Sailor Moon Crystal is finally back! Act 27, Infinity 1 – Premonition – First Part, aired on Japanese TV April 4th at 11pm Japan Standard Time. Shortly after this, around 10:45am Eastern Time, the show was available to stream for free on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Neon Alley. It seems that the show was only available to Hulu Plus users at first but could be viewed right away with commercials on the Viz web site Neon Alley. Keep this in mind in the future if you for whatever reason don’t like watching it on Crunchryroll.
I guess we finally know what the episode title will be. Act 27 is split into two parts, aptly named “First Part” and “The 2nd Part”. Yes the subtitles do indeed inconsistently spell out first but write 2nd with a number. Hulu calls the episode “Part 1″ but the subtitle for the title is consistently “First Part”. As mentioned previously the season will have 13 episodes. Sailor Moon Crystal follows the later chapter break up of the manga which has the Infinity arc covering 12 manga chapters, meaning this is likely going to be the only episode which is split in two.
The first thing which strikes me about this episode is the change in animation. Like it or not, it’s different. This seems like a totally different show. I personally think this new animation is fantastic as I’m going to appreciate anything that’s novel at this point. Not only is the style different but I all around get a sense that there has been a significant improvement in the quality of the animation. Perhaps more time and money have gone into these episodes. We should be happy for the delay if it means getting something that looks this good. There is also a lot of funny animation, which we’ve seen off and on earlier in the series. I hope this kind of thing keeps up. As always the show continues to be a faithful adaptation of the manga, so no big change there.
Act 27 starts the new Infinity story arc which is all about Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Saturn and the Death Busters. We see only a glimpse of Hotaru and Kaolinite this week, but we do see quite a bit of Haruka and Michiru. Haruka is such a fascinating character. She is described using male gender specific pronouns in the subtitles. This is a bit of a complicated issue. Haruka is female, but at this point in the manga all characters, including the reader, are meant to assume that she is male. She’s not trans but is probably more accurately described as gender fluid. I have mentioned before that I don’t speak Japanese, but my understanding is simply that gender specific pronouns aren’t commonly used in the Japanese language. This leads to common situations in Japanese fiction, like anime and manga, where a character’s identity is confused but the person can still be openly spoken of without it leading to confusion like it might in English when a gender specific pronoun like he or she would come up to clear things up. And so Haruka wears men’s clothes and is fawned after by girls, including Usagi, Minako and Makoto who assume she is a man. Some of them of course will continue to be attracted to her when they learn she is a woman, which is just part of what makes this series great.
Diana returns! She came to the present with Chibiusa from the 30th century, something which occurs in the manga but does not happen in the original Sailor Moon anime until late in the next story arc. Diana has a red collar in the original anime but her collar is grey in Sailor Moon Crystal. I only noticed this watching this episode but her collar was grey in the last story arc as well. Chibiusa seems to have no problems letting Diana sit on the dining room table. This isn’t something that bothers me much but I keep expecting my girlfriend to pop on to the screen and push her down.
Speaking of cats, check out how much Luna and Artemis have changed. Their faces are shaped a lot differently that what we’re used to. One of the many changes in character designs.
The gang play a fake video game called Battle Lap. Or is it Speed Racer? It says Speed Racer on the side of the machine but it is clearly referred to as Battle Lap in conversation, which is the name of the game in the manga. I don’t know much about car racing but apparently in the Sailor Moon world being good at real car racing translates to being good at video game car racing! I am personally a terrible driver and I am also very bad at Mario Kart, so perhaps this is legit! Usagi mentions that she can’t tell how fast she’s going because of her helmet which Haruka seems to think is the sign of a good racer. I guess I will have to wear a helmet when I play Mario Kart from now on. This helmet peripheral doesn’t actually seem to have any in game functionality, unless it beats you up when you virtually crash.
Fighting ensues! A Daimon comes out of a girl from Mugen Acamdemy, the school where all the scary stuff is going on, and this fight is much more than the few pages we get in the manga. This is probably why the chapter is split in two. We needed to reintroduce all characters and give everyone a full transformation sequence. These new transformation sequences look great, and are nearly identical to those from the original Sailor Moon anime.
We get some cool attacks. Sailor Venus uses her Wink Chain Sword which now features an actual sword! How cool is that? I mean she doesn’t actually hit the enemy with her sword but there is a sword in there. You know like the one she used to kill Queen Beryl. Oh that’s right…
Next week is Act 28, Infinity 1 – Premonition – The 2nd Part. No really, we’re not calling it Infinity 2? How confusing. At least we will be able to easily follow the manga titles even though the Act numbers will change. The preview has a border around it so I can’t be lazy and use these screenshots when the new episode comes out. Next week Usagi will disguise herself as a Mugen Academy student and try to sneak in. Looking forward to seeing if they draw all of Chibiusa’s friends like small version of the men of the series. Kyuusuke looks like a tiny Mamoru but in this coming story we have a tiny version of Asanuma and Umino. Or is it Amano? I guess Naoko Takeuchi got lazy! More importantly we will see Sailor Uranus and Neptune for the first time. Keep an eye out for Act 28 on Monday April 11th some time around 10:45am Eastern Time on Crunchyroll, Neon Alley and Hulu.
Keep reading for more screenshots from this episode and the next episode preview.
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cool cant wait so this means we get new episode every week right and any news on the english dub or that coming later
is season 3 split like the first crystal so 13 episodes this time then we get like a second season of the death busters????????
The first season of Crystal was 26 episodes because it was 2 arcs, so there were about 13 episodes per arc. This season will follow the same pattern and the Death Busters arc will be 13 episodes. I’m assuming that they’ll also make a Dead Moon circus arc that is also 13 episodes. So to answer your question, no. there won’t be 2 seasons of the Death Busters because in reality all the arcs will only have one season.
Also, they aren’t done releasing the dub for the 2nd arc of Crystal. That was released like 8 months ago so the dub for this arc might take a long time.
Hi Jorge and thanks for the info
Anyone who lives in Canada or other states than USA can watch the episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 in kissanime (in the link): https://kissanime.to/
Kissanime is the best site to watch every single anime and everything about that anime,you can watch anime without commercials,without paying to watch them,full hd and everywhere you are
SMC is covering the revised manga, isn’t it? Infinity Arc in revised manga has 12 not 11 chapters. That means there won’t by any other split episode. Admin should change this factual mistake.
But there are thirteen episodes. So they must be planning on splitting one more.
No
so let’s just count with me 
1 Infinity 1, Premonition Part 1
2 Infinity 1, Premonition Part 2
3 Infinity 2, Ripples
4 Infinity 3, Two New Soldiers
5 Infinity 4, Sailor Uranus Haruka Ten’ô, Sailor Neptune Michiru Kaiô
6 Infinity 5, Sailor Pluto Setsuna Meiô
7 Infinity 6, Three Guardians
8 Infinity 7, Transformation Super Sailor Moon
9 Infinity 8, Infinite Labyrinth 1
10 Infinity 9, Infinite Labyrinth 2
11 Infinity 10, Infinite – Upper Atmosphere
12 Infinity 11, Infinite – Judge
13 Infinity 12, Infinite – Journey
You’re absolutely right. I must have miscounted. I will correct my post.
Well looks like we will see Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune transformations on Act 31 if not for sure on Act 32 and that’s weeks away!
All I’m saying is, their theme music is A1
Hmm, I wasn’t aware they had split the labyrinth chapter.
Apparently.
Also, does anyone know if the last episode of the Infinity Arc called Journey, connects with the Dream Arc at all like towards the end or anything?
Yes it is conected because in that the eclipse happends and pegasus shows up and ask usagi and chibiusa for help
john, that is a Great question, i am assuming no doubt, which also gives me the expectation theyre definitely doing dream arc (which is most important with stars being that the original anime didnt utilize the manga for a lot of events) i would have been fine if they did re-did superS and stars tbh
I dont know if somebody will read this because this post is pretty old but still I have to write this… IT IS NOT TRUE that Pegasus appear in the last Infinity Arc… There is NO connection between Infinity Arc and Dream Arc… And I also have to say that in the first Manga edition there were also two arcs covering the Labyrinth, two Labyrinth arcs is not difference between first edition and revised edition in terms of arcs, the difference is that in the first edition there was Act 11 Infinite which consist of all last three arcs in the revised edition = Upper Atmosphere, Judge, Journey
according to http://www.missdream.org —
Act 38: Infinity 12 – Infinity – Beginning of a Journey
Pegasus made an appearance.
It is only a cameo appearance in that act… But OK
That’s what i said. I said in the last act of infinity pegasus show’s up. What is wrong with you people
I really, really hated Crystal Season 1 and 2 but I actually loved this episode. Maybe its because the Infinity Arc was the only Arc that I can honestly say was decently written in my opinion in the manga, but I thought this was a huuuuuge step up. I love the new animation too and I love that the characters actually have proper emotion.
The sword that Venus uses in Wink Chain Sword’s animation is actually the very same sword from the Dark Kingdom arc that in the manga Venus used to kill Beryl. I guess they decided that she needed it in some way considering her previous use of it was given to Moon in Crystal. I also love the animation for it! “Venus Wink Chain Sword” is such a nonsense name and the manga never clearly shows how attacks work, but I feel they actually turned that silly name into a fairly believable attack. Same goes for Coconut Cyclone.
In the next episode, I wonder if Rei still doesn’t trust men?
I love the animation! You’re right, the quality of the animation is top-notch. They definitely did do better this time around. It also seems a little more anime-ish than the first two seasons, which I’m fine with. While I liked the first season’s animation, it did seem a little stiff to me. Another thing I like is that not every girl is wearing lipstick. I mean, I can get Usagi and the other girls her age wearing lipstick–teens do wear some make-up and experiment with it–but Chibiusa had lipstick last season! Why? She may be 900*, but as small as she is she does not need any make-up!
I definitely found it interesting how Haruka was referred to by male pronouns and the like. Perhaps Haruka is gender fluid, it would make a lot of sense, considering that Michiru refers to Haruka as having a little bit of male and female in him/her. I don’t think gender fluid was a term in any language back in the 90’s (the closest to it would be androgynous), so I wonder if s/he’ll be called that in the new seson? We’ll have to wait till Monday and see.
*Since people in the 30th century live to around a thousand years old, do you think since Chibiusa is 900, she’ll only have 100 years left? Or did she kind of become frozen in time and she still has about 990 years left to grow up, rule, have a family, and everything?
I didn’t watch the episode only bits and pieces so I cannot comment on the whole episode. Waiting for the English dub. The animation is so much better. Everything is more fluid and for the most part it isn’t sloppy. It’s a big improvement animation wise. Character design I still prefer the flowing designs of season 1 and 2. Although I will say the new character design varies. Sometimes the characters look older like in their transformations. When they are battling or just doing regular things they look young but sometimes almost too child like. They look younger than 14. They have that youthful pretty cute look that works and sometimes they look too young.
I hated Ami’s baggy school sweater uniform so that is one thing I don’t miss from crystal season 1 & 2. I was hoping they would create new planet transformation pens even though they didn’t have any in the manga. Having the inner soldiers use the star pens again was disappointing. Also they took out the subtle designs for the hands in the transformation from season 1&2 and took the exact same look of the star transformation for the beginning. Wish they drew planet power pens because the star they drew looked off. It’s interesting that a lot of the transformation sequences are similar to the season 1&2 cg transformation but because it’s 2D(for the most part) in season 3 it just looks better, to me anyway.
Even without the new transformation pens I’m glad they got new attacks! The animation for those attacks even though it seems like stock footage is amazing! Now the attacks themselves were kinda underwhelming. Venus throws the sword and I was hoping that the sword would attack/stab the enemy but instead it chained it from moving? Too similar to how Venus love me chain is used. Jupiter coconut cyclone I was hoping for a gust of electricity because with how they redid sparkling wide pressure like the 90’s anime attack sequence both attacks look similar. Also wish they didn’t use CGI for the attack or monster dying but I guess they will not take out CGI completely.
Overall animation was a big improvement even if I am not a fan of the Pretty Cure character designs, and I’m sure they now realize they can’t just do some low budget series. I hope.
So in the original Japanese people are referring to Haruka as “kare” and “aitsu.” The former being a distinctly male pronoun. “Aitsu” is typically used on males–rarely on females.
Thank you for the explanation. That gives interesting context.
FYI, as usual, Viz’s subtitles suck. They refuse to allow the Japanese script to have too much influence on their “translations”.
Among other things: “Aitsu” (which they used a lot in the Japanese) is completely gender neutral, and referring to Haruka as “kare” doesn’t necessarily mean the characters think she’s a boy. This is not to say those characters DON’T think she’s a boy – it’s just that there’s intentional ambiguity in the dialogue and it should have been respected. For most of the comments about Haruka, the correct solution would have been to write the lines without using third-person pronouns at all.
We just don’t have the same commonly used language for that. When someone refers to someone as “they” or intentionally avoids certain words in English, it’s an indication that something is up.
I recall an episode of Jerry Springer where a man was admitting to his girlfriend that he’d been cheating. It was with a man but he was being intentionally vague waiting for the big shock for the audience. He refer to him as “they” and his girlfriend said “They? How many of them are there?”.
There are terms that can be used, but they seem forced when gender specific ones are so common that it hints at something and in this case would similarly spoil the reveal.
I believe the characters will refer to Haruka as “She” when the truth will be revealed.
I’m sure you are right…that’s how it happened in the original, if I’m not mistaken and definitely how they handled it even in the old Cloverway Dub and Tokyo Pop/Mixx manga.
They issue is, they should have respected the intentional ambiguity of the Japanese dialogue and avoided gender-specific pronouns altogether.
Yes, absolutely you’re right!
i agree, the animation looks a lot better in this season and the music is just as good in this one if not even better than the other ones. However having watched the first episode I have a few questions. so SPOILERS for those who havnt seen it.
1. Did mamo-chan tell to both Umino and Naru that Usagi is Sailor Moon
2. They transferd in a busy street, clearly visable for everyone close by. Were they spotted? if no, how?!
3. Noone in the audience (yes there is one once the monster is gone) seems surpriced to see the sailor senshi fighting, more like “oh nice, I like this part of my day, lets watch some”. So how common is it for them to be seen?
4.WHY did they revert to stockfotage attacks? In the previous seasons we could see them fighting in the surounding enviorment. Here its like in the original anime, stock fotage like combat wich is a downer to me.
1. and 2. and 3.
I really wondered that too. Even if he took them away from the battle, they would have to wonder why the heck he abandoned his girlfriend and her friends…and also, if everyone else saw them fight, why keep Umino and Naru in the dark? That part was so odd to me and seemed to imply that everyone just knows Usagi’s identity as Sailor Moon at this point. That’s weird, since no one seems to comment on it at all…and we do know some major characters do not know at this point…so I’m not sure what just happened here.
4. I like the stock footage as long as they maybe mix it up from time to time with the real time action scenes in the actual environment.
well the stock fotage attacks looks amazing so I dont mind but it kinda feels like a step back to me. Why not mix them up with jusing the attack but without the stockfootage background and instead use the scenes background? That would feel a lot better to me
The questions 1, 2 and 3 can’t stop haunting me, too :/ . I suppose Toei simply messed up here.
most likely. But sailor moon is such a massive show that the pressure is imense, I would probably slip up as well XD
Haha I love your words, and we could add : “The pressure is so immense for Sailor Moon and her friends, and that’s why they can slip up sometimes by transforming in a crowded street” XD .
It’s hard to be a super hero !
compleatly true.
Those eye catches are so pretty. I really hope they do them for the other senshi, too. I was so disappointed that there were only two in the first two seasons.
This is kind of out of place, regarding the nude scene of Hotaru and Chibiusa in the opening sequence. It really did happen in Act 35, when Hotaru is protecting Chibiusa’s soul and silver crystal from Mistress 9. I just saw it right now.
Why would you just throw a spoiler like that? And on top of that, you look like you smell like sour cream.
Read the Manga!
Have you noticed that you can say that to people over and over and over but they still refuse to even acknowledge that Sailor Moon comic books EXIST??
Oh noes, a spoiler from a manga that’s over 20 years old! The nerve of some people.
Doesn’t matter if it’s 20 years old there’s book that are over a 1000 years old so what’s your point?
My point is that there are some people who purposely do not read the manga, to get a surprise when watching the episode.
During the first two arcs, I read all Acts and sometimes days prior to the premiere of the episode, so I knew what to expect.
This time around, I’m actually excluding myself from that and let me tell you it’s much more enjoyable this time getting surprised.
For example, I was mad happy to see Sailor Venus and Neptune finish off an enemy versus the usual Sailor Moon. That was nice for a change. That is my point.
Also, that guy still smells like sour cream. Goodbye.
Jupiter, not Neptune.
Ah, so everyone should avoid talking about a 20 year old publication, rather than you avoiding reading places where spoilers might lurk. That makes total sense. You should complain about it some more.
I’d forgotten about that!
And ignore the haters. If you are sour cream, he no doubt smells like onions.
There are some very rude people on here and I’ve noticed all but one of the rude ones are missing an icon…It’s about time they start getting called out. Frankly, John is one of the more tame rude people.
But the rest definitely need to take a chill pill. If comments on a Sailor Moon blog can make them so angry, they will be lucky to get through life without some serious health issues,
I like sour cream but onions I can’t bear unless it is cooked.
Anyway, Haters makes my life so fun. But I guess this angry dude does not have a life.
Why say goodbye if you will still lurk here, I am always here reading. LOL
No doubt you are right.
I probably smell like pickles, myself.
“There are some very rude people on here and I’ve noticed all but one of the rude ones are missing an icon…It’s about time they start getting called out. Frankly, John is one of the more tame rude people.
But the rest definitely need to take a chill pill. If comments on a Sailor Moon blog can make them so angry, they will be lucky to get through life without some serious health issues,”
I totally agree with you. I think I’m only rude towards the rude people here (they sometimes need to be severely repressed), but most of the time I think I’m a kind woman, or at least I hope I am. I mean, why can’t we be cool to each other ? Why can’t we stay cool when we disagree with someone ? Why can’t we prevent ourselves from insulting someone who wrote a comment on Sailor Moon we didn’t like ?
Internet and Sailor Moon News allow people from all over the world to talk all together about Sailor Moon. And this is wonderful. We don’t know each other, we will surely never meet each other, but we are here having fun conversations. But maybe the “haters” here are too young to realize that not so long ago, such great possibilities didn’t exist… They don’t know how lucky they are, and so, they are using Internet in the purpose of being wicked to the others, for free. But yes, you and Viridian are both right : they are only harming themselves.
I agree, if someone has information someone else lacks or they spot misinformation, there is nothing wrong with correcting or informing, but some of the clowns in these comments attack anyone they disagree with or heaven forbid, post something they are not sure about or ask an innocent question.
Whatever their reasons, they need to check themselves and realize this isn’t 2008, trolls are no longer funny and manners still apply even online.
I couldn’t agree more. Kudos to the other level headed posters, aurelia, ashley etc
Thank you to both of you, guys
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Fuck you all who says bad things for “haters”. We are not haters we just express our opinion we say what we want and what we think it’s right and nobody shouldn’t criticize us about that. We say what feels right to say because we have that chance to say it and you know why , because it’s 21 sentry , it’s all democracy so we can say what we want, what we feel, what we think. Nobody should or could tell us what to to or what to say BITCHES
I meant “to do” not “to to” (I get very emotional in these stuff)you see what you guys did to me
And here’s one now…
Don’t get offended when you try to be offensive.
It’s reflects poorly on you.
Did I ask for your opinion, no, so SHUSH
Actually you did when you butted into a conversation to prove you were exactly the kind we were talking about.
And as Aurelia said, democracy is NOT the same thing as anarchy and if you can’t act civil, expect people to call you out for it.
“because it’s 21 sentry , it’s all democracy so we can say what we want, what we feel, what we think.”
Ah, that fallacious argument again. Democracy doesn’t justify, doesn’t mean the verbal and gratuitous violence you manifest in every of your comments. Democracy doesn’t mean anarchy, actually.
Besides, this fallacious argument that you are applying to yourself, can also be applied to us (saintfighteraqua, Viridian and I, etc.), because it is very impersonal and interchangeable : “We are not haters we just express our opinion we say what we want and what we think it’s right and nobody shouldn’t criticize us about that.”
I’m wasting my time with you and I know it, whoever you are. Before I put an end to this comment, I will learn you something : “direct democracies” can only exist at local scales (city-states as seen in ancient Greece for example). Countries like USA, France, etc., are… representative democracies. As an eligible citizen, you vote on representatives to pass laws for you. But once these representatives are elected, they can do what they want because they are almighty, and say “fuck” to the promises they made to the people who voted for them. In other words, yourself have surely already voted for corrupted politicians who betrayed the hopes you had put into them
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Great, isn’t it ? Ah, democracy…
As a gentle bitch, allow me to blow you a kiss
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PS. None of us ever offended you first, while your only comments on this website are made of “bitches”, “fuck you”, etc., without any reason. So think of your behavior, my friend… If someday you try to prove us you are able to communicate without any verbal violence, then maybe we’ll change our minds about you and begin to be kind to you.
PS. 2. You didn’t ask for our opinions ? Then think we didn’t ask yours in return. Let me quote your words : “”because it’s 21 sentry , it’s all democracy so we can say what we want, what we feel, what we think. Nobody should or could tell us what to to or what to say BITCHES.” Ah, still those interchangeable, fallacious arguments… so please Gery, don’t tell us what we should think or say about you, and don’t even try to forbid us to do it
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Keep it coming. We are very good at ‘rebuttals’ ROFL
And I really love it ^^ , even if I know that using of rebuttals is a waste a time with these kind of guys.
“You know like the one she used to kill Queen Beryl. Oh that’s right…”
Anybody who didn’t get that joke: READ THE D@MN COMIC BOOKS ALREADY.
Yes, we know that in the manga Venus kills Queen Thirsty with the Holy Sword but mind you of the audience watching it and you’re not about to watch a bitch get stabbed with blood everywhere.
I too wish Venus would have killed Queen Beryl.
Let me get this straight. Is Rei still nice to Usagi in this episode?
Adam? I noticed you do not have comments in here.
Specifically? Not really interested in getting into the Flame Wars! I’d appreciate if everyone be respectful but I’m usually not going to go around deleting comments unless they’re overly offensive (threats…) or spam.
There he is!! GET HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
as you like boss
When Rei said to Usagi that she thought she’d be the last here anyway, is she a total jerk to her again as she was in the classic anime of the ’90s?
What the fuck is wrong with Rei Hino?! She’s not supposed to be bullying Usagi! :'(
I’m serious, Rei! Stop saying hurtful things to Usagi like The Academy of Geniuses! She has every connection with it! So stop being mean!
