So firstly, is Crystal anyone's first introduction to SM in general? Secondly, how do you feel Sailor Moon Crystal is as an anime on its own, without comparing it to other Sailor Moon media (manga, original anime, plays, PGSM)?

As an anime on it's own, the first season was terrible. The animation was flat and awkward and riddled with many obvious errors, the pacing horrible and plot twists and final battle pretty cliche. Also the "i refuse to be the tragic princess ever again" line only to have her attempt suicide the next ep was so cringeworthy and just poor writing.


The second season picked up speed-though the animation was still pretty poor. The pacing still wasn't the best, but it was better. We had more character development and the story was more fleshed out, and the battle scenes were well scripted.

As for season three, the animation is fantastic. The pacing was still a bit off, but the best of the three. We had more comic relief moments and even more character development and additions to the story that made it even MORE rounded. Also hooray for LGBT representation! And the battle scenes were the best in the series-probably due to the different animation studio.

Also I know you said don't compare it but man season 1 really did butcher the dark kingdom arc and I will never not be bitter over it.

Didn't watch seasons 1 and 2, but over all I think season 3 was pretty good, though there's still room for improvement. For me, I really like the character design, which I thought was both cute and beautiful. The music was also very good, and I've actually been listening to the OST for season 3 on loop for the past couple of weeks. The one thing that I think season 3 could've done better on, though it's still vastly improved from seasons 1 and 2, is the animation. There were some episodes with great animation e.g. Act 31, but also scenes where the only thing that seemed to move were an awkwardly animated swaying of Sailor Moon's bangs. The worst IMO was the scene where a revived Chibi Moon heads off to help Sailor Moon, but instead of leaping dramatically into the night, her body sort of awkwardly floats like she was doing slow motion and it really took me out of what was otherwise a well executed moment.

still watching season 1 (Wow I'm too behind..I stopped near the mercury fight and haven't been able to go back (will try 4 weekend) but I like it so far but you guys say stuff gets better so i will need to see (I believe you)

I'm pretty much in agreement with Cosmos. On its know, Se1 & 2 are just...terrible in terms of anime in general. There are shorter anime with I'm sure the same shoestring budgets out there that have a better over all story and writing than 1&2. Se3 is definitely a vast improvement but still with its flaws.

I have to say, though, that its kind of hard not to compare it to at least the manga since SMC is supposed to be a direct animated adaptation of the manga. At least, it was supposed to be. At times, it even failed at that and where it could have expanded and made something better, it didn't and where there were good things from the manga...they'd leave it out! Or it completely ruined personal favorite manga scenes of mine -_-

I can easily watch Sailor Moon Crystal without comparing it to other versions, which I think is why I have gotten so frustrated discussing it with others. Personally, I think it is a good attempt and I enjoy watching it. I don't think it has sucked me in enough to want to rewatch it, though.

I really enjoy crystal, it's better than the original anime, the transformations, openings, and animation is awesome.

I also really like how it's more properly adapted to the manga and it's much faster paced, so yeah, 5 stars for crystal.

Well ,if you count that I only seen the first 52 episodes and then moved to Crystal ,then yes .
I like the theme songs but not even an ending song ! (They're horrible !)

I don't like how the story is more fast-paced 'cause they don't have time to develope the character personalities .

So in general ,I'd say a 7,5 out of 10 for Crystal from me .

I always saw Crystal at it's own thing, and maybe that's why till this day is beyond my comprehension that people don't like it, I don't get it. WHY to keep comparing it? always thought is dumb to keep comparing it but anyone has the right to give their opinion.

I've enjoyed all 3 seasons, the only thing that bothered me was the change of character design which was stupid not a very good idea in my opinion, Crystal is the representation of how I imagined the manga animated and I couldn't be happier that this exist. It was difficult to adjust the first time to the character design but instantly fell in love with it, it looked so flawless, girly, feminine. There're times that the animation wasn't at is best sometimes but that never bothered me and I would recommend Crystal to any mahou shoujo fan without hesitation.

Every episode kept me excited and wanting the next one to arrive sooner, it was a torture to wait 2 weeks to see an episode but the wait was always worth it =) the pace of each episode was ok, not to slow, not to fast and the character development was also ok.

Season 3 was a shock to me, because I can't express enough how much i'm angry with the change of character design, it's not pretty, is boring, flat and I can keep going. but then again the story overcome all those feelings because it was as awesome as the first 2 seasons.

The OST...I honestly never paid attention to it xD it was nice?...I don't have comments on that. I'm still not happy that they picked an idol group for the opening but the songs were catchy.

Sailor Venus wrote:

I always saw Crystal at it's own thing, and maybe that's why till this day is beyond my comprehension that people don't like it, I don't get it. WHY to keep comparing it? always thought is dumb to keep comparing it but anyone has the right to give their opinion.

Because it's a direct adaption of the manga? They even went as far as to say they wanted to build on things Naoko didn't get a chance to do in the manga. If something copies another work almost frame-by-frame, word-by-word it's going to be compared to the original work and it isn't illogical for people to do so.

Cosmos-hime wrote:

Also the "i refuse to be the tragic princess ever again" line only to have her attempt suicide the next ep was so cringeworthy and just poor writing.

This. One of the worst things about seasons 1/2 was when it tried to be "different" yet completely feel flat. Also if the writers didn't want Crystal being compared then there shouldn't have been callbacks to the 90s anime either. Ex. everyone should have gotten new transformations and the scene they copied were Sailor Moon tries to show Endymion the watch shouldn't have been there at all (it also just didn't make sense).

To me, Crystal was my official introduction to Sailor Moon and I think the reason as to why I've grown to strongly dislike the 90s wasn't because it was bad, but because I felt the need to defend Crystal due to the maltreatment it received.  

When I watched Sailor Moon Crystal the very first time, I was not a fan of Usagi or anyone, I barely knew the franchise, only saw a couple of episodes from the 90s, but never got into it. But then the speed and dynamics of Crystal really sold it to me, each episode I just grew loving it even more. That's when I started reading the mangas, because I wasn't patient enough what with having to wait every 2 weeks for an episode. I know most people dislike the fact that Crystal is too fast at pace, but I guess I'm just one of those people who prefer things to go straight to the point, and that's what sold Crystal for me. I think the Sailor V manga had too many fillers, only really focusing on the actual story at the end (my cousin pointed this out as well when he read it). 

I also love Usagi's characterization, she progressively matures throughout the series. I'm sure Crystal had some flaws, but ultimately Usagi's attitude towards things made her real for me, the fact that she falters when things go too rough, the fact that she isn't your stereotypical I'm ready for anything type of hero, this is what attracted me to the franchise. 

As for the art, I honestly never noticed the flaws up until I strolled through several tumblr blogs with so many hates on the mistakes they noticed. Then there was YouTube, and afterwards I just couldn't help but defend Crystal because I absolutely love it, and hate the fact that people are talking and treating it badly.

I guess to me, Crystal is what truly got me into the Sailor Moon business. I wasn't completely disappointed with Season 3, I think the graphics look very cute, but the constant reference to the 90s version is what ruined it for me. I've always loved that in Season 2 they went with the Silver Haired Neo Queen Serenity, but Season 3's inconsistency just raised eyebrows for me. I guess if a blu ray edition is coming, a Silver haired NQS would be great, since the transformations for Uranus and Neptune can't be fixed.

I introduced two of my friends into Sailor Moon with SMC and they quite love it. They don't understand why it gets so much hate either.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone re-watched it and found his/her opinion of it to have changed? 

I am getting ready to re-watch it, but dubbed this time. I don't think I have heard the dubbed voices for Sailor Moon Crystal, so it'll be fun to rewatch it in a bit of a different light.

I've watched up until about Jupiter's arrival of the dubbed version of SMC. Personally, in the sub those episodes were fairly enjoyable (despite the bad animation) but I found the dub actually made them slightly better? Which is a rare thing for me to say. I found the voice actors for the main characters and small characters gave much more personality than in the Japanese version. It made it slightly more entertaining I guess you could say. To the point I watched, I think the dub is worth a watch through.

I personally liked it, but I disliked the art of the girls.  They were so UNPROPORTIONAL!  Way too thin.

I find it quite annoying that people say the girls are "un-proportional". For one, children are supposed weigh less than adults, second....in the 90's version the bodies were exaggerated with wide hips and long, thin legs.

Weight has nothing to do with it. I found this image and i think it helps break down what I feel is wrong with SMC's style, especially the first two seasons. Also in the first two seasons, I found the characters did not look like early teens but rather older teens. At least in SE1 of the 90s anime, I felt the girls actually looked closer to their age in civilian form.




Though I think we've gotten a bit off topic at this point... Woops!

Moderator's Note:

Brit-chan wrote:

Though I think we've gotten a bit off topic at this point... Woops!

As Brit mentioned, this thread has been getting off-topic, so this is a reminder to adhere to the original discussion of this thread, which is your thoughts on Crystal without comparisons. As magic713 stated in his original post:

magic713 wrote:

[H]ow do you feel Sailor Moon Crystal is as an anime on its own, without comparing it to other Sailor Moon media (manga, original anime, plays, PGSM)?

You may express whatever thoughts you have on Crystal in this thread, but please do not engage in comparisons with any of the other various Sailor Moon versions (such as the 90s anime). Thank you for understanding!

I enjoy Crystal.
I wasn't expecting anything major from the beginning, but I was happy. 
Yes, the animation was off, but thankfully they cleaned it up for bluray. 
It's by no means perfect. But they tried, and have since majorly improved. 

I think it's hard for a lot of people to watch Crystal and not compare it. 

I'm excited for the Dream and Stars arcs. <3 

I'm just going to answer these questions in order:

Sailor Moon Crystal is not my first exposure to the SM universe. I began with the Sailor Moon anime from the '90s.

Honestly, I have watched all of the new Sailor Moon. I will say that, from the episodes I've seen, the animation is pretty, but I do hate how the transformation sequences are designed. I'm not a fan of that computer animated semi-2D animation. It's weird.

I didn't continue the series after the first Arc because, honestly, I feel a little burnt out on Sailor Moon. What I mean is... How many retellings does it need? There's the manga, the first anime, and now Sailor Moon Crystal. At first I was excited about it because it was going to follow the manga better than the first anime, and the manga tops all for me. But as I started watching it, I thought it was cool, but redundant. So rather than continuing, I decided to stop because I've read the manga and have seen most of the original anime (I've never seen the Sailor Galaxia Arc).

But, in short, I like SMC. Lol.

I am so glad to read this thread as I’ve been wondering the same things as OP, since I don't have that perspective.

Meganekko wrote:

...honestly, I feel a little burnt out on Sailor Moon... as I started watching it, I thought it was cool, but redundant.

I completely feel the same way about it! But I’m starting to understand Crystal as in fact a medium for yet-to-be fans such as Neo King Helios.

Sailor Lily wrote:

I introduced two of my friends into Sailor Moon with SMC and they quite love it. They don't understand why it gets so much hate either.

This is so important to know! I have a few friends that I’d like to indoctrinate share it with and this is a nice option to have 'cause 90’s animation is soooo clunky, looking back!

Neo King Helios wrote:

As for the art, I honestly never noticed the flaws up until I strolled through several tumblr blogs with so many hates on the mistakes they noticed.

This I find very interesting in particular since my own experience of it was far too coloured by the many press releases about the staff trying to replicate Takeuchi-san's style (as mentioned by others here). If they hadn't have said that, I expect my enjoyment would have been greater. (Then again those...

mangaka-chan wrote:

...scenes where the only thing that seemed to move were an awkwardly animated swaying of Sailor Moon's bangs.

...or Black Lady’s pigtails… ugh yeah those were terribly distracting… But maybe they're disproportionately represented in my head as a non-first-timer?)

I did get used to the animation style of the first few seasons eventually though. The 3D transformations I thought were really kinda cool at first - definitely something I didn't expect! I second Sailor Venus' opinion of it being a bad idea to change the studio - if only for the sake of continuity. (Oh man, and then the theme song begging us to fall in love with it >.>. So painful…)

Speaking of the music though, I really love it!! BGM and themes alike! Watching the first episode's OP brought me to tears, actually XD. That is one killer theme.

Again, thank you Neo King Helios for sharing your experience! Would love to see some others!

Crystal was not my first introduction to Sailor Moon because I got into the series by watching the 90s anime. In my opinion Crystal is good in it's own way and I don't understand why some people hate on it.