There was an event today at the Anime Japan convention in which we saw the new Sailor Moon Crystal opening, closing, got a new trailer and even got a preview of what seems to be about half of Act 27. All of this footage is now available online, though the episode footage is of lower quality with people talking over it. Those people happen to be the voice actors for Sailor Moon, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn as well as the new director, but this is still a fairly terrible way to watch a clip.
This is not all of Act 27, yet it appears to be a continuous episode. Is this what people saw at the premiere event earlier this month? If it is then we may have been wrong in assuming Sailor Moon Crystal will not have a 1:1 ratio of manga chapters to episodes. Yes this clip concludes after the fight with the Daimon that comes from the girls at Mugen Academy but at less than 12 minutes we are hardly getting a full episode. Not everything seen here is in proper order either. We see Usagi disguised as a student of Mugen Academy. Is this a change in the order of the story or are we just being presented with a bunch of out of order clips from the first two episodes, strung together in a somewhat cohesive way? Regardless, it was mentioned that this season will span 13 episodes and there are 11 manga chapters for the Infinity Arc, so while this isn’t a 1:1 ratio, only two new episodes will be added to this season. It is still not clear if or how Act 27 will be split.
The better quality footage is of the music videos for the opening and ending themes. We previously mentioned that this is only the first of the ending themes and that many CDs would be released throughout the coming months. Also included is the CD cover art for the first single.
Here is the new opening In Love With the New Moon sung by Etsuko Yakushimaru. She previously sang the cover of Otome no Policy on the 20th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album and her voice here reminds me a lot of that song. This new opening has a lot of naked people in it, if you’re into that.
Next is the first ending theme Eternal Eternity sung by the voices of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, Junko Minagawa and Sayaka Ohara. This song reminds me of a few other anime themes including the opening theme for Revolutionary Girl Utena. Some of the visuals reminds me of the footage in the opening as well. The other that came to mind was a song from the Street Fighter II anime movie Itoshisa To Setsunasa To Kokoro Tsuyosa. Yes I know, I seem to only have watched anime the late 90s. It was better then.
Finally we have the new trailer, which includes some footage we’ve seen before.
There’s a lot of new footage here so I’ve included a bunch of screenshots for your convenience lower in the post. Of note is just how different Luna and Artemis look! Reminds me of something out of the Moon Animate Make-Up! project. What do you think of the new animation? I think it looks great, but obviously a bit different. I’m real excited for this new season which is a bit over a week away. Here’s hoping we get some news about a streaming version soon.
Source: Sailor Moon Official Site
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Watch more leaked Sailor Moon Crystal footage including the ending theme -
The Sailor Moon Crystal opening theme “Moon Pride” and ending theme “Gekkou” by Momoiro Clover Z -
The Infinity Arc of Sailor Moon Crystal will have more than one episode per manga chapter -
The voices of Chibiusa and Tuxedo Mask will sing ending themes for Sailor Moon Crystal
1. I dont think the preview is the half of episode 27, it is clearly a mixture of eps 27 and 28 which together represent the manga chapter Act 27 Infinity 1 – Premonition. All the footage except the battle with cat daimon is from ep. 27 and the battle itself is from ep. 28. I think they choose this second battle scene from chapter 27 because they want to show Hotaru… We can see the fragments of the first battle scene (which will be the part of ep. 27) in trailers – it is the one which happens on the street of Tokyo in daytime when Infinity Academy student is targeted by daimon egg and the spider daimon emerge from her back.
2. Crystal is following the revised manga so there is 12 chapters not 11. Thus it is obvious that they split only the manga chapter 27 which is really longer than other Infinity Arc chapters.
3. Some scenes in new trailer are even from ep. 29 which represents manga chapter Act 28 Infinity 2 – Ripples. Those scenes are the ones from the woods and from Eudial´s evil camp. Regarding Eudial, I want to ask some fan who knows all the details about manga – as far as I remember, Eudial first appeared in action only in Act 28 but in the preview we can see her targeting the cat with daimon egg, which is the part of the second half of Act 27. So I think it is a new scene make only for anime, isnt it?
Wow,I take back everything that I said about Sayaka Ohara being to deep for Michiru/Sailor Neptune , she is the most perfect voice for my beloved Michiru
I don’t think I like the opening song but the opening video it is gorgeous. The ending song is one of the best endings in every way
I just can’t wait for Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 cause for all we got till now it is going to be perfect
It is wonderful, isn’t it?
Everything looks sooooo good! I love how they’re paying homage to the og anime in their attacks. Can’t waiiiit!! Also I would love it if the first two seasons got some sort of re-edit with this new team and got a re-release. Thats moon stick/cutie moon rod mix up still bugs me
hello Haruka so is a really men???? because his voice……………………………….
Haruka is not a man. Just because she has a deep voice doesn’t mean she’s a man. I actually think her voice is perfect. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I like her way more than Ogata Megumi.
In the scene where Michiru was getting out of the pool did anyone else hear Haruka’s Voice Actress say “Sexy”? lol
Lol
I’ve been watching the opening and ending over and over since this morning. I love them both…though they both have problems for me.
I don’t think that was a whole chapter at all, it was way too fragmented, excluded the transformation scenes, which we’ve heard previously, do appear with new henshin pens shown, and the fact that we don’t see Usagi disguise among other things shows it’s fragmented in a way that is continuous but still not complete.
Those voice actresses! XD I love them but SHUT UP WHILE I’M WATCHING!
Uranus’ voice is so deep…it almost seems even more appropriate i some ways than the Ogata’s voice!! (I still love her too, though.)
Hahah when you said “Those voice actresses! XD I love them but SHUT UP WHILE I’M WATCHING!” Haha that was my reaction when I first saw that sort of “half” of the first episode XD LOL
I’m not really liking this new art style. It represents the ugly side of anime for me and I don’t like this art style. First half animation style was much better
Speak for yourself… It just amazes me that anyone could have enjoyed the cringe worth and derpy moments of Crystal season 1. This is a HIGE improvement and its appearing they have listened to the fans. It astounds me how bad the taste of the Crystal season 1 apologists are that I have to wonder if they just complain for the sake of complaining. This clearly has a much bigger budget that boasts rich, detailed and fluid animation.
I prefer art style of season 1 too, so I guess I’ll be labeled as a Crystal apologist too… Seriously, you haters are the worst
I remember how excited I was over the original Crystal and that goosebumps feeling you get when watching Sailor Moon and now it’s all just meh for me… This exciting feeling, these goosebumbs are gone.
That looks cool. And I’m gonna keep praying for a Pokemon/Sailor Moon anime crossover with the return of the voice actors of Aya Hisakawa as Sailor Mercury, Michie Tomizawa as Sailor Mars, Emi Shinohara as Sailor Jupiter, Rica Fukami as Sailor Venus, Toru Furuya as Tuxedo Mask, Kae Araki as Sailor Chibi Moon, Keiko Han as Luna, and Yasuhiro Takato as Artemis.
I’m sure you agreed with Haruka’s VA’s comments about Michiru looking sexy in her swimsuit, right? You’re going to be praying a long time when you could be praying for world peace or economic equality.
Thanks for the compliment.
Haha, what? Do you actually read, bro?
I like the new animation, personally. The characters look a little less stiff and a bit more anime-ish, which is a nice touch. They also don’t all have lipstick, which is a definite improvement (Chibiusa is way too young to be wearing make-up. And I know she’s 900, but still!). Also liked the new transformation sequence for Sailor Moon. We were owed that. I do have some reservations about the attack animation sequences we saw. I think that’s a bit too much like the original anime, and I liked how Crystal didn’t overuse those in the first season. Hopefully they aren’t trying to imitate some of the distinctive parts of the original anime in the new season.
Other than that, so far everything looks great.
One more thing though: remember how in the manga it was said that Sailor Uranus has a bit of male and female in her? I always took that to mean she might be transgender, and from what I’ve seen in the clip, they’re being a little ambiguous with her sex and gender identity. I mean, she wears an open shirt but we don’t see what’s under it. Perhaps we’ll get a bit more into that mystery when the anime comes out.
I used to wonder this too, but Naoko Takeuchi stated that she is definitely female. But her voice is super masculine…I love her singing voice!
I remember reading somewhere about the conception of Haruka that Naoko had initially thought of the character as a man but changed her mind when she decided that only women could be sailor senshi. But I do think that her gender identity (how she herself identifies) is supposed to be ambigous as especially Haruka’s and Usagi’s encounters in the manga contain a lot of interesting dialogue. For exampel, when Usagi asks Haruka if shes a man or a woman Haruka replys with Man, Woman, why should things like that matter?
There’s also one scene where Usagi reflects on Haruka both looking like a man and woman and obviously the fact that Haruka is intentionally drawn with a male frame when shes wearing mens clothes both in the manga and og anime. Her face and feautures are also slightly changed at least in the manga when shes in sailor fuku or a boys school uniform.
“I remember reading somewhere about the conception of Haruka that Naoko had initially thought of the character as a man but changed her mind when she decided that only women could be sailor senshi.”
Yes but isn’t Endymion some kind of a Sailor Senshi too ? We could consider him as “Sailor Earth”…
No.
Yeah i guess this is where it gets tricky. If i remember correctly Mamorus golden crystal is the sailor crystal of earth in the manga. So while they never refer to him as a sailor senshi he obviously is the guardian of earth.
When Uranus first shows up together with Neptune in the manga shes wearing a cape and mask making Usagi think that she saw a sailor senshi and a Tuxedo Mask
Thank you for your constructive reply, if this is something we can call a reply. Next one please !
Thank you Erik for your reply. My first reply was for “T.”.
You’re right, Mamoru’s case is tricky, as well as Haruka’s one. As well as the Sailor Starlight’s case, too.
I think that Mamoru is Sailor Earth, but this is a very personal opinion and I know it is not shared by everyone. But then, we can also suggest that the Shitennou are “half Sailor Senshi”, and that this is why they could only survive as gemstones after they were killed, and not reincarnate under their original human form.
As for Haruka and the Starlights, my opinion is that they were reincarnated as male on Earth, but that they “return” to their original gender when they transform into Sailor Senshi. But well, is Haruka really a man ? Or is she pretending to be a man to protect her lesbian relationship and enjoy her male hobbies without being the target of social pression ? That’s the question…
I personally love the Utenaness of the new season and I squeegasmed over the Haruka and Michiru bedroom scene. I hope we’ll get streaming details from Viz soon. It’s just one more week! If you’re looking for some newer anime to watch, Adam, there’s a lot of really good shows out there if you know where to look. You should check out Blood Blockade Battlefront, Space Dandy which is from the creator of Cowboy Bebop, Death Parade, Madoka Magica, Yuri Kuma Arashi which is the latest lesbian romance series from Kunihiko Ikuhara. I also highly recommend Cute Earth High Defense Club Love which is a very funny parody of magical girl anime but all the characters are magical boys and I also highly recommend My Love Story, which is one of the best shoujo romance anime ever. I also recommend Anime News Network’s review guides which are always very helpful when it comes to finding the best anime to watch.
No
Oh I see… Mister T. is a troll. I would be glad if this time, you could answer “Yes.”
Hey guys, don’t you know 3rd arc has 3 OPENINGS TOTAL, WITH VOCALS OF HORIE MITCHKO AND MOMOIRO CLOVER Z?? This version is only one of them. What problem? Other 2 versions will more powerful, and this is just more silent ‘version’
It’s Official! They said it on AnimeJapan2016. Even offical website has informations, too! 3rd arc has 3 Openings and 3 Endings(Haru-Mich, Chibiusa, Mamochan). I think many of western fans didn’t hear this news. I’m not good at english so you guys need to spread this news yourself.
http://sailormoon-official.com/goods/bluraydvdcd/crystaloped3.php
Read this plz(You can use google-translater).
I had heard that we’d get three endings, but not the three openings thing. It’s exciting if they give us that many, though very odd for a 13 episode arc! I’m not complaining though. I hate how most animes only switch up the ending every 13 episodes and the opening every 26-52 episodes.
The more the better!
The link states that it was decided that there will be three works produced for the opening and ending alike. I may be misreading it, but I think that Dessert’s claim is accurate.
i get a feeling that this new season will be refferennsing the first anime version quiet a bit. As I recall from the first season of the Crystal Version we could see the surroundings they were at as they used their attacks. Wich I loved. However in this season it seems they will have stock fotage attacks like in the 90’s. Alsoe the opening remineds me a TONE of the Otome no policy ending in the way its layed up. Sure its not a perfect copy but it is a lot of likeness. Overall I feel the anime wil look good however both the ending and intro seems to have been simplified in the asspect of backgrounds beeing mainly in one colour or a gradient of coloures. But over all it seems eather nice looking
That’s probably because the singer for the opening also sang the cover of Otome no Policy on the 20th anniversary album.
yeah I read that as well
but I just think the simularities are a bit to …. in your face.
I fucking love it! The quality has increased immensely. I’m truly astonished at this point. If all episodes will include this level of art AND animation, then I’ll be a very happy camper.
I , personally don’t like the opening song but the opening video it’s gorgeous and the ending song it’s one of the best song I have heard and seen in my life in every way
That’s great and so promising !!! I loved everything of what I saw
.
One or two terrible details, though : Luna and Artemis have weird heads, as well as Haruka and Mamoru (look at the backs of their heads :/ ). And Usagi’s legs when she transforms are pretty ugly too. Oh, and the girls’ attacks look cheap.
Kaolinite’s voice is wonderful ! And since she is one of my favorite characters in Sailor Moon, I’m really happy to see her in Crystal. I love Uranus/Haruka’s voice too, and I’m eager to hear Pluto/Setsuna’s voice again.
My favorite voices in Crystal are those of Pluto and Jupiter, and now those of Kaolinite and Uranus.
Hope it will be streamed worldwide.
Looks great!
And people, stop complaining about Luna and Artemis’ heads! Naoko drew them that way!
http://the-artifice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/human-cats-300×228.jpg
Great that you posted this! I have to say 13 episodes is a huge disappointment. Wish they had at least 26 or more. Now on to he positive the animation is smoother for sure. I don’t hate on the people who like the new character designs, it is okay. The good part is at least they look younger but I prefer the previous character designs of season 1 and 2 now the animation in the previous seasons was terrible. However, I separate between the animation and the character designs. A lot of people say the character designs were difficult and this one is easier. It’s probably more because it was low budget or online and toei thought fans would just be okay for anything new. Unfortunately they were wrong. If you are a good animator no designs should make you create terrible animation or you wouldn’t be an animator in the first place. The profile of the faces bug me here. It just looks off. Their profile looks odd for example chibiusa face looks long compared with hotaru. Haruka looking at her phone looks off.
What I hate the most that is seen in the opening of the song is the return of stock footage. That was the thing I hated about the original series because what happens is one episode could look so bad and then the stock footage just looked odd with the character designs style of that episode. What I enjoyed about Season 1 and 2 is that for the most part the attacks were all done on the spot not reused stock footage so you get them attacking with the environment which is more faster and less with backgrounds or poses. too bad that they do not even try to design a new look for the attacks and literally follow the look of the 90’s attacks for Venus love me chain or sparkling wide pressure. I would have loved to see a new take on the attacks if they have to use stock footage.
The reason I was also hoping for 26 or 30 something episodes is because from the scene I saw in the manga just like the 90’s anime has very little opportunity for the viewer/reader to learn much about sailor Saturn or even Pluto. Those two along with the other outer soldiers will get some screen time but you will learn little about them. I was hoping the rest of the seasons would be 26 or more episodes so you can explore all the sailor soldiers a little more and develop the story more. Saturn literally appears to die in the 90’s anime and in the manga. We never learn much about her or for the huge Saturn fans even get to see her transform. The 90’s anime gave her no useful attacks outside of destroying the world. The manga gave her one offensive attack as far as I know that didn’t destroy the world. It’s great they want to adapt the manga faithfully but I hope if they ever do another reboot they will explore the characters and expand on the story. The manga was great I’m sure, but even it had plot holes and lack of character/story development. Just look at the outer soldiers like Saturn, not much development.
On to the opening and ending. For the most part it was very well done except for the stock footage use at the beginning of the opening, The songs wasn’t especially memorable. There nudity was unnecessary and so odd. Sailor moon is covering her nude chest but they we get a full nude shot of Saturn and chibi moon? I mean did we really need that? It reminds me of the last episode of sailor moon stars the whole flying nude scene. It was very pointless.
The one character design I do like is…the cats. The crystal season 1 and 2 gave the cats round heads that look kind of weird to me, I like these cat designs better.
Yeah, the stock footage in the opening is tacky. I actually would like a combination of stock footage and more varied versions of the attacks like in the past two arcs…though in the Black Moon arc they used some pretty lazy stock footage stuff that I hated.Mercury’s “Shine Aqua Illusion” for example with it’s empty black background. Couldn’t they have at least layered that over the background scenery?
As for the nudity, I’m sure it’s “supposed” to symbolize innocence and purity for the characters, which was often done in the manga…it is slightly uncomfortable to my western sensibilities though to see such young characters as Hotaru and Chibi Usa nude, especially knowing the huge creepy loli/moe base Japan has these days.
But I’ll just try to see it for what it should be. (Besides, it’s more symbolic since Hotaru’s body is pretty damaged and crazy looking at this point.)
I like the opening song,
Overall, I think this season looks like it is going to be great and I may be more excited for it than the previous seasons.
I’m sorry if I complain too much here, but this is my honest assessment of what I have seen.
First, I greatly prefer the character designs from Seasons 1-2. They seemed more complex and detailed, which is probably one of the reasons that the animation was so difficult…however, aside from the legs being too long, I still liked those designs. The Season 3 character designs look more like a standard anime instead of being a distinct style unique to Sailor Moon. The eyes especially look too big and round and simplified compared to Seasons 1-2. It’s a disappointment. The half-second around 1:50 where Usagi is running to meet Mamoru almost made me gasp because of how bad the art looked to me. Not all of the art looked that bad, but that piece of art looked worse than the art from the original stream of the first season (before they cleaned it all up for the BD release, which I desperately hope they will do for this season because I can’t imagine BUYING what I just saw).
NOTE: I couldn’t help but notice that there is a lot more emphasis on naked females and sexy bodies going on here, which is at odds with the younger look of the faces. For example, they had at least one swimsuit scene in Season 2, but it didn’t feel like Ami or Usagi or Naru were necessarily on display. Michiru’s swimsuit scene, in contrast, is just as Uranus’s voice actor said: SEXY. I’m a little uncomfortable with the show suddenly becoming much more blatantly sexual when they’ve made a simultaneous effort to make the girls’ faces look younger.
Moving on… For the opening “In Love with the New Moon,” the imagery reminds me strongly of Higurashi no Naku koro ni and the related Umineko no Naku koro ni opening and ending themes. I didn’t care for the music, but that is my personal taste. The ending theme “Eternal Eternity” has music and imagery that is very, very similar to Revolutionary Girl Utena, and the attack sequence for Spiral Heart was almost a carbon copy of the 90s Sailor Moon anime. I suspect a lot of this season will be inspired by Naoko Takeuchi’s work from the 90s. It also looks like they might be making a return to stock footage attacks, which was one of my major complaints with the 90s anime series.
I will say that I am happy that they moved away from the obviously CG transformation sequences. That is an improvement. I will also say that I like Michiru and Hotaru’s overall designs, although I wish I could have seen the eyes in the Season 1-2 style. Michiru’s voice is perfect, as I expected when I found out that Sayaka Ohara would be her actress.
I don’t know. I am excited to see my favorite Sailor Guardians, but I am not so excited about the art and the music changes and the more sexual content. I will continue to watch the show, but I am not as eager as I was when the first season aired. It’s a lukewarm reception from me. :/
So interesting, the opening also made me think about Higurashi no naku koro ni. The clip with nude Hotaru and Chibi-usa is almost identical to a clip of Shion and Mion from Higurashis first op and the image of Usagi running also felt very familiar to a later op of Higurashi.
The nudity of Hotaru and Chibi-Usa is in the manga, right near the end of the arc. (It’s actually both of their souls, not their physical bodies).
Yeah i know, i meant their actual positioning together with the fact that they are naked mirrors that of the first opening of Higurashi no naku koro ni.
Did anyone else notice how they are showing off the guardians more vs Sailor Moon / Tuxedo Mask obsession? Are you niggas happy now?
I hate it , I hate it all.Fuck Sailor moon Crystal , fuck you all and fuck you Adam you son of the bitch
wtf Haruka’s voice ??? she a girl but voice by a men seiyuu?? an her apperance look like a men wtf ????
No, she has a female voice actress and she also looked male in her initial appearance in the manga and classic anime.
The new opening song really sounds so different from the previous opening of PGSMCrystal, I love the new video too, I hope the characters will consistently look like this on each episodes although from what I have seen from the previews, the characters doesn’t look so good in some scenes.
Will the full version of this opening song have a Music Video just like Moon Pride? I hope it will…
Did Venus just called forth the CRYSTAL SWORD??!!!