Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Difference between revisions

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At times the show seemed confused as to whether it wanted to be a live action drama or a cartoon comedy, with goofy sound effects accompanying over-enthusiastic gestures during sequences that are obviously supposed to be funny. These moments were a strange counterpoint to the (relatively) somber interpretation of plot events compared to other adaptations of the franchise.

Despite its somewhat bipolar approach to the source material, ''PGSM'' is a fun watch, full of eye candy and a surprisingly deep plot. It is available in English with [[Fan Sub|fansubs]], and given the low likelihood that it will have any kind of mass appeal with American audiences it is not likely to be licensed any time soon in the US.

 

 

* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: More stuff from the manga makes it in here than in the anime. What's interesting about ''PGSM'' is how many plot elements from the whole series it manages to squeeze into the Dark Kingdom arc. The main cast, from heroes to villains, also seems a lot more human, a lot more real and less caricatured. In particular, Usagi isn't defined as much by her flaws as she was in the anime. She really pulls off her [[The Messiah|Messiah]] role, and from the second or third episode it's clear that she cares deeply about every person she befriends, a trait that seemed to only show up in moments of crisis during the anime.

* [[Affably Evil]]: Though Mio starts off as a manipulative [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]], she doesn't lose her affability once her villainy's revealed. By the Special Act, she's gushing about her evil plans with such cheerful friendliness that she seems to really expect the heroes to be happy for her.

* [[Alpha Bitch]]: Mio

* [[Alternate Continuity]]

* [[Author Appeal]]: Close-ups of the actor's mouths.

* [[Babies Ever After]]: As with the manga's ending, the Special Act strongly hints that Usagi's pregnant.

* [[Beta Couple]]: As confirmed through the series and movie/special, {{spoiler|Motoki}} and Makoto become this.

** Late in the series, Ami and {{spoiler|Nephrite/Human!Nephrite}}, though they don't have their own happy ending like the aforementioned couple. YMMV though.

*** In fact, the name of Minako's CD in-world, on which that song is found, is "Venus".

** One of Ami's image songs was called "Mi Amor" which means "my love" in Spanish.

* [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]]: Mio pretends to be Usagi's friend, only to hurt/humiliate her. In fact, it is because she pretends to be nice that allows her to create some of her schemes. Mio also plays innocent at times to give Minako bad publicity as well.

* [[Big Bra to Fill]]: Sailor Jupiter, by far the most [[Unusual Euphemism|"talented"]] soldier in the anime, is downright flat-chested here.

* [[Brought Down to Badass]]: {{spoiler|in the Special Act, Minako is powerless, and a low-level youma jumps at her. She kicked it in a column so hard to break concrete. After that, [[Oh Crap|the rest of the youma slowly backs away]].}}

* [[Brought Down to Normal]]: {{spoiler|in the Special Act we find out that the Sailor Senshi lost their powers at the end of the series}}.

* [[Cannot Spit It Out]]: One of the things that makes this show read more like a [[Soap Opera]] than the other versions ever did. In particular:

** Oh, and each of the girls has a "reason" (good or not) for concealing information ''on a daily basis'':

*** Usagi hates to make waves, and will conceal her own feelings and even act strongly opposite to them in order to ensure that everyone's getting along and no one's mad at her.

*** Makoto doesn't want to bug people or put additional burdens on them -- hence why she decided not to tell the team that {{spoiler|Ami-chan}} was in the hospital, and why she held off on telling Usagi all she knew about {{spoiler|Mamoru and his engagement}}. Her intentions seem to backfire a lot.

*** Minako seems to be operating on an entirely different wavelength from the rest of the team. Just as it starts to make sense ({{spoiler|I was masquerading as the Princess to throw the enemy off the trail of the real Princess}}), she negates that motivation by saying she does things her own way {{spoiler|since she's dying and doesn't want to get attached to anyone}}.

* [[Celebrity Lie]] (Variant: Mio claims on Usagi's behalf that Usagi knows [[Idol Singer]] Minako as part of a plot to isolate and humiliate her.)

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Usagi has shades of this when she's distracted, though her mom really takes the trope into [[Crazy Awesome]] territory. Mio heads in this direction as well during the Special Act.

** The most telling moment was when Naru was almost killed because of Princess Serenity's rampage.

* [[Demonic Possession]]: The youma often start off by possessing human victims, and only manifest physically when they're discovered by the senshi. Interestingly, the youma are fairly verbose while speaking through a human, but they become [[The Speechless]] once they reveal their true forms. Later, in a change from other continuities, {{spoiler|Mamoru becomes Queen Metallia's host after absorbing it within his body and becoming corrupted by it. He is a lot more powerful than the brainwashed Endymion from the anime and manga}}.

* [[Do Not Adjust Your Set]]: How Mio announces her plans to take over the world in the special act.

* [[The Dragon]]: Although all the Shittenou technically serve and protect Beryl, Jadeite's the only one who does so without any hesitation or conflicted loyalty; anyone who wants to get to her has to go through him.

* [[Dragon with an Agenda]]: Both Kunzite and Zoisite, who are not as concerned with following Queen Beryl's orders. Zoisite in particular is mostly concerned with keeping his former master Endymion safe from Beryl's machinations.

* [[Earthshattering Kaboom]]: {{spoiler|Caused by Usagi's grief}}.

* [[Eleventh-Hour Superpower]]: Ami, Rei, and Makoto each get a sudden powerful weapons upgrade in the second to last episode of the series, {{spoiler|too bad it was too little, too late.}}

* [[Enemy Within]]: Princess Serenity, Sailor Moon's [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Superpowered]] [[Love Makes You Evil]] [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Side]].

* [[Enigmatic Minion]]: Zoisite; Kunzite to a lesser extent.

* [[Everything's Better with Spinning]]: The Senshi transformations (except Minako).

* [[Everything's Better with Princesses]]: [[Subverted Trope|NO.]] [[Super-Powered Evil Side|NO, IT REALLY ISN'T.]]

** {{spoiler|When Mamoru is possessed by Metallia's energy, his outfit as Prince Endymion becomes mostly black.}}

* [[Evil Counterpart]]: The Shittenou, particularly in ''PGSM'', are portrayed as the senshi's equals and opposites ({{spoiler|they'd normally serve the same role for Endymion as the senshi do for Serenity, while the evil part comes from Beryl's influence}}). Their individual characterizations take things further:

* [[Faux Paw]]: Luna does this when she's in human form.

* [[First-Name Basis]]: In the fifth episode, Ami tries to change herself to be more extraverted, thinking it'll make Usagi like her more; she even eats with Usagi's friends and attends Usagi's pajama party with Naru. By the end, she's come to her senses and it looks like everything's back to normal: even Usagi's friends are talking about her like she's gone for good. But then Usagi suddenly realizes that her friends ''have'' started to think differently about Ami, as evidenced by this:

* [[Foreshadowing]]

** Also the the track listing for Minako's CD which heavily foreshadows her roles in the series. Also much of the prequel, Act Zero.

* [[Five-Man Band]]:

** The sailor soldiers

*** [[The Lancer]]: Rei

*** [[The Smart Guy|The Smart Girl]]: Ami

*** [[The Big Guy|The Big Girl]]: Makoto

** Endymion and the Shitennou

*** Endymion = [[The Hero]]

* [[Impossibly Cool Clothes]]: Subverted by reality; while the girls look okay, Tuxedo Kamen looks incredibly dorky.

* [[Incredibly Obvious Bug]]: It's bigger than a quarter, has blinking green lights for eyes, and apparently also makes a bleeping noise. The villains only notice it's on the case once it's pointed out to them.

* [[In the Name of the Moon]]: Considering it's a spin off the [[Trope Namer]]...

* [[Large Ham]]: Beryl and Nephrite

* [[Paper Fan of Doom]]: Used by Sailor Luna. She also produces one that is apparently made of gold, or is at least gold plated in a later episode.

* [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]: Along with some [[Clark Kenting]]. Tuxedo Kamen is a Japanese man who dresses up in a tuxedo, top hat, cape, and mask. And yeah, to non-Japanese viewers, all Japanese men probably ''do'' "look alike" to the point where covering up his eyes was enough to make it a disguise, but how would this fool the various Japanese people around him anyway? Yet the scene where Sailor Moon finally removes his mask is played up for all the drama they can get.

** It's also funny when an early episode has dozens of thieves running around dressed up as Tuxedo Kamen, since... um... maybe they think it'll make it easier to steal a valuable jewel? [[Fridge Logic|Yeah...]]. Anyway, it ''does'' manage to fool Sailor Moon, who goes out of her way to keep "Tux" from getting caught... by transforming into ''another'' Tuxedo Mask and luring off the guards.

** It's better for the girls, who now sport drastic hairstyle changes -- in contrast to the anime, where they looked exactly the same in their civilian identities (yeah, plenty of Japanese teenagers run around with ankle-length golden pigtails... although I suppose Ami's blue hair is [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|more understandable]]). At one point Minako says, without a trace of sarcasm, "We ''all'' look different in real life!"

* [[People in Rubber Suits]]: Though sometimes swapped out with CG instead.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: Beryl starts getting a few such moments near the end of the series, culminating in her releasing Jadeite from her mind control spell so he can escape the Dark Kingdom's destruction, leaving her to [[Dying Alone|die alone]]. {{spoiler|He instead chooses, with his own will, to stay with her until the end. Awwwww....}}

* [[Precision F-Strike]]: Makoto Kino says "fuck you" to a youma in the most widely known fansub. The Japanese language has no true curse words, though the phrase she used, "zakkenayo", and the context may convey a similar meaning.

* [[Prop Recycling]]: One set of Mooks is togged out in long robes and hoods over some very familiar masks. ''[[Super Sentai]]''/''[[Power Rangers]]'' fans will remember them as the Golem Hei/Putty Patrollers from ''[[Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger]]''/''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]''.

* [[Remote Body]]: Mio, described as Queen Beryl's shadow, has shades of this, mirroring Beryl's moods and sometimes acting as her projected avatar. She does seem to have her own personality, though, and later returns to life as a separate villain.

* [[Retool]]: Big and small changes from the anime and manga all across the board, including being updated to fit in with current tech and fads, rather than those of the early 90s. Some of the elements from the manga that didn't appear in the anime are kept, although the series in general is a re-imagining of both the original story and its characters.

* [[Seventh-Episode Twist]]: Mamoru finds out Sailor Moon's identity but keeps it a secret.

* [[She Fu]]

* [[Squeaky Eyes]]: Very disconcerting in a live show...

* [[The Starscream]]: Kunzite, who's extremely powerful, but also very arrogant and has almost no loyalty to Beryl whatsoever. She'd exiled him ({{spoiler|and caused his [[Amnesiac Dissonance]]}}) for his Starscream tendencies before, and almost immediately begins to regret bringing him back.

* [[Stepford Smiler]]: Usagi has hints of this when she is told her being upset is activating the powers of the Ginzuishou.

* [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]: {{spoiler|Mamoru after sealing Queen Metallia's power within his body. Also, Sailor Moon's Princess Serenity persona.}}

* [[Taking You with Me]]: Makoto tries this against Metallia's youma by using herself as a lightning rod. It doesn't work, but she survives. Mamoru later tries this {{spoiler|by committing suicide before Metallia can finish taking over his body}}. It doesn't work, but he survives... {{spoiler|in a [[Demonic Possession|manner of speaking]]}}.

* [[Talking Is a Free Action]]: Ami invokes her first [[Transformation Sequence|transformation into Sailor Mercury]] during a 20-foot-fall -- and she does it by reciting a trigger phrase that takes about three or four times longer to say than she should have taken to reach the ground.

** Averted later when, for example, Rei isn't able to get her transformation phrase out before a youma-possessed boy runs up some stairs to sucker punch her and steal her life force. Another time, Usagi has enough time to transform, but her transformation also gives the enemy enough time to [[Offscreen Teleportation|pop up]] ''behind'' her, so that the second she's in costume he's got his hands around her throat.

* [[Toku]]

* [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]]: Quite a few examples here

* [[Viewers Are Goldfish]]: Wait, {{spoiler|Ami and Naru}} are on edge around each other? The same way they've been on edge around each other for like two episodes? Who can remember back ''that'' far? Better just replay the reason for it all, using the same flashback scene as the last couple of times, eh?

* [[Voice of the Legion]]: {{spoiler|Mamoru}} gains one after {{spoiler|being taken over by Queen Metallia}}.

* [[Wham! Episode]]: Act 20. Minako {{spoiler|is dying}}, Makoto confronts Tuxedo Mask and Kunzite {{spoiler|abducts Ami}}.

* [[Wham! Line]]: With four simple words, Princess Serenity flips the whole story upside-down...

* [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]]: Zoisite (almost blindingly so!)

* [[Wicked Cultured]]: Zoisite is a talented pianist.

* [[Wrong Genre Savvy]]: The show pretty much runs on this, from the characters naively assuming they know what they're doing, to the audience making the same assumption. From Act 12:

'''Usagi''': No presence, but this is in manga all the time, right? An idol wants free time, so she does stuff like this, right? }}

* [[Yandere]]: {{spoiler|Princess Serenity is the emotionless variety}}.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Toku]]

[[Category:Japanese Series]]