But Is It Canon?

One of the things that bugs me about the whole Sailor Moon fandom thing is that a lot of people seem to think that there's only one possible storyline that is "the real story", and will only accept that one (ie, the manga) as canon. Which tends to lead to a lot of rather high-nosed snootiness from some people about those who like the anime and the live-action series.

That seems pretty narrow-minded. Yes, there was only one series that was 100% wholly created by Naoko Takeuchi, the manga. But the reality is that she was involved with the creation and development of the other two major Sailor Moon series, the BSSM anime and the PGSM live-action series. Both went in different directions from the manga, but both are also officially sanctioned and contain almost all of the same characters as the manga.

In my opinion, we have several canonical plot lines, none of which are automatically superior to the other. Just like in Superman, Batman, and a dozen other hero series, there will be many new storylines, and as they are all authorized, they become part of the whole metaseries. None is really superior to the other, from an objective perspective.

I mean, really, if you only have one canon, and declare everything else to be inferior and therefore useless if it doesn't follow the canon, don't you wind up repeating the exact same story over and over again? How boring is that? That's why I'm actually kinda glad that PGSM slightly reinvented the series when it came out a few years ago - I don't think it would have been half as interesting if they had replayed the exact same plots and scripts from the aniem BSSM or the manga version, just with live human beings. That's an interesting concept in theory, but I think it'd be very hard to carry for 50+ episodes.

The reality is that if Sailor Moon is to survive as a metaseries that reaches the consciousness of the masses over the long-term, it's going to have to continue to be reinvented in different ways and different series over time. As long as those series are created by, or contributed to, by Naoko Takeuchi herself - or authorized by her - they should be treated as a separate canon and of equal validity. Alternatively, the series can die out in terms of popularity, and we can wind up reading the same mangas over and over again into infinity. Personally, I'd choose the first option.

1st Non-Moon-Related Post...Enjoy!

Just so you know, I'm likely to go off-topic on this blog every now and again. Being that there's a first time for everything, I thought I'd start today.

It occurs to me that only rarely can we Americans (sorry, Canadians, I can't vouch for you) truly capture the essence of how massively Japan butchers our culture and language. (I don't say that in a mean or negative way, mind you - more in a lighthearted, Andy Rooney-ish way. Only I'm younger and better looking. What? It's true.) Well, I was looking for Sailor Moon Hell last night on YouTube, and totally out of the blue, I mean 100% randomly, I found the perfect parody of Japanese engrishness.

With that in mind, please to enjoy Episode 1 of the Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show:



I want to spin the Wheel of Fun...

Sailor Moon Hell...Hola, Adios?

First off, I want to apologize for the background. I'll get it fixed up eventually so that it doesn't repeat across the page the way it's doing now. Promise.

When I started this blog on Tuesday, I didn't get a chance to write about what I had just finished watching, which is possibly the funniest thing I have seen in the last 6 months. It's called Sailor Moon Hell.

If you've seen it already, you know what I'm talking about. So skip this paragraph and move on to the next one. If you haven't, it's a series of "episodes" on YouTube, where this dude Tenchichan has edited together clips of PGSM and slapped on fake subtitles that put words in the girls' mouths that, um, weren't exactly there in the original. So, for example, Usagi has turned into an obsessed, drug-addicted lunatic (oh, the puns...) that is bent on ending the world every time some little thing goes wrong. Luna has the attitude of a 40-year-old black woman. And Minako transforms into Sailor...genetalia. (Of course, Mio is still a crazy, demented psychopath - some things never change) It's R-rated fun (that is, if anything on YouTube was rated by the MPAA) and definitely NSFW.

Or, at least it was. As of today, Sailor Moon Hell is gone from YouTube, deleted in the last 24 hours. Which sucks, because it's a project that really deserves to be seen. Actually, that's not entirely true - there is the trailer for episode VI still left, at least for the moment:



The guy also had a project called Kill Beryl, which is a parody of Kill Bill with PGSM footage. Here's to hoping that this guy gets a torrent or a web site going, because the world deserves to see this stuff.

FOLLOW-UP: I forgot to mention that there were 6 total episodes, each about 20 minutes long - although the final episode was more like 35-40 minutes long. That episode contained mostly footage from the PGSM Special Act, so it felt more like a special.

Also, one of the great things about SMH was the "commercial breaks", in which they parodied Japanese commercials that ran during PGSM. The funniest commercials, though, were the trailers for Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, which had me rolling on the floor. I think once this guy finishes Kill Beryl, he oughtta work on a full-length Power Rangers parody. If he hasn't already.

What The Heck Is This Place?

Okay, so hey, how're ya doin', nice to see ya, etc.

I think it's probably a good idea for me to introduce myself before this little party gets started. The name's Brian+, and I go by the name "Adonis" online. I have gone by this name for the past decade, on and off (mostly ; it's a holdover from an old Sailor Moon radio play that never got produced wherein I was to play a character named, oddly enough, Adonis. Funny how that works, huh? *

You might wonder what the deal with me is. This is it:

Years ago, I was a Sailor Moon fan. Which begat a fascination with anime, which begat a love for fandubs/subs/radio plays/doujinshi, etc. Then I got burned out on the whole thing, and stepped back into the real world. I graduated from college, got a job, a career, a girlfriend, and so on. In other words, I grew up. However, as of late, I've gotten back into the whole scene - particularly the Sailor Moon and fandub/radio play thing - thanks to my goddaughter, who I quite accidentally got into watching and loving Sailor Moon. So now I'm somewhat fixated on the show once again, hence the blog.

So here's the deal with this place: I'm going to post whatever I can about the series on a semi-regular basis. My objective is to maintain another place for Sailor Moon news and discussion online, on the theory that more discussion will help develop and grow the SM fan community. Which used to be quite large, obviously, back in the day. I also want this place to be a place to gather a solid set of links to SM discussion forums, information sites, and fan projects. Mostly, this is out of selfish laziness - I have multiple computers and can't bookmark every SM site I visit in one links file, sooo...voila, blog. Bam! But it's also in the hope that this will help others visit and patronize some quality sites and further discussion within the Sailor Moon online fan community.

Okay, good. We have a purpose. Sound good? Good. Great, let's get started. ^^

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+ Real names may vary.

* (Editor's Note: In 1997, when this thing was being produced, I was not aware that there was a Codename wa Sailor V character with that name. Sorry, I'm not that clever)

Howdy, Irrashai And All That Jazz...

Paint's still drying, folks...Don't mind me while I move into this place. It'll be a bit before I get everything looking as it should, so bear with me. In the meantime, please to enjoy this lovely Sailor Luna clip, filled with sugary PGSM goodness:



(There, have I sent you running and screaming in terror? Good. I need some alone time.)