What mistake did this reboot make?

[Slowpokeking]

I mean Sailor Moon's reboot is supposed to be much more popular than what it got now.

Too far from 90s' anime(which most of the ppl really like).

Season 1's awful quality.

Manga can't be adapted 1:1, it needs good fillers, and the changes were bad.

 

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Not adapting the side stories or Codename Sailor V. Not bringing back the rest of the original cast.

 

[Maraviollantes]

I mean Sailor Moon's reboot is supposed to be much more popular than what it got now.

Supposed by whom? Personally, I supposed it would be much less popular.

 

[Akari @ria]

Starting with the low budget (don't tell me it was high because otherwise they are unjustifiable), they were unable to transpose many scenes into animation. There is an episode of the first season in which Usagi suddenly faints and is supported by Mamoru/Tuxedo Kamen. In the manga Usagi has been brainwashed by the enemy and is looking for the Ginzuishou, in a state of semi-consciousness she faints under the weight of the thoughts and the evil power of the enemy.
In Crystal, a moment before, the senshi have blocked the enemy attack on the city, so why does Usagi faints afterwards???

Character designs that are not spot on, animations that are often slow and wooden, characters that most of the time do not exude emotions...

Comparing the scenes already seen in the 90's anime to those of Crystal/eternal/cosmos we can see the downgrade and the little care put into this remake.

Even crystal season III, which is the best season of the entire remake, is far from perfect.
Disproportionate bodies that seem to be made of rubber, the senshi's faces seem to be a carbon copy of each other, scenes that are sometimes too fast, with some freedom of expression by the animators (present in the entire remake) with questionable choices (they could have worked on the real appearance of Mistress 9 a little more, come on...).

Throughout the remake, the senshi's powers are downgraded compared to the manga, the bloody or grotesque scenes are all censored (I still wonder why, given that the target is an adult audience...)

A bland and often insipid remake, which takes away a lot from the original work that, if transposed with care, can make a good impression.

 

[kasumigenx]

Wrong timing and wrong target audience.

 

[Slowpokeking]

Starting with the low budget (don't tell me it was high because otherwise they are unjustifiable), they were unable to transpose many scenes into animation. There is an episode of the first season in which Usagi suddenly faints and is supported by Mamoru/Tuxedo Kamen. In the manga Usagi has been brainwashed by the enemy and is looking for the Ginzuishou, in a state of semi-consciousness she faints under the weight of the thoughts and the evil power of the enemy.
In Crystal, a moment before, the senshi have blocked the enemy attack on the city, so why does Usagi faints afterwards???

Character designs that are not spot on, animations that are often slow and wooden, characters that most of the time do not exude emotions...

Comparing the scenes already seen in the 90's anime to those of Crystal/eternal/cosmos we can see the downgrade and the little care put into this remake.

Even crystal season III, which is the best season of the entire remake, is far from perfect.
Disproportionate bodies that seem to be made of rubber, the senshi's faces seem to be a carbon copy of each other, scenes that are sometimes too fast, with some freedom of expression by the animators (present in the entire remake) with questionable choices (they could have worked on the real appearance of Mistress 9 a little more, come on...).

Throughout the remake, the senshi's powers are downgraded compared to the manga, the bloody or grotesque scenes are all censored (I still wonder why, given that the target is an adult audience...)

A bland and often insipid remake, which takes away a lot from the original work that, if transposed with care, can make a good impression.

Also most of the fans like the 90s anime, not the manga, to be fair.

But they tried to adapt the manga and added some bad changes.

 

[kasumigenx]

Also most of the fans like the 90s anime, not the manga, to be fair.

But they tried to adapt the manga and added some bad changes.

They should have continued to adapt both the Manga and Materials Collection in Crystal after the first arc and not played it safe.

 

[Tkcito]

On an absolutely and totally personal level. I've always had a theory as to why Crystal exists as a product.

That is, Toei didn't need Sailor Moon under any circumstances, they already had dozens of seasons of PreCure for that. So what's the point of releasing a new low-quality anime that supposedly meticulously respected the manga's narrative (we've already seen that this didn't happen in several points)? Well, I think it was due to copyright issues, plain and simple.

Thanks to big companies like Marvel and DC, I've learned that contracts for the transfer of film rights have some fairly common clauses. Without going too far off the bat, Fox had a new Daredevil movie ready before Marvel/Disney bought the studio. Fox took too long to get the movie into production and the Daredevil film rights reverted to Marvel. Fox tried to negotiate with Disney in exchange for several characters, but Disney refused. With this we know something basic about these contracts. If a company buys the rights to a franchise and doesn't use them for several years, those rights revert to the original author.

Sailor Moon Crystal didn't even come out in a logical timeline (i mean, in a time when the product was still popular) it was born many years after the classic anime ended. I think Toei did the same with Crystal, the unnecessary Doremi movie and more franchises of the type. They release those products to keep the exploitation rights of a work valid and so that these do not return to the original author so that he cannot sell them to other studios. I repeat that this is a theory at all levels, but I think it is quite plausible due to the lack of budget and interest that Crystal had. I still remember that with Dragonball Super they started with the same problems of bad drawing and in the end they corrected the problems a lot while Crystal...

Well, we already know what happened with this reboot. So I think the main problem with all this has been Toei and its way of managing the licenses they have acquired. Sailor Moon is no longer necessary for Toei. On a commercial level, they've put more effort into releasing products from the classic anime than they have into merchandising for Crystal. So, if they've put more effort into making money off of their old toys and haven't given Sailor Moon a place as their main Magical Girls series (you only have to compare the quality of Precure's transformations from that time with Crystal's) and haven't wanted to invest the resources to make a deluxe version for fans, what I understand is that the only thing Toei was interested in with Crystal, was to keep Sailor Moon under its wing.

 

[Lady Pen]

In one of Fumio Osano’s interviews, he confirmed that it was actually Naoko herself who pitched the idea of a reboot to Toei for the franchise’s 20th anniversary.
The fact of the matter is, as we’ve said countless times here, the manga’s story just doesn’t work—whether as a comic, an animated series, or in films. It doesn’t work. It’s poorly written, poorly drawn, and poorly paced. And then, of course, you’ve got to add the shoddy animation, largely due to a lack of sponsors, something Precure can boast plenty of.
Everyone knows the manga was essentially used as a storyboard (as we saw in some pictures posted some time ago) for adapting the story panel by panel into animation, but if the blueprint is a train wreck to begin with, there’s not much you can do to save it.

Whether it was Toei’s decision or a direct order from Naoko Takeuchi herself, using the manga as the storyboard was the biggest misstep of the reboot. The reason PGSM and the classic anime managed to work, at least to some extent, was because, at some point, they veered away from the manga, keeping only a handful of shared concepts.

 

[PreguntasDesconocidas]

To elaborate on what Tkcito wrote, Sailor Moon is an old franchise. Outside of Japan and the U.S., it does not receive much official attention, fanfare, merchandise, etc. Toei views it as a legacy franchise. The Japanese kids who originally watched SM are about 40 now - 30 when Crystal released. Many international fans love Sailor Moon - especially in Brazil and Mexico - but Toei doesn't seem to care. They alienated a large part of their own market and imo they, with help from Takeuchi, prevented it from becoming a generational franchise.

 

[kasumigenx]

In one of Fumio Osano’s interviews, he confirmed that it was actually Naoko herself who pitched the idea of a reboot to Toei for the franchise’s 20th anniversary.

It is obvious since there were animated comics in the Sailor Moon Channel back in the day and she did not even bother to celebrate the 15th anniversary of SM because of her issues with TOEI and Kodansha.

 

[Tkcito]

In one of Fumio Osano’s interviews, he confirmed that it was actually Naoko herself who pitched the idea of a reboot to Toei for the franchise’s 20th anniversary.
The fact of the matter is, as we’ve said countless times here, the manga’s story just doesn’t work—whether as a comic, an animated series, or in films. It doesn’t work. It’s poorly written, poorly drawn, and poorly paced. And then, of course, you’ve got to add the shoddy animation, largely due to a lack of sponsors, something Precure can boast plenty of.
Everyone knows the manga was essentially used as a storyboard (as we saw in some pictures posted some time ago) for adapting the story panel by panel into animation, but if the blueprint is a train wreck to begin with, there’s not much you can do to save it.

Whether it was Toei’s decision or a direct order from Naoko Takeuchi herself, using the manga as the storyboard was the biggest misstep of the reboot. The reason PGSM and the classic anime managed to work, at least to some extent, was because, at some point, they veered away from the manga, keeping only a handful of shared concepts.

Before I start, let me say that the neighbors on my street are probably going to ask you for the fits of laughter I had yesterday reading your answers about Naoko's look in Vogue. I want to say that your notes on Naoko's art are super instructive.

And yes, I think that manga outside of its own printed medium doesn't work (and sometimes on paper either) I think Sailor Moon needs a new anime house to take the IP and make a totally new product with several modifications to the original (with Naoko's supervision if she wants). When we were watching Crystal a friend and I commented on it: the main lack of interest in this product is that they are using the manga, panel by panel, to create the anime. They haven't bothered to give us anything new and in their own way. My friend always said that having the Senshi in a flashback in their princess form and explaining why they are so devoted to the Moon Princess hadn't made any difference in the manga canon. Instead, they gave us crochet frames and a scene of Luna as a human that nobody asked for. I think the most painful thing about the manga is seeing that the girls don't have any big moments as friends. We just see them being dragged along by the events of the big villains of the arc and then their relationship with Usagi is almost non-existent. As if they were just friends because in a past life where we didn't see them interact much, they were and that's it. In that aspect, the classic anime (as much as people hate it) did a much better job and created much stronger bonds and personalities than the manga.

About Naoko suggesting the new anime, I usually don't believe those outbursts and I see them more as a way of doing positive marketing. But I can usually deny that everything you've answered me makes perfect sense. I've always been very interested in Naoko's thoughts on Crystal. Considering the anime has gone through so many style changes and even a change in format, I don't think anyone involved is very happy about that.

 

[kasumigenx]

And yes, I think that manga outside of its own printed medium doesn't work (and sometimes on paper either) I think Sailor Moon needs a new anime house to take the IP and make a totally new product with several modifications to the original (with Naoko's supervision if she wants).

That is only possible with Sailor V since TOEI has not touched it yet, it is more complicated for Sailor Moon because the work was commissioned by both TOEI and Kodansha.

 

[Tkcito]

That is only possible with Sailor V since TOEI has not touched it yet, it is more complicated for Sailor Moon because the work was commissioned by both TOEI and Kodansha.

This is curious, because I seem to remember (I think) that at the editorial level Sailor V was linked to Sailor Moon when it came to acquiring the Shinsouban licenses. I don't know if it will be distributed equally in all aspects.

 

[Slowpokeking]

To elaborate on what Tkcito wrote, Sailor Moon is an old franchise. Outside of Japan and the U.S., it does not receive much official attention, fanfare, merchandise, etc. Toei views it as a legacy franchise. The Japanese kids who originally watched SM are about 40 now - 30 when Crystal released. Many international fans love Sailor Moon - especially in Brazil and Mexico - but Toei doesn't seem to care. They alienated a large part of their own market and imo they, with help from Takeuchi, prevented it from becoming a generational franchise.

No, it was quite popular among the world during its prime.

It did receive a lot of attention and after 2014 NA has become a bigger market for them.

 

[JunoDX]

Looking back at it - the biggest mistake was to not build up on the og anime. They should have used the character design of the 90s and hired all original voice actors.

 

[kasumigenx]

Looking back at it - the biggest mistake was to not build up on the og anime. They should have used the character design of the 90s and hired all original voice actors.

Sakou wanted to reuse the design of the 90s, it is TOEI and PNP's fault that forced Sakou to use the manga designs, they gave the blame to Sakou instead of blaming themselves and allow Sakou to continue with the 90s designs as she wanted.

 

[Slowpokeking]

Looking back at it - the biggest mistake was to not build up on the og anime. They should have used the character design of the 90s and hired all original voice actors.

Yeah, they also got Another Story to shoot.

 

[JunoDX]

Sakou wanted to reuse the design of the 90s, it is TOEI and PNP's fault that forced Sakou to use the manga designs, they gave the blame to Sakou instead of blaming themselves and allow Sakou to continue with the 90s designs as she wanted.

Do you have a source for that? I can’t imagine Sakou’s art emulating the 90s designs.

 

[SailorBookworm]

Yukie Sakou honestly was a bad artist but her designs suffered from bad artwork overall and a lack of decent animators and storyboards that were partially inconsistent. Akira Takahashi isn't "generic" some people just liked Season 1 and Season 2 moreso and believed it had designs were quote on quote more engaging while the minority opinion that Season 3 had a design with less 'details' and as well as a complaint was it's home release lacking animation improvements "touch ups".