The Dark Kingdom Arc starts off introducing us to the inner Senshis - Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus and the first few episodes moved along quite quickly and were quite enjoyable. The old anime was extremely slow and sometimes dragging on for too long - although the filler episodes added a lot of flavour and characterisation to each Sailor Senshi. I'm glad that SMC didn't have so many fillers though as I wouldn't want to watch them again in the reboot. There are obviously spoilers in this post so beware!
The best thing about SMC are definitely the transition cards. How good are these?
The character designs are actually really good and I love Mars' concept art but it didn't quite translate so well onto the animation, especially during Mars' introductory episode (it was so bad). However, I really liked the transformation sequence in this introductory episode (ep 3) because of the background music - it suited Mars' shinto girl image perfectly and the sound of the flames added so much to the atmosphere.
Mercury's animated transformation was still a little cringeworthy at best since I thought we were over 'that' type of watery effect about 16 years ago... But hold on.. the stills of it look really good. Anyway, I do like Mercury's 2D animation, she looks perfect. Mercury and Mars have been given the fewest attacks though, so far.
Jupiter's episode at the time was one of the best (maybe because it was so close to Mars') but the second time around it wasn't that amazing. I like Jupiter in SMC though because she seems to be getting the most diverse range of attacks, using two different ones in her introductory episode (ep 5 - Flower Hurricane and Jupiter Thunderbolt) and more later. She also seemed to be the one causing everyone to levitate during the battle at the Tokyo Tower (ep 8).
Venus was one of my favourites in the remake initially because she was so cool and less annoying compared to the old anime which made her quite boring and hollow. In SMC she was almost as cool as when Uranus and Neptune appeared in the old one, mysterious and on a lone mission. I like that Venus' story stuck very close to the manga because she had a much bigger role than in the old anime and also a different transformation pen to show that she was awakened at a different time. Her transformation sequence is really annoying and long here - maybe I just hate the contrived ribbons -; the best bit was the final part where stars fly everywhere. That is one of the best frames in SMC transformations. I wish we had Crescent Beam..
Moon's transformation was initially disappointing the first time I watched it since it was too long and I felt like those ribbons were too much. I still feel like that but I've come to be ok with it. She does get a few tiaras though compared to the old anime which is cool; but she hardly uses Moon Tiara Boomerang/Action which was one of my favourite attacks in the old one. I also really liked Moon Tiara Stardust, which happened during a filler episode. One of my old complaints about Moon was that she only ever used the Ultrasonic Waves Odango attack once but it did happen twice in SMC, I just didn't notice (eps 1 and 2). I also hated that she only used the Moon Serious Laser (I made that name up) once in ep 4 but she did TRY to use it again in ep 7 against one of the Ites.
Oh and human Luna made an appearance!
This Silver Crystal looks so good
On another note, the shipping of the inner Senshis and the Zites was quite unnecessary even it does fit the theme of SMC quite well - with a stronger focus on Shoujo Romance. I say it's unnecessary because it became so awkward when the inner Senshis just 'accidentally' killed them (their true loves) in ep 12.
It also reinforced the idea that these girls have a strong reliance on their past lives and why Moon decided to repeat history and stab herself in the final part for no apparent reason except for the fact that she HAD a HISTORY with Mamoru in her PAST LIFE. But I do think that SMC does try to salvage that situation a bit by having Queen Serenity tell them that they too have their own reasons why they are reborn and that they are to find their own path.. but at the end of the day, action speaks louder than words.. right?
It was disappointing to see that they didn't update Moon's transformation (Moon Crystal Power) even though she got a new brooch :( Watching them transform over and over in the same way in a mediocre transformation sequence gets really tiring. A new brooch is a new opportunity. Such a missed opportunity because it would have been a greaet way to mark a new beginning with a new sequence! Another annoying thing was the way that Moon Healing Escalation was animated with the long rod, it kind of just bounced around in her hands :/ poor effort.
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| tiny pancake ass silver crystal |
And so, at the end of this, a pink girl falls from the sky..
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