Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal

Template:InfoboxTV Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal (commonly referred to as Sailor Moon Crystal) is a next-generation Sailor Moon anime series adapted more faithfully to the manga. It is the second animated adaption of the series and, like the previous animated adaption of the 1990s, it is made by Toei Animation.

Plot

Season One: Dark Kingdom

The first season of the new anime consists of twenty-six episodes; of thirteen each. It focuses mainly on how the Sailor Team was formed, battling and defeating new and stronger enemies, and meeting new Sailor Soldiers along the way. It focuses only on the first two arcs of the manga.

While she is hurrying to get to her school on time one day, fourteen-year-old Usagi Tsukino accidentally steps on a black cat. When she picks it up and takes off the band aids on its forehead, she notices a crescent shaped symbol on the cat's forehead. Usagi, however, thinks that it's just a bald spot and runs off to school. Later that day, Usagi takes a nap, only to be awakened by the cat from earlier that day. To her surprise, the cat starts talking to her and introduces itself as Luna. Luna tells Usagi that she is destined to become a Sailor Soldier, and gives her a mystical brooch that enables her to transform into Sailor Moon by calling out Moon Prism Power! Make Up! After transforming, Sailor Moon hears her good friend, Naru, screaming and goes to rescue her from a Youma. After defeating the Youma, she meets Tuxedo Mask, a mysterious man who encouraged her to defeat the Youma during the fight. The next day, Usagi wakes up to go to school thinking that what happened that night was dream, that is, until she hears Naru telling her friends about what happened the previous night. Soon, Usagi finds out that not only does she need to find the other Sailor Senshi, but she also has to find the Moon Princess and protect the supremely powerful Silver Crystal from the Dark Kingdom; a mysterious group of villains that attempt to steal life energy from humans to strengthen and revitalize their ruler Queen Metaria to dominate Earth and exact their vengeance on the people of the White Moon, who have been reborn and reincarnated as "ordinary" teenage girls on Earth.

Usagi eventually finds the other five Sailor Senshi-Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus- and finds out that Tuxedo Mask is actually Mamoru Chiba, a man that had previously made fun of her about multiple things, including her low test grades and her meatball-like hairstyle. He and Usagi later begin to fall in love with each other. However, during a battle with Kunzite, Tuxedo Mask injures himself while trying to protect Sailor Moon from an attack, causing him to lose consciousness as well. Sailor Moon is overwhelmed with sadness when this happens and after crying out in anguish, her tiara breaks, revealing a crescent moon symbol on her forehead and instantly transforms into Princess Serenity, the Princess of the Moon Kingdom, Silver Millennium. After regaining her memories of her past life, one of her teardrops reveals the vastly powerful, legendary Silver Crystal itself, which starts to send out immense healing energy throughout the city. After attempting to attack the newly awakened Serenity, Queen Beryl and Kunzite abduct an unconscious Tuxedo Mask.

To find answers, Luna takes the five Sailor Soldiers to the Moon, where the ruins of Silver Millennium lie. The spirit of a young woman with silver hair appears before them and thanks Luna for bringing them here. She reveals to Sailor Moon that she is/was her mother in her past life, Queen Serenity. She explains that they all lived happily on the Moon with their beloved kingdom, the very first era of Silver Millennium. However, an evil entity from the cosmos, Queen Metalia, arrived out of the blue and brainwashed the humans of Earth to plan a major assault on the Moon Kingdom.

After returning home, Usagi runs into Mamoru, who she is shocked to discover has been brainwashed by Queen Beryl. A battle in another dimension takes place between Queen Beryl and the five Sailor Senshi. Sailor Venus manages to kill her by using the holy sword. Endymion runs off with Sailor Moon in pursuit. Elsewhere, the four Inner Sailors are confronted by the four Knights, who they succeed in freeing from Metalia's control. Before they can embrace, Metalia kills them all. Saddened at the loss of their sweethearts, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus are told by Kunzite to keep on fighting to protect their princess. In the headquarters of Dark Kingdom, Sailor Moon uses the sword to stab Endymion in the chest and then herself. She collapses on top of Tuxedo Mask and the others are horrified to have the tragedy repeated yet again. The complete Silver Crystal suddenly grows and envelops Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask in it before disappearing. Sailors' Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus all teleport after them. A hurt Luna asks Artemis to teleport her to the Moon. He does so, and Luna desperately pleads for Queen Serenity to show herself once more.

Drawing strength from their Guardian planets, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus confront Queen Metalia directly, but their powers prove utterly ineffective against her as they merely make her stronger. Feeling hopeless, the four Inner Guardians' remember Usagi and her heart-warming smile and never-ending friendship she gave them. They sense Sailor Moon is still alive within Metalia's evil energy along with the supreme Silver Crystal. Deep within pure evil, Sailor Moon tries to awaken Endymion's motionless body and begs the Silver Crystal to help her. Unsealing a flash of white light, the Crystal teleports Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask out of Metalia's body, where Sailor Moon utilizes its full strength and abilities to beat Queen Metalia once and for all, but has her transformation broach broken in the process. Hearing Luna's voice, Usagi used the Moon Stick to teleport her and Tuxedo Mask to the Moon, where the Moon Castle is fully restored its former grandeur. The hologram of Queen Serenity appears and congratulates her daughter for her heroism and says that she now ruler of the Moon Kingdom. However, Usagi prefers to remain on Earth with her friends and family. Queen Serenity accepts her decision and gives her the Crystal Star broach, which she put the Silver Crystal in, and enables her to become an even stronger Sailor Moon than before. Once transformed, she uses Moon Healing Escalation for the last time and heals the people of Earth. She is soon reunited with Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako.

Season Two: Black Moon

A few weeks after the obliteration of Queen Metaria and her bewitched Earth minions, the five Sailor Soldiers' are living a time of peace and harmony. Usagi receives a brand new and much stronger transformation brooch, called the Crystal Star , from the ghostly spirit of Queen Serenity, and transforms into an even stronger evolution of her standard Sailor form. She also obtains a much stronger mystical scepter to defeat any new enemies she might encounter: The Cutie Moon Rod, whose purifying/destroying moon-based attack is Moon Princess Halation.

As their regular and basic transformation pens were destroyed during their final showdown with Queen Metalia, Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako are each given the much stronger and more powerful Star Power Sticks by Luna, as well as newer wristwatch communicators. Usagi and Mamoru have now grown closer in an official romantic relationship, but are interrupted by a young, bright pink-haired girl falling from the sky from a mysterious portal. This girl, calling herself "Usagi," demands the vastly powerful Silver Crystal from Usagi. Unfortunately, the Black Moon clan have arrived on Earth and are after Chibiusa (whom they refer to as "the Rabbit") in order to obtain the legendary Silver Crystal of the future and destroy it, as it is no match for the increasingly vast amounts of evil energies from the Malefic Black Crystal that they possess. To accomplish this, they seek to abduct Chibiusa for their own purposes.

Things get more and more difficult and uncertain when Sailor Mars, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter are all abducted and taken to planet Nemesis as captives. Fortunately, with the help of Chibiusa and another Sailor Soldier, Sailor Moon and her closest friends' go the future to learn more about the Black Moon and what are their ultimate goals involving Chibiusa and the all-powerful Silver Crystal are.

Ultimately, Wiseman finally takes charge and reveals himself as the embodiment of Nemesis itself: the Death Phantom. Desiring to help her fellow Sailor Senshi from beyond her post, Sailor Pluto (with the encouragement from Diana) gladly goes through the Space-Time Door with the young Guardian-kitten guarding it in her stead; breaking the second taboo. No longer trusting anyone, Prince Demande succeeds in taking both Silver Crystals of the past and future with the intention of merging them into one large Silver Crystal, which would result in the utter annihilation and nonexistence of both eras. In a desperate attempt to stop this disastrous catastrophe from occurring, Sailor Pluto breaks the third and last taboo: she freezes all of time. This gives Sailor Moon an opportunity to take the Silver Crystals from Prince Demande and use them to eliminate Death Phantom once and for all. Having violated the third and final code she was forever bound to, Sailor Pluto dies to serve her "punishment" of eternal rest in Crystal Tokyo. Seeing her closest friend "die" before her very eyes, causes the real Chibiusa to awaken and drive Black Lady out of her subconscious mind, and becomes Sailor Chibi Moon for the first time. Her true awakening as a Sailor Senshi results in Neo Queen Serenity's own awakening from her longtime coma.

Neo Queen Serenity bestows much stronger planet powers on Sailors' Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus, and gifts Sailor Moon with the third evolution of her standard Sailor form with the Cosmic Heart Compact and a more powerful weapon-the Spiral Heart Moon Rod-to fight new enemies. With the past and future saved from nonexistence, Chibiusa decides to stay in the twentieth century to continue her training in order to become a full-fledged Sailor Soldier.

Season Three: Infinity

A few months have passed since the defeat of Death Phantom, and Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, Minako, and Chibiusa have all enjoyed their daily lives in peace and harmony. With the third evolution of their standard Sailor forms and much stronger elemental abilities, the four Inner Sailor Soldiers are prepared for anything. Chibiusa is glad to train in order to become the sixth Sailor Guardian of the team by transforming into Sailor Chibi Moon, and using the mystical moonlight-related abilities of her own mystical weapon- the Pink Moon Stick. With the mystical Cosmic Heart Compact in her possession, Usagi now transforms into the third evolution of her regular Sailor form and is even stronger than ever with the Spiral Heart Moon Rod as her newest weapon. However, new forces arise out the blue, stealing peoples' pure hearts using vile monsters called Diamon. In addition to this new threat, two new mysterious Sailor Soldiers appear, but have ambiguous intentions. To make matters worse, Mamoru and Rei begin to have vividly recurring nightmares about the annihilation of the world, where the Messiah obliterates everything and everyone with a long sickle-like weapon.

As new mysterious and secrets are brought to light, these new villains (known as the Death Busters) are harnessing a great power within someone that will lead the Earth toward nonexistence with the requirement of the mighty Holy Grail and the supremely powerful Silver Crystal held by Chibiusa. Also, another Sailor Guardian is introduced; one who is considered the strongest and most feared of all.

Cast

Main Characters

Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon - Kotono Mitsuishi - Stephanie Sheh
Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury - Hisako Kanemoto - Kate" Higgins
Rei Hino/Sailor Mars - Rina Sato - Cristina Vee
Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter - Ami Koshimizu - Amanda Miller
Minako Aino/Sailor Venus - Shizuka Ito - Cherami Leigh
Luna - Ryo Hirohashi - Michelle Ruff
Artemis - Youhei Oobayashi - Johnny Yong Bosch
Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask - Kenji Nojima - Robbie Daymond
Chibiusa Tuskino/Sailor Chibi Moon - Misato Fukuen - Sandy Fox
Sailor Pluto/Setsuna Meioh - Ai Maeda - Veronica Taylor
Sailor Uranus/Haruka Tenoh - Junko Minagawa -
Sailor Neptune/Michiru Kaioh - Sayaka Ohara -
Sailor Saturn/Hotaru Tomoe - Yukiyo Fujii -

Dark Kingdom

Queen Beryl - Misa Watanabe - Cindy Robinson
Queen Metaria - Yoko Matsuoka - Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
Jadeite - Daisuke Kishio - Todd Michael Haberkorn
Nephrite - Kosuke Toriumi - Liam O'Brien
Zoisite - Masaya Matsukaze - Lucien Dodge
Kunzite - Eiji Takemoto - David Patrick Seitz

Black Moon Clan

Prince Demande - Mamoru Miyano - Matthew Mercer
Saphir - Tsubasa Yonaga - Greg Felden
Rubeus - Hiroki Takahashi - Steve Cannon
Esmeraude - Houko Kuwashima - Rena S. Mandel
Wiseman - Hiroshi Iwasaki - Steven M. Kramer
Koan - Satsuki Yukino - Eden Riegel
Berthier - Rumi Kasahara - Cindy Robinson
Petz - Wasabi Mizuta - Jessica Gee
Calaveras - Tomoe Hanba - Cassandra Lee Morris

Death Busters

Souichi Tomoe - Takuya Kirimoto

Witches 5

Kaorinite - Hikari Yono
Eudial - Chiaki Takahashi
Viluy - Rina Honizumi
Mimete - Yuki Nagaku
Tellu - Naomi Ohzora
Cyprine & Ptilol - Umeka Shouji
Mistress 9 -
Pharaoh 90 - Takaya Hashi

Supporting Characters

Ikuko Tsukino - Yuko Mizutani
Shingo Tsukino - Seira Ryu
Kenji Tsukino - Mitsuaki Madono
Naru Osaka - Satomi Sato
Haruna Sakurada - Akemi Kanda
Motoki Furuhata - Hiroshi Okamoto
Gurio Umino - Daiki Yamashita
Yumiko - Hyang-Ri Kim
Kuri - Yukiko Morishita
Mayumi Osaka - Sanae Kobayashi

Staff

Original Creator - Naoko Takeuchi
Director - Munehisa Sakai
Series Script Supervisor - Yuuji Kobayashi
Animation Producer - Toei Animation
Theme Song Performance - Momoiro Clover Z
Character designer - Yukie Sako
Series composer - Yasuharu Takanashi
Art directors - Takashi Kurahashi and Yumi Hosaka
Animation directors - Kozue Komatsu
Soundtrack production - King Record Company, Limited
Color Design - Kunio Tsujita and Tomoko Kobiki
Director of Photography - Takeo Ogiwara

Production

Announcement Of The Anime, First Delay, And First New Estimated Premiere

The newly modified anime series was first announced at a 20th anniversary event streamed on niconico on July 6, 2012. There, it was announced that it would premiere in the summer of 2013. It was also announced that Momoiro Clover Z will be singing the theme song for the anime.^[1]

It was officially announced in spring 2013 that the Sailor Moon anime that was supposed to start airing in the summer of 2013 was going to be delayed until further notice.^[2]

In July 2013, the new Sailor Moon anime was officially estimated to premiere in November 2013 - January 2014. Nakayoshi Magazine announced that the series was officially in production followed by those dates of expected premiere.^[3]

Second Estimated Premiere, Second Delay and Third Estimated Premiere

During the second 20th Anniversary event on August 4, 2013, it was revealed that the new Sailor Moon anime will air in December 2013, and that it would be streamed internationally online via niconico. It was also revealed that Momoiro Clover Z will be doing both the opening and the ending for the new anime.

Sailor Moon Crystal image — Sailor Moon's standard Sailor from in the *Dark Kingdom* saga; first half of the second anime series.

Later, it was announced on October 17 that the anime will be subtitled in 10 languages.

It was confirmed January 9th that the anime will be premiering in July 2014. Before the announcement, Atsutoshi Umezawa confirmed in a press release that the new anime will not remake the old anime, but adapt from the manga.

Black Moon arc

At the Animate Girls Festival on November 7, 2014, the second half of Sailor Moon Crystal was announced and a key visual was shown as well. The second half, which premiered in January 2015, covers the Black Moon saga of the manga.

Later, Chibiusa's voice actress and Sailor Pluto's voice actress, as well as the new ending for the second half of the anime, were all announced on December 27, 2014, during an event.^[4] On January 26, 2015, the character designs and the cast for the members of the Black Moon Clan (excluding the Spectre Sisters) were all shown and announced on the official website for the twentieth anniversary project.^[5]

Toei Plans Announcements After Last Episode

At the end of Act 26, in place of the "To Be Continued" screen card, a "See You Soon" message was displayed instead. Following the episode itself, a staff member posted an image on the official Sailor Moon Twitter account, reading: "Regarding future developments, we plan to post sequential announcements on the 20th Anniversary Project's official website! Please look forward to it!!". The Twitter account added that the television broadcast of the second season (the Black Moon arc) is still continuing.

Toei Animation Europe had posted a news article in April that said, "A second season is currently under production in Japan where the broadcast will start this summer." Toei Europe did not say if the "second season" it was referring to is the television broadcast of the second 13 episodes of the original series (which just ended its online stream) or a brand new season. Toei did not respond to ANN's requests for clarification at that time.^[6]

Sailor Moon Crystal Renewed

On Monday September 28th at 11:30pm JST at the end of the TV broadcasting in Japan, Toei announced that the 3rd phase of Sailor Moon Crystal which will encompass the third arc of the manga, Infinity, so far. Just as the official site had stated, a special screening of the first episode on Sailor Neptune's birthday took place on March 6 in Japan. However the official broadcast will start in April 4 2016.

The series has a new opening and ending theme for the Infinity arc. The new opening is “New Moon ni Aishite” (In love with the New Moon) by Etsuko Yakushimaru. The new ending theme is “Eternal Eternity” and will be sung by the voices of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, Junko Minagawa and Sayaka Ohara.

A notable information from the screening of the first episode is that it contained only half of the story of the first manga chapter of the Infinity arc, the next half probably continuing in the second episode. This could also mean that the Infinity arc of the anime might have 24 episodes, each manga chapter equalling to two episodes in the anime. As such, the manner of naming each anime episode exactly as the corresponding manga chapter (as in the first two seasons) may not continue. ^[7]

Episode List

Season One: Dark Kingdom

Ep. #	Episode Title	Japan Airdate	USA Airdate
1	"Act 1 - Usagi, Sailor Moon"	July 5, 2014	November 20, 2015
2	"Act 2 - Ami, Sailor Mercury"	July 19, 2014	November 20, 2015
3	"Act 3 - Rei, Sailor Mars"	August 2, 2014	November 27, 2015
4	"Act 4 - Masquerade Dance Party"	August 16, 2014	December 4, 2015
5	"Act 5 - Makoto, Sailor Jupiter"	September 6, 2014	December 11, 2015
6	"Act 6 - Tuxedo Mask..."	September 20, 2014	December 18, 2015
7	"Act 7 - Mamoru Chiba, Tuxedo Mask"	October 4, 2014	December 25, 2015
8	"Act 8 - Minako, Sailor V"	October 18, 2014	January 1, 2016
9	"Act 9 - Serenity, Princess"	November 1, 2014	January 8, 2016
10	"Act 10 - Moon"	November 15, 2014	January 15, 2016
11	"Act 11 - Reunion, Endymion"	December 6, 2014	January 22, 2016
12	"Act 12 - Enemy, Queen Metaria"	December 20, 2014	January 29, 2016
13	"Act 13 - Final Battle, Reincarnation"	January 3, 2015	February 5, 2016

Season Two: Black Moon

Ep. #	Episode Title	Japan Airdate	USA Airdate
14	"Act 14 - Conclusion and Commencement, Petite Étrangere"	January 17, 2015	February 12, 2016
15	"Act 15 - Infiltration, Sailor Mars"	February 7, 2015	February 19, 2016
16	"Act 16 - Abduction, Sailor Mercury"	February 21, 2015	February 26, 2016
17	"Act 17 - Secret, Sailor Jupiter"	March 7, 2015	March 4, 2016
18	"Act 18 - Invasion, Sailor Venus"	March 21, 2015	March 11, 2016
19	"Act 19 - Time Warp, Sailor Pluto"	April 4, 2015	March 18, 2016
20	"Act 20 - Crystal Tokyo, King Endymion"	April 18, 2015	March 25, 2016
21	"Act 21 - Complication, Nemesis"	May 2, 2015	April 1, 2016
22	"Act 22 - Hidden Agenda, Nemesis"	May 16, 2015	April 8, 2016
23	"Act 23 - Covert Maneuvers, Wiseman"	June 6, 2015	April 15, 2016
24	"Act 24 - Attack, Black Lady"	June 20, 2015	April 22, 2016
25	"Act 25 - Showdown, Death Phantom"	July 4, 2015	April 29, 2016
26	"Act 26 - Replay, Never Ending"	July 18, 2015	May 6, 2016

Season Three: Infinity

Ep. #	Episode Title	Japan Airdate	USA Airdate
27	"Act 27 - Infinity 1, Premonition"	April 4, 2016	TBA
28	"Act 28 - Infinity 2, Ripples"	April 11, 2016	TBA
29	"Act 29 - Infinity 3, Two New Soldiers"	April 18, 2016	TBA
30	"Act 30 - Infinity 4, Sailor Uranus Haruka Tenou, Sailor Neptune Michiru Kaiou	April 25, 2016	TBA
31	"Act 31 - Infinity 5, Sailor Pluto, Setsuna Meiou"	May 2016	TBA
32	"Act 32 - Infinity 6, Three Guardians"	May 2016	TBA
33	"Act 33 - Infinity 7, Transformation, Super Sailor Moon"	May 2016	TBA
34	"Act 34 - Infinity 8, Infinite Labyrinth 1"	May 2016	TBA
35	"Act 35 - Infinity 9, Infinite Labyrinth 2"	June 2016	TBA
36	"Act 36 - Infinity 10, Infinite, Upper Atmosphere"	June 2016	TBA
37	"Act 37 - Infinity 11, Infinite, Judge"	June 2016	TBA
38	"Act 38 - Infinity 12, Infinite, Journey"	June 2016	TBA