The "Cosmos Announced thread..." seems to be focused on the debacle of international dubs, but rewatching Cosmos again, after having watched it in Japanese last December, I couldn't help but think the ludicrous imposition of honorifics and English terms is just the tip of the iceberg.
First of all, let me start by saying that I did enjoy Cosmos more than the Stars Arc in the Manga (even though I'll admit the bar wasn't very high). At least in Cosmos I was able to tell what the heck was going on in the action scenes and, especially in the second film, keep track of how and when Moon & Co. were hopping from one place to another. The tiny bits added as a Starlights sendoff and seeing Luna again were also nice additions. But still I couldn't help but be sad at what a lame film it is and be baffled thinking at some of the comments I'd read earlier saying how happy they were to finally have an adaptation that "makes this glorious Arc justice" Stars Arc.
When I first read the manga, I was amazed at how the arc managed to feel dizzingly rushed and plod clumsily at the same time, and now I think I understand why. After the Inner and the Outer Senshi are dead, there's this long chunk where the plot simply drags and nothing of consequence happens. Let's be honest, do the fights against Lethe and Mnemosyne, Phi and Chi and Heavy Metal Papillion serve any purpose whatsoever other than to padding out the narrative? By then, we already know that Galaxia was jumping from one planet to the next recruiting her minions (and destroying their planets), we know important Usagi's relationships are for her, we've seen the Star Seeds and how the Animamates are trying to collect them for Galaxia, yada yada yada... why couldn't Usagi and the others just fly directly to Galaxia's base of operations? Have Chibi Usa and the Asteroid Senshi escort Sailor Moon to Galaxia while Kakyuu and the Starlights are killed by the evil Senshi or whatever, but couldn't we spend our time on characters that actually meant anything?! And people complain about SuperS spending too much time on "random strangers we don't care about and won't ever see again".
On the other hand, everything happens so fast, there's barely enough time to digest what happen, so the movies won't lose an opportunity to hammer home how cruelly the Senshi were killed and how sad and desperate Usagi is. How many times are we shown the shot of Mamoru turning into dust, again? And why do we have to be shown shots of each Senshi whenever Usagi is reminiscing about how important her friends were? Given how little screentime the Senshi have, was the staff worried we wouldn't remember who Usagi's friends were? And now that I mentioned the reminiscing... just how much exposition can we stand within two and a half hours? I felt a bit bored of character talking about what happened and what was going to happen, instead of properly interacting with each other (again, this was particularly annoying in the second half).
Then, there's obviously the rest... I try to see Cosmos as a more mature and "no nonsense" story, but there's no way I can keep a straight face when Guardian Pluto (and, later, Guardian Cosmos) come up. I remember how anime Stars failed the Inner Senshi multiple times, but here Sailor Venus doesn't even attack until she's dead and controlled by Galaxia. And the list, just like the beat, goes on...
Every now and again, someone comes up and claim most of us who aren't fond of Crystal are just too blinded by our nostalgia, and now and again I've seen comments on social media of people saying they're crying their hearts out, that they felt the movie was incredibly emotional and so on and so forth, and I'm still bemused. It's not like I thoroughly hated the films, mostly because I've loved these characters for so long and seeing Chibi Usa say goodbye to Usagi, for example, does make me emotional. But I feel any sort of enjoyment I had was almost despite, instead of because, what the films themselves were. I can still kind of look past the films and see some nice ideas, thoughtful messages and good intentions, but I'm not watching ideas, messages, and intentions, I'm watching two films, and taking them for what they are. If nostalgia is that big a factor, I'm left with the impression that, if it wasn't for nostalgia, no one would enjoy these films at all.
First of all, let me start by saying that I did enjoy Cosmos more than the Stars Arc in the Manga (even though I'll admit the bar wasn't very high). At least in Cosmos I was able to tell what the heck was going on in the action scenes and, especially in the second film, keep track of how and when Moon & Co. were hopping from one place to another. The tiny bits added as a Starlights sendoff and seeing Luna again were also nice additions. But still I couldn't help but be sad at what a lame film it is and be baffled thinking at some of the comments I'd read earlier saying how happy they were to finally have an adaptation that "makes this glorious Arc justice" Stars Arc.
When I first read the manga, I was amazed at how the arc managed to feel dizzingly rushed and plod clumsily at the same time, and now I think I understand why. After the Inner and the Outer Senshi are dead, there's this long chunk where the plot simply drags and nothing of consequence happens. Let's be honest, do the fights against Lethe and Mnemosyne, Phi and Chi and Heavy Metal Papillion serve any purpose whatsoever other than to padding out the narrative? By then, we already know that Galaxia was jumping from one planet to the next recruiting her minions (and destroying their planets), we know important Usagi's relationships are for her, we've seen the Star Seeds and how the Animamates are trying to collect them for Galaxia, yada yada yada... why couldn't Usagi and the others just fly directly to Galaxia's base of operations? Have Chibi Usa and the Asteroid Senshi escort Sailor Moon to Galaxia while Kakyuu and the Starlights are killed by the evil Senshi or whatever, but couldn't we spend our time on characters that actually meant anything?! And people complain about SuperS spending too much time on "random strangers we don't care about and won't ever see again".
On the other hand, everything happens so fast, there's barely enough time to digest what happen, so the movies won't lose an opportunity to hammer home how cruelly the Senshi were killed and how sad and desperate Usagi is. How many times are we shown the shot of Mamoru turning into dust, again? And why do we have to be shown shots of each Senshi whenever Usagi is reminiscing about how important her friends were? Given how little screentime the Senshi have, was the staff worried we wouldn't remember who Usagi's friends were? And now that I mentioned the reminiscing... just how much exposition can we stand within two and a half hours? I felt a bit bored of character talking about what happened and what was going to happen, instead of properly interacting with each other (again, this was particularly annoying in the second half).
Then, there's obviously the rest... I try to see Cosmos as a more mature and "no nonsense" story, but there's no way I can keep a straight face when Guardian Pluto (and, later, Guardian Cosmos) come up. I remember how anime Stars failed the Inner Senshi multiple times, but here Sailor Venus doesn't even attack until she's dead and controlled by Galaxia. And the list, just like the beat, goes on...
Every now and again, someone comes up and claim most of us who aren't fond of Crystal are just too blinded by our nostalgia, and now and again I've seen comments on social media of people saying they're crying their hearts out, that they felt the movie was incredibly emotional and so on and so forth, and I'm still bemused. It's not like I thoroughly hated the films, mostly because I've loved these characters for so long and seeing Chibi Usa say goodbye to Usagi, for example, does make me emotional. But I feel any sort of enjoyment I had was almost despite, instead of because, what the films themselves were. I can still kind of look past the films and see some nice ideas, thoughtful messages and good intentions, but I'm not watching ideas, messages, and intentions, I'm watching two films, and taking them for what they are. If nostalgia is that big a factor, I'm left with the impression that, if it wasn't for nostalgia, no one would enjoy these films at all.
I hope people start realising that now the films are out there officially.
(That’s a legit question)
