S has a overall, darker and more mature tone and 10 senshi finally showed together, the Outers have amazing characterization. The main plotline is very intense. No wonder the popularity and view rating is so high. It's a great season overall no doubt.
However, some of the flaws are a bit obvious in my eyes so I won't put it above the first two, especially Classic.
1. Most of the Daimon are way too goofy. They look dumb and act silly compare to even most of the R monsters. These monsters just don't fit well with the serious tone. Monsters can be not so horrifying but still act as deadly dangerous enemies like the DD girls.
2. The Inner Four, despite having good individual episodes, have significantly less important roles compare to Classic and R. They even have to play the "victim and get beaten" role to show how good the Outers are. I understand they got less focus for the Outers, but they shouldn't be toned down to make the Outers awesome. Nearly everyone of them have crush on Haruka, even compete in the party to dance with her. It's a bit over the top in my opinion.
Also Michiru should have got more independent stuff to do.
This route has continued both in the manga and the anime.
3. The most important conflict obviously is not just about fighting the Deathbusters, but the different views of the Inners and the Outers on how to save the world throughout the season. It went to the climax when Hotaru showed up and her power revealed. I believe that's why the final fight spent so much time on Mistress 9/Hotaru's struggle but not the fight itself. It somehow made the final battle less epic due to less action and not showing Hotaru's full power.
Both sides have their reason and their limits as it was shown. The Inners are too nice and sometimes could get tricked. The Outers are too headstrong on themselves and their arrogance was used. But the conclusion was not well done. It should have been both realized their mistakes and learn from the others, instead of both going to a dead end. Haruka and Michiru got easily caught by Mistress 9 for going alone and Usagi giving the Holy Grail to Mistress 9. Her action did make Hotaru's awakening more convincing, but didn't resolve the struggle well enough.
It would have been much better if we saw Usagi's struggle, let her play a trick to see is Mistress 9 still her before giving the grail and let Haruka/Michiru chose to trust on others rather than the lonewolf route again. Then leave the rest of the finale into a epic battle like the manga.
However, some of the flaws are a bit obvious in my eyes so I won't put it above the first two, especially Classic.
1. Most of the Daimon are way too goofy. They look dumb and act silly compare to even most of the R monsters. These monsters just don't fit well with the serious tone. Monsters can be not so horrifying but still act as deadly dangerous enemies like the DD girls.
2. The Inner Four, despite having good individual episodes, have significantly less important roles compare to Classic and R. They even have to play the "victim and get beaten" role to show how good the Outers are. I understand they got less focus for the Outers, but they shouldn't be toned down to make the Outers awesome. Nearly everyone of them have crush on Haruka, even compete in the party to dance with her. It's a bit over the top in my opinion.
Also Michiru should have got more independent stuff to do.
This route has continued both in the manga and the anime.
3. The most important conflict obviously is not just about fighting the Deathbusters, but the different views of the Inners and the Outers on how to save the world throughout the season. It went to the climax when Hotaru showed up and her power revealed. I believe that's why the final fight spent so much time on Mistress 9/Hotaru's struggle but not the fight itself. It somehow made the final battle less epic due to less action and not showing Hotaru's full power.
Both sides have their reason and their limits as it was shown. The Inners are too nice and sometimes could get tricked. The Outers are too headstrong on themselves and their arrogance was used. But the conclusion was not well done. It should have been both realized their mistakes and learn from the others, instead of both going to a dead end. Haruka and Michiru got easily caught by Mistress 9 for going alone and Usagi giving the Holy Grail to Mistress 9. Her action did make Hotaru's awakening more convincing, but didn't resolve the struggle well enough.
It would have been much better if we saw Usagi's struggle, let her play a trick to see is Mistress 9 still her before giving the grail and let Haruka/Michiru chose to trust on others rather than the lonewolf route again. Then leave the rest of the finale into a epic battle like the manga.