Review in progress

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Jawshx

Aurorae Lunares
Dec 1, 2020
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#1
Let me just preface this review by saying I am a huge fan of Sailor Moon! However everything in this review is just my opinion. I am a fan of the 90’s anime over Crystal. I was of the opinion that S 1-2 were not that great but that S3 was a great improvement. That being said, don’t kill me if my opinion is something you don’t like

FIRST, the overall adaptation. For die hard fans of the manga, I am sure you will be pleased! The adaptation is almost completely faithful to the source material. There were added scenes here and there like discussions in the command center, a few added bits between the Amazoness Quartet, too. Things like Mamoru coughing black blood were kept in. There is also a scene near the end of the film that made me gasp, involving Artemis. But I won’t spoil it

On a slightly more negative note, the faithfulness to the source material is also one of the movie’s downfalls, in my opinion. The movie rushes by at breakneck speed trying to fit everything in and it at time feels like there is no time for the characters or story to breath. In my opinion, it would have worked better as a TV series like Crystal, as scenes happen in a pretty episodic manner anyway. Atleast I think it would have benefitted from an extra 10-15 minutes of run time. Characters like Hawk’s Eye felt like their character had some added development compared to the manga. However Fish Eye is perhaps the one with the least screen time. The scenes they retraced from season 3 of the girls? It was very ‘blink or you’ll miss it’, probably it was under a minute long? I would also say PallaPalla and VesVes had the most screen time, with JunJun the least. There were flashbacks of both Ami and Rei as children added, a long with Rei’s grandpa and Ami’s mom.

Despite the pacing issues however it was an enjoyable watch. Especially if you’re already a big Crystal fan.

Animation:

Well.. it wasn’t what I was expecting. Let me just say, anyone expecting animation like the 90’s movies, prepare to be disappointed. It’s not TERRIBLE, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not the beautiful masterpiece that the trailers made it out to be, either. It is a competent enough standard TV anime quality production with some added flairs in terms of filters and blur. The character designs are probably the best part of the switch to a movie format. They are very cute and feel like a mix between the 90’s, season 3 and very slight Yukie Sakou vibes at points. I feel special attention was paid to Chibi Usa as she has probably has the most beautiful scenes. Her ride with Pegasus probably only lasted about 20 seconds but was gorgeous none-the-less. The other standout was probably Ami’s awakening scene. The quality took a noticeable improvement in quality and It looked gorgeous, with fluid hair movement and was the one moment that I can say was ‘movie quality’. The rest is pretty much Crystal season 3 quality. However the quality of the character designs this time around really lift up the average production. Sailor Mars’s attack is probably the nicest looking. There is a gorgeous moment of her not shown in the trailer of her strands of her against her face while pulling the arrow. Mercury’s attack is probably my second favorite, she does play the harp, but it’s different to the 90s. As far as henshin go Mercury was probably the best and most changed and it really captured her cute side! Jupiter’s was the most disappointing as it was almost exactly like Season 3. Venus was decent but.. at the end of her attack she is off center? It’s hard to explain but it’s like her feet are cut off and she is not center frame.

Furthermore, fight scenes are very straight full forward and are all one hit K.Os. Anyone who was expecting Precure hand to hand combat or some interesting fight chereography, I’m sorry to disappoint you but there is none :(

Overall not bad. The characters emote a lot and feel alive thanks to Tandano. I feel the movie excels in the smaller moments. However, Anyone coming into this expecting a sakuga action fest will be sorely disappointed.
 

MikeMasters05

Luna Crescens
Jul 7, 2014
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#2
Great review! I have some questions hopefully you can answer them!

What about Xenolite and Xenotime did they speak and looked creepy?

And What about the audience’s reaction?
 
Likes: Jawshx
Jul 5, 2009
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#3
Furthermore, fight scenes are very straight full forward and are all one hit K.Os. Anyone who was expecting Precure hand to hand combat or some interesting fight chereography, I’m sorry to disappoint you but there is none :(

Overall not bad. The characters emote a lot and feel alive thanks to Tandano. I feel the movie excels in the smaller moments. However, Anyone coming into this expecting a sakuga action fest will be sorely disappointed.

Yeah. Had a feeling Part 1 would have a lot of flaws especially in the action department. I think Part 2 will probably the one that will be more open to new Precure-ish fight scenes something S3 and S2 were good at in certain episodes.
 
Jul 31, 2012
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#4
Interesting. I can understand the lack of fighting I guess since Naoko is in love e with one hit K.O. moves.

Cant wait for Part II. I wanna see Eternal Senshi.

As someone posted a while back, perhaps some of the best would be for Part 2 being that it has the most "action"

One minor gripe (well two). Can we get better looking transformations and what's the deal with Sailor Jupiter always getting the short end of the stick? I thought they would have fixed the situation where he transformation seemed "rushed".

Not a bad review. I'm ready to see the movie now. Haha
 
Jul 5, 2009
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#6
One minor gripe (well two). Can we get better looking transformations and what's the deal with Sailor Jupiter always getting the short end of the stick? I thought they would have fixed the situation where he transformation seemed "rushed".
She at least had this one. ^_^' Wished there were more just like the SuperS & R movies.

 

Jawshx

Aurorae Lunares
Dec 1, 2020
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#7
Great review! I have some questions hopefully you can answer them!

What about Xenolite and Xenotime did they speak and looked creepy?

And What about the audience’s reaction?
They are very flamboyant, like the Trio. They do speak but it is quite brief. And they are dispatched very quickly by Venus’s chain.

The audience was.. pretty silent. But that is pretty much the Japanese in cinemas in general. Also the fact that it was first thing in the morning might have played a factor! I laughed at quite a few scenes, though. One of the things I liked was that the comedy was on point! Also after it was done a couple in front of me (the woman, at least) made an OK sign with her fingers, so I think it was pretty positive. I saw a lot of people with Sailor Moon bags, and other merch so they all seemed to be pretty big fans already! There were also quite a lot of LGBT in the audience. Same sex couples, etc.
 

snowgeisha

Lumen Cinererum
Jun 9, 2009
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#8
Sad to hear about the fights being “hit and go”.. but that was the norm for Crystal anyway. Season 3 had a few better battles though. Do the villains at least come across as menacing or have a good attack? Or do they basically appear and then get dispatched?
 

Jawshx

Aurorae Lunares
Dec 1, 2020
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#9
Sad to hear about the fights being “hit and go”.. but that was the norm for Crystal anyway. Season 3 had a few better battles though. Do the villains at least come across as menacing or have a good attack? Or do they basically appear and then get dispatched?
The latter. Out of all of them I would say Mars and Venus had the most action? But that’s not saying much.
 

MikeMasters05

Luna Crescens
Jul 7, 2014
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#10
They are very flamboyant, like the Trio. They do speak but it is quite brief. And they are dispatched very quickly by Venus’s chain.

The audience was.. pretty silent. But that is pretty much the Japanese in cinemas in general. Also the fact that it was first thing in the morning might have played a factor! I laughed at quite a few scenes, though. One of the things I liked was that the comedy was on point! Also after it was done a couple in front of me (the woman, at least) made an OK sign with her fingers, so I think it was pretty positive. I saw a lot of people with Sailor Moon bags, and other merch so they all seemed to be pretty big fans already! There were also quite a lot of LGBT in the audience. Same sex couples, etc.
I’m so hyped! Thank you for taking your time to answer!

I forgot to ask and would like to know why is your opinion of the BGM? Epic? Or just good?
 

Jawshx

Aurorae Lunares
Dec 1, 2020
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#14
Last part of the review:

The music

If you liked Crystal’s BGM then you will enjoy this too, I am sure. There were a few nice pieces here and there. One standout track for me was a piano piece played during Rei’s flashback. Other than that it was standard Crystal fare. If I recall correctly the Senshi didn’t have their own themes but all shared one theme which was pretty similar to the transformation music in the previous seasons. The ending credits were Chairon and Watashitachi Ni Naritakute played on a black background while the credits rolled.


Overall

Overall, it was a good experience and I’m glad I got to see it in the cinema! If you’re expecting an animated masterpiece then you may be disappointed but overall it’s a step up from season 3. If you don’t care about any of the above and are a diehard manga fan who just wants to see the manga adapted exactly like the source material then you definitely won’t be disappointed. It is faithful, for better or worse. I would give the first part a 7.5/10. Raise it to an 8 or 9 if you’re a Crystal stan.

Here’s to the second movie! I’m excited!

Random bits and pieces that I forgot to add in:

There are quite a lot of still shots with added sparkles and hair movement. I think they were trying to recreate the feel of the manga with this? Like Venus in the shower, Chibi Usa and Helios.

Jesus, Helios disappears and appears A LOT in this movie Like he is playing hide and seek, or something. Just randomly popping up all over the place.

It was strange to me that none of the inners really talk about their experiences with each other. Like ‘Oh I was targeted’ and now I’ve upgraded!’ Oh, me too!’ Because of this their scenes feel sort of like their own little disconnected episodes, if that makes sense.

The lighting is one of the things I liked. The way the sunset casts shadows over their faces and so on. It looked really nice at times.

The 3D when used was tasteful and didn’t look too out of place.

Moon Gorgeous Meditation was used with the same stock footage like 3 times in the movie. Felt slightly overkill. They transform only once in full though, with a compact transformation the second time.
 

GalX3

Luna Crescens
Nov 13, 2018
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#16
Thank you for taking the time to give us your 2 part review you are super kind. I have no idea when I will get to see this in Australia but I am happy that I will be going into this with realistic expectations. As I always said you could entertain me by putting a poster of Sailor Moon on the screen for an hour or so I'm sure that I'll still love this movie. It is also nice to be sitting in a room with other Sailor Moon fans so I hope it gets released at the cinemas and I will surely buy the DVD/Blu-ray.

If you liked Crystal’s BGM then you will enjoy this too, I am sure.
きっとそれは誰もない。。。
Spoiler: show
That is no one, I am sure.
This is sarcasm right? Does anyone like an overdose of fake epic choir music? It is the filler of the era.

I can look forward to the end credits so I can hear Chainon!

And I am super excited about part 2:
Oshioki-suru-WA!!
 
Likes: Jawshx

GalX3

Luna Crescens
Nov 13, 2018
249
256
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#18
I love the background music of Crystal. True, it is not original, but it fits. I still listen to some of the tracks and are in my phone
I'm throwing a party in your honour.

I must admit some of the music was lovely and suited the scene, particularly the reflective/nostalgic tracks (like below) but for me most of it was just repetitive, bland, forgettable background filler.

But perhaps I'm not being fair when...
 
Jul 11, 2013
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#19
Thank you for taking the time to give us your 2 part review you are super kind. I have no idea when I will get to see this in Australia but I am happy that I will be going into this with realistic expectations. As I always said you could entertain me by putting a poster of Sailor Moon on the screen for an hour or so I'm sure that I'll still love this movie. It is also nice to be sitting in a room with other Sailor Moon fans so I hope it gets released at the cinemas and I will surely buy the DVD/Blu-ray.


きっとそれは誰もない。。。
Spoiler: show
That is no one, I am sure.
This is sarcasm right? Does anyone like an overdose of fake epic choir music? It is the filler of the era.

I can look forward to the end credits so I can hear Chainon!

And I am super excited about part 2:
Oshioki-suru-WA!!
I'm No One. ^_^^_^^_^
@Jawshx : Did they reuse any old theme from Crystal 1 - 3 ?
 
Likes: POKIWOKI
Jul 1, 2014
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#20
@Jawshx thanks for the review!
Can you tell us more about Jupiter and venus’s attacks?
Does the leaves of oak crown have its own “will” like in the manga? Does oak evolution play any differently to the 90s?
Does Venus physically grip the whip of love when attacking?
Thanks!