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This review takes both seasons into consideration.

I'm glad I finally gave this classic story a chance. It was really, really entertaining. The pacing of the gags, the direction of the emotional scenes, the art direction, the character designs, the way the writers stitched different chapters around to introduce the supporting characters and give the illusion of development...Chef's kiss. As an Inuyasha fan who's now re-discovering Ranma 1/2 through its excellent remake (so far), this series definitely managed to capture the spirit of Rumiko Takahashi's writing.

Funnily enough, I think they dropped the ball on AtaLum just a bit in comparison. Season 1 adapts two very romantic ... stories during the first half of the season and then we don't reach the same heights with them until the end of it. I'd rather have those stories pushed towards the end or have more AtaLum stories adapted. 

On the contrary, the first cour of the second season did a great job at highlighting AtaLum and mostly adapting amazing stories one after the other. The second cour could use less Ten and more AtaLum before the final episodes. It almost felt like a regression, even though the story is mostly episodic in nature. If not more AtaLum, I'd love more stories about Lum and her best friends. The three of them are probably my favorite part of the story. 

I really have to praise the pacing again because Ataru, for me, is a very annoying character whose womanizing act got tiresome pretty quickly. As I'm going through the 1980's Urusei Yatsura movies, it becomes more and more clear to me that he can't carry a full-fledged story centered on him for the most part. He's too much for me. I get the purpose of his character, but I don't really enjoy it. And still, Rumiko and the remake managed to make me emotional during AtaLum scenes and root for them. That's something.

The voice acting deserves a special mention because it's absolutely phenomenal. Lum, Ran, Sakura and Shuutaro are scene-stealers. 

I definitely recommend this remake. It's a fun and easy ride full of eye-catching moments, well-paced gags and some really touching moments. It's insane how many tropes probably originated from this story.

7,5-8/10

The Sailor Moon reboot has been a decade-long bumpy ride. From an uninspired start with Sailor Moon Crystal Seasons 1-2, where the adaptation actually tarnished the source material by omitting most humane interactions of its cast and opting for an endless amount of ugly looking melodrama, to an amazing improvement on Season 3, which felt like watching an anime again and more often than not updated certain elements of the manga, to Sailor Moon Eternal that, as confusingly condensed as it was at times, brought back some charm and wit, to Sailor Moon Cosmos, which is by far the best addition to this incarnation of ... the franchise.

The Stars arc is a trendsetter for a lot of existential themes found in shoujo anime. Its symbolism, lore and overall message are by far some of my favorite in japanese animation. The two movies managed to explain several intricate/questionable points and visualized them properly by adding flashbacks/visions. There's not much left unexplained. Some ambiguity remains, but personally, this is why this arc works (weeell, except for the existence of a specific character that requires some mental gymnastics, ifykyk).

Despite the tightly-knit plot, each character feels true to their persona and their interactions completely make each of them shine. Taiki and Yaten are actually likable, who would have thought!

The movie format actually worked rather well here. It reinforces the high stakes and the shock value of the arc. With just three more minutes of screen time, some transitions between scenes would be less abrupt, but I truly think the team did absolutely everything they could to make all the time restrictions cast upon them work.

Director Tomoya Takahashi proved just how important good direction is. He uses flashy transitions, the camera work is eventful, the characters actually move and there's so much amazing lightwork. Actions scenes have energy and emotional scenes actually carry some weight. There were more than a few tears shed.

Even the music is more inspired and enriched despite being composed by the the same composer from previous seasons (Yasuharu Takanashi). The themes of Galaxia, Kakyuu and Cosmos are definitive highlights.

These movies contain the highest highs of the reboot animation-wise. There's much more movement and a somewhat consistent quality all the way through the films. The stock footage, even though it can feel redundant to some, not only is it really beautiful 90% of the time, but has amazing references from the 90s anime (I love nostalgia bait what can I say) and saves some money for the most pivotal scenes, which look absolutely amazing imo. The line-work and the colors are lively and impactful depending on the mood of each scene. I counted like fifteen (?) instances/seconds of wonky animation out of a 160 minute project. If Crystal had started out like this, I wouldn't even mention these moments because there is no such thing as perfection, especially in a Toei production.

Sailor Moon Cosmos was triumphant at what it set out to do, which is a faithful 1:1 adaptation of the manga. For the most part, it managed to embody and successfully decipher the manga arc (even improve upon it in certain ways). I really wish this had been the team working on the reboot from day 1. But I guess it wouldn't be a Sailor Moon project without a few "what if"'s.


8.5/10