Hello everyone and welcome back to President Dog Takes On... where this time around we're blending the old and the new together into a return to form like no other! And no, I'm not just talking about me finally reviewing a current anime again, for once. I'm talking about the return of the Sailor Guardians in the newly rebooted series Sailor Moon Crystal. Now any otaku worth their salt know about Sailor Moon, the story of a klutzy crybaby of a 14-year old girl name Usagi that becomes a sailor-suited fighter for love and justice striving to defeat Queen Beryl and the evil Dark Kingdom. Granted most people would switch the name Usagi for Serena and Dark Kingdom for Negaverse, depending on how attached to the '90s dub version they are, but the story remains the same: the quintessential magical girl series of anime and a major gateway series for young anime fans of the time. Before we start getting in depth here, I want to share with all of you a little something I created for a contest called “What Does Sailor Moon Mean to You?” The contest required a visual medium plus a 100-word answer to said question and here is mine:
Even more so than any of the big
action anime of the 1990s and 2000s, Sailor Moon was a cornerstone of
my childhood and one of the prime reasons I became an otaku. I knew
that no matter how bad my day at school was, how much homework or how
many chores I had to do, I still had that 30 minutes of Sailor Scout
goodness to enjoy and it made everything better. The series filled
countless blank VHS tapes for me and I wore them out watching them
over and over. In short, Sailor Moon was my sanctuary.
In
short, every weekday at 4 PM, it was Sailor Moon time in my mind. It
was the portal that opened up Toonami and all the rest of anime as a
whole to me and I owe this series a debt of gratitude. That being
said, when I found out that only did Viz Media acquire the rights to
the original series in its uncut 200-episode glory, but that there
was a new Sailor Moon series coming, I, to borrow a phrase from the
wonderful author John Green, lost my ability to even. After enjoying several
weeks of the original series (currently through 18 episodes at the time of this writing), the day
has finally arrived for the premiere of the first episode of Crystal
and it's time to break it down as only I can.
First of
all, let me state two things. 1.) I enjoyed what I saw of the first
episode, but I have a number of trepidations about this new series
going forward. 2.) I understand this new series is keeping to the
structure of the original manga, but for the purposes of this I'm
going to compare it to the first anime. I know that may end up being
an apples-to-oranges comparison in due time, but at this point I
don't care. Let's start from the top of this episode and progress
from there, shall we?
We open
on a big sweeping star-scape, panning through the Milky Way and the
Solar System until we arrive at the palace of the Moon. A young
figure in a white dress (Princess Serenity for those already up to
speed) runs forward to meet a knight in black (Prince Endymion) where
they meet and are just about to kiss... until we cut to Usagi's mom
bugging her to wake up and get ready for school.
This is going to be
the underlying theme of this entire breakdown: what did the creators
add or change to the overall framework of the original series? For
all basic intents and purposes, this first episode is a retelling of
the first episode of the original series, nearly scene for scene.
However in certain spots it's slightly different. Obviously in the
original we don't have the foreshadowing dream sequence, plus this
new version added Usagi falling down the stairs of her house while in
her rush to leave for school, just to emphasize her klutziness just a
little bit more. Again, don't get me wrong, the art style is lovely
in the new version and the opening dream sequence it's a grand way to
kick off the show, but if all we're doing is giving the original
series a fresh coat of paint and tweaking a few moments that were
likely unnecessary, is it really worth it? Anyway, I digress. On to
the opening sequence!
The new theme, Moon Pride, is extremely upbeat and downright rocking in some places,
certainly a change of pace from the original theme, Moonlight
Densetsu. The visuals fall right in line with the show, showing all
five Sailor Guardians right from the start, even including little
nods in the lyrics to each of their powers. However, speaking of the
opening theme lyrics, I have to point out the obvious, overt girl
power message in lyrics such as 'We will fight on our own / Without
leaving our destiny to the prince' and 'We are not helpless girls /
Who need men's protection.' Don't get me wrong, a girl power message
has always been woven into the tapestry of this franchise from the
start, but never at such a dead-center and consistent point. Plus,
need I remind everyone that for a group that supposedly believes in
these ideals, they get saved by a prince in a tuxedo (or white
Arabian getup, Moonlight Knight) on a regular basis? Kind of talking
out of both sides of your mouth there. Regardless, this is a great
dynamic opening overall and sets the energy level high for the show
itself.
Getting
back to the show proper, the scene right after Usagi leaves the house
is the part where she finds Luna. Now in the original, Usagi finds
Luna after she is being harassed by a bunch of little kids, shooing
them away. A pretty fitting origin, I'd say. In Crystal, however... Usagi not only trips over Luna, but
STEPS ON HER.
Not right, not right at all.
To make it even worse,
what I can only assume is Usagi trying to give Luna a kiss out of
forgiveness leads to her getting her face scratched. Seriously, do
you pick up random street cats and try to kiss them often, girl?
No wonder you're a ditz.
Anyway, let's press on. We get a subtle
mysterious setup to our main antagonist next; first thing of note is
that it's not the full Dark Kingdom yet, we only see a dimly lit cave
with pillars, some brief shots of Jadeite summoning his monster and
the command to seek out the Legendary Silver Crystal. There's no sign
of Queen Beryl at all in this introduction, though the original
version did setup why the Dark Kingdom's forces are collecting energy
in a much clearer manner.
Speaking
of setup and world-building, another major difference seems to be how
characterization is built up for the initial supporting cast. In the
original series, the characters and their personalities play off each
other in their dialogue and interactions and establish how they
relate to Usagi. In Crystal, she flat-out narrates to us that Ms.
Haruna's her English teacher, Naru's her best friend that Umino is an
annoying nerd. Show, don't tell, please! This is one symptom of a
bigger, growing problem so far in the new series: the pacing is far
too slow, at least in comparison to the original. To be honest it's
somewhat hard to put into words, but if you do as I did as watch the
first episodes back to back, you'll see what I'm talking about. The
dialogue feels quicker in the original series and leads itself to
better characterization for everyone involved. In the discussion I've
already had over this show so far, people have been quick to point
out how the show tends to rely on the style of narration ripped
directly from the manga as well as the pace, which make sense in its
nature of being a more direct adaptation of said material. However,
certain elements can't be ignored.
After working in retail long enough, this seems downright tame to me.
Take for example a later scene
where Usagi and her friends visit Naru's family's jewelery store
because they're having an huge sale. In the original series, the
store is packed to the front doors with customers; it genuinely looks
like a feeding frenzy on par with a Black Friday holiday sale at a
Wal-Mart. In Crystal, sure, they may have added some additional signs
around the store saying there's massive discounts, but for the most
part there's a much smaller crowd huddled around one single display
case of jewelry. To my disappointment, the chubby old lady from the
scenes in the original series isn't part of the crowd either.
Moving
right along to another pretty sizable thing that is still baffling
me: why are they fussing around with Mamoru and what he's doing as
Tuxedo Mask so much? Usagi even makes a good point in her dialogue in
that scene: why is he just walking the streets in a tuxedo in the
middle of the day? This version of him is certainly not above drawing
attention to himself and unfortunately, the level of general
antagonism between Mamoru and Usagi is missed in my opinion.
Blends right into the streets of Tokyo, doesn't he?
Due to
the opening dream sequence, their first real-life meeting gets played
up for the romantic angle immediately, even through the teasing of
Usagi's bad test and hairstyle. The sniping comments of called Usagi
'bun-head' are still there, but it doesn't feel right in the mood
Crystal sets for their initial encounter. Once again, it makes me
long for the original series where the characters were mostly
oblivious to Mamoru being Tuxedo Mask. I think it may be a pretty
safe bet that we won't see Rei go on any dates with him in Crystal
like she did in the original. Another element to Mamoru's character
this time around seems to be how clued in he is already to the
machinations of the Dark Kingdom already, saying aloud how he's
already looking for the Silver Crystal and even showing how he
arrives to the scene of the battle even before Sailor Moon ever shows
up. I hate to say it, but it kind of ruins his mystique that he built
up. Either that or it's just another example of sticking close to the
manga and offering a different, yet still rather implausible reason as
to why he's always on the scene of the battle at the most convenient
moment.
Anyway,
I don't want you all thinking this is a negative, 'not my Sailor
Moon' kind of review here. There are definitely elements of this show
that I'm well on-board with, such as the various art styles the show
is giving us, from the main animation's clean, vibrant look, to the
nouveau-style title and bumper cards, to even the computerized chibi
animations for the revamped Sailor V video game at the arcade. Other
than the computer animation of the transformation sequence, which is
simply jarring compared to the rest of the show and even the
transform of the original, I don't have much of a qualm with it
visually.
From beautiful and stylish, to cute and energetic, this series has quite a lot going for it visually.
I also enjoy how Usagi still gets kicked out of the house
by her mom after she sheepishly has to own up that that horrible test
and still tries, and fails, to kick her brother after she gets
teased. Unfortunately, Shingo doesn't kick Usagi square in the
backside like the original, which I always loved.
So after
Usagi finally gets let back into the house, she ends up napping and
returning back to the dream from the same morning, only to get a rude
awakening by Luna, scratching her face again. Our feline advisor
always had a little bit of a mean streak towards of heroine,
especially in the face of laziness and unheroic behavior, but that
was just mean. So Luna explains how their first encounter,
specifically when Usagi removed the bandages that covered up her
crescent moon spot, helped find and locate who our heroine was and
gives Usagi the iconic transformation brooch, which has gone through
a design change and from what I can assess, a size reduction. The
biggest omission, though, was that the brooch just appears against a
sparkly background and, poof, Usagi has it in her hands. That's
right, they took out Luna's backflip to summon new magical items.
That one really hurts and seems like a mistake; there was an air of
ceremony to her doing that instead just pulling a magical item out of
hammerspace or something. So Usagi does her first transform, my
opinion already stated on that for the most part already and I'll let you be the judge on what transformation sequence is superior, but there's
a few odd tweaks to the iconic costume of Sailor Moon, namely the
addition of a second smaller version of her brooch attached to her
choker and the white feathery barrettes that previously came around
in later seasons of the original series are present right from the
start, keeping more in line with the manga's visual representation. I
personally think they're a bit much to have at the start, but I'm a
guy, what do I know about fashion?
Speaking
of the little accessories to the outfit, I'm happy to see the red
parts on Sailor Moon's hair still flash their one and only alert in
the entire run of the show and personally, I hope that's a thing they
fix with this new show. Having Sailor Moon be able to get alerted to
other danger and hearing the cries for help from innocents is really
a handy ability. I also like that once she arrives to save Naru from
the monster and it demands to know who she is, Usagi pretty much
names herself Sailor Moon. Quite a departure from the original where
Luna basically says 'You're Sailor Moon, go fight evil,' but a good,
clever change in my book. The fight between Sailor Moon and the
monster is about the same: monster summons hypnotized, energy-drained
people to do her bidding and swarm Sailor Moon while she's still
rather stunned and afraid, albeit with significantly less minions, a
slower pace and for some reason, Luna directly saying that Sailor
Moon needs to kick the monster's butt.
Never thought I'd hear Luna use that kind of phrase.
Another part I'm glad stuck around was the
fact that a large amount of Sailor Moon's initial success came from
her scared crying being turned into sonic blasts and disrupting the
mind control on the innocent people attacking her. The early fights
in the series always portrayed Usagi as a reluctant hero who slowly
gained more confidence the more often she went into battle and while
Crystal may have downplayed it, this scene gets taken up another
notch entirely, making her cries powerful enough to shatter glass!
The joke of Tuxedo Mask saying that crying won't solve anything
before being proven wrong is missing, however. With the spell broken
and the monster stunned, Luna tells Sailor Moon to summon her
finishing maneuver, which is the new, improved Moon Tiara Boomerang.
Time to get your Xena on.
I like the revision here, looking quite Warrior Princess-like and
resembling a chakram, a bladed throwing disk, rather that just an
energy-coated version of her tiara. So in short, she defeats the
monster, saves her friend and gets one more dreamy look at Tuxedo
Mask. It's important to point out two more things about him from the
battle: first, he doesn't actually save Sailor Moon from anything the
monster does to her. He simply shouts a few words of encouragement
from the shadows and doesn't properly introduce himself until after
the battle. No iconic rose throw, no nothing.
Second, his costume is
pretty much exactly what he was wearing that afternoon, save for the
top hat, cape and mask. Once again, not really hiding the disguise
very well. Good thing Usagi's such a dim bulb, especially in this
version where it feels like they ratcheted up all her negative
attributes.
Already? Seems a bit soon to me...
Finally,
the last major change Crystal has to pull it in line with the manga's
pace is a last second tease to the introduction of Ami, a.k.a. Sailor
Mercury. Now here's where I feel like this is going to be the point
that makes or breaks Crystal. In the original show, Ami is not
introduced until the eighth episode, giving lots of time for Usagi to
grow as a character and heroine in her own right before starting to
build up a team. It bolsters her fighting confidence and develops her
character as well, making the melding of the Sailor Senshi team a
fuller experience. A lot of people I debated this with since the
premiere of Crystal wrote this length of episodes off as filler and
unnecessary when it couldn't be further from the truth. I realize
that having to pack, at the very minimum, the Dark Kingdom storyline
into 26 episodes is a daunting task and stories will have to be cut
to fit that episode count down to nearly half of its original length,
but from the way I'm expecting it to go, we should be at the trio of
Sailor Moon, Mercury and Mars by the end of episode 3 of Crystal, a
feat that the original series spread out until episode 10, though
quite heavily towards the solo Usagi fights and only one episode
where Usagi and Ami work as a pair. Combine that with the fact that
the show itself is following an uncommon, every-other-week release
schedule and this timing is all over the place. Seems as though the
creators of Crystal are trying to artificially lengthen the show out
when they could've it better through their own world-building and
character development. That in and of itself seems like the critical
flaw of this entire show, eschewing strong development and pace for
sticking to the letter of the source material. Granted, one episode
is hard to judge the full pace of the series from, but if the
precedent set by the manga is to be trusted, I think I may still
prefer the classic Sailor Moon series in the end.
Sailor
Moon Crystal seems to be both a loving nod to the classic show many
of us grew up on and an attempt to reinvent the wheel in terms of the
franchise, which makes it a confusing series to assess at the moment.
It's not quite for us classic Moonies of the '90s, but there are
elements being brought in that don't hold up quite as well to new
viewers or those simply judging it on its own merits of writing and
characterization. I'll hold off judgment for now until we get a few
more episodes, but I have to say sadly, my excitement towards this
relaunch of the franchise has been tempered significantly. At this
point I'm slightly more excited for the two episodes of the classic
series we get on Hulu every Monday than one episode of a brand new
series showing every other Saturday.
