WebVideo Season 1
As someone that has a strong distaste for Sailor Moon with some small amount of fascination, this series seemed perfect for me. What better way to let off frustration with the original than to watch a total mockery? Unfortunately, much like the source, it leaves one just wondering what could have been...
Most of the problem is that the characters are one-note. Serena is fat! Raye is a masochist! Lina is a transvestite! Most of the humor comes from just repeating these notes over and over and over and over... and over again. I get it: the original characters are shallow. That doesn't mean one should make them even more shallow. Why not explore why the original characters are so shallow than just making cheap caricatures?
Still, there are moments of cleverness. The villains are generally better written and more self-aware. They still sometimes fall into screamy fits, but everybody on this show does. The hateful attitude the characters hold to each other generally works, but it feels very arbitrary at times; as though the creators can't really think of any other way to approach the humor.
I think the biggest cardinal sin the series commits is starting believing in the original's drama. One can't start with a total brutalization of a series and then decide partway through "oh, it's alright". No. Either go all the way or limit the scope from the beginning. It is a total whiplash to go from "this series was terrible" to "this part worked".
Still, there are funny parts. Throw enough at the wall and some of it will stick. Raye was funny at first and pointing out the moral dissonance is a plus. I'm not sure I can really recommend this series, though. There is a metric crapton of bullshit surrounding the occasional good joke and after a while, one just starts to feel this strong animosity towards the characters. It's probably not a good sign that they took characters I mostly just found extremely boring and made them intensely unlikable.
Then again, maybe I'm missing something due to having watched the original Japanese series rather than the dub...
WebVideo Ignore the other two reviewers they don't have any clue what their talking about
I wasn't even going to post a review until I saw that the only two reviews on tv tropes for this amazing youtube series were negative. And let me just say the other two reviewers must have lost their sense of humor somewhere because Megami33's Sailor Moon Abridged series (better known as SMA) is the funniest abridged series on Youtube.
Most abridged series I look for end up sucking. As of now the only Abridged series that are any good are Little Kuriboh's Yu-gi-oh the Abridged Series, Teamfourstar's Dragonball Z abridged (which Megami33 is a part of), and of course SMA.
One of the reasons SMA is superior to most abridged series is the voice acting. This is where most abridged series lose me before the end of the first episode. The voice acting in most abridged series is terrible. It's hard to believe how much a difference good voice acting makes an abridged series but it really does. Thank god all the SMA team are talented voice actors especially Megami33 and Kris Rix. Another thing SMA actually has a cohesive script. Most abridged series I've come by either really need better writers or their just making stuff up as they go along with nothing coherent and there are rarely any funny jokes and the few funny jokes they have are ruined by bad voice acting. Fortunately in SMA, I'm always laughing from start to finish at every episode.
So if for some reason you haven't checked out Megami33's Sailor Moon Abridged (SMA) series go check it out. Like SMA Serena said in episode 18 it's the only good Sailor Moon Abridged series on Youtube. (It was said in jest by Megami but it's true.
WebVideo Being loud and random doesn't necessarily make you funny
So I gave the Megami33 version the 3 episode test and then went and watched some of the later episodes to see if there was any improvement. I didn't laugh once and only cracked a smile once or twice. Which is odd, seeing as I enjoyed Little Kuriboh's and Team Four Star's work, and I wasn't even a fan of Dragonball Z or Yu Gi Oh when I was younger like I was with Sailor Moon.
The writing relies too much on raunchy sexual humor and randomness in my opinion. Not that such humor offends me, but you have to consider the source material. In my opinion, the entire metaseries has a goofy premise in and of itself. You don't need to rely solely on pointing out the dub's flaws or bulimia jokes or give random male characters lisps or talking about how Character X wants to fuck someone or actually has a penis to make it funny. (The dub provides more material, yes. But a good writer wouldn't need it.) It's a universe where in the future, we will accept our universal ruler just because she has a powerful crystal and is the next to last descendant of some dynasty that no one remembers. Even though she's partially illiterate by her native country's standards (Usagi can't read kanji.) Not to mention that the universe is protected by a bunch of teenage or 20 something girls in mini skirts and outfits based on sailor uniforms! With some of the goofiest attack names to boot!
There's also the whole SCREAMING RANDOM SHIT INTO THE MICROPHONE thing. That really does start to get annoying after a while. (By the way, if you don't like having your speakers blown out, don't watch the Outtakes video.) Yes, it fits Raye's personality. But honestly, it just got old after one episode.
In conclusion, they need to either get better writers or Megami should just stick to voice-acting in other peoples' videos. (She has a decent range. With some lessons, I think she could go professional.)
Also, if they ever decided to do the S season and managed to NOT use the whole "lesbians/cousins" thing as a crutch for most of their jokes, I would be completely surprised.
WebVideo Rewards watching the whole thing
It starts off fairly amusing then gets steadily funnier and funnier. The new characterisations work really well and like another review mentions the voice acting is really good. My personal favourite voice is Luna with her strangely posh English accent, makes all her lines funnier 'Are you questioning the talking cat?!'
WebVideo Okay,love it but
Can you please, please,please etc remove that STUPID "Listen Punks" thing at the beginning of the episodes? It's annoying because before you guys got kicked off youtube (which was BS), it just... didnt have me turning down the sound right away. It was, I admit, funny the first 10 times. Besides, did you know that because the iPod is stupid and cant skip the first 10 seconds of a movie clip, I have to watch it every *honk*ing time.
The only reason you got kicked off youtube (I suspect) is because some dumbass executive from Kabillion or whoever owns sailor moon now doesnt know fair-use law. So, putting it in the description would be enough, or at least if it's absolutely needed put it at the end, after the song and the SMA says thing.
Again, pretty please with two giant cakes, Cheetos, and marshmallows and Oreos.
WebVideo Good or Bad? The answer is... well, both.
First, let me get this out of the way. I like this series. I liked the original Sailor Moon, and the dub... well, I prefer not to talk about that on this site.
Now to the point. This series is extremely polarizing. When it is on point, which it often is, it is very funny. One of the best parts of the original series is characterization, and I was pleased that the abridging takes to it so well with the flanderized personalities and how they interact when forced to save the world together.
When this show is bad, which it is, occasionally, it is EXTREMELY BAD. The cringing in horror sort of bad. The kind of bad that makes one not want to watch it with friends because it is so bad, it feels as if it might reflect badly on one's self.
Also, in general, the extra content that they have (besides the artwork) is not worth it. I myself simply cannot sit through any of the blooper episodes.
Ultimately, the series itself is totally worth it, if you're willing to put up with some rather large speed bumps.
WebVideo Revenge of the Dub Oppresed! Or; It's a Comedy, Think Riffing for Bad Dubs
First, yes, I am a male. However, I wasn't exactly in the know about what cartoons were meant for boys and girls, so I have some "fond" memories about the original American dub. Then I found SMA Abridged.
I am enlightened.
First, they rip apart all the dubbed dialogue. Every. Little. Bit. Anything you found silly or ridiculous, they tear to pieces. The dubbed characters are also handled with comedy, though the Lita as a transvestite thing was a bit of a tweest.
The thing about SMA abridged is it's based off the American dub, and that's where most of the comedy comes from. If you've never been subjected to the actual dub, then you're missing most of the humor. Without knowing the dub dialogue and characterizations, you really miss a lot of the humor.
Having seen comments about seriousness later in the first season, well, I didn't see any. There was still a good bit of comedy intermixed, and I thought they handled that serious bits quite well. If you were subjected to the dub, and you want a little well earned revenge, check out Megami33's SMA Abridged. And remember to bring some doughnuts, I hear Serena's hungry.
Webvideo I Like It...
It's really a very funny abridgement. Raye, I find, is hysterical! The only thing I hate is Lita being voiced by a guy. She's supposed to be a girl, no matter how un-girly she can be.