AoD Review: Sailor Moon Season 2 Box Set

[Chris Beveridge]

Review (http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/2400.php)

[battra92]

[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:
Review (http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/2400.php)

[/ QUOTE ]

Part of me thinks I should give Sailor Moon another chance, but the low quality on these sets makes it hard for me to plunk down the cash.

A friend of mine suggested that I start with some of the Geneon Signature Series discs that are coming out, but I dunno.

Still for $50 for these sets it's too expensive for me to do another blind test on - and too cheap that I may feel that if I miss it, I may regret it. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[Fencedude]

[ QUOTE ]
Battra92 said:
[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:
Review (http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/2400.php)

[/ QUOTE ]

Part of me thinks I should give Sailor Moon another chance, but the low quality on these sets makes it hard for me to plunk down the cash.

A friend of mine suggested that I start with some of the Geneon Signature Series discs that are coming out, but I dunno.

Still for $50 for these sets it's too expensive for me to do another blind test on - and too cheap that I may feel that if I miss it, I may regret it. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Chris, is this the first time you've posted a review after the title in question has gone out of print?

And I personally was not particularly bothered by the video and audio quality of the SM and SMR sets. But then again, I paid $70 for the both of them...

[Davyd]

Usagi-tachi deserved better. /images/graemlins/sad.gif

[Shsway]

I fully and completely agree with your assessment of this season, Mr. Grisham. I was truly missing the writing with heart that I had seen in the other incarnations of the show, in R1, and found Sailor Moon R to be extremely difficult to sit through.

I only saw these first two seasons for the very first time in the last year or so. For the longest time, what I knew and loved about Sailor Moon came from posessing S and the R movie alone. Still, I tackled the first season with eager curiosity. I had never learned (except through random bits of random information online), how the Sailor Senshi met, how their first battles went, or anything of that sort. I thrilled at the introduction of each member, but especially that of Sailor V. Not only was she very popular and highly merchandisable in the series (:P), but she was also a strong, confident fighter, as well as a regular girl who had survived her share of heartbreak, disappointment and inadvertent betrayal at the hands of the people closest to her. I was in awe, and my heart went to her immediately.

Then came R. Ouch. I never fully understood why people hated Chibi-Usa until now, though I understood her motivations and frustrations for one so young. I looked around, missing the cool, commanding presence of Sailor V, who was replaced by goofy, ditzy, yet well-meaning Minako (the episode where she plays nurse to the rest of the gang was one of the major highlights of this set!)

But again, I agree with many of your remarks. It was hard to top the suspense, and compelling ending of the first season. My opinion of Chiba Mamoru changed here too, as I saw a selfish and cruel side to his character, despite the situation he and Usagi were tossed into. Besides that, I really disliked the simpering mess she became as a result (the split was way too abrupt and puzzling to have been believable for anyone, including the parties involved). The rest of the writing, with the exception of the Doom Tree arc, in my case, was indeed like a whole mess of running, insider jokes. I especially winced at the paper-thin presence of Ami, who only seemed to be there, most of the time, to scold the others for not studying, studying, studying and putting the rest of their cares in the trash. Ail and Ann were a delight to watch.

The second opening animation was MUCH nicer than the first, and in some ways an indication that Ikuhara was beginning to take over as the director (call me naive or uninformed, but it seemed very much like his style of doing things).

Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate everything, but I found myself really bored a lot of times. Redeeming the first batch of villains was OK. <span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>The death of Saphir moved me, later on, but not as much as the deaths of the "baddies" in the first season</span>. It was worth it to have the set as part of my collection (and I got it at a bargain), but I probably won't revisit it anytime soon. I will be moving onto the movie, and the subsequent seasons sometime in the near future to better evaluate them now, compared to the first two. It will be interesting to see how I react to the overwhelming amount of Chibi-Usa in SuperS, despite the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed it the first time I saw it (gorgeous, high quality animation - excellent comedy).

A minor point in all this was the name changes to characters and attacks, as well as the quality of the audio. These things did irk me somewhat, but...

I didn't feel like spending the money to import the R2s; I got used to raising the volume and straining my ears a bit. It wasn't that bad. But those name changes; whyever did "Halation" have to be changed to "Elimination"? Etc. Again, it didn't occupy my thoughts for very long, but beared mentioning.

All we need now, is Sailor Stars.

C'mon, I had to say it before reaching the end of this lengthy post. Naughty me. *Slaps both of her typing hands*

Did you not thrill at the cuteness of the eycatch this time around? /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif

[ObiKenobi]

Paul did the review, not Chris. But I pretty much agree with the review as well.

[Shsway]

Oh whoopsie! Well, I'll edit accordingly then.

[DrWho2002]

[ QUOTE ]
Shsway said:

I didn't feel like spending the money to import the R2s

[/ QUOTE ]

You couldn't have, there weren't any produced. (Until the ones upcoming release in Sept/04 that is.)

[lostnomad84]

I agree with the review and to be honest Shsway said everything I think I could have possible thought when it comes to my thoughts on the box.
But, even though it is lacking one episode (yes, I am familure with the reason behind this and I am not one who is upset over it actually), the video is average, and sound is improved over the last box, but not good, it overall is a very enjoyable box. I'm just happy it was released here in some form.

[ QUOTE ]
Shsway said:

All we need now, is Sailor Stars.



[/ QUOTE ]

After all the surprises that I've seen happen with annoucements this year, what I once thought would be an impossible release, I now have renewed hope for. However, I am not one to put my money on the table just yet. With all the other Sailor Moon series and movies going out of print by the end of the year, it still leaves me skeptical that Toei may stand firm to never being open about releasing it.

[Njr Scrawl]

So, no opinion poll /images/graemlins/devil.gif

C'mon Chris! /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Good news is that, as reported in R2 forum, Toei are releasing R on R2 DVD in the near future, so hopefully an option of progressive video, and better soundtrack will be there for diehard Sailor Moon fans, as for season 1.

R starts off with Kae Araki voice acting as Usagi (Sailor Moon), as she did at the end of season 1, filling in for Kotono Mitsuishi. Kae's own main character appears later.

I liked R as a story, for both its arcs, &amp; "Pu" is one of my favourite characters /images/graemlins/wink.gif

ADV's packing (2 bricks in a strongish box) &amp; its episode guide were well done IMO.

Sailor Moon R has the best eyecatch of all 5 series IMO, SD senshi. Oh for a "Mini-senshi" series /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif
R also has my favourite introduction, the Salvador DalÃ* watches/liquid time picture tribute.

Paul nice to see you back!
As your season 1 audio rating was C-, perhaps season 2 should be straight C since R is marginally better? Although maybe you found both to average the same.

Anyway, finally all Sailor Moon currently available on R1 has been reviewed, and that's good.

[Paul_Grisham]

[ QUOTE ]
Njr Scrawl said:
Paul nice to see you back!


[/ QUOTE ]

Hehe. Thanks.

[ QUOTE ]

As your season 1 audio rating was C-, perhaps season 2 should be straight C since R is marginally better? Although maybe you found both to average the same.


[/ QUOTE ]

Honestly, I mostly just copied over from the season 1 review since they were so similar. The fact is, the audio elements are weak, and the difference between the two sets is (as you say) marginal. I thought that set two stays better longer (it certainly starts off better), but there are four or five episodes where the sound quality really drops, compared to maybe six or seven in season 1. That's mainly the difference.

Matter of curiosity: do the subtitles really call the Makaijuu the "Doom Tree"? The reason why I ask is that the Doom Tree is a dub name that doesn't translate from Maikaijuu. I know other dub terms were used in these sets (even for English attacks), so it wouldn't surprise me.

[PhilipReuben]

[ QUOTE ]
Orihara Kaoru said:
Matter of curiosity: do the subtitles really call the Makaijuu the "Doom Tree"?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes.

[Njr Scrawl]

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Philip Reuben said:
[ QUOTE ]
Orihara Kaoru said:
Matter of curiosity: do the subtitles really call the Makaijuu the "Doom Tree"?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes.

[/ QUOTE ]

"Makaijuu" is a proper noun then? Does it have a more literal translation, or is it the name that the tree calls itself?

IIRC the ADV credits showed most SM translation people to have Japanese &amp;/or Chinese names. Obviously I don't know what each person's first language is, or knowledge of his or her ethnic language. It made SMR's translation seem sloppier more, after seeing dub words "translated" by folk with far eastern names.

[ QUOTE ]
Njr Scrawl said:
[ QUOTE ]
Philip Reuben said:
[ QUOTE ]
Orihara Kaoru said:
Matter of curiosity: do the subtitles really call the Makaijuu the "Doom Tree"?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes.

[/ QUOTE ]

"Makaijuu" is a proper noun then? Does it have a more literal translation, or is it the name that the tree calls itself?

[/ QUOTE ]

It translates to something like "demon boundary tree," but that is its proper name. Hitoshi Doi refers to it as such in his episode summaries, and he's fluent in English and Japanese (as well as being a Sailormoon expert /images/graemlins/wink.gif).

[DeadlyMessiah]

I'm waiting to see how the live action series ends before I get this set. I know it is out of print, but I'm sure I will be able to get it any where, especially since Best Buy still wants $115 for it.

[Phil]

I'll just keep waiting and hoping I can get it for cheap on Ebay. I just can't bring myself to spend full retail on such a crappy quality release, no matter how badly I want it.

[GyBaNO]

[ QUOTE ]
PandaPhil said:
I'll just keep waiting and hoping I can get it for cheap on Ebay. I just can't bring myself to spend full retail on such a crappy quality release, no matter how badly I want it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Were you not aware of the several deals that various etailors had on these boxes back in February and March!?

[Shale]

[ QUOTE ]
PandaPhil said:
I'll just keep waiting and hoping I can get it for cheap on Ebay. I just can't bring myself to spend full retail on such a crappy quality release, no matter how badly I want it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can see where you're coming from, but I doubt you're going to find the set for less than $50 once it's completely out of print.

[lostnomad84]

[ QUOTE ]
GyBaNO said:
[ QUOTE ]
PandaPhil said:
I'll just keep waiting and hoping I can get it for cheap on Ebay. I just can't bring myself to spend full retail on such a crappy quality release, no matter how badly I want it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Were you not aware of the several deals that various etailors had on these boxes back in February and March!?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not only that but you can still find them for $50 brand new at a certain store. However, since they've been out of print for months now, and I will note, a certain big name online store (I think it is against the rules to name the specifics, that is why I am not naming sites) now has them out of stock and were charging them full price. This is a huge sign that they are disappearing a lot faster than you are thinking and by this time next year, you most likely will not find them at all. My advice is that if you want them and have the money, go buy them now.

EDIT NOTE: After being informed I was mistaken about the rules on posting stores, I will just write the stores here:
Amazon.com: Charged full price, but now is out of stock.
Rightstuf: Been charging $50 for a long time for these sets (a month prior to them being out of print if I am not mistaken).

[Fencedude]

[ QUOTE ]
lostnomad84 said:


Not only that but you can still find them for $50 brand new at a certain store. However, since they've been out of print for months now, and I will note, a certain big name online store (I think it is against the rules to name the specifics, that is why I am not naming sites) now has them out of stock and were charging them full price.

[/ QUOTE ]

What in the world makes you think you cannot say the name of online stores?

We have an entire FORUM devoted to them. Well, to one of them mostly.

[lostnomad84]

[ QUOTE ]
Fencedude said:
[ QUOTE ]
lostnomad84 said:


Not only that but you can still find them for $50 brand new at a certain store. However, since they've been out of print for months now, and I will note, a certain big name online store (I think it is against the rules to name the specifics, that is why I am not naming sites) now has them out of stock and were charging them full price.

[/ QUOTE ]

What in the world makes you think you cannot say the name of online stores?

We have an entire FORUM devoted to them. Well, to one of them mostly.

[/ QUOTE ]

*shrugs* I guess I can say I got confused with something else I read on here which stated some rule a while back (which escapes my mind and apparently has confused me to the rules in posting stores). Anywho, I've corrected my post with the store names. I appreciate you telling me.

[bender]

It's been a while since I saw the ADV Sailor Moon sets now, but a few things about their translation of the series always bothered me... in particular the fact that they insisted on calling the sailor senshi the sailor warriors throughout, despite the fact the fact that they actually translated the show's title as Pretty SOLDIER Sailor Moon, which is of course the more favourable translation given how Pioneer/Geneon translated their series. And did ADV have to remove ALL the honorifics from the subtitles? Seeing Mamoru's nickname written as just 'Mamo' after getting used to seeing it as 'Mamo-chan' in S and SuperS for so long was actually fairly distracting.

The terms carried and names carried over from the dub were fairly annoying, too.

These are minor complaints at best, petty complaints at worst, but these sets were'nt cheap for a lot of us who bought them, and they were'nt of a high quality considering the money we paid, so the fact that we are unhappy with things about them is a sad inevitability.

I won't be buying either of these sets. I'm not mad about the missing episode. I'm more angry about the subtitle mistakes and poor A/V quality. The whole thing was a lost cause the second DIC licensed the show those many years ago.

[O-chan]

Uh...I hate to sound rude but people all this review thread is doing is degrading into <font color="red">the same FREAKIN' arguements and complaints that started up when this set first came out!</font>and I'm personally finding it pretty annoying. It's not a matter of who's right or who's wrong but when I have to read:


Person A: I'm not paying my money for a badly done set!
Person B: Yes! And ADVs translations suck as well!
Person C: There's that missing episode and the audio issues!
Person D: I agree I'm not buying it either.

Repeat over and over and over until the thread has like 100 freakin' posts that say the four above staments.


Geez! I know this was just recently reviewed but please can we move on to discussing the content or the reviewer's opinions. I'm just so sick of anytime a Sailor Moon Boxset discussion pops up the same issues are just commented into the ground. /images/graemlins/depresse.gif

We get the idea! It all sucks! Move on!

To get back on track:

What suprised me was the reviewer comments on the actual content. For him it seemed the R was more of a chore than an enjoyable season. I do agree that the impact of the first season's events would seem more important if the stopped there but honestly Sailor Moon was just falling into formula. After having a whole season where the staff was trying to figure out how to make the show and characters appealing, with this season they knew what they were doing.

Personally, I liked the "R" season a lot more when I saw the dub on TV than I did when I got the boxset. Something about the original version just seemed a little more "stiffer" in the way the characters behaved and reacted to things. There's some type of appeal to some of the beginning dynamics of the R season like the final Doom Tree episodes, the mystery of Chibi-Usa, the fight with the Four Sisters but all of this seemed to taper off towards the end and didn't really seem to pick up until the last handful of episodes.

Oh well, that's just my opinion.

O-chan

[Nylock]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I enjoyed it. Sure the audio is the second worst I've ever heard on DVD (Season 1 gets that honour), but putting that aside, the story wasn't bad. I do hate Chiba-Usa though. I liked the Crystal Tokyo part - it was a nice addition to the Serenity/Moon Kingdom mythos of the first season.

The one thing that bugged me was Sailor Moon's attack - the subs says "Elimination", I'm sure what I hear is more like "Halation" (whatever that is), and the SMR movie uses "Halation". Which version is right? I'd put my money on "halation" - I don't know if "elimination" was an attempt to fix bad engrish.

Overall, it was pretty good value for money.

[bender]

[ QUOTE ]
O-chan said:
Uh...I hate to sound rude but people all this review thread is doing is degrading into <font color="red">the same FREAKIN' arguements and complaints that started up when this set first came out!</font>and I'm personally finding it pretty annoying. It's not a matter of who's right or who's wrong but when I have to read:


Person A: I'm not paying my money for a badly done set!
Person B: Yes! And ADVs translations suck as well!
Person C: There's that missing episode and the audio issues!
Person D: I agree I'm not buying it either.

Repeat over and over and over until the thread has like 100 freakin' posts that say the four above staments.


Geez! I know this was just recently reviewed but please can we move on to discussing the content or the reviewer's opinions. I'm just so sick of anytime a Sailor Moon Boxset discussion pops up the same issues are just commented into the ground. /images/graemlins/depresse.gif

We get the idea! It all sucks! Move on!

To get back on track:

What suprised me was the reviewer comments on the actual content. For him it seemed the R was more of a chore than an enjoyable season. I do agree that the impact of the first season's events would seem more important if the stopped there but honestly Sailor Moon was just falling into formula. After having a whole season where the staff was trying to figure out how to make the show and characters appealing, with this season they knew what they were doing.

Personally, I liked the "R" season a lot more when I saw the dub on TV than I did when I got the boxset. Something about the original version just seemed a little more "stiffer" in the way the characters behaved and reacted to things. There's some type of appeal to some of the beginning dynamics of the R season like the final Doom Tree episodes, the mystery of Chibi-Usa, the fight with the Four Sisters but all of this seemed to taper off towards the end and didn't really seem to pick up until the last handful of episodes.

Oh well, that's just my opinion.

O-chan

[/ QUOTE ]

The R dub was'nt the worst dub job I've ever heard, certainly, but the R season itself was a step down from the wonderful first season of Sailor Moon, which was one of the best pieces of anime you're ever likely to find. R was'nt crap by any means, but DUUURRRRR BAD VIDEO, DUUURRR BAD AUDIO, DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRR MISSING EPISODE, DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRR ME NO WANT BUY CRAPPY TRANSLATED BOX topping the first season was always going to be a big job, and R just was'nt good enough to do it. The AOD review was pretty fair overall.

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

[bender]

[ QUOTE ]
Nylock said:
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I enjoyed it. Sure the audio is the second worst I've ever heard on DVD (Season 1 gets that honour), but putting that aside, the story wasn't bad. I do hate Chiba-Usa though. I liked the Crystal Tokyo part - it was a nice addition to the Serenity/Moon Kingdom mythos of the first season.

The one thing that bugged me was Sailor Moon's attack - the subs says "Elimination", I'm sure what I hear is more like "Halation" (whatever that is), and the SMR movie uses "Halation". Which version is right? I'd put my money on "halation" - I don't know if "elimination" was an attempt to fix bad engrish.

Overall, it was pretty good value for money.

[/ QUOTE ]

Halation was the correct way to say it, ADV left a lot of names and terms from the dub in their translation you see, hence 'Elimination'.

[PhilipReuben]

"Moon Princess Halation" is right.

The dub used "Moon Sceptre Elimination" in some episodes and "Moon Sceptre Activation" in others. "Moon Princess Elimination" was only ever used in the R movie dub. Even as a dub term randomly used in the subtitles, this one is certainly an oddity.

[Corwyn]

[ QUOTE ]
lostnomad84 said:
*shrugs* I guess I can say I got confused with something else I read on here which stated some rule a while back (which escapes my mind and apparently has confused me to the rules in posting stores).

[/ QUOTE ]

There's a rule that you shouldn't post a store that sells bootlegs, and if you are asking if one does, remove the name from your posts after it's been confirmed. Maybe that is what you are getting confused with. That or the no auction link rule...

John

[lilitu93]

[ QUOTE ]
Nylock said:
The one thing that bugged me was Sailor Moon's attack - the subs says "Elimination", I'm sure what I hear is more like "Halation" (whatever that is), and the SMR movie uses "Halation". Which version is right? I'd put my money on "halation" - I don't know if "elimination" was an attempt to fix bad engrish.

[/ QUOTE ]

Halation (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=halation) is actually a real word - it refers to the halo of light that can appear in a photo or a TV image (i.e., a glow that wasn't there in the original). I suspect its etymology is from "halo".

[Nylock]

[ QUOTE ]
lilitu93 said:
[ QUOTE ]
Nylock said:
The one thing that bugged me was Sailor Moon's attack - the subs says "Elimination", I'm sure what I hear is more like "Halation" (whatever that is), and the SMR movie uses "Halation". Which version is right? I'd put my money on "halation" - I don't know if "elimination" was an attempt to fix bad engrish.

[/ QUOTE ]

Halation (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=halation) is actually a real word - it refers to the halo of light that can appear in a photo or a TV image (i.e., a glow that wasn't there in the original). I suspect its etymology is from "halo".

[/ QUOTE ]

My new word for today /images/graemlins/happy.gif
That sort of makes sense in the context of Sailor Moon - she never eliminated anyone with the attack, just purified (for want of a better word) them. Can't remember if there was a halo effect or not.

[Shsway]

[ QUOTE ]
lilitu93 said:
Halation (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=halation) is actually a real word - it refers to the halo of light that can appear in a photo or a TV image (i.e., a glow that wasn't there in the original). I suspect its etymology is from "halo".

[/ QUOTE ]

And here I was thinking it had been modified to prevent the possibility that someone would jump to conclusions, assuming there was some sort of drug reference in Sailor Moon. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Njr Scrawl]

[ QUOTE ]
Shsway said:
[ QUOTE ]
lilitu93 said:
Halation (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=halation) is actually a real word - it refers to the halo of light that can appear in a photo or a TV image (i.e., a glow that wasn't there in the original). I suspect its etymology is from "halo".

[/ QUOTE ]

And here I was thinking it had been modified to prevent the possibility that someone would jump to conclusions, assuming there was some sort of drug reference in Sailor Moon. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[/ QUOTE ]


?????

Hey man, I'm halating! /images/graemlins/cool.gif /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[bender]

[ QUOTE ]
Njr Scrawl said:
[ QUOTE ]
Shsway said:
[ QUOTE ]
lilitu93 said:
Halation (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=halation) is actually a real word - it refers to the halo of light that can appear in a photo or a TV image (i.e., a glow that wasn't there in the original). I suspect its etymology is from "halo".

[/ QUOTE ]

And here I was thinking it had been modified to prevent the possibility that someone would jump to conclusions, assuming there was some sort of drug reference in Sailor Moon. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[/ QUOTE ]


?????

Hey man, I'm halating! /images/graemlins/cool.gif /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I think I am, too... There are peas coming out of my face!

[thedooky]

I'll admit I'm pretty laid back about the quality issues in the Sailor Moon sets- all I had previously were the Real Media versions, so frankly anything was going to be an improvement. The exclusion of episode 67 is a minor irritation, but only a minor one. The episode is terrible, probably one of the worst ever made, but still counts as a curiousity because it's so damn weird. The whole dinosaur business contradicted one of the big factors in Sailor Moon- the idea that if you took away the Sailor Senshi and their enemies, you'd basically be left with the real world.

The content of the disks is a bigger issue for me. R was, in my opinion, the weakest season. SuperS gets a lot of flak, but at least it had some entertaining villains. R stands out as the only season in which the villains were even more two-dimensional than their manga counterparts. Takeuchi-san never really had the time to develop villains in the manga, so one of the strong points of the anime was that it fleshed them out and gave us wonderful characters like Zoisite, PallaPalla, Aluminium Seiren and so on. The R villains, particularly Rubeus, are basically cardboard cutouts in comparison. Dimande and Saphir receive too little characterisation too late, and Wiseman's intriguing and sinister backstory from the manga is left out entirely.

So I diverge from the review in this respect: I believe the "filler" Doom Tree arc was altogether better than the Black Moon arc, which took itself altogether too seriously. Whenever I go to rewatch R episodes, they're generally from the first arc.

dooky