Sailor Moon has won fans all over the world and everybody loved both the anime and the manga. Love for this eponymous magical girl series festered on decades after its inception. When a reboot of the original anime was announced fans were excited. Two years later we finally got Sailor Moon Crystal...unfortunately nowadays Crystal is seen as spoiled goods a blemish on what made Sailor Moon great and nowadays people hail the 90s anime as being the better adaptation despite it having just as many problems if not more. Despite it being a straight adaptation of the manga people have lambasted it left and right fans and haters alike for a variety of problems: bad animation static characters brisk pacing no filler in order to give the characters screentime etc. Despite the show still having just as many fans you cant go anywhere without seeing hate for Sailor Moon Crystal with some saying its the absolute worst anime ever. Now its okay to not like something. As long as one expresses their dislike of something in a rational manner that doesnt hurt others thats okay. However on places like Tumblr the hatred for SMC has grown to downright ridiculous levels and people are hating it for less than rational reasons. Ive heard people accuse it of being ableist harming queer women HOW? promoting anorexia endorsing selfish behavior rape culture gay erasure misogyny etc. Worse than that they even use their hatred to attack other people who happen to like it for what it is and dont mind its many problems Good lord Its one thing to not like a show but its another thing to bump said hatred to irrational levels and attack people for even so much as acknowledging its existence. I dont like ecchi shows or porn and you dont see me attacking other people for liking them Heck my friend Paul LOVES Ranma 1/2 and I dont but we respect each others preferences and are still friends My friend Sami LOVES Levi from Attack on Titan and I dont but do you see me attacking her and calling her names and making up lies about her for loving him? NO After seeing all the completely weird hatred being bombarded on SMC I decided to watch it again. I tried to watch it when it came out but had to drop it due to other obligations. Honestly I dont hate it but I dont necessarily like it either. Rather...I kinda pity it. It knows what it wants to be and I would much rather watch SMC than most other anime that have been saturating the industry at the moment especially the stupid ecchi/harem anime that have been diluting the industry for the past few years. It has a lot of potential and while its definitely not a masterpiece considering how many problems it has theres still a lot to like about it. Im pretty sure a lot of modern kids today would love seeing a show like SMC. The storys about the same as the manga. A lazy clumsy girl named Usagi Tsukino just wants to be normal. She doesnt do well in school she prefers to hang out with her friends or go to the arcade to hang out with one of the cute employees and she wants to eat read manga and laze around like most girls her age would. One day a cat named Luna appears before her giving her a magical brooch that turns her into a warrior named Sailor Moon who has to fight the evil Dark Kingdom who intends to steal something called the Legendary Silver Crystal and use it to destroy the world. Joining her are Sailors Mercury Venus Mars and Jupiter and the mysterious Tuxedo Mask and while she is reluctant at first she decides to fight the Dark Kingdom and save the world knowing all of life is at stake. Im kind of torn on the animation. On one hand I wont deny that Toeis lack of budget really shows throughout the show. Some body parts like eyes and mouths are out of place the girls are designed in ways that make them look like plastic barbie dolls with unrealistic anatomy and the CGI is definitely very cringeworthy. Ive seen far worse CGI so Im personally not bothered by it but the transformation sequences do make the girls look like plastic barbie dolls that dont have much life to them. On the other hand the artwork is for the most part very faithful to the manga. The character designs are sleek and the hair movement can be downright beautiful when it wants to be the senshis attacks are a lot better animated I really like how Sailor Mars Burning Mandala looks. I think it looks better here and the costume designs are luscious. The whole show especially when the girls go to Crystal Tokyo has this mystical ethereal quality about it that I think was present in the manga as well. I think Crystal managed to capture it perfectly. Plus I love the detail the animators put into things in the background like how Usagis bedroom looks or Mamorus bedrooms. The decor says a lot about their overall characters. When I heard that Yasuharu Takanashi was composing the music for this series I was convinced to watch SMC. Hes one of my favorite modern day composers and worked on a lot of anime I like such as Pretty Cure Konnichiwa Anne etc. No surprise here as the soundtrack is very good and solid. The 90s soundtrack was very dated so hearing more fitting music for the series really made SMC work musically. The opening theme is okay rather Jpoppy and not nearly as iconic as Moonlight Densetsu is. But its not bad. Hearing the same theme song for over 100 episodes can be boring so Moon Pride was refreshing. The ending theme is the best though. I wont lie the characters and characterization is where Crystal really suffers. The manga was no different but it really stands out here. Usagi does mature throughout the show which is fine but as much as I like the other characters the other senshi seem to come off as props to make Usagi look good. Their lack of characterization really detriments the show especially since the arcs are being adapted into 1214 episodes leaving little room for fleshing them out and showing the girls lives when theyre not fighting evil. I will say this though: Mamoru actually has a personality in this version He doesnt come off as annoyingly prickish like he does in the 90s anime though I still think his liveaction version is the best. The villains also suffer in the characterization department as theyre just reduced to their being evil for the sake of being evil or random mooks who get killed after one episode. The 90s anime definitely did better in fleshing out the villains and making them come off as more than just petty villains. Really the only character who even has a good character arc is Chibiusa and trust me she is NOWHERE NEAR as bratty as she was in the 90s anime so rest assured shes MUCH more tolerable here. Usagi and Chibiusa are okay characterizationwise but the rest of them are woefully underdeveloped making any emotional moments lack any meaningful impact. Honestly I think SMCs problems with storytelling and characterization would be rectified had the creators been given the chance to make each arc 2426 episodes long rather than 1214. If they did that it would allow for some filler to fill up space between the important parts and give the girls a chance to develop and show what theyre like outside of saving the world. The liveaction version is beloved because it made optimal use of its long episode count focused only on one arc and gave the girls episodes that just allowed them to develop flesh themselves out and show what theyre like when theyre not saving the world. Because all the arcs are 1214 episodes everything is extremely compressed not allowing for much breathing room. I think this is SMCs greatest flaw: the short length of each arc. The story SMC wants to tell is grand epic and compelling and it knows what it wants to be. Its ambitious but because of time constraints the show is unable to realize its full potential and tell the story it wants to characterization included. Even so I dont hate SMC. I dont LOVE it as SMs liveaction adaptation will always be my favorite. But I do like SMC a lot more than I do the 90s anime and if you gave me a choice to either watch this or some stupid ecchi anime like RoKyuBu Nakaimo or Kanokon or basically every incest anime ever Im looking at you Kiss x Sis Id take SMC any day. Its not a perfect show. Lets face it no media art form will EVER be perfect and we shouldnt expect SMC to be either. At the same time I really dont think SMC deserves all the bile that it gets. I dont watch anime in order to look for representation or accuse it of endorsing bad things or any of that stuff. I watch anime because it gives me what most American cartoons nowadays dont: substance. Serious compelling storylines. Characters who we can care about who dont do nothing but talk about makeup or boys or are super hot and sexy. Thats why I loved shows like Pokemon Digimon and YuGiOh as a kid because they were bold daring serious didnt try to hide unpleasant things like death or family problems from us and didnt talk down to their audience. SMC is the same. It takes its audience seriously and wants to be something that can appeal to all ages in spite of its problems. I think had SMC come out when I was a kid I probably would have loved it. Sailor Moon Crystal isnt the best adaptation of the manga but if you manage to look past its flaws and appreciate it for its merits its still a serviceable show that I think will really appeal to kids. Come on lets be honest. It could have been a heck of a lot worse. At least its not Breadwinners or The Nutshack or even every ecchi anime ever