Mixxine: a flickering candle

When I first heard that Mixxine was going to translate Sailormoon manga, I was, along with so many others, overjoyed! Finally, even though it would take awhile to get to the raw manga I had (last four books), I was happy that I would be able to know what exactly was going on since I am very kanji illiterate. The only thing I can really identify are the senshi's names and the symbol for "no" (i.e.- hoshi no piasu). Then my first issure of Mixxine arrived in the mail, and I was almost trembling with excitement. I quickly opened the magazine to the Sailormoon section. Much to my annoyance, they used the NA dub names, but that could be overlooked, as long as they kept the original story pretty much the same. Time passed and I was still contentedly reading my Mixxzine when, as I opened my newest issue, there was a note proclaiming that Sailormoon was moving to another magazine called "Smile", and that it skipped right to the SuperS without even finishing the R or even starting the Super. At this point I was rather pissed, while I did enjoy Magic Knight Rayearth to the fullest, Sailormoon had been the reason I had bought the damn magazine in the first place. So I went by my favorite local comic book shop, and there, there was that disgustingly laid-out magazine called Smile. I can tell you, it didn't make ME smile. I picked it up along with my Ranma 1/2, Sailormoon R, and Oh My Goddess!. As I drove home, I continued the ponder on what crap could be in that magazine along with my beloved Sailormoon. When I got home, I went strait to my room, put my other manga aside, and started flipping through this magazine. I was thoroughly appalled by the stuff they had in there. Finally, I got to the Sailormoon section, near the back of the magazine I might add, and started reading. I swear, if I didn't research the later manga issues online, I would have been completely lost. They had the audasity to mention Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna after they had said they weren't translating the Super (bastards!). And to make matters even worse, they printed the damn thing sideways! What the %#$*?! Who the hell reads their magazines sideways I ask?

Going back to Mixxzine not translating the Super, what person who has only seen the dub would know about Sailor Chibimoon, Sailoruranus, Sailorneptune, or Sailorsaturn? I mean, if they thought about, it would sound logical for there to be senshi named after the other planets. Some major stuff went down in the Super that portains to the rest of the series. I mean, come on, Michiru and Haruka don't come out and express their feelings in words, you can just tell. What difference does it make? Naoko-sama put their relationship in Sailormoon to make the series even more beautiful. What right does Mixxzine have take that away from the story?! And what about the StarS? Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna, AND Hotaru appear in the StarS. What about the Starlights? Is there a problem with boys changing into girls that's so offensive to people? Viz obviously doesn't think so. There's stuff in Ranma 1/2 that's much worse that anything in Sailormoon, and Ranma 1/2 is all the more enjoyable because of it. I mean, come on, as much as we hope that Ranma does indeed find a cure for his girl side, none of the viewers really want him to. Would Ranma really be Ranma without onna-teki Ranma? I didn't think so. So is Sailormoon without most of the Outer Senshi. The story is incomplete.

Now that Mixxzine's candle light of hope has almost gone out, the manga fans are once again going back to the internet for manga translations which are sometimes almost impossible to find in their entirety. Mixxzine, you held such promise! What happened?!