A Sailor Moon Cosmos Theme Song Collection has been released

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos The Movie Theme Song Collection

Along with today’s Japanese theatrical release of Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 2 a collection of five songs from the films is also now available. I was going to reference my original post about this album but when I saw the unfinished draft article I wrote about it I realized I never posted it. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos The Movie Theme Song Collection includes music from the films. It’s released on CD and streaming today, June 30th. The streaming options include Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and a bunch of other services I don’t know much about. For physical media fans there’s a CD only version as well as a version which is bundled with a Blu-ray of some music videos. I ordered the CD and Blu-ray from Amazon which is probably in a plane over the Pacific Ocean right now as I listen to the album on Spotify. Fans who really like brokerage fees can also order from CD Japan. MSRP for the version with the Blu-ray is 3000 yen, about $21 US.

The soundtrack includes five songs.

    Tsuki no Hana (Moonlight Flower) by Daoko is the theme song for the Sailor Moon Cosmos films.
    Moonlight Densetsu (Moonlight Legend) is a cover of the original iconic Sailor Moon anime theme song performed by the cast of Sailor Moon Crystal.
    Sailor Stars Song is a cover of the theme song for the Sailor Stars season of the original Sailor Moon anime. This version is performed by the Sailor Moon Cosmos voice actors for Sailor Kakyu and the Three Lights.
    Nagareboshi He (To The Shooting Star) is a cover of the Three Lights’ most popular song from the original Sailor Moon anime. This version is performed by the Three Lights from Sailor Moon Cosmos.
    Happy Marriage Song is a new song for Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 2, presumably playing at the end of the film during an important event which may be evident by the name of the song. It is performed by the voice actors for the Sailor Guardians from Sailor Moon Crystal.

The Blu-ray will include a music video for Moonlight Flower which will be a longer version of the short video embedded below.

Also included will be two videos featuring the Three Lights.

Have you been listening to this soundtrack? What’s your favourite track?

Source: Sailor Moon Official Site

Sailor Moon Crystal has ended with the release of Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 2

Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 2 - Sailor Cosmos and Eternal Sailor Moon

After nearly a decade Sailor Moon Crystal is now complete. Today, June 30th 2023, Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 2 was released in theatres in Japan. This marks the end of Sailor Moon Crystal which was first announced at a Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary Event on July 10th 2012. Though it was meant to air starting in 2013 it began as a streaming series on July 5th 2014. Three seasons and four movies later Sailor Moon Crystal has faithfully retold the entirety of the Sailor Moon manga’s five story arcs.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.1 Usagi - Sailor Moon - Sailor Moon

All of this of course does little to help fans outside of Japan who still don’t know how and when they’ll be able to see Sailor Moon Cosmos Parts 1 and 2! If the Sailor Moon Eternal movies are any indication we might be getting them streaming on Netflix though some fans are hoping for a theatrical release. We don’t know and might not for a few months still! A Japanese Blu-ray will surely be released soon enough which could be a chance to import the films if no release is planned before that. Such a release would not likely have subtitles, as Sailor Moon releases rarely do, but it would open up the possibility for a high quality fansub.

Sailor Moon Cosmos - Trailer #2 - Ghosts?

Sailor Moon Crystal may be wrapping up but it won’t soon be forgotten by fans who still appreciate the manga and original anime 30 years later, as well as the fantastic live action series which is 20 years old this year. While we wait to see these movies for ourselves we can only guess as to what’s next for the franchise. Hopefully the coming decade isn’t a drought like we had between the live action series and Sailor Moon Crystal!

Have you seen either of the Sailor Moon Cosmos films? What did you think?

Keiko Kitagawa, Sailor Mars from the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series, will voice Sailor Cosmos in Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 2

Keiko Kitagawa as Sailor Cosmos

In a shocking turn of events the voice of Sailor Cosmos from Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 2 is Keiko Kitagawa, a popular model and actress who is best known to Sailor Moon fans for portraying Rei Hino, Sailor Mars, in the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series! This comes as a surprise as many fans likely expected Sailor Cosmos to be voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi who voices Sailor Moon in Sailor Moon Crystal as well as Chibi Chibi. Keiko Kitagawa will also be voicing Guardian Cosmos who is a separate character who protects the Galaxy Cauldron where star seeds are born. Check out some footage of Sailor Cosmos as voiced by Keiko Kitagawa below.

Now it is time to speculate wildly about the true identity of Sailor Cosmos! The Le Mouvement Final musical cast Satomi Okubo as Sailor Cosmos because she’d previously played Sailor Moon which supports the idea that Sailor Cosmos is a future version of Sailor Moon. Since Kotono Mitsuishi voiced Sailor Moon back in the original 90s anime as well there wasn’t another Sailor Moon voice actor to fall back on, unless we consider Kae Araki, the voice of Chibiusa, who filled in for Kotono Mitsuishi when she was off sick at the end of the first season and start of Sailor Moon R. Instead by casting Keiko Kitagawa perhaps this means that Sailor Cosmos in this version is actually a future incarnation of Sailor Mars! Looks like that rivalry finally got settled and Rei got Usagi’s power!

Sailor Moon episode 43 - Sailor Mars with the Moon Stick

A preview of Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 2 was shown to fans earlier today. Keiko Kitagawa met with Kotono Mitsuishi at a press event to discuss the film. They had previously worked together on Rikokatsu. While some fans were upset that Kotono Mitsuishi didn’t get the role she was quite supportive of Keiko Kitagawa and her performance. Naoko Takeuchi herself was also said to be at the recording of Sailor Cosmos’s lines! Kotono Mitsuishi is Sailor Moon royalty! She’s the star of this movie, the titular character and has been the face of the press of all things Sailor Moon Crystal for the past decade. There’s no need to be upset that she didn’t get to play a third voice in this movie which she’s already all over!

Keiko Kitagawa and Kotono Mitsuishi with a Sailor Moon Cosmos Poster

Source: Sailor Moon Official Site

Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Act 16 - Sailor Mars

Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 2 - Sailor Cosmos

Keep reading for more images from this trailer and the press event.

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Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 1 is now in theatres!

Sailor Moon Cosmos poster

Today is the day. Thanks to time zones it’s been June 9th in Japan even longer than it has in North America. Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 1 is now in theatres and lucky fans will have a chance to watch it today! We should expect more information about the films, including spoilers, to roll in throughout the next few days. This of course raises one important question. When is it coming out here?

Usagi watching TV

Unfortunately we don’t have any details about a release of either of the Sailor Moon Cosmos films outside of Japan. This isn’t necessarily surprising. When the Sailor Moon Eternal films were first released in theatres in Japan we also didn’t have any news of an international release. Part 1 had been released on January 8th 2021 with Part 2 following on February 11th. The films weren’t released on Netflix until June 3rd of that same year, nearly five months after the first one had been released in Japan. The announcement wasn’t made until April. If things followed that same timeline, which they certainly won’t match exactly, we could hear about it in about three months, September 2023, and get it on Netflix in about five, around November 2023. This is of course not at all certain. It may not be coming to Netflix. Maybe we’ll get lucky and there will be a short theatrical run! Maybe it will be stuck in limbo for months. We really don’t know, but the past suggests we may not know for a while and this is normal. No reason to panic!

Failing that we can always hold out hope for a Japanese video release. Sailor Moon Eternal Parts 1 and 2 were released on video on June 30th 2021, nearly six months after the theatrical release of the first film. If this sort of schedule is planned for Sailor Moon Cosmos we should see a Japanese Blu-ray release near the end of the year, around December. Nothing is set in stone but an eventual Blu-ray release is pretty much certain at this point. It’s just a question of whether or not we will see it before the movies are released either streaming or in theatres. A Japanese home video release will of course not include any English audio or subtitles. That being said if a domestic release is nowhere in sight by then we should expect fan subs of the films.

A high quality bootleg or fansub of the film prior to some sort of Japanese video or streaming release is unlikely. I of course always encourage fans to support the official releases when they can. Viz has been doing great work in dubbing the original anime, Sailor Moon Crystal and the films and putting them out on quality home video releases and on various streaming platforms. I’m sure they’re working hard to get us Sailor Moon Cosmos as soon as they can manage it and I look forward to seeing these films in whatever method we get.

Have you been lucky enough to see Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 1? If so, what did you think of it?