The first Myu cast for SPA! Magazine, 1993
Tag: sera myu
FuminaMoon
Eien Densetsu- Princess Kakyuu
Sera Myu 30 Day Meme
Day Twenty Seven- Least Favorite Musical?
Surprisingly, it’s not Shin Densetsu Kourin. The thing about SDK is that while some of the decisions they made don’t make sense to me from an in-universe perspective, they’re really easy to understand from an outside perspective. It’s a mix of old and new and while some things didn’t work, a lot did and it kept the musicals going, so even though some scenes make me want to scream, I do love it.
I don’t love Kakyuu-Ouhi Kourin.
I love some moments in KOK, particularly early ones. Special mention goes to this:
because Mako is precious and Taiki is ridiculous and background Michiru being SO interested gives me all the older-sister figure feels.
And even beyond my bias towards loving these three characters and actresses, KOK has a strong start. It’s got several great little character moments, and everything is hilarious.
Except then it tries getting serious. And I just
It falls apart. The beginning works because it takes things from the the previous Stars musicals and adds some new things to make it interesting and more fun. But then they stop adding new things. I don’t get anything out of watching KOK that I don’t get from Eien Densetsu, SDK, or Starlights Ryuusei Densetsu. I’d say I get less, just because I think all of the other musicals did what they did much better. When KOK takes things like ending the first act with “Toki Michite Kourin,” it doesn’t feel like a homage so much as it feels like they were being lazy. And Uranus and Neptune’s death is worse, because despite having new lyrics there’s nothing new, AND it stretches out the moment so much that it looses all emotional impact. They do the same thing with Kakyuu’s death, too. It’s great that they gave Kakyuu another song, but the reason her ED death was so powerful is that it was so quick. She’s reunited with the Starlights for half an act and then dies so quickly she cannot even finish her sentence. Having her sing a full song just… deflates the impact (although it doesn’t help that I don’t like this Kakyuu actress). It was such a strange decision to me.
Speaking of strange decisions, they renamed the Shitennou. Why. What is the logic there? Instead of coming up with new original plot points, they came up with new names. Okay.
And despite having my favorite Chibi-Chibi-is-Galaxia’s-starseed reveal (I’m a sucker for split monologues), the whole rest of that plotline felt so rushed. They have such a fantastic Galaxia, and they rush the conclusion of her story. It makes me so frustrated.
The only reasons I make it through this musical are Galaxia and Taiki (except I can watch them in SRD and be so much happier I should just do that).
Sera Myu 30 Day Meme
Day Twenty Six- Least Favorite Myu Character
Dark Mirror. She’s very flat (and not in the interesting actually-just-an-extension-of-Dark-Plasman sort of way that the original Dark Menorah was flat), and I don’t think she fits into the SKSD story very well. (Then again, the whole Coatl side of SKSD feels week to me, story wise (the acting is amazing)).
But really, I mostly just dislike her because she’s Kawasaki Miki’s last character and that’s just such a waste. She barely does anything. Miki’s way too amazing for such a boring role.
Sera Myu 30 Day Meme
Day Twenty Five- Character you wished was in the myu?
I’m pretty happen with who they did and didn’t include in the musicals, but it would have been really cool if they’d been able to include Ail and An somehow. First off, I’d just love to see the myu versions of their costumes.
While a musical for the doom tree arc would be amazing and a wonderful lighthearted addition, I also think they’d be cool alternate villains in place of Beryl in a Stars arc musical (I love how the myu used Beryl, but I don’t necessary love that she was who they chose for Eien Densetsu AND Shin Densetsu Kourin AND Starlights Ryuusei Densetsu/Kakyuu-Ouhi Kourin. I think they could have used a different villain for one of them). They could play with a lot of the same themes Beryl brought to the stage while still making it new and fresh. Galaxia would promise them all the energy needed to save the doom tree so long as they wipe out all the senshi on earth (while still just intending for them to awaken Saturn, of course). They could get a villain love song duet, the melody of which could reprise when one of them inevitably dies and the other tries to take on Galaxia as revenge. I think they’d be an especially interesting alternative to Beryl because their love is requited, AND the home they want to protect has no one else to protect its. Deep down Beryl knows that Sailor Moon will protect the Earth, but Ail and An would have to learn that in the course of the musical.
That’s just one possibility, though. I think they could work in so many contexts, because despite being ridiculous inventions of the anime to kill time, they’re really interesting and engaging characters.
Sera Myu 30 Day meme
23. Couple who had the worst chemistry?
No new gifs today as I had an exam this morning and didn’t have time to make them. Luckily I already had gifs. So for anyone who say my answer to 6 and 8 this answer probably won’t come as a surprise. There are some seriously dodgy cast choices chemsty wise but Asako Uchida and Tomoko Inami one was jus dredful, (funnily they were in the same musical as my most chemisty answer).
I get that these two had tough boots to fill, Nao and Yuuka had been there forever, and before that Sanae and Hiroko (I feel my love for these two probably has been made obvious by now) but Akiko and I can’t-actually-remember-her-name-right-now managed to handle it better. I’m not even going to mention the scene these gifs are from as I’ll be repeating myself, but even a little bit more chemistry would have made it better.
I’m also going to say that most of the problem is down to Asako
shocker. Watching MGK Tomoko just screams Neptune and seems to have chemistry with every one else on stage but Asako. She’s getting nothing to work with there and it’s such a shame. Any of the other Uranus’s and Tomoko would have been so fantastic. But that’s just the way it went.I’m just going to put this here, I really don’t hate Asako, she seems like such a nice person in the fankans/omakes. I just don’t like her Uranus, and these two together was not a good idea.
Sera Myu 30-Day Meme
22. Favorite child actress?
Gunji Ayano
She played an excellent brat. And all the other parts that made up the perpetual little girl who had big shoes to fill in the future and armed herself with the mask of toughness so no one ccould see how much that scared her.
I really liked Ayano, a lot more than some of the other versions of ChibiUsa. I liked her attitude, the girl had sass.
Sera Myu 30 Day Meme
Day Twenty Four- Your dream cast? Name each senshi+Mamoru who you liked the best.
Under a cut because I felt the need to explain some decisions.
Moon: Kanbe Miyuki
Mercury: Morino Ayako is my favorite Ami, but it’d be weird having her without Anza, so alternatively I’d choose Akamine Hisano
Mars: Either Kotani Misako or Kanda Eri (Rei is a hard one to choose for because nearly all of her actresses seemed to get her really well)
Jupiter: I really want to keep the new myu out of this meme, because it feels like an entirely separate thing and I like it so much less when I hold it against the old myu, but Takahshi Yu is easily the best myu Mako. Kuriyama Emi is probably my favorite from the old myus, but I have a soft spot for Wantanbe Mai and Inayohsi Takako even though they don’t visually match my image of Makoto.
Venus: Murata Ayumi
Pluto: Hosako Yuuko (although Rei Saitou is a very close second)Saturn: Nakamura Ruria (all of the Hotarus were amazing, but she played the line between adorable and creepy so perfectly)
Chibimoon: Gunji Ayano
Mamoru: probably Urai Kenji, but I have very little opinion on Mamoru’s actors.
Uranus: Nakayama Akiko
Neptune: Inami Tomoko
I saved Uranus and Neptune for last, because I feel like I really have to justify not choosing Nao and Yuuka. Nao and Yuuka are amazing, and I’m thankful for everything they brought to myu and to their characters (the way they portray Haruka and Michiru’s love is so important). But if I could ruffle through time and pick the cast for one magical show, I’d choose Akiko and Tomoko. I can’t say that they’d be anywhere near as amazing together as Nao and Yuuka would be (although their performances make me think they’d work super well together), but the way they individually portray their characters feels so right for me.
Tomoko’s Michiru has that little bit of insecurity behind her fabulousness that I see in anime Michiru, and I think with a better script her performances would be devastating. I actually *almost* prefer Mugen Gakuen Kaiteban to the original because I think she makes an absolutely perfect early Michiru (I think she could do later Michiru well too, but I don’t think the Starlights/Kakyuu scripts allowed her to show that at all). I think her performances capture Michiru’s youth and humanity, because Michiru isn’t entirely flawless and elegant, however much she’s perfected that persona.
Akiko’s Uranus is sort of similar in that I love that she’s not 100% perfection. Haruka (at least in her anime characterization) has moments where’s she’s really, really ridiculous. Akiko does Haruka’s suave side well, but she also kills the moments that make you remember that she’s actually a teenager who is actually sometimes the exact opposite of suave. And then even with her being so good at that, she’s excellent at Haruka’s serious moments. I really wish she could have been in an S/Infinity or Stars musical, or a different original story that gave her a little more to do.
Sera Myu 30 Day Meme
Day Twenty three- Couple who had the worst chemistry?
Myu has quite a few couples that don’t really work for me, and I think that’s to be expected with as long of a run as they had so I rarely give it much thought. But Akiko and Takayo’s lack of chemistry makes me a little sad, because I really love Akiko as Haruka and it’s clear they’re trying. It just doesn’t work. I think there’s a discrepancy in how well they naturally suit their roles that makes them not mesh well as a couple. (I sort of wish they’d done a partner swap with Asako and Tomoko, because they also didn’t quite click for me).
SittingOverHereDreaming 