Sailor Moon Crystal

[kate_nepveu]

I never saw the original. Should I be watching this?

Comments

[lovepeaceohana]

YES.

<3<3<3<3

[orzelc]

You gotta get in tune with Sailor Moon 'cause that cartoon has the-- NO CARRIER

[kate_nepveu]

You. Are responsible for this earworm.

I will play the _Wonderpets_ theme at you in retaliation.

[scifantasy]

Crystal is a remake, designed to hew closer to the manga. It, episode 1 anyway, has a number of references and moments designed to induce squee on the part of longstanding fans, but it doesn't strictly speaking require foreknowledge.

(The original is on Hulu, incidentally. So far about sixteen episodes in with two going up every week, enough to get a reasonable lead, especially given the remake's twice-monthly schedule.)

[alexseanchai]

I like the original first episode better than the remake first episode, personally, but the remake first episode is excellent nonetheless. Further bulletins as events warrant. (Apparently the next remake episode isn't out for two weeks. How shall I survive. Oh right I'm behind on the rewatch of the original as it gets released on Hulu...)

[rushthatspeaks]

I have no idea what one would think of the remake if one has never interacted with Sailor Moon in any way, because the remake is so firmly based in Sailor Moon as the central text of shoujo everything. It's like, I don't even know how to evaluate if this is good, because all the cliches were drawn from it, so the fact that it contains all the cliches ever is totally beside the point. I love it, but I grew up on it. It's too early for me to tell what I think of the remake vs. the original.

[kate_nepveu]

Thank you, that's not exactly useful, but at least contextual.

My shoujo experience consists of _Princess Tutu_ (per the icon) and, uh, I had to look up the others because I didn't like them nearly as much: _Vision of Escaflowne_ and _Martian Successor Nadesico_ (if that is, I'm not sure now)). In theory, the next thing I watched was going to be _Utena_, but that's the theory in which I watch anything other than 10-minute segments of _Mythbusters_ while folding clothes, so . . .

[rushthatspeaks]

Nadesico isn't shoujo, no.

Sailor Moon could contextualize a lot of things about Princess Tutu for you, and show you more clearly exactly how Tutu is breaking the genre it's working in, but that might or might not carry over to its being an enjoyable show on its own account. Basically, in genre conversation Tutu = Sailor Moon + Utena [long history that goes back through Tezuka's Princess Knight].

Utena is fifteen years after I first saw it still my vote for greatest anime ever made, but it does demand time and attention.

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks again!

[heavenscalyx]

Utena is fifteen years after I first saw it still my vote for greatest anime ever made, but it does demand time and attention.

Yes, yes, yes. I'm glad they decided to remaster it rather than remake it.

[damerell]

Nadeisco isn't shoujo, no; it's a marvellous parody of everything from 60s mecha shows to post-Evangelion mecha shows (_all_ of which are aware of Eva, even when they're not trying to be it or trying not to be it, just as all post-LOTR fantasy is aware of LOTR), the Leijiverse (Space Battleship Yamato, et al), a bit of harem series, etc. ... but might fall a bit flat with less familiarity with what's being parodied.

Esca is, well, just not very good if you ask me, although lots of people disagree.

However, I infer you haven't seen Utena. If that's so, the answer to "should I watch Crystal" is "no, watch Utena". :-)

[kate_nepveu]

In my infinite free time!

[damerell]

I know, and I also know the awkward problem that every fanboy thinks their favourite show is the best thing ever, but seriously, Utena is the best thing ever. I cannot think of any other piece of anime aside from Ghibli movies I would recommend to anyone who hadn't seen Utena.

[mkozlows]

Based on having seen the first couple of episodes of the old, and the first of the new, I can only say that not having seen the old one would be a benefit to watching this, as it appears to be the exact same show remade with slight variation.

I would guess it's not your thing, but I have never seen the anime you do like, so could be totally wrong. It's definitely not mine.

[kate_nepveu]

I would never have imagined that it would be your thing.

[oyceter]

So I've read the manga, but I haven't seen the anime outside of Sailor Moon S, which seemed to be perpetually on TV when I was watching. I.e. I know the story overall pretty well, but not necessarily episodes? It made sense as an intro episode to me and seems fairly similar to the original first ep (I watched it after). Pluses of watching Crystal instead of the original are probably a higher production value (though apparently Toei is still skimping on the animation, sigh), art closer to the manga, and what I'm hoping will be less filler episodes, since they don't have to wait for more manga source to come out.

I couldn't quite figure out if you wanted to know if Sailor Moon would be good to be acquainted with in general vs. wanting to know about the remake compared to the original? I think if you did overall want to be acquainted with it a bit, I'd wait for Sailor Moon S to come out (it's the third season iirc). I'm biased because it's the only one I've seen, but I really do think it's the best story arc in the manga as well! Also, it features the awesome lesbian Sailor Scouts Uranus and Neptune.

(Also, EEEEEEE Utena!!!!! I was so happy they finally remastered it!! Er, that said, it does require some concentration, especially later on.)

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks! It wasn't a very specific question, but I'll keep that arc in mind.

[(Anonymous)]

The original was for me the shoujo equivalent of Dragonball: monster of the week with powerups. In fairness, the DIC dub cut the talky bits to ribbons, especially anything that even hinted of LGBT.

I've been rewatching on hulu and it's still monster of the week, but I am liking the Dr. Who-like mechanic of making the ordinary fantastic: one of the monsters notes that one of the few cases where parents will allow children to come home looking drained of life is cram school and so sets up shop there.

I'm also really in awe of the way Luna was animated: someone on the original series had to have been a cat person.

The new series animation is super lanky similar to CLAMP, which I am personally not a huge fan of, but it looks like it has less filler/better direction. It's hard to say from one episode, though.

Also recommend utena...The narrative is very artsy and all over the place, so I tend to think it won't make any less sense if you see it in bursts. (It's sort of like Dollhouse: the anime, in the same way Firefly is a lot like Cowboy Bebop)

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks!