Sailor Moon Crystal

Sailor Moon Crystal (美少女戦士セーラームーンCrystalクリスタル Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn Kurisutaru; Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal) is the second anime series based on the classic shoujo manga Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi. Originally announced in 2012, it actually started its run in 2014 and lasted until 2015, spanning 39 episodes that were released online and then in Blu-Ray/DVD's. It follows the original manga closer than the first anime (though still with some changes), and it adapts the first three arcs: Dark Kingdom (first anime's original season), Black Moon (Sailor Moon R), and Infinity / Death Busters (Sailor Moon S). There will also be two movies covering the Dream (Super S) Arc, named Sailor Moon Crystal: Eternal.

The base story, for those who don't know about it, is more or less this: The middle schooler Usagi Tsukino meets the talking cat Luna, who tells her that she is destined to become Sailor Moon, a Magical Girl Warrior who fights the forces of evil. Her classmates Ami Mizuno and Makoto Kino, plus two other girls named Rei Hino and Minako Aino, turn out to be her fellow Sailor Senshi (Sailors Mercury, Jupiter, Mars and Venus, respectively) and join her in her adventures; so does a mysterious young man named Tuxedo Kamen/Tuxedo Mask, the secret identity of the highschool student Mamoru Chiba. Little by little Usagi and her friends find out the truth behind their past lives, are later joined by other Senshi (Chibi-Usa/Sailor Chibimoon, Setsuna Meiou/Sailor Pluto, Haruka Tenou/Sailor Uranus, Michiru Kaiou/Sailor Neptune and Hotaru Tomoe/Sailor Saturn), and have to face other villains that threaten Earth and the universe itself.

Tropes used in Sailor Moon Crystal include:

• Adaptational Attractiveness: The male characters in general, ESPECIALLY Usagi's father Kenji who went from a conventionally cute father to a gorgeous Hot Dad.
• Adaptational Wimp: In the manga, the Inner Senshi needed help from Usagi quite often. This is amped up in Crystal, to the point that fans accused them of being Faux Action Girls.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Downplayed with Rei, who may not be the fiery Tsundere of the first anime but is somewhat friendlier than her manga self.
• Art Shift: Crystal at first downplayed the silly elements of both the manga and the first anime, but started showing them more from Act 19 onwards.
• Bowdlerize: The manga had quite bloody scenes that were toned down to Bloodless Carnage levels in Crystal, due to the tighter JPN censorship laws from the last years.
• Does Not Like Men: Rei, like in the manga.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Toyed with: the Shitennou can't remember that they're supposed to be Endymion's companions rather than Beryl's followers, which is why they serve her. When they begin to remember, they get Brainwashed and Crazy by her
• Off-Model: Sometimes the episodes were finished few hours before the broadcast, and it SHOWED. This was more or less fixed at the end of the second season.
• Promoted to Love Interest: In a way. There were some manga pictures implying that the Shitennou Generals (then Endymion's bodyguards) and the Senshi were involved - Venus was with Kunzite, Mercury with Zoicite, Nephrite with Jupiter, and Mars with Jadeite. The manga itself dropped it, but did imply that Venus had feelings for Kunzite (which was also explored in Codename: Sailor V). Crystal takes this dropped plotline fully and states that the four couples WERE canon in the Silver Millenium before shit went down...
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Nephrite tries one on Makoto and almost gets to her with it, but Usagi tells him off and Makoto retaliates
• Setting Update: The technology shown in the series matches the modern one. i.e., Usagi was shown using floppy diskettes and a desk PC in the first anime but now she has her own laptop (with a bunny design). It does keep the arcade that Motoki works in, though, since arcade centers are still popular in Japan.
• Truer to the Text: Far closer to the manga than the first anime, though still not to 1:1 levels.