#sailormoonredraw is trending and prompting artists to make a lot of great Sailor Moon fan art

Posted on May 18, 2020 by Adam

Sailor Moon fans on Twitter may have noticed a trending hashtag over the past few days as #sailormoonredraw has been getting a ton of attention. When I spotted it earlier today it said that there were a whopping 530,000 Tweets about the topic! So what’s this all about? Most of the popular and recent results for the hash tag redraw this image:

Sailor Moon S episode 125 - #sailormoonredraw

The original screenshot from Sailor Moon S episode 125

It’s from Sailor Moon S episode 125. While this is the third last episode of Sailor Moon S it’s the last one in the main story as the other two which follow it are sort of terrible. This scene has Sailor Moon facing off against Mistress 9. It seems likely that this image was originally chosen for the intense expression on Sailor Moon’s face. Why it trended could be due to a number of factors but it being a close up of the main character’s face could be a contributing factor. I saw a lot of posts from English speaking people over the past couple of days and going back to three or four days it seems to have trended mostly in Japan.

@Hooves_regius

Thought I can’t tell when exactly this particular image was first used for a redraw I can find instances of it going back to 2019, though it only seems to have started really going viral of the past few days. The trend of redrawing Sailor Moon, or other characters, has been going on for a while as there have been many other Sailor Moon images redrawn by a number of people over the years.

@Artgerm

I’ve included a selection of redraws in this post. This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list of the best as there are too many fine examples to count. I suggest everyone click on the hashtag #sailormoonredraw and check out some of those for yourself! New art has been rolling in all day and I don’t expect this to stop any time soon! Which ones are your favourites? Be sure to leave a comment or tag the Sailor Moon News Twitter account to let us know. Have any of you done a redraw yourselves? If so we’d love to hear about it!

@MLeeLunsford

Watch a short clip of Naoko Takeuchi mentioning that Super Sentai shows inspired her as a child

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Adam

Yesterday I found this photo of Naoko Takeuchi, the creator of Sailor Moon, with the Zyurangers, from the Super Sentai series which was adapted as the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series in North America. The photo was posted to Twitter by Tuxedo Unmasked, who runs a great web site by the same name. He later shared a link to the source video, which was a 20th Anniversary video of TOEI’s Sentai Series which aired on March 21st 1995. I can’t embed the video but you can watch the video on YouTube to see the brief appearance by Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi at 16 minutes and 57 seconds. This interview lasts less than 30 seconds.

Why is Naoko Takeuchi, who created Sailor Moon, wrote and drew the Sailor Moon manga, and provided work for various incarnations of the Sailor Moon series, appearing in a show about Super Sentai? As she mentions in this brief clip, she was inspired by Super Sentai series as a child. This special from 1995, which commemorates 20 years of Super Sentai series for TOEI, demonstrates that such series had been around a long time before Sailor Moon. It is often said that Sailor Moon, a series in which many girls transform into coloured uniforms and use attacks to defeat monsters, is a kind of Super Sentai type story about and for girls. This clip confirms that such series were a partial inspiration for the Sailor Moon manga and ultimately the anime and live action series as well.

I’ve certainly mentioned this similarity many times in the context of the live action series. The Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series is a Tokusatsu (live action special effects) series much like Super Sentai series are. As Sailor Moon is a manga version of a Super Sentai series the live action version is a way of the franchise evolving into something even more similar to the shows which inspired it. The few recycled sets and even costumes are not proof of that, so much as the general similarities in the basic plots of these series.

Although Naoko Takeuchi likely drew at least partial inspiration from Super Sentai series, it’s not possible for her to actually have been inspired by Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, which was later adapted in North America as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. That series first aired in February of 1992. The Codename: Sailor V manga started in August of 1991 and Sailor Moon, which has more similarities to a Super Sentai team show, was first published in December of 1991. The Sailor Moon anime series began airing in March of 1992, so it’s certainly easy to compare Sailor Moon to Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, because they were both on television at the same time, but without a time machine it’s impossible for either to have been an inspiration for the other.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers didn’t start airing until August of 1993 which was still two years before Sailor Moon started airing on TV in the US and Canada in August of 1995. Though Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was adapted from three different Super Sentai series, they kept the Zyuranger outfits for all three of those seasons, so North American fans would mostly only be familiar with those costumes when Sailor Moon’s first 65 episodes played on TV until Power Rangers Zero started in April of 1996 after which the costumes for each series continued to change.

Source: Tuxedo Unmasked on Twitter

Check out KILLY’s music video for “Sailor Moon”

Posted on May 5, 2020 by Adam

Canadian hip-hop artist KILLY”s latest music video is for a song called Sailor Moon! You can check out the video below.

Check out this link to buy or listen to the song on various streaming services and stores. So what does this song have to do with Sailor Moon? Well it seems that KILLY’s “bad bitch” leans on him like Sailor Moon! The song mentions SRT though I don’t imagine this a reference to .srt files, the SubRip Subtitle files sometimes used for downloaded fan subbed versions of anime such as Sailor Moon! The song isn’t exactly full of references to the show, but it is in fact called Sailor Moon and KILLY does appear to have a fondness for the character!

When asked about his interest in Sailor Moon in an interview with Complex KILLY he said that he wasn’t a huge fan but that he used to watch it when it came on TV while he was a kid. KILLY was born in Toronto and moved to Victoria, BC when he was 8. As a fellow Canadian I know that Sailor Moon played quite a bit on TV here especially back when it was first airing starting in 1995 which means most Canadians who were young at the time are at least somewhat familiar with the show, but KILLY was born in 1997 so he may have seen the show when Sailor Moon S or SuperS aired in Canada years later.

Follow KILLY on Twitter or Instagram for more.

What do you think of the song?

The first 10 episodes of the original Sailor Moon anime are now on the official Sailor Moon YouTube channel which is great news for fans living in Japan, Somalialand and Macedonia

Posted on April 24, 2020 by Adam

Sailor Moon Episode 01 on YouTube - Tuxedo Mask can't solve anything with only kale

“me I can’t solve anything with only kale that can’t chew tuxedo”

As a promotion for the upcoming Sailor Moon Eternal movie, which is still scheduled to be released in theatres in Japan on September 11th, 10 episodes of the original Sailor Moon anime will be released every week on the official Sailor Moon YouTube channel from now until late July. This will mean that fans will have the opportunity to watch up to the end of Sailor Moon S. This is being promoted mainly to fans living in Japan who can speak Japanese.

Originally these videos were open to fans worldwide, which meant anyone could watch them, but as of Friday morning I can no longer watch these videos. Looking into it a bit it seems the videos are only available to view in Japan, Somalialand and Macedonia. If anyone knows of a reliable and free way to access region restricted videos please leave a comment with details!

“Yeah yeah yeah punishment”

There are certainly no English subtitles by default but YouTube does allow for automatic closed captions. While the videos were still viewable globally I did this for episode 1. If you’re a fan in Japan, Somalialand or Macedonia, or are otherwise able to load these videos I would suggest trying this out for a laugh! Click on the “Settings” gear on the bottom right of the video. Chose “Subtitles/CC” and then “Japanese (Auto Generated)”. Now click back through to “Subtitles/CC” and click on “Auto-translate” and scroll down to your language of choice such as “English”. I’ve included a few choice quotes in this post.

Sailor Moon Episode 01 on YouTube - Luna talks about being mischievous for 50,000 years

It was 50,000 years since I was mischievous, but thanks to you, I went and chose Paisley.

No doubt this is actually a pretty terrible way to watch a show and since most people will need to do sketchy things to do it, why bother? There are many ways better and easier ways in which a person can watch Sailor Moon these days. Fans can of course buy the series on DVD, Blu-Ray or digitally and watch it either in English or in Japanese with English subtitles. Americans with a Hulu subscription can stream the series on that service. The first four seasons are available to watch dubbed and subbed though Sailor Stars is currently only available in Japanese with English subtitles. Americans can watch those same episodes for free on Viz’s web site. Canadians can watch subtitled episodes for free on TubiTV. The service has ads but it is free to watch.

Sailor Moon Episode 01 on YouTube - Tuxedo Mask things that's awesome

Awesome sailor moon remember tonight

So is there any reason to watch these episodes? The video quality is pretty good! The best you’ll get for free at least. I don’t know if this is using the same source material as the Japanese Blu-Rays. They aren’t quite as nice, perhaps due to being compressed when uploaded, but I find it looks better than the Viz Blu-Ray releases. Don’t take my word for it though. Check out these screenshots for comparison. I’ll add a few more at the end of the post.

YouTube	Japanese Blu-Ray
Viz Blu-Ray

Here’s the schedule for which episodes will be released each week. New episodes will be posted on Fridays though because of time zones this ends up being a day earlier in North America. The date range suggests that episodes will only be hosted for a week and then removed, but I’m not certain about that. The Japanese site restarts episode numbers for each season which is a bit odd as Japanese sources usually use the full episode number. I’ve included both for reference.

April 24th to April 30th – Sailor Moon 1 to 10
May 1st to May 7th – Sailor Moon 11 to 20
May 8th to May 14th – Sailor Moon 21 to 30
May 15th to May 21st – Sailor Moon 31 to 40
May 22nd to May 28th – Sailor Moon 41 to 46 and Sailor Moon R 47 to 50 (1 to 4)
May 29th to June 4th – Sailor Moon R 51 to 60 (5 to 14)
June 5th to June 11th – Sailor Moon R 61 to 70 (15 to 24)
June 12th to June 18th – Sailor Moon R 71 to 80 (25 to 34)
June 19th to June 25th – Sailor Moon R 81 to 89 (35 to 43) and Sailor Moon S 90 (1)
June 26th to July 2nd – Sailor Moon S 91 to 100 (2 to 11)
July 3rd to July 9th – Sailor Moon S 101 to 110 (12 to 21)
July 10th to July 16th – Sailor Moon S 111 to 120 (22 to 31)
July 17th to July 23rd – Sailor Moon S 121 to 127 (32 to 38)

Supposedly the reason for only releasing the first three seasons is because the movie is a retelling of the Dream arc of the manga which sequentially would follow Sailor Moon S, but since Sailor Moon Crystal is not at all in continuity with the original Sailor Moon anime this seems a bit odd! The new trailer for the Sailor Moon Eternal film is included at the start of every episode which is posted to YouTube.

If you are able to get these videos to load, here are some links to the individual episodes for convenience:

For everyone else you can support the site by buying episodes using the links below.

Keep reading for more screenshot comparisons.

Continue reading →

A new trailer and poster for the upcoming Sailor Moon Eternal film have been revealed

Posted on April 23, 2020 by Adam

A new poster and trailer have been revealed on the Sailor Moon official site! The poster is above and you can watch the trailer embedded below.

This confirms that the trailer which was making the rounds last month was in fact authentic. The trailer we see here, aside from some minor changes, includes all of the same footage which we saw in lower quality in the leaked trailer which we had posted about.

At the time I assumed the footage from the Sailor Moon S intro was some kind of placeholder but even that in fact was included in the actual trailer! The rest of the trailer gives us a look at Usagi, Chibiusa, Pegasus, Mamoru and the Sailor Guardians Super Sailor Moon, Super Sailor Chibi Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus.

Also revealed today is that the voice of Pegasus and Helios will be provided by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka. He is a veteran voice actor who voiced Kirito in Sword Art Online and has appeared in numerous other anime series.

What do you think of the trailer? Do you regret calling out the terrible animation when you thought it was a fake? Let us know in the comments!

Keep reading for more screenshots from this trailer! These ones are of a higher quality than the ones which were posted last time!

Continue reading →

An English fan translation of the Sailor Moon PC Engine or TurboGrafx-16 video game has been released

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Adam

English fans will finally have the chance to play a Sailor Moon video game which was previously only available in Japanese. The game is Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon for the PC-Engine Super CD-ROM system known as the Turbografx-CD in North America. Since the game was only ever released in Japan it is usually referred to simply as a PC Engine game. The game was translated by a group of fans and released by Supper. You can read about the translation and download the patch on the Romhacking.net web site.

So what is this game about? The Romhacking page describes it as a visual novel, a type of game which is common in Japan but not as much in North America. The story takes place during the Sailor Moon R season of the anime between the Makaiju and Black Moon story arcs, which would be between Sailor Moon R episodes 59 and 60. That said it is not branded as a Sailor Moon R game but just as Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. The characters mostly seem to be those from the first season of the anime. The intro features Nephrite and the DD Girls.

I’ve played a short bit of the game and as far as I can tell you are given many dialog options which all basically end up telling the same story. The player chooses one of the main five characters who progress through the same story from a different point of view. There are animation and voice clips throughout the game featuring art in a very similar style to the anime. The voice work is provided by the voice actors from the 90s anime series! This version keeps the Japanese audio but translates all written dialogue to English. This makes the game much more accessible to English speaking fans who would not have gotten much out of playing this title in its original form.

So how does one download and play this game? The Romhacking web site does not actually include a playable version of the game. What is included is a software package which can be run on the original Japanese version of the game to modify it to run in English. The site is unable to tell you where to find the original Japanese game because that would constitute piracy! If you look around the Internet you may find a web site which would have this file.

I’m used to patching single rom files with a patch file but since this is a CD based game you’ll need to patch a CD image, which can come in many formats. The readme file that comes with the download will explain various options. Luckily the file I had could be patched with the first listed option “A. Directly patch the Redump-verified BIN or IMG image”. I have a Mac which always makes these things a bit difficult but I had no problem running the included DeltaPatcher.exe program with Wine. I then ran into a couple of problems. First I renamed my files which is a bad idea when using .cue and .bin files so I needed to change the file name in my .cue file. After that I realized that I needed a bios file to run a PC Engine CD game. Once again this is a file which one might find on certain web sites which host questionable software. Where you store this file will depend on the specific emulator you use. The readme file mentions this.

What emulator who wish to use will depend on what device you wish to play the game on. MagicEngine seems to be a popular option for those with a Windows PC. I was able to get the game working on RetroPie, emulation software which runs on a Raspberry Pi, and on my hacked 3DS using TemperPCE.

Here are Sailor Moon News we don’t generally endorse piracy of video games and other content. That said, the ethical concerns over such things usually relate to loss of potential revenue for the creator of that original content. While we always suggest you support the show by buying legitimate releases when possible, it is unlikely that the hard working people at Banpresto, now Bandai Spirits, will be losing any revenue over a handful of English speaking Sailor Moon fans playing a pirated copy of a game which was released in 1994. There isn’t really a way to buy this game and have that money get to the pockets of the legitimate rights holders in 2020.

Did you try this game? Did you have any trouble getting it to work? Let us know what platform you’re playing it on and what you think of the game!

Thanks to Dan Bednarski and Miss Dream on Twitter for bringing this news to my attention!

The Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show has been delayed until June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Posted on April 18, 2020 by Adam

The Sailor Moon official site has announced that the Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show which was originally planned for early June 2020 has been delayed by a year, now taking place in June of 2021, due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The original planned dates for this show were June 5th, 6th and 7th 2020 and the new dates are June 4th, 5th and 6th 2021.

Customers who had previously bought tickets to the show are being offered tickets for the new dates and times. Refunds are also available. Over the past few weeks we had speculated that this event might be delayed. The show’s star Evgenia Medvedeva headed to Tokyo in anticipation of border shut downs between Canada and Japan which suggested the show was still planned, but finally it was decided that this event should not be held as originally scheduled.

It remains to be seen what changes, if any, may occur to the cast of the show. A year is certainly a long time so it’s possible that some of the many world class figure skaters who were originally scheduled for the event may not be able to take part of the show a year later.

While this delay is an unfortunate consequence of this pandemic which has caused a lot of hardship for people across the globe, it is certainly a prudent decision all considered. If any fans had been planning on traveling to Japan for this show it may be time to reconsider international travel this summer. Stay safe and stay healthy everyone!

New art showing the Sailor Moon Eternal designs for all Sailor Guardians is included in a product ad for Ichiban Kuji

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Adam

The Sailor Moon official site has been updated with an ad for some upcoming products from the Ichiban Kuji line which includes some new art! The images used in the advertisement include a look at all of the Sailor Guardians using the art style of the upcoming Sailor Moon Eternal films, which is the two part movie adaptation of Sailor Moon’s Dream Arc, the continuation of the Sailor Moon Crystal series. The theme is “Let’s Party” so we mostly see the characters in party dresses.

The main banner shows us Usagi and Chibiusa, though we’ve seen those two before in this art style so it’s nothing too shocking. What’s more interesting are the first official depictions of Michiru, Haruka, Setsuna and Hotaru. Though we don’t know exactly at what point in the story the first Sailor Moon Eternal film will end it is unlikely these characters will have a prominent part in the film as their roles are mostly contained in the later half of the manga’s Dream arc. I suspect we could be ending the movie with a brief appearance by them, but we shall see in September, assuming the film is released as it was originally anticipated.

We also see everyone in their Sailor Guardian forms which all appear to be their Super outfits, though it’s a bit hard to see from the photos! You’ll need to look closely to try to make out details. For the above image just click on the thumbnail and then the image size (670×1030) to view it in full size.

What do you think of these designs? Do you think we’ll be getting Sailor Moon Eternal by September 11th 2020 are it is currently planned?

Evgenia Medvedeva is headed to Japan in anticipation of the Sailor Moon Prism on Ice show

Posted on April 5, 2020 by Adam

Last week I shared the poster for the upcoming Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show which is planned for June. I also mentioned that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, these dates could be in question. On Wednesday Russian figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva, who will star as Sailor Moon in the show, mentioned on Instagram that she is currently on her way to Japan in advance of anticipated border closures between Canada and Japan. As she recently returned from the United States to Canada, she mentions having been in quarantine. This is likely the 14 days of self isolation mandated by the Canadian Government for those returning from international travel. She also makes reference to ice rinks and gyms being closed, as is currently the case throughout Ontario.

She had the following to say:

I ended quarantine after returning from the US to Canada. I have been spending time at home for more than last two weeks. The ice rinks and gyms are closed in Canada, nothing works. As you know, we will have “Prism on ice” (sailor moon show) this June in Japan. In accordance with border closures between Canada and Japan for an indefinite period, my team and I decided to leave Canada and fly to Japan in advance. I am safe and everything is good! I love all of you, be safe and please take care of yourself and your nearest and dearest!

While it is certainly possible that this event could be impacted by the ongoing pandemic, it seems like it isn’t canceled yet! Evgenia Medvedeva is headed to Japan early in order to work on her training in anticipation of this show. She is not the only person traveling to Japan from Canada and any further restrictions on international travel could impact who might be available for this show.

If you’re living outside of Japan and were hoping to attend this show, I would suggest you reconsider any international travel this summer. Even if the show continues as planned, the worldwide health crisis is likely to be ongoing in many countries and spending time traveling and in airports is a risk which should not be taken lightly.

Regardless of what happens we are certainly hoping Evgenia Medvedeva and the rest of the cast and crew involved with the show continue to be healthy during these difficult times. Stay safe, stay healthy and take care of yourselves.

The poster for the Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show gives us a look at Evgenia Medvedeva as Sailor Moon

Posted on March 28, 2020 by Adam

The Sailor Moon official site has been updated with the poster for the upcoming Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show. This poster gives us a look at Russian figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva as Sailor Moon. She had previously worn what appears to be the same costume at a press event last month.

We didn’t get much in the way of new details. We had previously learned of the cast and schedule for the ice show, which will take place in Tokyo the weekend of June 5th to the 7th. These dates are still listed on the official site. Though June is still a few months away, it’s certainly possible that this schedule will be impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis which is affecting not only Japan but countries worldwide This event includes talent from around the globe including Russia, the United States of America, Canada and of course Japan. Fans who were planning on attending may want to reconsider any international travel plans they would have had for the next few months.

It’s worth noting that this event is scheduled to occur nearly two months before the original planned dates for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which would have taken place from July 4th to August 9th of this year, but have been delayed until 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic.

Stay safe and stay healthy!

Sailor Moon News

Bringing you the latest news about the new anime series Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal and all things Sailor Moon.

Author Archives: Adam