月に代わって、お仕置きよ！
I watched Sailor Moon Crystal on Saturday with softlykarou. I liked it.
It's difficult for me to really say much more than that, because unlike a lot of the people who have been waiting for this for a long time, I didn't grow up with Sailor Moon and don't have any fond memories of it. I didn't even see any anime at all until I was 19--and since the first anime I ever saw was Akira, sometimes I'm amazed I kept watching. My only familiarity with Sailor Moon was what softlykarou told me about it, a bit of geek cultural osmosis, and reading a lot of Shadowjack Watches Sailor Moon. Though because of that last one, my image is Sailor Moon is of the Seelie Court, which was headquartered in Lost Carcosa, fighting the Unseelie Court, which is trying to summon Cthulhu. At least, in the first season.Beyond the Lake of Hali, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Carcosa. Our wands were shattered in our hands and we hung our crowns on the oak tree. The silver towers were fallen, into a sea of blood. How many miles to Carcosa? None, I say, and all. The silver towers are fallen.
He did up the episode with the flashback to the Silver Millennium in iambic pentameter. It's pretty cool.
The eyecatches, as I've just learned that they're called, reminded me a lot of Utena's shadow theatre with A-ko, B-ko, and C-ko. The character designs remind me of Utena too with how lanky they are, though I've read that the original manga had similar designs. It does make it ever more difficult to believe that these are supposed to be middle-schoolers than it normally would, though.
I loved how Mamoru was just wandering around a tuxedo for no reason, and when he and Usagi run into each other, they kind of look at each other like, "Do I...know you?" And then later he shows up, having put on a top hat, cape, and small mask, and Usagi is all WHO IS THIS MAN?!
I didn't like the battle, though. Ordinary people being corrupted into zombies against their will is and should be horrifying, and while there was an initial moment when Naru's "mother" turned around and then the eyecatches flashed up, or when Sailor Moon busted into the jewelry store and then the mind-controlled zombies showed up...they weren't really a threat at all. It's possible that I have incompatible expectations, coming as I do from a post-Sailor Nothing mindset, but I was hoping for a more closely-fought battle and emphasis on the tragedy of mind control (the way I hear the live action series is). I guess if they follow the "constant escalation" model, it does give them a place where there is nowhere to go but up.
The transformation music was fantastic. Uptempo choral chanting is probably my favorite genre of music next to chiptunes, so that meant it beat out the opening theme for catchiness for me. I saw one person describe it as “like the birth of a goddess,” which I guess is kind of appropriate?
And because my proximate interest is nearly always tabletop RPGs, watching the episode made me go check out Princess: the Hopeful again and ask softlykarou to run a game. The biggest roleplaying challenge for me yet--playing an optimist who believes that it is possible to spread enlightenment to the masses, given the proper methods.
It's difficult for me to really say much more than that, because unlike a lot of the people who have been waiting for this for a long time, I didn't grow up with Sailor Moon and don't have any fond memories of it. I didn't even see any anime at all until I was 19--and since the first anime I ever saw was Akira, sometimes I'm amazed I kept watching. My only familiarity with Sailor Moon was what softlykarou told me about it, a bit of geek cultural osmosis, and reading a lot of Shadowjack Watches Sailor Moon. Though because of that last one, my image is Sailor Moon is of the Seelie Court, which was headquartered in Lost Carcosa, fighting the Unseelie Court, which is trying to summon Cthulhu. At least, in the first season.Beyond the Lake of Hali, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Carcosa. Our wands were shattered in our hands and we hung our crowns on the oak tree. The silver towers were fallen, into a sea of blood. How many miles to Carcosa? None, I say, and all. The silver towers are fallen.
He did up the episode with the flashback to the Silver Millennium in iambic pentameter. It's pretty cool.
The eyecatches, as I've just learned that they're called, reminded me a lot of Utena's shadow theatre with A-ko, B-ko, and C-ko. The character designs remind me of Utena too with how lanky they are, though I've read that the original manga had similar designs. It does make it ever more difficult to believe that these are supposed to be middle-schoolers than it normally would, though.
I loved how Mamoru was just wandering around a tuxedo for no reason, and when he and Usagi run into each other, they kind of look at each other like, "Do I...know you?" And then later he shows up, having put on a top hat, cape, and small mask, and Usagi is all WHO IS THIS MAN?!
I didn't like the battle, though. Ordinary people being corrupted into zombies against their will is and should be horrifying, and while there was an initial moment when Naru's "mother" turned around and then the eyecatches flashed up, or when Sailor Moon busted into the jewelry store and then the mind-controlled zombies showed up...they weren't really a threat at all. It's possible that I have incompatible expectations, coming as I do from a post-Sailor Nothing mindset, but I was hoping for a more closely-fought battle and emphasis on the tragedy of mind control (the way I hear the live action series is). I guess if they follow the "constant escalation" model, it does give them a place where there is nowhere to go but up.
The transformation music was fantastic. Uptempo choral chanting is probably my favorite genre of music next to chiptunes, so that meant it beat out the opening theme for catchiness for me. I saw one person describe it as “like the birth of a goddess,” which I guess is kind of appropriate?
And because my proximate interest is nearly always tabletop RPGs, watching the episode made me go check out Princess: the Hopeful again and ask softlykarou to run a game. The biggest roleplaying challenge for me yet--playing an optimist who believes that it is possible to spread enlightenment to the masses, given the proper methods.