Osabu gives details about the new Japanese versions of the Sailor Moon manga

Osa-P wearing a Santa Claus hat

Details about the Japanese reprint of the Sailor Moon manga have been pretty vague or rather completely incorrect in the past. We had some confirmation from New York Comic Con that these rereleases would be out for Thanksgiving, a time which has long since come and gone with no manga in sight. Finally Fumio Osano, also known as Osabu or Osa-P, has posted some updates to his twitter account @osabu8 with details about the manga. Osabu’s tweets are also being translated by the @OsabuP_English account which is run by the Miss Dream site. Osabu has also been replying to some English fans over twitter, as they ask questions about the new anime.

Osa-P with a Kodansha bag

There seems to be very little changed in these new versions. It’s mentioned that the covers will be digitized and have the colours tweeked to resemble the American prints. I imagine this will not entail much of a change as the Japanese and American prints have very similar looking colours. I’ve included a photo of both side by side below. Do you see much of a difference? Similar changes will be made to the colour pages which appear at the front of each volume as well as digital retouches being made to the colour and black and white pages. The Sailor V manga is also mentioned to be in scope for this release.

Continue reading

Did Batman read Sailor Moon?

Comics Facts! Batman reads Sailor MoonComics Facts! Batman reads Sailor Moon

Here’s an old Sailor Moon sighting which has made a resurgence lately which insinuates that Bruce Wayne, Batman’s alter ego, reads the Sailor Moon manga, or has watched the anime.

In a 1999 issue of “Justice League of America” the character of Martian Manhunter, a shapeshifter, disguises himself as a Japanese woman and uses the name Rei Hino. When Bruce Wayne is introduced to her (him) he immediately realizes who he is because of the connection between the name and Mars. Rei Hino is the Japanese name of Sailor Mars, so it’s kind of sloppy for J’onn J’onzz to use it! For Bruce to see through this ploy though, he would have to be familiar with some specifics of the Sailor Moon manga or anime series, which means that Batman either read the Sailor Moon manga or watched the Sailor Moon anime! Check out the full page in question below.

Continue reading

Countless Sailor Moon references in Ebiten

Ebiten episode 2 - Sailor FukuSailor Moon posing

Ebiten is an animated Internet series that has also played on TV in Japan. The second episode of the show features more Sailor Moon references than you could ever hope for as the main character relives many events from Sailor Moon, transforms into Tailor Moon and breaks the fourth wall by making reference to the similarities. Not only are there references in the characters and actions in the episode but many sequences are nearly frame by frame recreations of counterparts in Sailor Moon. I’ve tried to put together a list of as many of these as possible. Fans of Sailor Moon would be best to simply watch the episode in question and marvel at the similarities. The first episode is available streaming at Crunchyroll or from NyaaTorrents.

With that being said keep reading for a bit of a play by play of the similarities as they happened. For the most part these similarities were to the first episode of the Sailor Moon anime and to the Sailor Moon R movie.

Continue reading

Sailor Moon in Bon Jovi’s “These Days” music video

Bon Jovi - "These Days" Sailor Moon machine

Here’s a really old Sailor Moon reference that I wasn’t aware of until just recently. Sailor Moon makes an appearance in Jon Bovi’s 1996 music video for the song “These Days”. At one point the song shows a quick couple of seconds of Japan and at that point an image of some sort of Sailor Moon S machine is shown. I’m not sure what this is, pachinko, slot machine, pinball machine? My searches didn’t turn up anything particular so if you have an idea of what it could be, drop us a line.

This reminded me of another bizarre music reference to Sailor Moon in the CD inserts for U2’s “Best of 1990-2000″ CD release. This picture of the band in front of a large Sailor Moon R The Movie poster was likely taken during their 1992-1993 Zoo TV tour which was going on while Sailor Moon R was in theatres.

U2 in front of a Sailor Moon R The Movie poster

Check out the original Sailor Moon R The Movie poster and the music video featuring Sailor Moon below.

Continue reading