Zoe
Member
Love that show <3
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Sailor Moon Crystal |OT| In the name of the manga, I'll entertain you!
- Thread starter MikeMyers
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It's almost as if Toei didn't want to make this series or something.
Yeah I don't get it. They can see the merch selling out and not even bother to put effort (or budget) into the actual show that it's trying to promote. Well, I guess they are just happy with royalties with merch sales :/
BassForever
Member
Toei has 4 of the most popular anime ever created, DBZ, Sailor Moon, Digimon, and One Piece. They continue to rake in the dough, none of them can get a half way decent budget or any effort.
Don't forget Saint Seiya! Came out way too late in NA to really do much here, but sure big in EU and Latin America. I still want to get into it at some point... (Waiting for the whole show to be released on disc, with so far only the first part is.) Pretty Cure is also big, but only in Japan as I don't think it even had much of any international push. I think it was supposed to come here but didn't or something? DBZ is finally getting the push it deserves, with the new movies and relating it to the new manga getting released. I was never a huge DBZ fan but loosely followed it, so it's good that they get theirs. Digimon has always been held off, and not much merch was really even made for it, considering its popularity. Sailor Moon merch is at an all-time high, since now we have more than just dolls and plastic rods for little girls.
But the animation department... It's really a mixed bag. I feel like Toei made a bigger effort with Sailor Moon back then, despite the terrible animation quality and "monster of the week" formula to get in all the episodes for the season. But they did some neat things with the show.... and gave Mars airtime :x
Simply Sarah
Member
Look, the worst thing about Crystal is that even with continued shitty art direction they've somehow still made major improvements over the start. Maybe that's part of the plan, start somewhere below ground and any vague improvement at all will seem amazing! Yes, I remember the shit near the end of Dark Kingdom getting worse in some ways, but that would require rethinking my statement here!
Exactly. I was tweeting something and one of those blind Crystal fans replied "But they made a Bluray release!". Yes.. They did... It still looks like balls.
cj_iwakura
Member
I've learned a valuable lesson at a local comic shop. Don't debate with Crystal Fangirls. They will win.
Surely they did. 90 anime has lots of high profile director get involved. The weekly episode might be vary from normal to ok, but all the climax and important episode get a good director to work on.
Crystal on the other hand, is like student anime project at best. Not only the bad drawing quality, but the directing and editing itself is very poor. I have yet to find a single episode that I like from this version. Seriously. Everything feel rush and un-adapt. Follow the manga shot by shot is not really a good choice. Manga and anime is not exactly the same thing, so they need to change things to make the way telling the story fits more.
This is too bad. I'm not manga reader, but the story so far has greater potential to build up. The pace and story is a lot better than 90 anime (maybe a bit too rush, but with good directory they could find to way to fill up the gap just to make the story telling perfect).
But that is not the worst. To me it's fight scene. Nothing is as bad as the enemy show up for 1 minute only to die in 1 single shot. I mean seriously, they don't even try to do shit.
As a fan. This is bad. Not only bad sailor moon. But bad anime overall. I don't care about what Crystal fan say. They can blindly praise this as they want. But there is no quality there. Not at all.
They don't "win", they just think they're right because they don't know any better, so they become very obnoxious about it. I'm sure they choose to argue because they refuse to see and try to understand/learn why so many hate it. I try to always stay neutral to hate on something, because it doesn't benefit me in any way trying to tell people why it's awesome or why it sucks and why they're wrong from liking it. Each to their own.. I just wish Crystal's huge fans would not try to deny so hard that Crystal isn't what it was supposed to be (if they try to fight with other people about it).
Any person and any show has haters and fans but I feel sometimes either part can be too much.. I dislike Crystal a lot but I don't bother arguing with people who are lucky to actually enjoy it. Neither do I act like a child or support hate-blogs that nitpick on silly stuff like that Tumblr Crystal failure blog.
Maybe I'm just thinking differently.. I live in a culture where we learn to not get involved in negativity like that. And I always found arguing over stuff that people have mixed feelings over a waste of time. lol
I'll still make fun of Crystal from time to time. :3
But I wouldn't bother yelling at or attacking the fans.
Zoe
Member
R was full of pivotal episodes with that awful art direction.
BassForever
Member
I like Crystal enough and honestly I kind of prefer it to the original anime, but are extremely flawed but I prefer the much faster pacing and less comedic tone of Crystal to the originals monster of the week and charged up comedic version of the characters. Both are worthy of existence and I would like to eventually own both series completely on blu-ray.
Even if Crystal had been this jaw dropping explosion of amazing art and animation that was a perfect adaptation of the manga I'd still argue the original series has merits.
Even if Crystal had been this jaw dropping explosion of amazing art and animation that was a perfect adaptation of the manga I'd still argue the original series has merits.
I'm glad that Toei finally recognized that Sailor Moon manga is full of comedic scenes and funny faces and started to put those things into the Crystal anime, but in the latest episode the sudden appearance of exaggerated faces was jarring. Especially since we got three such scenes so close to each other.
Pluto was great. I really liked how cold and tenacious she was. However, I prefer the visualization of her "deadly scream" attack from the 90s anime (especially the Japanese version, where she silently mutters the spell).
You can blame manga for that format. It's not that Toei could do something about this without messing with the story even more (they already cut a lot of scenes).
However, when the fights are longer, against enemies that don't die in the same episode (e.g. various fight scenes against Kunzite or Beryl in the Dark Kingdom saga), I think they were done well. Having actual fight scenes, with girls flying around, combining their attacks and actually doing shit in real time was a huge step up over the 90s anime where each time a Sailor Scout does an attack a canned attack animation launches.
Of course that doesn't excuse two final episodes of the Dark Kingdom saga where few longer fight scenes would be welcomed but instead Toei focused on long and boring inner monologues and few semi-static scenes with little to no animation. :/
Pluto was great. I really liked how cold and tenacious she was. However, I prefer the visualization of her "deadly scream" attack from the 90s anime (especially the Japanese version, where she silently mutters the spell).
You can blame manga for that format. It's not that Toei could do something about this without messing with the story even more (they already cut a lot of scenes).
However, when the fights are longer, against enemies that don't die in the same episode (e.g. various fight scenes against Kunzite or Beryl in the Dark Kingdom saga), I think they were done well. Having actual fight scenes, with girls flying around, combining their attacks and actually doing shit in real time was a huge step up over the 90s anime where each time a Sailor Scout does an attack a canned attack animation launches.
Of course that doesn't excuse two final episodes of the Dark Kingdom saga where few longer fight scenes would be welcomed but instead Toei focused on long and boring inner monologues and few semi-static scenes with little to no animation. :/
MikeHattsu
Member
Sailor Moon Crystal 19
Suddenly a bunch of reaction faces gets pointed out. With comedy sound effects and all.
Sailor Pluto makes an appearance and how the story progresses is more straight forward than the 90s anime.
Suddenly a bunch of reaction faces gets pointed out. With comedy sound effects and all.
Sailor Pluto makes an appearance and how the story progresses is more straight forward than the 90s anime.
Edag Plata
Banned
This stuff felt so out of place like they were thinking "Oh shoot...they're right. This show IS no fun at all" and tried to shoe them in before the series ended.
The rest of the episode was the same level of super overly dramatic though.
The Black Moon Arc has been infinitely better than Dark Kingdom imo. That said, the 90s anime doing away with the abduction element was better, and Venus didn't do much of anything really.
As for the comedy faces, I liked them and I'm glad they were included, but they actually felt out of place here. Funny that.
Dead Scream was definitely better in the 90s anime.
As for the comedy faces, I liked them and I'm glad they were included, but they actually felt out of place here. Funny that.
Dead Scream was definitely better in the 90s anime.
MikeHattsu
Member
Well, they have those frames so they really stand out.
The Inners did get kidnapped in 90s anime, they just handled it a lot differently.
Well the first problem is that the Inners have been so bland and underdeveloped, and have had virtually no cool/interesting moments of their own, that it's pathetic. I know that the manga is more Moon-centric than the 90's show, but the others still had distinct personalities and got cool stuff to do sometimes. This show cannot even give them that.
And second, while it's been awhile since I've read the manga or seen the old show, I seem to recall the show handling the "kidnapping plot" better. It wasn't as overly-long/drawn out as it was in the manga and it was much more believable to. And since the 90's show had already given them distinct characters/cool stuff to do before that, them getting captured was much easier to swallow. Here, it's a case of "really? You just cannot let them do anything on their own can you?"
From what I understand, he wouldn't be in Japan (where the legal age of consent is quite a bit lower apparently). I think that that's just one of those things that doesn't translate completely naturally between Japan and the West. Different cultural norms/societal standards and all that.
Just barely by one year and the point still stands that the age gulf is huge enough where sex between them would be very disconcerting for a mainstream work. .
ROBOKITTYZILLA
Member
Was their a guest director last episode? Those reaction shots and silhouettes seemed really out of place. I'm kind of torn on whether I liked it or not but it seemed really strange to change things up this late in the game.
Still enjoying the show though!
Still enjoying the show though!
Man why didn't they just do this from the beginning? The bottom row looks fun. I'd watch and enjoy it if they had them added from the start..!
Well yeah but I don't even count that since it lasted one episode (iirc). And I consider it handled better there too.
Still I'm enjoying this second half more than the first. Although I agree that the Inner Senshi were way better handled in the 90s anime, better than this show but also the manga. The manga had a very strong Venus leaning in the inners, as evidenced by her being the sole one not to be kidnapped even though she gets demolished by Calaveras (I like the 90s making the Senshi vs Sisters more of an even match too). The 90s anime had blatant Mars favoritism too but the other Senshi still shined.
The Inners definitely benefited with extended screentime of the 90's anime, but they were slowly getting shafted after R. By the end of S they were pretty much background characters. The only exception I'd say is Minako, who ironically was probably the only one who didn't get much screentime in the first two seasons.
Speaking of Minako, yeah it's a shame she's meant to be the leader here but we never really see her in that role. I always thought it was weird that it was mentioned in Sailor Stars anime that Minako was the leader of the Senshi, given that Rei clearly had that role in the 90's anime.
Speaking of Minako, yeah it's a shame she's meant to be the leader here but we never really see her in that role. I always thought it was weird that it was mentioned in Sailor Stars anime that Minako was the leader of the Senshi, given that Rei clearly had that role in the 90's anime.
The reaction faces were one of my favourite parts and I missed them in Sailor Moon Crystal but I still wish they wouldn't have done them in Act 19, at least not so many of them with colorful borders and sound effects, it feels really out of place at this point. Maybe I would feel differently if it was just the faces but the borders don't fit Crystal's style at all.
But I thought it was a great episode otherwise, Sailor Pluto is awesome and Dead Scream was great, it was good in the old anime as well but I think the outers suffered a bit from having the exact same attack, big balls of energy being thrown at the enemy.
I think this version makes better use of the Garnet Rod, it feels like an essential part of the attack unlike the old anime. Of course it was still part of the attack but because of Uranus' Neptune's and Pluto's samey attacks it felt less essential and as if Pluto only used it vecause she didn't have her hands free like Uranus and Neptune.
I'm still not too fond of Pluto initially attacking the group, the time travel taboo and her announcing that she will kill them not matter who they are falls completely flat if it takes five seconds after Chibiusa shows up to reveal that it isn't an absolute taboo and it DOES matter who you are because if you were brought by Chibiusa it's fine, there's the space time door, see ya!
Maybe good change would have been if she had just attacked Mamoru, Luna and Artemis. Make her hostile towards non sailor senshi would work a little bit better imo, because an absolute taboo feels kinda silly especially if villains have other ways to travel through time, so Pluto isn't restricting all time travel no matter what.
Sailor Soldiers should be questioned by her and then either allowed through the door or turned away depending on the stated reasons. No free time travel just because you feel like it but allowed if necessary.
But I thought it was a great episode otherwise, Sailor Pluto is awesome and Dead Scream was great, it was good in the old anime as well but I think the outers suffered a bit from having the exact same attack, big balls of energy being thrown at the enemy.
I think this version makes better use of the Garnet Rod, it feels like an essential part of the attack unlike the old anime. Of course it was still part of the attack but because of Uranus' Neptune's and Pluto's samey attacks it felt less essential and as if Pluto only used it vecause she didn't have her hands free like Uranus and Neptune.
I'm still not too fond of Pluto initially attacking the group, the time travel taboo and her announcing that she will kill them not matter who they are falls completely flat if it takes five seconds after Chibiusa shows up to reveal that it isn't an absolute taboo and it DOES matter who you are because if you were brought by Chibiusa it's fine, there's the space time door, see ya!
Maybe good change would have been if she had just attacked Mamoru, Luna and Artemis. Make her hostile towards non sailor senshi would work a little bit better imo, because an absolute taboo feels kinda silly especially if villains have other ways to travel through time, so Pluto isn't restricting all time travel no matter what.
Sailor Soldiers should be questioned by her and then either allowed through the door or turned away depending on the stated reasons. No free time travel just because you feel like it but allowed if necessary.
She should have and that's another point that makes the scene not work, she cares for Chibiusa a lot but is willing to kill her parents before she was born?
Maybe she should have simply said "I know who you are, it doesn't matter, go back to your own time" but even that is problematic because the Black Moon clan is already time travelling, they're screwing up the timeline. Pluto should be able to feel the timeline being disrupted and encourage time travel in that case "Sailor Moon, finally! There's the door, fix the space time continuum, fast!" Would be more appropriate.
Maybe she should have simply said "I know who you are, it doesn't matter, go back to your own time" but even that is problematic because the Black Moon clan is already time travelling, they're screwing up the timeline. Pluto should be able to feel the timeline being disrupted and encourage time travel in that case "Sailor Moon, finally! There's the door, fix the space time continuum, fast!" Would be more appropriate.
I always just thought that was an offhand comment by Pluto to get Venus to act at that moment, not anything serious. I mean even Venus is like "me, a leader? lolz i just want sum dick ya know?"
Edag Plata
Banned
Simply Sarah
Member
I'm wary of reading too much into this until/unless we hear more. An offhand remark in a press release from Toei Europe could mean releasing info before it was intended to be released, it could mean the information is completely wrong, or it could be that Toei sees no point in announcing the series will continue and simply plans to have episode 27 appear after 26. At this point I'm not going to try and guess which it is (although continuing Crystal wouldn't surprised me in the least).
MikeHattsu
Member
Looks like the sales have been sub-3000 in Japan at least.
How much did Toei save that it only took a few morons buying volumes at Japan's Dystopian RRP to make Season 2 viable?!
Seriously, I've seen better sales for shit I would actually like to see an s2 (or s3 in the case of FMP and BakaTest) and that gets cold cocked in favour of this shit?!
Seriously, I've seen better sales for shit I would actually like to see an s2 (or s3 in the case of FMP and BakaTest) and that gets cold cocked in favour of this shit?!
Wouldn't surprise me if merchandising sales are at the real heart of this matter.
:/ Yeah, those aren't good blu numbers. I'm pretty sure with the merch they keep pumping out, that it's a good indicator that those are doing VERY well. Also, I wonder if they have some sort of contract with Takeuchi to eventually do the entire run of the series.
KDash31987
Member
If there really is going to be another season, then I'm going to be happy. I've actually enjoyed the show. Heh.
Oh so it's reverse DB Kai then. Except then I wanted a truncated Buu arc and now we have a prolapsed Buu arc and an even slower death of the Sailor Moon franchise.
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