Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Crystal

Sailor moon is a really good anime. I should probably start off by saying i never watched the 90s version. The art is just too old for my taste. So i decided to watch crystal. And i have to say i do not regret that decision i really enjoyed it.

story: 9. The story is the strong suit of sailor moon. It is unique and original. I've never seen anything like it.

Art: 9. A lot of people didn't like the art and animation. I didn't mind it, personally. In fact I liked it. The art is really cute and I loved the way they did the ... eyes.

Sound: 8. The ops and eds where great!

character: 7. Characters are where Sailor moon falls a little short. There aren't really any flaws in really any of them. Which does not make them bad, just not really relatable. I liked my characters to be flawed tbh. Sailor moon and chibiusa being the best. They are by far the most developed. This is where I've heard the 90s version getting it better. The sailor guardians are still fun tho. Tuxedo mask is a little mid if i must say. I always found myself wanting Sailor moon to put her friends before him and stop fawning over him. Which was a little irritating.

Enjoyment: 9. I quite liked sailor moon I have to say it's a favorite of mine, I can't wait to watch the movies.

Overall: 9. Worth a watch, definitely.

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 think I'll ever forget the excitement I had when I was watching the first episode. There were so many emotions welled up inside me that I couldn't possibly write them all down in this review. Despite what everyone else says this anime is must watch for any Sailor Moon fan, new or old.

Story
This adaptation follows the manga much more closely than the 90s anime, which was a great and bad thing. It meant having the story make more sense since everything was delivered without pointless filler that reduced or removed character development. However, the way it was planned out hurt it in ... the long run. The series takes up two arcs of the manga: the beginning and the dark moon arc. With two arcs and only twenty-six episode, the show had rushed episodes with every episode covering exactly one chapter in the manga. That was fine in the beginning, however when the show reached the climax, the ending was slightly rushed in order to fit the 'one chapter = one episode' strategy they made. Even so, the story is still follow-able and something you can enjoy.

Art
I'll be honest here, we all know that the art wasn't the best, but most people think that series has terrible art all the way through. During the first few episodes, you can see that the animators were clearly getting used to it and some were fairly new, so you ended up with some rare awkward shots. The show has shown me some amazing and detailed shots as well, such as when *incoming spoiler* Usagi had to get up again to fight after seeing her teammates die in front of her *ending spoiler*.

Sound
I'll keep this one short: the soundtrack and seiyuus were amazing. The opening song (Moon Pride) always got me hyped and the ending song (Moonbow) was perfect to relax to after seeing an intense fight. Yasuharu Takanashi's OST always set the perfect mood to any scene and I bought the soundtrack as soon as came out to listen to his sweet, sweet tunes. Each seiyuu truly put their effort into their roles and successfully portrayed the emotion needed in a scene.

Character
The character development wasn't a big part of this series, the same as the manga which mostly used them to tell the story. But even so, you can enjoy each of the characters. I still heavily relate to Makoto and how she struggles to not look overpowering despite her large stature. As with the manga, the series still heavily focuses on Usagi, since she's the title character after all, but the other girls did get some development on their introductions and afterwards.


Enjoyment
As I stated in the beginning, Crystal is a must-watch for old and new fans who want to watch the series animated without a mountain of filler to either suffer through or skip. At this point, I've watched this about three times, both the original animation and the blu-ray release, because that's just how much I enjoyed this show. Sailor Moon is a large part of my life since this is the show I'm passionate about other than idol shows. I really hope this review shines a more positive light than other fans hoping to see the 90s anime re-animated.

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.

Ugh...dropping Sailor Moon Crystal after episode 15..it's far from female empowerment. It's becoming really toxic.. It's worse than some of those overly male-glorifying shows. Not to mention the directing is getting worse.

The main protagonist, Usagi, gets super overly-glorified despite having some huge character flaws (being irresponsible etc), and her friends are just there to prop her up and praise her all the time.

I don't like how they are enforcing "toxic hierarchy" in this show and how it focuses on how there is this one "best girl" who everyone likes.

There is also this underlying current that the author doesn't really care about her friends ... and the "priority" is to be the "best girl" who is born a princess, who gets the best prince, who has her other female friends there to serve, praise and follow her and to be the girl who saves everyone (physically and spiritually) with her kindness together with her prince.. - which pretty much sums up the show so far.

She is born gifted, has godlike powers yet still insists that she's normal..?

Additionally, guess what? The main male in this show gets even more glorification than in male-orientated shows. -_-#

I hope females will not watch this show and pick up such toxic mentality.

"It's like we had a very long dream. A dream that felt like riding on a roller-coaster."
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.

*English is not my first language! Review will be edited... eventually.*

I can only imagine, that relatively low score for this show is either earned by those, who grew up watching the old show - like yours truly - or from those, who are fans of the manga and not so much of the anime, OR from those, who are just thrown away by this "new-age art style a la CGI"- animation, and think it as a canser of the art-form that so many of us love, and admire - like yours truly! Either way, I'm with them, since the original Sailor Moon is actually one ... of my favourite animes of all time, and this clumsy, empty, clunky mess of two whole seasons, compressed - do not laugh - only in 26 episodes, really really REALLY pissed me off! In so many levels of estrogen, that you don't even know!!

Oh boy, where to start?! Okay... first, the good news! The openin song was nice.

Yeah! I'm not even kidding right now!

The opening song is indeed nice... if I don't need to see the actual animation - such a horror of cheap CGI! The song was catchy, powerful, and managed to embrace the themes and the story of Sailor Moon itself relatively well - just a little bit too pushy with that "not all girls need a man to help them"- kinda propaganda, if you know the original show, but... I'm just gonna let that stand, for now!

In fact, the soundtarck as a whole, can be described as decent, at WORST! It's not so peppy and up-going, like its 90's grandmummy was, with happy flutes, sad violines and dramatic drums, but instead, really mellow, sooth and really... orchestra-like, with all the high vocals and... dear I even say... epic overtone. It was a big change to the original, indeed, but a nice one, and I have no problems with that.

Secondly, if I have to mention this, for not to sound a total douchebag for not liking this show, those little segments between the halfs of the episodes, with those pastel-colored pictures and those little melodies, were absolutely beautiful, and I just loved them! Marvelous, period! Nothing more to say about that!

Okay, so... that was the good part. Now comes the bad! To those, who are yet not familiar with my style of reviewing the shows, I usually never ever touch the subjects of art, nor sounds, since those two are to me two the most least... important aspects in any show. In this case, however... I'm gonna keep my ground on this one, too. At least, on the art department! Those transformations with that horrible CGI were by no means awful, but except for that, I have no bigger quarrels against the art overall over here! It's new, and it takes things differently, following the styles and traditions of its own time, like the original did in it's time, in it's style, and I get it. The times change! No sins here for me!

The sound, however... Yeah. I really did miss the music of the original show! The old music! The good music! The music, that was happy, and sad, and lively, and dangerous, and epic, and... and had a soul! The old soundtrack had a soul! This one... didn't! I can't remember not even one soundtrack from the Crystal, and it's sad, because... the opening was so nice! What went wrong, you guys?! This is just... no! No!

Secondly, the story. Yeah... this is going to be tedious! The story itself was... well, it was compressed, to say the least. Details were lost and the corners were cut... heavily! And then, it was compressed, yet again! And then, it was edited, and then edited again, and again, so that what was eventually left, was just some really sad, and bare-boned core of a story, that in the original show, used to have a character, humor, sadness, some hardships and seriousness in it as well, without forgeting some teny tiny horror elements as well, and a romance! Don't forget the romance!

This story however, had... well... It had Usagi in it. And.. she's the main heroine, so... not much else needed, I guess. Right... yay? Blah...!

Okay, so... the story sucks! I admit, its sounds really, really weird to me to say this, since I so loved the story in the original, but... hey, when I eat the apple, I want the juicy, succulant meat, and not the seedy core! The story, in the Crystal, has absolutely nothing going on, and without all of those elements from the original show, I'm actually legitimately surprised that they didn't bother to edit the rest of the story into the oblivion too, while they were at it! Everything, that was about anything, was heavily centered around Usagi, and since the story is so rushed, and empty, with no important or outsanding key-elements - unlike it's predecessor - even Usagi's character feels like empty and boring shell of a character, that I used to even like in the original show!

Everything in the story, is without almost any conflict, or drama, and if something needs to get done... it gets done, just like that! Everything is so quick, and easy, that it's almost insulting, and not earned, or engrossing at all! I remember, when Queen Beryl used to be - or at least used to feel like - this big and threathening obsticle, that took absolutely everyhting there was to give to overcome, same with those four Generals, four evil sisters, prince Diamond, Black Lady and the Wiseman, since the Crystal decided to take both two seasons into one! In here, there are little to no time for the villains to interract, and so, I couldn't really care any less, wheter or not they lived or died... which is something, that I used to live through, with a certain other franchise as well - ten points to anyone, who guesses, which one! There was no drama, no connection, and no... no epicness, no emotion, that the original show had, that we got to see through the relationships and the emotions between all the characters, and I really missed that! When the villains got defeated - or in some cases, turned into good side - it felt like something. When the inner senshi died one by one, in order to protect their dear friend, that I myself saw and knew being their good friend, it was truly sad, and meaningful. In here, if someone was killed, or if someone was defeated, it felt like nothing, and it really hurt, since the story was already so bare-boned, and empty, that it at least needed something to happen!

The only thing, that I can give any credit for, was the romance between Serenity and Endymion... and even that felt worsed, and undeserved! It didn't feel like Usagi and Mamoru were in love, but like Serenity and Endymion just stole their bodies for themselves, in a time of convenience, and thus forced them to love each other... because of whatever! That's an identity theft, and somehow even worse, that what prince Diamond tried to do!

And lastly, it all comes down to the characters! Or like... what characters, since the only big character, that I can even think off of ever having any actual meaning, or interaction with the events of the story, was Usagi, and even she was a total bore! The original Usagi, was childish, clumsy, quirky, weird and funny, with her caring, loyal and sweet side, and most importantly... she was a total scaredy cat and a cry-baby! In the original show, she wasted the whole first season about whining, that she didn't want to be a soldier, and that she just wanted to be a normal girl, but in here, it's all said an done, in about... well, never! There's nothing to overcome, and no inner turmoils to rebel against, like any person would normally do, in the situation given her here! She just accepts her being this reincarnation of agient princess of the Moon and magical worrier, and that's it! She doesn't whine, she doesn't cry nor protest against the fact, that her whole life is now changed forever, without even her own say-so... she's not even that scared about anything! That isn't reasonable! She just does, what is needed, and nothing else... literally!

Even lesser can be said, about the other inner senshi! They have absolutely no personalities of their own, no ambitions and I swear... no connection with each other, other than this totally bogus aspect of a past life that they shared together, and are now stuck with, yet again, in the second lifetime - this is not loyalty, nor friendship, but more like a bisnes contract, or a simple responsibility... like cleaning your room every monday!

All the time, that was given to flesh-out the characters in the original show, was cut-down and edited to the absolute minimun, so that what we got in the end, was nothing less, than some pretty faces in sexy costumes, and not much else! Did you know, that Amy wants to be a doctor, just like her mother? No, because there's no time for that - no one likes Amy that much! Or did you know, that Rei wants to be a bisnes-woman, and is truly passionate about love, but only in her own terms? No, because there's no time for that! Makoto wants to open up her own shop one day and loves cooking, and Minako wants to be a famous superstar, but who cares, since they're not that important anyway, to the continuity of the story! Usagi's literaly the only one, that's given any amount of time to grow and develope, and even that - what ever little there was - was done so poorly, and hastely, that it almost felt like cheating! It's not emergive, it's not fun, and it's not... it's not deserved! What ever the original Usagi was, she deserved, through tears and hardships, and this Usagi... she does nothing! She deserves nothing! But, unlike her team mates, at least she's given even just some of her own personal lines to deliver, and not just some filler-lines and meaningless bantering - since all the inner senshi has exact same personalities, it's all the same, what they say, because Usagi can't be talking all the time!

And... about those four generals, and the inner senshi... I didn't buy that. Not once. No. No shipping from me, gals. Sorry.

Overall, this was really poor take! I mean... really poor! And still, I somehow ended up watching it through, and not thinking so badly about it. It was pretty - for some parts! - and some aspects were done atleast decently, and whatever new it brought on the table, that the original show didn't, was fascinating, and kept me going, even if the heavy cuts on the editing table were both seen, and felt, at the same time! It wasn't that awful, but it defenately wasn't good either! I will propably see this again, but only because I've already seen, and loved the original series to the bone!

I wouldn't never ever NEVER recommend this show to those, who haven't yet seen the original show, and are wondering, wheter or not to even start watching it at all. This is not that famous short cut to the fame and glory, that seems like an easy and fun way to go, but only ends to the disaster! Go for the original... watch this at your own leisure.

Story: 6
Art: 3
Sound: 7
Character: 1
Enjoyment: 5
Overall: 4

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.

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.

First of all, I understand why I dropped it in the first place. HUGE dissapointment for someone who grew both reading and watching the original Sailor Moon.

I started to watch the Crystal series when it came out in 2014 and I remembered being super hyped about it. I watched 14 episodes before I dropped it out of boredom. Years later I decided to pick it up again and watch the rest since I was fairly surprised to find out it had two more seasons.

I tried my very best to overlook my nostalgia and compare it the original 90's series since it's bound to ... be different. I knew the art was different, the music was new and the plot had been slightly altered from the earlier series. I accepted that. But the art in the manga is so extremly detailed and carefully done it's practically impossible to copy it to a weekly series with a fairly low budget.

The art is different in a bad way. It's poorly done and I can't tell if it's because of lack of money, tight schedule or just because they couldn't care less about the final product. Nonetheless, it was really bad.

And what happened to the old clumsy, food loving Usagi? What happened to the hot tempered Rei and the stupidly love struck Makoto? I hate to say it but most of the characters were so OOC it didn't even make sense anymore. The only change in character I liked was Chibi-Usa's change of attitude. I couldn't help but really hate her original bratty attitude and found her really annoying in the original series. Even though I found the Crystal series overall very rushed and especially the established relationships I did find relief in that Chibi-Usa behaved decent.

The music was fairly good though. I've been a fan of Yasuharu Takahashi for a long time and he never cease to surprise me with his music.

So my ratings overall:

Story - 3 (It was too rushed and everything happened without any foundation to it. You need to have seen the 90's version or read the the manga to understand the basics)

Art - 4 (It was a nice try to try and copy such carefully layed out art but in the end it failed miserably)

Sound - 6 (The music scores replayed a fair amount of times throughout the series which leads me to think that not many scores were written for this series)

Character - 5 (No basics whatsoever and very OOC most of the time)

Enjoyment - 4 (I am a sucker for Sailor Moon but it was a huge dissapointment)

Overall - 5

But as I do love Sailor Moon, I will probably try and watch the second season as well even though I really disliked this season.

Sailor Moon Crystal, as we all know, is a reboot of the original popular and successful Sailor Moon anime that deserves praise as one of the best anime series ever made, whatever flaws it has, along with the manga that is said to be one of the best manga series ever made. This adaptation is said to be more closer to Naoko Takeuchi's original manga and is an awesome series....or is it? Well, here's what I think.

Unfortunately the first two seasons of this anime are nothing short of a complete disaster, a complete insult to Naoko Takeuchi and the Sailor Moon franchise (anime/manga), and fail ... to capture the charm of the original anime and manga. Why? Let me tell you why this is the WORST version of Sailor Moon that has ever been created:

- The art and animation are abysmal, hopelessly bad. One of the things that attracted people to the original manga and anime was its beautiful, gorgeous, charming, and cute artwork (and the anime had mostly fluid animation despite its repeated use of stock footage in episodes, the original anime did have a limited budget. Some people say the original was a "generic moe" style, but I say it was a shoujo style too). While most of the backgrounds are a step up from the original anime series, particularly places like Crystal Tokyo and Juuban City, the characters and the animation are not. The characters, which are supposed to look more like Naoko's wonderful drawings, look nothing like them and are just poorly drawn. The art looks extremely sketchy, the characters are off model looking for practically most of the series, with their faces and eyes constantly changing and expressing no believable emotions. Their eyes even get misaligned at times and proportions are extremely off, and for some reason all of the girls, even little Chibi-Usa have this weird lip gloss that makes them look terrible. The animation is also very stiff, choppy, and jerky, and animation errors in coloring and anatomy constantly about, it's a mess. It's sad that the first two seasons of modern anime, which had a lower budget than the original and took two to three weeks to produce, look worse than the original anime, which was low budget and only took one week, the original didn't even look like it was a low budget one done in a week! Also, the Blu-Rays of the show most of the time would look even worse than the original web version, and sometimes add in more errors that the web never had. Some of the backgrounds also, particularly apocalyptic Crystal Tokyo and the Dark Kingdom also, and a lot of the battles during backgrounds, are also filled with monochromatic, dull, flat colors that suck the life out of the series, compared to how the original anime had a good balance between bright, shiny colors and dark, dull colors.

And don't even get me started on the CGI transformations...my God, they were terrible, horrible models, unnatural sloppy animation that makes me feel nauseous, the dark blue silhouettes of the characters (and Mercury's pinkish one) don't go well with the backgrounds, and with cheap, terrible effects, Mercury's CGI one is a perfect example how not to do one. And when they get to the second arc, they took the lazy route and only changed the brooch and pens of the Sailors to try to fool the viewer into thinking the transformation was different, at least Toei in the 90's did different backgrounds/animations and colored the Sailors' bodies differently for each power-up. Some scenes in the manga that were epic fall flat in Crystal due to how it is presented also, like the Double Moon Princess Halation, which was ruined due to Moon and Chibi Moon being drawn poorly and the animation being jerky.

I'm sorry also, but character designer Yukie Sato is also one of the worst artists I've ever seen, her artwork most of the time is just completely lifeless and like she just drew everything in one shot, one sketch.

- The pacing of the story/adaptation of the manga is terrible. This show brings in a flaw of the manga that the original anime improved upon despite its great amount of filler episodes: the pacing of the story is too fast. The story rushes by so quick it feels really rushed and no one will be able to relate to or get interested in any of the characters (which will be explained in a bit).

Being too close to the manga as a shot by shot episode more hurts the series rather than benefiting it and even brings up flaws that never were discovered before, like for example, why even give the Inner Senshi Star Power wands if Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter, three of them, are going to be captured for most of the arc?

While some people may not be bothered too much by there being no filler, the problem is that the lack of it bites the show in its behind by making the characters seem uninteresting them and not even developing most of, if not all of them, one of the reasons why the original anime was better than the manga (though I still do like the manga) was because the characters were fleshed out over each season, sure there may have been filler in the original that did go out of control (SuperS) but a lot of them were character focus episodes that helped us like some of the most famous characters in anime. The Inner/Outer Senshi not developing was the biggest flaw the manga had.

And as if that isn't bad enough, the show isn't even faithful to the manga at all, they are constantly adding deviations to the show that make it veer away from the source material to the point where it doesn't even capture the tone of it. Certain examples are making Ami get hypnotized by that evil disk when she wasn't in the manga, and having Usagi have to free her by saying Ami is her friend although they've just met, and Sailor Moon revealing her identity to Rei in her episode. One definitely big no-no was a scene where it looked like Usagi was trying to pull away from Mamoru whilst he gave her a kiss, as though he forced a kiss on her, when all he did in the manga was just kiss her tenderly.

And the less said about the Four Generals trainwreck which I'm sure we all know about and Sailor Venus' big moment being ruined, (both of which were also added into the show) the better, which leads to the second biggest elephant in the room next to the artwork:

- Horrendous characterization. It's been said that Crystal "humanized the characters and fleshed them out unlike the 90's anime", and that the characters' feelings were "deeper than the 90's anime." Seriously? No, really, did we see the same show? No, we haven't, or rather, we didn't see both shows the same way.

Another great reason that Sailor Moon was popular with people all around the world were its characters, and they are not done justice here at all, having some of the worst characterization I've ever seen.

Usagi/Sailor Moon (who was a klutzy crybaby but also a very kind hearted, caring, and later more mature person in the manga and original anime) in Sailor Moon Crystal is a complete immature Mary Sue who only cares about her lover Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru, just abandons her friends a lot of the time during important parts, is extremely irresponsible and a pathetic fighter, as she runs away from her duties, cries for help when only her arm is grabbed once, commits suicide just so she can be with her dead boyfriend, always has to rely on Mamoru to protect her, and just gets everything she wants in the end. Don't get me started on how she gets jealous of Chibi-Usa when she wants to stay at Mamoru's house as she's scared and she thinks the little girl's gonna steal her boyfriend! She doesn't even mature nor develop here at all, that whole thing with Usagi claiming "Chibi-Usa is another woman to Mamoru" makes her dumber in here than she even was in the original anime (which she wasn't terribly dumb there) and to be honest, she's a bit too perfect in her manga counterpart too, and her maturing there doesn't feel all that realistic, but it's nowhere near as annoying as in Crystal. Also, Kotono Mitsuishi, her original VA, seems to be too old to do the role now, as her acting actually sounds painfully strained at points, mostly when she's yelling names like "MERCURYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!", I literally cringed hearing that.

Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask, is pretty much similar to Usagi as he's pretty much just a Gary Stu, he always talks nice to her after the first few episodes, never says anything mean, more like just a fantasy dream of a perfect man, when no one is ever perfect. He is also a creep at times, considering the aforementioned forced kissing and one scene where he claims Usagi opened up her friends' hearts when we're wondering, how the heck did he know that??? He and Moon are the only two who really matter here. Not to mention him turning evil again in the Black Moon arc was stupid (and don't get me started on that disgusting kiss, romantically kissing his own daughter! Yuck!).

Sure, Mamoru acted like an idiot in that whole "break-up" thing in the original anime, but at least it showed he was only human and we all make stupid mistakes.

The Inner Senshi, Ami/Sailor Mercury, Rei/Sailor Mars, Makoto/Sailor Jupiter, and Minako/Sailor Venus got the worst treatment here. They are given no personalities and characters whatsoever, are treated like crap, and are completely useless 98% of the time in battle. In battle, they are extremely weak, their attacks most of the time do not work outside of their introductory episodes, they get knocked out or down, and can't get up. While the original anime versions of the Inners were better, and they were more useful in battle there, even with some personality changes, in the manga the characters still showed bits of personality and all helped out in ways to shine, and all had interactions, whilst in Crystal, most of their accomplishments were either ignored or just given to Sailor Moon just so she could steal the spotlight. Their "friendship" with Usagi also is fake as they only exist to say how "wonderful" Usagi is whilst Usagi just leaves them for her Mamoru, and they are all completely interchangeable regardless of their Sailor Soldier Suit colors, Mercury could say something Jupiter was supposed to say, or the four of them could be deleted from the series entirely and nothing would change in the slightest. Also considering they give up and let themselves get attacked by their four bland and uninteresting lovers during that Four Generals trainwreck...

When you have a series with a theme song boasting lyrics such as "We will fight on our own without leaving our destiny to the prince" and "We are not helpless girls that need men's protection" and the show shows the exact opposite, it's clear something really went wrong. In other words, Crystal is sexist.

In the original anime, the Inners were far better used, were more useful in battle and stronger, had great importance in Classic-S, and even partially in Stars, though they were only shafted to the side in SuperS. They had their own focus episodes that developed them and fleshed them out, and they all got to shine in battles with their own tactics. In Crystal, the Inners have no importance whatsoever, and are really underused. In fact, I'm starting to think Toei made the Inners useless on purpose in Crystal as a stupid excuse for failing to come up with ways to make their characters interesting or develop them.

Other character wise, Chibi-Usa is just boring in season 2, and Luna, Artemis and Diana are just there.

All the villains are bland with no personality whatsoever, and unlike how in the anime some of the got fleshed out and even redeemed in a good way, here a lot of them are just killed off before one can find them interesting. A lot of the final villains look very stupid too, like with Queen Metallia just being a purple CGI blob who wants to take over Earth because who knows why. Oh wait, we're never told. Some were just as bad as their manga counterparts like Prince Diamond, my God I HATED him in the manga.

The music is also just boring and unmemorable, just generic chorus music a whole lot of the time that doesn't really hold any interest. Moon Pride is good, but its lyrics end up turning out to be a lie, and Moonbow is forgettable. The only music track I really loved was "The Bonds of Love", a pretty piano and violin piece.

There are some good parts to Crystal though, like the voice acting, which is mostly decent to very good, despite the bad animation, the Sailor V game looks better than the original anime's, and Sailor Pluto had a far better role, plus her death was done very well and was sad, but these are so few and far in between they may as well not even be there. And even the voice acting itself is hit and miss; Kenji Nojima does an excellent job as Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru, but Usagi/Sailor Moon herself sounds too old, sadly Kotono Mitsuishi sounds old. They got Hisako Kanemoto (Cure Peace from Smile Precure) and Ami Kochimizu (Cure Melody from Suite Precure) to do Sailors Mercury and Jupiter/Ami Mizuno and Makoto Kino but their performances feel very sub-par compared to their previous roles; Mercury is decent but Jupiter's voice doesn't fit her character here. Rina Sato is fine as Rei/Sailor Mars, but Shizuka Itoh sounds too young for Sailor Venus/Minako (same thing with Ryo Hirohashi as Luna).

Overall, despite its merchandise sales (mostly consisting of newer merchandise with the old anime version) the first two seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal were a huge flop and nearly killed the Sailor Moon franchise. It was all done just so money could be made, and the people at Toei Animation at the time couldn't give a darn if it was good or not. I would give it a 1/10 or 0/10 (this gets a 1 because unfortunately there is no number 0 option), and would even go so far as to call the two seasons the worst magical girl anime of all time. Naoko Takeuchi, who unfortunately doesn't seem to like her manga anymore (as she was disappointed in parts with it when it came out) most likely would not approve of this one. Thank goodness director Munehisa Sakai and art designer Yukie Sato left.

Season III is much better than Seasons 1 and 2 though. I shall review it very soon, but until then, skip the first two seasons of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Crystal. You're not missing anything by skipping out on those, which as time passes, may end up drifting into obscurity and end up being forgotten, possibly for good reason.

Story: 1/10 (Too close to the manga, yet at the same time, not even faithful to it due to stupid deviations and additions, and ends up sexist instead of female empowering)

Art/Animation: 1/10 (Horrible quality art and animation, to the point where it looks like an unlicensed piece of garbage anime)

Sound: 2/10 (Voice acting is mostly OK but the music is mostly terrible and forgettable).

Character: 1/10 (Just pathetic. Only Sailor Pluto is a good character, along with Usagi's parents. Usagi is a whiny love makes you dumb Mary Sue who is obsessed with Mamoru, who is basically just like Edward from Twilight, the Inner Senshi may as well not even be in here at all as "background character" doesn't sound like a strong enough term to describe them, boring Chibi-Usa, bland uninteresting villains, to the point where I don't even care about anyone in this series)

Enjoyment: 1/10 (I hated this with a burning passion and I can't even say anything good about it, in fact, it's making me wonder how I could have even enjoyed the manga version and the manga hasn't aged well)

Overall: 1/10 (The worst version of Sailor Moon, and one of the worst TV shows/the worst anime I've ever seen in my life)

while I do agree that it lacks the homely comedy that the 90s one had, I also have to point at that what Crystal lacks in relatable humor they make up for in Character portrayal. Something that I hated about the 90s was the way the moon family was portrayed. By this I mean Mamoru and Chibiusa. I felt that Mamoru lacked character and the transition from his character prior to regaining his memories was very rushed and shabby. It was as if he just became a completely different person, and we did not end up seeing the sassy Mamoru fall for Usagi. I also ... hated how bratty and disrespectful Chibiusa was portrayed in the 90s especially since she knew that Usagi is her mother. I must still acknowledge that the 90s anime did occasionally dish out some quality scenes where the moon family interacts well and understandably towards Usagi.

Crystal, however, portrayed the moon family in a way where it was rather wholesome and sweet. The transition between Mamoru before and after regaining his memories is much smoother and the relationship between him and Usagi is much more developed. I also really REALLY love how Chibiusa is better portrayed as an actual child who loves and respects her mother. It is very endearing.

Aside from character portrayal and relations, Crystal obviously does a very good job in the music department. The songs are very catchy and adorable.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I've watch the original sailor moon and now this.Comparing the two I'm very disappoint in this adaptation.

This adaptation lack the character development and the story building in the series. The character shows no steady development in there personality or story background. When introduce to the character you are given a brief information but no visual storytelling behind it making the characters seem bland.
The story line is rushed from the very begin, which loses the main details of the series.
Although the animation style is an somewhat improvement I believe they have left many details that could have help in some aspect of the series.

I ... am most disappointed in some areas of the series where the most important details are flushed out or been overwrite with other things, (there were many that made me mad).
Overall my opinion of this series is that is cringe worthy as it looks as if the writer wrote their own crappy version of the original sailor moon.

I remember almost nothing that happened in this anime, and I've both seen much of the original series And read some of the manga. I think that is a testament to how poor the quality of this remake is.

First and foremost, the art is low quality, especially the transformation sequences that everyone else has already complained about far and wide at this point. But even if the art were good, the story isn't really there. There's none of the heart that the original had. It all just Feels like it's a remake and not in anyway comparable to the original.

I ended up dropping this at ... ep 8 in the way I often drop things...without even meaning to. Which is a critique in and of itself. If I'm so uninspired by a series that I can't even remember/muster up the energy to go back but rather just keep telling myself I'm Going to go back at some point until it's been so long since I watched any of it that I've lost all desire to do so...that's not good.

This ultimately ended up not being the remake I, or I think most of us, hoped it would be, and at this point, I would rather just watch the original and read the manga instead.

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.