SHE IS THE ONE CALLED SAILOR MOON

[nevermore999]

Sailor Moon! Only got into it recently (disregarding how one of my friends always made me play Sailor Mercury in sixth grade) but my inner child totally adores it. Teen girl superheroes and the power of friendship! So, I've been posting some of the manga on tumblr. I figured, why not here too? If anyone likes it, I'll keep posting. I have the full Sailor V Manga too, though I now have better pages than the ones I posted on tumblr, so I'll hold off on that.

The first arc of Sailor Moon has some differences from the anime (mainly, no filler) but they are fairly similar. However, the next 4 arcs are majorly different from the anime. Unfortunately, only most of the first arc has been scanlated properly (Sailor Moon was one of the earliest manga translations- as a result, it is pretty terrible, flipped around with the dubbed names and some really awful flubs- such as when the translators didn't recognize that a character was quoting a poem by William Blake. Sad.) 

So! I figure I'll start at the beginning, anyway, Here's some pages from the first chapter.




Enter Usagi Tsukino! She is clumsy and a bit of a crybaby, but secretly an agent of love and justice- y'know the drill



Here is Mamoru, wearing a tuxedo in the middle of the day, which makes it TOTALLY NOT OBVIOUS WHO HE IS. He is casing out the joint to rob it, like any good citizen. Usagi hates his guts, which means she loves him.

Usagi finds herself getting stalked by a cat.



She sorta fails at life. But not at being a superhero. She proceeds to have an adorable video game dream sequence.



FORESHADOWING! She's just rescuing the wrong dude.



PRISM POWER MAAAAKE UP!

Usagi transforms. She has some nifty goggles here that apparently have mad seeing skills. They just sort of..stop being there after a while, though she does pull them out in the second arc to analyze some aliens. From where? Who knows. And her hairpeices amplify sound, again, rarely used.



Usagi doesn't know what the hell is going on and doesn't have a particular motive to be a superhero, but she is determined to help her friend anyway.



It's always very awkward when you realize you don't actually know your superhero name.



THE SPEECH IS VERY IMPORTANT.

Apparently she got all that just from Luna nodding at the moon.

Usagi gets fights a little, gets scraped up and realizes this isn't actually a dream as she'd thought previously. At which point she flips out.



I wish I had supersonic tears. My life would be easier!

Note the lack of rose-throwing. Tuxedo Kamen actually never throws a rose in the manga! He just sort of hangs around being a badass normal in the first arc, and gets a pretty decent magic attack in the second one.



Wonder Woman taught me that move!

Tuxedo Mask hits on her and bamfs away, and Usagi is like "HE IS HOT! ME LIKE!"




AND SO THE LEGEND IS BORN.

Next Chapter is Ami. Should I do her and Mars, or skip straight to Jupiter who is my favorite. You guys can decide!
 

Comments

[rebecky-mo.livejournal.com]

This series is pretty much my definitive 'Never Gets Old' title. I still scan through YouTube at LEAST once a month to watch episodes.

They really, really, REEEEEALLY need to re-release Sailor Moon, both in Manga & Anime format (with Man!Zoicite, Non-cousin!Outers, and SAILOR STARS DARNIT).

And I'll say skip to Jupiter because Mako-chan's totally my favorite Sailor too. <333

[nezchan]

Mako-chan is and always will be the greatest I'd have to agree, it takes until then for Takeuchi to really hit her stride with the series and produce some good stuff. The initial couple of volumes were kinda on the awkward side.

And I've always been fond of the "Usagi and Mina share the same brain" phase, that was always worth a laugh. And was totally in character for Mina.

[rebecky-mo.livejournal.com]

Strong but still girly, and deeply rooted loyalty. I've yet to decide my favorite moment with her, but I think it's between her speech at the end of Episode 26, or her taking on Nehelenia ALONE in Sailor Stars to save Usagi.

And people can say what they want about the anime filler, the character development the Senshi get in some of those episodes is usually made of awesome. Much as I love the manga, I always thought it was a little TOO focused on Usagi.

And yes, Usagi and Mina's hive-mind was always fun. She can get serious when she needs to, but once she found other senshi like herself, she was able to relax and have some fun again!

Maaaan, I have to get ready for work, but I wanna watch eps now. AGAIN.

[nezchan]

Don't get me started, I can gush about Mako at the drop of a hat. Yeah, the outers are cool, but Mako's got them beat any day, far as I'm concerned. Kick ass and cook? Sold!

Also, the first story arc of Stars was the best part of that season. No question. Mako's tenacity just killed me.

[majingojira]

I mostly deal with the Abridged version.

Making fun of the dub may be shooting fish in a barrel--but it's DAMN satisfying.

And I don't like the series that much myself--or, rather, I hate the Anime's rendition of the lead.

If I'm watching a series with a whiny protagonist, I'll go with Shinji Ikari.

[nevermore999]

Except she isn't close to as whiny as Shinji- especially in the manga, where she actually gets to mature.

The Abidged series lost me with the repetitive and nonsensical fat jokes and then when they went to rape jokes? No thanks. There are tons of things to make fun of in Sailor Moon, so there's no excuse for being repetitive. And what the hell are the icky trans jokes with Mako about? And "OMG she's a slut" for Mina? It just got gross.

[majingojira]

Probably the VA's fault--the second season's "Lose your memories" thing really got to me from a narrative perspective largely due to her reaction to it.

[nevermore999]

Huh, I dunno really what yer talking about- but know the "lose your memories" thing doesn't happen in the manga! Or the entire arc with those two alien kids.

[majingojira]

It's an anime exclusive and it annoyed the HELL out of me.

[nezchan]

Okay, that guarantees I'll never be watching the abridged series, then.

[nevermore999]

Actually, when did she ever whine in the anime? A bit in the early episodes of the first season, but not at all in later seasons. She was clingy and jealous and goofy and reeeally prone to panicking, but generally had a can-do, overly cheerful attitude.

[majingojira]

She was clingy and jealous and goofy and reeeally prone to panicking

Excellent point. My Whiny comment did not adequately explain my dislike.

Unlike Charmed, I can't tear Sailor Moon a new one with impunity thanks to my arguments.

So I'll try and narrow down the logical reasons why I disliked Serena in particular over the other heroines.

Perhaps it is the dub VA or the the dichotomy of Shaggy-like panicking and heroics was to drastic for me to take seriously or find endearing.

And it's just Usagi I dislike. The Other scouts are neutral to enjoyable IMO.

And I have watched other Magical Girl series and in all the ones I've seen, only Usagi manages to annoy me.

The Cures did not annoy me in Futari Wa Pretty Cure (though their mascots tried their damndest).

The Quintet in W.I.T.C.H. were saved by Greg Weissman, so they kind of get a pass.

EVERYONE in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha has some redeaming or endearing quality to them. Even the bad guys--even Jail I find amusing for his Ham. Of course, that's more of a Super Robot show than a Magical Girls show...

Sakura's got her issues but I still enjoyed her in Card Captor Sakura, over Usagi.

Even within the show, it's only Usagi I can't stand.

Damnit, Now I want to know why!

[nevermore999]

Uhhh...well, I never watched the dub so. The few clips I did see, all the VA's seemed super annoying, 'cept Jupiter's.

I agree her development in the anime was a little stunted declared to the manga.

On the other hand, her panicking never seemed serious, even in the anime. When shit got real, she knew how to buckle down. Clingy and jealous? It was mostly childishness, so I never minded that. She made it clear a few times she didn't seriously have doubts. The goofy stuff was mostly just fun. I always saw Usagi's defining aspect as her bravery (she's scared shitless everytime she goes into battle, but she does it anyway), her compassion for everyone around her and her enthusiasm for life. I think the fact she's full of flaws is supposed to be inspiring for the younger girls watching the show, a "you can do it too" type thing.

But yeah, overall the manga handles her a bit better. She matures a lot faster and doesn't "reset" every season. Her jealousy is pretty nonexistent (she still occasionally scuffles with Chibiusa, but not nearly as much in the anime and there was a parallel jealousy thing going on with her and Mamoru in the third arc that they worked out by MAKING OUT ON THE KITCHED FLOOR) and after the first arc, she stops panicking almost completely, and is totally sure of her duty.

Magical Girl

[nefrekeptah]

I haven't seen any Pretty Cure, but I LOVED W.I.T.C.H.. I really wish that they had made more seasons of that show.

Never read the comic though - I just can't seem to find it anywhere.

Re: Magical Girl

[majingojira]

Greg Weisman, creator of Gargoyles, brought his special magic to the second season of WITCH. Then, like Gargoyles, it got hit with Disney's Hard and Fast rule: 65 episodes and that's it.

The comics...are decent, but not that great. I stumbled across some scans one time and wasn't too impressed.

Re: Magical Girl

[nefrekeptah]

65 episodes and that's it.

But, WITCH only had 52 episodes....

And honestly, I liked both seasons; while season 2 is better, season 1 still had all the characters gradually getting much smarter, and I still love Phobo's Xanitos gambit.

Re: Magical Girl

[majingojira]

Damn, got the number wrong. It was either 52 or 65--one of those is the number needed for syndication...

[icon_uk]

I agree for the most part, most of the Senchi are fine (Rei is cute and I love the Outer Senshi) but every time Usagi is on screen it's like fingernails being scraped down a blackboard.

[nezchan]

Usagi changes a lot as the series goes on. It's especially noticeable in S, Super S and Stars. The Super S movie had this terriffic scene where Chibi-Usa is kidnapped, and you see this range of complex emotions cross her face, and instead of freaking out she settles on bravery and determination. One of her very best scenes, and one of the best animated too.

[icon_uk]

I appreciate the effort, but trying to make me like Usagi more by referencing a scene (ANY scene) in relation to Chibi-Usa is pretty much destined for failure. Usagi annoys me, Chibi-Usa appals me.

[nezchan]

Again, see the Super-S movie. Both fare FAR better there than in the series. Same goes for the first six-episode story arc of Stars, there's a much better portrayal.

[icon_uk]

Sorry, I've seen the Super-S movie (and the R and S movies and more than a few episodes of the show (The French and English dubs and some fansubs)) I still don't like them. Sorry it's possible it just short circuits my "Cute appreciation" circuit or something, maybe since we are so obviously supposed to adore Chibi-Usa on sight that my bloody-minded gene kicks in.

[mercia]

"non-cousin Outers"? That's crazy talk. That just makes it BETTER.

My best story relating to Sailor Moon is when Cartoon Network finally started showing Sailor Moon S and Haruka and Michiru were introduced, complete with "We're just cousins! COUSINS. THAT'S ALL. REALLY." excuse.

A friend who knew I was into the series tracked me down a while later and asked "Hey... uh... are Neptune and Uranus gay in the original series, too?"

I nearly died laughing.

[rebecky-mo.livejournal.com]

I really can't believe anyone was fooled by Uranus and Neptune. I mean, REALLY. Zoicite I can kindasorta understand, with the long hair and uniform.

But those two? As we say, it's only subtext if it's SUBTLE!!

One of my favorite 'you aren't fooling ANYONE' moments was in the Doom Tree filler eps, where they're all arguing over who gets the lead of Snow White.

Dub-Lita is making her own argument, saying the lead should be the one with the most 'talent', whilst thrusting out her chest and pointing at it, while everyone else stares at them.

[leikomgwtfbbq]

YES. I used to have a lot of Sailor Moon manga but a girl on the bus in seventh grade stole it all from me. >_O

Mako-chan's always been my favorite, too. Mostly because I look big and scary, too, but just want to enjoy my girly hobbies and make friends. XD