I can't believe they made the characters look even younger and more moe than they did in season 3. The designs (and the linework) look so poorly made and amateurish. Does this seriously look fine to people?
One of the thousands of things about Crystal that bother me is how, as the characters age, they get progressively younger looking. They started off as 18 year old-looking 14 year olds, and now they're 16 but look 11. But who knows? Maybe this is all actually marketing for a "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Miracle Silver Crystal Anti-Aging Rejuvenation Cream" that will come out soon.
As I've already said, I don't dislike the new designs (apart from thinking they all look too young except for Chibiusa, who actually looks good for the first time in Crystal, imo) - they fixed a lot of the bigger issues with the Season III designs like the bubble highlights, giant ears, too-watery eyes, and handkerchief skirts - but given Kadano's statement that she was trying to capture Naoko's designs, and given the great job she did with the 90s anime, I was just expecting more. The new designs are fine, but they're underwhelming.
And it's entirely possible that in the actual, finished product they'll look better. But this is the first impression Toei chose to give us of them: a bunch of blown-up character concept art with super janky line work. They know we've been waiting for THREE YEARS for SOMETHING, and this is how they chose to present the new character designs to us. Not with polished art, but with something that looks like it came straight out of someone's daily doodle Devianart account. It speaks to how little Toei cares about this series, this reboot in particular.
It's so inconsistent, it boggles the mind. If it were a new adaptation, the title would have made sense but this is a direct continuation of SMC. You can't change titles in the midst of an ongoing adaptation. That's madness! Not to mention, "eternal" alludes to the Stars arc, not the Dream arc. It's just so dumb and frustrating.
In fairness, the Dream arc musical also used "Eternal" in its name. The third season of the anime was Sailor Moon Super, yet she doesn't become Super Sailor Moon until halfway through. I think "Eclipse" or "Elysion" or "Dream" would have been better subtitles, but ultimately I think "Eternal" is fine.
It signifies that a probably bad rendition of the song might be included in the movie(s). I don't get why people would want that. I'd rather get a new song.
Again, it just speaks to how little Toei cares about this reboot and how much this reboot has zero identity of its own. It has zero brand recognition and has honestly been nothing but a massive insult and waste of people's time and money. Even the unreleased Toon Maker project has made more of an impact on pop culture!
I agree with all of your criticisms. Most fans are just so desperate for more SM content, they'll take anything. Even if the characters were literal stick figures.
I was going to make a joke that with stick figures, at least the animation would stay on-model, but knowing Toei......