Ah, nostalgia...
Jun. 8th, 2006 11:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteSo over on AFSM (that's alt.fan.sailor-moon to you non-Usenet Internet n00bs... Kekeke!), a guy started this "200 Days of Sailormoon" project wherein he watches 1 episode a day until he hits the total 200-- just like it was when we were "kids" (okay, not all of us were kids back in 1992. I was, though!) and we had to wait an agonizing school day before we saw another new dub episode. Now we can complain about the dub, but we have to love it for introducing us to the series in the first place- and in my case, to anime and manga in general. And today was Episode 12 day - "I want a boyfriend too! A Trap on a Luxury Cruise Ship!"
So I added my two cents, and I also took screen caps using VLC Media Player of Episode 12. They're all Hi-Res screen caps in PNG format, posted on the alt.binaries.pictures.sailor-moon group... 198 of them, to be precise. Alas, I think the PNG format is larger than expected, because PowerPost 2000 is breaking up the files into 2-4 parts per image, and I don't know of an encoder/recompiler! I used to use Outlook Express, which had an embedded recompiler; does anyone know of one? (Otherwise I'll feel pretty stupid about posting my first large-scale flood and messing up royally.)
The early episodes, like Ep 12, had a very different animation style from how the series progressed. Toei as a studio (with its constantly changing array of animators) seems to "learn as they go," and while there are always some goodies (like the Sailormoon look-alike in the reception hall of the destroyed cruise ship in the final scene... when Usagi is up on the topmost deck!) that I like to think the animators intentionally snuck in there, when you compare the animation style to R, S, or SuperS, it's pretty mediocre.
What *IS* fun is the triple M threat -Moon, Mars, and Mercury. I'd like to think that if Sailormoon followed any sort of a strict time line or real time flow, then the time when Moon, Mars, and Mercury spent battling together was longer than most people would give it credit for, judging by the shortness (and lameness) of much of the Jadeite and Nephrite arcs. Basically, battle, battle, battle. It was only post-Nephrite that the girls really had to shape up and start LEARNING things, not just about their enemy and their past, but also themselves and their powers.
It's kind of cute seeing the innocent side of the series though, as it only comes out during the first season. R (Returns) was dark in its own way; we got to see heartbreak in the form of amnesia, rivalry, and near-death (AGAIN. Actually, they DID die in Season 1, but they didn't die in Season 2). Then in R Part 2 (Romance), and we had the first really long-spanning plot with the Black Moon, the mystery of the Wiseman, rivalries, love, exploitation, and the growth of the Senshi. Oh yeah, and Chibiusa! Actually, I like R, Part 2 the best (after S) because of the breakup between Usagi and Mamoru-- it just offers so many opportunities for angst, growth, drama, and romance, and many of my SM fics reflect that. It was the one of the few things differentiating the anime and the manga that I LOVED! And of course, Sailormoon's status was up in the air around episode 68, before the UsaMamo (or should I say SereDar?) tension and breakup got explained or resolved. So I came up with TONS of ideas in the meantime.
Back to Episode 12 - the characters really acted their ages in this one, and they acted to their archetypes, too. They didn't know better or understand much, even with the burden of being superheroes, but it's still laughable that Rei can be such a brat, Ami can be such a bookworm, and Usagi can be such a whiner. And Luna is Luna, Jadeite is Jadeite, and Beryl (for the 3 seconds she's in this one) is Beryl. It's kind of comforting to know that, given what dark times lie ahead. When I was a kid, I really had no idea what I was getting into!
So I added my two cents, and I also took screen caps using VLC Media Player of Episode 12. They're all Hi-Res screen caps in PNG format, posted on the alt.binaries.pictures.sailor-moon group... 198 of them, to be precise. Alas, I think the PNG format is larger than expected, because PowerPost 2000 is breaking up the files into 2-4 parts per image, and I don't know of an encoder/recompiler! I used to use Outlook Express, which had an embedded recompiler; does anyone know of one? (Otherwise I'll feel pretty stupid about posting my first large-scale flood and messing up royally.)
The early episodes, like Ep 12, had a very different animation style from how the series progressed. Toei as a studio (with its constantly changing array of animators) seems to "learn as they go," and while there are always some goodies (like the Sailormoon look-alike in the reception hall of the destroyed cruise ship in the final scene... when Usagi is up on the topmost deck!) that I like to think the animators intentionally snuck in there, when you compare the animation style to R, S, or SuperS, it's pretty mediocre.
What *IS* fun is the triple M threat -Moon, Mars, and Mercury. I'd like to think that if Sailormoon followed any sort of a strict time line or real time flow, then the time when Moon, Mars, and Mercury spent battling together was longer than most people would give it credit for, judging by the shortness (and lameness) of much of the Jadeite and Nephrite arcs. Basically, battle, battle, battle. It was only post-Nephrite that the girls really had to shape up and start LEARNING things, not just about their enemy and their past, but also themselves and their powers.
It's kind of cute seeing the innocent side of the series though, as it only comes out during the first season. R (Returns) was dark in its own way; we got to see heartbreak in the form of amnesia, rivalry, and near-death (AGAIN. Actually, they DID die in Season 1, but they didn't die in Season 2). Then in R Part 2 (Romance), and we had the first really long-spanning plot with the Black Moon, the mystery of the Wiseman, rivalries, love, exploitation, and the growth of the Senshi. Oh yeah, and Chibiusa! Actually, I like R, Part 2 the best (after S) because of the breakup between Usagi and Mamoru-- it just offers so many opportunities for angst, growth, drama, and romance, and many of my SM fics reflect that. It was the one of the few things differentiating the anime and the manga that I LOVED! And of course, Sailormoon's status was up in the air around episode 68, before the UsaMamo (or should I say SereDar?) tension and breakup got explained or resolved. So I came up with TONS of ideas in the meantime.
Back to Episode 12 - the characters really acted their ages in this one, and they acted to their archetypes, too. They didn't know better or understand much, even with the burden of being superheroes, but it's still laughable that Rei can be such a brat, Ami can be such a bookworm, and Usagi can be such a whiner. And Luna is Luna, Jadeite is Jadeite, and Beryl (for the 3 seconds she's in this one) is Beryl. It's kind of comforting to know that, given what dark times lie ahead. When I was a kid, I really had no idea what I was getting into!
