April 21st, 2016 
AstroNerdBoy A Look At “Sailor Moon Crystal” Season 3
For the first two seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal, I forced myself to episode-blog them even though it was painful to do so. I don’t feel like subjecting myself to that level of pain, but I do admit that I have a hideous curiosity to see what else is in store here. So I do plan to watch the series, but since I’m not going to episode-blog it, I’ll write up a review after season 3 is over.
In the meantime, after watching episode 27 (interesting that this is the second anime series I’ve watched of late where the production team aren’t making a new series for marketing purposes, but rather are just continuing the original), I quickly saw how things were going to go, which is why I made my decision to not episode-blog things. (Since starting this, I have also watched episode 28.)
For starters, we are going to get a continuation of the monster of the week thing, where the new baddie babe sends out her baddie henchmen (whom are not going out one by one, but really aren’t doing much for being five of them), whom will end up dead, after which the baddie babe is killed. Yay. I’m bored already.
Further, while there were some apparent new powers by a couple of the girls, it was laughable how Sailor Mars (Rei) is still worthless and then the others are surprised by how worthless she is. I mean how can this be a surprise? All of the girls been 90% worthless for the past two seasons. Your vaunted attacks having no affect should not be surprising at this point. The only thing surprising is that the other two Sailor Babes managed to defeat the enemy, and without Tuxedo Mask’s help.
So basically, I see the girls having to come up with new powers to defeat their enemies, but then acting all surprised when a lot of their stuff doesn’t work ’cause the story needs the bad guys to be invincible for a bit.
I was surprised to see what looked like Sailor Pluto in the OP credits. I guess this means that she didn’t in fact die when she in fact died. Either that or there will be some retconning stuff about her abilities with time allowing her to go forward in time to help (ignoring the fact that she’s supposed to hang out at that door).
It was pretty obvious that the “racer dude” is a reverse trap, simply because of how the scenes with the character were played. The Sailor Moon franchise is known for its bishounen characters, but I just had that feeling when “racer dude” showed up that the character might not be a guy. As episode 27 played out, the feeling grew stronger until the ED credits confirmed it for me. The ED credits also let me know this chick in disguise is not only going to be a Sailor Bimbo, but she’s also going to be on the quest for scissor time with the other Sailor Yuri being introduced (in a romantic way, mind you). This may have been a shoujo manga when things started, but I have a suspicion that the yuri stuff was added for the guys enjoyment.
Having now watched episode 28, I was surprised to see a new loli babe being added to the mix. (Looking back, I somehow missed her in the OP, so she shouldn’t have been a surprise.) Since she has healing powers, I’m guessing she’s going to be a Sailor Loli along with Chibi-Usa.
Man, these henshin sequences are getting longer and longer with the increased number of Sailor Broads that need to transform and show off the goods. By the time they add three (or four if Sailor Pluto is back) more of these girls into the mix, needing to transform, the henshin sequence could take half the episode.
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll lose more IQ points before is Sailor Moon Crystal season 3 over. But at least I’m sparing myself of by not episode-blogging it. 😉 I’ll write a review when the season is over.
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This not about Sailor Moon, but something better: a singular manga called “the gods lie” by Kaori Ozaka. Eleven year old Natsuru Nanao lives with his single mom, who struggles to write manga and light novels. He’s the star striker on the soccer team but still hasn’t conversed with girls. Rio Suzumura is twelve and lives by herself with her very young brother Yuuta in a ramshackle house. Her mother left long ago, and when you meet her father you can see why. Her father has told Rio that he has gone to Alaska to fish for crab, he but still lives in the same town with his hooker hootchie mama unbeknownst to Rio. Rio and Natsuru meet one day in school during summer break when he’s sleeping at his desk apparently alone. Rio has her face deliciously buried in the curtains and turns to him when he wakes up and says, “They had the curtains cleaned before summer break.” Excellently staged first encounter and the reader wonders why that’s interesting to Rio.
Their adventures in independence will push tears behind your eyes. All done with neutral grace and unflinching realism — not sentimental but extremely emotional. That stoic Japanese facial set during tragedy really triggers the viewer’s empathy, much more powerfully than the screaming, hair-pulling, gargoyle face display does in some Western drama. It’s not all tragedy. When Rio’s father fails to show up before the festival, as he had promised, Rio puts on her old, moth eaten yukata and invites Nat to go with him to the festival. The excellently done cover art depicts them on the way to that carnival.
Rio loves Nat-Nat and initiates many of their encounters, and Natsuru protects her during the whole story. They run away by taking the first train available and get as far as an out-of-season inn at the seashore. Nat’s mother collects them there and they must be separated. Rio is sent to an institution and Nat returns home to his loving mother. A year later their phone rings; his mother answers and quickly, eagerly gives the phone to Nat saying, “It’s Rio.” Rio has had a dream in which Nat is a star player on Japan’s soccer team and tells him. Both have tears in their stoic faces. Then she says, “Natsuru. We’ll see each other again.”
By now I was chocking back tears but happy with the hopeful, positive ending.
“the gods lie” published by Vertical, a division of Penguin/Random House. They always seem to get the good stuff in my experience. The plot turns very dark when Natsuru digs up a skeleton in Rio’s back yard by accident when he tries to bury a big beetle that had died after hitting their window at night and scaring them as they slept together there in Rio’s house.
It’s worth noting that Vertical publishes “Gundam the Origin.”
Which reminds me, I need to keep my eye open for the 3rd OVA episode.
Looking forward to it.
Of course I have a couple of obvious mistakes: 1. Rio’s father had promised to be home BEFORE the festival and had not shown up. Rio hasn’t seen him for months, and she thinks he’s in Alaska fishing for crab. He’s really living in the same town as Rio with a “hostess” from a “hostess club.” 2. When it’s obvious that her father isn’t going to show up, she puts on her old yukata and takes Natsuru with HER to the festival.
Also, one of the consequences of overusing powerful adjectives is that they lose their power when you need it. I overuse “adorable,’ to my chagrin, but Rio and Natsuru are ADORABLE. An example: they had rescued an abandoned cat and had to give him up when Nat’s mother collected them at the seashore. In the last scene we see Rio sitting on her bed at the institution, phoning Natsuru a year later, with a floppy cat doll lying by her. The reader concludes she has had this clumsily made doll since her separation from Natsuru. The cat itself had been “rescued” from them by a animal rescuing society. These two characters are not weak and pitiful. Rio especially is very capable and was surviving ok in her family’s old, disintegrating house. However, events overcome them.
Okay. I think I’ve figured out who the “gods” are. Context leads to the conclusion that the gods are the adults who’ve lied to Rio and Natsuru — his deceased father and old soccer coach with good intentions and Rio’s father with decidedly bad intentions. The bitchy princess who berates Rio in the classroom for her slightly disheveled appearance can be a nasty personal god in this context. The Japaneses concept of god eludes me. Sometimes it seems to be an overall, single deity, as in Buddha, and sometimes multiple as in the forest kamis that appear in “My Neighbor Totoro.” And sometimes the human adult gods for children, as in “the gods lie.”
Lies are also different — not intrinsically bad, not necessarily with horrible religious consequences and not to be unexpected! In “Your Lie in April” the lie is what Kosei has told himself about his terminated piano playing until he meets Kaori. I think. All this conjecturing still leaves many lacunae in my understanding.
Thanks for the info. 🙂
Many thanks for your patience.
No problem. 🙂
I’m not entirely sure how to express my thoughts correctly, but I’m going to do my best.
It’s a very odd experience for me, someone who’s had Sailor Moon as a part of his life since he was 10 or so, and to come across this from someone who has such a small exposure to the franchise. It’s jarring!
But besides that, this review just feels so different. I did a double take to make sure this was written by who I thought it was. It’s so drastically different in tone and expression than, say, your Tenchi Muyo OVA 3 review. Having a sour opinion on something is fine and dandy, but this all just feels drenched in spite and antagonism. Really, honestly, I’m sorry you had such a bad experience and that Crystal isn’t doing it for you.
While Season 3 seems to be far and away better than the first two, it still lacks a lot of the charm of the 90’s series. I’d heavily recommend you give that a try from the beginning. It’s all up on Hulu now for free, so the only investment would be your time. Just remember that, like Crystal, Sailor Moon (90s) is a serialized series aimed at young girls rather than adults with adult tastes, though that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have it’s moments/episodes without some heavier, darker turns.
A lot of folks have recommended that. It is on my list.
Soapbox ethics 101. Art appreciation is always subjective, so sniveling over disagreements about it is a waste of time and bad for your soul.
I really like sailor moon crystal.
A lot of people did. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.
I tried to like it. But really it is a horribly made product. Totally reliant on nostalgia.
I agree
I hate this horribly overrated anime. It’s done nothing to deserve any praise given to it, yet its flaws are simply hand-waved because it (clumsily) follows an already half-assed and rushed manga.
If it didn’t have an already iconic brand to fall back on, no one would have given it the time of day…
I think the first anime adaptation and all of the changes it made created a fandom that accepts anything. (Not to mention the otaku lusting over the jailbait, JS girls with legs that go all the way up.) I remember the source manga disappointing me when I started reading it. Eventually, I dropped it.