Season 4 movies update: Sailor Moon Eternal - Delayed to 2021 (Part 1 on January 8th & Part 2 on February 11th)

[Talentless Fool]

@Talentless Fool is speculating, but it kinda makes sense...
Why say stuff such "I have ideas for a new senshi" now? Shouldn't she say that while Crystal was still a thing? Even If Talentless is saying stuff that do not actually match reality, at the very least Naoko's interaction with the audience is... Untimely. The reboot is over now.

Of course it's speculation

I never said what I wrote was the absolute truth but like always, simply observations and deductions made by:
- how Toei interacts with other veteran and major mangakas (Toriyama, Kurumada) and it's relationship with them
- how Toei exploits it's other major licenses and what directors have had to say about their experiences
- what (if anything) directors who have had the experience to work with mangakas on movies/tv shows have had to say
- how Toei ultimately exploits Sailor Moon compared to it's other major franchises
- how professionals from several fields (manga, anime, voice acting) have gone on and off the record to speak about their experience with Takeuchi

A little while before, when someone said they had 'inside information' about Toei and about how it demanded 3 times more for Cosmos (honestly a ridiculous demand considering both Eternal and Cosmos bombed at the box office and neither did Eternal break any record during it's initial release on Netflix to warrant such a price), everyone was on the 'let's blame Toei bandwagon'.

Even before that, everyone was like 'Toei doesn't respect international fans'.
That too was speculation.
Yet, nobody was offended.... nobody was labelled as a Toei hater.

As long as it's Toei, we can trash talk about it as much as we want, yet we'll forever continue to beg them for some new content.
On the other side, as soon as Takeuchi is involved, all the force fields are up!

Anyways back on topic, I'd love to find out what Terumi's cut was.
Unfortunately, it's lost within a sea of blandness.
I'd have to check her twitter to see if she's posted any Sailor Moon related art to get an idea of her version of Sailor Moon, perhaps that might help to pinpoint her work on Eternal 2.
But... that'd mean I have to watch the whole of the movie!

 

[Lady Pen]

Looking back at the reboot i have to say Eternal is the worst entry and I have zero interest in rewatching it. I even prefer S1 over Eternal.

I respect your opinion, but... isn't what you're saying a bit exaggerated? I prefer Crystal III, Eternal and Cosmos over that monstrosity.

Using dutch angle for a happy scene... this page screams of 'I don't know how to draw composition or camera angles so dutch angle it is!'

But seriously, this page is a prime example the manga, as a story board medium, is atrocious.
Regardless of how you feel about the beauty of the drawings, it's the same poses over and over, Chibusa-Usa with her hand on her chest standing (same for Usagi), the men just standing...
And in anime format, you have 4 scenes here!
One panel is literally blank imagery...

I know a lot of people want the 'feel' of the manga but having characters with flowing hair on blank, one color backgrounds would have quickly gotten boring.

If it is indeed Takeuchi who pestered Kon so much to the point that she gave up and just copy pasted panels of the manga, then she seriously needs a wake up call (though it's not like it will be worth anything, I doubt we'll be getting a new Sailor Moon anime until 15 years or so if ever...)

I don't know if you'll agree with me. I also believe that Chiaki Kon improved some shots compared to the manga. Without deviating from this same sequence:

Kon replaces the full-body Dutch angle of Chibiusa with a beautiful frontal shot of her profile. Much more suitable for the character's monologue. Of course, this shot includes part of the monologue from panel number 2 where there are only shoujo manga patterns, as it's obvious.

Then we have the famous Dutch angle we were talking about...

...followed by another shot of the same kind:

No matter how much I think about it, I don't understand this decision.

Kon corrects Helios' angle, replacing it with a frontal one, as it should be in this type of situation:

And another thing I like...

Although Takeuchi's high angle in the last panel is not bad, I think it's more appropriate for Helios to summon Pegasus in the same frontal shot. Takeuchi's panel works well if you separate it from the rest, but once you turn the page and see that the next panel is a low angle to show the powerful aura of Pegasus and Helios, the pacing of these two panels with two opposing angles, high and low, clashes quite a bit. Chiaki Kon offers a more harmonious tempo because it transitions from the frontal angle to the low angle. A very nice low angle, I must say.

 

[Talentless Fool]

Hmm... I like the profile shot, it plays well with the scene along with her hair in the wind (some redness on her cheeks would have been nice to show her high emotions).

The dutch angle is not that bad except... it's so static!
We are supposed to be looking at the trio from the perspective of the Quartet who are flying away so a zoom-out would have been better.
The back shot of the trio is unnecessary, it doesn't add anything. A bust top of Usagi smiling at a nice camera angle would have suited better in my opinion.

Changing Helios into a frontal is nice but again SO STATIC!
I understand Kon didn't have the budget but it would have been so much better to flow that scene into a fluid animation of the camera moving/zooming into his hand gestures to the top shot of the manga with a phantom Pegasus appearing.
Speaking of which, Helios riding on a Pegasus is unnecessary again - it's supposed to be his disguise not his familiar.

Considering we've into 'let's copy the 90s anime' and that we never see the girls departing Elysion/arriving Earth, a nice idea would have been to copy the Opening of SuperS - Chibi-Usa on Pegasus and the girls all around him, Pegasus taking flight as the girls' princess gowns fade away and cut to a shot of the gang leaving Elysion over the temple with the Moon in the sky leaving behind star dust in their theme color like in the S Opening before the season logo appears.

 

[Akari @ria]

Even before that, everyone was like 'Toei doesn't respect international fans'.
That too was speculation.
Yet, nobody was offended.... nobody was labelled as a Toei hater.

As long as it's Toei, we can trash talk about it as much as we want, yet we'll forever continue to beg them for some new content.
On the other side, as soon as Takeuchi is involved, all the force fields are up!

It's not to pick on Toei for no reason.

With series like Pretty cure and Dragonball super they made up for it in a big way after the fans' complaints by correcting the drawings and scenes and raising the bar by putting more effort and quality into what they produced afterwards.

Qualitatively speaking, Crystal I and II certainly don't shine, Toei raised the bar with Crystal III and then lost itself again with the Eternal films. Cosmos is still doing well, but everything is far from the animated representation of the manga that could have come out of it.

Even the fixes for Crystal I and II Blu-rays and DVDs don't shine with effort...

Pressure from Naoko or not, the entire remake project is not up to the quality standards you can expect for an important series nor to that level of care with which we have become accustomed thanks to the 90s anime.

If there is trouble between Naoko and Toei then I think she shouldn't have entrusted the series to them again for the remake...

I'd like to know the real behind the scenes, but I have a vague idea that if we opened this Pandora's box we would be shocked.

 

[Talentless Fool]

It's not to pick on Toei for no reason.

With series like Pretty cure and Dragonball super they made up for it in a big way after the fans' complaints by correcting the drawings and scenes and raising the bar by putting more effort and quality into what they produced afterwards.

Qualitatively speaking, Crystal I and II certainly don't shine, Toei raised the bar with Crystal III and then lost itself again with the Eternal films. Cosmos is still doing well, but everything is far from the animated representation of the manga that could have come out of it.

Even the fixes for Crystal I and II Blu-rays and DVDs don't shine with effort...

Pressure from Naoko or not, the entire remake project is not up to the quality standards you can expect for an important series nor to that level of care with which we have become accustomed thanks to the 90s anime.

If there is trouble between Naoko and Toei then I think she shouldn't have entrusted the series to them again for the remake...

I'd like to know the real behind the scenes, but I have a vague idea that if we opened this Pandora's box we would be shocked.

As a Saint Seiya fan, believe me, I absolutely do not hold Toei in my heart.
But, good Lord, I wish we would be getting as much budget as Eternal/Cosmos on our 2D animes!

Yes, Toei and Kurumada after the Overture movie disaster in 2005 had a very sour relationship and seemed to be forever at odds. However, their relationship has mended to the point that Toei used Saint Seiya as the poster child for their first live action project (just like they used it again for their 3D debut after Captain Harlock with Legend of Sanctuary).
But... according to insider news considering Kurumada didn't like the live action movie, I doubt he's currently very keen to any Toei adaptations.

Still, what I'm trying to say is that while Toei can be a real piece in the butt, they can also do good things - especially when it comes to remaining in the good graces of their mangakas.

Again, Eternal & Cosmos could have been way worst - Toei could have simply returned to the ONA format.
The viewership of Crystal I & II on Nico nico was abysmal.
While we do not have the numbers for Crystal III, I doubt they were anything super solid.
Eternal, confirmed by Toei themselves, was a box office bomb.

Yet, we still got Cosmos that, yes while it's not on the same level as the 90s anime movies or any decent 2020s anime movie, is still better than any of the past 4 story arcs adaptations.

By January 2017, the Dream arc was already greenlit. Later on June of the same year, it was announced it would be a theatrical adaptation.
It's ONLY 1 full year later, on June 2018 with Tadano confirmed as the character designer that production began.
One year later, again on June, it's now that it's announced that Takeuchi is the supervisor along with the name of the movies.
Since Takeuchi's role wasn't announced back in 2018 and I highly doubt she stepped midway into production, we can determine that production didn't truly begin till late 2018.
The 3rd season ended on June 2016 which makes a time lapse of 3 years of limbo for the anime production despite the Dream arc being greenlit as early as 2017!

It's definitely not something we see with other anime productions from Toei.
At best, it seems Toei was forecasting of a release of late 2017 or early 2018 for the Dream arc but some behind the scene drama locked the movie into production hell.

Concerning Takeuchi's role, I don't know why she suddenly felt the need to be involved with the production of the anime of her manga past halfway.
Perhaps she deemed unsatisfactory the way Toei was doing this and she wanted to run reigns (like she commented to have wanted to back in the 90s).
Except, in the end, we have zero information regarding her involvement here other than she was hard to talk to and that Kon was left stranded when it came to the story.

In the end, the problem comes from both sides - Toei AND Takeuchi.

 

[Wild Rose Rebellion]

But... according to insider news considering Kurumada didn't like the live action movie,

What is the source for this? Because unlike the Overture movie, and likely because of it, he was consulted during the production of the live action movie, participated in the premiere event, and put out an official announcement about his excitement for the finished film. He reportedly even wants to have a sequel.

The viewership of Crystal I & II on Nico nico was abysmal.

What is the source for this? Because all I can find are articles about the high viewership the Season I premiere had. And it would make no sense for Toei to reward abysmal viewership and sales with a larger budget for Season III.

Eternal, confirmed by Toei themselves, was a box office bomb.

What is the source for this? Because Toei's financial reports state that "though box office revenue was affected by the state of emergency, the tie-up campaign and strong performance of distribution and store expansion contributed to income." That's hardly a bomb. A bomb is something like Knights of the Zodiac, that causes Toei to have an entire section about its loss on their report.

Hilariously, the only results I could find for Eternal being a bomb were posts in this very forum, though of course I couldn't find anyone stating any actual source for the movie's budget. Since this forum's echo chamber also likes to pretend that Eternal is universally reviled even though it has a 100%/91% RT score, they're hardly a trustworthy source to begin with anyway.

in the end, we have zero information

We have zero information about a lot of things, and speculation without sources won't change that, but other things are self-evident, like how Crystal went from ONA to TV series to movies of increasing quality. If any stage of the project was an "abysmal" failure, it would be logical for Toei to keep it as a low-budget ONA to recoup their losses instead of continuing to give each arc a larger budget. I'm not saying Crystal was a smashing success, but it obviously must have brought Toei enough profit for them to continue to invest more into it. Unless we have actual information that proves otherwise, this remains the most likely scenario.

 

[Clow]

If the viewership of Crystal S1/S2 had not generated any interest, I assume there would have been no reason for TOEI and all the parties involved to continue the production and much less upgrade it: from ONA to an actual TV series and from a TV series to theatrically released films—animated by Studio Deen and with Takeuchi chief supervising the films.

It is still too early to discuss the legacy of this reboot.

While I agree that the first two arcs did not deserve the ONA treatment, I still enjoy them a lot from a storytelling angle and I think season II is very strong and underrated.

The Sailor Moon fandom changes its opinion over time, too.

(1) PGSM was considered a failure, but now everyone loves it.

(2) SuperS was constantly bashed, but now people either love it or are at least more tolerating of it.

(3) The manga was once considered the authoritative source of the story, early-00s, PGSM era, and everyone wanted a more faithfully translated version.

(4) Crystermos certainly was not a failure by any means: although “Sailor Moon” isn’t a franchise that falls in the category of one TOEI’s protégés, the reboot kept getting better and better. It made some noise and generated attention to the author. From a Chanel collaboration to VOGUE illustrations.

 

[sailormoongalaxy]

I watched a few episodes of season 1 yesterday (SMC), I really liked it. Even if graphically speaking sometimes it is debatable, and certain things are modified (the death of the 4 shiteno - I found their death interesting but the guardians whining, I didn't really like it)

Whether we like it or not. Sailor Moon Crystal / Eternal / Cosmos brought an interesting story nonetheless and deepened things left unfinished in the 90 anime.

-> Pluto has a real role in the Black Moon arc and does not serve as a flower pot (anime90).
-> The future arc with Crystal Tokyo is better handled in SMC, we finally have real explanations and not just: we can't tell you more, it's up to you to discover.
-> Wiseman is better working in SMC than in 90.
-> Pharaoh 90 has a personality, it's not just a ball of fire without conscience.
-> And finally, Chaos is not just a vapor from an electronic cigarette.

And finally, we don't have a Sailor Moon who wants to play Mother Teresa.

 

[Lady Pen]

The viewership of Crystal I & II on Nico nico was abysmal.
While we do not have the numbers for Crystal III, I doubt they were anything super solid.

Yeah, it was a train wreck and so soo exciting to see:

Ready??

Act 1 had 1.130.648 views
Act 2 got 454.647 views
Act 3 390.539
Act 4 339.496
Act 5 292.136
Act 6 238.061
Act 7 216.807
Act 8 241.496
Act 9 199.501
Act 10 148.114
Act 11 150.825
Act 12 129.416
Act 13 138.631
Act 14 151.989
Act 15 123.785
Act 16 107.414
Act 17 101.757
Act 18 78.089
Act 19 74.636
Act 20 66.727
Act 21 93.926
Act 22 105.171
Act 23 84.486
Act 24 86.342
Act 25 83.893
Act 26 81.463

Every episode of Crystal season III had around 2.000 views only on NicoNico... imagine its ratings on Tokyo MX at midnight.

 

[Starlight]

Kon replaces the full-body Dutch angle of Chibiusa with a beautiful frontal shot of her profile.

And yet even that shot was an inferior copy of the '90s anime.

 

[Talentless Fool]

Yeah, it was a train wreck and so soo exciting to see:

Every episode of Crystal season III had around 2.000 views only on NicoNico... imagine its ratings on Tokyo MX at midnight.

Can't believe in 2024 people are still arguing Crystal I & II were successful because the show was 'upgraded' in Crystal III.

I guess we should speculate these low numbers are actually good till Toei comes and says otherwise...

Crystal I & II were so successful for Toei that they 'upgraded' it into Crystal III,
Crystal III which stripped itself of all the DNA of Crystal I - Sakou's design, CGI henshins, real-time attacks, Inners having no personalities, a director who praised the 'elegance' of the manga, MomoClo who were the face of the reboot = which would be the things that worked and the audience liked -
to a design a la Aikatsu, returning to 2D henshins, returning to stock attacks, Inners showing personalities, a new director who was a fan of the 90s anime, exit MomoClo, good morning to 'Fall in Love with the New Moon'.

It's not called an upgrade, it's called a rebrand.

Similarly, Crystal III was so successful that they 'upgraded' it again into a movie format (despite it not having a movie budget at all and rather than being done in-house, it's sent to Deen).
And likewise, stripping it again of all of it's DNA (that worked! Because Crystal III was successful) and change everything again - Tadano design, recycled henshins, recycled 90s stock attacks, a strict faithfulness to the manga, 90s theme songs.

Toei, itself, mentions on it's reports that they made profit mainly thanks to the merchandise rather than the movie but the movie was successful.
Since it has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (which has nothing to do with it's box office performance), it's an awesome movie!
Since it has a better rating than Spirited Away, I guess Eternal is a better movie than a real classic.

But we got Cosmos, so Eternal had to be successful right?
Cosmos, with which Toei wanted to be done so bad that production began as soon as Eternal hit Japanese theaters and which apparently it will not even bother to release internationally.

Sailor Moon Crystal was a frank success for Toei and it's out of pure respect for Naoko Takeuchi that they won't exploit the franchise any further.
They could make loads of money but they respect her way too much.

It's like we have to actually hear it directly from Kozo Morishita's mouth that they had to rebrand and revise their strategy each time as it wasn't working because using sound logic is speculation.

 

[sailormoongalaxy]

exit MomoClo, good morning to 'Fall in Love with the New Moon'.

Why “exit”? They are still there for a version of the opening credits of season 3 and also in the end credits of Eternal...

 

[Talentless Fool]

Why “exit”? They are still there for a version of the opening credits of season 3 and also in the end credits of Eternal...

They are only on 4 episodes in Crystal III.

The main singer of Crystal III is Etsuko Yakushimaru; she appears for 5 episodes and it's her version not the MomoClo's who is used as an insert song.
Eternal's endings also feature the ending songs of SuperS season sung by Yoko Ishida and ANZA not by MomoClo.
In Cosmos, they are completely gone.

Crystal started with MomoClo sorta the 'idols' promoting the brand - singing both the Opening & Ending with brand new written songs - and by Crystal III, they felt just like an after-thought.

 

[Masquerade]

They are only on 4 episodes in Crystal III.

The main singer of Crystal III is Etsuko Yakushimaru; she appears for 5 episodes and it's her version not the MomoClo's who is used as an insert song.
Eternal's endings also feature the ending songs of SuperS season sung by Yoko Ishida and ANZA not by MomoClo.
In Cosmos, they are completely gone.

Crystal started with MomoClo sorta the 'idols' promoting the brand - singing both the Opening & Ending with brand new written songs - and by Crystal III, they felt just like an after-thought.

But they came back for Eternal.
If you pointed out their absence from Cosmos, I would agree there was less investment in the music department as the reboot went on.

 

[Talentless Fool]

But they came back for Eternal.
If you pointed out their absence from Cosmos, I would agree there was less investment in the music department as the reboot went on.

As time went on, you can see that they slowly steered away from MomoClo.

When they were first introduced as singers of Crystal, they also released a few covers of the 90s songs, notably performing Moon Revenge live if I remember correctly.
They were even dressed as Sailor Senshi promoting Moon Pride etc.
During Crystal I & II, they were tied to it's promotion.
During Crystal III, they were no where to be seen only to be the last of the performers of the Opening.

Crystal III is kind of a melting pot with MomoClo (Old Crystal), Yakushimaru (New Crystal) and Horie (90s anime).

I suppose by the time of Eternal, they were already too expensive so they only sung the main theme song.
Since Eternal was advertised as a family movie, MomoClo (as hip young girls) were a good fit?
For Cosmos, I guess both MomoClo and Yakushimaru were too expensive so they went with Daoko.

Just like with the character designers, they kept changing the main singers (and the main vibe) every time.

Honestly, they should have just went with the seiyuus and tell them to sing as their character and not Hatsune Miku impersonators.

 

[Flame of Hikari]

As time went on, you can see that they slowly steered away from MomoClo.

When they were first introduced as singers of Crystal, they also released a few covers of the 90s songs, notably performing Moon Revenge live if I remember correctly.
They were even dressed as Sailor Senshi promoting Moon Pride etc.
During Crystal I & II, they were tied to it's promotion.
During Crystal III, they were no where to be seen only to be the last of the performers of the Opening.

Crystal III is kind of a melting pot with MomoClo (Old Crystal), Yakushimaru (New Crystal) and Horie (90s anime).

I suppose by the time of Eternal, they were already too expensive so they only sung the main theme song.
Since Eternal was advertised as a family movie, MomoClo (as hip young girls) were a good fit?
For Cosmos, I guess both MomoClo and Yakushimaru were too expensive so they went with Daoko.

Just like with the character designers, they kept changing the main singers (and the main vibe) every time.

Honestly, they should have just went with the seiyuus and tell them to sing as their character and not Hatsune Miku impersonators.

Moon Color Chanion MV litterary almost spoiled the entire movies of Eternal

 

[Rika-Chicchi]

If you pointed out their absence from Cosmos, I would agree there was less investment in the music department as the reboot went on.

But more on the VA dept., so their budget is always limited. lol

 

[Lady Pen]

And yet even that shot was an inferior copy of the '90s anime.

Honestly, in my opinion the Eternal shot is prettier, but I can tell this 90's shot has the vibe it requires. You can see what Chibiusa is thinking and feeling while in the Eternal one, again it's beautiful, but she looks like an expressionless doll full of sparkles.

Can't believe in 2024 people are still arguing Crystal I & II were successful because the show was 'upgraded' in Crystal III.

What I really REALLY do NOT understand is why Crystal fans say Crystal I & II were successful, however SuperS and Stars (that had good and decent ratings respectively in Kanto area) killed the franchise. Anyone can explain that?

Then, you have them saying ' People don't appreciate Crystal because of nostalgia. That's the reason it was a failure '. Yeah.... nostalgia.... they who read the manga many years ago and longed for an animated adaptation is not nostalgia........ ok..........

It's like we have to actually hear it directly from Kozo Morishita's mouth that they had to rebrand and revise their strategy each time as it wasn't working because using sound logic is speculation.

Talentless.... using critical thinking is overrated for those people. Have you read their comments on reddit? Manga!Rei personality is a masterpiece because in one panel at page [insert whatever number] of volume 3, an unknown character that it's supposed to be a student of Rei's school (actually you don't even can't see their face or their back) says how much Rei has changed, being more easy-going.... please......

Since it has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (which has nothing to do with it's box office performance), it's an awesome movie!
Since it has a better rating than Spirited Away, I guess Eternal is a better movie than a real classic.

Because only Crystal fans have voted. Had the general audience ranked it, I can assure you the movie wouldn't be over 60%.

 

[Wild Rose Rebellion]

Can't believe in 2024 people are still arguing Crystal I & II were successful because the show was 'upgraded' in Crystal III.

I can only speak for myself and I clearly said that I wasn't arguing that Crystal was a smashing success, but rather that it was profitable enough for Toei to upgrade it. When an ONA brings them no money they unceremoniously cancel it, like what happened to Saint Seiya's Saintia Sho ONA.

We don't even know if those numbers (that were endearingly posted without a source) are "abysmal" for Toei's expectations for a low budget ONA to begin with, but, much like the domestic box office for Eternal, viewership is evidently not the only measurement of profitability for Toei.

It's not called an upgrade, it's called a rebrand.

It is an upgrade in the sense that they obviously had a larger budget across the board. It is part of the same product as it continues to have the same title and even follows the numbering for the acts and the season. If anything, Eternal and Cosmos are more of a rebrand... that still upgraded the medium.

Toei, itself, mentions on it's reports that they made profit mainly thanks to the merchandise rather than the movie but the movie was successful.

It was economically successful and they mention "strong performance of distribution", so I imagine its international release contributed greatly to this.

Since it has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (which has nothing to do with it's box office performance), it's an awesome movie!

I never argued that, what I plainly stated is that not everyone thinks they're bad movies and actually, by all measurable metrics, they tend to be rated positively. The idea that they are objectively bad, as if such a thing even exists, is something parroted only in this forum and only by a couple people at that.

Sailor Moon Crystal was a frank success for Toei and it's out of pure respect for Naoko Takeuchi that they won't exploit the franchise any further.
They could make loads of money but they respect her way too much.

Yeah, it has nothing to do with the fact that Naoko/PNP is the copyright holder of the IP. I faintly recall you posting wild conspiracy theories that fly in the face of Occam's razor and demonstrable facts about how Toei is the real copyright holder of the IP without providing any sources, so I guess I should know better than to ask for them now.

Speaking of that, kudos for not providing a single source for anything I asked in my previous message.

What I really REALLY do NOT understand is why Crystal fans say Crystal I & II were successful, however SuperS and Stars (that had good and decent ratings respectively in Kanto area) killed the franchise.

Well, if you used critical thinking, you might realize that nobody here is arguing that. I know I haven't, I think they were profitable enough seasons, just like the early Crystal ones.

Talentless.... using critical thinking is overrated for those people. Have you read their comments on reddit?

I should have imagined that a platform driven by majority vote would upset you because it would make you confront the fact that a majority of Sailor Moon fans are able to like and appreciate the manga and Crystal's storyline and characters.

Everyone has different opinions, and demeaning those with opinions and tastes different to yours as lacking in critical thinking speaks more about you than it does about them.

Because only Crystal fans have voted.

Surely someone so apt in critical thinking would have quickly noticed that Eternal's 100% RT score comes from professional critics, not from any kind of fan vote. And if you had actually read those positive reviews instead of remaining in an echo chamber, you could have easily seen that they are often critical of Crystal:

• "The biggest challenge facing Netflix's release of the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal films is escaping the shadow of Sailor Moon Crystal. The first three seasons were a slipshod adaptation of Naoko Takeuchi's original manga, stringently adhering to the original plotting which, instead of uplifting the source material, only highlighted its weakness. It also looked like hot garbage. If, like me, your expectations for these two films were about six feet in the dirt, I'm happy to announce that you can breathe a sigh of relief." (Source)
• "...feels like a culmination of everything the creators learned from Crystal’s original missteps." (Source)
• "...se han corregido las principales deficiencias y malas elecciones estéticas que aquejaron a las primeras temporadas de Crystal. " (Source)
• "...if you were disillusioned by Sailor Moon Crystal as a TV series thanks to its unacceptably wonky art style, lazy character designs, and rushed worldbuilding, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by Sailor Moon Eternal: The Movie Part 1." (Source)

I know it might be unthinkable, but have you considered the fact that other people can have different opinions than yours? And that that doesn't make them any lesser or lacking in critical thinking?

While I agree that the first two arcs did not deserve the ONA treatment, I still enjoy them a lot from a storytelling angle and I think season II is very strong and underrated.

I feel that same way. Season II was my favorite because of its story and worldbuilding, and is only surpassed by Cosmos in that regard.

I watched a few episodes of season 1 yesterday (SMC), I really liked it.

Watching Season I with someone who didn't know anything about Sailor Moon really underscored its strengths. Its tight pace is actually an asset in that sense.

-> And finally, Chaos is not just a vapor from an electronic cigarette.

Moon Color Chanion MV litterary almost spoiled the entire movies of Eternal

The MV shows some things that only click as spoilers if you are already aware of the manga's story. I'd say the fact that the movies are based on nearly 30 year old stories makes spoilers a bit meaningless to begin with.

 

[MamoRei4Life]

To be fair, something being “profitable enough” implies that it made it to the bare minimum, which is not great for something that has been a big, popular franchise for decades. If we were having this conversation about any other big anime franchise having something being just profitable enough, it would clearly show that there was a significant drop of interest from the audience. Whole point of entertainment is to keep most of your audience engaged as you can to make as much of a successful profit as you can. Proof when they rebranded Eyernal and Cosmos and added elements from the 90’s anime artistically and musically. Even better if you draw in some outside of target audience while pulling great numbers from the original audience. This day and age is more social media and digitally/online oriented than the 90’s, so numbers should reaching success when this is a big popular franchise.

No matter if it kept going to be completed or not, it doesn’t change the fact that there were millions of people interested in the beginning of this project that went downhill quickly, even within the first season alone. Had this happened to a franchise like Naruto, Precure, Madoka Magica, DBZ, or any other big, popular franchise this wouldn’t be up for discussion.