This was my first Sera Myu I have ever seen and I can honestly say that it was the best version of Stars I have ever viewed.

It took a few minutes to adjust to the standard of musicals and implement my imagination but once I was past that, it was enjoyable.

The play took some of the best stuff from both manga and anime of Stars. Galaxia being controlled by the dark force, Chaos, that made her so evil (anime), Chaos, itself, and the Galaxy Cauldron (manga). It even had a neat twist to Chaos's identity that I thought was very unique and unexpected for those not spoiled by it.

The only things drawbacks were the lack of certain characters (Cosmos, Animamates, Chibi Moon and the Asteroid Senshi) and that Minako and Makoto seemed to take a back seat, compared to Rei and Ami. However from a production standpoint, I totally understand why they did these changes, considering budget of cramming so many characters in and giving all the inner equal attention.

I liked the changes as well. I was honestly very doubtful of Beryl's presence in this arc, but it actually worked out very well. A redeeming story for a character I usually saw as irredeemable. Usagi able to reach through to Mamoru, even if he was a puppet was romantic and a great way of deposing of the fake. And the Senshi returning to help finally defeating Chaos was so cool. A way I wished Stars had ended. And it is an ending battle that can work since their star seeds are at the Cauldron and could reform their true selves (instead of evil puppets from manga).

And the acting was very lovely. A nice group of actors with amazing voices and a good musical line up (I particularly liked "Kick Out a Bloody Mystery"). And a nice humorous set up from Act 1 before delving into more dramatic stuff in Act 2.

Like I said, this was the best incarnation of Stars I have seen. It did not leave me feeling depressed and it was very creative and fun. An A++

YAAAY you reviewed it!!!!

magic713 wrote:

It took a few minutes to adjust to the standard of musicals and implement my imagination but once I was past that, it was enjoyable.

This was exactly my process when I first watched a Myu a few years back. It's really worth the momentary adjustment to see the unique plots unfold!

I can't wait to go back and watch this one from the beginning, especially with what you said about Beryl :0. I just assumed she was there as a straight baddie!

Also, Kick Out a Bloody Mystery was a great number, for sure :3.

I totally agree with you on the best incarnation of Stars! The musicals in general deal with Stars super well and it always amazes me that a 2.5 hour show can manage to pack more depth into some of the characters than 2 volumes of manga or ~30 episodes could. I definitely agree on wishing Mako and Minako could share in that spotlight a bit more, though.

But I'm super glad you enjoyed it!! The lightheartedness is one of the strengths of the musicals--while they definitely have their heart-wrenching moments, they always end on a positive note, and have plenty of humor throughout. I'm excited for you to watch more of them!

magic713 wrote:

This was my first Sera Myu I have ever seen and I can honestly say that it was the best version of Stars I have ever viewed.

*intense internal squealing*

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The only things drawbacks were the lack of certain characters (Cosmos, Animamates, Chibi Moon and the Asteroid Senshi) and that Minako and Makoto seemed to take a back seat, compared to Rei and Ami. However from a production standpoint, I totally understand why they did these changes, considering budget of cramming so many characters in and giving all the inner equal attention.

Okay few things to maybe explain a bit here and I may have mentioned to you on discord already so bear with me. xD

Animamates - they showed up in the first Eien Densetsu and the two Sailor Stars musicals prior to that (then again in the 2nd stage but thats a much later show). I believe they were taken out for this one after they tightened up the plot and fine tuned things a bit. It's been a while since I've watched the original Eien but I think they just didn't really feel needed anymore and it was too much.

Chibimoon - She's actually in Sailor Stars and Sailor Stars Kaiteiban! I believe the reason she is in those and not Eien is due to the time those musicals original performed. When Sailor Stars came out, ChibiChibi had not been introduced in the anime and I believe I mentioned to you that the early musicals tried not to spoil anything that the anime hadn't shown yet. Secondly, iirc, the actress that played Chibimoon in the previous shows went on to play Chibichibi. I think at this point it's possible they didn't want too many child actors on stage due to labor laws, etc. (hence why there are sometimes two Chibimoon's in shows).

Cosmos - same reason I explained about Chibichibi above. Plus she wasn't in the anime at all.

Makoto and Minako Focus - First off, you'll notice throughout all of the musicals Makoto doesn't really get the best screen time. She's usually just there, occasionally having a small focus. Not sure exactly why this ended up happening, but I think it has to do more with her popularity in Japan. Ami, in Japan, is one of, if not still, the most popular character of the overall series, hence why she gets more screen time versus all the others overall in Myu.

Now for this specific musical, this was also the graduation of many of the cast members and the future of the musicals were in limbo, there was no definite decision if they would continue past this show. Some of the cast do end up going on to perform in future shows but Anza (Moon), Morino (Mercury), Misato (Mars), and a a vast majority of the senshi cast graduate with this show. With that said, the actress that played Ami and Rei were both long time, popular actresses in Sera Myu, hence why they get more focus. The solo song Ami sings about her dreams is actually a reuse of a past Ami song from the first Super musical.

Hopefully that gives you some insight on the changes and why! I'm sure theres more that I'm missing/dont know about but meh I only got so much time on my lunch break right now. xD

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I particularly liked "Kick Out a Bloody Mystery"

I have a feeling whenever you get around to watch the two Sailor Stars shows, you'll enjoy the "Sailor Busters" number!

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Like I said, this was the best incarnation of Stars I have seen. It did not leave me feeling depressed and it was very creative and fun. An A++

Eeeeeee yaaaaaay!!! Now we just need to get you to watch the others. Then once you've watch a few of the first stage shows WE CAN WATCH THE FINAL DAY RECORDING OF EIEN DENSETSU K. Which is filled with so many emotions but also lots of ad libs and inside jokes so a new comer would be a little "?????" while watching. xD