Sailor Moon Crystal

I watched this over the weekend, and overall, I was super impressed. I like the opening theme a lot more in the actual opening, getting to hear it from beginning to end and also having it not over the promo. The ending theme was also pretty neat and brings to mind the slow ending themes of old. There's a part of me that really misses the original music, but I think overall I'm glad that they chose to do something new rather than simply redo or reuse the old, since that helps it to feel more like a re imagining than a remake, which was likely the intent. The visuals are beautiful; I really love Usagi's flowing hair, the new-and-improved Jadeite, and a lot of the attention to detail. I know this story (especially the beginning!) like the back of my hand, so it was mostly the visual and audio that I was paying the most attention to. Still... I'll admit that I did find myself tearing up during Sailor Moon's introductory speech.

I kind of can't help but feel that Sailor Moon Crystal will probably not resonate well with new viewers, though. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of an old conversation that I had with a "newer" anime fan (got into the genre in '00s shows) about Ranma 1/2. The guy was complaining about the gags and overused cliches in Ranma, and my response was something along the lines of "Of course there are tonnes of cliches in Ranma; Ranma invented those cliches." Sailor Moon is certainly not the first Magical Girl anime (the genre began in Japan back in the 60s), but it did rejuvenate the genre in the early 90s and was the biggest and most well-known example for an entire generation of anime fans, the same generation that propelled anime internationally to the widespread fame and acceptance that it has now. It's also the first example of a cross between Magical Girl manga/anime and "Sentai" themes. Its wide-spread popularity and fame propelled the modern Magical Girl movement as its currently known, paving the way for the genre to expand and grow, and even branch into unconventional directions.

In short, the end result is that now there's so much that has been done with the genre (from additions, to changes, to parodies, to reconstructions, to parodies of reconstructions) that the original will likely look stale and cliche to new viewers.

I guess I hadn't really thought about this before until I was watching the first episode again. Like many people of my anime generation, Sailor Moon was the first anime I ever saw and fell in love with (DBZ also falls into this category often, but it actually came a few years later). I learned the show and manga and everything so well I could recite it in my sleep (and I could write all of the senshi's names in kana before I even knew what kana was) and it was simply perfect. Everything after that was compared to Sailor Moon, but seeing this first episode, I couldn't help but flip the tables a bit and try comparing Sailor Moon to everything else, and when you take a step back, you recognize the cheesiness of some of the lines, the improbability of the coincidences, the obvious hints, etc. and so forth.

And yet, when all is said and done... there's a very large part of me that doesn't really care what new viewers will think. The show wasn't made for them. It was made for me, and my old elementary school friend Maggie who used to play Sailor Moon with me in her backyard (I always got to play Sailor Jupiter because I was a tall brunette), for my best friend Sami whom I met in 7th grade when she saw a picture of Sailor Pluto taped onto my notebook at school, and the anime club I had in high school where we spent our time watching fansubs on VHS tapes, and all of the rest of us who grew up with Sailor Moon and will always keep the show in a special place in our hearts.

Bonus: I actually got my husband to watch the first episode of Crystal along with me. He dutifully sat by my side at the computer desk, not saying a word the entire show until the ending song started. His response? "What the f*ck did I just watch..."
 
Hehe, I totally understand xD

Newer anime are so different from Crystal, a lot of people just won't like it. For me it feels like this is a piece of anime history and I should watch it.
 
The real piece of history would be to watch the original, all 200 episodes of it. :p Or at least read the manga, which is both shorter and better. :D As much as I love the anime dearly, as an older and more experienced anime fan I can't help but facepalm at the monster-of-the-week episodes and other bland episode padding that was so prevalent in Sailor Moon and other shows of that era.
 
I don't really care about the tropes. I was expecting those, and it's the execution that matters most to me in any show I watch anyways. So far, I'm not particularly impressed with anything, but nothing stuck out as obviously terrible either. It was pretty alright all around. I don't have much to say about it because it more or less speaks for itself.

I will say that my opinion on the art style has actually changed for the worse, though. It looks like they took an airbrush to the old art style and didn't even bother updating it. The end result is the 90's anime look, but airbrushed. It isn't a good one in my opinion, and it doesn't help that they seem to have blown their entire animation budget on that out of place CG transformation. Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to keep the art style old and then take what I'm assuming is the most iconic part of the show and make it CG? ಠ_ಠ

I'll keep watching, if only because I want to know what's up with Tuxedo Mask, who is easily the most interesting component in this show at the moment. He's obviously being held up as the flawless male hero for our flawed heroine to fall in love with, but that's exactly the opposite of what I was expecting from this show. Is there more to it than what meets the eye here or is it exactly as it seems? I'm really hoping it's the former. We'll see though.
 
Since you aren't familiar with the original or the manga source, I won't spoil anything for you. That said, one of the better things about the manga in particular is that the manga Tuxedo Mask character is much more fleshed out and interesting than his anime counterpart. He gets a lot more characterization devoted to him, rather than just appearing as something of a superfluous boy toy like he does in the anime, and he's also more useful; he even gets his own attack! (Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber :D) So, considering this anime is supposed to be much closer to the manga's storyline, I'm hoping he'll get the better treatment that he deserves.
 
I hope they give the characters (besides Moon) more personality compare to the manga because the anime gave them lots of personality/character traits, even the bad guys.

For instance in the manga for each scout/senshi/soldier we only a few thing,so it was hard to let's say pick a favorite or pick one that resembles you.

I have seen all the episodes and from the manga I only own vol 1-5 (Kodansha) and the last "Stars" volume (Tokyopop) so I might be wrong with the character's traits.
 
The slice-of-life aspect of episodes was really the best part about the monster-of-the-week episode padding that the anime suffered from. While I would disagree that the anime gave more characterization than the manga overall, it's more prevalent and obvious in the anime because of all the extra episodes.
 
Moving this to Member Clubs. You guys now have the right to brag about being a closed circle of fans. Keep it up.
 
lol No wonder it took me forever to find this thread! Thanks Chaos Jackal. :)
My bragging shall now commence.

This is only the first episode so I can't really say that I LOVE it, but I will say they're off to a good start!
The opening song has grown on me quite a bit! I will admit I still would've like to have seen the new OP with Moonlight Densetsu but meh I'm over it.. haha
The Ending was amazing too! I loved the song, the animation, it was everything!

Honestly the only thing I don't care much for is the transformation sequence. I'm not really knowledgeable about all that CGI stuff, but if that's whats causing her to look like I'm playing some old PS/PS2 videogame then I could've done without that. lol Also I don't really care for the transformation music either. I'm trying to look past the old anime and give the reboot the respect it deserves by not comparing the two, but it's just that the first anime's music was so captivating. lol ( If the reboot continues on to when the outer scouts debut, forget respect! I'm going to need them to keep the old school transformation music! Good Lord that jammed! lol )

But overall I'm still extremely happy with the anime! I've never really read the manga, so I'm excited to see how the story unfolds!
I really hope we get the full series through crystal and not just the first arc!
 
Pikachu19 said:
But overall I'm still extremely happy with the anime! I've never really read the manga, so I'm excited to see how the story unfolds!
I really hope we get the full series through crystal and not just the first arc!

The manga for the first series starts off the same, but after a while it goes a completely different route! I like the Manga more, as it made some of the secondary characters feel like they matter more.
 
I grew up with the original series and have watched at least every episode and movie three times, as they kept repeating it on the tv already and at some point i watched all 200 episodes in a row... In my country they subbed the japanese names as they were, after reading how that wasn't standard I start to be grateful for it.

I did watch the first revamped episode, but I definitely belong to the "new transformation cgi looks horrible"-crowd. I enjoy how the characters are looking closer to their manga-equivalent, something I had loved with Roses of Versaille / Lady Oscar. But I prolly will take years to consider the new transformation anything nice, not after 20 years of loving the old one, where the mixture of drawing and cgi was a bit better balanced.

And I still listen to this one with tears in my ears: Star locket moonlight densetzu and this version is very dear aswell: longer version

We'll see whether the new soundtrack brings a similiar gem...
 
May I say this one thing? I am going to hate the return of "Queen Beryl will be pleased", that is all. Loving it overall though.
 
Hum...I was glad to see that Tuxedo Mask didn't helped but wearing a tuxedo in the middle of daylight and a modern city is just giving away in a very easy and dumb way (kids won't have any trouble connecting the dots).
Usagi...I find it odd that she's so sloppy and yet it has lipstick (or lips that look like it) and her head is thinner, namely in the chin area, so in the end, she just seems like a Barbie, something that I don't like.
Also, the episode felt short and rushed.
In conclusion, I won't come back to it.
 
So there's only going to be 2 episodes per month with a max total of 26 episodes for Sailor Moon Crystal compared to the original Anime series which was over 200+ episodes long that's getting redubbed by Viz Media as we speak. Speaking of which I looked into the confirmed English Voice Cast for the Redub of Sailor Moon by Viz Media and here it is:

* Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon: Stephanie Sheh (Eureka from Eureka Seven, Kuro from Blue Exorcist)
* Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury: Kate Higgins (Cordelia from Valkyria Chronicle, C.C. from Code Gaess)
* Rei Hino/Sailor Mars: Cristina Vee (Noel from BlazBlue, Homura from Madoka Magica)
* Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter: Amanda C. Miller (Cherche from Fire Emblem Awakening, Junko from Danganronpa)
* Minako Aino/Sailor Venus: Cherami Leigh (Patty from Soul Eater, Asuna from Sword Art Online)
* Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask: Robbie Daymond (Porty from Patema Inverted)
* Artemis: Johnny Yong Bosch (Vash from Trigun, Izaya from Durarara!!)
* Luna: Michelle Ruff (Odin Sphere's Velvet, Gurren Lagann's Yoko)
* Naru Osaka: Danielle Nicole
* Gurio Umino: Ben Diskin (Numbuh 1 from Codename: Kids Next Door, Eugene from Hey Arnold!)
* Ikuko Tsukino: Tara Platt (Temari from Naruto, Marida from Gundam UC)
* Kenji Tsukino: Keith Silverstein (Full Frontal from Gundam UC, Albus from Castlevania: Order of Eclessia)
* Shingo Tsukino: Nicolas Roye (Mikey/Taiki from Digimon Fusion/Digimon Xros Wars)
* Queen Beryl: Cindy Robinson (V.V. from Code Gaess, Makoto from BlazBlue)
* Jadite: Todd Haberkorn (Death the Kid from Soul Eater, Natsu from Fairy Tail)
* Nephrite: Liam O' Brien (War from Darksiders, Lloyd from Code Gaess)
* Zoicite: Lucien Dodge (Waver from Fate/Zero, young Kotetsu from Tiger & Bunny)
* Kunzite: Patrick Seitz (Sloth from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Franky from One Piece)
 
I don't know any of the dub people (aside from Cherche), but I do get the feeling like dubbing in general has improved a lot recently since the 90s, so it'll be interesting to see how this group pulls it off.

Also, Sailor Moon Crystal is indeed only 26 episodes, but it's also only telling the first of five story arcs, so it really shouldn't be compared to the 200 episode full series but just the 46 episodes of the original season. Still, it's cutting down almost half, and just about all of that filler. For example, we already know from the previews that tomorrow's episode will introduce Ami/Sailor Mercury, where originally she didn't appear until the 8th episode. The episodes so far are roughly based off of the chapters of the original manga, though there's not enough chapters for each episode and we've gotten word that there will actually be some additional content, which definitely seems cool.
 
I sort of can't wait til we get passed the introduction of the sailors. Don't get me wrong, they're doing an amazing job!
And I actually love how the pacing of the show is going, but after that I can truly get to know the new series. haha
I can't wait to see the full out manga adaptation of the show. :)

But I was extremely happy to see the new ami-chan in action!
 
Back
Top