美少女戦士セーラームーン 第一期 ダーク・キングダム編 🏰

Yaaay - I’m all caught up!

I appreciate all the discussion and vocab lists - even if I’ll most likely always just lurk. :blush:

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One silver lining of the early start of deskwarming season is the time to catch up! And, i was able to finish a whole chapter yesterday! (That’s a big deal for me!)

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S.9.121

I do not understand 売った in this context. Is it more like spent, or used-up? Sold just does not make sense to me.

S.9.133: Allergy season vibes.

And I’m done! Yay!

I found this chapter really hard to follow. What was happening? When was it happening?! I think I got it, but it was tricky.

I’d hope to reply to these earlier, but I’ve been busy readying for relatives to visit next week.

In the prior panel, there is talk about how the four were reborn to seek out and protect Endymion, but their memories did not return to them..

Looking at the whole of the panel in question, we have:

「またしても
あいつの
手のうちに
はまり
この身を
売った」

I know you’re asking about the last word, but I’ll go word by word.

またしても has the meaning of something repeating, of it happening again. On the prior page, it was shown that the four turned against Endymion, as they joined forces with Beryl who was controlled by the evil entity.

あいつ refers to the evil entity. (I forget if the entity’s name has used yet. I think Beryl mentioned it in an earlier chapter, but I could be wrong, so I’m simply referring to Metalia not by name here)

手のうち can mean “(under one’s) control”.

はまり means “to fall into” (such as falling into a trap, or being deceived). Or in this case, pulling it all together, “Once again we fell into their control.”

From there:

「この身を売った」

Going backwards, 売った here is indeed sold, like to give away something in exchange for another thing. Another English word for “sold” here would be “traded” or “exchanged”.

The item they sold is marked by を, as it is the object of the verb. 「この身」 here means “my body”, but I think in this case it’s more like “our bodies” as it’s referring to the four of them. (If anyone reads this otherwise, don’t hesitate to say so!) In English, I would possible write this as “we sold ourselves” kind of like the expression “sell your soul to the devil”. They traded their bodies to the entity controlling Beryl.

There’s definitely a lot going on in Act 9! Coming off of the cliffhanger from the last chapter, you get a big info dump on the past in the form of memories/flashbacks happening interviewed with the present, and the pacing feels all over the place and it ends with a haircut and group chat in Usagi’s room. (I’m not complaining, but definitely acknowledging.)

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Act.10 MOON—月

We’re still keeping with the same thread for now, and probably through to the end of the current story arc. (Time to find out whether the moon landing was faked?) Feel free to keep asking any questions you may have from earlier in the series. Be sure to make use of the [spoiler] tags for anything spoilery, as some readers will still be working through earlier Acts. For any spoilery images, [details] works nicely as well.

Tankoubon readers are now up to volume 3:

3f

Shinsouban are on the second-to-last act in volume 2. Volume 3 is coming up fast:

Participation

  • I’m reading along (ready for Act.10)
  • I’m taking my time (still on an earlier Act)
  • I’m ahead within the Dark Kingdom story (up through Act.14)
  • I’ve gone on ahead to a later story arc (Act.15 and beyond)
  • I’m no longer reading this series

0 voters

Remember, you can always change your answer later if you’d like.

Pages

Release First Last
Tankoubon 1 52
Shinsouban 143 188
Kanzenban 97 144

(Last pages are estimated, so it may be a page or two shorter.)

Important: Shinsouban readers, be sure you get the third volume soon if you haven’t already!

Vocabulary

The second vocabulary sheet covers the second half of the story arc, and tabs for all 7 acts are available in case anyone reading ahead would like to add a vocabulary word or two along the way. (Thanks to everyone who has contributed, and to those who continue to contribute!)

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For some reason I thought this first arc included chapter 16. :sweat_smile: But I can definitely see a thematic cut. :see_no_evil:

I have the 新装版 release with 12 volumes, so I’m doing a bit of a different pace of a volume a month. Since I won’t get to volume 4 until second half of April, I’ll actually be somewhat in tune with the club’s pace again though, which will be nice. :slight_smile: Sometimes I feel I’d like to comment on stuff. :smiley:

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In order to catch up (and keep up) with reading, I don’t think I will find the time to help contribute to the vocab sheet anymore (for the time being), sorry. :pensive:

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No worries, @frayderike! The longer a series runs, the more difficult it is to keep vocabulary sheets populated. Often with such projects, a smaller number of contributors do a larger amount of the work, so we should and can only be grateful for the time and effort you’ve donated through now =) The last thing I’d want is for anyone to be slowed down too much for contributing.

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Thoughts/Questions/Ramblings on Act 10…so far…

S. 10. 148-149
Her dad is such a dad, lol. And her mom is SAVAGE!

S. 10. 151
Oof, right in the feels!

S. 10. 156
Usagi is precious!

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Having out-of-state family stay over for a few days has left me ten pages behind in reading, but I’ll catch up quickly enough! (Just ten more pages to go.)

Act.11 再会—ENDYMION

We’re still keeping with the same thread for now, and probably through to the end of the current story arc. Feel free to keep asking any questions you may have from earlier in the series. Be sure to make use of the [spoiler] tags for anything spoilery, as some readers will still be working through earlier Acts. For any spoilery images, [details] works nicely as well.

Shinsouban are on the final act in volume 2. Volume 3 is right around the corner:

Act. Numbering and Naming

Important note for tankoubon readers: Act.11 was originally about 89 pages long(!) Later releases split Act.11 into two chapters. From this point going forward, all Act numbering will no longer be consistent between the tankoubon release and other releases.

Here is the final page of Act.11 in the updated numbering:

Spoiler Image


(The takboubon has extra text in the final panel. Later releases move this to a new panel on the next page.)

Participation

  • I’m reading along (ready for Act.11)
  • I’m taking my time (still on an earlier Act)
  • I’m ahead within the Dark Kingdom story (up through Act.14)
  • I’ve gone on ahead to a later story arc (Act.15 and beyond)
  • I’m no longer reading this series

0 voters

Remember, you can always change your answer later if you’d like.

Pages

Release First Last
Tankoubon 51 96
Shinsouban 189 end
Kanzenban 145 190

(Last pages are estimated, so it may be a page or two shorter.)

Important: Shinsouban readers, be sure you get the third volume soon if you haven’t already!

Vocabulary

The second vocabulary sheet covers the second half of the story arc, and tabs for all 7 acts are available in case anyone reading ahead would like to add a vocabulary word or two along the way. (For all who have contributed, and to those who continue to contribute, begin good have been as not as becouse O’z!)

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For Act 10 Moon, would someone mind summarizing what the moon queen said or point me to a wiki/wikipedia summary of what would have been said? Since I’m behind I’m trying to read 多読 style and I barely understood any of that dialog because of unfamiliar words.

Finer points from the scene:

List
  • Queen Serenity’s image is a combination of computer technology and the queen’s memories, allowing for two-way conversation (versus a recording).
  • Queen Serenity had put Luna and Artemis into a long slumber so they could guide Princess Serenity (Usagi) and the sailors in the future.
  • The Moon Castle used to have an artificial environment with wind and trees, but Princess Serenity longed for the real thing on Earth. This led to her meeting Prince Endymion (Mamoru), whom she would often sneak to Earth to meet with.
  • Moon people lived long lives, and passed down the Silver Crystal.
  • The people of the moon (I think using the Silver Crystal) guided the people of Earth.
  • Evil aliens came from within the sun to take over the Earth.
  • The evil attacked the moon to take the Silver Crystal, which has limitless power.
  • Endymion wasn’t swayed by the aliens, and fought against them. This cost him his life, and when this happened, the grief-stricken Princess Serenity took her own life in return.
  • Queen Serenity was able to seal away the evil, but as a result the Moon Castle crumbled, and the Earth Kingdom fell.
  • Because of the grief Queen Serenity was in by having lost her daughter, the seal she placed on the evil using the Silver Crystal was not strong enough, and now the evil has been released and is somewhere on Earth.
  • The Silver Crystal now owned by Usagi may have lost its glow, but because she wanted to save Mamoru, he is surely going to be all right.
  • In her final moments, the image of Queen Serenity asks that the moon’s kingdom and castle be restored.

At least, that’s what I got out of it. It’s possible some of that understanding is from having watched the anime in English and Japanese (subtitled) long ago, or from having read the manga in English long ago, so I may have some details a bit off.

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Thanks a lot! :orange_heart: It seems I got about half of that from my read, among the parts I didn’t understand the sun bit I didn’t get at all, beyond that they talked about the sun. Important part to miss, where the enemy came from! So thanks, that helped a lot. :smiley:

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My thoughts on Act 10:
  • Man, クイン・ベリル have very, very long hair, in fact it looks like a cape more than hair!
  • The sailor warriors now seem to be more powerful since Venus became Venus instead of decoy princess.
  • Flying to the moon was distinctly easier for Sailor moon than in reality. 笑笑

Also, it is now far easier and faster for me to read Sailor moon after 多読 reading all of Alice 19th (a 7 volume manga series by Yuu Watase). Now reading half a chapter of Sailor moon feels easy rather than all I can handle in one session. :smiley:

So I’m caught up and can start on this week’s chapter. ^^

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If I remember right, you said in the 多読 thread that you’ve read this one in English (or your native language if not English) before, which gave you a boost in being able to get through it in Japanese, right? That’s how it was with me and Saint Tail, as I’d read it in English long ago, and have watched the anime (subtitled) through twice long ago. I love the series, and was able to get through the Japanese even with a lot of words I didn’t know because I was familiar with the story. Look-ups were limited to words that showed up a lot, or were necessary for my not recalling the details of the scene. That allowed for me to really focus on improving reading and grammar recognition/comprehension speed.

Congrats on catching up =D I plan to catch up on Monday, then get through Act.11 Tuesday through Friday, typically reading in 20 minute blocks twice a day on the bus. (Getting my reading in on the bus shall continue until we start getting some not-safe-to-read-in-public scenes, which I know will be eventually.)

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I have indeed read Alice 19th in English a few times, although not for at least 5 years. The way I decided to read it was to only look up recurring words that I didn’t know. Beyond that I didn’t really look up anything, even though there was one character (who doesn’t say that much thankfully) that I mostly didn’t understand what he was saying. So even when I couldn’t follow the conversation (happened maybe 2-3 times in the whole series) I just kept reading. I know the story well enough that it didn’t matter if I couldn’t follow one or two conversations.

Next time I re-read it (in Japanese!) I’ll got for full comprehension instead, to really focus on understanding better. And I’ll wait with that until I have access to my copies of the English version of the manga, that way I can use that as extra help to understand everything. :slight_smile:

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Whoops, should’ve read this week’s post more carefully before starting–I read all of act 11 in the tankouban. It certainly felt quite long! I kept thinking I missed a break, and I kind of did! Guess I get a week off from Sailor Moon next week. :smiley:

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I brought the book home to read over the weekend, but I spent all day Saturday recovering from a sinus infection. I hope to finish Act 10 today!

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Oh hey! March 15 is Takeuchi Naoko’s birthday! :cake:

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