Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Crystal Season III

Sailor Moon is a rare example of a story that benefits greatly from filler and a meandering pace. The original series from the 90s may not have followed the manga as closely as the new hotness, but in a weird twist, that actually greatly improved the quality of the show.

Sailor Moon Crystal season 3 blasts through the manga faithfully, but loses much of the charm in the process. Whereas the original series gave ample time to develop each Sailor Scout's quirks and personality, SMC has only a hint of that charm. Season 3 is an improvement on the first two seasons, thanks in part ... to the pretty character designs of Akira Takahashi. It also makes token attempts at adding individuality to the characters, but sets that aside in favor of plot progression. We miss the klutzy Usagi, the bookwormy Michiru, the temperamental Rei, the boisterous Makoto, and the goofy Minako. Instead we are left with stoic fighters in different colored skirts.

While this series does a competent job at hitting plot points, the real magic of the Sailor Moon series comes from its lovable characters. Unfortunately, Crystal did not deliver enough in that area.

Sailor Mars Crystal Season 3 is much more than our sailor scouts fighting evil by moonlight or winning love by daylight.

This show offers enjoyment beyond pressing your face against your mousepad trying to peak up a sailor skirt, as though it were a VR anime. The "Death Buster" arc is without a doubt one of the most entertaining arcs in the iconic series. It is pretty obvious that Toei cared more about this season compared to previous seasons of Sailor Mars Crystal.

This arc is one of the favorites of any fan. I remember watching Sailor Moon S and welcoming the new scouts into ... my dorky little heart. Crystal Season 3 makes me relive all those feelings from long ago. Uranus and Neptune are the newest stars in this part of the story. They had their planet blown up many years ago and they are lesbian lovers. They are as close as they can get. They share the same burden and want their princess Usagi to live in peace. The outer planet scouts want to help the main scouts, but they would rather front all the work and do things their own way. They have a strong determination and work well together because they are strong. Pluto works with Uranus and Neptune because she is a fellow outer planet scout. Pluto agrees with using the same stern methods and she is one who wants to get the job done as efficiently as possible, even if there are innocent lives taken. The main scouts want to work with the outer planets and have no unnecessary deaths. The two ideologies could not coalesce and there became an underlying hate towards the two factions. The depth of the two factions is predominantly over the treatment of Sailor Saturn. The Deity of Destruction (Dave Mustaine of Megadeath would be pleased with her nickname) has the power to destroy planets and she was the one who destroyed the home of Uranus and Neptune. Sailor Saturn is a martyr character done correctly. She is more than the "I'm going to sit here and whine" martyr. She gets work done. She fights the beast that takes over her body. She handles the way her father experimented on her in a good way. She smiled very little, but it was always at emotional parts. It is awesome that more people will be exposed to these characters in Crystal Season 3.

Thank you Toei for caring about this season. Do not get me wrong, Toei is still Toei. I am convinced not a single person at the entire studio can draw ankles. My favorite pair of ankles belongs to Sailor Venus while she is posing after her transformation. Chickens would ask her if she skipped leg day. Then there is a funny part at the end where Sailor Moon repairs the city and Tuxedo Mask says something like "She is repairing the city" while the city behind him is in shambles. Thank you Toei for having the watercolor-style backgrounds that we were used to seeing in the original series. I love seeing Usagi's house look like it did in the first couple season of the show. I love the absence of CG. The girls had no respect for bones in the first 2 seasons of Crystal and they were not only flexible like rubber, they had the same luminosity. This eyesore has been remedied and redone with 2-D drawings and they do the show justice. When you are watching repeated scenes, you need to have those scenes be the best they can. Toei delivered on the repeating scenes and every single move was beautiful to watch. The attacks were taken to a new level. Yeah, Sailor Mars is always the best. The snake-eyes along with the black jagged lines scene is awesome every time. They did such a great job on making the attacks look good that Sailor Mercury looks like a badass. Yeah, mission accomplished on that one.

I am happy to see this show get love and attention. I plan on reading work by Naoko Takeuchi because I am a fan of the Sailor Moon series. I am happy to be getting teased for a next season.

I told myself I was giving up on Crystal after the conclusion of the first arc. But after seeing the new art, the previews and the revisited character designs for the Infinity Arc, I decided to give it one more chance, and have been catching up with it every few weeks.

We'll start with the good: The art has improved pretty drastically. The animators had the good sense to ditch those awful CG henshin sequences and make some nicer hand drawn ones. Fight scenes are punchier and the artwork is overall more expressive. The portrayal of the Outer Senshi is about the best you could ask ... for from a direct manga adaptation. In fact, most everyone's characterization has improved, including Usagi; they have personalities and actual lines now that aren't just repeating what someone else has said or collaborating on a single sentence together. Some of the humor is back, at least at the beginning, and I feel like even the music has improved by a few notches. Also, all the gay is dialed up to eleven, and that warms my little bi heart.

Here are my complaints: Someone on the animation team really needs to Google "what do cats look like?" The writing is still pretty lazy; I always thought a straight adaptation of the manga was a bad idea, and I stand firm on that. It makes for bad pacing and stifles character development. There's still some Art Weird. Episode 35 in particular looks like nobody cared much about it, and there's an ongoing problem with Usagi and Chibiusa's heads being drawn with giant, misshapen craniums in every profile view. Late in the season as we move into the final conflict, I'm definitely noticing that we're falling back into that pit where it's constant drama with almost no emotional resonance, which I think is a consequence of the rushed pace.

In conclusion, the Infinity Arc of Crystal is... okay, in that it is easy on the eyes and not a catastrophic destruction of everything that made Sailor Moon good [insert pointed look at seasons 1 and 2 here]. There are some parts that are worth watching for, but it can't at all rival the 90's anime for soul and charm. It's definitely still not the Sailor Moon we deserved from the 2010s. It's not really doing anything particularly new or exciting with the IP. I would call it ornamental, for the most part. It's a nice, pretty thing to look at for a while if you like Sailor Moon, and if you're particularly attached to the manga you'll probably enjoy it a lot more than me.

I wasn't a fan of the reboot of Sailor Moon. Crystal felt like a chore to go through and given that it was broadcast once every other week I dropped it halfway through, then picked it up later and finished it off long after it originally aired. Just about everything was wrong with it.

Season 3 pretty much reverses everything I thought about the reboot. It was actually a treat to watch the show. The first improvement was replacing the opening with something better. I didn't like the opening of Season 1, Moon Pride, because it had silly lyrics like, "we don't need no men to ... solve our problems." I don't think those are completely accurate but I think it's close and dumb. While the openings will never be as good as the original series Moonlight Legend, or Makenai, I don't think there's any way those songs could be topped in the first place, so why even bother trying to compete. The music is also really good. The music is actually really good.

The first thing I noticed is that the animation quality is quite a bit better. While not everything has to be fluid, especially scenes where someone is talking a lot. It does help with action scenes, and that was something that was sorely lacking in season 1.

This show feels like watching a legend being written, and that's because the direction is much better and more coherent. The stakes become really high as Sailor Moon and her coterie try to prevent Master Pharaoh 90 and his devious plots from succeeding. They also have to prevent the awakening of Sailor Saturn, the guardian of destruction, from showing up and bodybagging everybody on both sides.

The only real problem I found with this show is the subcast of the Witches 5. I found their dialogue of talking about levels, like it was an RPG, and the general fact that they were just fodder for Sailor Moon to brutally murder with her love and affection, to be annoying. They were the least developed of any of the villains and I feel just wasted a lot of time.

**Warning: English is not my first language**

Sailor Moon S3 shows itself as an improvement from its previous seasons (Both art and music were certainly something to work with, CGI was ruining everything this thing stands for) and a remake of its classic 90s counterpart. Working with such a classic as Sailor Moon will get high expectations from everybody, and it did keep us hype about possibilities.

So, it's quite disappointing to find that Crystal S3 couldnt handle that hype properly. Instead, S3 seems a lot rushed (It's only 13 episodes, so of course pace will be faster), even though it had a really nice arc to ... work with that could be delivered in a better way, by properly developing characterization and wrapping up all the previous events from S1 and S2. Instead, we are faced to just getting little pieces from everyone and forced to like it in order to find any emotional sense. And plot holes, big stupid plot holes that basically ruined S2.

It also fell into turning each and every Sailor senshi into, basically, cannon fodder. Something quite repetitive in S1 and S2; and it was a fresh feeling that they finally served a purpose for themselves, rather than doing it for plot advancing. But then it happened, and it's like they thought the Sailor Senshis were just there to make some filler. Characterization was a high point in the classic 90s series, and I understand that you can't get that done in 13 episodes per arc. It actually forces you to make the best writting ever so you can get to exploit the best of this. It's quite obvious they didnt do it.

While animation got improved, there is still room for improvement: Minako's transformation sequence and animation after episode 35 is pretty much a good example. Even though, it still shows us better animation than S1 and S2. Music is something I cannot complain, specially the last 2 episodes; but it was quite irrelevant and there is still a lot of room for improvement.

Overall, Sailor Moon S3 feels like a clickbait article, that you find useful initially; but the more you keep reading, the more you notice it's voided of any good content. While it's good that they try to be faithful to manga (A change from that cartoonish and lightheart tone from the 90s), it's quite sad that they couldn't exploit the vast and rich characters this franchise offers.

I hope any other sequel, remake or reboot will notice how important are these characters in order to get something worth of watching.

Sailor moon, no matter what version has always been one of my favourites and I doubt even as I get older that I'll ever get tired of it. This version of the anime has been insane! I don't think there was one episode where I didn't feel emotional kicks right into the feels, everything about it was amazing and so far I think it's my favourite out of the "crystal" series.

The portrayal of all the characters introduced in this season seemed to be spot on and right to the story, as well as the updated artwork made it more enjoyable to watch.

All in ... all I don't think I have really anything bad to say about this season aside from the fact I'm truly sad that now we have to wait for the next instalment of the story.

The Death Busters arc is my favorite Sailor Moon Story.

When comparing it to the original series, Sailor Moon Crystal is a great improvement as it does the arc a lot better! Uranus and Neptune are back to being awesome characters with their adorable cuddle moments as a couple. Which I'm so happy about since the original 90's anime turned the coolest sailor scouts into condescending emo bitches that treated the inner scouts like children....and Pluto was a bit of a doormat to them.

Sailor Saturn was also made more interesting! The original series mostly talked about what she could do and didn't really show much. ... In this season she was given a good amount of screen time and we got to see what she was capable of! Hotaru is amazing towards the end, I wanted to give her a hug so bad for everything she went through.

I swear towards the end when Saturn appears they gave us a taste of her transformation sequence...I hope she gets a full transformation sequence in the next season. She never got one in the original series.

One issue I had with this was Saturn doing colorguard tricks with her Silence Glaive......It was kinda lore breaking one of the biggest no-no's of the series....If you know what happens when she swings her glaive down, count how many times the blade went down and that's how many times earth should have been destroyed...

..I guess it would be kind of boring to have her do nothing while she was giving her speech, but c'mon.....

The animation is great and they got rid of the 3D transformations. I didn't really mind them. My biggest complaint about the is that they were sooooo long! The voice acting in both languages sounds great. Overall this is the best season of Crystal.

Over all I'm happy to see how well this arc was handled and I highly recommend it to people who have given up on Sailor Moon Crystal before they got a chance to watch this.

After Sailor Moon Crystal date release was announed, as a huge manga fan, i was really excited to finally see manga adaptation of Sailor Moon, and sadly, first 26 Acts, Dark Kingdom and Black Moon Arcs, were disappointment for me, with unnecessary story changes (with weren't even mentioned in future Acts, as if they never happened) very poor animation of characters and attacks. On the otheer hand, last Sailor Moon related show, live action adaptation of Dark Kingdom, bombed in sales, so Toei wasn't sure, if people want another Sailor Moon anime, with is why Crystal was biweekly online animation. Sales proved, that people still ... love Sailor Moon. This season, Infinity Arc, had higher budget, and airs on TV, is it any better?

Short answer, yes! Long answer:
- One of my biggest complains, were emotionless characters, manga, while being serious, had goofy character expressions, and each girl had different personality, in prevous 2 seasons, Sailor Moon Guardians were like one being, for example, when Mercury said something, rest girls finished what she said. Now, each girl have personality, and is different from one another, Mercury is cute geek, Mars is sarcastic etc.
- While animation is still little wonky at times, especially in Act 36, but it never fails on Act 2 or Act 3 level of awfulness, characters seem more lively. Similar to Manga/90's anime


For me, it is 9/10, mostly for Act 36 looking wonky, still, Chiaki Kon do excellent job, and this season is so much better than S1 aand 2, and i hope Dream and Stars act will be made by same group

It was a very lucky thing indeed that I stayed in watching Sailor Moon Crystal. The first season was the typical recruitment of the Inner Sailor Senshis and the second season honestly bored me, so I had second guessing whether I continue the series or not. But thankfully, I did.

Because Sailor Moon Crystal S3 was WAY more magical than the first two.

Story:

The story for this season is very simple yet I quite enjoyed it, I don't know why but I just simply enjoyed. Very typical story of an impending doom. It has all been used by other anime after Sailor Moon but the story just ... gave me some sorta childhood feeling even though I did not watch a single episode of Sailor Moon back then.

Art:

Good thing they ditched the CGI transformation and amazingly the transformations scenes became quicker and quicker which I liked because the transformation sequence sometimes drag. The character design was vastly improved that you could almost say that this is a brand new one separate from season 1 and 2. Though sometimes the faces get a bit dopey and somehow makes me laugh at the most tragic moments, haha.

Sound:

The OP fits the story of Sailor Moon, it really gives the magical girl feel to the show, soft and graceful yet strong. The EDs were so beautiful, though sometimes the ED did not fit to the ending scene because of how lively it is.

Character:

They are suprisingly character developments in this show but they few inbetween. They aren't really unforgetful characters and they sometimes smell too ideal so yeah.

Enjoyment:

I enjoyed it very much, the fights, the sad scenes and the ending!

Overall, I'm surely going to watch the season 4.

The Death Buster's arc in the manga AND Sailor Moon S is my favourite season of the 90s Sailor Moon, and after finding out that Crystal was doing adapting this arc and seeing the mess that was Sailor Moon Crystal, I was nervous. The art and animation, and story changes were both awful in SMC, the characters had little to no personality and everything was just a slap in the face to SM fans and felt like nothing more than a cash grab on Toei's part.

But from the first official art release and then the trailer, I had a feeling season 3 would be different. ... First, the animation (while obviously not perfect, it's Toei) is steps above the previous iteration, and it doesn't hurt to physically watch it anymore. They didn't change the story lines, and the characters have actually personality!! It's like a miracle!!

Story: 9/10

Like I said, Death Busters is my fave arc, and them sticking to it has really made this season work. They've stuck to the manga closely and the new characters blend well with the old, everything is working for me.


Animation/Art: 8/10

I love the animation, it might be my favourite art style for the Sailor Moon characters to date. They look their age! Chibiusa looks like a child! It's innocent and cutesy, but it also works well with the darker scenes. Judging the animation this time round is difficult though, because it can only be compared to SMC Acts 1 and 2, and they were both awful but while it's obviously not perfect at all times, it's still beautiful and fits Sailor Moon.

Characters: 8/10

Everyone has personalities!! Not just Usagi and Mamoru, like in the SMC!! The Inner Senshi don't feel useless, they have personalities and traits that make them stand out on their own, and they aren't stuck in Usagi's shadow as much. Usagi herself is written like she should be, still childish but maturing as her battles get more serious and her role as Sailor Moon gets more serious. One thing that annoyed me about the 90s anime was how Usagi's character seemed to reset at the beginning of each arc, and she never matured, so it's nice to see her grow and mature into a young woman fit to be queen. the Outer Senshi are also great, Haruka's obviously the standout and her character matches just how I pictured her to be in the manga, though I am disappointed that Michiru feels like Haruka's tag along (this is evident in the manga and after watching Sailor Moon S, it feels like such an injustice to her character)

Sound: 8/10

The new OP and EDs are really good though sometimes they don't fit the darkness of the series very much. Some scenes (especially some of the transformation and attack scenes) the music felt a little...lacking to me but that's my only complaint.

Enjoyment: 9/10

I'm obviously biased because of how much I love this arc, but it's so nice to see Sailor Moon back and be done well!! I was incredibly hyped for this season to air and so far they haven't let me down! I hope that SMC continues now into the last two arcs (Stars being my second favourite) and we get to see them animated in this or a similar style.

Overall score: 9/10

The Sailor Moon manga is one of my favourites, and this season really feels like it's doing it the justice it deserves, especially after the mess that was the first two seasons. As I'm more a manga fan than original anime fan, this season to me is obviously a lot better than how some others might see it, and I'm fully aware of that but overall, if you love Sailor Moon and can sit through SMC I and II, then SMC III is definitely worth the watch!

Whoever says this is an improvement needs to get their eyes checked.

Not only did this aggregious opening copy the Higurashi no naku koro ni Kai opening frame by frame, but it also copied the design style from Higurashi no naku koro ni Kira. They're litterally having the Higurashi no naku koro ni Kira eyes. It also copied some of Higurashi's crazed looks, especially for Professor Tomoe.

Even more than before, they are floating randomly. Tf am I supposed to take from them just floating to their destinations? It's never brought up, because the animators just got lazy, like ”mmyeah, just have them float around or whatevs. ... Who cares about this obscure IP anyway.”

Speaking of physics and consequences, not only to they just acrobatically strike ballet poses when they are pushed back by enemy attacks and land like feathers (seriously, they can't get thrown around and get hurt because they are light as feathers, as shown by the fact that they just float in the air like dandelions), but their attacks... oh, man. Their attacks 1. are only working when combined (mixing fire and water... yeah...), 2. only work as a small ball of energy which lands like a soft cannon ball. Fire and thunder just don't set things on fire in Crystal. If I hate something about fire power attacks, it's when a character throws a fire ball and the enemy gets slightly pushed back, as if gently poked in the shoulder.

Like most others pointed out, the characters don't grow personalities. They are Usagi's hive minded slaves.

There's no stakes, no buildup, just... doing things differently. In the worst ways possible.

Even more than before, there's not minute, no, even 5 seconds, without music in the background dictating how the viewers should feel.

Speaking of music, it's so out of place. Church music like in Kuroshitsuji doesn't fit Sailor Moon. Then there's some Harry Potter-esque sounding fantasy tunes that, once again, don't match with Sailor Moon's vibe.

While perfectly serviceable on a technical level, this third season of Sailor Moon Crystal is the perfect counter to the oft-repeated idea that the quality of an anime adaptation lies in how close it sticks to the original manga.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III is a workmanlike production that inadvertently highlights the flaws of its original material and the improvements made to the same material in the much less faithful 1994 version by Kunihiko Ikuhara. By ditching the frankly atrocious art and animation of the first two seasons in favor of attractive character designs by Akira Takahashi and competent if unexciting direction by Chiaki Kon, ... the show removes the veneer of awfulness that obscured the flaws in the manga story in the first two seasons, making them all too clear.

The visual presentation here is well-rounded and perfectly decent, but lacks the artistic flair of Ikuhara's earlier adaptation of the same material. Backgrounds and framing is by-the-numbers, adding a realism to the show's look that is at odds both with Takeuchi's whispy manga art and Ikuhara's theatrical directing style, and the result is a loss of the dream-like quality of both prior versions which served to make the events seem larger-than-life, instead rendering events in a clear but underwhelming fashion.
The character designs are a highlight, modernizing Takeuchi's originals without losing their distinct shojo flair, while the animation is serviceable, especially for a modern Toei show, possibly due to the use of stock footage for transformations and attacks. While the use of stock footage in a magical girl show is perfectly normal (and in fact can be seen as a nostalgic callback to the 90's series) the transformation scenes here serve as a microcosmos of the problems with SMC III: Replacing the off-putting and cheap CGI transformations of seasons one and two, we get a set of remakes of the originals that don't bring any new ideas to the table and while perfectly decent lack the rock-solid animation of the originals. Frankly speaking, the 2016 versions don't look better than the 1994 versions, and they should.

Music is, again, serviceable but not memorable, serving its purpose but lacking standout themes like the Outer Senshi transformation music of the 1994 show. The OP by Etsuko Yakushimaru is a real highlight, though I'm at a loss as to why her version was replaced not once but twice, since the song was very clearly written with her rather peculiar singing style in mind (by herself under the pseudonym Tika α no less) and the versions by other singers sound like they're awkwardly trying to marry her style with their own and failing.

The main problem, however, is the story. Like the two seasons preceding it, SMC III is an almost panel-by-panel adaptation of Naoko Takeuchi's original manga, and while that is something many fans of Sailor Moon have wanted for over a decade, now that we have it, the end result is a shining example of 'be careful what you wish for.' The manga has always been breezy, held up by Takeuchi's ethereal art and the mythological scale of the story, but put into full color and grounded by a typical anime presentation, the story is revealed for the skeletal blueprint it really is, more an outline for a full story than an epic in it's own right.

To be fair, it's a pretty great outline: A soldier of destruction awakening in the body of a frail girl who should have been dead, a conflict between allies over the morality of killing, a friendship that changes destiny, an organization of evil alien scientists, a lesbian couple in a story for little girls. All of that is great and could make for a wonderful story, but the rushed presentation and Takeuchi's more than shaky grasp of character writing drags it down, reducing the story to a breakneck rush through a not fully thought out plot. Character moments and world building are pushed to the side in favor of Big Events and a narrow focus on the two or three characters central to a given story arc (in this case, Chibiusa, Usagi and Hotaru), a result of the manga having to tell a full story in twelve monthly chapters.

Where SMC III goes wrong, then, is in adapting this outline into a full series, but without filling in the gaps of that framework. The end result is a story that feels like a summary, with dozens of characters that have no role beyond being there and a storyline that seems impersonal and cold. Things happen, characters are there, but we are given very little reason to care. The story is so focused on destiny and duty that it forgets to show us that these are still /people/, teenage girls at that. One thing the 90s anime was great at was showing why these girls were friends, why they would fight for each other and why we as viewers should care. In the manga and by extension SMC, meanwhile, the answer to all of those questions seems to be 'because destiny', and the blind devotion everyone shows to Sailor Moon others seems borderline cult-like. Likewise, the villains are evil for evil's sake and never feel like a real threat, a faint shadow of the comical, selfish and even tragic Death Busters of the 90s anime.

SMC III is a perfectly decent show that stands on its own as well as the third season of a nostalgia revival could reasonably manage to, but it lacks the flair and scope of something truly memorable. There is a great anime to be made from the Sailor Moon manga, but following it this closely is not the way to go about it. A straight-forward adaptation like this can work for some manga, but the Sailor Moon manga is too fast-paced, too uncinematic and, frankly, too flawed to be adapted one-to-one, and Sailor Moon Crystal Season III suffers for it.

I'm sure we all know by now that unfortunately Sailor Moon Crystal Seasons 1-2 were horrible, and unfortunately season 3 would be worse. However, that is not the case, and I would highly recommend people who dropped Sailor Moon Crystal to check out season III (if not, that's fine). Why? Well these are the reasons why Sailor Moon Crystal Season III, despite some hiccups, is the best season of Sailor Moon Crystal.

-The art and animation are far superior. The characters look more like their manga counterparts with a bit of the 90's anime version mixed in. The budget definitely is higher than the first two ... seasons. The proportions are better and they show more emotion. The animation is much more fluid for the most part, the CGI is gone completely from the transformations. They are so well done, if there were awards for "Best Magical Girl Transformations of the Year", these would win it.

There are parts where the animation isn't so good and kinda choppy, but they are few and far in between, and mostly only happen. The monster designs for the Daimon are lame and stupid compared to S's, too, but the monster designs look far superior than in the first two seasons.

-The story is extremely faithful to the Infinity arc, considered the best manga arc by fans, but in some ways, actually adds deviations that make it even better than the original manga version, like Moon having a reason to dive into Pharaoh 90 in the end. The only flaws are that it still has bit of the "1:1 adaptation" to it like the first two seasons, and the story does peter out at the end, but overall, it's not a bad story, but S has the advantage of being 38 episodes with character focus episodes in it whilst Crystal Season III has only 13 with little to no character focus episodes.

-Better characterization. All of the characters, even the Inners, have hints of personalities to them, and can easily be recognized as their manga counterparts, even the Inners are done better and are slightly more useful, Usagi is far superior and actually cares about others, and the friendship with Chibi-Usa and Hotaru is executed perfectly, Chibi-Usa is far superior here in season 3 than in season 2. The only flaws with characterization of the Inners still don't develop and don't feel like they have much importance, their focus episodes don't really add anything to them and sometimes they're still useless, and Moon still feels a bit too perfect like she can do no wrong, the friendship between those five still feels a bit unbelievable, but they're still believable as characters, though once again, not as good as S.

Unfortunately, two of the Outers are a bit less impressive. Sailor Uranus/Haruka, is too overplayed as if all the focus on the Outers goes to her, and Sailor Neptune/Michiru is too underplayed, just feels like she's "there", and doesn't feel like she has that much of a personality compared to her 90's counterpart, other than being Uranus' accessory, sadly this is another flaw the manga had, and it doesn't make their relationship beloved by fans believable in this version, showing unfortunately the manga's characterizations of them haven't aged well also. Also, that whole thing with the kiss was just plain wrong, and the Outers' behavior when we first see them make them look way worse than their 90's counterparts, who were wonderful characters despite their controversial tactics and cold behavior. Pluto and Saturn are used excellently though.

Unfortunately, most of the villains aren't too impressive, still mostly bland and such, and some are just unlikable compared to other versions, like Professor Tomoe, who instead of being the crazy, goofy, hilarious, insane mad scientist guy in S, was just a standard, typical mad scientist who unfortunately was an abusive, cold hearted monster. The only villains I really liked were Pharaoh 90 himself, Mistress 9 (who was also slightly creepy with those googly eyes of hers, and her true form was freaky), Kaorinite, and Vilyui, the latter whom they made much more intelligent than in the other two versions, I'll give props for that.

Most of the themes/music are pretty good, I love all three versions of the new theme song and the first and third endings, Eternal Eternity I'd even say is a modern music masterpiece. Unfortunately, Chibi-Usa's theme song, which would more fit the Dream arc, if we get it, or the Black Moon arc, is terrible.

The voice acting is good as always, and props to Junko Minagawa for a practically perfect duplicate of Uranus' original voice (and adding a wonderful touch of masculinity to "Eternal Eternity"...), never before have I heard a perfect imitation of her voice, the only other close ones would be Hisako Kanemoto as Mercury and Ai Maeda as Sailor Pluto. Kotono does a better job as Usagi, Shizuka Itoh is good as Venus, Rina Sato decent as Mars, Ami Kochimizu OK as Jupiter (Neptune and Saturn, though I forgot who voiced them were good too), but I cannot stand Misato Fukuen's take on Chibi Moon, she sounds really miscast and whenever she shouts Chibi Moon's transformation and attack name, it sounds weird and odd, she sounds more like a middle aged woman trying to imitate a 7 year old.

Despite the flaws that this series has, the good points far outweigh it and gives hope that we will get more seasons, it captures a lot of the original charms that made the original manga and anime so great and beloved, Toei put a great amount of effort into this. I'm excited for the Dead Moon arc, which was the best manga arc, better than the Infinity manga arc and the original SuperS, the worst arc of the original anime.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III, which was a beacon of hope like Usagi/Sailor Moon in there, isn't as great as the original Sailor Moon S, but it is still an amazing modern day Sailor Moon anime/show, and I give it a 7/10 or 7.5/10, count it as the true first season of Crystal, and can highly recommend it. I'm sure Naoko would have loved this one, and I think both Infinity arc anime series will stand the test of time. I still can't recommend Crystal as a whole though, with two horrible seasons being followed by only one excellent third season.

I cannot wait for the fourth season of Crystal though, and I hope it's just as great, if not better.

Story: 6/10 (More faithful to the manga and improves upon it in parts but still suffers from the storytelling flaws that seasons 1-2 had, unfortunately even the Infinity arc in the manga didn't age too well)

Art/Animation: 9/10 (Some of the best art/animation I've seen in a Sailor Moon anime/modern day anime, albeit it looking sloppy and rushed towards the end or the animation being choppy from time to time, and oddly the Blu-Rays aren't fixing it this time)

Sound: 7/10 (Still uses the same generic music as the original, but it's improved. Voice acting is good all around mostly, minus Chibi Moon...)

Character: 5/10 (Better than the first two seasons but the characterization is still mediocre and partially bland for all of the characters especially with the Inners, Uranus and Neptune here)

Enjoyment: 7/10 (Despite its ups, downs, and disappointing finale, I still enjoyed this series and I'm willing to rewatch it again unlike seasons 1-2 of Crystal, though it still can't top Sailor Moon S)

Overall: 7/10 (A good, enjoyable modern day Sailor Moon anime. If you want to see a Sailor Moon anime in this day and age, watch this season only)

second try:

- because I just watched two episodes, wrote a really critical review with a score of 3, it was deleted by whomever, and than someone texted me like, "how could you rate something, not watching till the end of the series" ... that's why I gived the third season a new chance, because they were right. Just to watch two episodes no one can tell, how the anime is, so, here is my second try. I have watched it till the end -

Story:
The story is really good, there is no doubt. I like how Sailor Moon is not a powerfull (physically) superwhatever, because she ... can just fight with the support of her friends and with the love, Mamoru gives her.

What I personaly dislike is, when the antagonist dies, a new one comes up, just out'a nowhere.
So the plotstring between every main antagonist isn't really smoothly as the plotstring of the Sailor warriors are ( I can't really explain this, because it would end up with a spoiler).

Characters:
Hmm... I am really glad that Usagi acts like an adult. This was my main problem with the two first episodes. I thought, that they (author) changed the character of Usagi, which was perfect in the first two seasons of Crystal.
All in all, every character is wonderfull, even if the author did not give us enough time to get to know the secondary characters as well as Usagi.

But if he or she does it, it would end up with a 100+ episode anime, and they can't do this, because there is an anime which shows us more of them (every other Sailor Moon anime).

Art:
Just no... Yes the animation when they transforming into sailor warriors is better than before, but overall I did like the animation from the first crystal season more. It was much loveable.
The cats for example were so beautiful, now they are some trianguler-shade-faces.

Also... the ATTACKS.. why? Why can't they attack normally, it was so perfect before.
This was also the reason why I couldn't watch this season and every other season from Sailor Moon (despite of Usagis childisch and annoying character).
Those hearts flying here and there, the needless dance of Usagi, the scene changing when some Sailor Warrior want's to attack (e.g. Snake Fire, Water Mist...).
I personally hate it and can't stand it.

Sound:
I love the Opening, I hate the two last Endings, I love the Soundtracks.

All in all:
Story very good (8)
Art not so good (5)
Sound very good (8)
Character okay (6)
Enjoyment (because of the attacks and the animation) neeh (6)
Overall a fair -> 6.6 ~ (7)

If I had to review Sailor Moon Crystal S3 in one sentence, it would be: "It does the best it can from the premise it has" (that is, faithfully adapting the manga).

As a lifelong fan of both the manga and the classic anime, I know the pros and cons of both of them; and the manga's main problem is that it is too fast-paced and develops little on the characters, something the classic anime does much better due to having 3 times more content (as someone else said, SM is a rare example of an anime that benefits from filler).

As a 95% faithful adaptation of ... the manga, Crystal inevitably carries on this problem; however, it handles it much better than the first two arcs. The plot is pretty consistent and correctly explained (if still fast-paced), although to me this arc has always been the weakest regarding the background (aliens invading the Earth because their home planet is dying, anything more generic please?). The senshi have actual personalities that can make you distinguish them from one another, contrary to the first seasons, you can actually care about them. And thank goodness, the art is beautiful (the previous art is an example that art for manga and for anime work in different ways).

Essentially, this season is what I originally expected from Sailor Moon Crystal and didn't get in the first two arcs. It still has flaws, but those are due to the original material and the scarce length; as I said, it does the better it can with what it has. I just hope they keep it on with the following arc and that eventually we get the Stars arc, which is for me the true peak of the manga.

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

Babysteps. This sequel, is like a babystep on the right direction, by it's improved arts and characterization, but, in the end, falls flat right to it's face.

Super Sailor Chibi Moon... I know it happened in the original too, but still... c'mon! Does this really have to be so close of DBZ-levels of stupid?!

Sailor Moon season III The Death Busters was always my favourite season in the original Sailor Moon, because of it's multicolored characters - both heroes and villains... whom are fairly plentiful in this season - and the final intorducion of three ... outer senshi, which I always found much more deeper, interesting and all in all more fascinating characters, than the first five girls of the Sailor-set. Since I was honestly dissapointed by the quality and the overall end-product of the first two seasons of SMC, I wasn't hoping much when turning the third season on to 'play'... and even though this was better than the prequel, as much as it pains me to say, I just can't fully enjoy this one either!

Of course, it's always deligtful to see, that the animation is much more pleasant to look at, and they took away those horrible CGI-effects that plagued the first two season! The music is still one of the two biggest saving graces for the entire season, but the other inner senshi - including Usagi - are actually growing to resemble more of those girls from the original SM, that I really used to love and appriciate. That being said, this pretty much covers all the good stuff in this show for me.

My biggest gripe against this show, was - surprise! - the outer senshi themselves. Why? Because this show is only 13 episodes long! The original SM took way more time to truly build up and develope the first two outer senshi, Michiru and Haruka, who for the longest time, played this complicated masquerade with the inner senshi, of whether or not they're the enemy, or the ally. This one... yeah. No time for that one, since the whole season itself was already packed full with storyelements and plotpoints, that it was almost essential to cut something out... and, unfortunately, that something was indeed characterization and development of character-chemistry, if you will.

In the original SM, the premise was as such. This dangerous, mysterious evil from outer space, Messiah of Silence, was heading straight to Earth, and because that something is indeed evil, it wants to destroy - no surprises there. The only way to defeat it, is this Holy Grail, that, depending of the hands it falls, can either destroy everyhting, or save everything. Again, fairly simple. But, in order to contain that Holy Grail, you must have these three talismans, that are hidden inside of living human beings, and if you distract those talismans out of them, they'll die. Now, that's way too dark for our five little girls to handle, so, on the spotlight steps these two, mysterious senshi, that are voluntarily ready to soil their hands in the blood of innocents, in order to save many, and so fulfill their destiny before the prophezised dooms day.

This is the story that I really enjoyed in the original show, since it created this unavoidable conflict between two groups of senshi, with the same goal in mind, but with different means to achieve said goal - save the world and do not sacrifice anyone in the process. This both alienated the outer senshi out of inner senshi, since they couldn't work together because of their differing ideals, and made them these unvoluntary villains, since their destiny being to kill somebody, in order to save many, was something that the inner senshi just couldn't get behind. This was great to watch in the original searies, but in this... no! Just... no!

Firstly, the talismans are already found. Yeah! All the three of them! All there, in their hands, and already in good use, when in the original, it literaly cost a life and limb to obtain them! And instead of these unvoluntary villains, these Michiru and Haruka - Setsuna too, I guess... - were more like these Messengers of Doom, all dark, eary and mysterious... stalkers, but, in the end, always ready to stand behind Usagi and her believes, when in the original series, it was never truly brought up directly. They were still fighting together, but unlike the inner senshi, outer senshi took themselves a bigger picture to take care of, and I really appreciated that about them too.

Another gripe of mine was the character of Hotaru. No, wait... not the character herself - she was done beautifully in this! - but her... eh, that scene, were she makes Chibi-usa cry, at the balcony. The death scene! That was stupid.

Don't get me wrong, now! It was beautiful, but it was also stupid! Really stupid. Kinda like those notorious DBZ-moments, when a character dies, they're all yelling and screaming into the skies above, and all I'm asking is, "why do we even care?"! Why do I have to care, if the senshi of Death and Rebirth is dying, but will later return as a baby?! Way too sappy way to create more drama, if you ask me, and I could've managed easily without it, thank you very much!

Overall, this season of SMC isn't perfect... in fact, it's not even good. But, it was still way more enjoyable, than the first two seasons, if only because of the improved arts, still breathtakingly beautiful soundtrack, and characters. Other than that, I wouldn't recommend this to... well, anyone, really. It doesn't please of those who like the original SM, it sure as hell doesn't please of those who'd like to learn more about Sailor Moon, and I can't think off any scenario, in which this series would please any regular anime-fans either!

This series was just marketing - nothing more, nothing less. Watch if you're still interested, but don't feel bad for droping it. Trust me, because I wouldn't.

Story: 6
Art: 8
Sound: 7
Character: 6
Enjoyment: 6
Overall: 6

REVIEW IN ENGLISH -

I finished the third season of this new adaptation and I must say: WHAT A BEAUTIFUL ANIMATION! The quality in this season is absurd, both in character development and in the story, animation and soundtrack, it's really beautiful. I think they heard a consent on what was delivered previously, and fixed it here. They improved the lines, the animation... and removed that horrible CGI in the Sailor transformations. The anime remains serious and very well constructed, it really conveys the emotion that the scene wants to convey. Also, this adaptation improved Chibiusa absurdly, because in the classic anime she was a bit ... annoying, but here she is wonderful and I got more attached to her, so if before I didn't like her so much now I love her! I just don't give full marks for the ending itself, which was left very open, I think it's positive even open endings, and here it was necessary, but, at a certain stage, in this way the season ended in a very inconclusive way, and even if there is a continuation our films believe that a season should be properly concluded. Anyway, it's the only point to mention. I highly recommend this season.

REVIEW EM PORTUGUÊS, BRASIL -

Finalizei a terceira temporada dessa nova adaptação e devo dizer: QUE ANIMAÇÃO LINDA! A qualidade nessa temporada é absurda, tanto no desenvolvimento do personagem, quanto na história, animação e trilha sonora, é realmente muito lindo. Acho que eles ouviram um consentimento sobre o que foi entregue anteriormente, e arrumaram aqui. Melhoraram os traços, a animação... e tiraram aquele CGI horroroso nas transformações em Sailor. O anime segue sério e muito bem construído, passa realmente a emoção que a cena quer transmitir. Também, consegui que essa adaptação melhoraram absurdamente a Chibiusa, pois no anime clássico ela era meio irritante, mas aqui ela é maravilhosa e eu apeguei mais a ela, então se antes não curtia tanto agora a adoro! Só não dou nota máxima pelo final mesmo, que ficou bem em aberto, acho positivo finais em aberto até, e aqui era necessário, mas, com um certo estágio, dessa forma a temporada foi finalizada de forma muito inconclusiva, e mesmo que continuação há nossos filmes acreditam que uma temporada deve ser devidamente finalizada. Enfim, é o único ponto a que citar. Recomendo muito essa temporada.

You can check out my review of the previous seasons here: https://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=412114

Generally an improvement on seasons 1 + 2, season 3 of Sailor Moon Crystal is a great anime held back by a lack of character development.

This season follows my favorite arc in Sailor Moon - the Infinity arc. This arc is definitely a much darker feeling arc - with some interesting nihilistic-feeling mysteries that would not feel too out of place in a Madoka Magika spinoff. I mean, it's still sailor moon - so don't get over hyped; but if you've been hoping for a bit more lore, the Infinity arc has you covered.

So ... the previous seasons I rated a 6/10 due largely to two penalizing reasons:
1. The ancillary sailor scouts lack enough character development and usefulness
2. The Transformation sequences are held back by bad CGI

While the former reason is still very much present, the latter is.... somewhat better. OG Sailor Moon transformations are still far more beautiful. The cartoonish design of OG sailor moon also makes the characters far more endearing. However, it is clear the studio has heard the backlash and is attempting to address it.

That, coupled by apex arc, makes this season an improved 7/10

When I wrote my review of the first season, I decided to pretend I’d never heard of Sailor Moon before. And I stand by that review. Even more so now that I’ve watched season three. Complaint number one, the amount of time this show spends on assembling the characters. If you watch the opening sequence, you know eventually Sailor Pluto arrives. At least Neptune and Uranus are the mysterious new characters from the onset. But it takes so long to introduce her one wonders why she was included on the opening. Complaint number two is pacing. I am willing to bet if you removed the ... transformation sequences, flashbacks to events we already witnessed & reactionary shots of everyone this season would only be seven episodes. Ten characters have to give their two cents on every event that occurs; thirteen if you count the three cats. Which is a fun segway to complaint three, scobies again. I get it it’s called Sailor Moon, and it’s her show, but that leaves everyone else with little or nothing else to do other than wait for Sailor Moon to save the day. Complaint four is an issue with marketability. I’m sure little girls and those nostalgic for the original series will love it; also those who read the manga (maybe) but who else? I don’t know anyone I would recommend this series to. Hell I only watched it because I’ve never seen Sailors Neptune and Uranus before.
But it’s not all bad news. It picks up towards the middle. The art is polished and tightened from the first two seasons and we waste less time on expensive transformation sequences. Also the show is full of gripping emotional content. You genuinely feel for these characters, but you have to. The show kind of beats you over the head with their emotions. There are a few other things I could mention but I’ll forgive this show those sins in favor of nostalgia; which is the only reason I can give for actually watching this season.
I wouldn’t go as far as “don’t watch this!” but I will say “Surely you can find better anime to watch than this…”