Summer could not be here any faster! It’s been said that Sailor Moon will debut during the summer 2014. Atsutoshi Umezawa (Suite Pretty Cure) has been announced as the series director and Yuji Kobayashi (Saint Seiya Omega) will be series supervisor. Umezawa has been quoted that this will not be a remake of the first anime, but will start out fresh by adapting the manga by Naoko Takeuchi.
Moonies have been speculating what the new series will look like and how it will follow the manga. The key word here is “adapting.” The same thing was said about the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, and hardcore moonies know that Sailor Luna or Dark Mercury did not exist in the original text. It’s anyone’s guess right now.
However, as an OG strawberry poptart eating Moonie, here are a few things I’d like to see in the new series. What do you hope to see?
10. Adapt the Chibi Usa’s Picture Diary and other Sailor Moon Short stories
So, with all this talk being close to the manga, why not animate some of the side stories too? “Casablanca Memory,” found in Sailor Moon Short Stories volume 2 is one of my favorite one shots from the manga. It’s probably because I’m Rei fan – you get more depth into her character and you do see a side of her apart from the tsun tsun priestess. Rei is looking elegant here. Also, you have Chibi Usa and Hotaru adventures – I loved their friendship in Sailor Moon S, and it’s cute to see it continue on after Hotaru’s age regeneration.
9. That December May stuff was disturbing.
Perhaps my biggest issue with the anime is that it was able to get away with a lot of creepy older man, younger (junior high school) girl relationships. While I do get the age of consent is 14 in Japan, however, it is still frowned upon. A classic example is the Naru / Nephrite arc in the first season. Even Usagi is blatantly against it. Yet, Usagi (and Rei!) go for the older Mamoru. It’s established in the anime that he’s well out of college and Usagi is around 14-16 during the course of the series. However, in the manga, Mamoru is in high school. Let’s hope that the new anime doesn’t create too many age gaps within canon pairings. There really wasn’t a need for it in the anime, and let’s hope it’s not in the new one.
8. Don’t let characters fade into darkness.
Speaking of Naru, ever notice she kinda fades out of the picture by the time SuperS started. It’s been established that Naru and Usagi are besties (with Umino thrown in for fun), but just because you’re the savior of the world (and kinda raising a pink haired spore) doesn’t mean you have to not let go of your bestie. Again, another flaw of the manga – one of my biggest issues with the original text is that characters – even the main senshi team often fade out as background characters with dialogue limited to “Sailor Moon!” I’m hoping this new series keeps established characters and relationships on a consistent basis.
7. Keep Sailor Pluto in the game!
Recently, Pluto lost their full-fledged planet status. Science now declares Pluto a dwarf Planet. If the series does fall in line with the manga, Pluto has a pretty big role towards the end of the Nemesis and Infinity arc. She’s Chibimoon’s bestie from the future and her time powers play a major role. However, since Sailor Moon is a work of fiction, I’m certain Naoko and the creative team can find loopholes to this. After all, Pluto is considered a dwarf planet by Earth standards. Everything else is up to the Serenity dynasty.
6. Four Generals for Four Guardians.
I get a feeling that Naoko Takeuchi wanted the four generals to have a larger role in the lives of the senshi and Mamoru. This is seen in the live action verison and in the recent musical. In the original, the generals were the lovers of the senshi (the love between Zoisite and Kunzite is exclusive to the anime) and were also protectors of Mamoru. I really would like to see them guide and aid Mamoru through the course of the new series – I can do without Zoisite x Kunzite, but it would also be nice to see flashbacks of the good old days with these kids in the silver millennium as the recent musical illustrated.
5. Make the filler entertaining
Sure the original anime followed a super sentai / tokusatsu “Monster of the Day” formula. Everyday life happens, monster sees an open opportunity to attack, heroes save the day, and all is well that ends well. However, you gotta admit, we had some entertaining filler episodes. While I wasn’t too crazy about certain story arcs dragging longer than they should – I did like some of the episodes and situations. Mako and Usagi going after the cute guy from the arcade, Luna being courted by a big fluffy cat, and in certain instances, you get more character depth and you really get to know why your favorite senshi are the way they are. Case in point, you learn that Rei is a passionate, hard-worker in the talent show episode, and often, she takes out her frustration the wrong way. While we can go back and forth about how filler does not advance a story, it does create opportunities to get to know our main sailor team.
4. Sailor Venus – the ultimate badass!
When asked, “Can you tell me about Sailor Venus?” I answer, “Which version?” Aino Minako has different incarnations that it’s almost looking at a completely different character. In the anime, she’s a fangirl for idols and just as bubbly as Usagi. In the live action, she’s distant and cool, but she’s a pop idol in the daytime. In the manga, she’s established as the leader of the inner senshi and takes more of a leadership role. This is fleshed out more in the live action. This is something I like to see in the new anime – I would love to see V-chan take up leadership duties, but she can also be sporty and bubbly. Last year’s Pretty Cure did have an idol as a part of the Pretty Cure team, so I’d love to see Minako Aino also as an established idol. Time will tell what the V-chan will be…
And a spinoff Sailor V anime would be pretty cool too!
3. Develop Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship.
This is one of the major problems I had with the anime. However, this was really improved in the live action incarnation. The live action gave us conflict – Mamoru resists that they should be together because he doesn’t want Usagi getting hurt. The problem in the original anime is that Usagi and Mamoru are tied to destiny, past lives, because-we-have-to, etc. While the manga does flesh out the relationship a lot more (to rather mature levels, I must say!), this is still a kids show, but you could still develop a solid relationship with the modern day Usagi and Mamoru. Even when they broke up in R, the argument Usagi presents is because we were a couple in the past, means we have to be one now. Even Mamoru responds that the past should not dictate the present. What I want to see is a very well developed relationship between Usagi and Mamoru because they want to be together – not out of duty. I do admit, I liked Mamoru teasing Usagi in the beginning. I’ve always thought the tease-because-I-love was cute, but even in later seasons, Mamoru feels like a cardboard cutout there for Usagi and Chibiusa on who he should spend more time with. This is hailed to be one of the most memorable couples in anime, let’s give this one justice this time.
2. Sailor Stars – What Happened to You?
In any form of Sailor Moon, you will have very divergent retellings. Naoko Takeuchi was not pleased with how the Sailor Stars anime was handled. In the original manga, one by one the senshi get taken and the plot revolves on Usagi and the (all girl) Starlights in a search and rescue mission through hell. More Animates appear and it’s far darker than the animated telling of Stars. While the anime did take a few plot points towards the finale, you also don’t see characters like Sailor Cosmos, the Asteroid Senshi, and the final confrontation with Chaos. This is a very intense arc and I always find myself re-reading through this part of the manga because I can only imagine what a faithful adaptation would look like.
- Mamoru – please, please get a wardrobe upgrade
If it’s one thing that anime is notorious for, it’s Mamoru’s civilian everyday wear. In the first series alone, he wore his jogging suit a lot. Even kids I babysat who watched the series because it was the only show on recall Mamoru’s fashion faux pas. Perhaps it was a way to distract the Dark Kingdom from his secret alias – a 90s fashion reject couldn’t possibly be the suave and daring Tuxedo Mask. Yet, give this guy some dignity here. Considering that it’s been documented that Naoko Takeuchi pays attention to high fashion and implements runaway styles into her characters, definitely give Mamoru a 21st century makeover.
However, the Dark Kingdom would not suspect Juuban’s worst dressed as Tuxedo Mask…