Vraikaiser has talked on their Blog about why they feel the Anime was better then the Manga, and so Crystal being more faithful to the Manga means nothing to them.
I Missed This Show, and You Aren't Helping.
Pretty much all stuff I can agree with. Valuing the Zoiscite/Kunzite relationship, and also Naru and Nephrite. And lots of other small character moments, to which I'd add also preferring Makoto's introduction in the 90s Anime.
Thing is, that's all mostly applicable to just the original arc, The Dark Kingdom. There the Anime version was definitely way better. The only downside being Minako, 90s Anime Minako is, as charming and fun as she can be, the least interesting version of Minako. I like the idea of the main character not being the team leader, and I really like the more serious Minako of Crystal and PGSM and the Codename Sailor V Manga (only Sailor Manga I've actually read). I love Mami in Madoka and Fu in Yuki Yuna partly because they are in different ways like Manga Minako in a very different situation.
Outside the Dark Kingdom, comparisons become not as easy. I personally have never been all that interested in the even numbered seasons, so I have no major opinions of R and SuperS. And that I haven't read the actual Manga means I have no direct knowledge of what it does after the Infinity Arc right now.
But thanks to JosieNextDoor I know I'm not the only person disappointed by the Anime version of Stars. In-spite of the Anime always having more time to work with, the Anime version of the final arc dropped many layers to the plot as made clear by a lot of comments on her blog posts. I know many in the LGBT community value the Starlights physically changing genders, but the show never actually explored their gender identity at all, it was basically another Gender Bending Anime gimmick. So I'm really excited to see how Crystal handles it, but I have to wait through SuperS first.
I did enjoy both Filler Arcs. The Doom Tree arc while branded as part of R felt more like an epilogue to the Dark Kingdom. The Monsters of the Week were still after "Energy", and Mamuro was forced back into the mysterious knight role. The first 6 Episodes of Stars could have been a movie, they were great. Speaking of which, I enjoyed all 3 movies.
Where comparing Manga to Anime gets really complicated however is with S. It is there that both versions have major strengths and weaknesses, and I feel like an ideal version is waiting for someone who knows how to learn from both. But in either case it is my favorite chapter of this saga.
Crystal definitely benefited from having Hotaru, Chibi-Usa & Diana, and the Witches 5 there from the start. And HaruMi were done no favors by the Anime's added story-line of searching for McGuffins while being unable to act on their own but rather having to wait for the villains. And then the lame resolution that they had the Talismans all along, who sent them on this stupid quest?
However at the same time having the whole routine of everyone thinking Haruka's a male going on for multiple episodes instead of just one felt really annoying in 2016. And that the Witches 5 only get one episode each is a major disappointment. And given some of the reasons I like Anime in the first place, the villains being less sympathetic and redeemable in Crystal doesn't appeal to me.
Of course the biggest factor is, the Anime had more episodes, but by meandering failed to fully take advantage of that. Because they waited a mini-arc to even bring in the Witches 5, there was only room for two of them to shine as recurring threats, the rest got wasted. In the 90s Anime Mimette was the best, but in Crystal I liked Tellu the most. Yet still in the 90s Sailor Moon S many of my favorite moments came from all that filler.
Update March 3rd 2019: Some YouTube videos.
If you want to see the perspective of someone who greatly prefers the Crystal Version for the Death Busters arc I'd recommend the Anime America video on comparing the Sailor Moon Animes. Thing is that's someone who doesn't even agree that the Dark Kingdom was better in the 90s Anime and rather greatly misrepresents it.
For the perspective of someone who seems to entirely prefers the 90s Anime version I'd recommend the Sailor Moon Section of Zeria's Ikuhara video.
To me the Infinity Arc is simply doing too much to work as only 13 episodes, in other arcs I support the filler for spending more time with the character but the main narrative technically works fine, not here. They want to play up each of the Witches 5 a counterpart to each Inner Senshi, but there is no time to flesh that out when most of each of their episodes is also developing HaruMi and Hotaru. I also can't get over how each Witch would have beat their counterpart if it was one on one, the Inner Senshi are constantly disserviced by needing to be saved by the Outers. Robin claims the villains work together more in Crystal yet each Witch still only attacks individually.
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