Could Toei’s new Tokusatsu YouTube Channel include the Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series?

Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Act 6 - Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars

Toei, the company which created both Sailor Moon anime series as well as the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series, will be launching Toei Tokusatsu World Official, a YouTube Channel dedicated to Toei’s Tokusatsu series. It will launch with episodes from 70 different Tokusatsu series. While the Tokusatsu series most familiar to worldwide audiences are Super Sentai shows like the ones which are adapted into various Power Rangers series, one Tokusatsu series created by Toei is the 2003 live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series. The live action Sailor Moon series was not mentioned as one that will be part of the first batch of shows. As this would be a fairly high profile show, this likely means that we will not be seeing it on April 6th when the channel launches but it could be coming at a later date.

Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Act 37 - Sailor Guardians fighting Putty type monsters Zyrangers Episode 1 - Golems or Putties

While one may not think of the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series as Tokusatsu, it most certainly is! Look at the intro paragraph on the Wikipedia page for the show:

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (美少女戦士セーラームーン, Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn) is a Japanese tokusatsu television series based on the Sailor Moon manga created by Naoko Takeuchi. It was produced by Toei Company.

The term tokusatsu refers to a live action series which uses special effects. This dates back to monster movies like Godzilla and includes superhero series such as the Super Sentai series. The Sailor Moon manga was originally inspired by Super Sentai series in which there were teams of superheroes of various colours. This came full circle as the live action series was a tokusatsu version of the manga and anime series. The show often had similar costumes and effects to other tokusatsu series. Some costumes were also reused between series, such as the Zyurangers Golems, known as Putties in the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers adaptation, being reused in Act 37 of the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series.

Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Act 7 - Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Moon in front of a mural

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Act 7

Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger episode 5 - Pink Ranger in front of mural

Zyuranger episode 5

There have also been locations which were used between series, such as the location used in Act 7 of Sailor Moon which was seen in episode 5 of Zyurangers which was adapted in the first season of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. There have also been scenes which were completely recycled such as one clip of the ground opening up which was used both in Zyurangers and Sailor Moon. The images below are from the televised version of the live action Sailor Moon series and from an old Power Rangers tape.

Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon - Serenity Destroys the World

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - Fissure in the ground

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers

What do you think? Would you like to see the live action series on this platform? Do you think this is feasible?

Source: Toei Press Release

Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Act 37 - Sailor Mars fighting a Putty type monster

Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Act 37 - Sailor Venus, Mars and Jupiter with a Putty type monster

Zyurangers episode 1 - The Pink Ranger fights a Golem or Putty

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10 thoughts on “Could Toei’s new Tokusatsu YouTube Channel include the Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series?

  1. Would be neat, but if they did, it would possibly not be viewable in America due to Viz currently holding streaming rights to the Sailor Moon anime (both the original and Crystal). Toei does have a lot of their old shows, but they do block shows in certain countries (In America, Goranger is blocked, as well as the B-Fighter series and select Metal Heroes series, possibly due to shows like Power Rangers, Beetleborgs, and VR Troopers).

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