More Sailor Moon Crystal thoughts.
Jan. 17th, 2015 05:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladybug_archiveSo the Dark Kingdom arc is officially concluded and we are moving into the Black Moon/Chibiusa arc. Final thoughts on Dark Kingdom below, and a bit of thought on Black Moon (with a slight spoiler or two from the manga).
Some things were really good; I believe the bonds between the Sailor Senshi are much stronger in Crystal. The friendships the girls have are just beautiful and Crystal really went deeply into how much they care about each other.
Some characters are much better in Crystal than in the original anime, especially Luna, Minako, and Rei. It's nice to see Usagi maturing quicker, too, although I miss seeing a little more of her ditziness and clumsiness. I love, however, how they emphasize how Usagi makes people happy and brings people together. That is lovely.
They really didn't develop the individual characters very well, though (other than Usagi and maybe Luna and Mamoru). Rushing through the storyline the way the manga did doesn't leave much room for showcasing individual personalities. I originally thought that the entire 26 episode run was going to be Dark Kingdom related and that there would be character-developing things that deviated from the manga's frantic pace.
The Generals/Kings seem to have gotten their usual bad break, and I think it makes me madder in Crystal than anywhere else. Why? Because the Earth and the people were all restored/healed, including the ones who fought against Queen Metalia. Why were the Generals excluded from that? They deserved another chance to live normally too. I suppose there wasn't any proof that the Senshi were dead here, as they were in the original anime, and I suppose it would be better if they were not (no Sailor Moon with power to actually revive the dead; albeit she didn't revive them in the original anime, just wished for time to reverse and that's how they were brought back to life, as far as I can tell. Although, actually, that would mean that the Generals and Queen Beryl should have been brought back too, and everyone would have forgotten the events of season 1, including Naru with Nephrite, and ugggh what a confusing, confusing mess. I suppose the idea was that Usagi wished for time to reverse and for there to not be any danger, so the Dark Kingdom would not have come back even though the Senshi did), so if the Senshi were not dead in Crystal, that would mean Usagi doesn't have the power to bring back the dead and that would be why the Generals were not restored.
Also, the subplot of the Generals and the Senshi being couples in the past was handled very badly. Completely aside from the fact that I simply don't like it to begin with, it wasn't developed well here at all. Only Minako and Kunzite had some real hint of interaction; the others did not, except during their first battles when they didn't remember the past yet. I thought that each couple might get an episode to be highlighted and developed. Instead, it's pretty much just randomly mentioned that Oh, the Senshi once followed Serenity to Earth and they met the Generals/Kings and fell in love. **rolls eyes.** There's a couple of admittedly heartbreaking scenes where they try to get the mind-controlled Generals to remember things and break free, so they won't have to fight, but it never works for more than a couple of minutes. The second time they remember, Queen Metalia apparently kills them, either by absorbing them or causing them to fall off a cliff, I'm not sure which. The Senshi cry for them for a minute, are comforted by the Generals' spirits, and go off to help Sailor Moon.
The Generals are mentioned one more time, by Mamoru when they protect him in spirit, but the Senshi haven't acknowledged them at all. Now that things have started to go back to normal, they seem to have put all thoughts of the Generals away. I thought there might be one little mention, considering their past status as couples.
Overall, very badly done and a cop-out, but then again, when trying to keep perfect pace with the manga, there really wasn't time for developing things well. I think they should have left out the General/Senshi pairing idea altogether, though, since they didn't devote any time to developing it and it doesn't canonically exist in any other verse except the musicals. I know Naoko drew that famous picture, but she decided not to use the concept, so it's not canon in the manga, either.
It's too soon to tell how the Chibiusa arc will go, but I will say right now that since it's following the manga, I'm assuming they're going to do the idea that Chibiusa's growth was stunted by the Legendary Silver Crystal and she's really 900 years old instead of six or nine, and that's just ... too weird. She still has the mentality of a child, and if she really lived through 900 years (and didn't sleep through them, as in the original anime), she would logically be much more mature. The manga just has so many things that don't make sense (that, and Usagi apparently having such great power that she can revive the world, and other things). And the manga/Crystal are darker too. I miss the light-hearted escapades of the original anime (which could also be very dark when it wanted). I really prefer the original anime over the manga, in spite of its flaws.
I just wish that the way Crystal (and presumably the manga) presents the friendship between the girls could have also been in the original anime. Of course, they have a strong bond there, too, and would do anything for each other, but there's just something about how Crystal does it that appeals to me much more.
I do like, however, that the original anime does better at presenting the Senshi as normal girls, which is what they wanted to be in every verse, including Crystal.
Final conclusion: I think it's sad that many people just dismiss Crystal without giving it a fair chance, but it's not for everyone and I do understand preferring the original anime. I will probably always prefer it myself. And now that the Dark Kingdom arc has finished and I've seen the Generals' fate, I think I'm much more receptive to getting the first original anime boxset, in spite of its flaws. I'm hoping the messes Viz made won't look as bad in motion as they do in the screengrabs. And in any case, it's really the only set possible for me to easily obtain, so flaws aside, I shall have it. I think the next set comes out next month, too, along with the next Batman set.
Some things were really good; I believe the bonds between the Sailor Senshi are much stronger in Crystal. The friendships the girls have are just beautiful and Crystal really went deeply into how much they care about each other.
Some characters are much better in Crystal than in the original anime, especially Luna, Minako, and Rei. It's nice to see Usagi maturing quicker, too, although I miss seeing a little more of her ditziness and clumsiness. I love, however, how they emphasize how Usagi makes people happy and brings people together. That is lovely.
They really didn't develop the individual characters very well, though (other than Usagi and maybe Luna and Mamoru). Rushing through the storyline the way the manga did doesn't leave much room for showcasing individual personalities. I originally thought that the entire 26 episode run was going to be Dark Kingdom related and that there would be character-developing things that deviated from the manga's frantic pace.
The Generals/Kings seem to have gotten their usual bad break, and I think it makes me madder in Crystal than anywhere else. Why? Because the Earth and the people were all restored/healed, including the ones who fought against Queen Metalia. Why were the Generals excluded from that? They deserved another chance to live normally too. I suppose there wasn't any proof that the Senshi were dead here, as they were in the original anime, and I suppose it would be better if they were not (no Sailor Moon with power to actually revive the dead; albeit she didn't revive them in the original anime, just wished for time to reverse and that's how they were brought back to life, as far as I can tell. Although, actually, that would mean that the Generals and Queen Beryl should have been brought back too, and everyone would have forgotten the events of season 1, including Naru with Nephrite, and ugggh what a confusing, confusing mess. I suppose the idea was that Usagi wished for time to reverse and for there to not be any danger, so the Dark Kingdom would not have come back even though the Senshi did), so if the Senshi were not dead in Crystal, that would mean Usagi doesn't have the power to bring back the dead and that would be why the Generals were not restored.
Also, the subplot of the Generals and the Senshi being couples in the past was handled very badly. Completely aside from the fact that I simply don't like it to begin with, it wasn't developed well here at all. Only Minako and Kunzite had some real hint of interaction; the others did not, except during their first battles when they didn't remember the past yet. I thought that each couple might get an episode to be highlighted and developed. Instead, it's pretty much just randomly mentioned that Oh, the Senshi once followed Serenity to Earth and they met the Generals/Kings and fell in love. **rolls eyes.** There's a couple of admittedly heartbreaking scenes where they try to get the mind-controlled Generals to remember things and break free, so they won't have to fight, but it never works for more than a couple of minutes. The second time they remember, Queen Metalia apparently kills them, either by absorbing them or causing them to fall off a cliff, I'm not sure which. The Senshi cry for them for a minute, are comforted by the Generals' spirits, and go off to help Sailor Moon.
The Generals are mentioned one more time, by Mamoru when they protect him in spirit, but the Senshi haven't acknowledged them at all. Now that things have started to go back to normal, they seem to have put all thoughts of the Generals away. I thought there might be one little mention, considering their past status as couples.
Overall, very badly done and a cop-out, but then again, when trying to keep perfect pace with the manga, there really wasn't time for developing things well. I think they should have left out the General/Senshi pairing idea altogether, though, since they didn't devote any time to developing it and it doesn't canonically exist in any other verse except the musicals. I know Naoko drew that famous picture, but she decided not to use the concept, so it's not canon in the manga, either.
It's too soon to tell how the Chibiusa arc will go, but I will say right now that since it's following the manga, I'm assuming they're going to do the idea that Chibiusa's growth was stunted by the Legendary Silver Crystal and she's really 900 years old instead of six or nine, and that's just ... too weird. She still has the mentality of a child, and if she really lived through 900 years (and didn't sleep through them, as in the original anime), she would logically be much more mature. The manga just has so many things that don't make sense (that, and Usagi apparently having such great power that she can revive the world, and other things). And the manga/Crystal are darker too. I miss the light-hearted escapades of the original anime (which could also be very dark when it wanted). I really prefer the original anime over the manga, in spite of its flaws.
I just wish that the way Crystal (and presumably the manga) presents the friendship between the girls could have also been in the original anime. Of course, they have a strong bond there, too, and would do anything for each other, but there's just something about how Crystal does it that appeals to me much more.
I do like, however, that the original anime does better at presenting the Senshi as normal girls, which is what they wanted to be in every verse, including Crystal.
Final conclusion: I think it's sad that many people just dismiss Crystal without giving it a fair chance, but it's not for everyone and I do understand preferring the original anime. I will probably always prefer it myself. And now that the Dark Kingdom arc has finished and I've seen the Generals' fate, I think I'm much more receptive to getting the first original anime boxset, in spite of its flaws. I'm hoping the messes Viz made won't look as bad in motion as they do in the screengrabs. And in any case, it's really the only set possible for me to easily obtain, so flaws aside, I shall have it. I think the next set comes out next month, too, along with the next Batman set.
