Sailor Moon’s drop in popularity in Japan

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Jawshx

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#1
Now don’t get me wrong, it’s still a household name. But it got me to thinking.. Dragon Ball is still amazingly popular and has new movies, games and series coming out all the time. Even after a long span of nothing when GT finished airing. Similarly Sailor Moon also finished in 1997 and was put to rest for a long while. Keeping this in mind, why do you think something like Dragon Ball is still able to draw in new fans, and still get respectable numbers while Sailor Moon struggles to do the same?

I know there is Precure taking up a large chunk of the magical girl space now, but there are also countless Dragon Ball shounen copycats that never affected the formers popularity.

Do you think they dropped the ball (pardon the pun) with Crystal? If it was promoted correctly and with more care do you think we would be in a different situation now? Or was Sailor Moon’s success just lightning in a bottle?
 

Yamoon

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#2
I have nothing to add to this once again bashing “Crystal Topic”. I see no clue about what you’re claiming about a lack of popularity. Obviously it’s not the case as Toei still launching 2 new movies and an international Netflix deal is coming (which could be HUGE for Sailor Moon licence...), toys are still coming, musicals as well...

What has Dragon Ball to do with it. Of course it’s a fighting serie, so it was clear from the beginning that video games will always flourish for this anime. Still DB Super has been cancelled since nearly 2 years and still isn’t coming back and no new film has been announced so far...

Trust me TOEI is still very happy about having the SM licence in their hands... even if some old fans keep bashing Crystal...of course it’s not about having the same success than nearly 30 years ago... still SM is still one of the most popular anime in the world (Japan included)...

...
 
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Jawshx

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#3
I’m not ‘bashing’ Crystal at all. We all know it got off to a bad start and improved little by little.

What I was saying was that despite being a household name it’s pretty clear it’s not as popular as it once was while other Toei anime’s still have a stronghold on the market. And pondering as to why.

I don’t see how you took this as a criticism.
 

Thexall

Lumen Cinererum
Oct 16, 2020
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#4
Pure speculation from my part:

After the invasion of Sailor Galaxia, the story of Sailor Moon should become more politically influenced. More political than it would be profitable as Shoujo Anime. It has already been mapped out that sooner or later Sailor Moon should ascend the throne that promises world domination.
Sure, you can reissue an anime like Crystal, but if you want to milk your license properly, you have to come up with new stories at some point. As in the case of Dragonball Super (and similarly bad video games like Xenoverse 1/2)

A kingdom or even a world government does not come into being overnight. Many, if not all, countries would oppose her. Especially countries where secularization has not yet occurred and where women have little or no rights would never accept Sailor Moon as ruler without war.

Even if you assume that Sailor Moon manages to unite individual regions of the world (let's say, the "civilized West"), there is no guarantee that everything will run smoothly there. It is quite possible that supply chains will collapse and famine will break out here.
This is because even really bad sons of bitches can be of central importance for the supply of a country. Poland for an example acts aggressively against the LGBT+ community (there are so-called "gay-free zones"), but the current government has gnawed so deep into the local systems that you cannot simply remove them, otherwise everything will collapse.
 
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#5
If its based on box office sales I'll wait for part 2 results. It's a really bad time. ^_^'

Though with limited release in theaters I don't think it could reach Demon Slayers' box office results. At least we're not waiting on Season 1 levels of crappy animation for the next movie (and reboot :creeper:). XD
 
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Yamoon

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#6
I’m not ‘bashing’ Crystal at all. We all know it got off to a bad start and improved little by little.

What I was saying was that despite being a household name it’s pretty clear it’s not as popular as it once was while other Toei anime’s still have a stronghold on the market. And pondering as to why.

I don’t see how you took this as a criticism.
A bad start? Lol The first episodes of Crystal brought huge numbers in streaming internationally like never before for anime.

That you don’t like Crystal for all the errors you mentioned is your choice... but please stop to invent story. If Crystal was a huge failure, we wouldn’t have a second season to watch, then a third one in tv and now 2 movies. That’s totally ridiculous to think that TOEI will continue the Series if it’s was a huge failure from the beginning...

What you mentioned is also wrong : Saint Seiya has been out for years too after the first anime. No new movies since years too. The Saintia anime was so poorly animated that I could have drawn it myself... Dragon Ball is also in hiatus since 2 years... of course SM will never again reach the past popularity but it’s the same for every Series.

Still if SM it’s still happening it’s because they’re still making a HUGE AMOUNT of money with the licence...not just because they want to please the fans...
 
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Clow

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#7
There is an article on TuxedoUnmasked.com with graphics comparing Sailor Moon to TOEI’s other properties.

I cannot find it, though.

I think the topic is irrelevant. If you like “Sailor Moon,” that is all that matters.
 

Jawshx

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#8
A bad start? Lol The first episodes of Crystal brought huge numbers in streaming internationally like never before for anime.

That you don’t like Crystal for all the errors you mentioned is your choice... but please stop to invent story. If Crystal was a huge failure, we wouldn’t have a second season to watch, then a third one in tv and now 2 movies. That’s totally ridiculous to think that TOEI will continue the Series if it’s was a huge failure from the beginning... if it’s still happening it’s because they’re still making a lot of money with the licence...not just because they want to please the fans... it’s so ridiculous to write such nonsense stuffs...
You’re putting words into my mouth. When have I ever said I don’t like Crystal? Pointing out flaws doesn’t mean I’m not a fan. You can be critical and still enjoy a product.
 

Yamoon

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#9
You’re putting words into my mouth. When have I ever said I don’t like Crystal? Pointing out flaws doesn’t mean I’m not a fan. You can be critical and still enjoy a product.
Well most of your posts is about how Crystal didn’t reach your expectations lol it’s not difficult to look at your old posts you know.. just in two minutes I can find that you opened topics about : not liking seasons 1/3; review of new movies you didn’t really like; and even one topic opened about the Crystal BGM / OST that ... well you don’t like either lol ...


But whatever ...like I said

if SM it’s still happening it’s because they’re still making a HUGE AMOUNT of money with the licence...not just because they want to please the fans...
 
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Jawshx

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#10
Well most of your posts is about how Crystal didn’t reach your expectations lol it’s not difficult to look at your old posts you know...

But whatever like I said

if SM it’s still happening it’s because they’re still making a HUGE AMOUNT of money with the licence...not just because they want to please the fans...
I am a fan of the third season and parts of the second and I do like certain parts of the first. However I’m not gonna sugarcoat it and say it was perfect. When I say it wasn’t promoted correctly I mean that it was it (originally) an online-only release bi-monthly schedule which seemed to hurt it.

Anyway yes, they still make a lot of money from the merchandise and that’s great. But it definitely feels geared towards older fans of the show rather than trying to make new ones.

Anyway seeing that we probably won’t be seeing eye to eye on this issue let’s end our discussion here on a civil note.
 

Yamoon

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#11
Yeah better to continue now to post on another topic that you fear that the second movie will not reach your quality expectations :-D
 
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Clow

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#12
Admittedly, TOEI didn’t treat the franchise with the respect it deserved in 2014 (two unfinished episodes per month, messy subtitles, are you serious?), but fans made their voices heard, or else the format of Crystal would not have changed.

Initially I disliked Crystal, but my opinion changed upon watching the DVDs with the final product. Nowadays I prefer Crystal over the 90’s anime. Personal opinion.
 

MikeMasters05

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#13
You’re putting words into my mouth. When have I ever said I don’t like Crystal? Pointing out flaws doesn’t mean I’m not a fan. You can be critical and still enjoy a product.
Yeah Sailor Moon’s financial results are minimal compared with other franchises in Japan. Mostly compared to Pretty Cure.

However, when you check international results Sailor Moon becomes much more relevant and leaves Pretty Cure way behind.

Probably, this is another reason why Sailor Moon never came back as a 52 episode series. Shoujo is not normally a huge money maker, Long series are not common in the west as they used to. Etc. Just theorizing as Japan will always be considered first.

https://www.tuxedounmasked.com/how-much-money-does-toei-animation-make-from-sailor-moon/

Now check this article, we all love Sailor Moon and would love that it is a huge money maker and therefore it obtains great animation and the best of the best. However this article opened my mind and helped me to understand why certain things are the way they are.

Having said this, by no means SM is not important or relevant or anything like that. It’s just to illustrate where Sailor Moon is and why it’s important we support it (by buying merchandise and watching the series).
 

Jawshx

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#14
Interesting! Come to think of it outside of Precure I can’t really think of another magical girl anime aimed at young girls. Toei really won that battleground, huh? It’s all idol anime nowadays.

Ah, the 90’s. We basically had Sailor Moon, Wedding Peach AND Magic Knight Ratearrh running cocurrently. Those were the days!
 
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#15
Ah, the 90’s. We basically had Sailor Moon, Wedding Peach AND Magic Knight Ratearrh running cocurrently. Those were the days!
My Hime, Utena, Angelic Layer and WIXOSS I'd put on my top 10 list of shoujo.
 
Jun 13, 2016
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#16
Yeah Sailor Moon’s financial results are minimal compared with other franchises in Japan. Mostly compared to Pretty Cure.

However, when you check international results Sailor Moon becomes much more relevant and leaves Pretty Cure way behind.

Probably, this is another reason why Sailor Moon never came back as a 52 episode series. Shoujo is not normally a huge money maker, Long series are not common in the west as they used to. Etc. Just theorizing as Japan will always be considered first.

How Much Money Does Toei Animation Make From Sailor Moon?

Now check this article, we all love Sailor Moon and would love that it is a huge money maker and therefore it obtains great animation and the best of the best. However this article opened my mind and helped me to understand why certain things are the way they are.

Having said this, by no means SM is not important or relevant or anything like that. It’s just to illustrate where Sailor Moon is and why it’s important we support it (by buying merchandise and watching the series).
"As you can see here, Sailor Moon accounted for just a paltry 5-6% of the profits brought in by the top four series in FY2015 and FY2016, at 339 million (~3.16 million USD) and 341 million yen (~3.18 million USD) respectively.5 One Piece, by comparison, brought in over ten times that."

that is obvious if they're gonna release a half assed mess like Sailor Moon Crystal
 
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sailormoongalaxy

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#17
Sailor Moon Crystal is a failure!

If the series had been a success whether in Japan or internationally, there would have been no going back!
Already, the first two seasons, they have nothing to do with the anime 90 (chara design), the attacks, the transformations.
Season 3, they've already started to copy paste series 9 (on some things).

There, for the series 4, we bluntly reminds Kazuko Tadano (chara designer of the series 90 - Classic + R)!
The confession is there! Fans never liked Toei / Takeuchi's choices for the Sailor Moon Crystal license!

Sailor Moon Crystal is a success, must stop. It is especially mixed.

Take the example of 19 million Yens (Sailor Moon Eternal) for the first day. In Japan a cinema ticket is on average between 1,000 yen and 2,000 yen.
Let's calculate (for 1.000 yens) : 19 000 000 / 1000 = 19 000 people.
Let's calculate (for 2.000 yens) : 19 000 000 / 2000 = 9 500 people.
Tokyo is the most populous city in the world with 35.7 million inhabitants.

Even in times of Covid-19, people go to the cinema to see other films (an anime has been a hit lately). So if the populace does not go to the cinema = license which does not really attract.

Other example : That's exactly what happened with Saint Seiya Omega, fans screamed scandal and ultimately Toei went their way for Season 2 (Highlighting Seiya and his friends, the return of the pandora boxes, and much more).
 

Maraviollantes

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#18
Having said this, by no means SM is not important or relevant or anything like that. It’s just to illustrate where Sailor Moon is and why it’s important we support it (by buying merchandise and watching the series).
No. We spent three decades already supporting Naoko and compensating her for actually working once in her lifetime back in 90s. In return, we never got anything apart from endless reprints and remakes of the same manga from 90s. For how many more decades we should "support" this franchise and what for? To get yet more reprints of the same manga we have bought a dozen times already, and yet more remakes of the same anime we have watched already?
 
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Yamoon

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#19
Sailor Moon Crystal is a failure.
Yeah a huge failure !

That why we got a season 2, then 3 then now 2 movies. TOEIs goal is to continue to spend money for nothing and losing it just by fun because they just want to do it for the Crystal haters...

Maybe if it keep failing that’s bad we will get also a saison 5 ? Cross finger for mega huge failure !

Even in times of Covid-19, people go to the cinema to see other films. So if the populace does not go to the cinema = license which does not really attract
yeah sure the pandemic has strictly no impact on cinema revenue since a year. Best analyse of the day here.
 
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sailormoongalaxy

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#20
Yeah a huge failure !

That why we got a season 2, then 3 then now 2 movies. TOEIs goal is to continue to spend money for nothing and losing it just by fun because they just want to do it for the Crystal haters...

Maybe if it keep failing that’s bad we will get also a saison 5 ? Cross finger for mega huge failure !



yeah sure the pandemic has strictly no impact on cinema revenue since a year. Best analyse of the day here.
Already: stop insulting "Haters" when you disagree with what they say (I'm not hater just realist).
Take the example of Demon Slayer, a film released in the middle of Covid (october 2020), the film became the biggest cinema success in Japan !
The film generated 32.47 billion yen in revenue (He beat Spirited Away- Chihiro by Ghibli)!

If Sailor Moon Eternal does not manage to attract the crowd, it is because there is a problem there, with the Japanese spectators!

You'd have to see the box office for movies (R, S, SuperS), if those movies attract a crowd.

Even the Covid-19, does not prevent the Japanese from going to the cinema! Point, end of the debate!