-
This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn more.
The numbers are always impressive, Sailormoon manages to be successful despite the treatment given by Toei in recent years and confirms itself as a fixed point in the hearts of many fans.
This post made me think a lot, as it explains why Sailormoon is not the priority in Toei's pockets, also considering the period of the rights block and the total acquisition of the latter by Naoko.
How Much Money Does Toei Animation Make From Sailor Moon?
The series has made many records, some of which are mentioned in this article
“Sailor Moon” at 30: A Groundbreaking Series on an Interstellar Scale
However, I would like them to put online the earnings data of the series from both Toei and Bandai before the rights block, from when the 90s anime started airing.
Unfortunately, not much is known about this period and Toei and Bandai seem to be tight-lipped about disclosing any information.
Was Sailor Moon’s Moon Stick Created Just to Sell Toys?
Another post and related comments that got me thinking.
Sailor Moon and the Myth of Toei’s “Multi-Billion“ Dollar Franchise – @moonie-trivia on Tumblr
This post made me think a lot, as it explains why Sailormoon is not the priority in Toei's pockets, also considering the period of the rights block and the total acquisition of the latter by Naoko.
How Much Money Does Toei Animation Make From Sailor Moon?
The series has made many records, some of which are mentioned in this article
“Sailor Moon” at 30: A Groundbreaking Series on an Interstellar Scale
However, I would like them to put online the earnings data of the series from both Toei and Bandai before the rights block, from when the 90s anime started airing.
Unfortunately, not much is known about this period and Toei and Bandai seem to be tight-lipped about disclosing any information.
Was Sailor Moon’s Moon Stick Created Just to Sell Toys?
Another post and related comments that got me thinking.
Sailor Moon and the Myth of Toei’s “Multi-Billion“ Dollar Franchise – @moonie-trivia on Tumblr
"By 2025, more than 50 million copies of the manga have already been sold, and the merchandise is worth more than $5 billion."
(source)
Is it a lot or not enough? Your opinion.
(source)
Is it a lot or not enough? Your opinion.
50 million seriously?
In 2022, it was reported that 46 million copies had been sold and you're telling me that in 2 years, more than 4 million copies have been sold?
And despite this 'success', the colored edition has been cancelled?
You're telling me the success of Cosmos (which didn't even top the charts on Netflix) propelled the sales of at least 3.5 million copies?
Who is buying all of these books?
Are these numbers even legit or are people just making things up?
Do these number come from Osabu?
Do they come from the fan club? Do aside from weird conspiracy theories, now Osabu and Naoko are bluntly making up numbers?
In 2022, it was reported that 46 million copies had been sold and you're telling me that in 2 years, more than 4 million copies have been sold?
And despite this 'success', the colored edition has been cancelled?
You're telling me the success of Cosmos (which didn't even top the charts on Netflix) propelled the sales of at least 3.5 million copies?
Who is buying all of these books?
Are these numbers even legit or are people just making things up?
Do these number come from Osabu?
Do they come from the fan club? Do aside from weird conspiracy theories, now Osabu and Naoko are bluntly making up numbers?
Maybe they or her parents bought it themeselves lol - it's not unheard of for uber rich parents bulk-buying works, e.g. books, records, etc., by their children (I've even heard some even mobilize the huge number of employees of the numerous companies they own to watch their children's concerts or movies).
Likes:
saintfighteraqua
From 46 million to 50 million… in my book, that’s called rounding up or straight-up inflating a number that isn’t real. Where’s the source for that so-called source?
According to the Japanese site Mynavi News, the manga had only sold 12 million copies as of January 2023. Like I said, those 46 million aren’t real, because there’s a big difference between actual sales to consumers and wholesale distribution, where most of the volumes are just sitting in a warehouse waiting to be sold. Basically, Sailor Moon’s manga sells at a snail’s pace.
I’m starting to think that ever since the 20th anniversary back in 2012, PNP has been trying to pull off a well-crafted marketing campaign by throwing around numbers that aren’t exactly legit, all to resell a franchise that’s been dead since 2004.
33 years have passed since its debut, and the numbers still show that the only thing that actually sells is the streaming, DVD, and Blu-ray releases of the original anime. But someone out there still thinks the face of the franchise should be a 30-year-old Takeuchi illustration slapped onto a high-end brand collab and sold at an absurd price.
Oh, well.... Hime-sama....keep fuelling the lie if that makes you happy.
It is simply an impossibility @Lady Pen because the math doesn't add up.
If we assume, the whole series was bought over these 4 million copies - 4,000,000/12 = 333,333 people.
Even if I remove some 100,000 people and drop it to 200,000 full sets, there is still no reason for this sudden surge in the sales.
Cosmos didn't get any new fans and even if it was a remarkable success, no way in the world that it would have caused some 200,000 + people to go and buy the whole manga series!
We know the manga doesn't sell in Japan nor in Europe. Only in the US is the manga idolized.
And yet the Sailor Moon manga is nothing new! The die-hard Naoko fans have already bought the series long ago (some even several editions) so you're telling me Cosmos made them want to buy it all over again?
Even if that was the case, I'd expect some 10,000 fans (and I'm being very, very generous) not 100,000+.
It's neither the new art-book that boosted the sales. It was sold out almost instantly and the only people who knew of it was again, the die-hard Naoko fans. For even the casual Sailor Moon fan, it meant nothing.
And even then I absolutely don't think there's this high number.
Simply because Sailor Moon is no Harry Potter.
Publishers are not gonna print 100,000 + copies of each volume and let them sit in their warehouses when the demand is simply not existent.
Publishers simply order by batches. And unless you're a SJ hit series, it's normally some 30,000-50,000 copies batch.
Once the batch is sold out, then the publisher orders a second batch but typically of shorter amount because obviously the majority of the fans have already bought them.
I've mentioned Banana Fish before which is a hit and cult classic shoujo series - arguably much more popular than SM in Japan.
Since the anime in 2019, the manga has gone out of print several times and the manga returned as a best seller - as reported by Kinokuniya themselves, a major manga chain in Japan.
Kinokuniya has even made more than once posts on Twitter, explaining the Japanese copies have been sold out and waiting to be restocked and even the English version - that Japanese fans have been requesting because the story takes place in the USA - are also selling out.
Yet, Banana Fish has had a record sales of only 12 million.
This despite that the anime was a major hit in the US as well, so much that the NY library (which is an iconic place of the story) itself reported a surge of sales in it's gift shop from Banana Fish fans.
Not to mention, Sailor Moon has several copies.
Unlike what PNP might believe, Sailor Moon is not as essential as toilet paper so people don't need to 'choose' between a 'budget' version. If the manga's price is affordable, fans are gonna buy it. Fans are not so poor that they need a 'cheaper' version.
Which in turn, I ask, what do the publisher re-supply and what they do not?
You're not telling me both the deluxe and budget editions are selling the same quantities that both stocks are depleting.
It just doesn't make any sense.
Never have we heard - be it in Japan, Europe or the USA - that Sailor Moon was selling so, so well that the stocks and volumes available were going out of print.
Hence, there is no need for new supply of books.
Not to mention why hasn't Kodansha made any celebration for this sudden record sales?
If Sailor Moon is selling 4 million, then Naruto is selling 10 million in 1 year I guess?
If these numbers are from Osabu and Takeuchi, then they are clearly lying.
Just like supposedly Toei stole Crystal's mega-uber de la mort qui tue gazillion, One Punch-Man's season 1 X14 budget and poured it into Precure.
If we assume, the whole series was bought over these 4 million copies - 4,000,000/12 = 333,333 people.
Even if I remove some 100,000 people and drop it to 200,000 full sets, there is still no reason for this sudden surge in the sales.
Cosmos didn't get any new fans and even if it was a remarkable success, no way in the world that it would have caused some 200,000 + people to go and buy the whole manga series!
We know the manga doesn't sell in Japan nor in Europe. Only in the US is the manga idolized.
And yet the Sailor Moon manga is nothing new! The die-hard Naoko fans have already bought the series long ago (some even several editions) so you're telling me Cosmos made them want to buy it all over again?
Even if that was the case, I'd expect some 10,000 fans (and I'm being very, very generous) not 100,000+.
It's neither the new art-book that boosted the sales. It was sold out almost instantly and the only people who knew of it was again, the die-hard Naoko fans. For even the casual Sailor Moon fan, it meant nothing.
And even then I absolutely don't think there's this high number.
Simply because Sailor Moon is no Harry Potter.
Publishers are not gonna print 100,000 + copies of each volume and let them sit in their warehouses when the demand is simply not existent.
Publishers simply order by batches. And unless you're a SJ hit series, it's normally some 30,000-50,000 copies batch.
Once the batch is sold out, then the publisher orders a second batch but typically of shorter amount because obviously the majority of the fans have already bought them.
I've mentioned Banana Fish before which is a hit and cult classic shoujo series - arguably much more popular than SM in Japan.
Since the anime in 2019, the manga has gone out of print several times and the manga returned as a best seller - as reported by Kinokuniya themselves, a major manga chain in Japan.
Kinokuniya has even made more than once posts on Twitter, explaining the Japanese copies have been sold out and waiting to be restocked and even the English version - that Japanese fans have been requesting because the story takes place in the USA - are also selling out.
Yet, Banana Fish has had a record sales of only 12 million.
This despite that the anime was a major hit in the US as well, so much that the NY library (which is an iconic place of the story) itself reported a surge of sales in it's gift shop from Banana Fish fans.
Not to mention, Sailor Moon has several copies.
Unlike what PNP might believe, Sailor Moon is not as essential as toilet paper so people don't need to 'choose' between a 'budget' version. If the manga's price is affordable, fans are gonna buy it. Fans are not so poor that they need a 'cheaper' version.
Which in turn, I ask, what do the publisher re-supply and what they do not?
You're not telling me both the deluxe and budget editions are selling the same quantities that both stocks are depleting.
It just doesn't make any sense.
Never have we heard - be it in Japan, Europe or the USA - that Sailor Moon was selling so, so well that the stocks and volumes available were going out of print.
Hence, there is no need for new supply of books.
Not to mention why hasn't Kodansha made any celebration for this sudden record sales?
If Sailor Moon is selling 4 million, then Naruto is selling 10 million in 1 year I guess?
If these numbers are from Osabu and Takeuchi, then they are clearly lying.
Just like supposedly Toei stole Crystal's mega-uber de la mort qui tue gazillion, One Punch-Man's season 1 X14 budget and poured it into Precure.
Perhaps because Sailor Moon was finished and Precure turned out to be a bigger and more sustainable success?
Why should Toei be blamed for creating something successfully and continuing to do so?
Precure's quality itself fluctuates between it's season but that has nothing to do with Sailor Moon.
Toei's practice is the same with all of it's series - they throw out a quick, poorly done series for a quick cash grab, then come up with a shorter series or movie of good to slightly above-average quality.
Every series is like that - Precure, Digimon, Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball, One Piece.
You feel that Sailor Moon is 'abused' by Toei simply because thanks to the gran Hime, they are only allowed to adapt the manga, hence Sailor Moon's exploitation - compared to the other ventures Toei does with it's other licenses - is limited.
And we see that process with the Crystermos adaptation as well:
Crystal ! & !! - poor adaptation
Crystal III - more than decent budgeted adaptation for a Toei TV series
Etermos - overall average budgeted movie production suffering greatly from the story of the manga.
Just exactly how did Precure take the focus away from Sailor Moon?
Why should Toei be blamed for creating something successfully and continuing to do so?
Precure's quality itself fluctuates between it's season but that has nothing to do with Sailor Moon.
Toei's practice is the same with all of it's series - they throw out a quick, poorly done series for a quick cash grab, then come up with a shorter series or movie of good to slightly above-average quality.
Every series is like that - Precure, Digimon, Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball, One Piece.
You feel that Sailor Moon is 'abused' by Toei simply because thanks to the gran Hime, they are only allowed to adapt the manga, hence Sailor Moon's exploitation - compared to the other ventures Toei does with it's other licenses - is limited.
And we see that process with the Crystermos adaptation as well:
Crystal ! & !! - poor adaptation
Crystal III - more than decent budgeted adaptation for a Toei TV series
Etermos - overall average budgeted movie production suffering greatly from the story of the manga.
Just exactly how did Precure take the focus away from Sailor Moon?
If you read this article you will understand that it is the annual earnings of a series that guarantee the release of new animated products of the latter.
Sailormoon had the rights blocked, apart from the live action there were no other connections with Toei before the remake
How Much Money Does Toei Animation Make From Sailor Moon?
The production of the remake sucked on all fronts, even though Crystal III raised the bar of quality a little, however we are not at the level of other Toei productions.
we have:
- Crystal I and II -
wooden animations, various graphic horrors (even if they fixed something in the DVD and Blu-ray version, the general quality remained mostly poor), not very expressive characters, a questionable adaptation of the events narrated in the manga, the powers of the Senshi do not reflect the power shown in the manga, character design not up to the situation.
- Crystal III -
often deformed bodies, copy-paste faces and body proportions not always correct, the powers of the Senshi do not reflect the power shown in the manga, character design not up to the situation.
- eternal -
very wrong movie format as the narration unfolds too quickly and they cut things here and there, total inability of the animators and scriptwriters to understand and animate the scenes, slow and wooden animations, static and expressionless characters, the powers of the senshi do not reflect the power shown in the manga, questionable choices of close-ups and shots, character design not up to the situation.
- cosmos -
Almost everything like eternal, they even increased the budget but putting in effort was apparently not foreseen in the employment contract.
I understand that those who worked on it preferred the 90s anime, but that is not an excuse to generate a poor product.
Toei knows perfectly how to animate a series well given the big experience behind them, "Mahou tsukai precure mirai days" and "You and idol precure" are the current example of how a series of the mahou shoujo fighter genre can be done well: fluid animations, expressive characters, captivating character designs, wonderful colors and attention to detail.
Above all, "you and idol precure" leaves me convinced of Toei's ability to animate, the character design and coloring of this series are similar to those used for the "mermaid melody" anime, this makes it clear that, if they want, even if it is no longer the early 2000s, that level of quality is perfectly reproducible.
Since Naoko owns the vast majority of the rights to the Sailormoon series, this is another factor that has led Toei not to invest in the project. For Toei, everything is based on the possible profit, if a series does not make them money, they do not care much about investing in it anymore.
It happened with the animated series of Saint seiya in 1990, it was interrupted due to various factors, the lack of success of the saga of asgard, filler not very welcomed in Japan at that time, the death of Yoshifumi Hatano, producer of the animated series and strong supporter of the project, in fact it was him who contracted tv asahi to mediate between toei, Kurumada and the TV broadcaster to produce the anime, in addition to sponsoring financially, and then the decline in sales of die cast models.
It's a shame that the series was having success outside of Japan and they didn't take this factor into account at all, in fact the anime production companies in Japan mainly look at the domestic market in their own country, at the time they sold the series abroad for little, believing they weren't worth much (which leaves me shocked! The effort put in by the animators is debased by a completely wrong idea) allowing also absurd censorship.
The pretty cure situation is equally strange. In his homeland he has a huge success but for example in Italy precure has been broadcast continuously from the first series up to Heartcatch precure on state TV channels without obtaining great success, they tried to create gadgets but let's face it, the first 4 series do not have much appeal in the design of the costumes of the protagonists and the magical items often seemed like a forced attempt to create something that must be bought as a toy, they put way too many and not all have much desirability.
The poor Italian dubbing of heartcatch caused a drop in ratings and, when the rights to the series were purchased in America to create "glitter force", the Italian state TV no longer wanted to know about buying the subsequent series.
Precure is a product for children and it shows, sailormoon is more mature as a series.Yet the remake of Sailormoon was censored even though it was intended for an adult audience... Another thing that I don't understand.
And if the series you mentioned: Precure, Digimon, Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball, One Piece, are poorly made as you say, think if they put a lot of effort into creating something, they would obtain space levels, because even though there are episodes of fluctuating quality, the care put into making them is truly excellent (also taking into account the work pace they are used to).
Sailormoon had the rights blocked, apart from the live action there were no other connections with Toei before the remake
How Much Money Does Toei Animation Make From Sailor Moon?
The production of the remake sucked on all fronts, even though Crystal III raised the bar of quality a little, however we are not at the level of other Toei productions.
we have:
- Crystal I and II -
wooden animations, various graphic horrors (even if they fixed something in the DVD and Blu-ray version, the general quality remained mostly poor), not very expressive characters, a questionable adaptation of the events narrated in the manga, the powers of the Senshi do not reflect the power shown in the manga, character design not up to the situation.
- Crystal III -
often deformed bodies, copy-paste faces and body proportions not always correct, the powers of the Senshi do not reflect the power shown in the manga, character design not up to the situation.
- eternal -
very wrong movie format as the narration unfolds too quickly and they cut things here and there, total inability of the animators and scriptwriters to understand and animate the scenes, slow and wooden animations, static and expressionless characters, the powers of the senshi do not reflect the power shown in the manga, questionable choices of close-ups and shots, character design not up to the situation.
- cosmos -
Almost everything like eternal, they even increased the budget but putting in effort was apparently not foreseen in the employment contract.
I understand that those who worked on it preferred the 90s anime, but that is not an excuse to generate a poor product.
Toei knows perfectly how to animate a series well given the big experience behind them, "Mahou tsukai precure mirai days" and "You and idol precure" are the current example of how a series of the mahou shoujo fighter genre can be done well: fluid animations, expressive characters, captivating character designs, wonderful colors and attention to detail.
Above all, "you and idol precure" leaves me convinced of Toei's ability to animate, the character design and coloring of this series are similar to those used for the "mermaid melody" anime, this makes it clear that, if they want, even if it is no longer the early 2000s, that level of quality is perfectly reproducible.
Since Naoko owns the vast majority of the rights to the Sailormoon series, this is another factor that has led Toei not to invest in the project. For Toei, everything is based on the possible profit, if a series does not make them money, they do not care much about investing in it anymore.
It happened with the animated series of Saint seiya in 1990, it was interrupted due to various factors, the lack of success of the saga of asgard, filler not very welcomed in Japan at that time, the death of Yoshifumi Hatano, producer of the animated series and strong supporter of the project, in fact it was him who contracted tv asahi to mediate between toei, Kurumada and the TV broadcaster to produce the anime, in addition to sponsoring financially, and then the decline in sales of die cast models.
It's a shame that the series was having success outside of Japan and they didn't take this factor into account at all, in fact the anime production companies in Japan mainly look at the domestic market in their own country, at the time they sold the series abroad for little, believing they weren't worth much (which leaves me shocked! The effort put in by the animators is debased by a completely wrong idea) allowing also absurd censorship.
The pretty cure situation is equally strange. In his homeland he has a huge success but for example in Italy precure has been broadcast continuously from the first series up to Heartcatch precure on state TV channels without obtaining great success, they tried to create gadgets but let's face it, the first 4 series do not have much appeal in the design of the costumes of the protagonists and the magical items often seemed like a forced attempt to create something that must be bought as a toy, they put way too many and not all have much desirability.
The poor Italian dubbing of heartcatch caused a drop in ratings and, when the rights to the series were purchased in America to create "glitter force", the Italian state TV no longer wanted to know about buying the subsequent series.
Precure is a product for children and it shows, sailormoon is more mature as a series.Yet the remake of Sailormoon was censored even though it was intended for an adult audience... Another thing that I don't understand.
And if the series you mentioned: Precure, Digimon, Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball, One Piece, are poorly made as you say, think if they put a lot of effort into creating something, they would obtain space levels, because even though there are episodes of fluctuating quality, the care put into making them is truly excellent (also taking into account the work pace they are used to).
Likes:
kasumigenx
Bodies looking like broken puppets, the same expressions over and over = that's very faithful to the manga if you ask me!
What do you mean the Senshi's powers are not reflected as in the manga?
They lose every fight in the manga and they just put their hands forward and yell their attack.
And like I've said it before, Takahashi's design is reflective of Takeuchi's Infinity era art in it's manga pages.
I would suggest you to go look at the credits and see the long, long list of animators in the credits and even studios, amongst them Pierrot, who were commissioned to do cuts on the movies.
Also, I will remind you that by the leaked storyboards they were copying directly from the manga hence why the scenes and shots composition are all so boring and dull.
Back then people said, the storyboard is not important.
Woody Woodman, who's a veteran would disagree with that.
As he explains in the video, be it live action or animation, the storyboarding is an essential and very pivotal component on how good a movie looks.
Now, Kon is a professional - one of the most acclaimed female directors of our era with a very extensive portfolio. Why do you think she copied copy-pasted the pages of the manga?
Are you seriously believing that the Toei execs came and told her to copy the manga yet paid nearly 200 animators on the movie?
Perhaps it's simply because the material they are adapting is bad.
Do you seriously believe prettier colors and some sakuga animation (considering Sailor Moon's fights are relegated to just pushing the hand forward 99% of the time hence would be non-existent) would have made the experience better?
And Yuu Yoshiyama - who did a lot of the stock footages and battle animation of Mahou Tsukai 2 also worked on Eternal and Cosmos.
Kon is likewise series director of Idol Precure.
Kon was also the one who pushed for the return of 2D henshins back during Crystal III.
So again, I suggest that you ponder on your assessment that people who worked on Eternal didn't know how to do their jobs and animate.
Not exactly.
Contrary to what people believe, the viewership didn't have that significant decline during the Asgard arc.
What was likely a factor in it's ending was the failure of the Vintage toys and considering at that time, the Asgard and Poseidon arcs' animation actually got budget increases from the Sanctuary arc, to continue would need yet another, rather long filler arc.
Which would mean backing on even more anime exclusive characters to be a successful toyline along with of course the budget to sustain the fights that the anime would show.
Around the time the manga ended, there were talks about a sequel in the form of OVAs, which Seiji Yokohama even made the OST for and Shingo Araki even made the Cover art of.
However, likely looking at the complete decline of the manga, the production committee probably decided it wasn't worth it as people weren't interested in Saint Seiya anymore.
Toei still believed so during the revival in 2003 with the OVAs hence why despite the good quality of the animation, it's budget wasn't actually that high.
The difference with these series is that they can be sustained and flourish despite the poor series.
Precure, during a time, had a very very rough patch. The movies were bad, the series were lackluster. Even now, Toei typically does one mild, bland series (Delicious Party/Wonderful Precure) and follow it up with a more polished one (Hirogaru Sky/Idol Precure).
Back then we used to have 2 movies, one regular along with an All-Stars one.
Now, we have only one despite the last one breaking all record sales.
Saint Seiya had disastrous ONA series - Soul of Gold and Saintia Sho yet the Myth Cloth sprouting out of these series were a success.
In turn, Toei invested a lot in the live-action and CGI series (both of which weren't the financial nor commercial successes they were hoping for).
Yet this doesn't mean they give up the series. There's already a 2D series in the works and highly likely a Next Dimension anime soon.
The manga series Rerise of Poseidon was likely a joint production to have a anime series (which was likely the 2D series mentioned but since the failure of the live action, it's bene AWOL).
Digimon is the whole package - animated productions all over the place (Tri movie series, Adventure remake), rather polished productions (the new movies), fan anniversary animated shorts (the Adventure anniversary music video, the 'future' music video that is coming out soon), it has several new manga series, toys, card games, video games.
And it's fanbase both domestic and international is very passionate.
Dragon Ball and One Piece are just too iconic to fade away.
In turn, what does Sailor Moon has to offer?
The same 90s anime that has been readily available for over a decade worldwide?
The same manga series that has been readily available for over a decade worldwide?
The same toys of the same things over and over?
You are also forgetting that a major part of the budget of an animation production comes from the sponsors and I ask you, why would any sponsor want to finance Sailor Moon, a faded series, over either Precure, a completely new Mahou Shoujo series or literally everything else?
What do you mean the Senshi's powers are not reflected as in the manga?
They lose every fight in the manga and they just put their hands forward and yell their attack.
And like I've said it before, Takahashi's design is reflective of Takeuchi's Infinity era art in it's manga pages.
I would suggest you to go look at the credits and see the long, long list of animators in the credits and even studios, amongst them Pierrot, who were commissioned to do cuts on the movies.
Also, I will remind you that by the leaked storyboards they were copying directly from the manga hence why the scenes and shots composition are all so boring and dull.
Back then people said, the storyboard is not important.
Woody Woodman, who's a veteran would disagree with that.
As he explains in the video, be it live action or animation, the storyboarding is an essential and very pivotal component on how good a movie looks.
Now, Kon is a professional - one of the most acclaimed female directors of our era with a very extensive portfolio. Why do you think she copied copy-pasted the pages of the manga?
Are you seriously believing that the Toei execs came and told her to copy the manga yet paid nearly 200 animators on the movie?
Perhaps it's simply because the material they are adapting is bad.
Do you seriously believe prettier colors and some sakuga animation (considering Sailor Moon's fights are relegated to just pushing the hand forward 99% of the time hence would be non-existent) would have made the experience better?
And Yuu Yoshiyama - who did a lot of the stock footages and battle animation of Mahou Tsukai 2 also worked on Eternal and Cosmos.
Kon is likewise series director of Idol Precure.
Kon was also the one who pushed for the return of 2D henshins back during Crystal III.
So again, I suggest that you ponder on your assessment that people who worked on Eternal didn't know how to do their jobs and animate.
Not exactly.
Contrary to what people believe, the viewership didn't have that significant decline during the Asgard arc.
What was likely a factor in it's ending was the failure of the Vintage toys and considering at that time, the Asgard and Poseidon arcs' animation actually got budget increases from the Sanctuary arc, to continue would need yet another, rather long filler arc.
Which would mean backing on even more anime exclusive characters to be a successful toyline along with of course the budget to sustain the fights that the anime would show.
Around the time the manga ended, there were talks about a sequel in the form of OVAs, which Seiji Yokohama even made the OST for and Shingo Araki even made the Cover art of.
However, likely looking at the complete decline of the manga, the production committee probably decided it wasn't worth it as people weren't interested in Saint Seiya anymore.
Toei still believed so during the revival in 2003 with the OVAs hence why despite the good quality of the animation, it's budget wasn't actually that high.
The difference with these series is that they can be sustained and flourish despite the poor series.
Precure, during a time, had a very very rough patch. The movies were bad, the series were lackluster. Even now, Toei typically does one mild, bland series (Delicious Party/Wonderful Precure) and follow it up with a more polished one (Hirogaru Sky/Idol Precure).
Back then we used to have 2 movies, one regular along with an All-Stars one.
Now, we have only one despite the last one breaking all record sales.
Saint Seiya had disastrous ONA series - Soul of Gold and Saintia Sho yet the Myth Cloth sprouting out of these series were a success.
In turn, Toei invested a lot in the live-action and CGI series (both of which weren't the financial nor commercial successes they were hoping for).
Yet this doesn't mean they give up the series. There's already a 2D series in the works and highly likely a Next Dimension anime soon.
The manga series Rerise of Poseidon was likely a joint production to have a anime series (which was likely the 2D series mentioned but since the failure of the live action, it's bene AWOL).
Digimon is the whole package - animated productions all over the place (Tri movie series, Adventure remake), rather polished productions (the new movies), fan anniversary animated shorts (the Adventure anniversary music video, the 'future' music video that is coming out soon), it has several new manga series, toys, card games, video games.
And it's fanbase both domestic and international is very passionate.
Dragon Ball and One Piece are just too iconic to fade away.
In turn, what does Sailor Moon has to offer?
The same 90s anime that has been readily available for over a decade worldwide?
The same manga series that has been readily available for over a decade worldwide?
The same toys of the same things over and over?
You are also forgetting that a major part of the budget of an animation production comes from the sponsors and I ask you, why would any sponsor want to finance Sailor Moon, a faded series, over either Precure, a completely new Mahou Shoujo series or literally everything else?
The success of Sailor Moon is immeasurable at this point.
Even if Precure is THE magical girl franchise nowadays, and makes more money, I just don't think any of its individual series, or characters for that matter will ever be as culturally relevant, and iconic as Sailor Moon in general.
There are 70+ Precures now, yet none of them entered the pop culture, and ended up being as enduring as Sailor Senshi, Sakura Kinomoto, and Madoka Magica characters.
Precure did, hovever end up having the biggest influence on the overall, stereotypical look of your average magical girl.
Even if Precure is THE magical girl franchise nowadays, and makes more money, I just don't think any of its individual series, or characters for that matter will ever be as culturally relevant, and iconic as Sailor Moon in general.
There are 70+ Precures now, yet none of them entered the pop culture, and ended up being as enduring as Sailor Senshi, Sakura Kinomoto, and Madoka Magica characters.
Precure did, hovever end up having the biggest influence on the overall, stereotypical look of your average magical girl.
apart from Galaxia in Eternal I don't think they did a very accurate job in the attack power displayed by the senshi, crystal I and II visually gave range to the attacks, even if in reality when they hit the enemy they did much less damage than they should have done. in crystal II, eternal and cosmos they drastically reduced the range of the attacks leaving them choreographic but not very integrated into the action. Galaxia released such energy as to destroy a planet with the powers generated by a finger, apart from the scene involving Galaxia and Usagi in the park we haven't seen much of this power, at least putting a little more scenic and epic nature in the clash between inner, outer and sailormoon at Galaxia's castle...
In eternal we don't talk about it, the attacks seem like jokes for how little they do...
In Crystal III she did a good job of transposition, not at the peaks I expected but the series is decent, at least, the story is represented quite faithfully giving everything a fluidity and characters in a context in which you can empathize and immerse yourself in every scene.
Do you think Naoko influenced the project so much to lead to such a poor storyboard? 0.0 I also see it that compared to other storyboards it lacks many animation segments. Didn't the animators understand the scenes? In the 90s they understood them well by improving them, they took liberties in this remake, why not do the same in the movies? Especially given the copy and paste made of some elements from the 90s anime.
Certainly the pandemic played against these movies, having the staff work remotely to create them, but rather postpones the release of the project, we waited years before having these movies anyway.
I seriously think that the flash video panels of the manga on the sailormoon channel definitely gave more pathos than these movies.
scenes like this
Minako just fell out of the trapdoor and she doesn't swing at all like she should have done, the boulder in most scenes is drawn like this... well, let's just say it doesn't look much like a boulder, they could have tried harder, even the way Artemis moves it from above him... he could have raised one arm with a closed fist facing towards himself, it would have been more consistent with a male figure moving a boulder from his back,also the attack of Venus, very powerful!
I could go on like this for all the movies, for example in Eternal, in the scene where Minako regains her powers, some shots were taken that were a bit thrown in, like the one on her eye when she saw the children on the platform, and in Cosmos where the senshi's hair seems to have a life of its own with its own movements when they run, as well as some poorly executed slow motion and more...
These are brief examples, the list is very long.
These are choices that the director makes and, even if they are small details, they can make a difference. How come I noticed them and they didn't?
You just have to put care and attention into things, I'm not an animator, I don't have the experience that they have, but things like the ones I mentioned should be the bare minimum, since in other series they cared about certain details, and apparently they gave them the budget for these movies.
After almost 40 years of watching anime and cartoons I'm used to certain standards, now I can't be satisfied, especially regarding a project I've been waiting for for a long time.
And don't tell me you didn't notice the wooden animations and expressionless faces because I don't believe it.
When you compare the movies scenes with the 90s anime counterpart, don't you notice the differences?
I learned a bit about the history of the manga and anime by watching this video made by a fan of the Saint Seiya series, so I based my comment on the information he gathered.
Since the rights have been blocked and many people don't know the manga, it's not such a bad idea to make an anime out of it, especially to attract new generations to the series, but done like this...
Also in many countries the 90s anime has never been broadcast, or at least not in its entirety (not to mention the censorship).
Many young people today don't even take the interest to try to watch historical anime, a more modern breath of fresh air to the series was needed for attract them.
Isn't Sailormoon equally iconic worldwide? It pioneered the mass export of anime series and related gadgets, it gave birth to a genre of independent, fighting magical girls, it brought very strong messages and made it clear that shoujo can be not just for girls.
If you're a fan of Sailormoon and you think it's not worthy of a second chance in the world of animation it's your thought.
In eternal we don't talk about it, the attacks seem like jokes for how little they do...
In Crystal III she did a good job of transposition, not at the peaks I expected but the series is decent, at least, the story is represented quite faithfully giving everything a fluidity and characters in a context in which you can empathize and immerse yourself in every scene.
Do you think Naoko influenced the project so much to lead to such a poor storyboard? 0.0 I also see it that compared to other storyboards it lacks many animation segments. Didn't the animators understand the scenes? In the 90s they understood them well by improving them, they took liberties in this remake, why not do the same in the movies? Especially given the copy and paste made of some elements from the 90s anime.
Certainly the pandemic played against these movies, having the staff work remotely to create them, but rather postpones the release of the project, we waited years before having these movies anyway.
I seriously think that the flash video panels of the manga on the sailormoon channel definitely gave more pathos than these movies.
scenes like this
Minako just fell out of the trapdoor and she doesn't swing at all like she should have done, the boulder in most scenes is drawn like this... well, let's just say it doesn't look much like a boulder, they could have tried harder, even the way Artemis moves it from above him... he could have raised one arm with a closed fist facing towards himself, it would have been more consistent with a male figure moving a boulder from his back,also the attack of Venus, very powerful!
I could go on like this for all the movies, for example in Eternal, in the scene where Minako regains her powers, some shots were taken that were a bit thrown in, like the one on her eye when she saw the children on the platform, and in Cosmos where the senshi's hair seems to have a life of its own with its own movements when they run, as well as some poorly executed slow motion and more...
These are brief examples, the list is very long.
These are choices that the director makes and, even if they are small details, they can make a difference. How come I noticed them and they didn't?
You just have to put care and attention into things, I'm not an animator, I don't have the experience that they have, but things like the ones I mentioned should be the bare minimum, since in other series they cared about certain details, and apparently they gave them the budget for these movies.
After almost 40 years of watching anime and cartoons I'm used to certain standards, now I can't be satisfied, especially regarding a project I've been waiting for for a long time.
And don't tell me you didn't notice the wooden animations and expressionless faces because I don't believe it.
When you compare the movies scenes with the 90s anime counterpart, don't you notice the differences?
I learned a bit about the history of the manga and anime by watching this video made by a fan of the Saint Seiya series, so I based my comment on the information he gathered.
Since the rights have been blocked and many people don't know the manga, it's not such a bad idea to make an anime out of it, especially to attract new generations to the series, but done like this...
Also in many countries the 90s anime has never been broadcast, or at least not in its entirety (not to mention the censorship).
Many young people today don't even take the interest to try to watch historical anime, a more modern breath of fresh air to the series was needed for attract them.
Isn't Sailormoon equally iconic worldwide? It pioneered the mass export of anime series and related gadgets, it gave birth to a genre of independent, fighting magical girls, it brought very strong messages and made it clear that shoujo can be not just for girls.
If you're a fan of Sailormoon and you think it's not worthy of a second chance in the world of animation it's your thought.
The first half of the arc is quite refreshing because Kon added a lot of character moments and personality to the girls which helped the story to breathe and communicate the daily lives of the girls.
Past the Tellu episode, it's a mess with characters being completely useless along with redundant and nonsensical events - all steaming from adapting faithfully the manga.
Takeuchi most likely vetoed everything Kon was doing on the storyboarding & scene composition.
Everything Kon sent her, she likely declined. To the point that Kon simply gave up and copied the panels of the manga.
I'm sure both Kon and Takahashi noticed those and wanted to do something about but obviously couldn't.
Go rewatch Kon's interview of Eternal, it's honestly sad that she's pretty much begging people to not send her hate mails because she realizes the product is disastrous.
Why do you think Takahashi spent time and resources on the Opening instead of the actual movie? Clearly there was some power blocking both directors from pouring their passion into these movies and it clearly wasn't Toei.
Toei had no reason to make a new anime series.
The only people wanting a manga adaptation were the manga fans, the 90s anime and the casual fans didn't care.
And clearly, Toei never believed in an adaptation of the manga because they knew it wouldn't work.
But obviously Takeuchi holds the rights to the franchise and it was likely a bargain on their side to appease her to allow them more freedom for possible later original Sailor Moon projects.
Toei could have continued with the ONA format into Infinity and Dream and simply not adapt Stars yet they did and continued to pour more and more budget into it.
The problem of Crystermos clearly lied somewhere else after the first 2 seasons.
That was the case long ago during the 2000s and it was all on the 90s anime.
It's the 90s anime that is ingrained in pop culture and not the manga.
And even by the mid-2010s and especially by 2020s, even the 90s anime is behind the times.
New fans will find it as this hidden gem that they'll like for it's aesthetic and some storylines.
For the Crystermos adaptation, it's not. There's nothing to salvage in it and it's not some shoujo aesthetic or god-level animation that's gonna save it.
Today, even the premise of Sailor Moon is kinda done.
At one point, Sailor Moon had a chance of a punchy revival but with the story of the manga - a rushed, most of the time nonsensical story with charmless and bare bones characters - it was never gonna happen.
An adaptation of the manga should have been reserved for the adult fans in the likes of Mahou Tsukai 2 - a surprise gift to the fans and NOT the face of the revival.
Past the Tellu episode, it's a mess with characters being completely useless along with redundant and nonsensical events - all steaming from adapting faithfully the manga.
Takeuchi most likely vetoed everything Kon was doing on the storyboarding & scene composition.
Everything Kon sent her, she likely declined. To the point that Kon simply gave up and copied the panels of the manga.
I'm sure both Kon and Takahashi noticed those and wanted to do something about but obviously couldn't.
Go rewatch Kon's interview of Eternal, it's honestly sad that she's pretty much begging people to not send her hate mails because she realizes the product is disastrous.
Why do you think Takahashi spent time and resources on the Opening instead of the actual movie? Clearly there was some power blocking both directors from pouring their passion into these movies and it clearly wasn't Toei.
Toei had no reason to make a new anime series.
The only people wanting a manga adaptation were the manga fans, the 90s anime and the casual fans didn't care.
And clearly, Toei never believed in an adaptation of the manga because they knew it wouldn't work.
But obviously Takeuchi holds the rights to the franchise and it was likely a bargain on their side to appease her to allow them more freedom for possible later original Sailor Moon projects.
Toei could have continued with the ONA format into Infinity and Dream and simply not adapt Stars yet they did and continued to pour more and more budget into it.
The problem of Crystermos clearly lied somewhere else after the first 2 seasons.
That was the case long ago during the 2000s and it was all on the 90s anime.
It's the 90s anime that is ingrained in pop culture and not the manga.
And even by the mid-2010s and especially by 2020s, even the 90s anime is behind the times.
New fans will find it as this hidden gem that they'll like for it's aesthetic and some storylines.
For the Crystermos adaptation, it's not. There's nothing to salvage in it and it's not some shoujo aesthetic or god-level animation that's gonna save it.
Today, even the premise of Sailor Moon is kinda done.
At one point, Sailor Moon had a chance of a punchy revival but with the story of the manga - a rushed, most of the time nonsensical story with charmless and bare bones characters - it was never gonna happen.
An adaptation of the manga should have been reserved for the adult fans in the likes of Mahou Tsukai 2 - a surprise gift to the fans and NOT the face of the revival.
