Sailor Moon content added to the Line Play mobile game

Sailor Moon in Line Play - Sailor Moon Crystal room

Sailor Moon Crystal content has been added to Line Play. What’s Line Play? It’s an avatar based mobile game where you can dress up your character, buy furniture for your house and interact with other players all while doing menial tasks (or paying money…) to get gems to buy more items. I’d never heard of this game when this news was announced on the Sailor Moon official site so I downloaded it to see what it was all about.

Sailor Moon in Line Play - Sailor Moon Crystal room

Line Play is a Japanese game but there is an english version. It is available in the iTunes store for iOS devices and the Google Play store for Android devices. I have heard people had issues getting the iOS version in English speaking countries but I had no issue installing it on my Android device. To say the game isn’t really for me would be somewhat of an understatement but it seems to appeal to some people. The Sailor Moon content is interesting enough. You can add Sailor Moon Crystal as a friend and after doing so you can travel to Sailor Moon Crystal’s room which is totally filled with cool Sailor Moon Crystal gear! Sailor Moon themed furniture and decorations as well as costumes. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get some of these items for yourself? Indeed you can! Using the “Gacha” in the Sailor Moon Crystal room you can use 2500 gems to get a random Sailor Moon item. With the 10000 gems you start with you can get four such items. You gain gems at a slow rate while playing or, naturally, you can pay real money to buy some!

Sailor Moon in Line Play - Serena School Uniform

I played all of my gems and got four items. First I got two copies of Usagi’s school uniform which is called “Serena School Uniform”. This is a curious choice of names given Serena is the name from the old English dub, not that used in the English adaptation of Sailor Moon Crystal or for the new dub of Sailor Moon which will soon be released by Viz. Still, many fans of the series from back in the day may be used to that name and so she is referred to as Serena. Next I got Serenity’s dress, which is a rare item. Both of these are clothing items which can be equipped through your closet. Next I got a Moon Stick Chair which is a furniture item you can place in your house. Finally I got Luna which is a fashion accessory which can be placed on your head.

Sailor Moon in Line Play - Serenity Dress

While playing Sailor Moon also took a number of baths. So scandalous!

Sailor Moon in Line Play - Usagi taking a bath

Keep reading to see more images from the game.

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Sailor Moon episodes 31 and 32 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon episode 31 - Rhett Butler

The latest two episodes of the original Sailor Moon anime have been added to Hulu and Neon Alley. As with every Monday two new episodes, subbed by Viz, are added online. This week we have episodes 31 and 32 which are two of the funniest episodes of the series.

Sailor Moon episode 31 - Rhett Butler rescues Luna

In episode 31, Love and Chased: Luna’s Worst Day Ever, we meet Rhett Butler, a fat alley cat who falls in love with Luna. The search for the last Rainbow Crystal is on and leads Zoisite and the Sailor Guardians to the house of a young girl, but it’s her cat who’s actually the final Rainbow Crystal carrier! Rhett Butler choses to protect Luna from all of the stray cats in Tokyo. Their adventures take them deep into the sewers and ultimately back to the surface where Rhett Butler turns into the monster Bakene who is still able to keep his wits and protect Luna despite his monster status, a feat that none of the human Rainbow Crystal carriers were able to do. Like many of the romances early in the series, this one is short lived and the reasons are simply because there are other plans for some characters. Artemis will be showing up in just a few episodes and so there’s just no room to keep Rhett Bulter around beyond the scope of this episode, but in the final moments it’s quite clear that Luna and Rhett Butler shared a great love.

Sailor Moon episode 32 - Tuxedo Umino Kamen

In episode 32, Umino’s Resolve: I’ll Protect Naru, we see Umino’s protective side as he suits up and becomes Tuxedo Umino Kamen. Now that Usagi has new friends it’s long overdue that Naru and Umino hook up with each other so that we don’t have to feel bad about how neglected they are! Umino is of course completely socially awkward and has no idea how to win over Naru so he asks Usagi who describes what she is into as qualities attributed to Tuxedo Mask. Umino naturally decides to dress as Tuxedo Mask and protect Naru, which is met with some apprehension but is ultimately fairly successfull. They go on a date together to see Red Man, and when Zoisite misses Naru he ends up making a monster of the Power Ranger style character who attacks everyone in site, forcing Umino to step up as protector. Once again Umino isn’t terribly effective, but his heart is in the right place, and that’s what counts. This is one romance that isn’t about to get sidetracked by some inconvenient destiny as Umino and Naru are set to have a long and happy relationship.

Sailor Moon episode 32 - Tuxedo Umino Kamen and Naru

And here’s a funny still from episode 31:

Sailor Moon episode 31 - Sailor Jupiter looks at Sailor Mercury's butt

The Sailor Moon Petite Étrangère musical started in Japan today

Sailor Moon - Petite Étrangère - Black Moon Clan

Today, August 21st 2014, marks the first performance of the new Sailor Moon musical, Petite Étrangère, in Japan. This new musical covers the second story arc, covering the first appearance of Chibiusa, fighting with the Black Moon Clan and traveling to the future city of Crystal Tokyo to meet Sailor Pluto, Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion. The musical will be running from August 21st to the 31st in Tokyo and then from September 7th to the 9th in Osaka. With the premiere we have gotten some new information about merchandise for the musical and the first international airing of a Sailor Moon musical. Fans must all be wanting to see the musical for themselves but unless they’re in Japan this isn’t possible yet. Fansubbing group Miss Dream has mentioned that they will be subtitling the webcast version during the weekend of September 6th. Indeed Niconico will have a live webcast of the musical on September 7th.

Sailor Moon - Petite Étrangère - DVD preorder incentives

News on the Sailor Moon official site has announced that the DVD of the musical will be released on January 28th 2015. Those who pre-order the upcoming DVD will get some bonuses including 5 cards and an exclusive DVD jacket for the first Sailor Moon Musical, La Reconquista, with art made by Naoko Takeuchi, the creator of the Sailor Moon manga. This is not new art but a mix of existing images. The cards contain images of the new manga cover and the DVD jacket is a reuse of the original cover of the 4th volume of the Sailor Moon Manga. The Sailor Moon Petite Étrangère DVD will cost 7800 yen (about $75 US) and yes, we once again only have a DVD and not a Blu-Ray release of the musical. I was very disappointed with the video quality of the Sailor Moon La Reconquista DVD release and there doesn’t seem to be any indication that your $75 plus shipping costs will be getting you anything better this time around. There are no real specifics on special features at this time, though comparable features to the La Reconquista DVD should be expected.

Sailor Moon - Petite Étrangère - Chibiusa, Mamoru and Tuxedo Mask Puppet

It was also announced today that the Sailor Moon Petite Étrangère musical will be playing in Shanghai China in Janaury of 2015. This is the first time any of the Sailor Moon musicals has played outside of Japan.

Sailor Moon - Petite Étrangère - Sailor Team

And here’s a cool little Easter Egg that may or may not have been intentional. Tuxedo Mask wearing a Canadian Tuxedo as noted by @el_Ramses on Twitter!

Sailor Moon - Petite Étrangère - Tuxedo Mask wearing a Canadian Tuxedo

Keep reading for more images from the musical or find more on the Moon Sticks and SOS Sailor Moon‘s Facebook pages. I’ll have more thoughts on the actual musical once I get a chance to actually see it!

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Pre-order the first Sailor Moon Crystal visual book

Sailor Moon Crystal visual book

This Friday, August 22nd 2014, a Sailor Moon Crystal visual book will be released in Japan by Kodansha. This book will include information and images from the new Sailor Moon anime, Sailor Moon Crystal, including voice actor and staff information as well as a number of bonuses. Included will be a sleeve for the previously released Moon Pride single by Momoiro Clover Z and a DVD featuring the TV sized version of Moon Pride and a trailer for Sailor Moon Crystal. This DVD will be region 2, viewable only on Japanese DVD players or for those who have a region free DVD player or drive.

The art book, likely the first of many of it’s kind, can be preordered from Amazon Japan or CD Japan. Once I receive my copy I’ll post more information and images.

Source: Moonkitty, Sailor Moon: The Moonieverse and the Sailor Moon official site

Megumi Ogata, the voice of Sailor Uranus, and Viz Media to appear at Anime Revolution in Vancouver this weekend

Megumi Ogata - the voice of Sailor Uranus at Anime Revolution

This coming weekend, August 22nd to the 24th, there are a few Sailor Moon related guests appearing at AniRevo, Anime Revolution, a convention in Vancouver. The main actor that fans will be interested in is Megumi Ogata, who supplied the voice of Sailor Uranus in the original Japanese version of Sailor Moon. Viz Media will also be at the convention hosting a number of panels. Stephanie “Sugar” Lyn Beard, the English voice of Rini, was previously announced a guest but will be unable to attend.

In addition to playing Sailor Uranus, Haruka Tenou, in Sailor Moon S and SailorStars Megumi Ogata also supplied the voices of Young Mamoru in the Sailor Moon R movie, Petz in the Sailor Moon R season as well as a number of smaller roles and monsters of the week.

Viz Media

Charlene Ingram, senior manager of animation marketing, will be representing Viz Media and hosting a number of panels. On Saturday Viz will be hosting two panels. The Viz Media panel takes place Saturday at 5pm and the Viz Animation panel will be taking place at 9pm. On Sunday at 1pm there will be a screening of episodes 8 and 10 of Viz’s new Sailor Moon dub. These episodes feature the introductions of Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars. Fans will be able to hear Kate Higgins as Sailor Mercury and Cristina Vee as Sailor Mars.

Sailor Moon episodes 29 and 30 are now on Hulu

Sailor Moon episode 29 - Motoki and Reika

The two latest episodes of the original Sailor Moon anime have been added to Hulu and Neon Alley. As with every Monday Viz adds two new episodes of the series with English subtitles. This week we have episodes 29 and 30 as the search for all of the Rainbow Crystals continues. The major theme for these episodes is relationships!

Sailor Moon episode 29 - Kunzite and Zoisite

In episode 29, Total Chaos: the Messy Love Rectangle, Usagi and Makoto are devastated to learn that Motoki has a girlfriend, Reika. Since it’s still early in the series Usagi hasn’t figured out that Mamoru is Tuxedo Mask so she’s still fawning over Motoki while Makoto is reminded of her old boyfriend. The Makoto/Motoki coupling in the anime continues throughout the first season as he’s used by the DD Girls to try to trick her when they go to the North Pole. In the live action series this relationship is more important as it’s ultimately insinuated that they are to be married after Usagi and Mamoru tie the knot. This episode also features a nice romantic scene between Kunzite and Zoisite. These lovers were a male/female couple in the dub as Zoisite’s gender was swapped while here in the original subtitled version we see their relationship as it was intended, a strong love between two men. The art in this episode is particularly interesting, as there are many cool animation tricks showing super deformed characters and hidden frames that aren’t always that obvious, including the kind of racist portrayal of Usagi shown below.

Sailor Moon episode 29 - Usagi as a racist Japanese stereotype

In episode 30, Grandpa Loses Control: Rei in Danger, we are introduced to Yuuichirou who shows up at Rei’s shrine and is immediately smitten with her. Though Rei and Mamoru’s relationship is well established at this point the end of that is near, thanks to pesky destiny, so a romantic interest for her is found in Yuuchirou. He’s a bit of a bumbling idiot but has a good heart and cares about her. We also see Rei’s Grandpa showcased in this episode as he plays host to another of the Rainbow Crystals. Rei’s Grandpa is romantically linked with every young girl to visit the Hikawa Shrine because he’s a pervert!

Sailor Moon episode 30 - Rei kissing Yuuichirou

Enjoy the romances this week because next week is pure comedy with two of the funniest episodes of the series.

Sailor Moon episode 30 - Rei's Grandpa

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4, Masquerade Dance Party, Review

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4 - Usagi and Mamoru dancing

The 4th episode of Sailor Moon Crystal became available on Saturday August 16th. You can watch it on Crunchyroll, Hulu or Niconico. Act 4, Masquerade Dance Party, has everyone crashing a party put on by the D Kingdom in order to steal their jewels, hoping to find the Silver Crystal. While this is an early story in the manga it is somewhat similar to episode 22 of the Sailor Moon anime, Romance Under the Moon: Usagi’s First Kiss.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4 - Jadeite lives

The episode largely follows act 4 of the original manga with one major exception, Jadeite is still alive. In the manga Sailor Mars kills Jadeite at the end of act 3 however in the last episode it was unclear if Jadeite actually died during the fight. Indeed Jadeite is still alive which is the biggest change to the story we’ve seen to date. Perhaps this change will lead to more differences down the line, as all of the Shitennou are still alive at this point leaving things open for different stories. In act 3 Jadeite made comments about how beautiful he thought Sailor Mars was, which may be related to a past and future relationship between the two of them. Manga art from the final Dark Kingdom story shows pairings between the Shintennou and Sailor Guardians during Silver Millennium. Sailor Mercury was with Zoisite, Sailor Mars is with Jadeite, Sailor Jupiter was with Nephrite and Sailor Venus was with Kunzite, a relationship which was also alluded to in the Sailor V manga. This may seem odd to anime fans who have only seen the Shintennou as villains however in the manga they were all friends of Endymion and good people from Earth prior to being corrupted by Queen Metalia. While we’ve followed the manga closely to date this may not last forever. By act 4 of the live action series we were still following the manga episode by episode but major changes were just around the corner.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4 - Newspaper from the future showing Sailor Moon doing Moon Twilight Flash

Sailor Moon gets a new tiara and attack this week! Her last tiara was destroyed by Sailor Mars as she burned Jadeite and so she gets a new upgraded one and with that has a new attack which she uses to destroy Nephrite’s shadow. The attack she uses in the manga is Moon Twilight Flash, seen frequently in the live action series, though the attack is not named in this episode. Strangely enough an image of Sailor Moon using this attack is seen in the newspaper on the morning before she gets her tiara upgrade and is first able to use this attack.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4 - Creeper Umino

Another fun moment has Umino acting like a total creeper when he reveals a photo of Princess D. Indeed Umino always having images of women at hand when needed is in itself creepy but something about the way he acts and speaks in this scene is particularly funny.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4 - Tuxedo Mask kissing Sailor Moon without consent

And speaking of creepy, the final scene of the episode needs to be addressed. Sailor Moon, after a long day at the party, passes out. In the manga she does this after consuming alcohol. While unconscious Tuxedo Mask approaches her and kisses her, causing fans to swoon at this romantic moment. She is unconscious and unable to consent to his advances. This behaviour is completely inappropriate. Luckily Luna shows up and comes to Sailor Moon’s defence.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4 - Makoto Kino

Unfortunately we have to wait 3 weeks for the next episode! We’ve gotten used to seeing shows every two weeks but Sailor Moon Crystal is released on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of every month, not every two weeks. The next episode will be available on Saturday September 6th. Act 5, Makoto – Sailor Jupiter, will introduce us to Makoto Kino who becomes Sailor Jupiter. We see a shot of her at the end of the episode and more of her during the next episode preview. This again follows the manga schedule with Sailor Jupiter appearing in act 5.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 5 Preview - Sailor Jupiter

Keep reading for more images from this episode and from the next episode preview.

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Roland Parliament, the voice of Melvin and voice director for Sailor Moon, to appear at Unplugged Expo in Toronto September 27th and 28th

Roland Parliament, the voice of Melvin

Roland Parliament, who supplied the voice of Melvin and was the voice director for the first 65 episodes of the DIC dub of the Sailor Moon anime, will once again be appearing at Unplugged Expo at the Chestnut Conference Centre in downtown Toronto September 27th and 28th.

Sailor Moon Reflections cover

Roland Parliament will be promoting his upcoming book, Sailor Moon Reflections: The inside story of the original recordings of the English version of Sailor Moon. This book was originally announced at Unplugged Expo last year at the Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary Voice Actor Panel which we posted on our site. As voice director and a voice actor for the series he gained a ton of insight into the recording of the show and will be sharing stories and photos of the behind the scenes moments recording Sailor Moon. You can pre-order the book from the official web site.

You can also check out Roland Parliament in Parliament Funkadelic, the latest episode of the Anime News Network Podcast ANNCast, in which he talks about the book and his time on the show.

Watch Act 4 of Sailor Moon Crystal, Masquerade Dance Party, starting August 16th at 6am EST

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4, Masquerade Dance Party - Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask

Set your alarms! The 4th episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 4: Masquerade Dance Party, will be available online streaming starting August 16th at 7pm Japan Standard Time. This is 6am Eastern Standard Time and 3am Pacific Standard Time. You can watch the episode on Crunchyroll, Hulu or Niconico.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4, Masquerade Dance Party

This episode has the Sailor Guardians, Tuxedo Mask and the Dark Kingdom crashing a masquerade party in order to investigate a gem which may be the Silver Crystal. Once again we follow a story straight from the manga as was the case for the previous three episodes.

Sailor Moon episodes 27 and 28 are now on Hulu

Sailor Moon episode 27 - Sailor Mercury and Ryo Urawa

The two latest episodes of the original Sailor Moon anime have been added to Hulu and Neon Alley this morning. Every Monday two new episodes, in Japanese and subbed in English by Viz, are added to Hulu. This week we have episodes 27 and 28 as the race to get all of the Rainbow Crystals heats up!

Sailor Moon episode 27 - Mamoru and Rei

Episode 27, Crushing On Ami: the Boy Who Can See the Future, has Ami befriending a boy named Ryo Urawa who can see the future! Because of his gift he’s able to challenge her at exams and can also see predict that he’s a Rainbow Crystal carrier and that Ami is Sailor Mercury! This early romantic interest for Sailor Mercury is one that fans have always liked to imagine continuing, even though Ami is clearly more well suited to hook up with Shingo in the future! Ami isn’t the only one to have a romantic interest in this episode as we have a brief look at one of the many dates that take place between Mamoru and Rei, a lovely couple who’s relationship will soon be interrupted by pesky destiny.

Sailor Moon episode 28 - Mamoru and Usagi

Episode 28, The Painting of Love: Usagi and Mamoru Get Closer, introduces us to an artist Yumemi Yumemo who paints images that represent true events from the Silver Millennium. These images are coming to her because she is yet another Rainbow Crystal carrier. She choses Mamoru and Usagi as her models because they rightfully remind her of Endymion and Serenity who have been appearing to her in visions. Things heat up a little between Mamoru and Usagi, who justifiably feels guilty for her feelings because of Mamoru’s relationship with Rei.

Sailor Moon episode 28 - Yumemi Yumeno

Buy the first half of season 1 on DVD and Blu-Ray this November.