What Is The Worst Sailor Moon Season?

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What Is The Worst Sailor Moon Season?

  • Sailor Moon

    Votes: 2 4.7%
  • Sailor Moon R

    Votes: 6 14.0%
  • Sailor Moon S

    Votes: 5 11.6%
  • Sailor Moon Super S

    Votes: 23 53.5%
  • Sailor Moon Stars

    Votes: 18 41.9%

  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .
Nov 21, 2017
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#1
In My Opinion I Dont Have A Worst Season I Love All Seasons But What Are Your Guys Opinions Of The Worst Season In The Sailor Moon Anime?
 

SILVER

Aurorae Lunares
Jan 7, 2014
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#3
If we're talking Crystal, the first season was definitely the weakest writing wise and should have just stuck to adapting the manga.
The removal of humor/chibi panels really removed the sense of personality of the Senshi in civilian form. That an adding in plot
elements with no room to flesh them out was a mistake.

If we're talking Classic, then Stars is the worst.
We have SuperS being a mostly a "Chibiusa's Monster of the Day" series and a handful of plot relevant episodes but anything past the
Dream mini-arc of the 6 first episodes is a bad retread of everything that the Classic series already did well:
The Starlights taking the spotlight from the Inner Senshi, The Inners being turned into groupies, Chibi Chibi being a starseed/sword (what?), The weird Seiya and Usagi dynamic thats reminiscent of S1 Usagi and Mamo, Haruka and Michiru's disasterous plan, Saturn and Pluto being shafted yet AGAIN for no good reason, SAVING THE ENEMY THROUGH LOVE TROPE OVERKILL, and Usagi is STILL not even shown to be secure in her relationship???

It was just bad and you could tell that Naoko, the writers and probably Toei itself was fatigued.
 
Sep 6, 2014
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#4
Shouldn't this be in the general thread? Anyways

like Silver said Stars because there's nothing it did that another season didn't already do and do better. I still feel like to this day it's only highly regarded as it was because it was "OMG the series too hot for American tv!!!!1!!" Now that we got Stars officially subbed and we've mostly moved past the whole "forbidden season" status it's starting to go down in people's estimation like it deserves.
 

litacan

Systema Solare
Jan 21, 2017
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#5
i remember clearly that we have a topic like this

and S is,according to me,the worst season.
 
Nov 21, 2017
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#6
SILVER said:
If we're talking Crystal, the first season was definitely the weakest writing wise and should have just stuck to adapting the manga.
The removal of humor/chibi panels really removed the sense of personality of the Senshi in civilian form. That an adding in plot
elements with no room to flesh them out was a mistake.

If we're talking Classic, then Stars is the worst.
We have SuperS being a mostly a "Chibiusa's Monster of the Day" series and a handful of plot relevant episodes but anything past the
Dream mini-arc of the 6 first episodes is a bad retread of everything that the Classic series already did well:
The Starlights taking the spotlight from the Inner Senshi, The Inners being turned into groupies, Chibi Chibi being a starseed/sword (what?), The weird Seiya and Usagi dynamic thats reminiscent of S1 Usagi and Mamo, Haruka and Michiru's disasterous plan, Saturn and Pluto being shafted yet AGAIN for no good reason, SAVING THE ENEMY THROUGH LOVE TROPE OVERKILL, and Usagi is STILL not even shown to be secure in her relationship???

It was just bad and you could tell that Naoko, the writers and probably Toei itself was fatigued.
Sailor Moon Super S Was A Fantastic Season But I Have To Say All Of Them Are My Favorite
 

Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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underwatersphinx.blogspot.com
#7
Compared to the previous three seasons, SuperS is a bit on the boring side. It's very sparse on over-arcing narrative, and what little of that it has progresses very slowly, so I understand why that season isn't very popular. But while most of the episodes are essentially filler, they're still individually entertaining and well-animated, so SuperS is really only a chore to get through if you insist on watching every episode. I like to switch it up each time I watch.

Sailor Stars, on the other hand, is an ugly, boring, uninspired mess. The Nehellenia arc, Aluminum Seiren and Lead Crow's banter/relationship, and that house party episode are the only good things to come out of that season.
 
Apr 1, 2017
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D-Point
#9
If I were to rate the seasons best to worst...
Season 1 > R / S > Stars > SuperS

I like every season, but the Amazon Trio arc was very badly paced with a lot of bleh episodic episodes, and only got good at the last minute (and in some ways it was too late by then, they really should've been setting up that concept more in advance and fleshed out it's implications better and given the Trio more time to change what they were doing based on the impending doom and so on). That arc still had a lot of good little moments, but overall it was the worst.

The rest of SuperS was also a little off-balance, and the whole season had a problem developing Helios/Pegasus' character in any likeable or interesting way, always defaulting to making him frustratingly, insultingly, disrespectfully secretive, always demanding assistance and trust from others without explaining anything or trusting them in return, and never getting called on it or suffering any consequences for his jerkish, mistrustful behavior, that little twerp.

So SuperS is definitely the least good in my book. But I like Fish Eye, I like the Amazoness Quartet, I like "Zirconia's" reappearance in the finale (as a freaky chestburster!), I like the idea of a girl romancing a sapient horse, I like the golden crystal/Elysion bit but desperately wish they'd said more or, though they'd never do something like this, referenced the Shitennou even briefly... I liked the Trio's last two episodes, I would've liked to see them again after that one (even though I was sick of them beforehand), and I would've liked to see the Quartet in Sailor Stars. Alas. Also, Diana's introduction was great and Minako double-dating Tiger's Eye and Hawk Eye was great. And Naru shoving Tiger's Eye off the bench was great, and then torturing Umino with milkshakes.

It's 'least good', not 'terrible'.

I outright love my "second worst", Stars. The problem is that it had it's own (shorter) dawdling not-very-story-advancing part with most of Iron Mouse's arc when it was the shortest season, so when it got to it's cooler ideas it kinda zoomed past them. At the same time, it didn't answer some of it's own questions very well. I think the whole Shadow Galactica arc could've stood to be a bit longer (or been heavier-paced, maybe like season 1's Zoisite Arc where something always seemed to clearly be developing and building up), basically.

Essentially, the last two seasons would've been like 80 times better if they didn't introduce any (or very few) new one-off rando characters and stuck to developing mains and recurring characters, and kept bringing back older recurring characters instead of pulling out new ones no one gives a ascii-sad-face about. ESPECIALLY SuperS.

Characters like the Animamates or the Amazon Trio are great additions, but not random concert conductor victim guy or the little girl who wants to be the best swordswoman or Makoto's old friend who's a writer who could just as easily have been Kinozuki making a reapparance or any of those boring, awful randos EVERYWHERE eating up screen time in return for shallow, unsatisfying dawdling while I'm eagerly waiting for someone important to get back on screen. I don't even hate any of these individual characters- I kinda like Kamoi for example- but there's just way too many of them and it wastes time that could be (and otherwise often was) spent on deeper storytelling.

Anyway, there's also things that could've been better about R and S, like the "Witches 2" issue, Kaolinite's weird anticlimax, Rubeus kinda being bleh, Saphir's screentime being too short, undevelopment of the Ayakashi sisters, and so on. I think the Makaiju arc was fantastic as-is though.

Season 1 had no real failures in my eyes, only missed potential to be even more awesome, like if the already-excellent Episode 44 had been some big multi-parter about how Endymion's kingdom fell, or something like that.

Almost every season makes me mad by introducing logic that suggests the sympathetic side villains might or might not be dead afterwards and then doesn't explain it:
Spoiler: show
- In season 1, the year seems to restart and the major damage from the disasters at the end of the year seemed to be undone. Where does this leave the Shitennou? Jadeite didn't even seem to be properly dead before the reset.
- In R, the future gets rewritten so that Crystal Tokyo is apparently not invaded (they show it all pristine when Chibi-usa comes back). So are the Black Moon Clan still dead? What about the Ayakashi sisters?
- In SuperS, Pegasus tells the Amazon Trio to wait in Elysion until the dark crystal forest becomes light again. The trio is never seen again, and the crystal forest and Pegasus aren't seen after the ending, which Nehellenia survives and returns from. Mamoru had his star seed taken... does that affect the golden crystal, assuming it's even related to his golden star seed? The Quartet outright talks about how they may meet again in the future in their final appearance. What happened to any of these plot points??
- In Sailor Stars, Galaxia goes to try to return all the star seeds, though she expresses doubt about her ability to undo all the damage. We see her return the ones she took from Earth- but what about the Animamates? They're probably gonna be okay, riiiight? The show's sure as heck not gonna tell you, though.

Also:
- What's up with the scene where Sailor Pluto takes baby Hotaru? Where is Professor Tomoe after that? Did he agree to any of this? Why isn't he with them in the finale or anything, ever? What's going on?? At least one forum member around here seemed to basically assume Pluto just whacked him on the head with the garnet rod and ran off with the baby, because there's absolutely nothing to rule that out.
- Speaking of which, why do all four outers seem to have a spooky, kinda-evil vibe...?
- The entire show leaves the cause of the pre-Crystal Tokyo "cold sleep" of the entire Earth completely hanging, never to be explained.


But they're all still good enough to make me CARE about all those loose ends, so they were doing something right. This stuff is a big part of why I've been working on fanfic. :)

I love this show, but I'm not gonna be like "oh it's perfect". I'd rather have a billion boring randos than too little character development and the story moving too quickly and abstractly to really be able to grow, which is the problem I feel in the manga instead.

But it'd be nice if they could all be paced as well as Zoisite's arc (or about episode 23 through 35). Those were the days. The Rainbow Crystal randos were all pretty good (especially Ryo), and the one that wasn't developed very well stayed out of the way for other, better-developed characters (Naru and Umino) to take the spotlight. And then Ryo returns in a later episode! There was the sense that these characters might ever matter again, which was lacking in later days. Likewise, the ongoing "who's got how many rainbow crystals" tally was much more interesting than "does this rando have The Thing? Nope, of course not, a main character has The Thing, but we're saving them for last even though it's so stupidly obvious."

More generally, the bigger your main/recurring cast, the less time you have for randos. S, SuperS and Stars' answer to this was to sideline/discard fantastic recurring cast members in order to keep fitting randos... which is a really bleh writing move, and pretty much the worst thing about the show. A much better approach would be to reuse randos for new developments, or spend the time developing recurring cast better instead of having so many episodic episodes in the final seasons to begin with.

But good writing is hard (my own biggest weakness, I think, is using too many words and oversdescribing, and sometimes I run out of new ideas), and when this show is firing on all it's cylinders, it is amazing. I don't regret watching any of these seasons.
 
Jan 16, 2017
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Italy
#10
Stars. It was supposed to be the Grand Finale.. instead it was a no sense mess with a huge black hole that made disappear beloved characters/good storylines and replaced them with the obnoxious Three Lights/SeiyaxUsagi ship.
 
Likes: usagi29
Jul 31, 2012
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Outer Space
#11
Stars was probably was the worst. It made no sense and was a parody of the SM series itself. A major insult. R could be boring sometimes. SuperS was pretty legit, it just had a problem with not amounting to much but ChibiUsa but it was a well drawn and entertaining series (probably the best) of all seasons.

Classic is just that, a classic.
 

Neo King Rose

Usagi's Rose
Sep 13, 2008
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In the shadows throwing roses at you
#12
worst to best
7 being worst 1 being best


---------------------------
Worst of the worst
7 - Sailor Stars - starlights part
6 - Black Moon part of R
---------------------------
Middle ground
5- Nehelenia arc of Stars
4 - SuperS
3 - Makaiju arc side of R
----------------------------
Best
2 - Classic
1 - S

as much as I complain about supers I'll take it a million times over the breakup in Black Moon or the Starlights in Stars
I may hate Usagi with Chiba but the worst thing ever is to see Usagi sad so yeah rather see her happy than bawl her eyes out
 

Zyvik

Lumen Cinererum
Oct 26, 2014
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#13
Stars. Everything after the first six episodes was just terrible. They got rid off the most annoying character in the series - Chibiusa and replaced her with someone even more annoying - Starlights, sidelined the senshi, removed Naru, Umino, Motoki, Rei's Grandpa and Yuichiro...I mean it's the last season. Shouldn't you give all these characters some closure instead of devoting your attention to the brand new unlikable characters and creepy romance? Also the last few episodes are a drag and the final one just feels like the end of another season instead of the end of the whole show.
 
Apr 1, 2017
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D-Point
#14
Actually, I see these points about Sailor Stars. It has a lot to answer for in terms of wrapping up the series that I guess it didn't really deliver on.

I think it handled Haruka and Micihru okay (tricky though that was), and Usagi's storyline about Mamoru was well executed, and the intro sequence was awesome and I liked all of the animamates, but, as far as closure, it goes to a very uncomfortable place. With Chibi-usa AND Mamoru being gone, and Mamoru being nebulously-maybe-dead for most of the season, and Usagi surrounded by new people and losing everyone all over again, it's a very lonesome experience for her. In that regard, it was dramatic, but as a satisfying wrap-up to the whole series... maybe not.

I guess the problem is I already had fanfic ideas bouncing around in my head before I finished watching it, and the thing about the Earth's cold sleep (and all the other loos ends I knew wouldn't be addressed) all begged for one more big "Arc-Welding" story. So I wound up watching the ending imagining something bigger happening afterwards anyway., instead of really expecting a full wrap-up. If I had, I might've been more disappointed.

I still like it better than SuperS though, and I still generally like SuperS.
 

blondibear_17

Lumen Cinererum
Mar 3, 2017
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#15
I don't really like S i mean from this point on in the 90's anime the miracle romance is totally irrelevant and Mamoru is as dull as dishwater. Chibiusa I feel is more annoying than ever. I mean in R I think Chibiusa's behavior is appropriate given she is visibly much younger she is lost, afraid, confused and alone in the world whereas in S and SuperS she is just a spoiled pain in the butt that ridicules and [BLEEP] blocks Usagi for no reason other than she is a jerk and wants to be the center of attention. I know what I am going to say is taboo here as well but I really don't understand the appeal of any of the outer senshi. Hotaru is boring Setsuna is pretty irrelevant and I feel like Haruka and Michiru are difficult for literally no reason at all. I mean they are so pretentious and arrogant its very hard for me to watch. I mean they are barely any older than the inners and yet they act like they have so much more life experience than they do. The inners have been though so much they also had to make tough choices and yet they still stick to their morals and want to work together and they got no respect or cooperation from the outers at all up until the very end of S they are disrespected.
 
Sep 6, 2014
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#16
blondibear_17 said:
Chibiusa I feel is more annoying than ever. I mean in R I think Chibiusa's behavior is appropriate given she is visibly much younger she is lost, afraid, confused and alone in the world whereas in S and SuperS she is just a spoiled pain in the butt that ridicules and [BLEEP] blocks Usagi for no reason other than she is a jerk and wants to be the center of attention.
I feel like S utilized Chibi Usa the best tbh.

Hotaru is boring
Agree to disagree. I think this sickly girl who becames best friends with Chibi Usa but is also the daughter of the main villain and is ALSO the host for the anti-christ figure and is ALSO a Sailor Soldier was pretty damn interesting. More so than the locked in formula S was trapped in.

Setsuna is pretty irrelevant
She played a key part in the talisman being united to create the Holy Grail. Wouldn't call her irrelevant. She did sort of fade into the background during the Mimette sub-arc.


and I feel like Haruka and Michiru are difficult for literally no reason at all. I mean they are so pretentious and arrogant its very hard for me to watch.
Wanting to save the world even if it meant sacrificing 3 lives with clashed with the main team's ideals "nobody has to die to save the world" is a fairly good reason?

I mean they are barely any older than the inners and yet they act like they have so much more life experience than they do.
Well that's how the show treats them. It's weird though because I'm pretty sure they're only in the first year of high school while the main team is in the last year of middle school. Michiru is literally only a month older than Rei. Then again the show is so freakin weird about ages and grades and years and ugh.
 
Jul 5, 2009
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#17
LifeGaveMeLemons said:
and I feel like Haruka and Michiru are difficult for literally no reason at all. I mean they are so pretentious and arrogant its very hard for me to watch.
Wanting to save the world even if it meant sacrificing 3 lives with clashed with the main team's ideals "nobody has to die to save the world" is a fairly good reason?
Episode 126 is the worst for the pair. It's like watching the last episode of the Break Up arc. The final conclusion/resolution to an otherwise poorly thought out conflict.
 
Apr 1, 2017
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D-Point
#18
Well, for my own maybe-controversial Outers opinion, I think Haruka and Michiru were excellent sympathetic villains. I wouldn't exactly call them heroes, though. :) They are much too full of themselves and condescending, and stubborn, have questionable ethics, and can be outright treasonous...

Especially
Spoiler: show
when you get to the last few episodes of Sailor Stars. That felt like a natural progression of their characters to me, and it's genuinely one of my favorite moments in the show, because it feels like it fits so well, yet it's more extreme and dark than I expected the show to muster at that point.

Given how very much I like the Shitennou, I should clarify that 'sympathetic villains' is a complement, as I am effectively lumping Haruka and Michiru in with the likes of Zoisite and Kunzite (compare/contrast). And Zoisite is my fourth favorite character in the whole show.

As for Hotaru, though, I loved Hotaru, she was very sympathetic and haunting and cute and tragic and well meaning and just all sorts of pitiable moeness. Hotaru was perfect in S, aside from maybe being introduced too late in the season (she should've had more screentime overall). I also love her interactions with her father, Professor Tomoe, who is one of my top five favorite characters for all sorts of reasons. He's a magnificent laugh-and-cry character.

Setsuna, I agree: I never felt like she got her day in the sun. I kept waiting for some big moment or cool revelation or creepy twist (her attack, Dead Scream, is downright evil looking) that never quite seemed to come. She's intriguing, but the intrigue doesn't amount to much. She has a part in the story, but it's always a small part. Suspiciously small for how important her job really is... it begs for fanfic, don't you think?

So I like the outers, but I don't think they're the greatest heroes of all time or whatever. I think they're like an intriguing batch of anti-heroes, with questionable loyalties and an unreliable, sometimes treacherous nature. Yet they mean well, and many of the bad things they do are for good intentions, or being outright forced into a corner with no good options (like so many villains in the show), so they're interesting.

I also think Anime Saphir, specifically, is less villainous than Haruka and Michiru.

It's also a reason I wish there were a more-than-just-teased (Usagi and Rei were VERY teased canonically, like when Rei nuzzles a blushing Usagi on the couch to reassure her when Chibi-usa is being Black Lady, or Sailor Neptune compares their relationship to her and Uranus, among other occasions) romantic pairing between two 'Inner' Senshi, so we'd have gotten a straightforwardly heroic homosexual couple with no villainy attached.