PGSM is straight up the best way to watch the Dark Kingdom arc of Sailor Moon. It has the best writing for the characters AND has the greatest balance between being a kids show for girls and a soap opera for the adults.
2003's Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon is not only the better show compared to the 90s anime, but it's my favorite adaptation of Sailor Moon. Even though the show only covers the Dark Kingdom Arc and the overall production value of the show looks extremely cheap, I can't help but really appreciate how the writing manages to elevate the material and how phenomenal each actor is in their roles, especially in regards to the Sailor Guardians. While I'm not too crazy about some adaptational changes, the other changes manage to expand upon different aspects of certain characters that were subtly inferred to in the manga and thus making it at the very least my favorite rendition of the Dark Kingdom storyline.
I'll say that you didn't convince me to hunt down this series to check it out, as it isn't really my thing, but you sure did convince me to watch your efforts to cover the series! Good job there, Mistare Senshi.
I’d love to watch this. I’m not bothered by bad special effects. Anyone who has seen some plays or old shows like 60s Batman understands. When the writing and performances are good it’s good and the cheap special effects add extra entertainment value. If you want something more serious then read the manga or find another series altogether. Thanks for doing this, especially these days when I’m desperate for something to take the edge off every day.
Yeah, the cheap effects was common in other Toei productions back then too, especially the CG which they started using regularly since Gaoranger (Power Rangers Wild Force) in 2001. It's why the stock footage on the mecha/zord fights looks bad.
It would be interesting to see him compare the story structure of the Anime vs. the Manga because that's always intrigued me with how Anime adaptations have rarely gone off the beaten path. Well, not without severe consequences...
THANK YOU for making this video! I watched PGSM during its original run back in 2003 and these days I'm sharing the show with my wife while she and our daughter are discovering Sailor Moon for the first time. PGSM is truly the best version of Sailor Moon!
I know people ask Discotek to release this often ever since they released the Cutie Honey Toku show but they've said it's not even up for licensing. One day I hope.
Yeah, it hasn't exactly seen any movement in Japan either since the DVD box set from 2011. There are Japanese fans who have taken issue with the lack of a streaming release at sites like the Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club.
I might not be a Sailor Moon fan, but I'm a tokusatsu fan AND I like to find more obscure Japanese series (mainly giant robot anime and stuff releated to things popular in Japan) so this is STILL up my alley! Oh, and it's unhinged too? AWESOME.
It only took me 3 days in October of 2023 last year to watch every episode of this series. Happy 20th Anniversary Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, 2003-2023 🥳🎉🌙🌹. Also R.I.P. the series as well since there was never a 2nd Season, or a Reboot compared to the other one 😔🙏. May Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon live on as the first and only Live Action Sailor Moon TV Series throughout the years 🌙🌹
I've never put enough effort into finding this show, but I've always wanted to know more and see people talk about it. 1. Your Ami outfit is amazing 2. Your timing with edits and jokes has never been better 3. You sold me on it further 4. Batman Returns is also my favorite Batman movie
I couldn't have sad it better! I love PGSM and you're right, it's probably the best Sailor Moon adaptation in terms of story and characters. And it's surprisingly dark at the end. You know what's even more underrated? The Sailor Moon musicals! (There's a lot of them.)
@@MistareFusion I do have the official special dvd box from Japan. Don't get me wrong I'm so happy I got it, it's a beautiful set but no English subs. But I did buy amazing Blu-ray bootleg from Brazil, from all places, with amazing hd transfer and great translation. The first time I discovered this was when I bought a sailor moon ultimate dvd collection bootleg from eBay and came the live action too. My god the quality was not good, with the time stamp on the top left of the scry and the subs made no sense. But so worth it haha 😅 but 20 anniversary this year, we need a Blu-ray, regardless if it's from Japan or not.
I cannot begin to express how happy I am that this video exists. Everything I love about this show is laid out plainly to see, and now I can show people this video when I want to explain my love for PGSM. Thank you for this video and thank you for loving this show unapologetically
When you brought up Zyuranger, I thought you were going to mention that Geki's actor was also the longest-running Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon's stage musicals!
I discovered PGSM around 2011-ish, near as I can tell, I spent years on various Sailor Moon RPs and I remember hearing about it from a member on one of them and finding a fansubbed version I think on youtube in like 10 minute parts the way animes used to get broken up, and it immediately became my absolute favorite version bar none. But I hadn't actually rewatched it in full (usually on rewatches I'd get to ep 18-20 and stall out), so it was so very rewarding to revisit it in high quality 13 years later and relive the entire thing from Miss Dream's fansubs. A lot of the later eps it felt like I was seeing for the first time all over again, cause I'd remembered very specific moments (like Rei's reaction to [REDACTED] near the very end of the season) but most of the stuff in between I'd completely blanked on and my heart got torn to shreds and I loved every minute of it. I can't wait to see you dig into the characters, I fully agree with you that they and their arcs and the show's focus on their relationships is what really makes this a stand-out installment of Sailor Moon canon. Also for years I've billed it as 'amazing character arcs and story beats mixed in with Power Rangers-esque CGI/costumes and fight sequences' when trying to sell others on it, I'll have to add 'Tween Peaks' to my arsenal!
I finished the show this week after bouncing off it years ago and our experiences are very similar! This is the most fun I've ever had with Sailor Moon. The characters are INCREDIBLE! I can't wait to start watching your videos on them.
This was an awesome video! Around the time I discovered Super Sentai in 2006-2007 I looked at PGSM and got halfway through it. Now I’m motivated to finally finish it after all these years. Tokusatsu is my bread and butter and I’m glad you will be introducing people to this special show. 🌙 ❤
Why do people sleep on it.? Probably because while it is a very good show, it is ultimately more about deconstructing Sailor Moon than it is about translating it's essence into live action.
Hmm. I'd be quite interested to hear you elaborate on that. I personally never thought of it as a deconstruction, and I still don't really see how it could be. The main premise of this video I now realize is me breaking down exactly how this show translates every facet of Sailor Moon's essence into live action. I just think it does it in a better way.
@@MistareFusionUltimately as the show goes on it tears down Sailor Moon and everything she represents, while also twisting and subverting the general tropes and themes of the Sailor Moon franchise. The most on the nose way it does this is by presenting what is the ultimate source of hope and light in other renditions of the franchise as a force of destruction and ultimately twisting the love that is usually depicted as Usagi's greatest virtue into something more sinister. There's other ways it does it as well, but that is the most obvious part of it. I'm not knocking the show for doing that mind you, just pointing out that's what the show is doing. It's writer Yasuko Kobayashi, pretty much always writes that way when she writes for a franchise, most notably in her work for Kamen Rider and Super Sentai. Her Kamen Rider work especially is an outright rejection of the franchises core themes. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes it ends up being terrible. Fortunately PGSM was an example of the former.
I didn't think you were criticizing the show at all. It's a very interesting interpretation, and I appreciate you sharing it with me. I struggle with it, though, if you don't mind listening to me work through it. As I see it, in all versions, the silver crystal is ultimately neutral, only as good or evil as whoever's using it. That's why the villains want it: to do crappy things with it. The crystal in this version does a lot of good things too. Regardless, it's ultimately a power-up, not really an idea to be deconstructed. But I don't agree that Usagi's love is treated as anything but positive. It's still her greatest strength. As I talk about in the video, I think that positive aspect of hers is far more of a focus here than in other versions. It's the princess's expressions of love that are a problem, but she's a different person. Usagi uses her own love to try to reach the princess and set a better example. I think that's pretty straight on and not sinister at all. Don't get me wrong. I love deconstructions. I think Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a wonderful deconstruction of that universe's Federation. And I think I would still love this series if I did think it was a deconstruction of Sailor Moon. But I feel like this series is touting the same themes and ideas but is just adding more complexity to them. And if you're right (and I think you are to an extent) that that's what turned people off to this show, I think that's a shame. But I'm definitely interested to know what you think.
@@MistareFusion I think (and this is getting into spoiler territory so I will just place this stuff lower down so people have to click for the spoilers) it's more in regards to Usagi's orignal incarnation Princess Serenity being evil (albeit in a tragic way) in this version and her love for Endymion having been more of the possessive kind.
Detective Conan and PGSM episodes were at the top of my priority lists to watch this show when the subbed sites would drop them back in the day. I remember years later I was able to get a bootleg DVD set off of ebay around 2009 so I could finally finish the series. I was big into learning VFX at the time and PGSM was really inspirational with the low budget effects (which were pretty spectacular for the time!). What a walk down memory lane.
So, I assume that Ami/Mercury is your favorite Sailor Senshi. Mine is Usagi. Chibiusa is overhated. There was once a national popularity poll (also hosted on TV) which listed every single identity as their own character. You got four different versions of Usagi (Usagi, Sailor Moon, Princess Serenity, Neo-Queen Serenity), and Haruka and Uranus individually still got more votes than all of them.
Thank you! And the good news is, if you didn't know, I've already put out two follow ups to this video, so I hope you watch them when you get a chance.
I found out about this show years ago when I saw a RUclips AMV to the Evanescence song "Everybody's Fool". I agree its the best version of the Dark Kingdom arc.
Interesting to find myself in kinda the mirror-image position of who you're pitching this to, but with similar effect--I haven't seen any version of Sailor Moon, but I've always thought this show might well be the one I watch (or watch first) if I ever do, on account of already liking similar hero shows. (Plus I'm a big fan of writer Yasuko Kobayashi) Which I guess would put me in a pretty unique situation in terms of comparing experiences with the fandom...
Another new feather to add to the increasingly-diverse hat of this channel! Toku-style shows in general aren't really a thing I've experienced too much of, but your love for this has already shown through. I do however, enjoy me some rubber-suit kaiju production values though, so it's nice to have on the radar. Looking forward to the next vids!
I remembered watching this so many years ago, and it was so good. Really underrated Sailor Moon series. But Ihave to admit Sailor Luna is really annoying, like she almost made me quit. But gladly I didn't and it was such a good show. Also LOVE the opening ♥
Can't wait to watch this. It was one of my very first drama, recommended by my sister, and we had so much fun with it. I'm not even a Sailor Moon fan at all! Never rewatched it since, but I might once I'm done watching this. In fact, I've already redownloaded the whole show. Locked and loaded!
Legit the best version of Usagi and Momaru's relationship. Cause you actually do see their relationship go from "Oh that person is so annoying!" to "I love that person so much!"
Whilst the manga is still my favourite Sailor Moon incarnation, Live Action so far is my favourite TV adaptation As a fan of Super Sentai and Kamen Rider especially, I already felt right at home here
Yo, a whole video on my favorite _Sailor Moon_ series? *LET'S **_GOOOOO!_* This has my favorite versions of Sailors Mercury & Mars, Queen Beryl and the Shitennō, my favorite power-up in the series, and my favorite depiction of Usagi and Mamoru's romance. It starts off iffy, but it gets _sooo_ good later on. ♡
Loved Sailor Moon growing up. Only found out about this live action series in High School when my friend showed it to me...which was early 2004 :O, what the heck... I didn't know that thats when it aired :O, wow. Actually really enjoyed it! Was like Sailor Moon Power Rangers (ha, wrote this comment before I saw you say it in the video, thats great!), which is fine by me!
My favorite iteration of the franchise xD Sad that Toei didn't made a "10 years after" special like the actors wanted. And yes, the cheapness in tokusatsu production is part of the charm xD
This show has such good character writing. Also I do love Usagi the best, as she is earnest and happy. The other characters have so much layers too. And Usagi's crying about Ikuko is just a good touch. From what I don't like about the original anime character, she is great. I never really minded the special effects or fight coreography that much because I can embrace the fiction and get into it especially just love the art direction/aesthetics it has. I don't care for perfection and as I watched this as a kid in 2013 could just get into it like I did the anime. The music is gorgeous and the theme song is my fav! Also, I do agree that the heavenly guys having an alliance to Endymion was actually cool. That was in a CD game I played recently. Anyway for younger viewers, a comparision is that this is similar to "h2o Just add Water" with character driven stories and fantasy aspects. As someone who watched PGSM youtube as a kid, I feel like it's something that you can be invested in and it's sad that most of the older fandom dismissed it. In fact, I say that many Sailor Moon's major incarnations like Crystal are somewhat over scrutinized (plainly stated to be bad). There's many aspects to admire in many Sailor Moon media. I love looking at things hollistically, and the way I got into Sailor Moon online as a gen z kid just blown away by everything, the art, music, characters and I loved fan videos- really makes me feel like I have a unique perspective in this fandom as I was really a young superfan in like 2011/2013 and ate everything up. My "adult eyes" barely grew in as I love so many cartoons and admire so many things like high art. If I couldn't get through the show l- i didnt really- I'd watch 20 fanmade eternal transformarions. Honestly, I love how all the versions bring something interesting and Sailor Moon's worldbuilding and myth is chefs kiss. I love the weird vampire musical. The only one I probably don't like? The anime mask plays...?
I watched this series as soon as there were fansubs out, and I loved it! I actually have everything, including the special acts, saved on a flash drive. And yes, I agree that the action is weak at first. But people need to realize that these fresh, new, teenage actresses had to get used to pulling off these fight scenes in those costumes; specifically the shoes. It only makes sense that they would start off with baby steps and gradually work up to more complex choreography.
When I was little I saw some of the Dic Sailor Moon, but it didn't stick with me. I actually was more into this live action version because I was a big Power Rangers/Sentai fan. I remember the old days of scouring tokusatsu fansites for info and images, and coming across these Sailor Moon episodes, it was like a whole new world.
People can say what they want about the ballet style of their fighting in the beginning: It gives the show character and I will totally play a Sailor Moon video game that incorporates these as melee attacks
The other week I bought the EXACT listing for two brooches seen at 17:23 from mercari for just under 75USD, versus the 345USD that the eBay scalper is asking for. 👁️👄👁️ Be careful out there, collectors.
thanks for this video! Sailor Moon is my fav media franchise ever and PGSM is def my fav iteration and you made me realize its exactly because of the character driven nature haha Ayaka is so perfect as my girl Minako 🥰 hopefully more people watch this
I can't wait to get into Sailor Venus in later videos. She's someone I always felt was underutilized, particularly in this arc, demoted from main character in her own series to the distant 5th Sailor Guardian. I'm not saying she didn't have her moments. The nurse episode of Sailor Moon R is one of my favorites (which is why I use clips of it in this video). She was always the proto-Sailor Moon, always stuck in Usagi's shadow. They didn't really seem to know what to do with her. This version of Minako made me fall in love with the character. They just totally nailed it with her, finally found a way to make her shine.
Good job MistareFusion! I'm a bit surprised by all of this craziness. But even after seeing it, I do think I'd have proffered a Salem,(from The Live-Action Sabrina the Teenage Witch) style puppet with two real cats for the wide shots. The plushies are cute but I think it'd be even more funny.
I first heard about Live Action Sailor Moon after watching videos from Kaiju No Kami. So I was already familiar with the Live Action series of Sailor Moon as well as watching small footage of the series on RUclips back 10 years ago.
Great video, I was aware of the live action but have never seen it. My sister who has, actually really liked the changes from when she talked to me about it.
I remember watching this for the first (and only) time in late summer/fall of 2006. I did not like the overall cheesyness and was quilty-watching, but it was so similar to Power Rangers, which I was a fan growing up that I decided to continue. During that time Tokyo Drift was released and remember being plesantly suprized seeing a familiar face - Keiko Kitagawa, who played Sailor Mars on PGSM, in that film. Funny enough, she is the same age as You and I, which made me root for her even more.
Missing important milestones, you say? Well no kidding, you forgot the musicals that featured the girls fighting Dracula! … The musicals are fucking wild, let me tell you, even when they’re adapting the Manga.
@@BagOfMagicFood Even with context some stuff is just... bizarre. Apparently in the first run of musicals they completely skipped over the Black Moon Arc, although in a somewhat fortunate twist by the time they did it meant they could use Chibi-Usa's first actress to play Black Lady since she was older now.
I remember when I first heard about this in an anime magazine from back then that I read very obsessively. And I remember that... they were not very kind to it. The review was just about the early episodes of the show because that was all that was available, but basically it was all "It's stupid, it's ridiculous, why they didn't make Luna in the same style as Salem from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, why the transformation, introduction and attack scenes are not a 1:1 remake of the ones from the anime, the only good part is Queen Beryl because it's the only character who doesn't look like a cheap cosplayer" Then again this was the same magazine who gave a negative review to the Yu-Gi-Oh anime (the original Japanese version, not the 4Kids dub, mind you) because "it's a show made to sell things to kids so it's automatically the worst thing ever"
Huh. I would have expected that the stuffed cats would turn into real cats part of the time. That way Usagi can at least encounter them first as cats. But I guess that would be hard to do with this budget. Though it does make the insistence on natural hair colors a bit odd.
I remember watching this ... but I didn't finished... I loved it though (It is its own thing, and goes its own way, and not a beat for beat retelling of the Anime or Manga. Which I love, a live action is it own thing and just NEEDS to have a good story. It NEEDS to be judged on its own merits. yes I know what happens even though I didn't finish it.)... Wait the Luna and Artimis thing I thought it was just low budget lol (I didn't care either).
I have to say, not having the blonde hair for Usagi does bug me a bit. She just doesn't look like Usagi to me, even with the pigtails. Maybe if the dumplings stood out more, and the whole shape just matched more? I mean, I get it. Blonde may be natural but would be quite rare. But it's weird how seeing her without the wig made her just look like a generic Japanese schoolgirl to me. I would hope they at least include the colors of the hair, even if not actually in the hair itself. Putting some yellow hair bands or something might have helped it work for me. That said, I'm sure I'll get used to it.
Watching this video I felt Mamoru's actor looked familiar and realised I'd seen as Ibuki in Kamen Rider Hibiki which he most have worked on not long after this series
A lot of actors later acted in Kamen Rider, even Usagi one was an extra in a couple of series, Sailor Mercury's is Kouta's sister in Gaim, Nephrite's later acted as Gamel in OOO, etc. I think this series was even the breakthrough for some of them.
Please buy those stuffed cats before the next video, so we can see them in the background! Please! You owe it to yourself, Sailor Fusion! 🐱😺 Also don't forget to talk about some of the weird stuff from this show, I believe there's a prequel episode that's set before the first episode (but made by production much later) where Usagi and her friends try and stop a heist by pretending they were superheroes, and Usagi I believe called herself Sailor U (like Sailor V, but U for Usagi). I 'think' it might have been a Sailor V special episode? Also I remember a joke clip of I believe Usagi asking Mamoru how he transforms, and there's this silly (even by the show's standards) transformation sequence of him just being in his underwear and pulling on his tuxedo, only for Usagi to go "REALLY?!" and him to be like "no, dummy, I was kidding!" XD
It’s funny that you have used a few references from BATMAN RETURNS( my personal favorite BATMAN movie) cause I recently fan fictioned this version of him in the anime in my DVD collection. Basically all I do is tell the story in narrative from like a story book. He he he hhhh. 😅 But yeah, I’m rather curious and intrigued now about this show. Hopefully I’ll find out where to find it soon, but thanks for introducing this to me.
23:27 And without getting into spoilers, I have to disagree with a comment below about the series' plot subversion in the latter half being to its detriment. That unexpected turn is what makes this series for me and puts it alongside Samurai Sentai Shinkenger as having the most brilliant character-driven reveals in the genre. Can't wait to hear your spoiler thoughts on it.
With a few adjustments, I could see this in the family of Super Sentai (heck even MMPR to some extent since they are "teenagers with attitude"). Actually the Sailor Megazord would have been pretty badass. Then when the outer senshi show up, they can have their own Megazord, only to combine to become the Sailor Ultrazord! They probably would have been able to get away with more stunts if when transformed they all wore masks (similar to Tuxedo Kamen or Sailor V). It would add to the transformation since their hair changes also. I know in Super Sentai the battles with the "face" characters (the ones with their faces exposed) aren't as often as the battles with villains in full costume. Doing this for a whole series where all of your protagonists and some antagonists are face characters was probably really difficult.
Yes, the battle choreography was messy because it was too hard to get stunt doubles to work, as the main actors were short teenage girls and to this day there's not many stuntwomen available in Japan. Tokusatsu like Super Sentai and Kamen Rider fixes that by giving everyone a full helmet while expecting children to not notice the characters getting taller.
I'd heard of it and heard it was good before, and it did seem interesting, but like you I haven't watched it before. I've been spoiled on the broad plot beets but not the details so I'll try to watch it before your next video on the character journies so I can appreciate it even more.
PGSM is straight up the best way to watch the Dark Kingdom arc of Sailor Moon. It has the best writing for the characters AND has the greatest balance between being a kids show for girls and a soap opera for the adults.
2003's Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon is not only the better show compared to the 90s anime, but it's my favorite adaptation of Sailor Moon. Even though the show only covers the Dark Kingdom Arc and the overall production value of the show looks extremely cheap, I can't help but really appreciate how the writing manages to elevate the material and how phenomenal each actor is in their roles, especially in regards to the Sailor Guardians. While I'm not too crazy about some adaptational changes, the other changes manage to expand upon different aspects of certain characters that were subtly inferred to in the manga and thus making it at the very least my favorite rendition of the Dark Kingdom storyline.
I'll say that you didn't convince me to hunt down this series to check it out, as it isn't really my thing, but you sure did convince me to watch your efforts to cover the series!
Good job there, Mistare Senshi.
I’d love to watch this. I’m not bothered by bad special effects. Anyone who has seen some plays or old shows like 60s Batman understands. When the writing and performances are good it’s good and the cheap special effects add extra entertainment value. If you want something more serious then read the manga or find another series altogether. Thanks for doing this, especially these days when I’m desperate for something to take the edge off every day.
Yeah, the cheap effects was common in other Toei productions back then too, especially the CG which they started using regularly since Gaoranger (Power Rangers Wild Force) in 2001. It's why the stock footage on the mecha/zord fights looks bad.
If you decide to do a Sailor Moon Dissection, I'm all for it.
Yes. He should do it for real.
I watched Sailor Moon religiously on Toonami, alongside, DBZ, so I'm fully in support of an exhaustive reexamination of the original anime.
I would love that. Especially for the manga which too many people have never read.
FACTS
It would be interesting to see him compare the story structure of the Anime vs. the Manga because that's always intrigued me with how Anime adaptations have rarely gone off the beaten path. Well, not without severe consequences...
In an alternate universe, Lance made a series comparing the original Japanese Sailor Moon to Toon Makers' version.
If you love silliness mixed with drama, you're going to love Abaranger.
Two of the actors in this show return for the 4th dinosaur Sentai with a knight theme.
THANK YOU for making this video! I watched PGSM during its original run back in 2003 and these days I'm sharing the show with my wife while she and our daughter are discovering Sailor Moon for the first time. PGSM is truly the best version of Sailor Moon!
You mentioned this show in an earlier video but I didnt expect you to make such a convincing case for it lol
I'm so glad to hear I made a convincing case!
I know people ask Discotek to release this often ever since they released the Cutie Honey Toku show but they've said it's not even up for licensing. One day I hope.
Yeah, it hasn't exactly seen any movement in Japan either since the DVD box set from 2011. There are Japanese fans who have taken issue with the lack of a streaming release at sites like the Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club.
Blame PMP the authors rights holding company.
I might not be a Sailor Moon fan, but I'm a tokusatsu fan AND I like to find more obscure Japanese series (mainly giant robot anime and stuff releated to things popular in Japan) so this is STILL up my alley!
Oh, and it's unhinged too? AWESOME.
Trust me Magical girl series are basically Toku series with a more feminine aesthetic , you’ll probably enjoy a series or two
Glad someone is making longform video essays this show deserves
It only took me 3 days in October of 2023 last year to watch every episode of this series. Happy 20th Anniversary Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, 2003-2023 🥳🎉🌙🌹. Also R.I.P. the series as well since there was never a 2nd Season, or a Reboot compared to the other one 😔🙏. May Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon live on as the first and only Live Action Sailor Moon TV Series throughout the years 🌙🌹
I've never put enough effort into finding this show, but I've always wanted to know more and see people talk about it.
1. Your Ami outfit is amazing
2. Your timing with edits and jokes has never been better
3. You sold me on it further
4. Batman Returns is also my favorite Batman movie
Thank you so, so much!
Yamacha and 90s anime Tuxedo Mask have the same VA
He was also AkaRed in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger.
I couldn't have sad it better! I love PGSM and you're right, it's probably the best Sailor Moon adaptation in terms of story and characters. And it's surprisingly dark at the end.
You know what's even more underrated? The Sailor Moon musicals! (There's a lot of them.)
I definitely hope to get around to seeing the musicals at some point!
If discotek media announced a complete boxset on SD Blu-ray... I would lose my mind!!!
Ugh, so would I! I'll never understand why Toei doesn't want to seem to license this.
@@MistareFusion I do have the official special dvd box from Japan. Don't get me wrong I'm so happy I got it, it's a beautiful set but no English subs. But I did buy amazing Blu-ray bootleg from Brazil, from all places, with amazing hd transfer and great translation. The first time I discovered this was when I bought a sailor moon ultimate dvd collection bootleg from eBay and came the live action too. My god the quality was not good, with the time stamp on the top left of the scry and the subs made no sense. But so worth it haha 😅 but 20 anniversary this year, we need a Blu-ray, regardless if it's from Japan or not.
My friend has been hyping this series up for a while. Think I'll take it to my group watch next time
I also never heard of the Sailor Moon live action series, this is the first I ever heard about it.
I love that this is going to be a new series.
the head writer of this show also wrote kamen rider ooo and ressha entai toquger so you KNOW its peak!
And talking about OOO, the actor for Nephrite in this Sailor Moon later did Gamel in OOO!
Also Kamen Rider Ryuki which premiered the year before (2002).
All you had to say was Toqger
I cannot begin to express how happy I am that this video exists. Everything I love about this show is laid out plainly to see, and now I can show people this video when I want to explain my love for PGSM. Thank you for this video and thank you for loving this show unapologetically
When you brought up Zyuranger, I thought you were going to mention that Geki's actor was also the longest-running Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon's stage musicals!
I discovered PGSM around 2011-ish, near as I can tell, I spent years on various Sailor Moon RPs and I remember hearing about it from a member on one of them and finding a fansubbed version I think on youtube in like 10 minute parts the way animes used to get broken up, and it immediately became my absolute favorite version bar none. But I hadn't actually rewatched it in full (usually on rewatches I'd get to ep 18-20 and stall out), so it was so very rewarding to revisit it in high quality 13 years later and relive the entire thing from Miss Dream's fansubs. A lot of the later eps it felt like I was seeing for the first time all over again, cause I'd remembered very specific moments (like Rei's reaction to [REDACTED] near the very end of the season) but most of the stuff in between I'd completely blanked on and my heart got torn to shreds and I loved every minute of it.
I can't wait to see you dig into the characters, I fully agree with you that they and their arcs and the show's focus on their relationships is what really makes this a stand-out installment of Sailor Moon canon. Also for years I've billed it as 'amazing character arcs and story beats mixed in with Power Rangers-esque CGI/costumes and fight sequences' when trying to sell others on it, I'll have to add 'Tween Peaks' to my arsenal!
A tokusatsu show? With lots of drama? And low-budget action & effects? Sounds like it's right up my alley!
I finished the show this week after bouncing off it years ago and our experiences are very similar! This is the most fun I've ever had with Sailor Moon. The characters are INCREDIBLE! I can't wait to start watching your videos on them.
This was an awesome
video! Around the time I discovered Super Sentai in 2006-2007 I looked at PGSM and got halfway through it. Now I’m motivated to finally finish it after all these years. Tokusatsu is my bread and butter and I’m glad you will be introducing people to this special show. 🌙 ❤
Why do people sleep on it.? Probably because while it is a very good show, it is ultimately more about deconstructing Sailor Moon than it is about translating it's essence into live action.
Hmm. I'd be quite interested to hear you elaborate on that. I personally never thought of it as a deconstruction, and I still don't really see how it could be. The main premise of this video I now realize is me breaking down exactly how this show translates every facet of Sailor Moon's essence into live action. I just think it does it in a better way.
@@MistareFusionUltimately as the show goes on it tears down Sailor Moon and everything she represents, while also twisting and subverting the general tropes and themes of the Sailor Moon franchise. The most on the nose way it does this is by presenting what is the ultimate source of hope and light in other renditions of the franchise as a force of destruction and ultimately twisting the love that is usually depicted as Usagi's greatest virtue into something more sinister. There's other ways it does it as well, but that is the most obvious part of it. I'm not knocking the show for doing that mind you, just pointing out that's what the show is doing. It's writer Yasuko Kobayashi, pretty much always writes that way when she writes for a franchise, most notably in her work for Kamen Rider and Super Sentai. Her Kamen Rider work especially is an outright rejection of the franchises core themes. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes it ends up being terrible. Fortunately PGSM was an example of the former.
I didn't think you were criticizing the show at all. It's a very interesting interpretation, and I appreciate you sharing it with me. I struggle with it, though, if you don't mind listening to me work through it. As I see it, in all versions, the silver crystal is ultimately neutral, only as good or evil as whoever's using it. That's why the villains want it: to do crappy things with it. The crystal in this version does a lot of good things too. Regardless, it's ultimately a power-up, not really an idea to be deconstructed. But I don't agree that Usagi's love is treated as anything but positive. It's still her greatest strength. As I talk about in the video, I think that positive aspect of hers is far more of a focus here than in other versions. It's the princess's expressions of love that are a problem, but she's a different person. Usagi uses her own love to try to reach the princess and set a better example. I think that's pretty straight on and not sinister at all.
Don't get me wrong. I love deconstructions. I think Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a wonderful deconstruction of that universe's Federation. And I think I would still love this series if I did think it was a deconstruction of Sailor Moon. But I feel like this series is touting the same themes and ideas but is just adding more complexity to them. And if you're right (and I think you are to an extent) that that's what turned people off to this show, I think that's a shame. But I'm definitely interested to know what you think.
@@MistareFusion I think (and this is getting into spoiler territory so I will just place this stuff lower down so people have to click for the spoilers)
it's more in regards to Usagi's orignal incarnation Princess Serenity being evil (albeit in a tragic way) in this version and her love for Endymion having been more of the possessive kind.
9:40 I like what you notice about Venus' extra transformation!
Detective Conan and PGSM episodes were at the top of my priority lists to watch this show when the subbed sites would drop them back in the day. I remember years later I was able to get a bootleg DVD set off of ebay around 2009 so I could finally finish the series. I was big into learning VFX at the time and PGSM was really inspirational with the low budget effects (which were pretty spectacular for the time!). What a walk down memory lane.
So glad I was able to give you that walk down memory lane. I'm still so happy I finally watched the show.
So, I assume that Ami/Mercury is your favorite Sailor Senshi.
Mine is Usagi.
Chibiusa is overhated.
There was once a national popularity poll (also hosted on TV) which listed every single identity as their own character. You got four different versions of Usagi (Usagi, Sailor Moon, Princess Serenity, Neo-Queen Serenity), and Haruka and Uranus individually still got more votes than all of them.
I loved this video! Can't wait to see more on this topic from you
Thank you! And the good news is, if you didn't know, I've already put out two follow ups to this video, so I hope you watch them when you get a chance.
I found out about this show years ago when I saw a RUclips AMV to the Evanescence song "Everybody's Fool".
I agree its the best version of the Dark Kingdom arc.
Interesting to find myself in kinda the mirror-image position of who you're pitching this to, but with similar effect--I haven't seen any version of Sailor Moon, but I've always thought this show might well be the one I watch (or watch first) if I ever do, on account of already liking similar hero shows. (Plus I'm a big fan of writer Yasuko Kobayashi) Which I guess would put me in a pretty unique situation in terms of comparing experiences with the fandom...
Another new feather to add to the increasingly-diverse hat of this channel! Toku-style shows in general aren't really a thing I've experienced too much of, but your love for this has already shown through. I do however, enjoy me some rubber-suit kaiju production values though, so it's nice to have on the radar. Looking forward to the next vids!
I remembered watching this so many years ago, and it was so good. Really underrated Sailor Moon series. But Ihave to admit Sailor Luna is really annoying, like she almost made me quit. But gladly I didn't and it was such a good show. Also LOVE the opening ♥
Can't wait to watch this. It was one of my very first drama, recommended by my sister, and we had so much fun with it. I'm not even a Sailor Moon fan at all! Never rewatched it since, but I might once I'm done watching this. In fact, I've already redownloaded the whole show. Locked and loaded!
Lance, talk about Sailor Moon as much you want, and maybe a little more.
Legit the best version of Usagi and Momaru's relationship. Cause you actually do see their relationship go from "Oh that person is so annoying!" to "I love that person so much!"
0:05 😂 did a sailor moon series predicted a future internet meme
As someone who has marathoned the whole 90’s series and knows about the live-action series, hell yeah, I’m so excited to see more videos on this.
Whilst the manga is still my favourite Sailor Moon incarnation, Live Action so far is my favourite TV adaptation
As a fan of Super Sentai and Kamen Rider especially, I already felt right at home here
Fun fact: Naoko Takeuchi is married to Yoshihiro Tagashi, the author of Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter. Isn't that just cute?
Seen it love it, PGSM is better than Crystal
If the cats were real cats they'd look like Salem from Sabrina: The Teenage Witch.
Or the Luna from the Toon Makers Sailor Moon pilot!
Don't you dare workshop that Lynchian title. Tween Peaks is PERFECT.
Yo, a whole video on my favorite _Sailor Moon_ series? *LET'S **_GOOOOO!_*
This has my favorite versions of Sailors Mercury & Mars, Queen Beryl and the Shitennō, my favorite power-up in the series, and my favorite depiction of Usagi and Mamoru's romance. It starts off iffy, but it gets _sooo_ good later on. ♡
Your one of my favorite RUclipsrs, I trust your judgement I'll check it out
Loved Sailor Moon growing up. Only found out about this live action series in High School when my friend showed it to me...which was early 2004 :O, what the heck... I didn't know that thats when it aired :O, wow. Actually really enjoyed it! Was like Sailor Moon Power Rangers (ha, wrote this comment before I saw you say it in the video, thats great!), which is fine by me!
My favorite iteration of the franchise xD
Sad that Toei didn't made a "10 years after" special like the actors wanted.
And yes, the cheapness in tokusatsu production is part of the charm xD
This show has such good character writing. Also I do love Usagi the best, as she is earnest and happy. The other characters have so much layers too. And Usagi's crying about Ikuko is just a good touch. From what I don't like about the original anime character, she is great. I never really minded the special effects or fight coreography that much because I can embrace the fiction and get into it especially just love the art direction/aesthetics it has. I don't care for perfection and as I watched this as a kid in 2013 could just get into it like I did the anime. The music is gorgeous and the theme song is my fav! Also, I do agree that the heavenly guys having an alliance to Endymion was actually cool. That was in a CD game I played recently. Anyway for younger viewers, a comparision is that this is similar to "h2o Just add Water" with character driven stories and fantasy aspects. As someone who watched PGSM youtube as a kid, I feel like it's something that you can be invested in and it's sad that most of the older fandom dismissed it. In fact, I say that many Sailor Moon's major incarnations like Crystal are somewhat over scrutinized (plainly stated to be bad). There's many aspects to admire in many Sailor Moon media. I love looking at things hollistically, and the way I got into Sailor Moon online as a gen z kid just blown away by everything, the art, music, characters and I loved fan videos- really makes me feel like I have a unique perspective in this fandom as I was really a young superfan in like 2011/2013 and ate everything up. My "adult eyes" barely grew in as I love so many cartoons and admire so many things like high art. If I couldn't get through the show l- i didnt really- I'd watch 20 fanmade eternal transformarions. Honestly, I love how all the versions bring something interesting and Sailor Moon's worldbuilding and myth is chefs kiss. I love the weird vampire musical. The only one I probably don't like? The anime mask plays...?
Also, when SM and Tuxedo Mask are falling I love when she sings Cest la Vie ❤ (also one of my fave songs!)
I watched this series as soon as there were fansubs out, and I loved it! I actually have everything, including the special acts, saved on a flash drive. And yes, I agree that the action is weak at first. But people need to realize that these fresh, new, teenage actresses had to get used to pulling off these fight scenes in those costumes; specifically the shoes. It only makes sense that they would start off with baby steps and gradually work up to more complex choreography.
this show made me a reinako shipper for life
Gah, Reinako is soooo good!
The Live-action is honestly one the best versions of sailor moon, I always show the LA to my friends first because of how well it's paced
This sounds awesome, I really gotta watch this. But also rewatch Sailor Moon, haven't seen in a long time.
When I was little I saw some of the Dic Sailor Moon, but it didn't stick with me. I actually was more into this live action version because I was a big Power Rangers/Sentai fan. I remember the old days of scouring tokusatsu fansites for info and images, and coming across these Sailor Moon episodes, it was like a whole new world.
1:41 I don’t know why, but this clip is just funny to me.
I can’t wait for the up coming more detail videos on this!!!
I am ROLLING after that "Tween Peaks" bit.
Please do a deep dive into Sera Myu (The Bandai Sailor Moon musicals that ran from 1993 - 2005) I really love PGSM and Sera Myu is just as good!
People can say what they want about the ballet style of their fighting in the beginning: It gives the show character and I will totally play a Sailor Moon video game that incorporates these as melee attacks
The other week I bought the EXACT listing for two brooches seen at 17:23 from mercari for just under 75USD, versus the 345USD that the eBay scalper is asking for.
👁️👄👁️
Be careful out there, collectors.
thanks for this video! Sailor Moon is my fav media franchise ever and PGSM is def my fav iteration and you made me realize its exactly because of the character driven nature haha Ayaka is so perfect as my girl Minako 🥰 hopefully more people watch this
I can't wait to get into Sailor Venus in later videos. She's someone I always felt was underutilized, particularly in this arc, demoted from main character in her own series to the distant 5th Sailor Guardian. I'm not saying she didn't have her moments. The nurse episode of Sailor Moon R is one of my favorites (which is why I use clips of it in this video). She was always the proto-Sailor Moon, always stuck in Usagi's shadow. They didn't really seem to know what to do with her. This version of Minako made me fall in love with the character. They just totally nailed it with her, finally found a way to make her shine.
Good job MistareFusion! I'm a bit surprised by all of this craziness. But even after seeing it, I do think I'd have proffered a Salem,(from The Live-Action Sabrina the Teenage Witch) style puppet with two real cats for the wide shots. The plushies are cute but I think it'd be even more funny.
I first heard about Live Action Sailor Moon after watching videos from Kaiju No Kami.
So I was already familiar with the Live Action series of Sailor Moon as well as watching small footage of the series on RUclips back 10 years ago.
I'm down for a Dissection series
"They loooove to cartwheel!"
Gee, I can't imagine why...
I remember this one due to an anime magazine in my country doing a review as it was coming out back in the day.
Also IMO (1990's) Sailor Moon season 1 is great, then Crystal for the rest of the series is the way to go. (Chibi Usa is toned down)
I loved this show
Great video, I was aware of the live action but have never seen it. My sister who has, actually really liked the changes from when she talked to me about it.
Though unlike Power Rangers a English PGSM release is kind of unlikely.
I like those puppets, it warm my heart
I enjoyed your analysis of the characters in this reimagined live action world of Sailor Moon 😁
If of
I remember watching this for the first (and only) time in late summer/fall of 2006. I did not like the overall cheesyness and was quilty-watching, but it was so similar to Power Rangers, which I was a fan growing up that I decided to continue. During that time Tokyo Drift was released and remember being plesantly suprized seeing a familiar face - Keiko Kitagawa, who played Sailor Mars on PGSM, in that film. Funny enough, she is the same age as You and I, which made me root for her even more.
University of saintford! Oh my god! Thank you Japan for this so much!
Missing important milestones, you say?
Well no kidding, you forgot the musicals that featured the girls fighting Dracula!
… The musicals are fucking wild, let me tell you, even when they’re adapting the Manga.
I would watch the hell out of that plot
It does take a lot of learning the context to understand why they included what they did!
@@BagOfMagicFood Even with context some stuff is just... bizarre.
Apparently in the first run of musicals they completely skipped over the Black Moon Arc, although in a somewhat fortunate twist by the time they did it meant they could use Chibi-Usa's first actress to play Black Lady since she was older now.
One of your best analysis videos ❤
Thank you so much!
I remember when I first heard about this in an anime magazine from back then that I read very obsessively. And I remember that... they were not very kind to it. The review was just about the early episodes of the show because that was all that was available, but basically it was all "It's stupid, it's ridiculous, why they didn't make Luna in the same style as Salem from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, why the transformation, introduction and attack scenes are not a 1:1 remake of the ones from the anime, the only good part is Queen Beryl because it's the only character who doesn't look like a cheap cosplayer"
Then again this was the same magazine who gave a negative review to the Yu-Gi-Oh anime (the original Japanese version, not the 4Kids dub, mind you) because "it's a show made to sell things to kids so it's automatically the worst thing ever"
Huh. I would have expected that the stuffed cats would turn into real cats part of the time. That way Usagi can at least encounter them first as cats. But I guess that would be hard to do with this budget.
Though it does make the insistence on natural hair colors a bit odd.
I remember watching this ... but I didn't finished... I loved it though (It is its own thing, and goes its own way, and not a beat for beat retelling of the Anime or Manga. Which I love, a live action is it own thing and just NEEDS to have a good story. It NEEDS to be judged on its own merits. yes I know what happens even though I didn't finish it.)... Wait the Luna and Artimis thing I thought it was just low budget lol (I didn't care either).
I have to say, not having the blonde hair for Usagi does bug me a bit. She just doesn't look like Usagi to me, even with the pigtails. Maybe if the dumplings stood out more, and the whole shape just matched more?
I mean, I get it. Blonde may be natural but would be quite rare. But it's weird how seeing her without the wig made her just look like a generic Japanese schoolgirl to me.
I would hope they at least include the colors of the hair, even if not actually in the hair itself. Putting some yellow hair bands or something might have helped it work for me.
That said, I'm sure I'll get used to it.
I'm loving the Sailor Mercury cosplay!
Thank you!!!
Watching this video I felt Mamoru's actor looked familiar and realised I'd seen as Ibuki in Kamen Rider Hibiki which he most have worked on not long after this series
Yep, that is all correct!
A lot of actors later acted in Kamen Rider, even Usagi one was an extra in a couple of series, Sailor Mercury's is Kouta's sister in Gaim, Nephrite's later acted as Gamel in OOO, etc. I think this series was even the breakthrough for some of them.
no, why am i gonna love a homewrecker
Please buy those stuffed cats before the next video, so we can see them in the background! Please! You owe it to yourself, Sailor Fusion! 🐱😺
Also don't forget to talk about some of the weird stuff from this show, I believe there's a prequel episode that's set before the first episode (but made by production much later) where Usagi and her friends try and stop a heist by pretending they were superheroes, and Usagi I believe called herself Sailor U (like Sailor V, but U for Usagi). I 'think' it might have been a Sailor V special episode?
Also I remember a joke clip of I believe Usagi asking Mamoru how he transforms, and there's this silly (even by the show's standards) transformation sequence of him just being in his underwear and pulling on his tuxedo, only for Usagi to go "REALLY?!" and him to be like "no, dummy, I was kidding!" XD
Funny thing about Atremis and Luna, the Korean Dragon Ball fan film handled Puar the same way and its just as ridiculous.
It’s funny that you have used a few references from BATMAN RETURNS( my personal favorite BATMAN movie) cause I recently fan fictioned this version of him in the anime in my DVD collection. Basically all I do is tell the story in narrative from like a story book. He he he hhhh. 😅 But yeah, I’m rather curious and intrigued now about this show. Hopefully I’ll find out where to find it soon, but thanks for introducing this to me.
This show does sound awesome, consider me sold on the premise.
Sailor Moon 🌝 was awesome 😎 on Toonami
I have that dame sailor moon T-shirt that you wore in the video!
I WATCH SAILOR MOON LIVE SHOW MANY TIMES MY FRIEND
This is going to be great
23:27 And without getting into spoilers, I have to disagree with a comment below about the series' plot subversion in the latter half being to its detriment. That unexpected turn is what makes this series for me and puts it alongside Samurai Sentai Shinkenger as having the most brilliant character-driven reveals in the genre. Can't wait to hear your spoiler thoughts on it.
You actually did it! You dressed as a Sailor Senshi!!
So you like Mercury? I'm partial to Hino Rei or Sailor Mars. We both have long black hair.
I would love ❤️ to see a Salior Moon 🌚 and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers crossover movie and manga 😊
I just love sailor moon! ❤
You Forgot To Mention Sailor Luna And Mio
I didn't forget. Those are spoilers. This is a primer. I don't want to give the story away.
@@MistareFusion Understandable
With a few adjustments, I could see this in the family of Super Sentai (heck even MMPR to some extent since they are "teenagers with attitude").
Actually the Sailor Megazord would have been pretty badass. Then when the outer senshi show up, they can have their own Megazord, only to combine to become the Sailor Ultrazord!
They probably would have been able to get away with more stunts if when transformed they all wore masks (similar to Tuxedo Kamen or Sailor V). It would add to the transformation since their hair changes also.
I know in Super Sentai the battles with the "face" characters (the ones with their faces exposed) aren't as often as the battles with villains in full costume. Doing this for a whole series where all of your protagonists and some antagonists are face characters was probably really difficult.
Yes, the battle choreography was messy because it was too hard to get stunt doubles to work, as the main actors were short teenage girls and to this day there's not many stuntwomen available in Japan. Tokusatsu like Super Sentai and Kamen Rider fixes that by giving everyone a full helmet while expecting children to not notice the characters getting taller.
I'd heard of it and heard it was good before, and it did seem interesting, but like you I haven't watched it before. I've been spoiled on the broad plot beets but not the details so I'll try to watch it before your next video on the character journies so I can appreciate it even more.