Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Sailor Moon Crystal: Set 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Pretty Guardians, Pretty Blu-ray Set.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 12, 2017

Sailor Moon, one of the most popular anime franchises in both Japan and the rest of the world, has remained in good graces with established fans (various poor quality Blu-ray releases notwithstanding) and won over countless new ones since its inception in the 1990s. In honor of its 20th anniversary, Toei Animation’s Sailor Moon Crystal reboots the franchise by retelling the story of the famous Usagi in a manner more faithful to the original magna by Naoko Takeuchi, as opposed to simply remaking the original as it was first imagined for the screen. Now, both fans of the original anime and those new to the franchise can rediscover, or meet for the first time, Usagi and her friends and fall in love with the "Pretty Guardians" on their quest to save the universe. Again.

Official synopsis: 'Sailor Moon Crystal' retells the origins of Sailor Moon, the kindhearted crybaby destined to protect the world from dark forces. When the evil Queen Metalia and her Dark Kingdom threaten Earth, Sailor Moon and her fellow Sailor Guardians must find the only power capable of vanquishing this ancient evil - the Legacy Silver Crystal! But a mysterious man calling himself Tuxedo Mask is also after this sacred treasure. What is his connection to Sailor Moon? And will the Sailor Guardians be able to find the Silver Crystal before the world falls into eternal darkness?

Fans of the original Americanized Sailor Moon will find discover a wealth of similarities but also plenty of differences in this reboot. Most prominent, the animation style in Sailor Moon Crystal is a bit less "'80s cartoonish" than in the previous rendition, updated using more contemporary techniques, resulting in a sharper and more complex image and, by extension, a more wonderfully realized world and character roster. The show is less “Americanized” as well. It retains the Japanese language songs for the opening and closing titles (they're subtitled). Japanese character names, rather than English-friendly names (there are no "Serena’s" in this one), are used, and Japanese language street signs and other text are prominent, and subtitled as necessary. Essentially, those who grew up watching the show on television in the 90s will note more differences in Crystal as opposed to those who were introduced to the series by Viz Media’s Blu-ray releases of Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon R and Sailor Moon S, which made use of a new voice cast, original Japanese names and music, and include all of the episodes as aired in Japan (as opposed to the cut seasons that original aired in the United States).

With its more faithful presentation in order, Sailor Moon Crystal attempts to stick closer to the original manga’s storyline, covering the entire "Dark Kingdom" arc (Acts 1-13). Each episode shares its name with an act from the manga with the exceptions of episodes 12-14, which combine the final two acts into three episodes, allowing them the proper breathing room necessary to more fully explore the story's conclusion. That faithfulness also means clearly evident plot and character differences from the original 90s show. Usagi remains a childish crybaby in her human form, though less so than her depiction in the original series. The other Sailor Guardians retain their basic personalities from before: Ami is still a genius and Makoto is still bedazzled by her old crush, but they aren’t strictly cookie-cutter carbon copies of their original series characters, despite the show utilizing the same voice cast as the Viz Media home video version. Tuxedo Mask maintains a mysterious persona but is more approachable here. While the basics of the plot are essentially shared between versions -- the Guardians discover their true identities and set out to save the world -- their journey takes a slightly different path and progresses towards its goal a bit faster (what takes two episodes in Crystal requires eight in Sailor Moon). Crystal finds the time to tell its story, feature superb action, flesh out the characters, and retain the series' basic themes of loyalty, friendship, and love conquering all, all in 32 fewer episodes.

Sailor Moon in its Crystal variant offers a not necessarily unique, but certainly well done, blend of Japanese school girl drama and epic Fantasy/Science Fiction action, opening up the possibility for wider appeal to audiences who might enjoy something like, say, Saved by the Bell meets Guardians of the Galaxy (or just Power Puff Girls, for that matter). Fretting over grades and boys and friendship drama one minute and battling to save the universe the next, the series' combination draws the audience into the intersection of real life and superhero life, similar to many of the Marvel and DC stories so popular today. But beyond its broader stroke creativity, much of the series’ appeal comes from its ability to create and mold likable and realistic (as realistic as they can be, anyway) characters that aren’t cookie-cutter, empty shells. The main character is a klutzy crybaby who struggles in school (Usagi) but magically transforms into a superhero. The difference between her and other, similar dual-persona characters, like Clark Kent/Superman, is that hers isn't an act: outside of her superhero persona, with which she also struggles as she's first introduced to her powers, she's just an ordinary schoolgirl trying her best to get by.

The rest of the roster is just as interesting. There's the shy, bookish genius (Ami) with the power to control water and control the battlefield.  There's the more confident and passionate Rei, who controls fire. Makoto is part tomboy and part girly-girl who is as comfortable beating up bad guys as she is cooking and crafting jewelry.  Minako, a video game heroine, confidently leads the other guardians, in time. The mysterious Tuxedo Mask is the perfect romantic interest with his brooding, moody character who is always rescuing Sailor Moon from a tricky situation. Last but not least, felines Luna and Artemis are in many ways the stars of the show, the cats that helps the Guardians discover who they are and train them to fight against the Dark Kingdom.

Sailor Moon Crystal: Set 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sailor Moon Crystal Set 1's 1080p transfer is marred by frequent banding, but it's otherwise quite enjoyable. Colors are punchy and vibrant, not very nuanced in the big and regular splashes -- Usagi/Sailor Moon's flowing yellow hair or the blue and red accents on her costumes -- but there's excellent saturation to the big colors and nice little transitions and shading effects on smaller elements, like wood on park benches or smaller costume or other environmental details. Lines are straight and pleasing. Image clarity is excellent and the 1080p horsepower brings out the finer textural qualities the artists have created, particularly on inanimate backgrounds but also on characters and clothes, too. Environments are fun to explore in every episode, and with the good color saturation it makes for a pleasing, eye-catching image. Mild macroblocking is evident in places as well, but that banding is the only true, constant blemish.

Sailor Moon Crystal: Set 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sailor Moon Crystal Set 1 features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtracks in both English and Japanese which often play bigger than the two-channel configuration. The tracks offer plenty of aggressive elements -- music in particular -- at reference level and it's so organically spaced and potent that it almost fools the listener into thinking that surrounds are involved, too. Even through the music's aggressiveness, finer instrumental and vocal clarity is event. The track further dazzles with plenty of quality transitional and discrete effects. Transformations spring to life with full-powered sonic mayhem, with elements sprinting up to and moving about all along the front, but there's a hearty accuracy and carefully blended clarity to it all. Action scenes delivery plenty of punch, too, with again no shortage of focused and moving pieces along the front. Atmospherics settle in nicely to help better define various environments and are always balanced and well prioritized. The same can be said of dialogue, and it enters the stage with an effortless front-center positioning. Note that audio tracks cannot be changed via remote control audio button press; they must be accessed from the pop-up menu.

Sailor Moon Crystal: Set 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Sailor Moon Crystal Set 1 contains a few brief supplements on both discs, but the included physical content is much more interesting and appealing. This special edition set includes a hard slipcase, artwork cards, and an 85-page booklet. The cards depict Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Venus, Tuxedo Mask and Usagi, and Princess Serenity. The booklet is gorgeously illustrated with colorful scenes on every page. Throughout, it includes episode summaries, interviews with select voice cast, character and environmental artwork and images of important objects from the show, and multi-language lyrics to the opening and closing songs. See screenshots 36-40 for a few quick snaps of the packaging.

Disc One:

• Art Gallery (1080p): A total of six still images of Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Mars that progress only with button presses.

Disc Two:

• Behind the Scenes - Introduction to Sailor Moon Crystal (1080p, 14:00): The English voice cast discusses the show, their characters, and the challenges of recording two versions at once.
• Art Gallery (1080p): A total of nine still images of Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Venus, Tuxedo Mask, Luna, Artemis and a group shot of the Guardians in their human and transformed forms that progress only with button presses.
• Trailer (1080p, 2:14).
• Clean Opening (1080p, 1:31): Available with English and Romaji subtitles.
• Clean Ending (1080p, 1:31): Available with English and Romaji subtitles.
• More from VIZ MEDIA (1080p, 4:47 total runtime): Trailers for other VIZ productions, including previous Sailor Moon releases.

Sailor Moon Crystal: Set 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sailor Moon's Crystal variation works hard to be the definitive version of the original manga. It's more condensed but it doesn't feel lacking content. Animation is improved. Voice work is excellent and retains many of the actors from previous versions. It makes for a great introduction to the series and an interesting point of comparison with the previous releases. Sailor Moon Crystal Set 1's limited edition is excellent. On-disc supplements are skimpy, but the packaging and physical extras are terrific. Video and audio qualities are fine. Highly recommended.