Terrible season.

  • This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn more.
Feb 3, 2017
610
161
165
39
Planet Nemesis
neckbeard.xyz
#1
Just finished watching SuperS last night. There were so many things about the season that made no sense. Namely, how Pegasus was a secret during everyone's normal lives yet was called by Chibiusa during fights often at the request of Tuxedo Mask or other senshi. And how lack of a dream mirror would cause people to die.

For those who have seen the Crystal equivalent which will be repackaged into a movie, is it any better?

For those who have seen Stars, does it get better again?
 

Yamoon

Aurorae Lunares
Jul 17, 2006
1,021
1,104
1,665
41
#4
Well somehow and even after the master success of the 3th season in the 90’s, they took once upon a time the very “stupid decision” (at least for me) to turn the SuperS season about Chibi Usa and getting really far away from the manga counterparts story (which is for me the best arc).

I can remember how frustrated I was at this time when I have to see weeks after weeks a new filler episode with zero evolution and all the time the same jokes, fight etc... (they even forgot that the girls were supposed to go to school during this season and supposed to enter in high school; even when it was a major point in S season...)

They are still good episodes (let’s say the first 3 ones, 4 in the middle of the season and the last 5 episodes but the rest is $&$&; hmm and maybe the 3 Special episodes) , good designs, and interesting villains.

But for me it’s like most of the episodes of SuperS are not about SM but about some third role characters that we’ll never hear anymore anyway. I mean comon Sailor Moon cannot even attack without this freaking horse lol.

I really never understood why they decided to go into this direction (not to mention the disparition of the Outers who were extremely popular ; who appear just in one special episode...).

Sadly the ratings went massive down and TOEI took the decision at the end of SuperS that the next season will be the last one...and start the Star season by trying to fix the mess of SuperS...

(Well at least now, you can watch marathon episodes and don’t have to wait weekly to see the season so somehow it makes it more bearable for me...)
 
Last edited:
Feb 3, 2017
610
161
165
39
Planet Nemesis
neckbeard.xyz
#5
It doesn’t exist. It’s not being repackaged as a movie it will be a movie (if it ever gets released
I thought it already existed as a series and was being turned into a movie by Viz.
 

Moon Star

Lumen Cinererum
Jun 21, 2010
431
77
65
32
Texas
#6
There are some things I like about SuperS. The animation is gorgeous, the quirky and fairy tale-like atmosphere is fascinating, and it has one of my favorite finales of the series. But all this gets boggled down by the fact that it has such a slow-moving plot. Also, Chibiusa just isn't a popular enough character to carry a whole season. The directors should have taken the manga route and divided attention between Chibiusa, Usagi, Mamoru, and the other senshi.
 

Starlight

Aurorae Lunares
May 31, 2009
1,348
1,523
1,665
Tankei Kingdom, Kinmoku
#7
Does anyone know whether the drastic change in the storyline was due the manga chapters not being ready by the time the season was in production or was it solely a creative choice? Is there any evidence of either scenario? It seems odd they strayed so far from the manga this season. Usually, the biggest changes were made out of necessity such as the Doom Tree Arc or Chibi-Chibi's role so I'm wondering if that's the case for SuperS too.
 

Onuzim Ima

Aurorae Lunares
Aug 11, 2010
1,823
816
665
47
Germany
#9
There were so many things about the season that made no sense. Namely, how lack of a dream mirror would cause people to die.
Just like the lack of a Pure Heart Crystal or lack of a Star Seed. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It's a Fairytale Universe, so just lean back and enjoy. A thing which often also didn't make much sense to me was the choice of people who had these objects inside. How would being an aspiring professional Drummer, Jockey, Astrophysicist, Computer Programmer/Video Game Arcade Owner, Dessert Bar Waitress etc. qualify for Pureheartedness? I could somehow understand it in the cases of a Monk/Nun or that remorseful Aristocrat who spent his riches on helping young people in building the Future. But in the classical sense, wasn't a person with a 'pure heart' just one who was innocent, still a virgin, chastice and/or unshaken in their religious beliefs or so?

Teenage girls fighting Demons & mad Scientists in barely-there-skirts and Seamen's Collars makes no sense either. And remember, they are supposed to be reincarnations of Warriors from a distant prehistoric past where they already looked and dressed (and were even named) exactly the same.

P. S.: On a side note, this is a world I wouldn't dare to enter without being heavily armoured because 1.) Villains and Monsters could target me for one of the aforementioned objects and 2.) having at least a fistful of ever-horny girls hitting on me for reminding them of their Ex-Lover, absent Soulmate, horrid parent or whatever reason on a daily basis kinda sucks. :)
 
Last edited:
Likes: Mitsukara

Yamoon

Aurorae Lunares
Jul 17, 2006
1,021
1,104
1,665
41
#10
Does anyone know whether the drastic change in the storyline was due the manga chapters not being ready by the time the season was in production or was it solely a creative choice? Is there any evidence of either scenario? It seems odd they strayed so far from the manga this season. Usually, the biggest changes were made out of necessity such as the Doom Tree Arc or Chibi-Chibi's role so I'm wondering if that's the case for SuperS too.
The only thing I remember reading was that TOEI wanted at this time to return to a lighter tone than the previous S season; maybe also attract new younger viewers (with Chibiusa)... Still it was at the end a big failure for me.

I don't remember Naoko saying anything about this 4th Season, excepted that she participate to the design of the SuperS movie characters (the notes that she used to write in the manga reduced as well drasticaly during this arc ...)
 
Apr 1, 2017
588
423
165
35
D-Point
#11
While I do enjoy some things about SuperS, I do hold that it's my least favorite season. Stars is quite a bit better in my opinion, although it suffers some of the same flaws and your mileage may vary.

My biggest complaint is the long stretch of overly formulaic behavior (Zirconia yells at trio; Amazon trio member picks somebody in a photo; creeps on that person in a suggestive manner; gets rejected, un-disguises, does the 1-2-3 routine with the table and the questionable imagery with the head-shoving and the giggling; Usagi and Chibi-Usa, who for some reason already met the victim probably through contrivance, show up just in time; Trio member runs off, tells monster to kill the victim for no reason with no followup; wacky circus battle; long double-attack scene of twinkle yell pegasus flashy thing moon gorgeous medizzzzzzzz; hasty wrapup and never speak of it again). This sort of thing happened to a lesser extent before and since in the show, but it's definitely the most grating here, because it is so overly similar that it's tiresome. The latter half of the season remembers how to have the villain plans not constantly work in a line-for-line pattern like this, and is much better for it, although Zirconia still stays samey and dull until near the end, which is a shame because she had a memorably creepy look.

And yeah, Pegasus is kind of an unlikeable chore to watch for most of the season due to what feels like the writers being compelled not to reveal anything useful about him until the last minute. The result is a character who's far too secretive, yet demands blind faith and support from others, which is yucky. Also, you're right that it's weird that Chibi-Usa keeps her involvement with him a secret for so long; both in terms of why (it's really yucky) and how (Sailor Moon takes so long to ask Chibi-Moon any questions about this pegasus magic and what she knows about it, but again, why?). He's still kind of interesting in the end- I sort of infer that he felt he was under an oath of secrecy, and failed to recognize Mamoru as Endymion until near the end?- but it's just sloppy writing I think.

Plus, another interesting weird thing somebody pointed out to me, which I'm inclined to see as an animation error- there's this blink-and-you-miss-it moment in the SuperS finale where we see what looks like Princess Serenity holding the golden crystal, except, Chibi-Usa's got it. Maybe it was supposed to be Nehelennia having a flashback to Queen Serenity, but as far as I know she shouldn't have had the Golden Crystal at any point either... so I think the animators / storyboard writers just screwed up on that one. It's so quick it's kind of up for interpretation, but it's weird in any case.

That said, I do like Chibi-Usa as a character (she's far from my favorite, but she's got good moments; especially in R), I'm okay with the dream mirror concept (what even are these soul macguffins that people die without, like pure heart crystals? I just take them as a genre conceit, like if the villain was stealing a portion of your brain or something, but it's pretty because magic), I like the last two episodes of the Amazon Trio, I like various random amusing bits (Diana's intro episode is pretty fun, or the Minako double date one), the Quartet are kinda cool (although they look quite ridiculous, but that's okay), and various parts kinda work. I don't hate SuperS, it just pales in comparison to the show's high points.

Stars does have some iffy logic, and it's own episodic moments (though it never drags on as long as the Trio arc.... I'm still ticked they got the longest villain arc, when there's so many better villain arcs unless you count- ah, nevermind), but I enjoyed it a whole lot more. However, nothing tops season 1 for me, and R an S are way up there too.

However, Stars doesn't feature the various recurring cast holdovers from the season 1 days (Naru- except for a debatable back of the head cameo-, Umino, Motoki, Yuuichirou, Rei's Grandpa, or Usagi's parents). SuperS didn't make particularly good use of them anyway in my opinion, but, it is sad to see them go since they were all pretty interesting in Season 1 and I think there was more potential there. Alas.

Also, Stars has an enormous case of skipping concepts from the manga, and several whole characters. So that's unfortunate too. I think it made good use of the ones it does bring in, though, and I quite like the Animamates in the Anime.
 

Yamoon

Aurorae Lunares
Jul 17, 2006
1,021
1,104
1,665
41
#12
While I do enjoy some things about SuperS, I do hold that it's my least favorite season. Stars is quite a bit better in my opinion, although it suffers some of the same flaws and your mileage may vary.

My biggest complaint is the long stretch of overly formulaic behavior (Zirconia yells at trio; Amazon trio member picks somebody in a photo; creeps on that person in a suggestive manner; gets rejected, un-disguises, does the 1-2-3 routine with the table and the questionable imagery with the head-shoving and the giggling; Usagi and Chibi-Usa, who for some reason already met the victim probably through contrivance, show up just in time; Trio member runs off, tells monster to kill the victim for no reason with no followup; wacky circus battle; long double-attack scene of twinkle yell pegasus flashy thing moon gorgeous medizzzzzzzz; hasty wrapup and never speak of it again).
You're so right, that's exactly my problem during this fourth season. Somehow I think that they renew a bit better this kind of linear pattern during the filler episodes of the Star season. The victims are most of the time random and don't play a big role in the episodes. Still, even if i really like the last episodes of Star, I feel the story rushed … A last movie about the Galaxy cauldron would have been so perfect to conclude the story at this time…

Well we can still hope about an adaptation of this last part in Crystal lol. A movie for the 50th Birthday in 2090ish lol. They will probably announce the director around 2047.
 
Nov 15, 2017
94
73
65
#13
I personally enjoyed Stars, now. Because I love how Starlights have more personality, and more emotions.
Queen Nelelenia had emotions, like us. And she wanted the friends. We can see villains are not just evil like previous 3 seasons. Villains can open their heart, again.
And Sailor Galaxia was the best in anime. She showed how we can lose the hope, and be gloomy and violent. However, after believing the hope and Usagi, she returns. This means, our life is not ended after sadness. We can start again. I learned this from last episode, and it was much better than manga. Manga was too gloomy and dark.
Honestly, Super S was so cool. Moon Gorgeous Meditation, Super Sailor senshi, Pegasus, forest, Nehelenia, dream, everything. But story is not so bad, but kinda less improved, I guess. However, using Amazon Trio as major villain, and Fish Eye's personality was developed.
I think Super S seems to be off with manga, since after R season, S season was quite creepy and serious season, and very hard morals for children. So the director wanted back the bright story like first season, and R.
And this is only my opinion, but R was quite bad for me. The story is so complicated. And Black Lady's purification was so irritating and sickening. Compare to manga. Black Lady purifies after losing her best friend, Pluto. However, in the anime, Black Lady just returned back because of her mom and dad. They kept urging her to be good. Is that really a parent's love?
 
Feb 3, 2017
610
161
165
39
Planet Nemesis
neckbeard.xyz
#14
Just like the lack of a Pure Heart Crystal or lack of a Star Seed
I can't answer for the Star Seeds as I'm unfamiliar with the fifth season, but it's easy to say that a Pure Heart is what keeps good people alive. Asking people what they dream about at night is a bit different.
 
Apr 1, 2017
588
423
165
35
D-Point
#15
Asking people what they dream about at night is a bit different.
My guess was that the dream mirror is an important component of your soul's ability to desire/pursue any goals and therefore to make any decisions (because if you don't have any dreams to reach for, then it might be said you don't have any kind of motivation). That time one gets broken, the victim looks dead-eyed and falls over to the ground off of the table, as though she lost some vital component of her ability to think or act.

Also, in my earlier ramble I forgot to mention, Pegasus gets a partial pass because by the end I get the impression he wasn't an adult; he seems about 12? I don't know how much of the time since the Golden Kingdom he might've spent in some kind of stasis versus conscious thought, but it also seems plausible the dream world is a place where you don't age and mature like in the real world, so, I can believe he's pretty young, and thus terrible communication is slightly more forgivable. It's still frustrating, though.
 

CrystalBard

Lumen Cinererum
Nov 19, 2020
477
377
165
34
#16
There are some things I like about SuperS. The animation is gorgeous, the quirky and fairy tale-like atmosphere is fascinating, and it has one of my favorite finales of the series. But all this gets boggled down by the fact that it has such a slow-moving plot. Also, Chibiusa just isn't a popular enough character to carry a whole season. The directors should have taken the manga route and divided attention between Chibiusa, Usagi, Mamoru, and the other senshi.
Manga/Crystal Chibiusa (much like her mother) is one of my favorite characters. Anime Chibiusa is extraordinarily annoying. That gives me hope that the more faithful Eternal adaptation of the Dream Arc will be fairly decent to excellent.
 

MikeMasters05

Luna Crescens
Jul 7, 2014
212
319
165
29
Mexico
#17
Well, I think is common knowledge that executive meddling affected the season. For starters the producer of the first three seasons Iriya Azuma stepped back. They left the outers out because they didn’t appear in the first chapters, and latter they never brought them back... and from the start they had this vision of going out to the basics.

Then they started promoting the series as: “A 5+1 comedy troupe doubling down with powered up jokes!” in anime magazines. The new producer Toshihiko Arisako said in an interview that what interested fans were the daily lives of the Sailor Senshi, he says that what the girls (and Thus the fans) was seeing them eat, going shopping and talking about boys and they just faced the enemy because it arose from time to time but the core was the slice of life part of the show.

He also mentions (implies) in the interview that Naoko Takeuchi had some influence in the changes, and as the first three seasons were geared towards me, the goal for this season was to make it more accesible to girls.

As you can tell we can basically blame the new producer as no mayor changes in staff were made, opposite to stars where they even tried to raise the stakes and make it a rehash of S (check the structure Of the seasons and they took: the rivalry of outers and inners, the episode where they find their identities, the power up in the middle of the season, constantly raising the stakes) but at the same time they preserved the lack of good fights and things that made the original seasons great.

So, yes Stars is a little bit better in structure and storyline and you should watch it now that you have seen the worst of Sailor Moon, but it never recovered because the producing side was as always doing things they thought fans wanted versus the things the fans actually want.
 
Jun 17, 2019
2,191
3,290
1,665
31
#18
For those who have seen Stars, does it get better again?
No it doesn't, in fact Stars is actually quite a bit worse than SuperS imho. At least SuperS still had Ikuhara's touch and a coherent theme centered around the theme of dreams and raised interesting philosophical questions on what it means to dream and become an adult. Still a weak season compared to the previous 3 but at least it's better than Stars clear rip-off of the previous seasons in themes and motifs. Plus the villains were actually enjoyable and some of the best in anime (I adore Fish-Eye and the Quartet) while outside of the Nehellenia mini-arc the villains of Stars were easily the worst out of the entire series, only Lead Crow and Aluminum Siren were good, the rest were all forgettable. (And poor Galaxia, how they utterly neutered you compared to your epic manga counterpart)

The fact that SuperS still made use of the civilian supporting cast at least made it still feel like Sailor Moon. The fact that they were all put on a bus in Stars also left a bad taste in my mouth. Also I hope you enjoy love triangles and new literal-who Senshi, because that's what the majority of the season is going to focus on even despite the Outers returning. (Uranus and Neptune only show up sporadically and have an admittedly cool role at the end, but poor Pluto and Saturn especially get the short end of the stick and may as well not even be there) Alot of people like to give SuperS flack for overly focusing on Chibi-Usa, but at least she was an already established character and cast member whereas Stars puts our beloved Senshi, both Inners and Outers on the backburner for again, actual literal-whos.

Overall they're two of the weakest seasons and both are controversial in the fandom for good reason. I'm sad to say but after finishing S you've already seen the best of what the 90's anime has to offer and it's all downhill from there. (Except for a few sparks of greatness here and there like the villains in SuperS and the Nehellenia arc for instance)
 
Likes: MsImagination
Jan 18, 2021
47
83
65
24
NJ
www.twitch.tv
#19
The approach for SuperS really confuses me because even as someone who's favorite episodes are basically almost all just the fun slice of life filler SuperS was, terrible at those too? For almost the entirety of the Trio arc (which took up most of the season too) the episodes were just really bad to me most of the time, the characters were almost always flanderized pretty bad (The Yuichiro episode was the worst to me in that regard, I honestly don't think Chibiusa was written poorly in SuperS but it feels like that at time because for most the others were), and 90% of the episodes focused on some random with no connection to the senshi that would never appear again, and the episodes with the previous regulars I liked (Naru and Yuichiro) were just, not good, the only one I really remember was the Shingo one. I think it does improve later (I like the trio's ending and a lot of the filler eps in the quartet arc since those usually actually focused on the senshi) rambling but, even when wanting to go for a more fun slice of life perspective they did a bad job.

Also agreed on not liking how much the starlights took up time, especially how many episodes where they were jerks because they were SAD, I like Stars more than SuperS but it really does still have problems. I love Crow and Siren, i think somethings (mainly Uranus and Neptune) were done really well in the finale, and a lot of the filler hit for me (The House Party episode and the video game convention episode are two of my favorites in the series and there were others I really liked like the camping episode, Minako's idol competition, and the baseball episode mostly for Rei and Minako hijacking the announcer both lol) but it's a lot more hit or miss than the first 3 seasons were still
 

CrystalBard

Lumen Cinererum
Nov 19, 2020
477
377
165
34
#20
Well, I think is common knowledge that executive meddling affected the season. For starters the producer of the first three seasons Iriya Azuma stepped back. They left the outers out because they didn’t appear in the first chapters, and latter they never brought them back... and from the start they had this vision of going out to the basics.

Then they started promoting the series as: “A 5+1 comedy troupe doubling down with powered up jokes!” in anime magazines. The new producer Toshihiko Arisako said in an interview that what interested fans were the daily lives of the Sailor Senshi, he says that what the girls (and Thus the fans) was seeing them eat, going shopping and talking about boys and they just faced the enemy because it arose from time to time but the core was the slice of life part of the show.

He also mentions (implies) in the interview that Naoko Takeuchi had some influence in the changes, and as the first three seasons were geared towards me, the goal for this season was to make it more accesible to girls.

As you can tell we can basically blame the new producer as no mayor changes in staff were made, opposite to stars where they even tried to raise the stakes and make it a rehash of S (check the structure Of the seasons and they took: the rivalry of outers and inners, the episode where they find their identities, the power up in the middle of the season, constantly raising the stakes) but at the same time they preserved the lack of good fights and things that made the original seasons great.

So, yes Stars is a little bit better in structure and storyline and you should watch it now that you have seen the worst of Sailor Moon, but it never recovered because the producing side was as always doing things they thought fans wanted versus the things the fans actually want.
I have a problem with the slice of life genre. It's one of my favorite genres, but it's difficult to do well. Jane Austen, the writers of King of the Hill and Wataru Yoshizumi are masters of the genre, but when it's done poorly it can get very boring.