Geekscape Reviews: ‘Sailor Moon Crystal’ Set 1

[Warning: There are potential spoilers in this review.]

The original Sailor Moon anime series was my all-time favorite anime. But as much as I loved it, I wish that it followed the manga more closely. That wish has come true with the creation of Sailor Moon Crystal, a Sailor Moon remake whose storyline is more true to that of Naoko Takeuchi’s classic manga. Viz Media recently released Set 1 of the series in the North America.

Rather than following the original anime’s “monster-a-day” formula, Crystal is more streamlined. It covers the entire Dark Kingdom story  arc in 14 episodes, which I felt was sufficient to tell the tale without dragging on. Another positive change was the somewhat more serious tone of the show. There are still plenty of light-hearted moments but Sailor Moon’s reaction to Tuxedo Mask’s brainwashing in later episodes definitely is less glossed over. And like the manga, the climax of that plot point is dramatically different than what was in the original anime.

For my part, I loved these changes. Crystal was created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Sailor Moon. It felt like the show was maturing with its audience.

I was very impressed with the voice acting in both the Japanese and English versions. It was so awesome that they got the original voice of Sailor Moon, Kotono Mitsuishi, to reprise her role in Crystal! She added an extra layer of nostalgia to the show and honestly, I had a hard time picturing someone else voicing her. On the whole, I didn’t have any issue listening either language track. No cringe-worthy acting here.

I know that many viewers took issue with the Sailor Senshi’s transformation sequences being computer-generated. I will admit that it was a little jarring the first few times but after about four episodes, you stop noticing so much. I just wrote it off to myself as the artists trying to make their transformations more “separate from regular space” (I have no clue if that is the real reason).

I had no problem with the general art style of the show (again, plenty of viewers did). Is it different? Yes. Is it visually unpleasant? Hell no. If you approach it with an open mind, I genuinely think you will agree that it is just fine.

I bestow unto Set 1 of Sailor Moon Crystal a 5 out of 5. I loved the hell out of this show. I didn’t know if it would live up to my expectations, the bar was set pretty high, but it beat out the original anime as my favorite anime of all-time. Any Sailor Moon fan owes it to themselves to check this series out.

[This review is based on a sample provided by the publisher.]