Review: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal – Episode 1

The long await reboot for Sailor Moon is here and it’s good. All is well in the world. Be it that I haven’t watched the original episodes in years and they’ve been painstakingly difficult to obtain here in the States (that changes this year though!) I went in pretty fresh on this series. It is a true reboot though meaning you’re basically watching it all over again from the beginning, but the nuances and style is different. The animation is far cleaner and there is just something about seeing it modernized and styled differently that really works in its favor. Usagi which is still a little strange for me to call her having grown up on the dubbed version is the same as she ever was. Actually that’s not true. I don’t think she’s been crybaby Sailor Moon nearly as much as in the original which is a good thing.

The episode follows Usagi as she encounters Luna and unlocks her destiny while saving her friend Naru from a monster that has replaced her mother. It’s pretty cut and dry and I will admit that there was one scene that came across as dated material, but at the same time it played on my nostalgia so I couldn’t hate it.

Tuxedo Mask had an awesome introduction. He’s far more of a jerk, but he’s kind of suave about it so it’s hard to dislike him. He really is just too cool for his own good, but that was okay because it worked with the story.

I don’t really have much to say about it other than the fact that it put a huge smile on my face. It’s working with the same material and practically the same art direction so it stands to reason that some might be put off on it if they weren’t that into Sailor Moon in the first place or are purist. For me I couldn’t help but enjoy it and just appreciate it for what it is. It was great the first time so why wouldn’t it be great the second time around? In a lot of ways Sailor Moon is like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; they can exist in many forms and tell the same story over and over, but they’re enduring and when done right I want to hear it again.

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Score: 5/5

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Creator: Naoko Takeuchi Director: Munehisa Sakai Studio: Toei Animation

Review: Tokyo Ghoul – Episode 1

Tokyo Ghoul didn’t turn out how I expected it to, but it might turn out better in the end. It will definitely depend on what happens in the second episode because the ending of this first episode kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Everything leading up to the ending was tremendous though. The story takes place in a world that is populated by flesh-eating ghouls. They are actually dead and they live off of humans, but one human can last them weeks or even months. People kind of accept this fact because ghouls also have incredible powers which tends to vary on the ghoul, but speed seems to be a common factor.

The story kicks off with an ordinary human by the name of Kaneki. He’s all alone in the world and he’s working up the nerve to ask a girl out for the first time. His friend Hide gives him a hard time, but nice guy Kaneki preserves and ends up going on a date with a beautiful named Rize. They seem to hit it off as they both like the same author and have a splendid date at a book store. Rize asks for Kaneki to walk her home due to all the ghoul attacks in her neighborhood and lo and behold she turns out to be a ghoul. Kaneki puts up a fight after being bitten and is saved when some construction beams fall and kill Rize.

Since Rize smashed the shit out of Kaneki’s insides he needs all new organs and since Rize is dead and in human form the doctor in charge uses her organs. This turns Kaneki into a human/ghoul hybrid that has never been seen before. Kaneki figures it out when he can’t eat anything because normal food makes him throw up. He catches a TV show that talks about the difference between Ghoul and human tongues and it all but confirms it for him that he’s no longer human. This sends him into a deep depression, but his journey isn’t over just yet.

I won’t say what happens in the last five minutes of the show, but it sets the stage for the rest of the series. The only part that I didn't like was the very last scene. It just didn't seem necessary.

Kaneki’s humanity really rings true in this first episode. There’s a scene in which he tries to eat everything in the house including a bag of food his friend Hide bought him. He feels terrible that he’s wasting the food that his friend went out of his way to get, but he can’t keep it down which brings him to tears. The pinnacle of the scene comes when he takes the time to cook his favorite hamburger and bites into it. He doesn’t instantly puke like the other times, but you can tell by the stream of tears that he can’t bear the taste. Kaneki cries a lot, but given the situation I think that’s the human response as his life as he knows it is over.

The story is supposed to deal with him battling back and forth with being a ghoul and a human and holding onto his humanity. I hope it stays there and doesn’t go all “look at these cool powers” on us because that’s not the part that’s interesting. Given the same situation I don’t know if I could carry on knowing my one and only food source is people, especially when you consider yourself among their numbers.

I’ve personally have been looking for a dark fantasy story and this itched that spot perfectly. It doesn’t mean it’s perfect, but the potential is there for it to be very different and present a great story about fighting your nature to hold on to your humanity.

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Score: 4/5

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Director: Shuhei Morita Writer: Chuji Mikasano Studio: Pierrot Distributor: Funimation