Sailor Moon Crystal |OT| In the name of the manga, I'll entertain you!
Note: As this adaptation aims to be closer to the manga's storyline, please spoiler tag any major manga events. Major events from other series, such as the original anime, are fair game
Sailor Moon Crystal is a 2014 Anime made by Toei Animation, that is adapted from the 1992 manga
Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi. The series follows the adventures of Usagi Tsukino, a clumsy crybaby who transforms into the titular character Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon battles the forces of evil while gaining new allies in her journey. The main difference between this series and the original 1992 cartoon is that
Sailor Moon Crystal aims to be closer to manga's storyline, while the original anime did its own thing. The series will air biweekly starting from July 5th, and will be available to legally watch on websites such as
Crunchyroll and
Hulu.
Cast & Crew
Company: Toei Animation
Director: Munehisa Sakai
Composer: Yasuharu Takanashi
Art Directors: Takashi Kurahashi, Yumi Hosaka
Kotono Mitsuishi as Usagi Tsukino
Hisako Kanemoto as Ami Mizuno
Rina Satou as Rei Hino
Ami Koshimizu as Makoto Kino
Shizuka Itou as Minako Aino
Kenji Nojima as Mamoru Chiba
Ryou Hirohashi as Luna
Daisuke Kishio as Jadeite
Kousuke Toriumi as Nephrite
Masaya Matsukaze as Zoisite
Eiji Takemoto as Kunzite
Misa Watanabe as Queen Beryl
See more of the Cast and Crew at Anime News Network
With the exception of Usagi, every character has received a recast. A lot of people (including me) were upset that Toru Furuya and Keiko Han did not return to reprise their roles as
Yamcha Mamoru and Luna, but lets give the new voice actors a chance. Remember, the characters personalities vary per adaptation, so perhaps the recasts are for the best. Our composer is Yasuharu Takanashi (
Naruto Shippuden,
Fairy Tail) and director is Munehisa Sakai (
Suite Precure).
Character Profiles:
Usagi Tsukino
Usagi Tsukino is Sailor Moon, a klutzy crybaby forced to fight after the revelation that she is the super heroine Sailor Moon.
Ami Mizuno
Ami Mizuno is Sailor Mercury, a genius bookworm who fights with Water.
Rei Hino
Rei Hino is Sailor Mars, a shrine maiden who fights with with Fire.
Makoto Kino
Makoto Kino is Sailor Jupiter, a tomboy who fights with Thunder Thighs.
Minako Aino
Minako is Sailor Venus, an extroverted romantic who fights with the power of love.
Mamoru Chiba
Mamoru is Tuxedo Kamen, a mysterious man who appears during times of danger.
On Our Composer: (by forum member
R_thanatos)
I think that the ambient music of fairy tail is well done and suit what the show needs. I don't like the first music themes but they get better afterwards. I especially like the use of violins in many of the music as it give FT a widely different feeling that other Shonen. I say this as whole because i don't have a particular track that i think is the best but IMO the music overall quality is FT strong points.
On Our Director: (by forum member
madp)
Munehisa Sakai is a relatively new director with Toei, but he's exhibited a considerable amount of improvement in a short time. His first and only series direction credit was in 2011 with Suite Precure, the eighth season of Toei's magical girl franchise Pretty Cure. While the season received little positive critical reception, this was partially due to hasty writing changes to make the show "happier" in the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami that prevented Sakai from executing his vision to completion.
Since then, Sakai has gone on to prove in smaller projects that he is equally capable of orchestrating entertaining action and producing high-quality individual episodes with dramatic themes that far exceed expectations for content in young demographic programming. His single film credit is One Piece: Strong World, which received praise for its stylish, energetic approach to typically-bland original films of shounen anime. His three episodes in Smile Precure (2012) are the best in the season and contain such evocative, atmospheric cinematography and storyboarding in addition to emotionally-mature, poignant stories about family, loss, and uncertainty that it's easy to forget that you're watching a show that sells plastic toys to five-year-old girls.
Sakai has proven himself as both a film director and as an episode director, so will he finally manage to succeed as a series director? Even at a time at which Toei Animation seems to be limiting its creative talent's freedom more than it ever has, Sakai is still the best person Toei has to faithfully adapt a magical girl franchise with a colossal legacy.
Also, feel free to visit the
Sailor Moon Community Thread to talk about the franchise in general.
Contributors: Ayumi, Bikkun, Bladenic, Box of Bunnies, cj_iwakura, Hitokage, Hours Left, KDash31987, lazybones18, Lord Ghirahim, madp, MikeHattsu, Pluto, ReXXXSoprano, R_thanatos, shadowkat, SpikedGunner, Syrinx, Zoe
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Thoughts?
Though, do you need to specify Luna as a cat? ^^;; There's no other Luna and I imagine she'll have the same voice if they ever get to her human form...
