So...first of all, I need to apologize. This post was originally requested by a friend and follower of mine on Twitter who showed me all of Neon Genesis Evangelion and asked me if in my next post, I could explain to him the character of Asuka Langley Soryu since she's my favorite character of the series. At this time I'm unable to properly explain anything about Asuka that the Internet hasn't already covered but I promise that in a future post, I'll get around to it, just not today. Instead we'll be taking a look at one of the oldest and most well known anime to ever premier in America, Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon. I'm really sorry for changing the subject of the post like this!
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Now, I think that I should probably start off with my history with Sailor Moon. I really don't have one. While I'm well aware that it aired on Toonami while I was growing up, I didn't start watching anime until about 5th grade and by that point I'd never been exposed to Sailor Moon though given my history with Disney's Princess Films, I'd have just gone nuts over it, I'm sure. Girls transforming and using elemental powers to defeat evil? Reincarnated Moon Princesses? CARTOON?! I'd have just lost my mind to see this! But I didn't. In fact, I don't think I ever even heard of Sailor Moon until middle school and while I barely got into it during high school, it was the English dub of it which I found funny, namely Luna's English accent. I've always been a fan of Magical Girl anime, really. My first actual exposure came from the FoxBox/4kids Entertainment's dub of Ojamajo DoReMi/Magical DoReMi here in America and Tokyo Mew Mew/Mew Mew Power and I loved both of them, yes in English and I still do. I've recently discovered the joys of Cardcaptor Sakura, Princess Tutu and Madoka Magica so a while ago I torrented the entirety of Sailor Moon just so I could get some exposure to it in it's original incarnation. Boy oh boy was it something. But, let's get into the review now shall we?
The plot is this: Usagi Tsukino is an average idiot middle school girl. She's a crybaby, an idiot and a blonde but somehow the series insists that she's a natural born Japanese with no foreign ancestry. This also clashes with her family's hair colors as her mother has blue hair, her father's is black and her brother's is brown. Hmm, Blue, Black, Brown and Blonde...must be a thing. Anyways, Usagi wakes up late for school, again, and on her way she sees some kids gang banging a cat and when she chases the brats away, she finds that the cat has a crescent moon bald spot on it's forehead under a band-aid. Who puts a band-aid on a cat?! Lord knows how angry it'd be to have one put on but just imagine the wrath that follows pulling one off! Anyways, the cat ninja jumps away and Usagi arrives late to school where she's chewed out by her Christmas Cake teacher and she hangs with her friends Naru and Umino who's the resident Urkle. She gets like 30 points on her test which means that she failed and on her way home she and Naru decide to go shopping because, hey what better way for a girl to fee better about her self than to waste her money on needless accessories, right? Also, it's a SALE! But there's something afoot! In some undisclosed corner of a dimension from Lord knows where, our villains plot. Queen Beryl wants energy dammit and she and her androgynous lacky Jedite have bewitched the jewels in Naru's shop to sap the energy from the ladies wearing them. Let this be a lesson to you girls. Next time you see a sale that's too good to be true, it might just be a ploy to drain you of your very life essence! Anyways, Usagi meets the cat from earlier once again who introduces herself as Luna and informs Usagi that she's Sailor Moon, a warrior of legend who's job it is to defend the world from the Dark Kingdom's evil forces. Usagi is later joined by Ami Mizuno the genius girl Sailor Mercury who manipulates water and doesn't get an offensive attack until like the third season, Rei Hino a slightly psychic Miko Sailor Mars who maipulates fire, Makoto Kino a tall super girl Sailor Jupiter who manipulates plants and lightning and finally Minako Aino the beautiful blonde Sailor Venus who manipulates...light...or metal or something. There's also Tuxedo Mask who shows up to Deus ex Machina the monster before Sailor Moon finishes it off.
In this season, the girls, with the exception of Sailor Venus are all newbies to fighting evil of any kind and none more so than our main protagonist who's practically pathetic in every way but she manages to get shit done in a pinch at the least by finishing off the monster. The main drama comes later from Tuxedo Mask getting brainwashed and Usagi having to save him with her love and scant other issues that the other girls face. In short, while Sailor Moon may have been the DragonBall of the Magical Girl Genre, it's really nothing all that special in and of itself. This is largely because I've already been exposed to this kind of Magical Girl before in series like Ojamajo DoReMi. Then again that's not to say that Sailor Moon is without merit. It's generally enjoyable and while the reveals are predictable the drama is quite real and at times touching. It's main struggle stems from choosing to do what you believe is the right thing to do and doing what others think or is objectively the right thing to do. For example, Ami gets something of a love interest at a later point in the series who can see the future and has seen him turning into the monster of the week and killing her. He tells her to kill him if he transforms and she struggles with this briefly before deciding that she can save him. Sailor Venus at one point has to fight someone dear to her who's been turned into a monster and pleads with Sailor Moon to save her instead of killing her. It's nothing particularly outstanding or groundbreaking but it might've been at the time.
The flaws of the series lie in it's utter predictability and blatant repetitiveness. Usagi and the others talk about something, the monster appears, they transform and beat the monster rinse and repeat. Most of the decisions that are made can be seen coming from a mile away and while this isn't "bad" it can get rather annoying. Also...Usagi's voice is annoying as hell most of the time but I gather that it's supposed to show her immaturity. Actually, Usagi herself can be seen as a flaw in the series. She's the main character and meant to be the leader to the other warriors when this honor probably should belong to Minako/Sailor Venus who's been at this far longer or Rei/Sailor Mars who's generally the most composed in battle or even Ami/Sailor Mercury who's the smartest. Usagi would've most likely have been killed without the other girls helping her and her immaturity is frustrating at times but it works to the series credit in that she is capable of being a leader and savior when needed.
And so, my thoughts? I quite like it. I like some quality about each of the girls and even the villains got some pretty good moments as well, namely Nephrite, Zoisite and Kunzite. While the series animation isn't glorious by any stretch of the word, it's still rather good looking and seems to improve each season. It's enjoyable and recommendable to those who haven't seen it. And that's it from me! Sorry the post was so short and dull this time around, I'll get on that Asuka post at one point but Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! DaWaRou~!
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