The Sailor Moon Cosmos films are coming to Blu-ray and DVD in Japan on December 20th

Posted on August 21, 2023 by Adam

Good news for those who like to spend a lot of money to import movies they don’t understand! The official Sailor Moon site has announced that Sailor Moon Cosmos Parts 1 and 2 will be release on regular and limited edition DVD and Blu-ray sets on December 20th 2023! As with other Japanese Sailor Moon releases this will only include Japanese audio with no English subtitles. Japanese Blu-ray discs are region A so they will play in a North American Blu-ray player however their DVDs are Region 2 which won’t play on a North American player. You can watch the short trailer for the Blu-ray release below.

There are two version of each of the Blu-ray and DVD release and they aren’t cheap! The single disc Blu-ray or DVD, which somehow costs the same in 2023, has an MSRP of 10,000 yen, about $69 US. The four disc sets also costs the same on DVD and Blu-ray with an MSRP of 16,000 yen or $110 US. What’s the difference? The four disc set has a second DVD or Blu-ray with special features including an anime music video, likely the one we got with the soundtrack, creditless openings for the films as well as two CDs with music from the films.

There are also vendor exclusive special incentives from a number of retailers. There are acrylic figures with different characters being included with the films from different retailers. Those are even more expensive than the regular four disc set though price varies slightly between retailers.

So when do we get to see the movies here? We still don’t have any news about a release of the Sailor Moon Cosmos films outside of Japan but that doesn’t stop people from speculating! As the Sailor Moon Eternal films were released on Netflix less than a month prior to the Japanese Blu-ray release of those movies many are thinking that we will be seeing these movies either in theatres or on Netflix, before December 20th. I’m not totally convinced of this timeline as it seems odd to time a North American release with a Japanese home video release, or to do the opposite, but it seems that usually Japanese Blu-rays are released after movies are released here.

The original timeline which I speculated about back when Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 1 was released in theatres predicted that if we heard about and got a release of Sailor Moon Cosmos with a similar delay that we did for Sailor Moon Eternal then the Netflix announcement would be in September, next month, and the streaming premiere would be in November. There’s still time for this to happen!

All that said I am reluctantly looking forward to importing these movies for their absurdly high price. If a North American release isn’t out by then I will watch the Japanese version and surely follow along well enough as the story is pretty close to the manga. It’s also likely, in the event that a North American release is still not announced prior to December 20th, that someone will fansub the films. This sometimes happens as quickly as a few days after a show airs or is available on video. Perhaps these fansubbing groups will not be working hard on the days before Christmas and we can expect it a bit later.

Will you be picking either of these sets up? If so which one?

Sailor Moon S Complete 3rd Season is now available on Blu-ray!

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Adam

Sailor Moon S: The Complete Third Season Blu-Ray

Today is the day that fans have been anticipating for … well a few months I suppose. Sailor Moon S Complete 3rd Season releases today online and in stores. This set, like the two others which came before it, has updated video quality better than the sets released many years ago. Is it worth upgrading? I can’t tell you what to do but I’ve been happy to pick up these sets and am enjoying rewatching the series for the first time in a bit. We all need something to do while we wait for Sailor Moon Cosmos after all. You can support the site by buying the set using the Amazon link below.

This set, like others released by Viz, includes the new English dub, Japanese audio with English subtitles and many special features. Are you picking this set up? What’s your favourite part of the Sailor Moon S season?

A Sailor Moon Cosmos Theme Song Collection has been released

Posted on June 30, 2023 by Adam

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

Posted on June 30, 2023 by Adam

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.

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 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

Posted on June 14, 2023 by Adam

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!

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!

Source: Sailor Moon Official Site

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

Continue reading →

Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 1 is now in theatres!

Posted on June 9, 2023 by Adam

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?

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?

Who is the new Sailor Guardian that Naoko Takeuchi is working on?

Posted on May 29, 2023 by Adam

Naoko Takeuchi seems to be working on the designs for a new Sailor Guardian! Could this mean another Sailor Moon project is coming?

You may have seen the images of the Sailor Moon Chanel collaboration. This art, made by Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi, appeared in a Chanel catalogue titled Chanel Magazine 2023 Special Issue: 31 Rue Cambon Tokyo. What does that mean? 31 rue Cambon is in Paris, not Tokyo. It is the address of the Chanel Store there. This seems to be a piece of promotional material, which is not for sale, to advertise Chanel products to rich and trendy clients. Sadly I was not on the distribution list. There seems to have been an interview with Naoko Takeuchi related to this event which I believe appeared in the magazine but it may have been at an associated press event. Twitter user @chibi_rabbit posted a Tweet which says that when asked if she was working on anything new Naoko Takeuchi said she had an idea for a new guardian. Let the speculation commence!

カタログインタビューで、新しいことを考えていますか？との質問に、武内先生が『新しい戦士のアイディアがあります。』とお答えされてるんです！！！

What could this possibly mean? Naoko Takeuchi obviously created many Sailor Guardians over the course of the manga but it didn’t end there. She also created the designs for Princess Sailor Moon and Sailor Luna who appeared in the live action Sailor Moon series. Notice that Chibiusa has her mother’s Moon Stick in this artwork, while her mother has the longer version from the end of the Dark Kingdom arc of the manga. Maybe she’s thinking of an updated version of Sailor Chibi Moon who is herself the head of the Sailor Team along with the Sailor Quartet. Maybe it’s Sailor Artemis, a counterpart to Sailor Luna. It could be anything! The word Sailor isn’t included in the Tweet so it may not actually be a Sailor Guardian but instead someone like Tuxedo Mask. We also don’t know in what context she’s thinking of this. Does she just feel like drawing a new character or is this going to be tied to some sort of piece of narrative fiction, be it a new manga chapter or a continuation of Sailor Moon Crystal? We really don’t know but it doesn’t hurt to speculate!

Speaking of Chanel! I never made the connection back in the day but it seems the perfume scented Chanela from episode 5 of the original Sailor Moon anime were almost certainly a reference to the Chanel Number 5 perfume scent.

Who do you think the new character could be? What sort of continuation of the Sailor Moon story do you want to see?

Source: Sailor Moon Official Site, @mikichi1979 on Twitter, @chibi_rabbit on Twitter, Sailor Moon Fan Network

A Sailor Moon Cosmos official visual book will be released on July 4th

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Adam

Yet another Sailor Moon Crystal book is coming in soon! The book will be released on July 4th which is shortly after the June 30th release of Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 2. It will cover both films and will include an overview of the films’ story, character bios, interviews with cast and crew, artwork and merchandise related to the film. The book will be sold at stores and online retailers, though I have not yet seen it listed anywhere.

MSRP for the book is 3300 yen which is about $24 US. Not too expensive, but books are expensive to ship from Japan. Will you be picking this one up?

Source: The Sailor Moon Official Site

Sailor Moon S: The Complete Third Season is coming to Blu-ray on July 25th

Posted on May 3, 2023 by Adam

Viz has released the trailer for Sailor Moon S: The Complete Third Season on Blu-ray and DVD. While it isn’t up on any online stores just yet we do have a released date, July 25th. Didn’t Sailor Moon R just come out? I’m still watching my set! You can watch the whopping 18 second trailer below.

Why, you may ask, would I buy Sailor Moon S on Blu-ray again? The series was released in two parts years ago. This set, like Viz’s new release of the first season and Sailor Moon R, will include updated higher quality video. While the S season did not have quite as many quality issues as the first two seasons in its original release it did suffer from some problems and will likely look much better in this release. It’s also a single release with the entire season instead of two individual half season sets. Do you plan on picking this release up?

There isn’t much in the trailer but we do have our first look at the cover art!

Watch these new clips from the Sailor Moon Cosmos films in an annoying format

Posted on April 18, 2023 by Adam

Hey kids. Do you like Tik Toks? Do you like portrait orientation for your videos? Do you need to watch short clips which loop over and over because social media has destroyed your attention span? If you answered yes to all of these then you’ll love these recently uploaded clips from the upcoming Sailor Moon Cosmos films which are YouTube Shorts! The latest clip, embedded below, shows the Sailor Starlights.

In addition to this we got some other clips earlier this week. Below is a preview of Eternal Sailor Mars and Venus.

And here are Eternal Sailor Mercury and Jupiter.

And here’s some footage of Eternal Sailor Moon.

What a terrible way to see new footage from these movies which will be in theatres in Japan on June 9th and 30th. Still no news on a release outside of Japan but as soon as this is announced there will surely be a post about it!

Keep reading for some kind of annoying vertical screenshots from these clips.