South Park’s Kenny receives Sailor Moon’s Crisis Moon Compact

South Park's Kenny receives Sailor Moon's Crisis Moon Compact

This week’s newest episode of South Park, “A Song of Ass and Fire”, featured a great Sailor Moon reference as Sony’s President gives Kenny Sailor Moon’s Crisis Moon Compact, the item which she uses to transform into Super Sailor Moon in the Sailor Moon SuperS season of the anime. The President of Sony gives Kenny this item so that he can become an official Princess. He then becomes Princess Kenny who has anime eyes and can shoot rainbows from his hands. While the item isn’t exactly identical to the Crisis Moon Compact and has some qualities resembling some of her other transformation items it seems to most closely resemble this with it’s wings, crown and heart shaped crystal.

South Park's Kenny receives Sailor Moon's Crisis Moon Compact

Americans can watch this episode of South Park on Comedy Central’s web site. The reference is near the end of the episode. Thanks to Yosenex from Go Robo Now and Christopher on our Facebook page for spotting this and bringing it to my attention.

Continue reading

Many Sailor Moon references in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic

Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic

The latest issue of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Micro Series comic, issue #8 featuring Princess Celestia on the cover, includes a few familiar faces for Sailor Moon fans! Inside these pages are pony versions of Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune (pictured above), Sailor Saturn and Sailor Chibi Moon (pictured below) and Sailor Pluto (in the third photo).

Sailor Saturn and Sailor Chibi Moon in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic book

The similar colours and hair styles aren’t the only similarity as these ponies also have very specific cutie marks which are the symbols of their respective planets and in Sailor Chibi Moon’s case a heart with moon in it which is similar but not identical to any single one of her transformation brooches.

Sailor Pluto in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic book

In addition to these ponies we can also see the Moon Stick sitting on Princess Celestia’s night stand. The other item could be Sailor Neptune’s Deep Aqua Mirror but I’m unsure if this is an intentional reference or not.

The Deep Aqua Mirror and Moon Stick in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic book

This issue’s artist, Amy Mebberson, is a Sailor Moon fan. Check out more of her work, including some Sailor Moon sketches, on her deviantART page, tumblr or Twitter. Also be sure to check out her web comic Pocket Princesses.

Below I’ve included the full panels which include these references for context. The comic hit store shelves this past Wednesday so if you’re interested in picking it up your local comic book store may still have it in stock.

Continue reading

Is Princess Serenity’s dress in Animal Crossing: New Leaf?

Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Palatial Tank Dress - Princess Serenity's dress

Animal Crossing: New Leaf was released today to US audiences. As the fourth game in the series this one has even more costumes and accessories than ever before including an item called the “Palatial Tank Dress” which looks suspiciously like Princess Serenity’s dress from Sailor Moon.

Princess Serenity's Dress

Apologies for my simply dressed character. As the game just came out today I do not yet have the ability to style my hair or deck myself in the appropriate accessories that would be fitting of a princess but I was lucky enough to find this dress in the store on the first day. Just looking at the dress, do you think this reference is intentional or a coincidence?

Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Palatial Tank Dress - Princess Serenity's dress

Lindsay Lohan is not dressed as Sailor Moon in Anger Management

Lindsay Lohan on Anger Management not looking like Sailor Moon but wearing Minako Aino's school uniform

The Internet is abuzz about Lindsay Lohan’s upcoming appearance on Charlie Sheen’s TV series Anger Management. She will appear on the show wearing a school uniform similar to those found in Japan that many news sources such as Perez Hilton, Celebuzz and TV Guide are referring to as looking like Sailor Moon.

Lindsay Lohan on Anger Management with Charlie Sheen looks less like Sailor Moon but more like Minako Aino

In reality the uniform doesn’t make her look a ton like Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon’s outfit does indeed look like a sailor outfit, much like this one does, but this is pretty standard of Japanese school uniforms. Sailor Moon’s Sailor Fuku has a large red bow, shorter arms, different colours and no exposed stomach. Usagi’s civilian school uniform similarly has a large red bow and many differences from this. Brad from moonkitty.net has pointed out that the colour scheme of blue and white is not terribly common in Tokyo. Even though a lot of the specifics are different, the similarity to Sailor Moon’s school uniform and Sailor Fuku may very well be intentional. Lindsay Lohan is also sporting a hair style that is quite similar to Usagi’s iconic odangos or meatballs as they’re referred to as in the dub which is surely not a coincidence. I wonder if the outfit is intentionally different to avoid any legal issues or if this is just the case of a lazy wardrobe department using what they had at their disposal. It’s not a coincidence that all these news sources mentioned the Sailor Moon connection. That may be something that was mentioned in the press release that was sent out with these pictures.

Sailor Moon posing

What this outfit does look like much more than Usagi or Sailor Moon’s is Minako’s school uniform. Minako does not attend the same school as Usagi and so she has a totally different uniform with a scarf instead of a bow. That comparison would have been more apt if the intended audience was more well versed in the specifics of Sailor Moon and her friends. This being said there are still differences such as the knot on the scarf and number of stripes on the uniform. I am not insinuating that it was intentional to have this outfit look more like Minako’s, I’m just using this example to show the many differences with Sailor Moon’s.

Continue reading

Countless Sailor Moon references in Ebiten

Ebiten episode 2 - Sailor FukuSailor Moon posing

Ebiten is an animated Internet series that has also played on TV in Japan. The second episode of the show features more Sailor Moon references than you could ever hope for as the main character relives many events from Sailor Moon, transforms into Tailor Moon and breaks the fourth wall by making reference to the similarities. Not only are there references in the characters and actions in the episode but many sequences are nearly frame by frame recreations of counterparts in Sailor Moon. I’ve tried to put together a list of as many of these as possible. Fans of Sailor Moon would be best to simply watch the episode in question and marvel at the similarities. The first episode is available streaming at Crunchyroll or from NyaaTorrents.

With that being said keep reading for a bit of a play by play of the similarities as they happened. For the most part these similarities were to the first episode of the Sailor Moon anime and to the Sailor Moon R movie.

Continue reading

Sailor Moon in Bon Jovi’s “These Days” music video

Bon Jovi - "These Days" Sailor Moon machine

Here’s a really old Sailor Moon reference that I wasn’t aware of until just recently. Sailor Moon makes an appearance in Jon Bovi’s 1996 music video for the song “These Days”. At one point the song shows a quick couple of seconds of Japan and at that point an image of some sort of Sailor Moon S machine is shown. I’m not sure what this is, pachinko, slot machine, pinball machine? My searches didn’t turn up anything particular so if you have an idea of what it could be, drop us a line.

This reminded me of another bizarre music reference to Sailor Moon in the CD inserts for U2’s “Best of 1990-2000″ CD release. This picture of the band in front of a large Sailor Moon R The Movie poster was likely taken during their 1992-1993 Zoo TV tour which was going on while Sailor Moon R was in theatres.

U2 in front of a Sailor Moon R The Movie poster

Check out the original Sailor Moon R The Movie poster and the music video featuring Sailor Moon below.

Continue reading

Sailor Moon’s Moon Cycle toy now available in FarmVille

Sailor Moon Moon Cycle toy - FarmVille Mooncycle

A new toy has appeared in FarmVille. It’s called the “Mooncycle” and it has a rabbit riding it. It looks identical to a North American Sailor Moon toy called the “Moon Cycle”. What a strange reference…

Mooncycle FarmVille Sailor Moon reference

The rabbit riding the Mooncycle is likely a reference to Sailor Moon’s character Usagi who’s name literally means rabbit. The Moon Cycle never made an appearance in the Sailor Moon anime or manga. It’s existance as a toy always confused fans. Looking at the Toon Makers’ Sailor Moon pilot we can see some similarities between the design of the Moon Cycle and some of the vehicles used in that show such as Sailor Moon’s Sky Flyer.

Sailor Moon and Luna on her Sky Flyer

This appears to be a decoration and as I understand it this toy will only be available for a limited time. Looks like you can only buy it with FarmVille money meaning you need to spend real money to get it, it’s not something you buy with in game currency. Although I don’t play FarmVille someone did make a farm on my account so here’s my farm showing the item for sale for 7 FVs:

Continue reading

Sailor Moon reference in Myung Wol the Spy

Sailor Moon reference in Myung Wol the Spy episode 7

Here’s a somewhat old Sailor Moon sighting from a Korean drama series Myung Wol the Spy. In episode 7 of the series which first aired a bit over a year ago on August 1st 2011, the main male protaganist is trying to get a woman off his mind. In doing so he is watching TV and her image keeps coming up as he flips through the channels. At one point he lands on Sailor Moon as her first season transformation sequence is happening with her face replaced by that of Han Ye Seul who plays the titular character Han Myung Wol.

The following clip has been cued up to the scene in question:

Sailor Moon appears at 9 minutes and 13 seconds.

Thanks to rosepetals from the Sailor Moon forums for spotting this one.

Is My Little Pony’s Crystal Empire inspired by Sailor Moon’s Crystal Tokyo?

Sailor Moon - Chibiusa overlooking Crystal Tokyo - My Little Pony - Arriving at the Crystal Empire

If you’re a fan of My Little Pony be sure to check out our sister site The Ponyville Gazette on which this article was also posted.

This past Saturday was the season premiere of season 3 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The story of this first episode centred around a location called The Crystal Empire. A while back when clips of this episode first appeared online someone made this image suggesting a link. While I certainly believe there are visual similarities there I think that now that the full episode has aired we can look at them objectively and see just what does and doesn’t add up.

Sailor Moon's Crystal Tokyo - My Little Pony's The Crystal Empire

The similarity in the image above is hard to ignore. These are both cities made of crystal with one large tower in the middle. The Crystal Empire has a road formation made of stars. Crystal Tokyo does not but from this angle we see a diagonal road leading to the tower which makes the two cities seem similar. The structure of the two cities is somewhat similar with the way other buildings are spread out with some grassy areas, but this is not atypical of any city. It should be noted that a view of Crystal Tokyo during the day is somewhat rare. More often than not we saw Crystal Tokyo during a perpetual night as it was all but completely destroyed and occupied by the Black Moon Clan.

Continue reading

Why is Sailor Moon on this Russian book cover?

Andrei Belyanin's "The Little Sister From Hell" book cover featuring Sailor Moon

Oh the things that can be found in the recesses of the Internet. I stumbled upon this thing today as it was shared with me by my friend Dave who in turn got it from his friend Shouri. This isn’t photoshopped, this is a real Russian book in which Sailor Moon appears to be beating up an Aztec man. The art is a bit all over the place as Sailor Moon’s costume seems more in line with what she wears in the first season but a lot of the details don’t fit. There is a heart on her tiara, which is similar to what Sailor Chibi Chibi has. Her boots boots look different, she has shorter hair and her weapon looks like the Kaleido Moon Scope despite the fact that this form of Sailor Moon should only have the Moon Stick. Cycyn from the Sailor Moon Obsession Blog also noticed the character’s resemblance to Angelina Jolie, which fits the time frame of the book’s release.

The Little Sister from Hell title page featuring Tuxedo Mask

After a little research I discovered this 2001 book is “The Little Sister from Hell” by Andrei Belyanin, a Russian author. The book is the second in a series “My Wife is a Witch” in which a poet marries a librarian who turns out to be a witch! A thorough overview of the book can be found at it’s Russian Wikipedia page (English translation).

Continue reading