Fighting evil by moonlight and Blu-ray
For the longest time, the only way fans of Sailor Moon could see the “newer” Crystal series was online and in Japanese. Well, times have changed and the English version is available in standard and Blu-ray. Let’s get right into it!
The Crystal series tells the tale of fourteen-year-old Usagi Tsukino as she starts off her journey as Sailor Moon. The first saga showcases the Sailor Guardians fight with Queen Beryl and Queen Metalia. Will Sailor Moon be able to find the Legendary Silver Crystal?
One of the major things I noticed with this variation compared to other Sailor Moon series is that there isn’t too many filler episodes. The main series and anime in general have plenty of filler episodes to keep the audience interested. Crystal was short and sweet and to the point.
The 5 five guardians were awakened right away. Compare that to the original series and you didn’t get all five guardians until the second season. Crystal felt like it had a darker interpretation to the series. There was more action and fighting as well. The animation was updated and looked great. Characters were updated as well as locations from the original series.
The DVD has quite a few extras as well. There is an interview with the English cast giving you the gist of how they feel the Crystal series is different compared to the original. It was interesting to hear how the voice actors did things differently in terms of voices and directions for Crystal then they did with the original. There is a also an image gallery that shows off the main characters and how different they look.
The story moving quicker was a big plus since the original series moved at a snails pace. However, the darker tone to the series eliminated most of the jokes in the writing. Understand that the darker tone to the series would get rid of certain jokes but it still has humorous moments.
It just doesn’t have nearly as many as the original did. There’s nothing wrong with that but it takes getting used to if you’ve been a fan of the series for a long time. The updated animation looks great but there were times that I found myself liking the original better (There weren’t too many instances like that!)
The first Crystal Blu-ray box set gets through the Queen Metalia arch and then ends with a cliff-hanger involving Chibi-Usagi and you won’t want to miss that. I’m giving the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-ray set a 9/10. I would like to thank Viz Media for the review copy.
Score: 9 / 10
