I knew I was going to come round to this remake eventually, especially when the franchise in question is so high up in the anime hierarchy, yes it's Sailor Moon.

For those who are new, Sailor Moon is a Magical Girl franchise about Usagi, a princess reborn on the Earth following the destruction of the Moon Kingdom, but when the same evil threatens Earth, Usagi is given the powers of Sailor Moon, and along with her fellow Sailor Scouts, set out to stop the evil of Queen Beryl and her henchman. Also that this franchise is 20 years old and is the first choice Magical Girl and Shojo series of many Generation X anime fans.
From an opinion of a Generation X fan like myself, the remake is absolutely beautiful, it's clear the amount of care was taken to make the show standout and how closely it follows the Manga plot instead of recycling the long 200+ episodes of Monster of the Week. Four episodes in and already it's made a decent impression on it's fanbase.
So why does it feel so underwhelming?
Well for many reasons.
1. The Legacy of the original series despite it's flaws, still holds a special place in the hearts of it's fans and still holds up very well despite looking somewhat dated.
2. The Market is saturated with Magical Girl shows including the powerhouse Precure, Aikatsu and Pretty Rhythm franchises.
3. The format chosen to release the episodes is twice a month which isn't ideal when rival shows release every week.
4. Early showings relegated the Male fanbase within it's native Japan which makes up a surprising amount of the fanbase.
5. The show is a little too well done, which makes it too safe.
The hype generated by the Marketing for Sailor Moon Crystal didn't produce the same level of hype upon release; the same issues befell Dragonball Z Kai which came out to huge praise but disappeared very quickly afterwards, and unless Sailor Moon Crystal picks up a momentum later in the series it's going to face the same fate and we may not find that out for well over a year.
Finally the format of release is not ideal, no fan wants to wait too long for their favorite character to appear on screen and considering the target audience which would consist of young girls and preteen girls as it's primary focus, it doesn't take very long for an episode to lose impact during a two week gap.
Word of mouth within schools is how a show becomes popular but it doesn't take long for an episode to lose impact and if you're the unfortunate kid who missed the episode, by the second week your school friends will be talking about Precure or Aikatsu instead of the episode you've only just caught up with, this is especially important for a female audience who can switch focus onto another product very quickly; the format isn't as bad as Gundam Unicorn's whose air times were random, but bad enough that it can't hold it's fanbase for very long.
Final Verdict: It's strikingly beautiful but struggles to maintain a solid fanbase among a sea of strong rivals, legacies and poor format choices. It still has time to fix these issues but for now it doesn't do enough to keep my attention as well as it's millions of viewers.