Sailor Moon Crystal - July 5 Premiere

[Psyren]

So we're a couple of weeks out from the Sailor Moon reboot (subtitled version will be available on Hulu, Neon Alley and I believe Crunchyroll) and I thought, hey, why not make a thread?

Trailer

I consider myself a decent mooniac - I've focused more on the anime but I'm aware of the manga differences, and am overall a big fan of the series as a whole. So naturally I'm pretty excited. I also like the new designs (well, Usagi herself seems a bit off to me so far, but I do like the others) and I'm curious as to what this series will mean. Will it stick closely to the manga storyline? Will they modernize it to match 21st century Japan? Will the english dub even acknowledge they're in Japan this time, and will the bad guys explain why they never attack anywhere except Karakura Town the Juuban district? Will we have less stock footage and more ass-kicking from the senshi this time?

The series is projected to last 26 episodes, at which point they will presumably reassess and determine if they want to do more. Right now only the original 5 + cats have been confirmed, and no doubt Tuxedo Kamen will be around as well - I'm hoping it succeeds so that they decide to update the Outer Senshi as well.

Anyway, enough rambling from me - feel free to discuss your own thoughts/hopes/fears.

EDIT: I'm spoilering the thread since the first few episodes have been covered up, so anyone starting the show completely cold can safely go through the first few pages. Please continue to spoiler plot-heavy events of the latest couple of episodes. If anyone objects I'll remove this tag.

[Metahuman1]

I hope this goes over well. Do we know if anyone connected with the manga or original anime are involved or at least approving?

[Closet_Skeleton]

About half the voice cast is back. Naoko (the mangaka) has some involvement.

[Psyren]

I hope this goes over well. Do we know if anyone connected with the manga or original anime are involved or at least approving?

Yes, Naoko has signed off on it and several VAs are reprising their old roles (at least, the Japanese ones.)

[Metahuman1]

Ok, returning va`s is good. Original creators seal of approval is better. This will hopefully be awesome. =)

[Eldariel]

Assuming it still has the Classic plot, I'm really hoping they explore the relationship between Endymion and the Shitennou more. The only Sailor Moon product that I've seen do that properly was the live action "美少女戦士セーラームーン" (PGSM) and that was rather far removed from the original. Overall, it would be interesting to see him turned into a real character; he is pretty darn important in every respect after all, and serves to humanify the "villains". Overall, I'd love the plot handling a bit like PGSM (after the painful first ~16 episodes or so anyways). Also, it would be interesting to see them go into a bit more detail with the final events of the Moon Kingdom; that was something I always felt the original squandered a lot of potential on. I'm at least fairly certain they're giving Venus a more manga-like personality as opposed to the Usagi Two she turned into in the show so that's something to look forward to.

Overall though, this looks quite interesting and I'll probably be watching it as it goes. It's been over a decade since I really watched or read anything Sailor Moon-related anyways so it's all in good time.

[Psyren]

Definitely agreed on the Shi-tennou; they were supposed to be Endymion's advisors who were corrupted by Beryl and give Mamoru advice in the modern era after being purified, but the anime was happy just removing them from the picture entirely. (*pirouettes around board filter.*)

For that matter, I'd love it if the other senshi got some love interests too instead of Mamoru being the only dude in the series (and, very frequently, designated Dude In Distress as a result.) I don't mind a dude needing rescuing - it's Magical Girl after all -just that it is almost always the same dude. And the other senshi are nearly perennially loveless as a result, save Uranus and Neptune for obvious reasons.

And finally I want to see more real-time combat from them. Not just "stock footage attack -> result" but actual leaping and dodging and stuff. I mean come on, Usagi herself can withstand at least 10x gravity, lets get some DBZ-style FX in there.

[Eldariel]

Definitely agreed on the Shi-tennou; they were supposed to be Endymion's advisors who were corrupted by Beryl and give Mamoru advice in the modern era after being purified, but the anime was happy just removing them from the picture entirely. (*pirouettes around board filter.*)

That bloody filter, almost makes me want to just start using kana instead. I'm pretty sure the filter ignores kana. Shitennou is written what, 四天王? I think that's it anyways.

For that matter, I'd love it if the other senshi got some love interests too instead of Mamoru being the only dude in the series (and, very frequently, designated Dude In Distress as a result.) I don't mind a dude needing rescuing - it's Magical Girl after all -just that it is almost always the same dude. And the other senshi are nearly perennially loveless as a result, save Uranus and Neptune for obvious reasons.

And finally I want to see more real-time combat from them. Not just "stock footage attack -> result" but actual leaping and dodging and stuff. I mean come on, Usagi herself can withstand at least 10x gravity, lets get some DBZ-style FX in there.

Mh, this all comes down to the one and same problem: There are lots of characters in Sailor Moon. I guess that's why the other Senshi became less relevant as the show went on and why Mamoru was treated as barely a character at all; it's hard to find the time to flesh out dozens of characters, let alone supporting characters for all the 10+ "main" characters. But yeah, it could be interesting to have something beyond the other senshis' misadventures in love (usually involving the monster of the week) on that front. If it were to be included, there would probably be the interplay of their duties as senshi and their worldly attachment present, another thing PGSM explores rather well with Minako's singing career. Usagi/Mamoru is of course a bit different due to their identities.

And yeah, I'd assume actual fight scenes as opposed to recycled animation is one of the main ideas behind the remake; after all, the original had huge amounts of recycled animations in the absurd minute-long transformation and attack sequences making about a 10th of each episode recycled material. I understand this is big budget so that would no longer be necessary. There's a lots of challenges to be tackled, to be sure - it'll be interesting to see how they approach this. Will they focus on individual character arcs to have characters take turn in the limelight or will they try to keep all involved simultaneously; the latter would be extremely ambitious but amazing if pulled off successfully.


EDIT: I just realized that originally each of the inner senshi was associated with one of the 四天王 and they were supposed to share similar bonds to Moon and Endymion. That's one thing that could happen.

[Legato Endless]

I wonder if Endymion is getting the powers he had in the manga that kept him relevant longer, or if they're just sticking him with his rose, extendable cane and serendipitous dramatic entrances he put up in the anime.

[Psyren]

Mh, this all comes down to the one and same problem: There are lots of characters in Sailor Moon. I guess that's why the other Senshi became less relevant as the show went on and why Mamoru was treated as barely a character at all; it's hard to find the time to flesh out dozens of characters, let alone supporting characters for all the 10+ "main" characters. But yeah, it could be interesting to have something beyond the other senshis' misadventures in love (usually involving the monster of the week) on that front. If it were to be included, there would probably be the interplay of their duties as senshi and their worldly attachment present, another thing PGSM explores rather well with Minako's singing career. Usagi/Mamoru is of course a bit different due to their identities.

And yeah, I'd assume actual fight scenes as opposed to recycled animation is one of the main ideas behind the remake; after all, the original had huge amounts of recycled animations in the absurd minute-long transformation and attack sequences making about a 10th of each episode recycled material. I understand this is big budget so that would no longer be necessary. There's a lots of challenges to be tackled, to be sure - it'll be interesting to see how they approach this. Will they focus on individual character arcs to have characters take turn in the limelight or will they try to keep all involved simultaneously; the latter would be extremely ambitious but amazing if pulled off successfully.

I agree, they weren't given nearly enough time to flesh out the other senshi properly and make them as relevant as they deserved to be. Still, it's not as though they were completely left out in the cold - each one generally got an episode centered around her in each sub-arc (Ail and En/Black Moon during R, Kaorinite/Eudial and the rest of the Witches 5 during S etc.) As an example, Minako got both the volleyball episode where she considered quitting the scouts, and the one where she was jealous of all the others for not having her pure heart targeted yet and started donating blood all over town (not kidding.) And there were also some pretty cool non-stock-footage fight scenes, such as when the 4 senshi took on the Akayashi sisters in R while Tuxedo Mask faced off against Rubeus.

TL;DR the anime wasn't all ignoring the other scouts and stock footage in place of real battles. There was certainly a lot of that but if even the original with its low budget and animation standards could squeeze in good content, I have high hopes that this one can do even more.

EDIT: I just realized that originally each of the inner senshi was associated with one of the 四天王 and they were supposed to share similar bonds to Moon and Endymion. That's one thing that could happen.

It's possible, though honestly I prefer the original anime's pairing of Kunzite/Malachite with Zoisite, Rei with Yuichiro/Chad and Ami with Ryo/Greg (the smart boy from the Seven Great Youma.)

I wonder if Endymion is getting the powers he had in the manga that kept him relevant longer, or if they're just sticking him with his rose, extendable cane and serendipitous dramatic entrances he put up in the anime.

At the very least they could do a better job of demonstrating/explaining that the rose is actually disrupting the enemy's spells when thrown. It just looks silly when a rose does things like stop a moving plane.

[Eldariel]

I agree, they weren't given nearly enough time to flesh out the other senshi properly and make them as relevant as they deserved to be. Still, it's not as though they were completely left out in the cold - each one generally got an episode centered around her in each sub-arc (Ail and En/Black Moon during R, Kaorinite/Eudial and the rest of the Witches 5 during S etc.) As an example, Minako got both the volleyball episode where she considered quitting the scouts, and the one where she was jealous of all the others for not having her pure heart targeted yet and started donating blood all over town (not kidding.) And there were also some pretty cool non-stock-footage fight scenes, such as when the 4 senshi took on the Akayashi sisters in R while Tuxedo Mask faced off against Rubeus.

TL;DR the anime wasn't all ignoring the other scouts and stock footage in place of real battles. There was certainly a lot of that but if even the original with its low budget and animation standards could squeeze in good content, I have high hopes that this one can do even more.

I don't think R was that bad in this regard (just in most other regards). The problem really crops up from Super onwards. There's one (I think? A decade is a long time.) battle in Super in which the Inner Senshi manage to defeat a daemon without Moon (the one where Jupiter has her "I'm feeling useless"-episode and training and so on). In SuperS the Outers are thrown out of the picture entirely and the Inners have their last power-ups, but it's still mostly Moon and Chibi Moon every time. And then come Stars where it's literally just Starlights and Moon doing stuff for most of the time when the Inner Senshi aren't busy arguing with the Starlights (though that's understandable 'cause the show has like 13 "potential protagonists" at that point so it's hard to focus on everyone). Okay, Outer Senshi have a bit of focus in the pre-arc of Stars since they start it off living on their own and get thrown into the mix and get their last form (which is always tied with one or two episodes of relevance for each character). Inners still get decent screentime outside the fight scenes and they're always there (if only to block the food and drinks thrown at them by Aluminum Seiren), but yeah, suffice to say there's a bit of room for an improvement on this front.

Speaking of monsters of the week, it's worth noting that manga had nothing of the sort pretty much from R onwards; basically all the MotWs are anime-only fabrications (lemures, phages) or things that are entirely changed from their manga appearance (daemons). And some of them make precious little sense (phages). It would be awesome if the writers don't go out of their way to force them into the story where it doesn't make sense. There're plenty of bad guys in the big bad and their underlings; having all the dragons go down in quick succession after ~20 episodes of slice-of-life-monster-of-the-week hunt is kind of a weird tempo shift, and not really as fulfilling as it could be with proper build-up (I think Classic had the best pacing out of all the anime seasons).

It's possible, though honestly I prefer the original anime's pairing of Kunzite/Malachite with Zoisite, Rei with Yuichiro/Chad and Ami with Ryo/Greg (the smart boy from the Seven Great Youma.)

There's plenty of alternatives there. I'm not partial one way or another but I hope the aspects be explored even if it goes no further than that.

At the very least they could do a better job of demonstrating/explaining that the rose is actually disrupting the enemy's spells when thrown. It just looks silly when a rose does things like stop a moving plane.

If they actually write him into a real character this time, I'm fairly confident they'll also write his powers and everything properly and make it explicit that he is "Sailor Earth". Actually, an interesting point from manga that didn't come up in the anime - the first time the inner senshi see Uranus and Neptune, Uranus is dressed as a tuxedo kamen, not a sailor senshi.

[Psyren]

Yeah, SuperS was pretty terrible, especially since it doubled down on Chibi-Moon who was pretty hated by Western audiences. Plus it threw out the very interesting Outer Senshi as well, who did not return in earnest until Stars.

Agreed with Classic being paced the best. S is my favorite season but it was still pretty jarring to have roughly 50% of it with Kaorinite as the Dragon, roughly 20% each go to Eudial and Mimete, and then rush the last three Witches out the door with a mere one episode each. What were those three doing all this time? It was particularly jarring considering the very brutal ways they all died.

My personal rankings of seasons are SMS, SM Classic, SM Stars, SMR and last of all SMSuperS.

As for the "monster-of-the-week" - aside from there being too many of them so that they stretched out the season too much (and being pretty silly that they only attack bloody Japan), I didn't mind it. Their design and personalities added a lot of humor to the anime (e.g. Steering, Doorknobdar and U-Tahime.) The big issue was that they simply weren't used properly. Their power levels tended to fluctuate wildly with no explanation, and some were used merely as padding in episodes that didn't otherwise advance the plot or better characterize the senshi in any way.

I don't mind MotW on principle - you need something to trigger the stock footage after all - but the episodes should be more about us getting to know a specific scout and then letting that scout shine during the fight as they learn something about themselves, imo.

[Legato Endless]

I don't think R was that bad in this regard (just in most other regards). The problem really crops up from Super onwards. There's one (I think? A decade is a long time.) battle in Super in which the Inner Senshi manage to defeat a daemon without Moon (the one where Jupiter has her "I'm feeling useless"-episode and training and so on). In SuperS the Outers are thrown out of the picture entirely and the Inners have their last power-ups, but it's still mostly Moon and Chibi Moon every time.

Even Moon isn't really focused on in Super S, since nigh all focus of anyone who mattered was jettisoned and we got an excessive spotlight on Chibi Moon and a ton of episodes about one shot characters with cookie cutter dreams. Worst season by far.

And then come Stars where it's literally just Starlights and Moon doing stuff for most of the time when the Inner Senshi aren't busy arguing with the Starlights (though that's understandable 'cause the show has like 13 "potential protagonists" at that point so it's hard to focus on everyone). Okay, Outer Senshi have a bit of focus in the pre-arc of Stars since they start it off living on their own and get thrown into the mix and get their last form (which is always tied with one or two episodes of relevance for each character). Inners still get decent screentime outside the fight scenes and they're always there (if only to block the food and drinks thrown at them by Aluminum Seiren), but yeah, suffice to say there's a bit of room for an improvement on this front.

Along with casting focus, I'm hoping they tighten up the dialogue balance. The token line from each Senshi in a fight/group conversation got pretty repetitive.

Speaking of monsters of the week, it's worth noting that manga had nothing of the sort pretty much from R onwards; basically all the MotWs are anime-only fabrications (lemures, phages) or things that are entirely changed from their manga appearance (daemons). And some of them make precious little sense (phages). It would be awesome if the writers don't go out of their way to force them into the story where it doesn't make sense. There're plenty of bad guys in the big bad and their underlings; having all the dragons go down in quick succession after ~20 episodes of slice-of-life-monster-of-the-week hunt is kind of a weird tempo shift, and not really as fulfilling as it could be with proper build-up (I think Classic had the best pacing out of all the anime seasons).

I don't know if I really want them to try to resemble the manga more in this regard. The manga has much quicker pacing but what it gains in plot progression it sacrifices in development. Or even elaboration. The characterization is thin in the manga, particularly for the antagonists. The underlings aren't really functionally different from the monsters of the week, except four of them from the first arc keep coming back later to give exposition to Endymion. The show might never quite perfected it's pacing or development, but the monster of the week episodes at their best let the show breathe and give the senshi come focus. The petty bickering, jealousy and backstabbing gave the antagonists a charm that made them feel like slightly more than an obstacle.

Edit: ninja'd

[Eldariel]

I agree with both of you, I don't think MotW is a problem in and of itself (though I don't think it needs to be so forced on every episode; it's perfectly okay to have some monsters go longer than one episode and not every episode needs one), but the way it was implemented. That's as much as I said, really: I feel they forced it onto places where it just didn't make sense which wreaked havoc on the pacing of the latter seasons, created some completely bizarre underling creatures (again, phages) and the powercurve issues (if phages truly are that strong it would've been trivial for Galaxia to just have a hundred phages made and watch the senshi crumble). Hell, Galaxia is supposed to pretty much rule the whole galaxy and have tons of sailor senshi converted to do her bidding; it would make more sense to just employ more Animates or whatever.

Stars Manga spoiler:

Spoiler

Show

In the manga the last enemies before the bittersweet ending were the guardian senshi themselves. That would be material for countless episodes alone.

And I definitely agree about the villains: manga leaves them thin, but anime leaves important stuff out while fleshing them out. Optimal position would be somewhere between where they're developed in a more organic way, and perhaps even act a bit more competently. Allow them more cooperation and backstabbing with each other and so on. My own order of preference would also be something like Super > Stars = Classic >>> R >>>>> SuperS. It hurts a bit that IMHO the most interesting character in the whole series is Hotaru who is only really relevant in two seasons.

[Closet_Skeleton]

The underlings aren't really functionally different from the monsters of the week, except four of them from the first arc keep coming back later to give exposition to Endymion.

They basically are monsters of the week with how long they last. The anime basically stretched things out by adding a new layer of monsters of the week under the manga's.

[Psyren]

Hotaru, man don't get me started on how disappointing that whole thing was. I get that her power is the definition of Awesome But Impractical but I still wanted to see a bit more from her than blocking a couple of attacks and then getting killed (twice.) She's supposed to be the strongest senshi, dammit.

They basically are monsters of the week with how long they last. The anime basically stretched things out by adding a new layer of monsters of the week under the manga's.

For real. Didn't Jupiter one-shot Kunzite in the manga? Yet he was played up as the Dragon In Chief in the anime.

[Eldariel]

For real. Didn't Jupiter one-shot Kunzite in the manga? Yet he was played up as the Dragon In Chief in the anime.

Yeah, the power charts are all over the place in the anime. I honestly think the manga-sort of power equivalency is not only sensible, but necessary. Otherwise the Senshi aren't really all that, if it truly took 3-5 of them to beat one of Earth's generals - they're supposed to be the ultimate warriors of the Moon Kingdom, darnit. There's only 5 senshi against countless youma, the generals and the big bads themselves; power-wise that equation only works if the Senshi are far, far above the youma. That doesn't stop the bad guys from being a threat with guile, numbers and so on but would make the whole situation slightly less absurd and give the bad guys a reason to escape and avoid the Senshi.

And yeah, Saturn does use her lesser powers in the manga few times. In the anime there's...well, the time she (presumably) uses Death Reborn/Ribbon Revolution on Pharaoh 90 (funny story, apparently it officially spells out "Death Reborn Revolution" but the attack involves a spread of ribbons) and the time she almost blows Nehelenia up. And the time Galaxia laughs her into not doing anything. That one was kinda dumb.

[Psyren]

Well, Galaxia kinda broke her Silence Glaive (and the Garnet Rod) so it's not as though she was feeling her oats at that point.

(But really, she and Pluto stopped fighting because they figured out what Uranus and Neptune were up to - not because they were afraid of Galaxia.)

I'm fine with the generals/other quirky miniboss squads being stronger than the Senshi, at least initially. After all, their greatest strength (apart from channeling their power through Usagi so she can wreck face) is teamwork, and if the enemies are equal to them in individual strength there would be no need for that teamwork. I do think it's hilarious how the minibosses all freak out and leave the MotW to clean up and invariably get killed every time though.

[Psyren]

Bump for first episode!

http://www.hulu.com/sailor-moon-crystal
http://www.crunchyroll.com/sailor-moon-crystal
http://www.viz.com/sailor-moon-crystal

My thoughts:

1) The new theme song is Moon Pride; it looks and sounds awesome. It features all 5 inner senshi from the get-go, instead of starting off with just Moon, Mercury and Mars. We also see new renditions of their attacks. More on this in the spoiler.

2) The new visuals are gorgeous, particularly the new transformation and attack sequences. The transformation seemed quite elaborate (even by SM standards) - it is 50% longer and utilizes lots of 3D CGI, so it may end up being stock footage, but my hope is that the attacks themselves will be more spontaneous/varied this time around

3) Plot-wise, it is nearly a note-for-note retread of the first episode of the anime/manga. The same main cast from the first episode of the anime is introduced, including Usagi (Serena), Luna, Naru (Molly), Umino (Melvin), Mamoru (Darien), Jaedite, , Usagi's mother/brother/teacher, etc. I'll focus on changes from the anime as that is the version I'm more familiar with.

Changes:

Spoiler

Show

Intro
- The part about Usagi oversleeping and being late for school now comes before the opening theme song. I wonder if there will be more pre-episode "stingers" like this?

- As I mentioned above, all 5 inner senshi along with their attacks are introduced in the new opening theme song. In the original, only the first three scouts to be recruited (Moon, Mercury and Mars) were featured, and their attacks were not shown.
- In addition to Beryl, all four of the Shi-tennou are introduced in the new opening theme. In the original, only Beryl was shown, with a host of shadowy figures behind her.
- Venus' attack in the opening theme is her Love-Me Chain, which she did not get until Sailor Moon R in the old anime. Similar, Mercury appears to be using the Shine Aqua Illusion.
- The Ginzuishou in the intro has a more flowery appearance, similar to how it looked in the R movie.


In the episode proper:

1st Half:

- Usagi has fragmented dreams of being Princess Serenity from the start (which she does not understand.)
- Usagi remembers her lunch this time instead of her mother needing to remind her!
- Her mother is reading about Sailor V's exploits in the paper and wishes Usagi would be more like her.
- Usagi trips over Luna instead of rescuing her from abusive children. Children are still the source of the bandage over Luna's mark, but Luna explains this rather than it being shown.
- Luna scratches her several times in this episode whereas she did not before.
- Beryl doesn't show up in the episode at all. Instead, we merely see a shadowy Jaedite form his minion (the youma named Morga) out of clay(?) and send it to collect energy.
- Naru brings multiple friends to the jewelry story instead of just Usagi. Usagi flunking her test is still the reason she does not attempt to ask for any of the energy-stealing jewelry.
- When Usagi meets Mamoru for the first time, there is an interesting beat where they're both startled and seem to experience momentary deja vu. The teasing about Usagi's test grade is still present.
- Mamoru is walking around town in a tuxedo of all things when she runs into him. We'll see if she makes the connection in episode 2.
- Usagi stops on the way home to play the Sailor V video game in the Crown Arcade. This introduces Motoki (Andrew) in episode 1 as opposed to episode 2.

2nd Half:

- Usagi gets home much later in the day due to stopping to play the Sailor V game. This makes her mother locking her out for her bad grades a little less cruel since she wasn't out there until nightfall, it was already nightfall.
- The Moon Brooch has been heavily redesigned. It's now surrounded by four multicolored orbs representing the inner senshi surrounding the moon.
- Usagi comes up with the name "Sailor Moon" herself (after a little nonverbal prompting by Luna, who gestures up at the crescent moon in the night sky) rather than being told she is Sailor Moon by Luna.
- We actually see Tuxedo Kamen sneak into the OSAP store this time instead of mysteriously appearing. He appears about to help Naru, but hides when Sailor Moon arrives.
- Morga's brainwashed minions actually made it home before succumbing this time - they did not all collapse in the store itself. (They must live close by though, because they all return when it calls them pretty quickly.)
- Usagi's amplified cries actually shatter the windows this time. They also appear to hurt or at least discomfort Luna as well as the youma and its minions.
- The boomerang becomes a glowing chakram instead of a discus/frisbee made of light.
- Her battlecry is now "Moon Tiara Boomerang" instead of "Moon Tiara Action/Magic."
- Despite the new name, we don't see the tiara return - rather, it flies through Morga, offscreen, and in the next scene it's back on her head.
- The tiara is much more brutal in Crystal. It slices Morga clean in half, and we see her revert to lumpy clay instead of sparkling dust as her top half slumps over the counter.
- Tuxedo Kamen doesn't do anything to help her besides egging her on, including not throwing his rose Hopefully this is a trend!
- Tuxedo Kamen introduces himself as he flees the scene this time rather than making an entrance. She still blushes but looks less obviously smitten than in the previous versions.
- Rather than look frustrated/enraged at Morga's defeat, Jaedite appears impressed and intrigued at the protagonist. Jaedite is syping on her using a crystal ball similar to Beryl's this time.
- The episode ends at Usagi's school. We see a blue-haired girl who can only be Amy/Sailor Mercury running home as it starts to rain. This will mean she joins the team much sooner than in the previous series.

All in all, I'm very happy with the reboot. Great visuals, great music, the changes so far have been either for better pacing or for a more modernized take on the character (e.g. Tuxedo Kamen not saving her) and it is introducing new characters faster than the original did so I anticipate few to no instances of filler. Excellent! The next one will be in two weeks' time.

[cobaltstarfire]

I dunno, I felt like the art/animation was really...off for some reason, I haven't been able to place my finger on what is bugging me about it though.

I rather liked the content of the intro theme and stuff though. Hopefully the wonky (to me) animation will settle out in a few episodes.

[Eldariel]

First, internationally viewable version (all 3 of your links only claimed to work in the United States and I'm not in the mood to set up a proxy right now):
http://ch.nicovideo.jp/sailormoon_English

Second, I definitely think the OP is a downgrade compared to Moonlight Densetsu and Sailor Star Song. This has a more of a simple pop style melody; both the originals were a bit more complex (Sailor Star Song probably a bit less so). That said, I'm not surprised and this isn't a bad one. Now, to watch the episode itself.

[ryuplaneswalker]

I am curious about this, I watched Sailor Moon as a child, and watching it again will be fun.

However they are sticking close to the manga, which means no filler. Which means my favorite Arc and Villains will be cut out.

[Psyren]

First, internationally viewable version (all 3 of your links only claimed to work in the United States and I'm not in the mood to set up a proxy right now):
http://ch.nicovideo.jp/sailormoon_English

Second, I definitely think the OP is a downgrade compared to Moonlight Densetsu and Sailor Star Song. This has a more of a simple pop style melody; both the originals were a bit more complex (Sailor Star Song probably a bit less so). That said, I'm not surprised and this isn't a bad one. Now, to watch the episode itself.

Yeah, sorry - Niconico is the only non-US location I'm aware of that you can watch it on for now.

I have no doubt that Moonlight Densetsu (or more likely, a remix thereof) will reappear at some point. It's just too iconic an anime song to be ignored completely. But I do like Moon Pride a lot, very fast-paced and gets your blood pumping.

The Stars theme I liked during the final battle with Galaxia, but as a theme song - meh.

However they are sticking close to the manga, which means no filler. Which means my favorite Arc and Villains will be cut out.

Which would those be?

They're sticking close to the manga yes, however Naoko confirmed there will be changes too. Notably, there was some stuff she wanted to do in the manga that her editors at the time did not let her do, but due to the series' popularity she has a lot more creative control now. So expect surprises. (Hopefully this does not include the "Ami is a cyborg" thing she had planned originally...)

[Terraoblivion]

All in all, I'm very happy with the reboot. Great visuals, great music, the changes so far have been either for better pacing or for a more modernized take on the character (e.g. Tuxedo Kamen not saving her) and it is introducing new characters faster than the original did so I anticipate few to no instances of filler. Excellent! The next one will be in two weeks' time.

Other than a few additions of comedy, like the hairbuns serving as antennas for the cries for help, all the changes have one goal. It's to be closer to the manga. I read the first half or so half a year ago and this is almost a word for word and shot for shot remake of the first chapter. Which isn't really surprising given that they have consistently stated an intention to base the new series purely on the manga and not the old anime.

Not really much to say about the show, though. It's, well, the Sailor Moon manga animated by the people who do PreCure and you really don't need to say more to have said everything. Only really notable thing I can see is that they've focused a bit more on humor compared to the manga. I guess that we'll have to see if it'll be as bat**** insane as the manga or not, because there's no indication of that here.

Also, I have to question the logic above that the original anime didn't have enough episodes for a lot of characterization. It was 200 episodes, four movies and a 48-minute ova. That should be plenty of time to give a lot of characterization to each sailor senshi, Chibi Usa and Mamoru at the very least. I mean, in comparison a show like MariMite manages to use 39 episodes and 5 50-minute ovas to give at least one arc to twelve characters and substantial characterization to three more. I understand that having to do a full plot for a monster of the week takes up a lot of space that purely went to character development in that show, but I'm pretty sure 200 episodes is enough to overcome that.

[D_Lord]

Its the original manga that didn't have time for char, they would like barely meeting deadlines for that one. As it is, well somethings they are really hammering like really good disguise magic. The intro just doesn't have the same punch as the first one.

[Terraoblivion]

I think being utterly, ludicrously insane is a bigger part of why the manga lacks characterization. So many things are so weird and it has this floaty, surreal style of setting the place too. But there were people above talking about the original anime lacking character development and needed to flesh out the characters more.

[D_Lord]

I just looking closer and I noticed something, its snowing where Jadeite is, looks like point D is a little easier to find out.

[Eldariel]

Spoiler: First episode - experiences

Show

- Sailor V actually presented and extrapolated upon properly. Much better foreshadowing than in the original.
- Excellent character establishment for Naru, in a way that makes sense for her to be tied to the monster attacks.
- More people in school.
- Umino still has those absurd swirly eye glasses. In fact, I'm not sure I saw male eyes in the whole episode.
- Mamoru had an excellent odango-pun. They didn't play the jerk-Mamoru card in such a ridiculous way this time either.
- I like how this time Sailor Moon's purpose is clearly stated and includes the "finding allies"-part which came kinda out of nowhere in the original.
- Loudspeaker radar jewels? Huh.

Overall, I like the art style and the changes so far feel like they've been all for the better. One episode is little to build up on but I already feel the story being built in a more cohesive manner with the characters, even the non-essential ones, receiving more attention than in the original anime (manga is different and the characters feel far more distant anyways). I hope this trend sticks. So far though, it looks like it'll keep my interest.

Also, I have to question the logic above that the original anime didn't have enough episodes for a lot of characterization. It was 200 episodes, four movies and a 48-minute ova. That should be plenty of time to give a lot of characterization to each sailor senshi, Chibi Usa and Mamoru at the very least. I mean, in comparison a show like MariMite manages to use 39 episodes and 5 50-minute ovas to give at least one arc to twelve characters and substantial characterization to three more. I understand that having to do a full plot for a monster of the week takes up a lot of space that purely went to character development in that show, but I'm pretty sure 200 episodes is enough to overcome that.

I didn't really mean it as an excuse for them to not develop the characters entirely: I just feel that when you have like ~20 key characters let alone the villains it's insanely hard to to share spotlight in a reasonable manner no matter how much time you have. As something insanely hard, I can kinda understand the original not really even trying. Strictly speaking 200 episodes would at least give time for deeper arcs but my complaint was more about large swathes of characters dropping off the show for extended periods of time and basically everyone but Moon and the most recent inclusions becoming more and more irrelevant with regards to combat as the show went on.

[Terraoblivion]

That's an unfortunate trend in the manga as well. Of course, since most characters don't have much characterization in it, it hurts less, but it's still definitely there. Hopefully some of the changes between the manga and the new series includes making everyone more useful and important.

[Psyren]

Other than a few additions of comedy, like the hairbuns serving as antennas for the cries for help, all the changes have one goal. It's to be closer to the manga.

"Hairbun radar" was in the original (1992) anime too, so I didn't mention it above.

I know that many (most? all?) of the changes are to bring it more in line with the manga. Unfortunately I never read the manga and likely won't have time to do so for awhile, so I'll leave any identification of differences between crystal and the manga to those who are already more knowledgeable on the subject. The only thing I do know is that they're planning changes from the manga as well.

Not really much to say about the show, though. It's, well, the Sailor Moon manga animated by the people who do PreCure and you really don't need to say more to have said everything. Only really notable thing I can see is that they've focused a bit more on humor compared to the manga. I guess that we'll have to see if it'll be as bat**** insane as the manga or not, because there's no indication of that here.

Also, I have to question the logic above that the original anime didn't have enough episodes for a lot of characterization. It was 200 episodes, four movies and a 48-minute ova. That should be plenty of time to give a lot of characterization to each sailor senshi, Chibi Usa and Mamoru at the very least. I mean, in comparison a show like MariMite manages to use 39 episodes and 5 50-minute ovas to give at least one arc to twelve characters and substantial characterization to three more. I understand that having to do a full plot for a monster of the week takes up a lot of space that purely went to character development in that show, but I'm pretty sure 200 episodes is enough to overcome that.

I do think the anime had some decent characterization for the senshi. Generally at least on MotW per sub-arc was dedicated to fleshing out one of the other senshi. Like there'd be one going after volleyball players or idols for Minako, one going after a chef or a kung-fu sensei for Makoto, one attacking the cram school/swimming pool/chess club for Ami etc. But one area of characterization that was sorely lacking for everyone but Usagi was relationship wise. We would hear about all these breakups or dates going on off-camera and never get to see any of them - the only on-camera relationships really were Usagi/Mamoru and Haruka/Michiru. The show would tell us routinely how lonely this or that scout was and there was never any payoff. It just seemed selfish that everyone was fighting to save the world and only one of them really got to enjoy it, or when her relationship was going sour, everyone would be revolving around and consoling her. Wasted potential imo.

Spoiler: First episode - experiences

Show

- Sailor V actually presented and extrapolated upon properly. Much better foreshadowing than in the original.
- Excellent character establishment for Naru, in a way that makes sense for her to be tied to the monster attacks.
- More people in school.
- Umino still has those absurd swirly eye glasses. In fact, I'm not sure I saw male eyes in the whole episode.
- Mamoru had an excellent odango-pun. They didn't play the jerk-Mamoru card in such a ridiculous way this time either.
- I like how this time Sailor Moon's purpose is clearly stated and includes the "finding allies"-part which came kinda out of nowhere in the original.
- Loudspeaker radar jewels? Huh.

Overall, I like the art style and the changes so far feel like they've been all for the better. One episode is little to build up on but I already feel the story being built in a more cohesive manner with the characters, even the non-essential ones, receiving more attention than in the original anime (manga is different and the characters feel far more distant anyways). I hope this trend sticks. So far though, it looks like it'll keep my interest.

A lot of your observations sound like you're comparing to the english (or maybe finnish?) dub - which was notorious for being badly translated and dropping a lot of key details - rather than the actual Japanese '92 anime.

- Sailor V got the same amount of setup as she did in the first series. There's this chick who is fighting crime in a sailor outfit, naturally the criminals are targeting places with jewels, she's a mystery - it was all there before, no different than here.
- Again, Naru's connection to the attack made sense in the last anime too - her mom owns a jewelry store. The English(/Finnish?) dub may have skipped some of these details but the Japanese version didn't.
- "No male eyes?" Did you miss Mamoru and Motoki's close-ups?
- "Jerk-Mamoru" was also an invention of the dubs. I mean, he wasn't exactly nice to her in the original either but it was the dub that made him an outright ass.
- Luna explicitly mentions finding allies and protecting the princess in the original too.
- Her hair ornaments did both the radar thing and the loudspeaker thing in the original. The only difference in Crystal's fight is that he never threw a rose out - rather, she took on all the bad guys alone. (Also, her crying shattered the glass this time, - that's how she knew he was up there, rather than him announcing his presence.)

I'd link the Japanese version of episode 1 so you could see for yourself, but it's also on hulu so likely it's America only.