(L+CR) Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal

[LoweGear]

(I can't believe I'm the one making this thread)

ANN report

Originally Posted by ANN

Publisher Kodansha and creator Naoko Takeuchi announced on Friday that a new anime adaptation of Takeuchi's Sailor Moon manga is being produced. The new anime series is aimed for release next summer, and the idol group Momoiro Clover Z will perform a theme song.

Kodansha and Takeuchi made the announcement during a live event celebrating the 20th anniversary of the manga. Momoiro Clover Z sang the first Sailor Moon anime's theme song "Moonlight Densetsu" at the event via a live video feed from France, where they are guests of Japan Expo.

Update: More background information added. Although Kotono Mitsuishi and Tohru Furuya, the voices of Sailor Moon/Usagi Tsukino and Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru Chiba in the first Sailor Moon anime, were present at the live event, the event did not specify that they will reprise their roles in the new series.

I'm not actually a fan of the series, but for some reason my nostalgia tendencies made me home on this news.

---

MOD EDIT:To keep this thread following the forum's spoiler policy, please use the following thread to discuss matters of a spollery nature: Sailor Moon Crystal - Anime Spoilers & Speculation [for experienced SM fans only]

[Frumix]

So yeah. This was well within expectations.
Pretty much a one-for-one adaptation of the first chapter of the manga.
Animation was generally decent, but could use more frames, no doubts there.
Captured the atmosphere properly however, and music outside of the transformation was actually really different from Precure stuff.
Some redesigns are interesting like Haruna-sensei, some are off like Shingo, some aren't even really different like Naru.
Next episode, Ami! Again seems to be one-for-one with the manga give or take.

This is pretty much all I wanted all along.
Oh yeah. Subs are really terrible.

[KuronaFanboy]

So I watched this.

I won't go into the plot at all. It's... Sailor Moon. Either you know it already or you're going to discover it. There isn't much to say either way.

Instead I'll focus on the quality of the anime itself.

Voice acting is... honestly, kind of awful. The seiyuu they picked for Usagi sounds like she's scratching nails on a blackboard pretty much everytime she opens her mouth. Unfortunately, that's basically for twenty consecutive minutes, and in some instances she is screaming, crying or wailing instead of just talking, making it a thousand times worse.
EDIT: It's been pointed out to me it's the same person who did her voice in the original. I feel dumb for not recognizing her, but that doesn't really change how I feel about how she sounds and the performance she gives.

The art style, while true to the manga, does not really work well animated. If you thought the characters looked too old and too... erm... let's say womanly, for teenagers, in the original series, then in this one you're going to think they're basically trying to appeal to a certain target audience. It also seems to vary wildly and inconsistently in quality. Sometimes it looks stunning, other times it looks like awful 3DCG (the transformation sequence in particular suffered from this).

Some of the character redesigns don't look very good in action.

If you can get past the attrocious voice Usagi has and the weird art style, though, it's faithful to the manga and you'll probably enjoy it. You might enjoy it anyway just for the nostalgia factor.

[Ithekro]

Voice acting is... honestly, kind of awful. The seiyuu they picked for Usagi sounds like she's scratching nails on a blackboard pretty much everytime she opens her mouth. Unfortunately, that's basically for twenty consecutive minutes, and in some instances she is screaming, crying or wailing instead of just talking, making it a thousand times worse.

Interesting idea since it is the same seiyuu from the 1990s doing Sailor Moon.

[Vegard Aune]

Originally Posted by Frumix

Oh yeah. Subs are really terrible.

Well I'm not sure I would necessarily go that far, but yeah, the subtitles definitely could use some more proof-reading... Things that right off the bat bothered me:
-Youma being translated as "Evil". Really? Out of all things you could translate it as, you chose that?
-"Legendary Silver Crystal" always appaearing in quotations. This makes just as little sense as it did in the Kodansha translation.
-Usagi going "What the hell". I do not see Usagi as being the kind to curse. Ever. Same for Luna telling her to "Kick their butts".

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Interesting idea since it is the same seiyuu from the 1990s doing Sailor Moon.

I'd say this is kind of similar to how I felt at hearing Bulma's voice in the first episode of Dragon Ball Kai. Yeah, it's the same voice-actor... but she kinda sounds a bit too old for the role by this point.

[KuronaFanboy]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Interesting idea since it is the same seiyuu from the 1990s doing Sailor Moon.

I wouldn't have known unless you'd pointed it out. I haven't watched the original in years, but I don't remember her being that high-strung and grating. Maybe it's the nostalgia filter talking, and if I rewatched it now I wouldn't be able to stand it either. But something about her voice just isn't working out.

[Stark700]

Only problem I had so far is the CGI transformation scene but I think I'll get over it soon and get used to it.

Good start so far. I liked the majority of the episode. The coordination of the OST and music was done well along with the OP song. Shame this will be only 2 episodes per month but I'm sure it will be worth it.

Luna was cute <3

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by KuronaFanboy

The seiyuu they picked for Usagi sounds like she's scratching nails

I take it you never watched the original anime with Japanese audio? It's the same voice actress, and it sounds pretty much the same as in the original.

[KuronaFanboy]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Lol, I take it you never watched the original anime with Japanese audio? It's the same voice actress, and it sounds pretty much the same as in the original.

I did! A decade ago. I don't remember feeling like her voice was clawing at my eardrums like that, but again, maybe it's the nostalgia filter clouding my judgment.

[bahamut zero]

Man, I sure wish they would have chosen a now voice actor for bunny :/

[Horse]

Cool quarter tone choir work... *golfclap*

Also not only is Takanashi rehashing Precure music but also Terra e.

[KuronaFanboy]

Originally Posted by Horse

Cool quarter tone choir work... *golfclap*

Also not only is Takanashi rehashing Precure music but also Terra e.

I didn't really notice the music that much. It didn't feel too rehashed but it didn't feel new either. So I wouldn't complain, but I wouldn't praise it either.

[bahamut zero]

Originally Posted by Horse

Cool quarter tone choir work... *golfclap*

Also not only is Takanashi rehashing Precure music but also Terra e.

There is only that much music you can push out before it all starts sounding the same.

[Flower]

I think it would be best to say upfront that I am a big fan of the 90's adaptation (all 5 seasons and movies) of the Sailor Moon manga source material, and have also read the latter as well. So for me I am definitely not coming into the series with a blank slate, but have both the anime adaptations and manga in mind comparison wise.

Yup... same VA as in the Legacy anime version of Sailor Moon. And it is true that she can be kinda "nails on the blackboard" for some people, but I got used to her pretty quick years ago, and am quite used to her now. More than that, I actually kinda found it a little endearing and nostalgic.

Let's see then... I enjoyed ep 1 plain and simple. The OP was okay, I guess, but I enjoyed the ED more. The CR tl was only ok, I felt, and they seemed to miss some specific terms, as others have pointed out, but I am glad the tl'd the OP and ED at least, so kudos for that.

Luna's VA worked out really well for me - she sounded close to the Legacy version but had a more pleasant quality to her, somehow. I was also pleasantly surprised on hearing Umino's VA - the Legacy version kinda grated on me a little early on, though I guess I got used to that too. Is the VA for Tuxedo Mask the same as in tne Legacy version? They sounded really close to me.

Most of the other VA's were plenty fine, but did not catch my notice the same way the above mentioned ones did.

I thought that the art felt like a deliberate effort to "level up" from the Legacy version, and while I enjoyed the transformation sequence I wish they hadn't used cgi that much.

Other than that, as others have said, it is faithful story wise to the first chapter of the manga.

However, prolly the best part of this series is that it is a guaranteed insta follow for me - it is something I will be anticipating and if ep 1 is any indication it looks like the adaptation will be a solid one.

[YourIdeas]

As someone who only watched the original anime but didn't read the manga, it was interesting comparing the differences and similarities between the old and the new series. As this series is meant to be more faithful to the manga, there isn't a whole lot to say in terms of the story as it's fairly well known by now, but the art and voice quality are pretty interesting to discuss.

Quick side note: I just realized there was some apparent leaks, so I'm probably regurgitating a bunch of what has already been said.

It's nice to here Mitsuishi Kotono's voice again, but you can tell that she either can't mimic her exact voice from when she was about 22 years younger, or she ended up being stuck on her Hummy voice from Suite Precure. Note, for comparison, I actually did rewatch the first episode of the original series and she does sound natural there. Whatever the case, Usagi's voice came off as grating and unnatural, like it was a 40-something woman trying to voice a 14 year old (oh wait...). Was a tad disappointed because the short trailer with her transform chant and catch phrase sounded spot on.

Where the original series went through bouts of chibified scenes, Sailor Moon Crystal was fairly consistent as far as proportions went. The hands and feet were an exception however, and were often drawn strangely. It wasn't as bad near the beginning and end of the episode, but in the middle, you can tell they were cutting corners. Just look at some of these images.

They're apparently too lazy to even give some shading to at least make the girls look like they're sitting properly.


My god Mamoru, what's up with your hand?


"Oops I was caught eating my lunch?" More like "Oops, I was drawn with the smallest head possible, on top of other weird things going on with my body"

I'm having some difficulty adjusting to the eyes, if only because they always seem off half the time. Practically every female has the same face which is odd when you're trying to intersperse 14 year old teenagers among many women well into their 30s. You can really tell that they skip over quite a few frames of animation, which is jarring because they'll take a simple scene like Usagi running to school and animate her feet well, but when she walks away from Mamoru, it's done in a four frame loop. For a series that was at least two years in development, I'd have expected a bit more fluid animation through the entire episode.

To put it bluntly, the CG Transformation scene was just ugly. It doesn't work when you've got character design that's already on the edge of the "barely human" spectrum and then you transfer that into 3d, seemingly without bothering to apply bones. The face looks alright, but twirling around lanky limbs just looks awkward.

If you can look past these flaws, I imagine that it'll please most of the Sailor Moon fans who gloss over some of the more obvious mistakes. I'll still continue to watch, if only to at least get to hear how the other Sailor Scouts sound with their new voice actresses. Kanemoto Hisako/Ika Musume as Ami/Sailor Mercury, who seems to be coming up next, intrigues me the most.

[KuronaFanboy]

To be honest this kind of falls in line with a prediction I jokingly made to a friend a few days back. I don't remember my exact wording, but it went something like:

"This anime isn't being marketed for a new audience, and it's not being made for people who expect a modern animation style that'll make you go "oh wow that looks so awesome". It's just being made for the nostalgia factor, and its core following will be people who watched the original and read the manga. I think newer viewers will end up finding it kind of dull, cliché and generic compared to Precure, Madoka and Nanoha."

Now I can kind of add to that "it doesn't really sound all that great either, the music is kind of just there, not bad, but not good, the opening is kind of a let down, the ending's great though, and the voice work depends entirely on whether you can get used to Usagi's extremely forced and invasive high pitch".

Originally Posted by YourIdeas

It's nice to here Mitsuishi Kotono's voice again, but you can tell that she either can't mimic her exact voice from when she was about 22 years younger, or she ended up being stuck on her Hummy voice from Suite Precure. Whatever the case, Usagi's voice came off as grating and unnatural, like it was a 40-something woman trying to voice a 14 year old (oh wait...). Was a tad disappointed because the short trailer with her transform chant and catch phrase sounded spot on

THAT. Exactly that!

[xizro345]

I've just finished watching it and well, it was as bad as I expected it to be.

1) It follows the manga closely - there's a high chance that will have the same glaring issues (namely, zero character development for anyone who isn't Usagi and Mamoru), not to mention the story itself has aged pretty bad, and some developments are absolutely inexcusable today ;
2) The animation isn't that good, more like medium-low budget affair;
3) Goodness, Mitsuishi Kotono. Her performance has degraded immensely over the years. Why did they keep her while the rest of the cast was replaced? I had zero issues with her in the original series, but here she's just annoying;
4) The CG transformation is bad - it focuses a lot on the camera work, but the model, animation and textures are sub-par;
5) I though the character design was bad at the unveil, and I think it's bad now;
6)This is mostly for the international version, but what the heck, the subtitles are pretty bad.

In general, an adaptation like this one has no reason to exsist for me. Salormoon had a sense twenty years ago - not now.

"This anime isn't being marketed for a new audience, and it's not being made for people who expect a modern animation style that'll make you go "oh wow that looks so awesome". It's just being made for the nostalgia factor, and its core following will be people who watched the original and read the manga. I think newer viewers will end up finding it kind of dull, cliché and generic compared to Precure, Madoka and Nanoha."

I think it can also be applied to people who watched the original back then (such as myself) and expected something more than a manga carbon copy, more or less.

[YourIdeas]

EDIT: I somehow posted this twice.....

[KuronaFanboy]

Originally Posted by xizro345

I think it can also be applied to people who watched the original back then (such as myself) and expected something more than a manga carbon copy, more or less.

I don't really remember the original being a manga carbon copy at all. So much got changed, and the characters didn't repeatedly switch sides like some of them do in the manga. It wasn't too unfaithful but it definitely wasn't a carbon copy, or even just a copy.

[Faerie]

Well, as expected, there are good and bad points. Overall, I am left somewhat excited.

The Good:

* The opening still looks and sounds lovely in proper quality. I really like it and probably will continue watching it for a few times before the inevitable skipping forward starts to happen.
* Naru looks better than all of the cast introduced in this episode (with the exception of maybe Ami, if that one scene counts) and better than she ever has in the previous anime. She is so pretty. It makes me wish she got a bigger role and didn't fade into the background.
* Mamoru looks somewhat better and more likeable than in the old anime, but I really hated him back then, so it would've been hard to make it worse xD
* The backgrounds are really pretty. Absolutely love them.
* The title / break cut images are gorgeous. Really lovely.
* Ami's one little scene is still very nice and atmospheric.
* Loved Sailor Moon's attack sequence. It wasn't flashy, it wasn't vapid and twirly, it showed the proper tiara. Makes me remember one of my possibly unpopular wishes from back in the day, namely that she stuck with something like this instead of the silly staves and princess-whatever crap. In fact, I secretly always wished that the princess had been some other, unrelated girl off to the side and Sailor Moon had stayed more of a "normal" senshi like the others instead of a special snowflake princess who is also a senshi. That's because I enjoyed her so much more as a senshi than as a princess, but that's just me... Ignore my rambling. The atmosphere at the end when she stands there with Luna, as Sailor Moon... loved it.

The Neutral:
* While I maintain that the ending theme is nice enough and the animation pretty, I know I'm going to skip it every time. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's not interesting enough that I'd want to listen to it. Sorry, Momoiro Clover (?). Really want the full opening track though.
* It's amusing how Luna is so much like Kyuubey (or Kyuubey so much like Luna, rather), wish they had made her eyes manga-blue after all. The creepy stalking and observing of teenage girls and all Funny how one show can forever alter your perception of things like this. Well played, Urobuchi.
* I hope they make future monsters more "scary" like in the manga and less cartoon-y.
* While the new art style works great for some characters (Naru), others are not so lucky. Sadly, others means Usagi. In well-animated scenes it's nice, pretty even. Unfortunately, not all scenes are well-animated. But you can overlook it. At least I can.

The Not-So-Great:
* The voice acting. Oh my god. Ikuko and Usagi are really the worst of it so far. Ikuko just sounds wooden and flat. Kotono's voice does not fit the visuals at all and it sounds like she is trying wayyyy too hard. It's difficult to listen to. There is a stark contrast between what Mamoru's VA brings to the table and her- and between her old performance and now, even.
Luna's VA sounds like she's trying very hard to imitate the old Luna's voice, which is what I was and still am afraid the other VA's might feel forced to do.
So, ultimately, I firmly believe it was a mistake to ask Kotono to reprise her role. That is not at all meant as a slight against the VA, I still love her as the original Usagi, but it just does not work here.
* The animation quality, as expected. Nothing much new to be said there. Too little frames and looks somewhat dated. But I at least can overlook a lot of it.
* Unbelievable, but the transformation actually looks worse in proper quality. Some bits of it are alright, then you see her face and it's just like.. ughhh burn it. I'm sorry, but it's possibly one of the worst transformation scenes of recent times. It's downright ugly.
* The universe/ galaxy/ planetes scenery. It's meant to be atmospheric, beautiful even and I love what they were trying to do. I really do... but it looks a bit too dated and 90s saturday morning cartoon to work for me. Shame, since all other stills and background images are lovely.
* The guys look terrible in most shots. Why can't we have somewhat hot guys, it's a show for girl's, goddarn it How are we meant to see why everyone is attracted to them when they look weird? Hopefully a bit of a fluke, since the Shitennou looked great in the opening and Mamoru had some good shots.
* Jesus Christ, what is up with those subs?

Overall, I enjoyed the first episode. Yes, there are quite a few downsides, but the tradeoff is a nice atmosphere and seeing some things animated that you may have wished to see- the tiara for me, in this episode.
I recommend checking it out and giving it a fair shot if you like Sailor Moon or Magical Girls at all. Don't go into it expecting to be blown away or impressed, just try to watch it for what it is and you may find that you enjoy it. While it isn't a mindblowing reimagining that quite a few people may have hoped for, it does have the potential to be a fun ride if you can just get past the voice acting.

Looking forward to Ami's episode next week. Her introductory chapter was always one of my favourites in the manga

Bonus Nostalgia Comment: I still secretly hope for a Chibimoon, Saturn & Amazon Quartet spinoff manga every now and then.