Classic Toei animated series ‘Sailor Moon’ is set to return this summer in an all-new series entitled ‘Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal’.  The new series will debut in July and will stream worldwide on the Niconico website.  The new anime is meant to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking property, which focused on a team of young female heroes led by the whiny, bumbling Usagi/Sailor Moon (popularly known in the US as Serena).  The original anime consisted of five series with additional shorts and movies.  The manga upon which it was based ran for 52 chapters.

According to the synopsis, the new series goes back to the basis of the original and reinvents it for a new generation.

Usagi Tsukino is a second-year middle school girl who is a little clumsy and a crybaby, but she is full of energy. One day, she meets Luna, a black cat with a crescent moon on her forehead, and she transforms into Sailor Moon, a sailor-uniformed pretty guardian of love and justice! As a chosen guardian of justice, Usagi seems to have a mission to find the Illusionary Silver Crystal with the other guardians and to protect the princess.Meanwhile, the queen of the Dark Kingdom, Queen Beryl, also sends minions to the town where Usagi lives to obtain the Illusionary Silver Crystal, which has immense power. This causes strange events to unfold….

Can Sailor Moon really find the Illusionary Silver Crystal with the other Sailor guardians, and protect the princess…!?

Producer Atsutoshi Umezawa, of the ‘Precure’ franchise stated that ‘Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal’ “is not remaking the previous anime, but adapting the original manga and starting from scratch again.”

Munehisa Sakai (‘One Piece’) is directing the new anime.  Yuji Kobayashi who penned ‘Saint Seiya Omega’ and ‘Smile Precure!’ is in charge of the series’ scripts.  Yukie Sako is designing the characters, while Takashi Kurahashi and Yumi Hosaka will serve as art directors.  King Records will produce the soundtrack featuring a score by Yasuharu Takanashi and a new theme song by Momoiro Clover Z.

In the US, ‘Sailor Moon’ is one of the most popular anime in history and inspired several knockoffs such as ‘Winx Club’ and ‘Tenko and the Guardians of Magic’ and even inspired Barbie to adopt a super heroic identity at the time.

In the original series, Sailor Moon is joined by Sailors Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Venus as well as romantic interest Tuxedo Mask.  Later the heroes were joined by Sailor Chibiusa, Usagi and Tuxedo Mask’s daughter from the future and the “Outer Senshi” Sailors Neptune, Pluto, Uranus and later, Saturn.  Usagi and her allies were guided by cat guardians Artemis, Luna and Diana.

What do you think?  Were you a fan of the original series?  Are you looking forward to new adventures starring these colorful characters?

Source: AnimeNewsNetwork