Sailor Moon Crystal has divided the Sailor Moon fanbase. You either love it or you hate it. However you can be in between. I thought it would be fun if we share are viewpoints on Crystal. Maybe even get someone to look at it different view. What do you think is the good? The bad? And the ugly?


I'll start off with a good note:



The Moon Pride video because of all of the Silver Millennium Porn. I am a huge fan of the Silver Millennium if they just made this instead of Crystal I would have been happy. Hell I want a Silver Millennium OVA. 

I do love the Moon Pride song. It's not amazing or anything, but it's a fun song.

You know if the animators could draw Crystal would look beautiful:


^
I think this my favorite screenshot from the series.

This one isn't so bad either:



or this one:



Instead we get this like 99% of time:


(someone couldn't decided how the hair should look or never has drawn hair before)

Honestly I don't care that they're following Naoko's style. I don't have a favorite over the other.

Which leaves to the bad:

Okay first off art style and animation are two totally different things. As I pointed out if the animators could draw Crystal would look beautiful. However the animation is not smooth and there's barely any to begin with. I swear I feel like 90% of time I am watching a visual novel. 

Hehe the famous wand twirl:



Yes, I know it's a low budget anime, but there are good looking low budget animes out there. I think Toei just wanted to focus on selling the merch. That's where the money is seeing how they're coming out with stuff based the old anime. I think it's sad when low budget studios make higher quality animation than the bigger studios. 

Plus they have two weeks sometimes even three weeks to animate an episode. Most animes get one week. 

Yeah they do fix things up in the blu/DVD releases, but I feel like it shouldn't be this sloopy to begin with:



Like what hell is that? Poor Usagi she deserves better. The bottom face on the left is now a meme. Thanks Toei.

I don't mind that they fix things for the Blu/DVD releases, but I feel like it should be minor issues or things you don't notice right away. I mean we all saw that face in episode three. It wasn't an in between frame.

Yes, the animation does get a better in the second arc. 

The Ugly:

The CGI transformations are the ugliest transformations I have ever watched. I know Toei likes the add in CGI into their shows. They do it with Precure all the time, but my god why full CGI? What they made those in 2014? They look outdated already. Out of the five Venus has best looking one.


The character expressions:

Like 90% of time the characters in Crystal stand around with their mouths open or into space. Like where are the expressions? The manga and old anime are filled to brim with them. The manga is flows with emotion. It wants the reader to feel what the characters are feeling.

It took them until the second arc to show goofy faces (with stupid borders) .Plus because of the awkward animation the characters can't fully express themselves. 


Time for the big one the writing. Ugh it's so hollow. I'm a not a huge fan of the manga, but I feel like the story was much better in the manga. The fast pace can works for the manga. I hate it, but it works. I think I would have like it more if Naoko added one or two chapters per arc. Toei could have fixed the pacing issues. If they would have made each arc 26 episodes long I think we would have gotten something great. It took flesh out all of the characters. We could have seen more of the past in the first arc and see the senshi struggle in the second arc. They could have keep the key moments of the manga and expand on it. Like have Venus last last a decoy princess a bit longer.   

I feel like they wanted to do something different like keeping the generals alive. Oh wait PGSM did that and ten times better if must add.

These are all my feelings with Crystal. Over all I was really disappointed with it and I don't like it. My comments may sound harsh, but I am very blunt with my opinions. If I don't like something I will tell you. In case you're wondering I did dropped Crystal like around episode 20. I tried so hard to finish it, but I just couldn't take it anymore.

So please share your thoughts and don't feel afraid to voice your opinions. 

Oh! I forgot the voice acting is pretty good. Minus Usagi's. I really wish she got a new voice.

I remember being quite giddy when the character designs were first posted, despite not really being a Sailor Moon fan. It only took a couple of conversations with friends the very next day to sour things, and of course TUMBLR.

I went in optimistic despite a few hiccups like Usagi's famous "I have nothing going on" face. And I actually didn't mind Usagi's voice. I was particularly pleased with Ami's since she was able to sound NOT like Cure Peace-baby.

Aside from the controversy the OP song started up I actually liked it, same goes for the ED.

The OST was nice but I felt it sounded too much like Precure.

Tumblr: It's done by the same person who does Precure so of course it sounds similar!

Thanks, that changes everything.

Sadly, by the time the episode where Queen Beryl descended onto the roof happened, I just lost interest in the show. It just... wasn't interesting. It wasn't doing anything nasty or upsetting at the time. I just sort of dropped off.

Then the nasty started happening and I found myself increasingly glad I didn't continue watching.

I'm happy that Sailor Moon got a new anime and that new merch (like those pose-able figures) are being made. But I feel kinda sad that the best it could get was an incredibly low-budget web animation.

Quote :

 But I feel kinda sad that the best it could get was an incredibly low-budget web animation.

^ That

Like just that. 

I know Sailor Moon isn't a bigger house like it used to be, but I feel like Toei could have put more effort into it. Instead of a show maybe they should have done a 45 minute OVA for each arc. I feel like it would have came out better.

You know, at first I was really shocked that Crystal didn't have a bigger budget. I mean, it's Sailor Moon, one of those most iconic franchises ever!

...But then I remembered that PGSM and Sera Myu didn't exactly have the biggest budgets either, and then I wasn't really all that surprised anymore. Haha.

Sailor Moon Crystal is honestly a really sad thing for me, though. When I first joined the Sailor Moon fandom in like 2008 or so, I was a huge fan of the manga. Sailor Moon was pretty much dead, and I dreamed that it would make a comeback... And one of the things I really wanted was a remake of the anime that is closer to the manga. I even wanted it to be one chapter = one episode.

And, to my intense surprise, I ended up getting my wish! But... I don't really like the results at all. And now I'm starting to realize that those fillers I despised back then in the 90's anime actually had a purpose... And that the 90's anime actually made some really good changes to the story. I cried when I saw episode 46 the first time... The wand twirl in Crystal made me laugh.

I stopped watching after the Dark Kingdom arc ended, and admittedly, that's always been my least favorite of the manga. I might try picking the series back up. I've heard it's better. But I'm not sure.

It's better but Crystal can't win me back.

Some people who don't like Crystal are annoying. They complain how the episodes go and I'm just sitting here. It's the manga!!! They are following the manga to almost to a T! 

I have been enjoying it, I was a fan of the manga and I am still holding out hope that they continue. It is surprising that the budget wasn't as good as it should have been, since they really promoting the return of Sailor Moon, you'd think that would have more of a budget to work with.

Crystal has done one good thing for me. It has opened my eyes.

I remember watching Sailor Moon as a kid. I watched it on Toonami. However I don't consider it my first anime because I didn't know what that was at the time. First anime goes to both Yu Yu Hakasho and InuYasha.

Sailor Moon has always been near and dear to my heart. My love for it rekindled when I found a Sailor Moon forum four years ago. Recently I found the fire dying a bit thanks to Crystal. Watching a true adaption of the manga made realize how weak the story really is. Don't get me wrong you can find meaningful stuff, but for the most part it's a cheesy story about a girl with magic moon powers. I also found myself only truly loving one out of the five arcs. Classic. Naoko originally did want it to end there. But money talks. 

Do I still love Sailor Moon? Hell yeah! The 90s anime and PGSM are fun to watch. I went out of my way to own the first arc. As for the others I may or may not get them. I just don't love Sailor Moon like I used too. At least for now. Maybe after a few months the fire will burst once again. Crystal just really burned me out.

I guess I'll be the minority here, I have been loving Crystal very much.
I actually love all versions of sailor moon (manga, classic anime, crystal, live action, seramyu) because I simply adore the story.

Then animation in crystal never bothered me, the 90s anime was a low budge too and had equally as many mistakes, and bad moments.

I personally found the story telling, beautiful, and I strongly believe that they wanted to give crystal an old fashioned aura of 80s~90s. Crystal looked to me more like a vintage story telling with modern animation than anything else. I loved it like that.

I really liked the music, sure nothing beats Arisawa Takanori's compositions, the man was a true genius, but we can't really dig his grave to bring him back. I think overall they did great with the music.

about the CGI honestly I don't see the big deal either, I liked the transformations. 

That being said,

here's something about the low budget from a marketing perspective
*ahem*
well when crystal was announced sailor moon was 20 years old, they didn't believe in it 20 years ago and gave it a crappy low budget animation then, and they assumed that a reveal was not going to be anything special in viewing and selling power. I don't really know how it did in the end though.

the niconico broadcast was the most economical solutions, since there was no way someone would sponsored it.
They decided to put some money on Seramyu instead, because they knew they would sell like hot potatoes in the theatre. (pretty much why the Tux boy was played by a famous male impersonator with a huge fanbase behind her)
Theatre has a different fanbase which is steady, they are not waiting for the fanboys to go see the stage but the actual fans of theatre in general and the fans of the main performers especially.
To the point is way easier to find sponsors for a stage performance than an animated series which is a revival of all things.

Once the anime started, and people got interested in it, the sponsors came, and TV channels asked for the rights to broadcast, and it was then that the animation started to improve, not just on visuals but also on overall production.
Black Moon arc was very well done, and the villains were effing creepy. Especially Black Lady.

I know a lot people hate the animation errors. But I still dislike the animation as a whole because the characters are so stiff. Majority of the time they barely move. I feel like I'm watching a visual novel.

I feel that "watching a visual novel" was on purpose hmm but just my impression

Bleu well there better visual novels then this. Lol

Oh well, whatever floats everyone's boat ;)

Lol

I am very blunt with my opinions.

er...Mew Ami... what is with the bleu? are you trying to speak french? or was that a sound of disgust?

---

Things I liked
- Minako running up  a wall.
- Sailor Mar's powers. That flame! That fire!- yeah, i loved that
- Chibi usa
-  I like Sailor Jupiter
-I liked the songs( the ending and opening)
- I like the osts.( THE soundtrack)
- I like Sailor Pluto


things i disliked

- some of their behavior was awkward.
 -some scenes could have been done better
- some scenes that i wanted in were not included( like Groom Usagi and Minako  ending beryl)

--
also:

see, note that i am not denying that it has faults.
i am writing this down as someone on tumblr threatened me months ago and i am still rattled by that.
However... I will not stop stating my opinions.