Sailor Moon’s drop in popularity in Japan

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Yamoon

Aurorae Lunares
Jul 17, 2006
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#21
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!
Like the success of Eternal could be compared with what the old SM movies did... lol

Eternal has a very small release in only few cinemas how can it be compare to old movies when SM was one of the biggest licence at this time... such comparaison has total no-sense...

Do you really think TOEI think about attracting a lot new people with these 2 movies... of course not otherwise they will have not just adapt a “fourth season” but would have create an original story...

Even the Covid-19, does not prevent the Japanese from going to the cinema! Point, end of the debate!
You do know that the pandemic is right now in Japan not in October... yeah sure COVID-19 even attract Japanese to go to the cinema specially after the figures of sick people triple the last 4 days.... This has for sure zero impact of cinema entries right now... seriously ... I don’t even know what to say to such analysis lol
 

sailormoongalaxy

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Apr 16, 2013
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#22
Like the success of Eternal could be compared with what the old SM movies did... lol

Eternal has a very small release in only few cinemas how can it be compare to old movies when SM was one of the biggest licence at this time... such comparaison has total no-sense...

Yeah sure COVID-19 even attract Japanese to go to the cinema specially after the figures of sick people triple the last 4 days. This has for sure zero impact of cinema entries right now... seriously ... I don’t even know what to say to such analysis lol
The fanboys, lord, what a plague!

For your information, the 3 films of the 90 series are currently showing again. So we can see from 2020 which series is the most successful: either Eternal or 90.

Why wouldn't it be comparable? After all, you can love the old series and love the new one and vice versa.
Logically if we like the first one, we tend to like the second adaptation.

If people don't like the second adaptation, there's a problem somewhere.

As I told you above, the Covid did not prevent the Japanese for the see to other films. Other films hit the same day (other than Sailor Moon Eternal).

You are a fanboy, who refuses to face reality, and forces others to bow down to you! A lot here, we're fed up with you!
 

Yamoon

Aurorae Lunares
Jul 17, 2006
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#23
As I told you above, the Covid did not prevent the Japanese for the see to other films. Other films hit the same day (other than Sailor Moon Eternal).
2 other movies who are 20 times more distributed in term of cinema places than Eternal... but whatever keep saying the movie is a huge failure and that Crystal is hated... Whatever lol

Which people are fed up with me ? The 5 members here that keep trolling against Crystal in every topics... please give me a break...

At least some of them have a serious way of analyzing stuffs... and not just claiming that Covid has no impact in Japan in term of entries (specially these last 4 days lol...) or not understanding the fact that the movie has a very small release with only few cinemas playing it... OF COURSE TOEI DIDNT HAVE IN MIND TO MAKE BILLIONS WITH SUCH RELEASE...
 
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SailorSugababe

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Sep 8, 2011
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#24
I think its pretty obvious that Toei/Naoko/Kodansha shot themselves in the foot with PGSM. When SuperS came around SM anime popularity started to cool down and even Stars didnt save it. But even back then the viewership for SuperS and even Stars was pretty decent. Not to mention the worldwide success of Sailor Moon was also happening. There was still a pretty huge fanbase wanting SM to comeback. And Toei and Naoko knew that. Their respond? A live action drama. Well right from the get go it was obvious that the international fanbase wont have a chance to enjoy it simply because Japanesse dramas didnt really make into the western tv (same thing nowadays still). Hardcore SM fans could enjoy it because of the internet but thats about it. Not to mention that even within SM fanbase many fans just didnt care for live action SM. Plus the quality wasnt really there either despite some great writing moments and character develoment. I can understand Naoko and Teoi to some extension. SM Musicals were very popular and PGSM was also a nod to the musicals. But Toei/Naoko should've known that musicals have a specific fanbase withing SM general fanbase and that the same thing will very likely happen to live action SM. Why Toei and Naoko didnt think about the international fanbase back in 2003 is beyond me.

After that we had almost 10 years of NOTHING. But it still didnt kill SM. To celebrate the 20th annivesary they announced new anime and even specificly said that it will be streamed worldwide. They've learned their lesson not to ignore overseas fanbase this time around. But thats when other problems arised. Questionable quality didnt really help the big comeback. We were slowly getting a better product with each new season and now with new movies were finally getting a good quality and some decent promotion.

BUT we had almost two decades with either nothing or questionable decisions and quality issues. Its a miracle SM as franchise didnt die but it still going pretty strong
 

Clow

Quasar
Jul 29, 2012
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#25
The fanboys, lord, what a plague!

For your information, the 3 films of the 90 series are currently showing again. So we can see from 2020 which series is the most successful: either Eternal or 90.

Why wouldn't it be comparable? After all, you can love the old series and love the new one and vice versa.
Logically if we like the first one, we tend to like the second adaptation.

If people don't like the second adaptation, there's a problem somewhere.

As I told you above, the Covid did not prevent the Japanese for the see to other films. Other films hit the same day (other than Sailor Moon Eternal).

You are a fanboy, who refuses to face reality, and forces others to bow down to you! A lot here, we're fed up with you!
Not calling you out, but the word fanboy has a bad connotation in English. :diana:

It seems like English is not your first language.

Use shorter sentences to avoid miscommunications.

Merci beacoup, cimer :hug:
 
Feb 10, 2009
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#26
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?
Simple. Sailor Moon went over 20 years with no new content? DBZ was the opposite. DBZ is treated with more respect, and isnt telling the same stories that fans have seen over and over again.

No real effort is put into ensuring Sailor Moon stays popular. They want to do the bare minimum, spend the least amount of money they can and try to turn a profit.
 
Jan 10, 2014
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#27
Simple. Sailor Moon went over 20 years with no new content? DBZ was the opposite. DBZ is treated with more respect, and isnt telling the same stories that fans have seen over and over again.

No real effort is put into ensuring Sailor Moon stays popular. They want to do the bare minimum, spend the least amount of money they can and try to turn a profit.
To be fair, when Sailor Moon ended, the popularity of the anime was already pretty low.

Dragon Ball ended because the author didn't want to to continue, but the anime and manga were still pretty popular at that time.

So, Toei has more reasons to mantain new content for Dragon Ball.
 
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Clow

Quasar
Jul 29, 2012
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#28
The way I see it, Naoko Takeuchi is the owner of “Sailor Moon.”

If she wishes to create more content, then she will do it; she can create a new manga or let somebody else do it for her; if she does not wish to create more content and leave the franchise dormant, then that is her own personal choice—and I support the view that no author should be required to create more content just to meet the expectations of fans.

As of right now, we have two new movies and we would not have the movies if Naoko had not approved them. If you don’t like the movies, fine; if you like them, good for you.

If there will be more movies beyond Stars, that remains to be seen.

I think the only thing that is right is that if Bandai sells its toys, then one should expect more content—but, even then, we will never know what goes behind the curtains.
 

Nadia

Aurorae Lunares
Jun 30, 2010
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#29
There are a LOT of reasons why Sailor Moon faded while Dragon Ball did not, but while Crystal didn't help, all things considered, it's a non factor in this regard.

The biggest reasons are that Dragon Ball was always bigger than Sailor Moon and that since Dragon Ball is a shonen property, it has longevity in terms of merchandising that Sailor Moon never would have had a chance at due to being a product aimed at girls. Even if Sailor Moon had been managed perfectly, it would never eclipse Dragon Ball simply because devotees aside (people who would buy Proplica products, for instance), boys products offer more avenues for revenue than girls products.

SailorSugarbabe brought up an important point. After the Sailor Moon anime ended there were opportunities to extend the franchise and the musicals were a success...in Japan. However, instead of working on a new animation that could be released internationally, in 2003, those in charge decided to go the cheap route and produce a low-cost live-action series. Like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, this was a misfire. Even if you acknowledge there is some critical or artistic merit to PGSM, the fact that it is a Japanese live-action drama limits its appeal.

Another factor that is overlooked is that despite the fact that Sailor Moon was airing in the U.S. in 2000, after SuperS stopped airing it was dropped like a hot potato. Yes, there were the DVDs released, but without Sailor Moon on TV, there was nothing. By contrast Dragon Ball Z was airing first-run episodes for a few years afterward. Simply having more material means more opportunities to extend the franchise.

But there is also critical point which kept Dragon Ball alive both in the West and the east. Just when the Dragon Ball/Z episodes were about to go into reruns in the West and had stopped production in Japan for years, the franchise was kept alive in part by a very important tie-in product.

DBZ Budokai.

This was a Dragon Ball Z fighting game, which while very flawed, wasn't downright awful like some earlier games. And since most Dragon Ball video games did not come out North America, that this one did was the first time that a lot of American fans of the show actually played -- and thus it sold well in both North America and Japan. That means the kids who would have either outgrown Dragon Ball were kept in the fandom just a little longer because of a video game. There may be a chicken-and-egg problem in which a video game is only made because there is clearly some market for it

You know what happens when things sell well? They get sequels...which also sold well, and also had the benefit of being better games. Thus, while new animated content was next to nil during this period, the games became a surrogate. It didn't hurt that as a fighting game, it didn't just tap into the whole fighting theme of the series, but it essentially acted like a fan's playable fanfic. Gamers got into it and thus some got in to DBZ, but the main purpose of the games was that they helped keep interest among fans alive. There are other factors, of course, and a video game series is not the only reason why Dragon Ball Z stayed active, but it did play an important part.

Now by contrast let's see what Sailor Moon has done. Outside of the musicals and PGSM, the franchise was dormant, and even eventually the musicals stopped. So what is keeping Sailor Moon relevant in the interval years? Nothing. Franchises need new blood and new material or they die. Sailor Moon's only attempts at new material have been distinctively unexportable, Furthermore, TV shows and musicals have a much quicker expiration date than some forms of tie-in merchandise.

As has been mentioned, since Sailor Moon is Naoko Takeuchi's "baby" and she wields incredible executive control, then Toei's hands are tied to an extent, which is why they shift their focus into making PreCure a success. PreCure is theirs and thus they can develop it how they want and have the entries of the franchise evolve.

That's not to say Crystal couldn't have redeemed the franchise. As an animated product, if the animation were impeccable, a lot of the plot points introduced by the adaptation would be tolerated much better. However, Crystal didn't put the franchise into stasis. Toei did.
 

NJ_

Gurges Ater
Oct 31, 2009
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#30
Something else to note in regards to Dragon Ball is that Bandai has a contract where they are obligated to release 1 video game a year. This is why since Budokai in 2002 (2003 in Japan), they have been putting out many video games and still do to this day.
 

Seira Hazuki

Solaris Luna
Jan 17, 2007
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#31
I mean yeah DBZ fans are eating good now, but it wasn't always sunshine and roses for that series either at least in the anime front. Dragon Ball Kai was a glorified edit of an anime that ran for several years before fans got any kind of new content in the form of the "Battle of the Gods" and Frieza movies.

Dragon Ball Super was plagued with Crystal-level awful animation for like a good number of episodes. And instead of handling new storylines at first, they just recaped the movies for like 27 episodes until the Universe 6 saga. Prior to Universe 6, the show was really nothing to write home about until they finally did new stories.

I think it helped that Super was super successful which is why there is so much new content (plus a series creator who is willing to give the reigns a bit more, unlike NT). But even now, while Sailor Moon fans would be lucky to get a movie in the quality of the Broly film, it's going to be three years in March since the end of the Super TV series and still no word of a continuation.
 
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Jul 5, 2009
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#32
Dragonball isn't the only competition. ^_^' That is if :usagi: is even competing at all with all these modern day anime.

I am glad the international market is the one keeping it alive. So we'll get more re-re-re-re-re-release of the manga. :siren::twisted::siren:

I'm really hoping with :usagi:'s contract with Netflix we'll see the franchise grow just like the Fate series. Or we will probably just get more Crystal reboots. :googly:
 

Jawshx

Aurorae Lunares
Dec 1, 2020
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#33
Dragonball isn't the only competition. ^_^' That is if :usagi: is even competing at all with all these modern day anime.

I am glad the international market is the one keeping it alive. So we'll get more re-re-re-re-re-release of the manga. :siren::twisted::siren:

I'm really hoping with :usagi:'s contract with Netflix we'll see the franchise grow just like the Fate series. Or we will probably just get more Crystal reboots. :googly:
I want a sequel like this