Nice try, Moon.

I was much less impressed with Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon than I thought I would be. Being so iconic, I expected more from it. Compared to truly great mahou shoujo fare like Cardcaptor Sakura or Princess Tutu, Sailor Moon is really disappointing. In fact, contrary to critics who dismiss Yes! Precure 5 as a Sailor Moon ripoff, I can now counter that what I've seen of Yes! Precure 5 is better than the 46-episode first season of Sailor Moon.

This usually means someone's about to get fucked.

Most of my problems with Sailor Moon relate to its poor fight sequences which mostly consisted of Usagi shrieking until each Bishoujo Senshi used her ONE canned attack or relied on Tuxedo Kamen to subdue the opponent. Before anyone responds by claiming I'm not giving Sailor Moon a fair shake because of its age, Cutie Honey predates Sailor Moon by more than 20 years and Honey certainly has no problems finding new ways of smoking Panther Claw deadbeats. Unfortunately, it's not just that the fights don't change; Usagi doesn't change either.

Get pissed, Luna.

Hopefully things will be much better in the later Sailor Moon seasons, but when a mahou shoujo series can't muster enough emotional resonance to get me to care about the characters' lives, it had better have some bitchin' moves. I don't want to dwell on comparisons with Pretty Cure, the modern iteration of the Sailor Moon fighting-magikal-girl genre, but there are obvious similarities, such as the ages of the characters (14), the talking mascots, the transformation sequences, and magic weapons. (Granted, these are elements common to many mahou shoujo shows in general.) Curiously, the modern form is much more chaste. In Pretty Cure, romantic love is almost always unrequited, and there is never any fan service (unless you really want to see it). In Sailor Moon, however, panty shots are uncommon, but still overt when present. And one episode involved making out with an underage girl after getting her drunk. P.S. Spoilers.

Unfortunately, @byglu warns:

@Evirus And the first thirteen episodes of the second are the worst in the franchise. Enjoy.

Oh, balls. If I'm lucky, I'll start caring in the later seasons whether these Bishoujo Senshi live, die, get date raped, or find true love, but I guess I'll have to power through the next 13 episodes at a minimum first.

Have sword, will travel.

I do appreciate that Cutie Honey Universe exists at all. It's been a good year with regard to the return of old (way old) classics. I'm not particularly familiar with the Cutie Honey franchise, but I've seen enough of the original 1973 Cutie Honey anime and Gainax's Re: Cutie Honey OVAs from 2004 to appreciate that Cutie Honey Universe is a faithful re-introduction of the show to modern anime fans. However, although I enjoy it, I suspect that the return of Cutie Honey might work better in theory than it does in practice for general audiences. I don't feel that Cutie Honey Universe is dated, but it does seem anachronistic. That does contribute to its charm, but I can't help but think I should at least finish watching the 1973 series first.

Tarantula Panther, best tarantula, best panther.

The parts that are probably the most jarring to modern viewers are the occasional fan service gags involving Junpei (the little boy) and Danbei (the dirty old man) as they aggressively pursue perverted opportunities to ogle and grope Honey whenever possible. I hesitate to call them gags because they're not presented as if they're supposed to be comedic moments necessarily, but I can't quite call it fan service either because I'm not sure anyone considers the bits titillating. It's probably more accurate to call them tropes or callbacks to the original Go Nagai manga and anime series. Now, I'm not suggesting '70s fan service staples have no place in our upstanding world of the current generation, but I think I would appreciate an effort to present these blatantly gratuitous scenes in creative new ways instead, despite the risk of alienating those fans who insist on preserving original aspects as a matter of general principle.