Sailor Moon Crystal
Jul. 7th, 2014 07:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elabyI don't think I've EVER been as excited for the premier of a TV show as I was about Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Crystal. Sailor Moon was a huge, huge influence on me as a teenager, second only to Utena, and I still covet my ancient fansubbed tapes. Friendship, love, bravery, acceptance – its merits go on and on. The new series, which doesn't remake the old anime but is rather adapted directly from the manga, aired this Saturday, July 5, at 6 a.m. I watched it Saturday night, palpitating with joy.
Spoilers under the cut :3
First, let me just paint you a brief scene. The opening moments of the first episode are a stunningly beautiful starscape, floating over familiar planets to focus in on the moon, with unearthly music swelling. I was literally crouched on the edge of the sofa, hugging a pillow, straining toward the television (thank you, Hulu Plus!). It was a moment of intense joy and anticipation <3 I also nearly flailed myself off the couch with ecstasy when the opening revealed the original first season villains – Jadeite, Nephrite, Kunzite, and Zoisite – who I hadn't been expecting, for some reason.
The first episode was something like 24 minutes long, which doesn't give me a lot to judge it on, but nevertheless it made me really happy. It followed the manga (and the previous anime series) pretty precisely and covered Usagi meeting Luna, her first transformation into Sailor Moon, her defeat of Jadeite's youma (who was impersonating Naru-chan's mother at her family's jewelry shop), and her encounter with Tuxedo Mask. It was so exciting and charming to see the familiar story animated again in the new style.
Speaking of the new style – it's exceptionally pretty, but I think it'll take some getting used to. It's much more influenced by the manga than the original anime series was, which means that everyone is taller, thinner, and more elegant, but it loses the roundness and silly exaggerated visual humor of the first series. The humor in general was much more toned-down, and they didn't choose to go in the direction of chibification, giant sweatdrops, or pulsing veins.
To be completely honest, I adore the new character designs, but the animation itself was surprisingly low quality at times. It had a glossy, candy-colored flatness that worked in some ways and didn't work in others. There were stunning moments: the dream scenes and the opening and ending sequences were sweeping and scintillating, and Sailor Moon's iconic speech ("In the name of the moon, I will punish you!") was so fluidly and beautifully animated that I just wanted to watch it over and over. But her transformation sequence – where in the previous series they obviously poured all of their budget – was a jarring mash of traditional animation and weird CG that reminded me uncomfortably of amateur Vocaloid videos. (Your mileage may vary; I've seen anime done in this style before, where it's obviously a computer-animated form with color painted on in a way reminiscent of cell-shading, and it creeps me out – but other people obviously like it.) The animators are likely still settling into their style, as Rachel pointed out to me. I'm so, SO happy to have a new Sailor Moon anime to watch and I'm honestly excited to see more of the animation so I can form a better opinion.
The cast is wonderful so far. The only returning cast member is Mitsuishi Kotono, who plays Usagi (I don't know if I could've handled it if she didn't!) but the actor who plays Mamoru sounds very much like the original. Luna sounds different, but the voice still works well for her. I can't wait to hear what the other senshi sound like. I read somewhere that the voice actress who plays Rei is a huge fan of the series – when she and her friends played Sailor Moon as children, she always wanted to be Rei but her friends made her be Makoto because she was taller than everyone else. It's so delightful to think that people who grew up pretending to be these characters have the chance to bring them to life again <3
Another thing I really enjoyed was the overall stylization choices that they made. The eyecatches before and after commercials and the title card were rife with delicate roses and blacked-out silhouettes (Utena, anyone?) and when they introduced characters, they framed the screen with roses very much like in Utena. The backdrop for Sailor Moon's speech is a crescent moon with roses twined all around it, and it's utterly stunning.
So, there were a couple of things that made me raise my eyebrow, but all-in-all it was a delightful episode and I'm dying - DYING - to see more :3
Spoilers under the cut :3
First, let me just paint you a brief scene. The opening moments of the first episode are a stunningly beautiful starscape, floating over familiar planets to focus in on the moon, with unearthly music swelling. I was literally crouched on the edge of the sofa, hugging a pillow, straining toward the television (thank you, Hulu Plus!). It was a moment of intense joy and anticipation <3 I also nearly flailed myself off the couch with ecstasy when the opening revealed the original first season villains – Jadeite, Nephrite, Kunzite, and Zoisite – who I hadn't been expecting, for some reason.
The first episode was something like 24 minutes long, which doesn't give me a lot to judge it on, but nevertheless it made me really happy. It followed the manga (and the previous anime series) pretty precisely and covered Usagi meeting Luna, her first transformation into Sailor Moon, her defeat of Jadeite's youma (who was impersonating Naru-chan's mother at her family's jewelry shop), and her encounter with Tuxedo Mask. It was so exciting and charming to see the familiar story animated again in the new style.
Speaking of the new style – it's exceptionally pretty, but I think it'll take some getting used to. It's much more influenced by the manga than the original anime series was, which means that everyone is taller, thinner, and more elegant, but it loses the roundness and silly exaggerated visual humor of the first series. The humor in general was much more toned-down, and they didn't choose to go in the direction of chibification, giant sweatdrops, or pulsing veins.
To be completely honest, I adore the new character designs, but the animation itself was surprisingly low quality at times. It had a glossy, candy-colored flatness that worked in some ways and didn't work in others. There were stunning moments: the dream scenes and the opening and ending sequences were sweeping and scintillating, and Sailor Moon's iconic speech ("In the name of the moon, I will punish you!") was so fluidly and beautifully animated that I just wanted to watch it over and over. But her transformation sequence – where in the previous series they obviously poured all of their budget – was a jarring mash of traditional animation and weird CG that reminded me uncomfortably of amateur Vocaloid videos. (Your mileage may vary; I've seen anime done in this style before, where it's obviously a computer-animated form with color painted on in a way reminiscent of cell-shading, and it creeps me out – but other people obviously like it.) The animators are likely still settling into their style, as Rachel pointed out to me. I'm so, SO happy to have a new Sailor Moon anime to watch and I'm honestly excited to see more of the animation so I can form a better opinion.
The cast is wonderful so far. The only returning cast member is Mitsuishi Kotono, who plays Usagi (I don't know if I could've handled it if she didn't!) but the actor who plays Mamoru sounds very much like the original. Luna sounds different, but the voice still works well for her. I can't wait to hear what the other senshi sound like. I read somewhere that the voice actress who plays Rei is a huge fan of the series – when she and her friends played Sailor Moon as children, she always wanted to be Rei but her friends made her be Makoto because she was taller than everyone else. It's so delightful to think that people who grew up pretending to be these characters have the chance to bring them to life again <3
Another thing I really enjoyed was the overall stylization choices that they made. The eyecatches before and after commercials and the title card were rife with delicate roses and blacked-out silhouettes (Utena, anyone?) and when they introduced characters, they framed the screen with roses very much like in Utena. The backdrop for Sailor Moon's speech is a crescent moon with roses twined all around it, and it's utterly stunning.
So, there were a couple of things that made me raise my eyebrow, but all-in-all it was a delightful episode and I'm dying - DYING - to see more :3
