The English version of Sailor Moon Crystal Act 5, Makoto – Sailor Jupiter, is now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 5 - Makoto Kino

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal is now available in English on Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get Act 5, Makoto – Sailor Jupiter. Makoto Kino, Sailor Jupiter, is voiced by Amanda Celine Miller who also provided her voice for Viz’s new dub of the original Sailor Moon anime. You can follow her on Twitter at @amanda_celine.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 5 - Yumiko and Usagi in wedding dresses

Fans of the original anime who are new to Sailor Moon Crystal will find resemblences to two episodes of that series. The first is episode 25, Jupiter – the Powerful Girl in Love, which introduces us to Sailor Jupiter but generally doesn’t have much in common, instead introducing us to the concept of the Rainbow Crystals and “Game Machine Joe”. The other is episode 16, A Girl’s Dream: Usagi Becomes a Bride, which is all about wedding dresses. These are similarities to the original manga, to which Sailor Moon Crystal is very faithful, which the original anime was itself based on. We can see just how fast the story is progressing with Makoto being introduced so early, but keep in mind this season will only have 13 episodes in total.

Sailor Moon episode 16 - Usagi getting nasty with Rei

Next week is Act 6, Tuxedo Mask, in which we will see Mamoru with his shirt off.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 5 - Makoto - Sailor Jupiter

Watch the English dubbed version of Sailor Moon Crystal Act 5, Makoto – Sailor Jupiter, this Friday December 11th at 9pm Eastern Time

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 5 - Makoto and her sempai

The latest episode of Sailor Moon Crystal will be released in English this Friday at 9pm Eastern Time, 6pm Pacific Time, on Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get Act 5, Makoto – Sailor Jupiter, which introduces us to yet another Sailor Guardian. Makoto Kino is a new student at school and her and Usagi become instant friends. The episode focuses on a Bridal Boutique which is at the center of the Dark Kingdom’s plot. Fans will see an obvious similarity to Sailor Jupiter’s first appearance in the original anime in episode 25, Jupiter – the Powerful Girl in Love, but also to episode 16, A Girl’s Dream: Usagi Becomes a Bride, which centers around a wedding dress contest. This is a bit backwards of course. This episode of Sailor Moon Crystal is based on the equivalent chapter of the manga, as all episodes are. The original anime is more loosely based on the manga which accounts for these similarities.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 5 - Flower Hurricane

The English voice of Makoto Kino is provided by Amanda C. Miller who also voiced her in the new English dub of the original Sailor Moon anime. You can follow her on Twitter at @amanda_celine. Let us know what you think of her voice!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 5 - Makoto - Sailor Jupiter

Edit: The title originally said Act 4, though the content reference Act 5, which is the actual episode we are getting this week. This was a copy/paste error. It has been corrected.

The English version of Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4, Masquerade Dance Party, is available now on Hulu

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4 - Tuxedo Mask kissing Sailor Moon without consent

The latest English dubbed episode of Sailor Moon Crystal has been added to Hulu and Neon Alley. This week we get Act 4, Masquerade Dance Party. The Kingdom of D has a very impressive gem and everyone, Tuxedo Mask, the Sailor Guardians, the Dark Kingdom, wants to know if it’s the Silver Crystal so they all crash the party and check it out! This version of the dub has decided to refer to Princess D as “The Princess of D”, though she is also called Princess D in the episode. The Japanese reference of the name Princess D was likely a reference to Princess Diana, often called Princess Di, who was popular in the media in the early 90s. As her death in 1997 was over 13 years ago the reference is less relevant and so no adapting it certainly makes sense. The original Sailor Moon anime referred to her as Princess Dia, a mix between Princess Di and Princess Diana. The original English dub named her Princess Diamond.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4 - Princess D

This version of the episode features updated animation used in the Japanese Blu-Ray and DVD home video release. I had mixed feelings about this episode when it first streamed and my feelings haven’t really changed. The big moment in this week’s episode is when Tuxedo Mask kisses and unconscious, somewhat drunk, Usagi. This isn’t cool! A sleeping person can’t consent, even when you have an existing relationship in a past life. That excuse sounds absurd here, though we must consider that within the reality of the Sailor Moon mythos, this past life did exist so there some precedent for this kiss. There was a similar scene in episode 22 of the original Sailor Moon anime, Romance Under the Moon: Usagi’s First Kiss, but in the old English dub the dialogue was changed so that it was insinuated this was a dream. Certainly kissing in a dream is hardly the same kind of violation as the rape kiss featured in this episode.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4 - Masquerade Dance Party

New episodes are released every Friday evening at 9pm Eastern Time, 6pm Pacific Time. Next week is Act 5, Makoto – Sailor Jupiter, we will be introduced to Makoto Kino.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 5 - Usagi stealing Makoto's food

Watch the English dubbed version of Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4, Masquerade Dance Party, this Friday December 4th at 9pm Eastern Time

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4 - Tuxedo Mask kissing Sailor Moon without consent

As with every week we will be getting the next English dubbed episode of Sailor Moon Crystal this Friday at about 9pm Eastern Time, 6pm Pacific Time. This week Act 4, Masquerade Dance Party, is added to Hulu and Neon Alley. Usagi abuses of her super powers to crash a posh dance party and has a romantic time with Tuxedo Mask who is also investigating the D Kingdom’s prized jewel. Fans of Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask’s relationship will be happy to see what this episode has in store.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4 - Princess D

Fans may note similarities between this story and episode 22 of the original Sailor Moon anime, which was based on Act 4 of the manga. Once again we can see how much faster a pace Sailor Moon Crystal is taking as it goes through the 13 Act Dark Kingdom story arc which corresponds to Sailor Moon’s 46 episode first season.

Sailor Moon episode 22 - Naru attacking Princess Diamond

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4 - Masquerade Dance Party

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 4 - Dip

Watch Act 1 and 2 of the English dub of Sailor Moon Crystal on Hulu now

Sailor Moon Crystal English Title Screen

Sailor Moon fans who have been holding out for the English version can finally watch the new Sailor Moon anime. The first two episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal are now available to watch on Hulu and Neon Alley. We also have some news about the home video release. The Dark Kingdom story arc, which includes Acts 1 through 13, will be released on DVD, Blu-Ray and Limited Edition Blu-Ray February 9th. The three versions are available to pre-order on Amazon. The DVD will be $44.82, the DVD and Blu-Ray combo pack will be $69.99 and the limited edition combo pack will be $79.98.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.1 Usagi - Sailor Moon - Usagi and Luna

For many fans this may be the first time they watch this series. Act 1, Usagi – Sailor Moon, is the first episode of the series based on the first act of the Sailor Moon manga. In it young Usagi meets Luna who lets her transform into Sailor Moon. Act 2, Ami – Sailor Mercury, wastes no time in introducing us to the second Sailor Guardian the genius girl Ami. Long time fans may note strong similarities between Sailor Moon Crystal’s first two acts and the original anime episodes 1 “The Crybaby: Usagi’s Beautiful Transformation” and 8 “The Girl Genius Is a Monster: The Brainwashing Cram School of Horror”, but this is just because of similarities to the manga. The original anime series told the story at a much slower pace and quickly deviated from the manga so fans will be surprised to see just how much things change along the way with this story. Sailor Moon Crystal was a very faithful manga adaptation, so this is a great way to appreciate the original story. Next week will be Act 3, Rei – Sailor Mars, which again moves the story along quickly by introducing yet another Sailor Guardian. This gives a good indication of the faster pace Sailor Moon Crystal is taking.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.2 Ami - Sailor Mercury - Sailor Mercury

For those fans living in Canada, or elsewhere who can’t view the region restricted content on Hulu, I would suggest using some sort of proxy to view the content. There are many options to do this, some of which you will need to pay for, but a free option is Hola.org.

Support the site by preordering Sailor Moon Crystal on DVD or Blu-Ray using the links below.

Watch the first two episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal in English this Friday November 20th during Moonlight Party 5

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.1 Usagi - Sailor Moon - Sailor Moon

As we previously mentioned, the English dubbed version of Sailor Moon Crystal will start being released this Friday, with a new episode being released every Friday after this. These can be streamed online on Hulu and Neon Alley. To mark this event Viz will be holding Moonlight Party 5, at 6pm Pacific Time, 9pm Eastern Time, this Friday. This event will stream on YouTube. The episodes themselves are not part of the stream, which does not suffer from the same region specific problems that Hulu does. As always there will be contests where you can win prizes. You can watch the event in the embedded video below.

To learn more about Moonlight Party 5 check out the Facebook Page for the event.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.2 Ami - Sailor Mercury - Ami and Luna

The English dub of Sailor Moon Crystal will begin November 20th with new episodes every Friday

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.1 Usagi - Sailor Moon - Usagi and Luna

Great news for fans who have been waiting to see Sailor Moon Crystal in English! The anime schedule for Viz Media has been updated with the first two episodes of the English dub of Sailor Moon Crystal beginning Friday November 20th. The 3rd episode will be available on Friday November 27th with new episodes being available every Friday. New episodes can be streamed for free on Hulu and Neon Alley in the United States.

Hulu

If you live in Canada, or in another country in which these services are not offered, you’re out of luck. There are of course ways to make it appear as if you are accessing these sites from another country. A free option is hola.org though there are others.

As we have mentioned before the cast for the English dub of Sailor Moon Crystal will be the same as that of Viz’s new English dub of the original Sailor Moon anime. Chances are if you liked that dub you will like this one too.

Will you be watching the English version of Sailor Moon Crystal? Have you been holding off watching it until this version is out? This is also a great option for children who are too young to follow subtitles.

TOEI Animation Europe states that new episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal will air on Japanese TV before being streamed online

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 133 - Chibiusa is an old lonely cat lady watching Sailor Moon

New episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal will be airing on Japanese TV on Tokyo MX in 2016. While the first two story arcs, which comprised the first 26 episodes, first appeared online simultaneously worldwide on streaming services, this doesn’t appear to be what will be happening with the next batch of episodes according to TOEI Animation Europe. The announcement, posted on their web site on Tuesday, is pretty straightforward and included below:

TUESDAY 3RD NOVEMBER 2015

Sailor Moon Crystal, the reboot of the Sailor Moon series from the 90’s, continues with a third season recently announced in Japan! While the 26 first episodes were aired online on Niko Niko, the new season will be broadcast on TV Tokyo MX in 2016.

In Europe, the two first seasons (26×26’) of Sailor Moon Crystal are on air in Portugal (Biggs) and in France (Canal J).

The series was recently highlighted in France during the Kidexpo event where photo sessions were organized with Sailor Moon

This lacks detail about if and when a streaming version will be available. This does not exclude the possibility of a simultaneous streaming version being online at the same time or immediately following the broadcast. It’s also possible that a version will be online some short time following the broadcast. If there is a streaming version, we also don’t know if it will continue to be on Niconico, Hulu and Crunchyroll as the rest of the series has been to date. When we learn any of these details we will be sure to share them.

It is important to note TOEI Animation Europe’s poor track record in breaking news about Sailor Moon Crystal. Earlier this year many claimed they had confirmed new episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal, which we later learned was not the case and was actually a problem in confusion and mistralation on their part and that of fans. I would note that I was originally skeptical of this announcement, assuming that this was a poor translation which turned out to be completely correct. In this case, mistranslation doesn’t seem to be likely to account for what we’re seeing here, though TOEI Animation Europe’s track record should be considered. We will be more confident in this news when something is announced on the official Sailor Moon site.

Usagi watching TV

Source: TOEI Animation Europe (English, French)

Sailor Moon Crystal’s English dub is coming to Hulu in November and Blu-Ray in 2016 plus the English voices for the Witches 5 have been announced

Sailor Moon Crystal English dub coming in November

This past weekend Viz Media held their Sailor Moon Panel at New York Comic Con. We got a lot of news about Sailor Moon Crystal. First and most importantly, the dub of Sailor Moon Crystal will be coming to Hulu and Viz.com next month, some time in November. We previously learned that the dub cast would be the same cast which was used for Viz’s new dub of the original Sailor Moon anime.

Sailor Moon Crystal English Blu-Ray 2016

We have also learned, via a flyer of their upcoming releases, that Sailor Moon Crystal would be released on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2016. The first release is “Sailor Moon Crystal Set 1: The Dark Kingdom Arc” and will include Sailor Moon Crystal Acts 1 to 13. This Blu-Ray set will no doubt include the original Japanese and English dubbed versions of Sailor Moon Crystal, including optional subtitles. We’ve previously learned that Viz’s version of Sailor Moon Crystal will be the updated version used for the Japanese Blu-Ray releases, which had minor changes to the animation from the original streaming version.

Viz English dub of Sailor Moon voice cast for the Witches 5

In casting news we have also learned the voice actors who will be playing the Witches 5, who are 6 of the new villains from the upcoming dub of Sailor Moon S. Now that the Infinity story arc of Sailor Moon Crystal has been announced in Japan, it stands to reason that this same cast will be around to voice these characters once those episodes are dubbed into English. The new cast includes some returning actors who have done other voices in the series. Erin Fitzgerald will voice Eudial. Kira Buckland will voice Mimete. Laura Post, who previously voiced a kindergarden teacher in Sailor Moon R episode 52 and the monster Amaderasu in episode 53, will voice Tellu. Cricket Brown, who previously voiced Usagi’s teacher Haruna, will play Viluy. Johanna Luis, who previously voiced An the Alien also known as Natsumi in Sailor Moon R, will play both Cyprine and Ptilol who somehow count as one of the Witches 5.

Sailor Moon S episode 112 - Mimete and Cyprine of the Witches 5

Source: @TheMatthewPaul on Twitter, @sailor_moon_na on Twitter.

Sailor Moon Crystal Deluxe Limited Edition Blu-Ray vol. 12 Review

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray Vol. 12 - Cover

The last volume of Sailor Moon Crystal was released on Blu-Ray last month, on September 9th. I’ve dragged my feet on this review so much that the next disk, volume 13, is released today in Japan. Volume 12 can be purchased from sites such as Amazon Japan for 5194 yen, about $43 US. The next and final volume can also be ordered from Amazon Japan for 5994 yen, about $50 US. As always this release contains only two episodes, in this case Act 23 and 24, in Japanese only and the cover art included is of Black Lady, Chibiusa’s older and eviler self.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray Vol. 12 - Contents

The charm included with this release is Sailor Moon’s Crystal Star, her transformation broach for this story arc.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray Vol. 12 - Crystal Star Charm

Two episodes are included on this disk. Act 23 – Covert Maneuvers – Wiseman, and Act 24 – Attack – Black Lady. The video quality as always is great. As with other DVD and Blu-Ray releases some minor changes to the animation have taken place since the streaming version. Nothing of significance is included with these particular episodes. Nothing changes any of the scenes in any major way. The biggest change with Act 24 is the colour and brightness for certain scenes. As always you can check out Crystal Comparisons for screenshots which show the changes for any particular episode, including Acts 23 and 24.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray Vol. 12 - Special booklet - Pages 14 and 15 - Character designs

A 20 page full colour booklet is included once again. Unfortunately I am unable to identify the subjects of the first interview. The names are Nozomi Matsuura and Yukiko Kariya. This web site indicates that they work for Bandai, but no other details are given. The second interview is with the voice actors playing the Black Moon Clan. This includes Mamoru Miyano, the voice of Prince Demande, Hiroki Takahashi, the voice of Rubeus, Tsubasa Yonaga, the voice of Saphir, and Houko Kawashima, the voice of Esmeraude. Also included in the booklet are the usual episode summaries for Act 23 and 24, character designs for Black Lady, Prince Demande and Saphir, backgrounds and screenshots from the episodes and a page for Fumio Osano, Osabu.

These episodes include an audio commentary featuring cast and crew from the show. This includes Munehisa Sakai, director of the first 26 episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal, Hisako 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.

Should you get this? Should you pay over $50 to buy and ship this set with only two episodes in a language you can’t speak when an English and Japanese version will eventually be released for much less and you can watch the series for free online in the mean time? That’s your call!

Keep reading for more images of this set’s packaging including images of all pages of the included special booklet.

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