Super Recaps: Sailor Moon Episode 7 (Usagi Learns Her Lesson: Becoming a Star Is Hard Work)

Sailor Moon and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Toei Animation and licensed by Viz Media

Episode directed by Takao Yoshizawa

Welcome back to another episode of Sailor Moon: Reincarnation is Magic!  The last episode had our born again Moon Princess fighting off a really interesting villain who inadvertently was getting in the way of two people finding true love in one another!  It was actually a pretty nice change of pace from the formula the show was falling into where Usagi remained pretty much oblivious to the evil machinations of the villains until she finally confronts them at the scene of the crime.  So what’s the story for THIS episode?  Usagi will remain pretty much oblivious to the evil machinations of the villain until she finally confronts them at the scene of the crime.  Well, I guess they can’t ALL be original stories, so maybe they’ll find an interesting angle with what it is the villains will try to exploit this time.  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with Usagi frantically trying to get to school before the bell rings yet again.  I mean sure, she’s fighting for humanity’s survival every night, but she should really invest in a louder alarm clock or something.  Along her route, she runs past an advertisement and, as any good consumer would do, stops to stare at it and contemplate purchasing the product.

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“Must… Buy… Red Bull…”

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Super Recaps: Sailor Moon Episode 6 (Protect the Melody of Love: Usagi Plays Cupid)

Sailor Moon and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Toei Animation and licensed by Viz Media

Episode directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara

We’re back with another episode of Luna and Usagi’s Excellent Adventures!  The last episode with the hypno-furbys was fine but it really didn’t do anything different from the other episodes except for kicking Luna across a room which is DIFFERENT but I wouldn’t call that an improvement to the formula.  Will the mix things up for this episode or are we doomed to see Usagi repeat the same story every single episode until the other scouts come in?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins in Dark Kingdom and… what’s this?  Do we finally have some new animation for Queen Beryl!?  She’s not waving her hands in front of a crystal ball this time!?  This MUST be a special episode!!  The reason for this change in her behavior is due to her undivided attention for the demonstration of Jadeite’s newest soul-sucking scheme.  Apparently, he’s developed a sound wave or whatever that drains the life out of those who listen to it.

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“It was discovered during our research into The Brown Noise”

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Super Recaps: Sailor Moon Episode 5 (Scent of a Monster: Chanela Will Steal Your Love)

Sailor Moon and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Toei Animation and licensed by Viz Media

Episode directed by Yuji Endo

We’re back with another episode of Sailor Moon Retro!  When we last left our heroes, they were in a rather uncomfortable and dated adventure regarding weight loss and self-esteem.  In hindsight, it may not have been the BEST way to tackle those subjects, but then again you can’t always go back to stuff from twenty years ago and expect it to get everything right in regards to modern sensibilities.  Besides, I’m sure that’s gonna be the ONLY time that this show will be THAT blatantly nineties, right?  It’s not like they’ll make an episode about Furbies or something!  Oh wait, this episode is about cute artificial animals that people can’t get enough of?  Okay then.  Well to be fair, this episode predates those toys by at least six years so maybe they were simply ahead of their time when they made this!  Will this episode manage to bring the series back on track after the stumble that was the last episode, or will the show continue to feel out of place and outdated as they continue to scramble to come up with episodes to fill out the season?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with Usagi having a nightmare where she’s being chased by… I don’t know, the Smoke Monster?

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“DAMN YOU JJ ABRAMS!!!”

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Super Recaps: Sailor Moon Episode 4 (Learn How to Be Skinny from Usagi)

Sailor Moon and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Toei Animation and licensed by Viz Media

Episode directed by Harume Kosaka

Oh good!  I was hoping we’d run into some dated nineties storylines at some point!  We all knew we were going to reach this point eventually.  You can go back to pretty much anything from any time period and find stuff that’s woefully outdated, especially when you think of how fast things have changed with the onset of social media.  Still, we can allow ourselves to overlook some less than ideal moments if everything else in the episode manages to pick up the slack.  Can this episode succeed despite it’s less than precise handling of the subject matter?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with Usagi realizing that she gained a few pounds since her last weigh-in and she’s having a panic attack over it.  Rather than her parents telling her that it isn’t a big deal or Luna telling her the weight she gained is probably due to the muscle she’s built since starting her career as a warrior for justice, everyone around her gives her shit about it.  Her parents TRY to reassure her but fail miserably at it, and Luna seems intent on giving her Body Dysmorphia!

“I’m thinking Sailor Chubs.  Fatty Moon maybe?  I could really use your input here Usagi!”
“I’m thinking Sailor Chubs.  Fatty Moon maybe?  I could really use your input here Usagi!”

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Super Recaps: Sailor Moon Episode 3 (The Mysterious Sleeping Sickness: Protect the Girls in Love)

Sailor Moon and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Toei Animation and licensed by Viz Media

Episode directed by Kazuhisa Takenouchi

We’re back with another episode of Sailor Moon Origins!  The last episode was by no means perfect, but it did show that just because they weren’t working directly from a story in the manga doesn’t mean they can’t make the filler in this show enjoyable.  Can this episode keep up with the level of quality we saw last time around, or are we already headed for a downward spiral until Sailor Mercury shows up in this?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with Jadeite’s performance review in which he embellishes his accomplishments I’m the last two episodes.

“Our energy collection efforts are up three percent!”     “You lost two highly trained demons in the process.”     “I like to think of it as creating new openings for fresh faced monsters to hone their skills and become valuable members of our organization!”
“Our energy collection efforts are up three percent!”     “You lost two highly trained demons in the process.”     “I like to think of it as creating new openings for fresh-faced monsters to hone their skills and become valuable members of our organization!”

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Cinema Dispatch: Dragon Ball Super (Resurrection F)

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Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ and all the images you see in this review are owned by Toei Company, 20th Century Fox, and Funimation

Directed by Tadayoshi Yamamuro

We’re finally back with a review of the second movie in the Dragon Ball revival franchise!  With the success of Battle of Gods more or less leading to a Dragon Ball renaissance (I bet Toriyamas’s getting some SERIOUS Zeni out of this), they decided to make one more movie to set us up for the release of Dragon Ball Super!  Well… at least they did it that way in Japan.  SERIOUSLY FUNIMATION!?  No word on Dragon Ball Super in the US yet?  Well at least the released the second movie here, but it is any good?  Does going back to the DBZ well to drag this villain out of retirement end up making a fun throwback to the glory days of this mighty series, or a self-satisfied victory lap for the endless mountains of cash Toei is about to rake in with their number one franchise back?  Let’s find out!!

The movie begins with the remnants of Frieza’s (or was it his Dad’s?) intergalactic empire trying to maintain their stranglehold on the galaxy.  Without any of their former leaders however, things are beginning to look grim as their forces continue to dwindle and the people they attempt to enslave are more and more successful in their organized resistance.  Some little blue mother fucker (Sorbet because why the hell not) is now the leader and has finally decided that the only way to restore the empire to its former glory is to bring Frieza back to life.  How you may ask?  With Dragon Balls of course!!

“I am the eternal MacGuffin!  What can I do to move the plot forward?”

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Super Recaps: Sailor Moon Episode 2 (Punishment Awaits: The House of Fortune Is the Monster Mansion)

Sailor Moon and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Toei Animation and licensed by Viz Media

Episode directed by Takao Yoshizawa

We’re back with another episode of Sailor Moon Classic!  With the first episode out of the way, we are now plunging headfirst into the filler episodes which Sailor Moon Crystal did not choose to use, so we won’t have anything really to compare it against and we’ll have to see how it holds up on its own.  Will this episode give us what was so desperately missing in Sailor Moon Crystal, or will it just go to show that Crystal was right all along to streamline series the way it did, even if it did so poorly?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with… a recap of the episode we’re about to see?  What!?  Yeah, it’s that thing they usually put at the end of the PREVIOUS episode to get you excited for the next one, but they put it at the beginning of the episode its advertising!  Not only that, but it has some serious spoilers in it!!  Oh, and after THAT is a recap of the previous episode where Usagi, after just explaining what she’s GOING to do as Sailor Moon, tells the audience that she is in fact… SAILOR MOON!!  I’m assuming this is going to be the case every episode, but I’m only going to complain about it here.  Is this how the original dub or the original Japanese version was done!?  It’s just so out of place to put these two things back to back like this at the very beginning of the episode and just starts things off poorly.  Anyway, the episode begins with a group of women lining up around the block to see a fortune teller.  Apparently this guy is famous and has been on TV, but he still operates from a card table in an alley.  Does he have a permit for that!?

“I hear this John Edward guy is the real deal!”
“I hear this John Edward guy is the real deal!”

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Super Recaps: Sailor Moon Episode 1 (The Crybaby: Usagi’s Beautiful Transformation)

Sailor Moon and all the images you see in this recap are owned by Toei Animation and licensed by Viz Media

Episode directed by Junichi Satou

When I first started watching Sailor Moon Crystal, I vowed to not watch any of the original series or read the original manga while I was writing recaps for it.  I felt that I was in a unique situation where I had always wanted to give Sailor Moon a shot, but never got around to actually watching it which means I would be in a perfect position to WANT to like Sailor Moon Crystal without having the original to compare it against.  I think it ended up serving me well, not that reviews of comparison are bad, but I figured plenty of people were going to do that already and I wanted to see if it was any good from a newbie’s perspective. After a year of watching Sailor Moon Crystal though, the season has finally come to a close and I’m now gonna start watching the original series and giving you my thoughts on it!   To start with, let’s discuss which version of the show I’m watching.  I’ll be watching the modern dub of the series.  Not the original dub which many Sailor Moon fans started off with, and not the original Japanese sub with all the original content unperturbed.  From what I understand, the Viz Media dub is supposed to be an uncut and unedited version of the original Japanese version so I guess it’s the best of both worlds!  Still, I am gonna miss the fact that I won’t get to see the nineties special effects, the Sailor Moon Morals at the end of each episode, and that Luna won’t sound like an old lady.  Unfortunately, if this version DOES miss certain aspects of the original Japanese version, I won’t be able to spot it but that’s what the comments section is for!  So now that we got that out of the way, will Sailor Moon live up to the hype, or is it just another nostalgic property that’s not as good as people remember it!?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with our main character Usagi waking up late for school and having to rush through her morning routine.  Wait, isn’t this how EVERY magical girl show begins!?

“Are you going to be late AGAIN!?”     “I’ll try NOT to be!!”     “Well say hi to A-ko, Yohko, Ranma, and Madoka if you pass by them.”
“Are you going to be late AGAIN!?”     “I’ll try NOT to be!!”     “Well say hi to A-ko, Yohko, Ranma, and Madoka if you pass by them.”

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Super Recaps: Dragon Ball Super (Battle of Gods)

If you don’t know already, I am a HUGE fan of the Dragon Ball franchise, especially Dragon Ball Z!  That said, the last decade of constant video games, re releases and whatever the hell else Funimation and Toei were doing to squeeze out every last cent they can just ended up alienating me as a fan and I never thought the series was ever going to return to its former glory.  That was okay though!  The legacy this series left behind more than makes up for the constant selling out.  Still, Akira Toriyama has starting coming back to the franchise; starting with Battle of Gods and more recently the new series Dragon Ball Super!  After all this time, are we finally going to get the Dragon Ball Z sequel we’ve all been waiting for!?  Well I plan to find out!  First by reviewing the two movies released since his return and then by starting to recap Dragon Ball Super as it comes out!  PLEASE DON’T SUCK!!  I DON’T THINK MY NOSTALGIA CAN TAKE IT!!  Anyway, let’s get started with Battle of Gods!!

The movie begins with a REALLY cool retelling of the entire series with new animation to show key events throughout Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z.  THIS IS WHAT DRAGON BALL KAI SHOULD HAVE BEEN!!!  No seriously, if ONE franchise can afford to have movie sized animation budgets per episode, it would be a remake of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z!  The flashbacks end just after the end of the Buu saga (but before Uub or Pan are around) and we see that Old Kai (AKA Hitler Kai) senses a disturbance in the force.  He starts to inform the other Kais… for some reason.  Honestly, do they have any real significance anymore?  That’s what I REALLY didn’t like about the Buu Saga.  The show was constantly throwing in new characters of UNBELIEVABLE POWER who would get their asses kicked two episodes later and become background characters for the rest of the arc.  For crying out loud, Grand Kai got like one appearance before being subsumed by Supreme Kai!  Anyway, King Kai is receiving his message about whatever the hell the other Kai’s are sensing but unfortunately Goku is training on the planet and tries to eavesdrop.

“Is there something I can beat up!?”     “NO GOKU!  NOT TODAY!!!”     “Aw…”
“Is there something I can beat up!?”     “NO GOKU!  NOT TODAY!!!”     “Aw…”

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Super Recaps: Sailor Moon Crystal (Episode 26) Season one Finale!!

Just over a year since its premiere, Sailor Moon Crystal’s first season is coming to a close.  There’s been much discussion around this show and its obvious flaws since its release, which is to be expected for a remake of a franchise that meant so much to a lot of people.   Now that we’re at the end of this series (at least until season two comes out), does it go out with a bang and a strong closing for the Black Moon Clan story arc, or are we going to get yet another disappointing ending such as the one we got to the Silver Millennium story arc, which many would see as fitting for a series that has been plagued with so many glaring issues?  Let’s find out!!

The episode begins with Sailor Moon and her entourage falling through an endless abyss of some sort towards the disembodied skull of Wiseman or Death Phantom or Nemesis, or whatever the hell it is.  The point is that Sailor Moon has nice big target to aim her magic wand at and she does just that.

“Feel the power of love and friendship!”     “I COULDN’T BE IN MORE PAIN!!!!”
“Feel the power of love and friendship!”     “I COULDN’T BE IN MORE PAIN!!!!”

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