The first episode of Sailor Moon aired 25 years ago today

Posted on March 7, 2017 by Adam

It’s time to party like it’s 1992! 25 years ago today, on March 7th 1992, the first episode of the Sailor Moon anime “The Crybaby: Usagi’s Beautiful Transformation” aired on Japanese TV. At this time last year we were still celebrating Sailor Moon’s 20th anniversary in Japan but that has finally been replaced with the ongoing 25th anniversary. The Sailor Moon manga predates the anime series by a few months, with its first story being published in Nakayoshi December 28th 1991. Codename: Sailor V, the series which inspired Sailor Moon and which Sailor Venus comes from, was published earlier that year in RunRun starting on August 3rd 1991.

I can’t really be nostalgic about what I was doing in March 1992, listening to Kris Kross and being full of teenage angst! I certainly wasn’t watching Sailor Moon, which wouldn’t be seen here in Canada for another 3 years. I wrote articles about the 15th and 20th anniversaries on Powet.tv and at the time nothing was going on with the franchise. Now, with Sailor Moon Crystal in full swing, a new series of musicals in production, a movie in theatres and mountains of merchandise Sailor Moon is an international sensation once again!

Are you doing anything today to commemorate the 25 year anniversary of this great show? If you’re looking to watch the first episode again you can stream it on Yahoo! View with subtitles or dubbed by Viz. Canadians can watch the first episode of TubiTV.

Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie has the same plot as The Matrix

Posted on March 4, 2017 by Adam

A few weeks ago I was rewatching the 1999 hit film “The Matrix” and I came to a realization that I somehow hadn’t before. The Matrix and the 1995 animated film Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie have basically the same story. Both movies’ villains have a massive farm of humans stuck in a simulated reality for the purpose of enslaving them and draining their energy for their own purpose.

In The Matrix a bunch of robots which have captured all of the people of Earth to have them living in pods which plug them into a complex computer simulation, called the Matrix, which exists just to keep people occupied while they are used as a power source to keep the machines running. I’m still not sure why they didn’t populate it with cows.

In Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie the villain Badiane kidnaps the world’s children by the boatload and puts them into these pod like Dream Coffins where they sleep forever in a simulated reality, their dreams. Marzipan Castle appears to be a futuristic spaceship with metallic walls which look like large computer circuit boards. Badiane uses the children as a power source for her Black Dream Hole by extracting their Sugar Energy, which grows inside of children’s dreams, from them. Her plan is to envelop the Earth into her Black Dream Hole, placing all of the humans into Dream Coffins. In the case of this movie it seems likely that cow and calf dreams do not generate Sugar Energy.

Elements of choice and happiness come into both films. In The Matrix we learn from Agent Smith that an original incarnation of The Matrix simulation was a paradise but that this didn’t work. Humans rejected this reality and kept trying to wake up from it.

In Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie, when Sailor Moon enters the Black Dream Hole she goes into a seemingly perfect dream world where she can be alone with Mamoru. When things appear too good to be true she asks him if she is more important to him than Chibiusa. When he chooses her she knows that it’s an illusion and, like Neo being freed from the Matrix, breaks out of her Dream Coffin. Sailor Moon does the equivalent of choosing the Red Pill, a symbol of the truth, to escape her simulated reality, rather than remaining blissfully ignorant like Cypher eating his delicious simulated steak. For her like those early crops of humans a paradise may seem like what she wants but she just doesn’t believe it.

The similarities seems obvious with a little thought, but is it just a coincidence or is there some inspiration at play? The Matrix, released in 1999, was a tremendous influence on decades of movies which followed it to the point where what was groundbreaking at the time seems standard upon repeated viewings since this is what so many films look like these days. But Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie was released in 1995, a whole 4 years before the Matrix. The Wachowskis are huge anime fans with Ghost in the Shell, released in 1996, being their most obvious influence. There was certainly enough time for them to have seen and drawn inspiration from the film. Though the English dubbed version of the film wasn’t out until years later many anime fans had seen the film not long after its Japanese release.

While I’m sure one could splice together clips of the film and present a compelling conspiracy theory for why The Wachowskis absolutely ripped off this movie, I don’t think this one is guaranteed. It’s possible and the timeline would work out, but given we don’t have any specific indication that either Lana or Lilly Wachowski were Sailor Moon fans I’m willing to accept that this may be a coincidence. Stories of simulated realities had existed before in science fiction stories and I don’t pretend that everything that was similar to something which came before it was necessarily an homage or rip off.

The Matrix and Sailor Moon SuperS The Nine Sailor Soldiers Gather! The Miracle of The Black Dream Hole are both great films with a great science concept at their core. Do you think the similarities are more than chance?

Agents Banane, Poupelin and Orangeat?

Sailor Moon R The Movie screening impressions

Posted on March 3, 2017 by Adam

This past Wednesday, March 1st 2017, I was lucky enough to see Sailor Moon R The Movie in theatres. I consider myself lucky for many reasons! For one I was lucky enough to live in a city in which the film was playing but more importantly to me because this was something I’d wanted to do for decades. I always hoped I would be able to see this, one of my all time favourite movies, on the big screen but as a Sailor Moon fan in the 90s this never seemed realistic. Because of this I am thankful that Viz Media and Eleven Arts brought this movie to select theatres for these special screenings. A lot of additional showtimes have been added for many Canadian cities. Fans should check out the Cineplex site for more information if they’re looking to watch it or watch it again.

I saw the film at South Keys movie theatre in Ottawa. This was the theatre I spent the most time at as a teenager, in the years when I first watched Sailor Moon, as I would see one or two movies a week here for a number of years. There was no end to my nostalgia last night! As I entered the theatre I was given a gift of an envelope with a postcard sized card inside. Mine featured Sailor Moon, though there were also some featuring Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus. This was a nice touch as fans could be heard chatting about who they’d gotten, who they wanted and looking for people to trade. My girlfriend and myself both got Sailor Moon, as did many people around us, which makes me suspect that perhaps these weren’t shuffled or randomized terribly well. The envelope also contained a few ads. The ad for the manga featured an image of volume 12 of the recent manga release. The ad for the Sailor Moon R The Movie home video release also had an ad for the TV series Blu-Ray and DVD releases on the back.

The event itself was billed at being 90 minutes long, which didn’t ad up for an hour long movie and short special, but a bonus featurette filled out the time. Before the film the audience was presented with an interview with three of the actors from the film. Stephanie Sheh, the voice of Sailor Moon, Robbie Daymond, the voice of Tuxedo Mask, and Ben Diskin, the voice of Fiore, answered questions about the film. One oddity about the interview was that the voice actors called Fiore “Fiole” despite it clearly being pronounced Fiore throughout this English dubbed version of the film. Sure the R and L sound are interchangeable in Japanese but Fiore is the Italian word for flower which seems to be its meaning. Though I’ve seen this film some 50 times the occasional spoilers from this interview didn’t bother me, but I wondered if everyone else in the theatre felt the same. Audience reactions from some twists in the film made me think some of them may not have seen it before. Sailor Moon played on TV a lot back in the 90s here in Canada but the films were released a few years after the theatrical run. Though I’ve seen them play on TV they would have been more readily available to viewers on home video, so it seems likely that more casual fans or those that didn’t follow the show much after it was on TV may not have gone out of their way to see this film before last night. Overall the interview was nice and had some decent insight, but I’m not sure playing it before the feature was the best idea.

Next was the “Make Up! Sailor Guardians” special which originally played with Sailor Moon R The Movie in Japan. This had not previously been released domestically so it is likely that many fans hadn’t seen it before. I’d seen it on the Japanese DVD release and fan subs so I was familiar with the dialogue and it seemed to be mostly accurate to the dub. This special is a series of clips from the series featuring the various Sailor Guardians inter spliced with footage of two girls at a cafe who are chatting near Chibiusa and Usagi. It’s funny because Chibiusa is on a poster behind them and they don’t really seem to notice. The quality of this film was great, despite using visuals from the TV series which were never intended to be seen on the big screen.

Finally there was the main feature, Sailor Moon R The Movie. The film itself is fantastic, a story of Mamoru’s childhood friend who’s being manipulated by a magical and evil flower into doing all sorts of terrible thing. It’s full of action and drama and to me represents the Sailor Moon anime at its finest, keying in on elements which make the show what it is. It showcases Usagi’s strength, which is her ability to be a true friend and to save those around her from loneliness. I wasn’t sure what to expect as video quality goes. The video releases of the original Sailor Moon series have pretty marginal quality, but this film is nothing like that. The presentation was likely using some sort of HD video projector, likely with a 1080p Blu-Ray equivalent source. I’ve seen this movie a number of times on the Japanese DVD release, which had previously been the best quality transfer of this film, and the level of detail I could see on the screen was far beyond anything I’d seen before of Sailor Moon. The quality of the lines and small bits of animation showed me detail that was drastically better than the DVD version. It seems like this was an HD transfer of the original film source that had likely gone through some remastering work as opposed to a software upscale of a standard definition source like we’ve seen for the TV series. This is promising for the Blu-Ray release which is currently planned for April 18th.

All in all seeing a Sailor Moon movie in theatres was a wonderful experience for a Sailor Moon fan and aside from the volume being a bit loud I though the whole event was handled quite well. I sincerely hope that there was enough fan interest that Viz and Eleven Arts are planning to do something similar with the Sailor Moon S and SuperS movies. Considering the turn out and extra showings which were added I am optimistic that we will be seeing Human Luna and Perle (Peruru?) on the big screen over the next couple of years.

What was your experience like watching the film?

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Chris Wiggins, Sailor Moon’s narrator and the voice of Mr. Baxter, has died at age 87

Posted on February 26, 2017 by Adam

I am sad to report that Chris Wiggins, a voice actor from the original English dub of the Sailor Moon anime, has died at age 87. He passed away on February 19th after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. The provided the voice of Mr. Baxter from the episode “An Unnatural Phenomenon”. Mr. Baxter was a mild mannered gardener turned ecoterrorist thanks to Nephlite’s influence. He also voiced the narration included at the beginning of the first episode and episode 41. This first narration, added for the dubbed English version, provided excessive spoilers for the upcoming season including the identity of the Moon Princess and Prince Darien as well as the specific fate of the Moon Kingdom.

Aside from his brief work on Sailor Moon Chris Wiggins also had a lengthy resume. As a fellow Canadian the roles I knew him best for were Chief Quimby from Inspector Gadget and No Heart from Care Bears. His obituary can be found in The Toronto Star. He will be missed by fans around the world.

The Sailor Moon Crystal Set 2 video release has been delayed a week to February 28th

Posted on February 22, 2017 by Adam

Sailor Moon Crystal Set 2, covering the Black Moon story arc, was meant to be released yesterday, February 21st, on DVD and Blu-Ray. Unfortunately fans will have to wait up to an additional week to see the set which now has a release date of February 28th. The release date has been updated on sites such as Amazon and Right Stuf.

Update: This delay only affects the Blu-Ray version. Fans have already found the DVD version on store shelves.

Right Stuf posted an updated to their Twitter account on February 21st stating that the release was delayed due to a manufacturing issue. The following day, February 22nd, they posted again saying that the sets were in and would be shipping shortly. I would expect that stores will also be getting their sets early next week, around February 28th. Let us know when you get yours!

If you haven’t pre-ordered your set yet you can support the site by buying it from Amazon using the links below.

Get this “Choose Your Sailor” t-shirt at OtherTees for just $10

Posted on February 16, 2017 by Adam

This great looking Sailor Moon shirt is available today at OtherTees. Like many shirt a day sites this shirt is available for a low price of $11 but only for a limited time. Seem cheap? It get’s better! You can save an extra 10% off your order by using the discount code SMNEWS.

The theme of the shirt “Choose Your Sailor” is inspired by video game character select screens. This is a fictional game screen but we don’t have to imagine what such a thing would look like! Above is a screenshot from the character select screen for the Sailor Moon Super Famicom game from 1993. The shirt’s design shows silhouettes the main set of five Sailor Guardians Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Moon, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus all complemented by their own colour and planetary symbol.

The shirt is designed by Skullpy. Check out more of the artist’s work on Twitter or Facebook. Get it now because the shirt will only be on sale for this price until 4pm Eastern Time tomorrow, February 17th.

The Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical will be performed at Anime Matsuri in Houston in April

Posted on February 12, 2017 by Adam

The first ever North American performance of a Sailor Moon musical will be taking place in Houston Texas during the Anime Matsuri convention in April. The news of this special performance of the Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical was posted on the official Sailor Moon site and Anime Matsuri site last month. The specific date of the musical performance has not yet been announced but it will be during the convention weekend which takes place from April 7th to the 9th at the George R. Brown convention centre in downtown Houston, Texas. This may be a slightly modified version of the musical as the entire cast will not be present. At this time only the Sailor Guardians and Tuxedo Mask, with the exclusion of Chibiusa, will be in attendance. Notice that the poster specifically made for this event features all regular cast members but Airi Kanda who plays Chibiusa.

In addition to the musical there will be many Sailor Moon themed guests. This includes Fumio Osano, Osabu, who is best known as the editor of the Sailor Moon manga. Also appearing are voice actors from the English versions of Sailor Moon Crystal and Viz’s new dub of the original Sailor Moon anime Cristina Vee, who plays Sailor Mars, and Christine Cabanos, who plays Sailor Saturn.

Confirmed guests for the musical are Hotaru Nomoto, Sailor Moon, Yume Takeuchi, Sailor Mercury, Karen Kobayashi, Sailor Mars, Kaede, Sailor Jupiter, Rimo Hasegawa, Sailor Venus,
Syu Shiotsuki, Sailor Uranus, Sayaka Fujioka, Sailor Neptune, Mikako Ishii, Sailor Pluto, Karin Takahashi, Sailor Saturn, and Yuga Yamato, Tuxedo Mask. Also attending are dancers Risa Kawamura, Yoshimi Hidano, Ayano Nagasawa and Ayumi Sagisaka.

The Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical will be released on DVD in Japan March 15th

Posted on February 11, 2017 by Adam

The latest Sailor Moon musical, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Amour Eternal, is coming to DVD in Japan on March 15th. This was announced on the Sailor Moon official site and the Evil Line web site. This DVD will be in Japanese only and region 2, which won’t play on most North American DVD players. Why DVD and not Blu-Ray, you might ask? This is a question I’ve been asking myself for the past 3 musicals. Considering there was an HD stream of this musical, I’m a bit baffled we’re still only getting a standard definition DVD. Hopefully we will at least getting a progressive scan DVD as opposed to the 480i releases we’ve gotten for the rest. A commercial for this release was posted to YouTube. Watch the embedded clip below.

The DVD is available to buy on Amazon Japan for 6,265 yen, about $55 US or on CD Japan for 7800 yen, $68.82 US. This 2 disc DVD set will include the musical and a number of special features. The musical itself is 2 hours and 43 minutes. An audio commentary by the 5 main actors is included but it isn’t explicitly clear if this is referring to a full length audio commentary. The bonus disc will have 77 minutes of content. This includes an interview with Usagi, a video of the performance done on Usagi and Chibiusa’s birthday, June 30th, and a special focusing on the Amazon Trio and Zirconia. Also included will be a 28 page booklet which is a sort of program with information about the musical.

If you’re looking to support the musicals I would suggest buying this DVD. Fans looking to watch the musical with English subtitles can download the fan subbed version released by Miss Dream.

The Pretty Guardian Amour Eternal musical is the 4th in the latest wave of musicals. It cover the Dream arc of the Sailor Moon manga, the equivalent of Sailor Moon SuperS in the original Sailor Moon anime, which has the Sailor Guardians teaming up with Pegasus and facing off against Nehelenia and the Dead Moon Circus.

These Canadian theatres will be screening Sailor Moon R The Movie on March 1st

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Adam

Great news for Canadian Sailor Moon fans! We’ve gotten confirmation that Sailor Moon R The Movie will be playing in Cineplex theatres on March 1st at 7pm in theatres across the country. At this point there are showings in Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Halifax, Sydney, Winnipeg, Calgary and Burnaby. You can search to see if your city is playing the film by checking out the Cineplex site.

I had a bit of trouble finding listings for all of Canada so I just messed with the search URL to include every theatre within 5000 km of my city which seems to easily cover the entire country. It is possible that more theatres get listed as March 1st approaches. I can’t find any indication of whether these presentations will be dubbed or subbed, but I think it is likely these will all be English dubbed showings of the film.

I’ve included a list of theatres planning to show the film as of February 6th for your convenience.

Update: Many more cities have been added since I originally posted this list. Check out the Cineplex site to see if your city has showings.

Ottawa, Ontario:

Cineplex Odeon South Keys Cinemas

Toronto, Ontario:

Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas and VIP
Cineplex Cinemas Vaughan
Cineplex Cinemas Queensway and VIP

Niagara Falls, Ontario:

Cineplex Odeon Niagara Square Cinemas

Halifax, Nova Scotia:

Cineplex Cinemas Park Lane

Sydney, Nova Scotia:

Cineplex Cinemas Sydney

Winnipeg, Manitoba:

SilverCity St. Vital Cinemas

Calgary, Alberta:

Cineplex Odeon Sunridge Spectrum Cinemas

Burnaby, British Columbia:

Cineplex Cinemas Metropolis

Looks like I’m going to be putting my wallet in my front pocket and taking a trip to South Keys! Is the film playing in your town? How far do you plan to travel to see it?

Queen Beryl and the Shitennou Petit Chara figures are coming in May

Posted on February 4, 2017 by Adam

We’ve got some great villain Petit Chara figures coming in May! The latest set includes Princess Serenity, Prince Endymion, Queen Beryl, Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisyte and Kunzite. These were announced on the official site and are also listed on the Premium Bandai and Kiddy Land sites. This is being called the Dark Kingdom set though I would say the Silver Millennium set might be a more accurate title with the inclusion of Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion. Regardless the Dark Kingdom characters are the big appeal of this set as we’ve already gotten a number of Sailor Moon variants including Princess Serenity, though this is the first time we get Prince Endymion himself, rather than Tuxedo Mask or Mamoru. I’m still waiting for a Moonlight Knight figure perhaps bundled Ail and An.

These aren’t the first villains we’ve seen in this line of toys, which previously saw the release of the Ayakashi Sisters, the Black Moon Clan and the Amazon Trio. I’ve already gotten a few of these figures and look forward to adding these to my collection.

Seeing Jadeite from this set reminds me of the super deformed version so of various characters we saw in Sailor Moon R episode 58. We only need Morga to be able to recreate this whole scene!

Support the site by purchasing some of the other sets from Amazon using the links below:

Sailor Moon News

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

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