Thursday, July 8, 2004

   It's Shoujo... More Addictive Than Crack!
I've been watching the Sailor Moon Live-Action series, currently on tv in Japan, and available fan-subbed by TV-Nihon At first, I thought it would scare me or suck... but I stuck with it, and ...

It gets cooler with each episode.

In some ways it departs from the original Manga, and yet in other ways it returns to it in places where the anime departed. Really, it's not a re-make at all, but a re-vision of what Naoko Takeuchi was originally trying to do -- make a series for girls, about girls. I'm not a girly-girl, and I hate pink with a passion bordering on malice, but this series has grown on me.

That being said, some guys will feel uncomfortable watching this. There's a lot of junior-high girls running around in short skirts, and creepy foam monsters, at least in the beginning. But, please, stick with it. As the series progresses, it grows up, and explores the characters in ways that they just don't get in the original anime... specifically the Shittenou (4 kings) Zoicite, Nephrite, Jedite and Kunzite. They have motivation, personality and history, instead of being Boss-Fight-Bad-Guy.

That, and Kunzite is hot. So's Zoicite. I'm sure Nephrite will have his fans, but give me the hot guy with a sword or the piano player any day. What, did you think I was into Gundam Wing for the mechanics? ...Actually, I do like giant robots, but that's besides the point.

(I feel the need to point out here that the live-action returns to the manga...Zoicite and Kunsite were NOT GAY in tha manga... an important plot point, since in the ancient Moon Kingdom the 4 kings were lovers of their equivalent 4 Sailor Soldiers. Though Zoicite did still cross-dress. Don't ask me, it's Naoko Takeuchi.)

So, anyway. TV-Nihon is up to episode 38. I recommend starting at the beginning if you can handle the candy-floss and pop-corn dispensers in their secret hide out. If you can't, pick one in the middle, but you're missing out on some serious laughing at foam monsters.

It's fun, it's fast, it's got 5 attractive young men, and it has a wonderful way of pulling you along. Try it, it's Shojo... it's Better Than Crack!
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