Fans of Sailor Moon Crystal now have news to cheer about: the anime series was just renewed for its third season.
Sailor Moon Crystal is the retelling of the Sailor Moon story, as seen in the original 1990s manga by Naoko Takeuchi. Although it shares many similarities with the 1990s Sailor Moon anime series, Sailor Moon Crystal is often seen as a more faithful adaptation of the original work by Takeuchi.
Sailor Moon Crystal tells the story of Usagi, a young girl who eventually finds out that not only is she something like a superhero called a Sailor Senshi, but that she also a reincarnated version of the princess of the Moon Kingdom. She, with the help of her friends, the other Sailor Senshi, spend their free time fighting evil that would conquer Earth.
In 2012, Toei Animation announced that it planned on producing a reboot of Sailor Moon in honor of the series' 20th anniversary. However, in 2013, the company announced a delay in production. Fortunately, the delay was only a year, and in 2014, Sailor Moon Crystal made its debut. The company also re-released the original unaltered Japanese version of the 1990s anime series never before seen legally in North America: an English dubbed version exists, but with heavy edits that didn't always stay true to the original Japanese version (for example, gay couple Sailors Neptune and Uranus were referred to as cousins in the North American dub).
The third season of Sailor Moon Crystal will continue the Deathbusters story arc from season two. In that storyline, the evil Deathbusters plan on resurrecting a being called Mistress 9 to bring an alien creature to Earth that will result in all life being wiped from the planet. They use a group called the Witches 5 to help achieve their goals by stealing pure heart crystals from humans. It's up to Sailor Moon and the Sailor Senshi to stop them.
This particular story arc also features fan favorite characters, such as Sailors Saturn, Neptune and Uranus, as well as Chibiusa/Chibi Moon.
The third season of Sailor Moon Crystal will feature the same cast, including Kotono Mitsuishi, who also voiced Usagi/Sailor Moon in the 1990s anime series. The Crystal cast also includes Hisako Kanemoto as Ami/Sailor Mercury, Rina Satou as Rei/Sailor Mars, Ami Koshimizu as Makoto/Sailor Jupiter and Shizuka Itou as Minako/Sailor Venus.
Sailor Moon Crystal is available in North America via Crunchyroll, Niconico and Hulu.
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