I’m not going to mince words here – I grinned like a loon through the whole episode. ^_^
Here’s a few things of note.
Let’s start with the eternal message against fandelusion: Remember, the story and dialogue are known quantities, so arguing about wanting something that won’t happen is not something that I’ll waste time doing.
As in the manga, as far as we know in this first episode Tenoh Haruka is a boy. And it it is as a boy that the girls of Mugen Gakuen think he and Michiru make a great couple. This will play out a little longer in this version than it did in the original anime.
I absolutely loved, with all my love, a few of the individual scenes which strongly echoed their analogs back in the original series. I chalk this up once again to the director, who I just feel really gives a hoot. These scenes made me sincerely happy.
Voice actresses Minagawa Junko and Ohara Sayaka as Michiru and Haruka were lovely. I’m completely satisfied with them in the roles.
We only had a teeny taste of Kaolinite and Hotaru, that left us wanting more.
I have only one complaint and while it is not minor, it’s not anything that will change. I find the transformation scenes to be drawn rather unfortunately out of proportion. As those are scenes that will be played repeatedly, and are animated early on, I honestly feel that they ought to be the best possible animation that can be done. Attacks too. In Season 3, the attacks looks fine, but the transformations are a hot mess. It’s a shame, but we’ll live.
My final note is that I’ve already really come to love the ED. It checks off all the “songs by/about Haruka /Michiru” list items: Use of their names, mentions of wind and ocean, mirror and sword, eternity, moon. Check, check, check. Good song. ^_^
Can’t really do ratings after 1 episode, but who am I fooling? It’s a 10, because. ^_^
You can watch this season free and legally on Crunchyroll, Hulu or Nico Nico Douga, the latter, subtitled in 10 languages with global access, so go watch it!
I have also hated the transformation sequences in Crystal, since the start, especially Usagi’s. Her limbs move like noodles, it’s unsettling. My suspicion is that, at least at this point, they are still using the transformations from the first two seasons (didn’t care to verify) because it wouldn’t make sense from their perspective to spend money to redo them.
As for everything else about the ep, it got a huge thumbs up from me, I felt it was a big improvement over s1/2. Part of that was the massive amount of Haruka x Michiru fanservice ( especially that end!) but it also seemed to incorporate a lot more humor and better interactions. I’m cautiously optimistic now, a big step after basically abandoning the series for a long time
It’s visually obvious that this new season has been done by a mostly new staff, which isn’t a major critism, but it’s still a tiny bit inconsistent from what we watched before and took some getting used to, at least for me.
I never shared the hatred against the 3D-transformation scenes from the first two seasons. Admittedly it was distracting at first, but I got used to it, and what I liked about them was the fluidity and how the camera seemed to focus on the beauty of the transformations, whereas in the classic series they felt a bit more voyeuristic by comparison. Upon watching the 2D versions of the transformations, they seemed to work well enough and retained a little of what I liked before–but it’ll surely be laughably ironic if the same whining/complaining fans aren’t any happier with them this time around.
Either way, full steam ahead on the new season!
As down as I have been on SMC in the past, this was certainly a solid start to the new season. It seems much more at ease and self-aware of itself and of fans’ expectations of it. As for the henshins, I loved them. The noodley anatomy and extreme poses I simply chalk up to stylization, and at least they are real animation again and not the atrocious budget-CG of the previous two seasons.
I was so delighted by this first episode that I immediately re-watched it after watching it last Monday. I’m so glad that we get the second episode today!
Me too!
I fangirled so hard over Haruka and Michiru. I’m also anticipating if, when, and how Pluto will return.
I finally watched the whole three seasons in about 2 weeks (I know I’m years late to this party). I’m totally smitten with this version over the original. I agree though that the transformation scenes in season three were not very good. I really loved Sailor Moon’s transformation in the first season and was thoroughly disappointed with the choreography in three. There are some definitely disappointing effects with the attacks too (and some other bizarre animation choices elsewhere), but the rest of season three’s animation and characterization are certainly stronger than season 1’s so I’ll forgive the attacks and transformations. Can’t wait for the movies this summer!
Me too! Thanks for commenting.