A Sailor Moon 25th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album is coming April 4th

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Adam

A second Sailor Moon Tribute Album, this time called Sailor Moon The 25th Anniversary Memorial Tribute, is coming on April 4th 2018. This one is to commemorate the 25th Anniversary while the previous tribute album, released in January of 2014, celebrated the 20th anniversary. The album will sell for 3000 yen, about $28 US, and is already available to pre-order from sites such as Amazon Japan. Like the last tribute album this will be a collection of songs performed by Japanese artists and bands. These will likely all be covers of songs from the Sailor Moon series. Since the 20th Anniversary Tribute Album was released before Sailor Moon Crystal began airing it only included covers of songs from the original Sailor Moon anime series. La Soldier, a song from the musicals, was also included though it also appeared in the original anime. It seems possible that we will be seeing songs from Sailor Moon Crystal and the musicals with this release but without a specific track listing we don’t have a ton of details. Since so many iconic songs were included with the last tribute album it seems reasonable to expect that an effort may be made to avoid duplicating too many of those tracks or at least to revisit songs which were not included on the last tribute album, but again this is simple speculation.

Amongst the talent included in this work are a number of Japanese artists and bands some of which were previously involved with Sailor Moon and many who were not. I’ll go through a run down of who’s been announced and where you can find more about them.

First is Yoko Ishida who has been affiliated with Sailor Moon since back in the days of Sailor Moon R. She provided the vocals for Otome no Policy, Maiden’s Policy, the ending theme for Sailor Moon R. More recently she provided the vocals for a number of songs at the Sailor Moon 25th Anniversary Classic Concert and can be heard on many tracks on the CD recording of this event.

Next is Sonoko Inoue, a singer and actress. You can learn more about her from her web site, Twitter profile and Instagram page.

Gesshoku Kaigi is a band composed of members who seem to like to dress is steampunk and other peculiar costumes. They’ve performed songs for games and anime series. Check out their web site and Twitter profile for more.

Silent Siren is an all girl band who have an album titled “Girls Power”, which seems fitting for Sailor Moon! The group was formed by amateur models. For more on these girls check out their web site, Twitter profile and Instagram page.

Ziyoou-vachi is a four piece rock band. They have a interesting fashion sense to say the least. Check out their web site or Twitter profile for more.

BiSH, known as Brand-new idol SHiT, is well… an idol group that is relatively new, formed in 2015. Learn more about them from their web site or Twitter profile.

Etsuko Yakushimaru, is the other artist who is not new to the world of Sailor Moon. She previously sang the vocals for the first version of the Sailor Moon Crystal Season III opening theme New Moon Ni Koishite or In Love With The New Moon. She has also performed theme songs for many other anime series. You can learn more about her from her web site.

LiSA, short for Love Is Same All, is a singer who has performed songs for a number of anime series. For more on her check out her web site, Twitter profile and Instagram page.

That’s all the information we have for now. As April 4th approaches I expect we will be getting more information about the track listing and what artists are performing what songs. Are you a fan of any of these artists and bands? Who are you most excited to hear on this album?

See footage of the Universal Studios Japan Sailor Moon 4-D ride in this new commercial

Posted on February 25, 2018 by Adam

A commercial has been released for the Sailor Moon The Miracle 4-D ride which is coming to Universal Studios Japan. From this commercial we can get a better idea of what the ride will look like! The CG models we saw in an earlier press image do appear to be the designs we will be seeing in this show, meaning it won’t be done in the traditional animation style of either the original Sailor Moon anime or Sailor Moon Crystal. Watch the short commercial below.

Since the footage shows an actual theatre and audience reactions this won’t be exactly what the ride will look like, but it seems likely that the characters and designs shown are what we will see. There needs to be audience interaction because otherwise we wouldn’t have any way to realize it’s actually in 3D. Remember those ads for Avatar that showed the Navi sticking their hand out and trying to grab audience members? Me neither.

Featured in the clip is a monster which looks a lot like Morga, the monster from the first Sailor Moon manga story and the first episode of the original Sailor Moon anime as well as Sailor Moon Crystal. In those versions Morga poses as Naru’s mother though it isn’t clear if that will be the case here.

The final moment of the trailer shows a rose appearing. This is Tuxedo Mask’s trademark however the rose is something which first appeared in the original Sailor Moon anime as it did not originate in the manga and didn’t appear in Sailor Moon Crystal.

What do you think of these designs? The CG sure does look dated. With almost all western animation being done in CG these days this short ride doesn’t look to be up to par even with the lower budget shows that use this kind of technology. That said the simple designs do look more like the 90s anime brought to life even though they don’t resemble actual humans. This may have been an intentional style choice rather than an economic constraint. Perhaps it’s a bit of both.

The Sailor Moon Crystal Dice Challenge game is now available for pre-order

Posted on February 12, 2018 by Adam

The upcoming Sailor Moon Crystal Dice Challenge game is now available for pre-order on the Dyskami web site for $35. The game should be ready to ship in April or May of this year. The pre-order page includes a bunch of details about the game including photos of what’s included. As an incentive those who pre-order the game now will get a special Sailor Pluto game card and Sailor Moon Crystal Dice Challenge poster. The pre-order is a crowd funding campaign with a goal of $10,000 dollars and it seems likely that it will hit that goal before the deadline of March 9th. A video included on the page shows the game being played at the pre-release tournament held in Guelph in December. You can watch it below.

The game will ship to the US or Canada. Unfortunately it can’t be shipped elsewhere due to limitation of the licensing deal between Toei and Dyskami. The game is set to be released in May.

At this point we have images of all of the cards included with the game and the characters cover the Dark Kingdom and Black Moon story arcs of Sailor Moon Crystal. For heroes we have Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Chibi Moon as well as Tuxedo Mask, Luna and Artemis (as a single card), Queen Serenity, Princess Serenity, Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion with Sailor Pluto as a pre-order exclusive. For villains we have Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, Kunzite, Queen Beryl, a generic Droid, Esmeraude, Rubeus, Saphir, Prince Demand, Black Lady and Wiseman.

I’ve got my game pre-ordered. What about you?

Pre-orders for the Sailor Moon Crystal Dice Challenge game will begin on February 8th

Posted on February 4, 2018 by Adam

It looks like the upcoming Sailor Moon Crystal Dice Challenge game is getting a bit closer to release! The game, which is currently scheduled to be released this Spring, will be available to pre-order on February 8th from Dyskami Publishing. Fans are being encouraged to follow their social media pages on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and check out the Dyskami web site on February 8th for more details.

I received news from Dyskami Publishing that those who pre-order the game should expect some amazing bonus Sailor Moon Crystal gifts. Some fans have asked if this game will be available in Canada, since often it’s harder to get some board games North of the border. Since Dyskami Publishing is an Ontario based company we should expect to see this in stores here in Canada. Do you plan on picking this game up?

Three new Sailor Moon concerts are coming in 2018 and 2019

Posted on February 3, 2018 by Adam

According to information posted to the official Sailor Moon site we have three new Sailor Moon musicals coming in 2018 and 2019! This follows the conclusion of the current series of musicals with the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final musical this past summer. We’re getting something a bit different with each of these musicals this time around. With each being its own thing it doesn’t seem like they will necessarily follow a continuity as musicals have in the past. What’s more it doesn’t look like these will be traditional musicals but rather Sailor Moon themed concerts. Because of this I’m not sure I would label such as thing as “Seramyu” as the other musicals generally are, but it remains to be seen exactly how things develop to say for sure.

The first of the concerts will feature Nogizaka46 which is an all female pop band similar to AKB48. The band of 46 members will somehow perform this Sailor Moon themed concert though we don’t really have details on what this would entail.

The next is dubbed The Super Live. What does this mean? The title reminded me of Kirari Super Live which was the name of the concert put on by the cast of the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series. The site describes it as a mix of singing, dancing and video gimmicks. We are told that TAKAHIRO will be putting this show together though I can’t say I understand who that is. This particular concert will be performed at the Japonismes event. This is a sort of Japanese cultural expo that takes place in Paris, France.

Finally the 3rd musical is… something we don’t really know anything about. It’s just referred to as the new musical. We’ll have to wait until we learn more about that.

Will all three of these really be done by the end of 2019? With the endless delays to Sailor Moon Crystal one shouldn’t put too much faith in the timeline until we get some specifics. I wouldn’t book those plane tickets just yet!

Is this CG image a look at what’s in store for the Universal Studios Japan’s Sailor Moon The Miracle 4-D attraction?

Posted on February 1, 2018 by Adam

The Sailor Moon The Miracle 4-D attraction is coming to Universal Studios Japan in March of this year. The latest update on the Sailor Moon official site, as well as the attraction’s official site, includes details on merchandise available at the event but also has some CG art to go along with the announcement. Could this be the kind of visuals we could be expecting from the event? The original announcement was accompanied with some unique looking art which seemed quite similar to the original Sailor Moon anime but had designs including details unique to the manga and Sailor Moon Crystal. With this being a 4-D event, meaning that it will be in 3D with some added effects, it would seem fitting if the animation was done in CG which lends itself well to 3D video. We certainly haven’t gotten any confirmation about what the footage will look like but if these visuals in the banner are any indication we could be looking forward to 1990s quality computer animation for this event.

We also have a bit of detail about the story of the footage. Apparently, now brace yourself for this, there are monsters targeting people’s energy and the Sailor Guardians need to stop them! Seems pretty standard but we are assured that this is actually going to be an original story, so it’s unlikely we will be seeing existing footage augmented to make use of 4-D technology.

We also have some details about merchandise which will be available at the event, including an Instagram page dedicated solely to posting pictures of merchandise that will be sold at the attraction. The main draw seems to be the Cutie – Universal – Rod, a Universal branded version of Sailor Moon’s Cutie Moon Rod which she uses in the second story arc of the manga and Sailor Moon Crystal which corresponds to the Sailor Moon R season of the original anime. Also available are a pin set of Sailor Moon’s attack items, a Luna P container and more. The photos you can get at the event will include one of 7 backgrounds with one available each day of the week. Will some fans be willing to go every day to get a complete set? I would assume so!

There is also going to be a chance to meet “Tuxedo Mask”. This sounds a bit like the chances to meet Disney Princesses and such at Disney theme parks and cruises. You won’t be meeting any actor or actress who’s ever portrayed Tuxedo Mask in any fiction you care about but more likely just someone who’s wearing the costume. Good for kids who have trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality but hardly compelling to adult fans who have different kinds of complex relationships with the line between fantasy and reality.

All of this starts on March 16th in Japan! If you’re planning to attend I suggest checking out some of the links above for details on how to get tickets. Will any of you be in Japan to see this show? Let us know in the comments!

Keep reading for more pictures of the merchandise.

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Sailor Moon News

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Monthly Archives: February 2018