What Does the Future Hold for Sailor Moon?
Despite the suggestion of more to come in the final shots of Crystal, fans got antsy. The Dream and Stars arcs, having deviated the most in their anime adaptations, Sailor Moon SuperS and Sailor Stars, were what fans were really looking forward to seeing animated, and the idea of getting stiffed on them yet again was incredibly off-putting. But then the Sailor Moon Eternal films were announced, with all the promotional material boasting a bigger budget and another bump in animation quality, and the final product didn’t disappoint.
WHAT COMES AFTER SAILOR MOON COSMOS?
We’re only a year away from embarking on the last leg of this journey, one 25 years in the making: an animated adaptation of the final arc of the manga with its original premise and original ending. The fandom is ready; we’ve been ready, and going by the performance of the Eternal films, there’s no reason to think Cosmos will be any different. For the first time in this history of this project, there’s no reason not to be optimistic, which now leaves only one question…
Where do we go from here? What’s next for this franchise? Obviously, an immediate reboot isn’t on the menu. It’s going to be at least a few years before this story and these characters are tackled again, but when they are, what will it look like?
So much of Crystal’s identity, its entire mission statement, was to faithfully adapt the manga, and it did, sometimes to a fault. Whatever your opinion, however, it can’t be denied that it accomplished what it set out to do. Naoko Takeuchi’s objections to the liberties taken by the ’92 anime were addressed, all trespasses rectified. Every fan clamoring for the manga in animated form has gotten what they wanted (or at least will next summer when Cosmos drops), so what will the next incarnation of Sailor Moon be? We’ve had the manga, then Sailor Moon ’92 and its non-canon feature films, and now Sailor Moon Crystal and its continuation in Eternal and Cosmos. There’s also the live-action tokusatsu series Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon as well as countless stage musicals. So, now that the manga has been adapted faithfully, satisfying purists, maybe a new take on the story with a few liberties won’t be quite as maligned.
A SAILOR MOON REBOOT?
Anyone who’s followed Den of Geek’s Sailor Moon coverage over the past decade knows where I stand on this, and this superfan’s opinion isn’t universal but it’s not unique. Sailor Moon ’92 had a lot of filler and some questionable changes, but other changes it made were improvements. A large contingent of fans love the manga’s story but feel its pace was a little too intense and didn’t allow for much character development outside the central power couple. Takeuchi herself has said that there were more ideas and character beats she’d have liked to explore if she hadn’t been hamstrung by relentless deadlines. A fresh new take on Sailor Moon that could pull from all its iterations has a certain appeal.
Whether it’s a new manga, a new anime, or a western comic or cartoon, a new vision of Sailor Moon that combines the lore of the manga, the spirit, comedy, and expanded supporting cast of the original anime, the solid character drama of the tokusatsu, and perhaps even some of the quirk and randomness of the original DiC dub would be mind-blowingly awesome. And perhaps now that there’s an official release of the manga and both anime series, professionally subtitled and dubbed, thanks to VIZ Media, a localized version of the story won’t be decried as such a sin.
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