#sm rants

[gisellelx]

TFW you write a long post and you realize you're still not done with the rant? SM was Mormon and her lack of knowledge of mainstream Protestantism just exudes out every time she tries to explain anything about Carlisle's history. Because okay fine, let's ignore the fact that it was his dad's job to write down burials and baptisms which means he definitely knows the day he was born. Let's pretend that record was lost somehow and that his mother wasn't buried in the backyard (which she so was). He STILL KNOWS when he was born relative to the church year because that's how his father would've seen time. If he ever asked and his father wasn't real big on marking an exact date because non-separating Puritan, he still would've gotten an answer that would've marked it to the closest holy day. So it would've been something like, "Ordinary Time after Epiphany, just before Transfiguration." So even if he doesn't know know, he knows it within a few weeks. Even if "he chose a date for Esme" he picked it from a pretty narrow range. Carlisle knows when he was born.

[chirp-the-trashbird]

So being an assistant director/stage manager for YAT has been pretty chill so far. I'm getting experience and getting paid for it, and most of what I'm doing is sitting there writing blocking and telling children (repeatedly) to be quiet. It's not bad. Of course, I don't like small children, but I can deal with them since I'm getting paid, so honestly, it going pretty well.

I'd even say it was going great, except, of course, for the fact that NO ONE IS TELLING ME ANYTHING.

And not little things. I'm talking important things. Things the fucking STAGE MANAGER kind of needs to know.

There have been at least 5 instances of a line being cut without me being informed, and I'm not sure if that's the on production assistant or not. All I know is that I'm not being told, it's not in the fucking prompt book, and it sure as hell didn't change when I was there.

And, of course, when I am there, the director doesn't tell me. He tells the actors and I have to do my best to hear all the changes over a bunch of chatty pre-teens and/or directly ask because apparently he can't be fucking bothered to tell me.

On another note, he'll ask me to read lines for someone who isn't there. Pretty standard, and it's not like I'm not on book so what's the harm. But then sometimes he'll just decide to do it himself. Which, while aggravating, whatever I can deal, it's fine. Well, it would be fine that is, if he actually read the fucking lines of the script that he fucking wrote instead of ad-libbing out of his ass, taking a ridiculous amount of time and majorly fucking up the lines, and therefore confusing the kids and making it harder for them to get their lines right.

And then he's getting on the kids about how they have to memorize their lines and it's disrespectful to the playwright to paraphrase even though he literally told them that its the intent and not the words themselves that matter.

And these are fucking middle school children getting yelled at by a man decades older than their parents in a summer camp that's supposed to be fun.

Like, sure, I'll raise my voice to tell them to be quiet and get a little testy when it's the third time in 20 minutes.

But there's a difference between being told "Quiet backstage please!" and "Remember to look over your lines!" and "Don't leave your props laying around backstage!" or "Don't play with the basketball, it's a prop not toy!" by an eighteen year old girl and getting yelled at and lectured every fucking day by a half-deaf white man in his late sixties.

This man literally threw his keys at (they slid across the stage, but intent) a group of kids for being chatty. The production assistant told me that one of the speakers doesn't work because of this man and a similar incident. My friend who helped me get a job here told me she was sorry that I ended up with him as my director, said she'd worked with him for three years and he was the literally worst. He gets special treatment when it comes to tech stuff not because he deserves it but because he's an entitled asshole who'll fuck shit up when (not if, when) he tries to do it himself.

All in all, this man reminds me of my director from high school, and that's not a good thing.

[lmara-darling]

i was looking 4 pride flags and the website i went onto carried leather and puppy kink pride flags but didn't have the lesbian flag most of us use? (they only had the old lipstick lesbian one, the one whos creator was VERY problematic) feels bad man.

im not hating on kinks or anything, or people who reclaim the old lipstick lesbian flag. just wish there were more options for lesbians yknow

[sailormoonartblog]

Sooo, anon somehow felt the need to send me so many asks that I had to lower the zoom down to 75% in order to encapture them all. Phew! This is going to require a bit of time.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Because it’s clear you don’t know your Sailor Moon history well enough to be able to argue about it. Which isn’t anything bad by itself, of course, but it becomes bad if you somehow still feel entitled enough to have discussions in spite of your very flawed knowledge of the facts. But alas, I am a weak person who loves engaging in discourse, so I’ll still take the time necessary to prove you wrong. First of all, it’s not “5-10 years”: from 2005 to 2010 is five years, I believe, 5 and a half if you really want to be retentive. Second, your blind obsession with the old anime somehow made you forget that not just it, but all kinds of Sailor Moon media were put on hold during that period: ever wondered why OldMyu suddenly stopped with Marina’s graduation in 2005 instead of just passing the tiara to another actress like they always did before? No? Did you know that PGSM, which originally aired on TV between 2003 and 2004, was released in two DVD boxes in 2005 that were retired from commerce after only a few months? Did you know that the shinsoban edition of the manga was printed concurrently (2003/2004) and was also retired from commerce in the fated 2005? Did you know that nearly all of these media (the volumes of the manga, the disksets of the anime and the live-action) then reappeared on the shelves in 2010, after the ban was out, except for the musicals, which used to be the most mistreated medium? Or did you think that the 5-year ban only worked for the anime because that’s everything that exists in your mind? Now, we can all discuss hours about the causes of this ban, because different sources claim different reasons for Naoko Takeuchi to decide to put her series in a commercial stasis only to soon change her mind, and it’s a very difficult topic to discuss; but I honestly believe you lack the knowledge necessary to even think of entering the discussion. Now, if you didn’t notice, all of the above also worked outside of Japan: all over the world, in 2005 volumes of the manga and cassettes of the anime were pulled off the shelves. The possibility of getting a non-Japanese version of the shinsoban edition was immediately aborted, and the only media not affected were Sera Myu and PGSM because, as we know, they were never exported to begin with. But, as soon as the ban ended, things changed! Around 2011, many countries around the world started translating the shinsoban edition of the manga and publishing new releases of the anime in the DVD format that they couldn’t use beforehand and, hell, even a freaking videogame for the Nintendo DS was published! You know, it may sound incredible to your ears, but the Sailor Moon world actually doesn’t rotate around the old anime!

Regarding Stars, then, you’ve got your facts all wrong: the fact that you didn’t have it imported back then has got absolutely nothing to do with the Japanese producers and publishers - not with PNP, not with Kodansha, not with Toei, obviously not with Bandai - and instead all to do with your own importing company, Dic or Viz or however it’s called since it seems to be always changing. You might know (but who am I trying to fool?) that the same exact thing also happened in France, where, like in the USA, they decided to stop importing Sailor Moon after the end of the fourth season because they couldn’t come up with a clever enough idea to censor the Starlights’ hermaphroditism. On the contrary, countries with more clever adaptators imported the fifth season regularly in 1998! So, as you see, you really have to blame no one but the censors working for the company of your very own country for the fact that you weren’t able to enjoy a crazily censored version of your precious Sailor Stars back in the 90′s and instead had to wait till 2019 for a loyal adaptation that’s bound to come out in two ultradeluxe Blue-Ray boxes that most US fans will still complain about because their video quality isn’t enough for them to be able to distinguish every single drop of colour on the filmed cels.

Oh! A woman with opinions different from mine! We can’t allow it! But clearly she wasn’t speaking seriously, now was she? Naaah, no one can be serious if their opinion is so drastically different from mine! The fact that you think that all I’m basing my preferences about are the elongated limbs is clear intellectual dishonesty, because you should know perfectly that otherwise I’d be praising Katsumi Tamegai to death, who is the only artist who drew the girls as if they were positively anorexical. And the fact that you think that a character designer’s artworks (which mainly consist of settei) could and should emote tells me that you don’t know the difference between character designing and animation direction. But, somehow, you’ve still got the presumption to act as the lecturer here.

Wow! Arguing with me is so important to you that you actually went and sent me the same answer twice! I’m so flattered! <3

Here: http://tiny012.tumblr.com/post/182437440176 (many thanks to @tiny012 for provinding all these useful data!). Educate yourself. The rest of this last ask is such a big joke that I’ll just leave it here for everyone to contemplate and meditate about the extentions of human stupidity.

[sailormoonartblog]

I find all this really incredible. Yesterday Toei released their financial reports, and in the 9 month period between April and December 2018, Sailor Moon made them a revenue of about 7 million dollars... Precure made them something like 12-15 million dollars, and it had TWO movies.

Yep, Pretty Cure has been going non-stop since 2004 with 52 episodes and *two* films a year; not direct-to-video films, but ones for the cinema. The truth is that Toei employs their EVERYTHING for its three main series (Dragon Ball, One Piece and Pretty Cure), while leaving all the others in the development hell we know of. Personally speaking, I really wish Naoko/PNP had sold the rights to make a new anime to a more serious if slightly less sucessful company, like Tokyo Movie Shinsha or Oriental Light & Magic.

[sailormoonartblog]

Uh a lot of people have been wanting an hd remaster of the classic show and many people beg to differ it’s aesthetically pleasing in many ways. Does every episode look great? No but its still remembered well to the point its in fashion and blogs. And to be fair part of the reason why Crystal was such a flop was because how ugly that show looked by the time season 3 came out it was too late to save it.

Yeah no. First of all, Crystal was by far not a flop, and I really don’t know where you’re getting your data from. Second, Season III did not need to “save” the show at all, it just needed to follow the path traced by Munehisa Sakai, Yuji Kobayashi and Yukie Sako, but Chiaki Kon and Akira Takahashi instead decided to ruin it, with Kobayashi being the sole saving grace of the season. Third, I’m 99% sure you’ve just watched the web-streaming version of Seasons I & II, ‘cause you wouldn’t be claiming that the show looked bad otherwise: I won’t deny that episode 3, for example, was visually terrible when it first aired worldwide in 2014 (hell, I made endless fun of it), but the definitive version looks radically different and failing to acknowledge it is pure intellectual dishonesty. You’ve also got no excuse considering the fact that the improved version for the DVD release, and not the streaming one, was the one that was exported everywhere outside of Japan, so if you’ve seen the show on TV you should know better than that. On the other hand Season III, which first aired on TV instead of on the net, did not receive any updates for the DVD release, so there’s no improvement in that regard; not counting the fact that any change to the animation they could’ve done would’ve never been able to redeem the utterly horrible character design. On a personal preference level, I’ll agree that, on average, the old anime looks slightly better than Season III on the whole (not that it’s a great compliment, lol) and some of the unfinished episodes of Season I, but it’s light years away from the stunning visuals of the finished version of Season I and especially Season II. Not to count the fact that, among the five character designers who worked on both anime series so far, Yukie Sako was the only one who managed to create an artstyle that was at least a bit reminescent of Naoko Takeuchi’s while giving it her own spin to it.I also don’t buy your claim that a lot of people were waiting for a new edition of the old anime, since A) its fans must obviously own it already, so they’d gain nothing out of a new edition, B) very few people own Blue-Ray players, so this is intended as a niche product from the start, C) the whole show has already been remastered for the DVD boxes from 2011 circa, so I really don’t know what else you could ask for, and D) high-definition can work for visually appealing stuff (as if a normal person could ever notice the difference from a TV screen, by the way), but it will only ruin low-quality products. I’m saying this from personal experience, because in 2013 I went to the cinema to see the Imax remaster of four different Disney Classics I already know very well: the result on Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King (three films featuring absolutely gorgeous animation) was stunning, while with The Little Mermaid (probably the most mediocre production ever of WDAS) its only effect was making its visual faults and difects all that more noticeable. If that’s what you want, go for it, ask for a remaster. But hey, why would you ask for it if you’ve already got it? Never mind.In the end, the story’s lesson is always the same: stans of the old anime will *always* get not only what they want, but also a bunch of unnecessary stuff to pander to them. Fans of the manga, on the other side, will be left waiting years even for such a menial thing as a re-release of previously published artbooks. Artbooks which already exist but, note this, are now out of commerce, not like the DVD boxes of the old anime, which are available everywhere to buy. Next time I’m asked why I’m so annoyed by the arrogance of most stans of the old anime, I’ll gladly redirect them to this obnoxious ask of yours.

[sailormoonartblog]

also i love the fact that manga stans feel the need to type out paragraph long rants with no formatting or breaks just so they can justify their puritanical "the manga is god" view. like we get it, now shut up

Wow. You come into my blog (hiding behind anon, no less) to tell me that I must shut up as if you were in the position to do so? And as if I were the one starting the conversation? Wow, the arrogance. I don’t even know why you think that I “feel the need” to write anything, since I only did it in retaliation to your ask and not out of my own personal whim. And, genius, my post was formatted, that’s called “going to the end of the line”; really, if you had to criticize the form of my writing, you should’ve gone for the language, since I perfectly know that my English isn’t great by any means, but discourse pauses aren’t definitely among my faults… As if a person with no seeming notion of how to use capital letters and full stops could even hold the authority to criticize writing form, that is.Finally, I love how you seem to be pissed off by the fact that my view is, in fact, justified and backed up by something and not just born out of my nostalgia goggles! ^^ And, really? If you don’t hold a high opinion of the manga, what are you even doing on a blog whose explicit purpose is celebrating the artistic talent of its freaking creator?

[sailormoonartblog]

Right now I’m more mad at Kodansha then anyone else. I had to find out through Amazon that the third Eternal Edition has been delayed two months. Tried tweeting them (and yes they respond to people) asking for clarification because as of Jan 22 they were still showing a release date of the 29th. Just checked it’s now matching the others release date of March 19. Would it kill them to at least explain why it was delayed? You would think the translation would have been complete before first (1/2)

(2/2) Volume dropped but apparently not if we go by the fact that the 3rd Edition was pushed back with no prior notice. And no explanation that I can find. Just boom all of a sudden we’re having to wait four months for 3.

I feel you so much! I’m assuming you’re from the USA, and I have to admit it’s pretty jarring to see what treatment the series is getting in the English-speaking world (all of my information on this subject comes second-hand from the fansite Sailor Moon News, so please correct me if I’m wrong)… especially considering the fact that the old anime, on the other hand, is also getting a Blue-Ray re-release which somehow comes out faster than the kanzenban edition, but the stans still find the courage to complain because the quality of their supermegaexpensive disks isn’t top-notch 5 million and a half K, or 4000 ip or however they call all of this stuff nowadays. I’m sorry for you, really.On the other hand, though, I almost envy you because at least you’ve got the first two volumes of the kanzenban! Man, I perfectly remeber that an Italian release of this edition was officially announced before the English one was, but in the meantime… nothing happened. Zero. I don’t know if it’s because we haven’t got our national branch of Kodansha, instead relying on a local publisher (Star Comics in this case), but it’s especially jawdropping because, unlike your case where many fans complained about the bad translation of the shinsoban, here they really didn’t need to redo the text at all. Hell, the editor has written quite a few times on Twitter that he’s completed the revision of the shinsoban translation (which doesn’t seem to need to be revised at all, btw) and he’s got no idea what the publisher is waiting for. Oh, do I need to mention the fact that the old anime has received a superdeluxe edition in eleven DVD boxes + the films and specials in 2011/2012, while there are absolutely no signs of an eventual home video release of Crystal? And that they tell us to shut up when we complain about this?