<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/2015-03-28SMC cover.jpg">
<b>topic_title by darkstorm</b>
A brand new <em>Sailor Moon </em>anime was announced back in July 2012. At the time of its announcement the original broadcast date of the series was summer 2013 with a simultaneous worldwide release to coincide with the series’ 20<sup>th</sup> anniversary. This sadly didn’t happen, with numerous delays and rumours flying around, and the world finally saw the first episode almost two years after the announcement. Fans across the globe all had their eyes on this series, ready to judge it based upon their own affection for the franchise, whether it be for the manga, anime, in Japanese, English, German, etc. Does <em>Sailor Moon Crystal</em> live up to the hype? The short answer is yes. The long answer?<br>\r\n\r\nIt’s important to note that the first episode is nearly a frame-by-frame anime adaptation of the opening act of the original manga. Director Munehisa Sakai has said that <em>Crystal</em> is a reboot of the series to make it closer to the manga, not a remake of the first anime series. Of course a lot of the first episode has many flashbacks to the original anime, but there’s enough little titbits here and there that weave threads for a promise of a different experience to come. Luckily, unlike the older anime series, the new production team has an entire finished manga to work from and they make good use of getting important future characters and plot threads into the pilot. The first and most obvious is the frequent use of flashbacks to the Moon Kingdom; the opening scene created a new mood to open up the series with, it was sweeping with emotion and grandness, foreshadowing a much bigger story to come before slamming into Usagi’s routine of being late for school. There’s more halfway through, with Usagi’s dreaming of the princess running away with the prince, again creating a stronger emotional connection with the main pair, before crossing over to Sailor V. That’s another element that’s stronger this time round; there are many new and frequent references to Sailor V, as she’s the original senshi to be awakened, it makes sense that she’s making waves this early on. The episode ends with a back head shot of Ami, Sailor Mercury, already introducing the new member of the group, which is fantastic as the manga was just as quick to get the team together, and it's already promising less filler than the original anime had.<br>\r\n\r\nThe script and pacing of the main story is the same as before; Usagi saves a cat named Luna, who tells her she’s the guardian chosen to defeat evil and protect the moon princess. Usagi’s first battle with a demon, taking the image of her friend’s mother, doesn’t go so smoothly but with help from Luna and the mysterious Tuxedo Mask, she defeats the evil and tries to learn how to be a sailor senshi. If you’ve read the manga or seen the original anime you’ll be able to say most of the lines alongside the characters, it’s that iconic and samey as before. But it’s the genuine passion for its material that creates the best kind of familiarity; you’ll laugh at Usagi’s expense, you’ll squeal for joy at her shouting ‘Moon Prism Power Make Up!’ and you’ll want her to succeed in her first battle. You know every beat the first episode goes through, but it invokes the joy of the original story perfectly, and that’s all that matters for now – get the fans in and on familiar ground, so they feel comfortable on this new journey in 2014.<br>\r\n\r\nWhen the first images of the new look leaked onto the internet, fans were very mixed on the style; some loving it being closer to the manga, others not so sure, due to having very strong affection for the older style. I personally am fond of the original anime style, although it did dip in quality frequently throughout its long run, but seeing the new style actually animated will surely put all <em>Sailor Moon </em>fans' fears to rest. The character designs are bright, colourful and very reminiscent of Naoko Takeuchi’s style, down to the long legs and fingers. The backgrounds are very detailed, and the characters are full of life; the episode takes no obvious shortcuts – it’s out to impress and it does so successfully. The only downside is the transformation sequence; I love the little references to the original anime with the fingernail polish and ribbons forming, but the excessive use of 3D is distracting as its quality doesn’t match with the 2D anime style. Watching the 3D transformation in its entirety gave me flashbacks to <em>ReBoot</em>; it’s probably not fair to compare <em>Sailor Moon Crystal</em> to the 1994 series, maybe the retro 3D look was intentional, but considering that we’ll most likely be seeing this transformation sequence in every episode, I thought that they would’ve added more polish to it.<br>\r\n\r\nThe music of the original series was iconic for many people, whether it was the original Japanese score or dubbed songs, the score for <em>Crystal</em> was overall pleasing on the ears. A lot of choral singing and flowing strings accompany the flashbacks to the Moon Kingdom, then the soundtrack springs into a modern pop/rock feel for the scenes taking place in the present. ‘Moon Pride’, the new opening theme, especially had a lot of fans to impress as the original song was a rare example of having the melody being used in both English and Japanese releases of the series in a time when it was common for all songs to be re-done for English audiences. However ‘Moon Pride’ is a good song; it’s energetic, says all the key words (moonlight, make up, etc) and I liked how the verse had lines relating to the various senshi. The ending theme ‘Moon Rainbow’ is a cute song and nicely sits alongside other <em>Sailor Moon </em>ballads such as ‘Tuxedo Mirage’. I was more caught up in the beautiful animation overlaying it; the scene of the Prince and Princess walking over water was simple but effective.<br>\r\n\r\nThe first episode of <em>Sailor Moon Crystal</em> does enough things the same to keep the long term fans happy, but it’s the little things here and there that separate it from the other adaptations and sets this new series on a wonderful new direction. As someone who’s been a <em>Sailor Moon</em> fan since the days of Fox Kids, the series hit all the right notes and does not disappoint. The future of the series is shining as bright as moonlight and hopefully it won’t be long before we get an official UK DVD/Blu-ray release of this and the original series.<br>\r\n\r\n<em>Sailor Moon Crystal premiered on July 5<sup>th</sup> 2014; new episodes will stream on the first and third Saturdays of each month. Check out <a href=\"http://sailormoonnews.com/2014/07/04/how-to-watch-sailor-moon-crystal/\">this helpful guide here</a> to see where you can watch the series online now. </em><br>\r\n
<b>Final score: 8 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2014-07-06vlcsnap-2014-07-06-08h40m03s135.png">
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2014-07-06vlcsnap-2014-07-06-08h49m59s221.png">
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2014-07-06vlcsnap-2014-07-06-08h49m27s200.png">
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2014-07-06vlcsnap-2014-07-06-08h48m23s26.png">
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2014-07-06vlcsnap-2014-07-06-10h11m36s44.png">
<b>topic_title by darkstorm</b>
A brand new <em>Sailor Moon </em>anime was announced back in July 2012. At the time of its announcement the original broadcast date of the series was summer 2013 with a simultaneous worldwide release to coincide with the series’ 20<sup>th</sup> anniversary. This sadly didn’t happen, with numerous delays and rumours flying around, and the world finally saw the first episode almost two years after the announcement. Fans across the globe all had their eyes on this series, ready to judge it based upon their own affection for the franchise, whether it be for the manga, anime, in Japanese, English, German, etc. Does <em>Sailor Moon Crystal</em> live up to the hype? The short answer is yes. The long answer?<br>\r\n\r\nIt’s important to note that the first episode is nearly a frame-by-frame anime adaptation of the opening act of the original manga. Director Munehisa Sakai has said that <em>Crystal</em> is a reboot of the series to make it closer to the manga, not a remake of the first anime series. Of course a lot of the first episode has many flashbacks to the original anime, but there’s enough little titbits here and there that weave threads for a promise of a different experience to come. Luckily, unlike the older anime series, the new production team has an entire finished manga to work from and they make good use of getting important future characters and plot threads into the pilot. The first and most obvious is the frequent use of flashbacks to the Moon Kingdom; the opening scene created a new mood to open up the series with, it was sweeping with emotion and grandness, foreshadowing a much bigger story to come before slamming into Usagi’s routine of being late for school. There’s more halfway through, with Usagi’s dreaming of the princess running away with the prince, again creating a stronger emotional connection with the main pair, before crossing over to Sailor V. That’s another element that’s stronger this time round; there are many new and frequent references to Sailor V, as she’s the original senshi to be awakened, it makes sense that she’s making waves this early on. The episode ends with a back head shot of Ami, Sailor Mercury, already introducing the new member of the group, which is fantastic as the manga was just as quick to get the team together, and it's already promising less filler than the original anime had.<br>\r\n\r\nThe script and pacing of the main story is the same as before; Usagi saves a cat named Luna, who tells her she’s the guardian chosen to defeat evil and protect the moon princess. Usagi’s first battle with a demon, taking the image of her friend’s mother, doesn’t go so smoothly but with help from Luna and the mysterious Tuxedo Mask, she defeats the evil and tries to learn how to be a sailor senshi. If you’ve read the manga or seen the original anime you’ll be able to say most of the lines alongside the characters, it’s that iconic and samey as before. But it’s the genuine passion for its material that creates the best kind of familiarity; you’ll laugh at Usagi’s expense, you’ll squeal for joy at her shouting ‘Moon Prism Power Make Up!’ and you’ll want her to succeed in her first battle. You know every beat the first episode goes through, but it invokes the joy of the original story perfectly, and that’s all that matters for now – get the fans in and on familiar ground, so they feel comfortable on this new journey in 2014.<br>\r\n\r\nWhen the first images of the new look leaked onto the internet, fans were very mixed on the style; some loving it being closer to the manga, others not so sure, due to having very strong affection for the older style. I personally am fond of the original anime style, although it did dip in quality frequently throughout its long run, but seeing the new style actually animated will surely put all <em>Sailor Moon </em>fans' fears to rest. The character designs are bright, colourful and very reminiscent of Naoko Takeuchi’s style, down to the long legs and fingers. The backgrounds are very detailed, and the characters are full of life; the episode takes no obvious shortcuts – it’s out to impress and it does so successfully. The only downside is the transformation sequence; I love the little references to the original anime with the fingernail polish and ribbons forming, but the excessive use of 3D is distracting as its quality doesn’t match with the 2D anime style. Watching the 3D transformation in its entirety gave me flashbacks to <em>ReBoot</em>; it’s probably not fair to compare <em>Sailor Moon Crystal</em> to the 1994 series, maybe the retro 3D look was intentional, but considering that we’ll most likely be seeing this transformation sequence in every episode, I thought that they would’ve added more polish to it.<br>\r\n\r\nThe music of the original series was iconic for many people, whether it was the original Japanese score or dubbed songs, the score for <em>Crystal</em> was overall pleasing on the ears. A lot of choral singing and flowing strings accompany the flashbacks to the Moon Kingdom, then the soundtrack springs into a modern pop/rock feel for the scenes taking place in the present. ‘Moon Pride’, the new opening theme, especially had a lot of fans to impress as the original song was a rare example of having the melody being used in both English and Japanese releases of the series in a time when it was common for all songs to be re-done for English audiences. However ‘Moon Pride’ is a good song; it’s energetic, says all the key words (moonlight, make up, etc) and I liked how the verse had lines relating to the various senshi. The ending theme ‘Moon Rainbow’ is a cute song and nicely sits alongside other <em>Sailor Moon </em>ballads such as ‘Tuxedo Mirage’. I was more caught up in the beautiful animation overlaying it; the scene of the Prince and Princess walking over water was simple but effective.<br>\r\n\r\nThe first episode of <em>Sailor Moon Crystal</em> does enough things the same to keep the long term fans happy, but it’s the little things here and there that separate it from the other adaptations and sets this new series on a wonderful new direction. As someone who’s been a <em>Sailor Moon</em> fan since the days of Fox Kids, the series hit all the right notes and does not disappoint. The future of the series is shining as bright as moonlight and hopefully it won’t be long before we get an official UK DVD/Blu-ray release of this and the original series.<br>\r\n\r\n<em>Sailor Moon Crystal premiered on July 5<sup>th</sup> 2014; new episodes will stream on the first and third Saturdays of each month. Check out <a href=\"http://sailormoonnews.com/2014/07/04/how-to-watch-sailor-moon-crystal/\">this helpful guide here</a> to see where you can watch the series online now. </em><br>\r\n
<b>Final score: 8 out of 10</b>
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2014-07-06vlcsnap-2014-07-06-08h40m03s135.png">
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2014-07-06vlcsnap-2014-07-06-08h49m59s221.png">
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2014-07-06vlcsnap-2014-07-06-08h49m27s200.png">
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2014-07-06vlcsnap-2014-07-06-08h48m23s26.png">
<b>Additional screencaps</b>
<img src="http://www.animeuknews.net/img/uploaded/screens/2014-07-06vlcsnap-2014-07-06-10h11m36s44.png">