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[HypnoDarkrai]

The official website for the Sailor Moon franchise revealed on Friday that the third season of the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal anime will premiere in spring, with a new director and character designer.

Chiaki Kon (Nodame Cantabile: Paris, Junjō Romantica, Golden Time) will take over from Munehisa Sakai in directing the anime. Akira Takahashi (Dokidoki! Precure, Suite Precure character design, Sailor Moon Crystal episode animation director) will take over from Yukie Sako in drawing the character designs. Yūji Kobayashi is still in charge of the series' scripts. Takashi Kurahashi is returning as art director, and Yasuharu Takanashi is returning to compose the music. King Records will once again produce the music, and Toei Animation will again animate the series.

The Animedia magazine will unveil a new visual for the anime drawn by Takahashi on Saturday.

Additionally, a Niconico livestream event will announce the cast for the outer Senshi on January 27 (January 27 is also Haruka Tenou/Sailor Uranus' birthday).

The third season will focus on the Death Busters arc. The new season will assemble all 10 Senshi — specifically, the popular outer Senshi such as Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, and Sailor Saturn will join Sailor Moon, Sailor Chibi Moon, and the others. The new season will adapt the arc from the fifth and sixth volumes of the complete edition of Naoko Takeuchi's original Sailor Moon manga.

Kotono Mitsuishi will continue to reprise the starring title role for the third season. Other returning cast for the third season includes: Hisako Kanemoto as Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury, Rina Satou as Rei Hino/Sailor Mars, Ami Koshimizu as Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter, Shizuka Itou as Minako Aino/Sailor Venus, Ryou Hirohashi as Luna, and Kenji Nojima as Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru Chiba.

Studio: Toei Animation
Music: King Records
Director (new): Chiaki Kon
Character Designer (new): Akira Takahashi
Scripts: Yūji Kobayashi
Art Director: Takashi Kurahashi
Composer: Yasuharu Takanashi

Kotono Mitsuishi - Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon
Hisako Kanemoto - Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury
Rina Satou - Rei Hino/Sailor Mars
Ami Koshimizu - Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter
Shizuka Itou - Minako Aino/Sailor Venus
Junko Minagawa - Haruka Tenou/Sailor Uranus
Sayaka Ohara - Michiru Kaioh/Sailor Neptune
Yukiyo Fujii - Hotaru Tomoe/Sailor Saturn
Ryou Hirohashi - Luna
Kenji Nojima - Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask
Hikari Yono - Kaolinite
Takuya Kirimoto - Professor Tomoe
Takaya Hashi - Pharaoh 90
Yuki Nagaku - Mimete
Chiaki Takahashi - Eudial
Rina Hon'izumi - Viluy
Naomi Ōzora - Tellu
Umeka Shouji - Cyprine


ANN
Comic Natalie
Official Site

 

[JeffZero]

So how is that adaptation, anyway? I'm going to be trying out the original show sometime soon but should I keep an eye out for this as well/instead?

 

[excelsiorlef]

Hmm so only Infinity? Are we looking at a 10 episode season then?

So how is that adaptation, anyway? I'm going to be trying out the original show sometime soon but should I keep an eye out for this as well/instead?

Watch the original show first. You'll appreciate Crystal more, because due to the nature of the direct adaption there's less character development (thought the characters are still fundamentally similar)

As a result if you watch the original you can carry over what you know of the characters into Crystal and just enjoy the different directions the story goes without feeling like you don't get to know the characters well enough.

 

[Pluto]

So how is that adaptation, anyway? I'm going to be trying out the original show sometime soon but should I keep an eye out for this as well/instead?

It's good but not perfect, it stumbled a bit in the first story arc, that wasn't the best in the manga either and they stuck very close to it, they added a few new elements but while the idea was good enough the resolution of that plot was ... lacking.
The second arc is much better, I enjoyed that one a lot.

I disagree about watching the original anime first, way too much of a commitment just to get ready for Crystal. It actually seems like people who haven't seen the original anime enjoy Crystal more (anecdotal evidence, I asked my friends and sampled some of the opinions of you tubers), probably because they don't have expectations of how the characters should be portrayed.

Hmm so only Infinity? Are we looking at a 10 episode season then?

I think they'll do 13, some of the chapters in the Infinity arc are very long and could be split up.

 

[HypnoDarkrai]

I hope it's not every 1st and 3rd week like last time ;-;

 

[excelsiorlef]

It's good but not perfect, it stumbled a bit in the first story arc, that wasn't the best in the manga either and they stuck very close to it, they added a few new elements but while the idea was good enough the resolution of that plot was ... lacking.
The second arc is much better, I enjoyed that one a lot.

I disagree about watching the original anime first, way too much of a commitment just to get ready for Crystal. It actually seems like people who haven't seen the original anime enjoy Crystal more (anecdotal evidence, I asked my friends and sampled some of the opinions of you tubers), probably because they don't have expectations of how the characters should be portrayed.



I think they'll do 13, some of the chapters in the Infinity arc are very long and could be split up.

Interesting to me I enjoyed it because I knew the characters so well, because I just can't imagine watching Crystal with zero context and connecting to anyone but Usagi and even then barely, the others are frequently useless.

It's weird that they did 26 episodes last time and covered two arcs but are only announcing just a single arc now, granted it's the best arc so I'm excited but I hope they announce the last two soon.

 

[JeffZero]

Watch the original show first. You'll appreciate Crystal more, because due to the nature of the direct adaption there's less character development (thought the characters are still fundamentally similar)

As a result if you watch the original you can carry over what you know of the characters into Crystal and just enjoy the different directions the story goes without feeling like you don't get to know the characters well enough.

Thank you.

It's good but not perfect, it stumbled a bit in the first story arc, that wasn't the best in the manga either and they stuck very close to it, they added a few new elements but while the idea was good enough the resolution of that plot was ... lacking.
The second arc is much better, I enjoyed that one a lot.

I disagree about watching the original anime first, way too much of a commitment just to get ready for Crystal. It actually seems like people who haven't seen the original anime enjoy Crystal more (anecdotal evidence, I asked my friends and sampled some of the opinions of you tubers), probably because they don't have expectations of how the characters should be portrayed.

No worries about the commitment thing, my communal-TV-watching friend and I are always up for long hauls to fill out our rotation. Right now we're in the ninth season of Stargate SG-1 (first time for him; third or so for me >_>) which is an hour-per-episode 218-episode Western live-action series; I think we'll survive.

As for the rest, though -- hmm, food for thought. That anecdotal evidence of yours does make sense. Oh well, my friend has seen all of Sailor Moon before, anyway, so he may suffer from that problem regardless. I dunno. Something to ponder.

Anyway, I don't mean to make this thread about little ol' JeffZero, so enjoy this new Crystal arc, preexisting Sailor Moon fans!

 

[excelsiorlef]

Thank you.



No worries about the commitment thing, my communal-TV-watching friend and I are always up for long hauls to fill out our rotation. Right now we're in the ninth season of Stargate SG-1 (first time for him; third or so for me >_>) which is an hour-per-episode 218-episode Western live-action series; I think we'll survive.

As for the rest, though -- hmm, food for thought. That anecdotal evidence of yours does make sense. Oh well, my friend has seen all of Sailor Moon before, anyway, so he may suffer from that problem regardless. I dunno. Something to ponder.

Anyway, I don't mean to make this thread about little ol' JeffZero, so enjoy this new Crystal arc, preexisting Sailor Moon fans!

I think it depends on how you approach it. I enjoyed Crystal because it was so different from the original, if you watch it expecting it to have similar character beats and get excited for that you'll be disappointed, but if you watch it by kinda of like I said using your knowledge of the previous series and synergizing it with Crystal it's a neat little romp through a different telling of the stories, and the stories are different enough to be interesting.

 

[Pluto]

I think it depends on how you approach it. I enjoyed Crystal because it was so different from the original, if you watch it expecting it to have similar character beats and get excited for that you'll be disappointed, but if you watch it by kinda of like I said using your knowledge of the previous series and synergizing it with Crystal it's a neat little romp through a different telling of the stories, and the stories are different enough to be interesting.

I agree with that, ultimately it depends on the person watching, Crystal definitely can be enjoyed by people who've seen the original anime, I knoe I did.

Still, most if not all of the negative opinions seem to come from long time fans, not once have I met a Crystal only watcher who didn't enjoy it (that doesn't mean they thought it was the best ever, but no one outright hated it), of course I didn't do actual research so maybe I simply missed the negative opinions of new fans.

That said, I definitely recommend watching the original anime, so of you are interested and have the time go for it!
I just don't think it's necessary to watch it in preparation for Crystal and with the third arc starting soon maybe it would be better if you do Crystal first, then you can watch the third arc when it comes out in April.

Anyway, the best version of Sailor Moon is the live action series (cheap looking costumes and weird dance fighting aside), that one was an incredible ride!

 

[cybercircuit1]

As long as they take out that wretched CG everything is cool with me.

 

[excelsiorlef]

I agree with that, ultimately it depends on the person watching, Crystal definitely can be enjoyed by people who've seen the original anime, I knoe I did.

Still, most if not all of the negative opinions seem to come from long time fans, not once have I met a Crystal only watcher who didn't enjoy it (that doesn't mean they thought it was the best ever, but no one outright hated it), of course I didn't do actual research so maybe I simply missed the negative opinions of new fans.

That said, I definitely recommend watching the original anime, so of you are interested and have the time go for it!
I just don't think it's necessary to watch it in preparation for Crystal and with the third arc starting soon maybe it would be better if you do Crystal first, then you can watch the third arc when it comes out in April.

Anyway, the best version of Sailor Moon is the live action series (cheap looking costumes and weird dance fighting aside), that one was an incredible ride!

If you're going to watch both, I think Crystal second makes sense imo, especially if you know going in all the faults and what to expect, I think for a lot of longtime fans it was the build up, the expectations and the constant delay that made the end product disappointing.

 

[Cheerilee]

Random example of the new director's previous directing work

Golden Time OP1
Golden Time OP2

Consider me sufficiently hyped. Hope they don't ruin it.

 

[MikeMyers]

Very cool. I wonder who we'll get to voice the outers?

 

[iiicon]

So how is that adaptation, anyway? I'm going to be trying out the original show sometime soon but should I keep an eye out for this as well/instead?

Mission accomplished.

 

[TastyOreoFriend]

So are they going with a major art direction change or something? That's a lot of people going bye bye. I just remember the art direction being a big complaint when I was following a few episodes of season 1.

 

[JeffZero]

Mission accomplished.

Dammit, icon, I had planned to surprise you by posting episode reviews out of nowhere on that certain other site...!

 

[Madao]

it's back.

i haven't read the manga past the second half of the upcoming season since i want to be intrigued by the show. knowing all the manga plot before Crystal took a lot of wind out if it for me (i already knew the manga was very different to the original anime but Crystal folowing it very closely means reading the manga makes it less interesting)

 

[Cheerilee]

So are they going with a major art direction change or something? That's a lot of people going bye bye. I just remember the art direction being a big complaint when I was following a few episodes of season 1.

New director overall, and new character designer (having moved up from being animation director on episodes 10, 14, 18, 22, and 26).

The 90's anime had a number of directors and went through some personnel changes over the years. This might be nothing. Toei might order them to stick to the style of the previous two seasons. Toei might cut their budget in half compared to the previous seasons. Toei might ruin a talented director and character designer simply by being Toei.

But yes, I didn't like the look and feel of previous episodes, and this new director looks fantastic to me at first glance (although opening animations have higher budgets than typical episode animation, and Sailor Moon Crystal has the budget of web-animation), so I think there's room to hope.

 

[Zoe]

I think it depends on how you approach it. I enjoyed Crystal because it was so different from the original, if you watch it expecting it to have similar character beats and get excited for that you'll be disappointed, but if you watch it by kinda of like I said using your knowledge of the previous series and synergizing it with Crystal it's a neat little romp through a different telling of the stories, and the stories are different enough to be interesting.

The problem with going with the original first is people develop attachments to their favorite girls, and that will set you up for some severe disappointment because there are only three main characters in the manga: Usagi, Mamoru, Chibi-usa.

 

[Boss Doggie]

No casting for Uranus, Neptune, the doc and Saturn?

 

[Cantaloup]

No casting for Uranus, Neptune, the doc and Saturn?

Casting will be announced on a Niconico livestream on the 27th.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Ahh sweet. I wonder if they'll bring back Neptune's VA Masako Katsuki. She's still around doing plenty of VA.

 

[MikeMyers]

Ahh sweet. I wonder if they'll bring back Neptune's VA Masako Katsuki. She's still around doing plenty of VA.

Probably not. The only VA they brought back was Usagi's. Not even Mamoru or Chibiusa's.

 

[blamite]

I started watching the original anime recently and it's amaaaazing... (especially what I've see so far of S) Got through like 100 episodes in a month, lol.

I tried the first episode of Crystal and found it really boring... although maybe that's not really fair since it's just the first episode? The translation for the subs was suuuper dry though. Does it get much better? Should I keep going?

 

[Ayumi]

I started watching the original anime recently and it's amaaaazing... (especially what I've see so far of S) Got through like 100 episodes in a month, lol.

I tried the first episode of Crystal and found it really boring... although maybe that's not really fair since it's just the first episode? The translation for the subs was suuuper dry though. Does it get much better? Should I keep going?

Personally, I couldn't make it past episode 5 of season 1, but a lot of my friends say it gets better in season 2. Might be worth watching?

 

[Zoe]

Personally, I couldn't make it past episode 5 of season 1, but a lot of my friends say it gets better in season 2. Might be worth watching?

They tried to make additions to the story in the first half, but the execution failed. The second half stuck to the script for 99% of the time.

 

[gconsole]

So how is that adaptation, anyway? I'm going to be trying out the original show sometime soon but should I keep an eye out for this as well/instead?

Not very good. The quality is very inconsistent and sticking too much to manga totally kill the story progression ( there is almost no character development). Not to mention that they make it too girly this time as there is almost no fighting or action scene ( at least compare to 90 version ).

It is worth trying both and see what you like. But fwiw 90 anime is where this series gain it popularity. There are so many things that were done right at that time , it even become the classic, one of the most popular anime of its time. Crystal series has almost none ( + low budget and shit director )

I hope season 3 turn that around. It has the most intense story and character involve ( especially the outer senshi ). I know magical girl anime is no longer the thing these days, but it could be done a lot better than first 2 crystal arcs, especially with the popularity this series has before.

 

[MikeMyers]

Not very good. The quality is very inconsistent and sticking too much to manga totally kill the story progression ( there is almost no character development). Not to mention that they make it too girly this time as there is almost no fighting or action scene ( at least compare to 90 version ).

Personally I felt like the manga had more development. I would read the chapter after viewing the episode and notice they took out small character moments for Inners at times. It may seem minor, but if you watch the series as a whole, it starts to compound up

Oh and the Crystal altering

Spoiler

Beryl's death to have Usagi killer her instead of Minako was flat out bullshit

.

 

[kewlmyc]

It's still Toei so it's still fucked.

 

[GKSilKamina]

Crystal's first season was a steaming pile of shit. The second season was a slightly less steaming pile of shit.

I really hope they step up their game with this season. 2D transformations at least. PLEASE. We know they can manage it since they made

Spoiler

Chibi Moon's

transformation 2D animated for whatever strange reason.

 

[gconsole]

Personally I felt like the manga had more development. I would read the chapter after viewing the episode and notice they took out small character moments for Inners at times. It may seem minor, but if you watch the series as a whole, it starts to compound up

Oh and the Crystal altering

Spoiler

Beryl's death to have Usagi killer her instead of Minako was flat out bullshit

.

I doubt it would be much more different even if they include that tiny moment into Crystal. It is still too little to tell about the character and build up their relationship. 90 series has double the length ( although with lots of padding ) which give it enough time to expand the world. Manga give no shit about inner senshi , and the whole story is all about usagi and mamoru (+ Chibiusa)

And now we have even more mature and complicate character like haruka, michiru, hotaru... Cant imagine how flat it would be without them making change to lots of things. Again , dont want to compare , but 90 version did a very good job build up their story and enguage the audience to actually care. Even one of the scene at the church got voted as best episode of all anime that year. If it is already difficult for crystal arc 1/2 to compete with the origibal , now imagine this. The season that fan most looking forward to ...

 

[MikeMyers]

Oh yeah, compared to the original anime, the Inners don't get much screentime. Like you said, it really is Usagi, Mamoru, and Chibiusa's story.

But if you like Minako, she actually does have her own spinoff series called Sailor V.

 

[Ban Puncher]

Is it safe to watch Crystal or does it still look like butt?

 

[Jotamide]

Is it safe to watch Crystal or does it still look like butt?

Personally, I'm waiting for the North American BDs to be out to start watching again. It appears most of the poorly drawn scenes were redrawn for the BD releases.

 

[excelsiorlef]

The problem with going with the original first is people develop attachments to their favorite girls, and that will set you up for some severe disappointment because there are only three main characters in the manga: Usagi, Mamoru, Chibi-usa.

Oh yeah I know. That's why you havevto know that going in.

The only reason I suggest original first is that Crystal gives you little reason to give a shit about the Inner Senshi so at least when nad things happen to them you might care a little bit if you already care about them based on the previous anime because they aren't all that different they just don't get even a 1/3 of screen time in Crystal.


I just enjoy it for what it is a different take on the story.

I hope we get a Saturn transformation in S3 always pissed me off that we didn't in the original.

 

[firehawk12]

Are they planning to do the web-only biweekly thing again? This was a weird release the first time around.

 

[Pluto]

I heard it'll be on tv and weekly this time but I have no idea what the source is or if it's even true, maybe someone made it up. It could happen though, Crystal did get a weekly tv airing eventually in Jaoan, so maybe they're continuing with that.

 

[halfbeast]

Random example of the new director's previous directing work

Golden Time OP1
Golden Time OP2

Consider me sufficiently hyped. Hope they don't ruin it.

what's up with her face!?

 

[Mr_Zombie]

Is it safe to watch Crystal or does it still look like butt?

They haven't reached episode 3 level of bad (those awful closeups of Rei, even in a scene where Usagi describes her as "beautiful") in later episodes, but very often, if you pause the video, you can notice disfigured characters, ugly faces, no knowledge about human anatomy and the overall quality you could expect from teenage DeviantArt users who used those "How to draw Manga" books to learn how to draw. What really sucks about this anime, though, is that once in a while you can get a really well done scenes, you get a glimpse of what the anime could have been if only Toei gave a fuck.

I really hope season 3 improves over that.

Also, that they ditch the whole adapting the manga chapter by chapter, scene by scene. It really ruined the pacing of the anime. One episode you can have nice action and drama, the next episode is simply characters standing around and throwing info dumps at you for 25 minutes. And they really should stop stripping inner senshi of their scenes. They already are marginalized enough in the manga, and even then Crystal cut their scenes or roles (aforementioned

Spoiler

killing of Beryl - in the manga Venus kills her, in Crystal, it's Usagi, so that inner senshi can be even more useless

). When in season 2 Rei, Ami and Mako disappear for few episodes, you can hardly notice their absence since in the meantime Minako does more than all inner senshi were doing up to this point (and it's still not enough).

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

They haven't reached episode 3 level of bad (those awful closeups of Rei, even in a scene where Usagi describes her as "beautiful") in later episodes, but very often, if you pause the video, you can notice disfigured characters, ugly faces, no knowledge about human anatomy and the overall quality you could expect from teenage DeviantArt users who used those "How to draw Manga" books to learn how to draw. What really sucks about this anime, though, is that once in a while you can get a really well done scenes, you get a glimpse of what the anime could have been if only Toei gave a fuck.

Dam! It's like looking at my DBZ fan art. Pointy chins for everyone.

 

[Cheerilee]

what's up with her face!?

Mouth movement on a face that wasn't re-animated for it. Quite common in anime. It's a shortcut, but I'll give it a pass because the eyes were done well (using the same shortcut) and the emotion comes through clear as day (and the mouth even contributes to that), which can't be said of Sailor Moon Crystal's fails, or even really Crystal's "average".

 

[cj_iwakura]

Please don't mess up the best villain ever.

Cautiously optimistic, Crystal did get better eventually... but it was still wholly boring.

 

[Zoe]

Please don't mess up the best villain ever.

Another reason not to watch the original first. Main villains in the original are just MOTD in the manga.

 

[MikeMyers]

I saw the 90s anime first and still enjoyed the manga. Just keep an open mind that they're gonna be very, very different.

 

[AnGer]

Is this going to be 12 or 24 episodes? I hope it'll be the latter, though that may not guarantee the overall script improves - though working in a less confined amount of time may help.

 

[HypnoDarkrai]

3rd Season Visual

The official website of the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal anime unveiled the visual for the anime's third season on Monday. The visual previews the anime's character designs, and unveils the Outer Senshi characters for the first time.

ANN

 

[Curler]

Michiru and Haruka look amazing in this style! Bad angle for Hotaru in this.

I wonder where they will cut the season though? SuperS was really short, so either they put half in this season and the inevitable season 4, or just cram it all into 4? Maybe actually do a 5th season for Stars?

 

[cj_iwakura]

Not bad. There's no replacing their OG seiyuu, though.

 

[Boss Doggie]

I must say the art looks good.

I hope we don't get shitty faces in the actual show.

 

[Mr_Zombie]

That new art looks really good. While the one from season 1 and 2 tried to emulate the original artwork, this one looks like a modern attempt at the original one. Let's just hope that the actual anime retains the quality of this artwork throughout the whole season and not just single scenes.