50 years ago today humans walked on the Moon for the first time since Queen Beryl destroyed the Moon Kingdom

Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the Moon

50 years ago today, on July 21st 1969, was the pinnacle of the Apollo 11 mission in which Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon since the fall of the Moon Kingdom, Silver Millennium. Though we don’t know who the first person to ever walk on the Moon was, we know of course that Neil Armstrong was the first to do it in a very long time as there was no one on the Moon when the Apollo Lunar Module made it’s landing on July 20th, except of course if we count the consciousness of Queen Serenity which was uploaded into an advanced Moon Kingdom supercomputer following her death.

Apollo 11 Plaque

One may of course quibble as to whether or not the inhabitants of the Moon Kingdom were in fact human or aliens, with some of them being born on the Moon or other planets. The plaque left by the Apollo 11 crew in 1969 stated quite clearly “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969, A. D. We came in peace for all mankind.” While the inhabitants of the Moon Kingdom itself did not come from the Earth, others did. Endymion traveled to the Moon from the Earth to see Princess Serenity and of course Queen Beryl, the Shitennou and the army which accompanied them were all natives from the Earth who set foot and eventually died on the Moon.

Sailor Moon episode 44 - Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion dying

Though no women walked on the Moon throughout the time of the Apollo missions, we know that a few have been there since. Sailor Moon and the Sailor Guardians, as well as a couple of cats, all went in the 90s. The specifics vary depending on the canon of course. In the original anime the cats got in a fight with Kunzite while the rest of the girls were in a time warp which somehow landed them on the Moon in the present day, but the manga and Sailor Moon Crystal clearly show them all going to the Moon. Though they may all have been aliens in their previous lives they were reborn to human families as humans on the Earth.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 10 - The Earth is too low in the sky for where they should be on the Moon and if the Sun was obscured like this there would be a partial lunar eclipse

Naturally most biased news coverage of the Apollo 11 mission fails to dwell on the specifics, that they weren’t actually the first people on the Moon. Just like Christopher Columbus was not technically the first person in the Americas we use these kind of simplified versions of history to highlight the great achievements of those involved. Nothing but respect for the hardworking men and women at Nasa who managed to make it from the Earth to the Moon without using some kind of teleportation. That might actually have been a first. Some aliens have been shown to be able to travel interstellar distances in bubbles generated by plants but it isn’t clear if this was ever used to go to the Moon.

Sailor Moon episode 44 - Princess Serenity gazing at the Earth

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Check out the rap song “Sailor Moon” by lilbootycall

Sailor Moon by lilbootycall

This rap song is a few years old but I first heard it earlier today. It’s “Sailor Moon” by lilbootycall. The artist refers to the subject of the song as his “lil’ Salor Moon”. You can listen to the song’s music video on YouTube below. Just a heads up that there are drug references and explicit language in the video, if this is something you care to avoid.

The video has 4.5 millions view and the song has been listened to nearly 5 million times on Soundcloud, where it originally appeared. Learn more about lilbootycall and hear more of his music by checking out his official web site.

The instrumental music which is looped throughout the song is background music from the original Sailor Moon anime. The song is referenced as “A Girl’s Feelings” or more accurately “Feelings of a Girl in Love”. This music is heard often throughout the first season when Usagi is enamoured with one boy or another.

Besides using the name Sailor Moon and music from the series the song doesn’t have much to do with the series. Check out the lyrics to the song below.

[Chorus]
She gon’ pop it open, she gon’ make it pour
Even though I drive a foreign, damn, I still feel poor
Sushi on my dinner plate, eating crème brûlée
Icing on that chocolate cake, that sound like the perfect date
She gon’ pop it open, she gon’ make it pour
Even though I drive a foreign, damn, I still feel poor
Sushi on my dinner plate, eating crème brûlée
Icing on that chocolate cake, that sound like the perfect date

[Verse]
You my lil’ sailor moon, come and visit me
Come and kick it at the crib or you can keep on dissing me
I don’t really care, ’cause I’m getting to the money, but
Don’t you come back crawling when you seeing all these hunnids, yeah
You my lil’ sailor moon, come and visit me
Come and kick it at the crib or you can keep on dissing me
I don’t really care, ’cause I’m getting to the money, but
Don’t you come back crawling when you seeing all these hunnids, yeah

[Chorus]
She gon’ pop it open, she gon’ make it pour
Even though I drive a foreign, damn, I still feel poor
Sushi on my dinner plate, eating crème brûlée
Icing on that chocolate cake, that sound like the perfect date
She gon’ pop it open, she gon’ make it pour
Even though I drive a foreign, damn, I still feel poor
Sushi on my dinner plate, eating crème brûlée
Icing on that chocolate cake, that sound like the perfect date

[Outro]
Damn
Like the perfect date
Yeah, damn
Like the perfect date
Perfect date
Yeah
Fuck, fucking perfect date bullshit. This is why I hate… love. Fuck

What do you think of the song?

The Sailor Moon manga is now available digitally through a number of retailers in many languages

Sailor Moon Eternal Edition - Colour page - English

Great news for Sailor Moon fans who hate paper, or don’t have a lot of paper in the form of money, the Sailor Moon Eternal Edition manga is now available digitally through a large number of ebook retailers in English and in nine other languages. This was announced as part of Usagi’s Birthday event on June 30th and the digital versions have been available since July 1st. Details can be found on the Japanese site, which includes 30 page previews in all languages, or the Kodansha site which includes links to all US distributors. Options for English fans in the US include Amazon Kindle (which includes comiXology) for $7.67 per book (all prices in US dollars), comiXology for $13.77 per book, Book Walker for $12.47 per book, Google Play for $9.99 per book, Apple Books for $9.99 per book and Kobo for $11.19 per book.

Using the links above you can order the Amazon Kindle version. The adds show the price as $13.99 but after clicking on them it shows up as $7.67 for now. The page mentions that this also includes a comiXology version, though I’m not familiar with how that service works. This does seems to be the best price of all of the versions. Since both Kindle and comiXology have apps which run on modern phones and tablets, this should be a good option for many fans, though those who have libraries on other services may find it’s worth an extra few dollars to purchase it from another retailer. Whatever option one might chose, this digital version is a fraction of the price of the fairly expensive print versions of the large size Eternal Edition of the manga.

Sailor Moon Eternal Edition - Act 1 - Usagi: Sailor Moon Sailor Moon Eternal Edition - Act 1 - Usagi: Sailor Moon

One advantage of the digital version is that without the crease of a physical book you’ll be able to see all details of two page spreads! What are the differences and advantages of one platform over another? I can’t say I’m familiar enough with either to have a preference. While I have a functional and recent iPhone I only have a very old hand me down iPad which doesn’t run newer versions of apps so I don’t think this is something I will be getting, what with the countless paper versions of the manga I own. I’d be curious to see what this site’s users are deciding to use, if any. Let us know in the comments!

Is Sailor Moon Crystal finished? The new Sailor Moon Eternal film is not using the Sailor Moon Crystal name

Sailor Moon Eternal - Logo

Let me preface this article by saying I absolutely don’t think that Sailor Moon Crystal is done and I think that Sailor Moon Eternal is the first half of what could be considered the fourth season of Sailor Moon Crystal. That said there are a few hints which suggest other and I think it’s only fair to share them with some analysis. As I reported on the other day, a new film called Sailor Moon Eternal is coming in 2020. What I did not notice at the time and didn’t notice until I saw it mentioned on Twitter by Moonkitty, was that “Crystal” isn’t found anywhere in the title. What does this mean? Is Sailor Moon Eternal even technically a Sailor Moon Crystal film? The full title is simply “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal”. The use of the original anime’s opening theme Moonlight Densetsu in the trailer could similarly be an attempt to distance the film from the Sailor Moon Crystal series, though there has not been a single theme song used throughout all three seasons so this doesn’t tell us much.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 1 Blu-Ray - Booklet - Sailor Moon Crystal ad referring to seasons 1 to 3 as the entire series

Own The Entire Series Today!

This brings me to something else I noticed in the booklet included with Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 1 Limited Edition Blu-Ray. There is an ad for Sailor Moon Crystal seasons 1 to 3 on home video which includes the caption “Own The Entire Series Today!”. When I first saw it I simply laughed a bit, as fans had been waiting nearly three years for new Sailor Moon Crystal and here this ad was referring to everything we had previously gotten as the “Entire Series”. Perhaps “The Entire Series To Date” would have been a more accurate caption! Could it be that Viz had already gotten word that the new film would not be using the Sailor Moon Crystal brand and that the series really was over?

I do still feel that this film is in every sense meant to be a continuation of the Sailor Moon Crystal story, and there hasn’t been much to the contrary. Looking at the Sailor Moon Eternal announcement on the official site the first sentence refers to this as the movie version of Sailor Moon Crystal. The Dream arc was always advertised as a continuation to Sailor Moon Crystal, it was clearly indicated that it would be delivered as movies and that Kazuko Tadano would be working on the project, all of which are consistent with the news of this film. The official web site doesn’t actually have “Sailor Moon Crystal” as one of the buttons in the header anymore. Instead there is one that says “Anime” in Japanese with the English word “Animation” underneath it. This link leads to information about Sailor Moon Crystal. It seems Sailor Moon Crystals seasons 1 to 3 as well as the Eternal film are all considered part of this Anime franchise which may not be as tied to the Crystal title as it was.

Sailor Moon Eternal -

Why then are they not using the name Sailor Moon Crystal in the title? I can only speculate but I can think of a few reasons. The title “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal” works well as is. Calling it something like “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal Eternal” is not at all the same and keeping the full series titles could result in something very awkward like “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal Sailor Moon Eternal” or every worse “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal”. Try jamming all of that into a title! It would make the “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Sailor Stars” title seem short in comparison!

Another reason for not using the Sailor Moon Crystal name may simple be to reach a broader audience with the film. The original Sailor Moon anime was a massive phenomenon and having the Sailor Moon films attached to that series was just good business sense. I don’t think Sailor Moon Crystal is anywhere near as popular in Japan or internationally. Tying the movie’s branding too much to the Crystal title may attract the fans of the series who are almost guaranteed to see the film anyway, but what about the hordes of other Sailor Moon fans who spend massive amounts of money on merchandise and events but don’t really care much about Sailor Moon Crystal? You tell them there’s a new movie called Sailor Moon Eternal in theatres and they may be more likely to check it out than if it was clearly tied in to the Sailor Moon Crystal series.

Finally there’s the fact that it’s been over three years since we saw any episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal and this could be four by the time this movie is released in theatres. Some fans may be moving on from the franchise with new ones coming in, especially if the goal is to target a younger demographic.

As I said, this is all a lot of speculation on my part. I can’t say for sure why they aren’t using “Sailor Moon Crystal” anymore. I don’t really think the series is over, as my intentionally alarming title might suggest, but this is certainly a conclusion some of you may feel the need to jump to! What do you think?

Buy the entire Sailor Moon Crystal series using the links below! You can also stream Sailor Moon Crystal on Crunchyroll, Hulu or Neon Alley.

A Sailor Moon Ice Show starring Evgenia Medvedeva is coming to Japan in June 2020

Sailor Moon Ice Show starring Evgenia Medvedeva

During the Usagi’s Birthday event held on June 30th in Japan a number of things were announced, one of which was a Sailor Moon Ice Show, that being a figure skating show, which will be taking place in June of 2020. This was then shared on the Sailor Moon Official Site. Though we don’t have many details of what this will be like it was announced that Russian figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva will be involved. I’ve posted about Evgenia Medvedeva on this site a number of times. She first made an impression on the Sailor Moon fan community with her Sailor Moon inspired figure skating routine in which she skated to Moonlight Densetsu, the original Sailor Moon anime’s opening theme, and transformed into a Sailor Moon costume during her performance. She later met with Naoko Takeuchi who awarded her with a sketch. She’s a dedicated fan of anime and Sailor Moon specifically. Below you will find a video of her comments, in English, on joining this show.

What will this show be all about? We can only speculate at this point. With only one star announced to date we do at least know that it will feature at least one professional figure skater. Will this be something like the Disney On Ice type of shows? Honestly I’ve never seen this kind of show so I wouldn’t know where to start. If any of you are fans of figure skating shows, do you have thoughts on what this might be like?

Russian figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva dressed as Sailor Moon

Though skating isn’t referenced in the Sailor Moon manga the original Sailor Moon anime features skating in episode 39, Paired With a Monster: Makoto, the Ice Skating Queen. In this episode we are told that skating was the most popular sport in Silver Millennium. The Sailor Moon Another Story RPG for the Super Famicom also shows a skating rink on the Moon. It is certainly possible that the story of the Ice Show will reference this episode of the original anime.

Sailor Moon episode 39 - Ami, Rei and Minako skating

As a Canadian I’m inclined to refer to this as simply “skating” and not “ice skating” because what else do people skate on? Are roller skates actually more popular than ice skates in some places? As the event is simply being called an “Ice Show” by official sources this is what I will call it as well.

Sailor Moon episode 39 - Makoto skating