Fantastic news for fans of the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series! The original cast, Miyuu Sawai, Rika Izumi, Keiko Kitagawa, Mew Azama and Ayaka Komatsu, will appear in a live action series reunion which will be broadcast on Christmas day. In this look back at their time working on the series, known as PGSM or Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon to many fans, the cast will reminisce on their time auditioning and becoming friends while filming the show in 2003 and 2004.
This special will be broadcast on CBC Television (no relation to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). I saw some discussion on Twitter where some fans in Japan were upset that this particular station is not broadcast throughout the country so that even parts of Tokyo wouldn’t be able to watch it. The announcement on the official site mentioned that broadcast details would come at a later date, so perhaps there will be additional channels added before Christmas. I honestly don’t know much about the details of Japanese television stations, except that CBC was the channel the show originally aired on. Their site still hosts the show’s web site. As a fan outside of Japan it does not look like there will be any international streaming options at this time. I certainly hope a copy of this special will be made available online and that some resourceful fans will work on a translation for it! I certainly don’t still have the Japanese file sharing program I used to use back in ’03 and ’04 to download raw episodes of PGSM hours after they aired!
It’s so exciting to see a live action series retrospective after the show has been ignored by anything official for so long. It’s often completely missed or glossed over when the history of Sailor Moon is looked at. This all changed recently when Keiko Kitagawa, Sailor Mars from the live action series, was cast as Sailor Cosmos in the second Sailor Moon Cosmos film. Now that we have this as part of the 20th anniversary I wonder if we could be seeing more from the live action series in 2024. The series was first release on DVD back when the show was originally airing, with a box set of those same discs being released in 2011. Now would be a good time for another release of the series!
While fans would be happy to see this show, originally released only on standard definition DVD, released on Blu-ray, this is likely impossible. The show was shot on 480i video so there is no film source to go to in order to get a high definition version. Some sort of AI assisted upscaling could always be done but it won’t look like a show that was shot on film ever could. When Discotek Media was asked about releasing the live action series in North America on a recent stream they said simply that the series was not available for license. Perhaps if the show became available again in Japan the rights would become available internationally as well. Am I being optimistic? Surely!
But as long as we’re dreaming how about a new “next generation” live action show? The original Sailor Guardians could all be mothers who’s children themselves become Sailor Guardians. Perhaps an older Sailor Luna, now around 30, could be the eldest of the Sailor Guardians and their mentor. We follow the lives of happy couples such as Usagi and Mamoru, Makoto and Motoki, Ami and Nephrite and of course Rei and Minako. Perhaps that’s a bit too optimistic, but with Sailor Moon Crystal now complete in Japan they could certainly use something else to have as an excuse to keep selling products to older Japanese fans. I’m real excited about this special so allow me to dream a little.
For now I’m just real happy to see this logo on the official site again.
Source: Official Sailor Moon site
Possibly Related Posts
-
Episode reviews for the Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series are coming soon to this site -
The Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series premiered 10 years ago today -
Could Toei’s new Tokusatsu YouTube Channel include the Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series? -
![Rika Izumi in "The Fly Girl in Love" - [恋するハエ女]](http://sailormoonnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/rika_izumi_in_the_fly_girl_in_love-150x150.jpg)
Rika Izumi, live action Sailor Mercury, to appear in a new drama series -
Keiko Kitagawa, Sailor Mars from the live action series, is getting married
I just want everyone to know that today is the 161st day anniversary of Usagi’s birthday!
Stop impersonating me!
I’m sorry but there is clearly something wrong with you.
That’s my imposter who replies first before the real me.
Right….someone with too way much time on their hands impersonating another person with way too much time on their hands for little to no reason. Makes perfect sense.
Stop lying and seek professional help. Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness.
I’m telling the truth, you moron!
I checked and that post is from a unique IP I don’t see posting with any other account.
I stand corrected. My sincerest apologies.
So, could you ban that person if all they’re doing is trolling?
That’s excellent news!
Off topic, but did anyone else see the recent editorial on Sailor Moon in the New York Times?
Most people who comment on this site don’t/can’t read, let alone subscribe to paywalled newspaper articles.
“Most people” would like it if you’d stop thinking your opinion applies to everyone else on this site.
Some of us even know how to get around paywalls, so I may go read that article myself.
“The original Sailor Guardians could all be mothers who’s children themselves become Sailor Guardians.”
Please no. That whole “next generation” thing is just such an exhausting cliché. Not to mention Takeuchi herself already tried that with her “Parallel Sailor Moon” story and it was boring as heck. (Come at me.) Seeing the kids of the senshi as little more than clones of their mothers was so full and uninspired. What a wasted opportunity.
If there ever was a new story, I’d like to learn more about the Silver Millennium, beyond just a few quick flashbacks. Or learn how Queen Serenity founded the Moon Kingdom and why the other senshi seem to serve the Moon family, despite being royalty themselves. Seeing more of Endymion’s Golden Kingdom would also be interesting.
*so “dull”, not “full”
When are they ever announce any January news for 2024?