Today is June 30th, Usagi’s birthday, and to celebrate this there was a birthday party event held in Japan. We often get Sailor Moon news at such events and this year was no different! We finally have our first look at the designs for the upcoming new season of Sailor Moon Crystal which will be taking place as two theatrically released films. It was announced that the first of these movies will be called Sailor Moon Eternal and will be released in 2020. This could be anywhere from 6 to 18 months from now, so we will have to be patient to see when this finally happens! Also keep in mind the original release of Sailor Moon Crystal was planned for 2013 but that it actually first aired in 2014, so delays at this stage are certainly still possible, but things are finally coming together.
Along with the news was the revelation of a number of character designs for the series. The first was the poster featuring Super Sailor Chibi Moon and Super Sailor Moon. A teaser trailer which was posted to the newly redesigned Official Sailor Moon Site also included images of Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Chibi Moon all of whom have those little transparent shoulder pad things to show that they’re Super. You can watch that trailer embedded below.
The music used in the trailer in Moonlight Legend, the opening theme for the first four seasons of the original Sailor Moon anime, but that doesn’t necessarily indicate that this music will be used in the film. While this is possible it may simply be that the new music for the new Sailor Moon Eternal film is either not ready or that they otherwise don’t wish to release it at this time.
A sketch by Kazuko Tadano from 2013
Now that we’ve gotten a first look at the designs for this film we finally see what Kazuko Tadano, character designer for the first two seasons of the original Sailor Moon anime, chose to do for Sailor Moon Crystal. A lot of fans have commented about how similar the designs look to the 90s anime, which certainly makes sense if we consider this! What we’re seeing is a bit of a mix of the aesthetic of Sailor Moon Crystal’s 3rd season designs, the original anime designs and a little something new. When Kazuko Tadano was announced as the Dream Arc’s character designer Sailor Moon sketches she made in 2013 (above) were used as a baseline for what we might be seeing. Though the designs aren’t identical we can certainly see some similarities to what we’re seeing now.
Sailor Moon Eternal will cover the first half of the Dream arc of the Sailor Moon manga. This is the same story which was the basis for the Sailor Moon SuperS season of the anime, though in this case the manga and anime had some significant differences. Though we don’t know exactly where the two movies will split, it is likely this will include the introduction of Pegasus as well as the villains the Amazon Trio, the Amazoness Quartet and Zirconia of the Dead Moon Circus. It will probably include early appearances by Helios and Queen Nehelenia, though they will feature more prominently in the second film. Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn may not show up in this one as they are not present for the first few chapters, though they could show up at the end of Sailor Moon Eternal. Since they were completely neglected from Sailor Moon SuperS it will be nice to see them included in Sailor Moon Crystal.
What do you think of the new designs? I’m really liking them. While the animation in the first two seasons wasn’t stellar, I thought season 3 was a great improvement. I can’t say I’m so attached to any Sailor Moon Crystal designs to be too bothered by this change. As long as these new films continue to be a faithful adaptation of the manga storyline, as the first three seasons have been, then the core of what makes Sailor Moon Crystal what it is should remain, even if there isn’t a consistent visual style. As always it’s a bit difficult to get a full feeling of what’s in store with just a few images. To see this animation style in action will be something. For now we’ll have to wait a while longer but at this stage we can at least confidently say that Sailor Moon Eternal is real and after more than 3 years we are finally getting more Sailor Moon Crystal! It remains to be seen how or when the film will be released here in North America.
PS: Not to rub it in but I was totally right and this art looks nothing like the Sailor Moon Crystal x Monster Strike designs we saw last fall.
Get caught up with Sailor Moon Crystal before the movie comes out by buying the first three seasons using the Amazon links below, or save your money by streaming it on Crunchyroll, Hulu or Neon Alley.
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Finally! I have to look these over a bit more to decide if I like them, they look like they are aging in reverse in this series.
I’m really happy to finally see something somewhat substantial, though I have a feeling this is still in the early stages of development.
If I had to guess, I’d say we’ll see this film next July with the second film coming 6-12 months later. Let’s hope it does well in Japan. If it doesn’t, we may never see Stars animated as a series or film.
It looks like the Crystal part could be done and they are calling the series “Eternal” from here on out? I guess it makes sense.
I think that Usagi looks best in this style. Mars, Jupiter and Venus look really young. They should be almost 16…(or are they heading towards 17 at this point of the manga?) but they look years younger than they did in seasons 1-2. XD
The consistency bugs me a bit, but I wasn’t a fan of the designs in the first two seasons. It had it’s moments, but it looked dated and weird.
Season 3 was better, and this, once we see it in motion might be best of all, if it combines what we loved about season 3 with the original series.
Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon look great. I think they pulled it off the best with them. Especially Usagi.
Mercury looks fine, her expression is a bit off, but I like her design and the colors are amazing.
Mars seems slightly off, maybe it’s because she doesn’t look as mature as she did in the past 3 seasons. I think she will be fine and she seems fine like this. I’m guessing this is still an early look.
Jupiter looks awesome. She does look too young, but her pose and expression are perfect.
Venus also looks a tad off, but she makes up for it with that flowing hair and that pose. I’m hoping we see more flourishes like that.
The two movies are both going to be released next year according to the cimposer’s tweeter. I find the designs really bad for a movie title. We have seen mobile games collaboration art done better. For me Yukie Sako did the best designs, but they were hard for tje low budget TOEI give to their projects. These look very bad and what I hate most is the fact the close ups are clearly upscales of the full body images and look very rough. Ami in particular looks fan artish to me. No poise, no grace. I expect more from Tadano.
Hopefully, that means we get the first one early. But I’d say it will be June and then November or something like that.
The designs are odd, for sure. They are not really like the original anime and aren’t as nice as the 3rd season of Crystal…I have a feeling these were rushed for the event. Which doesn’t bode well for how serious Toei is taking it.
Here’s hoping we get more concrete news before too long.
Do you think we will see outer scouts as in mangas? I am really hoping they will be part of both or the second installment.
They are still following the manga, according to Chiaki Kon, so it will be the same story overall.
I am glad to hear this. I love seeing the inner and outer scouts working together. I love seeing Sailor Saturn in the show. Do you think the films will be available in North America and/or on internet streaming? I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t get to see the dream arc.
From some tweets I saw, it looks the movies will get the Digimon treatment and will be split into episodes for streaming. Not confirmed, though.
I predict the film will eventually hit American cinemas, for a night or two, as a Fathom Event. That’s my hunch. Otherwise, straight to streaming/home consumption!
We definitely will. Though most likely not until the end of the first film or the beginning of the second.
Can you imagine the backlash if they pulled a SuperS thing and omitted the parts with Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn? XD
I’d be so mad.
Oh, man. War stories about that nonsense, last summer. Real war stories…
Yes!!!!
I love the softer appearances closer to the original Anime.
Venus does look a little innocent considering her flirty personality but I don’t mind
Sailor moon and chibimoon look fantastic
I hope to have that as a poster when movie releases
I love the tweaks. Seriously. Between now and Eternal’s release, I just want to see snippets of actual animation, a test even, more than anything.
Before this news broke out, I imagined a reality where, once the images were released, every single SM fan–both on this site and off, including myself–every fan from around the world would 100% collectively go…
“… Eh. I ran out of muse and interest. I’m done with this franchise.”
And that was that. Eternal abandonment of the franchise. Gone…
Then I quit my dark thoughts and resumed eating lunch.
I think we all think that from time to time.
Just when we’re ready to move on they reel us back in!
I love the poster with Super Sailor Moon and Super Chibi Moon. The art design looks fantastic in that scenario and I’m more than pleased.
However… the still shots of the characters look like horrible fan art made on a drawing program. I literally was crying from happiness as soon as the thumbnail popped up to watch on YouTube. That turned to tears of disappointment.
I really hope these are rough, rough sketches. The character designs lack their individual personalities. Where’s the cool, mysterious Rei Hino with those sultry eyes.
ANOTHER FAIL
first impressions are blech what did they do to crystal, guess I have to wait to see it in action before I can say wtf are they doing?? so any ideas on how there going to fit the entire dreams arc into 2 movies of one can guess a max of 2 hours tops ??? that’s a lot to cover in a short time considering the manga goes in a totally different direction then the 90s anime did plus the outers are in it well before the stars mini arc, nice surprise for usagi’s birthday lol hope we get more concrete ideas considering like others have said we have 6 to 18 months and that’s only talking in japan so it might realistic to think that we wont get it international til well after 2021 at this rate
I’ve tried to figure this too.
If each Sailor Moon Crystal episode lasted about 20 minutes and it took 13 episodes each season to tell an arc it makes it hard to see how they can cram all of that into two films.
But we have to take these things into consideration:
1. The Dream Arc is only 11 chapters where the previous ones were 13, making them 1:1 with the manga.
2. If each chapter makes up 20 minutes of the film and they are 2-hour films, that leaves enough room for 12 chapters rather than 11.
3. There will not be openings and endings between each chapter, so that cuts off time.
4. They will most likely have only one full transformation sequence per Senshi in each film where the previous seasons had multiple sequences almost every episode along with speeches, racking up many minutes of stock footage.
I believe that they will crunch the story and the movies will be approx 1:30.
Even if a manga chapter can be stretched to a 20-minute episode, there is often no need for this. The events leading to the powerups for Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter are fast chapters anyway and they can skip lots of needless panning over scenes and filler materials.
It may not be ideal, but I believe the films will have plenty of time to showcase all of the events from the manga and if the films are two hours long, they will have extra time for more story and sequences if they choose.
keep in mind that the first chapter is double so there are actually 12 chapters, i am not sure but i think some of the final ones was also a double, but the second movie will be easier as the story gets less episodic
The whole of it being movies for me was to finally get a decent looking anime… These designs are not decent, so…
I agree. The flow for the last half of the Dream Arc will go much better. The first part feeling very episodic is what makes the film route an odd choice.
Good math! Anime movies are often quite short, with the other Sailor Moon films being around an hour, so I hope we’re in for something a bit longer so that we can comfortably tell the manga story without having to cut anything or make it feel too rushed.
Yeah, I can’t see them being very long. I do think they could be longer than the old trio of films since most anime films seem to be a bit longer these days, I think at about 100 minutes on average (like the new Broly movie).
The majority of the anime films nowadays are about two hours long. Toei messed up the style, have it round and simple so at least they must commit to the faithfulness and adapt it in two 2 hours films. This will fail big if it is 90 minutes. The power up chapters are important and needs their time. Otherwise the winners gonna be more blant than even Crystal s1-2.
Well, to be honest, though I am happy that we finally have news about the movies (the first part, at least), I dislike this new character design. I really liked how all the characters were designed in the first two seasons; disliked it for the most part in the third, and now, well, this new one seems worse than that of the third season. I hope it’s only some kind of a “pre-concept” and that this is not the character design we will get in the end, I mean, when the first movie is out.
Wait and see… It’s only a prejudgment, after all.
We have key visual for Usagi and Chibi Usa, so this is it… Actually both movies are comming out next year.
I’m afraid you’re right!
Well, as long as the animation is good and as the movies keep the original the Dream arc development, I guess that I will past the fact that the new character design is, to me, weird and unappealing.
There is some hope, they just showed full body images that are not that bad and the close ups were just zoomed in and that is why they look so flat and the artwork looks messy. I don’t know why couldn’t they show the actual character sheets with different poses and faces or at least post it on the site. I remember for s1 they showed on the event a very ugly concept art, but a few hours later they revealed the designs on the site and they were vastly different. The key visual is also very small and a distant shot so we still cannot really grasp the whole concept. The animators might also tweak theem a little and make them look better. If the good ones, like the woman who did the Tellu episode in season 3 work more prominently on these they can get better. She did wonders, considering the designs.
Thanks
! Your optimistic message is consistent and convincing. Well, so I guess there’s no need to worry at the moment. Only when our favourite characters become animated before our eyes we will be able to fully judge.
Well, I still based on the key visual think it will look very bad. I cannot imagine Nehelenia or Zirconia in this style at all. Still I like the proportions and the eye shape, but on this particular image Ami got it worse… This looks like some bad devian art post. I really hope they show some early draft or something and will low us away later, but this is just a wishful thinking. And it will never be manga like at this point.
I loved the designs in season 1-2, but the animation quality was just so bad with the budget.
I actually grew to enjoy the seasons 3 looks (except for Uranus and Neptune, they looked odd. The designs there were a bit too Precure for my taste, but the animation and colors were great.
These new ones are definitely the worst as far as we’ve seen. I do think Usagi and Chibi-Usa look fine, but it’s almost shocking going from the mature looking senshi in season 1 to having childlike designs in season 3 and now even younger looking versions in the fourth part!
The worst thing pople are in deny and pretend to love them just because they are Tadano’s and claim they look like the 90s, which is completely not true. Look at R film or episode 6 – her style was simple but mature.
I am not in deny! I can prove it! *Speaks into the magic mirror* Show me the Beast! *Turns the mirror to reveal that live-action Saban Sailor Moon pitch.*
I am not talking about you, Joseph. I know you are honest with your opinion. Other people that gave crap for the show for ages suddenly love the new look, despite hating the moe vibe in Season 3
*gasp!!!*
It’s a beast, he’s got fangs razor sharp ones.
Massive paws, killer claws for the feed.
Hear him roar, see him foam,
but we’re not coming home,
’till he’s dead, good and dead. Kill the beast!!!
I’m just a goof-off!
Indeed, there clearly is no point in common between the 90’s character design and the new one, even if they were made by the same person.
Yes, I 100% agree! Looks like Kazuko Tadano took inspiration from Benjamin Button XD .
I don’t blame it on her at all. She can draw them better even with closed eyes. This is what she was told to do. The visual style for a show/ anime reflects the vision of the director. Look at previous works done by Chiaki Kon. That is why don’t blame Takahashi’s choices either.
I know that she did what she was told to do, but my message was humorous
.
My message was indeed a humoritistical response to Saintfighteraqua’s post, who noticed that this new design made them look younger compared to their looks in the former seasons, while they are of course supposed to be older in the Dream arc. Hence my innocent hint to Benjamin Button. I don’t blame Tadano Kazuko of course.
Let’s grow young together!
Interesting point. In the original anime they aged very little over the course of the series, which ammounted to 2 years from the first episode to the last, so the characters didn’t need to mature much. In the manga and Crystal with 5 years passing throughout the series, especially with the “entrance exam prep and taking” passage of time between the end of Infinity and Dream, it does seem odd for them to revert in age!
In the manga it is more like 3 years. Usagi is in eight grade during Dark Kingdom. Towards the end Ikuko says she is starting 9th grade. They stay there for the majority of the Infinity arc and by the end of they start 10th grade. Dreams arc as far as I can see starts somewhere in spring, and most likely most of it takes place in summer. Then in Stars they are still in 10th grade. And only in the end we have some time jump. 8,9 and 10th geade is what they are in the manga, so yeas 3 years. Like someone joked on forum the reverse aging is a plot for the new Sailor Moon anti aging lotion coming out in 2025
1. Oh, happy day!
2. I hope one these 2 part films will show Rei Hino holding someone in her arms.
I am so excited! The designs are just perfect!
I wonder if maybe there will be one movie for SuperS and one for Stars? Given the “Eternal” subtitle. Just an idea, but i could see it happening. Either way, I’m hyped for sure!
Rock on!
I shall do just that!
I agree I cannot say I am too attached to the styles of any of the seasons to care that it changed. I will admit at first I was not too sure about the season 3 designs but seeing the poster and the opening it was done well. I mean for 13 episodes they definitely could have stepped up in the art department since some episodes looked terrible like the original 90s and most of season 1 and 2 of crystal.
What I do not like is that they made us wait 3 years for a movie and looks like they just started with the designs the day before the announcement. I am happy they are moving forward, but hopefully the movies are not a disappointment. I wish they just continued with season 4 and 5 on tv as a tv series and just finished out crystal like that. This whole movie idea was a terrible idea and with how long we have been waiting I do not see it as worthwhile. I would not have minded if they had just kept season 3 designs for the rest of the crystal series.
The poster seems like the best look so far. The individual character designs look kind of meh. Looks like they left out Venus’ belt though. I like the old crystal design of the tiaras better. The new one seems to go back to the 90’s look for the tiara and overall design. I am more interested to see the outer soldiers’ designs.
Overall I am happy to see it continue, but waiting 4 years and hopefully not another year for these movies is sad. I hope they move onto season 5/stars and not be having us wait 3 more years for that.
With a little bit of time to settle in and look at it more, I started to appreciate the key visual, the artwork is not messy, the skirts look great and the eyes, Usagi’s in particular are great. If you zoom it a little you can actually strands of hair and some nice hair detail as well. Looking at Usagi on the key visual she looks quite different from the design and the close up, so I think they indeed showed some concept art and finalized version, if you look at the key visual Usagi’s eye-shape is different. The eyes on the key visual are probably the closest we got the manga and the proportions look rather good. Hope we can get more artwork in the coming weeks as these blown up close ups are not very indicative.
since Sailor moon Enteral is coming out in 2020. do you think North America will get an English Dub in the movie theaters?
I sure hope so! We got the other films after all so the interest is there.
The design is not bad as it adopts the eyes used in the 90s anime but personally I like the Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 design especially the eyes -I find them more attractive IMHO. I was shaking my head with Season 1 and 2.
These movies should be burned…