I have to get this off my chest, because it's disturbed me for quite some time. I only chose to remain silent because back then, I was afraid of getting bashed for this unpopular opinion among those who do take pride in hatemail (particularly known, popular players). But now that I'm seeing this from people that are bragging about getting hatemail just for the sake of it, I gotta take a stand and speak my mind, 'cause this shit right here is getting out of hand for some people. It's like every scrub under the sun wants "street cred" for being that guy taking candy from a whining baby.
Yes, I said it, and this subject title blatantly implies it... if you taking pride in receiving hatemail online, you're playing a fool's game fishing for bragging rights. Hatemail is not something to be proud of, much less show off for all the internet to see. If anything, it only makes the FGC more toxic than it already is. But before we go into that, I wanna make an explanation of what hatemail is:
Hatemail is a term used for when the opposing player (typically a bad sport or someone who's just plain asinine) sends you a message over the internet complaining about either how you won, how you play, or if they're on the winning end, add insult to injury on your loss by insulting you even more.
The type of hatemail I'll be talking about on this subject is when you - the person winning - receives hatemail from that person.
So why is this foolish? I'm sure you'll hear from many people that receiving hatemail is a good thing and that you should embrace them like war scars or medals to show off to your friends in public, but that's a major distortion of the truth. Nowadays people miss the actual point of what kind of hatemail should be exposed to the public, and others that aren't truly important. Keep in mind that when you're in a community and trying to build it, the one thing you don't want to do is vehemently demonize and alienate that random player you played online to people in your community that got upset with your loss, especially when there were no personal threats involved.
Remember when you were that aspiring player that thought you understood your game, but got your ass handed to you in real competition over what you thought were "basic" tactics, "non-skill" tactics, or heaven-forbid, "cheap" tactics because you didn't know how to defend, counter, or even avoid them altogether? If not, then you, sir and ma'am, are a liar and then some. Anybody who's anybody has gone through that phase of thought at least once in their lives as casual players aspiring to be more competitive, so you're doing a disservice to your own community by taking the first step in denial.
Even I thought I knew what it took to be a solid player in DOA. But on that fateful day online in DOA2 Ultimate in late 2005, just a month before DOA4 hit the shelves, I got the beating of a lifetime by a former member of the now-defunct DOA Central by the Gamertag of The Iron Ninja. I formally met him on the site first, and at the time I was bent on using Helena, who much to my chagrin, was the weakest character in the game on terms of tiers. She just didn't have many strong options compared to others in the cast, and after playing a set against Iron Ninja's Hayabusa, I was thoroughly devastated, even to the point where even I had the temptation to "pass the salt" or in fighting game terms, share my frustration. However, this never happened. But my point is that the urge was still there. I felt in my mind that I knew it all, and had the urge to justify and make excuses about it.
Luckily he was able to understand how I felt without my even saying so, and encouraged me to keep playing folks on the site once DOA4 hits, turning my frustration to determination. Through this, I made a promise to myself that despite what others do or say, I will not pride myself in getting hatemail, but rather try to avoid responding to it (especially if I can't help with their problem), or better yet, not dignify the weight of its importance by exposing it on the internet. It's because of this mentality that I am indifferent to hatemail, though there are some cases more disturbing than others that should be addressed.
So at this point you're wondering what I'm trying to say. What I'm saying is that there is a right way to handle hatemail, and there is a wrong way.
What you shouldn't do: When you get hatemail for winning or whatever, don't show it off, especially when you weren't being personally threatened. It's trivial, childish, and metaphorically speaking, suggests that you want a cookie for making a baby cry, to be brutally honest. You can get that kind of excitement just fooling around at the mall, provided you don't get caught by the mall cops. Not to mention, it makes you look like a jerk among those less experienced just looking to have fun and not worrying about being a better player. It advocates more hatred among players and forms anti-player cliques, resulting in even further divisions within what's supposed to be a unified community supporting the same game.
What you should do: Play your best by all means, but be mature when you handle those who whine and complain. If you can't help the player overcome their trouble spots, the least you can do is offer to recommend someone who does. If that doesn't work, leave them be, block the player, and pretend the incident never happened. For all you know, the player could just be having a bad day, and just think how you would look if one day that player you were bad-mouthing about had a change of heart one day and saw what you did. I'm not saying this applies to everyone, but always, always give them that benefit of a doubt.
And lastly, if you're being personally threatened through hatemail - and by this, I mean real threatening, such as taking your life, bomb threats, gun threats, threatening family members, etc. - please make that known. In the crazy world we live in full of wack-jobs and people just plain not in the right mind, it would be in your best interest to take it seriously, regardless of whether they know where you live or not. If they act this way toward you - a total stranger probably kilometers away from you - then there's no telling how this person would act if there was a more local person around. Death threats, hell, threats in general, are serious business. DO NOT be afraid to call them out, even if they turn out to be just internet tough guys who can't really put in that work. That'll teach them a lesson, at least... a very hard one.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Anime Blog #8: Sailor Moon Crystal Impressions (August 16, 2014)
I'm not gonna lie, I thought Act 4 was not going to be exciting at all to watch. No Sailor Jupiter, fake Silver Crystal, Nephrite's shadow, basic filler. But in all honesty, it wasn't all that bad. As many fans know, this episode focused on the Sailors finding the Silver Crystal, with their first guesstimate being Princess D - a very rich noblewoman - who holds it. This grabs the attention of Nephrite, who takes Jadeite's place after he failed three times.
Nephrite crashes the party after Usagi and Tuxedo Mask become attracted to one another after a brief dance, but it turns out they were only fighting his shadow. Furthermore, Usagi gets a replacement tiara after her old one "somehow" got burned away as she combined her efforts with Sailor Mars's fiery exorcism to nearly kill Jadeite. Yes, Jadeite did in fact survive the attacks, and this is the first known deviation from the manga, as he was originally supposed to die.
Upon getting her new tiara, Sailor Moon unleashes her yet-named Moon Twilight Flash to extinguish Nephrite's shadow, rescuing Princess D from the evil curse. And immediately afterward, all four of the Heavenly Kings show up before the Sailor Senshi from the rooftops and introduce themselves in a very similar fashion to the Masho / Warlords from Samurai Troopers / Ronin Warriors, which IMO was kinda neat. It seems this time around they want to flesh out the backstories of these villains this time around, as they were Endymion's guardians after all. And with Naoko Takeuchi having more creative control of this anime, we can only have faith she knows what she's doing.
Near the end of the episode, the evening sky becomes a cloudy, rainy day, and briefly pans to Makoto Kino, who will become Sailor Jupiter. Overall, a nicely done episode. But this three-week wait for the next episode will be a doozy, as opposed to 2 weeks.
Nephrite crashes the party after Usagi and Tuxedo Mask become attracted to one another after a brief dance, but it turns out they were only fighting his shadow. Furthermore, Usagi gets a replacement tiara after her old one "somehow" got burned away as she combined her efforts with Sailor Mars's fiery exorcism to nearly kill Jadeite. Yes, Jadeite did in fact survive the attacks, and this is the first known deviation from the manga, as he was originally supposed to die.
Upon getting her new tiara, Sailor Moon unleashes her yet-named Moon Twilight Flash to extinguish Nephrite's shadow, rescuing Princess D from the evil curse. And immediately afterward, all four of the Heavenly Kings show up before the Sailor Senshi from the rooftops and introduce themselves in a very similar fashion to the Masho / Warlords from Samurai Troopers / Ronin Warriors, which IMO was kinda neat. It seems this time around they want to flesh out the backstories of these villains this time around, as they were Endymion's guardians after all. And with Naoko Takeuchi having more creative control of this anime, we can only have faith she knows what she's doing.
Near the end of the episode, the evening sky becomes a cloudy, rainy day, and briefly pans to Makoto Kino, who will become Sailor Jupiter. Overall, a nicely done episode. But this three-week wait for the next episode will be a doozy, as opposed to 2 weeks.
Monday, August 4, 2014
DOA Community Blog #4 - Stream Monsters: A Necessary Evil?
NOTE: What I'm about to talk about doesn't apply to everyone in the DOA community or everyone in the FGC in general.
For those who know me, more than anything else in a gaming community, I hate, I HATE stream monsters. For those not in the know, stream monsters are people whose only purpose in chatting on a gaming stream to watch gaming events is for three things:
1) To talk shit about a game.
2) To talk shit about certain players... and even the ones who don't deserve it.
3) To talk shit about the event in general.
And they do all this for nothing other than wanton drama or trolling. Stream monsters have no limits to their social status. They could be your everyday casual player. They could be your typical competitive scrub leeching to the popularity of top players for cool points. They could be top players. Some of those very stream monsters can be people within your own community and have supported it, using that as an excuse to act as they do.
But what's even more bothersome and ironic is that despite their malevolent intentions, for some games, even they are necessary for high views in a stream. Do I believe they should be? No, absolutely not. But for some communities it is how it is.
I gotta be honest. The DOA community compared to others - as far as tournament turnouts go offline - is rather small. And for the few that participate, the mentality of most outside viewers is that unless you win a tournament or place top 3, the stream monsters will not hesitate to crucify your name with every negative slur in the book before they associate you with the worst players in the FGC.
This is what I unfortunately had to go through with people online 2 years ago in the aftermath of Final Round one week later, which at the time had a rather impressive turnout for a DOA tournament. I went from being considered a decent Christie player and suddenly am associated with the terms "fraud", "button mashing scrub", etc. And I didn't take it well. To make matters worse, the friends I once had online (or at least thought were my friends) did a 180 and also decided to talk shit about me like I was the worst thing to ever happen to them before they removed me from my friends' list. Since that time, I've been even more afraid of playing on stream, but just as afraid of stream monsters. In my mind, I believed that unless I was perfect, there was no point in me supporting the community, because then I'd be accused of "supporting the community poorly". So I kept a low profile online and didn't play as much, causing my self-confidence to go to an all-time low.
It was only because of a select few people that I managed to gain some of the confidence I have now (note that I said "some"). It took a long time to sink in because of the depth of my bad experience, but I eventually got somewhere. In the very least, I was confident enough to share my knowledge of Christie as she currently is in DOA5U. The only problem now is that I still don't have the confidence to play on stream.
After seeing some recent tournies - notably D.I.D. 10 and the tourney in France - it began to sink in that being respected and liked by outsiders doesn't mean placing at a tourney every time. In fact, you don't have to be liked by virtually everyone to make a difference. Even the top players aren't liked by everyone. It was an illusion planted into my mind as a result of continuous negative events that occurred for me personally.
So by now you're asking, "Why are stream monsters significant, and why should they matter"? That's the thing, stream monsters don't matter. But if you become too dependent on others to determine your own self-worth, this is how they can potentially hurt you mentally. I'm slowly learning that. Perhaps it's the belief that I need to be acknowledged by others in order to be considered a good player that messed me up in the head. The line between confidence and cockiness may seem blurry to some, but once you know the difference, no one in the right mind should fault you for being the latter.
At the end of the day, most stream monsters don't know what you have to go through to support your tourney. And personally, I think more people should enforce the behavior in stream chats collectively so that we can weed the bad seeds out, regardless of their social status. To hell with view counts. It should be about the quality of people's behavior in the stream chat that matters. When we can treat our games, events, and our players with respect regardless of background, skill or accomplishments, only then can we build the FGC in the right direction.
For those who know me, more than anything else in a gaming community, I hate, I HATE stream monsters. For those not in the know, stream monsters are people whose only purpose in chatting on a gaming stream to watch gaming events is for three things:
1) To talk shit about a game.
2) To talk shit about certain players... and even the ones who don't deserve it.
3) To talk shit about the event in general.
And they do all this for nothing other than wanton drama or trolling. Stream monsters have no limits to their social status. They could be your everyday casual player. They could be your typical competitive scrub leeching to the popularity of top players for cool points. They could be top players. Some of those very stream monsters can be people within your own community and have supported it, using that as an excuse to act as they do.
But what's even more bothersome and ironic is that despite their malevolent intentions, for some games, even they are necessary for high views in a stream. Do I believe they should be? No, absolutely not. But for some communities it is how it is.
I gotta be honest. The DOA community compared to others - as far as tournament turnouts go offline - is rather small. And for the few that participate, the mentality of most outside viewers is that unless you win a tournament or place top 3, the stream monsters will not hesitate to crucify your name with every negative slur in the book before they associate you with the worst players in the FGC.
This is what I unfortunately had to go through with people online 2 years ago in the aftermath of Final Round one week later, which at the time had a rather impressive turnout for a DOA tournament. I went from being considered a decent Christie player and suddenly am associated with the terms "fraud", "button mashing scrub", etc. And I didn't take it well. To make matters worse, the friends I once had online (or at least thought were my friends) did a 180 and also decided to talk shit about me like I was the worst thing to ever happen to them before they removed me from my friends' list. Since that time, I've been even more afraid of playing on stream, but just as afraid of stream monsters. In my mind, I believed that unless I was perfect, there was no point in me supporting the community, because then I'd be accused of "supporting the community poorly". So I kept a low profile online and didn't play as much, causing my self-confidence to go to an all-time low.
It was only because of a select few people that I managed to gain some of the confidence I have now (note that I said "some"). It took a long time to sink in because of the depth of my bad experience, but I eventually got somewhere. In the very least, I was confident enough to share my knowledge of Christie as she currently is in DOA5U. The only problem now is that I still don't have the confidence to play on stream.
After seeing some recent tournies - notably D.I.D. 10 and the tourney in France - it began to sink in that being respected and liked by outsiders doesn't mean placing at a tourney every time. In fact, you don't have to be liked by virtually everyone to make a difference. Even the top players aren't liked by everyone. It was an illusion planted into my mind as a result of continuous negative events that occurred for me personally.
So by now you're asking, "Why are stream monsters significant, and why should they matter"? That's the thing, stream monsters don't matter. But if you become too dependent on others to determine your own self-worth, this is how they can potentially hurt you mentally. I'm slowly learning that. Perhaps it's the belief that I need to be acknowledged by others in order to be considered a good player that messed me up in the head. The line between confidence and cockiness may seem blurry to some, but once you know the difference, no one in the right mind should fault you for being the latter.
At the end of the day, most stream monsters don't know what you have to go through to support your tourney. And personally, I think more people should enforce the behavior in stream chats collectively so that we can weed the bad seeds out, regardless of their social status. To hell with view counts. It should be about the quality of people's behavior in the stream chat that matters. When we can treat our games, events, and our players with respect regardless of background, skill or accomplishments, only then can we build the FGC in the right direction.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
DOA Community Blog #3: Cross-Console Elitism + DOA Music: Where's the Love?
NOTE: What I'm about to post in this blog may not apply to everyone in the DOA community or the FGC in general. So don't be alarmed if it doesn't apply to you.
There are a few relevant topics I've noticed that I needed to vent about... elitism among players between two (or even three) console versions of the same game, and a glaring aesthetical weakness Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate that has existed since the vanilla incarnation... the lack of a compelling original score and a specific DLC soundtrack. Before I get into all that, I wanna say props to everyone who went out and supported their respective offline scenes this weekend, congrats to BlackberryChaos (aka FC Blackburry) for winning his second offline tourney, and props to Sly Bass for getting that well-deserved member spotlight at FSD for contributing so much as an Akira player, among other things. Congrats, you've earned it.
The subject I'm going to touch on isn't necessarily prevalent in FSD, per se, but rather in the DOA Facebook groups. It's the subject of console elitism, or rather, said scrub assuming he/she is better than other player because he/she plays on a console that most players have played on for years. Now don't get me wrong, I have common sense. When a fighter has been played exclusively on a specific console for so long, it's naturally going to take outsiders from other consoles to adjust. Therefore, users of that console will have a more experienced (and notably stronger) player pool. I get that.
But every once in a while you're gonna have certain people be the straw man and use this as an excuse to jump to the players who play on the other console just to ridicule them, with no intention whatsoever of drawing them to the competitive community or doing something positive or encouraging to make them want to play on or adjust to both consoles. This is part of the problem on why some multi-platform fighting games have become so stigmatic, if not the architectural differences of each version themselves. Some prefer a PS3 version of the game because it either has the most complete features or because there are no issues with syncing different controllers without having to power down the console. Some prefer the Xbox 360 version because there are no frame hiccups during gameplay or because it was designed to run optimally for that console. Either way, it doesn't excuse console elitism.
Regardless of the console you play in, one thing is always certain. You are bound to run into bad sports or people with a terrible competitive mindset. But don't judge an entire player pool of said console the same way. Once you get into this habit, you will begin to draw some genuine players away who want to learn. If you have the best of both worlds (or more), try not to make your big focus on a topic, status, or whatever about how awful the online is, how less experienced the players on said console are, or how this guy lagged really bad and played like a huge scrub when he said nothing to advocate you. Be more inviting rather than condemning. Try to relate with the player if you can. It should be common sense to everyone that there's always gonna be lag, so make the most of it in a positive, more constructive way if you have to.
For some of these players, it's all they got. For others, they probably want to play for fun and have no interest in playing competitively, but rather just have a good time fooling around. And for those who say "the ONLY way to have fun in fighting games is by playing it competitively", stop. Get off the high horse. When most of y'all were kids, you wanted to play fighting games by yourself or with a friend too for fun without necessarily knowing what you were doing, and tourneys were an afterthought because more than likely, you had much bigger priorities such as finishing school. For most of these "scrubs" and "braindead people" some of you enjoy picking on, that's probably the state of mind they're in now. If that's how they prefer to enjoy themselves, let them be or join them. Try not to shove your ideals down their throats, or it'll provoke them to become rebellious to spite you. Granted, some of them are legitimately bad sports and deserve the cold shoulder, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna believe everyone playing on said console is like this. Bottom line: Treat others as you would like to be, which I hope would be with respect. If they wish to compete and travel for console tournies, they may have to adjust to the other console someday... and you wouldn't want the guilt for treating that player like crap because they played on a different console than yours to support your offline scene, now would you?
---------------------------------------------
This past week, I had realized a feature that has yet to be included in DOA5U. We have the OSTs for DOA2, DOA3, and DOA4 as selectable music (the former two being unlockable content in the full game), but aside from Bass's "Superstar", there is no other BGM from the game that started it all, DOA1. This prompted me to use all of my audio-editing techniques to make 30-minute extended loops from most - if not all - the music from the game, whether it's the original or the PS1 arranged version. Here is a sample of what I worked on, and probably the most-wanted track out of those interested.
Perhaps upon seeing this, TN will consider adding this soundtrack as DLC. But my real concern is the future of DOA's music. Since DOA4, the quality of the score has since deteriorated, as there hasn't been much of a soundtrack that was truly engaging or catchy apart from a small few. Before DOA4, a lot of heart was put into the music as well as the flamboyant graphics the games are known for, as the quality for each character's theme was well-rounded. As of DOA5, there was no original character themes for returning characters, instead they were recycled tracks from DOA4, with only Mila, Rig, and the DLC characters ever getting true original character themes. Perhaps it's time to bring in some veteran talent such as Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage series) or Hideki Naganuma (Sega Rally 2, Jet Set Radio series) to the mix for Dead or Alive 6. Given TN's close ties to Sega as of late and the two composers' past relations with Sega, it's probably not a bad idea.
There are a few relevant topics I've noticed that I needed to vent about... elitism among players between two (or even three) console versions of the same game, and a glaring aesthetical weakness Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate that has existed since the vanilla incarnation... the lack of a compelling original score and a specific DLC soundtrack. Before I get into all that, I wanna say props to everyone who went out and supported their respective offline scenes this weekend, congrats to BlackberryChaos (aka FC Blackburry) for winning his second offline tourney, and props to Sly Bass for getting that well-deserved member spotlight at FSD for contributing so much as an Akira player, among other things. Congrats, you've earned it.
The subject I'm going to touch on isn't necessarily prevalent in FSD, per se, but rather in the DOA Facebook groups. It's the subject of console elitism, or rather, said scrub assuming he/she is better than other player because he/she plays on a console that most players have played on for years. Now don't get me wrong, I have common sense. When a fighter has been played exclusively on a specific console for so long, it's naturally going to take outsiders from other consoles to adjust. Therefore, users of that console will have a more experienced (and notably stronger) player pool. I get that.
But every once in a while you're gonna have certain people be the straw man and use this as an excuse to jump to the players who play on the other console just to ridicule them, with no intention whatsoever of drawing them to the competitive community or doing something positive or encouraging to make them want to play on or adjust to both consoles. This is part of the problem on why some multi-platform fighting games have become so stigmatic, if not the architectural differences of each version themselves. Some prefer a PS3 version of the game because it either has the most complete features or because there are no issues with syncing different controllers without having to power down the console. Some prefer the Xbox 360 version because there are no frame hiccups during gameplay or because it was designed to run optimally for that console. Either way, it doesn't excuse console elitism.
Regardless of the console you play in, one thing is always certain. You are bound to run into bad sports or people with a terrible competitive mindset. But don't judge an entire player pool of said console the same way. Once you get into this habit, you will begin to draw some genuine players away who want to learn. If you have the best of both worlds (or more), try not to make your big focus on a topic, status, or whatever about how awful the online is, how less experienced the players on said console are, or how this guy lagged really bad and played like a huge scrub when he said nothing to advocate you. Be more inviting rather than condemning. Try to relate with the player if you can. It should be common sense to everyone that there's always gonna be lag, so make the most of it in a positive, more constructive way if you have to.
For some of these players, it's all they got. For others, they probably want to play for fun and have no interest in playing competitively, but rather just have a good time fooling around. And for those who say "the ONLY way to have fun in fighting games is by playing it competitively", stop. Get off the high horse. When most of y'all were kids, you wanted to play fighting games by yourself or with a friend too for fun without necessarily knowing what you were doing, and tourneys were an afterthought because more than likely, you had much bigger priorities such as finishing school. For most of these "scrubs" and "braindead people" some of you enjoy picking on, that's probably the state of mind they're in now. If that's how they prefer to enjoy themselves, let them be or join them. Try not to shove your ideals down their throats, or it'll provoke them to become rebellious to spite you. Granted, some of them are legitimately bad sports and deserve the cold shoulder, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna believe everyone playing on said console is like this. Bottom line: Treat others as you would like to be, which I hope would be with respect. If they wish to compete and travel for console tournies, they may have to adjust to the other console someday... and you wouldn't want the guilt for treating that player like crap because they played on a different console than yours to support your offline scene, now would you?
---------------------------------------------
This past week, I had realized a feature that has yet to be included in DOA5U. We have the OSTs for DOA2, DOA3, and DOA4 as selectable music (the former two being unlockable content in the full game), but aside from Bass's "Superstar", there is no other BGM from the game that started it all, DOA1. This prompted me to use all of my audio-editing techniques to make 30-minute extended loops from most - if not all - the music from the game, whether it's the original or the PS1 arranged version. Here is a sample of what I worked on, and probably the most-wanted track out of those interested.
Perhaps upon seeing this, TN will consider adding this soundtrack as DLC. But my real concern is the future of DOA's music. Since DOA4, the quality of the score has since deteriorated, as there hasn't been much of a soundtrack that was truly engaging or catchy apart from a small few. Before DOA4, a lot of heart was put into the music as well as the flamboyant graphics the games are known for, as the quality for each character's theme was well-rounded. As of DOA5, there was no original character themes for returning characters, instead they were recycled tracks from DOA4, with only Mila, Rig, and the DLC characters ever getting true original character themes. Perhaps it's time to bring in some veteran talent such as Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage series) or Hideki Naganuma (Sega Rally 2, Jet Set Radio series) to the mix for Dead or Alive 6. Given TN's close ties to Sega as of late and the two composers' past relations with Sega, it's probably not a bad idea.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Anime Blog #7: Sailor Moon Crystal Impressions (August 2, 2014)
Earlier this morning, Act 3 of Sailor Moon made its worldwide airing online, focusing on Sailor Mars, aka the brooding miko of the Hikawa shrine. And wouldn't you know it, it played out almost exactly like the manga.
When directly compared to the 90s anime, this take on Mars's first appearance is a bit more serious in tone although the essential plotlines of this episode remain intact. What it does differently however, is have Jadeite confront the Sailor Senshi directly. And furthermore, Jadeite's sexist demeanor that was prevalent in the 90s anime seems to have taken a backseat... but we'll get to that later.
As many fans know about the first appearance of Sailor Mars, an incident where the passengers of the 6PM bus on Sendai Hill went missing is the main problem in this scenario. And incidentally, the bus is near the Hikawa shrine, where Rei would often tell the fortunes of the patrons who willingly stop by. Since the incidents became consistent each day, some parents and neighbors became suspicious of Rei and accuse her of being the cause of these disappearances. However, Usagi - being the kind soul that she is - wants to believe otherwise. (On a side note, this is the second time Usagi's been entranced over another girl. In fact, a little TOO entranced this time around... XD)
Meanwhile, Jadeite is quickly losing favor from Queen Beryl after two screwups, and Nephrite makes an overshadowing appearance as an intended usurper. Queen Beryl then fills Jadeite in on the Silver Crystal briefly, and in turn Jadeite proposes to not only gather human energy, but lure all the Sailor Senshi to his trap in one fell swoop.
Before the main event in the second half of the show, we also get confirmation that Mamoru is in fact a high school student - as opposed to an older college student like in the 90s anime - during Usagi's unexpected run-in with him (again) inside the 6PM bus. Sailor Mars's transformation is every bit as nifty as the 90s anime, and so is her unique introductory pose. But the real kicker here is that right before the conflict begins and Jadeite has abducted Rei, Jadeite is ironically attracted to her. This pretty much is a foreshadowing of the Inner Senshi / Heavenly Kings shipping manga fans have familiarized themselves with by now. The four Heavenly Kings were once guardians of Prince Endymion, after all.
Despite this, Mars pretty much incinerates Jadeite, and the next episode is pretty much about Princess D, Nephrite's shadow, and the fruitless effort to find a Silver Crystal that is not there. Personally I'd skip it and wait 4 weeks for Sailor Jupiter. But my inner moonie tells me to remain a faithful viewer until the very end. Besides, Sailor Jupiter's first appearance in Sailor Moon Classic's this upcoming Monday, so that's something that'll keel me over. Either way, I think it's safe to say these 26 planned episodes will cover not only one, but two story arcs-- the Dark Kingdom AND the Black Moon. Not too shabby.
When directly compared to the 90s anime, this take on Mars's first appearance is a bit more serious in tone although the essential plotlines of this episode remain intact. What it does differently however, is have Jadeite confront the Sailor Senshi directly. And furthermore, Jadeite's sexist demeanor that was prevalent in the 90s anime seems to have taken a backseat... but we'll get to that later.
As many fans know about the first appearance of Sailor Mars, an incident where the passengers of the 6PM bus on Sendai Hill went missing is the main problem in this scenario. And incidentally, the bus is near the Hikawa shrine, where Rei would often tell the fortunes of the patrons who willingly stop by. Since the incidents became consistent each day, some parents and neighbors became suspicious of Rei and accuse her of being the cause of these disappearances. However, Usagi - being the kind soul that she is - wants to believe otherwise. (On a side note, this is the second time Usagi's been entranced over another girl. In fact, a little TOO entranced this time around... XD)
Meanwhile, Jadeite is quickly losing favor from Queen Beryl after two screwups, and Nephrite makes an overshadowing appearance as an intended usurper. Queen Beryl then fills Jadeite in on the Silver Crystal briefly, and in turn Jadeite proposes to not only gather human energy, but lure all the Sailor Senshi to his trap in one fell swoop.
Before the main event in the second half of the show, we also get confirmation that Mamoru is in fact a high school student - as opposed to an older college student like in the 90s anime - during Usagi's unexpected run-in with him (again) inside the 6PM bus. Sailor Mars's transformation is every bit as nifty as the 90s anime, and so is her unique introductory pose. But the real kicker here is that right before the conflict begins and Jadeite has abducted Rei, Jadeite is ironically attracted to her. This pretty much is a foreshadowing of the Inner Senshi / Heavenly Kings shipping manga fans have familiarized themselves with by now. The four Heavenly Kings were once guardians of Prince Endymion, after all.
Despite this, Mars pretty much incinerates Jadeite, and the next episode is pretty much about Princess D, Nephrite's shadow, and the fruitless effort to find a Silver Crystal that is not there. Personally I'd skip it and wait 4 weeks for Sailor Jupiter. But my inner moonie tells me to remain a faithful viewer until the very end. Besides, Sailor Jupiter's first appearance in Sailor Moon Classic's this upcoming Monday, so that's something that'll keel me over. Either way, I think it's safe to say these 26 planned episodes will cover not only one, but two story arcs-- the Dark Kingdom AND the Black Moon. Not too shabby.
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