writers knew better to just take her there. Just hope the Blu-Rays will properly fix the artwork. Last edited by Sailor Sedna on Mon May 30, 2016 10:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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whiskeyii
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Finally got actual singers for the OP, hurray! (I'm still mightily confused as to why we got three different versions for the same song.)
On the one hand, I can appreciate the addition of the hospital scene. In the manga, the previous chapter cuts off with "Chibi-Usa's not breathing!" and then, bam! Straight to Mamoru's apartment in the next chapter. At least here they tried to take a more reasonable action, even if that kind of messes with the logic of how hospitals work. ^^; Aside from the art kind of taking a nosedive this episode, it just felt kind of lackluster to me. I like the idea behind the Inners succumbing to temptation and whatnot, but even as someone who's seen the previous Crystal seasons, there just doesn't feel like enough development was put into the Inners themselves to pull this off well. I feel like the Outers suffered from something similar, as their reaction to Sailor Moon being in danger (though, damn, dodging attacks like a ninja, go you, SM!) felt a little overblown for how very, very distant they've been portrayed so far. I would've liked a little more heart-softening, ice-queen-melting moments before this, with the exception of Haruka, who is obviously more invested in Usagi's personal safety than the other Outers. (Odd that Pluto was so unemotional about Chibi-Usa, though, now that I think about it.) That said, new attacks!  Always a plus! Though that new ED is sooooo not working for me. I think the singer isn't very good (is that Mamo's VA? I feel like his singing voice should be deeper.), but for me, it's just too cheesy for me to take it as eye-candy. I was just giggling and snorting the whole way through. 
EDIT: Oh, I forgot to add: While I don't recall it being part of the manga, I really liked the imagery of Hotaru being imprisoned by the thorns. Much nicer than just having her float around in Mistress 9's headspace. |
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CrowLia
Posts: 5528 Location: Mexico |
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This bothered me too. If there was one thing that was okay about Crystal II was Pluto, they did a very good job establishing her character, her conflicts, her hopes and desires and her relationships with future Mamoru and Chibiusa. I expected to see something more of her caring or being in pain over Chibiusa's death, but she was just blank. It was disappointing that they missed a chance to hit real emotional notes. Now that I think about it, Chibiusa's friendships (with Pluto and Hotaru) strike me as ten times more genuine than whatever Usagi has with the Inners. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15557 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Doctor: "A bunch of teenagers brought in a dead little girl."
Nurse: "Oh my god, should we call the parents?" Doctor: "Don't worry about it, the high school boy checked her out." Nurse: "Doctor, I really think we should have called the police. Did you at least get all for the information for the death certificate?" Doctor: "I have a confession. I am not really good at my job." |
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Sailor Sedna
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Yeah, that's a reason why Inners in the 90's anime were so much better, they were more developed and it would have worked if the Inners in Crystal had that same development (and S did a better job developing their characters too). Unfortunately, considering how horrible they were treated in seasons 1 and 2 (I only saw 3 episodes but I have read the manga and did find out about the rest online), the effect was lost compared to the manga. Even the Sailor Moon game Another Story does a better job with something like that. It's like Naoko just didn't know what to do with her four Inner Senshi characters it seems... 
One person today I talked to thought Mercury/Ami here was so much better and badass, but I couldn't believe it, because she still doesn't feel like a good character, hasn't done much (her using the pencil and such in episode 5, which I do like though I thought it was mediocre and such IMO doesn't count), and she can't even compare to 90's anime Mercury/Ami, who was so much more badass than this one. I rated this a 3 1/2 also due to stuff like that and because the animation slightly became worse sadly. Hope it improves and the Blu-Rays actually fix it and don't half-ass it, creating new errors in the process. |
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belvadeer
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Yup, it's his VA. If you have ever pictured what Fox McCloud would sound like singing some kind of smooth song, well there's your curiosity sated. XD Last edited by belvadeer on Tue May 31, 2016 11:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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#838774
Posts: 158 |
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Damn, did they run out of budget again? There's so many bad animation issues this episode.
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JaggedAuthor
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Doctor: Where do you think you're going with that corpse? Mamoru: Oh, we're just taking her back to my apartment, where I'll use ancient magic to intertwine our bodies or something. That should sort of keep her alive until we get her soul back. Doctor: I... I don't... Mamoru: I'm sorry, where did you go to medical school again? |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2637 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Me too! It was like a half-assed UtaPri song, which I of course didn't think of until after I posted the review. Someday I'm going to make an album called "The Lounge Hits of Anime," and this will definitely be on it. CrowLia, I absolutely agree that the Inner Senshi are not being developed here, making their part of the episode anti-climactic.It's a problem for the entire franchise, although Takeuchi tried to develop them in some short stories. (I think the Rei one worked best; Kodansha published the short stories separately in two volumes.) Chibi-Usa in general feels like who Usagi was supposed to be initially, which is why the next story arc is my favorite, since it has more of a focus on her. I'm also always interested to read your take as someone who has never seen/read the original series - a lot of us, myself included, are so enmeshed in the franchise that it's hard to imagine how it looks to someone who has never experienced it. |
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Animechic420
 Posts: 1731 Location: A Cave Filled With Riches |
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Anime convenience at its best. Adults never questioning the teenagers in any way. 
Children and teens in anime seem to have the upper hand nowadays. Like they know so damn much. 
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