The S Stands for Super, Forgetting the confusion with Sailor Moon SuperS, Which I'll get into next part. This was a season of transition for the series, higher stakes, more sci-fi elements, darker tone, It had the apocalyptic nature of the finales of the previous arcs in manga and crystal form, not to mention the character list was expanded vastly. How is this arc compared to the original and R Arc? Find out today because where halfway to finishing the original anime...
EXHIBIT A: HOW'S THE PRESENTATION?
It has an epic sci-fi feel, but not like stars and spaceships, cyberpunks and dystopias, or even your typical Post apocalyptic world. It's mainly in science and technology. It's got an overall theme of Magic VS Technology, much like Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Only the roles have been reversed., The animation's a huge upgrade compared to The First Season, The new characters are more detailed, It pretty much holds a candle to the manga despite having a relatively more simple art style. There's also the goofy moments which show the simplicity of the Art Style. Now onto the music, The slightly remixed theme shows this is the new normal, the 2 new openings aren't to different from each other, but I should stop mentioning them since they're all great. The new music is varied, and special mention goes to Episode 99 with a song which just gives me the feels. The Ending theme is beautiful. I should stop gushing and give the Presentation gets a A+.
EXHIBIT B: WHAT ARE THE NEW/OLD CHARACTERS LIKE?
Sailor Moon/Usagi is starting to become a more believable superhero over time, and the 4 other core characters get their own share of screen time, unlike R, where they were reduced to sidekicks. One girl (Jupiter/Makoto) actually beat a monster, In the Bathing Suit Episode no less, This is great since she's usually one of 2 mains who usually gets owned by the monster. Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru is reduced to a father figure to Chibusa/Sailor Chibi Moon, speaking of... Chibiusa's still kind of annoying, but she's a sailor senshi now and not as annoying as the R Season. The Other new Senshi include Sailor Uranus (hehehe, I said Sailor... then again, I've been saying it for a long time)/Haruka Tenou (who's a racer), Sailor Neptune/Michiru Kaioh (who's an aspiring Violinist), and Sailor Pluto (is that even a planet anymore)/Setsuno Meioh (who we met in the Previous Season and know as the guardian of the time door). These characters just aren't as interesting as the other senshi, think Quality over Quantity. Oh and Haruka and Michiru are lesbians, which is the most interesting thing about them since LGBT characters in anime (let alone in all of sci-fi/fantasy fiction) at the time (1994-1995) outside of Yaoi or Yuri were rather uncommon), Yes all of us Moonies are aware of the kissing Cousins thing, Even I don't need to beat that dead horse. The Villains are Scientists named the Death Busters. Some of them have civilian forms. Kaolinite's OK, but nothing really stands out about her, Eudial is a stock Villainess, Mimete is annoying, always going after hot guys, and the rest of Witches 5 are all reduced to monsters of the day, So they ain't worth mentioning. Professor Tomoe is a complete down grade from Wiseman (just a mad scientist sterotype), but I suppose his tragic backstory's a plus. Hotaru Tomoe/Mistress 9/Sailor Saturn...
Yoshiette 1: Sega Saturn?
*ignoring* As I was saying Hotaru Tomoe is the most interesting of the new senshi/Villains, since she has a dual personality. She's being possessed by the True Main Villain of the season who I won't Spoil. Also she's weak all the time. I feel like all these new characters compared to last season is comparable to Super Mario RPG, and the first Paper Mario Game, Don't get me wrong I love Paper Mario (possibly a favorite compared to Mario RPG), but the Playable Characters in Mario RPG were few, but there are 3-Dimensional, They all Have Goals, and distinct Personalities. In Paper Mario, The playable Characters more, but were used mostly as tools, and they don't really go through arcs really. So Good updates to the existing characters, but not as good new characters... I give the characters of the Season a B+...
EXHIBIT C: IS THE STORY ANY GOOD?
The story's darker, more serious, and has more Sci-fi/Fantasy/Post-Apocalyptic themes. However it isn't the best writing-wise. The first half of the story follows the main sailor senshi trying to stop the Death Busters and 2 new sailor senshi from getting pure hearts. the 2 factions of Sailor Senshi often team up to stop the Death Busters from getting the 3 talismans of the holy grail. But later in the series it's revealed that the 3 outer senshi have it, so the 3 talismans are combined and Sailor Moon gets a super mode. The 2nd half is where the story gets weird... The Mimete arc goes on for like FOOOOOOOOORRRRRRREEEEEEEVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEERRRRRR!!!!! The last arc of the season seems a bit rushed, with the rest of witches 5 being monsters of the day, Kaolinte and Tomoe being axed so quickly, and the true climax being so quick. the last 2 episodes aren't really satisfying. But as for the positives, it did give us a darker edgier story, and showing the apocalyptic nature of the manga arc finales can work. I would give this a C+, but the positive implications for the rest of the series move this up to a B-...
WHAT'S MY FINAL SCORE:
This was a tough call because I like how this season sets up the rest of the series, but the sloppy writing does show, soI'm going to have to give this season a reluctant objective grade of a A-... It's better than the R Season, but it could use some rewriting. Still, best arc so far...
See you all in a few months with the SuperS Season.... This'll be the last blog I write on my Windows 8.1 PC, Since I'll be upgrading to Windows 10, expect my thoughts later...
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