|
Okay,
fair warning DiC fans. I know some of you have been comparing the Viz dub to the
1995 dub, so be prepared, I do have a few notes in this review for things DiC
either changed or cut outright, and this will be continuing through Sailor
Moon R. For S and SuperS, I'll be doing the same for episodes where Cloverway
REALLY screwed up, so enjoy some 90's anime nostalgia.
Also,
I want to start today right by giving a shout out to one of my all time
favorite websites, Sailor Moon uncensored. Here's the link
to their notes on the DiC script vs. the Japanese script. Show them your
support, Codename Sailor Earth SayS! Tee hee.
And this is now the second episode where Usagi totally forgets to mention
"OH YEAH! We have a second Sailor Guardian now." And it's kind of a
shame. I was hoping for a little video of Sailor Mercury. I mean, she DID
help save you last episode, show her some props ya peroxide blonde!
We open today's episode from the outside of Queen Beryl's lair, which is kind
of Queen Metallia's head. And you know what? For years, my mom has insisted
that they drew Artemis and Chibiusa in this scene.
Before you judge, look carefully. Adjust the brightness on your screen. Take
your time.
So Queen Beryl's bewbs open by reminding Jadeite that he keeps failing, as
usual, but she's giving him another chance.
We cut to Usagi and Luna noticing a ton of cop cars out and about. On syndicated
stations in 1995, DiC had the kanji blanked out with digital paint, while in
some markets, this scene is left alone.
Usagi bumps into Ami, who is waiting for the bus to cram school. Usagi asks
if that's necessary, and Ami replies that she would get on a plane if it
meant she could study.
52 episodes from now in episode 62, not only is Ami going to wreak havoc with
our hearts and almost carry out getting on a plane to study, but she'll do it
with the same animation team as today too! So consider this an in-episode
spoiler.
Ami says she wants to help Luna find the Moon Princess, and Luna says that
she wishes Usagi was as reliable as Ami. Usagi laughs to change the subject.
I laugh, because Usagi IS THE FREAKING MOON PRINCESS, YOU BITCH!! But go on
ahead. Throw shade. It's aight. Some of this
dialogue was cut out from the DiC version, but I never got why. It's not like
Ami cussed or anything. But moving on,
just then, another cop car rushes past, and Naru and Kuri pop up… and
then this conversation happens.
WOW! For once, Naru is the voice of reason. Since when is a busload of people
going missing "cool" Usagi?
Kuri (who can't pick a hair color, are we black, green, teal or blue today?) and
Naru elaborate that over 50 people have gone missing from this one buss so
far, which happens to run past Sendai-zaka.
Usagi mentions that the Hikawa Shrine is on that hill, and that they sell
charms to ward off evil, so she asks the girls to join her in buying some
charms. Ami declines, but asks Usagi to buy her a charm while she's in cram
school. Yes. This is a science heavy character with superpowers asking for a
religious charm. Look at Luna and Usagi. Even they're like "Wait,
WTF?"
By the way, DiC cut this picture completely out of their edit for this
episode. I have no idea why. There is kanji all over the episode, but this
got cut.
DiC also cut out this incredibly safe clip of a teenager praying that a boy
she has a crush on will like her back. WHY?? There is prayer to non-Christian
people all over this episode, WHY was this so offensive when Rei/Raye praying
later on is totally okay?? It's a Shinto Shrine you asshats!!
Jadeite, who just got a job at Rei's shrine, is secretly smiling at the
girls, hoping to harvest their energy.
Meanwhile, Rei, Phobos and Deimos are meditating by the fire. Rei knows
something sinister is afoot, but she can't get a clear image of it.
Outside, Rei's grandfather is trying to both hit up the underage schoolgirls
from before, and sell them extra charms. He scares the shit out of them with
an ancient good luck chant, then sends them on their way.
He then spots the EVEN YOUNGER underage girls we were following a second ago,
and he hits on Usagi's group and offers all of the teen girls jobs.
Rei appears, and everyone goes Bi for a minute. Luna is so stunned, she loses
her nose.
In fact, the sight of a 14 year old Miko parenting her grandfather is so
attractive..
Usagi wants to work at the shrine. And you know what? This is actually left
alone by DiC!
Suddenly, Jadeite sneaks off into the bushes and possesses the three girls
who just left.
Rei senses the evil energy, but thinks it's coming from Usagi, so she hits
her with Aky Ryo Tai San, shoving Usagi head first into the cement, with her
legs open for God and everyone to see. And everyone stares at Usagi's
panties, including Luna.
Jadeite leaves towels for Usagi once the unconscious girl has been carried
inside. Naru and Kuri note how hot they think he is, waking Usagi out of her
coma as she tries to catch a glimpse of him… um… where's your other hand,
Usagi?
Naru asks if Jadeite is her older brother, and Rei flatly denies it, telling
the girls that her grandfather is constantly hitting on people and asking
them to work for him.
HEY! Don't I know you??
Rei tells the girls that Jadeite is a live-in servant, and apologizes for
hitting Usagi. She says that her powers are off lately, and Luna begins to
think she's the Moon Princess.
Just then, one ugly assed bitch pops in to scream at Rei. Her daughter is
missing, and Rei makes it clear they have already talked to the police about
it. The two get into a shouting match as Usagi starts to get ready to leave.
Sensing danger, Luna makes Usagi drag Ami out of cram school to catch the bus.
Education be damned, right?
Everyone in town is frozen except for Usagi, Luna and Ami, and the girls
suspect that the charms have something to do with it. Every charm is a love charm,
so all of the victims are in love.
Ami can't figure out why the girls are worried about love and not studying.
Usagi protests, that it's perfectly fine and asks if Ami has ever been in
love, while she daydreams randomly about Motoki and Tuxedo Mask.
Ami thinks Usagi is too young at 14 to be thinking of love, and wants her to
focus on studying like her.
Suddenly, the creepy bus appears, and Ami tries to push Usagi on. But having
common sense, Usagi refuses.
What happened to your eyes??
As the bus leaves, Luna scolds Usagi for not getting on the creepy ass bus,
but just then, the three watch the bus fly into a portal in the sky, proving
that Usagi has better survival skills than Luna and Ami.
After making it through the portal to an alternate dimension, the creeeeeepy bus driver drains all of the energy from the
passengers at the request of Jadeite, who figures out a quarter of a season
early that girls' love energy is powerful, something Nephrite will struggle
with.
After the commercial break, Rei officially says aloud "Phobos and
Deimos" as she feeds the crows, when Usagi walks up to let her know she
saw the demon bus. But before she can explain, Rei immediately accuses her of
accusing her grandfather of something, and dismisses her. Usagi panics and
apologizes, saying she wants to be friends, but Rei kicks her out.
As Usagi and Luna leave, Luna drops the Mars Transformation Pen… and once
again folks, the cat has NO POCKETS and Usagi never touched it.
Rei sees that Jadeite is selling the amulets that the missing girls all have,
and starts to figure it out.
He starts bugging her when she is seeking guidance from the fire, because he
too is figuring out she's onto him. She decides he's got to be linked with
the disappearance, and notes how creepy his eyes make her feel.
Luna tries again to get Usagi on the bus, but Usagi once again is too full of
common sense to ride a bus to certain death.
But suddenly, with no explanation, Usagi uses the Luna Pen to become a Flight
Attendant, and it gives her the confidence to get on the bus. Why? How? Even
Luna is baffled.
After having Usagi's speech dismissed by the bus driver and watching the bus
take them to certain death, Luna starts to re-think everything she told Usagi
these last 48 hours.
Ami arrives too late to do anything.
Rei consults the flames again, this time to pinpoint the start of all this
trouble with the bus.
Rei, Phobos and Deimos confront Jadeite, realizing he really is the cause of
all this, but he sends her into the dimension with the buses.
Usagi and Luna spot the Youma kidnapping Rei, and after a crying fit, Usagi
decides to transform, and you know what? Luna gives her a nice compliment.
Good for you, cat!
In the middle of Sailor Moon's daily speech, the Youma states she's been
waiting for her, but just then, the mark of Mars appears on Rei's forehead.
Sailor Moon wastes no time in throwing a Moon Tiara Action at the Youma, but
she catches it, mocking her.
But Sailor Moon points, and the tiara encircles the Youma, trapping her arms.
Pretty badass!
Luna tells Rei to transform, freaking her out, because cat's aren't supposed
to talk.
The Youma breaks free from the tiara, and Rei has a case of the fuckits, obeying Luna and transforming.
And as you know, DiC would digitally paint over these massive knockers. Ah
excuse me, Toei? She's like 13-14 years old. WTF?
Sailor Mars is beyond shocked at her new form, but decides it's time to take
down the Youma.
Using Fire Soul for the first time, she cremates the Youma alive, restoring
everyone's energy and freaking out Sailor Moon.
But this closes the portal back to Earth, and Phobos and Deimos legit leave
everyone behind!!
What happened to your boots?
Ami uses her own power without transforming to send a beacon to the girls,
trying to get them back to the bus stop.
Randomly, Tuxedo Mask appears in another bus, offering everyone a ride home.
Sailor Moon is having all kinds of hormones today, isn't she? Sailor Mars
gets a crush on Tuxedo Mask.
The girls follow Tuxedo Mask, who has rounded up all of the victims and is
heading towards Ami's beacon.
Ami cries tears of joy as everyone comes through safely, while Jadeite curses
the girls.
Tuxedo Mask leaves and Sailor Moon asks Sailor Mars if she likes him. She
blushes, at first denying it, but then slaps Sailor Moon with a comment that
she feels Sailor Moon's crush on him is one-sided, making her cry. DAMN what
a bitch!
|
|
BONUS
Let
me point out that all manga images on here come from Miss Dream. Check out her site!
Rei's family temple (Hikawa Shrine) is on a hill with many names. In the DiC
edit, this was known as "Cherry Hill" while the ADV DVDs had it as
"Sendai Hill". Viz put back the original name, Sendai-zaka.
   
Phobos and Deimos are only seen as (often un-named) crows in the original
anime, but in the manga, we learn in the Dream Arc that they are actually able
to turn into fairy/human hybrids, and that they are to Rei what Luna is to
Usagi. More interesting, in the StarS Arc, it is revealed that during the
Silver Millennium, Sailor Mars/Princess Mars was allowed to choose her
guardian. She chose these two over Sailor Lead Crow, royally pissing her off,
because she actually did care for Mars very deeply. Phobos, Deimos and Sailor
Lead Crow/Sailor Coronis all hail from the Planet Coronis originally, but
when Mars chose these two as her guardians, she gave them their own castles
on her moons, also named Phobos and Deimos. The girls and Lead Crow
originally came up together and were soldiers in training, very much like
Chibiusa was when she first becomes Sailor Chibi Moon. Because of their
training, these girls actually can fight and do have their own attack power,
so it's a shame we don't ever see this in the original anime.
Speaking of Phobos and Deimos, in the manga, they tried to kill Usagi!! The
poor little girl is just minding her own business when they try to peck her
apart, causing Rei to bitch slap her with the charm. I guess it's payment for
her choking Luna.
Okay, you get a freebie today, cat.
Now here's another spot that might baffle you. When Rei says her psychic
powers are off, Luna starts to suspect she is Princess Serenity. While the
original anime doesn't quite address this until much later on, in the manga
and in Crystal, Usagi does get strong visions in her dreams sometimes, so
this assumption isn't nearly as dumb as you'd think.
  
Okay, and this is another anime change that really pissed me off. For years, I
have hinted at this, and now I'm going to take a moment to address Rei's
grandfather. While (as of 05/03/2017) he hasn't yet appeared in Sailor Moon
Crystal (odd much?) he did appear quite often in the original anime, right up
through SuperS. But as you can see, there is a GIANT DIFFERENCE from his
manga and anime images. For starters, in the anime, he's a tiny, child sized,
old man with a few wrestling moves, while his manga counterpart is tall, good
looking and blonde, meaning that while he is Rei's grandfather, he's not
really that old yet. He catches colds easily (a trait the anime gave Rei
instead of him) and while he is a bit of a perv, he's not out of control and
he and Rei never get into any serious fights. He actually cares about Rei,
and tries to give her space, because he knows she's hurting. Her mother died
when she was a small child, and her father is an absentee dipshit. Adding to
it, he already knows she has superpowers and he knows her spirit isn't from
here, so he chooses to enjoy whatever time he has with her while again,
giving her space. He's pretty awesome and mature, unlike his anime self, who
is a grabby lecher, selfish, only cares about Rei when she's injured or doing
something to satisfy him, and overall behaves like a drug addled chimp. Was
Toei trying to change him to make him seem more relatable to the perverts
jacking it at home? One theory is that they changed him to warn viewers at
home about lechers in real life, but that's hardly a satisfying answer,
seeing as how he gets his way most of the time with very little
repercussions. This change always bothered me once I started collecting the
manga, so I hope this gets fixed for Crystal.
  
Here's another change. Rei is confronted by Mii's mother shortly after the
girl goes missing. In the manga, she's a frantic, bright haired mom who just
wants her little girl back. In Crystal, she has reddish hair and is trying to
stay calm until they find Mii. But in the original anime, she's a fat, ugly,
old hag with dark teal/blue hair who starts a fight with Rei. What the hell??
How did we make such a leap here, Toei? Also of note, in the manga, Mii's
mother appears with a snarky friend, and the two whisper about Rei behind her
back, while in Crystal, she has two snarky friends to gossip about Rei with.
Way to go. Rei is 14 by the way, though in the manga, we learn that she's 13
when this all happens, because the Casablanca manga takes place right after
this and follows Rei on her 14th birthday after they find Makoto,
so lady, you're picking on a legit child. Grow the fuck up.
 
Mii is a little girl who goes to Hikawa Shrine ALONE and WITHOUT ADULT
SUPERVISION (yes I am blaming her mother) and knows Rei by name. She is
abducted both in the manga and in Crystal on screen, but is not seen in the
original anime. Considering her disappearance was a major plot point in this
episode, I am completely baffled.
 
So in today's episode, we almost got a nod to the concept of Jadeite and Rei
as a couple, though she has no desire for him here and wants him the hell out
of her house. Crystal would put this love twist back in very quietly, while
in the old anime, Usagi is constantly crushing on his many human forms.
 
Oh, but here's another change though. In the manga, right after becoming
Sailor Mars, she traps Jadeite in a ring created by Sailor Moon's tiara and burns him alive as Phobos and Deimos
peck at his decaying skull. This would not have made Standards and Practices
happy in EITHER anime, so Toei twice over elongated Jadeite's life, both
times, letting him live for 12 episodes total in Crystal and 13 in this
anime.
 
Another change, in the manga, Sailor Mars's first costume has a tiny brooch
attached. This is actually the charm from her mother's necklace, and when not
transformed, she usually wears the necklace with her school uniform and her
birthday dress.
   
And picking up from Mercury, the sign of Mars is also made more girly with a
heart. It's also purple, while in the manga, it's red and in Crystal, it's
gold fire. The heart was only for the original anime.
And this is going to bug me. In the original anime, they tried to mate Rei
off to Mamoru before he got his memories back. The shitty live action show
also tried to mate him off to some worthless character named Hina, and I've
always hated Toei trying to split him away from Usagi. Really glad Crystal
fixed this too, because Rei and Mamoru's future relationship is a match made
in Hell.
 
Tuxedo Mask and Ami both had a change today too. In the manga, Tuxedo Mask is
left behind with Luna, while Ami finds her way to Sailor Moon in time to
help. Both of these segments were fixed in Crystal. Also, we never get Sailor
Moon's white goggles in either anime. It's really a shame too, they're more
useful than Tuxedo Mask's. In today's episode, Ami is left behind, Luna goes
with Usagi and Tuxedo Mask is the one to find his way via another bus.
  
Usagi has a little crush on Rei for a few minutes after first seeing her.
This is in the manga, and of course in Crystal, but I have to give DiC
credit. THEY LEFT THIS IN!! They altered the script a little, but even there,
it's obvious she has a crush on Rei. Serena's exact line in the DiC cut is
"She's really something! It almost makes me want to study about temples
and stuff." Totally acknowledging the crush! This is actually the first
time DiC leaves in an LBGTQ moment, which is shocking considering how quickly
they wanted to delete Zoicite and Kunzite's relationship. Why didn't we catch
this growing up?
  
Now for something fun. The guy Rei's Grandfather hits on at first looks like
Mamoru, but
it's actually Alan, the asshole who broke Minako's heart in episode 42.
HI ASSHOLE!! I never forget an ugly ass jacket. Minako found out he was
cheating on her six months before she joins the others, so somewhere during
this six month period, he came to Hikawa Shrine, all the way from England,
and got hit on by Rei's Grandpa. Can you imagine how awkward it would have
been if he took the job here instead of Jadeite?
 
Speaking of Codename Sailor V, her manga friend Hikaru appears with a bulk of
their classmates here!
    
Also, the girls are into a series called Goldfish Warning,
a 1991-1992 comedy-Shoujo anime also made by Toei Animation and just like
Sailor Moon, is based on a manga that ran in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine.
Everyone who worked on this show and it's OVA went on to work on Sailor Moon
all the way through SuperS and parts of Sailor StarS, and since this show
ended as Sailor Moon was becoming popular, you can find images of Wapiko (the pink haired girl) and Gyopi
(the pink goldfish) all over the first season. While the series is all about
Minako-alike and orphan Chitose, much of the
background art features Wapiko in Chibi form, which
some say is a pre-cursor to Chibi Chibi and Chibiusa, despite the fact that Wapiko is actually close in age to Usagi. Wapiko actually appears in a Kodansha crossover video
game with Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon on NES/Famicom and SNES/Super Famicom,
but that's another story. (See what I did there?)
|
Act
3.
Follow
me back to the Battle Record!
Follow
me to the next episode!
Follow
me back to the previous episode!
Follow me back to Moon Sisters!