Matte yo, Sailor moon!
Sep. 29th, 2007 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteSo on a whim (?) I decided to check and see if there were any HQ scans of the reprinted Sailor Moon manga. I didn't find any (yet), but there are textlations (by Alex Glover, of course) out, and I DID find the Materials Collection scanlation, which was something I'd been contemplating starting a while ago. I don't think it's finished though, even though it's pretty well done over at Soul-Hunter.com.
Anyway, some interesting things I noticed while looking both at my original Japanese copy of thre Materials Collection and the scanlated version...
* Minako's birthday is listed as 11/22, a full month after her modern canonical one. Either Naoko flubbed, or she had some mysterious reason for making Sailor VENUS be born on the cusp of Pluto/Jupiter. Considering Venus already rules over *two* signs, to have her placed between NEITHER of those signs, it's pretty unusual. But if you move it back by just a month, it's fine, which is what was done, and makes Venus a Libra. Nonetheless, the handwriting is plain and clear in the Materials Collection: November 22nd.
* On the same page, there's a height comparison. I'm pretty sure SH left out one line (where it says "Before, Ma[ko] smoked,") but what's interesting is what they translated just fine: below Makoto, it clearly says "Mamo-chan." There are no liner notes on Sailor Jupiter's page to indicate HER name was originally Mamoto or anything like that. While it WOULD make sense if her name had the same root as Mamoru's name (meaning "protection"), I didn't find anything that said that. Interesting!
* Every Senshi has an image color, of course. The stated ones in the ORIGINAL sketches are:
Moon - Silver
Mercury - Blue
Venus: Yellow
Mars: Red
Jupiter: Green
Okay, these all make sense. But the weird thing is, the image color is supposed to apply to at least one of the following:
* Sailor Uniform (when transformed)
* Manicure (when transformed)
* Eye color (when transformed)
In the original picture, this certainly applies, at least to the main "Inner" Senshi (note: this does NOT include Moon). When transformed, the girls' image colors match their eye (!) colors, manicure, and at least some portion of their Sailor Uniform-- usually the main portion, but in the case of Venus, only her bows.
Speaking of Venus, she and Mars are the only one where their front bow color doesn't match their back bow color. The bow color is typically telling of the Senshi's image color, but Takeuchi-sensei seems to differentiate between shades/hues. For example, the blue of Ami's eyes before she becomes Sailor Mercury is a different blue, but her image color in general is "blue." It doesn't specify whether it's a shade or hue. Presumably, it's the darker blue of her uniform, rather than the lighter blue of her eyes post-transformation (original images) or her bows.
Mars' back bow is red; her front is purple/black (original images). Venus' front bow is blue; her back bow is yellow. In fact, Venus is the only one who doesn't seem to have her "second image color" somewhere else on her person; Mars' purple/black is also seen in her hair; Mercury's light blue is in her uniform/eyes; Jupiter's pink is on her uniform/rose earrings/potpourri belt. You COULD say it's in her eyes, but that's a big stretch, even with Mercury also supposedly meeting that criteria; at least Mercury had it somewhere else on her uniform.
Even when the senshi upgrade later (in Stars), and back bows change colors (at least in the case of Jupiter and Mercury, who went from pink and light blue to green and darker blue), Venus still retains that same navy blue for her front bow. To me, it would have made more sense for it to go red, taking Sailor Moon's old image color (at least what her image color was up until Super/the Dream arc), because it matches her hair bow and fits with her former Sailor V persona. Uranus is sort of the same-- her bow is yellow, but not the same shade as her hair. Her back bow was never yellow; it was always the same dark blue as her skirt, though.
As for Moon, well, we never see silver on her person, unless you count a) her hair when she's transformed (original images of the manga, second design; the original design was PINK) or b) her body armor, which could just be reinforcements underneath what appears to us as white fabric. You could say, her hair or whatnot when she's Serenity, but that doesn't make sense to have Sailor Moon's image color as silver, then. If the "silver" were somehow readily visible, maybe Sailor Moon's alternate identity as Princess of the Moon might not have come as so much of a surprise...? (heh)
Also, in the original designs:
* Luna's eyes were orange-red, not blue (they remained red in the anime, except when she became human; then they turned blue, same as the manga's human Luna)
* Artemis' eyes were deep blue/violet, not blue (they were blue in the anime), and turned green in the later designs.
* Diana's eyes were the only ones that were reddish in the final designs (likely because Diana the CAT wasn't a planned character in the original designs). Diana the fairy existed, and was supposed to appear when the girls went to the Moon (presumably when they REALLY found Queen Serenity). I wonder why Naoko noted that Diana the fairy didn't get along with Luna?
* In the original designs, Luna and Artemis were TWINS (!) not simply from the same planet (Mau), and would later become lovers.
* Ikuko's page wasn't entirely translated. She's daydreaming of a nice ring, and the adjective near her seems to be "kitsui," or "intense, severe, brave, strong, tight, close." Maybe she's not describing the ring, but Kenji's relationship with Ikuko?
* Kenji is a magazine editor in the original manga designs ; in the anime, he's a photographer (cf. the episode where Usagi went to Princess D's ball and her father was taking pictures).
* Naru's mother is never named, but two of Usagi and Naru's classmates, who only play the tiniest of parts throughout both the final anime and manga series, are! Also, Haruna-sensei has curlier hair in the original, which seems to differentiate her from the police chief in Sailor V, whom she resembles... though the relation between Haruna is more likely in a heroine from Naoko's ice-skating manga (The Cherry Project, if I'm not mistaken).
* Motoki wasn't named in initial designs. He was just "big brother at the arcade." Also, if he and Reika were originally meant to be going out, it wasn't slated in the original designs. It's more like he longs after her. Even in the final manga, it doesn't seem like they were really together-- after all, it's through Makoto that Motoki discovers that everyone is a Senshi (and why does no one write about that!?). In the anime, they obviously have a much closer relationship. And in the live action... o_O; Well. Let's not get into how dorkified Motoki got...
* The Four "Heavenly" Kings: Their ages revealed! Surprisingly, Jadeite's 18 (and who knows why there's a sparkly cross next to his image...? It's not explained in the original materials collection, either), Zoisite's between 16-17 (and is a "little brother" type to Kunzite, though he's still "effeminate"), and headstrong Nephrite is 19. Then you've got Kunzite, who's 25-26 (!) He's old (compared to the others)....
* Beryl's horns are real! Um, ew for anyone who writes Beryl/somebody smex? I wish Takeuchi-sensei had put more explanation into Beryl's human form.
* We never see Princess Serenity wearing her tiara or cloak anywhere but the materials collection. It would have been cool, though. Serenity's cloak designs seem to have gotten put into Tuxedo Mask's cape design. We also never see Serenity seated on a "rose petal throne" with Venus (her attendant) at her side. It's also never explained why Venus is Serenity's attendant, and is so close to her. (Makes you wonder: just why was VENUS chosen to be Serenity's double? Or was she "chosen" at all...?)
* With Queen Serenity, Takeuchi-sensei notes two interesting things: her eyes are silver "like glass balls" (they were lavender in the anime), and that she has the appearance of an 18-year-old. Considering I doubt that's the age when she died, I figure it's when those of the Silver Millennium appear to stop aging. It would certainly make sense... Also noteworthy is that even though Takeuchi said that the crescent moon is a mark of those of the Moon Kingdom, Queen Serenity's is most obviously on a diadem, NOT simply on her forehead, the way it is for Princess Serenity. Wonder why?
...SECOND SERIES...
* Takeuchi-sensei says that Neo Queen Serenity someday gives the nickname "Small Lady" to "a wonderful lady." Is she implying that Chibiusa a) did something wonderful to earn the nickname; b) was NOT the first person to be "Small Lady," or c) something else? I think it was worded (or else translated) pretty strangely...
* Chibiusa's appearance is that of a first-grader. That'd be about 7-8, wouldn't you think? I think the manga always did a better job with this than the anime, because in the anime, she always seemed to waver between 5 and 11 years old.
* Chibiusa has an image of her what looks like mid-transformation to Black Lady. The notes say "Chibiusa when the symbol of the black queen has appeared." Wouldn't it be interesting if instead of the whole 30th Century/Demando/Black Moon arc, Nehelenia was the one slated to be R's big villain? That would have made for a VERY interesting change of plans.
* The Silver Crystal Chibiusa carries-- odd, because it's illustrated as being on a chain, like Usagi's originally was (before it got put into the Star Locket). It's got a different clasp of sorts attaching the crystal to the chain though.
* At last, the "arcade guy" has a name-- and so does his sister! Unazuki goes to T.A. Girls' school. I wonder why she goes to the same school as Rei, yet there's never any story arcs about that? It says that Unazuki sometimes notices Rei and admires her, even though Rei's the younger one. But Rei's also probably more dedicated-- Unazuki is described as a bit careless, with below average grades. How did she get into T.A., anyway?!
* Asanuma the STALKER! I wonder why it's important that we know that his mom's car is a deep red Porsche? Though it is interesting to note that Azabu Juuban Junior High and High School are on the same site (which is fairly typical of schools like that), and the way to differentiate is between the tie color (red vs. blue... HAHA!). This is the same for T.A. (light brown for juniors, dark brown for seniors) and Infinity Academy (various colors depending on the grades; see later). I wonder why we don't see that with Minako's school, which is also private?
* Of note, the Black Moon guy responsible for creating the earrings which give the members their powers: サフィール. That's SaFiRu, by the way. The proper term for Sapphire, translated from English, is: サファイア (SaFaiRu). Takeuchi-sensei DID, of course, pull the names she used from various languages, and I'm of the opinion that calling him "Sapphire" is just as valid. What it boils down to is "fangirl language-ese." Calling him Demando is simply using the German word for "Diamond." Why not translate it? It has a perfectly valid English equivalent. Okay, stylistic reasons, but even then... it's like "way to miss the point." There's a reason why all of them have gemstone names! The only one I can't stand translating would have to be "Rubeus," because calling him just plain "Ruby" sounds awkward.
* Rubeus doesn't have an estimated age, but Demando (and I'm sorry, but "Demand"? That looks awkward in English no matter how you splice it) does: it's 18. Why isn't his odd "third eye" explained, though?
* Esmeraude is called a "high queen." Wonder why? Also, Sapphire doesn't wear the "Evil Black Crystal" earrings, while everyone else does, including his big brother. Also, despite his name, he doesn't wear any Sapphires anywhere; he's got those "stainless steel" rods hanging from his shirt, though.
* The "Four Weird Sisters." They messed up the age order in the (dub) anime, didn't they? In the manga, Petz/Prisma is the oldest, Calveras/Avery is the second oldest, Beruche/Birdie is the second youngest, and Cooan/Catzi is the youngest. Of note is that Petz manipulates animals and plants; Calveras manipulates the mental state of humans; Beruche manipulates WATER (not ICE!), and Cooan manipulates fire.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the only time Beruche wore a braid over her forehead in the anime was when she was HIDING her Black Moon crescent? Otherwise, it was just in full view and her forehead wasn't disguised at all? And afterward (in the anime, at least), she ditched the over-forehead braid and had a normal forehead?
* That big honking black crystal (the one that's princess cut) in the manga is actually Wiseman's CASTLE. o_O Who knew? It looks like a large crystal over a single crystal tower (like from Crystal Tokyo) over a distorted piece of time-space.
* Droids in the manga were much more robotic. They had no real eyes or mouths, but they understood "will in their hearts," whatever that means. There were male and female types. They could only make a screeching noise (ow). I'm glad the anime offered MotDs, then; they offered variety, and many of the droids made things interesting where a normal "repeat a droid" design wouldn't have been so cool. The anime had to implement all kinds of cool designs to differentiate all the droids from one another, and they couldn't pull from the manga for that.
* Sailor Pluto: "Guardian of the Underworld" (note: not time itself, not a particular time, but "between times.") It also says she's been guarding the time [door] all alone for THOUSANDS of years. In other words, pre-dating the Silver Millennium's destruction, too. "On the future Earth, time travel is forbidden." (I would say it's because Serenity remembers the past getting messed up by the Black Moon, but doesn't that create a Paradox? In the manga-verse, don't the Black Moon attack AFTER the establishment of Crystal Tokyo, not BEFORE, like in the anime?) Also, Pluto's staff is already named the Garnet Rod. As we find out later on, the Garnet itself is the 3rd Talisman. So how exactly did it get extracted from Pluto, anyway? I realize this is an anime-question (because Pure Hearts = Talismans was never an issue in the manga, technically; the Holy Grail was formed by ALL the Senshi, not just the Outers). That would make an interesting tale.
* I find it interesting that Takeuchi-sensei planned out just what fabrics portions of Black Lady's costume were made of-- organdy for her "shirt" and the blue portion of her skirt, and satin for her heels!?
... THIRD SERIES ...
* Though ChibiMoon appears for the first time at the end of the Black Moon arc, she's shown here, in the S arc. Of note is that her uniform in the Materials Collection differs from how she first appears in the manga (the reprint). In the MC, she's got a crescent moon on her tiara; for her first transformation in both the anime and manga, it's a red jewel. Also, her earrings are supposed to be studs (pink in the anime); in the MC, they're gold with crescent moons hanging off. She DOES have a crescent moon on her choker, but she doesn't in the anime; it's just a pink heart. Only when she becomes Super Sailor ChibiMoon does it turn into a differently-colored heart/ribbon combo (and even in the reprint manga, the crescent moon on her choker tends to appear and disappear). Also, even though Takeuchi-sensei says that ChibiMoon only has two arm-bands on her gloves, it shows three on her left arm.
When ChibiMoon first shows up in the anime, her brooch is circular with a heart in the center; in the manga, it's always a heart-shaped crystal brooch. When Sailor Moon becomes Super Sailor Moon for the first time, ChibiMoon gets the "wing" pins in her hair, but nothing else changes. In both the anime and the manga, ChibiMoon's boots DO NOT have the crescent moon on their tip (like Sailor Moon's always have) until she powers up into Super Sailor ChibiMoon.
* Unlike Yuugi of Yu-Gi-Oh, when Chibiusa transforms, her "proportions are slightly extended." In Yu-Gi-Oh, that's just an illusion.
* When Uranus and Neptune appear, it says Neptune rules over the "deep sea," and manipulates the sea; Uranus manipulates "wind and light," which I find interesting-- earlier, it was Jupiter who manipulated things like nature/wind, and Light seems to be the domain of Moon and/or Venus. What's interesting is that Uranus has always seemed to be more of an Earth-soldier than anyone else, except Mamoru in his rare moments. I mean come on, WORLD SHAKING? It's a damn earthquake attack! Why not have an attack that's a tornado or something?
* Sailor Pluto appears again, reincarnated from R. In the anime, she dies in this series/season and reincarnates by SuperS. In the original, her brooch is red and her bow is black; in Super/the Dream arc, her brooch is black and her bow is a reddish color. Basically, they inverted when she got reincarnated! (I never knew that until now...) But that's only in the Materials Collection-- in the finalized version of the manga, her brooch is magenta and her bow is "garnet," or a darker red. I think the black would not only match, but it would make sense, considering her reincarnation...
* Uranus: tomboy or not? Well, it does say "She often wears very short miniskirts, hot pants, jeans, and things like that." So Haruka doesn't ALWAYS dress like a guy... Makes you wonder why she does so regularly, why Infinity Academy let her get away with it, and why anyone really mistook her for a guy... Also, apparently she's affiliated with Takarazuka (plays a male role, of course) and so is Michiru... I thought they were just INSPIRED by Takarazuka? Maybe the translators at The Oracle/Soul-Hunter translated the wrong word? Hell, I give them props for just being able to read Takeuchi-sensei's handwriting!
* Michiru is "the type you can get by without men." Well, what about women? *raises eyebrow* I find it interesting that Takeuchi-sensei says "It feels kind of like Esmeraude became calm." Color-wise, or more than that? It also says when she goes to school, she "always" wears a black ribbon in her hair to pull a small portion of it back (similar to Minako, but a different-style ribbon). But there's another image of her with a headband that's also black, so as long as her hair's out of her way...
* It's on Hotaru's page that we get a bit more into the Infinity Academy uniform, as mentioned earlier. Like the other "elevator" schools, the main difference is in the tie/ribbon. For high school, it's dark green with navy blue/indigo stripes. Kindergarten is pink with indigo stripes, and elementary school is red with indigo stripes. I guess that means junior high is what Hotaru's wearing-- light blue with indigo stripes.
* Saturn may or may not have had a brooch in her "previous life." At least, in the sketch Takeuchi-sensei has on Saturn's page. Also, even though Saturn is pictured with the "standard" circular brooch (in purple), it says she has the crystal-shaped brooch (below her main image). Also, it says she carries a staff (a sort of wooden thing about shoulder-height with an odd blossom of sorts on the top), she has the Silence Glaive pictured right beside that. I wonder if they have different powers, or one turns into the other? Why show they both? Or was this a composite page?
* Tomoe just wears his glasses for the hell of it, apparently. They're not prescription. I always thought he wore them to cover up a deformity, but then, he has a very occultish symbol right there on his left eyeglass, anyway. I do think that at the end of the arc (can't remember if it was anime or manga), a daimon DID come out of his eye, though.
* In the manga, Kaori is Kaolinite's "human" form, and the red dress is standard, not her "I'm going to kill you, Sailor Senshi!" outfit. The black uniform is her usual dress-- though she actually did the dirty work AFTER the Witches 5 failed, not before, as per the anime. When she finally showed up in this dress in the anime, it was after she'd been "saved"/"brought back" by Tomoe, and was made stronger.
* SH doesn't completely translate the first of the Witches 5 pages, sadly. But it does note that Cyprine is the older sister (the blue one), who uses a blue-violet staff, while Ptitol uses a brown staff (rather than red...?). Cyprine is also the "surface" twin. Their death move is "Ribbon Buster."
* Tellu's attack is "Mandragora Buster!" Not sure if she used this in the anime. But Mimet, Viluy, and Eudial's attacks are all the same: Charm Buster, Fire Buster, and Mosaic Buster, respectively. The staffs are what the Witches use to send out their attacks. In the anime, I belive those that used staffs had different colored STARS, rather than different-colord staffs. In any case, Mimet's is obviously gold/yellow, Eudial's is red, and Viluy's is light blue. Also, Eudial's "skirt" is made of iron!
* Of Super Sailor Moon, it says that her choker "becomes the same motif as the brooch when she powers up." I guess that means *FROM* regular Sailor Moon, where her choker was red and the heart was yellow; when she's in Super form, it's the inverse, which matches the brooch. Even when she becomes Super Sailor Moon permanently, in both the anime and manga, the choker stays yellow. Only when she becomes Eternal Sailor Moon does it become a reddish hue again.
* Luna is stated to be a surprising one year YOUNGER than Sailor Moon (that would make her about 15!) appearance-wise. Also, her skirt's made of the famed organdy, but black this time (not indigo, like Black Lady's). But organdy is normally stiffened! Also, she's apparently very skinny (not just "bishoujo" skinny, but possibly "I was on a diet" skinny, hint hint. o_O Why, Luna!
* Kakeru is 29; Himeko is 22. Meh, age differences were never that big of a deal in Sailor Moon anyway....
That's actually it for now re: the Materials Collections and INTERESTING FACTS (because that's where The Oracle translations end). Until more show up somewhere (because heck if I can read Takeuchi-sensei's handwriting! I don't know where any textlations are...), I'm done. :P
I am thinking of scanning my SM anime "wedding gallery" cards though, because I haven't seen those anywhere else, and I DO have the complete collection... :D
Anyway, some interesting things I noticed while looking both at my original Japanese copy of thre Materials Collection and the scanlated version...
* Minako's birthday is listed as 11/22, a full month after her modern canonical one. Either Naoko flubbed, or she had some mysterious reason for making Sailor VENUS be born on the cusp of Pluto/Jupiter. Considering Venus already rules over *two* signs, to have her placed between NEITHER of those signs, it's pretty unusual. But if you move it back by just a month, it's fine, which is what was done, and makes Venus a Libra. Nonetheless, the handwriting is plain and clear in the Materials Collection: November 22nd.
* On the same page, there's a height comparison. I'm pretty sure SH left out one line (where it says "Before, Ma[ko] smoked,") but what's interesting is what they translated just fine: below Makoto, it clearly says "Mamo-chan." There are no liner notes on Sailor Jupiter's page to indicate HER name was originally Mamoto or anything like that. While it WOULD make sense if her name had the same root as Mamoru's name (meaning "protection"), I didn't find anything that said that. Interesting!
* Every Senshi has an image color, of course. The stated ones in the ORIGINAL sketches are:
Moon - Silver
Mercury - Blue
Venus: Yellow
Mars: Red
Jupiter: Green
Okay, these all make sense. But the weird thing is, the image color is supposed to apply to at least one of the following:
* Sailor Uniform (when transformed)
* Manicure (when transformed)
* Eye color (when transformed)
In the original picture, this certainly applies, at least to the main "Inner" Senshi (note: this does NOT include Moon). When transformed, the girls' image colors match their eye (!) colors, manicure, and at least some portion of their Sailor Uniform-- usually the main portion, but in the case of Venus, only her bows.
Speaking of Venus, she and Mars are the only one where their front bow color doesn't match their back bow color. The bow color is typically telling of the Senshi's image color, but Takeuchi-sensei seems to differentiate between shades/hues. For example, the blue of Ami's eyes before she becomes Sailor Mercury is a different blue, but her image color in general is "blue." It doesn't specify whether it's a shade or hue. Presumably, it's the darker blue of her uniform, rather than the lighter blue of her eyes post-transformation (original images) or her bows.
Mars' back bow is red; her front is purple/black (original images). Venus' front bow is blue; her back bow is yellow. In fact, Venus is the only one who doesn't seem to have her "second image color" somewhere else on her person; Mars' purple/black is also seen in her hair; Mercury's light blue is in her uniform/eyes; Jupiter's pink is on her uniform/rose earrings/potpourri belt. You COULD say it's in her eyes, but that's a big stretch, even with Mercury also supposedly meeting that criteria; at least Mercury had it somewhere else on her uniform.
Even when the senshi upgrade later (in Stars), and back bows change colors (at least in the case of Jupiter and Mercury, who went from pink and light blue to green and darker blue), Venus still retains that same navy blue for her front bow. To me, it would have made more sense for it to go red, taking Sailor Moon's old image color (at least what her image color was up until Super/the Dream arc), because it matches her hair bow and fits with her former Sailor V persona. Uranus is sort of the same-- her bow is yellow, but not the same shade as her hair. Her back bow was never yellow; it was always the same dark blue as her skirt, though.
As for Moon, well, we never see silver on her person, unless you count a) her hair when she's transformed (original images of the manga, second design; the original design was PINK) or b) her body armor, which could just be reinforcements underneath what appears to us as white fabric. You could say, her hair or whatnot when she's Serenity, but that doesn't make sense to have Sailor Moon's image color as silver, then. If the "silver" were somehow readily visible, maybe Sailor Moon's alternate identity as Princess of the Moon might not have come as so much of a surprise...? (heh)
Also, in the original designs:
* Luna's eyes were orange-red, not blue (they remained red in the anime, except when she became human; then they turned blue, same as the manga's human Luna)
* Artemis' eyes were deep blue/violet, not blue (they were blue in the anime), and turned green in the later designs.
* Diana's eyes were the only ones that were reddish in the final designs (likely because Diana the CAT wasn't a planned character in the original designs). Diana the fairy existed, and was supposed to appear when the girls went to the Moon (presumably when they REALLY found Queen Serenity). I wonder why Naoko noted that Diana the fairy didn't get along with Luna?
* In the original designs, Luna and Artemis were TWINS (!) not simply from the same planet (Mau), and would later become lovers.
* Ikuko's page wasn't entirely translated. She's daydreaming of a nice ring, and the adjective near her seems to be "kitsui," or "intense, severe, brave, strong, tight, close." Maybe she's not describing the ring, but Kenji's relationship with Ikuko?
* Kenji is a magazine editor in the original manga designs ; in the anime, he's a photographer (cf. the episode where Usagi went to Princess D's ball and her father was taking pictures).
* Naru's mother is never named, but two of Usagi and Naru's classmates, who only play the tiniest of parts throughout both the final anime and manga series, are! Also, Haruna-sensei has curlier hair in the original, which seems to differentiate her from the police chief in Sailor V, whom she resembles... though the relation between Haruna is more likely in a heroine from Naoko's ice-skating manga (The Cherry Project, if I'm not mistaken).
* Motoki wasn't named in initial designs. He was just "big brother at the arcade." Also, if he and Reika were originally meant to be going out, it wasn't slated in the original designs. It's more like he longs after her. Even in the final manga, it doesn't seem like they were really together-- after all, it's through Makoto that Motoki discovers that everyone is a Senshi (and why does no one write about that!?). In the anime, they obviously have a much closer relationship. And in the live action... o_O; Well. Let's not get into how dorkified Motoki got...
* The Four "Heavenly" Kings: Their ages revealed! Surprisingly, Jadeite's 18 (and who knows why there's a sparkly cross next to his image...? It's not explained in the original materials collection, either), Zoisite's between 16-17 (and is a "little brother" type to Kunzite, though he's still "effeminate"), and headstrong Nephrite is 19. Then you've got Kunzite, who's 25-26 (!) He's old (compared to the others)....
* Beryl's horns are real! Um, ew for anyone who writes Beryl/somebody smex? I wish Takeuchi-sensei had put more explanation into Beryl's human form.
* We never see Princess Serenity wearing her tiara or cloak anywhere but the materials collection. It would have been cool, though. Serenity's cloak designs seem to have gotten put into Tuxedo Mask's cape design. We also never see Serenity seated on a "rose petal throne" with Venus (her attendant) at her side. It's also never explained why Venus is Serenity's attendant, and is so close to her. (Makes you wonder: just why was VENUS chosen to be Serenity's double? Or was she "chosen" at all...?)
* With Queen Serenity, Takeuchi-sensei notes two interesting things: her eyes are silver "like glass balls" (they were lavender in the anime), and that she has the appearance of an 18-year-old. Considering I doubt that's the age when she died, I figure it's when those of the Silver Millennium appear to stop aging. It would certainly make sense... Also noteworthy is that even though Takeuchi said that the crescent moon is a mark of those of the Moon Kingdom, Queen Serenity's is most obviously on a diadem, NOT simply on her forehead, the way it is for Princess Serenity. Wonder why?
...SECOND SERIES...
* Takeuchi-sensei says that Neo Queen Serenity someday gives the nickname "Small Lady" to "a wonderful lady." Is she implying that Chibiusa a) did something wonderful to earn the nickname; b) was NOT the first person to be "Small Lady," or c) something else? I think it was worded (or else translated) pretty strangely...
* Chibiusa's appearance is that of a first-grader. That'd be about 7-8, wouldn't you think? I think the manga always did a better job with this than the anime, because in the anime, she always seemed to waver between 5 and 11 years old.
* Chibiusa has an image of her what looks like mid-transformation to Black Lady. The notes say "Chibiusa when the symbol of the black queen has appeared." Wouldn't it be interesting if instead of the whole 30th Century/Demando/Black Moon arc, Nehelenia was the one slated to be R's big villain? That would have made for a VERY interesting change of plans.
* The Silver Crystal Chibiusa carries-- odd, because it's illustrated as being on a chain, like Usagi's originally was (before it got put into the Star Locket). It's got a different clasp of sorts attaching the crystal to the chain though.
* At last, the "arcade guy" has a name-- and so does his sister! Unazuki goes to T.A. Girls' school. I wonder why she goes to the same school as Rei, yet there's never any story arcs about that? It says that Unazuki sometimes notices Rei and admires her, even though Rei's the younger one. But Rei's also probably more dedicated-- Unazuki is described as a bit careless, with below average grades. How did she get into T.A., anyway?!
* Asanuma the STALKER! I wonder why it's important that we know that his mom's car is a deep red Porsche? Though it is interesting to note that Azabu Juuban Junior High and High School are on the same site (which is fairly typical of schools like that), and the way to differentiate is between the tie color (red vs. blue... HAHA!). This is the same for T.A. (light brown for juniors, dark brown for seniors) and Infinity Academy (various colors depending on the grades; see later). I wonder why we don't see that with Minako's school, which is also private?
* Of note, the Black Moon guy responsible for creating the earrings which give the members their powers: サフィール. That's SaFiRu, by the way. The proper term for Sapphire, translated from English, is: サファイア (SaFaiRu). Takeuchi-sensei DID, of course, pull the names she used from various languages, and I'm of the opinion that calling him "Sapphire" is just as valid. What it boils down to is "fangirl language-ese." Calling him Demando is simply using the German word for "Diamond." Why not translate it? It has a perfectly valid English equivalent. Okay, stylistic reasons, but even then... it's like "way to miss the point." There's a reason why all of them have gemstone names! The only one I can't stand translating would have to be "Rubeus," because calling him just plain "Ruby" sounds awkward.
* Rubeus doesn't have an estimated age, but Demando (and I'm sorry, but "Demand"? That looks awkward in English no matter how you splice it) does: it's 18. Why isn't his odd "third eye" explained, though?
* Esmeraude is called a "high queen." Wonder why? Also, Sapphire doesn't wear the "Evil Black Crystal" earrings, while everyone else does, including his big brother. Also, despite his name, he doesn't wear any Sapphires anywhere; he's got those "stainless steel" rods hanging from his shirt, though.
* The "Four Weird Sisters." They messed up the age order in the (dub) anime, didn't they? In the manga, Petz/Prisma is the oldest, Calveras/Avery is the second oldest, Beruche/Birdie is the second youngest, and Cooan/Catzi is the youngest. Of note is that Petz manipulates animals and plants; Calveras manipulates the mental state of humans; Beruche manipulates WATER (not ICE!), and Cooan manipulates fire.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the only time Beruche wore a braid over her forehead in the anime was when she was HIDING her Black Moon crescent? Otherwise, it was just in full view and her forehead wasn't disguised at all? And afterward (in the anime, at least), she ditched the over-forehead braid and had a normal forehead?
* That big honking black crystal (the one that's princess cut) in the manga is actually Wiseman's CASTLE. o_O Who knew? It looks like a large crystal over a single crystal tower (like from Crystal Tokyo) over a distorted piece of time-space.
* Droids in the manga were much more robotic. They had no real eyes or mouths, but they understood "will in their hearts," whatever that means. There were male and female types. They could only make a screeching noise (ow). I'm glad the anime offered MotDs, then; they offered variety, and many of the droids made things interesting where a normal "repeat a droid" design wouldn't have been so cool. The anime had to implement all kinds of cool designs to differentiate all the droids from one another, and they couldn't pull from the manga for that.
* Sailor Pluto: "Guardian of the Underworld" (note: not time itself, not a particular time, but "between times.") It also says she's been guarding the time [door] all alone for THOUSANDS of years. In other words, pre-dating the Silver Millennium's destruction, too. "On the future Earth, time travel is forbidden." (I would say it's because Serenity remembers the past getting messed up by the Black Moon, but doesn't that create a Paradox? In the manga-verse, don't the Black Moon attack AFTER the establishment of Crystal Tokyo, not BEFORE, like in the anime?) Also, Pluto's staff is already named the Garnet Rod. As we find out later on, the Garnet itself is the 3rd Talisman. So how exactly did it get extracted from Pluto, anyway? I realize this is an anime-question (because Pure Hearts = Talismans was never an issue in the manga, technically; the Holy Grail was formed by ALL the Senshi, not just the Outers). That would make an interesting tale.
* I find it interesting that Takeuchi-sensei planned out just what fabrics portions of Black Lady's costume were made of-- organdy for her "shirt" and the blue portion of her skirt, and satin for her heels!?
... THIRD SERIES ...
* Though ChibiMoon appears for the first time at the end of the Black Moon arc, she's shown here, in the S arc. Of note is that her uniform in the Materials Collection differs from how she first appears in the manga (the reprint). In the MC, she's got a crescent moon on her tiara; for her first transformation in both the anime and manga, it's a red jewel. Also, her earrings are supposed to be studs (pink in the anime); in the MC, they're gold with crescent moons hanging off. She DOES have a crescent moon on her choker, but she doesn't in the anime; it's just a pink heart. Only when she becomes Super Sailor ChibiMoon does it turn into a differently-colored heart/ribbon combo (and even in the reprint manga, the crescent moon on her choker tends to appear and disappear). Also, even though Takeuchi-sensei says that ChibiMoon only has two arm-bands on her gloves, it shows three on her left arm.
When ChibiMoon first shows up in the anime, her brooch is circular with a heart in the center; in the manga, it's always a heart-shaped crystal brooch. When Sailor Moon becomes Super Sailor Moon for the first time, ChibiMoon gets the "wing" pins in her hair, but nothing else changes. In both the anime and the manga, ChibiMoon's boots DO NOT have the crescent moon on their tip (like Sailor Moon's always have) until she powers up into Super Sailor ChibiMoon.
* Unlike Yuugi of Yu-Gi-Oh, when Chibiusa transforms, her "proportions are slightly extended." In Yu-Gi-Oh, that's just an illusion.
* When Uranus and Neptune appear, it says Neptune rules over the "deep sea," and manipulates the sea; Uranus manipulates "wind and light," which I find interesting-- earlier, it was Jupiter who manipulated things like nature/wind, and Light seems to be the domain of Moon and/or Venus. What's interesting is that Uranus has always seemed to be more of an Earth-soldier than anyone else, except Mamoru in his rare moments. I mean come on, WORLD SHAKING? It's a damn earthquake attack! Why not have an attack that's a tornado or something?
* Sailor Pluto appears again, reincarnated from R. In the anime, she dies in this series/season and reincarnates by SuperS. In the original, her brooch is red and her bow is black; in Super/the Dream arc, her brooch is black and her bow is a reddish color. Basically, they inverted when she got reincarnated! (I never knew that until now...) But that's only in the Materials Collection-- in the finalized version of the manga, her brooch is magenta and her bow is "garnet," or a darker red. I think the black would not only match, but it would make sense, considering her reincarnation...
* Uranus: tomboy or not? Well, it does say "She often wears very short miniskirts, hot pants, jeans, and things like that." So Haruka doesn't ALWAYS dress like a guy... Makes you wonder why she does so regularly, why Infinity Academy let her get away with it, and why anyone really mistook her for a guy... Also, apparently she's affiliated with Takarazuka (plays a male role, of course) and so is Michiru... I thought they were just INSPIRED by Takarazuka? Maybe the translators at The Oracle/Soul-Hunter translated the wrong word? Hell, I give them props for just being able to read Takeuchi-sensei's handwriting!
* Michiru is "the type you can get by without men." Well, what about women? *raises eyebrow* I find it interesting that Takeuchi-sensei says "It feels kind of like Esmeraude became calm." Color-wise, or more than that? It also says when she goes to school, she "always" wears a black ribbon in her hair to pull a small portion of it back (similar to Minako, but a different-style ribbon). But there's another image of her with a headband that's also black, so as long as her hair's out of her way...
* It's on Hotaru's page that we get a bit more into the Infinity Academy uniform, as mentioned earlier. Like the other "elevator" schools, the main difference is in the tie/ribbon. For high school, it's dark green with navy blue/indigo stripes. Kindergarten is pink with indigo stripes, and elementary school is red with indigo stripes. I guess that means junior high is what Hotaru's wearing-- light blue with indigo stripes.
* Saturn may or may not have had a brooch in her "previous life." At least, in the sketch Takeuchi-sensei has on Saturn's page. Also, even though Saturn is pictured with the "standard" circular brooch (in purple), it says she has the crystal-shaped brooch (below her main image). Also, it says she carries a staff (a sort of wooden thing about shoulder-height with an odd blossom of sorts on the top), she has the Silence Glaive pictured right beside that. I wonder if they have different powers, or one turns into the other? Why show they both? Or was this a composite page?
* Tomoe just wears his glasses for the hell of it, apparently. They're not prescription. I always thought he wore them to cover up a deformity, but then, he has a very occultish symbol right there on his left eyeglass, anyway. I do think that at the end of the arc (can't remember if it was anime or manga), a daimon DID come out of his eye, though.
* In the manga, Kaori is Kaolinite's "human" form, and the red dress is standard, not her "I'm going to kill you, Sailor Senshi!" outfit. The black uniform is her usual dress-- though she actually did the dirty work AFTER the Witches 5 failed, not before, as per the anime. When she finally showed up in this dress in the anime, it was after she'd been "saved"/"brought back" by Tomoe, and was made stronger.
* SH doesn't completely translate the first of the Witches 5 pages, sadly. But it does note that Cyprine is the older sister (the blue one), who uses a blue-violet staff, while Ptitol uses a brown staff (rather than red...?). Cyprine is also the "surface" twin. Their death move is "Ribbon Buster."
* Tellu's attack is "Mandragora Buster!" Not sure if she used this in the anime. But Mimet, Viluy, and Eudial's attacks are all the same: Charm Buster, Fire Buster, and Mosaic Buster, respectively. The staffs are what the Witches use to send out their attacks. In the anime, I belive those that used staffs had different colored STARS, rather than different-colord staffs. In any case, Mimet's is obviously gold/yellow, Eudial's is red, and Viluy's is light blue. Also, Eudial's "skirt" is made of iron!
* Of Super Sailor Moon, it says that her choker "becomes the same motif as the brooch when she powers up." I guess that means *FROM* regular Sailor Moon, where her choker was red and the heart was yellow; when she's in Super form, it's the inverse, which matches the brooch. Even when she becomes Super Sailor Moon permanently, in both the anime and manga, the choker stays yellow. Only when she becomes Eternal Sailor Moon does it become a reddish hue again.
* Luna is stated to be a surprising one year YOUNGER than Sailor Moon (that would make her about 15!) appearance-wise. Also, her skirt's made of the famed organdy, but black this time (not indigo, like Black Lady's). But organdy is normally stiffened! Also, she's apparently very skinny (not just "bishoujo" skinny, but possibly "I was on a diet" skinny, hint hint. o_O Why, Luna!
* Kakeru is 29; Himeko is 22. Meh, age differences were never that big of a deal in Sailor Moon anyway....
That's actually it for now re: the Materials Collections and INTERESTING FACTS (because that's where The Oracle translations end). Until more show up somewhere (because heck if I can read Takeuchi-sensei's handwriting! I don't know where any textlations are...), I'm done. :P
I am thinking of scanning my SM anime "wedding gallery" cards though, because I haven't seen those anywhere else, and I DO have the complete collection... :D
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Date: 2007-09-30 07:12 am (UTC)I also wondered how the 'Silver Crystal' (which is supposedly a weapon of good) can be such a parasitic little thing. I mean it killed Usagi so many times over because using it required her life force energy. It's also because of that that I think she should've been the cat in the story (9 lives and all) instead of Luna. @_@
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Date: 2007-09-30 04:17 pm (UTC)And yeah, when I found out about just how parasitic the Silver Crystal is, I was really surprised. I wrote this whole long article on it on AFSM, and I think I reposted it here a long time ago. I'm longing for a story when Usagi just says "You want the damn Crystal? Take it! I hope it sucks your life energy out faster than it did mine!"
But as in my previous SM article, the Lunar Archivist over at Sheer Lunacy cites both Beryl and Mamoru as saying the Crystal would keep Serenity eternally young and immortal, but neither of them are really in a position to say so with fact. So it's a wonder that both of them were going after it-- when the damn thing finally appeared, it was the cause of a LOT of death.