Tharia wrote:Wiki Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Wiki Tokusatsu Japanese genre
In a nutshell, not a sci-fi. I apologize if my persistence seems hostile, it's not my intention.
I don't take it hostile, but in my research and experiences with anime/manga, things are never black and white with anime/manga translations hehe. Most of the wikis are based on user submitted information (and sometimes the companies submit it). The IMDB, which also tracks all the movies out there for reference, and is also based on user submitted information. I would consider both reliable means of getting information on your favorite manga/anime show.
The original question was: What is Your Favorite Live Action Space Base Sci-Fi?
I said I would be smacked by my daughter for not mentioning Sailor Moon as her and I had a very long discussion about the manga and anime and the differences in styles of Japanese shows. The Sailor Moon and the Sailor scouts weren't limited to Earth and indeed dealt with outer space, specifically the moon and the solar system. There was indeed a Live Action version of the show made and it was listed in the IMDB itself at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386917/, both the standard version of the IMDB (which lists it towards the bottom in the list of Genres) and the pro IMDB at http://pro.imdb.com/title/tt0386917/?d=tt_header_moreatpro version which lists it at top. Note the IMDB list one of the genres for the show as SCI-Fi.
So in summary there, the show I mentioned, was a live action show and it was classified as Action / Adventure / Fantasy / Sci-Fi.
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As for my personal views -
As I said, no matter which way the Wiki spins it, there are other sites that view it differently. The actual creator for the live action series was Naoko Takeuchi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naoko_Takeuchi who did the manga and anime.
Taken from her wiki:
Upon completing The Cherry Project she wanted to do a manga on outer space and girl fighters. Her editor Fumio Osano (nicknamed Osa-P) asked her to put the fighters in sailor-suits, and thus began Sailor V. When plans began to turn Sailor V into an anime, she reworked the series and added four other Sailor Soldiers. This became Sailor Moon, which proved a hit. While she worked on Sailor Moon she also simultaneously worked on Sailor V. However, the magazine that ran Sailor V was canceled. The project to turn Sailor V into an anime was canceled with the magazine.
She was also a very big part of the Shojo (sp?) Manga which was basically targeting certain demographics and not any specific genre. I think the Shojo also refers to "girl" type manga as well, the literal translation for it is girl I believe. I also think she tried to achieve a blending of the Shojo Manga and Sentai Genres, thus she came up with Sailor Moon. The Sentai genre is the one that applies to superheroes, the word could be translated as a team, a task force or even a squadron. Likewise they will often have matching colored uniforms and very synchronized poses (and/or phrases), Power Rangers was a good example and so was Sailor Moon. I'm sure there is a whole bunch of others people will remember - G-Force, Voltron, etc etc.
It is true that many of the Japanese shows fall in a particular term like Tokusatsu, but these are usually easy to define (as they required extensive use of special effects to create them). It is extremely popular in Japan. Godzilla, Ultraman, Astro Boy, Power Rangers and a bunch of others all came to mind with your original question.
I think the biggest thing that upsets me about the whole manga to anime is what is lost in the translation, the "dumbed down version" for US import/releases and the fact that many of them don't get multiple seasons. 12 episodes here, 9 there, 36 here, and so on..
I'm not saying you are wrong or right. I'm simply saying, based on what I know, and what I've researched and read, there was indeed a live based version that wound up being classified as a Sci-Fi genre, when in fact, the original author was blending two types of style to create the show. Since the words, "outer space" was included, and they worked in outer space, this made the show "Sci-Fi" in the movies/TV IMDB.
It should really be classified as a Sentai Genre
-Al
Edit: Note, you've now experienced Al's teacher mode ;P /laugh at bell
