If the story goes on indefinitely… there is the risk that at some point it may become mundane and not special.
Is that a risk fans are willing to take?
I don't think that's the only option.
You could simply tell a finite story, bring it to a conclusion. Put the franchise on ice and then do a new version for a new generation 10-20 year later, updating it for modern times.
The musicals and PGSM prove that the premise and characters are FLEXIBLE, capable of giving us very different interpretations of the characters that extrapolate from the same core ideas. I don't see that as particularly different to how there were like 5 quite different Batman cartoons between 1992-2013. And I'm not even saying to make as much Sailor Moon in that short a space of time. Just like every 10-20 years.
Fundamentally, the core stuff SM is about I think appeals universally. Love. Evil. The Cycle of life. Growing up. Friendship. Lonliness. All within the context of a team of superhero school girls.
It could go indefinitely by taking vastly different takes in concept, content, style, format, medium, etc. each time - in short, it must be different enough to make it not boring.
Even then, it'd be boring to hardcore fans like us. For youngsters unfamiliar with SM, if you presented the same basic characters and storyline in a way that is suitable to the media landscape of the day (which means taking account of your competiion, changing the pacing, changing the animation style, the music, updating technology and social norms, etc) there is little reason it couldn't work.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has reinvented itself many times. Some instances more successfully than others but the fact it's been successful multiple times is sort of proof the premise is innately appealing.
Would people actually watch a Chibiusa centered show? SuperS proved that most fans don't care about her(if not outright hate her). Of course Crystal/Eternal/Cosmos Chibiusa is a totally different character compared to the 90's one..but Crystal was not popular enough for people to love this version of her and clamour for more Chibiusa content
You could make it a sequel to Crystal but present it in such a way that it works as its own show. Ultimately it would be a show about a teenager leading a team f superhero school girls in a future where she is the princess of. The comparison i would use is say Ultimate Muscle. It followed the son of the original protagonist and the backstory was there but you didn't NEED to have seen it. It caught an audience.
I guess another example would be, kind of, Dragon Ball Z, which caught Western audiences who had never seen Dragon Ball pre-Z.
If Chibi-Usa was a teenager and you put the substance anc characterisation necesarry behind her, presenting the backstory carefully so as not to alienate people, it could work.
A new reboot could make sense only as a mix of anime and manga elements with some new spins. But then again, why retelling the whole story again? A sequel(either to the 90's anime or the manga/Crystal) is the only anime project making sense from a buisness point of view ..but I don't see it happening
You can retell the same story in many different ways though. Just off the top of my head, what if the Sailor Team is already formed and Usagi is the last member to join? What if the DK are not the first villains they fight? What if we follow the Senshi awakening individually and the team only forms at the end of the first arc ala the Avengers?
Do you suppose it is because it is a shoujo story?
I have been reading about “The Rose of Versailles,” historical fiction, and apparently written very well. Some fans claim it is not treated well.
Yes actually. Someone told me in Toei's eyes Shonen breaks down into different age demos and what not but Shoujo doesn't. it is just 'Girls this age'.
Similarly, as successful as SM was, ratings wise that was
relative to it being a Shoujo. Dragon ball GT, which no one liked, that eneded after less than 2 years, and came out when the Dragon ball franchise had already had a lot of fatigue due to the Buu Saga, consistenty had higher ratings than SM did.
Similarly, to my understanding, shonen manga is regarded as more prestigious vs shojo.
Do you suppose it is because it is a shoujo story?
I have been reading about “The Rose of Versailles,” historical fiction, and apparently written very well. Some fans claim it is not treated well.
Partially and partially because Naoko does have A LOT of control over the franchise (which...is her right as she created it) and seemingly refuses to let the series expand beyond the first 5 stories or beyond Moon being the complete central character. If she pushed for the show to get a new series with new stories and pushing it further into an ensemble show....SM could likely have a HUGE resurgenace.
I dunno because didn't she have say in the musicals? Those do a lot of wild things that uses anime ideas and original ones too. Even the newer ones which stick closer to the Manga change stuff up a lot.
I think an easy thing to do something different would be to make the story about Usagi and the inners ala a Sentai season. In other words Usagi is not THE main character but is the most prominent of the 5 main characters.