I rewatched Cosmos today... and it got worse

[Al Evans]

Sorry if I threw out all this complaint of mine, since the manga is a work that I like, regardless of errors and inconsistencies, it was difficult to control myself, as I already said I'm not having a good time and always reading complaints about the manga has not helped me, on the contrary.

I am the one in the mistake, everyone is free to express their opinions, in my ignorance I threw out my frustration, there are things that I cannot change and are difficult to deal with, not related to the topics of the forum but are part of my life.

I also approached the work of Sailormoon thanks to the 90s anime, it gave me joy, made me reflect on many things and supported me in difficult moments, despite the defects that I found in the series, for example the excessive comedy.

If I took refuge in the world of manga and anime it is to not be overwhelmed by the bad and negative things that surround me. Seeing that in those stories there are characters with a strong sense of justice who solve problems and teach us to be better people has always given me hope for the future.

I know that my motivations do not justify my behavior, so if you do not feel like forgiving me I can understand it, it is difficult for me to do many things, even to go back on my steps, I hope you take these circumstances of mine into account.

I sympathise. I like the Manga too. i am open to defending it too. I care more for the anime and thus perhaps feel about it the way you do for the manga. In truth, as I laid out above, I do not buy into this preposterous zero sum game the English speaking Sailor Moon fandom has (to my observations) been playing since time immemorial wherein the manga and the anime cannot both be good but nevertheless have their flaws. Stars is my favourite season and I am frustrated by the unfair discourse surrounding it, especially since in my observations that is laregly owed to various external factors, not the least of which being that it was inaccessible to most of the English speaking fandom for so long.*

The analogy I use is this. You have a wolf, a coyote and a bulldog. They are all canines. They are all related. They all have areas of similarities. But they are also different and distinct in obvious ways. This is the nature of the Sailor Moon franchise. Even Crystal despite its intended mission statement, wound up deviating from the Manga in big ways which alter characterisation and interpretation (Usagi killing Beryl rather than Minako for instance). Regardless, whether you are talking about the manga, anime, musicals, video games or live action show, which it can be fun and even useful to bear other versions in mind when analysing them, ultimately you have to judge them on their own streanths and weaknesses.

This is especially paramount when it comes o the manga and anime because they were literally not aimed at the same target demographic. The manga was exclusively aimed at tween and teen female audiance, unintentinally catching male readers too. The anime was aimed primarily at much younger girls, secondarily at boys the same age and tertiarily at other family members of a household like older siblings and parents. Even what they revolve around is almost fundamentally different. The Manga hinges upon Usagi's relationship with Mamoru. The anime hinges upon her relationship with her social circle more broadly. Obviously Mamoru is particularly special to her but their romance isn't the point of the anime. The is exemplified in the Dark Kingdom arc's conclusion. In the Manga Mamoru is by Usagi's side as she defeats Metalia. In the Anime it is the ghosts of the Inner Senshi. The narrative simply never had the same focus so why condemn one for not being more like the other? They are different beasts albeit from the same family tree.

I don't find the comedy excessive. I think this is another subjective area, oen which again is owed to the different narrative focus of the anime vs the manga. the Anime uses comedy as the glue that holds the story together. Not only does it accentuate the darker and more intense moments, but more poignantly it sort of makes it 'easier' for young boys to become invested despite their likely knee-jerk withdrawal from the overtly 'girly' aspects of the show at face value. Remember, the 1990s was a different time. That being said, I find that Codename Sailor V is actually very similar t the anime in how it integrates comedy, so perhaps the anime were simply following suit with that.

"If I took refuge in the world of manga and anime it is to not be overwhelmed by the bad and negative things that surround me. Seeing that in those stories there are characters with a strong sense of justice who solve problems and teach us to be better people has always given me hope for the future."

I hear this.

I've been in despair for the world a lot this year. The finale of the Stars arc in manga and Cosmos actually helped releive some of that. If we do not believe things can be better, if we do not try to make them better, then they are indeed doomed to never be better.

 

[Akari @ria]

I've been in despair for the world a lot this year. The finale of the Stars arc in manga and Cosmos actually helped releive some of that. If we do not believe things can be better, if we do not try to make them better, then they are indeed doomed to never be better.

It's frustrating when negative things happen that you can't change because you don't have the ability to do so. Helplessly witnessing certain events in your life leaves its mark.

It's not to feel sorry for yourself because of things, but because it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.

I know that better things and moments will come, I can and want to make the future better, that's also why I apologized to all of you, it's not your fault if I'm tense, anxious, worried and sad, it's not right for me to vent my frustration like this.

I'm sorry to hear that you've been having a hard time, the things that happen to us, to those near and dear to us and in the world are becoming increasingly bigger and more difficult to manage and assimilate, being able to look forward with optimism is not easy, I hope that better times will come soon and that I will have the strength and courage to always act to the best of my ability, learning from my mistakes so that i don't hurt anyone anymore.

 

[kasumigenx]

A mangaka is only given a specific amount of pages and if the chapter they are writing requests an additional page to help the reader to understand more smoothly the story, they are not gonna get it because the publisher can't afford to pay 1 extra page for each magazine that is going to the printers.

And again, manga is a business just like anime.
The publishers have to make money, so each mangaka is given a position into their magazine which they are producing and selling.
If the manga is popular, more people are gonna buy it and more magazines are gonna sell, and so more money for the publisher.

If a manga is failing however, then it has the exact opposite effect.
Not to mention, publishers receive tons and tons of drafts from prospective mangakas (established or not) on a weekly basis.
So whether you're a popular or rich mangaka, if your work is not selling and costing the publisher money, then they are gonna let you go and tell you to come up with another project.

I think it is unfair that CLAMP took 6-7 years to publish Card Captor Sakura but Naoko published Sailor V and Sailor Moon on spot with plagiarized outfits since the delay of CCS likely had something to do with the IP issue of Hagun Seisenki/X.

 

[kasumigenx]

It's frustrating when negative things happen that you can't change because you don't have the ability to do so. Helplessly witnessing certain events in your life leaves its mark.

It is you or how you present yourself that you can change not any other person or external circumstance.

 

[julayla]

Maybe, and this is speculation, there are things Naoko regrets putting in the manga and wanted to fully change, but doesn't have the willpower or the bravery to even change 'em due to the fear of disappointing her fans or something. But that's just my guess

 

[kasumigenx]

Maybe, and this is speculation, there are things Naoko regrets putting in the manga and wanted to fully change, but doesn't have the willpower or the bravery to even change 'em due to the fear of disappointing her fans or something. But that's just my guess

She apparently does because she finalized the manga plot while she is disappointed of TOEI scrapping their plans together, one of those decisions that she made when she was disappointed is killing off the Starlights and reintroducing the Quartet and Chibiusa which are supposed to go to Naoko's manga about Chibiusa and the Quartet which she cancelled.

 

[nightstar81]

She apparently does because she finalized the manga plot while she is disappointed of TOEI ki scrapping their plans together, one of those decisions that she made due to that is killing off the Starlights and reintroducing the Quartet and Chibiusa which are supposed to go to Naoko's manga about Chibiusa and the Quartet which she cancelled.

Where do you get that Naoko killed the Starlights due to Toei changing the direction of the anime series storyline? Wasn't Naoko unpleased with Sailor Stars not only because of Toei changing the Starlights into actually being male in civilian identities but also because they were major characters as opposed to being minor characters in her manga?

 

[kasumigenx]

Where do you get that Naoko killed the Starlights due to Toei changing the direction of the anime series storyline? Wasn't Naoko unpleased with Sailor Stars not only because of Toei changing the Starlights into actually being male in civilian identities but also because they were major characters as opposed to being minor characters in her manga?

I reworded what I said earlier I really meant to say she finalized the stars plot while she was disappointed so she would definitely would regret some decisions in the plot, the production of Stars even affected the finalization of the Dream Arc manga in the Tankobon, I think that is also why Haruka had the mantis arm due to forgetting to finalize some details in the paneling.

 

[Al Evans]

Maybe, and this is speculation, there are things Naoko regrets putting in the manga and wanted to fully change, but doesn't have the willpower or the bravery to even change 'em due to the fear of disappointing her fans or something. But that's just my guess

I doubt that given how she did change the Dark Kingdom arc and even changed details in Cosmos.

 

[Akari @ria]

It is you or how you present yourself that you can change not any other person or external circumstance.

true, I'm not usually like that, my behavior was not correct, however with that phrase I was referring to the fact that my parents suffer serious health problems, we reconciled with my father a few years ago and now doctors are deciding whether or not to operate on him to remove a kidney, it is not easy because he already has several health problems.

Knowing this has destabilized me a lot, certain things are not easy for me to assimilate, also not being able to do much doesn't help me. However, this don't justify my behavior, I know that I can and want to change for the better, I try to do everything in my power to use reasoning and hold back from wrong impulses, this time I didn't succeed and I am sorry. I'm not perfect, like everyone I make mistakes, I hope to never repeat them again.

I didn't want to go into details so as not to create victimhood, in this case the victim is those towards whom I directed my outburst. I apologize both to them and to those who witnessed this pathetic part of me that I didn't want to emerge.

 

[Akari @ria]

Now that I'm a little calmer and more peaceful I answer what I can.

And you have zero idea how anime production works.

They have a time slot for the year at a given time for a given channel and they have to produce episodes accordingly to fill in, they can't wait.
Back then, year long animes were the standard.
Anime production is a business - as long as something is making money, they produce it. When it dwindles, they stop.

Sure, thanks to Toei, who made the 90s anime and to which Takeuchi is where she is today, is evil and Takeuchi is a poor victim.

"If they had waited to produce the series when they would have had the necessary material this wouldn't have happened, but noooo, let's milk the cow while it's full!"

That's just plain silly and doesn't take account of production realities. The way the industry worked back then shows rarely if ever took breaks. Advertisers and TV stations expected content at a certain time and a certain amount of it. The seasonal model we have now wasn't a thing back then and it is a risky venture if you are not doing it annually. High budget prestige TV shows made today for streaming struggle to combat the inevitable loss of audience interest whenever they take big gaps between seasons. It is why HBO has now committed to doing House of the Dragon every 2 years but doing a different Game of Thrones show in between. Game of Thrones content will (god willing) happen every year so keep the brand alive. Taking big breaks often hurts the brand as you have to reignite it. Attack on Titan took the gamble of waiting but in between seasons 1 and 2 they tried their best to keep the brand alive and relevant with other side content too.

Not to mention, you are asking a lot of people to be out of work or do other jobs whilst they wait almost a whole year, so you can't be sure you'd get them back. There is a reason so many of the staff worked on cutey honey F immediately after Stars, it is because it was cheduled directly after Stars finished in the same time slot. Similarly, many of SM's staff had worked on the anime Sailor Moon replaced in the schedule.

Furthermore, they wouldn't have had the necesarry material even if they had waited. The stars manga was NEVER going to work as fuel for the anime because it doesn't allow much space for filler which is the lifeblood of the anime and furthermore, it was a deconstruction of SM and the MG genre more broadly. This was absolutely the wrong direction for the anime to go in. Whilst the Dream arc had been successful in the manga SuperS had hurt the brand. Deconstruction was toxic to the anime whereas reconstruction was critical, hence the first 6 episodes redo the Nehalennia arc and act as an apology for SuperS in various ways.

"Naoko was in her first important story, Toei put a lot of pressure on her forcing her to add 4 additional narrative arcs from nothing and that had to hold up to expectations, do you think that's not enough?
All to fill a slot on TV? They do this with all the series they adapt?"

I mean...it is a business. Its just how it goes. The timeslot does need to be filled because there are financial duties that need to be met. The only anime or manga series I know of that got a fair amount of leeway in this regard was One Piece and that is Toei's biggest cash cow arguably, with the leeway granted to accomodate the author's health.

She was clearly willing and able to do it as evidenced by the fact that, well...she did. She signed up for it, made a lot of money. It was hardly slave labour or unfair. It was a lot of pressure but Eichiro Oda writing One Piece is also a lot of pressure (to the point where he got very unwell) and no one pressured him to do that.

It was a messy process because it wasn't intended to be more than one arc so I'm sure there were mistakes made on both ends, but there isn't a blame game to be had here. The anime staff aren't salty about how Takeuchi worked with them and she isn't salty with what they did either. At least I've never encountered any evidence of that. Honestly, in my experience in the fandom it is essentially the fans themselves who ascribe bad blood between the two parties (or anyone involved with SM to be honest) and I've never seen any hard evidence of that. The most I've seen Takeuchi take upset is with Rei being so different in the anime and the manga and that is a more personal thing for her, it wasn't a 'she was upset with the anime staff because of it'. Everyone, to my knoledge, seemed to be very grown up about it.

"As far as i know with series like one piece they either fill the gaps with fillers or take a break waiting for new material from the author (making important manga, above all weekly, in my opinion is pure and simple slavery)."

One Piece and Sailor Moon were not produced in the same way nor in the same time period. One Piece wa a weekly manga turned into a weekly anime 2 years after the manga started publication. Sailor Moon was a monthly manga turned into a weekly anime, the latter of which began airing less than 3 months after the former was first released. The manga in fact was created specifically so that toei could turn it into a anime. The business model being that the anime sells the manga, the manga sells the anime and both sell merchandise in a feedback loop.*

This means that from a pragmatic production POV the anime could never have been made in the same way as the manga nor have the same relationship your typical Manga and Anime adaptations have. Whilst far from exactly the same situation, the scenario was much closer to the working relationship between the Dragon Ball Super Anime and Manga, wherein both are taking the same basic concepts (dreamed up by a single creative, Toriyama or Takeuchi) and doing their own takes upon them. A lot of material in DBS the anime was never in the manga because the Manga was not produced on a weekly schedule like the anime.

In other words the comparison is very much apples to oranges.

However, I will stand in defence of Takeuchi. She made mistakes. There are flaws in her work. But her work, at the very least by the standards of its day, was phenomenal and changed the genre completely. Sailor Moon the manga and anime are seminal works people should at least check out a bit of if they are interested in the MG genre or the craft of Manga in general.

Honestly, I get frustrated that as a fandom we must play this zero sum game of the manga or anime being good whilst the other must be bad. They are simply different beasts albeit from the same family. A rabbit and a hare you might say. They have their respective streangths and weaknesses. The same can be true if we throw in the Live action show or musicals.

I was referring to the fact that they could not contractually go beyond the author's ideas. I mentioned one piece because the author explained that he also had to supervise the fillers so that they were consistent with the plot without distorting it. It's true, times and circumstances are different.

You're free to put me on your ignore list if my posts disturb you.

I like to discuss with other people the topics that touch me, that's why I don't ignore anyone, you're right when you say that the manga has its flaws, I'm just sorry to see how the paper work is always harshly criticized, I don't want people to change their ideas, based on their own tastes everyone has what they care about, but it hurts to be belittled because someone likes the paper work compared to the animated one.

Read the title of this thread.

It's about someone who watched the movies, felt it wasn't good and discussions are spawning out of that.

If you want to talk about how much you enjoyed the movies or love the manga, feel free to create your own thread and interact with people who share your same opinions.

to be fair I wrote in the post: unfortunately the Cosmos movies turned out to be far from representing the manga's story adequately but that's what Toei gave us.

Yes, I know that I can create the topics I want, obviously respecting the rules and others, but often I don't have the time and energy to dedicate to what I would like to post.

Yes, their relationship has a lot of sense when just the arc before Chibi-Usa and Hotaru had a semi-romantic relationship in the manga and just the next arc again, they are used as a gag as a romantic couple.

Helios who called Chibi-Usa maiden and kisses her and she immediately falls in love with him makes perfect sense and is what we can call a developed and established relationship.

I have always seen the Hotaru - Chibiusa relationship as a strong friendship. They met, understood and helped each other. As for Helios, from the beginning he was looking for a "gracious maiden" with particular characteristics, Chibiusa thought she could be the person Helios was looking for, she thought a lot throughout the narrative arc about what she wanted to become, about her dreams and the desire to grow, maturing and feeling useful. When she understood that she was not the one Helios was looking for, he consoled her, showing himself with his true appearance. The kiss left Chibiusa stunned and incredulous, remembering that her ideal man is her dad, her starting to look beyond this thought is a lot of stuff for the Chibiusa of the manga. At the end of the narrative arc she finds 4 battle companions who await with her the future that awaits them. When she asked Helios to be her prince she truly hoped and believed strongly in a future between them.

By showing us Chibi-Usa as a grown-up, Takeuchi is implying that there will be a time when she takes the throne in place of Neo Serenity.

Yet, we come to know that even in the very, very, very far future Usagi still exists and she is still the most powerful being in existence and there is no reason for her to step down from the throne.

So the vision of Chibi-Usa becoming the princess who is destined to marry Helios and with whom she'll be the Queen of is pointless.

We don't know exactly the distant future that awaits them, the appearance of Princess Lady Serenity is a confirmation that somehow that future will exist. We don't know with what developments.
Sailor Chaos could come before having Chibiusa as an adult, Cosmos could have defeated Chaos putting everything back in its place.
I would like the author to give us explanations and confirmation where needed...

Loving others makes people have dreams, doubts and fears along with the strength to protect them.
The Inners do not care about their family.

Ami has a busy mother and an absent father and the story doesn't care how she deals with this pain.
Rei is without a mother, a father who doesn't care about her and is conflicted between having a life of her own and respecting the shrine of her mother and following into her footsteps. The story doesn't care about this.
Makoto, being an orphan, yearns to have a family of her own and getting married. The story doesn't care about this.
Minako, dreams of being an idol and falling in love. Stars shows us that she still laments on not being able to do so.

Then, please explain why they decide to leave the girls at the end of Infinity.

Weren't they having a happy family life with Hotaru? They said so themselves.
But they decide to purposefully throw away their personal happiness because Takeuchi wants everything to revolve around her self-insert.
It's even a big slap in the face when they say that they do not need their rings of promise anymore.
Promise rings that they wore to protect Hotaru and for her to have a normal life I guess.

They are not united but all share one-brain cell that screams, 'Protect the Purincesu!'

I know these are my thoughts. But they are originally born as warriors who protect the princess, probably their determination lies in the fact that they have accepted this role.

I hope @Akari @ria can explain why Ami's mother, Minako's parents and Rei's grandfather did not call the police once their daughters/grandchild had disappeared (being killed by the useless Animamates) and hadn't returned home.

I think Usagi made up some excuse for their relatives, even in the second story arc the inner senshi disappear, it would be strange if no one cared.

Mamoru dies as a human the moment Galaxia rips out his Crystal. Right. So how on earth is King Endymion still alive in the future, welcoming Small Lady? And even more importantly, how is Chibiusa still alive? If Mamoru dies as a human, Chibiusa should be as lifeless as the other Senshi of the 30th century!!!

Probably the fact that his body is dead does not imply that he is completely dead, at least not as long as the starseed exists. Also when King Endymion welcomes Chibiusa she had just returned to the future. Naoko had bad timing in inserting that part of the narrative in the manga.

And one more thing. If Usagi dies in the cauldron (we literally see her body disintegrating), how on earth is Sailor Cosmos alive and having a nice long chat with the Sailor Quartet? .

I don't know, unfortunately we can only speculate, probably, just as Cosmos is powerful enough to resist the time paradox according to which 2 same people cannot coexist, she is also powerful enough to resist such an event, or the lambda power she manifested made her stay alive, or the fact that Usagi made the future come true by throwing herself into the cauldron made her stay alive, after all Usagi woke up inside the cauldron and expressed her wish for the future.

"as much as a person may prefer the 90's series to the manga plot, it must be said that Stars does not shine in terms of originality or beauty, is a jumble of recycled ideas that led to a meh ending that leaves several question marks"

Isn't that an incredibly subjective take. Most audience members in Japan did not at the time nor since feel the ending was meh, nor did I. The ending paid off Usagi's character arc very well. Kindly refer to earlier posts where I talk more at leangth about the success of the grand finale.

Recycled ideas? Arguably so...why is that a bad thing? The Black Moon arc recycles concepts from the Dark Kingdom arc, only extrapolating into the future not the past. Mistress 9 recycles ideas from Black Lady. Heck, SuperS is in a sense the most original season of the entire show as it is not in fact about Usagi and the filler plots with a victim of the week demand the Amazon Trio/Quartet become directly involved each time. It is regarded as the worst season.

That being said, which other season had evil Senshi as the villains? Which other season featured a love Usagi potentially falling in love with someone other than Mamoru? Which season omitted Mamoru altogether? These are concepts that hadn't been done in the show. SeiUsa is an incredibly popular ship in the fandom so I'd argue that is quite a bit of 'shine', right?

As for beauty, again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It is necessarily subjective to a large degree. Me personally, I adore the visual style Stars had that was different to the whole show and carried through into Cutey Honey F. By virtue of being the most different looking of the whole show does that not by default means it stands out the most, or 'shines'?

This was a complaint of mine, since people often focus only on the manga's flaws, I wanted to say that the anime is not free of them.
Even if some ideas are recycled it's not a bad thing, you're right.
it's true, even aesthetic beauty is subjective, I said this because there is often a fluctuation in graphic quality that doesn't always leave me happy.

"for example, if Chaos is sealed in people's hearts why do we have the Black Moon in the future and not her awakening? Given the darkness in the heart of the Black Moon Clan and death phantom she should have come out of her prison, or at least given them greater power than they had."

??????????????

I'm sorry, I do not understand your point here. The intention of the finale is not that Chaos was forever defeated but rather that Usagi restored balance. Galaxia's mistake was in trying to defeat Chaos once and for all (in the Manga this was Sailor Cosmos's error). Usagi in both cases acknowledges that the bad things Chaos brings about is in fact part and parcel of the adventure of life. Usagi did not forever end the Sailor Wars at the end of Sailor Stars, she put Chaos back to where it belonged. Chaos exists within people's hearts alongside the Light of Hope. They check and balance one another, the Sailor Senshi being the most obvious expression of the 'Light of Hope'.

Therefore, the Black Moon Clan's arrival in the future makes perfect sense. It was just the latest evil thing, no different to the Dark Kingdom (indeed my personal headcanon is that the Anime BMC are descended from the Dark Kingdom).

To be clear Chaos in the anime is not the same as in the Manga. Manga Chaos is a distinct entity with a mind that has been orchestrating events, or at least setting them in motion, with a distinct end goal in mind. Chaos in the anime is more like a force of nature, it creates evil entities that do evil things but it hasn't got a plan in mind nor an end goal. It is more akin to the darkside of the force from Star Wars.

Of course, there are those who argue that Chaos in the anime is NOT the source of every villain in the Anime canon so the above would be moot anyway. I however, don't buy into that.

Since many have to point out the defects of the manga, I wanted to explain that there are inconsistencies in the anime too, mine was not a correct example, bear with me, I last saw the 90s series when it first aired on TV and I don't remember all the details well.

"Inners and outers here too are almost useless"

How can you say that given how they were distinctly proactive and showed their stuff in the Nehalennia arc? Or the Ami episode with the teacher? Or the scenes where Rei comforts Usagi? Or the episodes where Minako confronts realities of being an idol? Makoto got her best scene ever in the Nehalennia arc. Uranus and Neptune got a fair amount to do regarding the schism between the 2 Senshi teams and turning traitor by joining with Galaxia, which also helped build up just how OP Galaxia was in the first place (stopping Uranus's sword). Saturn essentially got the plot moving in the early episodes so really Pluto was the least useful. But then, that is her lot in life for the most part.

"relegated to the role of stopgaps (not even the power up with the strongest enemies...)"

See above. They weren't stopgaps. They were not as focussed upon however as Usagi. Which, given that the show had neglected the lead character for about 1.5 seasons was sorely needed and refreshing. I also don't get the complaint about power ups when they also didn't get power ups in S, the allegedy greatest season. Of course, the Outers distinctly did get power ups.

I meant that, without power ups, when they fight they seem penalized and all the spotlight is on Sailormoon, who always delivers the final blow.

"Usagi despairs for Mamoru's absence, but is it possible that no one wonders where this poor guy has ended up? "

No one other than Usagi is close enough to Mamoru to contact him. They all presume he is fine because Usagi seems fine. Usagi seems fine because she is repressing her feelings. As for why doesn't Usagi wonder this, she does, she is just in denial, a different version of denial from what we see in the Manga. She either figures he must be that busy or worse, maybe he has moved on from her. The latter is a frequent issue and very complicated with Usagi's character, but it is compounded by the fact that she is also growing closer to Seiya simultaneously.

"From the passengers of the plane he was traveling on to the university, no one really? "

What have they got to do with anything? Unless I am mistaken, Galaxia didn't blow up the whole plane.

"Then, if I were Usagi I would have moved heaven and earth to look for my love (called embassies, army, police and so on, from my memories of the series "marmalade boy" I learned that it is better to take a trip in person to verify the situation, maybe with a nice teleportation >w0 )."

Okay. You woul have done that. Usagi isn't you though. Are you not making the misstep in your analysis of taking yourself as a standard? 'I would do this so everyone would obviously do this'. I have encountered similar situations in analysis before. Yes, there is such a thing as common sense but this isn't one of those situations. Mamoru told usagi he would not be able to write her for a while as he would be very busy early on. This is a case where her maturity this season winds up backfiring. She doesn't do what younger, more impulsive, more immature Usagi might've done. She waits patiently, she grins and bears it until she can't take it any more and breaks down in the iconic 'Ami I not enough' scene. (where the soap opera drama is chef's kiss). This is set up in the early episodes of the show. Luna tells Usagi she has grown a lot and to see Mamoru off with a smile. Unfortunately this leads to Usagi repressing her concerns, her doubts and above all her lonliness.

Again, this is peak storytelling from Stars since loneliness is a pervasive theme in Sailor Moon and Usagi is typically the person who delivers others from their lonliness. But who saves the saviour? The 'Am I not enough' scene encapsulates this aspect of the story arc very well and on a meta level homages the R movie. Usagi gives a rose to save baby Mamo from his lonliness, Seiya 'gives' Usagi a rose to save her but it hammers home how lonely she really feels without her lover.

I know these are my thoughts, you're right in what you say, I agree with it completely. In the heat of venting I vomited out a lot of things without thinking and I'm sorry.

"This video summarizes some of my other doubts and thoughts on the stars season, as well as my point of view on the plot of the manga (I didn't make the video, so please, don't go tormenting this girl. U.U ), unfortunately the Cosmos movies turned out to be far from representing the manga's story adequately but that's what Toei gave us."

With respect I am not going to watch that. I have a bad habit of getting worked up by video essays if i do not agree with them and therefore tend to respond at leangth to them which eats up my day and their comment section. Then my YT feed gives me more stuff like that and it just a vicious cycle as my OCD ass struggles to resist responding. Like you have no idea HOW many bad Spider-Man video essays I laboriously unpacked word for word back in the day.

If you are very passionate about the subject and your views on it perhaps you could write down the points you have in common from the essay. I feel more comfortable responding in this format.

As for the plot of the manga I am not interested in discussing that in this post beyond how it pertains to the anime. I like the manga stars and Cosmos films, but both are flawed in my view.

You don't have to watch it, I understand very well what you mean, I hope from now on I can express myself without getting caught up in the rush of negative feelings.

"Nehellenia in the 90s anime is moved by the sole, useless and deplorable motivation of not wanting to grow old, the thought of becoming ugly has gone to her head so much that she sacrificed her "beloved" people. If the ones at Toei were geniuses as you say, shouldn't they have found a less silly and more plausible motivation?"

This is false unless we are excluding Stars and riding only by SuperS. For the sake of steelmanning your POV, lets say it was just SuperS.

Nehalennia is also motivated by desire for Helios, so not wanting to age is not her sole motivation.

But, even if it was...why is this a bad motive? What makes this useless? Is it a deplorable motivation? From a morallistic POV yes it is...because, you know....she is a villain. But from a characetrisation POV it is not deplorable in terms of its writing.

The Evil Queen from Snow White, an obviously big influence upon Nehalennia, has the same motivation. I fail to see how a fairy tale villain motivation is a bad thing in a story which is largely a modern fairy tale unto itself. Not to mention, countless people in the real world even today fear growing old and losing their looks, especially when they are to a large extent defined and valued for their looks. This in turn drives them to desperate measures. Case in point: Madonna.

I mean, there is a reason in mythology and folklore we have characters who seek out the Fountain of Youth or who through magic or divinity are eternally youthful. It is a deep set human fear. Fear in turn can drive people to do terrible things. This was literally the fundamental message of Darth Vader's story. He became a monster out of fear and in doing so wound up hurting and destroying those he loved, those he feared to lose in the first place. It was a classic Greek tragedy. In a sense this is true of Nehalennia as well. She was beloved by her people because she was beautiful, but to retain that beauty she destroyed her own people, and wound up losing it anyway. Given Sailor Moon's borrowing from greek mythology, inbibing elements of Greek tragedy like this seems all too apprpriate.

So it was in fact entirely plausible, albeit exaggerated and magnified as all things tend to be in a fairy tale/super hero narrative.

"For the sake of consistency in the plot, Nehellenia could have been envious of the bright part of the moon and of those who govern it, perhaps because she saw the difficulties of her people and the fact that they are almost unknown to the others made her furious, feeling abandoned to herself. "

That isn't consistency, that is just a different narrative you personally would have preferred to have seen. And would have required changing everything because in the anime Nehalennia never lived on the Moon in the first place, she came from an asteroid.

You're right, from a villain's point of view any reason is a good reason to act, there are those who have deep reasons and those who do not, but that doesn't make it up to me to judge.

Like I said before, unfortunately it's the way the manga industry works in Japan.

Just like the anime got a specific channel and a time slot, the manga gets a position in a magazine.
The publisher pays the mangaka for each page they request (whether it's 20, 33, 52 etc.) and the mangaka has to meet the deadline for the publishers to go to printers and print out the magazine.

Which is why the storyboard stage is such a time-consuming process.
A mangaka is only given a specific amount of pages and if the chapter they are writing requests an additional page to help the reader to understand more smoothly the story, they are not gonna get it because the publisher can't afford to pay 1 extra page for each magazine that is going to the printers.

And again, manga is a business just like anime.
The publishers have to make money, so each mangaka is given a position into their magazine which they are producing and selling.
If the manga is popular, more people are gonna buy it and more magazines are gonna sell, and so more money for the publisher.

If a manga is failing however, then it has the exact opposite effect.
Not to mention, publishers receive tons and tons of drafts from prospective mangakas (established or not) on a weekly basis.
So whether you're a popular or rich mangaka, if your work is not selling and costing the publisher money, then they are gonna let you go and tell you to come up with another project.

In recent years, with foreign countries starting to make their own manga style stories like namely France and the so-called 'Manfra', they do not get to be published first in a magazine and thus they have more lee-way on the time they get to finish a whole volume (similarly to the business of traditional comics).
Which in turn, results in a very slow and sporadic release schedule.

There are of course a few rare cases.
I remember that after the first few volumes, the manga of Ghost Hunt was released directly in tankobon format.
But Ghost Hunt was already a well-established, popular novel series and the manga was only an adaptation of that.

And like I've said before, even a veteran and well respected mangaka as Kurumada has to abide to the release schedule dictated by his publisher.
We know Kurumada finished entire batches of chapters (worth for a whole volume) beforehand but Akita releases them typically a year later.
Why? Because, of course due to his old age Kurumada can't make weekly chapters and there's always the possibility of him getting very ill and being out of commission for a very long time (which happened at the start of the publication of Next Dimension).
So, they decided that every year, they'd make ND a seasonal manga with a spot open at that time for the manga.

Take Shiori Teshirogi for another example.
She wrote The Lost Canvas weekly at 20 pages for nearly 5 years (2006-2011) and started it's Gaiden series likewise on a weekly schedule for it's first 45 chapters but then moved to a monthly magazine to release the remainder of the series.
The monthly chapters had roughly around 40-45 pages I think so she was pretty much doing 2 chapters per month.
And even recently with the latest one-shot chapter, as she revealed on her Tumblr, along with the CD Drama, it was something that was behind the scenes for a very long time.
In her case, since today she is a guest mangaka in the Red magazine, they are able to give her these special treatments.
For a regular weekly or monthly mangaka who is still writing their story and which is a national phenomenon on top of that, it's not really possible

Last example, we have Megumu Okada and the very different release schedules for the G series.
The original Episode G series was a monthly manga of 40ish pages.
The sequel, Assassin G, initially as a weekly manga was then transferred - along with all of the mangas of the Red Ichigo - to an online site Champion Cross and started to have an irregular release.
The final series, Requiem G, still comes out at an irregular release schedule.
The difference here is that Requiem G is the nichest of the Saint Seiya mangas - to fully understand what is happening, you have to have read the original manga, as well as the previous 2 sequels so the people who are gonna follow through are only the die-hard fans and as such Akita can allow Okada such leeway.
The same thing happens with D.Gray-Man with only 4 chapters per year.

As for Takeuchi, again I'll say it but Bandai wasn't imposing on anything here.
The Lip Rods, the Crystal Wands, nothing.
Neither Toei nor Bandai were even pushing for her to come up with new toys or characters (with the exception of the Starlights when SM was in dire situation).
The only entity she had to answer to was Kodansha and there's no way they were the ones requesting a parade of randos to appear each chapter (some characters Toei wouldn't even use as mid-bosses).
Takeuchi was the one who decided that the Witches 5, Amazoness Quartet and Animamates would be part of the manga despite having no idea what to do with them.
It's a clichéd linear story trope of her - she introduces evil version of the main team and poses them as cool villains but she has no idea what to do with them be it character-wise or even in the story so she recycles and recycles and recycles the same schema over and over.

She never had any ideas.
And because she was on a schedule, she just kept doing the same thing over and over.

I know that Naoko doesn't necessarily have to be treated with kid gloves and that like all mangaka she had deadlines to meet and problems, but, since by contract the anime had to follow the story of the manga given to them by Naoko, how can you say that she didn't have ideas? Just because secondary enemies were not developed in the narrative? Isn't it because she had limitations in being able to expand the story, given by obvious needs of the publishing house that, as you said, grant limited resources and space to the works produced to contain costs? The 90s animated version was good at creating depth to many enemies, but they had a lot of episodes and staff available to do so.

I sympathise. I like the Manga too. i am open to defending it too. I care more for the anime and thus perhaps feel about it the way you do for the manga. In truth, as I laid out above, I do not buy into this preposterous zero sum game the English speaking Sailor Moon fandom has (to my observations) been playing since time immemorial wherein the manga and the anime cannot both be good but nevertheless have their flaws. Stars is my favourite season and I am frustrated by the unfair discourse surrounding it, especially since in my observations that is laregly owed to various external factors, not the least of which being that it was inaccessible to most of the English speaking fandom for so long.*

The analogy I use is this. You have a wolf, a coyote and a bulldog. They are all canines. They are all related. They all have areas of similarities. But they are also different and distinct in obvious ways. This is the nature of the Sailor Moon franchise. Even Crystal despite its intended mission statement, wound up deviating from the Manga in big ways which alter characterisation and interpretation (Usagi killing Beryl rather than Minako for instance). Regardless, whether you are talking about the manga, anime, musicals, video games or live action show, which it can be fun and even useful to bear other versions in mind when analysing them, ultimately you have to judge them on their own streanths and weaknesses.

This is especially paramount when it comes o the manga and anime because they were literally not aimed at the same target demographic. The manga was exclusively aimed at tween and teen female audiance, unintentinally catching male readers too. The anime was aimed primarily at much younger girls, secondarily at boys the same age and tertiarily at other family members of a household like older siblings and parents. Even what they revolve around is almost fundamentally different. The Manga hinges upon Usagi's relationship with Mamoru. The anime hinges upon her relationship with her social circle more broadly. Obviously Mamoru is particularly special to her but their romance isn't the point of the anime. The is exemplified in the Dark Kingdom arc's conclusion. In the Manga Mamoru is by Usagi's side as she defeats Metalia. In the Anime it is the ghosts of the Inner Senshi. The narrative simply never had the same focus so why condemn one for not being more like the other? They are different beasts albeit from the same family tree.

I agree with everything.

I don't find the comedy excessive. I think this is another subjective area, oen which again is owed to the different narrative focus of the anime vs the manga. the Anime uses comedy as the glue that holds the story together. Not only does it accentuate the darker and more intense moments, but more poignantly it sort of makes it 'easier' for young boys to become invested despite their likely knee-jerk withdrawal from the overtly 'girly' aspects of the show at face value. Remember, the 1990s was a different time. That being said, I find that Codename Sailor V is actually very similar t the anime in how it integrates comedy, so perhaps the anime were simply following suit with that.

true, everyone has their own tastes. I found the comedy of the 90s anime to be excessive because it seems to me that it belittles the characters. It's fascinating to know what others have found differently. I'm glad I read your opinion, it makes me reevaluate things.

 

[Talentless Fool]

I was referring to the fact that they could not contractually go beyond the author's ideas. I mentioned one piece because the author explained that he also had to supervise the fillers so that they were consistent with the plot without distorting it. It's true, times and circumstances are different.

That's not true.

Back then, mangakas had little to no say on what the anime should or shouldn't do.
That involved only the publisher and the anime studio (and it's still the case today).
Takeuchi back then, unlike today, had no power and she discovered it to her dismay during the R movie whereby she wasn't needed and threw a tantrum about it.
In fact, mangakas are generally way too busy to even bother about handling the rights to the manga.
Unless you are a veteran mangaka or have been drawing the same manga for like a decade, they did not have much say in anything in regards to the anime back then.

The Kenshin anime (being one of the most popular anime during it's time in Japan) ended on an anime only filler arc.
Dragon Ball GT exists despite no manga to be adapted from.

You can't compare Oda's power, reach and control to what Takeuchi had back then.
Heck that's precisely why the anime created the Makaijyuu arc and the extra Nehenelia arc - they were contractually bound to nothing.

Look at the Yu-Gi-Oh! spin-offs, both the anime and manga are vastly different only sharing the same world concepts and main characters.

However, since it was a Media Mix project, Kodansha and Toei did want to have a sense of cohesion to the anime and manga with the 2 sharing the same characters and concepts.
It would have been like trying to sell 2 different series if the anime and manga suddenly started having exclusive characters and plots to each for a whole year.

I like to discuss with other people the topics that touch me, that's why I don't ignore anyone, you're right when you say that the manga has its flaws, I'm just sorry to see how the paper work is always harshly criticized, I don't want people to change their ideas, based on their own tastes everyone has what they care about, but it hurts to be belittled because someone likes the paper work compared to the animated one.

Please stop this.
I have never belittled you.

If you have no problems with Takeuchi being dismissive, rude and plain horrible to the people working on the international releases of the manga, anime, voice acting and even the anime reboot in the name of being 'strict' on quality control, then you should have no problems with me criticizing her own manga (which you would think would be almost perfect by how she acts towards other people).

If for you criticizing the manga/Takeuchi = badmouthing Takeuchi = badmouthing you, then that's something for you to work on.
If you are having a bad day, purposely come and read posts that disturb you and call other people 'blinded with hate' and refuse to discuss/ignore, then it's your problem not mine.

We don't know exactly the distant future that awaits them, the appearance of Princess Lady Serenity is a confirmation that somehow that future will exist. We don't know with what developments.
Sailor Chaos could come before having Chibiusa as an adult, Cosmos could have defeated Chaos putting everything back in its place.

I think Usagi made up some excuse for their relatives, even in the second story arc the inner senshi disappear, it would be strange if no one cared.

Probably the fact that his body is dead does not imply that he is completely dead, at least not as long as the starseed exists. Also when King Endymion welcomes Chibiusa she had just returned to the future. Naoko had bad timing in inserting that part of the narrative in the manga.

I don't know, unfortunately we can only speculate, probably, just as Cosmos is powerful enough to resist the time paradox according to which 2 same people cannot coexist, she is also powerful enough to resist such an event, or the lambda power she manifested made her stay alive, or the fact that Usagi made the future come true by throwing herself into the cauldron made her stay alive, after all Usagi woke up inside the cauldron and expressed her wish for the future.

All of this is simply guess work trying to piece everything together.

When Takeuchi wrote the Lady Serenity flash, she hadn't had Cosmos in mind, she drew it only for the aesthetic and appeal of the idea.

If you argue that Cosmos appears after Chibi-Usa 'becomes' an adult, then that would be millenias forward.
She is already 900 years old, does it happen when she is 18000 years old? That sounds just stupid.
Cosmos being 'a' Sailor Moon in a very far,far future made more sense.
She didn't even need to be related to Usagi nor Chibi-Usa but she could simply be a descendent of the Moon line and resembled Usagi just like she herself resembled Queen Serenity.

Showing the impact of the families of the main characters would be a logical plot point to every author however, Takeuchi was only ever interested in showing how only Usagi is grieving and hence there is no need for any logic as long as Usagi is the tragedy queen.
Crow attacks the Hikawa Shrine with Grandpa Hino probably laying near death on the ground, what 'excuse' can she come up with?
Makoto is an orphan, living by herself and she probably falls under the responsibility of the home room teacher to get daily checks on her, what 'excuse' could Usagi come up with?
Usagi has 3 friends she's super close with whom she suddenly vouches to the school for are what, all suddenly ill with the flu?

Takeuchi later shows the Sailor Quartet alive without their Star Seeds so I don't know if rules exist.

Cosmos, herself said, she lost the Lambda Power (whatever that is) and since Sailor Moon possesses it, she is the 'true' Sailor Cosmos (whatever that means).

For all of these (and much more) there is no answer and there never will be answers because Takeuchi never thought of them.
In over 30 years, we never got any and never will.
If there are no answers and worse no hints in the story, characters' actions or lines that help draw an answer then it's a PLOTHOLE.

I meant that, without power ups, when they fight they seem penalized and all the spotlight is on Sailormoon, who always delivers the final blow.

The 90s anime has an excuse (most of the time) for Sailor Moon to deliver the finishing blow - human turned Youma/Phage, Daimon/Lemures swallowed a Pure Heart/Dream Mirror.

The manga is worse in that department whereby anyone except Sailor Moon is useless and there is no plot reason for that except she's the most powerful being in existence.
The most powerful being who still has to be protected by 8 other girls who alive or dead don't matter in the slightest.

I know that Naoko doesn't necessarily have to be treated with kid gloves and that like all mangaka she had deadlines to meet and problems, but, since by contract the anime had to follow the story of the manga given to them by Naoko, how can you say that she didn't have ideas? Just because secondary enemies were not developed in the narrative? Isn't it because she had limitations in being able to expand the story, given by obvious needs of the publishing house that, as you said, grant limited resources and space to the works produced to contain costs? The 90s animated version was good at creating depth to many enemies, but they had a lot of episodes and staff available to do so.

What ideas?

I don't see any.
Are you implying that in her 3rd year whereby Takeuchi knew full well that she had only 12 chapters to tell a story, rather of making a story that would revolve around this format instead had ideas that would spawn a whole saga?
Did Takeuchi foolishly create a myriad of characters each new arc and supposedly had stories for each of them that would take volumes to tell?
You do realize the amount of filler content the manga has with the plot going nowhere but in circles?

Again, what ideas? She never talked about any in 30 years!
The only thing she ever said was that the Inners and the Shintenno were lovers.
What else?

 

[kasumigenx]

If you have no problems with Takeuchi being dismissive, rude and plain horrible to the people working on the international releases of the manga, anime, voice acting and even the anime reboot in the name of being 'strict' on quality control, then you should have no problems with me criticizing her own manga (which you would think would be almost perfect by how she acts towards other people).

It is not only Takeuchi who is like that, her handlers are like that as well and enables her behavior.

 

[Memelord_Yoshi]

That's not true.

Back then, mangakas had little to no say on what the anime should or shouldn't do.
That involved only the publisher and the anime studio (and it's still the case today).
Takeuchi back then, unlike today, had no power and she discovered it to her dismay during the R movie whereby she wasn't needed and threw a tantrum about it.
In fact, mangakas are generally way too busy to even bother about handling the rights to the manga.
Unless you are a veteran mangaka or have been drawing the same manga for like a decade, they did not have much say in anything in regards to the anime back then.

The Kenshin anime (being one of the most popular anime during it's time in Japan) ended on an anime only filler arc.
Dragon Ball GT exists despite no manga to be adapted from.

You can't compare Oda's power, reach and control to what Takeuchi had back then.
Heck that's precisely why the anime created the Makaijyuu arc and the extra Nehenelia arc - they were contractually bound to nothing.

Look at the Yu-Gi-Oh! spin-offs, both the anime and manga are vastly different only sharing the same world concepts and main characters.

However, since it was a Media Mix project, Kodansha and Toei did want to have a sense of cohesion to the anime and manga with the 2 sharing the same characters and concepts.
It would have been like trying to sell 2 different series if the anime and manga suddenly started having exclusive characters and plots to each for a whole year.


Please stop this.
I have never belittled you.

If you have no problems with Takeuchi being dismissive, rude and plain horrible to the people working on the international releases of the manga, anime, voice acting and even the anime reboot in the name of being 'strict' on quality control, then you should have no problems with me criticizing her own manga (which you would think would be almost perfect by how she acts towards other people).

If for you criticizing the manga/Takeuchi = badmouthing Takeuchi = badmouthing you, then that's something for you to work on.
If you are having a bad day, purposely come and read posts that disturb you and call other people 'blinded with hate' and refuse to discuss/ignore, then it's your problem not mine.


All of this is simply guess work trying to piece everything together.

When Takeuchi wrote the Lady Serenity flash, she hadn't had Cosmos in mind, she drew it only for the aesthetic and appeal of the idea.

If you argue that Cosmos appears after Chibi-Usa 'becomes' an adult, then that would be millenias forward.
She is already 900 years old, does it happen when she is 18000 years old? That sounds just stupid.
Cosmos being 'a' Sailor Moon in a very far,far future made more sense.
She didn't even need to be related to Usagi nor Chibi-Usa but she could simply be a descendent of the Moon line and resembled Usagi just like she herself resembled Queen Serenity.

Showing the impact of the families of the main characters would be a logical plot point to every author however, Takeuchi was only ever interested in showing how only Usagi is grieving and hence there is no need for any logic as long as Usagi is the tragedy queen.
Crow attacks the Hikawa Shrine with Grandpa Hino probably laying near death on the ground, what 'excuse' can she come up with?
Makoto is an orphan, living by herself and she probably falls under the responsibility of the home room teacher to get daily checks on her, what 'excuse' could Usagi come up with?
Usagi has 3 friends she's super close with whom she suddenly vouches to the school for are what, all suddenly ill with the flu?

Takeuchi later shows the Sailor Quartet alive without their Star Seeds so I don't know if rules exist.

Cosmos, herself said, she lost the Lambda Power (whatever that is) and since Sailor Moon possesses it, she is the 'true' Sailor Cosmos (whatever that means).

For all of these (and much more) there is no answer and there never will be answers because Takeuchi never thought of them.
In over 30 years, we never got any and never will.
If there are no answers and worse no hints in the story, characters' actions or lines that help draw an answer then it's a PLOTHOLE.


The 90s anime has an excuse (most of the time) for Sailor Moon to deliver the finishing blow - human turned Youma/Phage, Daimon/Lemures swallowed a Pure Heart/Dream Mirror.

The manga is worse in that department whereby anyone except Sailor Moon is useless and there is no plot reason for that except she's the most powerful being in existence.
The most powerful being who still has to be protected by 8 other girls who alive or dead don't matter in the slightest.


What ideas?

I don't see any.
Are you implying that in her 3rd year whereby Takeuchi knew full well that she had only 12 chapters to tell a story, rather of making a story that would revolve around this format instead had ideas that would spawn a whole saga?
Did Takeuchi foolishly create a myriad of characters each new arc and supposedly had stories for each of them that would take volumes to tell?
You do realize the amount of filler content the manga has with the plot going nowhere but in circles?

Again, what ideas? She never talked about any in 30 years!
The only thing she ever said was that the Inners and the Shintenno were lovers.
What else?

 

[Late to the Game]

What ideas?

I don't see any.
Are you implying that in her 3rd year whereby Takeuchi knew full well that she had only 12 chapters to tell a story, rather of making a story that would revolve around this format instead had ideas that would spawn a whole saga?
Did Takeuchi foolishly create a myriad of characters each new arc and supposedly had stories for each of them that would take volumes to tell?
You do realize the amount of filler content the manga has with the plot going nowhere but in circles?

Again, what ideas? She never talked about any in 30 years!
The only thing she ever said was that the Inners and the Shintenno were lovers.
What else?

I wouldn't say she didn't have any ideas, but rather that her ideas were almost always half-baked. If anything, she seemed to have too many ideas and too little focus to develop them, hence so many of them not only are never fully explored but also very often look like a rehash of each other. But yes, the manga has the feat of being, at the same time, incredibly fast-paced and still having large chunks where the main plot goes nowhere.

That said, let's never confuse criticising a piece of media, whatever it is, and belittling people who like said media.

 

[Rika-Chicchi]

You do remember to insert your avatar into that gif.

 

[Akari @ria]

That's not true.

Back then, mangakas had little to no say on what the anime should or shouldn't do.
That involved only the publisher and the anime studio (and it's still the case today).
Takeuchi back then, unlike today, had no power and she discovered it to her dismay during the R movie whereby she wasn't needed and threw a tantrum about it.
In fact, mangakas are generally way too busy to even bother about handling the rights to the manga.
Unless you are a veteran mangaka or have been drawing the same manga for like a decade, they did not have much say in anything in regards to the anime back then.

I was referring to the fact that Osano, in one of the many interviews, specified that he had explicitly asked the animation house not to go beyond the author's ideas.

Please stop this.
I have never belittled you.

I wasn't referring to you.

If you have no problems with Takeuchi being dismissive, rude and plain horrible to the people working on the international releases of the manga, anime, voice acting and even the anime reboot in the name of being 'strict' on quality control, then you should have no problems with me criticizing her own manga (which you would think would be almost perfect by how she acts towards other people).

I sincerely feel sorry for this kind of behavior of Naoko, I hope she can change for the better. I do not excuse her for this nor do I defend her in this sense.
Unfortunately there is no way to communicate with her, making her realize that it is useless to behave like an end-of-game boss, imposing yourself at all costs has never led to anything good.

If for you criticizing the manga/Takeuchi = badmouthing Takeuchi = badmouthing you, then that's something for you to work on.
If you are having a bad day, purposely come and read posts that disturb you and call other people 'blinded with hate' and refuse to discuss/ignore, then it's your problem not mine.

As I said, I am willing to speak calmly and rationally. I am sorry for my totally inappropriate and useless outburst, I let out a lot of anxiety and frustration that I had inside pouring it out on others, it is not fair on my part and towards you, I would like a peaceful and serene climate here on the forum, certainly my behavior has not led to this.

For all of these (and much more) there is no answer and there never will be answers because Takeuchi never thought of them.
In over 30 years, we never got any and never will.
If there are no answers and worse no hints in the story, characters' actions or lines that help draw an answer then it's a PLOTHOLE.

True, unfortunately we will probably never know the missing plot details. It would be nice if, instead of creating museums, gadgets and new illustrations, she wrote down everything that was not included in the manga in terms of plot, or at least, if she had not thought of it before, she did it now and explained those plot holes that leave everything incomplete and unresolved.

What ideas?

I don't see any.
Are you implying that in her 3rd year whereby Takeuchi knew full well that she had only 12 chapters to tell a story, rather of making a story that would revolve around this format instead had ideas that would spawn a whole saga?
Did Takeuchi foolishly create a myriad of characters each new arc and supposedly had stories for each of them that would take volumes to tell?
You do realize the amount of filler content the manga has with the plot going nowhere but in circles?

Again, what ideas? She never talked about any in 30 years!
The only thing she ever said was that the Inners and the Shintenno were lovers.
What else?

More than anything I meant to say that, as seen in particular in the 5th narrative arc of the manga, the secondary enemies were expendable pawns, they did not play relevant roles in the upper echelons, they did not require any depth in characterization.

I do not know if Naoko knew how many chapters it would take, nor do I know the working dynamics between a mangaka and the publishing house, I suppose that, after having outlined the plot, they tried to understand how many chapters to unravel it in.
Certainly the more space you have to tell the story the more details you can add.

 

[Talentless Fool]

I was referring to the fact that Osano, in one of the many interviews, specified that he had explicitly asked the animation house not to go beyond the author's ideas.

Which translates to 'Wait for the manga to make the big reveals and don't go creating stuff by yourself'.
As we know Takeuchi never liked the changes the anime staff did to her story and that's probably why Osano said so.

Which in turn, compared to the Classic and R seasons, it plagued the story of S so much with the staff not knowing what to do with Kaolinite and the Witches 5 and instead focused on the original premise of Takeuchi's Infinity - UraNep having the mission to gather the 3 Talismans.

And it wouldn't surprise me that this was why Ikuhara managed the SuperS season as he did because he knew he couldn't depend on the manga but had to nonetheless wait for it to give him bread crumbs to put in the anime.
From the Opening and Ending itself, Ikuhara wanted to include Elysion into the anime but probably couldn't because Takeuchi would complain on her tankobons if the anime did it before her.
At that time, Sailor Moon was not so popular anymore and they probably didn't want bad publicity from the author herself.

Speaking of which, it's mind-bogging that Takeuchi felt UraNep were too 'antagonistic' in the anime while her version was much worst with the duo attacking the girls and completely refusing to work with them until the Witches 5 are completely killed - which the anime followed as even after the Grail's appearance, the Outers wouldn't share stuff with the girls (just like in the manga).

So when the anime follows her characters, it's bad. When the anime doesn't follow her characters, it's bad.
Nothing is ever good for her unless she is involved in it.

More than anything I meant to say that, as seen in particular in the 5th narrative arc of the manga, the secondary enemies were expendable pawns, they did not play relevant roles in the upper echelons, they did not require any depth in characterization.

Characters don't need a backstory or in-depth characterization IF they contribute to the story.
That is the very basics of manga writing, if you're gonna introduce a character, the character has to have a role in the story.

Take the Marina Generals of Saint Seiya for example.
They do not have a character arc, very detailed backstory nor personality but they serve for the plot and characters.

- Baian serves as the introduction to the new enemies and helps to discern Seiya's progress to the viewer as the later has sufficient martial experience to use the knowledge he had of Misty's air shield to counter Baian's defense.
- Io serves to prove Shun's progress as well as Shun is able to come up with counter attacks for each of his Beasts. Io is also a mirror to Shun, both are ready to give up their lives for their cause and Io has a very strong last moment in advising Shun to mature up on the battlefield.
- Krishna serves to complete Shiryu's character arc and has also his own view of the world and believes the world is currently in Kali's era of darkness.
- Kaza is a terrible obstacle that nearly costs the heroes the war but also serves to underline that Ikki isn't that stone-hearted of a warrior he is, which plays later in the Hades arc to complete his character arc when faced with Shun and sympathizing with Pandora.
- Isaac serves to complete Hyoga's character arc and gives the war's culprit's true name before dying.
- Sorrento serves as a major ally in cementing the victory in the war.

Each of those characters have a role to play in the story, whether it's to highlight how the main characters have progressed, to give hints about the story, help the story forward etc.

None of the Animamates do that.

In fact Crow and Nyanko come up with their share of plotholes.

If both of them knew of their compatriots during the era of the Silver Millennium, then that was during our protagonists' past life which would be centuries if not about 1000 years back.
So how are they still alive?
How have they not aged up?
If you'll argue that it's thanks to Galaxia's bracelets then that would mean Galaxia has been around for thousands of years and then why didn't she simply attack the Silver Millennium?
It's a major case of Naoko forgot when she got confused by her own story and probably thought that the girls immediately reincarnated and the Silver Millennium didn't date back to ancient times but just a couple of years back.

I do not know if Naoko knew how many chapters it would take, nor do I know the working dynamics between a mangaka and the publishing house, I suppose that, after having outlined the plot, they tried to understand how many chapters to unravel it in.
Certainly the more space you have to tell the story the more details you can add.

When you look at other mangakas, as long as their story is selling, they are allowed to continue fleshing out the arc for as long as they intend to.
Which is why mangas like Naruto or Bleach have well-written arcs spanning several volumes.
Animes, in turn, have to create filler because they have to wait in order to adapt these stories that sell.

A manga receives an anime adaptation precisely because it's story has appealed to a wide audience and sells which is not the case with Sailor Moon.

Whether Takeuchi was told so or not but by her 3rd year, it should have been obvious to her that she would be allowed only 1 year to conclude 1 arc.
The manga's continuation heavily depended on the anime and the anime was itself a vehicle to sell toys.
So for each year, Bandai had to have a whole line-up of toys ready to sell throughout the year - you see this happening currently with Precure.
A new year, a new set of new toys and themes.
A new year, a new anime season.
A new year, a new manga arc.

I wouldn't say she didn't have any ideas, but rather that her ideas were almost always half-baked. If anything, she seemed to have too many ideas and too little focus to develop them, hence so many of them not only are never fully explored but also very often look like a rehash of each other. But yes, the manga has the feat of being, at the same time, incredibly fast-paced and still having large chunks where the main plot goes nowhere.

I would argue that what she had wasn't ideas or concepts but desires.

She wanted the girls to be princesses of their respective planets (even if that retcons what she herself said in her previous arcs), so she did.
She wanted the girls to have castles with cool names (which then leaves the Moon without a 'Power Castle'), so she did.
The same applies to pretty much everything else.

Take Papillon for example.
Did she need to exist? No.
But Takeuchi wanted to draw a cool butterfly-themed Senshi so she did and killed her 2 pages later.

In fact Papillon could have had a lot of potential.
As a grave keeper, she could have provided a lot of information on the cycle of reincarnation of the Senshi, how and why it was possible to revive all of the girls, what happened once all of the girls died etc.
Moreover, she could have served as a contrast to Saturn as both represent death.
Saturn reaps the lives, while Papillon reaps souls - there was a lot of potential for some really interesting story telling.

However instead Takeuchi prefers to reintroduce Chibi-Moon into the story, make unfunny comedic interactions and an Evil Senshi team that is one-shot in 2 pages as well.
Nearly 2 chapters - nearly 100 pages of content - that could serve for some great story telling are wasted on edgy aesthetic.

 

[Masquerade]

I really doubt Ikuhara was afraid of Naoko complaining about what he did in the anime.
If he did, then he wouldn't stray so much from what Naoko did in the Dream arc in the first place.
Heck, dude even included rape allegories through the Amazon Trio.

 

[Talentless Fool]

I really doubt Ikuhara was afraid of Naoko complaining about what he did in the anime.
If he did, then he wouldn't stray so much from what Naoko did in the Dream arc in the first place.
Heck, dude even included rape allegories through the Amazon Trio.

Not afraid but definitely annoyed.

Plus if Takeuchi would complain in her tankobons, then Ikuhara would have to explain himself to the higher-ups (the real terrors) why he angered the original author and what he did was that she was being so loud about.

Moreover, this is Japan so anyone complaining is immediate bad publicity.
Whether in the end Takeuchi ends up looking out of touch with reality (like during the R movie), it's still bad press and damage for the brand - that at that time had a very grand debut and was starting to dwindle.
And I doubt Takeuchi would be the type to not mutter the dissatisfaction she would feel no matter how much Osano would tell her not to.