Usagi Tsukino, Episode 26, Sailor Moon Crystal
Now I truly understand why people take such a strong stance against remakes of classic anythings unless it is done near-perfectly.
Let us break this down.
Story: 6/10
Sailor Moon Crystal covers two major arcs, arc one dealing with the Dark Kingdom and the various minions it has. This arc lasts about 13.5 episodes. Arc two deals with the Black Moon Clan and a few of it's minions also, and lasts about 12.5 episodes. Arc one also deals with a blossoming romance between the main heroine named Usagi Tsukino (the titular Sailor Moon herself) and the main man Marmoru Chiba (Tuxedo Mask, or as I like to affectionately call him, Zoro). Arc two also deals with the interaction between those two dealing with the straining addition of Chibi-Usa.
The story overall for this is not that special. There are no Metal Gear Solid-like reveals, there are no half-written Evangelion endings, and it stays mostly straightforward. However, even the various individual episode plots are never that special either. To put it in Trope-speak: "It's so Ok, it's Average."
Art: 6/10
Let me just say this here, when you are going to do a remake of an anime, take at least this one page from SMC. Go all out. (Edit: Put more work into the model's animation, and less into the model's look) The art style is remniscent of the long-legged and pointy-chin style that we've seen in other series such as Code Geass, but in all reality it actually hearkens back to the designs in the original manga. It is sharp and stunning in the action scenes, and smooth and enjoyable in any slower-paced scenes.
Art section edit: After rewatching some scenes, there were a few things I noticed. Unlike the Manga and the original series, the range of facial expressions is actually pretty flat. If not for the voice-work, I would have a difficult time understanding what emotions the characters are expressing. It still looks beautiful, but the beauty is tarnished by the lack of change within it. It reminds me a bit of some modern AAA video games, with great graphics but lacking in the animation department.
Further edit: The backgrounds are actually alot more dull then I first recall. This is excusable in the last 6 or so episodes, which take place primarily in empty space-areas. But alot of the earlier episodes are in places that should be busy and bustling, or vivid and imaginative. This almost never happens. Crowds of people never show up despite it being Tokyo, ya know, the most populated city in the world. All the buildings are generic save for the good ole' Tokyo Tower. Even the Arctic Circle looks more barren then real life makes it! The headquarters for the Dark Kingdom and Black Moon both are lacking, but they try to get around their own dullness by shoving excessive amounts of pillars into every room (That goes off about as well as you think).
Sound: 9/10
The sound is amazing. Every voice (except one, Wiseman's from the Second Arc) fits marvelously. The sound effects are perfectly placed and used. And the music, OH GOD the music is wonderful! I can not think of one scene during the show where the music was not amazing. The only reason this gets a 9 rather then a 10 is for one simple reason. The main theme and closing theme. The closing theme is actually pretty skippable, and the opening is good, but does not match the series. While the series puts an intense focus on the relationship between Usagi and Marmoru, the main theme puts the focus on the 'independence' of the Sailor Senshi, and females as a whole. In all reality, the classic Moonlight Densetsu would have fit better for this version of the anime then the original 90's one, as it focuses on romance rather then female friendship and fighting. This contrast, and the forgettable closing theme, drops it one point.
Character: 3/10
This is where the series suffers the most. For starters, the characterization for the majority of the cast stagnates shortly after their initial introduction, the only real exception being for Usagi, Marmoru, and Chibi-Usa.
I didn't really want to compare SMC to the original Sailor Moon anime, but for the sake of explanation I will. Each character in the original Sailor Moon had a life and a strong friendship with the main character. Sailor Mercury/Ami Mizuino was an shy, intelligent female that struggled to fit in with her piers, even after gaining the abilities of the Senshi. Sailor Mars/Rei Hino was a fiery Shinto priest, who was very quick to snap at any opportunity for fame or a nice guy, and despite her rivalry with Sailor Moon was fiercely loyal to her. Sailor Jupiter/Makoto Kino was a strong fighter that had a repressed 'housewife-y' feminine side to her, and had trouble letting go of her past. etc. We learned these things (and more) about these characters over meeting and interacting with them time and time again. Even between the Senshi, their would be rivalries, understandings, and more. It made the characters alive, relatable, and memorable.
In SMC, outside of their introduction episodes, the characters rarely get to showcase themselves as people independent of their duties in battle. With a slight exception from Sailor Jupiter (Who gains a romantic interest and is most willing to do things), all 4 supporting senshi have mostly generic lines of support and encouragement toward the main character, all which could be mostly swapped between them. Each one never is her own person, and unless the plot demands they find out information, they never do their own thing beyond their introductory episode. Furthermore, in the second arc they almost never do anything with Usagi to showcase any sort of friendship with her, or between eachother. Personality wise, they all feel almost the same.
If that is not enough, they progressively become more and more useless. All four of them burst onto the scene with abilities and fight alongside Sailor Moon, acting like a true team. By about episode 11 though, this teamwork gradually evaporates, and all four go through a bad case of 'Badass Decay' which leaves them all unable to put up any fight (Slight exception again to Jupiter). This is even more egregious when the final episodes of the second arc actively forces the four of them to stay behind during the final climax.
(Special exception to Sailor Pluto, who actually becomes a very interesting fleshed out character. She ended up being the best thing of the second half of the second arc.)
This problem also encompasses the villains. A highlight of the original first season of Sailor Moon was the amazing development given to the villains. Here? Nothing of the sort at all. All four of the major underlings are god-forsaken cookie-cutter enemies in the first arc, and said arc's two Big Bads have a generic 1 minute backstory and no backstory, respectively. This is not as bad in the Second arc, but they also stay mostly shallow despite having a very interesting backstory.
Lastly for this section, I must say that I didn't like the way Sailor Moon was portrayed here. She is not an everygirl with limited abilities that fights through with will and friendship all while being an emotional crybaby, which is what she was in the original anime even after being revealed as royalty. In SMC, she starts out similar to this but halfway through the first arc morphs into a bland, angsty character that repeatedly tries to Suicide and cries without ever attempting to do anything except escape the situation as fast as she can. SMC's Sailor Moon is NOT a fighter unless her back is to a wall. Granted, she is nowhere near the level of Shinji Ikari (Evangelion franchise), but she is no longer a strong female lead roll.
Enjoyment: 4/10
The original anime series took a generic story and made it amazing with great characters, which is why it is so fondly recalled. It was enjoyed greatly primarily for the characters, something that even filtered through the extensive cuts and edits in the old English dubs. Sailor Moon Crystal takes the same concept and reduces character depth and screentime in favor of primarily working on the romantic angle whenever it did want to work on characterization and character interaction. This leaves much to be desired.
Each arc started out great, as the situation was established and the team would fight off mooks. But as the arc would come toward the conclusion, everything would fall apart. Scenes would be dragged out for the sake of drama, rules that were established one episode would be overcome in the next one due to 'power of love', and all they would turn into is a drawn out energy battle until the main two characters got together and power-of-loved the enemy into non-existence. While this is often a trope of this genre, the leadup to the final battle was dull, with the Senshi exchanging generic supporting lines and Sailor Moon typically angsting until Tuxedo Mask shows up. There was nothing to give it spice or flavor, and the last third of both arcs were merely going through the motions to finish themselves up.
Overall: 5/10
In the end, it's just a an average anime. By no means is it terrible, despite what many fans of the franchise like to claim. It is a visually a beautiful work (Edit: Kinda beautiful, see above), and the official soundtrack for this would be something I would highly recommend to everyone. Yet that aside, it takes a typical magical girl story and puts three good characters with it, along with a host of two-dimensional ones. SMC lacks the charm for it to be a well-loved classic, but for any fan of the Sailor Moon franchise, casual or diehard, it is something worth checking out. That said, I wouldn't recommend this to someone interested in looking into the franchise for the first time.
