Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Crystal

My two cents includes nothing that hasn't been said already, at least to my knowledge. Crystal was super hyped but failed to live up to it. While I enjoy the faster pace of the series and the fact that they generally abandoned the Youma of the Day model, the animation is increasingly hard to ignore. The magic-oriented sequences make the Senshi look as if they're made of rubber, and the overt CGI in the transformations make me think of early Pixar rather than something we'd use in 2015. My lukewarm reception to this series is truly a heartbreak for me, as Sailor Moon was my gateway to the anime world (my first hunted-down sub, no less). Part of me wants them to drop the project completely, but the upcoming Infinity arc - known as Sailor Moon S in the original anime - is my favorite, and I'm a tad intrigued to see what they do with the Death Busters. However, I should note the writers for Crystal seem slightly more - for lack of a better term - ballsy than those who participated in the original anime. Killing off Pluto in the second season was a big deal, and I think it was handled gracefully in terms of dialogue and timing. Of course, she will return in the Infinity arc unless they divert completely from the original plot, but actually acknowledging death in a major way is a good change, as the 1990s anime often glossed over it.

I loved the original sailor moon,I read the manga,I bought the merch,I drove my parents up the wall with the screaming constantly blaring from my tv. But this one anime,turned the other one around completely for me. I heard about sailor moon crystal because of it's HORRIBLE ratings,so I decided to watch it and have a laugh. But when I finished season 1 my first thought was, WHY DO PEOPLE HATE THIS ANIME?! In my opinion,this one top'ed the original.at least this usagi wasnt annoying. And it was the same character,and person,so how is that even possible? this sailor moon kicked butt! The only thing I didnt like about this anime,was that the animation was...disturbing and a little creepy to look at,man at least the original sailor moon didnt make me feel like losing my lunch! I personally really enjoy this one.and I think all fan's of the original should at least check it out.

As a viewer who has not yet seen the original 1990's Sailor Moon, I don't have any previous Sailor Moon experience to check this anime against. Overall, I thought this anime was very good, perhaps a little bit lacking in character development, but still extremely enjoyable for fans of shoujou, and the magical girl genre. I highly recommend watching it if you like that kind of thing. I personally liked this anime because of the magic element, as well as the outer space references. The romance is cute too (Although Usagi is a little bit childish through the whole thing), as well as a pretty good plot. This anime involves a sort of "villain of the week" type of thing, and there is some good mystery that isn't blatantly obvious. The villains are pretty well written, and have understandable motives. If you're looking for a decent, staple anime that involves romance, magic, some badass girls, and the moon, this is the anime for you.

I originally watched this when it first aired and thought it was decent. Nothing that great. I originally gave it a 7 based on my memories of watching it five years ago. Recently I decided to rewatch the 90s Sailor Moon as my memories of it had faded and then do a rewatch of Crystal right after to compare them. A lot of people are going to disagree but I'm going to say that I actually enjoy Crystal more. It gets far more hate than it deserves. Yes, there were a lot of animation mistakes in the original run and some general weirdness, but I'm writing this review based on the bluray. I feel like the first season could have been a bit longer than 12 episodes. It should have been more like 17-24 to give more time for the inner senshi other than Sailor Moon to have a chance to shine and show their personalities and individuality. At the same time I greatly enjoy the vastly superior pacing in Crystal compared to the original. In the bluray version the animation is pretty good. I also enjoy the new transformations and soundtrack. Both are amazing. Moon Pride is so good that it beats Moonlight Densetsu hands down even if Moonlight Densetsu is a wonderful classic. Sailor Mars' theme is amazingly good too. I also think that Crystal has a superior portrayal of Usagi and Mamarou's relationship. You can really feel their chemistry in this version which was kind of lacking in the original. Overall 8/10. I always get bored and quit after the first season in both versions but I'll be trying my hardest to complete both versions of the show this time. I think the lack of filler and better pacing will make it a lot easier for me to finish Crystal than the original 90s run.

I don't commonly write reviews, but I made an exception on this one. I would like to start by saying I was THRILLED when I heard about this coming out. I couldn't wait for it to be released. The problem is...that there were several problems (which I will try and sum up in point form): -The art really fluctuated -The sailor scouts are underutilized -They try to capture the cute. cartoon-y moments from the original and it falls flat because it has unnatural timing (like the overexaggeration of emotions and the cropped rectangular moments) -Some of the story choices are odd -The CG transformations are a heavy disappointment (Why was this a thing? Who thought this was a good idea?) -I feel like they wasted many episodes for aimless story points -The battles are repetitious and disappointing This is the first time I found it difficult to get through Sailor Moon. I had to watch it over multiple sittings because I was so frustrated. It was really disappointing on many levels.

I'm not even sure what happened in this adaptation of Sailor Moon. The artwork certainly looks better than the original series that aired back in the 1990s but at the same time there's very little animation. Most of it is saved for the transformation sequences. The sequences don't have the same magic as the originals. The opening theme song is also kind of laughable as it has some silly line about "we don't need men." That's both false and silly. Tuxedo Mask shows up and actually helps Sailor Moon out several times in both seasons. This is in contrast to the original series where I think in Sailor Moon R I think the studio made it a running gag that Tuxedo Mask would show up, spout some inspirational stuff to Sailor Moon and then get immediately beat down by whatever monster of the week they were facing. This show is also bereft of any humor. This is serious business about Moon Princesses and love and justice and friendship. Actually no, scratch that. It is pretty comical that Sailor Venus uses anal beads as a weapon. There's also issues with the subtitles where in a few instances it comes across as incomprehensible garbage. This wasn't an issue as I was watching the English Dub after picking it back up. If I had been watching with Japanese audio though, in a few places I'd have been like, "huh?" There's also a few descriptors on actions in the subtitles that are just like, da fuq? I think the most lulzworthy was the [affirmative grunt]. What? Who the hell grunts at someone as an answer of yes? There's also some leaps of logic. I'm not sure if it was present in the original series, but during the Sailor Moon R arc Neo King Endymion says something to the effect of, "this isn't really me, my real body is lying unconscious in another room." If he's unconscious, how is he speaking to anyone? I just wasn't able to get around that. I'd suggest watching the original Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R. There's more comedy, a better opening, and overall I feel more emotion placed into the narrative. This reinterpretation has damaged the franchise.

Finally, sailor moon crystal is the adaptation we've all wanted for sailormoon - minus some pretty terrible shortcomings. Season 1 + 2 of this anime features a well paced re-imagining of the original sailor moon anime - the likes of which fits incredibly well with the fast-paced nature of 2010s shonen cartoons. The well-paced nature of the story, one of the biggest drawbacks of the OG sailor moon anime, has finally been addressed. This almost makes Sailor Moon Crystal the definitive animation for the two arcs of the manga it covers. However, Sailor Moon Crystal goes almost too far in its pacing. As a result of its quickened pace, the other sailor scouts lack a lot of the same character and charm that the original sailor scouts had. The other big drawback to Sailor Moon Crystal is its wonky animation choices. It is clear that the animators wanted to harken back to the original designs of the manga characters, but you'll find yourself wishing the 90s animators worked on this instead. The CGI transformation sequences are alien and out of place. The movements of the scouts feel more barbie doll and less... well cartoonish. The animation is possibly the most offensive part of this series. While the questionable animation choices, bad CGI and neglected sailor ancillary scouts keep this from being the definitive way to enjoy sailor moon; the much better pacing and the far more competent season 3 still makes this the recommended way to pick up sailor moon for anyone new to the franchise. For that, it gets just a 6/10.

The artwork and the animation is not good in my opinion. The transformation sequences are way too long to be shown for each episode and so like at-least 1/4 of the episode is transformation sequences. I love the soundtrack in the beginning and the music when they introduce themselves to their enemies or the transformation music makes the sailors look really majestic. Since this adaptation is very close to the manga and not the original 90's show the characters are much more mature and the one thing I LOVE the most that makes me really prefer crystal over the original 90's version is how each sailor is introduced. The way they are introduced really shows their character and what they stand and fight for. How the items they have are given to them in a manner that makes sense unlike the original 90's anime where they just randomly get it or have to acquire it in a way that makes it like very long but in this version it really is better. I love both the original and the crystal but the crystal is short and easy while the original is just too much filler and you mainly watch it for nostalgia.

A lot of reviewers gave this a five which is understandable when phrase like [i]"Stayed true to the manga."[/i] are thrown around. I never read the manga so I don't know. It's also great watching a group of girls be heroic without being objectified. The emotional rollercoaster that is Usagi's and Sailor Moon's life is touching and reminds us that the burden of saving the world shouldn't fall onto junior high school students. The transformation sequences alone make this one of the prettiest animes one could watch. also there's the nostalgia factor taking me back to my childhood (how old was I when I watched those english dubs?) learning there's more to anime than mecha and kamehameha. Nostalgia aside I don't think this review will be too favorable. First issue is the inconsistent art. I understand there's a nostalgic look and feel to this anime but it seems they purposely put errors and mistakes in as easter eggs of an era I hoped had passed. Like the transformation scenes cost too much and they had to cut corners to save money. My next issue is summed up in a question [b]"Is Sailor Mars in this series?"[/b]. Now I know she is but the point is the Sailor Scouts do very little other than explain the situations to Usagi and the viewer. But then I ask why bother having them in it at all? They contribute nothing to the end and are seemingly powerless in the face of every enemy. At least Orihime (Bleach) contributed by healing. Another complaint that I use a lot these days is pacing. Two arcs over 26 episodes, this needed to be shorter (they spend a whole episode watching Usagi cry until they decide to go to the moon) or longer so they could flesh out these characters. I mean what do we know about Sailor Venus? There's too many characters for this little to be going on; and when something is going on only Sailor Moon is of any use. I tried to give this a four but by episode 20 it just seemed really long and dragged out. I recommend it if you love Sailor Moon and it makes you nostalgic but I can't recommend it if you know nothing of Sailor Moon and are checking out a new anime.

First of all, I'm a long time Sailor Moon fan. I love the classic anime and the manga, I tried to get into Crystal when it came out, but unfortunately it was just awful. And while by time, it noticably become better at the later arcs, even if I try to just view it as a different iteration, it maybe can considered as a good adaptation, but IMHO not as a good anime. The problem is not what Crystal is trying to do, but how it does. Their main hook was being a more loyal adaptation to the manga, but being a good adaptation and being a good anime is two different thing. Their aim really was, more or less, to bring the story of the manga to an anime as straight as possible, but their lack of vision caused that they missed the most important behind it, it's heart and soul. Lets face it, if a show can't convince an audience, at the most critical time, AKA around the first 5 episodes that it's worthwhile. Especially in a case like this when we had high hopes and expectations towards the show, then that show is doomed. Or at least have a very hard time to be considered as a success. People will turn their backs, leave with a sour taste in their mouth, and that's exactly what happened with Crystal. The 90s anime fans were unimpressed with the barebones storyline, the super fast pacing, and the simple characterization. While the manga fans felt Crystal didn't treat the source material with the reverence it deserved. They promised us a remake for the 20th anniversary, which would be faithful to the original manga. Both were lies. The release date has been pushed back several times, and when it finally came out, after 2 years later when it origninally suppose to be, it felt like the product was half-assed and dated at the same time. It also turned out very quickly, while Crystal mostly stick to the manga, it also have changes, which just cause more confusion. <b>Animation and art style</b>: Personally I hated the new color scheme, the noodle limbs, and in general the many floating, flying scenes. It just looks ridiculous, like they have rubber bodies, and the whole place have lunar gravity. They tried to reflect Naoko's art, but they messed up. The manga art style is good on paper, like looking at a fashion illustration, but it hard to translate on screen, because it requires movement. Ironically, the '90s anime was closer to that style than what they did in Crystal. Quality wise, Sailor Moon in fact never was a high quality anime. The '90s anime have a lot of static things in the background, and some of those even looked pretty rough. However, at least it was a consistent quality, and that anime still have it's own unique and appealing art style. In the 90s anime, they made creative and bold design decisions, like the architect of the Dark Kingdom and Planet Nemesis was astonishing. It was eldritch, alien looking, with strange, abstract forms and weird powers. Compared to that, these places in Crystal just looks simple and barren. The animation quality in Crystal is pretty inconsistent. A scene can look really nice and detailed, while another can look poorly designed, cheap and low effort. Not the mention the many, many animation errors, like bad perpectives, choppy animations, sudden quality drops, etc. The transformation and attack sequences were also a huge disappointment, even after they abandoned the awful, fake 3D looking CGI. In the 90s anime these scenes are memorable and aged well, because looks beautiful and detailed, and have awesome, catchy music. Compared to those, the ones in Crystal are lazy, cheap, and uninspired. (Dead black backgrounds.) Also, this is just a minor annoyance compared to the previously mentioned, but the presence of modern technology like laptops, smartphones, and LCD screens are also ruined the atmosphere. The show should represent the 1990s, when it was originally written. Imagine if we got a new RoboCop, which have modern technology, instead of that authentic 80s retrofuturism. (Oh wait, that already happened, and people hated it.) <b>Story, pacing, characterization</b>: The 90’s anime and the manga are radically different from each other, despite and because of being produced alongside each other. The 90’s anime rather than being a straight adaptation, it basically only adapting the arc ideas over the actual executed manga arcs. Crystal is instead a straight forward adaptation of the manga, with very little in the way of changes or expansion. This however more of a curse than a bless, mostly because the Manga’s fast pacing does not translate well to animation. Manga fans like to deny this, but the manga also have it's own fair share of flaws. The story is deficient and illogical in many ways, and the 90s anime fixed much of what was wrong with the manga. Like minimalistic personalities for the inners, villains dying after one panel, things happening out of the blue, etc. Crystal had an opportunity to make up for the manga’s flaws but they left the worst parts be, and the changes can considered rather forced and poorly executed. The 90s anime, much like many mainstream anime of its time is notorious of having many filler episodes. However, fillers also have their own function, by giving the story adequate time to unravel, while also including fun slice of life parts, mixed with action packed monster of a week parts. Which allowed the characters, both senshis and villains to be more fleshed out. The manga already focuses on Usagi to the point that the others, especially the Inners don't get many opportunities to shine, and Crystal just takes away from what little they do have. The Inner Senshi stop having any impact or meaningful effect over the events, and they have no real connection to the main plot either. They're just kind of there, occasionally acting as a sort of support characters. For all the flaws of the classic anime, I prefer it for the time it spends characterizing all of the girls into a true ensemble cast with Usagi at its heart. <b>Overall</b>: Dark Kingdom and Black Moon arc was a mess. Both suffered from the same hideous designs, weird mistakes, and idiotic changes. Infinity had better production values than Black Moon but still suffered from bad direction and finding its own identity. Eternal was mostly fine. The direction was better than Infinity but the 1:1 adaptation format didn't work in movie format. The animation was nice and going for designs that emulate the original anime was a good move. As a whole Crystal is okay. It starts off horribly and gradually gets better, but unlike the original it never becomes anything remarkable, or memorable. It just mediocre. It can't be called as a worthy sucessor of the original anime, or the faithful adaptation of the original manga. Which brings up the question, what is the point of Crystal? Because the only thing it successfully achieved over 10 years, is it become a disappointment for those who were (and maybe still) fans of the original. It gave us nothing.

I watched this with friends and that really made the experience more fun for me. This series is so trope heavy that my friends and I had a long running joke that revolved around us making the most cliché predictions and then laughing or pointing the slight difference out sarcastically when they appeared. This show is not directed at my age range and I didn't expect it to be. However, I wish I could say that I would've enjoyed it when I was younger. There are two things that prevented me from doing so. (1) In the second half of the season the animation tanks. Another long running joke became pointing out at which points it was clear that the animators had run out of budget. (2) Usagi is a horrible main character. Besides the whole issue with the ideas of characters being born into power rather than working hard for it, Usagi herself doesn't have any character growth. Her only superpower is crying so loudly it causes sound waves. This is not empowering to young girls (which I assume the show is aimed at). Besides that, the plot is a pretty typical young girls band together and save the world from bad guys. Another long running joke was that Usagi was more in love with the other sailor guardians than Tuxedo Mask, so I recommend thinking about that for some fun Sapphic undertones for older viewers.

Sailor Moon Crystal is a really interesting deviation from the original anime, largely due to it being intentionally made to be faithful from the manga. Sailor Moon has a great story as a whole, with the lore and worldbuilding being some of the strongest appealing factors. Where Crystal differs in this is that it offers a more straightforward, concise telling of the story, which I believe works well for the most part. Crystal has some very well executed scenes, with Usagi and Mamoru's romance being central to the story. A lot of bittersweet tension and emotional moments are also in the series, with some hitting quite hard. However, one of the main flaws in my experience, is that the other Sailor Senshi barring Sailor Pluto, have somewhat lacking character development. This could be due to the shortened pace not giving them as much time to develop as characters, and Minako, the alleged leader of the Sailor Senshi, suffers for this, as this never truly takes a central role. Villains in Sailor Moon are also rather unusual, with only a few sticking around more than a handful of episodes and the rest being more akin to cannon fodder. One of the best aspects of Crystal is the emotional payoff that it can deliver. Although not the most visually refined series and the other Senshi may not have very prominent roles, Chibiusa has some of the best character development in the second half, and Luna in the first, working off their roles as Sailor Moon's mentor and a central part of the Black Moon Clan arc, respectively. Although the series had a marked improvement in the second arc, the first gave more personality to the Shitennou via their backstories relating to the main cast, and even some of the villains have memorable characters. While Sailor Moon Crystal may not be one of the most polished series, it has some unique great storytelling elements that leave a lasting impression. 6/10.

This series has been my first exposure to the media world of Sailor Moon, and as such, I will say that it is fairly good for what it is, even if it isn't as faithful of an adaptation as was apparently claimed by the staff behind it. In just 39 episodes, 3 whole arcs of the original story are covered in what appears to be only a slice of the time that it took the previous anime adaptation to do, which is a impressive feat in of itself, but does it mean the quality pales in comparison as a result? Given that I haven't yet seen that series, I personally cannot say, but what I can say is that this is a mostly decent adaptation on its own: I believe that all of the correct story beats are hit upon, but in some ways certain pacing choices that worked in the original manga don't exactly translate over as well, and this can absolutely be felt in how the 1st story arc is adapted. This is absolutely an arc that I believe needed some better fleshing out for the animated form than what Crystal does with it, and what fleshing out is present (the Four Kings of Heaven's changed roles) doesn't feel very well thought out in comparison to the parts that are from the manga. The 2nd story arc favors somewhat better than the first as it lacks the 1st's arbitrary extensions, but there is still a sense that things move a little too fast story-wise for the animated medium to work well with, so therefore it also suffers from the same pacing problems that the 1st does. The 3rd story arc is the most well-adapted of the 3 that this show covers, but even it suffers more slightly from the same issue of unnecessary extensions and poor pacing that the other 2 do. Overall, this is a fine but flawed adaptation of Sailor Moon that I imagine wouldn't work poorly as a modern viewer's first introduction to the story of Sailor Moon, but definitely shouldn't be looked upon as a definitive version of Naoko Takeuchi's iconic work.

REVIEW IN ENGLISH I love Sailor Moon, the classic anime is a work of art, with delicate animation, fun scenes, and captivating history, romance and drama. This adaptation, compared to the classic anime, leaves something to be desired in many aspects if we compare it, such as the inferiority and strangeness of the animation with the use of CGI, the rushed development in the presentation of the characters, and also, the lack of showing the day to day Sailors' day in relaxed situations, where their development and their friendship are somewhat lost, making them more distant from the public. These are the negative points that I found with this new adaptation, however, I also need to say that, in a way, it is somewhat unfair to compare both titles, since I would not like to see a copy of the classic anime, but the possibility of know the manga adaptation, and that's what we were given. I enjoyed having the opportunity to watch the manga adaptation, here there was more focus on the objective of the work, making the atmosphere more serious and focused, with significant battles and a good narrative of the story, which was very positive. REVIEW EM PORTUGUÊS, BRASIL Amo Sailor Moon, o anime clássico é uma obra de arte, com uma animação delicada, cenas divertidíssimas, e história, romance e drama cativantes. Nessa adaptação, em comparação ao anime clássico, deixa a desejar em muitos quesitos se formos comparar, como a inferioridade e estranheza da animação com o uso de CGI, o desenvolvimento apressado na apresentação das personagens, e também, a falta de mostrar o dia a dia das Sailors em situações descontraídas, onde assim se perde de certa forma o desenvolvimento delas e de sua amizade, tornando-as mais distantes ao público. Esses são os pontos negativos que achei com essa nova adaptação, porém, preciso dizer também que, de certa forma, é um tanto quanto injusto comparar ambos os títulos, já que, não gostaria de ver uma cópia do anime clássico, mas a possibilidade de conhecer a adaptação do mangá, e foi o que nos foi entregue. Eu gostei de ter a oportunidade de assistir a adaptação do mangá, aqui houve mais foco no objetivo da obra, tornando o clima mais sério e centrado, com batalhas significativas e boa narrativa da história, o que se fez muito positivo.