Moving along with my continued addiction with PGSM, I have to say that this shoujo manga tokusatsu* drama is really turning into one of the most rewarding shows I’ve ever seen! Maybe it’s simply because of how long the series went on, but I really feel like I’ve gotten to know the characters deeply, and I find that I love and care about them and am simply beside myself with what’s gonna happen next!
This comes as bit of a surprise, because there was a brief time there (right after the awesome Darcury arc) where the series seemed to have “plateaued”; the storyline seemed to turn into a one dimensional high-school type drama, and I suddenly felt like I was watching mediocre cliched episodes. This would be the time they introduced Mio as Usagi’s weaselly adversary, but I think it has more to do with (as I mentioned before) Luna turning into an 8 year old girl than anything else. I REALLY had a problem with that! Funny, I never blinked when the Sailor Senshis were talking to Luna as a stuffed cat, but MAN, once they turned her into that little kid in a superhero costume battling alongside them, that was the first time I actually felt like I was watching a show for children.
It was during this time that I mentioned to Car that I was starting to lose interest in the show, and though she never said anything, you could feel her breathing a sigh of relief as if to say, “Thank God He’s finally getting over this embarrassing Sailor Moon obsession!”… but no sooner had I said that when the show suddenly shifted into high gear and got awesome ALL OVER AGAIN!
A large part of what makes this second run so engaging is the fleshing out of the Shitennou, the Dark Kingdom Generals, who, with their colored wigs and garish soldier outfits, seem to be male counterparts (of sorts) to the Sailor Senshi themselves. Whereas in the first half them acted more in the shadows, but the time of episode 20 they were regularly coming”above ground” to battle the girls firsthand, and as the storyline gets more complex, they are interacting more and more with each other, even to the point of shaky but necessary alliances between certain members.
Another point is the fact that Aino Minako’s character of Sailor V /Sailor Venus is almost non-existent in the first half of the series and when she finally makes her (official) appearance in episode 18 with the group, we don’t know quite what to make of her. It is only in these latest episodes that I find how much I like her character, probably because they’re finally devoting enough time to show where her heart lays. Or Lies. Whatever, I love her now!
I’ve read in several Sailor Moon sites that the PRETTY GUARDIAN SAILOR MOON Live-Action series is more CHARACTER driven than the original manga and anime series, and while not having either read the manga or seen the anime series, I can see where that could be true! They’ve done SUCH a great job of selling me on these people, and with the terrific acting of everyone (ESPECIALLY Miyu Sawaii…though I think I mentioned that already), the end product is nothing short of AWESOME!
Ah, I’m starting to approach the quandary I come across with most of the dramas I fall in love with- I want to hurry up and finish watching it because I’m dying to know what happens, but at the same time, I’m trying to watch them as SLOWLY as possible to prolong my time with them! Just the thought of no more episodes to watch SERIOUSLY bums me out!
Thank GOD Hotaru No Hikari 2 has started…I’m REALLY gonna need something to “latch onto” when this is all over!
* Yametekudasai states emphatically for the record: “Tokusatsu? I just can’t see that this SAILOR MOON thing has ANYTHING to do with REAL Tokusatsu heroes (like Ultraman, Kamen Rider, etc), and therefore cannot label it as such.” Or word to that effect.
