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Wasn't there an interview where Chiaki Kon stated that the Dead Moon arc was going to be the fourth season until Toei decided to cancel Crystal and adapt the fourth part of the story into films? All that sort of planning takes time, especially when you have to consider the change in character designs, collaboration and coordination with other studios, and the availability of third parties, plus delays due to the pandemic.
TOEI had big expectations for the season 3 returning more to the classical anime (at least with a lot of fan service inside) and new character designs more “pretty cure”… but the season 3 was a flop commercially speaking (BR/DVD sold poorly). When the season 1 and 2 were much more successful…
Season 3 was aired in tv in Japon but on a very unknown sat tv where ratings really don’t matter.
One reason also is the poor packaging for the BR… no bonus, no correction…
Still the flop is very relative. TOEI would have never produced two movies if the licence was losing them money.
Season 3 was aired in tv in Japon but on a very unknown sat tv where ratings really don’t matter.
One reason also is the poor packaging for the BR… no bonus, no correction…
Still the flop is very relative. TOEI would have never produced two movies if the licence was losing them money.
Most likely: Either PNP or Toei had a rethink of how best to market the remake to its audience. Sakou’s reimagining of Naoko’s design and the directors take didn’t strike a cord with most people and the first two seasons were a disaster so they were promptly terminated. From the various Settei and character design sheets for Crystal III we can see that the production for Season 3 started soon after then end of the second season. The date on the character design Settei art shows this to be the case. The art director for Crystal III had already worked on the first two seasons so it was probably easy to get him on board. As for Chiaki she was most probably a last minute choice but I think she did well despite the circumstances.
We can see from the ending of S3 that hints the start of the Dream arc that most likely it would continue onto the same TV show adaptation. But that wasn’t the case. Why? Well, this is just baseless conjecture on my part but: Toei/the production committee saw how Season 3 flopped. Crystal III was aired on the late-night Japanese TV-anime slot. Who stays up and watches late-night anime? Otaku. Hardly the audience the reboot is aiming for, same for Nico Nico Douga during season 1/2. Toei had/has probably made a contractual agreement with PNP to adapt the entirety of her manga. So, Toei also wanting to make maximum profits/minimize losses from this already done deal spent some time pondering on how to make the franchise more profitable. They knew the previous designs weren’t well received so they probably had to take time convincing Tadano to come back and provide new character designs. Naoko also says in interviews that Tadano was her first choice for Eternal. Therefore I’m guessing a majority of the time between S3 and Eternal was probably spent by all involved parties arguing back and forth on how to best make maximum profits from the franchise. To change to a movie format you need to get the funding from marketing, the approval of everyone involved and so on. It probably takes awhile with a complicated license with many shareholders like Sailor Moon.
Then they were finally done with production and Corona struck and they flopped again.
Oop.
I think the majority of problems and time wasted on this reboot is the fact they really don’t know how best to market it and to whom the audience is/ wants.
We can see from the ending of S3 that hints the start of the Dream arc that most likely it would continue onto the same TV show adaptation. But that wasn’t the case. Why? Well, this is just baseless conjecture on my part but: Toei/the production committee saw how Season 3 flopped. Crystal III was aired on the late-night Japanese TV-anime slot. Who stays up and watches late-night anime? Otaku. Hardly the audience the reboot is aiming for, same for Nico Nico Douga during season 1/2. Toei had/has probably made a contractual agreement with PNP to adapt the entirety of her manga. So, Toei also wanting to make maximum profits/minimize losses from this already done deal spent some time pondering on how to make the franchise more profitable. They knew the previous designs weren’t well received so they probably had to take time convincing Tadano to come back and provide new character designs. Naoko also says in interviews that Tadano was her first choice for Eternal. Therefore I’m guessing a majority of the time between S3 and Eternal was probably spent by all involved parties arguing back and forth on how to best make maximum profits from the franchise. To change to a movie format you need to get the funding from marketing, the approval of everyone involved and so on. It probably takes awhile with a complicated license with many shareholders like Sailor Moon.
Then they were finally done with production and Corona struck and they flopped again.
Oop.
I think the majority of problems and time wasted on this reboot is the fact they really don’t know how best to market it and to whom the audience is/ wants.
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It's a very sad case. The storyboard and animation quality of SME don't even meet SMC3, let alone a movie.
Likes:
Masquerade and NJ_
I would have loved to have seen this back door corporate tug of war.
Likes:
Memelord_Yoshi
This implies that the pandemic was the cause of Eternal underperforming at the Japanese box office. But during the same time a lot of other anime movies performed extremely well. Looking for Magical Doremi, another anime movie based on a nostalgic mahou shoujo show that targeted the same demographic as Eternal, opened at #4 whereas the first Eternal movie opened at #9 and the second one didn't even make it to the top 10. We can't blame the pandemic for that.
Eternal and Cosmos visually don’t reach the standards for a theatrical release anime, so I don’t expect people going to watch it if they are not already fans of the franchise. Plus storytelling of Eternal sucks. Why would people go to watch it?
Likes:
Masquerade and Starlight
People didn't go to watch it. Only the die-hard fans (some even with their little ones) went to the cinema to see the movies. These films are strictly for the SM fan base, who know the ins and outs of the story like the back of their hand and who gave positive reviews on Japanese websites. Negative reviews usually came from people outside the fandom and you can bet your bottom dollar that's exactly what's gonna go down with Cosmos.
Also, only the passionate latinamerican fans will put the films in the top 3 on Netflix in its first two weeks. That's it.
Also, only the passionate latinamerican fans will put the films in the top 3 on Netflix in its first two weeks. That's it.
Mind that the time constraints/delays & drops/inconsistencies in Quality on TOEI Projects are mostly home-made:
Toei Animation’s Mismanaged Attempt To Improve Anime’s Working Conditions
Define 'Irony'.
Toei Animation’s Mismanaged Attempt To Improve Anime’s Working Conditions
Define 'Irony'.
Likes:
MsImagination and Masquerade
Not even Otaku. Casual women who grew up with it and have a passing nostalgic connection with it, I think. They are trying -so- hard with Crystal to distance it from the image it held in the 90’s in the marketing. It’s for the 30-year old something Japanese mum who will also bring her Precure obsessed daughter a long with her so the mum can cry ‘ Natsukashii!! Chibi Usa Kawaii!’ And the kid will probably be like ‘This ain’t got anything on Precure’ lol