Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 Might Finally be the Reboot We Always Wanted

Posted by Jess on March 20, 2016

We’re back, Moonies.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 airs April 4 on TV in Japan, but there’s still no word on whether the show will be simulcast as it was for the Dark Kingdom and Black Moon arcs. There’s no need to harp on how disappointing the first two seasons were, so let’s instead focus on how promising the Infinity Arc is!

There’s a lot riding on this season: the outer senshi (Sailors Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, and Pluto) are fan favorites, and many fans have abandoned the reboot due to its problems. Toei needs to knock it out of the park with this season in order to justify rebooting the remaining material and gain back fan love.

The major issue with the first two seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal was, of course, the shoddy animation. However, Sailor Moon Crystal season 3 features a new character designer, Akira Takahashi, who also happened to be a producer on the final season of the OG anime, Sailor Stars (which was the best season so far as animation quality is concerned). Based on the key art seen so far, the team has returned to basics and abandoned the expressionless, porcelain doll style of the Dark Kingdom and Black Moon arcs, and is letting our girls simply be the ginchy teenage superheroines we all know and love. Just check out the gorgeous new teaser trailer for proof.

It’s also hard to forget the horrible pacing problems Crystal suffered from in it’s first two seasons, and there are strong signs that Crystal may have addressed this as well. Chiaki Kon has taken over as the show’s director, replacing Munehisa Sakai who had directed the show’s first two seasons. Fans have also reported from an early screening that the season’s first episode only covers the first half of its manga counterpart (as opposed to the previous 1-1 trend of manga chapter to TV episode in the last seasons). This longer timeline suggests that we might actually see better pacing and character development in this new season.

Now, you might be thinking, “But Jessica, haven’t we been burnt by beautiful trailers in the past? What’s to say this is any different?” And you’re right: we’ve absolutely been duped by past promos. The Infinity Arc (Sailor Moon S in the OG anime) is hands down my favorite season and honestly, I don’t think even I could stick with Crystal if it continued on the same trend as the last two seasons. It was hard enough watching my girl Venus get the shaft in character development; I don’t think I could handle it if the same happened with my favorite senshi, Sailor Uranus. But I like to think that Toei has heard our complaints and is finally investing the time, energy, and talent this reboot deserves.

I mean, come on, Uranus and Neptune are pretty damn perfect here: beautiful, mysterious, and otherworldly. That’s something to get excited about.

What do you think, fellow Moonies? Are you excited for Sailor Moon Crystal season 3? Or are you over this reboot already?

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About Jess

She's is just your average cat-herding, world-traveling, tech-loving otaku. She'll brazenly defend her love of Harry Potter and Sailor Moon to any who challenge it, and can usually be found under a stack of unread books and graphic novels.