Watch the Sailor Moon: The Power of Female Friendship panel today at Comic-Con@Home

Posted on July 25, 2020 by Adam

This afternoon, July 25th 2020, at 3pm Pacific Time (6pm Eastern Time) fans will be able to watch a virtual Sailor Moon Panel, Sailor Moon: The Power of Female Friendship, live on YouTube. This is part of San-Diego Comic-Con’s virtual convention which is being held this year instead of a live convention which would be impossible due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The panel will be hosted by comic book historian Jessica Tseang and includes voice actors from Viz’s new dub of Sailor Moon including Michelle Ruff, the voice of Luna, Kate Higgins, the voice of Sailor Mercury, Amanda Celine Miller, the voice of Sailor Jupiter, as well as comic book writer Sam Maggs, and comedian Chris Bryant.

To view the panel head over the Comic-Con site or watch it directly on YouTube (the video will likely be unavailable until shortly before the event starts). It seems like other panels remain available after the original live broadcast so fans who aren’t able to watch the panel live or are seeing this post too late should still be okay to watch it.

Will you be checking out the panel? For those reading this in the future, did you watch the panel and what did you think?

The voices of the Sailor Animamates from Viz’s new Sailor Stars dub have been revealed

Posted on May 22, 2019 by Adam

This past weekend was Anime Central in Rosemont, near Chicago. The convention included a Moon Panel on Saturday which included the announcement of the voice actors for the Sailor Animamates in Sailor Moon Sailor Stars which will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray starting June 18th. The newly announced voice actors are Katie Leigh as Sailor Iron Mouse, Andi Rich as Sailor Lead Crow, Faye Mata as Sailor Aluminum Siren and Corina Boettger as Sailor Tin Nyanko. This follows an earlier announcement of the voices of the Sailor Starlights, Chibi Chibi and Sailor Galaxia.

Katie Leigh, who will be playing Sailor Iron Mouse, is a veteran voice actor who has voiced many famous characters that some fans who grew up in the 80s are probably familiar with including Sunni in the Gummi Bears and Rowlf in Muppet Babies. Faye Mata, who plays Sailor Aluminum Siren, has appeared in a number of recent video games and anime series including roles such as Yukako in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Lene in Fire Emblem Heroes. Corina Boettger, who plays Sailor Tin Nyanko, has a background in both live action and voice acting work such as Marshtato Mary in Trolls: The Beats Goes and Anju Yuuki in Love Live: School Idol Project. She also streams video games on Twitch. I couldn’t find much information about Andi Rich. I don’t know if this is because this is a voice actor with little experience or perhaps it’s a pseudonym of someone who has worked under another name. This is sometimes done because of rules relating to union work as was likely the case with Barbara Goodson using the alias Janis Carrol when voicing Ziriconia in Sailor Moon SuperS. If any fans have details on Andi Rich’s prior work feel free to leave a comment to let us know about it.

Since Sailor Moon Sailor Stars volume 1 will only include the first half of the season, that being episode 167 to 183, we won’t be hearing all of these voice actors in the first set. We will be getting all of Sailor Iron Mouse’s episodes but Sailor Aluminum Siren and Sailor Lead Crow will only appear in episode 182, along with Chibi Chibi. Sailor Tin Nyanko will not be introduced until episode 188 which will be on the second set. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for that one!

What to you think of this cast? Are you a fan of any of these voice actors’ prior work? Which of the Sailor Animamates is your favourite? I must admit I’ve always had a preference for Sailor Iron Mouse!

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Meet Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Sailor Moon, Keiko Han, the voice of Luna, and Katsuji Mori, the voice of Nephrite, at the Animazement convention in Raleigh, North Carolina May 24th to the 26th

Posted on March 17, 2019 by Adam

Great news for Sailor Moon fans in North Carolina! They will have a chance to meet the Japanese voices of Sailor Moon, Luna and Nephrite at the upcoming Animazement convention in Raleigh May 24th to the 26th! This includes Kotono Mitsuishi, the original voice of Sailor Moon as well as her voice in Sailor Moon Crystal! She has also done a number of other roles in other popular anime series such as Misato in Evangelion. Returning to Animazement is Keiko Han, the voice of Luna from the original Sailor Moon anime as well as the plush and CG Luna from the fantastic live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series. Finally there is also Katsuji Mori, who voiced Nephrite in the original Sailor Moon anime. When not drinking chocolate parfaits Katsuji Mori is an anime voice acting veteran and the main star of many classic series having played Ken the Eagle in Gatchaman (Battle of the Planets), Tekkaman in the original Tekkaman series and Go Mifune (Speed Racer) in Mach GoGoGo.

A specific schedule doesn’t seem to be available quite yet but it stands to reason that they would be available for autographs and potentially some panels. Be sure to check out the full schedule when the event approaches. Are any of you in the area and planning to attend this convention? Let us know in the comments!

The new English voice cast for the Sailor Moon S and SuperS movies as well as the Ami’s First Love special have been announced

Posted on July 15, 2018 by Adam

Sailor Moon S The Movie - Luna kisses Kakeru

Last weekend was Anime Expo in Los Angeles and, as has occurred at past conventions, Viz had a Moon Panel on Sailor Moon Day. One thing which was announced at this panel was the cast for the upcoming English versions of Sailor Moon S The Movie, Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie and the Ami’s First Love special which plays with Sailor Moon SuperS. The films will be showing in theatres in late July and early August. The cast is a mix of new voice actors, a few who are returning after minor roles and some main cast members doing minor roles in the films.

First up is the cast of the Sailor Moon S Movie which has Kakeru, the man who Luna falls in love with, Himeko, an astronaut and part of Kakeru’s love triangle, and Princess Snow Kaguya, the villain of the film.

Kakeru – Chris Hackeny
Himeko – Claudia Lenz
Princess Snow Kaguya – Melissa Fahn

Himeko is voiced by Claudia Lenz, who also goes by the name of Eden Riegel, who previously voiced Koan in Viz’s new dub of Sailor Moon R and Sailor Moon Crystal.

Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie - Perle, Chibiusa and Diana

For the long titled Sailor Moon SuperS: The Nine Sailor Guardians Unite! Miracle of the Black Dream Hole we have a cast which includes Poupelin, Banae and Oranja, the three villain henchmen, Perle, the reformed villain and love interest for Chibiusa, the Bonbon Babies, giant candy looking monsters, and Badiane, the main villain seeking to imprison the Earth’s children into an energy dreaming eternal slumber not unlike The Matrix.

Poupelin – Kyle McCarley
Banane – Ben Diskin
Oranja – Robbie Daymond
Bonbon Babies – Erica Mendez
Perle – Colleen O’Shaughnessey
Badiane – Tara Sands

We have a few returning cast members here! Banane is voiced by Ben Diskin who is Umino in the series and the Ami’s First Love special as well as Fiore from Sailor Moon R The Movie. Oranja is voiced by Robbie Daymond who plays Tuxedo Mask in the series and all of these movies. The Bonbon Babies are voiced by Erica Mendez who Sailor Uranus in the series and films and also voiced Reika. Badiane is voiced by Tara Sands who has played a number of single episode roles in Sailor Moon and was also Bulbasaur in Pokémon.

Finally we have the Ami’s First Love short which plays with the Sailor Moon SuperS film. The only new voices here are Bunnun, the voice of the monster, and Mercurius, Ami’s rival.

Bonnun – Colleen O’Shaughnessey
Mercurius – Kyle McCarley

Both of these actors were also in Sailor Moon SuperS. The voice of Bonnun, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, is also Perle in the SuperS film. The voice of Mercurius, Kyle McCarley, was also Poupelin in the SuperS film.

For show times and a list of participating theatres be sure to check out the Fathom Events web site. The Sailor Moon S movie will be shown with the R movie dubbed on July 28th and subbed on July 30th. The Sailor Moon SuperS movie will be shown with the Ami’s First Love special dubbed on August 4th and subbed on August 6th.

Though the Fathom Events site only lists US theatres Canadians will also have a chance to see these films on those same dates at select Cineplex theatres. Though show times and theatres are not yet listed on their site keep and eye out on their listings for dubbed and subbed showings of Sailor Moon R and S as well as dubbed and subbed showings of Sailor Moon SuperS and Ami’s First Love.

Are any of you going to be able to see these films in your cities? It was a real treat to see Sailor Moon R in theatres a couple of years ago and I hope to be able to get out to see the other films as well!

The Pretty Heroes convention featuring many Sailor Moon voice actors is coming to Toronto June 16th and 17th

Posted on June 3, 2018 by Adam

We’re only a couple of weeks away from a great convention featuring many Sailor Moon guests in Toronto. After two successful years as the Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration this event is being rebranded as the Pretty Heroes convention which will take place the weekend of June 16th and 17th. While this new convention, broader in scope, will still include all things Sailor Moon it will also cover other things which fall under the umbrella of Pretty Heroes. Naturally many Sailor Moon fans will also be interested in many other things which are covered by this convention and so I would suggest you check out the convention’s web site for all of the details. As in the past this convention will be taking place at the Ontario Science Center in Toronto.

The convention will feature a ton of Sailor Moon related voice actors which includes, from the original English dub of Sailor Moon, Stephanie Morgenstern, the voice of Sailor Venus, Vincent Corazza, the 3rd voice of Tuxedo Mask and the voice of Alan the alien, Sabrina Grdevich, the voice of Ann the alien as well as the original voice of Sailor Pluto, and Barbara Radecki, the voice of Sailor Neptune. Also from Viz’s new dub of Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal is Lauren Landa, the voice of Sailor Neptune, and Amanda Miller, the voice of Sailor Jupiter. There may be more guests announced as the convention comes up so keep an eye out on the guest list for the latest.

I had a great time at the first Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration a couple of years ago but unfortunately I could not attend last year and won’t be able to make the trip to Toronto again this year. Will any of you be attending?

Janis Carrol, also known as Barbara Goodson, will voice Zirconia in Sailor Moon SuperS

Posted on November 19, 2017 by Adam

Yesterday was Sailor Moon Day at Anime NYC. This included Viz’s Moon Panel, as is often the case with conventions Viz attends. The main thing announced at this panel was that Sailor Moon SuperS would be released on April 10th but we also learned about a new voice acting credit! Janis Carrol would voice Zirconia! That’s great! So who exactly is Janis Carrol? I saw some fans saying how happy they were to see her get the role as she had the perfect voice. This wasn’t a name I was familiar with but I actually was familiar with the actress. Janis Carrol is an alias for veteran screen and voice actor Barbara Goodson known best to many fans as the voice of Rita Repulsa from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Note that she only provided the English voice for that character. The actress who portrayed Witch Bandora in Zyurangers, which was adapted as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, was Machiko Soga who sadly passed away in 2006.

IMDB redirects searches for Janis Carrol to Barbara Goodson’s page. Why? Browsing through her credits we see the name Janis Carrol listed for a number of other Viz Media titles including Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. IMDB recognizes that this is another name she uses and redirects users to the appropriate page. Why, then, use this alias which isn’t all that well hidden for anyone trying to investigate? I don’t know for sure but some fans have speculated that this might have to do with union work. Some actors will have their name tied to a union and will use an alias for non union work. I don’t know if this is true in this particular case as I don’t know the specifics of how Viz hires their actors. There are many reasons for which a person may use an alias for certain jobs.

Barbara Goodson previously voiced a few single episode roles in Viz Media’s dub of Sailor Moon R. This includes the monster Falion, a lion Cardian who attacked Sailor Jupiter and her friend in episode 49, as well as the kindergarden teacher, from episode 52 when Minako was protecting a bunch of school children. IMDB lists both of these on their Sailor Moon SuperS page which has a Sailor Moon S Movie image because they’re a bit of a mess. This site used to have a different page for the English dub and it’s generally very difficult to distinguish casts from various dubs on the site.

Barbara Goodson has also provided the voice of a number of other anime characters throughout the years. I remember her mostly from the English version of the anime series Teknoman, originally called Tekkaman Blade, where she played Star as well as the voices of Doris in Vampire Hunter D and some voices in Akira. These were things I was watching around the time Power Rangers was on and I was amazed at how little she sounded like Rita Repulsa in these roles.

We still have not gotten any voice actor information for Queen Nehellenia who first appears in episode 148. Since Sailor Moon SuperS Part 1 only goes up to episode 146 that means we won’t actually be hearing Queen Nehellenia or the Amazoness Quartet in this release, which is likely why we have no voice actor information for them. Since Zirconia and Queen Nehellenia are similar characters, with Zirconia being interpreted as some sort of reflection or alternate version of Queen Nehellenia by some, it is possible that they will have the same voice actors. Since Barbara Goodson is able to portray a range of characters, having her do both roles would work quite well. This is certainly not guaranteed however as different voice actors have portrayed these two characters in other versions.

Sailor Moon SuperS Part 1 will be released on Blu-Ray and DVD on April 10th

Posted on November 19, 2017 by Adam

Yesterday was Sailor Moon Day at Anime NYC in Manhattan. Viz Media held a Moon Panel with the cast of the English dub of Sailor Moon at which they revealed long awaited details about Sailor Moon SuperS on home video! The Blu-Ray and DVD release will be out April 10th and is currently available for pre-order from Right Stuf for $71.99. A Right Stuf exclusive coin is included for the Limited Edition. Though the release isn’t named “Part 1″ the episodes listed are only episodes 128 to 146, the first 19 episodes of the season, even though Sailor Moon SuperS runs up to episode 166, leaving 20 episodes for the eventual second part.

Fans who attended the panel mentioned that the set would also include the Sailor Moon SuperS Special though this isn’t specified on the product listing. This special has never seen a release in English before. The Sailor Moon SuperS Special originally aired on Japanese TV between Sailor Moon SuperS episodes 131 and 132. Since it’s not standard episode length and doesn’t have an episode number it isn’t really considered to be part of the show proper. It also doesn’t continue the story of the Dead Moon Circus but instead involves a few flashbacks and some side stories. The first side story shows us what Sailor Uranus and Neptune were up to during this season and the other tells the story of a Vampire girl Lilica who is one of Chibiusa’s classmates. This story is an adaptation of the first of Chibiusa’s Picture Diary from the manga. It makes sense to include these with the TV series if that is indeed what is going on here. The Japanese DVD release included the SuperS Special along with the first SuperS DVD. One would expect they will be doing the same when Sailor Moon SuperS gets its upcoming Blu-Ray release in Japan.

Update: A poster handed out at the event confirms that the “Never-before-seen TV Special” will be included in the set. This would be the Sailor Moon SuperS Special. This can be seen in photos of the pamphlet on Twitter. Thanks to Liza from our Facebook page for finding this confirmation.

https://www.rightstufanime.com/Sailor-Moon-Super-S-Limited-Edition-Blu-ray-DVD

Anime NYC will include Sailor Moon Day on November 18th!

Posted on November 11, 2017 by Adam

Next weekend, November 17th to the 19th, is Anime NYC in at the Javits Center in Manhattan. This event will include an entire day dedicated to Sailor Moon on Sailor Moon Day November 18th! Attending will be the English cast of Viz’s new dub of Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal. This includes Stephanie Sheh, Sailor Moon, Kate Higgins, Sailor Mercury, Cristina Vee, Sailor Mars, Amanda Celine Miller, Sailor Jupiter, Cherami Leigh, Sailor Venus, Sandy Fox, Chibiusa, Erica Mendez, Sailor Uranus, Lauren Landa, Sailor Neptune, Christine Marie Cabanos, Sailor Saturn, Robbie Daymond, Tuxedo Mask, and Chris Niosi, Pegasus. Viz Media will also be in attendance. This convention is sponsored by many leading companies in North American anime including many who are associated with Sailor Moon, so it seems likely that they will also be involved with the event. Sponsors include Crunchyroll, who stream Sailor Moon Crystal, Viz Media, who licenses and releases Sailor Moon in North America, Kodansha Comics, who are releasing the English Sailor Moon Manga, and Tokyo Otaku Mode, who run the Official Sailor Moon Fan Club.

Also attending as a musical guest is Yoko Ishida who performed a number of songs for the original Sailor Moon anime! She sang Otome No Policy (Maiden’s Policy), the ending theme for Sailor Moon R, Ai No Senshi (Guardian of Love), and Suki to Itte (Say You Love Me).

Are any of you planning to attend this convention? Unfortunately at this point Saturday and weekend tickets are already sold out. Friday and Sunday tickets are still available but those attendees will be missing Sailor Moon Day.

The NYCC “Exclusive” Sailor V Funko Pop! Vinyl is now available from Hot Topic

Posted on October 6, 2017 by Adam

This weekend is New York Comic Con and while some of you may be trying to figure out how many goats to sacrifice to get into the lottery to get one of the convention exclusive Sailor V Funko Pop! Vinyl figure we reported on earlier, the toy is available to order from the Hot Topic web site and as of the time I’m writing this it is “In Stock”. I’m really not sure what the term “Exclusive” means anymore. I mean it’s nice that more fans can get it I just didn’t expect this kind of thing to happen until after the convention. Notice that the Hot Topic product listing image has a “2017 Fall Convention Exclusive” sticker instead of the “New York Comic Con Exclusive” sticker we had previously seen from the Funko web site. Both stickers, however, have a Statue of Liberty image on them, which to me seems to be a symbol representing New York City…

As a Canadian I was briefly excited at the prospect of buying this figure, which is selling for a somewhat reasonable $15 US. Upon checkout when I was presented with a whopping $31 US shipping charge I promptly canceled my order. I frequently order items from Japan, quite literally on the other side of the planet, which arrive in a day or two for less than this ridiculous scam disguised as “shipping and handling”. How are they shipping this thing that could be so expensive? By personal courier riding a diamond eating unicorn? UPS? I’ll just stop now before I say what I’d like to say about this situation in words that I prefer not to use on this site.

A Sailor V Funko Pop! Vinyl will be a New York Comic Con exclusive

Posted on September 15, 2017 by Adam

Funko has announced some of their 80s and 90s themed Pop! Vinyl exclusives for New York Comic Con and they include Sailor Venus’s alter ego Sailor V! The convention will take place in Manhattan at the Javits Center the weekend of October 5th to the 8th. This is great news for those that have done the full physical, psych evaluation and DNA testing required to get the NYCC Fan Verification™®© status required to attend the event.

So what’s involved in getting an exclusive Funko Pop! Vinyl at New York Comic Con? You just walk up to a booth and buy one, right? In past years Funko has run a lottery ahead of the convention for time slots where attendees can buy things from their booth. It seems that this is the case this year as well. The Funko Twitter account pointed fans to the NYCC Lottery page where they can go into lotteries for certain events. I don’t have a Fan Verified™®© account but it seems like the Sailor V Funko Pop! Vinyl should be showing up there.

Funko made a video showcasing their 80s and 90s themed Pop! Vinyls including Sailor V. Check it out below.

Funko Pop! Vinyls are an overly simple cheap and fairly ugly line of nearly identical looking figures covering pretty much every franchise to ever exist in the history of time. Their business model seems to be to make toys based on as many brands as possible and it’s going quite well for them. They can be found at pretty much every booth at every comic, anime, gaming or pop culture convention as well as on most of the shelf space at GameStop, a novelty toy store that used to sell video games. All said I sure would like to get my hands on one of these figures but unfortunately I have no plans to attend New York Comic Con. Will any of you be lucky enough to be attending?

Keep reading for more images of this figure and the box.