31 March 2011: I've started watching Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (not quite comparing and contrasting magikal girl shows again)
Nice boots, Moon.
For some reason, I've never watched a single episode of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon until now—not even dubbed. Long heralded as a mahou shoujo classic, Sailor Moon ran for hundreds of episodes spread out over numerous season, although Pretty Cure has since surpassed it in terms of episode count. I'm passably familiar with some of the basic Sailor Moon elements such as the talking cat, the "punish you" catchphrase, and the A-list voice cast.
Mahou shoujo faceplant in the making.
After two episodes, I've learned a few things I did not expect: I love Mitsuishi Kotono, but her Usagi voice is horrifying. It's closer to her Ebichu or her Suite Precure Hummy animal voices than her Misato or Mireille voices. Usagi doesn't even have Excel's charm, so this is going to make for a long batch of episodes if things don't improve. Second, the show is not as good as I had hoped so far. Granted, I've not even seen the tip of the iceberg yet, but so far it sits pretty low in my "Also Watching" queue. Finally, I understand Pretty Cure is unique for its heavy focus on combat, but I was under the impression Sailor Moon was a bit of a departure from the standard magikal girl party line for having a relatively higher emphasis on fighting than traditional mahou shoujo shows. So far that is not the case.
Get some, Cure Dream.
Speaking of which, if pressed to choose Usagi's closest Pretty Cure analogue, I'd say so far she and Nozomi have the most in common. Usagi is a self-described clumsy girl, but thankfully I've yet to see her in full-on dojikko mode. There's one important difference between Nozomi and Usagi, though: Cure Dream would beat the living daylights out of Sailor Moon in a fight. Cure Dream doesn't play.
