laceblade

The blog Manga Bookshelf regularly hosts what they call, "Manga Moveable Feasts," which are essentially blog carnivals for specific series.

This week, people who blog about manga have been writing about Sailor Moon. You can find link round-ups of the various posts here. I especially enjoyed Sailor Moon and Femininity.

In this roundtable post, while discussing the likeability of Usagi (Sailor Moon)'s character at the onset of the series, David says the following:

[Sailor V]’s excited that she can become glamorous and powerful and, to a lesser extent, help people. If Usagi had something compelling going on in her life, the added responsibilities might actually seem like a burden, but she seems put out because it’s cutting into her nap time. It reminds me of how right Joss Whedon got this dynamic so right with Buffy, whose destiny was really gruesome and dangerous, and Cordelia, who went from being very shallow to really enjoying making a difference. Usagi is a very “Math is hard!” type. I’m looking forward when manga Usagi catches up with anime Usagi, who was a lot more likable and credible.

There is this thesis I've had for a while, that all Joss Whedon TV shows* are based on anime series.
Dollhouse can be mapped pretty easily to Gunslinger Girl.
Firefly has a very similar premise to Cowboy Bebop.
(In both cases, I would argue that the anime is better.)

Although less obvious at first blush, I'd postulate that the premise & some characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer map on to Sailor Moon.
(In this case, I would argue that Buffy takes Sailor Moon and makes it into an overall better show.)

Usagi Tsukino/Buffy Summers is a blonde school girl who has special powers. Usagi/Buffy's friends have special powers, too, but Usagi/Buffy's powers are The Most Special and instrumental in saving the world multiple times.

Usagi/Buffy have a love interests in a tall/dark/handsome man, Tuxedo Mask/Angel. This love interest is forbidden in both series (Angel is a vampire; Tuxedo Mask is after the Imperium Crystal - JUST LIKE THE ENEMY), and the man is marked as suspicious by Usagi/Buffy's narrative-dumping mentor with a British accent, Luna/Giles. [I should note that Luna's accent is only British in the English dub, but if Whedon did watch Sailor Moon in the mid-nineties, he probably watched the dub.]

Usagi/Buffy fight against a never-ending horde of demons. Their friends help them! I view Willow as a combination of Sailor Mercury (girl genius with an IQ of 300) and Sailor Mars (a spiritual & mature person, with a temper).
Xander is a little more narratively useful because he doesn't have any special powers. But he's much more fleshed out than Usagi's power-less friend Naru, who is mostly forgotten after the first arc of the manga.

The cross-series relationship that interests me the most is the fusion of Sailor Chibi Moon and Sailor Saturn into Buffy's younger sister, Dawn.
( Spoilers for Buffy season 5 and the 2nd/3rd story arcs of Sailor Moon, if you care. )

In the TV show, Buffy's receipt of her ultimate power through the vehicle of a scythe (never referenced in any previous season) seems kind of out of place, but it could be a nod to shoujo anime in general, or Sailor Moon specifically. Sailor Moon has a crescent wand when she first transforms. Overtime, as her power grows, the wand changes and develops into a staff.

Overall, I think that Buffy is a better-developed show. Sometimes the shows explore the same themes - what would happen if Buffy/Usagi lost their powers? What would happen if Angel/Tuxedo Mask's personality changed and they were evil? What happens to Usagi/Buffy when he leaves? but I think Buffy does a better job of examining power and responsibility. It also has a lot more dudes, so depending on your preference, YMMV.

It's my head-canon that Whedon came up with Buffy after watching the Sailor Moon anime, and possibly reading the manga. I can pretty clearly imagine him watching it, and tearing his hair out, thinking, "This premise has so much potential! I can make it so much better if I just do this here, and that there...." etc.

*Due to Angel's status as a spinoff of Buffy, I leave this out of the postulation.


ETA: As this is the type of post to generate discussion, I just want to point out that there are comments on both the DW and the LJ version of the post. DW people, the link to LJ is below.

LJ people, the DW link is here: http://laceblade.dreamwidth.org/545960.html

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Daughter of ETA:
After spending some time on Google, I wanted to link to some things I found.

1) A discussion in the comments at Whedonesque. Comments also compare Ann & Alan to Drusilla & Spike. Someone calls Sailor Moon porn there, though, so I'm not really sure what that's about.

2) This blog post purports that one of the movie producers, Fran Rubel Kuzui, was a Sailor Moon fan. It's well-known that the Kazuis had no creative input on the TV series, though.

There's an interview here with Fran Rubel Kuzui, that talks about bringing some of Sailor Moon's traits to Buffy.
Kuzui wanted to bring Sailor Moon’s traits and martial arts skills to the character. "The writer, Joss Whedon, loved the idea, so we set out to rewrite the script." The movie was picked up by a studio within three weeks of the revised script’s completion.

Kuzui was married to a Japanese man, Kaz Kuzui, the third executive producer of Buffy.

3) There are at least 13 crossover fics..

I am no stranger to Sailor Moon, although this is the first time I'm attempting to write about the show in any great detail.

I collected the manga in volumes as it was released by MIXX/Tokyopop. Sailor Moon was my first anime, although I didn't grow up watching it on TV when I was a little kid. My best friend showed me the R movie when I was a freshman in high school, and at that time, SuperS was airing on TV after school.
My Sailor Moon history is pretty extensive, but it's also an extensive fandom.
--I have read and reread the entire manga many, many times.
--I have seen S and SuperS (seasons 3 and 4) a fair number of times in English dub, S once in sub.
--I have seen the entire live-action series.

This is the first time I've seen Season 1; my goal is to watch the rest of the series, and then I might try watching fansubbed copies of the Myus (Sailor Moon live-action stage musicals).

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When dubbed and edited for American broadcast, DiC made a lot of alterations that changed the tone of the show. I feel that this is best shown (concisely) by the different opening sequences. The Japanese OP focuses a lot on duality (Sailor Moon v. Usagi), and is very flowery and twirly. The American OP focuses on action, speeds up a lot of the animation, and adds gaudy frames and electric guitar. [Note that the Japanese Season 1 gets a new OP after Jupiter and Venus join the team.]

Japanese opening:

American opening:

I really like Serena's voice in the first few episodes of the dub, before they change it. She actually sounds like a 14-year-old girl.

After about 20 episodes, Serena's best friend Molly (before she met the other Sailor Senshi) accidentally falls in love with one of the enemy! Serena tries to tell her not to love Nephlite, but Molly doesn't listen. She knows that deep down inside, he has a good soul. Too bad that in the English dub, Nephlite sounds like a total pedophile, and her trying to save him just ends up being confusing and WTF. "MOLLY, HE'S EVIL," doesn't hold sway with Molly.

After Nephlite bites the dust, Queen Beryl asks Zoisite to attack the Sailor Senshi. Zoisite does so, while fellow Minor Big Bad Malachite watches on.
At times, Zoisite can be a little effeminate - crossing his legs and holding his fingertips to his lips when laughing.

It is soon apparent that Kunzite and Malachite are totally in love. Kunzite dies in Malachite's arms, and later Malachite angsts over a photograph of himself and Kunzite. So of course, in the DiC dub, Kunzite is made female. (This becomes more disturbing in Season S, when the lesbian pair Sailors Uranus and Neptune are referred to as "cousins" in the English dub.)

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While I didn't mind Mamoru in the manga, I basically hate Darien in Season 1 of the anime. He's so mean and useless! The dramatic plot is stupid too - he already has amnesia, so then when he's captured, he gets amnesia AGAIN.

I won't spend a lot of time on it because so many other people have elsewhere on the Internet, but Sailor Mars is my favorite sailor senshi (although it is really hard to choose....I love everyone except for Mercury). And in the anime, she's boy-crazy and constantly nagging/arguing with Usagi. In the manga, she's arguably the most mature of the Inner Senshi, and ends up taking a chastity vow for Sailor Moon. She has absolutely no interest in men (and Naoko Takeuchi loves to draw her provocatively with Sailor Venus).

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DiC edited the series pretty heavily throughout. While the write-ups at this site are irritating to me this site comprehensively describes the changes made to every episode of Sailor Moon. None of the editing was as extensive as the editing done to the last two episodes of Season 1 (at least, not yet).
The ending is much more dramatic in the Japanese version; Sailors Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, and Mars all die, in addition to Tuxedo Mask. After Sailor Jupiter dies and Sailor Moon wants to capitulate to Queen Beryl to end the death, Sailor Mercury actually slaps her. All of this was deleted from the dubbed version.

The sacrifice of each Senshi is so moving! And I love how Usagi is so naive, and how the other girls are all in silent agreement that this is necessary. After Sailor Mercury volunteers to stay behind, Sailor Mars leads the way forward while Sailor Venus literally pushes Sailor Moon away so that they leave Mercury behind, taking advantage of her sacrifice in getting farther away.

Hearing their death screams is also a lot more dramatic than DiC's dub, in which the girls always give quips about the "Negaverse" (apparently "Dark Kingdom" wasn't a badass enough title) being "Negatrash," etc.

I take personal satisfaction in that Sailor Mars' death was the most dramatic - her screams were most nightmare-inducing, and I LOVED her grabbing the tail of the second youma after the youma and Sailor Moon both thought she was dead, and yelling, "I'm not done yet!" and then killing the youma with Fire Soul.

It's also way more dramatic when she faces the mind-controlled Endymion (/Darien/Tuxedo Mask) - he holds her up by the neck while she screams.

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It's probably because I just re-watched all of Buffy, but there are a lot of parallels. Buffy as a whole is a better-developed show, and Buffy is not so whiny as Usagi, but it's relatively the same: a blonde chosen one who experiences a lot of growth over the course of the series as she is helped by her friends (oftentimes much more mature than she) to defeat supernatural enemies. When Endymion gets mind-controlled, there are many overtones of Angelus. And I'll probably revisit the parallels when I write about the S Season, specifically between Dawn and Hotaru.

Pioneer used to own the license to distribute Sailor Moon in the U.S., but they have gone out of business. Currently, nobody holds the license. Because the DVDs/etc. are out of print, it is possible to watch them online at YouTube. I highly recommend using Wikipedia to keep track of episodes (Japanese and U.S. numbering are different, as the US cut some episodes).

Reward for making it to the end: a fan-made version of the OP, in which Japanese fanboys make a live-action version. American fans who are unfamiliar with Japanese fandom: YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HEINOUS IS. [My favorite part is the man in the cat-suit.]

I haven't been posting much about my Buffy re-watch lately because I feel like in the later seasons, I blogged enough that I've already said what I needed to say about things.

Currently, my ranking of the seasons (best to least best) is: 5, 3, 2, 6, 4, 1.

Apparently I like seasonally-structured story arcs!



I've been very caught up with Buffy in general, lately. I read a good spoiler for the Season 8 comics, and have thus been reading them and catching up on Angel: After the Fall (I'll probably have at least a minor post on that in the future). Have also been reading recently-acquired academic essay books on Buffy, which have been awesome-sauce.

Does this mean I like Buffy more than The West Wing?? I don't know! I need to re-watch that shit.

In the meantime, ( A note with minor character-arc spoilers for Seasons 5-7 )

It's a bit remarkable to me how swiftly my rewatches are going. I think that Buffy is a really emotional show, and my first time through, I was really taking my time to let everything sink in. (Well, that plus finishing college, etc.)

[Link to Season Three rewatch is here.]

I really liked 14/22 of Season Three's episodes. Unfortunately for Season Four, the number is 6 out of 22, and "Goodbye Iowa" is incredibly iffy.

During my original run through the show, I felt that I liked Season Four the least. I think that now, I appreciate One less than Four, as the characters are less developed.

Beer Bad
Hush
This Year's Girl
Who Are You?
Goodbye Iowa
Restless

( Spoilers for Season Four episodes )

For my formal ranking of seasons as I progress through my re-watch, we'll go with Three = best, then Two, then Four, then One.

[Link to Buffy Season Two rewatch is here.]

Specific Episodes
Out of 22 episodes, I really enjoy 14, and by "enjoy," I usually mean emotionally satisfying, significantly advancing the plot, possibly an intense character study that does not feel cliched, and none of the uncomfortable "This is really cheesy" plots. This is a lot of episodes! In Season Two, my list consisted only of five episodes.

Season Three List:
Band Candy
Revelations
Lovers Walk
The Wish
Amends
Helpless
Bad Girls
Consequences
Enemies
Earshot
Choices
The Prom
Graduation Day, Part One
Graduation Day, Part Two

( Annnnd, Spoilers, for Season Three only! )

Out of the first three seasons, Season Three is easily my favorite. Then Two, then One.

Where the hell did my Buffy icons go? I need to get on that shit. ETA: Done.

Anyway, because I think that my Buffy board game is so awesome, I started re-watching the series beginning with season 2 (I rewatched season 1 a few months ago.....or maybe like, 9 months ago. I can't remember!).

It's pretty interesting re-watching stuff having seen it through to the end, even into Season-8-comic-land.

The biggest thing that stands out to me is how much more I like Cordelia on Buffy than on Angel. HOLY CRAP, such a better character (as in, there is more than on dimension of depth).

She calls Buffy on her shit in a way that Willow, Xanders, and Giles never do, because they're afraid of being bad friends. Cordelia, though, knows that Buffy needs things said to her, and her position of popularity with other kids at school gives her the advantage of not having to care if Buffy doesn't like her just because of what she says.
I really like the way she interacts with Buffy in the first episode of the season.

CORDELIA: Buffy. You're really campaigning for bitch-of- the-year, aren't you?

BUFFY: As defending champion, you nervous?

CORDELIA: I can hold my own. You know, we've never really been close, which is nice, 'cause I don't really like you that much, but... you have on occasion saved the world and stuff, so I'm gonna... do you a favor.

BUFFY: And this great favor is...

CORDELIA: I'm gonna give you some advice. Get over it.

BUFFY: Excuse me?

CORDELIA: Whatever is causing the Joan Collins 'tude, deal with it. Embrace the pain, spank your inner moppet, whatever, but get over it. 'Cause pretty soon you're not even gonna have the loser friends you've got now.

BUFFY: I think it's about time you start minding your own business.

CORDELIA: It's long past.

BUFFY: (turns and goes)

CORDELIA: Nighty-night. I'll just see if Angel feels like dancing...

(she is grabbed)

I think the potential for Cordelia/Buffy slash is high.

( Spoilers for the latter half of Buffy Season 2 )


The results of our gaming tonight (with me, were_duck, sasha_feather, and appropriate Significant Others:

1) Willow and Xander destroyed the Judge's Arm before he was summoned (Season 2 scenario)
2) Demon Mayor killed all of the Scoobies, although Willow held her own for a long time, considering how early Buffy was killed. (Season 3 scenario)

Okay, so Shopko still has all of the seasons of Buffy and Angel on sale for $20. At first, I thought I should avoid it entirely and not purchase any of them, BUT IT IS KILLING ME, INTERNET.

I already own seasons 1-3 of Buffy, and I don't care to own seasons 1-4 of Angel at all.

And while I like certain parts of Buffy season 4, it will be the last season that I buy, I think.

THUS, your choices are:
Buffy, Season 5 (I remember loving this one)
Buffy, Season 6 (Although I loved this one as well. ANGST.)
Buffy, Season 7 (I loved certain episodes, and hey, it's the end of the series)
Angel, Season 5 (We all know that I loved this seaon)

People like sasha_feather and brdgt should avoid reading other people's comments too closely, so as to avoid spoilers!

ETA: OMG ACT II OF DR HORRIBLE WAS SO GOOD! I mean, the first act was all right; I liked the Laundry Song. BUT THEN I WATCHED ACT II AND IT WAS SO MUCH BETTER. I loved Dr. Horrible in the first song. And then I fell in love with Penny when she sang her nice song! AND THEN THERE WAS THE LAST SONG. I love Dr Horrible! I feel so bad for him!

The birds are singing 'cause you're gonna DIE!

89 The Slayer's Legacy: Ten Years of the Buffyverse

Reading,Viewing, & Critiquing Science Fiction and Fantasy ♦ Saturday, 4:00-5:15 P.M. ♦ Capitol B

Ten years ago, the television series Buffy The Vampire Slayer debuted, headed by Joss Whedon, a self-proclaimed feminist. The show created spinoffs, academic disciplines, and a fiercely loyal fan community, and embraced ideals of cooperation, alternative sexualities, smart heroines, and the mix between monster and human. Buffy fans embrace all types, from academics in linguistics and gender theory, theologians, writers, ceremonial magicians, artists, bloggers and more. Buffy is still a viable site for discourse and inspiration ten years later and it came in with feminist ideals—there are even Buffy discussion groups at feminist bookstores today. How does this change the landscape of science fiction today—what is the Slayer's legacy? We'll look at how feminist ideals of cooperation have spread to the support of the WGA strike, and how Buffy has created a new kind of fan, actor, writer, and artist. We'll look at the links between fan culture, feminism, academia and how the Buffyverse has shared feminism and feminist ideals with the world.

M: Olivia Luna, Candra Gill, Jody Wurl, Ariel Franklin-Hudson


I wasn't really looking for great theoretical value in this panel, so please forgive me for just posting the squee.

( Spoilers through the end of the series (I think?) lie behind the cut. )

Overall, this was a fun panel to sit in on, having just finished watching all 7 seasons of Buffy for the first time. I am open to suggestions of further Buffy readings, if anyone has them. By "Buffy readings," I refer to comics (have already read most of Season 8, Fray, and Tales of the Vampires), novels (are any of them any good?), or criticism (online or in book-form).


If anyone else attended the panel and has information that I forgot, or different opinions about how the panel went, please express them!

So, I keep reading old Buffy entries by coffeeandink because they're amazing. Here is what she said about this episode, which includes all of the things that I wanted to say in a much more articulate manner.

Except for one thing.

( It is spoilery for the ep. )