New Sailor Moon character profiles

This is so exciting! It has been announced that the new Sailor Moon anime will premier July 5, and will air a new episode every other Saturday. In addition, character profiles are now on the official website. And they are fabulous. You can tell they've been updated a little but are still very true to the style from the original show. In fact, I'm not completely sure, but I think it may actually be a little more similar to the manga style? I'm interested to see how it will look animated.

The Japanese voice cast has been confirmed, as well. Mitsuishi Kotono will be reprising her role as Sailor Moon. The rest of the cast of sailor soldiers includes Kanemoto Hisako, Sato Rina, Koshimizu Ami, and Ito Shizuka.

Please check out all the profiles on the website.

Have I mentioned I'm excited? I can finally start to call myself a Sailor Moon fan once this premiers! I won't be the weird magical girl fan-blogger who has never seen the most popular magical girl series ever. XD

I just noticed from looking at the profiles that all their last names end with "no", with the first kanji representing their "power" (moon, water, fire, tree, love). You see how much of a newb I am?

Are there any other new fans like me who plan to watch this series? As for the older fans, what are your thoughts so far on the new info?

Magica Wars debut episode

Somehow I forgot about this... on April 8, a new magical girl show debuted: Magica Wars, a.k.a., Mahou Shoujo Taisen. It's a short program, being only four minutes long; and that's including the opening theme, so it's really more like three minutes. The series is part of a media franchise which as of now also consists of three video games: Magica Wars Lock-On, Magica Wars Tactics, and Magica Wars Zanbatsu.

This gag series centers around 47 different magical girls. Each character represents a certain prefecture of Japan, in both their style and their voice (each voice actress is from the same prefecture as her character). This is a 26-episode series so I'm not sure if we will get to see all the characters or not.

This episode introduces just one magical girl, Aoba Naruko, as well what I assume is her mascot, Takesuzume, who basically looks like he came straight out of Angry Birds.

As Naruko chases a group of little monsters called Magatsuhi, she jumps over an intersection while the crosswalk light is still red. After being scolded by a police officer, Takesuzume proceeds to yell at Naruko for slacking off on her mission.

So despite being tired, Naruko gets up and continues chasing the monsters (and getting yelled at by her mascot), only succeeding in hitting one right before it attacks a little girl. As she goes after the remaining monsters, she once again has to cross the road and is told by the officer to wait. Naruko and Takesuzume argue about whether she should listen to him or not. Takesuzume, who apparently cannot be seen by ordinary humans (I think?), calls the officer a "blockhead", which Naruko repeats, and angers the officer. Long story short, Naruko gets arrested for looking suspicious, and the episode ends.

Her weapon kinda reminds me of Dear Baby's rattle

... if this is really supposed to be a gag series, I'm not finding the humor. Watching that annoying angry bird scream for the entire episode is not my idea of funny.

The art in this is good; it's very cartoony, which I like, and I love Naruko's character design, particularly the ribbon crown thing on her head that resembles the flag of Miyagi.

I like short gag series, I really do, but this show just isn't cutting it. They took a very, very basic plot that could be from any other MG series, tried to make it funny, and failed completely. The character designs are fabulous, but design alone cannot carry a series. Episode 2 airs next Tuesday, and I will be watching and praying that the next episode will be better than the first.

Let's Talk about Winx Club's Season 6 Trailer

This blog needs more magical girls! So how about a little Winx Club?

Those who know me probably know that Winx Club is one of my all-time favorite shows. When Season 5 came out, I was convinced it was going to be amazing. And even when some of the episodes were horribly written, I was in denial, convincing myself that the show would become better as the season went on. But the longer it went on, the worse it got. I finally came to realize this recently, and accepted the fact that maybe my show is not as perfect as I once thought it was. Maybe it's time for me to let go of it.

But then, today, Winx Club Season 6's trailer came out, and I fangirled just as much as I ever have.

So it's official, Winx Club will always be in my heart. As I always say, I've been a fan for eight years; I've come too far just to quit now!

Now there's a lot in this trailer to talk about: some good, some bad, some... different. Even though we don't know a whole lot about the premise of the season, we can still get some good ideas just from watching the video (over and over and over again, as I did...).

You can tell from the intro that this season will be fairy-tale-themed. I've said before that I've really been missing the fantasy element from the series that they took away when they went to Earth in the fourth season, and then focused too much on the underwater theme in the fifth season. So the emphasis on fairy tales here is a almost a sure sign that I will get what I've been waiting for: more fantasy, more world exploration, more monsters, and more of the Magic Dimension! What interests me is wondering whether they will use classic fairy tales or create their own fairy-tale-like world. I mean, if you think about it, Winx Club is pretty much a fairy tale of it's own. I actually hope they don't use classic fairy tales too much, because, quite honestly, it will just remind me too much of Ever After High. And I know people will start comparing them if they do.

Now what do we have here? A new character! Looks like we're actually getting a female villain that's not the Trix. Well, okay, we did have Mandragora and the Ancestral Witches in the movies, but as far as the series goes this is are first main female antagonist since the Trix. Just from the look of this character, I already like her. She looks very devious, cruel, and manipulative. If you're a villain, those are some pretty awesome traits! She seems like a smart villain. She's able to use this book to bring "storybook monsters to life". I'm really hoping that they will give her an awesome backstory. Tritannus's motives were just so pathetic, so I'm really excited for this change!

EDIT: The character's name has been confirmed to be Selina. She is a new witch at Cloud Tower. (credit goes to Michael's Winx Club and his scan of the Licensing Show flyer)

Well I guess some things never change. The Trix are back. Again. You're kidding me, right? Why are the Winx still acting so scared of them? They've beat them *counts on fingers* five freaking times. The Trix obviously aren't even competent villains anymore. In fact, they haven't been since the first season. You know why? Because they keep acting as the minions to other villains! It may have been the 4Kids dub (I can't remember) but I seem to recall one of them, in Season 3, complaining about how they always team up with losers. And yet, they still do it. Will they ever learn? And I know this is a kids show, but you'd think after trying to destroy the world five times they'd finally take some real action: kill the stupid witches! If the Omega Dimension couldn't even hold them, why, oh why, are you still leaving them alive?

On the bright side: they look wickedly fabulous in their new outfits. Just sayin'.

Both the Specialists and the Winx are getting new uniforms this season. You've already seen a glimpse of Stella's, but we'll get to that in a minute. Right now, how about the Specialists? I like how it doesn't differ completely from their original uniform. They kept the blue, the cape, and the gem thing in the center. This one seems a bit more practical, though, as they've added some armor to the mix. I'm not completely crazy about the look right now, but maybe I'll like it more as I watch the actual season. The Specialists look just as handsome as ever, though. :)

I'm wondering who those guys in red are. My first thought was that they could be from some random, rival school, but then I found it ironic that the guys in blue are the ones that go to RED Fountain. XD Maybe they're from Eraklyon?

Now here's the fun part: MONSTERS! I'm not sure why, but I've been really into fantasy monsters lately. Maybe it's because of my recent obsession with The Hobbit, maybe it's Monster High wearing off on me. Or maybe I've just missed the monsters from previous seasons and I never knew it. But knowing that monsters are going to be a large part of their fights is soooo exciting for me!

Oh yeah, baby! New transformation time! These outfits are so fantasy-esque, and they remind me a lot of the original designs for the fairies before the series was released. Though the images in this trailer aren't super clear, I'm really loving what I see, especially the wings! My only complaint is that, from what I can see, the fairies' outfits look too similar, just like they were last season. C'mon Rainbow, where's the diversity?

Now we get a close look at them school uniforms. At least, I think that's what they are. Unless the Winx have just become so close they've decided to coordinate all their outfits. If it's actually a uniform, shouldn't they... all look the same? Whatever it is, I am not a fan. The collars, the pink and grey together... people have compared it to Japanese anime, but to me it's more like something out of a Barbie movie. Not that I dislike Barbie movies, but I swear I've seen an outfit from there that looks just like those.

But I must admit, Tecna is always stylin', even in those crappy colors.

And finally... this. Two questions: 1) Is that an alternate transformation?, and 2) 3D again? WHYYYYYY?

First off: we don't need two transformations. You tried that last season, and all it meant was that we got a very short time with each transformation (I miss Harmonix), and both ended up being very forgettable. If you guys do pull the same freaking trick again I swear I will scream.

Secondly: 3D. Just, ugh. It ruins the look of Winx Club for me. I dealt with it for one season, but not again, please. I just can't take it any more.

So what did you think of the trailer? What are you excited about? What are you not looking forward to?

Feel free to leave a comment.

Winx Club Season 6 premieres Sunday, September 29, at 1:00 P.M. EST on Nickelodeon.

Shugo Chara! Review: Part 1

I would just like to make it known that I have finally finished watching... the first half of Shugo Chara. XD Ep. 1-26. It's pretty good so far! I used to hate the Amuto pairing, but now I think they're a better match than Tadamu. Normally I hate when people pair up the main character with the bad boy simply BECAUSE he's a bad boy, as if there's something wrong with being a good kid (hello, I freaking love the goody-goody dudes!). Buuutttt Ikuto looks like a good guy, really, he's just perverted. I hate perverts, so I could really do without that aspect but whatevs.

Aside from couples, I was really sad when Kukai graduated... :'( I hope he comes back later because I love him!!! I actually like him better than Tadase now. To be honest, I now only like Tadase when he starts raving about ruling the world (because I'm always falling out of my chair laughing). And then I almost cried when "Nadeshiko" (so awkward...) flew to Europe. Amu was so sad I was like "NOOOOO, AMU, COME HERE!!! I WANT TO HUG YOU!!!!!"

I really liked how the plot started thickening between episodes 21-23, but I didn't like that just an episode  later all we got was a re-cap episode and it's basically like the whole series started over again. Of course, I'm sure that's what they were going for: re-capping and evolving for an easy transition to the next stage in the series. However, it's just very anti-climactic and I feel like I didn't learn anything. I still have no idea what the embryo is, or what the Humpty Lock is for, or why Utau and Ikuto are being used by Easter (heck, I really am not sure what Easter is after, anyway). Explain things to me, please! Fillers are good sometimes, but I need to know these things now!

When I first started watching Shugo Chara a long time ago, I expected it to be a lot like Tokyo Mew Mew. What I found was completely different, yet still enjoyable. Though there are things that tick me off about this show, I always end up coming back for more (the openings and endings being by Hello! Project groups helps, too). I hope the series continues to improve, and I can't wait to watch more!

On a side note, I just figured out that there is a Shugo Chara musical starring... Maeda Yuuka!!!! I need to see this, but I need to finish the anime first! That's another reason why I'm rushing to finish the anime, because I want to see Yuuka-chan act! (P.S., we miss you, Yuuka!)

From here on out I plan to review the past Shugo Chara episodes after every 3 episodes (to correspond with the DVDs) so look forward to more frequent, in-depth reviews!

If there is another anime you want me to review, feel free to request it! Also I'll be trying even harder to keep up with Hello! Project so you may see some posts about them from here-to-there.