So, Sailor Moon is back.
The original 90's show was one of my favorite anime series ever. I have very fond memories of it. So, naturally, I was looking forward to this reboot. And now it's here! My thoughts so far?
Well, I have to say I'm a little underwhelmed by it. Allow me to elaborate.

1) Art style and character design: Basically, I'm not a fan. The characters look like they're now 90% limbs. Seriously, look at those arms and legs! They stretch on for miles! As a result, the sailor scouts now kind of look like they're all in their mid-twenties! And they want to convince me they're high-schoolers? Yeah, right. Suuuure. Of course, I understand that they were going for a style that mimics that of the original author's (Naoko Takeuchi). Too bad I don't really like Takeuchi's art either... For me, the character designs from the 90's anime were the best. They actually looked their age there.

2) Faces: Closely related to 1. Something about them is off-putting. Possibly because, again, I don't really like Takeuchi's art. At any rate, they seem to have lost a lot of expressiveness. Characters don't emote like they did in the 90's show anymore. Which is a shame, because faces in the 90's show were so expressive...

3) Music: Eh... The opening song is all right, I guess, but it can't top Moonlight Densetsu. Then again, I don't think anything could. Moonlight Densetsu is just so intrinsically tied to Sailor Moon. Other than that, I noticed the use of dramatic choirs in certain scenes. Not bad per se, but certainly not something I would associate with Sailor Moon.

4) Mood: The original show was mostly comedic in nature, with the occasional bouts of drama during plot-heavy episodes (usually during the middle and end of each story arc). It was balanced perfectly, in my opinion. Most of the time, the show didn't take itself seriously, which makes sense, considering the ridiculous premise behind it (because, yeah, let's face it: magical talking cats? schoolgirls that use magical pens to transform, strike poses Power Ranger-style and fight for love and justice? short-sighted bad guys that only ever seem to attack the same town our heroines live in, one monster at a time? the whole premise is and has always been absurd! Deliciously absurd!). The new series, however, seems to have dispensed with the comedic aspects. Now it's like they're trying to make it all dramatic and Serious Business-like. And it just doesn't work. At least not for me. Because the absurdity of the premise remains intact, and that's something that just can't be taken seriously. I'm not going to believe that that bus just drove into a warp portal in the middle of the city during day time and absolutely no one but the main character witnessed it. You can't play that kind of stuff straight. It's just way too ridiculous. It needs the comedic treatment to help maintain suspension of disbelief. Which, again, is something the 90's show had in spades, and it worked wonders. Also, yes, I understand that Sailor Moon Crystal is trying to be closer to the source material -Takeuchi's manga- which would explain the sudden drop in comedy levels. Of course, I didn't really like the manga, for all the aforementioned reasons.

5) Misc: Contrary to what you'd expect after having read all that, I didn't mind the CGI used in the transformation scenes. It was pretty cool, actually. Also, some of the in-universe technological upgrades are funny. Like Serena/Usagi's brand-new pink laptop, which she still doesn't know how to use! Still no cellphones in sight, though. On the other hand, sometimes the quality of the art hiccups and we get mismatched eyes, and the occasional single-frame monstrosity such as this.

So, three episodes in, Crystal isn't exactly living up to expectation. Of course, that's just my opinion. Anyway, here's hoping things improve later on. We'll see!