Girly Things for Geeky People

30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge - Day 30

Day Thirty - Favorite Moon cat

Well, here we are. The last day of the challenge. Crazy. I’d hoped to end this thing with a bang, but… today’s answer is Luna. Who I’ve already covered. Twice.

To repeat myself somewhat, Luna is my favorite Moon cat for the same reasons she was my favorite character when I was younger. She’s honest and hardworking. She’s easily exasperated (by Usagi, and later Diana) and has a somewhat short temper. She is a great foil to Usagi, who in turn is a foil to her.

But more than that, she’s a great friend. Most of her screentime is ultimately spent caring about, worrying for, and generally just hanging out with Usagi. By the beginning of season two, there’s a good case to be made for Luna being Usagi’s best friend instead of Naru.

Luna is my favorite because of these reasons, and because I can’t imagine any version of Sailor Moon without her.

(screencaps courtesy of The Oracle; 30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge by fyeahsailormoon, though since it’s unavailable there currently I’ve been using the copy over at rara avis)

30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge - Day 29

Day Twenty-Nine - Senshi or Starlights?

That face up there? That’s me right now.

First: The Starlights are Senshi. They are not the Senshi of the Solar System, but they are in fact Senshi nevertheless.

Second: Aggghh, how do I choose?!

Well, despite my protestations, I actually have a definitive answer to today’s question. That answer is: the Senshi of the Solar System.

The reason for this is pretty mathematical and ultimately simple. The Solar System Senshi were in two hundred episodes of the anime. The Starlights were in only twenty-eight.

The Starlights are some of my favorite characters in Sailor Moon. However, we had only one episode to get to know the Starlights for every seven+ that we had with the Solar System Senshi. And for that reason, the Senshi of the Solar System are my pick.

(screencaps courtesy of The Oracle; 30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge by fyeahsailormoon, though since it’s unavailable there currently I’ve been using the copy over at rara avis)

30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge - Day 28

Day Twenty-Eight - Scout you are least like

All things considered, it’s hard not to be the least like Chibiusa. Her basic character description could read as “a 900-year-old child from the distant future”. Diving a little deeper throws even zanier situations your way.

The vast majority of Chibiusa’s life has been spent as the only child of the King and Queen of the planet Earth. Hundreds of years in a perpetual childhood, loving her parents but possessing no powers of her own.

She steals the source of her mother’s power and because of that when enemies attack the Queen ends up encased in crystal in a motionless sleep. She then decides to travel back in time to long before she was born to steal the same object, but in the past this time. All the while, she gets to deal with both the shock of this sudden displacement and the guilt at being the root of the problem.

She gets brainwashed into being an enemy (and is grown to an adult form in the process). Her constant companion as a young child is a floating, magitech bouncy ball. It’s implied that her hair is actually pink. She experiences fading right out of existence. Her best friend turns out to be possessed by a really freaky enemy who murders her on an altar. Said best friend is later revealed to be Sailor Saturn, reverted to infancy, and then grown back to a preteen.

Her boyfriend? He’s a horse.

Point is: Chibiusa may have her happinesses and sadnesses, she may go to school, make friends, and fall in love, but she has a much more exceptional life than it seems that most people realize.

And it all certainly makes her the Senshi I am the least like. That said, she’s still one of my favorite characters in Sailor Moon.

(screenshots courtesy of The Oracle; 30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge by fyeahsailormoon, though since it’s unavailable there currently I’ve been using the copy over at rara avis)

30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge - Day 27

Day Twenty-Seven - Scout you are most like

This was a really hard decision. None of the Senshi seemed to be all that much like me. I look just like Makoto. When I was young I empathized the most with Makoto, and later Haruka. Michiru’s assorted artistic aspirations are not too dissimilar from my own.

Then I landed on Seiya.

Seiya is not a character I ever really compared to myself to. He’s flirty, smooth, and in the football club. That’s kind of the opposite of me! I’m generally cold, abrasive, and extremely lackadaisical where sports are concerned. (I guess that’s basically like Yaten!)

But once I get to thinking about it, I realize we do have some surprising similarities. Like my comparison to Michiru, we share some artistic aspirations (although mine fall more on the writing/drawing side of things). We both love music, we both fall in love a little too easily, and we are both capable of being extremely driven to the point of near obsession. In the Materials Collection, Seiya is noted as having “unkempt hair”, as well as being “not very understandable” and “a worrying super-pessimist”, which are all traits I possess.

To address superficial similarities, we’re both the same height, we have hair of about the same length, and we are both born in the sign of Leo. And on a really weird note, we’ve both ended up doing musicals under the direction of really psyched-up Catholic directors.

But what really seals the deal is all weird gender and sexuality questions circling around this character. NOTE: IF THESE ARE HOT-BUTTON ISSUES FOR YOU FOR ANY REASON, PLEASE JUST SKIP AHEAD TO THE SECTION PAST THE NEXT SCREENCAP. This blog doesn’t typically put so much focus on these topics, but this is a big part of why Seiya is my choice for Day 27, so I’m deciding to include it.

In the anime, Seiya is male as a civilian and female as a Senshi. No matter which form Seiya is in, his/her mannerisms and affections for Usagi remain the same. The whole thing isn’t treated as comic, either, and all the gender-flipping is left totally unaddressed. As someone who identifies as 50% male 50% female genderqueer (and 50/50 bisexual, at that), I really feel a lot of empathy toward Seiya. Even back before I knew the word genderqueer or that it was even a thing I felt this way - the only difference is that it was harder to put into words.

So yeah, Seiya Kou AKA Sailor Starfighter is the Senshi I am most like.

(screencaps courtesy of The Oracle; 30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge by fyeahsailormoon, though since its unavailable there currently I’ve been using the copy over at rara avis)

30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge - Day 26

Day Twenty-Six - Negaforce, Black Moon Clan, Death Busters, Dead Moon Circus, or Shadow Galactica?

Wait, Negaforce?

“The Oracle says it’s time to attack the other dimension - to unleash the power of the Negaforce!”

Did you read it in her voice? Because I did. :|

Okay, seriously this time. Between the evil organizations in Sailor Moon, my pick is emphatically the Death Busters.

Most of my reason why is that the Death Busters really get to do it all.

Competent members - check. Incompetent members, also check. Practical jokes between members, horrible murder between members, big semi-innocent organization being secretly run by tiny evil organization, member whose creation turns on her, sacrifice of a small child on an altar - all check!

They’re ruthless, they’re intelligent, they run the school with the best uniform in the series. They’re the Death Busters, and they’re freaky enough that their really weird name doesn’t detract from their villainous image.

They’re also the first of three evil organizations in the series to steal big honking physical objects that are theoretically part of human bodies. Somehow.

One really big selling point for the Death Busters is the whole bit with Hotaru AKA Mistress 9 AKA Sailor Saturn. As far as I can recall, the Death Busters arc was the only time the Sailor Moon anime did anything like this. Throughout the second half of the season Mistress 9’s consciousness battled Sailor Saturn’s for control of the body, with Hotaru suffering in the middle and totally unaware of the reason why.

Also, there’s this guy. He alone should be reason enough. ;)

(screencaps courtesy of The Oracle; 30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge by fyeahsailormoon, though since it’s unavailable there currently I’ve been using the copy over at rara avis)

30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge - Day 25

Day Twenty-Five - Funniest Sailor Moon moment

Oh so very yes. This is not only the funniest Sailor Moon moment in my opinion, it’s also one of my favorite scenes in the entire series. (It’s surpassed only by the most touching or romantic moments of the series.)

A quick rundown of the scene: Haruka and Michiru happen across Usagi in a park. Michiru comments that only pigeons and couples come to this park on holidays, and when Usagi replies that she’s here to meet Seiya, Haruka gets irritated. Michiru, looking mischievous, says that Haruka doesn’t like popular men. After Haruka makes a face at her, she grabs the taller girl by the arm and drags her away. Haruka complains that Michiru is hurting her, she wants Michiru to touch her gently. Michiru replies “Later, when we’re alone!”

Cut to Usagi. “Haaa… That’s an adult mood, isn’t it?”

XD

(screencaps courtesy of The Oracle; 30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge by fyeahsailormoon, though since it’s unavailable there currently I’ve been using the copy over at rara avis)

30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge - Day 24

Day Twenty-Four - Sailor Moon moment that makes you cry

Well then. I have to say I wasn’t looking forward to filling today’s prompt. I don’t like to be sad, after all. But somewhere in the course of getting ready to write this mini-article, I ended up watching an episode and a half of Stars and intently perusing the screenshot galleries for six more episodes after that. So now it’s one in the morning and I am running two and a half hours late.

So, as for today’s moment: I have chosen the last third or so of episode 188 (An Invitation to Terror! Usagi’s Night Flight).

Throughout Stars up to this point we have witnessed Usagi and Seiya clinging to each other emotionally. It seems as though neither of them have really admitted this to themselves, nor have they considered why this is. Sitting here outside the TV, it seems to me as though Usagi is finding comfort in Seiya due to Mamoru’s absence, whereas Seiya is drawn to Usagi because of how her power and temperament are similar to that of his Princess.

This scene, as far as I’m concerned, serves as the crux of the Stars series up until about episode 195. Sailor Aluminum Siren manages to get everyone in an enclosed space and tries to acquire Usagi’s star seed - the Silver Crystal. Seiya can’t take the pressure of the situation (especially considering he had just promised to Usagi that he would keep her safe) and transforms in front of her. Taiki and Yaten follow suit.

The three fend of the attacks of the Phages and try to shoo the other girls away. The four Guardian Senshi and Usagi then transform in front of them.

It’s hard to appreciate this scene and how powerful it is in context just from my cut and dried description. It signifies the end of friendships that had been growing for sixteen rather intense episodes. But even more than that, it is the moment Seiya and Usagi are torn apart.

Even if you don’t ship these two characters - and I haven’t for a few years now - it’s clear to see how the two were keeping each other emotionally upright. For the next several episodes, without each other to lean on, Usagi and Seiya both succumb to their loneliness and grief.

Even in season one, when Mamoru is injured and kidnapped, even in season two when he breaks up with her, or at the end of the Nehellania arc when he grows cold and distant, Usagi isn’t thrown into such a deep blue funk as she is starting at the beginning of episode 189. Seiya, for all that we don’t know him as well as the star of the show, seems to fare no better.

In truth, I suppose my “moment” for today is actually the entirety of episodes 188-200. Almost every event in those thirteen episodes can put tears in my eyes. But it all starts right here on the plane. That is why this scene is my choice for “Sailor Moon moment that makes you cry”.

(screencaps courtesy of The Oracle; 30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge by fyeahsailormoon, though since it’s unavailable there currently I’ve been using the copy over at rara avis)

30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge - Day 23

Day Twenty-Three - Sailor Moon moment that makes you happy

In retrospect, yesterday’s “moment” was less of a moment and more of a major plotline. Uhh… oops. Today’s “moment” fits the definition much better,  but is really a collection of four moments. The chosen… er… “moment” in Sailor Moon that makes me happy is the moment when the Sailor Senshi first hear the call to battle.

Each one of these four scenes is particularly touching to me. Ami the hardworking but lonely student is suddenly attacked. After being thrown to the floor, a talking cat slides a brightly-colored pen to her. Her reaction is not paralyzing confusion or disbelief, but rather to grab for the pen like her life depends on it.

Rei the miko has been having dark feelings and premonitions, spending hours divining in front of the temple fire. Busloads of girls have been disappearing near Hikawa Shrine. When she finally confronts the man she feels is responsible, he opens a portal which sucks her in and drops her into the arms of a monster. After Sailor Moon temporarily rescues her, a cat speaks and tells her that she is Sailor Mars. Everything suddenly clicks into place.

Makoto has had a hard life. Almost immediately after transferring to a new school, she meets a boy who reminds her of the upperclassman she had a crush on. She manages to save him when he’s attacked the first time, but the second time he is transformed into a monster. She takes him on anyway. Then suddenly a talking cat appears, offering a way to be even more effective in this battle.

Haruka is a runner and racer. Recently, strange premonitions have been pushing her to go even faster and father, to escape a destiny she doesn’t want. After a race one day, she meets a beautiful, artistic, strange girl who knows just a little too much about her. She rejects Michiru each time they meet. Then at the racetrack a boy turns into a horrible monster. When it lunges at her, a bright light repels it and materializes into a wand.

These moments are the ones that make me the happiest in the Sailor Moon anime. I only wish we could have seen more of them!

(screencaps courtesy of The Oracle; 30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge by fyeahsailormoon, though since its unavailable there currently I’ve been using the copy over at rara avis)

30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge - Day 22

Day Twenty-Two - Sailor Moon moment that upsets you

I originally wanted to interpret today’s prompt as “Sailor Moon moment that makes you sad”, but as that is going to be covered in two more days, I’m going instead with “Sailor Moon moment that makes you angry”.

The Usagi and Mamoru breakup plot in season two was unique to the anime. No matter how many times I watch it, that plot always seems incredibly unnecessary. Keep in mind that the two of them have only just finally gotten to start dating, considering that before that Mamoru hadn’t regained his memory. Then before that Usagi didn’t have her memories either, before that Mamoru was dead, before that he’d been taken to the dark side, and before that he and Usagi both hadn’t regained their memories yet, again.

After all that consecutively, making them have a terrible, heart-rending breakup right away seems like it’s just too much.

All that, however, just sort of tires me. Maybe I get a little annoyed. What, frankly, pisses me off is the impetus of the plot: the dreams and visions that Mamoru has.

I won’t blame Mamoru for acting on his instincts. He doesn’t want to break up with her, but he has horrible dreams and painful visions. Even a photograph of him and Usagi together is affected, with her photographed form collapsing when his resolution wavers.

What is it that’s causing all this? Why, it’s none other than King Endymion. Mamoru’s future form!

Wait, what?!

This ticks me off on a lot of levels. First of all, take notice of how Tuxedo Mask just savagely attacks the hologram of King Endymion when they first meet. It might be the most angry we see Mamoru get in the entire anime! He knows that this is the asshole responsible for putting Usagi and himself through all that pain, and he is just not having any of it.

Secondly, how does the Tuxedo Mask of the current time - the one who is so angry that he charges Endymion’s hologram - become the King Endymion who sends horrible and strangely inaccurate visions to his past self? I don’t have an answer to this. At all.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly - what was King Endymion trying to achieve?! No, really. He sends these visions to his past self, but to what end?

If he’d succeeded in breaking up Usagi and Mamoru, then he and Neo Queen Serenity and their little daughter would have ceased to exist.

If he failed to break them up - which was the canonical conclusion - then he only succeeded in proving how impossible it was to fight their love. It seems relatively valid all around until you remember that he was Mamoru. He has already been that person, ostensibly experienced these visions, and he knows better than anyone the unbreakable nature of his relationship with Usagi.

So when it came time to send the visions - when Serenity was imprisoned in crystal and Chibiusa gone - why did he go through with it?

Was it simply to fulfill a stable time loop? He could have chosen not to - if the past can affect the future (see: Sailor Chibimoon disappearing when Mamoru is killed), then the future should be able to decide not to affect the past. This is especially considering that the person in the future making these decisions was right there to experience these things in the past and knows how painful and futile the whole mess was.

If it wasn’t simply to fulfill a stable time loop, and considering that he knows Mamoru’s feelings for Usagi, then what was the purpose of all this? The only thing I can think of is that King Endymion was doubting Neo Queen Serenity’s love for him. That this was not a test for Mamoru at all, but rather a test for Usagi.

And frankly? Once we get into that level of speculation, we’ve gone too far.

(screenshots courtesy of The Oracle; 30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge by fyeahsailormoon, although since it’s unavailable there currently I’ve been using the copy over at rara avis)

30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge - Day 21

Day Twenty-One - One thing you wished the show had

I took today’s prompt literally and went with something the manga had but the show didn’t. Hopefully that was the intention of the challenge’s author!

Sailor Cosmos is possibly the most mysterious character in the entire Sailor Moon mythos. She came back from a dark and distant future in which all of her friends had been killed in the conflict against Sailor Chaos. She urged Sailor Moon to destroy the Galaxy Cauldron; an act which would prevent the birth or rebirth of any future Sailor Senshi - including both Sailor Chaos and all of Usagi’s at-that-point-dead friends. She identified herself as an imperfect form of Sailor Moon, which I hadn’t realized was the source of rampant debate until I stumbled upon this tumblog. (Or possibly she’s the ultimate form of Sailor Moon? The translations were contradictory at times, and I don’t have the full Japanese original available.)

As for me, I have no idea wether or not Sailor Cosmos is supposed to literally be Usagi. What I do know, however, is that she never appeared in the anime.

Stars differed from its original manga form moreso than any other arc of the anime. Eight characters that I can think of were omitted from the Stars anime, as was the entire Galaxy Cauldron/Zero Star Sagittarius plotline. In place of all that was a greater focus on Shadow Galactica and on Sailor Galaxia herself.

I don’t know what path the anime would have taken had Sailor Cosmos been included. Nevertheless, the lost opportunity to have more light shed on this beautiful, powerful, and mysterious form of Sailor Moon is truly a sad one.

(manga scans courtesy of The Oracle; beautiful artbook scan courtesy of Manga Style; 30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge by fyeahsailormoon, though since it’s unavailable there currently I’ve been using the copy over at rara avis)

30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge - Day 20

Day Twenty - Worst dressed Scout

Well, I certainly hope that Mamoru counts as a “Scout”, as he has been my answer to this question since the moment I read through this challenge. In fact, he’s not just the answer to this question - he’s the King of Badly-Dressed Anime Men.

Mamoru’s clothes. I noticed them back in the very first episode all those years ago: a black turtleneck, high-waisted lavender slacks, and a forest green open-front jacket with prominent lapels. Oh my god.

I mean, my father is colorblind. I’ve seen him come out of his room wearing colors that don’t quite match. Mamoru is far beyond that kind of problem.

Mamoru likes pastels. Mamoru likes to pair up secondary colors. Mamoru likes high-waisted slacks and loose shirts.

Mamoru wears the lavender slacks and green jacket combo for around 75% of his appearances in which he is not Tuxedo Mask.

He wears the above exercise outfit on at least three separate occasions. Look at that. Powder blue drawstring sweatpants, some kind of strong aqua shirt with its sleeves rolled up and a grey vest tucked into the sweatpants, and most bizarrely of all some kind of fluffy, lumpy pale yellow thing around his neck.

This, this looks like a shirt my brother owned when he was five. What the bloody hell? Notice that it has puffy sleeves.

Even when he’s Tuxedo Mask he doesn’t get a fashion break. Now, far be it from me to diss the tuxedo and cape combo, but a top hat? I’m going to note here that in the manga Tuxedo Mask wore a top hat like once or something. In the anime, he wears it every single time he appears.

There… there just aren’t words…

(screencaps courtesy of The Oracle; 30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge by fyeahsailormoon, though since it’s unavailable there currently I’ve been using the copy over at rara avis)

30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge - Day 19

Day Nineteen - Sailor Moon episodes dubbed or subbed?

As with yesterday’s entry, it seems that the answer to today’s question is fairly self-evident. Every screencap I’ve posted has been from the original Japanese version, and some of them have even contained Japanese text.

I was introduced to Sailor Moon through the infamous English dub, and to be honest it does hold a special place in my heart. All the changed names, weird cuts, and misguided use of slang were a significant part of my preteen and early teenage years. I was also active in the fandom during those years - does anyone else remember all the dub names we gave to the Outer Senshi before they arrived? My favorite set was definitely Alex, Michelle, Susan, and Holly.

However even with all the nostalgia, the original version stands as the clear victor in my mind. A big part of why that is is that the anime takes place in Japan.

Now, let me explain myself here.

I’m not one of those people who feels that if a show takes place in X country, then the only right language for said show is X country’s language. If I felt that way I’d have never watched the Ghost in the Shell or Cowboy Bebop dubs. I also am not an original language purist - take the previous examples, or how I got a Japanese copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone this past Christmas.

HOWEVER

The English dub didn’t just replace the audio and lip-synch (and names and music and transformation sequences and opening sequence and character personalities), it attempted to “Americanize” the show. Scenes with Japanese text or cars on the opposite sides of the street were edited or removed entirely. Tokyo Tower became the Starlight Tower.

The thing is, it’s hard to Americanize a show in which a third of the scenes take place at a Shinto temple. As a child, I was left confused about what Raye and her Grandfather did for a living, exactly. I was also made to wonder who, anywhere, had school uniforms like the Scouts’? What was objectionable about Lita’s hair? Why did they eat lunch outside so often? What in the world were they eating all of the time? And what in god’s name was a “cram school”?

Frankly, in DIC’s attempts to make the show more understandable for American youngsters, they only made the whole mess more confusing than it would have been had they simply aired it in its original form.

For my thirteenth Christmas I received a copy of the Sailor Moon R movie on a VHS with the original Japanese audio and English subtitles. Three hours after I watched it for the first time, I was able to sing Moon Revenge. The rest, as they say, is history.

I still own that VHS. I also have all five seasons and all three movies on DVD with the original audio and optional subtitles, as well as a copy of the Doom Tree arc on English VHS that my ex-girlfriend gave me.

I still love the dub, even with all its idiosyncrasies. But the original makes internal sense, and for that alone it prevails in this contest.

(screencaps courtesy of The Oracle; 30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge by fyeahsailormoon, though since it’s unavailable there currently I’ve been using the copy over at rara avis)

30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge - Day 18

Day Eighteen - Manga or anime?

Well, I’d say that nobody familiar with my blog to this point should be surprised by my answer to this question. Let’s do a quick statistic. Not including the screenshot in this post, I’ve posted sixty-nine pictures from the anime and three from the manga, which equals… twenty-three anime for every one manga. Yes.

So why the anime over the manga? Well, let’s go over it point by point.

Point one: I watched it first.

Yes, as with most Americans familiar with this series, I watched a great deal of the anime long before I even knew the manga existed. As the first form of Sailor Moon that I was familiar with, it certainly does hold a special semi-nostalgic charm that the manga (and also the live-action and musicals) by extension lack.

For that same reason, it’s the version I’ve spent the most time thinking about over the years. I may own several volumes of the manga, I may have watched PGSM and Seramyu, but the amount of time I’ve spent watching, discussing, and writing about the Sailor Moon anime far outstrips all those others combined.

Point two: The music is gorgeous.

Can you recall the music that played in the background of Amazoness Quartet scenes?

How about Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto’s transformation and battle theme?

The Sailor Saturn/Holy Grail theme, both songs associated with the Starlights (and in fact the entire Stars soundtrack in general), and Moon Revenge…

The dub doesn’t get left out of this category - a good handful of truly delicious music is one of the few things I feel it really contributed to the Sailor Moon mythos. Sailor Jupiter’s theme requires a particular shout-out, as does Alan’s Pan Flute cue.

When I first started watching, it was back in the days when dial-up was premium internet. I’d listen to midis of the music, or watch the loading bar in fascination while mp2s and mp3s downloaded for minutes on end. This music has been such a part of my Sailor Moon experience that to me it’s completely inseparable from the series as a larger whole.

Point three: Additional length means additional character development.

Depending on which character you’re talking about at any given moment, this one could be arguable. It was much clearer in the manga that as Usagi grew in power, so was she growing out of her form as Princess Serenity and into her form as Neo Queen Serenity. Mamoru - with the Golden Crystal - and the Amazoness Quartet - with their future Senshi forms - also got the short end of the stick in the anime.

The characters that ended up benefitting from this additional development were, interestingly enough, mostly villains. Take the Amazon Trio for example - in the manga, they were one-shot enemies destroyed by the Guardian Senshi. In the anime, we got to see Tigerseye try to seduce his targets, we got to chuckle about Hawkseye’s preference for older women, and we got to sympathize with Fisheye’s yearning to have dreams of his own. And in the end, Sailor Moon used her powers to grant them humanity.

They aren’t the only ones to receive this type of treatment: the Shittenou, Ayakashi Sisters, and about half of the Witches 5 are also much bigger characters in the anime than the manga.

Point four: The sparklies, the shinies, the stock footage…

Even on a blog like this, where I try to make intellectual points about the media I’m covering, it’s hard not to at least mention the shiny from time to time. Especially when you’re talking about Sailor Moon, because let’s face it - there is a LOT of sparkly goodness to be had.

Frankly, it’s my last point for a reason. It’s not the most important, but it’s definitely a factor. The manga is in black-and-white, whereas the anime is in full color. The still shots of the manga lend themselves more to a delicate and serene gracefulness not present in the anime, whereas the anime’s… well… animation lends itself to showers of rose petals, sparkling crystals, and startling glows. The manga may be beautiful, but I grew up on Rainbow Brite. My life is about technicolor.

And there you have it - four reasons I prefer the anime over the manga.

It isn’t to say I don’t love the manga or, for that matter, the live-action and musicals. But the anime takes the top spot in my heart. Hopefully it’s for some pretty good reasons. ;)

(screenshots courtesy of The Oracle; 30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge by fyeahsailormoon, though since it’s unavailable there currently I’ve been using the copy over at rara avis)

30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge - Day 17

Day Seventeen - Favorite attack overall (villains included)

Well. Honestly, my favorite attack overall is Silence Glaive Surprise, which I already covered. But if I left it at that it would be boring, so today I’m going to cover my second-favorite attack, Sailor Starhealer’s Star Sensitive Inferno.

Over halfway through the challenge and the Starlights are just now making their first appearance. I’m not sure how that happened, since I love the Starlights in general and Starhealer in particular.

In any case, Star Sensitive Inferno is, in my opinion, definitely one of the coolest attacks in the series.

At first glance, Star Sensitive Inferno doesn’t really stand out from the Starlights’ attacks as a group. It follows the same naming conventions, has a normal version and a powered-up version, and like everything about the Starlights is never adequately explained. It’s sparkly, glowy, starry, and mysterious.

Very little of that, as you probably guessed, has anything to do with why this is my second-favorite attack of the entire series. The overwhelming reason is that this attack does something that is (as far as I can recall) completely unique in the Sailor Moon anime.

It takes two entirely different forms.

Check out the low-power version of the attack up at picture two. Now check out the picture below this segment of text. In its basic state, Star Sensitive Inferno fires a thick beam of lightning bolts, whereas in its powered-up state it fires a huge cracking ball of electricity. Both versions of the attack have the same effect, but the forms are so different that in retrospect it’s kind of shocking.

As for additional reasons this attack is one of my favorites: it looks awesome in either form; the fact that short little Starhealer gets this kickass attack is always fantastic; and her voice actress just calls it out with such conviction. But mostly it’s the other thing.

Don’t forget to check out the attack in action!

(screencaps courtesy of The Oracle; 30 Day Sailor Moon Challenge by fyeahsailormoon, though since it’s unavailable there currently I’ve been using the copy over at rara avis)