Sailor Moon Art Director motifs

[Talentless Fool]

Ok, let's take a look at the Ami Special's henshin
It's just so good!!!

I LOVE how much focus is put on the Mercury gem on Ami's forehead!
It's such a 'Sailor Moon fantasy' vibe!
It was a major big thing during the Prism henshin and honestly it's much more iconic than showing the planet signs on the girls forehead like what Crystermos does.

Could this be ANYMORE '90s fantasy anime'?!

Now I really wish the other girls got their new transformation footages too!
You go girl!

 

[Talentless Fool]

It's interesting that despite the bodies being more 'censored' compared to the regular henshins of the TV series, the bodies are nonetheless even more explicit on their curves and sensuality.

She's literally unleashing a torrent while transforming!
Also, I love how the background art perfectly meshes with her ballet dancing - everything marries in completely harmony!

Now, this part is kinda weird.
It would have been better if her body remained behind the stream of water in shadows.

Just AMAZING.ANIMATION!

Look how fluid this is!

The 90s Sailor Moon animation was just something else!

 

[Talentless Fool]

They really did a great job in updating her henshin while still retaining key elements of her regular one!

She's so beautiful!

Status of rival ... = MERCURIOUS = THE ENEMY = TO BE DEFEATED!!!

 

[Chiibihime]

Another thing about Tadano I noticed in her illustrations is how she'll add these line highlights to the pupils that help create the curvature of the eyeball.

That's a really cool detail that I never noticed!! Maybe I will try doing it too lol

 

[saintfighteraqua]

It fascinates me how well they could animate things like water, electricity and fire in the 90s anime. Like, just look at Mercury's attack. Look at Jupiter, the way they managed to bring those attacks and henshins together is incredible and what took days of work on each part happens for us in moments on screen.
These breakdowns really show how impressive the artists and animators were.
Newer animation just seems to rely so heavily on CGI with varying degrees of effectiveness for elemental and magic attacks. It just loses that human touch and soul when they do that so heavily.

One of my friends was praising Crystal on his first watch claiming it looked so much better than the old series and I asked him how he could say that.
He said it had better coloring and better animation. He was also impressed with how fast everything flowed (to be fair, maybe that is Crystal's greatest strength is that its over so quickly, lol).
I was confused. But he's not an artist, so I decided that had to have a lot to do with it and he admits he doesn't think about things that way. People see something shiny and think its better. Some of the colors themselves in Crystal are very pretty, but there is a lack of subtlety, everything is just colored the way it is because grass is green and sky is blue. It's not artistic.
I don't think that's a human flaw, I think it's how most people see art and animation.

The same thing is true with music. We don't get those unpredictable compositions, the surprises. It's all packaged to be sold with no real love for the art. Most of the music industry now is soulless garbage. Even the "song writers" like Swift have become stale and corporate.
Even when modern music tries to emulate older styles of music it comes off like those AI covers of better versions of song.
I think it's the same with animation.

Back in the 90s, while Disney and Toei certainly were all about that money...they still had passion in their projects and they understood that passion reached people.
But the art, the beauty, the everlasting legacy and Beauty & the Beast (1991) wasn't enough. Instead of trying to create works that stand on their own or even out do the older films...Disney chose nostalgia bait. And all they see is $ signs. Why make a new masterpiece on the level of Beauty & the Beast that brings in millions when you can make an ugly, soulless trash heap like Beauty & the Beast (2017) that brings in a billion? Who cares if it's forgotten in a year as long as it makes memes and money? Thank goodness that strategy is dying.
I can't help but feel thrilled every time one of these garbage fire remakes or sequels burns hundreds of millions for Disney.

 

[Memelord_Yoshi]

One of my friends was praising Crystal on his first watch claiming it looked so much better than the old series and I asked him how he could say that.
He said it had better coloring and better animation. He was also impressed with how fast everything flowed (to be fair, maybe that is Crystal's greatest strength is that its over so quickly, lol).
I was confused. But he's not an artist, so I decided that had to have a lot to do with it and he admits he doesn't think about things that way. People see something shiny and think its better. Some of the colors themselves in Crystal are very pretty, but there is a lack of subtlety, everything is just colored the way it is because grass is green and sky is blue. It's not artistic.
I don't think that's a human flaw, I think it's how most people see art and animation.

The same thing is true with music. We don't get those unpredictable compositions, the surprises. It's all packaged to be sold with no real love for the art. Most of the music industry now is soulless garbage. Even the "song writers" like Swift have become stale and corporate.

 

[Talentless Fool]

Continuing on, let's look at the Mercury Aqua Mirage (and later on the Crystal version cause it can't compare).

I'm not a big fan of the planetary signs appearing in the attacks, it's super cool and badass for the Super-level attacks but the way Crystal used them for Pluto and Saturn's attacks was very bland and unnecessary.

Regardless, here, there are some nice effects/animations!

The animation is quite simple but I really love the fluidity with which the water moves to morph into a ball!

You gotta love when the girls do their magic tricks during their stocks

I love how the Water Orb is perfectly round and stable (something we won't have with the Crystal version...)

 

[Chiibihime]

I don't hate Crystal after Season 2...but everyone's problems with Crystal are the exact same reasons why I hate the Tokyo Mew Mew remake.

The 20-year-old show is VASTLY superior in every single way....how do you fail that badly??

 

[Late to the Game]

I don't hate Crystal after Season 2...but everyone's problems with Crystal are the exact same reasons why I hate the Tokyo Mew Mew remake.

The 20-year-old show is VASTLY superior in every single way....how do you fail that badly??

The Tokyo Mew Mew remake wasn't animated by TOEI, was it? I guess it's a general aesthetic direction some anime started taking around the mid 2010s that simply can't hold a candle to some of the works done in the 90s.

I think @Talentless Fool made a very good point about two pages ago on this thread, showing the stages of digital animation and how it's the end of the process that seems to be ruining it somewhat.

It fascinates me how well they could animate things like water, electricity and fire in the 90s anime. Like, just look at Mercury's attack. Look at Jupiter, the way they managed to bring those attacks and henshins together is incredible and what took days of work on each part happens for us in moments on screen.

These breakdowns really show how impressive the artists and animators were.

Newer animation just seems to rely so heavily on CGI with varying degrees of effectiveness for elemental and magic attacks. It just loses that human touch and soul when they do that so heavily.



One of my friends was praising Crystal on his first watch claiming it looked so much better than the old series and I asked him how he could say that.

He said it had better coloring and better animation. He was also impressed with how fast everything flowed (to be fair, maybe that is Crystal's greatest strength is that its over so quickly, lol).

I was confused. But he's not an artist, so I decided that had to have a lot to do with it and he admits he doesn't think about things that way. People see something shiny and think its better. Some of the colors themselves in Crystal are very pretty, but there is a lack of subtlety, everything is just colored the way it is because grass is green and sky is blue. It's not artistic.

I don't think that's a human flaw, I think it's how most people see art and animation.



The same thing is true with music. We don't get those unpredictable compositions, the surprises. It's all packaged to be sold with no real love for the art. Most of the music industry now is soulless garbage. Even the "song writers" like Swift have become stale and corporate.

Even when modern music tries to emulate older styles of music it comes off like those AI covers of better versions of song.

I think it's the same with animation.



Back in the 90s, while Disney and Toei certainly were all about that money...they still had passion in their projects and they understood that passion reached people.

But the art, the beauty, the everlasting legacy and Beauty & the Beast (1991) wasn't enough. Instead of trying to create works that stand on their own or even out do the older films...Disney chose nostalgia bait. And all they see is $ signs. Why make a new masterpiece on the level of Beauty & the Beast that brings in millions when you can make an ugly, soulless trash heap like Beauty & the Beast (2017) that brings in a billion? Who cares if it's forgotten in a year as long as it makes memes and money? Thank goodness that strategy is dying.

I can't help but feel thrilled every time one of these garbage fire remakes or sequels burns hundreds of
millions for Disney.

I really doubt your friend would have praised Crystal had he taken the time to watch attentively and compare the two versions. In a way, Crystal will look "better" at first glance simply because it's in native high definition and it doesn't have the atrocious colour cast issues the "remastered" version of the 90s anime has. We're conditioned by the industry to dismiss older releases and to think sharper and brighter is automatically better but let's face it, we're rarely paying proper attention to the images (or the story itself). To use Mercury's henshin as an example, there's a difference between understanding something is supposed to be water because, well, it's blue and I hear water sound FX, and the shapes and the movement actually looking like and feeling like water. But telling the difference would require attention to something beyond surface level, and this is getting harder to get by the minute.

 

[saintfighteraqua]

The Tokyo Mew Mew remake wasn't animated by TOEI, was it? I guess it's a general aesthetic direction some anime started taking around the mid 2010s that simply can't hold a candle to some of the works done in the 90s.

I think @Talentless Fool made a very good point about two pages ago on this thread, showing the stages of digital animation and how it's the end of the process that seems to be ruining it somewhat.


I really doubt your friend would have praised Crystal had he taken the time to watch attentively and compare the two versions. In a way, Crystal will look "better" at first glance simply because it's in native high definition and it doesn't have the atrocious colour cast issues the "remastered" version of the 90s anime has. We're conditioned by the industry to dismiss older releases and to think sharper and brighter is automatically better but let's face it, we're rarely paying proper attention to the images (or the story itself). To use Mercury's henshin as an example, there's a difference between understanding something is supposed to be water because, well, it's blue and I hear water sound FX, and the shapes and the movement actually looking like and feeling like water. But telling the difference would require attention to something beyond surface level, and this is getting harder to get by the minute.

I suspect you're right. And that's also a fair point when considering the awful remastered versions. I think the time-damaged pink shades in Sailor Moon are far superior to the washed out job in the Viz version's initial release (the second release is an improvement, but that makes me even mre furious since now I'm having to double dip (actually TRIPLE DIP counting the ADV and Pioneer releases) just to enjoy it. Never mind now these sets are a fraction of the cost and seem to actually work, unlike the original ones which often came with dead blu-ray discs. Viz quality control and customer support sucks, btw.

Initially, I really wanted to love Crystal, and parts of it are beautiful...they are just generic and don't feel like the manga or 90s anime. I think something that was actually going to be a homage to the manga would still have those dreamy doily-shaped things Naoko stamped all over her stuff. Once thing I will definitely give the manga is that it had an atmosphere with those backgrounds that felt connected to the first season, especially.
Crystal lacks that ethereal, day-dream vibe and when it does go for it, it misses it.

I'm not trying to insult my friend's perspective and I'm not trying to say I have some mastery over understanding artistic choices.

 

[Chiibihime]

The Tokyo Mew Mew remake wasn't animated by TOEI, was it?

Nope, it's by two studios; Yumeta Company and Graphinica. Both of them haven't done many anime (only one page on Livechart)

I guess it's a general aesthetic direction some anime started taking around the mid 2010s that simply can't hold a candle to some of the works done in the 90s.

Mew was 2002 but BINGO BINGO BINGO

I particularly HATE the 'washed out colors' look so many modern anime have.

Someone said "That has to do with the type of TVs they are made for now"....but shows like Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun and JJBA are SO bright and vibrant that I have a really hard time buying that excuse.

 

[Late to the Game]

I suspect you're right. And that's also a fair point when considering the awful remastered versions. I think the time-damaged pink shades in Sailor Moon are far superior to the washed out job in the Viz version's initial release (the second release is an improvement, but that makes me even mre furious since now I'm having to double dip (actually TRIPLE DIP counting the ADV and Pioneer releases) just to enjoy it. Never mind now these sets are a fraction of the cost and seem to actually work, unlike the original ones which often came with dead blu-ray discs. Viz quality control and customer support sucks, btw.

Initially, I really wanted to love Crystal, and parts of it are beautiful...they are just generic and don't feel like the manga or 90s anime. I think something that was actually going to be a homage to the manga would still have those dreamy doily-shaped things Naoko stamped all over her stuff. Once thing I will definitely give the manga is that it had an atmosphere with those backgrounds that felt connected to the first season, especially.
Crystal lacks that ethereal, day-dream vibe and when it does go for it, it misses it.

I'm not trying to insult my friend's perspective and I'm not trying to say I have some mastery over understanding artistic choices.

I really wish I loved Crystal too. I think I would have at least liked it, if it had pleased me aesthetically or narratively. Unfortunately, it did neither.

But anyway, the remasters of the 90s anime are terrible. The pink tint is bad but at least it sort of fits the mood of the show, while the cyan tint in S and especially SuperS, as well as the dull colours of Stars, are even worse. Only the second half of Sailor Moon Classic and the R season look minimally decent, it's a shame.

And I agree, as much as I don't like Naoko Takeuchi's anatomy, panelling and storytelling, her work does have a dream-like vibe to which Crystal failed to make justice.

 

[Rika-Chicchi]

These just scream early 90s don't they?

Yes, and they are extremely expressive and full of energy.

I.e. they look so genki.

That finishing pose is a big improvement from the regular "I'm gonna piss" one.

 

[Late to the Game]

That finishing pose is a big improvement from the regular "I'm gonna piss" one.

LOL indeed

 

[Talentless Fool]

Sensualitayyyyy!

Gorgeous!

Now, the art might not be that stellar or detailed - it actually reminds me of Ando but it really flows well in animation!

The back bow! THE BACK BOW!!!!!!!!!

Look how well this flows!
The sequence catches our eyes and focuses us on the water ball and Mercury starts moving, using her whole body to trace the shape of a circle!
So fluid!!!
So magical looking!!!

She looks so badass!

Some call magic ~ Lalala ~ It all works out ~

All of the 90s stocks feel so magical while Crystermos' feel just typical powerful...

Great tempo!
It slows down to focus on the ball of water dropping, builds momentum and tension with Mercury powering up and wind in her hair and speeds up in an instant!

 

[Talentless Fool]

So we gotta discuss what she does cause the Aqua Mirage is kinda a complex attack.
First, Mercury summons and concentrates her power manifesting it into a sphere of water.
Then, she concentrates and moves and crashes it at her feet which unleashes a great stream of water all around her.

Following that, she raises her 2 hands above her head as the water dances around her and when her 2 hands join, a great light is created.

She concentrates all of that energy into an energy ball.

That same energy ball merges with all of the water she unleashed beforehand and ascends to the heavens.
I have to wonder if this isn't the same original water sphere she created at the beginning of the attack.

The energy ball finally bursts away revealing several other smaller orbs.

Which immediately start firing away like a Gatling gun.

As the individual shots get speed, they power up.
Some merge together while others rush forward.

The water streams seem to have a head-hunting ability and seem extremely hard to dodge.
However, the weaker, faster and unpowered shots seem to act as a lure only for the major, main shot to hit the enemy.

The attack traps the enemy into a prison of water, bursts and turns the target into a time bomb.

Basically, Ami creates an energy ball that constantly in contact with the water she generated keeps getting powered up on and on and turns everything it touches into a nuclear bomb.

Ami really went ham!

 

[tux67]

They really should've made Mercury Aqua Mirage her main SuperS attack. Mercury Aqua Rhapsody was just a shinier Shine Aqua Illusion.

 

[Talentless Fool]

The Crystal version however... is a poor imitation.

The beginning is similar and has some nice effects.

However, I have no idea why they changed the shape of the water orb into an egg shape one!
It just looks so odd, so jarring and simply bizarre

Overall it looks very good and smooth.

The rest... isn't.

 

[Talentless Fool]

These following frames are GORGEOUS to look at and very dynamic.
One of the things that really stick out of Takahashi's design are the butterfly shape he gave to the bows.

Animation wise, however, it completely loses to the 90s version.

It's not badly animated or lacks frames or anything but while the 90s version looks so elegant and smooth, here it's just looks quick and that's it.
There's no mysticism in it.
Compared to the 90s version, you won't even notice Mercury is supposed to be drawing a circle.
Not to mention, the water stream she generates looks so puny... it looks more like thunder or ribbons than surging water.
Look at the 'wind' in her hair, skirt, bows... it's barely moving while in the 90s version she looks like she's in a hair commercial!

Recently, I've gone back to the 3rd season and while it's still the best overall animated set of the Crystermos adaptation... it has already aged so much!
It's already looks dated! Just like Eternal does and soon just like Cosmos will look as well.
Aside from the henshins of Mercury/Mars and the attacks of Venus/Jupiter (mainly because of their new choreography), every other stock has lost it's charm for me.
It's still well done but compared to the 90s version which even today look phenomenal, both on the art and animation, the Crystal III ones don't.

Crystal III also has these very toned-down colors.
It's definitely better that Crystal I-II and Eternal had the perfect cold but eye-popping colors however those of Crystal III look so dark and kinda 'lifeless' which inadvertently makes it look even more old.

 

[YuYu Yuichiro]

The Crystal version however... is a poor imitation.

The beginning is similar and has some nice effects.

However, I have no idea why they changed the shape of the water orb into an egg shape one!
It just looks so odd, so jarring and simply bizarre

Overall it looks very good and smooth.

The rest... isn't.

It always weirded me out that the orb's an oval instead of a circle