Sailor Moon

Kind of surprised there's no thread for this, but the Sailor Moon manga (and Sailor V) just released in English this week. Anyone else pick it up?

The translation is definitely leaps and bounds beyond Mixx's work, but it's also rather dry and sometimes extremely awkward ("Live nervously so you'll wake up on time!" eh?). A manga like Sailor Moon should have a bit of life in the script - there's definitely room for doing the translation well and going full "motionless comics". There's also untranslated honorifics left and right, which is odd for a manga aimed at kids - not even a translation note. And there weird thing is that there ARE translation notes for some of their choices (even one to explain the puns in the characters names) but not some of the obvious ones. Such as how they never explained why the students call the teacher "Haruda", which rather defeats the purpose of retaining the nickname in English. Another oddity was that the first half of the book bent over backwards to not have Usagi refer to Motoki as "oniisan"...then in the last half of the book, she's constantly calling him "Bro" for no reason.

So would I recommend it? Well, it's Sailor Moon, it's not been hacked up, all the characters names are right (and I mean all of them - we even got to see "Four Kings of Heaven" in print!), and outside of the oddities of the script, it's still Sailor Moon finally done right in English.

Haven't grabbed Sailor V yet - I'm thinking I'll wait for the release of all three volumes, then grab em' in one go. But it's still cool to look on a bookstore shelf and see Sailor V in English for the first time.

Well then are the large text sections at least well translated? would you consider it better than a fan translation?

It sounds like there are some almost grating parts to the translation, and it doesn't seem to have professional level consistency either.

"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."

I'd put it about on par with a reasonable quality fan translation and still managing to do better than Mixx but that's not saying much. The main advantage is that the physical quality of the book is great. Also that there's no COMPLETED fan translations, period - of this version or another. The re-release from 2003 in Japan cleaned up a lot of the art and also got some of the continuity in line, though it also altered some of the attack names to match the live-action series (but they never matched the anime ever anyway :P)

I will say that if you can read Japanese and have the 2003 version, you're not missing anything...but then you really wouldn't be looking for an English release, would you?

This guy went more in-depth on the book, with screenshots. He also links Otaking, so beware :P

I agree with the reviewer.

So, from what I've gathered after searching far and wide, Michiru/Sailor Neptune's favorite color is "marine blue". Now, the question is this: What the hell is that color? The Other Wiki's article links "marine blue" to the teal color, but strangely enough neither that article nor Google gives any link between the color and "marine blue".

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

Those two colours look pretty oceany to me.

I know it's actually the anime, but they remind me of the background to Neptune's transformation sequence.

Isn't it obvious that marine blue is the blue of a marine water? Though personally I would have thought the deep blue of the ocean would be more likely.

I'm more interested in knowing where you found that particular fact. Is it in the Manga, or supplementary materials or did you find it on a wiki somewhere?

"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."

What most bugs me is that while the other Senshi's colors can be easily expressed in "one kanji + the kanji for 'color'", Neptune's "marine blue" is only expressable in the katakana romanization (i.e. marin buruu).

I dunno; it ain't here, and color names aren't always trustable. Does "ultramarine" look "marine-y" to you?

The Other Wiki's Sailor Neptune article, plus the countless fan-compiled profiles for her on the net, all drawing from supplementary info that came with one of the Sailor Moon manga volumes (persumably the one she debuted in).

edited 23rd Dec '11 1:13:22 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

Teal looks the closest to the greeny colour of the kind of ocean where most marine life live (on a clear day).

I just googled "Marine Blue" in google image search anyway. This is kinda what I was thinking◊.

So, the colour of her hair maybe◊.

Perhaps the colour only exists in paint definitions?

I do think you could make a case for it being◊, the colour of her sailor suit◊.

But then, Neptune itself is kind of a deep blue◊.

edited 23rd Dec '11 1:27:30 AM by UltimatelySubjective

"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."

IMO, this color◊ and Neptune's color◊ are closer to navy blue and azure, respectively. Funnily enough, Uranus is described as being cyan-colored... and teal-blue/green, Sailor Neptune's particular shade of sea-green (according to the Other Wiki's redirecting of "marine blue" to "teal"), is a shade of cyan.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

So is Marine Blue the same as Navy then? The colour of her bow?

The only question then is, why did they decide to use "Marine" rather than "Navy", given that the former is archaic.

"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."

According to this color guide, no, navy and marine are different.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

I picked them up the week they came out. I was a bit surprised that I found myself enjoying Sailor V more. I guess it's 'cause her storytelling was more fleshed out by that point or something. :/

edited 23rd Dec '11 8:59:23 AM by JenKunoichi351

Don't mind me. I'm just a creepy little lurker.

@Marq: I always thought that was ironic about Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune's outfit colors being switched from their planet's colors. Of course, if all the Senshi had to fit their planets' colors, both Jupiter and Saturn would be yellow or orange rather than green and purple and I'm not sure what color Mercury would be (maybe gray like Sailor Moon's silver?). And Saturn would have a big ring around her waist as part of her outfit and Jupiter would have a big swirly red brooch to represent Jupiter's red spot.

edited 23rd Dec '11 2:22:29 PM by Rainbow

Technically, the Senshi's colors have more to do with what their planet's most associated with, especially in Japan - Mars is lit. "Planet of Fire" (火星 Kasei), and fire is red, hence Sailor Mars is associated with red. Now apply to the rest of the Senshi; you will notice that for the Inner Senshi, they are associated with four of the Chinese classical elements - Fire, Water, Metal and Wood - with Earth being left out... because it's the purview of Saturn (aka 土星 Dosei, "planet of earth"). Incidentally, the 土 kanji can also be pronounced as to, giving a connection to Hotaru's surname Tomoe in the same way for the other Senshi.

The Outer Senshi, on the other hand, are more associated with forces rather than elements. You will notice that Sailor Neptune's powers are not so much water-based (like Sailor Mercury) as much they are sea-based. Sailor Uranus also has the sky as her affinity, which we know to be more or less outer space, hence "World Shaking" and "Space Sword (Blaster)".

edited 23rd Dec '11 2:59:17 PM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

Say, we know that Makoto/Jupiter is explicitly designed with her bust as her body-part Charm Point, right? Well, a doujinshi artist named Black Dog (aka Kuroinu Juu) apparently decided to expand that principle to Rei in his works (all hentai), marking her as having the "longest, sexiest legs" among the Sailor Senshi. Does anyone know if that has any basis in the manga/anime? And what do you think the other Sailor Senshi's body-part Charm Points would be?

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

Wearing small high heeled shoes instead of boots seems to make Rei's legs look longer, although when actually measured they seem to be the same lenght as the other girls'.

Is Chibiusa a Tagalong Kid, a Kid Sidekick, or shifts from the former to the latter over time?

edited 4th May '12 6:09:20 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

I thought she was the Kid from the Future and then the Show-Stealing Kid Sidekick when she comes back.

Oh wait, I've only seen Chibiusa's appearance in the anime, so I can't say for the manga.

"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."

Disregard the "Manga" part of the thread title; I find it unnecessarily restrictive. Also, I'm putting aside the Kid from the Future aspect, since it's true in both appearances.

edited 4th May '12 6:36:57 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

Oh well. Like I said I think you can neatly divide her role shift based on when she comes back to the future. She's still a Tagalong Kid in both appearances though. She comes back more of a Bratty Half-Pint though. And of course in the anime (only I believe) she is a joke character as a magical girl.

Also, Neo-Queen Serenity is a terrible parent.

What's with all this stuff about Sailor Earth everybody keeps shoehorning in anyway? I know he's not a magical girl, but I understand Marmorou took the place of Sailor Earth. It's like, the whole reason he can transform, and relevant to the end of Super S.

edited 4th May '12 6:59:38 AM by UltimatelySubjective

"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."

I bet that due to being an Older series, if the Sailor Senshi met all the Pretty Cure, they would be mentor type figures to the pretty cure.

While being awed at the Pretty Cure's Super Sentai/Fighting Series physical prowness.

Watch Symphogear

Anime reboot coming next year!!!!

GOH! JII! RAH!

... Please excuse me while I fangasm.

Long live Cinematech. FC:0259-0435-4987

Is it okay to gush again here? Yeah!

Princess Tutu makes me pretty hopeful this can work out too.

Even so I hope they cut our unnecessary bits and leave the core of the story alone.

"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."

Please, world, don't end in December!