Archive for the Sailor Moon Category


Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 CD/DVD

June 14th, 2016

61kDtm02hIL._SX425_It’s not business as usual around here on Okazu for me to review a soundtrack CD, so you have to know something’s special if I do. ^_^

The Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 CD/DVD is special. ^_^

In USA terms, this CD would be an enhanced single, with 4 tracks: “New Moon ni Koi Shite,” the Sailor Moon Crystal opening, with vocals and karaoke version (without vocals) and the Sailor Moon Crystal ending, “eternal eternity” with vocals and without.

The DVD includes TV sized version of both tracks with the opening and closing visuals, without credits.

And, then, comes the thing that makes the CD/DVD worth getting. Included are “digest movies” for the full opening and ending songs. These end up being extremely satisfying music videos of the series. And ,as “eternal eternity” is a duet sung by Minagawa Junko as Sailor Uranus/Tenoh Haruka and Ohara Sayaka as Sailor Neptune/Kaioh Michiru, the video ends up being an extended Haruka x Michiru lovefest.

This CD/DVD is just the kind of thing that makes a perfect stocking stuffer come holiday time and a welcome break from all those Haruka and Michiru-less days we have to put up with.

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Ratings:

So Glad I Bought It – 10





Sailor Moon Musical – Un Noveau Voyage (ミュージカル「美少女戦士セーラームーン」-Un Nouveau Voyage-)

May 15th, 2016

Un_Nouveau_Voyage_Senshi_PosterIt is with great pleasure that I thank Tachibana Remi-san for sponsoring today’s review! Remi-san was kind enough to give me the DVD of Sailor Moon Musical – Un Noveau Voyage (ミュージカル「美少女戦士セーラームーン」-Un Nouveau Voyage-) so I can tell you all about it! Thank you Remi-san!

Right off the bat, this is pretty much the best cast I’ve ever seen in a Sailor Moon Musical.  While I really enjoyed the one I saw live in 2002, (before they changed it around that summer and put it on DVD as practically a different story), this one really stands out as one of the best I’ve ever watched. Generally speaking, I’ve enjoyed the three new musicals and the alternative versions of the first three seasons they’ve put together.

In Un Noveau Voyage, we begin with Haruka, a pop idol, and and Michiru as a very obvious couple. I say “obvious” because while Haruka is physically intimate with Michiru in “public”, if they weren’t a couple, there’d be no need for that in private and here, at the beginning, they start in private. I particularly like the opening number, as Haruka on “stage” sings her song, while we watch Michiru responding to her. Really, really nice opening.

The rest of the story slips back into recognizably third season key scenes and therefore I don’t feel obliged to summarize the plot at all. ^_^ Instead, I’ll talk about all the things I liked.^_^

First of all, the wigs were amazing. I know that’s a silly thing to think of as “first”, but really the hair looked so good. Particularly Makoto, Rei and Ami.

The cast now contains a number of former Takarisiennes, notably Yamato Yuga who plays Mamoru, Shiotsuki Shuu, who plays Haruka (and whose autograph adorns the booklet inside the DVD, thank you Remi-san!) Yuki Kaon, who plays Professor Tomoe, Fujioka Sayaka, who plays Michiru and Oogi Kei who plays Kaolinite.

The shift to all-female casting makes a lot of sense, even if it’s really pandery. But, as I said elsewhere recently, “when pandering is for us, it doesn’t suck after all.” ^_^

Kaolinite’s voice….swoon. You never get an alto in these things. She wasn’t a mezzo-soprano or a contralto, either, an actual alto. Oogi-san was a terrific Kaolinite.

Michiru’s voice is eerie. Even my wife noted that Fujioka-san sounded like…Michiru.

I’m sorry to see the cast for the Inners have to leave their roles. “Graduate” is the euphemism the idol world uses for this. The fans believe they were made to leave at this point, which is annoying. They were perfect in their roles. Best I’d ever seen.  But there’s an obvious fetish going on in the “graduation” process. Clearly nostalgic tears and sniffling has become a thing that is now part of the process of being in a musical role or idol group. Blecch.

The other thing of note was in a couple of the stage pieces. There were two scenes in which a triptych-set up allowed for duets and trios to be sung that I really liked. This culminated with a fantastic piece n which Hotaru in the center is sung about by Kaolinite, Chibi-Usa and the Professor, then the Outers and the Inners in a really intense and creepy song about this one girl’s fate, Light of Ruin, Hametsu no Hikari.

And my final thought is that I’ve really come to like the new final number, Ai no Starshine, although I kind of miss Ai no Senshi. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 9

I really enjoyed this musical. Thank you so much Remi-san!





Yuri Anime: Sailor Moon Crystal, Season 3, Episode 3 (English)

April 22nd, 2016

It’s not *quite* what I hoped, but the continued quality of the entire series is so generally elevated over…well, everything…that I’m inclined to be forgiving. ^_^

We’ve met Hotaru, and had some time with Kaolinite, yay! Eudial, you came and went and we hardly knew ye, but I can’t wait to spend time with you in the original anime.

I hope you all enjoyed the most crowded secluded mountains ever and this:
SMCS3E31

And this:

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And then we got this:

And then we wrap up with this:


Which is about as good as it’s going to ever get in Sailor Moon.

So one more grin-making episode of what is turning out to be a really lovely season.

Ratings:

Overall – 9 Better than I expected, not *quite* what I hoped

Now that we’ve established that when pandering is for us, it doesn’t suck after all, we can settle in and watch the rest of the story develop! ^_^





First Look at Sailor Moon Crystal, Season 3 (English)

April 6th, 2016

sailor-moon-crystal-season-3I’m not going to mince words here – I grinned like a loon through the whole episode. ^_^

Here’s a few things of note.

Let’s start with the eternal message against fandelusion: Remember, the story and dialogue are known quantities, so arguing about wanting something that won’t happen is not something that I’ll waste time doing.

As in the manga, as far as we know in this first episode Tenoh Haruka is a boy. And it it is as a boy that the girls of Mugen Gakuen think he and Michiru make a great couple. This will play out a little longer in this version than it did in the original anime.

I absolutely loved, with all my love, a few of the individual scenes which strongly echoed their analogs back in the original series. I chalk this up once again to the director, who I just feel really gives a hoot. These scenes made me sincerely happy.

Voice actresses Minagawa Junko and Ohara Sayaka as Michiru and Haruka were lovely. I’m completely satisfied with them in the roles.

We only had a teeny taste of Kaolinite and Hotaru, that left us wanting more.

I have only one complaint and while it is not minor, it’s not anything that will change. I find the transformation scenes to be drawn rather unfortunately out of proportion. As those are scenes that will be played repeatedly, and are animated early on, I honestly feel that they ought to be the best possible animation that can be done. Attacks too. In Season 3, the attacks looks fine, but the transformations are a hot mess. It’s a shame, but we’ll live.

My final note is that I’ve already really come to love the ED. It checks off all the “songs by/about Haruka /Michiru” list items: Use of their names, mentions of wind and ocean, mirror and sword, eternity, moon. Check, check, check. Good song. ^_^

Can’t really do ratings after 1 episode, but who am I fooling? It’s a 10, because. ^_^

You can watch this season free and legally on Crunchyroll, Hulu or Nico Nico Douga, the latter, subtitled in 10 languages with global access, so go watch it!





Sailor Moon Crystal Season Three Trailer

March 6th, 2016

Take a deep breath.

Via YNN Correspondent and the First Lady of Yuricon, and from Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary Twitter account, the trailer for Sailor Moon Crystal‘s 3rd season is here!

Breathe. Then notice how well Haruka and Michiru have been drawn – especially when compared with the earlier two seasons. (Or indeed as compared with the Inners, as can be seen in this comparison of two frames from the trailer by my wife.)

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Wouldn’t it be amusing if history repeats itself and the third season, with a different director, is just leaps better animated than the first two seasons?  For how much of this can we thank director Kon Chiaki, the first female director to run this show?

Just for fun, let’s notice all the things we don’t see in this trailer.  We see Sailors Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, the three Talismans and the Witches Five. There’s two notably missing elements – Hotaru appears, but not (yet) Sailor Saturn, which makes sense as she’s the big reveal and Uranus and Neptune’s attacks. I don’t know about you, but I’m really excited to see those in the new animation. ^_^

So take a deep breath and rewatch – and remind yourself that the story isn’t a mystery, it’ll be identical to the manga – and wait with the rest of us to see Sailor Moon Crystal, Season 3, starting in April 2016!