Netflix Has Good News for Sailor Moon Fans

Fans of Sailor Moon have gotten a major update about the series’ streaming status that they didn’t know they were waiting for.

Having been removed from the streaming service in July, Sailor Moon Crystal has officially returned to Netflix in the U.S. and Canada, giving fans of the anime another way to watch the newest series. Sailor Moon Crystal is widely considered by fans to be the most faithful anime adaptation of the original ’90s manga series. All three seasons of the show have now returned to Netflix.

Sailor Moon Crystal Returns to Streaming Home on Netflix After 4 Months

The second mainline anime series based on Naoko Takeuchi’s hit Sailor Moon manga, Sailor Moon Crystal served as a full reboot of the franchise that was more faithful to the source material than the first ’90s anime version. Sailor Moon Crystal premiered in 2014, with the series’ first season covering the “Dark Crystal” arc from the manga. Across three seasons, the series amassed 39 episodes and retold the events of the “Dark Crystal,” “Black Moon” and “Death Busters” story arcs.

Sailor Moon Crystal was generally well-received among both new and returning fans upon its release, garnering generally favorable reviews from critics, particularly its third and final season. As of the time of writing, Season 1 of Sailor Moon Crystal holds a 78% “Fresh” rating via review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, as averaged across nine verified critical reviews. For comparison, Season 1 holds a 76% approval rating via Rotten Tomatoes’ “Popcornmeter,” as averaged across dozens of verified user-submitted reviews, while Season 2 and Season 3 hold 91% and 94% “Popcornmeter” scores, respectively.

Although Sailor Moon Crystal didn’t tell the entire Sailor Moon story across its three-season run on television, it did get the chance to close things out with two (or rather four) additional animated feature films. In 2021, the two-part Sailor Moon Eternal was released, serving as the spiritual fourth season of Sailor Moon Crystal and retelling the events of the Dream arc from the original manga. Just two years later, the two-part Sailor Moon Cosmos made its way into theaters, adapting the events of the “Stars” arc from the manga and finally bringing the story of Sailor Moon Crystal to a close.

All four of these animated feature film releases were both financial and critical successes during their respective theatrical runs. Of all the movies released as part of the Sailor Moon Crystal saga, 2021’s Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie (part one) stands as the highest-rated, currently boasting a whopping 100% “Fresh” rating via Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a near-perfect 91% “Popcornmeter” score, as averaged across 11 and more than 100 reviews, respectively.