No, that’s why I don’t love the manga overall. I like it, however there’s a lot of wasted potential because of a suboptimal writing.
The Stars arc has many ideas thrown in awaiting to be developed, concepts created in one panel and dropped on the next page, characters meant to get killed without any real function in the story, others just provide information about something and then get murdered by another disposable character. The rest of the sagas have the same problem, though in Stars it’s more noticeable along with being Usagi-centric. I gave my opinion about her, I’m not gonna change my mind, I see your point and I agree, but your reason does not exclude mine.
I know the final isn’t sweet and happy, precisely I love the message of Stars. It’s about life and for everybody. I love how Naoko relies on asian philosophy and the way she handles the “
Destroy everything to get it reborn afterwards because there’s always hope and future” thing. Very Lao-Tse.
My biggest problem with the manga is the narrative. I remember reading dialogues, then stopping and staring at the pictures attempting to grasp Naoko’s intentions. That’s the thing, in a well written manga you don’t have to stop at every second to try and see what’s happening or the thoughts the character has at that moment (I used to guess thanks to the facial expressions because Takeuchi didn’t always write them down, especially in the first arc) or the actions Naoko didn’t draw.
It’s good in content, bad in execution. It’s a comic, and I had the impression I was playing a game in which I had to find out what the author wanted to tell.
I read that story and didn’t fit well in Infinity. Everyone had already got those heart-shaped brooches, and when they got them after Super Sailor Moon introduction, Chibiusa died and all of them went directly to the battle against the Death Busters. There’s no gaps in the story where all those imaginary conversations the Inners had with the Outers can take place.
And I understand your point. But at the time the Dream arc was being written Stars hadn’t been planned yet. Imagine for a second that Stars doesn’t exist. All the guardians are just mere dolls, robots devoided of human lives and dreams. Although I got to finish reading the manga, there are people who don’t because they get bored halfway through it, they can’t relate to Ami, Makoto, Haruka, Rei, etcetera. There’s no a reason why they’ve got to like those characters. Why do they have to resort to short stories to know them? In Act 15 Naoko should have told us something about Rei, her motivations, dreams, whatever, instead of introducing a character like Kotono and the rest of the useless background characters who talk about aliens, for instance.
Undeveloped concept as always and doesn’t answer my question. Why do they acquire human forms at that point and not before? Because reasons? Many things happen in this manga at plot convenience.
I've noted numerous times that Naoko's main weaknesses as a mangaka is sloppy paneling and pacing, (though the latter I suspect is more due to her being rushed by Kodansha & Toei and put under pressure with numerous deadlines, you have to understand that both the manga and anime were running concurrently at the time and Naoko's) what you've described above especially concerning not understanding what was happening on certain pages isn't a detriment to Naoko's writing ability but rather her
artistic ability as a comic artist. A lot of her ideas and general plot outline for Sailor Moon were brilliant and ahead of it's time. You look at alot of Magical Girl manga of that era and very few ever dared to go as grim as SM, I suspect if she was under less constraints and given free reign (with maybe some paneling assistance) the manga would've turned out much better than it did. You should read some of Naoko's commentary, completing the manga almost drove her sick, she was under an extreme amount of pressure due to Toei & Bandai wanting to turn this IP into a million-dollar toy seller and milking the cash cow. As it stands, what we did manage to get under the circumstances is pretty damn impressive for a one-woman team.
I like Galaxia even though her story is a little bit... shallow? thin? It's a shame because this character is brilliant and deserves a deeper background.
What was shallow about her story? Are you talking about her background and how it was kept vague and wasn't delved deeper into?
The problem with the princess-slave relationship is that the author didn't decide on the approach she wanted to take. For example, in the first arc the girls are nothing more than battle partners. Most of their meetings were held in the command centre to talk about the enemy or the mission they had to accomplished. Once the princess had awoken, Usagi started being treated as The Master. After defeating that ridiculous black fart / gas creature called Queen Metalia, Takeuchi tried to sell that there is a deep and true bond of friendship between the girls to the reader by illustrating a panel where the girls warmly hugged each other. It's not believable.
If the author wanted to show us the existence of a princess-slave relationship, that's fine. However, I think she should've been more consistent about it. It is impossible for the Senshis to change their relationship from one panel to another. Naoko didn't show the reader how those powerful bonds of friendship were forged and that she insisted so much on. The kind of friendship she tried to represent needs a maturing process.
I forgot.
I reckon you shouldn't compare Sailor Galaxia's years of solitude to Sailor Moon's sudden loss. As I said Usagi had it all. When Galaxia takes everything away from her, Usagi gets in a paddy, and decides to get everything back to be happy again. The loneliness that Galaxia experiences is deeply ingrained compared to the unexpected shock Usagi gets. And as I said, Usagi has never cared about her "friends", she has never experienced arguments, breakups, nobody said anything every time Usagi was wrong, how could a spoiled girl give moral lessons to someone who was suffering more than her?
Usagi still has the knowledge of numerous battles/war and death, she might not have deeply ingrained
loneliness, but she's experienced her fair share of trauma due to being a Senshi and thus I think she has the right to speak up about it.
“When Galaxia takes everything away from her, Usagi gets in a paddy, and decides to get everything back to be happy again.”
??? So what else is she supposed to do, she should just let her friends Sailor Crystals be extracted from their bodies to be turned into mind-controlled slaves? She should just let her future husband and daughter be murdered before her very eyes?
I think that’s debatable. And I did mention some positive aspects of it.
Yeah, especially if we talk about the sort of friendship Naoko depicts in the manga.
It does not feel real. Usagi feels sad and cries when Sailor Mars is kidnapped as though Rei were a close friend she had shared a lot of things with. It’s a complete LIE.
And, again, I don’t quite understand Usagi's behaviour. She doesn’t know Haruka and Michiru and vice versa.
I’m watching the Anime for the first time (I’m watching Sailor Moon R right now) and I haven’t got to that part yet... I suppose.
I don’t want to compare the two versions of the story. Something I’ve constantly been finding on the net is reviews about the manga in which the reviewer is always claiming “the manga is better than…” “The Anime had too many filler episodes” “It’s a masterpiece, Toei changed a lot of things. They’re evil.” Almost nobody has reviewed the manga as a stand-alone work.
Maybe I’ll regret what I’m gonna say because I haven’t seen the whole series yet. I think I’m starting to understand the phenomenon behind the franchise. The plot of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon is silly, and knowing the career (before and after SM) of Junichi Sato, Kunihiko Ikuhara, Sukehiro Tomita or Yoji Enokido, they might’ve known it. The plot in the Anime is largely abbreviated, highlighting the characters and creating a tie between them and digging into the interactions. The Anime was for everybody, there was something for kids, other things for teens, and even for adults (certain subjects in the so called filler episodes and the villains). And that’s great. The Anime is sillier than the manga, but it’s fun, has a heart, a soul, emotions. That is important! The franchise isn’t famous because of the story/the plot (ridiculous plot, indeed), it’s due to the relatability of the ensemble.
I know, someone would say, “That’s not true, Sailor Moon SuperS was a flop because there wasn’t a heavy plot, blah, blah, blah”. Well, I’d dare say that no one know exactly that. I’ve checked out the ratings and they were really, really good in 1995 and 1996. Massive for a Magical girl series in prime-time on Saturdays. Many people blame Toei Animation and Sailor Moon SuperS for the decline of the franchise. Actually, the deterioration began with a gradually loss of popularity in Nakayoshi in 1994 until it became the least popular series in the magazine in 1996. Whereas the Anime made history. It’s an important part of the japanese animation industry of the 90’s and its global domination and conquest along with Evangelion, Slam Dunk or Yu Yu Hakusho. Today it keeps being the main force of the franchise. Sailor Moon Crystal lives in obscurity and Sailor Moon Eternal is getting back the original designer for a reason.
But hey, maybe I’m wrong. I'll keep watching the Anime, I could change my mind.
Look you don’t have to like the manga, it does have it’s numerous faults that I’ve acknowledged in the past. And I’m not trying to change your opinion on it or anything, you have a right to yours, but a lot of your complaints just feel like you’re
looking for stuff to complain about rather than just taking the story as is.
“Why didn’t Naoko show this or that? How are we expected to buy they’re friends?”
As I’ve said before, you’re not supposed to think of each arc as short as it’s presented. Substantial time does in fact pass so you’re meant to infer that more time passed off screen. Unfortunately for us Naoko didn’t have enough time or the luxury to draw these scenes or create manga-original filler like the anime could so each arc is short and isn’t as fleshed out as it could’ve been but that’s more on Toei, Bandai and Kodansha’s back rather than Naoko since they were the ones who were treating her like a slave mule and forcing her to crank out chapters at a breakneck pace with no regards for pacing simply so she could keep up with the anime. (Also working conditions for mangaka in general is abysmal in Japan, google it. It’s honestly no wonder Naoko threw in the towel and retired like she did)
Most of the Inners characterization, backgrounds, and day to day lives being regulated to the short stories is simply due to the fact that Naoko had no other place to put them thanks to the speed she was forced to move the story along at.
Even with what little we got, at least the manga made an attempt to actually dive
into their backgrounds. I know you’re still early days in the 90’s anime but I can tell you right now that in all it’s filler galore 200 episode run, it never makes even
one mention about Rei’s parents or why she’s living with her grandpa. (Nor does it mention that Mako’s an orphan and how she lost her parents) At least in the manga Rei is given an actual backstory and we learn about her home life and what made her the way she is, we don’t get anything like that at all in the 90’s anime.
Also if you think Usagi’s friendship with the Inners seems unrealistic and unearned in the manga... Oh boy, just watch Crystal! Crystal’s portrayal of the friendship makes the manga look reasonable and grounded in comparison.
As it stands though I’m not really seeing this “deep, well-developed friendship” you keep claiming the manga is attempting to sell us on. Usagi doesn’t substantially change each Inner’s life for the better with just a feel-good speech upon their introduction like she does in Crystal, nor do they spend half the final battle of Metallia shilling her by replaying a montage of their introduction moments to showcase how important she is to each of them while also having her spirit extend their hand in the most cringe, over the top scene. Seriously if you think the manga’s bad on this front then you ain’t seen nothing yet!
So she and the Inners rush up to each other to hug and cry after Metallia’s defeated, so freaking what? They all almost died and had the Earth fall into catastrophe, anyone would be a little emotional. How is this unrealistic? They’re still battle companions and guardians/Princess, why do they need to be super close friends in their civilian forms for this to be justified?
Usagi also watched her Senshi be kidnapped right before her very eyes by a dangerous new alien enemy just as she’s still trying to get used to being Sailor Moon, she shouldn’t cry/be upset over this?
It’s also important to take into account that her bond with the Inners doesn’t just apply to their present lives but also their past. Usagi fully regained all her memories of that past when awakening as Princess Serenity, as did the Inners, so they would be attached just from that, it’s like they’re just picking up where they left off.
At the end of it all though, both the manga and anime were created to complement each other, neither is meant to be viewed through the lens as a stand-alone work, this franchise just doesn’t work that way. The manga focuses more on plot and lore & worldbuilding while sidelining the characters, that doesn’t make it badly written, just that it’s focus lies elsewhere. (Even though I would argue that besides most of the villains, the characters are still done quite well) The anime meanwhile is much more character-centric and episodic but light on the continuity and overall story. Neither one is better than the other or inherently has more “soul” they’re supposed to go together and it’s really all up to what you personally prefer.
You prefer a character-driven narrative that’s more light and humorous in tone, that’s fine but that doesn’t objectively make the manga “badly written.” For others that prefer a more serious story and darker take on the Magical Girl concept that trims out all the filler fluff and gets straight to the point while being purely plot focused, the manga is a better match. Ideally to get the full experience you would need to consume both as each makes up for what the other lacks.
Anyways you’re still early days in the 90’s anime, where virtually everyone agrees it’s overall superior to it’s manga counterparts... Just wait until you get to the SuperS and Stars seasons though.
Also if you’re primarily looking for character development I suggest taking a look into PGSM, the live-action version. It only does up to the Dark Kingdom arc but it’s the best iteration of it imo. Makes the 90’s anime look absolutely juvenile in comparison when it comes to characterization.
