52 Days of BSSM - Act 1 - Usagi/Bunny - Sailor Moon
Phoenix
by a new manga company named Mixxzine. Representatives from Mixxzine
actually posted on afs-m to answer fan questions. I remember that
there was some flack because the Mixxzine staff said they were
required to stick with the NA names that DiC had created. However,
they attempted to get around this restriction, at least for Usagi, by
having her introduce herself as Serena but say that everyone just
calls her "Bunny". This change would allow Mixxzine to preserve all
the rabbit jokes.
As a part of the initial promotion, they gave out VIP copies of the
first issue to the first 2500 subscribers and I was lucky enough to
get one of those.
OK, enough with the intro. Let's get started.
The first act of the manga (published February 1992) pretty much
matches the first episode of the anime (which aired only a month
later) almost exactly.
Usagi/Bunny introduces herself saying that she is 14 and in 8th grade.
We are introduced to Luna the cat, Haruna (Usagi's teacher who gets to
keep her last name), Naru/Molly, Umino/Melvin, Mamoru/Darien,
Shingo/Sammy, Tuxedo Kaman/Tuxedo Mask and several others. Although
Motoki is introduced, he is not yet given a name. He got two different
names in the dub, Andrew and Paul. Funny that there was a requirement
to preserve the original NA names when even the dub itself couldn't
keep track of its own name continuity.
As with the anime, the first act deals with Usagi learning of her new
role and saving the jewelry story of Naru's mother. The anime
adaptation of this first act was pretty near perfect.
The English translation appears to have a bit of localization, but
nothing like the anime. When Mamoru teases Usagi with a nickname,
Mixxzine uses "cow-tails/pig-tails" instead of "odango atama (dumpling
head)". When she meets him (with the paper toss over the head), he's
wearing a tux. What in the world? Mamoru wears a tuxedo even when he
is in civilian mode? That means he need only add a mask and top hat
for his TK transformation.
In her first transformation, Sailor Moon starts off with the Sailor V
glasses, but ditches them quickly.
We see the still unnamed Jadeite at the end of the act.
As a bonus to the Mixxzine issue, they included an interview with
Naoko Takeuchi, the mangaka of Sailor Moon. Along with the usual
fluff, there were a few interesting tidbits. She sees Usagi as being
the closest to her own personality and Michiru (Neptune) as being the
most opposite. She also noted that the anime has a bit of a male
perspective to it due to the prominently male staff, while the manga
is definitely written for girls by a girl (her).
Phoenix ;{)
Chris Kern
the same as the anime. It was a strange experience to read this
because I got this manga 12 years or so ago, and when I got it I
remember that I had never actually seen Japanese writing before. I
was surprised to see that it was read right to left.
-Chris
Mike
<snip>
>
> As a part of the initial promotion, they gave out VIP copies of the
> first issue to the first 2500 subscribers and I was lucky enough to
> get one of those.
>
> Phoenix ;{)
I had the San Diego Comic Con edition of issue one, which I think
might have been the same as the one given to the first 2500
subscribers. (pink cover with the silver foil logo) I also had the
silver cover and pink logo version for issue #11. I ended up selling
my complete Sailor Moon manga set. :P
I don't think I'll have much to say about the first chapter, but we'll
see when I read it later tonight.
RS-chan
*test post* Just wanting to make sure my sn is showing up as RS-chan
now.
Mike
Apparently throughout all the manga, he never actually throws a rose
and it was something that was added to the anime.
Phoenix
Good point! And no soliloquies either.
Phoenix ;{)