What is the weakest season of Crystal so far?

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Worst Crystal season?

  • Season 1

    Votes: 51 55.4%
  • Season 2

    Votes: 6 6.5%
  • Season 3

    Votes: 5 5.4%
  • Both seasons 1 & 2

    Votes: 12 13.0%
  • All of the above

    Votes: 9 9.8%
  • Undecided/Neither

    Votes: 9 9.8%

  • Total voters
    92

SailorSugababe

Aurorae Lunares
Sep 8, 2011
1,472
511
665
#43
Season 1, there's no contest really. There's so many bad things about it, its just sad.

To be fair not all was bad. There are things that i genuinely enjoyed, First episode is really good. It made me cry watching it. It also left me hopeful for the rest of the season. Episode 2 - even though the animation took a nosedive immediately - i really loved writing wise. They took a rather underwhelming manga chapter and changed it into a fine episode. That was also a proof they can make good changes and additions, that not every change to the manga is bad. Despite them cutting out most of the comedy from the manga i still enoyed it. The music was just gorgeous. I also enjoyed how at the beginning every episode had a small hint what will happen next time. This made me think they had this all very well planned and developed for the whole series. How wrong i was...

Sadly thats where most positives end. What went wrong though?

We've been waiting really long for a new SM anime. Then it was finally announced and yet we still needed to deal with a year long delay. Finally when it happened the animation quality turned bad immediately after 1st episode. The writing quality also went bad after episode 5. There's so many bad writing moments, i wont even bother to list them because we went through them way too many times already. Its just shocking that despite Toei sitting on 20 year old manga and adapting it chapter by chapter, nearly page by page they still couldnt do it right.

And again not every change was bad: for example unlike most people i didnt mind Toei swapping Minako for Usagi for killing Beryl. To me Usagi made much more sense unlike Minako who never was portrayed as a person who hated Beryl more than the others or having any personal reasons to kill her. There was no build up to it at all: neither in the manga or Crystal. So Usagi killing Beryl wasnt a bad change. Its HOW she killed her thats bad about the change. Thats scene was ridicoulous.

I'll also agree that Dark Kingdom in the manga is one of the weakest arcs but certainly Crystal only amplified the bad things even more (i love Usagi-Mamoru relantionship in the manga but hearing Usagi screaming "mamo-chan" x1000 was unbearable).

Luckliy its only getting better after episode 13.
 

kamil88

Lumen Cinererum
Jun 30, 2013
407
90
65
#44
SailorSugababe said:
And again not every change was bad: for example unlike most people i didnt mind Toei swapping Minako for Usagi for killing Beryl. To me Usagi made much more sense unlike Minako who never was portrayed as a person who hated Beryl more than the others or having any personal reasons to kill her. There was no build up to it at all: neither in the manga or Crystal. So Usagi killing Beryl wasnt a bad change. Its HOW she killed her thats bad about the change. Thats scene was ridicoulous.

I'll also agree that Dark Kingdom in the manga is one of the weakest arcs but certainly Crystal only amplified the bad things even more (i love Usagi-Mamoru relantionship in the manga but hearing Usagi screaming "mamo-chan" x1000 was unbearable).

Luckliy its only getting better after episode 13.
In past, Venus was leader of Sailor Guardians, and guardian of Princess, and she failed, Moon Kingdom was destroyed, and Princess was killed, i'd say that's more than enough to hold grudge against Beryl :)

So far me, yeah, 1st season was also worst one, not only they made dumb changes, Sailor Guardians had no personality when they were together (Each say one/two word of sentence, as if they had one mind) but also, they made season finale one of worst episodes in entire franchise, finale, with always was highlight of each series.
 

Neon Genesis

Solaris Luna
Oct 31, 2015
2,332
296
165
#45
Season one was my least favorite by far. Trying to rush in a forced romance between the Inners and the Generals in only 14 episodes was a bad decision from the start. The whole finale felt rushed and unprofessionally made, especially the final confrontation with Beryl, which just looked ridiculous. I was also disappointed they cut out some of my favorite moments from the manga, like Motoki finding out the Inners' secret identities or completely cutting out Unazuki in the story. Season one also had the worst animation quality control issues, with even the Blu Rays inventing new errors in some scenes instead of fixing them. I also felt like season one had no sense of pacing and it felt like it was just dragging scenes out, in spite of being only 14 episodes. Like there was no need for them to show a full two minute long group transformation towards the end of the season, especially since they didn't even change how the transformations looked in season two. But the fight scenes in general felt very sluggish and they could have tightened up the pacing a bit more to make everything feel more streamlined.
 

sapphire91

Stella Nova
Jul 6, 2018
6,668
9,485
1,665
#46
As most people I have to say Season 1, despite Dark Kingdom arc has a special place in my heart. For all the change TOEI have made everything beyond episode 5 was for the worse, opening new plot holes, instead of fixing them, making silly plot points even less silly. The generals subplot was the worst handling I have seen in anime so far. They should have left them die gloriously, which would have made the senshi feel way more powerful, instead of sacrifice air time for just them showing announcing their names and saying "See you next time, Sailor soldier. Nothing made as angry as the way Beryl was killed. What was the point of making Minako taking the sword from the stone if you later decided to rob her of a moment you have actually building up for. And yes, the suicide attempt... They could have kept it easily, without making Usagi so weak. This was the manga fault, I know, but there was so much building to Usagi changing into the princess - the growing hair, the existential crisis, they could have taking a nod to the PGSM and use this build up and tie it neatly making Usagi being possessed of Serenity to do it. With all the "I won't repeat the princess destiny" she sure did, and if altered that way they could have added drama, some depth, not making Usagi's character suffer, while showing she is indeed different than her past incarnation. It could have made the reunion moment between Endymion and Serenity, when Mamoru kissed Usagi, implaying the princess's spirit will finally rest in peace.
 

Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
6,076
7,950
1,665
underwatersphinx.blogspot.com
#47
Season 1 and 2 were equally bad animation-wise. Season 1 made a lot of stupid plot decisions, but at least I found the first 5 episodes genuinely entertaining. Season 2 deviated less from the manga, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing since (IMO) the Black Moon arc is the second weakest arc of the manga (after Stars). It at least attempted to inject some humor and personality into the show, but I still found it pretty dull and forgettable. So, for all those reasons, to me it's a tie.
 
Aug 18, 2011
912
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#48
Season one for two big reasons...

- Several pointless changes to the source material. Like Usagi destroying Beryl instead of Minako.

- The changes with the Generals went absolutely nowhere, and added nothing to the story.

You can criticize the first two seasons for the terrible and lackluster quality of the animation, but from a story standpoint, season two nails all of its major plot points. And adapts them in a more convincing way.
 
#50
Season one for two big reasons...

- Several pointless changes to the source material. Like Usagi destroying Beryl instead of Minako.

- The changes with the Generals went absolutely nowhere, and added nothing to the story.

You can criticize the first two seasons for the terrible and lackluster quality of the animation, but from a story standpoint, season two nails all of its major plot points. And adapts them in a more convincing way.
Well put.
 

sapphire91

Stella Nova
Jul 6, 2018
6,668
9,485
1,665
#51
Yes, for me season 2 was way better. There was few questionable stuff, like the strange Usa/Mamo kiss which was framed rather uncomfortable - I think it was in episode 16, when it looked like he forced a kiss on her, and the animation fail with the wrong stock footage in episode 17. It was miles better than season 1, but the Black Moon arc is probably the weakest in the manga for me, but I think they did the best they could. Plus episode 21 and 25 had scenes with movie like quality and showed the potential of the art direction if done well.
 
Sep 6, 2014
3,326
3,548
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#53
Dark Kingdom. I’ve made my reasoning clear before but just to reiterate you don’t get to dress up your show with messages of feminism while removing the bad ass accomplishments of the Guardian Soldiers and making them useless and weak.
 

sapphire91

Stella Nova
Jul 6, 2018
6,668
9,485
1,665
#55
for me season 1 too, well there were some forced changes, and i think im one of the few people who wanted a adaptation like the manga, the manga
Believe you are not the only one who wanted that. If they adapted the manga fathfully the show would have been a lot more wholesome. While the characters don't have entier story arcs or chapters dedicated to them, the manga has a lot of character moments and side stories that flesh them all. Sadly the first two seasons of Crystal ommitted most of these. The manga is very well balanced with comedy, romance and some darker moments that were sadly ommitted or tuned down and they would have made the show a lot more enjoyable and different in a way. Sadly they failed to accomplish that. Let's hope the upcoming films really adapt the source material with care and depth.
 
#57
Yes, for me season 2 was way better. There was few questionable stuff, like the strange Usa/Mamo kiss which was framed rather uncomfortable - I think it was in episode 16, when it looked like he forced a kiss on her, and the animation fail with the wrong stock footage in episode 17. It was miles better than season 1, but the Black Moon arc is probably the weakest in the manga for me, but I think they did the best they could. Plus episode 21 and 25 had scenes with movie like quality and showed the potential of the art direction if done well.
It's nice you like season 2, @sapphire91.
 

sapphire91

Stella Nova
Jul 6, 2018
6,668
9,485
1,665
#58
It's nice you like season 2, @sapphire91.
I never said I like it. It was better adaptation of the manga, but they could have done much better. This is the manga story that needed some changes, not the Dark Kingdom. I loved episode 21 and 25 art-wise. The better parts of them. Black Moon was the time when Naoko was very rushed, because she never planned it to happen. With Infinity and Dream she did much better job. So I dread the changes that are inevitable with the movie format for Dream. Stars is might least favourite part of the story in any iteration, so I don't really care what they do with it.