A Sailor Moon Crystal S. H. Figuarts figure is coming in January

Sailor Moon Crystal S. H. Figuarts

A new Sailor Moon Crystal S. H. Figuarts figure has been posted to the Tamashii Nations official site. This is Sailor Moon, once again, but this time it is a Sailor Moon Crystal version of Sailor Moon. We had previously gotten some Figuarts Zero statues in Sailor Moon Crystal versions but this is the first Sailor Moon Crystal S. H. Figuarts figure. S. H. Figuarts figures are high quality very posable figures with many extra faces and hands so that you can make them do pretty much anything you can imagine.

Sailor Moon Crystal S. H. Figuarts

This version of Sailor Moon has the Cosmic Heart Compact on her chest, from the Infinity Arc. Will more of the Sailor Guardians be released next? An S. H. Figuarts Sailor Moon Crystal Sailor Mercury would be the obvious next release. Who would you most like to see in this style of figure?

The figure will be released this January. No price has been announced yet but they usually sell for about $50 when first released domestically.



You will soon be able to buy Sailor Moon’s duvet cover and pillowcase

Sailor Moon comforter and pillowcase

Night time isn’t only for fighting evil by Moonlight! It’s also for sleeping! It has been announced on the Official Sailor Moon Site that Bandai will soon be releasing Usagi’s comforter and pillowcase from the original Sailor Moon anime! There have been a lot Sailor Moon themed blankets, comforters and bed sheets over the years but the official products usually featured an image of Sailor Moon on it. Well Sailor Moon doesn’t have Sailor Moon sheets on her bed! She does have a unique bedspread featuring Moons and rabbits, characteristic of Usagi herself. The Moons obviously relate to Sailor Moon and the Princess of the Moon and the rabbits would relate to Usagi’s name in Japanese meaning rabbit, a reference to the rabbit on the Moon legend in Japan.

Sailor Moon comforter and pillowcase pattern

The items in this set are a duvet cover, being referred to as a futon cover, and a pillowcase. We don’t really refer to comforters or duvets as futons in English. To me a futon is a weird transforming couch thing you buy in college but futon is a Japanese word and it means different things there. To them it refers to both the mattress and comforter. Since the Japanese invented the word and we adapted it and completely changed its meeting I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are using it correctly. The duvet cover is 150x200cm which means it’s tiny. A twin is 168x 218 meaning I don’t know where you’d get a comforter that small. Japan would be a good place to start! A queen sized mattress is actually roughly 150x200cm but the norm in North America is to have a comforter that hangs off of the sides of a bed. Judging by the photo below this “futon” is roughly the size of the mattress itself.

Sailor Moon comforter and pillowcase

Note also that Usagi doesn’t actually have this pattern on her pillowcase, which is simply white, so if you’re really trying to be authentic you should just use the duvet cover. The set will be released in November and will cost 7020 yen, about $70 US. If you don’t live in Japan you’ll probably have a bit of trouble ordering and shipping a set though.

Sailor Moon pillowcase

Luna waking Usagi

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III volume 2 Japanese Blu-Ray review

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray - Vol. 2 - Contents

The latest Blu-Ray release for Sailor Moon Crystal’s Infinity Arc was released on July 27th in Japan. This is the second of three releases covering this story arc and includes episodes 30 through 33. The set also includes a 24 page booklet with episode descriptions, interviews and character art. This is a Japanese only release with no English subtitles. You can order it from online retailers such as Amazon Japan for 6516 yen, about $65 US.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray - Vol. 2 - Front

The packaging for this release highlights Sailor Uranus and Neptune with a great cover image on the Blu-Ray itself. The colours on the box match Sailor Uranus’s Sailor Fuku with a yellow bow.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray - Vol. 2 - Disc

Episodes included in this release are Act 30, Infinity 4 – Sailor Uranus – Haruka Tenoh – Sailor Neptune – Michiru Kaioh, Act 31 – Sailor Pluto – Setsuna Meioh, Act 32 – Infinity 6 – Three Guardians, and Act 33 – Infinity 7 – Transformation – Super Sailor Moon. These cover the Witches 5’s Viluy, Tellu, Cyprine and Ptitlol, the appearance of Setsuna Meioh and Sailor Pluto as well as the origins of the Holy Grail and Sailor Moon’s transformation into Super Sailor Moon. Also included is the first appearance of Sailor Saturn, but only in flashback form, and a brief appearance by Mistress 9.

I watched all four episodes and didn’t notice any changes in animation from the original streaming release as had been done with the first 26 episodes. As there were no changes to the last release either I suspect we won’t be seeing any changes to the episodes of this story arc.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray - Vol. 2 - Special Booklet 2 - Pages 12 and 13 - Interview with Yukiyo Fujii, the voice of Sailor Saturn

The packaging advertises a 28 page booklet. Funny I only counted 24. I suppose we could be really creative and count the cover page and back cover as “pages”? Like with other booklets this includes episode summaries, interviews and character art. This one includes interviews with five voice actors Misato Fukuen, Sailor Chibi Moon, Junko Minagawa, Sailor Uranus, Sayaka Ohara, Sailor Neptune, Yukiyo Fujii, Sailor Saturn and Ai Maeda, Sailor Pluto.

Some audio commentaries are also included with the episodes themselves. The same voice actors appear for all four of the commentaries. This includes Hisako Kanemoto, Ami, Rina Sato, Rei, Misato Fukuen, Chibiusa and Yukiyo Fujii, Hotaru. I don’t speak Japanese so I don’t know what they talk about.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray - Vol. 2 - Blu-Ray

It’s a bit hard to justify buying this Japanese only release at this price which is close to what you’d pay for the entire 14 episode Dark Kingdom story arc in Japanese and English. Surely the four episodes per disc is a better deal than with earlier releases but since there are no changes to the animation this time around you can still watch the streaming version for free instead of buying this.

The third volume, including the final five episodes of this story arc, will be released on Blu-Ray on August 31st. You can preorder it online from sites like Amazon Japan. It costs a bit more, with an MSRP of 10,584 yen, about $105 US dollars. This post on the Sailor Moon official site indicates that the version will include a box to store all three volumes in, which seems to justify this roughly 50% increase from the previous volumes.

Keep reading for more images of the packaging including photos of all pages of the included special booklet.

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Check out these Paper Cut Sailor Soldiers by Memorabilia Studios

Sailor Moon paper cut

Here are some fun art pieces that might interest some Sailor Moon fans. They are paper cut Sailor Soldiers. These are made out of small cut and assembled pieces of coloured paper put together in a frame. You can order them from the Memorobelia Studios Etsy shop. These are individually made by artists Ale and Matt. They aren’t cheap, costing from 80 to 95 euro (about $90 to $106 US) but the cost reflects the hard work that goes into them and looks to be worth it based on how nice looking these are.

Sailor Mars paper cut

Right now you can order Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter or Sailor Venus. Which is your favourite?

Sailor Mercury paper cut

Learn more about these from the Memorobelia Studios Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram pages.

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Check out Stephanie Yanez’s new CD to hear her rendition of the Sailor Moon theme Moonlight Densetsu

gaNISOng by Stephanie Yanez

Stephanie Yanez, an American J-pop singer, model and Sailor Moon fan, has released a CD which includes a cover of the original Sailor Moon anime’s theme song Moonlight Densetsu. This CD includes 5 tracks from famous anime series. In addition to this track from Sailor Moon it also includes music from Durarara, Naruto and Evangelion as well as instrumental versions of all of these songs. The album is currently available on Amazon Japan for 1200 yen, about $12 US. A worldwide digital release will be coming August 24th and 31st.

gaNISOng by Stephanie Yanez

This album is part of the gaNISOng series which showcases anime music sung by artists from around the world, with Stephanie Yanez representing the USA.

Check out Stephanie Yanez performing Moonlight Densetsu for Sailor Moon Day in the YouTube video embedded below.

For more of Stephanie Yanez’s music check out her official web site. You can buy more of her previously released music from her iTunes page.

A Mistress 9 Pullip Doll is coming in September

Mistress 9 Pullip Doll

A Mistress 9 Pullip Doll has been announced on the Official Sailor Moon Site. This seem like an odd choice for a doll but after getting Human Luna it seems like we could get almost anything. This is the second villain we get as a Pullip Doll, after Black Lady. The doll will be released in September with the Bandai Premium Edition coming out in October. It will be priced at 22000 yen, about $210 US.

Mistress 9 Pullip Doll

We previously reported on a Sailor Saturn Pullip Doll which was actually a DAL Doll, which is a younger version of the doll modeled after Pullip’s younger sister. This more adult version of Hotaru is shown as a Pullip Doll. This is similar to how Sailor Chibi Moon had a DAL Doll but her older version, Black Lady, was a Pullip Doll.

Mistress 9 Pullip Doll

Pullip Dolls are expensive high quality collectible dolls with disproportionally large heads and eyes. Do you plan on picking this one up? With all of the main Sailor Guardians already released in the Sailor Moon line of dolls I wonder what will come out next.




Keep reading for more images of this doll.

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Sailor Moon Crystal Season III volume 1 Japanese Blu-Ray review

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Contents

The first of three volumes of Sailor Moon Crystal Season III is now available on Blu-Ray. Volume 1 was released on June 29th in Japan. This is a Japanese language release so there is no English audio or English subtitles. You can import it from sites like Amazon Japan for 6909 yen, about $67 US. This release features four episodes, where the first 26 episodes of the series were only released on disks containing two episodes a piece. This time we get Act 27 parts 1 and 2 as well as Acts 28 and 29. The set comes in a smaller package than the earlier releases, which should fit more conveniently on your shelf. It also includes a 24 page special booklet with interviews and art.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Cover

The episodes included are Act 27, Infinity 1 – Premonition – First Part and Second Part, Act 28, Infinity 2 – Ripples, and Act 29 – Infinity 3 – Two New Soldiers. This covers the introduction to the Death Busters, the Sailor Guardians facing off against Eudial and Mimete, meeting Hotaru, Haruka and Michiru as well as Sailor Uranus and Neptune. With the first 26 episodes, plagued by sloppy inconsistent animation, a number of minor improvements and changes were done to the animation for the Blu-Ray release. None of this is present here. If you’ve seen the streaming version you’ve seen the version which is presented on this release. It seems they put a bit more time and money into the animation the first time so there was no need for updates.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray vol. 1 - DVD

The episodes include an optional audio commentary. These four episodes all feature commentary by Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Sailor Moon, Junko Minagawa, the voice of Sailor Uranus, and Sayaka Ohara, the voice of Sailor Neptune.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Special Booklet - Cover

As with earlier releases a 24 page special booklet is included. The contents are somewhat like what we’ve seen before. There are episode summaries, interviews and character designs. Osabu’s page is not present in this booklet. There are a total of five interviews included. These are with Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Sailor Moon, Hisaka Kanemoto, the voice of Sailor Mercury, Rina Sato, the voice of Sailor Mars, Ami Koshimizu, the voice of Sailor Jupiter, and Shizuka Ito, the voice of Sailor Venus.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Special Booklet - Pages 18 and 19 - Rei and Makoto designs

All in all this set is a more worthwhile purchase than the previous sets were. The cost is about the same and there are twice as many episodes. Without any changes in animation though, there isn’t much to get from collecting these when the streaming version is subtitled and free, though not quite at Blu-Ray quailty. Further now that we know that English Blu-Ray sets are coming with entire story arcs costing close to what a single Japanese disc does, it seems a little pointless for an English speaking North American fan to buy these Japanese only releases. All said we haven’t seen the English release yet. It seems unlikely that it will be plagued with terrible video quality like all North American releases of the original series have been, but that’s still a possibility. We may find that this is the better quality set to have when all is said and done. The French DVD and Blu-Ray came out last week and seems to be of exceptional quality though, so it seems likely the English release will be the same.

The next set will be released on July 27th and can be pre-ordered from sites like Amazon Japan. It is similarly priced at 6909 yen. It will include four episodes, Acts 30 to 33, bringing us to Sailor Moon’s transformation into Super Sailor Moon and the first flashback look at Sailor Saturn.

Keep reading for more photos of the packaging and all pages of the included special booklet.

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Sailor Moon Crystal Official Soundtracks II, a two CD set featuring music from the Infinity arc, will be released July 27th

Sailor Moon Crystal Official Soundtracks II

A second Sailor Moon Crystal soundtrack will be released in Japan on July 27th. This 2 CD soundtrack is called “Sailor Moon Crystal Official Soundtracks II”. Why the plural in soundtracks? I don’t know. A sound track refers to the track on a film which includes the music as opposed to dialogue and sound effects. What we call a soundtrack was once referred to as the music from the sound track of a movie. In that sense we really are just referring to the one track but we also talk about tracks on a CD which is a totally different thing. None of these things are actual tracks. There’s no 8 track or record or even a film real medium to Sailor Moon Crystal. A track is just a concept we use to refer to something which exists as computer files on hard drives and CDs. We don’t really mean the sound track of a movie when we say Soundtrack anymore. Anyway I’m ranting. I’ll give them a pass for being really Japanese.

You can pre-order the CD from online retailers such as Amazon Japan and CD Japan for as little as 3000 yen, about $30. This is more than the singles we’ve seen before because this is a full 2 CD set with background music from the entire season. Also included are TV sized versions of all of the opening and ending themes heard in the Infinity arc. A track listing is on the Sailor Moon official site. Here’s an English track listing I got through Google Translate with some help from a translation by Miss Dream!

Disc 1

1. Super Sailor Moon’s Theme
2. In Love With the New Moon (TV size) by Etsuko Yakushimaru
3. Sea Serenade
4. Mysterious Encounter
5. Haruka and Michiru
6. Professor – Pharaoh 90
7. Kaolinite
8. Anxious Dream
9. Hotaru
10. Mysterous Guardians
11. Ripples on the Heart?
12. Man or woman, is that so important?
13. Eternal Eternity (TV size)
14. Uranus and Neptune Make-Up!
15. Sailor Uranus
16. Sailor Neptune
17. Possessed Soul
18. Daimon
19. Moon Cosmic Power Make-Up!
20. Planet Power Make-Up!
21. Arrival of the Sailor Guardians
22. Magnificent Counterattack
23. Moon Spiral Heart Attack!
24. Chibiusa and Hotaru -Flute version-
25. Chibiusa and Hotaru
26. Chibiusa Make-Up!
27. Maiden’s Advise (TV size)
28. Mimi Hanyu
29. Witches’ Song

Disc 2

1. The Three Guardians of the Outer Solar System
2. The Three Guardians’ Mission
3. In Love With the New Moon (TV size) by Mitsuko Horie
4. Mistress 9
5. The Witches’ Awakening
6. A Ruthless Challenger
7. A Fierce Battle with the Witches
8. Sorrowful
9. Bonds of the Sailor Gaurdians
10. The Holy Grail’s Glow
11. Crisis Make-Up!
12. Rainbow Moon Heart Ache!
13. Only Eternity Brings the Two Together (TV size)
14. Shadow of Fear
15. Planet Eating Demon
16. She Who Brings Destruction
17. Hotaru’s Feelings
18. A Sorrowful Decision
19. Infinite Battle
20. Disappearing Planet
21. Silence Glaive
22. Light of Rebirth
23. In Love With the New Moon (TV size) / Momoiro Clover

Sailor Moon featured on Official Merchandise for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games

Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics products featuring Sailor Moon and other anime characters

Sailor Moon will be joining other less iconic anime characters on official merchandise associated with the upcoming 2020 Summer Olympic Games being held in Tokyo. Merchandise will feature Sailor Moon, Astro Boy, Crayon Shin-Chan, Monkey from One Piece, Naruto, Goku from Dragonball Z, Jibanyan from Yokai Watch and Mirai and Riko from Precure. I think featuring a character from Akira would have been fitting but these will have to do.

Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics products featuring Sailor Moon and other anime characters

Merchandise shown and mentioned on the Official Sailor Moon site includes a tshirt, golf shirt, towel, hat, bag, mug, cup, landyard, thermos, pencil case and I guess maybe a bento box? Two images are shown featuring the exact same products displayed in a slightly different way.

Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Paralympic games

In addition to Sailor Moon herself appearing on merchandise the Moon shaped logo for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games looks a lot like the crescent Moon which is seen throughout the series, most prominently on Princess Serenity and Eternal Sailor Moon’s forehead.

Sailor Moon episode 34 - Usagi is Princess Serenity

The clothes will be going on sale starting July 16th on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games shop. These items are not yet featured on the site. Availability outside of Japan is unknown at this point. I couldn’t find any specifics about international shipping on the shop web site. As a Canadian I usually only see specifically Canadian branded Olympic products sold domestically here. This was fine for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics of course.

Sailor Moon S is coming to DVD and Blu-Ray starting November 15th

Sailor Moon S Part 1 - Blu-ray

After waiting for an entire year we finally have some concrete details about Viz’s release of Sailor Moon S. This weekend at Anime Expo it was announced that the first part of Sailor Moon S is coming to home video on November 15th 2016. You can pre-order this set from Right Stuf Anime for $62.99 US. This first set will include episodes 90 to 108 of the series which is a few episodes before Hotaru first shows up. Box art seen above shows that this will look a lot like earlier releases and include a full colour booklet with a lot of art and other information about the series. This set will include the show both in Japanese and English dialogue with optional subtitles. This will have Viz’s new English dub of Sailor Moon S. An extended trailer showing many new English clips from the early episodes of Sailor Moon S have been released which you can watch below.

For a limited time pre-orders from Right Stuf will come with a collectible gold coloured coin showing Sailor Moon’s Cosmic Heart Compact, her transformation item during the S season of the anime. The set is exclusively available to pre-order from Right Stuf for now but it will be available from other retailers prior to its release.

Though no details about a Moonlight Party were mentioned, it seems likely that one will take place at some point to give us a sneak peak of some dubbed episodes of Sailor Moon S. This has typically been done before all sets are released as a way to advertise the upcoming release. We’ll be sure to share any information about such events or dubbed episodes being added to Hulu as we learn about them.