Anyone else not like season 3's art style?

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AluminumSiren

Luna Crescens
Jan 25, 2017
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#41
Okay, so, here's the thing. Before I say anything, everyone should understand it's okay to like something but be able to acknowledge the issues with it.

Season 1/2 had great character designs. However, Toei, as we've all seen, does NOT have the budget to keep up those designs in an animated medium. They could hardly keep a consistent art style within the SAME episode. Episode 25, for example, was one of the VERY rare moments where they used a competent art director... for the first half of the episode. They clearly went back to outsourcing the second half. It was.. very underwhelming. They didn't use a good amount of budget on the LAST episode, which is what most studios tend to do. The last episode wasn't even the same art style as Yukie's! Toei really dropped the ball with what were good character designs. They didn't know what they were trying to do and it showed. And yes, it's true, Yukie's designs lack emotion most of the time, but I'm a sucker for really detailed designs. I really liked when they WERE animated nicely. (On a personal note, I dislike the soft blurry shading they went with. It made the designs look muddy at times. It would've looked nicer if they kept the shading sharp and crisp. I personally feel like any time a studio goes for soft shading, it makes everything look kind of cheap. This doesn't have anything to do with the character designs themselves, but I don't think it helped when an episode was animated poorly.)

As for season 3, I feel like they were on the right track with the character designs. Simplifying the designs helps make the animation process easier. Toei is not going to put a whole lot of budget into Sailor Moon and we know that by now. Going back to stock footage attacks was also a good move. It means instead of trying to choreograph whole scenes for attacks, they can just save that budget for the rest of the episode. If it was any other studio, going with choreographed attack scenes would be more likely, but Toei is a penny-pincher. Everyone has to accept that. Even in the lower budget episodes, the designs worked just fine, too. There was really only one episode I wasn't a fan of, and I think that was 11. That has more to do with the director than the designs though.

As for season 4.. we'll have to wait and see. I want to hope because they're movies that they'll put more budget into them, but I also feel like they're going the Digimon Tri route and going with a normal series budget and going to clip the episodes together to make a "movie".
 

SILVER

Aurorae Lunares
Jan 7, 2014
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Dark Kingdom
#45
I loved the Season 1-2 style of CRYSTAL . Season 3 was ok, but reminded me of the 90s anime too much.
That’s my issue too. Crystal was attempting to carve out its own identity as a series, but then it was regressed into a PreCure x 90s mash with a few touches of the manga.
It would’ve been fine if it were consistent but there were errors all over the place (Princess Serenity and NQS we’re both a mashup of each other’s designs, Makoto’s senpai) without any fixes. It was just such an obvious move to cater to a fan base that (quite frankly) would NEVER appreciate Crystal for being its own thing! The proof is in the show flopping.
 
Aug 16, 2014
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#47
Besides catering to fans, I think S3's change in art style is also due to the practical need for convenience of animation under limited budget & time. :)
I heard originally they were going to be more like Sakia s designs ,but Kon wanted them to be cuter.I wish they just simple the saki desigs instead of making generic
 

Rika-Chicchi

Staff member
Site Admin
May 7, 2009
44,741
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#48
I heard originally they were going to be more like Sakia s designs ,but Kon wanted them to be cuter.I wish they just simple the saki desigs instead of making generic
Maybe they'd already tried simplifying the original designs & it didn't look good to them, hence their decision to redesign it altogether? But of course I dunno what actually happened. lol
 

Neon Genesis

Solaris Luna
Oct 31, 2015
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#49
Given how amazingly detailed and beautiful the current season of Pretty Cure is, I'm not sure why Sailor Moon fans think season three of Crystal looking Pretty Cure is supposed to be insulting to the Sailor Moon franchise or something. Pretty Cure is probably the most gorgeous anime Toei is making right now and easily beats the pants off Sailor Moon's animation.
 
Aug 16, 2014
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#50
Given how amazingly detailed and beautiful the current season of Pretty Cure is, I'm not sure why Sailor Moon fans think season three of Crystal looking Pretty Cure is supposed to be insulting to the Sailor Moon franchise or something. Pretty Cure is probably the most gorgeous anime Toei is making right now and easily beats the pants off Sailor Moon's animation.
Because they don't like the style . I want ammore uniqe style for sailor moon crystal.Its just a preference . I don't think that animation is great its okay
 
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Rika-Chicchi

Staff member
Site Admin
May 7, 2009
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#51
Because they don't like the style . I want ammore uniqe style for sailor moon crystal.Its just a preference . I don't think that animation is great its okay
Yeah, the major issue is that SMC should have its own art style, instead of imitating another anime's, whether you like the latter or not. :)
 
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SILVER

Aurorae Lunares
Jan 7, 2014
1,424
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Dark Kingdom
#52
Given how amazingly detailed and beautiful the current season of Pretty Cure is, I'm not sure why Sailor Moon fans think season three of Crystal looking Pretty Cure is supposed to be insulting to the Sailor Moon franchise or something. Pretty Cure is probably the most gorgeous anime Toei is making right now and easily beats the pants off Sailor Moon's animation.
You answered your own question: it already looks like something ELSE.

...minus Pretty Cure’s budget.
 

Neon Genesis

Solaris Luna
Oct 31, 2015
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#53
Other than the eyes, I don't really feel like the season three art style really looks all that similar to Pretty Cure. I think it looks more like some of Chiaki Kon's other anime she's directed like Golden Time and the When They Cry character designs.
 

SILVER

Aurorae Lunares
Jan 7, 2014
1,424
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Dark Kingdom
#54
Other than the eyes, I don't really feel like the season three art style really looks all that similar to Pretty Cure. I think it looks more like some of Chiaki Kon's other anime she's directed like Golden Time and the When They Cry character designs.
But still, the point is that they resemble something else anyway. Say what you want about seasons 1-2 of Crystal, but the look of the art was unique to other things airing and to its own series.
 
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Neon Genesis

Solaris Luna
Oct 31, 2015
2,332
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#56
But still, the point is that they resemble something else anyway. Say what you want about seasons 1-2 of Crystal, but the look of the art was unique to other things airing and to its own series.
Every director will bring their own style to the characters because that's what directors do . The season one and two designs didn't look exactly like the manga all the time either. The 90s anime character designs are far more radically different from the manga than the season three Crystal designs and went through far more constant radical redesigns between episodes yet fans don't give the 90s anime the same flack they give season three of Crystal.
 

Kerochan no Miko

Knight Radiant
Staff member
Site Admin
Feb 29, 2004
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#57
The 90s anime character designs are far more radically different from the manga than the season three Crystal designs and went through far more constant radical redesigns between episodes yet fans don't give the 90s anime the same flack they give season three of Crystal.
The 90s anime has the benefit of nostalgia, while Crystal is a new/ongoing thing. People who want Crystal to be Just Like The Old Stuff aren't satisfied and people who want it to be Absolutely Perfect In Every Way aren't satisfied (because budgets are still a thing). Hence, complaining.
 

Neon Genesis

Solaris Luna
Oct 31, 2015
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#58
If it's a choice between an art style that has more expressive character designs and less off-modeling issues over manga purity, I will take the former over the latter every time.
 

Kerochan no Miko

Knight Radiant
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Site Admin
Feb 29, 2004
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#59
If it's a choice between an art style that has more expressive character designs and less off-modeling issues over manga purity, I will take the former over the latter every time.
I'm not going to argue with that. The inconsistency of character designs in the 90s anime is one thing that still bothers me about it (I'm looking at you, Masahiro Ando).
 
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SILVER

Aurorae Lunares
Jan 7, 2014
1,424
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Dark Kingdom
#60
Every director will bring their own style to the characters because that's what directors do . The season one and two designs didn't look exactly like the manga all the time either. The 90s anime character designs are far more radically different from the manga than the season three Crystal designs and went through far more constant radical redesigns between episodes yet fans don't give the 90s anime the same flack they give season three of Crystal.
I don’t understand where I made any observation about Crystal resembling the manga or wanting it to look exactly like the manga. It’s very influenced by the manga, but it still has its own unique qualities to separate from it (the eyes, the outline colors sometimes being red/blue, the sharp angles and longer proportions of the characters).

I know that Sakou’s style was probably too detailed to animate without good funding but we went from those designs to generic moe garbage. AND it still presented many off model moments that weren’t fixed so I can’t see it as an improvement.
 
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