Definitely the Dark Kingdom arc, as it had the most cuts & changes as well as the worst animation. Crystal is at it's best when it's trying to be a
completely faithful adaptation of the manga with little "spicing things up." I think the only changes of Crystal I ever actually liked were Jupiter's introduction episode, Ami's chess match with Berthier and maybe also her introduction and the little scene they gave Minako all on her own in episode 8 and that's about it.
The Senshi x Shittenou subplot is the worst thing that ever happened to the franchise)
It could've been tolerable if they had done it more like the musicals or like Another Story (from what I've heard) the proble
My problem with the crying is their reactions were too similar. Like I could buy Venus crying because she was the most in-tune to her past memories. But I think the others should have had more diverse reactions. Like Mercury could be in shock, still trying to process everything. Jupiter could be angry, wanting to avenge them. And Mars could have been the one to deliver tough love, saying that while it's sad they can't afford to let it distract them from their mission.
Not only were the reactions too similar and further made the Inners look like a hivemind but some of them were just downright OOC to begin with - I mean Manga man-hating Mars
crying over a guy she barely even knew? She didn't even cry over Kaidou in the manga, what on earth would make Toei think she'd cry so easily over [BLEEP]ing
Jadeite?
The 1:1 adaption killed it. If you stick with a storyboard which is the manga which is NOT a storyboard and you don't permit yourself a required creativity freedom that you def need as a screenwriter, the outcome is likely to be doomed. I bet if they had to squeeze de 1st story arc into 6 episodes, the outcome would have been better, because they had to rethink and rewrite the whole structure and there wouldn't be the excuse "but it's in the manga...". The story is simple and can be broken down to a minimum, and still being faithful to the manga. Yes, wasted potential! They could have included side-stories, Casablanca Memory for instance, to tell an unseen story and to give depth to a character. And still be faithful to Naoko's vision.
The 1:1 adaptation wasn't the problem, Crystal is at it's best when it's strictly sticking to 1:1 like season 3 and supposedly the Eternal movies. What
was the problem the omission of certain character defining scenes, outright story & character changes and non-expressive animation and body language.