Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Crystal – 02
Jr High in the 90’s was hardcore.
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It feels like episode 1 of this show aired just last week… Anyways, I’ll be your designated Sailor Moon blogger for the next year, so よろしく. |
…Sailor Moon certainly made a lot more sense when I was a kid. Usagi is like, 14. Security seriously thought she was a nurse? I suppose the magical pen could add a couple of years to her age, but age aside, did they just figure that she ran all the way from the nearest hospital? They were offering free tuition on the street, why didn’t Usagi just infiltrate that way? …Or maybe the most important question of all, did Tuxedo Mask dress up as a nurse too to get in? I looked over the manga after watching this, and they did change quite a few minor things in regards to the school’s set up (plus Ami’s pen wasn’t inexplicably “distracting” or thrown across the room)… Though the receptionist still let Usagi run by with little to no reaction. Really, this is just a show where you don’t question things and just go with the world’s logic.
So the message this episode? Studying is evil. …Or maybe the message was “exploiting students is evil”. Maybe the brainwashing program wasn’t exactly subtle, but oh well, the evil side isn’t known for smart planning. Just for being powerful and evil. They introduced the main villain (well, close enough to being the main villain), Beryl, in this episode. There’s not much to say about her yet, other than she seemed pretty dedicated to her job of being evil. The same goes for Jadeite. The rest of the Dark Kingdom should be revealed as the series goes on (2 more characters appear next week, if they’re going to follow the manga), but really all that seems important to them at the moment is that they’re all fairly dedicated to their jobs for some reason.
Probably more importantly, the second Sailor Senshi appeared this episode and she was even conveniently in Usagi’s school. There’s not much to really say about Ami, besides what the episode gave out. She’s smart, nicer than you’d think and… well, that’s about it. I guess you could add in that her mother is a doctor and she wants to be one too. Obviously, she’s totally different from Usagi in just about everything (minus the “nice” thing). Her personality should become more defined though with interactions with other characters. Just like how Usagi’s interactions with characters show different sides to her.
They’re starting to show more of Usagi’s good traits, now that the introduction of her being kind of a hopeless girl is over. Her marks still aren’t very good, she still fumbled around during the fight, and she stated even earlier in the episode that she didn’t really want to fight at all. However, as shown with her interaction with Ami, Usagi has a bright personality, and she gets along with others pretty quickly. She even noticed that Ami’s personality was’t nearly as cold as everyone said it was either, so Usagi is also pretty open minded. …Er, she might have been planning to use Ami to boost her grades for a bit, but the important thing is that they managed to become pretty good friends after a few hours of interaction. These are all pretty important traits, since Usagi is going to be interacting with a lot of different people in her magical girl team recruitment. The one person Usagi doesn’t seem to get along with (minus her mother occasionally) is Mamoru. But that should change soon enough.
I think some of my initial excitement has calmed down by now, but things are still going pretty well. The animation might not be “perfect”, but it’s a hell of a lot better than DMMD’s it’s still cool to see how certain aspects from the original carry over to this version. I was specifically wondering how they were going to handle the technology aspect of this episode, since it was a pretty big part and we’ve come a looong way from the 90’s in that regard. From Usagi’s desktop layout and thin monitors for the other computers, I guess they’re more modern? Also, Luna has upgraded from just using a random one in the arcade to… whatever magical dimension was going on this episode. The computers in the manga were also pretty hard to assign an “age” to. I guess long story short, I was just curious as to what year they were trying to set this in.
Hmm, I think the OP song is growing on me. The CG seems to be too, though that might just be because the water effects for Ami’s transformation were pretty cool.
Let’s see what they can do with fire.
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: 400-499 with 428 comments
Ah, nostalgia for both coming back to Metanorn and seeing Sailor Moon once more. I remember the comments of the first episode coming out, and it’s all true. Anime history remade, which some of the young’uns might not get 😛
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Glad to have you back in the club, Reaper. It’s been a while.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Ahaha long time, no see.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 145 comments
Looking ahead, it might be a while before we start to see any solid story start to form till after all the sailors are found. Which to me, is pretty tedious.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 109 comments
by what i seen in the manga the real diffrence between crystal and the original will show up in the next episode
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It may look that way but we still have ample time for a hopefully solid storyline since the series is confirmed to have a total of 26 episodes.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 145 comments
2 cour? sexy
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Hmm, I think the story really picked up around chapter 5 or so in the manga (I think 4ish is when the romance part really starts), which is… well, a while away. I guess that’s just what happens with this kind of broadcast schedule though.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
The only ‘old school’ thing I used to watch was Voltron, and to be honest, that’s what the story seemed to remind me of, with the ‘bad guy’ reminding me of Honerva every week saying “My NEW ro-beast will destroy Voltron for sure!”
Usagi was a lot less annoying in this episode, and I get a kick out of the way she says “moon” – “Muuuun Purizm Powah!” and “Say-rah Muuuun!”
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I groove on the pronunciation of the letter V. Which always sound like it’s coming from a person living in the Southern US.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
A pretty big development with the evil side (well, maybe not too big in the long run, but it’s kind of important) should happen next week… I like the story for having important things happen in with the monster of the week formula.
Ahaha
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Moon’s battle cry should be “In the name of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Ramen!” Look at that hair. Those decs are meat/eyeballs…don’t tell me they aren’t.
I always find it funny when they strive about these transformation scenes and are incredibly self-aware, only to question how they got like this way when the scene is over. Ami, you test well, but get some perception exercises.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I think I remember Usagi’s nickname in the dub was “meatball head”, funnily enough.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
So, Takeuchi-san is some sorta noodly prophet!
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
My favorite Sailor Senshi has appeared!
Sailor Moon has always required huge suspensions of disbelief. In that way it’s like Bugs Bunny cartoons where the cheesiest of disguises fools the villains. For that matter they also fool the good guys. You just have to ignore that and immerse yourself in the story. And it is a lot of fun!
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I’ll have to pray for them to animate the Death Busters arc for mine to appear OTL
Ahaha I guess so.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Hmm… Here I thought you were simply covering the First Impression for this series out of nostalgia and not continuing. Not sure why I thought that but good luck with this, Kara. Come on, you’ve covered moe shows before so there shouldn’t be any difference now.
So we get the brains of the group, Sailor Mercury. An IQ of 300. Talk about intimidating. This may be just me but I actually preferred her transformation to Usagi’s. Her sequence was a bit more appealing. For someone socially inept as she is, Usagi is just the friend she needs to open up to others.
LOL. Luckily that isn’t the intended episode message. Just imagine the masses of people who’d use this as an excuse. It would be anarchy.
Next week is Sailor Mars. Considering her powers and if my memory of this series is good, she’s a hothead with a short fuse.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 109 comments
in this rei episode the real diffrence of crystal and the original come if you was read rei intro chapter in the manga then you will know what difference i mean
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Nope, I’m here for a whole year
let’s see if my attention span lasts that long. Though having this series come out only every other week should make things easier. xDAmi’s transformation was cool with the water special effects. Though it was just like the original anime’s so the credit for the sequence goes to that staff instead.
I’d use it as an excuse. Though I don’t study in the first place most of the time. xDYep, that’s what I remember too. Though maybe that was just the anime playing up that part of her character. They made Usagi more inept than she was in the manga for most of the anime, so maybe they did that with Rei too.
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
The artwork still looks good, if not amazing. I never did watch the original through in order — just caught episodes after the team had been assembled — so I’m interested in learning the back stories for Usagi’s team mates.
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
The art is based on Leiji matsumoto’s work, mainly Galaxy Express 999.
I flipped when a moe lover said that the art is ugly.
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
Someone would have to be pretty biased to say this looks “ugly”. That or they were trolling you.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
It should be good. I was watching some video for the full OP that has some unaired animation and they’ve really put effort into making things look nice.
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
Don’t even mention DMMD. Why do you think I haven’t written about itNow that I’m an adult, I just realized how wrong Usagi’s age is. She’s 14, and yet she has such mature body. Even more mature than mine. Then she hooked up with a senior high school dude who eventually goes to harvard, and even Show ▼
At the age of 14.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
It’s probably because I haven’t played the game, but horrid animation aside, I’m kind of enjoying DMMD. I finally understand so much about your game review.
W-H-A-T? I don’t remember that ever happening. (I mean, sure it happens eventually, but I don’t remember reading hints about it in the manga). Show ▼