The Sailor Moon Crystal English dub will premier at Anime Expo on July 3rd in Los Angeles

Anime Expo Logo

The first two episodes of the English dub of Sailor Moon Crystal will be premiered at the Anime Expo convention in Los Angeles on Friday July 3rd at 6pm, as part of Sailor Moon Day. The anime convention’s schedule is now online, where the event was listed. This will be Act 1, Usagi – Sailor Moon, and Act 2, Ami – Sailor Mercury. The English dub, by Viz Media, will keep the same cast that their new English dub of the original anime used. Some of those actors will be present at the convention. Since this convention takes place in California all times will be in Pacific Time.

Anime Expo will take place the weekend of July 2nd to the 5th in Los Angeles California. The convention will feature many guests from the English dub of the original Sailor Moon Anime and Sailor Moon Crystal. In attendance will be Stephanie Sheh, the voice of Sailor Moon, Cristina Vee, the voice of Sailor Mars, Amanda Miller, the voice of Sailor Jupiter, Cherami Leigh, the voice of Sailor Venus, Robbie Daymond, the voice of Tuxedo Mask and Sandy Fox, the voice of Chibiusa and Black Lady. Kyle Hebert, who played the Priest who turned into the monster Boxy in the new dub, will also be at the convention though he may not be involved in the dub of Sailor Moon Crystal or the Sailor Moon themed events.

KISS and Momoiro Clover Z

Also at the convention will be Momoiro Clover Z, the band which performs the Sailor Moon Crystal opening theme, Moon Pride, and ending theme, Gekkou or Moonbow. Momoiro Clover Z will be performing on Thursday July 2nd with KISS members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. The two bands recently collaborated on a single released as Momoiro Clover Z vs. KISS. Watch the video below.

Friday is Sailor Moon Day at Anime Expo. This starts with the Official Sailor Moon Panel by Viz Media and the cast of Sailor Moon from 10am to noon. Following this from 1pm to 2:30pm will be a screening of Sailor Moon’s best episodes, though we don’t know what those will be at this time. From 4:30pm to 5:30pm will be a Sailor Moon Cosplay gathering. Then from 6pm to 7:30pm is the English dub premiere of Act 1 and 2 of Sailor Moon Crystal. Other events listed in their schedule that will likely be relevant to Sailor Moon fans are the Viz Media panel on Thursday July 2nd at 1:15pm and the Viz Animation Panel featuring Neon Alley on Saturday July 4th at 4pm.

Viz Media

Source: Anime Expo schedule via Moonkitty.net

Sailor Stars Petit Chara figures coming in September

Eternal Sailor Moon, Sailor Chibi Chibi and Sailor Starlights Petit Chara figures

The latest Petit Chara figures have been announced on the Sailor Moon official site and this Sailor Stars set will include Eternal Sailor Moon, Sailor Chibi Chibi and the Sailor Starlights. This set will be released in late September. You can pre-order them from Premium Bandai.

Sailor Star Maker, Sailor Star Fighter and Sailor Star Healer Petit Chara figures

Petit Chara figures are non poseable super deformed figures. This season of Sailor Moon was never released in North America, though many fans are likely still familiar with the story through fan subs and the manga. Eternal Sailor Moon is simply the powered up form of Sailor Moon for this season. Sailor Chibi Chibi is a mysterious girl of unknown origin, whos actual identity varies depending on what continuity we’re talking about. The Sailor Starlights are Sailor Star Fighter, Sailor Star Maker and Sailor Star Healer, Sailor Guardians from another solar system who traveled to Earth in search of their princess.

Eternal Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi Chibi Petit Chara figures

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See Jennifer Cihi’s at her upcoming appearances in Wisconsin and Los Angeles and take her singing and acting class in Nashville

Jennifer Cihi

There’s a lot going on throughout the next month for Jennifer Cihi, the singer who performed many songs for the original English dub of the Sailor Moon anime. She’s be giving performance classes in Nashville June 16th to the 18th, appearing at My Animix in Kenosha, Wisconsin on June 20th and performing with iconiQ, the Soundtrack Orchestra, for SERASYMPHONY in Los Angeles on July 5th.

Aspiring singers and actors will want to check out Jennifer Cihi’s Theatre Master Class in Nashville, Texas from June 16th to the 18th. The courses will take place on weekday evenings from 5:30pm to 8:30pm Central Time at The Arts at Center Street. You can send an e-mail to booksailormoon@gmail.com to register.

Sailor Moon fans in the Chicago and Milwaukee area should check out My Animix in Kenosha Saturday June 20th. My Animix is a sort of anime club and store. Jennifer Cihi will be making an appearance from 4pm to 7pm Central Time.

Los Angeles area Sailor Moon fans can catch Jennifer Cihi performing with iconiQ, The Soundtrack Orchestra, for SERASYMPHONY. This concert will take place on Sunday July 5th at 8pm Pacific Time at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. Although Jennifer Cihi provided the singing voice for many dubbed Sailor Moon songs, SERASYMPHONY also features a lot of music from the original Japanese version of Sailor Moon. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased from the SERASYMPHONY site. Check out the video embedded below for a preview of what SERASYMPHONY has to offer.

Jennifer Cihi, who is credited as the singing voice of Sailor Moon, appears in a number of songs played throughout the original DiC dub of the Sailor Moon anime. On the three Sailor Moon soundtracks her name is credited as Sailor Moon, Princess Serena and Sailor Mars. She has provided the vocals for “I Wanna Be A Star!”, “My Only Love”, “Carry On”, “It’s A New Day”, “Call My Name”, “The Power of Love”, “I Want Someone to Love”, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Who Do You Think You Are?”.

Sailor Moon S episode 112 and 113 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon S episode 112 - Hotaru Tomoe

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon S were added to Hulu and Neon Alley this morning. This week we get episodes 112 and 113 which focus on a new character, Hotaru Tomoe, and her mysterious family.

Sailor Moon S episode 112 - Mimete and Cyprine of the Witches 5

Episode 112, Who Is the True Messiah? Chaos of Light and Darkness, doesn’t really deal with who the true Messiash is. The new villain, who we saw last week, is Mimete of the Witches 5. We also get a look at her in the Death Busters’ HQ with Cyprine in the background. Mimete is kind of insane. She killed Eudial in the last episode and is all over the map this week, first falling in love with an actor and then attacking him and ripping out his Pure Heart. The main thing which occurs in this episode is the first appearance of Hotaru. We saw her briefly in the last episode but we get a proper look at her here. Chibiusa loses her hat and Hotaru helps her retrieve in. The two are instant friends. This is the special encounter that Neo Queen Serenity told Chibiusa she would be making in the 20th century. We’ll be learning much more about her as the season goes on.

Sailor Moon S episode 112 - Hotaru and Chibiusa

Sailor Moon S episode 113 - Kaolinite and Professor Tomoe

Episode 113, A House Filled With Evil Presence: The Beautiful Hotaru’s Secret, does not actually explain much about Hotaru’s secret. This episode features a very exposition filled interaction between the Sailor Guardians of the outer solar system and Tuxedo Mask. Everyone transforms for the sake of transforming without a villain in sight, which is a bit of a waste. We learn that Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Pluto protect the solar system from outside invaders while the Sailor Guardians that appeared previously protect against things from inside the solar system, like we had in the first two seasons. They aren’t too fond of Sailor Moon. Chibiusa and Usagi pay Hotaru a visit at her home. There they run into Kaolinite, who is somehow not dead. Usagi is shocked by this, as she encountered her in battle many times. Chibiusa arrived after Kaolinite’s supposed death so she doesn’t see this as odd. Somehow Kaolinite does not recognize Usagi, who she encountered in civilian form on her birthday, and Usagi just shrugs the whole thing off thinking it’s just a similarity. We see Professor Tomoe, Hotaru’s father, and here it is revealed who he is. Not much sense hiding it as we know his last name already. We also see him talking to a weird zonked out Hotaru who seems to be the Messiah of Silence. Will Hotaru destroy the world? She seems like a nice innocent girl, but when she comes face to face with Usagi’s broach, which contains the Silver Crystal, she sort of freaks out and seems to want to eat it. Surely this is not the last we’ll see of Hotaru as there is more going on with this girl and her creepy family who are clearly associated with the season’s villains.

Sailor Moon S episode 113 - The Messiah of Silence

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Sailor Moon S episode 113 - Hotaru wants to eat the Silver Crystal

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23, Covert Maneuvers – Wiseman, Review

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23 - Black Lady kissing her father Tuxedo Mask

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 23, Covert Maneuvers – Wiseman, is now available on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico. This week we are finally introduced to Black Lady, who is Chibiusa aged and made somewhat evil by Wise Man. Black Lady is all about being evil and making out with her younger father from the past, Tuxedo Mask.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23 - Sailor Pluto warns the Sailor Guardians about getting lost in time

The episode starts out with Sailor Pluto warning the Sailor Guardians about not wandering around in the limbo and getting lost in the storm in the Space Time Corridor. Sailor Moon wants to go anyway, and Sailor Pluto caves. Then they find Luna-p and nothing really changed about the severity of the situation, but Sailor Pluto tells them they can’t go on and since Sailor Moon passes out, they give up.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23 - Castle of Darkness

We get a better look at Nemesis this week. Previously I postulated about the state of the surface of Nemesis, which is never very clearly described. Here we see that there are a large number of volcanic eruptions on the surface, so it does at least have a solid rock like surface. Most of the time there seems to be spent somewhere underground. Traveling deep into its core there is a kind of alternate dimension. Black Lady talks about this Castle of Darkness at the bottom, but it’s really just a slab of rock. Supposedly someone would build a castle here but there’s really nothing going on. Nemesis is kind of lame, all things considered. No wonder they want to conquer Earth!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23 - Black Lady

This episode marks the first real introduction of Black Lady. Seems like this was a long time coming. Chibiusa is taken away by Wise Man during Act 21. We see Black Lady a number of times throughout Act 22 be we never get a clear look at her. Finally seeing her it doesn’t feel like a huge surprise, especially since she’s been shown in the anime and manga for some 20 years. As always her appearance here matches that of the manga more than the original anime were she had very little exposition. Physically she seems about the same, though I can’t help but notice she has disproportionately large breasts. Compared to the rest of the Sailor Guardians the proportions seems a bit off. This establishes a contrast between Black Lady and child Chibiusa, though it seems innapropriate to sexualize such a character.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23 - Black Lady kissing her father Tuxedo Mask

Black Lady’s first order of business is to capture and brainwash Tuxedo Mask in order to seduce him. Naturally this a bit odd as she is his daughter. While a lot of her bad behaviour is motivated by Wise Man’s corruption, there’s no indication that this is. This incestuous relationship will not help Wise Man achieve his goals. Chibiusa is a young girl who is infatuated with her father. This in itself is not that odd for a child. She gets thrown into an adult’s body and she deals with her conflicting feelings as it makes sense to her, by trying to hook up with her father. Let’s remember of course that Chibiusa is over 900 years old while Mamoru is about 19 years old at this point. It may seem creepy for such a young girl to be with such an old guy, but she’s much older than the teenagers he’s usually hanging around with, she just lacks the maturity which comes with a regular transition through adolescence and adulthood. This relationship is a result of a young girl’s emotions expressing themselves through the actions of someone who seems to be in adult, but in many ways is not.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23 - Black Lady and a half dressed Mamoru

We first see Chibiusa kissing Tuxedo Mask while he is in his full Tuxedo. In the scene immediately afterwards Mamoru is seen only wearing his white shirt. These are the shirts usually reserved for the girls that sleep over at his place. Are we to believe something happened between this original kiss and the time where Mamoru is somewhat dressed down?

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23 - Usagi's brainwashed mother

The gang travels back to the present day. Why do we keep doing this? Naturally this stay does not last very long but while there we learn that they used Luna-P to erase Usagi’s mother’s memories. This seems a bit drastic. I realize Chibiusa put some of those memories there but she’s been gone for what, a day? Maybe a few hours? Oh well the time storm thingy was too much let’s forget about ever getting Mamoru and Chibiusa back. Should we also go around brainwashing Motoki, Asanuma and anyone else Mamoru knows to avoid any hard questions about his disappearance? We didn’t do so last arc when he died or in this arc when the other girls were kidnapped for much longer times! Usagi mentions that she’s happy to be home but then is sad because her boyfriend and future daughter are lost to time. She feels guilty for being upset about this and everyone finds her impossible to please. In the grand scheme of problems this seems like a pretty huge one and regardless of the relative comfort of sleeping in one’s own bed this kind of problem seems like a legitimate reason to be a bit bummed. All considered, Usagi takes it quite well!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 20 - Chibiusa walks through her father
Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23 - King Endymion petting Diana

Back in the future King Endymion has a chat with Diana the kitten. He then pets her. Wait a minute! How is this possible? We don’t know much about King Endymion’s ghost like maybe a hologram maybe a sort of astral projection type representation but we do know that he does not have an actual physical form. Chibiusa walks right through him in Act 20 but now that a kitten needs petting he’s able to muster some sort of ability to be solid which he was not able to do to hug his own daughter who’s been traveling through time to save him and his family. No wonder this girl has daddy issues.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23 - Black Lady and King Endymion

Finally Black Lady confronts her actual father in the Crystal Palace. She seems to want to make out with him too but since she’s not a kitten that doesn’t seem possible. She gets kicked out of the Crystal Palace by Neo Queen Serenity. I know she’s being kind of evil here and kicking her out makes some sense but still this is being done by her own mother. It was probably the making out with Tuxedo Mask part that set her off.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 24 - Black Lady

Next time, on June 20th is Act 24, Attack – Black Lady. The battle continues as everyone sees more of Black Lady and she introduces everyone to her new boyfriend, Endymion, which naturally turns some heads. We’ll get to see Endymion wielding the Cutie Moon Rod.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 24 - Attack - Black Lady

With Act 24 coming in a couple of weeks there has still not been any confirmation of any episodes past Act 26. The first episode of the third story arc, should such a thing be announced, should be playing the first Saturday of August but for now we have had no official confirmation that this will happen. As always if we learn any news about the new series and new episodes we’ll post it to the site right away.

Keep reading for more screenshots from Act 23 and the next episode preview for Act 24.

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Check out the cast and poster for the Sailor Moon Un Nouveau Voyage musical

Sailor Moon Un Nouveau Voyage musical poster

Here’s a look at the new poster, and the full cast, of the upcoming musical Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Un Nouveau Voyage, which is French for A New Journey. We now have official confirmation that the musical will cover to Infinity Story Arc of the manga, and with this it will include the new characters Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Saturn in addition to other characters who appeared in the previous story arc.

With this new poster we also have the announcement of the casting for the three new Sailor Guardians showing up in this musical. Shuu Shiotsuki, who plays Sailor Uranus, is a veteran of Takarazuka Revue since 2004. Sayaka Fujioka, who plays Sailor Neptune, is an actress who has done a few TV roles. Karin Takahashi, who plays Sailor Saturn, is an established singer who has performed theme songs for a number of anime series. You can find out more about Karin Takahashi at her official blog.

Source: Sailor Moon Official Site Post 1, Post 2

Watch Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23, Covert Maneuvers – Wiseman, Saturday June 6th at 6am Eastern Time

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23 - Black Lady

The next episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, Act 23, Covert Maneuvers – Wiseman, will be available to stream starting June 6th at 7pm Japan Standard Time, which is 6am Eastern Time or 3am Pacific Time. The show will be available on Crunchyroll, Hulu and Niconico. This week we will finally get a proper look at Black Lady, the older version of Chibiusa, a character which the show has been teasing at for the past month!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23 - Covert Maneuvers - Wiseman

Chibiusa has been corrupted by Wiseman which has finally caused her, at the young age of 900, to mature into Black Lady. She uses her new maturity and powers to make out with her father who is at this point actually much younger than her. Hilarity ensues.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 23 - King Endymion watching Black Lady

Sailor Moon S episode 110 and 111 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon S episode 110 - Haruka and Michiru

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon S are now available on Hulu and Neon Alley. This week a ton is revealed as we get two of the better episodes of the season and one of my favourite episodes of the series as a whole. We find out who has a Talisman, we see the Holy Grail, Super Sailor Moon and even a new character who will be real important later this season. As of episode 110 we have a slightly modified intro. Sailor Chibi Moon and Hotaru appear where they did not in the intro for episode 109. They will both feature prominently for the rest of the season.

Sailor Moon S episode 110 - Usagi struggles with Haruka

Episode 110, The Death of Uranus and Neptune: The Talisman Appears, has Eudial finally discovering who’s Pure Hearts are Talismans. She contacts Haruka and Michiru to let them know about it. They are troubled by this, as to their understanding extracting these things will mean the death of those who have the Talismans, but they have been prepared all season to have blood on their hands to get them. Anything to stop the end of the world! Haruka is unhappy with Usagi being Sailor Moon, so she takes her transformation broach. There’s a lot of that going around. Everyone is off in helicopters of all things to meet Eudial. We learn that the Talismans are actually in Sailor Uranus and Neptune. As they were prepared to take the lives of others to save the world, they are equally prepared to take their own lives. First Sailor Neptune has her Pure Heart extracted, and then Sailor Uranus uses Eudial’s weapon on herself, extracting her own Pure Heart. All hope seems lost as Sailor Uranus and Neptune are seemingly dead with their Talismans revealed! To be continued!

Sailor Moon S episode 110 - Haruka dies

This episode is full of great drama, and Haruka and Michiru first struggle with the idea of having to take someone’s life to save many, and then later have to sacrifice themselves to do so. It’s a moral question that is weighed over and over throughout the series. Is it worth the sacrifice of one life to save many? A twist of the classic trolley experiment. In the Utilitarian eyes of Haruka and Michiru the answer is yes, but Usagi feels much differently. No single life can be sacrificed to save others.

Sailor Moon S episode 111 - Eudial of the Witches 5

Episode 111, The Holly Grail’s Mystical Power: Moon’s Double Transformation, follows where episode 110 left off with Sailor Neptune and Uranus dead! Or are they? Eudial takes off with the two Talismans and there’s a silly bit where the Sailor Guardians get stuck in glue. Finally a familiar face shows up and reveals herself to be Sailor Pluto! Although Sailor Pluto appeared briefly in Sailor Moon R this is the first time we see her in her civilian form, Setsuna Meioh, and therefore the first time she is seen transforming. It turns out she could have saved us a bunch of trouble because she knew all about the Talismans and has one herself! Once the three are put together we get the Holy Grail. Why is Viz trying to spell it Holly Grail? No idea. It’s just nonsense. The Holy Grail is a well established religious item, the target of King Arthur’s quest, and holly is a kind of plant we decorate with around Christmas time. Luckily in the episode itself the item is referred to as the Holy Grail, not the Holly Grail. Anyway with the three Talismans together Sailor Neptune and Uranus’s Pure Hearts are restored and all is good! Now Sailor Moon can transform into Super Sailor Moon, allowing her to get a nice new outfit, and Sailor Chibi Moon gets these little things in her hair. Cool? With that Eudial is quickly defeated, but she does not die at the hands of Super Sailor Moon. Trying to drive away she learns from Mimete of the Witches 5 that her car has been sabotaged, causing her to fall of a cliff seemingly to her death. She is never seen again. Mimete is pretty much terrible. She will be the focus on the next bunch of episodes as she takes over as the main villain. We will be made to feel sorry for her later but try to remember this cold blooded murder when that time comes. A new character is seen in this episode as a young girl is seen screaming when the Holy Grail is created. This is Hotaru Tomoe, the daughter of Professor Tomoe. We’ll be seeing more of her real soon.

Sailor Moon S episode 111 - Super Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon S episode 111 - The Holy Grail

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Sailor Moon S episode 111 - Mimete of the Witches 5

Sailor Moon S episode 111 - Hotaru Tomoe