Just finished the second half of act 13, plus all of act 14 (was it just me or was that a short chapter?).
Don’t have any specific thoughts at the moment. Although in Act 14, レイ’s hair seemed longer close to the end when she was praying (kneeling in front of a fire at her shrine).
Looking forward to what comes in the next story arch. Thankfully Sailor Moon was one of the manga I packed in my suitcases rather than send by package, so I can keep reading as soon as I unpack them. (My packages haven’t arrived yet, but hopefully will in another 1-2 weeks, if the normal time span is in effect.)
I have one hope for the next arch: to get to know more deeply all the characters. I have no idea if that happens, but that is my wish.
We’re still keeping with the same thread as we reach 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.
Note: The tankoubon release labels this as Act 13.
Kanzenban is down its final act. Next will be in volume 3:
I’ve gone on ahead to a later story arc (Act.15 and beyond)
I’m no longer reading this series
0voters
You can always change your answer later if you’d like.
Pages
Release
First
Last
Tankoubon
5
53
Shinsouban
99
148
Kanzenban
289
end
(Last pages are estimated, so it may be a page or two shorter.)
Important: Kanzenban readers, be sure you get the third volume!
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, thank you very much!)
S.13.59
What is く doing after つつんで? I get the idea of what’s happening, but I can’t find an explanation of the grammar.
S.13. 73
I think I’ve seen both 王子エンディミオン and エンディミオン王子 (I did! p. 69!). Stylistic choice?
S.13.74
I think I’ve missed a key part of this page and the last one. Why does Mars (?) ask Venus if she’s gonna throw away her pen? Where does that idea even come from?
S.13.91
Spoilers, maybe?
I am a bit hung up on the grammar in panel 2. I checked the grammar of noni, meaning “although”, A noni B = Although A, B happened. Here, the noni clause is at the end. I know Japanese doesn’t always follow textbook grammar, but I am not sure how to piece these two ideas together. “Although you came to fight together with me, and you are always by my side cheering me up, we are not friends”? Or is it more of "You’re not my friends, you’re only the people who fight together with me?
This is つつむ in its て form (つつんで) + いく (with the い dropped). In other words, it’s the 「verbて+いく」 form used for an ongoing action, similar to the “-ing” suffix in English (“enveloping”).
Ah, yes, I thought I’d seen it the other way, but didn’t look back to confirm. (Flipping back a few pages is a bit more work on an e-ink e-reader than it is paperback.) I don’t know if there is any specific reason, but I’d think if it were considered an inconsistency that it would have been “cleaned up” in the initial tankoubon release or shinsouban re-release, and yet it’s still that way in the final kanzenban release.
On the prior page, Venus said that they (referring to them as Sailor Guardians) don’t have the power to stop Queen Metaria. This leads to the first panel on this page, where Venus states:
「あたし達の 神聖なる 最大の 力守護星の 変身 パワーを 全部使って！」
That is to say, they will use (使う) all (全部) of their guardian planets’ (守護星) transformation power (変身パワー). In other words, the most sacred power of their guardian planets’ transformation power can help against Queen Metaria, which is the power channeled through their transformation pens.
The main thing to know with のに is that the second half is often (not always, but often is) an unsatisfactory result. (のに can be “although” or “even though” in English, depending on usage.)
Here, Sailormoon is saying:
「いつも 側に いて 励ましてくれる 仲間が いない！」
If we break this into clauses:
「いつも 側に いる」
“Always by my side.”
「励ましてくれる」
“Cheering me on.”
「仲間が いない！」
“Partners not exist.” meaning “(my) partners aren’t here” referring to her fellow guardians.
Putting those together: “My partners who are always by my side and cheering me on aren’t here.”
Sailormoon’s next line is:
「一緒に 戦って きたのに どこ！？」
The first clause:
「一緒に 戦って きた」
“They’ve been fighting alongside me until now.”
And the second part:
「どこ！？」
“Where [are they]!?”
Putting those together with のに:
“Even though they’ve been fighting alongside me until now, where are they!?”
I’m still a learner, so there may be minor issues with my explanations or translations, but I feel fairly confident that I’m mostly correct here. If anyone sees any issues, please do feel free to point them out to me.
…or it would be, if you were watching the original animated series.
The comic and anime ran fairly concurrently. Since the manga released one Act per month, and the anime needed to fill four episodes per month, this meant the anime had to add a lot of filler. (For example, the anime added an additional six episodes before introducing Ami.)
To get an idea of how closely the manga and anime ran, the entirety of the manga serialized 1991-12-28 to 1997-02-03, with the anime airing 1992-03-07 to 1997-02-08. The original publication of what is now numbered Act.14, which brings the end of the Dark Kingdom Arc, appeared in the 1993-03 issue of Nakayoshi. Episode 46, which also brings the end of the Dark Kingdom Arc, aired on 1993-02-27. That sounds fairly close, but while Naoko Takeuchi was drawing one Act per month (alongside continuing the Sailor V manga), the animation studio needed months to create an episode.
I’ve read that an anime episode can take up to six months to create, but I figure episodes of Sailormoon may have taken as few as four months. Four months before the end of the Dark Kingdom Arc in the manga is when the characters visited the moon, and is where the storylines between the manga and the anime start to differ. If it was known how many more Acts the Dark Kingdom Arc had left, and if it was determined in advance that the manga and anime would end the Dark Kingdom Arc at the same time, the anime writers would have had to fill out the rest of the series without source material. Aside from adding a sub-plot about rainbow crystals, this explains why the storyline with the sword, the handling of Mamoru once taken by the Dark Kingdom, and the final battle against Metaria all differed greatly, as the anime writers had to come up with their own material.
Even though the manga and anime were now in sync at the defeat of the Dark Kingdom, there was still the length of time required to create an episode to account for. Around the time Act.10 came out, the anime writers couldn’t wait for the manga to catch up to begin production on the next series, so the 魔界樹 Arc came into fruition. This 13-episode series aired over four months, giving time for the manga to start releasing chapters of the next story arc for the anime to source material from.
I’ll be putting up a new thread for the next story arc later today.
Wow, you really know the history of Sailor moon and/or you are spending a lot of time looking it up (or refreshing). Impressive and appreciated, since it is interesting. Thank you!
At the first half of that scene, when the 90’s anime was being dubbed into English, I’m sure the company working on it wanted to cut the whole kiss between 14-year girl old and (anime-version age) college guy, but they couldn’t without also messing with Rini’s (Chibiusa’s) introduction. And even worse, the kiss goes on a bit long. So, during that part, the dub added dialogue during the kiss with Darien (Mamoru) commenting on Serena (Usagi) chewing caramel bubble gum again, causing the two of them to be stuck together…
