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sailor moon crystal
ANIME REVIEW: Sailor Moon Crystal
1:12 AM
Synopsis: New Sailor Moon anime commemorating the 20th anniversary of Sailor Moon.
Usagi Tsukino is a second-year middle school girl who is a little clumsy and a crybaby, but she is full of energy. One day, she meets Luna, a black cat with a crescent moon on her forehead, and she transforms into Sailor Moon, a sailor-uniformed pretty guardian of love and justice! As a chosen guardian of justice, Usagi seems to have a mission to find the Illusionary Silver Crystal with the other guardians and to protect the princess.
Meanwhile, the queen of the Dark Kingdom, Queen Beryl, also sends minions to the town where Usagi lives to obtain the Illusionary Silver Crystal, which has immense power. This causes strange events to unfold...
Can Sailor Moon really find the Illusionary Silver Crystal with the other Sailor guardians, and protect the princess...?!
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Title: Sailor Moon Crystal, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Crystal
Episodes: 26
Genre(s): Magic, romance, shoujo
Air Date: July 5, 2014—July 18, 2015
Producers: Toei Animation, Starchild Records, Viz Media, Kodansha
• • •
So, I never wanted to watch this show with the intentions to compare it to the original Sailor Moon. I grew up on Sailor Moon. She and the guardians were my first heroes, they inspired me and gave me a life of magic. I love Sailor Moon.
I do not, however, love Sailor Moon Crystal.
Don't get me wrong. There is a lot to love about Sailor Moon Crystal. And for what it was worth, I did enjoy it. But inevitably, despite trying to keep a clear head and open mind, I ended up comparing Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal...and, to me, the original is better. In this review I will absolutely try not to compare it to the original.
For one, I did enjoy the art style. While I did notice some animation errors—which is what actually looks like the animators just got lazy about as the series went on; it almost appears as if after they made the opening sequence and put all the work into the gorgeous design of that everyone lost interest afterward—I felt like they were trying to apply the new, modern drawing and animation style to the unique art style of Naoko Takeuchi. I really enjoyed that aspect because that meant there was a new but older feel to the art style and it also meant a lot of colorful and bright animation.
However, on the topic of the animation, I did not at all enjoy the transformation of the sailor senshi. It was strange, awkward, and just really unusual. It looks like 3D models of the characters were used during this process and then brought to life. But despite being "brought to life" the 3D versions of the 2D sailor senshi don't look quiet...themselves. They're lifeless and more doll-like than anything, and a lot of emotion and liveliness is lacking in their transformations.
I liked that the plot followed the original manga more so than it did the anime that was created before Crystal. However, I did miss some of the quirks from the original Sailor Moon. I think this is where I really started to compare Crystal to the original anime when I really didn't mean to. I missed some of the fillers that gave the character more background and history and life. It felt like all of that was missing in Sailor Moon Crystal. It felt like we were thrown all these characters with nothing unique or specific about them. Maybe a short introduction to give us a peek into their life, but nothing to really connect to. And that's what I loved about Sailor Moon. They had stories, lives, and families and there was a lot of character development.
As I'm sure everyone knows by now—I love character development. There was very little in Sailor Moon Crystal. Whenever development happened, it's as though the animators forgot that it happened and threw one of the characters back to their former self. This is seen more so with Usagi than any of the other girls, I think. I think even Chibiusa matured more than Usagi in the short time she was in the show than Usagi herself did. Everyone talked about how stronger and more mature Usagi had become, and reveled at her new-found determination. However, although she spoke as though she had those things, all I could see was the crybaby Usagi from the first episode. While in Sailor Moon crybaby Usagi was something to love—because she actually does grow and become stronger, and although she has setbacks she still has a lot of development—crybaby Usagi in Sailor Moon Crystal was something I found to be unbearable and annoying.
As for everyone else and their character development...well, they were strangers. We knew nothing about them, Sailor Moon Crystal took no time to build their stories or expand upon them. They were just plastic, nonexistent characters there to fill up the scene in which they were standing.
The worst part of it all is I really couldn't see Crystal Usagi as the role model I grew up with and learned to adore. The Usagi that I wanted to be like. The Usagi who was strong, brave, and brought people together despite being clumsy and ditzy and crying all the time. Crystal Usagi is overly obsessed with Mamoru and sometimes even forgets that she has friends and not just a soul mate by her side. Maybe a lot of this has to do with the fact that the people behind Crystal didn't even bother to expand upon the other sailor senshi and give them stories or likable qualities to connect to. Whether it does or not, however, doesn't mean that Usagi or even the animators should just throw the other characters on the back burner. Ultimately, that's something that ended up happening.
Due to that fact, although the plot tried to—and did to some extent—follow the manga, a lot of this series just felt like a melodrama. Evil that had to be fought felt similar and repetitive. Crappy love subplots were given to the other senshi, and then never expanded upon. In fact, they were practically thrown out. Whether this is a budget thing, or because the animators just didn't want to focus on anyone that wasn't Usagi, it kind of upset me. I thought during that time that maybe the other senshi would finally get some of the spotlight. If they couldn't have background stories that were to be expanded upon, at least they could have this. But in the end they didn't even get that. And don't even get me started on the Usagi and Mamoru drama—and later the Chibiusa drama—that took place. It was dumb, silly, and painful to watch. I thought a lot of that was bad the first watch with Sailor Moon (I didn't like Chibiusa for quite a while during that series, ha) but this was really terrible to sit through.
I really, really tried to like this series. I did, to an extent. I think really the only thing I actually enjoyed was that it was a reboot and I got to see Sailor Moon in action again. But I really wanted to love Sailor Moon Crystal. I couldn't. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't come to love this Sailor Moon or even this series.
There are rumors of a second series for Sailor Moon Crystal. Honestly, I would just suggest re-watching the 200 episodes of Sailor Moon.
I do not, however, love Sailor Moon Crystal.
Don't get me wrong. There is a lot to love about Sailor Moon Crystal. And for what it was worth, I did enjoy it. But inevitably, despite trying to keep a clear head and open mind, I ended up comparing Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal...and, to me, the original is better. In this review I will absolutely try not to compare it to the original.
For one, I did enjoy the art style. While I did notice some animation errors—which is what actually looks like the animators just got lazy about as the series went on; it almost appears as if after they made the opening sequence and put all the work into the gorgeous design of that everyone lost interest afterward—I felt like they were trying to apply the new, modern drawing and animation style to the unique art style of Naoko Takeuchi. I really enjoyed that aspect because that meant there was a new but older feel to the art style and it also meant a lot of colorful and bright animation.
However, on the topic of the animation, I did not at all enjoy the transformation of the sailor senshi. It was strange, awkward, and just really unusual. It looks like 3D models of the characters were used during this process and then brought to life. But despite being "brought to life" the 3D versions of the 2D sailor senshi don't look quiet...themselves. They're lifeless and more doll-like than anything, and a lot of emotion and liveliness is lacking in their transformations.
I liked that the plot followed the original manga more so than it did the anime that was created before Crystal. However, I did miss some of the quirks from the original Sailor Moon. I think this is where I really started to compare Crystal to the original anime when I really didn't mean to. I missed some of the fillers that gave the character more background and history and life. It felt like all of that was missing in Sailor Moon Crystal. It felt like we were thrown all these characters with nothing unique or specific about them. Maybe a short introduction to give us a peek into their life, but nothing to really connect to. And that's what I loved about Sailor Moon. They had stories, lives, and families and there was a lot of character development.
As I'm sure everyone knows by now—I love character development. There was very little in Sailor Moon Crystal. Whenever development happened, it's as though the animators forgot that it happened and threw one of the characters back to their former self. This is seen more so with Usagi than any of the other girls, I think. I think even Chibiusa matured more than Usagi in the short time she was in the show than Usagi herself did. Everyone talked about how stronger and more mature Usagi had become, and reveled at her new-found determination. However, although she spoke as though she had those things, all I could see was the crybaby Usagi from the first episode. While in Sailor Moon crybaby Usagi was something to love—because she actually does grow and become stronger, and although she has setbacks she still has a lot of development—crybaby Usagi in Sailor Moon Crystal was something I found to be unbearable and annoying.
As for everyone else and their character development...well, they were strangers. We knew nothing about them, Sailor Moon Crystal took no time to build their stories or expand upon them. They were just plastic, nonexistent characters there to fill up the scene in which they were standing.
The worst part of it all is I really couldn't see Crystal Usagi as the role model I grew up with and learned to adore. The Usagi that I wanted to be like. The Usagi who was strong, brave, and brought people together despite being clumsy and ditzy and crying all the time. Crystal Usagi is overly obsessed with Mamoru and sometimes even forgets that she has friends and not just a soul mate by her side. Maybe a lot of this has to do with the fact that the people behind Crystal didn't even bother to expand upon the other sailor senshi and give them stories or likable qualities to connect to. Whether it does or not, however, doesn't mean that Usagi or even the animators should just throw the other characters on the back burner. Ultimately, that's something that ended up happening.
Due to that fact, although the plot tried to—and did to some extent—follow the manga, a lot of this series just felt like a melodrama. Evil that had to be fought felt similar and repetitive. Crappy love subplots were given to the other senshi, and then never expanded upon. In fact, they were practically thrown out. Whether this is a budget thing, or because the animators just didn't want to focus on anyone that wasn't Usagi, it kind of upset me. I thought during that time that maybe the other senshi would finally get some of the spotlight. If they couldn't have background stories that were to be expanded upon, at least they could have this. But in the end they didn't even get that. And don't even get me started on the Usagi and Mamoru drama—and later the Chibiusa drama—that took place. It was dumb, silly, and painful to watch. I thought a lot of that was bad the first watch with Sailor Moon (I didn't like Chibiusa for quite a while during that series, ha) but this was really terrible to sit through.
I really, really tried to like this series. I did, to an extent. I think really the only thing I actually enjoyed was that it was a reboot and I got to see Sailor Moon in action again. But I really wanted to love Sailor Moon Crystal. I couldn't. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't come to love this Sailor Moon or even this series.
There are rumors of a second series for Sailor Moon Crystal. Honestly, I would just suggest re-watching the 200 episodes of Sailor Moon.
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