Second Chances: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon began an expansion of Naoko Takeuchi's manga series Codename: Sailor V. The series didn't feature Sailor Moon, but was centered around Sailor Venus who later becomes Sailor Moon's companion in the extended series. The mangas have been adapted into several animes, a live action and musicals. Today, we're focusing on the animes only. The mangas are certainly on my reading list. I have seen an episode or two of the musical, namely for having a cameo by Shazna's vocalist, Izam.

Super 90s anime style

Back in the 90s, Sailor Moon was a popular anime that I didn't like. I felt that the characters could be quite annoying overall when I saw the dubbed version that aired on Toonami in 1998.There was so much that I disliked about the anime that I never gave it a second chance. Sure, this was probably blasphemy since magical girl anime is the cutest thing ever. I'm fairly sure that I blacked out most of what I'd seen of that version.

Super gorgeous updated style

It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I found myself with the real desire to watch the updated version released in 2014. The art was quite lovely which is what I expect from an anime aimed at a female audience. I like the soft feel of it. It's updated, while still keeping a similar feel to what they tried to do on the previous version. I feel like this is a good balance of the old and the new as far as the animation is concerned. Toei does soften the animation even further for season 3, but I don't mind the change at all. Actually, I kind of like it a bit better because the transformations don't feel as cgi.

            90s version                                               2014 version       

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Crystal has spanned three seasons so far. I ended up sitting in front of the laptop, starring at the screen as I absorbed episode after episode. I was enraptured with these characters that I once found annoying. Usagi is an adorable, complex character. Chibiusa is just as adorable as Usagi is. The other characters like Ami don't seem as brash as they seemed in the previous version. I keep finding myself wanting to see every episode and they don't come fast enough. I want to see what happens to these women (and Mamoru) next.

I've heard from a reliable source who has read all the manga, seen the original anime and watched Sailor Moon Crystal that the updated version follows the manga more closely. This gives me hope that I'll enjoy the manga as much as I've enjoyed Crystal. This is a huge change for someone who disliked the original so badly that I didn't want anything to do with it at all. Hurry up, Toei! I need more episodes!