Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Cosmos Movie

The Sailor Moon reboot has been a decade-long bumpy ride. From an uninspired start with Sailor Moon Crystal Seasons 1-2, where the adaptation actually tarnished the source material by omitting most humane interactions of its cast and opting for an endless amount of ugly looking melodrama, to an amazing improvement on Season 3, which felt like watching an anime again and more often than not updated certain elements of the manga, to Sailor Moon Eternal that, as confusingly condensed as it was at times, brought back some charm and wit, to Sailor Moon Cosmos, which is by far the best addition to this incarnation of ... the franchise.

The Stars arc is a trendsetter for a lot of existential themes found in shoujo anime. Its symbolism, lore and overall message are by far some of my favorite in japanese animation. The two movies managed to explain several intricate/questionable points and visualized them properly by adding flashbacks/visions. There's not much left unexplained. Some ambiguity remains, but personally, this is why this arc works (weeell, except for the existence of a specific character that requires some mental gymnastics, ifykyk).

Despite the tightly-knit plot, each character feels true to their persona and their interactions completely make each of them shine. Taiki and Yaten are actually likable, who would have thought!

The movie format actually worked rather well here. It reinforces the high stakes and the shock value of the arc. With just three more minutes of screen time, some transitions between scenes would be less abrupt, but I truly think the team did absolutely everything they could to make all the time restrictions cast upon them work.

Director Tomoya Takahashi proved just how important good direction is. He uses flashy transitions, the camera work is eventful, the characters actually move and there's so much amazing lightwork. Actions scenes have energy and emotional scenes actually carry some weight. There were more than a few tears shed.

Even the music is more inspired and enriched despite being composed by the the same composer from previous seasons (Yasuharu Takanashi). The themes of Galaxia, Kakyuu and Cosmos are definitive highlights.

These movies contain the highest highs of the reboot animation-wise. There's much more movement and a somewhat consistent quality all the way through the films. The stock footage, even though it can feel redundant to some, not only is it really beautiful 90% of the time, but has amazing references from the 90s anime (I love nostalgia bait what can I say) and saves some money for the most pivotal scenes, which look absolutely amazing imo. The line-work and the colors are lively and impactful depending on the mood of each scene. I counted like fifteen (?) instances/seconds of wonky animation out of a 160 minute project. If Crystal had started out like this, I wouldn't even mention these moments because there is no such thing as perfection, especially in a Toei production.

Sailor Moon Cosmos was triumphant at what it set out to do, which is a faithful 1:1 adaptation of the manga. For the most part, it managed to embody and successfully decipher the manga arc (even improve upon it in certain ways). I really wish this had been the team working on the reboot from day 1. But I guess it wouldn't be a Sailor Moon project without a few "what if"'s.


8.5/10

As far as I am aware that this is how Sailor Moon usually is, I still have a tremendous amount of love for this franchise. I love the 90s series and the original Sailor Moon for me will always be that one, I gotta say that for sure.
The whole new adaptation, Crystal, was kind of refreshing, it was like following my favorite childhood series all over again but I gotta be honest about how disappointed I was with the first season. After that, they kind of made it enjoyable with season 3 and even made a satisfying film with Eternal for me but I ... gotta say that Cosmos, which I had the most expectations of really disappointed me, especially with part 1.
I don't know if I am the only one but the story was jumping all over the place, the scenes were really incoherent and I had a hard time staying calm. I am aware that this is a movie and they have to make it compact and all but watching this movie felt like reading a whole bunch of drabbles and it's not my cup of tea when it comes to movies.
Look, I am IN LOVE with Seiya. I literally signed up for this whole mess only for Seiya and... anyways. I have some really mixed feelings for this movie, and as far as I am happy that it concluded I am strongly thinking that it could have been better.
Now, I am gonna go and watch the Stars season from the 90s version again just to relive my love for Seiya.

Total crap and the worst part of this Crystal remake series, which was very mediocre and sometimes outright bad anyway. While the previous parts were directed maybe at 12-13 years old, Cosmos audience have to be some 7 in order to enjoy it. It's emotionally flat, with incoherent plot, too much talking, and lukewarm play of voice actors. The characters' personalities are inconsistent, and they behave in ways that oppose their basic characters. Stupid gags and improper humour ruin the presumably serious mood of this part, with the characters suddenly getting all happy and cheerful right after being sad and broken.

There's nothing good to be ... said about this movie, except maybe for Yasuharu Takanashi's soundtrack. Still, despite all my love for this composer, I appreciate the ost of the old anime much more. Definitely not recommended.