Forum - View topicREVIEW: Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie and Ami's First Love Special
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Sailor Sedna
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Excellent review. The original uncut version of the English dub of this film was what introduced me to Sailor Moon (I was about I think 10 or something when I first saw it), and whilst the Japanese version is still better, I'm interested in seeing how the dub will play out too...and yeah, the short with Ami definitely was hilarious and top notch too, showed another, funnier, different side of Ami to us that still kept her in character, plus the first OVA (it's sometimes referred to as one) I saw too. I wish Aqua Mirage did appear again, but at least we get to see Mercury destroy an enemy solo. It was also, in my opinion, the only good of the short stories besides Casablanca Memory (Jupiter's had stupid dialogue, Mars and Venus' was annoying and creepy, the Chibi Moon ones weren't that great/annoying, the Kaguya one was a more boring version of the S movie and the Parallel Moon was just stupid and mean spirited throughout). I kinda liked Ami's helmet hair though, but it's still very pretty either way. And it may be just me, but she could be just as silly as her teammates in the show too, in her own way.
This film definitely is the best animated of the three and of anything in the Sailor Moon universe, and the action is good, plus the story and music have a nice fairy-tale feel to it. I totally agree also that this film restored Usagi's progress as a character too. I do agree though, in the SuperS movie, the Outers don't really do all that much in here too, but to be fair, I think I know why: one reason SuperS was detested at the time was because the Outers didn't show up to help, so they probably had to rush it into there or make it something so the fans of those Sailors would be happy/satisfied. At least the Inners did still get time to shine in it too, and I like how Usagi still remembers her friends' voices too before her Crystal restores their transformations: it shows she still thinks of and cares about her friends too and that they're still important too. The biggest flaw I have with the film though is this: Badiane has no backstory at all really and is just trying to capture children and use their Sugar Energy for world domination for...reasons (the original dub did have her say "A lovely dream I've had for a long time!" but it doesn't do too much). It doesn't bring down the film though. Originally though, this film had a different plot idea: it would have been Neptune sleeping in some place called "The End of the World" for 1000 years with Uranus trying to rescue her, and Moon would have fought her on a white pegasus with Uranus on a black one. It didn't get used though, which was one reason Ikuhara left, and he later would reuse this concept in Utena. Though this may be a bit off topic, I did like your review on the R movie too and thought it was superb (arrived too late to post a comment on it) I thought the S movie (which, while I like, I don't understand how people think it's the best of the three and it is very overrated in my eyes) would be reviewed next oddly though....or did I miss that one? Last edited by Sailor Sedna on Sat Aug 04, 2018 9:51 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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belvadeer
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It did also appear in the Sailor Moon Another Story RPG. It was great to spam for level ups. |
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Cardcaptor Takato
 Posts: 4824 |
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The SuperS movie is typically panned for it's Chibiusa centric focus and having a more simple plot but I personally enjoy the movie a lot myself. I like how it has more of a European fairytale feeling to it as opposed to the more usual Greek and Japanese mythology inspired stories that the series typically draws inspiration from. I enjoy Chibiusa and Perle's relationship which I think has better chemistry than Chibiusa and Helios in the TV series. I also like Chibiusa actually has her own attack in this movie with the Double Moon Gorgeous Meditation attack which is what I wish she had in the SuperS TV series too. I also agree that the SuperS movie and Ami's First Love special have the best animation out of the entire franchise. The evil fairies and monsters all have unique character designs and I love the design of Badiane's castle. I thought Badiane's goal to trap the children in the Black Dream hole so she can create a world without any suffering was enough motivation for a filler in movie villain.
In spite of the SuperS movie being derided for a simplistic plot, I appreciate that it has a thoughtful message that growing up can be difficult and hard but it's the hard experiences in life that makes life worth living which is pretty deep for a filler in movie for a magical girl series for kids. I thought the Outers had just enough spotlight in the movie that they're there long enough to show off their attacks and provide some fanservice for their fans but they don't end up overwhelming the plot or taking the spotlight away from the Inners. I only wish Sailor Saturn could have been in the movie too and gotten a chance to use an attack given how sparse she's used in the anime. As much as I respect Ikuhara as a master genius, I feel like his original concept for the SuperS movie would have been too surreal and wouldn't fit in with the overall tone of the franchise, so I can see why Toei rejected it. And if we got the Utena movie as a result, I think it works out for the best in the long run they didn't use his idea because the Utena movie is a masterpiece. I love the Ami's First Love special and it's one of my favorite anime specials. I love we get to see Ami opening up more and showing more of her comedic side. The animation in the special is simply gorgeous and I love Ami's new transformation and attack. Speaking of Crystal, the third season bases it's stock footage animation for Mercury Aqua Mirage in that season on the animation for the attack in this special. This special is also sadly the last appearances of Naru and Umino in the anime. The ending theme, Rashiku Ikimasho, is also one of my favorite Sailor Moon ending themes. I wasn't able to make it to see the S and SuperS movies in theaters though I was lucky to see the R movie in theaters last year. Hopefully we'll get a release date for the DVDs for both movies soon. But I wonder if they'll release the S and SuperS movies in separate releases or release the movies in a boxset? |
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jr240483
 Posts: 4378 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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kinda surprised that their even releasing the Super S movie before the S movie especially since its considered by diehard moonie fans to be the worst movie while the S is considered to be the best of the three!
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GeorgeC
Posts: 795 |
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Frankly, from what I remember, I liked the Sailor Moon S the best of the three films. I liked the fact that it wove in the Princess Kaguya (first time I was exposed to that legend in animation, well before I saw Takahata's last feature film) and introduced a nice human design for Luna. It also illustrated how wrong-headed the DiC casting for Luna was! Shoulda cast a voice that sounded like a teenage girl/young woman instead of a middle-aged British governess. It just did NOT work with the character... It was definitely the wrong choice for that feature film.
Oh, the other thing I wanted to mention. There IS another Sailor Moon short featuring Sailors Uranus and Neptune where Uranus has to take care of an ill Neptune in their civilian identities. I know it exists because I have it on a laserdisc I ordered it through another fan in the mid-1990s.. It was on an LD that had concert footage of the voice actresses performing in front of thousands(?) of male fans. So, to say there wasn't adult fandom of Sailor Moon is to fly in the face of this video (and other concert footage I'm sure) as well as all the guys in their 20s, 30s, and 40s I saw being Sailor Moon laserdiscs at Anime Expo in 1994! SM has been cosplayed forever... It never really disappeared from the cosplay scene for any length of time. |
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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Once we get past the "gimmicks" of each character in the first Sailor Moon series, the long-run appeal is the quirky imperfect way those gimmicks keep tripping up their daily lives: Minako/Venus is pretty and confident, but she's also an impulsive lunatic...Mako/Jupiter is a tough fighter, but she's embarrassed she can't be seen for her "girl's" side of flowers and cooking, and constantly chases the Boy Who Looks Like Her Senpai... And Ami is the study-champ genius, but by the time we get to the running "I'm...not really a raging Three Lights fangirl!  " jokes in Sailor Stars, her appeal is that she's spent so much time believing "her life was study", she doesn't know how to let out her emotional fun side, and stubbornly refuses to admit it exists.
Ami's deadpan spoof of her "Oh no, Love is causing all my math notes to leave my head!" fears is a perfect piece to show mainstream newbies who don't know why fans would be so attached to a "girls' afternoon show". |
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here-and-faraway
 Posts: 1528 Location: Sunny California |
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I saw the dub in the theater today and really enjoyed the experience as well as the film.The theater was almost full and it was fun to see the variety of people who were there... parents with daughters wearing Usagi buns (the little girl who sat next to me wants to be Sailor Mercury for Halloween), teenagers in cosplay, older couples, and 40+ year old daughters with their mothers. I loved seeing all the generations show up for the special one time event.
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belvadeer
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Wasn't it Neptune had to take care of Uranus when she was ill? It was an in-between episode during SuperS. Viz included it with the first volume release of the Blu-ray. |
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Sailor Sedna
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@belvadeer
Yup, that game was cool too. I do wish they would have done other episodes with the Inner Sailors, or hell, why not make a movie about that, maybe have it be about them doing their exam battles (but get rid of the stupid dialogue it had like Jupiter thinking "I don't care if I become fat or I don't go to high school"  ) whilst fighting against those villains like Bonnun and Touhi Chan, and it gets revealed they're minions of some evil big bad villain or something, and the Sailors defeat him, etc.
I myself also don't know why they didn't subtitle the songs, that's a similar problem I'm noticing with a lot of Crunchyroll streaming anime nowadays...
Yeah, I don't understand how not a lot of people like it, sometimes simplicity is a good thing for a movie and stories. I have heard that the reason Saturn doesn't appear is because otherwise the villains would have been too easily defeated, but yeah, it would have helped added some more depth to the film had she been in there, considering she became friends with Chibi-Usa in S and they had a strong friendship. Honestly if I did this movie, I'd have had Hotaru somehow grow back into her 12 year old form, meet Chibi-Usa and have the film be focused on them, imagine how that would have been! @jr240483 The S movie was the weakest to me. As much as I love Luna, the film focuses way too much on her, the Sailors hardly get to do anything in the movie, Chibi Moon barely has any screentime at all in there, and the action feels sparse compared to the other two (the manga version was worse as the Inners were, just like in Crystal, made useless so the Outers could look good) Then there's Luna ignoring her future husband Artemis, whilst focusing on and falling in love with Kakeru instead (and it's even worse in the manga version when you consider Diana's there, way to be a good mother/role model for your daughter, Luna)...and it makes that horrible episode in SuperS when Diana first appeared (one of the rare episodes of Sailor Moon I disliked) even worse as it makes Luna a total hypocrite. And it may be just me, but now when I hear human Luna speaking, all I'm hearing is Saori Kido/Athena... 
Last edited by Sailor Sedna on Sat Aug 04, 2018 9:41 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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Cardcaptor Takato
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Cutiebunny
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I'm a big fan of Miho Shimogasa, so Ami-chan no Hatsukoi will always hold a special spot in my heart. Shimogasa gives Ami all those comical expressions. You can always tell when she had a dominating role in the animation process of any SuperS and Sailorstars episode.
This was the first of the three movies I saw, back when Sailor Moon was first released in the US and the only way you could pretty much find 'new' stuff was to either know a fansubber (insert memories of VKLL) or head down to your local Japantown or Chinatown for imports. I remember buying a nth copy Cantonese subtitled version of this movie in Chinatown in 1997 and was absolutely floored when I saw the Super transformations of the Senshi...along with the fact that the pink spore eventually became a Sailor Soldier, and Uranus, Neptune and Pluto existed. This was back when the internet was in its infancy, kiddos, and there were no video streaming sites. We had 1.5 seasons of dubbed Sailor Moon in the US and that was it until Cartoon Network decided to release the rest of R in 2000. Now get off my lawn! |
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katscradle
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Yes this! I’ve still got an old release of the SuperS movie on DVD. I've rewatched it several times over the years and it is still my favourite of the three. So I’m bummed I don’t have a chance to see it in the theatre. I want to hear the new English dub too. Home video release dates can't be announced soon enough. |
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Cardcaptor Takato
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Chiibi
 Posts: 4829 |
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Such a nostalgic movie for me. I'm bummed I missed the theatrical re-release!
This was my first experience with Japanese Sailor Moon EVER. I still have the fansubbed VHS somewhere! Bought it (yes bought) back around 1999 at some anime store in Phoenix, Arizona. xD This is also my favorite of the three movies (not just because it's visually gorgeous) but also because Usagi really shines in it. Chibi-Usa feels much like a sub-plot in this one since she spends most of it unconscious (haha yessss stupid brat); it's definitely Usagi's movie. But the best part is seeing ALL the child inner senshi during the opening credits; too effin adorable for words. I think I only read Ami's Hatsukoi in the manga and it's amusing....but....who the hell is "allergic to romance"!? That's a trope that was always so dumb to me; every time I see it, I'm like  I guess it can cause stress and things like that but NOBODY gets hives or actual illnesses from "love". Geh, stupid. But again, Ami and Rei have been my least favorites of the senshi. Rei because she's too b*chy and Ami because she's too ridiculous. I mean, removed from reality.
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NJ_
 Posts: 3009 Location: Wallington, NJ |
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Yeah and it was the second mini-episode of that special. Plus the way Viz handled that was interesting because, in addition to releasing it with the first set (which was a pretty big deal in itself because both Italy & France previously released it separately), they had it placed within the main episodes (between 131 & 132 like the order it was broadcast) AND as an extra. |
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