#sequence collage r

[venusribbons]

The Final Battle: Neo-Queen Serenity vs. Death Phantom

... with a little help from her friends: Small Lady Serenity, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Venus and Tuxedo Kamen.

Just a couple of words:

It’s kind of a shame that Ms. Tadano Kazuko “borrowed” some animation from her own “Moon Revenge” sequence for this scene (credit to @sailorsoapbox‘s post), but hey, if I had made such a glorious sequence, I would have totally recycled it too :)

I confess, I’m kinda bummed out at Small Lady Serenity’s dress. Of course I know that a- her pink dress would only be finalized two manga arcs later and b- Naoko herself had drawn Small Lady in that dress; however...  it was not like they *couldn’t* draw a Senshi in a princess dress before the “official” version came out:

(borrowed from SailorMusic.net)

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Episode 68: Speech & Battle

Do you know that the animation for the four Senshi’s speech was actually taken from episode 56:

(credit to @sailorsoapbox for pointing that out over here. You should totally read it.)

I’m intrigued by the color use of this episode, and the speeches and battle in particular. Each Senshi has her own colors - red, purple for Mars; blue for Mercury; green for Jupiter and yellow, orange for Venus. So does each Akayashi sister:

Koan: Blue. Her background is blue, her fire has varying shades of blue. Probably because blue is the opposite color of orange, which is the color of Mars’ background and fire.

Berthier: Her light blue/white palette is put in front of opposite dark backgrounds - red/white and green/black.

Calaveras: Her palette is quite similar to Venus - orange, red. Their weapons are set against the background though:  orange whip - blue background for Calaveras, yellow chain - purple background for Venus.

Petz: Her theme color is also green like Jupiter, but in darker shade. Her other color is black, which shows in her outfit and attack. I’m intrigued by the color yellow when Jupiter and Petz head against each other though. Anybody can explain?

[venusribbons]

Sailor Venus attacks: Venus Love Me Chain & Crescent Beam Shower

a.k.a an official stock footage vs. a filler sequence. It did not help that Venus’ episode in the Doom Tree Arc was directed by the one of the worst Sailor Moon animators (if not to say the worst) :-(

[venusribbons]

Mercury Star Power, Make Up! & Shine Aqua Illusion

... a.k.a Sailor Mercury’s first legitimate offensive move. (Bubble Spray Freezing does NOT count, OK?)

[venusribbons]

Mars Star Power, Make Up! & Burning Mandala!

While we are at it, here is my favorite frame of Mars’ transformation:

[venusribbons]

Group Speeches of the Four Guardian Senshi: Episode 57 & Episode 87

Sometimes, the budget scheme of the old Sailor Moon anime makes no sense at all. We’ve got amazing-looking filler episodes like episode 6 or 37, then we’ve got plot-important episodes looking like shit, like episode 13 (Jadeite’s end) or this one right here - episode 87, first part of the R finale. 

Yet, I wish that had been this episode’s biggest problem. No, episode 87′s biggest problem can be summed up in two words: Prince Demand. His drawn-out assault on Usagi in episode 83 is already bad enough; yet in this episode, after showing Demand trying to control (hypnotize) Sailor Moon twice, he sacrifices for her and says that he loves her (!). Seriously? That disgusting piece of shit deserves redemption? Ha. If Prince Demand had his way, he would have Sailor Moon burned.

Another problem is the lack of Senshi action. The bottom two collages are screen captures of pretty much all the Four Guardians do in episode 87 (beside the obligatory group transformation). And since I’m shitting on that diamond: why are the Senshi excluded from rescuing Usagi in episode 83? Why should all four of Usagi’s guardians stay behind in the Crystal Palace, and only Tuxedo Mask - who has the least power - go to Nemesis (on a glider, no less)? 

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Moon Princess Halation!

English is definitely not Naoko’s strong suit (Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss, anyone?), but this attack name is the oddest. This is what you find when you look up ‘halation’ in the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

1:  the spreading of light beyond its proper boundaries in a developed photographic image

2:  a bright ring that sometimes surrounds a bright object on a television screen

... and this is one of the results for a Google Image Search of ‘halation photography’ [If you only type ‘halation’, you will mostly see Love Live!-related stuff :-) ]

[Image link: http://chestofbooks.com/arts/photography/The-Fundamentals-Of-Photography/Chapter-XI-Halation.html.]

Where did Naoko see the word ‘halation’, anyway? Hmm...

[venusribbons]

Sailor Moon’s speech

“In the name of the moon, I will punish you!”