"Sailor Moon" Classic Anime Talkback (Spoilers)

[Lord Dalek]

"Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon" Classic Series Talkback (Spoilers)

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Its back! Its here! It doesn't look like it was made in the 1960s and sound like an old wax cylinder (Lolz...DBZ)! Its Pretty [strike]Soldier[/strike] Guardian Sailor Moon! Toei's original classic from the early 90s is finally getting a dub that doesn't skip a dozen episodes and an entire season! But before that, witness in glorious remastered Japanese, the first and only month of daydreaming crybaby Usagi Tsukino's brief stint as a solo crimefighter! Experience the infamous second episode, banned from US television thanks to Umino's lust for fanservice! Be grateful we don't have to put up with weird scene transitions and horribly cheesy PSAs! And more to the point... get ready for all the great incestual and homoerotic overtones you missed out on in 1996!

Naoko Takeuchi and Junichi Sato's vision. THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE SEEN... Thanks Viz! You're the bestest!

 

[GWOtaku]

OK, fusion time:

This is the official talkback for the new 2014 remaster of Toei Animation's 1990s Sailor Moon anime. As most of you likely already know, after spending years out of print and in licensing limbo, Viz Media has secured the rights to all Sailor Moon animation and is at work giving all 200 episodes a brand new English language dub with supervision from creator Naoko Takeuchi, as well as a fresh remaster based on the best materials available from the 2009 Japanese remaster. This marks the first time Sailor Moon will be released entirely uncut in English with original names and character relationships unchanged.

Sailor Moon is now legally streaming with English subtitles to the United States for the very first time through Hulu and its paid "Hulu Plus" service. Two more episodes will be added every Monday until the series is complete! The series page follows below:

Plot Synopsis:

Usagi Tsukino is a clumsy but kindhearted teenage girl who transforms into the powerful guardian of love and justice, Sailor Moon. Meeting allies along the way who share similar fates, Usagi and her team of planetary Sailor Guardians fight to protect the universe from forces of evil and total annihilation.

This thread is for all discussion relating to the legal Sailor Moon stream and Viz Media's home video release of the TV series episodes, animated films and specials as they arrive on DVD and Blu-ray throughout the year. For now, here are the first four episodes available!

Episode 1: The Crybaby: Usagi's Beautiful Transformation

Usagi Tsukino is a schoolgirl who is always finding herself in unwanted trouble. One day she meets a talking cat, who reveals that dark forces are threatening the the innocent. Usagi is transformed into Sailor Moon, a guardian who fights for justice.

Episode 2: Punishment Awaits: the House of Fortune Is the Monster Mansion

A new house of fortune opens up in the Juban District and quickly gains popularity for its accurate predictions. But soon, the customers who had their fortunes read begin to act violent, including Gurio Umino, a boy who has a crush on Usagi.

Episode 3: The Mysterious Sleeping Sickness: Protect the Girls in Love

All the girls in town are tuning in to a late-night radio program called “Midnight Zero†that reads out love letters sent in by the listeners. Meanwhile, a strange sleeping sickness is plaguing the town that puts many people to sleep.

Episode 4: Learn How to Be Skinny from Usagi

Usagi is shocked to find out that she’s gained weight from too much eating. Determined to get back into shape and fast, Usagi and her friends join a gym that advertises instant results for its members.

What We Know So Far About Sailor Moon's New Home Video Release:

• Viz has rights to the five Sailor Moon seasons (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon R, Sailor Moon S, Sailor Moon SuperS, Sailor Moon Sailor Stars) and will be releasing them in half season sets on both DVD and special edition Blu-ray / DVD combo packs (think Ranma 1/2). This is the first time the series will be released on Blu-ray disc.
• Release details and English dub casting news are expected to be revealed at Anime Expo July 3 - 6. Viz expects to screen the English dub at AX.
• The home video release is expected to begin "this Fall" while the new English dub will be added to Hulu later in the year. It's also expected that the Sailor Moon theatrical films will be released in 2014.

 

[GWOtaku]

So, some wonder about how the video is. Here's some screencaps from Sailor Moon #1 I took this morning off of the "HD" quality Hulu stream. Judge for yourself, I think it's looking very good. Most importantly, when I streamed this to my television and actually watched this as animation, I was satisfied this is indeed the best the series has ever looked in English. I expect good things from the Blu-ray.

Spoiler

 

[O-chan]

Hey, I have a question? Do we treat this talkback like no one has seen the series before (dub or sub) therefore should we refrain from making references to things that have yet to happen in the Hulu airings?

Anyway for my thoughts I'm going to also make commentary on the shows gradual change in animation and links to the Wikimoon articles about the episodes since they have nice trivia about the show.

Crybaby Usagi's Magnificent Transformation

So for the first episode we finally get the first version of the original opening with the girls silhouetted.

Good video quality.


The animation director for this episode is Hiromi Matsushita whose style is veryconsistent with Kazuko Tadano's character designs. While the animation is very much in the style of an early 90's shojo anime (pastel colors, soft line work, simplified animation) this episode has quite a bit of subtle movements and smooth animation that makes it a standout for this point in the series (I'll reference to this in my commentary of Episodes 2-4).


I noticed for this episode Usagi's house seemsto have a slightly different color scheme than what's used in therest of the series.

So far there's nothing really jarring about the translation.
Odango Atama=Bun-Head
Senshi=Guardian (keeping in line with how the franchise is now referring to the Sailors)

For the sake of avoiding spoilers I'm going to refer to the guy who makes fun of Usagi as the "Bun's Head" guy.

Animaation note: Usagi's hand is different than thefinal version of her transformation sequence. I'm also curious if Kazuko Tadano wasresponsible for all the stock footage animation. The reason I say this is because I recall reading on Hitoshi Doi's website back in the 90's that different animators were responsible for the various stock footage in the early parts of the show.


It's amusing how in terms of atmosphere this episode is the most in line with the more grittier aspects of the manga. The youma in this episode pretty much looks like The Lich in drag.

About the translation of Sailor Moon's intro speech. It's not the traditional way it's often interpreted but it also isn't so different that it takes me out of the episode.


We finally get a proper sounding EDsong with it's retro 60's-ish pop sound. In fact I find it amusing that Sailor Moon's entire Japanese track sounds like it belongs in an anime that came out in the 70's. It fits the show and I felt it was one of the things that gave the Japanese version a lot of personality.


So far it looks like Toei has given us the previews and everything proper. So far off to a good start.

I have seen episodes 2-4 but I'll space my responses out to allow people to add to the discussion.

 

[Light Lucario]

I only saw the first two episodes so far, but I thought it was fun. The quality looked pretty good. I was just enjoying the fact that the series is legally available and that I can watch the series from the start. I actually like how they refer to the senshi as guardians. That seems more fitting than soldiers. It's too bad that they didn't sub the opening and ending themes, but I think that's how Viz usually handles their subbed videos. They did keep the episode previews, so that's pretty cool.

 

[O-chan]

It's too bad that they didn't sub the opening and ending themes, but I think that's how Viz usually handles their subbed videos. They did keep the episode previews, so that's pretty cool.

Keep in mind that Viz didn't sub Ranma on their Hulu streams but gave a revised translation on the Blu-ray versions. Given Sailor Moon's reputation they may do the same thing for the physical release.

 

[G1Ravage]

Is the prologue supposed to come before or after the opening sequence?

 

[Tommy Lawson]

Hey, I have a question? Do we treat this talkback like no one has seen the series before (dub or sub) therefore should we refrain from making references to things that have yet to happen in the Hulu airings?

I suggest for this thread, keeping all the major spoilers beyond what Viz has released hidden using the spoiler tag. There probably are a significant number of fans who want to follow the series as it originally aired, and also, there are those fans who weren't even alive when the show first premiered, who are curious about exactly how this popular show started.

After watching episode 1 of Sailor Moon, and the recent Winx Club season 1 DVD, Winx Club mimicked the Sailor Moon opening scene to open up their show. In both series, they start out with the main character awakened to get ready for school. In Winx Club, it was played for a joke, as it was summer. That's certainly one of the reasons Winx Club keeps getting compared to it.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Is the prologue supposed to come before or after the opening sequence?

The teaser is supposed to come before it.

One problem I have with the Sailor Moon anime is that because Toei had no manga to work with for 75% of the time, you hit filler on a much more frequent basis. The only way to get around this is to just consider the anime to be its own little thing, at least for the first two series.

 

[Mandouga]

It doesn't really matter either way. Even without DiC's alterations, Toei messed up the adaptation to begin with one way or the other. I won't go into specifics, but in certain parts of the story, Toei had taken dramatic liberties with the source material.

Anyway, now that there is a talkback thread, I feel I should repeat what I posted in the other thread:

Okay, so I just saw the first episode, and come on now: "In the name of the moon, you'll be punished"? That was obviously an editorial "translation" intended to avoid any connection with the previous 1995 English version by DiC (who's masters are presumably still owned by DHX Media, who bought out Cookie Jar, who bought out DiC, but I digress) to ensure the fans that this is a new translation. "...I will punish you" would have been okay, IMHO. Also, why did they leave out the "sailor suit / school uniform" part? Shouldn't that be "The Pretty Guardian* in the sailor suit/school uniform (who fights) for love and justice..."? I honestly doubt that either Toei or Naoko Takeuchi asked for something like this. In any case Something tells me that this may not be as (repeat: AS) faithful a translation as it makes itself out to be, if they're already taking those kind of liberties. Oh sure, these particular ones may be minor, but what about later on in the series? OTOH, I'm guessing they decided to translate "youma" (i.e., as "monster") since leaving it untranslated would make it too fan oriented. They also left out the honorifics, but whether or not that's a bad thing depends on who you ask...

*Obviously, this is only being used because it's now the "official" english name for "(sailor) senshI" (sailor "scout" in DiC's version, which I feel happens to also work; to look at it another way, at least it's much better than "princess warrior" [they're sailor senshi, not "hime senshi"]...).

Sent from my iPod touch using toonzone

 

[GWOtaku]

Well, as Dalek noted earlier, the original Sailor Moon anime was coming out alongside the manga (in fact, now that I look, both had a lifespan of 1992 to 1997). It's only natural that it had to take inspiration from the comic and do its own thing in many areas. I'm totally okay with that in principle for the same reason many still accept (at the very least) the first Fullmetal Alchemist animation. It'll be interesting to see how Crystal differs now that its creators have the benefit of hindsight.

Speaking of the padding, pacing, etc, I'd almost forgotten that it takes like eight episodes before we get Ami. Awwww.

On Takeuchi's involvement...there are long standing rumors about Takeuchi being quite possessive of this property, and we already know that she has final approval on all the voices in the new English dub, sooooo. In any case, there are inevitably going to be editorial differences when a different company takes a project like this on from scratch. It's a matter of style there with that phrase, not being right or "wrong".

 

[Soul]

Well, I decided to say screw it and watched episodes 1-4. At the beginning, I definitely kept muttering to myself that I shouldn't have watched the Nostalgia Critic's review of the old dub of the show because certain themes we're still retained in the dub; notably Usagi's character of being a whiny crybaby, yeah yeah I know, that fact is even in the episode title for episode 1. She definitely starts out somewhat unlikable but going into the next couple episodes, she didn't really bother me as much I thought she would, but I do have to laugh at Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask's uselessness in these early episodes besides showing up to trade insults with Usagi then reappear to give encouragement to Sailor Moon towards the end of the episode.

Overall, yeah, it's entertaining, but the padding/monster of the week thing makes much more looking forward to Crystal, but until then I'll keep up with the uploads, especially because I'm very much looking forward to the arrival of the other Guardians as well as seeing how things with the villains, notably Jadeite and Queen Beryl turn out.

Also, oh yeah, that remaster looks gorgeous. Especially for an early 90's TV anime.

 

[ShadowGUN]

Man, watching these episodes without the "Sailor Moon says" at the end feels weird .

 

[Mandouga]

Anyway, so I watched episode 2, and it's true apparently.The "on today's episode" segments weren't just DiC's idea (although they did create their own segments; they had to because of how some episodes were either removed or combined*). Those segments after the opening definitely felt like they should have occurred before hand. Oh yeah, the "Oshiyoki yo" in the episode title was translated as "I Will Punish You", yet, when Usagi actually says it, it's "You will be punished" again. Not only that, but Hulu lists it as "Punishment awaits". It looks like we (may) have an inconsistent translation on our hands...

*Indeed, the "first" episode of DiC's version was apparently actually the first two episodes.

 

[EHH123]

This whole "new shop as a front for villains" thing was used a lot in the first season, right? If that was the case, I would be suspicious of any store that recently opened.

Cashier: "Welcome to our brand new McDonald's. May I take your order?"
Sailor Moon: "Moon Tiara Action!"
Cashier: *dizzy from attack* "Would you like fries with that?" *falls to the ground*

 

[SpecialColorfull]

Anyway, so I watched episode 2, and it's true apparently.The "on today's episode" segments weren't just DiC's idea (although they did create their own segments; they had to because of how some episodes were either removed or combined*). Those segments after the opening definitely felt like they should have occurred before hand. Oh yeah, the "Oshiyoki yo" in the episode title was translated as "I Will Punish You", yet, when Usagi actually says it, it's "You will be punished" again. Not only that, but Hulu lists it as "Punishment awaits". It looks like we (may) have an inconsistent translation on our hands...

*Indeed, the "first" episode of DiC's version was apparently actually the first two episodes.

That's not true. Because not only the first unmerged episode was the first episode but the second episode was never dubbed!

Sailor Moon Uncensored: Episode 1

Sailor Moon Uncensored: Episode 2

Sailor Moon Uncensored: Episode 3

 

[Gatomon41]

This is probably the first time I ever saw the original version of Sailor Moon subbed. Usually, I stick to dubs, but this is one of those special cases. So here's a few notes on episode 1 A New Hope:

It's interesting to note what the dub cut out in the original, such as the CGI transitions covering up things like the Japanese signs. I wish I can say this was a practice in the 90's, but even today we have stuff like going on for broadcast versions. For some reason, Western companies have the odd notion that we won't like shows from other lands. 0_o

The second thing I noted was that the soundtrack was pretty dissonant with the drama Usagi was going through. Here was Sailor Moon fighting her first fight, being chased by an insane mob and a horrid monster. Yet, the upbeat music detracted from that excitement, causing me to wonder if this was really a parody. I can see why the DiC dub would replace it with more dramatic music.

As for the story, it's a good start. We tend to forget that Fairy Tales were originally set in the regular, everyday world. It just wolves and kids left in the wilderness seems unusual with the passing of history. But the show goes with a good start by taking an everyday loser, and showing the reveal about her true destiny. This is what Mr. Plinkett would call a "Proto-gon-ist".

Usagi is basically our audience surrogate, which helps in how the story develops. She's not used to this weirdness than any of us, allowing us to empathize with her. In my case, when I first saw Sailor Moon back in middle school, I pretty much was Usagi - I sucked at my grades, and was sort of this misfit, but not a troublemaker. And a crybaby. Well, needless to say, i could relate with her.

So the classic introduction of the hero's journey.

 

[TnAdct1]

This whole "new shop as a front for villains" thing was used a lot in the first season, right? If that was the case, I would be suspicious of any store that recently opened.

Cashier: "Welcome to our brand new McDonald's. May I take your order?"
Sailor Moon: "Moon Tiara Action!"
Cashier: *dizzy from attack* "Would you like fries with that?" *falls to the ground*

Don't worry. This type of scheme is pretty much reserved to just Jadeite.

 

[Light Lucario]

Keep in mind that Viz didn't sub Ranma on their Hulu streams but gave a revised translation on the Blu-ray versions. Given Sailor Moon's reputation they may do the same thing for the physical release.

Ah, I wasn't aware of that. The only other Viz Media licensed series I saw subbed was Hikaru No Go and none of its opening/ending themes were subbed either, so I just assumed that it was something Viz doesn't do for their Hulu streams for some reason. I could easily see them doing that due to Sailor Moon's popularity and how people would want everything subbed.

Well, as Dalek noted earlier, the original Sailor Moon anime was coming out alongside the manga (in fact, now that I look, both had a lifespan of 1992 to 1997). It's only natural that it had to take inspiration from the comic and do its own thing in many areas. I'm totally okay with that in principle for the same reason many still accept (at the very least) the first Fullmetal Alchemist animation. It'll be interesting to see how Crystal differs now that its creators have the benefit of hindsight.

I remember being really surprised when I first learned that the anime and manga started out around the same time a few years ago. That did explain the amount of padding and monster of the week episodes the show had, but it also seemed like a rather strange practice, especially compared to how they tend to handle anime adaptations nowadays. They usually try to be as faithful as possible to the source material, for better or for worse, and they probably would have waited for more of the manga to be made before making a TV series had the manga started more recently. Granted, an adaptation going their own way instead of following the source material isn't necessarily a problem and it can lead to some really good arcs and series, such as the second half of the original FMA.

Well, I decided to say screw it and watched episodes 1-4. At the beginning, I definitely kept muttering to myself that I shouldn't have watched the Nostalgia Critic's review of the old dub of the show because certain themes we're still retained in the dub; notably Usagi's character of being a whiny crybaby, yeah yeah I know, that fact is even in the episode title for episode 1. She definitely starts out somewhat unlikable but going into the next couple episodes, she didn't really bother me as much I thought she would, but I do have to laugh at Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask's uselessness in these early episodes besides showing up to trade insults with Usagi then reappear to give encouragement to Sailor Moon towards the end of the episode.

Usagi doesn't really come off as unlikable for me. Perhaps annoying at times, but she doesn't cross to the point of being unlikable for me when she first started out. They established her as being really emotional. That's one of the traits to help make her look more like a sympathetic underdog character as she first starts out becoming a leader, as well as to show how far she's come as the series progresses. Plus, crying during her first few missions is pretty understandable. Not only because of how emotional she is, but also because of how scary fighting monsters would be for anyone. She thought it would be cool to fight like Sailor V, but fantasy is different from actually having to deal with it. Mamoru's scenes in these early episodes are pretty funny, especially when you think of events later in the series.

Overall, yeah, it's entertaining, but the padding/monster of the week thing makes much more looking forward to Crystal, but until then I'll keep up with the uploads, especially because I'm very much looking forward to the arrival of the other Guardians as well as seeing how things with the villains, notably Jadeite and Queen Beryl turn out.

Also, oh yeah, that remaster looks gorgeous. Especially for an early 90's TV anime.

I'll probably keep watching the uploaded subbed episodes until at least the first DVD set comes out, if not afterwards. If I'm unable to buy the DVDs, at least I'll be able to continue watching the series subbed. I am curious about how Crystal will turn out though and how different it will feel compared to these opening episodes.

 

[Jave]

Don't worry. This type of scheme is pretty much reserved to just Jadeite.

Yeah, things pick up a lot when Nephlite shows up, giving us one the few character-developing arcs of the series.