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Why Sailor Moon Crystal Isn't a Total Disaster


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Wyvern



Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 1545
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:00 pm Reply with quote
Also, a really cool opening sequence and terrific music during the transformations (the actual animation during sequences is another story.)

That said, I think Crystal's ultimate problem is that it makes the mistake of thinking that the emotional center of the franchise comes from Usagi and Mamorou's relationship. But it doesn't; the real core comes from the friendship between the five main senshi. The show's humor and drama both pivot around that. Crystal neglects that, and it causes everything else to fall apart.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:02 pm Reply with quote
Other than some of the wonky production values, I have no problem with SMC, though those production values can really hurt it at times. It's basically a pretty straight-forward adaptation of the manga, so I don't know what people were expecting. I guess a lot of them never read the manga, which... frankly, can be hard to follow at times, because Takeuchi's page layout is really odd and she rarely establishes exactly where the characters are, even in relation to each other. So this show is kind of an improvement in that way.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:02 pm Reply with quote
mangamuscle wrote:
I think that is unfair. No one in the anime industry does bad animation on purpose and the people here have done great work in other series. The simple truth is that the poor animation and biweekly schedule is because this series has little to no budget, otherwise this would have precure levels of animation once a week.


The original Sailor Moon series also had a low budget, so your defence of Crystal holds no water.

Budget issues cannot explain why, with such a fantastically generous schedule (more than twice as much time per episode as any other series ever), the team still draw characters off-model and fail to animate basic movements properly.

Budget issues don't explain why the pacing and plotting of the show have been so terrible.

Budget issues don't explain why three out-of-five girls lack personality, nor why there's no chemistry in their supposed team.

Budget issues don't explain why Crystal departs from the manga at key points (like the way the scouts were in love with the generals in their past lives), which is completely bizarre given that the series was billed as supposedly being more faithful to the manga.

Budget issues don't explain why this show is so bad and yet plenty of other low budget shows are enjoyable.

No, budget is not the problem. The biggest enemy of an anime production is not budget, it's time. Most directors would give up their non-dominant arm if it would mean a schedule of two episodes a month.

Ultimately, the problem with Crystal is that the people who make it don't give a stuff about their work. They're not purposefully trying to make a bad show, true. But there's no heart, no soul, and no love put into this production. They're just going through the motions of making a show and don't care what the result is.

That's not a budget issue, that's an attitude issue.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:02 pm Reply with quote
HeeroTX wrote:
It's like if someone said "I'm going to take (whatever you think is) the BEST Superman story ever and make a movie out of it", and then that person makes it a silent movie where all camera shots are shot at extreme close-up, the color palette is shifted (unintentionally) into the red side of the scale, and the 2 hr movie was released as a trilogy of 40 min movies. The story, casting and costuming might all be perfect, but you're still gonna wonder how this made it to the theater like this and what idiot was in charge of the project.


(But we'd still like it better than anything Zack Snyder ever made. Mad )
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
Posts: 4352
Location: New York
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:03 pm Reply with quote
It says something when I compare this to the JoJo Phantom Blood movie, a film so bad it never saw release. And hope that like that, the series gets an actual good adaptation in a few years. You can get prog rock endings and everything.
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Shadowrun20XX



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 1935
Location: Vegas
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:03 pm Reply with quote
They seriously waited too long, Crystal came to a now supersaturated market. It's not special anymore. It's not 1992 anymore. Everything that made Sailormoon unique has been done to death at this point.

In 1992 anime had a killer line up, what does SMC have? nothing. No line up or after school air time. It's being compared to the old TV series.

On this path it will die of obscurity. The flaws and nitpicks don't help it but also their 2 week release schedule shows they don't seem to care either way.

On a side note Its pretty insulting to see Sailor Moon Crystal go down and also Hunter x Hunter stop and cease to continue. There must be some family problems going on with these two cause both their series are suffering. Naoko's probably hooked on DragonQuest just as bad and if so Hori is to blame. Very Happy
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Usagi-kun



Joined: 03 Jul 2013
Posts: 877
Location: Nashville, TN
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:11 pm Reply with quote
I wonder if this update on the Sailor Moon universe still serves a a gateway to anime like the original did so effectively in the 90's? I am speaking as someone who definitely prefered DBZ around that time period, and has absolutely zero interest any part of the Sailor Moon franchise itself, but I would like to know if it able to continue that tradition?

If not, that is a shame; it was so beloved before and a second retelling with an "updated" format failing on that note is tragic. Who, exactly, are its values and messages being sent to today? Are the kids still watching and wanting to see more of what anime has to offer?
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Fallenmessiahx



Joined: 14 Apr 2010
Posts: 116
Location: Denver colorado
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:13 pm Reply with quote
unitmikey wrote:


Also, I think that the show could have benefited from being longer. I am not saying that it should be a hundred episodes per season (which is one of the flaws of the original) but each arc for the manga should be at least twenty-four episodes to really get everything in there smoothly.
say...


I agree completely! When they first announced that there will be 26 episodes, I thought that was the perfect amount of time to tell the first arc. It turned out to be the first two arcs will be crammed into that episode count. There are not really any fillers but also because of that it's lacking in a lot of character development. I am not saying it should be 40+ episodes each arch...that's a bit of an overkill. One thing I did not like about the manga is that is tries to tell five main arcs in about 10-12 volumes. The story moved at break neck speed and came off as bit bloated.
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PetitePuff



Joined: 25 May 2015
Posts: 68
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:25 pm Reply with quote
i've watched every episode so far. some of the frame and animation errors in this show can be strange, ugly, or even hilarious, and in all fairness, some are extremely noticeable Laughing. maybe i'm the only one in the world who feels this way, but i don't actually hate the CG transformation sequences (i'm probably gonna get lynched for saying that) i like the music just fine too (i really like the OP)

i don't really agree with the adapting of one manga chapter = one episode of SMC. in my opinion, it might have been better to dedicate the entire 26 episode run to just the Dark Kingdom arc, and do something paced kind of in between that of the manga (kind of fast) and the original anime (filler, ugh Razz ). that way, there'd be enough time for proper character establishment, and they each have time to show some personality (for the characters who aren't named Usagi Razz). we can be shown more of the backstory of the Silver Millennium and these characters' past lives (rather than just some still images and being told about it Rolling Eyes). there'd be room for a few sub-plots! like maybe we could see what Venus was up to before she met up with the other senshi! get some backstory for Beryl and the Shitennou! spoiler[(the senshi x shittennou shipping wouldn't have to feel shoehorned in to an already overly tight show! ...and end up being irrelevant anyway Rolling Eyes)]
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:31 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
The original Sailor Moon series also had a low budget, so your defence of Crystal holds no water.


It had an equivalent budget other TOEI tv anime series, so no, it was never "low budget", go watch Ogenki Clinic tu understand what "low budget" was on that time period.

Quote:
Budget issues don't explain why the pacing and plotting of the show have been so terrible.

Budget issues don't explain why three out-of-five girls lack personality, nor why there's no chemistry in their supposed team.

Budget issues don't explain why Crystal departs from the manga at key points (like the way the scouts were in love with the generals in their past lives), which is completely bizarre given that the series was billed as supposedly being more faithful to the manga.


You can thank Naoko Takeuchi for all those, she wanted a carbon copy of her manga and that is what she got. Any change from the manga had to have her seal of approval since she owns sailor moon.

Quote:
Budget issues don't explain why this show is so bad and yet plenty of other low budget shows are enjoyable.


Because they last only five minutes or are not as low budget as you want to think.

Quote:
Budget issues cannot explain why, with such a fantastically generous schedule (more than twice as much time per episode as any other series ever), the team still draw characters off-model and fail to animate basic movements properly.

Ultimately, the problem with Crystal is that the people who make it don't give a stuff about their work. They're not purposefully trying to make a bad show, true. But there's no heart, no soul, and no love put into this production. They're just going through the motions of making a show and don't care what the result is.


The explanation is quite simple. Time is money. The staff has apparently twice the time other series have, but the simple truth is that they are also working on other series and use the time in between assignments to do this series. That is why you have a ton of key animators, which only do a few frames. No matter how professional they are, if they are not given enough time their work will always be subpar and they can't say no to the higher ups. Everything boils down to lack of budget.
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Cptn_Taylor



Joined: 08 Nov 2013
Posts: 925
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:53 pm Reply with quote
@ mangamuscle : Ogenki Clinic was an hentai ova. You really cannot compare it to classic sailor moon on the animation front. It's well known hentai shows are mostly static images except for the "magic" scenes if even that. Very few hentai shows are animated lavishly (cfr Legend of the Overfiend).

The original Sailor Moon anime was low budget. There is no denying it. Want to compare it with something of that era ? How about Kimagure Orange Road ? It predates SM buy several years since it is from the late eighties, but hot damn on the animation department and quality of drawing it riducules the Sailor Senshi.
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 3:03 pm Reply with quote
Cptn_Taylor wrote:
@ mangamuscle : Ogenki Clinic was an hentai ova. You really cannot compare it to classic sailor moon on the animation front. It's well known hentai shows are mostly static images except for the "magic" scenes if even that. Very few hentai shows are animated lavishly (cfr Legend of the Overfiend).


It is not about it being hentai, it is about it being low budget, even static images look prettier than Ogenki Clinic.

Quote:
The original Sailor Moon anime was low budget. There is no denying it. Want to compare it with something of that era ? How about Kimagure Orange Road ? It predates SM buy several years since it is from the late eighties, but hot damn on the animation department and quality of drawing it riducules the Sailor Senshi.


I happen to own a (chinese) DVD set of KOR so no, I do not see where you call Sailor Moon "low budget" and Kimagure Orange Road not. Neither of them has an animation low budget (nor they have any high quality scenes, save for the openings) as i.e. the second season of Ranma 1/2, now that is low budget for that time period in a TV series.


Last edited by mangamuscle on Wed Jun 10, 2015 3:06 pm; edited 2 times in total
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 3:03 pm Reply with quote
Usagi-kun wrote:
I wonder if this update on the Sailor Moon universe still serves a a gateway to anime like the original did so effectively in the 90's? I am speaking as someone who definitely prefered DBZ around that time period, and has absolutely zero interest any part of the Sailor Moon franchise itself, but I would like to know if it able to continue that tradition?


No, because no one cares. It's not a juggernaut that invites people to watch and enjoy it, it's barely being recepted in Japan with only 3-3.5k in sales which is abysmal for such a huge property. Compare that to the Yamato remake which was getting 30k+ sales. I've said since the beginning, and I still believe it, that Crystal is part of a contractual obligation to Takeuchi to give her a strict manga adaptation. So there's no love, heart, or value put into what they're producing. It'll be forgotten the very second it's over.
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chito895



Joined: 22 Jan 2015
Posts: 512
Location: Lima, Peru
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 3:12 pm Reply with quote
I've never watched the original, the only magical girl in my childhood was Sakura from CardCaptors Sakura (and she will always be my favorite).

But when I wanted to watch this new adaption, OH MY GOD, it was boring as heeell! I fell asleep at the middle of the first episode. Maybe I'll give it another try when there is nothing else to see on Crunchyroll, but if I do, I'll have to bear with the problems all people has been pointing out. And I won't like that. Meh... Rolling Eyes
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ellephedre



Joined: 05 Oct 2014
Posts: 36
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 3:16 pm Reply with quote
Quoting from the article

Quote:
In Crystal we can see her as a lost, scared kid far from home and doing her damnedest to solve her own problems, setting up a parallel between her and Usagi.


What really irks me here is the attempt to say that the classic anime didn't do a good enough job in describing Chibiusa, her reason, her struggles. I don't know if it's a case of bad memory or an inability to put together the pieces just because they were in different episodes, but here is is an actual list of what Classic narrated about Chibiusa

Episode 60: she appears out of nowhere (from the sky) and she is aggressive in her search for the Silver Crystal. She messes completely Usagi's room, in her attempt to find it. She has even invented past photos of them together, to prevent anyone to doubt the fact that she belongs to the Tsukino family. She sneaks into Usagi's bath 'attacking' her and asking where Usagi's hiding the crystal. When Usagi goes to find her friends, Chibiusa drugs all of them, thinking Usagi has given them the crystal. When Koan finds her, Chibiusa cries out, revealing the moon crescent mark on her forehead.
Episode 61: Chibiusa is nowhere to be found. She has gone to a park all alone and she is sitting by a swing, depressed. When Mamoru offers a hand, she takes it. She is happy with him, she even let him nickname her Chibiusa. Usagi is not in her simpaties, Chibiusa is already saying that Mamoru is all hers. When the Tsukino family starts to forget who Chibiusa is, she hypnotizes them again and mocks Usagi for not being able to stop her.
Episode 64 : During a storm, nobody comes to pick Chibiusa up from school. She watches all the other kid's parents take away their children and she remains all alone, trying not cry. She ends up going home all by herself, scared. As Usagi, she cannot stand storms. Hidden in an alley, she calls Pluto through Luna P, saying she wants to go back home. Pluto says she can't and Chibiusa is so scared that she ends up once agains liberating the power of the crescent moon on her forehead. After the battle, Chibiusa still doesn't want to tell anyone her secrets. Mamoru understands she doesn't want to talk and Chibiusa runs to him and hugs him. A bond between the two of them is formed.
Episode 66:. Chibiusa stubbornly refuses help from Usagi in preparing curry for a school event. She tries to to it all by herself, and ends up crying when she does a mess. But when Usagi appears offering her help, Chibiusa hides her tears and repeats she doesn't need her. Usagi suggest they involve Mamoru and Chibiusa leaps at that. When the three of them are waking together Chibiusa takes Usagi's hand because she is at ease with her, it feels like family. They revert to bickering soon after, because Chibiusa is a child that cannot accept that Usagi - the annoying big-sister like figure in her life - can give her such a sensation. But later she admits, in her head, that forming a team with Rei and Mamoru isn't at all like being with Usagi. So she asks Rei to go search for her.
Episode 68: Chibiusa goes to sleep with Usagi during the night. Like a troubled child, she wets the bed. The morning after she is ashamed to look at Usagi and escapes. The four Ayakashi Sisters search for her. Desperate, Chibiusa calls Pluto again, crying, talking about her situation. She ends up being surrounded by the Ayakashi Sisters, without defenses. Sailor Moon intervenes and Chibiusa starts to trust her.
Episode 69: Chibiusa doesn't want to hear the Sleeping Beauty story. After Usagi narrates it to her, she falls asleep crying. When Usagi ends up in a sleeping beauty situation and Tuxedo Kamen wakes her up with a kiss, Chibiusa observes surprised, happy to discover that happy endings do exist.
Episode 73: Chibiusa finds out the true identity of Usagi and her friends. She is appalled: she trusted Sailor Moon, but how can she trust Usagi? When Usagi behaves like an ungrateful child, who doesn't want to eat the pancakes mama Ikuko has so lovingly prepared just for her, Chibiusa has no more doubts about Usagi's immaturity and steals the Silver Crystal. The Inners get abducted by Rubeus. Usagi wants to slap Chibiusa, Tuxedo Kamen stops her. Chibiusa is devastated.
Episode 74: Chibiusa decides that the girls getting captured by the enemy (who wants her in exchange for them) is her fault, so she goes along with Usagi to save her (without telling anyone, of course). During the battle she actively helps liberating the girls againts Rubeus, even without any power.
Episode 75: Chibiusa falls ill. Usagi and the others enter her nightmare and we get a glimpse of the kind of world Chibiusa think she is living - a world where she is all alone, surrounded by darkness and monster, and has to survive by herself.
Episode 81: Chibiusa has made friends at school. To save one of them, a little girl, she liberates her power. After this battle, she decides to go back to the future, trusting Usagi and the others.

All of this is just in the introduction of her character. I made a summary of the most important points. Some of them were remarked upon or expanded in other episodes, in little scenes.
Moreover, when Chibiusa becomes Black Lady we actually get to see memories of her relationship with her parents, the other Senshi and how she sort of felt abandoned even when everyone was with her - something that Wiseman plays to his advantage, to mess with her mind and make her think that nobody ever cared about her.

I'm sorry, but I felt the character way more in Classic.
I couldn't care less about the 'positive' portrayal. Classic Chibiusa is a realistic child, who has faced so many difficulties that she doesn't trust easily, behaves irrationaly and annoyingly (as children do), but in the end is just a little girl who is trying to get through her ordeal, in order to go back to her family (which is why the Classic season ended on this note, with her back in her mother's arms).
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