PopSyndicate.com

Sorry for the wait! Acts 1 to 4 of Sailor Moon Live Action reviewed!

Wow. I announced this like a long time ago but only now I’m getting to it? Well… sorry, my bad. Let’s get to it. The first batch of episodes and my review (if you’re looking to download this series for yourself you can find it over at tvnihon.com, where you can also find a ton of other great stuff like Kamen Rider and Tomica Hero Rescue Force/Fire, Ultraman and so forth!)

Act 1
It’s midnight in Tokyo, do you know where your fancy large pieced diamond is?
Odds are it’s probably being fought over by Tuxedo Kamen and the new Sailor V(enus).
Live action wise everyone (including the ones we’ll see premiere in later episodes this and next review) all look good, but for reality’s sake some “changes” made to this show was just too much (so much so the show spiraled into it’s own alternate reality as the changes and differences just mounted, though some claim it’s an adapt of the manga… no, wait, I read that, no way). But I’ll go into that as we spin along, let’s focus on the Acts.

Meet Usagi Tsukino everyone! She’s almost like the original Anime version, only she doesn’t eat as much (now really who’d force a real actress to adapt a dietary plan like the anime Usagi!), but for the most part she’s spot on (except now she’s a Minako Aino groupie, which didn’t happen before because Mina was a wannabe starlet and not a real one like in this series, and she also happens to be a karaoke addict which is reflected in the fact that Crown Arcade is now Crown karaoke joint—I liked it as an arcade better).

Rushing to school (because she’s once again late) Usagi is hit in the eye by a big pizza pie… no, wait, that’s amore. She’s clonked by a falling plushie Luna… yeah, apparently despite what every Anime and Live Action series set in Tokyo says it’s apparently unrealistic for stray cats to be wandering about Tokyo (forget the reality, let’s just pretend they’re right)… anyway because of this Luna is no longer a real cat, she’s a CGI plushie (though I guess it saves on doing the Sabrina the Teenage Witch cat effects for Luna and later Artemis) and she’s looking for Sailor Moon (which as you know is Usagi).

Through a series of circumstances and a bad day Usagi returns home to sleep only to find Luna in her room, with a long story about how Usagi is a Sailor Soldier and yadda yadda yadda, and as you expect Usagi is not exactly listening to the plushie Luna right now (and to think in the old version she saved Luna from punky kids who were tormenting her).

Luna decides to leave, but not before giving Usagi the magical cellphone just in case she changes her mind, which doesn’t take too long as she is kinda “motivated” to change her mind over the whole Sailor Moon thing when she’s confronted by her first youma. Really though, most Kamen Riders don’t start out this reluctant (except of course for Faivz/555 but that’s another review).

Oh yeah. First appearance of Mamoru/Tuxedo Kamen, Jedite (the Japanese actor playing him looks so weird in that funny blonde wig!!), Naru (Usagi’s friend who fell in love with Nephlite in the Anime but doesn’t seem to fall in love with him in this version), Luna and Sailor V… oh, and Sailor Moon of course (with her near gear like the new transformation bracelet and the magic cellphone which has a transformation option allowing the Senshi to assume disguises for missions that require abit of “stealth“ to accomplish).

Act 2
Like in the Anime the first Senshi to get recruited is everyone’s favorite genius (one of the fine genius ladies who made hyper intelligence (don’t flame me please) sexy and cute) Ami Mizuno aka Sailor Mercury! Of course it’s not easy getting Ami to believe, let alone become Sailor Mercury but after coming to her aid as her cram school is under attack by a new statue youma (and his sidekick dog statue partner which resurrects the larger youma when he’s shattered) she becomes Sailor Mercury and joins Usagi. (And it only took hanging off a railing at a fair height endangered by two rapidly approaching youma to change her mind too!)

Highlight of the episode is the first appearance of the secret meeting place hidden within Crown (now updated to function as part karaoke lounge and part command center… though Ami has to bring her laptop if she wants to do computer work as this command base doesn’t have a computer set up like the old one).

Act 3
So far we got Moon and Mercury, time for Rei (Sailor Mars) to join in.
And like before we have people disappearing, though this time it’s more on personal level instead of disappearing buses, which kinda get Rei blamed for the vanishings as people (mostly schoolgirls) thinks she’s kinda creepy. What? Rei? No way… though it is kinda creepy how she no longer seems to have a all out mad on against Usagi like she did in the Anime (in fact she’s downright nice to her a lot more in comparison to her frequent rage fits in the Anime).

Thing is however, even after Usagi & Rei bond over Rei’s almost lynching by an angry vigilante mob of Japanese schoolgirls and a youma incident (and saving girls it trapped and which Rei was blamed for disappearance wise by earlier angry mob of schoolgirls) Rei is all not for becoming Sailor Mars and walks off on the two… say what?!?

At the start of this episode they do a Sailor Senshi Quiz(zu)!
Though Ami is marked “right” on both, in fact she is in fact wrong on the first count.

First off how many Senshi are left to find?
She says 2, but in fact there’s THREE (plus Sailor Venus)… (not counting of course Sailor Pluto (the never to come Season 2), Sailor Uranus and Neptune (Season 3) and Sailor Saturn (the Sailor of Destruction who, well… actually didn’t really join at all though I didn’t see Stars so I don’t know if she ever becomes a member or not)… and let’s not talk about the Sailor Starlights from Stars).

Act 4
Well this is not exactly going to be easy to write a Want Ad over!
“Wanted! Female about 16-18 with psychic abilities and formal temple training to become new Sailor Mars. Must have long black hair, look good in red, and occasionally be willing to yell and scream at her boss Sailor Moon.”

Luckily there’s no need to place the ad as another incident over once again attempting to acquire the Mystical Silver Crystal (Ginoushou if I remember right in spelling) which involve a costume party and having to synchronize attacks to Minako Aino’s hit song “Cest La Vie”… (heh heh… phonically it sounds like they’re saying “Sailor V”… why nobody got that until episodes later when she outs and reveals her identity in front of them is such a mystery!)… finally brings Rei into the fold as Sailor Mars… oh, and Usagi gets really close to Tuxedo Kamen twice (first while in her bear costume at the party, second while they’re falling off the roof of the tall building the party’s being held in). Cuddles!

Oh hey take a look!! Neflite premieres, and his actor kinda looks like there’s a garage band somewhere in Japan missing it’s lead drummer or backup guitarist. Dang!

The live action show is it’s own beast, and fans of the Anime may not entirely be onto this bandwagon as so much is different (including a rather, in my opinion, tragic backstory now wrapped up for Minako that she didn’t have before) but if you want to see Sailor Moon in a new light (and can get over how goofy it is at times (it’s like Sailor Moon versus Kamen Rider’s rogue’s gallery… but considering the studio that made this also makes Kamen Rider I guess they probably borrowed some of the monster creators from those series for Sailor Moon, but I could be wrong).

I personally think you should give Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon a try. You might like it! Really! (And since it’s the start you don’t even have to be a long term fan to get into it!)

Next time…
It’s Acts 5 to 8, and we’re talking up the following episode reviews!
- Ami’s not feeling all good about the stability of her new friendships, and tries kinda too hard to be a good friend… stupid book about making friends! Stop influencing Ami-chan you evil piece of print you!!
- Sailor Jupiter finally shows up! As does Zoisite (though this time it’s not a guy who looks like a girl like the Anime)!
- And finally we get to find out a little more about Rei’s father we didn’t from the Anime.

See you next review!

4