Is the Sailor Moon manga underrated?

[Seira Hazuki]

I love Toki*Meca so I definitely would love to see what a Modern Naoko story looks like. But if I’m honest even T*M suffers from a lot of the problems that the Sailor Moon manga had. The cast of Toki*Meca rapidly expands witihin 10 chapters, with only two or three characters getting proper development. The story has a ton of inconsistencies. And then there’s the non-con kisses...

I think one’s enjoyment of the Sailor Moon manga and Naoko’s work boils down to how much one can stomache shoujo tropes.

 

[Memento]

As I said in the La Reconquista: The Novel thread, I'd love for Naoko to go back and rewrite the SM manga as a series of novels (two per arc should be plenty). I think she has so many ideas that she can't really handle them all in the medium of a serialized manga story where she has to churn out 40-50 pages of artwork a month. Sitting down at a laptop to write prose at her own pace (with help from a co-writer) with her doing illustrations afterward would probably be hugely beneficial to her ability to tell a coherent, developed story. (Though I'd still like a fully colorized release of the manga first xD)

 

[Greyman-X]

I'm about two-thirds done with the manga. I have an old friend who DETESTS the manga, and usually cites how the villains are 1-dimensional and get offed super-quick as one reason. After reading a good chunk myself, I see what he meant. It really is jarring, and makes the 90s anime a bit more special in my eyes for devoting a little time to developing them before they meet their fate, whether it be death or redemption. Or in Nephrite's case, both.

There are some things I like better in the manga. Pluto's time-stop sacrifice happening in the 2nd arc instead, and the circumstances behind it, packed more emotional 'oomph' for me. I also preferred the overall plot surrounding Hotaru and Professor Tomoe towards the end of the 3rd arc in the manga version.

 

[Yamoon]

Well I think to be honest that the manga being monthly Naoko wanted to concentrate more on the plot than the single characters (other than the TSUKINOs). Of course she made some interesting side stories (who could have help the Crystal anime to focus better on the character, but yeah of course they didn’t adapt them) but I think at this time she count of the weekly classic anime to develop her characters (because the weekly format is much more adapted for that). I really think that she was asked by TOEI to provide some design for monster of the day in advance to transform them in developed bad guys in the anime (like the Amazon Trio for exemple...)

I still think the plots are however somehow more interesting in the manga than the anime (like the end of Black Moon arc, the story in the dead moon and stars).

 

[Neon Genesis]

As much as I enjoy the final product that we got, I think Naoko unfiltered could be a lot of fun. Ami as a cyborg, Makoto being a member of the yakuza, and the Dark Kingdom having a darker finale like the anime all sounds exciting and creative to me and would definitely give Madoka a run for her money.

 

[ChampionOfNuggets]

As much as I enjoy the final product that we got, I think Naoko unfiltered could be a lot of fun. Ami as a cyborg, Makoto being a member of the yakuza, and the Dark Kingdom having a darker finale like the anime all sounds exciting and creative to me and would definitely give Madoka a run for her money.

As far as I am aware Makato was going to be the leader of a female street gang not a member of the Japanese mafia

Cyborg Ami got recycled into Hotaru anyways for the Infinity arc and I think worked better because it showed how sick her father was. Cyborg Ami just sounds silly.

 

[ChampionOfNuggets]

As I said in the La Reconquista: The Novel thread, I'd love for Naoko to go back and rewrite the SM manga as a series of novels (two per arc should be plenty). I think she has so many ideas that she can't really handle them all in the medium of a serialized manga story where she has to churn out 40-50 pages of artwork a month. Sitting down at a laptop to write prose at her own pace (with help from a co-writer) with her doing illustrations afterward would probably be hugely beneficial to her ability to tell a coherent, developed story. (Though I'd still like a fully colorized release of the manga first xD)

The series director for Digimon Adventure wrote a trilogy of light novels and the original head writer for Pokemon wrote a couple light novels before dying. Would be interesting to see Naoko retell the manga/anime unrestricted with a novelization approach

 

[Clow]

Underrated, no.The manga has three different editions: the original from the 90s, the one from the period that PGSM aired, AND the current Perfect/Eternal one.

I think it got all the recognition it deserved and much more than that.

Personally, I don't like the first arc, but all the other 4 arcs are excellent.

 

[JayD22460]

Underrated, no.The manga has three different editions: the original from the 90s, the one from the period that PGSM aired, AND the current Perfect/Eternal one.

I think it got all the recognition it deserved and much more than that.

Personally, I don't like the first arc, but all the other 4 arcs are excellent.

Having three different versions/releases doesn't necessarily correlate with how the fandom perceives the manga, though -- if anything, the airing of Crystal revealed that there are a LOT of SM fans who generally dislike the manga's story and pacing. It may not be underrated by the publisher, but there are definitely a lot of fans who undervalue the manga.

Your last sentence describes my feelings quite accurately -- the first arc is bland for me, but the remaining four are fantastic.

 

[FloraKiraraHime]

Your last sentence describes my feelings quite accurately -- the first arc is bland for me, but the remaining four are fantastic.

The manga's Dark Kingdom story arc is, sadly, the weakest. Both the 90's anime and live action toku series are great adaptations.

 

[ChampionOfNuggets]

Having three different versions/releases doesn't necessarily correlate with how the fandom perceives the manga, though -- if anything, the airing of Crystal revealed that there are a LOT of SM fans who generally dislike the manga's story and pacing. It may not be underrated by the publisher, but there are definitely a lot of fans who undervalue the manga.

Your last sentence describes my feelings quite accurately -- the first arc is bland for me, but the remaining four are fantastic.

Crystal's problems go far beyond being close to the manga though.

 

[Kerochan no Miko]

Crystal's problems go far beyond being close to the manga though.

And this thread is about the manga, not Crystal. Head back toward the topic at hand, please.

 

[Clow]

Back to the topic, I think the manga offers a unique depiction of "Sailor Moon."

Because the manga was being written while the 90's anime was being broadcasted, both versions are different and equally valuable. The manga is far more mature in content than the 90''s anime ever was. Yes, the 90's anime was great, but I hold the view that reading the manga offers a different, more mature, unique depiction of "Sailor Moon."

As far as I know, I am under the impression that fans never a problem with the manga... until Crystal came out, that is. Many fans were expecting something in the lines of 90's anime and instead got an inferior 1:1 adaptation poorly animated and adapted.

 

[MsImagination]

Back to the topic, I think the manga offers a unique depiction of "Sailor Moon."

Because the manga was being written while the 90's anime was being broadcasted, both versions are different and equally valuable. The manga is far more mature in content than the 90''s anime ever was. Yes, the 90's anime was great, but I hold the view that reading the manga offers a different, more mature, unique depiction of "Sailor Moon."

As far as I know, I am under the impression that fans never a problem with the manga... until Crystal came out, that is. Many fans were expecting something in the lines of 90's anime and instead got an inferior 1:1 adaptation poorly animated and adapted.

If fans were expecting the 90 s anime they were aleays were going dissapointed.When Crystal said it was going to be closer to the manga.That should been a big sign it was not going to be anything like that.

 

[Memento]

I'm just surprised that some people think the Dark Kingdom arc is the weakest part of the manga when the Black Moon Clan arc (a.k.a. the arc of a million plot holes) and the Stars arc (a.k.a. the arc of a million plot retreads and underdeveloped concepts) exist.

 

[Seira Hazuki]

^ Infinity and Dream are the only good arcs of the manga, the same way Classic and S are the only good seasons of the ‘90s anime.

 

[JayD22460]

I wouldn’t say it’s a matter of being stronger or weaker. I prefer other arcs over DK because despite the plot holes, retreads, and undeveloped elements in later arcs, they are overall more entertaining to me than the DK arc. For me anyway, it’s a matter of taste and not so much a literary critique.

 

[ChampionOfNuggets]

I'm just surprised that some people think the Dark Kingdom arc is the weakest part of the manga when the Black Moon Clan arc (a.k.a. the arc of a million plot holes) and the Stars arc (a.k.a. the arc of a million plot retreads and underdeveloped concepts) exist.

Infinity and Dream were definitely my favorite arcs in the manga. But Dark Kingdom was a close third.


Black Moon, I dont know I feel like a number of ideas were under or poorly developed even more so than usual. I will still never like the idea of usagi ruling the earth as Neo-Queen Serenity or a 6 year old midget

 

[Greyman-X]

I wouldn’t say it’s a matter of being stronger or weaker. I prefer other arcs over DK because despite the plot holes, retreads, and undeveloped elements in later arcs, they are overall more entertaining to me than the DK arc. For me anyway, it’s a matter of taste and not so much a literary critique.

I was just disappointed there wasn't more stuff about Queen Beryl and the Shitennou in the manga, like I was kinda led to believe.

 

[JayD22460]

I was just disappointed there wasn't more stuff about Queen Beryl and the Shitennou in the manga, like I was kinda led to believe.

I adore the manga but it's very true that fans hyped it up for years on the Internet before it was widely available. That hype consisted even after the manga was released, since here in the USA it was one of Tokyopop's earliest releases and the volumes soon went out of print. I feel bad for Sailor Moon newbies in general -- there is a LOT of misinformation and misleading stuff out there. Mostly things are better today, but there are still holdovers from the Internet of the late 90s. I feel like stuff like this is kind of related to what you're talking about.

Though, at the same time...there IS more about Queen Beryl and the Four Kings in the manga, though I guess the anime technically gives them more "screen time" (page time?) if you wanna go by that way of thinking. The 90s anime, if I recall, sorta-kinda hints at Beryl's backstory whereas it's slightly more visualized in the manga, and the Four Kings pop up later on in the manga but only for like a panel. So it depends on how you look at it.

Does Queen Beryl do more in the manga vs. what she does in the 90s anime? What about the Four Kings? Some would say that the Four Kings being Endymion's generals is really important and feel that not including that fact in the 90s anime automatically gives them more significance in the manga, but at the same time, they are definitely given more screen time and more prominent personalities in the 90s anime (for the most part).

I can understand being disappointed if you were led to believe that the villains accomplished more things in the manga or played larger roles, but at the end of the day, it's just seeing them in a different light.