Anime Flashback

[soc_puppet]

Crocheting achieved, woot! I've completed one third of a crocheted Amish puzzle ball, with the pieces for the other two thirds just waiting to be sewn together. I'm begging off that part for the moment, as I've got projected Extra Work-y Work tomorrow.

I also made it through the first four episodes of the new Viz dub of Sailor Moon. I didn't get to see a whole lot of the original dub as a kid—just a few episodes here and there, aside from The Season With the Cousins, which a friend taped for me—but it turns out that this was enough to make the lack of 90's dub artifacts bug me a bit 😅 "Why does Usagi's transformation sound like that, this is all wrong!" Etc.

Quite frankly, I also didn't realize quite how much filler there was before Ami was introduced! Checking on Wikipedia, she doesn't show up until episode ten? And then Mars in episode twelve, with a much shorter gap. Again, my main exposure back in the day was via the manga as it was coming out in the US (first via Mixx, then TokyoPop), and we got Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter within the first volume; there was a single chapter gap between the introduction of Mars and Jupiter, and other than that it was a veritable parade of new scouts. Having also seen the first few episodes of the remake in the intervening time, as well as about half of the live action show, the timeline took me a bit by surprise!

I'm feeling conflicted on the whole "Tuxedo Mask doesn't do anything" meme. On the one hand, it's true that he doesn't do much directly; on the other hand, he frequently provides vital distractions and interrupts Usagi's anxiety spirals, which definitely counts as more than "nothing" in my book. I also remember that, in the manga, he doesn't get any actual combat magic until their trip to the future, so. Anyway, more thoughts on that later, I'm sure.

Welp, I gotta turn in early so I can not be a horrible mess on my way to or at work tomorrow. I'll continue reclaiming bits of the media missing from my childhood later. And also post about something other than what I'm watching eventually. (I know I had a topic, but where did I put it...?)

Comments

[alexseanchai]

Sailor Moon Classic also has whole arcs the manga never heard of

[soc_puppet]

Ah yes, good ol' anime filler arcs! They go on even more than filler episodes! Pretty sure that some of the episodes I saw were from one of those. (The one with the tree kids or whatever? When Mamoru was briefly some sort of "Arabian prince"-type guy instead of Tuxedo Mask? Again, it's been years 😅)

I will freely admit that the anime did more interesting things with the Generals than the manga did, however else I may feel about any other story stretching.

[alexseanchai]

yup that's the first one I thought of

[mistressofmuses]

Oh man, Sailor Moon (the bad original dub, followed by the Mixx/TokyoPop manga) was probably my first *real* fandom. I'd been into stuff before that, but that was certainly the first time I was ever invested in something in QUITE that fandomy way. And oh, I know how much it mattered to me as a baby queer.

I... didn't even know there was a new dub, which shows how connected I am to things these days, ha.

[soc_puppet]

Depending on what "real" fandom means here, mine would either be Pokémon or Gundam Wing. I wrote fanfic for both, drew fanart for both, had lengthy conversations with friends for both... but Gundam Wing was the first I did anything on the internet for. Having conversations with strangers based solely on a shared interest, not both shared interest and proximity, feels like an important step for me. I guess Gundam Wing was my first forays into the land of grown-up fandom?

Yeah, Viz redid the dub and kept everyone's names this time; they also kept some of the early episodes that the Nelvana dub skipped. I haven't quite gotten to any of the official gay yet, but I'm given to understand that they kept that as well. Really not sure how they treated the Sailor Stars, since I never really did follow that storyarc all that well—but I also don't remember how well Okazu (my main source of yuri news) covered it/in how much detail/etc, possibly because their main reporter doesn't care much for the arc itself 😅

[mistressofmuses]

I guess Pokemon pre-dated Sailor Moon for me, too. It was definitely one of the things that I would say I was first a fan of, in a way that was *more* than just watching/reading/playing/liking the thing. I wanted to participate in the world, in some way. (Though I suppose by that criteria, My Little Pony was first!)

Sailor Moon *felt* more like the way I felt about later fandoms, though. I didn't write it down, but I definitely came up with fic in my head, and drew so much mediocre fanart! I had shipping feels and reread the manga over and over. But other than talking about it with a few friends (and mostly my younger sibling), it was still relatively solitary.

But Gundam Wing came shortly after! That was probably the first fandom I really remember navigating fansites for to find fic and things. (And while it probably wasn't the first smut I found, it's the first smut I *remember*!) Definitely the first fandom (though followed quickly by others) that I found online, and therefore connected with people I didn't know in real life. So in that way, yeah, I guess that was also my first foray into *adult* fandom.

Hmm... I may have to try and find the new dub, just for the nostalgia factor... but with possibly improved quality.
The Stars arc was a weird one. I only ever experienced it through the manga, and usually I'd start the series over and never quite make it to Stars, so I think I only read through it a handful of times, compared to the rest.