Sailor Moon Crystal was one of the most highly anticipated anime of the 2010s. The original Sailor Moon anime is still one of the most popular and beloved anime of all time, even more than two decades later, so it’s no surprise that fans were excited by the prospect of a reboot with updated animation and character designs and the potential for fewer filler episodes.

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Many fans had questions about what the series would be like and how it would differ from the original series with regard to how the characters would look, what kind of music would be included, and what the story would be like. Here are 10 facts about the reboot that fans may not know.

10 More Faithful To The Manga

The original Sailor Moon anime has been criticized for relying too heavily on filler episodes involving a monster of the week for the Sailor Scouts to defeat, which many fans thought were downright silly. Sailor Moon Crystal promised to be more faithful to the story in the manga, both in terms of pacing and in terms of character work.

For example, Ami is introduced in the first episode of the series, with her official awakening as Sailor Mercury occurring in the second episode, where it occurs in the second chapter of the manga as well.

9 Dub Cast

The Inner Senshi With Artemis And Luna In Sailor Moon Crystal

Shortly before Sailor Moon Crystal began airing, the original Sailor Moon anime received a re-dub, also in celebration of the series’ 20th anniversary. U.S. fans have mixed feelings about the original DiC dub, which has nostalgic value but also major issues, particularly concerning the censorship of gay characters.

The re-dub has been released in seasons alongside Sailor Moon Crystal, and the re-dub cast has voiced their characters in Crystal as well.

8 First Episode Viewings

As mentioned above, Sailor Moon Crystal was highly anticipated by fans of the manga and the original anime.

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When the first episode dropped online, people from all over the world flocked to their streaming services to watch it. The episode was watched over one million times in the first two days of streaming availability.

7 Season Three Ending Themes

Sailor Neptune and uranuss

Season three has the most ending theme music of the three seasons, with three themes altogether. Each theme is sung by different members of the voice cast, likely to be understood as being sung by the characters themselves.

The first theme, “Eternal Eternity,” is sung by Junko Monagawa and Sayaka Ohara who voice Sailors Uranus and Neptune. The second, “Maiden’s Advice,” is sung by Misato Fukuen, who is Chibiusa’s voice actress. And “Eternity Brings Two Together” is sung by Kenji Nojima, who plays Mamoru Chiba.

6 Akiko Kosaka

Luna And Artemis In Sailor Moon Crystal

Akiko Kosaka is a composer for many animated films and television series in Japan, including Sally, the Witch and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She also composed much of the music for the original Sailor Moon television series.

While she didn’t come back as a composer on Sailor Moon Crystal overall, she did compose the music for “Gekko,” the ending theme sung by Momoiro Clover Z during the first two seasons.

5 Advance Screening

The series was always meant to be released worldwide online, simultaneously streaming worldwide and in Japan beginning on the same day, July 5, 2014. But the first episode actually held an advance screening at Zepp DiverCity in Tokyo.

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The event was co-sponsored by Kodansha’s fashion magazine, ViVi, so everyone had to adhere to a themed dress code, wearing something marine-related, and no men could enter unless they were in the company of women. The event was held on June 30, which is the birthday of Usagi Tsukino.

4 No Fourth Season

The first three seasons of Sailor Moon follow the first three major arcs of the manga. The studio announced that they were picked up to do a fourth season of the series.

However, instead of doing a fourth television anime season, it was instead decided that the next arc, the Dead Moon arc, would be shown in two parts as movies instead, called Sailor Moon Crystal Eternal.

3 Kotono Mitsuishi

Kotono Mitsuishi is a prolific anime voice actress and singer, who has voiced dozens of anime characters since her start in the industry in the early '90s. Her most famous roles are Misato in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gracia Huges in Fullmetal Alchemist, and of course, Usagi in Sailor Moon.

Mitsuishi reprises her role as Usagi in Sailor Moon Crystal, showing that the series isn’t completely interested in erasing the original series.

2 Momoiro Clover Z

The Inner Senshi in Sailor Moon Crystal

Momoiro Clover Z is a popular idol group in Japan. They have done several anime openings, including for series like Pokémon, and they are known for their color-coordinated outfits, which look a lot like Super Sentai uniforms.

This makes them a great fit for doing a Sailor Moon Crystal theme since Sailor Scouts also appear to adhere to a Super Sentai color coordination. Momoiro Clover Z performed both “Moon Pride,” the first opening of the reboot, and “Gekko,” the series’s first ending.

1 3-D Animation

Sailor Moon Crystal Sailor Jupiter Transformation

Fans were audibly upset by the use of 3-D animation in the first two seasons of the series. The animation style was particularly used in transformation sequences, which are some of the most beloved moments of Sailor Moon.

In the third season, the animation team and the budget of the series were adjusted, and the animation in general, particularly the transformations which lost the 3-D style entirely, changed for the better.

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