Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal, Episodes 34 to 39. Toei Animation, 2016. Approx. 144 minutes. Available on Crunchyroll.
Viz Media has finally, after taking its sweet time, produced the full, uncensored release of the first half of Sailor Moon S
I had previously been reviewing Sailor Moon Crystal an episode at a time, but I stopped because … well, frankly, I got bored. Hey, it’s not like anyone pays me for this. Continue reading “‘Sailor Moon Crystal,’ Season 3: The Final Verdict”
We have a new essay going up, but I didn’t get it finished today, so I’ll see if I can post it tomorrow on Christmas Eve instead. Christmas may not be as big a holiday in the magical girl calendar as, say, Halloween or Walpurgisnacht, but it’s still plenty important.
Merry Christmas to all, and for right now, to all a good night. I’ll see you tomorrow.
Featured image: “Magical Girl Pug-ugly” by yosinori.
Featured image: “Keep Up” by sdPink.
1. I have an essay in the works, but I spent today on Jake and the Dynamo instead, and the next chapter is about half drafted. Chapters seem to be getting longer as they go. This always happens to me.
2. On an amusing note related to J&tD, I didn’t realize that Dana Volt’s mother, Millie Volt, had a pun in her name until a reader pointed it out. I take this as evidence that muses exist.
3. I’m making a career change and beginning training this week. My free time right now is already minimal, and this will cut into it further. We’ll see how this goes.
4. There is no update since yesterday on the Sailor Moon R: The Movie front, but I intend to check daily to make sure I get my tickets. Supposedly, there’s a prize of some sort for ticket-holders (I have no idea what it is or how one gets it), so maybe there’s a chance I’ll get my hands on my first piece of Sailor Moon merchandise … and probably my last, because I like magical girls and all, but have no intention of filling my apartment with them. If I did that, I’d have nowhere to put the ponies.
5. I’ll finish reviewing Magical Girl Raising Project next week. I’m necessarily a week behind as I can’t afford any streaming subscriptions right now. I think I made a mistake by choosing that one to do an episode at a time, but when I finish with it, I can finally start in on some of the other, probably more deserving titles from this season. I’ll likely review Flip Flappers.
6. I’m going to be speeding up the series on Revolutionary Girl Utena. Since we’ve covered the preliminaries, we can take it in larger chunks. But that’s part of why it’s taking me a while to get the series out, because I have to watch the dang thing.
This news is a month old, but that’s hot-off-the-press current by my standards. Viz Media is releasing Sailor Moon R: The Movie, the most popular of the Sailor Moon movies, to about three hundred U.S. theaters.
The article at Fuse asks, “Do you remember watching Sailor Moon R: The Movie as a kid?” The answer in my case is no. I was probably in middle or high school then and was not watching cartoons. Although it means my magical girl weeaboo cred is about to take a hit, I’ll admit it: I’ve never seen Sailor Moon R: The Movie. My first time watching any Sailor Moon was in the uncensored re-release, so I’ve never even seen it in the hacked-up and bowdlerized American version. I was no longer a kid watching Saturday morning cartoons nor yet a goony college-age neckbeard when this franchise was making it big.
There’s a list of theaters and showtimes over at Eleven Arts. One of those theaters is … well, not exactly close to me, but close enough to make it worth making the trip in the name of nerdery, so I’m going to do my best to make this happen. Tickets aren’t available yet, but I’ll keep my eye on the prize. I don’t know what the chances are of its selling out before I get mine, but we’ll see if we can make this happen.
I’ll let you know as details develop. In the meanwhile, Anime News Network has an interview with some of the English voice cast.
Featured image: “Magical Girl” by Lighane.
Singaporean sf writer Troy Tang, who happens to be in my writers’ group, has a new blog, Thoughts with a Touch of Tang. If you’d like to get touched by Tang, I suggest you check it out.
Right now, he’s running a series on Puella Magi Madoka Magica, 2011’s groundbreaking and mold-busting magical girl series from Gen Urobuchi and Studio Shaft. His essay series is entitled, perspicaciously enough, “When You Wish Upon a Star: Hope and Despair in Puella Magi Madoka Magica,” and there are presently two parts. In the first, he sets the series within the context of Urobuchi-sensei’s larger body of work. In the second, he uses Madoka to segue into a philosophical discussion of Søren Kierkegaard and the meaning of despair.
He also for some reason dislikes referring to Madoka by its title and instead gives it several nicknames. My favorite is Pouty Moulding Manchild Mistresses, though I would think that any sensible manchild would select his waifu from somewhere at least slightly less depressing. Mine is Duck from Princess Tutu, but that’s not the kind of thing I’d announce to strangers on the internet.
My own opinion of Madoka, to be honest, is that I’m sick of it. It’s an awesome series, unquestionably. It is easily one of the best magical girl shows ever made, and in some respects it is possibly the very best. But yeesh, it’s been five years, and as a result of Madoka‘s influence, the genre is still stuck in its emo phase. Let’s do something else now.
Featured Image: Cover art of Made in Abyss Volume 1 by Akihito Tsukushi.
I’m falling in love with the artwork of Akihito Tsukushi, and maybe also with him personally just a little bit. I don’t think I was aware of him or his work until just recently when I stumbled upon it, but I have found at least one place on the internet where he hangs out.
The featured image both here and on this post comes from his four-part comic book series Made in Abyss, which is unfortunately unavailable in English. The artwork is certainly stunning. Information on the series is scanty, but it is apparently about a plucky young girl and a boy robot who explore a giant cave system full of fantastic critters.
I don’t know if the story’s any good, but it sounds promising, and in any case, it’s clear that it would be worth reading simply for the visual feast, akin perhaps to Dinotopia
Let’s get this trainwreck over with!
Magical Girl Raising Project, episode 9, “Notice of New Rules!” and Episode 10, “Super Hot! Back-to-Back Battle Events!” Directed by Hiroyuki Hashimoto. Studio Lerche. Produced by Genco (2016). Approx. 48 minutes. Rated PG-13. Available on Crunchyroll.
Spoilers throughout. Continue reading “‘Magical Girl Raising Project,’ Episodes 9 and 10”
Featured Art: “Akazukin Twin Blade” by B3-9632.
Red Riding Hood from Fairy Musketeers gets ready to mess you up. Taste her wrath.
