Sailor Moon Cosmos is the The Last Airbender of the Sailor Moon franchise. It makes Sailor Moon Sailor Stars look competent by comparison.
For my comparisons of Sailor Moon Cosmos, feel free to keep reading. There will be spoilers.
While the modern adaptation has been far more successful in faithfully adapting the original manga, Cosmos is where it completely falls apart. As I wrote in my review of the films, Cosmos should have been a traditional TV season rather than two films. It was the animated equivalent of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender by compressing a multi-part narrative into two feature-length films with limited run times.
In a way, it was actually inferior to Sailor Moon Sailor Stars. Even if some concepts were wasted over on that show, such as the high school setting, at least it had time to develop the characters. It also knew when to slow down and give the viewer a moment to breathe, whereas Cosmos felt like watching a badly sped-up NASCAR race.
As for comparisons between the two, there are plenty.
Mamoru’s Death by Galaxia: In Stars, she took his Star Seed mid-flight. In Cosmos, it happens at the airport right in front of Usagi. This was effective in the latter due to how abrupt it felt compared to the former’s prolonged reveal.
Sailor Uranus’ Slap: In Stars, it was towards Sailor Moon after siding with Galaxia. In Cosmos, it was towards Venus after a fight. It worked in both cases, but the former carried more of an emotional impact.
The Identity Reveals: In Stars, it took place on a plane when a monster was about to attack the Guardians and Starlights. In Cosmos, it happened at school when the former confronted the latter about Usagi. It was far more effective in Stars by how the Starlights felt betrayed by the Guardians, whereas in Cosmos it was a nothingburger.
The Guardians’ Deaths: In Stars, Galaxia killed off the Inner Guardians, Neptune and Uranus, while the latter two killed Saturn and Pluto. In Cosmos, Galaxia turned them all to sand. Neither was effective as they all were the magical girl equivalent of a one-sided fist fight, although Uranus and Neptune’s brief betrayal was a decent twist.
The Sailor Starlights’ Fate: In Stars, they survive the final battle. In Cosmos, they die onscreen and get revived offscreen. It was far more effective in Cosmos by how they actually contributed something to the fight, whereas in Stars they turned into the peanut gallery once the fight became a one-on-one between Sailor Moon and Galaxia.
Sailor Chibi Moon’s Time Erasure: In Stars, it occurs after Queen Nehellenia kept Mamoru trapped in her dimension for a certain amount of time. In Cosmos, it happens when Galaxia pushed Mamoru into the Cauldron. It was far more effective in Stars by being the straw that mentally broke Usagi, while in Cosmos it was as lackluster as the other deaths.
Chibi-Chibi’s Fate: In Stars, she was a piece of Galaxia. In Cosmos, she is Usagi from much further in the future. The former made sense as to why Galaxia was corrupted, whereas the latter was purely nonsensical.
Galaxia’s “Defeat”: In Stars, Usagi saves her by the power of love. In Cosmos, she sacrifices herself to give Sailor Moon what remained of her power. Neither was effective, the former being anticlimactic and the latter coming across as her giving up.
The Ending: Stars ends with Usagi and Mamoru kissing under the moonlight. Cosmos ends with them getting married and Usagi pregnant. Both worked, but the latter also served to fix plot holes left behind by Eternal and Crystal.
The Last Line: In Stars, Usagi recalled the opening lines from the very first episode. In Cosmos, Mamoru tells Usagi how beautiful she is. While both were effective, it felt odd in the latter how Mamoru got the last line after only showing up in the films for only a few minutes.
The films did have some decent moments, mostly in Part 2. It was nice seeing Sailor Chibi Moon and her Quartet get involved considering how Stars wrote them out entirely, but the latter being the survivors of the whole Sailor War was unintentionally weird.
I appreciate the films dropping the concept of Seiya romantically pursuing Usagi. It is easy to see how Stars got the idea in the first place by how she saw Usagi as someone similar to Princess Kakyuu.
Ikuku wondering if she saw Usagi off for the last time was a great moment. It felt the closest any adaptation ever explored the possibility of her discovering Usagi’s secret identity. It should have been expanded upon, with her family ultimately finding out at the end. Otherwise, the films ended by implying they died having never found out as they were nowhere to be seen at her wedding.
As for the revelation of Princess Serenity having no birth father, it felt like a hypocritical copout. After these films spent so much time introducing (and then killing off) more characters than an average season of Young Justice, why not bother introducing one more superfluous character?
It was also reminiscent of Anakin Skywalker’s origins in Star Wars, which heavily implied a similar scenario involving him and that franchise's fantastical powers. It is likely coincidental due to the original manga and prequel films being produced nearly a decade apart from one another.
Sailor Moon Cosmos is a lackluster finale, but does it ruin the overall modern adaption of the original manga?
Recently, Sailor Moon Cosmos began streaming on Netflix.
I had some thoughts on the films, to the point where I wrote down so many of them I realized it might have been too long for a traditional Tumblr post.
Even after cutting out spoilers, it still would have been far too long for Tumblr.
I did my best to convert it for Tumblr, as well as my podcast The Pop Culture Shuffle, but I decided to instead put it on my personal website.
You can read my review of Cosmos at this link.
While you’re there, check out my past reviews of other shows and films as well as some articles.
That is all for now, but I am planning to eventually produce one more comparison post as well as my final overall thoughts on the adaptation itself.
After a prolonged delay, the show's seventh season was overall decent.
For my final thoughts on Season 7 of The Loud House, feel free to keep reading. There will be spoilers.
The seventh season was overall decent, with a mixture of good and bad episodes. It continued the show's trend of balancing out stories between Lincoln and his friends as well as those involving his sisters, their friends, or the whole family.
It also had the show's first multi-part arc in the form of the Road Trip episodes. It was a fun storyline with the family going out of Royal Woods and traveling throughout the country. The arc allowed them to go places they might have normally not visited, such as Niagara Falls, the White House, and Route 66. The only downside was the finale, where the Louds go to Great Lakes City yet mostly avoid the Casagrandes until the last few minutes.
It was also the show's shortest season, with only 38 quarter-hour episodes within 20 half-hour blocks rather than the usual 26. This might have had something to do with the two films which came out during and after the season: Netflix's The Casagrandes Movie as well as the Paramount+ Original Film No Time To Spy.
Both productions presumably took up the missing blocks, as each ran the equivalent of six quarter-hour episodes. The former served as the spin-off's postscript, while the latter was Bentley Griffin's final appearance as Lincoln, long after being replaced halfway through this season with Sawyer Cole.
Despite the shorter episode count, this season still had a lot of stories that rarely involved the Louds themselves. It included episodes where Rusty and Morpheus (Lincoln and Lucy's respective friends) clashed with one another, Liam and his Mee Maw got rich, and even the older sisters' partners.
On that note, there were several good episodes.
Force of Habits: It affirmed Gavin as Leni's boyfriend and featured a rare interaction between him, Bobby, and Sam.
Party Fowl: This belated crossover with The Casagrandes has Sergio visit Royal Woods and wreak havoc with the Loud pets. It also serves as a follow-up to the latter group's past outings.
Doll Day Afternoon: From the Road Trip arc, it revealed the origins of Mr. Coconuts while also showing a rare glimpse into the family's past.
Leave No Van Behind: It expanded upon Vanzilla in a great story between Lynn Sr., Gramps, and Lana.
Twas the Fight Before Christmas: The latest holiday special expanded the Loud family by revealing Lynn's brother Lance and his own family (nicknamed by fans as the Loud Cousins) whom all happen to have names starting with S.
Said holiday episode also helped the show finally dethrone the original Rugrats to become Nickelodeon's second longest-running Nicktoon by episode count. Both it and The Fairly Odd Parents are still the second and third longest-running by length, respectively.
As to how is that possible, The Loud House was able to surpass both of their respective episode counts due to never having gone on hiatus. By contrast, both of those shows briefly stopped production (but were not technically canceled) during their long runs.
When it comes to the season's worst episodes...
Pranks Fore Nothing: A mostly dull adventure with Lori (and briefly Luan) at Fairway that best represented the show's difficultly in making exciting kid-friendly stories set within a university.
Bye Bye Birthday: While being the rare episode where a family member got older, with Lucy now being 9, it would have worked better if her spell was just a bad dream.
Fluff and Foiled: The Really Loud House episode "The Chore Thing" did a better take on the premise of Lincoln not wanting to do his chores.
There Will Be Mud: A lackluster parody of The Beverly Hillbillies involving Liam that has less of an ending and more of an abrupt stop.
Love Me Tenor: Of this season's episodes centering around Lincoln and his friends, this was the weakest by focusing on Gus and his singing in an underwhelming Season Finale.
If there were nitpicks to consider with the season, it would be Nickelodeon's bizarre scheduling. At one point, an entire week of premieres was delayed by several months. When they decided to finish airing the season, rather than spread out the remaining episodes over two weeks, Nickelodeon aired all of them within a single week so they could start airing Season 8 the following week.
Of what has aired of Season 8 so far, it changed up the status quo yet again by having Lori move back to Royal Woods but now living next door to the family in Mr. Grouse's garage. It now allows Lori to show up more often as opposed to contriving her way back home.
As for what to expect next on the show, following No Time To Spy, an hour-long Halloween special is expected to air this fall. In addition, the family will return to Europe in the form of a trip to London, which may or may not bring back a certain character from the first movie.
There is also the possibility that the former special will feature the long-awaited reveal of Lucy's eyes, as a storyboard of said moment leaked this past Spring.
Regardless of what happens next, the show should continue to get better and better.
The Loud House airs on Nickelodeon and streams on Paramount+.
Hey did you hear Digimon The Movie is getting a rerealse in HD.
Yes, and I am eager to see the multiple revised cuts of the films/shorts, especially since they omitted the infamous short (which is now officially lost media for good).
While it lacked any major changes, Season 6 of The Loud House built upon the fifth season with a variety of highs and lows.
For my thoughts on Season 6, feel free to keep reading. There will be spoilers.
The sixth season for the most part followed up on the fifth's change in the status quo by expanding upon the siblings. It also felt like the writers rectified some of the fifth season's flaws, as there were less episodes about Lincoln at school and more featuring his sisters to varying degrees. Nearly every sibling got an equal amount of episodes and Lily began to play a much more active role.
During the season's absurd length of 14 months, including hiatuses, the show saw both the end of The Casagrandes and premiere of its live action spinoff The Really Loud House. The former's cancelation appeared to occur at some point midseason, giving the show a chance to reintegrate Ronnie Anne and their respective original characters. Their reappearances were basically the spin-off's unproduced episodes, especially by how the Louds were often sidelined.
For Ronnie Anne, it marked her first appearance on the show since Season 4. It also followed up on the spin-off's finale with Bobby now living in his own apartment and Lori finally meeting his father Arturo.
Season 6 also surpassed The Fairly OddParents to become the third longest-running Nicktoon, with the season finale "Love Stinks" surpassing that show's individual segment count. It is an impressive feat considering how it took ten seasons over multiple hiatuses and inconsistent episode orders for OddParents to reach that goal, while this show did it after only six seasons with no breaks.
When it comes to the season's best episodes, there were a few.
The Taunting Hour: Seeing how people can't stand the family made this come across as an unofficial response by the show's writers to their online detractors.
Time Trap!: After teasing the concept, the show finally embraces time travel in a half-hour episode in the vein of Back to the Future.
Puns and Buns: A rare episode focusing on a supporting character, in this case Luan's boyfriend Benny.
Small Blunder: Lily plays an active role in this episode and for the first time ever speaks in full sentences.
Fashion No Show: This felt like a salvaged story from The Casagrandes, especially by how Carlota plays a bigger role compared to Leni. It finally offered the opportunity for the two fashionistas to clash in the perfect premise.
Despite those positives, there were still several bad ones.
Sofa, So Good: A retread of the ending of "Come Sale Away", right down to the siblings running around town, the only difference being Lily getting involved in lieu of Lori.
Eye Can't: A lackluster Lisa story that sets up a conflict about her eyesight but instead focuses too much on her robot Todd.
Sleepstakes: Lana's fears about sleepovers could have worked better with a sibling whose friends have previously appeared, such as Lucy, Lincoln, or even Lori (albeit the latter two as flashbacks).
Food Courting: This was straight up boring, and the most memorable thing to come out of it was a GIF of an excited Leni.
Doom Service: It tries to turn Vic (a recurring character) into an ongoing antagonist. Instead, it just comes across as being written by a fanfic writer who hated the show only to then be hastily rewritten to have a happy ending.
If there is anything else left to say about Season 6, it was overall enjoyable. Possibly the only other thing to say would be that it would have been great to see more stories with Luna and Sam as well as Benny and Luan.
Season 7 will be much shorter, with only 20 half-hour episodes rather than the usual 26. It remains to be seen if the show will get an eighth season. Considering Really got renewed for a second season and has an upcoming Halloween TV movie, the recently announced Casagrandes movie, and a second animated film (unintentionally confirmed via a LinkedIn profile), it is only a matter of time.
It will also break another record. At some point during Season 7, the show will surpass the episode count of the original Rugrats. By the end of Season 7, The Loud House will become the second longest-running Nicktoon (by episode count).
As for the upcoming season, it will feature the show's first serialized arc where the Louds go on a road trip. Within those episodes, they will visit not only Great Lakes City (the setting of The Casagrandes) but also the White House.
Hopefully, Season 7 will feature more great episodes and preferably less vitriol from certain commentators.
Remember when I wrote a whole post praising Young Justice?
It should have stayed canceled.
For my final thoughts on Young Justice, feel free to keep reading. There will be spoilers.
After becoming one of the most streamed shows on Netflix, and hashtags rivaling those of Zack Snyder's Justice League, Warner Bros revived Young Justice for DC Universe. It went on to stream for a season before being renewed and moved to HBO Max.
The revival set itself apart from the first two seasons by featuring more characters, mature stories, and death.
It was also very mediocre.
The show began introducing way too many characters, making it difficult for anyone to keep track of any single character.
Another problem was the animation. The revival used character designs from the DC Animated Movie Universe films (i.e. Justice League War). The designs were decent enough for those films but were a massive downgrade compared to the first two seasons.
The show's narrative was fine. It was good seeing these characters grow up, something that rarely happens on other shows aside from Dick Grayson becoming Nightwing.
However, the cliffhangers were detrimental. They did a good job setting up the next major threat, but at the cost of leaving things unresolved if the show got canceled again. It also became a heavily debated topic with certain fans.
Back in June, in response to a complaint about the show's lack of an proper ending, series creator Greg Weisman and executive producer Brandon Vietti talked about how they prefer "open-ended closure" and stated a proper ending would lack "realism" and damage the characters.
An open-ended note allows for the show to end on its own terms, yet risks leaving plot threads unresolved. It's understandable why fans want closure, but that is incompatible with the showrunners' goals.
It also makes watching the show both frustrating and difficult.
Unlike most superhero shows, Young Justice is serialized, making it impossible to start watching at any point other than the start. For example, if someone began with a random episode from Season 2, they would think Beast Boy and Miss Martian were siblings.
It's a general issue that plagues many serialized animated series, like Disney Channel's short-lived The Owl House, which is why they have all but been either dumped to streaming, written off, or canceled.
Young Justice is a good show, but only if you can keep up with the plot and increasing number of characters. You might enjoy it if you are a fan of the overall DC Universe. However, if you only care about Batman and Superman but could care less about Bumblebee or Spoiler, it will be a bigger struggle to enjoy.
Young Justice is available to stream on HBO Max (for now). The first three seasons are on Blu-ray and DVD. The complete series is also available to own on Digital.
Let's Talk #TheCasagrandes: Season 3 Final Thoughts
Time to start off 2023 with a belated final thoughts on the first Nicktoon to finish airing on Nickelodeon since 2016.
(Seriously.)
For my thoughts on the final season of The Casagrandes, feel free to keep reading. There will be spoilers.
Like The Loud House, the third season of The Casagrandes went even further away from the show's supposed main protagonist. Ronnie Anne still showed up every once in a while, but would be relegated to either a supporting role, a single line, or simply not show up. The focus now expanded to feature not only the rest of the family but also her friends and the Changs.
In a sad case of "too little, too late", the show also had proper crossover appearances with The Loud House. Lisa and Clyde showed up, the former without the lynchpin of either Lincoln or Lori.
Within the season, there were several great episodes.
Bunstoppable: The only episode to not feature any of the Casagrandes or Ronnie Anne, it is a hilarious fantastical story centering around the Changs.
Date With Destiny: The furthest the show ever explored Maria and Arturo's relationship, it is a good story with a semi-realistic ending.
Weather Beaten: It highlighted another notable piece of Latin American culture in the form of Tlaloc, the Aztec rain god.
Kick Some Bot: The first (and only) crossover with The Loud House to not involve Lincoln or Lori had Sid taking on Lisa in a robot competition.
Movers and Fakers: The unintentional Series Finale had Bobby moving out, setting up a new location with the unachieved possibility of more appearances by Lori.
By contrast, there were several duds.
Curse of the Candy Goblin: Of the show's many Halloween episodes, this was the weakest. There were a few good callbacks, but they could not make up for a very cliché story.
Phantom Freakout: The first (and only) time Lincoln and Clyde teamed up with Ronnie Anne and Sid (the latter in her final appearance to date), the episode felt tenuous for a half-hour. The premise could have worked much better as either a quarter-hour or as part of the graphic novels.
Salvador Doggy: Like with all of Frida's episodes, it had a few good jokes but not much else.
Silent Fight: A decent attempt at a silent episode that falters by not fully committing to the concept.
Alpaca Lies: A moronic episode harkening back to the "ignorant parent" cliché of the 90s. Had the show returned for a fourth season, Beto might have become Arturo's roommate.
As it unintentionally became the final season, there is a lack of finality with the spin-off. Bobby got the closest by now having his own place to live away from the family. It aligned with The Loud House by now having the oldest siblings living on their own, with the possibility of Bobby being demoted to a recurring role similar to Lori.
The characters have since been reintegrated into Season 6 of The Loud House. Their first appearance in "Great Lakes Freakout!" was overall great, with a good balance between the family and visiting Loud siblings. Had the show gotten a fourth season, it might have been its Season Premiere.
The third and final season of The Casagrandes built up on what came before by highlighting more characters and culture. While the family will continue to show up over on The Loud House, and possibly The Really Loud House, it will be an interesting challenge for the show to balance two whole sets of families.
In the meantime, there might be at least one more standalone adventure for the multigenerational Mexican-American family...
The Casagrandes streams on Paramount+.
Until next time, thank you for reading and Happy New Year!
After three seasons and 60 episodes, Nickelodeon's The Casagrandes has come to an end.
For Nickelodeon, it was something rare: An animated series about a multigenerational Mexican-American family.
For my final thoughts on The Casagrandes, feel free to keep reading. There will be spoilers.
When a traditional animated show features the whole family, they limit it to just parents, siblings, and the occasional pet. Additional relatives like aunts, uncles, or grandparents tend to only appear on special occasions or holiday episodes. The Casagrandes had them as part of the main ensemble, allowing for a wider range of stories.
Despite the large number of characters, every single family member and most of their friends got their moment to shine. Like The Loud House, as the show went on, it relied far less on its supposed main protagonist of Ronnie Anne. Several episodes from Season 3 had her either in the background, play a supporting role, or not show up. It helped expand upon the Changs, Ronnie Anne's friends, and her relatives with stories that did not necessarily need her involvement.
The show highlighted Latin American traditions such as Nochebuena, El Raton, and Dia de Los Muertos. For anyone who grew up with these traditions, it was great to see them presented in a very respectful manner without feeling contrived or tacked on.
It also had the rare feat of NOT ending its run on Nicktoons. The last time any Nicktoon accomplished that? Sanjay and Craig, also after three seasons and 60 episodes, in 2016.
With that noted, there were a couple of missed opportunities. The most obvious was the lack of crossovers with The Loud House.
Each season had at least one appearance by both Lori and Lincoln, with them either calling Bobby/Ronnie Anne, visiting Great Lakes, or both. The first season finale, "Cursed!", did feature the Loud family, but only Lisa would later make a second appearance. Clyde also showed up, albeit with Lincoln, in the show's final half-hour episode "Phantom Freakout".
In return, The Loud House cut back on appearances from the spin-off's characters after Season 4. Season 5 was the first to not feature Ronnie Anne at all, while Bobby only appeared whenever Lori showed up (including the live-action A Loud House Christmas). Even in The Loud House Movie, the show's only representation were the two in the Mercado. It would have been great to see more crossovers, but the spinoff likely wanted to avoid relying so much on its predecessor.
The show also avoided bringing up the elephant in the room of Bobby and Ronnie Anne's parents Arturo and Maria being either separated or divorced. The former was brought up in the first episode, while the only affirmation of the latter came from a text blurb about Arturo in the graphic novels.
Considering the seriousness of such a topic, one that has only been explored vaguely on other animated series, it was for the best the show didn't bring it up. The closest was in the episode "Date with Destiny", where the two try to get their parents back together but in the end accept their current situation.
If there is anything else the show could have done, it would have been great to see the whole family travel outside of Great Lakes and more episodes with the Changs.
Unlike most cancellations, this is not exactly the end for the Casagrandes. Some of the family members have begun to appear over on the current sixth season of The Loud House, with possibly more appearances next season.
It remains to be seen how this will continue to work, either by the characters conveniently meeting up, more reunions, or Ronnie Anne moving back to Royal Woods. The latter option seems very unlikely.
If Ronnie Anne were to move back to Royal Woods, what would happen to her extended family and the rest of Great Lakes? Even if the whole family moved, there would be no reason to go back to Great Lakes and subsequently lose a whole set of characters.
The Casagrandes differed from other animated series not only by its protagonist, but also by the multigenerational family aspect and exploration of Latin American traditions. For Nick, it was a rare Latino-centric Nicktoon, the only other notable ones being Dora The Explorer and El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera.
While it may have run for only three seasons, the spin-off did manage to outlast around 30 other Nicktoons, including It's Pony, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Glitch Techs.
The Casagrandes streams on both Pluto TV and Paramount+. The first season is available on DVD, while the complete series is available to own on Digital.
Rather than highlight either a season or a specific holiday, Papercutz’s latest graphic novel special based on Nickelodeon’s The Loud House explores the characters’ adventures at school.
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Man the Sailor Moon fanbase is going insane over the fact Toonmakers Sailor Moon pilot has been found, thoughts?
It makes the old English dub look like a masterpiece. It's surprising how far the pilot deviated from the anime, let alone the original manga, yet retained some of the monster designs (i.e. Rei's grandfather Youma form) and Tuxedo Mask.
Sailor Moon's hair being down looks ridiculous, especially when she is mostly known for her double bun hairstyle. It makes as much sense as Deadpool not having a mouth or Superman sporting a mustache.
While I'm not a fan of the dub's renaming strategy, at least Serena worked as a (not-so-subtle) way to hint she was the princess. Victoria sounds too formal for a 90s protagonist (and the one time it was used within the decade was on an NBC sitcom).
Still, it does explain the boat accessories sold with the dolls: They were one of only two pieces of merchandise brought over from the pilot, the other being the logo.
A #Review of #TheCasagrandes #GraphicNovel Brand Stinkin' New. #Papercutz #Comics #Nickelodeon #TheLoudHouse
As The Casagrandes continues airing its final episodes on Nickelodeon, Papercutz has come out with what could possibly be the show’s penultimate graphic novel.
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The Brady Bunch Spinoffs You Probably Never Heard Of
Remember that time The Brady Bunch had a cartoon, a variety show, and even a drama?!
Featured Image by Alexander Antropov from Pixabay
The Brady Bunch is a classic sitcom about widowers Mike and Carol getting married to form a new family. Their new family consist of Mike’s boys Greg, Peter and Bobby, Carol’s daughters Marcia, Jan and Cindy, as well as Alice the maid. The show ran for five seasons on ABC from 1969 to 1974, continues to airs in syndication to this day, and even…
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