Let's dive in!
(Warning: This post will be filled with images and will be spoiler-heavy, so turn back now if you wanna avoid all of that.)
Today's episode was entitled 'Act 3 - Rei, Sailor Mars'.
Within the first few minutes of the episode, we're introduced to some of the other villains in the first season.
Nephrite! Lookin' good, chickadee. (I wonder if they'll keep the romance between him and Naru in this adaptation? It didn't happen in the manga but all of my friends really liked it in the original anime so hmmmm. They've already taken some liberties from the manga so I could see this happening. But I'm doubtin' it.)
And a view of Zoisite! AND HEY HE'S A MAN AGAIN. (American censors felt the need to change his gender because he's so ~*feminine*~ and by that I guess they felt like kids would be confused at the idea of a man with a ponytail? I dunno. Understanding gender in the United States is like trying to understand trigonometry when you're in diapers.)
We haven't gotten a GREAT shot of Queen Beryl yet, but I thought this was the best one as of now. We get quick glimpses of her in the opening theme song and throughout other episodes, but it's always a flash and then she's gone. I wonder when they'll actually give us a grand reveal of her? Hmmmmm.
I need to sit everyone down and just praise the background artists right now though. I think they're the ones who worked the hardest on this anime. I'm blown away by the beautiful watercolour illustrations? I mean, I suck at backgrounds/landscapes AND watercolours, so this is overwhelming to me.
Like the original anime, today's episode talks of the haunted demon bus that basically spirits whoever is on it away. Unlike the 90s version though, this seems less like the Magic School Bus and more like a messed up version that I'd expect to see in a Japanese horror film. I'm just waiting for girls to come crawling off it with their heads twisted backward and their faces covered in long black hair.
This is another instance of just a BEAUTIFUL background. It may seem really simple, but oh man just look at that shading. Mmmmmmm.
One of my biggest complaints about this show is the conflicting quality of animation and artwork. Unless you have an EXTREME closeup of the characters, I feel as though they look sloppy. And when you put that next to gorgeous background art, it kind of leaves you feeling a little muddled. It bothers me, heh. In this episode especially I've noticed basic anatomy that was really thrown off (and I mean, I know anime anatomy and art school anatomy are two different things, but I'm specifically talking about anime anatomy here).
And here we have Rei Hino! Thankfully they've kept her eyes relatively small (to convey how serious and "adult-like" her character is) and she's not really loud and chasing after boys. At least, so far. In the manga she's more concerned about her career and her own success and isn't really boy-crazy, and I'm hoping they keep that aspect of her character. Not because being boy-crazy is necessarily a bad thing or that being concerned with your career is necessarily a good thing, but because this attitude brings a nice kind of "foil" reaction to the rest of the group. Since, you know, everyone else besides Ami seems to be kind of boy-crazy and loud.
This scene quickly reminded me of the anime 'Jigoku Shoujo' (another great series) due to the specific nature of the red here. I wonder if they brought someone in from that animation team?
I wish I could read Rei's talisman here. I wonder if anyone can? (Which, on a slightly related note, I've noticed the English translation is a little off. I can understand Japanese better when I hear it than I can read or write it, and I've noticed a few little things. Maybe they cut dialogue to save time or because it was unnecessary, but I haven't really seen the point yet.)
Rei is a miko shrine maiden (part of the Shinto religion), as evidenced by her earlier methods of prayer and her outfit here. Perhaps I'll go into that more when I talk about her character another week.
More mentions of the demon bus, wo0o0o0o.
GUYS LOOK MAMORU OWNS SOMETHING BESIDES A TUXEDO! (Granted, it's still a suit, but shhhh. And I think it's kind of weird that he wears a suit as his school uniform - even if he goes to an exclusive high school, I'd still think his uniform would be more practical - but whatever.)
More applause goes to this series for the quality of their background music. It's much darker than the 90s series and adds a more serious tone to conversations like these. Rather than expecting a melodramatic sob story ripped off from a soap opera, I get a more supernatural and sad sense from these kinds of scenes. It's a good thing.
GOD this series is more traumatically scary than the 90s one. I fear for the children.
For some reason, Usagi felt the need to transform herself into a flight attendant while chasing the bus??? Which apparently included adding A SUITCASE WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST DROP IT AND RUN and also you're not even flying please stop.
(I couldn't even make that into a proper sentence, that scene frazzled me that much.)
Well, at least Luna's safe. But uhhhh yeah, bye bye.
I felt kinda bad for screenshotting this because do we really want to see Usagi being so sad? But I was just kind of happy that the animation for her face wasn't bad soooo. Whoops.
Does the idea of Luna using a computer tickle anyone else, or is it just me? Catsby just rolls all over mine and ruins everything.
OKAY SO, before anyone starts really calling the "creepy alarms" on this statement...
In the manga, he and the other "Kings of the Dark Kingdom" (as they are referred to in this anime) are actually kind of like knights for Prince Endymion. So they're like Earth knights. And while Endymion was off frolicking with the Moon Princess, the four knights were like "oh uh uh". And they all basically went off and paired with the Moon Princess' knights for some hookin' up fun I guess. And hey, you guessed it, the Sailor Scouts were her knights.
So in a past life and before he was kind of "hypnotized" by Queen Beryl, Jadeite was romantically involved with Rei. So he's kind of remembering his past relationship here, not just drooling over an unconscious girl.
Rei won't take your nonsense. I love how she just grabs these supernatural villains WITH HER BARE HANDS? BEFORE SHE EVEN KNOWS SHE'S A SAILOR SCOUT????? That takes dedication.
I can't stand the fact that everyone else so far has a much better transformation sequence than the star of the show. IT'S DRIVING ME UP THE WALL.
Ahhhhh, so wonderful.
Now, this kind of confused me, but if this is going to be like the manga I think I know where this is going. I'll let you guys know if I was right when I write up Sailor Moon Saturday #7.
The next episode of Sailor Moon Crystal will be debuting on August 16th and is entitled 'Act 4 - Masquerade Dance Party'.
I'm currently watching the show on Crunchyroll but there are a few other places to watch it too! Hulu also has it.
If you guys have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to leave me a message below or email me!
xo, Kate
No comments:
Post a Comment