Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie Part 2

Hatul★ 4

This review will cover both films. I'm not gonna spoil anything or go too in depth in this one. With that said, I think these films were bad. The first film felt like a bloated mess of going through each sailor scout character arc individually with a monster of the week format and awkward segways from one to the next. The second film wasn't as unbearable since it was mostly the climax. But this is a story that was clearly meant to be serialized, and making it a film seriously harmed its pacing and left no breather room as well as a bad story structure. I remember how allof the villains had actual depth in the original series. You actually spent time with them - knew why they became who they are and each had a unique motivation that set them apart. Here that depth is entirely removed, they are all interchangeable - and we get nothing in return, since all of the protagonists are watered down considerably as well. With each getting a couple of minutes of monologuing about what their motives are and some 10 minute segment of a fight and realization barely leaving you with enough time for it to register before it moves on to the next character. The only character that seemed to survive through all this and have some kind of meaningful pathos is Chibi-Usa who's supposed to be the central character of this part of the story and to be fair, she does have some nice moments in the beginning of the first film and the ending of the second tying it all together. Plus, all of the characters felt "in character" and retained some of their liveliness, which is more than I can say about the first season of Sailor Moon Crystal. Visually it looks quite pretty with its bright saturated colors, sparkly visual effects, decent animation and good character designs. By film standards it's probably average at best, but by tv standards it looks very good. While the music is nice, there is definitely a repetition in the way its used and some voice acting sounds a little uneven depending on which character is speaking. The biggest technical problem is that every shot in these 2 films seem to only last as long as the word count allows. Nothing is emphasized, nothing is enhanced properly, not a single shot lasts more than 9 seconds (most last less than 5) and there is very little creativity in its editing. When a character finishes talking (and there is a ton of talking in these films, btw), we just cut to the next shot.. It continuously moves at this pace for the entire duration and as a result, there are no memorable scenes and very little to look forward to. It feels like Toei just threw the manga volumes in to some kind of adaptation machine and out came a film with a random runtime of 2 hours and 42 minutes depending entirely on word count and panel size, without any human thought behind it. In conclusion, I think Sailor Moon Crystal was completely unnecessary since it added close to nothing to the franchise and failed to set itself apart from the manga and the older anime. The first season was lifeless and boring. The second season was decent, but still very watered down compared to the equivalent season of the older anime. And this, while definitely not as lifeless as season 1, was just barely watchable as a film. So much for the "Brotherhood treatment" (ugh, I hate that phrase). Not all manga should be adapted faithfully since many of them don't translate well in to another medium. This entire Crystal series is just another example of that. Stop being manga purists and asking for the "Brotherhood treatment".. If it were up to people like you, we wouldn't have brilliant interpretations of manga and novels from smarter people who actually take advantage of the strengths of anime as a medium - as opposed to making a faithful adaptation with little regard to how it would come across on screen.

KursedArcana★ 10

This review will contain some spoilers. So the dream arc is my favorite story arc of sailor moon. I even adore the supers adaptation of it. The second movie does an excellent job of adapting the remainder of the dream arc. It has beautiful animation and character designs, a beautiful soundtrack with some nostalgia thrown in and a fantastic story. The second movie is where the plot really starts moving forward. So the dream arc offers some backstory and world building, highlights the individual guardians, with this second movie focusing on the outer guardians as well as some development for both mamoru and Usagi. Get preparedto learn more about the silver millennium, Mamo and the Golden Crystal. The Golden Crystal's role is quite different from the 90's anime and far more interesting. People have complained about mamo being useless for far too long. It's about time he gains the ability to truly stand with his love. It's too bad it took so long, we won't be seeing much of it in this movie or hereafter. Now Nehelenia is a petty woman and I adore her and her circus. The Amazoness Quartetbis such a fun group and I'm thrilled to finally see them in all their guardian glory. The old anime redeemed them as well but made the bad choice to not reveal that they are sailor Guardians destined to fight with Chibiusa. It instead chose to lightly hint that they'll meet again and then never show it. Unlike in the supers arc adaptation, Nehelenia is completely defeated here and won't be an opponent in the stars arc. She also has no tragic backstory bit is instead quite similar to Maleficent, the wicked fairy, from Sleeping Beauty. While she doesn't have a tragic story this time around, she does offer an interesting perspective when paired with Queen Serenty. Alas, for all this movie does right, it's tight run time hinders it. The film goes by at a rapid pace. You'll want to give it your full attention so you don't miss anything. Sadly the movie, much like crystal cuts some fun moments, as well as some backstory and explanatory content. If your left slightly confused by anything, I encourage you to give the manga a read to fill in the blanks. My honest oppinion though is that you'll comprehend everything fine. For example, I believe in the manga the guardians visit their castles or at the very least we get a view of them. Each one has a fantastic design and we're a gift from Queen Serenity upon the birth of each guardian. The anime cuts the backstory and were just sort of told they have castles and need to channel their power to help sailor moon. For those of you wondering, yes saturn has a transformation at last. And it is completely underwhelming. It's animated beautifully, there's just not really much to it. They could of kept it relatively the same but with a little more oomph. Like have her state on the crystal rocks around her or something. We waited years for this and will only see it once. Helios and chibiusa are portrayed excellently here. Their romance is truly a highlight and a personal favorite of mine. The resolution to their character arcs is far stronger here and it it climaxes with a moment that heralds back to the iconic Usagi and Mamo moment in arc 1 where the silver crystal reveals itself and saves him. Only this is Chibiusa's moment to shine. Now the soundtrack, anyone feeling nostalgic should definitly watch the credits. While the first film used the first ending of super s the second film used the second and it's just as fantastic as you'd think. It will make you want to dance like the guardians did in the old ed visual.. The other song played during the credits is another character song that can be found on the soundtrack. Please give it a listen. Well that's it for now. The movies were fantastic despite their faults. Let's hope we see the stars arc soon. I'd be happy for wither a few more movies or a season. As long as it comes fast. "Inside each of us is a star"