Usagi's Diary ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ A tribute to the stupidity of the Japanese version of Sailor Moon. This is for all of you who say that the Japanese version is soooo much better than the dub. Here is the summary I wrote of a random episode, episode 114, fansubbed. I wrote this as I watched. This episode was on my computer and it had been the last subtitled one I watched for a year or so. Now, watching my first subbed episode in a long time, I wonder how anyone can stand this for a minute, let alone the five minutes I had to spend watching the thing (I skipped to a random middle part)! Um, if you are really worried about this episode being spoiled, don't read this. I don't know if it'd really spoil the episode or what since I didn't even summarise the whole thing, but oh well... I made a point not to edit this after writing it, so this is a true account of what I felt while I was actually watching the show. (Okay, so I was too lazy to edit, big deal...)
Episode Intro: Well, it starts out with a sqeaky voice, presumably Serena's. (oops, Usagi's... Oh no, I have just commited the most awful sin of Sailor Moon fandom... Gasp!) "What is your name? What is your dream?" the voice sqeaks. Well, that *is* a nice, poetic way to begin a conversation... "It might be difficult, but with persistence and a strong will, your dream will come true!" Come on, we're trying to watch a mindless cartoon here... If we wanted corny clichéd morals we'd watch Cinderella. The scenes show what's-her-name with the red hair (not Molly, that evil girl from Witches # or whatever) twirling in front of a cheering crowd, then facing off against Venus... Yay, I SO can't wait to see *this* episode, I *wonder* what it'll be about? Red-hair is now twirling with a sparkly stick. What else is new? The caption reads "Say good-bye to the bad girl and always be a good girl." I'm not kidding. Boy the Japanese have a talent for meaningless dialogue.
Theme Song:
Oop, now we see that there are several girls on big posts... the scouts, of course... Scouts *always* like standing on posts in the middle of the night. And who is that on the highest, middle post, in front of the moon (which is, as usual, in some sort of perma-eclipsed state)? Gee, Sailor Moon? Meanwhile, pink petals fly around. Whoa! Sudden zoom in on Serena's face! Talk about startling! The music suddenly picks up the pace, and morphs into the regular them song...
She flies into the air, we get another oh-so-pleasant close up. Then suddenly all the other scouts come from the side of the screen... Appearing out of nowhere. Now, they're flying and suddenly it's night again. Zoom out. The moon is still in perma-eclipse, but it's different than in the previous two scenes. Must've paid the animators overtime for this one. Now, the semi-transparent Sm logo flutters around the screen, before solidifying. HOT PINK Japanese words appear on top of it, which say "Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon," with a big fancy S for "Super." Whoo, the song has started! Bubbles everywhere... I won't go into the animation here, but let's examine this oh-so-great JAPANESE theme song... During this song, the animation is typical Scouts-looking-sad and scouts-flying-around and such. These two images fly by really quickly at some point so that they can corrupt the children and excite the old men without parents complaining.
CAPITALISED words are spoken in English, in the middle of all the Japanese... I sounds awfully silly.
Honestly, that's the same kind of nonsensical crap as the episode intro. At least the English theme has SOMETHING to do with the show. This only has random mentions of "moon" and "stars." And "sparkles!" Seriously, it sounds like they wanted to save money and bought lyrics off some high-school garage-band for ten bucks. This has got to be the crappiest theme song ever! Of course, pretty much all the other Japanese theme songs *also* have nothing at all to do with the anime they're in front of... The Show Itself:
I'm too scared to continue. I'm afraid if I see this I'll be scarred for life. Random Part of the Episode:
Whoops, it turns out the one who actually SAID oh-no was Mimet, behind her. She looks all distressed too. "I thought I could get a glimpse of him!" she cries. Awww... Poor babies didn't get to see their favourite male star. That is SO corny I won't even talk about it anymore. A light beam seems to shoot out of Venus's head, and the background goes black. "YOU!" she says, lookin' mean. Mimet replies with an equally intelligent "YOU!" Behind her head there are little thunderbolts.
Conclusion: I am totally sick of watching this. But anyways, now you see a JAPANESE episode of Sailor Moon. Oh, it's SO absolutely fantabulous! Aren't us "dubbies" or whatever really missing something or what? I might do another episode or another part of this one, if my point hasn't come across. Then again, I might not.
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