Sailor Moon: The Complete First Season is coming to Blu-ray … again. As the first season was originally release on Blu-ray in two parts in 2014 and 2015 many fans had been wondering if it was worth it to buy this again. When I posted about this in March I predicted these would just be the same discs bundled in new packaging. I was wrong! With fans starting to get their hands on the release we can now see that this is a new updated Blu-ray with superior video quality to the originals as well as some new special features. Considering getting it? You can support the site by using the link below to buy it.
The original Sailor Moon Season 1 Blu-Ray releases were, simply put, not good. The video quality was bad. It’s an old show. Viz obviously had some pretty low quality standard definition sources to work with. This show is not HD. The original film source was never scanned in high definition. What we got in 2014 and 2015 were pretty low quality releases with obvious video artifacts. At the time these looked much worse than the DVD releases in Japan as well as others which had come out in other countries prior to this. You can have a look at what that release looked like in my review of the Japanese Blu-ray release which looked better.
 Original 2014 Blu-ray |
 New 2022 Blu-ray |
So what does this new version look like? Check out this Twitter thread by Fred Francis where he goes through his set and examines the menus and video quality with side by side comparisons of screenshots. I won’t repeat all of his comparisons here on the site but as you can see from the images above the difference really is night and day. The 2014 release is obviously worse looking than the much nicer looking 2022 release. It’s still not HD. It’s still a standard definition master which has been upscaled to 1080p using software. It just looks much better. The standard definition master was likely superior. More recent software algorithms may also been a contributor. Even as the Sailor Moon series went on the quality of releases by Viz improved dramatically to the point where Sailor Stars doesn’t have the same issues that the first couple of seasons did.
In addition to improved video quality the disc menus and even some features are new. This set has an interview with Sailor Moon writer Katsuyuki Sumisawa which had not been released in the earlier set.
Whether or not you consider this set worth purchasing is of course your own decision to make. For me it seems worth the upgrade at the reduced price. The full season costs less than what a half season cost eight years ago.
Will you be picking this set up?
Source: @fredjfrancis on Twitter
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An HD remastered version of the original Sailor Moon anime will be airing on TV in Japan starting April 6th
Thanks for the comparisons and for pointing to the direction of more comparisons! As for me, I’ll probably get this at some point, down the road.
Good idea. Wait for all five seasons to be re-re-upscaled and then buy the box set for the full series.
Maybe they’ll use AstroRes at some point which would probably look even better.
So you just prefer complete series and not complete seasons?
At this point we’ll be able to see cel layers artifacts like shadows – unless they fixed that in the process lol
I honestly can’t tell the difference between the two versions, but that might be because I’m neuro-atypical. Either way, this might be what my mother gets me for my birthday.
I’m also neuroatypical, and honestly standard def from the nineties is so old that no amount of remastering will change it much.
That’s due to the fact that the original Sailor Moon series was originally animated on film then transferred to digital videotape in post-production. We can’t get Sailor Moon any better than 4K, if Viz Media happens to acquire the original film negatives! (Likely not going to happen due to constraints.)
If you want to learn more, I suggest you watch the Technology Connections video on motion picture film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVpABCxiDaU (He also mentions about Star Trek Voyager, and the 4k remaster of the Wham music video from the original film prints.)
Update: my mother did get me the box set. It’s just the blu-rays from 2014, not the new ones. But like I said, I can’t tell the difference, so whatever. I’m happy with this!
well with the quality actually looking better… maybe, has there been any conformation that they fixed the subtitles for my issue for 167 episodes of them not properly translating the song correctly? gomen ne never getting translated to and im sure im saying this wrong but something like “im sorry but” that always annoyed me in the last set
Ah, yes. First the manga, then this. This year is the year of the remakes of the remakes of the remakes.
This is like trying to remaster a VHS in 2022. If Viz had done this a decade ago, it might have been worth getting excited over. No one pays to watch 1080p any more, and in 2022 point Blu-ray discs are basically fancy drink coasters waiting to end up in a supermarket discount bin or a garage sale..
Nostalgia has a finite window, like everything else, and that window is closing.
Does the 2022 Blu-Ray DVD still have the 2014 redub?
Yes this will be the Viz English dub.
Is it dub only, or does it have Japanese/subtitle options too?
Both English sub and dub.
Im honestly happy/mad at this, happy cause better quality sailor moon is always going to be appreciated. Mad cause now I have to figure out a way to explain to my husband why Im spending money on content I already own multiple versions of XD
Use a separate bank account for hobby expenses. My wife and I only use our joint account for household spending and married people stuffs.
That’s due to the fact that the original Sailor Moon series was originally animated on film then transferred to digital videotape in post-production. We can’t get Sailor Moon any better than 4K, if Viz Media happens to acquire the original film negatives! (Likely not going to happen due to constraints.)
If you want to learn more, I suggest you watch the Technology Connections video on motion picture film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVpABCxiDaU (He also mentions about Star Trek Voyager, and the 4k remaster of the Wham music video from the original film prints.)
I wish they did this to begin with. However, if I am going to be honest I wish it was a HD widescreen remaster, but I doubt that could happen. Watching it in a box is odd. However, the old box art seem to be a little better.
Have a little patience. In 8 years, Viz will do a widescreen remaster by chopping off the top and bottom of the current fullscreen master, and for some reason fans will still pay for it even though the resolution will still be 1080p.
I would happily pass on a cropped release! Those are the worst.
That’s due to the fact that the original Sailor Moon series was originally animated on film then transferred to digital videotape in post-production. We can’t get Sailor Moon any better than 4K, if Viz Media happens to acquire the original film negatives! (Likely not going to happen due to constraints.)
If you want to learn more, I suggest you watch the Technology Connections video on motion picture film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVpABCxiDaU (He also mentions about Star Trek Voyager, and the 4k remaster of the Wham music video from the original film prints.)
Thanks for this! I immediately pre ordered and I am so excited to rewatch all of season 1 with this awesome improved quality! All I had was the original purple box set from amv and the viz blu ray so I am excited!
There are several new Sailor Moon retail collabs which are not re-re-re-releases of the manga or anime, and I’m surprised Adam isn’t covering them even though they’re available outside of Japan. I guess he just doesn’t see the appeal.
I just received mine today. Watched a couple of sequences in a few episodes on this AND the 2014 release…. Night and day indeed! It almost brought a tear to my eye… even the audio issues in some of the episodes particularly in the Japanese audio track are fixed. It’s bittersweet for me because even though I’m happy to finally have a release worthy of the series, I am also very upset that it wasn’t released like this the first time around. In my opinion, all those who stuck with the series and purchased all of the previous release should be reimbursed or receive at the very least a discount of some kind if they wish to replace it. Viz should be ashamed of themselves for this fiasco and at least an acknowledgement and an apology should be given. For those of you lucky enough not to have bought the first releases, feel confident that this one is worth the money. Congratulations on not being scammed.
I agree ! I just got mine today in the mail and oh my it’s so beautiful! The original viz release had so manystrabge visual issues especially if the screen was plane. Artifacts everywhere. This looks wonderful and it’s like watching it new. I hope it’s a short wait to get the rest of the series redone
By the time the rest of the nineties anime is remastered, both parts of Eternal will be out on DVD/BR lol you guys have fun playing catchup now
Lol I already have the original deluxe box sets with the books etc this is just something new to get
Do they have specific subtitles for the English and Japanese versions? I hate when they have the same subtitles for both languages.