Finally after 22 years since its debut of the original series we are presented with a reboot of a show that popularized not just anime but the mahou shojo genre!  Toei Animation returns to adapt the popular manga by Naoko Takeuchi.  As a kid I recall watching this series as it aired alongside Dragonball Z, Thundercats and Johnny Quest over the course of its programming.  This show was popular and probably even more so than Cowboy Bebop when people talk about Japanese anime.  Developing a remake to follow the manga’s story more closely was talked about for years but here we’ve finally got the first episode in 2014.

I’ve got to say this show’s animation was designed differently to the ’92 anime adaptation but more faithful to the manga’s artwork.  It looks great!  However the departure of Junichi Sato is sorely missed on this classic rendition- we’ve got Munehisa Sakai at the helm.  This has me a bit worried I mean this guy has directed like what?  One series?  Suite Precure.  Compared to Heartcatch Precure, Suite had terrible animation and lacked any elements to draw the viewer in.

Sailor Moon Crystal’s first episode had solid pacing, beautiful animation and incredibly well-done music!  Seriously!  Takanashi composed for Mononoke, Shiki and Toward the Terra.  All of these are amazing series one of which lands in my Top 10 best anime!

Aside from the music, we’ve got a young cast to portray a lot of the characters and yet the creators decided on casting the original seiyu.  Kotono Mitsuishi.  Wrong move guys.  A 46-year old seiyu to play a 14-year old school-girl?  It sounds strange right?  Well this was the only horrible aspect of the entire episode!  Hopefully they can do something this as the series progresses!

Likely to Blog: 80%