It’s June 30th, the official birthday of Sailor Moon. As this is the third or possibly the second most important holiday in the magical girl calendar, we cannot allow it to pass unnoticed. All are commanded to rejoice and make merry under penalty of death.
This is a traditional date for releasing news about the Sailor Moon franchise, and this year is no exception. According to CBR, there is now an official release date for Sailor Moon Eternal, the film that will form the sequel to the Sailor Moon Crystal anime series and interpret the manga’s fourth arc.
Here’s a teaser for the film:
This fourth arc is the one with Chibi Moon’s magic pony unicorn boyfriend. It just happens, coincidentally, to be where I’m at in the original ’90s anime … but it’s taking me a while to get through it because it’s really a downgrade after the show’s magnificent third season.
This film features yet another total character redesign, making the third for Sailor Moon Crystal. This time, the designs are by franchise veteran Kazuko Tadano, as reported by Anime News Network. The new, teased designs, as shown in the video above, look sort of like a hybrid cross between the original series and the new.
Some fans are excited, as I know from my Twitter feed, but my opinion is more mild, though that’s partly because I’ve gotten too old to geek out with wild abandon about this stuff. But what this all says to me is that Sailor Moon Crystal has been mostly a disaster. The first two seasons were poorly animated and poorly received, and the third, which revamped the character designs and brought on a new director, was only a slight improvement.
Each change in Crystal has been an attempt to bring it closer to the original ’90s anime: The third season reintroduced upgraded versions of the original’s poses, transformations, and hammy dialogue—but without the comedic timing or charm.
Getting the original character designer back on board appears to me just another acknowledgement that the new series failed to capture the magic of the original. This movie might end up being decent, but I doubt it will relieve this new incarnation of its reputation of being Sailor Moon: Also-Ran.
