A couple of screenshots of alleged conversations with Yasuharu Takanashi, Sailor Moon Crystal’s music composer, are suggesting that Sailor Moon Crystal’s 4th season will be airing in 2018. People in the fan community are referring this as a rumour of further delays for the upcoming season. As rumours go, this one doesn’t seem to have much weight to it. I’m reporting this as it’s being discussed in the fan community and I wanted to weigh in on it’s legitimacy and not because I think there’s much validity to the rumour itself. Let us look at the evidence provided and consider how reliable the claim is.
I originally saw this in a Tweet by Twitter user Chase the CHECH (@iHasMangic) who included two screenshots. The first is from a Facebook Messenger conversation. When asked if season 4 was coming he stated “Season 4 for Sailor Moon 2018?”. The question mark is a bit questionable. The profile image and name match that of Yasuharu Takanashi’s Facebook profile. The second screenshot is of an Instagram conversation. When asked about the possibility of a 4th season in 2017 he responds “2018! (smiley face) (thumbs up)”. Again the user name, in this case @nassy_takanashi, and profile photo match his Instagram profile. Since originally posting this I’ve been in contact with the user who posted this to Twitter and Adrian, the user who originally had these conversations. Adrian also posted these screenshots to the Pretty Guardians Facebook group and a post on the Genvid Forums. These include alternate screenshots of the same chats.
We can ask ourselves a few questions. Are these screenshots legitimate? Is Yasuharu Takanashi indicating that Sailor Moon Crystal is delayed until 2018? If he is, is such a claim a reliable indication that the series is indeed delayed? I can’t make any certain claims about the authenticity of these screenshots. One could easily fabricate something like this, but would they? If I were going to fake a screenshot I might attempt to make a more clear confirmation without confusing question marks and emoji, but then I’m not in the business of doctoring screenshots these days. With matching avatars it doesn’t seem out of the question that these are legitimate. Having seen a number of different versions of these screenshots and spoken to Adrian about it I don’t think there’s much of a reason to doubt the validity of these.
If they are indeed real screenshots, what is actually being said? The language is a bit confused but it does seem like Yasuharu Takanashi is indicating that, in his opinion, the series will be continuing in 2018. If this is indeed what he means, we can again ask ourselves if that is a reliable source. Yasuharu Takanashi composed the music for the first three seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal. It is entirely feasible that he will continue in this role if the show should continue, and we’ve received indication via the official Sailor Moon web site that more Sailor Moon Crystal is coming. As someone working on the show he may have an idea of the schedule. He may not as well. He may have been working on the show, be working on it now or be scheduled to work on it in the future and not actually have a specific idea of when the animation, voice acting and other production work will be completed and when the final distribution is scheduled for. If he did actually know when the show would be coming he may not be at liberty to disclose this. This chat isn’t a confidential discussions between professionals or close friends but rather a fans who reached out and got an answer.
Take it all with a grain of salt! If others weren’t reporting on this I wouldn’t have bothered to post about it myself but as it’s being thrown around I wanted to share it for context. There are a lot of ifs going on. If they all turn out we may be getting new episodes in 2018, but with so many unknowns I wouldn’t make any certain conclusions about this actually happening. I tend to only give consideration to information shared through official sources such as those posted on the Official Sailor Moon site. Even when we get information through official sources we’ve seen that such situations are likely to change anyway. For now the only official word we’ve gotten is that more Sailor Moon Crystal is planned and we have gotten no timeline of when this would occur.
As always if we hear anything official on this topic we will be sure to share it as soon as we can.
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I believe this is true.
2 reasons:
1- Osabu said the next musical (stars) will premiere in September.
So, we didnt get any news about Crystal, and I think we will not have soon.
2- Toei is kinda busy right now with others shows. They prob prefer to finish theyre works at the moment and begin with SMC later, so the quality of the show wont drop.
Plus, ”As someone working on the show he may have an idea of the schedule.” I think this too.
This doesn’t surprise me at all… Toei hate this show to guts and aways tries ways to make the franchise suffer. They might even release it in 2020. Delay after delay, art direction switch for each season, maybe Crystal should have never been created as nobody who is involved in it cares…
It should have been created, but not by Toei. Toei is just greedy at this point and doesn’t care about quality.
I enjoy Crystal and want to see it finished, but I really wish we’d get a Sailor Moon reboot professionally done.
Personally, I would love to see a new story arc, done very well! I can dream.
I am still hoping Crystal is just a set-up for a new story arc/series.
They missed up the balance that exist even in the manga by cutting al the jokes and characters moments, making it superficial. Sailor Moon Crystal III was better in that regard, but they put me off with te designs – the first two season were animated terribly, but the character designs were pretty and bishoujo. I guess I hate the moe trend and the tendencies to cheapen the character designs instead of hiring better animators capable enough to animate the beautiful character work. So I really think they made a mistake changing Yukie Sako. If her designs were taken by a better studio…
To me I like the character design of the third season. Despite the Moe design, they were able to make the expressions quite serious when they should be. The only thing I did not like is that they did not make the background of the landscape with more details in a few scenes
Copy&paste from Google translate because I don´t know much english than the basic
I don’t know, because even if they were prettier before, the characters artist (?) didn’t portray emotions very well, so they both had a blank face most of the time. Now they have facial expressions 100% of the time, and that really looks better
For me they look like frogs most of the time
The problem with the former design is, it was very very pretty that it included way too much details for the artists to bother when the characters do literally anything. Naoko’s style looks decent in manga but it’s really hard to adapt it and make it in action. The features are very distinctive hence they had a hard time imagining how would the features move when the characters did their expressions, which is very unhealthy for a weekly produced net anime. But well, still, TOEI has really a lot management issues. SMC 1 and 2 would have been better
They could have change it slightly, without making them so moe, especially the cheeks glitter and the way too wide mouths. I really hope for new designs for the 4 season, something in between.
Rilly sailor moon is awesome
I am the actual autor of the screenshots and I can give you more screens to show its legitimate
Thank you for asking M. Takanashi about the probable air date for season 4
.
Toei is so secret that it’s a real challenge to get the piece of an answer from its people…
I’m happy we have some news. Thanks.
https://ibb.co/kNY5bQ – Same thing as the repost on twitter just in Windows instagram app. Please credit me as PanPanda24 just as the twitter user did in other tweet
Lol, if that’s true then that sets it
*lol, if that’s true then that sets it XD why did you do it thought?
Hmm, I don’t know… it is very easy to create false Messenger conversations, I’ve heard there is a special app for this. I don’t see why someone would just have fun creating a false rumor like this, but I don’t see either why the person having this conversation would post it on the Internet under the form of a Messenger conversation…
Well I guess we will have to wait 2018 to see if this was true
Wait a sec… If those are true then why are they in English? Those people would most likely speak in Japanese right? It is possible that they don’t even speak English in the first place… Moreover, if you look closely you will see in the second pic, at the place where one is supposed to type the answer (at the bottom of the image) you can see stuff written in a language like Russian or Polonese (I don’t know, I don’t speak either). In my opinion, I think it means that it isn’t true, because why would they use this app in Russian/Polonese/else ?
What do you guys think about it?
Edit : same for the first pic, there is a “Śr” above the blue discussion bubble
God. I am polish person and I speak english also but I use polish apps. Takanshi speaks english as well
I talked with Takahashi on FaceBook，he replied me in English too.And also he even replied Chinese fans in Chinese sometimes.
It wouldn’t surprise me if it was delayed till 2018. They spent a good year between the Black Moon arc and the Infinity arc, after all.
Hopefully that time is spent producing an excellent anime.
That’ll take too long for a year!
It souns likely. Hopefully, they will have Stars ready to go right after it.
It’ is just sad that back in the 90’s they had a new episode ready weekly (with usually higher production quality) and here nearly 30 years later, this is the best they can do.
Toei, please sell the rights to someone competent.
I couldn’t agree more. Sailormoon is just a cash cow for them and they are not listening to the fans. I have been keeping my disappointment for a long time.
This information makes me really sad…
Wow, TOEI truly gives not a single hoop about Sailor Moon and apparently, neither does Naoko.
There is literally not a single excuse when 3-gatsu No Lion, which has an amazing art direction and has a smaller fanbase than Sailor Moon, announced their new season for Fall 2017.
Honestly, I’m still of the mind “Take all the time you want, just do it right” but it is a shame that Sailor Moon takes such a backseat with Toei. They are shit in their treatment of Sailor Moon and terrible with communication to the fan base.
I completely agree.
I won’t disagree.
I really hope that we don’t have to wait almost a full year before we see a hopeful season 4 of crystal especially since we still haven’t heard anything for season 3 in English dub, plus we have to wait 2 months yet before we get the 2nd half of season 3 original
still hoping that season 4 and 5 wont take so much time to get released especially stars since im hoping they go with the male to female idea on the starlights when they finally give us the English dub
Most likely the English dub of Stars will have the same actress for both male and female form since they are following the Japanese script.
If Toei keeps on this way, sure we’ll get the Dream and Stars arcs for Sailor Moon’s 30th birthday…
And when 2018 comes, what will be Toei’s excuse to again delay the upcoming seasons ?
I hope Toei doesn’t delay them again. And I wonder in the Dreams arc if Rei is still mean to Usagi.
I hope too, we all hope!
As you know, Luke, Rei is not mean to Usagi in Crystal. Be sure she won’t be either in the Dream arc
.
Thanks.
Something I’ve learned from the Crystal delays back in 2012 and 2013. Never expect anything until you see some legitimate episode clipping, be it from commercials, previews, or anything that shows genuine progress in the project. For all we know, Toei just stated the sequel early to keep fans interested longer, string them along for merchandise and other profitable stuff, and release the actual anime years after the announcement.
Toei is really busy this year so I can understand it.
If they can keep the quality then I’ll be OK to wait,but will they?
I hope this means that we get a good season with maybe more episodes for the dream arc and stars arc(especially this arc as it is meh in the manga). If not at least quality product. However, if this is true I highly doubt it has to do with them wanting to release a quality product. As decent as the animation was for season 3, there were only 13 episodes the quality code have been much better than what we ended up with and they did not even fix it for the Blu-ray release so my hopes aren’t high that the delay is due to quality. More likely they really do not care and just do not have staff to work on the project. I mean they could have given us more episodes every season and give us a better series in crystal overall, but overall they do not seem to care. If this is to extend it to the next anniversary I would not be surprised, but that would be terrible. They might as well make another series for the next anniversary that is released more frequently and is even better than the 90’s anime or crystal.
Toei should leave Sailor Moon to rest in piece after Stars. If we have a new remake someday it should be done by another studio. I really hope TOEI cease to exist by that point as they have become a garbage maker even before Crystal
Not happening you idiot!
No need to be nasty. If you don’t like someone being mean to you, why would you be mean first?
Remember what Thumper said.
If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. But I don’t want a remake made by another studio, just Toei Animation.
Never wanted to be mean, but TOEI has been behind modern standarts for years. They are not the same studio anymore and they will always take the cheapest route…
And that’s fine, but name calling won’t get you any friends here.
If someone has a differing opinion, calling them names is a sure way to hurt your own argument.
I was actually talking to Luke, I personally agree that Toei is a bad company. If they didn’t own some of my favorite properties I’d dismiss them completely.
Yeah, they used to be a big deal back in the day, owning some of the most cherished titles from the 90s and 80s, they are neither small nor inexperienced studio, so they have no excuse. I really start to believe that they are doing Sailor Moon remake against their will, because neither the producers nor directors involved are newbies, but the project is amateurish. With such a strong source material with some tweaks, some ideas expanded and an average budget other studio might have done wonders,
Please. Toei is a good company, and I don’t want anything bad happening to it. :'(
It is not happening. Sailor Moon Crystal is getting Season 4 and that’s final!
Luke, my boy… I am looking forward to season 4.
(I have nothing new to say, actually. Because I have a Professor Layton avatar, I just wanted an excuse to say, “Luke, my boy…” A kid named Luke is Layton’s accomplice.)
Oh God, this is probably gonna turn into a huge disappointment just like Season 1 and 2.We waited for it for like 2 years and it just turned into a big, I mean BIG disappointment.
So disrespectful to us, the fans and to the whole franchise. *smh*
Yeah, honestly, season 1 and 2 weren’t that bad, but after seeing the 3rd season, if we go back to season 1&2 quality I think I’m going to stab a teddy bear or something
You better not stab a teddy bear.
It’s fine. Minako can fix it.
http://sailormoonnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/sailor_moon_supers_episode_154_minako_fixed_makotos_bear.jpg
But who will fix Minako?
I really hope there will be a season 4!!
Honestly, Season 3 wasn’t a big deal either.Yes,compared to season 1 and 2 it was a huge improvement, but still, it’s not even close to perfect. The animation may be improved, but at the same time season 1 and 2 desings were so detailed and gorgeous, so instead of hiring better animators, what does toei do,cheapen the fucking character designs.But the biggest thing that bugs me is that when i watch some other animes from other companies that I’ve never ever in my life heard before ,when u look at the animation of those animes,my jaw just drops to the floor just by how perfectly gorgeous is done,but toei, a company that is known for creating major hits like Sailor Moon,Dragon Ball Z,Detective Conan and a lot more,a company that was known for its beautiful animation, could treat this huge franchise like shit,this huge franchise that was on of the reasons that toei became so famous and rich, they treat it like fucking trash.
It just disappointing.
Couldn’t agree more.
OMG! Finally someone who points out the truth. I’m tired of fans pretending season 3 was awesome when it was not. Better the 1&2? Yes. Good? No. I could not agree more with this comment, thanks.
I hope they’re wrong. I can’t wait a full year until another season! I just hope by then the artwork and voice cast will still be the same.
I think Toei should make the 4th season plus all the rest and even make a new one about Chibiusa. And if he doesn’t want to then he should find someone who will finish the series and possibly make another one.
I’m big fan of Sailor Moon I watch Sailor Moon everyday when I was a little kid and still watch Sailor Moon please make season 4