What did everyone think of the latest SMC episode? I thought it was pretty good. I loved the Ayakashi Sisters, the Black Moon Clan, the new parts of the opening, and the epic battle. Kinda sad Koan didn't survive but it's better than her living and getting the Shitennou treatment

I think this episode was way better than the last ones. AND WE SAW ASANUMA! AND THE AYAKASHI SISTERS! AND THE BLACK MOON CLAN LOOKS GREAT (especially Esmeraude)!

And for the first time after a while it wasn't just Usagi and Mamoru, we finally saw something a bit of the others. And I missed it so much...but it's finally back...Chibiusa and Usagi provoking each other! xD I think Crystal made a step in the right direction. I hope that we'll see more of the other Senshi in the next episodes and not only Usagi and Mamoru.

Animation still in need of improvement^^ But at least they corrected their error of the trailer xD




just ignore the German subtitles xD

Oh, and I loved Mako-chan's outfit here!

The animation was making me laugh, especially Mamo's face after Chibs runs off

i love this episode i'm watching it again

Yeah, this one was pretty good But it's a pity that they don't have new transformation sequences After all they have new transformations pens/brooches. So it's not too much to ask for new transformations - or am I wrong? xD

At least they made a few new sequences in the opening.

But Toei really HAS TO IMPROVE THEIR ANIMATIONS xD

I kind of don't want Toei to improve with the animation because i love laughing at it every episode

I'm gonna say that this episode was a pleasant surprise! Seeing the sisters and the rest of the Black Moon Clan made me squeal with joy. And I really loved the small scene we got with the girls just joking with one another. The new attacks Rei and Ami did were fantastic! 

But I can see this is going to be really fast paced again. Which has its pros and cons. Most likely get a lot of action but little character development ( except for Usagi & Mamoru of course).

And I don't know about you guys but I'm shaking with anticipation to see what Neo Queen Serenity will look like! In the manga she's absolutely stunning, seeing Usagi lose the baby face will be refreshing! Looking forward to that part the most and also Chibi-Usa's involvement deepening. So I'm going into this with a positive attitude!

swiggymoon wrote:

I'm gonna say that this episode was a pleasant surprise! Seeing the sisters and the rest of the Black Moon Clan made me squeal with joy. And I really loved the small scene we got with the girls just joking with one another. The new attacks Rei and Ami did were fantastic! 

But I can see this is going to be really fast paced again. Which has its pros and cons. Most likely get a lot of action but little character development ( except for Usagi & Mamoru of course).

And I don't know about you guys but I'm shaking with anticipation to see what Neo Queen Serenity will look like! In the manga she's absolutely stunning, seeing Usagi lose the baby face will be refreshing! Looking forward to that part the most and also Chibi-Usa's involvement deepening. So I'm going into this with a positive attitude!

OMG, how could I forget to mention their new attacks? I LOVE THEM! <3 What I've noticed is that they look a hundred times more powerful than they do in the 90s anime! I really love them!

Oh yeah, I can't wait for Neo Queen Serenity! I loved her grace and elegance in the 90s anime, I hope Crystal won't mess up with her Character Design. I could never forgive that.

Ughhhh! I can't watch it until I get back from work! I hate working on Saturdays.

You guys gotta answer me for my own sanity though. Do they keep the gore from the combustions? I guess the better question is, what do they replace it with?

ARGH!! same opening, just new footage...i'm so pissed with Trollei right now!!! they better give us new opening and new song >_>

The episode was excellent! <3 Prince Demand was sooooo handsome and with the voice of Mamoru Miyano (i love him) <3 EVEN BETTER!!!!! *fangirls*

LOLZ

They fixed Mars's eyes!!!



I've noticed from comparison shots that some the faces were redrawn in the opening for some reason. Then why didn't just animate a brand new opening?

EDIT:

My bad they change some new details in the opening. The girls have new dresses, but Rei and Usagi!? Man Toei hates Rei.

Me love love the changes in the inners' closeup in the opening!

I find it funny how Mako-chan was treating Asanuma like he was a 10 year old. 

Rei guessed that chibiusa was Usagi's illegitmate child....well she is very close...Makes sense on how Rei is the psychic one!

I liked the crown fruit parlor scene. 

I think everyone is kinda getting affected on being around Usagi. Like Luna promised to make sure that Chibiusa won't leave but then gets distracted by MILK.

BURNING MANDALA! <3

Much better than the last episode that's for sure. A bit disappointed with the fight scene at the end. But hey they would have actually had to try to make the characters move. That would be too much for them! Moon's new attack looks terrible. 

Mars saying Chibiusa was Usagi's illegitimate child was funny. 

I'm impress that the Black Moon people look better than their concept art. Demand hair didn't look like he put too much gel in it. Also his voice is perfect.

I am so happy that they got rid of the little girl burning scene. I hated seeing that in the manga.

I really enjoyed this episode. I was glad to see all the girls together if it was for a brief moment. The Cutie Moon Rod though, all I can think is:

sorry couldnt resist. I love the ayakashi sisters too. And I think Demando's seiyuu was a shittenou in last season. I am also hoping for la smoking bomber.


though omg i laughed so loud i had to cover my mouth, when chibiusa hypnotized everyone and their faces were so crazy- all that made me think of was the Wazzzzup seen in Scary Movie 2

Goddess Yami wrote:

I'm impress that the Black Moon people look better than their concept art.

Great, it's not only me who think this so!
The Black Moon Clan looks gorgeous, I already took several screencaps xD

SEE! HOW! GORGEOUS! THEY! LOOK!:

Artemis wrote:

though omg i laughed so loud i had to cover my mouth, when chibiusa hypnotized everyone and their faces were so crazy

OMG, SAME HERE!

@ You're not alone Princess! I thought Demand looked really bad in his concept art. His hair looked like he put too much gel on.

Yeah, he looks so much better now. I also think Saphir looks great!

He's still meh to me. His hair really bothers me still. I do like fan art of him though.

I loved Rei's reaction to the UFO magazine. I loved this episode. It was beautiful. And Koan was so BA.

Sailor CJ wrote:

Ughhhh! I can't watch it until I get back from work! I hate working on Saturdays.

You guys gotta answer me for my own sanity though. Do they keep the gore from the combustions? I guess the better question is, what do they replace it with?

They just show the sister being surrounded by this blue flame thing.  One thing I was disappointed in this episode that hasn't been brought up yet is that they seem to have cut out Unazuki from the episode.  I really hope that she'll still be in Crystal and that Toei won't cut her out and I hope they won't cut out the part of Motoki knowing the Soldiers' identities.  But overall, I enjoyed the episode a lot and I feel like Crystal has started finding its footing again.  I loved that we got more scenes of the girls interacting with each other and that everything wasn't just Usagi and Mamoru together.  I especially loved the scene of them at the Crown parlor eating ice cream together and just having fun.  I was also glad they kept the scene of Rei's reaction to the UFO and her freaking out she's sounding like Usagi now.  That was one of my favorite scenes from this chapter in the manga so I was glad it was kept.  You can also count me in as someone who was sad to see Koan killed off already yet at the same time kind of glad that means she wont' be ruined by a bad anime only storyline like the Shittenou.  I also loved Burning Mandala and got really excited seeing it and Shine Aqua Illusion in action.  I'm also glad Moon Princess Halation is as strong as it was in the manga and glad to see the girls kicking some butt here.  It was a great start to the new season and I can't wait to see more.

My reactions to the episode before reading the thread, in spoiler tags. This episode made me laugh out loud several times in good ways.

Spoiler:

I wish they got new transformations

That was... actually really good.

Of course, the animation was absolutely terrible but that's become par for the course. Toei Animation really doesn't care for the animation at all. It's sad to see some of the grittier parts taken out. Thanks for answering that question, Neon Genesis!

I don't know whether to give credit to the manga or not for this but the story was handled very well this time around. The intrigue of Chibi-usa and Rei's side story were balanced. I particularly liked Mamoru this episode. He was very, very close to his manga counterpart. You could really tell how caring and compassionate he is toward Usagi and Chibi-usa. I haven't swooned for Tuxedo Mask in Crystal since the first episode. His entrance this time was fantastic.

All around, I really liked this episode. I hope that this trend continues. We'll never be able to salvage the first arc but if things move on like this, we'll have ourselves a nice Black Moon arc.

Quote :

Animation still in need of improvement^^ But at least they corrected their error of the trailer xD




just ignore the German subtitles xD

Notice though how the outline around Minako is completely different from everyone else's. It looks better but it also looked like she was cut and pasted into the shot.

Quote :

That was... actually really good.

Of course, the animation was absolutely terrible but that's become par for the course. Toei Animation really doesn't care for the animation at all. It's sad to see some of the grittier parts taken out. Thanks for answering that question, Neon Genesis!

I don't know whether to give credit to the manga or not for this but the story was handled very well this time around. The intrigue of Chibi-usa and Rei's side story were balanced very well. I particularly liked Mamoru this episode. He was very, very close to his manga counterpart. You could really tell how caring and compassionate he is toward Usagi and Chibi-usa. I haven't swoon for Tuxedo Mask in Crystal since the first episode. His entrance this time was fantastic.

You let me down, CJ!  Just kidding, but I was looking forward to your usual more critical review of the episode but I'm glad you liked it too.  At this point, I was pretty much expecting them to tone down the violence after they toned down the scene of Endymion's corpse in the first arc but I was glad they kept that scene at all.  I'm definetely going to give the pacing credit to the manga rather than the anime writers.  I checked my copy of the manga and other than cutting out Unazuki's character, they follow the manga pretty much scene for scene and line for line.  I guess they figured out after the backlash they got with the Shittennou subplot that the Crystal anime writers don't write original storylines all that well and so it's better to play it safe and stick to the manga source material.

I've got to yell about how much I loved this episode.

Spoiler:

phew, end of rant!

So will they be going back to just doing it pretty much panel-by-panel? I'm kind of hoping so, since this episode alone has been better then some of the past eps with their "original" stuff.

Not sure how I feel about them killing off Koan. It feels like I should be angry, since she's one of my fave characters, but honestly I'd rather her have her one chance to shine, die, and not be kept alive just to be giving the Shitennou treatment. I really love her design tho, I pretty much like all of the Black Moon Clan designs, but her's especially was flawless. <3

I like Tux helping as support in the battle, but I dunno why it irked me that batting away the reflected Moon Tiara Boomerang wasn't enough. He had to catch Sailor Moon (even though she wasn't falling??) and then we had another one of those 'my hero' pose/moment. I just really like him a lot more when he's the support, not the hero.

The episode was pretty good. I felt it was anticlimactic for Koan to immediately die (one episode seems so harsh for one of the 'big' villains, I guess we were really spoiled by the 90s anime huh?) but there's no winning with this one because they already tried the other way and messed it up.

I liked the funny moments, like Rei and the UFO, Luna-P noticing Luna eyeing it and pretending to be just a toy, and Luna getting distracted so easily by milk. Fail Luna! I just really wish they would make more of those goofy scenes. The panel where Chibiusa shot Usagi with the flower gun was one of my favorites in the manga because everyone's expression was so priceless, but Usagi's was pretty much... neutral even though she fainted afterwards. Just give them expressions please ;_;

The girls had new civilian outfits! Which I didn't notice the first time around because of how fast everything is but I liked that.

Also, Burning Mandala looks super awesome, but the other attacks are kinda meh. I wish the Moon Princess Halation sequence is at least a bit more different than Moon Healing Escalation.

Lastly, was there a pawn I see on the next episode preview? Could they be paying homage to the old Berthier episode by including chess?

I don't know if it's a homage to the old anime because Berthier was a chess player in the manga too and used her dowsing powers to predict chess moves though she and Ami didn't have a direct chess match with each other like in the original anime.

Ooh, I don't remember the chess part, only the dowsing bit. It's probably nothing, then.

It would be nice if they did include a chess match.  One thing I'm wondering about is what are they going to do with Rei's new voice artist because at the rate Crystal episodes are released, we're probably not going to see Rei again for like another two months.

SailorKittyElyon wrote:

I kind of don't want Toei to improve with the animation because i love laughing at it every episode

mauahauahahahahahahah