Magical girl retrospective - simulwatch starts 1st Feb 2025

Ah the good ol' eighties...
Back when "black vehicle" was a genre. Knight Rider! Airwolf! Street Hawk! The one with the boat!

Minky Momo - episode 2
the setup does seem to be introduced in an oddly blunt fashion. Presumably they wanted to crack on so that she could start solving folk’s problems, but everything just kinda happens
This kind of pacing continues in episode 2 as we somehow go through Momo training a dog, tricking a fairly sus photographer, visiting Africa, and becoming a celebrity model in the space of 20 minutes. Momo's easy access to wide-ranging magic powers, vehicles, and talking animals seem to have resulted in a complete lack of impulse control.
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I guess her alignment would be Chaotic Good. Despite all the things Momo can do, it's interesting that there is a limit on her transformation power when it's applied to someone else. Rather than causing her to physically grow up, it's a glamour that's patterned to look like an older version of her.
 
Minky Momo ep2 - I Bless the Rains Down in Akihabara

Well, that happened. The previous episode grew on me as it went on, but this one felt even more scattershot by comparison - considering that the moral of the story appears to be as simple as ‘it’s okay to wear glasses’, it feels like we got there by the most convoluted route possible. Maybe it would settle down as it goes on, but my impression is very much that no-one quite knew what to do with Momo as a character. Was Sindbook’s questioning whether they really needed to go to Africa thinly veiled meta commentary by a frustrated writer? Am I thinking too much about this again? Probably.

I think anything that had to follow a Tezuka series was probably always going to be a bit of a step down, but Princess Knight felt like it had something to say, whereas, on the strength of these two episodes, Minky Momo sadly feels like no-more than the sum of its parts. It’s a perfectly pleasant half-hour, but it does just feel like a toy-line tie-in for little girls.

While I’m throwing shade, it also surprises me a little that the design for Momo’s adult form feels decidedly more plain than her default look. When she’s a kid, she has that distinctive wavy hairstyle, whereas adult Momo just has a very simple bob cut.

Mildly curious to see how Creamy Mami would compare, but will I actually bother to watch it? Dunno.

tricking a fairly sus photographer

Different times, I suppose, but yeah - I feel like hand waving some guy with a camera coming up to little girls in a park as perfectly fine raises all sorts of alarms. There’s something similar in Orange Road iirc, although in that, the photographer was one character’s father. Not that it makes the situation better…
 
on the strength of these two episodes, Minky Momo sadly feels like no-more than the sum of its parts. It’s a perfectly pleasant half-hour, but it does just feel like a toy-line tie-in for little girls.
Out of curiosity I had a look on Mandarake to see what kind of merchandise there was for this show. So much. So much merch. Everything from sketchbooks and pendants to jewelry boxes and toy hairdryers.

This was also the moment I discovered that Hideaki Anno drew a doujin called Godzilla vs Minky Momo back in 1983. Because of course he did.
 
This was also the moment I discovered that Hideaki Anno drew a doujin called Godzilla vs Minky Momo back in 1983. Because of course he did.

Not calling her Minky Mothra, smh.

Curiosity also got the better of me, so a quick note on:

Creamy Mami ep1

While enough is borrowed from Minky Momo that it feels derivative at times, this feels like a lot of lessons have been learned. It’s better paced, there’s clear logic to the narrative and even the visual change in the character after transformation makes more sense. There’s some nice work in the animation too; heroine Yuu briefly enters a fantasy dreamworld to fight a giant dragon, and reappears in front of an electronic scoreboard sent impressively haywire by a bolt of lightning. It seems more determined to take its time, however; Yuu’s ‘Creamy Mami’ guise isn’t introduced until the end of the episode and it’s not entirely clear what the thrust of the story is likely to be at this point. I think it mainly centres on her becoming a pop idol (episode 2: “I wish I was watching Jem and the Holograms”), but apparently she also fights aliens? It’s a bit less clear cut than Minky Momo on that one.

My only complaint is that the camera has a voyueristic fixation on Yuu’s underwear; I’d rather not feel like I’m going to end up on some kind of list for watching a children’s show, thanks.
 
Fairy Princess Minky Momo eps 1-4
The first 2 episodes did seem to be quite wacky in both set up and the resolution of the problem presented with the dastardly villain trying to grab a horse racing stable by any means and then a prank gone wrong and proving Megane to be the best tag! But episode 3 was a bit more serious with a rebellious biker gang causing trouble and befriending a lonely boy and learning the history of Momo's home and the reason for her mission.

The frantic nature of a lot of it made it feel like a kiddie version of Urusei Yatsura which started airing 5 months before. Momo is an original, so could have been influenced by it possibly, but the production timeline, at least initially might be too close.

Tidbits from Wikipedia says that it was indeed attended to sell merch, but that that didn't work and the toy company pulled out which lead to Momo being killed off in episode 46 before reincarnating as a real child of a human couple!

the camera has a voyueristic fixation on Yuu’s underwear
Hmm...
Wikipedia also says that whilst sales of the merch wasn't good enough for the toy company the show itself had become popular enough with a certain subset of male otaku that the show was extended from 50 to 63 episodes.
Creamy Mami was also an original show started a year after Minky Momo and also became popular with the same crowd. The producer of Momo wasn't too happy with that, but the producer of Mami said he thought maybe it was because male fans had become bored with shows aimed at them and they were interested in the less violent way the girls solved their problems. Although I guess he was also happy with merch sales as Mami was an early mixed media show to promote the VA who was a singer first and the show was used to promote her songs that she sung as Creamy Mami. It was also the first original show by Pierrot and Fancy Lala followed a similar formula.

They appeared together in a short cross over anime
 
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Creamy Mami
It's a shame that's not straightforward to watch without a VPN, but fortunately we will be picking up one of Studio Pierrot's later magical idol shows when we get to Fancy Lala next week.

Minky Momo - episode 3

It's probably not a coincidence that an episode where Momo barely appears until the last few minutes has a much more focused plot. Without her around to randomly turn dogs into people or fly off to Africa at a moment's notice, we instead have a relatively low-key story about a biker punk with a heart of gold. This leads to a Wacky Races-style car chase against a police department that has a tank for some reason. Maybe it's not that low key after all.

It's the little touches that elevate this episode, like the windscreen wiper on Momo's visor or the motorbike cop who sticks the landing after being flung through the air. The early parts perhaps feel too straight-laced in Momo's absence though. Following up on @Professor Irony 's comment about Cutie Honey taking on more traditionally male jobs with her costumes, here we see Momo crashing through the glass ceiling as a motorbike cop, with the next episode preview showing her as a firefighter. Somehow I doubt we'll see Momo pulling a stunt like this though:


Now be sure to pack electric toothbrush batteries for you and the seals, as tomorrow we charge our flux capacitor with 1.21 jiggerwatts and race ten years ahead to 1992.
 
Can't say I have much to add for Minky Momo's episodes 2 & 3, as they seemed generic to me, as @Professor Irony mentioned not having much to say apart from entertaining kiddos and selling march, as @Dai confirmed. The occasional sarcastic meta comment, I definitely agree did feel like the creators threw in to be tongue-in-cheek, but wish there was more of that as I felt there was more humour in the first episode.
Back when "black vehicle" was a genre. Knight Rider! Airwolf! Street Hawk! The one with the boat!
😂 I absolutely loved Airwolf (until they swapped out Stringfellow Hawk) but didn't know about Street Hawk, nor the boat one (guessing you don't mean Seaquest as I think that was 90s or noughties?)
 
Minky Momo ep3 - Electra Glide in Pink

Welp, I didn’t expect them to bring the tanks in. That does feel very like a gag you’d find in Oshii’s Urusei Yatsura (along with copious notes on how the JSDF came to have them). But yeah, I think Dai covered everything I’d have mentioned on this one - particularly liked the little gag with the motorcycle cop making a perfect dismount. I do feel like the obvious answer for getting that guy out of his burning car at the end would have been to smash the window though. Having Jimul (was his name supposed to be Jamal?) use his winch seems like it would be wasting precious time. Am I overthinking this again?

On an unrelated note, if I had a penny for every time the autocorrect had tried to change the title to ‘Kinky Momo’, I would have two pennies, but it’s weird that it happened twice. Maybe not the kind of job-related transformation they’d want to show before the watershed.
 
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Had a thought after watching ep 4 of Momo and 1 of Mami. Princess Knight didn't have any magic, Momo is from a magic kingdom so already has magical powers, but Mami is given hers by an alien, is that the first time it's gifted by an outside force?
I know it's a meme now to be aware of cute mascot like creatures offering magic powers!
 
I think that element originated in Akko-chan's Secret in the 60s, sadly another show that we can't get our hands on legally in the west.
I note in that article that it mentions Sally the Witch. The manga isn't as old, but the anime adaptation came out first (1966 as opposed to '69) and was possibly the first Shoujo anime pre-dating the Princess Knight anime too! Sally is another magical princess though. Both mangas came out after Princess Knight.
 

Sailor Moon - episode 1

"You can't solve anything by crying, Sailor Moon."
[proceeds to cry so hard that she incapacitates the villain and a room full of hypnotised zombies]

It's all too easy to be dismissive of Sailor Moon because, at a glance, it looks like magical girl shows in general. This is unavoidable because it created the template that most other magical girl shows have been following for the last 30 years. We have already seen plenty of recognisable magical girl tropes in earlier shows, but Sailor Moon is where a winning version of the formula finally clicked into place. Blending magical girls with the themed and colour-coded team structure of Super Sentai (aka. Power Rangers) has become the norm, but it was revolutionary at the time, and Sailor Moon remains one of the best examples.

That said, it takes a while for the recognisable team of planet-themed sailor guardians to assemble. For the first several episodes Sailor Moon resembles earlier shows in the genre. While there's mention of a masked crimefighter around town, Sailor V doesn't show up in person until much later in the series. Usagi is flying solo at this point, and what a loveable (and sometimes infuriating) goofball she is. Naru and Umino have a much larger role in these early episodes compared to later, as until the other sailor guardians are recruited they're essentially acting as stand-ins for Usagi's cranked-up-to-11 personality to bounce off. Sailor Moon is remembered for the magical girl side of the story, but often the most entertaining part of an episode is everything before the girls transform. The comedy was added for the anime version, being mostly absent in the relatively straight-laced manga, and is one of the best aspects of the show.

What always strikes me when I revisit season 1 is the completely different aesthetic of the monsters. Their designs and gimmicks are increasingly cartoony and outlandish in later seasons, becoming reminiscent of some of the weirder Super Sentai monsters, but I could see young girls being scared of the shrivelled monstrosity that imitates Naru's mother in episode 1. As for the show's mascot, Luna is thankfully devoid of the cloying vocal tics that plague so many others, and has a simple, iconic design. She works well as the mature straight-man (straight-cat?) to Usagi's high-strung antics.

My first experience of Sailor Moon was rather odd because I found it airing on a German satellite channel in the mid-90s. I don't understand a word of German, but Sailor Moon is often told visually, so it was surprisingly easy to follow the story most of the time. I ended up watching all 200 episodes that way. The German dub also replaced the opening song with this. Get your glowsticks out.

 
Sailor Moon ep1

I still can’t believe it’s taken me this long to actually see an episode of Sailor Moon. Going into it afresh now, I was a little apprehensive of how I might get on with the actual show behind the cultural phenomenon, but mercifully, it was utterly charming. Usagi is much more of a dork than I was expecting somehow, although really the only things I knew about her beforehand were that she doesn’t know how to use a computer, and her hair has a skeletal structure.

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Tubi allows screenshots folks; fill your boots.

It surprises me to hear the comedy is something that was only added for the anime though. Even outside of the memeworthy moments, it’s a very funny show and I can’t imagine it being half as appealing without that. I think even without the other fighters being present, you can definitely see the tokusatsu influence creeping in too; Usagi’s fighting style with its exaggerated poses feels like exactly the sort of thing you’d see at your local quarry.

I could see young girls being scared of the shrivelled monstrosity that imitates Naru's mother in episode 1.

It may well just be a coincidence rather than an intentional reference, but seeing the monster turn her head all the way around on her shoulders made me think of the famous shot of Meryl Streep in Death Becomes Her. Even the dress is similar iirc.

The German dub also replaced the opening song with this. Get your glowsticks out.

Ngl, on the strength of that, I kind of want the ED to be Darude - Sandstorm
 
It surprises me to hear the comedy is something that was only added for the anime though. Even outside of the memeworthy moments, it’s a very funny show and I can’t imagine it being half as appealing without that.
I haven't read all of the manga, but that's my understanding of it. The art in the Sailor Moon manga is beautiful, and has that poised and elegant feel of classical shojo. The Sailor Moon Crystal anime remake was apparently much more faithful to the manga, and the resulting drier tone is part of the reason there was a tepid fan reaction to the early seasons of it.
 
Sailor Moon - episode 2

Ye shall know a delinquent by the bread he eats in front of his teacher. Umino gets a not-too-flattering turn in the spotlight this time. Meanwhile Usagi proves what we already knew; the ladies can't resist a guy who's good at videogames. In typical Usagi fashion she also forgets her transformation phrase and cries a lot. We also see one of her other defining traits though; her consideration for others.

Something I'd forgotten is that the disguise pen isn't introduced by this point. If anyone fancies a -{Bonus Round}- of watching an extra episode, that gets introduced in episode 3. It gives Usagi the classic magical girl ability of disguising herself in various costumes, but predictably she mostly uses it for frivolous reasons instead of for her mission, much to Luna's chagrin.

Something I should point out for tomorrow's viewing of Sailor Moon R: The Movie: it's a standalone story, but it does take place during season 2, so it gives away a few things from later in season 1, namely: the identity of the princess who Luna is looking for, Tuxedo Mask's identity, and who ends up being Usagi's boyfriend. These are all pretty easy to guess if you don't know already, but if anyone wants to watch the rest of season 1 with zero spoilers you may want to skip the movie.

On a different note, it turns out there is a way to watch Sailor Moon in the UK without a VPN, but you'll need to be in London:
 
Sailor Moon eps 1 and 2
First timer too.
Episode 1 was pretty much straight into the story with the origin of Sailor Moon, the evil boss lady and her henchman and Tuxedo Mask all appearing and then episode 2 is pretty much a repeat, I already see the pattern emerging! Evil lady can't find the silver crystal, henchman has a plan to steal energy from humans and has a lackey in place, humans go zombie, Usagi and Luna find out, Sailor Moon appears and blunders about and Tuxedo Mask saves the day! That'll get boring pretty quickly, but the SoL stuff before hand is quite funny and would almost convince me to continue if there wasn't another 42 episodes in the first season alone!
It does appear to be a bit more modern in comedy terms with less slapstick and more actual gags than the previous shows.
 
I already see the pattern emerging! Evil lady can't find the silver crystal, henchman has a plan to steal energy from humans and has a lackey in place, humans go zombie, Usagi and Luna find out, Sailor Moon appears and blunders about and Tuxedo Mask saves the day!
You're not wrong, but the show gets a lot more mileage from the formula than you would think, especially once the team starts to fill out. I'd say the show really takes off around episode 10 when Rei is introduced, since she's another strong personality (and sometimes lovestruck idiot) for Usagi to bounce off.

A season of Sailor Moon can be divided into two phases. About the first 80% of each season is the mix of SoL and monster-of-the-week we've seen so far. Then the last several episodes will be an ongoing story with the climax of the season's arc. At that point it drops the comedy and becomes surprisingly intense and dramatic. Madoka Magica often gets the credit for bringing heart-wrenching drama and life-or-death stakes to the magical girl genre, but the season climaxes of Sailor Moon were doing that 20 years earlier. You'll get a small taste of that in the movie tomorrow, which feels like it has all the plot beats of a whole season of Sailor Moon condensed into an hour.
 
Sailor Moon - Episodes 1&2

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I could fill this post with screenshots of the first ten minutes of the first episode - I found out to be very funny with a very likeable cast and protagonist. I think the Japanese voice acting for most of the cast, including supporting cast, is great and a significant part of why the comedy works so well. A protagonist who happily gets over fear to accept presents from strange talking alien cats, gets giddy over said present whilst totally ignoring the caveat speech on what is now expected of her and then goes on to weaponize crying - what's not to like here? All the magical girl elements are there, but from these two episodes, this for me is more a comedy show masquerading as a magical girl one. I too have not ever watched any of this legendary anime, but I can see why it's so beloved, though I got the feeling that it gets more serious or darker with further seasons, or the movies? Will be interesting the watch the movie tomorrow to see. May have to convince kiddo to watch this with me with the subs heh.


The comedy was added for the anime version, being mostly absent in the relatively straight-laced manga, and is one of the best aspects of the show.
It surprises me to hear the comedy is something that was only added for the anime though. Even outside of the memeworthy moments, it’s a very funny show and I can’t imagine it being half as appealing without that.
How interesting, especially given how we all rate the comedy highly in this. Is this one of the infrequent cases of the adaptation being better than the source material then?
I could see young girls being scared of the shrivelled monstrosity that imitates Naru's mother in episode 1
There's nothing scarier for youngsters than shrivelled old folk 😂. It's inevitable you youthful fools!
but seeing the monster turn her head all the way around on her shoulders made me think of the famous shot of Meryl Streep in Death Becomes Her
I was thinking of the endless Exorcist references but that's a good thought.
Ye shall know a delinquent by the bread he eats in front of his teacher.
😂
but predictably she mostly uses it for frivolous reasons instead of for her mission, much to Luna's chagrin
Got no choice but to watch episode 3 now!
I'd say the show really takes off around episode 10 when Rei is introduced, since she's another strong personality (and sometimes lovestruck idiot) for Usagi to bounce off.
The rest of the team are nutters too?! Now I really need to get kiddo interested in watching this with me, lest my wife assumes I have finally cracked and well and truly lost it because I'm watching this "magical girls" genre 😅.
Then the last several episodes will be an ongoing story with the climax of the season's arc. At that point it drops the comedy and becomes surprisingly intense and dramatic. Madoka Magica often gets the credit for bringing heart-wrenching drama and life-or-death stakes to the magical girl genre, but the season climaxes of Sailor Moon were doing that 20 years earlier. You'll get a small taste of that in the movie tomorrow, which feels like it has all the plot beats of a whole season of Sailor Moon condensed into an hour.
Ah, I wasn't wrong then in recalling that it's not all just laughs all the way. Even better I say and I'm looking forward to the movie.
 
Sailor Moon ep2 - Pretty Soldier of Fortune

Based on these episodes, I think the way they’ve handled Umino as a character feels a bit indicative of when the show was made. Tastes in protagonists have changed over time and I feel a contemporary series would treat him more sympathetically, rather than just having him as the butt of the joke. But yeah. I know there were a few tie-in fighting games based on Sailor Moon, at least one must have a special attack where Usagi cries and it clears all the enemies on screen…

On that note, knowing that there were fighting games, I’d expected a little more actual fighting. It’s early days yet, but thus far it does seem like Usagi is very reliant on both Tuxedo Mask and her tiara to get herself out of trouble.

I’d say the show really takes off around episode 10 when Rei is introduced, since she's another strong personality (and sometimes lovestruck idiot) for Usagi to bounce off.

Given how short a typical series is now, I think it’s easy to forget that a lot of older shows took time to establish their formula, and I actually feel a bit guilty now by criticising the series for not putting its cards on the table straight off the bat.
 
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