I really need to stop going into the Crystal tag
- Supersonic Wave (the âcrying attackâ) appears in both the original manga and the 90s anime. It appears in the first story and again in the funny dentist story (as a MotW plot in SuperS and an arcless short story in the manga). Both Usagi and ChibiUsa can do it, and the 90s anime had ChibiUsa doing a variant of it constantly during the R season. While never outright stated, itâs implied to be a kind of inadvertent Royal Moon Family defense mechanism for when their children feel really helpless and arenât fully grown into their powers.
- Mamoru wears the Tuxedo during the day in the manga as well. And yeah, Usagi doesnât recognize him, and yeah thatâs hilarious and requires a little bit of suspension of disbelief, but Usagi is also not the most observant little fish. Bless these two dorks. In either case, itâs not new. Itâs straight from the manga. You may address all complaints to 1991.
- Moon Tiara Boomerang is the name of the attack in the manga.
- Usagi has the exact same voice actress as before. Same one. This is not a new actress with a more annoying high pitched voice. It is literally the exact same voice. It has always sounded like this.
- The plot is practically beat for beat the exact same plot that appears in both the first episode of the original anime and the first chapter of the manga. Itâs okay if you donât like it, but if you think itâs worse plotwise than the original anime then you confuse me. Because it the same plot. The same things happen. In the same order.
- The story cannot be cliche if it invented the cliches. If youâve never seen Sailor Moon but seen lots of Mahou Shoujo and now you are watching SM for the first time and thinking âitâs so standardâ - this show literally invented that standard. It was revolutionarily unique and groundbreaking, so much so that now an entire genre of anime owes itself to this storyâs existence. You are not seeing a rehashing of old tropes, you are seeing their invention.
- Not seeing exaggerated goofy faces and instead expressing emotion using real movement is the opposite of lazy animation. Those big goofy faces are frame saving animation shortcuts. Itâs okay to miss them, but that doesnât mean Usagi is inexpressive. Manga has even fewer âframesâ to work with to show character emotion, and so also uses shortcuts and big cues to get feelings across. Usagi in Crystal has weird loopy eyebrows when sheâs upset and presses her faces against jewelry store glass in a face thatâs even funnier than the manga. She may not go into caricature mode, but she does make funny faces.
- That being said, manga Usagi is not nearly as over the top as 90s anime Usagi, so yeah, sheâll probably reflect that in Crystal. But doing a loyal adaptation of the original character is not watering things down (similarly, manga Mamoru is not nearly so much of a jerk, and they do not start out as antagonistic to each other). This isnât watering down the characters or relationships, itâs rounding them out and giving them more nuance and treating them as the manga did.
- I think people are overestimating the budget on this, and if I had my laptop I could more easily type out my long reasoning for it, but since Iâm doing this from my phone Iâll just say that 1. The distribution method (twice a month only online) indicates this isnât being backed by a tv channel or getting additional funds that way, 2. theyâve already proven they can make money off of older nostalgic audiences just by releasing merch with no need for a new series so thereâs not much financial incentive to invest there and expect much of an increase in returns, and 3. newer anime series (like PreCure) are much better formatted to take advantage of the marketing to kids âbuy all our play sets and toys!â model than the series on which they were inspired. I donât think this is being made with an expectation that itâll bring in much additional revenue for the franchise, and so is budgeted to account for that. I think itâs being made because a whole lot of adults working in the industry now remember and love it and want to make it because itâs special to them. Which is why it has the slower production schedule, because they want to do it right with limited resources.
- Considering the above, and given whatâs been said in interviews (itâs for the women who grew up with the series), I donât think this anime is for everyone. And if itâs not for you thatâs okay. The more someone has been dissecting Sailor Moon to pieces since they were a baby, the more I tend to see a positive response from them so far. I get the feeling (reinforced by the fact that the transformation sequence has so many direct homages to the old series, including nail polish thatâs just going to be covered by gloves anyway) that this is a passion project for almost everyone involved. Itâs not the blockbuster reimagining, itâs the âletâs put on a showâ version by a group of fans. So comparing it to shows with prime time TV slots and the budget to accompany them isnât fair. And I think itâs being designed so that you can watch it without knowing anything, but not particularly being reimagined to try to bring in more people. I get the feeling that everyone involved is trying to do, essentially, the version of Sailor Moon that would have existed if the whole scope had been understood from the start, if Naoko had had time and space to flesh out more of her ideas, and if the anime adaption had been more loyal to the manga (and the manga that Naoko wanted to make).
- This isnât the new Sailor Moon for a new age, itâs the execution of the original Sailor Moon that it always deserved but never got. If thatâs not interesting to you, thatâs okay. But the last thing this is is a betrayal to the franchise, as every moment and every choice so far has shown so much knowledge and love for the franchise it came from. The water color pallets, the prettiness (which is absolutely Naokoâs whole aesthetic - she LOVES making things impossibly pretty), the story beats and script. Ikukos hair, Sailor V, the inclusion of the video game motif and dreams. If this ruins your childhood, then your childhood was already ruined by Naoko Takeuchi in 1991, because so far the biggest feeling I get from this is that this is trying to be what Sailor Moon was always really designed to be. And itâs okay to like other versions better, but this is the sweetest love song to the source material Iâve seen so far, and I donât see how the source material can ruin your favourite adaptation of it. Again, you donât have to like it, but they arenât âruiningâ it or âmessing it upâ. So far I have only seen them honoring the original vision that never got made.
I mean, that could change; weâve only had one episode. They might make a decision that seems to run counter to everything in the original story, but that hasnât happened yet, and I donât see any foreboding omens so far. Itâs okay not to like it. Itâs okay not to like the style. Just donât hold the illusion that that means something sacred is being ruined. Naoko always wanted Sailor Moon to be flowy and pretty. Not liking the style isnât the same as it being bad. And the plot is direct from the manga. Nothing from the source material is being neglected here. This is a good adaptation of the manga so far by every metric I know. You donât have to like it, but donât pretend your opinion has any basis in loyalty to the series when this is the most loyal adaptation ever seen so far.
So yeah. Themâs my thoughts.
gummygunk
2087
prguitarman
annaxmalina
theartofmadeline
