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True, the main plot was actually ok, the trio was very well characterized, just they could probably move the plotline quicker.
Likes:
ChibiNehellenia
You can say a lot about the slow story progression and lack of Outers, but SuperS had a very strong emphasis on it's themes. You had dreams and some fairy tale stuff, obviously, but you also had the contrast between childhood and adulthood and people's different perspectives on it.
The first half had a contrast between Chibiusa's sweet and innocent outlook on life and a relationship developing with a magic talking horse. Meanwhile you have the nightmarish Dead Moon Circus' Amazon Trio, going to bars, checking out on potential victims of the week based on how attractive they find them before going out, (attempting to) seduce them, then attacking them in a way that reminds you of sexual assault. It portrays the world of children as something pure and innocent, and the world of adults as evil, filthy, corrupt, dangerous, and without dreams. The Trio don't actually care about dreams themselves until Fisheye starts to question their existence and it sort of becomes a pretty different take on The Little Mermaid. That's what I saw the last part as, anyways.
The second half features the Amazon Quartet, all of them with a case of Peter Pan Syndrome and a child-like cruel callousness towards all the suffering they cause (except maybe JunJun in that one episode). PallaPalla in particular has a pretty sadistic streak in her, but she always treated it like a game. Unlike the Trio, they *do* have dreams and cherish them above everything else. Including the well-being of other people and even themselves. They never want to grow up because they believe becoming an adult means you'll lose your dreams. Nehelenia herself holds these beliefs to an even more extreme degree and and literally says would rather be stuck in a mirror all alone forever than give up her dream and grow up. On a side note, she refers to the Lemures, the people who's dream mirrors she devoured, as "animated corpses." I kinda wonder if Ikuhara or Enokido were trying to tell kids that people who truly have no dreams are basically zombies, not adults.
Throughout all this, the Senshi never fear growing up, never lose their dreams despite having to put them aside for their duty, never fall for Zirconia's attempt to trick them into running away to pursue their dreams by themselves (and probably act like the Quartet, if Usagi seeing a vision of the other four girls as kids before meeting her illusion meant anything). Chibiusa in particular matures quite a bit through meeting Helios and all the random people she encountered throughout the season. They're all going to grow up together and make their dreams come true together.
I'm not saying SuperS is my favorite season, that it didn't have some glaring issues, or even that they pulled off everything I described perfectly. But I do think the way it stuck to it's guns on the themes it introduced is one of it's strongest points. If you compare it to Utena, you can really see how Ikuhara and Enokido dabbled in the concepts they later explored more in the latter.
The first half had a contrast between Chibiusa's sweet and innocent outlook on life and a relationship developing with a magic talking horse. Meanwhile you have the nightmarish Dead Moon Circus' Amazon Trio, going to bars, checking out on potential victims of the week based on how attractive they find them before going out, (attempting to) seduce them, then attacking them in a way that reminds you of sexual assault. It portrays the world of children as something pure and innocent, and the world of adults as evil, filthy, corrupt, dangerous, and without dreams. The Trio don't actually care about dreams themselves until Fisheye starts to question their existence and it sort of becomes a pretty different take on The Little Mermaid. That's what I saw the last part as, anyways.
The second half features the Amazon Quartet, all of them with a case of Peter Pan Syndrome and a child-like cruel callousness towards all the suffering they cause (except maybe JunJun in that one episode). PallaPalla in particular has a pretty sadistic streak in her, but she always treated it like a game. Unlike the Trio, they *do* have dreams and cherish them above everything else. Including the well-being of other people and even themselves. They never want to grow up because they believe becoming an adult means you'll lose your dreams. Nehelenia herself holds these beliefs to an even more extreme degree and and literally says would rather be stuck in a mirror all alone forever than give up her dream and grow up. On a side note, she refers to the Lemures, the people who's dream mirrors she devoured, as "animated corpses." I kinda wonder if Ikuhara or Enokido were trying to tell kids that people who truly have no dreams are basically zombies, not adults.
Throughout all this, the Senshi never fear growing up, never lose their dreams despite having to put them aside for their duty, never fall for Zirconia's attempt to trick them into running away to pursue their dreams by themselves (and probably act like the Quartet, if Usagi seeing a vision of the other four girls as kids before meeting her illusion meant anything). Chibiusa in particular matures quite a bit through meeting Helios and all the random people she encountered throughout the season. They're all going to grow up together and make their dreams come true together.
I'm not saying SuperS is my favorite season, that it didn't have some glaring issues, or even that they pulled off everything I described perfectly. But I do think the way it stuck to it's guns on the themes it introduced is one of it's strongest points. If you compare it to Utena, you can really see how Ikuhara and Enokido dabbled in the concepts they later explored more in the latter.
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I'd need to rewatch it to say for sure (haven't seen SuperS or R in years), but I probably wouldn't like it as much as the other seasons just because it focuses so heavily on Chibiusa. I really wasn't a fan of her anime portrayal. I do like the Amazoness Quartet, however. I'd imagine animating their hair must've been a nightmare...
Likes:
FloraKiraraHime
Okay, I've finished rewatching S, and now I've started SuperS. It's okay so far - nothing really wrong with it, and Chibiusa isn't as grating as I remember - but it does seem like a downgrade after S. S was darker and the stakes seemed a lot higher than in the previous seasons. There was lots of apocalyptic Biblical imagery, and it could get creepy and actually frightening at times. The Death Busters seemed like the biggest threat yet, and Pharaoh 90 was a downright eldritch abomination from another dimension. The Dead Moon Circus isn't really that impressive in comparison, though the characters are fun in their own way (I especially love the dub voices Viz picked for the Amazon Trio, and it's really funny to me that out of the Amazon Trio Fisheye seems the least flamboyant thus far). Then there's Pegasus, who... well, honestly, if he hadn't been in the manga I would've assumed he was added to sell toys. It's a little... saccharine, even for a show like Sailor Moon.
I think SuperS would've been better received if it had been changed to come before S instead of after. In terms of escalating threats, Dark Kingdom > Black Moon > Dead Moon > Death Busters > Shadow Galactica makes more sense to me.
I think SuperS would've been better received if it had been changed to come before S instead of after. In terms of escalating threats, Dark Kingdom > Black Moon > Dead Moon > Death Busters > Shadow Galactica makes more sense to me.
I rewatched SuperS again since I was home so much at the start of the pandemic and it really changed my former opinion of the season. There is more pink and Chibi-Usa by ten but I didn't mind it this time around. I found Circus theme was very charming. Their monsters-of-the-week were well thought out. And the Amazon Trio completely won me over as a favorite villain group from the series. They were hilariously inept. It was a more straightforward season from the others so I can definitely understand the criticism. Also, Sailor Moon's sudden inability to destroy a monster without Pegasus/Chibi-Usa is annoying. The last few episodes with Queen Nehelenia finally breaking through were top notch Sailor Moon for me. Her twisted motivation was a nice change from the usual blob of energy.
Likes:
FloraKiraraHime
Yes. It focused too much on Chibiusa and not enough on the other main characters. The format started to get more boring especially with the fillers and it doesn't help that there wasnt any new sailor senshi introduced in this season.
Likes:
Crystal Moon
yeah, Chibi-Usa’s one of the biggest problems of... the whole series honestly.
Likes:
foenyanko and Onuzim Ima
Just finished binging Supers. It isn't really bad, but it isn't really stand-out either. It's definitely a bit of a let-down after the rollercoaster that was S.
I liked the circus theme, but I feel like it wasn't explored to its fullest potential. There was only one episode where an actual circus show took place. Some of the Lemures seen goofing around in the circus tent were really trippy to look at, and I wish that surrealism had been fully exploited in the finale - something with visuals like Labyrinth Labyrinthos would've been really cool.
The pacing seemed off. It felt like it took forever for things to happen to move the plot along, so a lot of episodes ended up feeling sort of pointless. I think the first few episodes of Stars should've been moved back to Supers and some of the unnecessary Supers episodes could've been cut out, and then Stars could've been a longer season with a drawn out Odyssey-like "hero's journey" as the conclusion (as it was in the manga).
I liked the circus theme, but I feel like it wasn't explored to its fullest potential. There was only one episode where an actual circus show took place. Some of the Lemures seen goofing around in the circus tent were really trippy to look at, and I wish that surrealism had been fully exploited in the finale - something with visuals like Labyrinth Labyrinthos would've been really cool.
The pacing seemed off. It felt like it took forever for things to happen to move the plot along, so a lot of episodes ended up feeling sort of pointless. I think the first few episodes of Stars should've been moved back to Supers and some of the unnecessary Supers episodes could've been cut out, and then Stars could've been a longer season with a drawn out Odyssey-like "hero's journey" as the conclusion (as it was in the manga).
Likes:
ChibiNehellenia
Yeah. It just goes no where when the Amazoness Quartet. I'm really disappointed how Elysion looked base on Nehellenia's flash back. It looks like a typical greek temple in the middle of a regular forest. Not sure what happened to the crystal forest from the opening and with the Amazon Trio's souls staying in that place. Wasted potential.
Likes:
ChibiNehellenia
The former is the VIP Area, that's restricted to the Royals and their Associates. The latter is (usually) for the common folks. At times, so it seems, you're not even granted the 'Privilige' of wearing clothes out there. 