Rumour: Is Netflix dubbing the Sailor Moon Eternal films?

Posted on November 29, 2020 by Adam

A listing of an actor’s union web site suggests that Netflix may be dubbing the upcoming Sailor Moon Eternal films, which will be hitting theatres in Japan January 8th and February 11th. If this information really means that Netflix will be dubbing these films, it seems likely that they will be streamed on Netflix rather than released in theatres. So what’s all this about?

An entry for “Astro Girl: (Aka: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie)” can be found on the SAG-AFTRA web site. The entry further details that this is a “Netflix Dubbing Agreement”. What is SAG-AFTRA? This is the web site for the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. This is the primary labour union for actors, including voice actors, in the United States. As such this project is being listed because there are union actors who are working on the project.

I will not claim to be an expert on what’s listed in this particular database. I do not know if all information listed on this site is definitive and final confirmation of the parties affiliated with those works. There’s little doubt that “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie” is a reference to the films Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 and Part 2. It’s worth noting that this entry only lists one film and is dated 2019, back when we didn’t actually know that the film would be broken up into two parts. If this information is outdated, does it still represent the current state of the project?

The production company on this listing is “The Best Entertainment, LLC”. A search for other shows by this company on the SAG-AFTRA site turns up an extensive list of foreign language animated and live action series many of which are currently streaming on Netflix.

The name “Astro Girl” is certainly odd. Is this a code name for the project? If so, why use Sailor Moon Eternal as the AKA? It’s possible that for reasons of secrecy the project was referred to as Astro Girl while recording so that no everyone knew what it was. I’m reminded of the Toon Makers’ Sailor Moon series which was referred to internally as Project “Y”. The name Astro Girl does vaguely fit the idea of Sailor Moon, who is a girl who is from space. It happens to also be the English name of Astro Boy’s sister.

What are the implications of this? If Netflix is dubbing the films, rather than Viz Media who had dubbed the Sailor Moon Crystal series to date, would we be seeing the same voice cast returning? Earlier today Stephanie Sheh, who plays Usagi in the Viz dub of Sailor Moon Crystal, shared a photo of herself in a Sailor Moon shirt while recording “pickups” for an unspecified series. This could simply be a coincidence!

If Netflix is in fact dubbing these films, does that means that it will absolutely play on Netflix? A series made or dubbed by Netflix is generally something which will likely be released on Netflix. Such films are usually not released in theatres in any significant capacity, though a home video release is not unheard of. Many Netflix series and Netflix dubbed anime series and films have been released on DVD and Blu-Ray after being released to the streaming service.

I present this information to you with all of the relevant context I’m aware of. I would welcome any additional information or insight anyone may have. Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts. At this point I would take this information with a grain of salt. SAG-AFTRA is a legitimate organization which has many similar Netflix projects listed, though we have not received official confirmation of this information. I am not an industry expert and don’t know if projects are only listed on the SAG-AFTRA site if they are confirmed. I am also unsure of whether or not Viz Media or what other voice acting companies do or don’t use union actors. There was speculation that when Barbara Goodson used the alias Janis Carol in Sailor Moon SuperS that this may have been related to non union work, but I never did learn of the specific reason for this credit.

What do you think? In light of the ongoing pandemic are you pleased at the prospect of the Sailor Moon Eternal films being released directly to a streaming service or would you rather see them in theatres? Would you still pick up a physical copy of these films if they are released to stream first?

Source: JRPictures on Twitter

New Sailor Moon Eternal stills from Lawson include another look at the Amazoness Quartet!

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Adam

With the January 8th release of first Sailor Moon Eternal film fast approaching we have some new stills which were released as part of another campaign by Lawson convenience stores in Japan. These stills can be purchased for a few dollars from Lawson print shops, like some we posted about earlier. As with the last batch the stills released are a mix of things we’ve seen before and some new stuff! The most exciting of the new images is a shot of the Amazoness Quartet, shown above. There are a number of others, which I will post below.

Super Sailor Chibi Moon and Super Sailor Moon during their transformation sequence.

Super Sailor Moon posing.

Super Sailor Chibi Moon posing.

Super Sailor Moon with her Moon Kaleidoscope.

Super Sailor Chibi Moon with her Chibi Moon Kaleidoscope.

Super Sailor Mercury.

Super Sailor Mars.

Super Sailor Jupiter.

Super Sailor Venus.

What do you think of these new stills? Which is your favourite?

Hikari Yono, who voiced Kaolinite in Sailor Moon Crystal, dies at age 46

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Adam

Another sad day for Sailor Moon fans. Voice actress Hikari Yono, who was the voice of Kaolinite in Sailor Moon Crystal died on November 15th at the young age of 46. It was mentioned that she had been dealing with an illness at the time of her death, though specifics were not given. Hikari Yono has appeared in many other anime series over the years.

Source: Anime News Network

Akira Kobodera, Kunzite from the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series, has died at age 43

Posted on November 14, 2020 by Adam

It is with great sadness that I share the news that actor Akira Kobodera died earlier this week at the young age of 43. He is likely best known to Sailor Moon fans as the actor who portrayed Kunzite in the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series. The character in that series was quite different from that in other continuities, as he was at first seen as Shin, a young man with amnesia who didn’t know something sinister inside him, and later as Kunzite deals with conflicted feelings about his past and current life. Akira Kobodera brought wonderful emotion to the character which was a highlight of the series.

Fans may also have seen Akira Kobodera in various Kamen Rider series. He was Kanai in Kamen Rider Blade, Aberu in Kamen Rider Kiva and Doctor Fujita in Kamen Rider OOO.

Source: Anime News Network

Nehelenia will be voiced by Nanao in the Sailor Moon Eternal films

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Adam

At long last the voice of Nehelenia from the upcoming Sailor Moon Eternal films has been revealed! The news, posted on the Sailor Moon Official Site, is that the character will be voiced by popular Japanese actress and model Nanao. The new trailer for the films includes a brief look at Nehelenia however the image is very dark. With minor tweaks to the contrast and brightness of that image we can get a better look at Nehelenia from the upcoming movies!

Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 will be in theatres in Japan starting January 8th. Part 2 will be released shortly afterwards on February 11th. The movies will cover the Dream arc of the Sailor Moon manga which was previously loosely adapted as Sailor Moon SuperS.

What do you think of the choice? Are you a fan of Nanao’s other work?

A new Sailor Moon Eternal trailer and poster have been released!

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Adam

With the first Sailor Moon Eternal movie only a few months away we finally have a new poster and trailer for the film! The poster shows us the Sailor Guardians in their Super forms with Sailor Chibi Moon in the foreground. Check out the new trailer embedded below.

There’s a lot going on in this trailer which gives us a lot of Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako as well as our first glance at Nehelenia! We also have Helios and Pegasus as well as the new Sailor Moon Eternal theme song Moon Color Chainon by Momoiro Clover Z. We can see here that this is an adaptation of the Dream arc of the Sailor Moon manga with many of these scenes looking just like they do in the manga.
Some of the art in this trailer looks quite nice. What do you think of it?

Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 will be released in theatres in Japan on January 8th following shortly afterwards by Part 2 on February 11th. We don’t have any details about an international release of the films yet.

I’ve included a lot of screenshots from the trailer below!

Continue reading →

Sailor Moon Crystal will stop streaming on Hulu on October 26th

Posted on October 13, 2020 by Adam

Sailor Moon Crystal, which has been streaming on Hulu from the very beginning back in 2014, will no longer be on the service as of October 26th. The Fandom Post stated today that the show would only stream on Hulu for another 13 days. The original Sailor Moon anime is still streaming on Hulu and there is no indication that it will be removed from the service.

What could this mean for the future of Sailor Moon Crystal? We can only speculate. Crunchyroll currently also has streaming rights for Sailor Moon Crystal, which is where I always watched the new episodes as they were released, but only Hulu had the rights to the dubbed version of the series. It’s possible that we will see Sailor Moon Crystal move to another streaming platform or even to television, but we have not yet seen any news of this happening. Crunchyroll recently added Sailor Moon R The Movie to its streaming catalogue. They could be looking to add more Sailor Moon content to their service.

Funimation, who are also streaming the Sailor Moon R Movie on their service, could be looking to stream more Sailor Moon content. They have a partnership with Viz Media to bring more of their properties to their platform. Viz distributes the original Sailor Moon anime and Sailor Moon Crystal in North America.

TV rights to Sailor Moon Crystal could be another interesting option. The show was considered for TV before it found a home on streaming platforms. It could certainly find a different audience on television.

Here in Canada both the original Sailor Moon anime and Sailor Moon Crystal stream for free on TubiTV, though that service only has the subtitled versions of those shows. TubiTV also only has the first two seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal. The English version of the original Sailor Moon anime was recently added to Crave.

I’ll reiterate that I can only speculate as to what may happen with the rights to Sailor Moon Crystal once it leaves Hulu. I don’t have any information besides that its license is expiring on the 26th of October. It’s certainly worth keeping an eye open to see if the show pops up elsewhere!

Listen to a clip of “Moon Color Chainon”, the Sailor Moon Eternal theme song by Momoiro Clover Z

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Adam

A preview of the theme song for the upcoming Sailor Moon Eternal films has been posted to the official Sailor Moon site! The song, by Momoiro Clover Z, is “Gesshoku Chainon” which roughly translates to “Moon Color Chainon”. What’s a chainon? Chaînon is a french word meaning a link in a chain. I suppose this is a reference to the Sailor Guardians all being individual links in the chain that is the Sailor Team. You can check out the short clip of the song which features the members of Momoiro Clover Z below. It includes a few seconds of new footage from the upcoming films.

Two different CD and Blu-Ray sets for this song will be released on January 13th 2021. They will each include a different version of the song. The Momoiro Clover Z Edition includes the song performed only by the group Momoiro Clover Z. The Sailor Moon Eternal Edition includes a different version of the song which is performed by not only Momoiro Clover Z but also voice actors from the Sailor Moon Eternal film. The voice actors who will be providing vocals on this version of the song are Kotono Mitsuishi as Sailor Moon, Hisako Kanemoto as Sailor Mercury, Rina Sato as Sailor Mars, Ami Koshimizu as Sailor Jupiter and Shizuka Ito as Sailor Venus. There does not appear to be any version which includes both songs, so fans looking to get both will need to buy both versions.

Exclusive cards are available for those who order from specific retailers with each different retailer including a different card. The Momoiro Clover Z version (Amazon Japan exclusive, regular edition) is 2500 yen which is about $24 US while the Sailor Moon Eternal version (Amazon Japan exclusive, regular edition) is 2200 yen which is about $21 US.

The band Momoiro Clover Z has contributed a lot of music to Sailor Moon Crystal going back to the very beginning. They performed Moon Pride, the original opening theme for the series. Fans may notice that Momoiro Clover Z used to have five members but that this video only includes four. Momoka Ariyasu left the group at the beginning of 2018 and is not featured in this song.

Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 will be in theatres in Japan starting January 8th 2021. It will be followed shortly afterwards by Sailor Moon Eternal Part 2 which will hit theatres on February 11th. The movies are an adaptation of the Dream arc of the Sailor Moon manga which was also adapted as Sailor Moon SuperS in the original 90s anime.

What do you think of the song? Keep reading to see more screenshots from this video.

Continue reading →

New stills from the Sailor Moon Eternal film have been leaked and Rei is wearing Mamoru’s shirt

Posted on September 28, 2020 by Adam

We’ve got yet another early leak of images from the Sailor Moon Eternal films! This time there are three pictures! The first shows Rei, Mamoru, Usagi, Ami, Chibiusa, Makoto and Minako just hanging out. There’s an image of Chibiusa and Usagi sleeping in bed. We also have Helios and Chibiusa in an image which appears to be in a dream.

What’s important about these images? A few things. One might notice that Chibiusa is once again wearing Mamoru’s shirt while sleeping! This scene is right out of the manga as Chibiusa is envious of Usagi’s adult body, something which will have hilarious consequences. It’s not so uncommon for someone to wear Mamoru’s shirt of course as we’ve seen earlier in the series. Both Usagi and Chibiusa wear Mamoru shirts back in Act 19 the morning after it’s heavily insinuated that he and Usagi had sex. Does anyone else have a white man’s dress shirt anywhere in these leaks? Oh that’s right! Rei is wearing what could totally be one of Mamoru’s shirts as part of her lovely outfit. Perhaps Rei also got one of Mamoru’s shirts after spending an intimate night at his place.

Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 will be released in theatres in Japan on January 8th 2021 followed closely by Sailor Moon Eternal Part 2 on February 11th. The movies will follow the Dream arc of the Sailor Moon manga which was adapted loosely as Sailor Moon SuperS in the 90s Sailor Moon anime.

Source: nonameq9 in the comments and @rarararanze on Twitter

Naomi Watanabe has been revealed as the voice of Zirconia in the Sailor Moon Eternal films

Posted on September 11, 2020 by Adam

Following Tuesday’s teaser clip of Zirconia we now know that the voice for that character will be none other than Japanese comedian and actor Naomi Watanabe. A Twitter contest was run asking fans to give their guess as to who the voice actually was and, as we reported earlier this week, many of them were right in guessing that this was actually Naomi Watanabe! She is a big fan of Sailor Moon as you can see by the Super Sailor Moon costume which she is wearing in the photo above.

I had previously mentioned Naomi Watanabe in passing when announcing that she would be in The Promised Neverland live action adaptation along with live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon star Keiko Kitagawa who played Sailor Mars in the series. Earlier this week, on September 7th, Keiko Kitagawa gave birth to a baby girl!

Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 will be released in theatres in Japan on January 8th 2021 with Part 2 coming shortly afterwards on February 11th. We still don’t have any details about a release outside of Japan but we will be sure to share any such information as we get it. What do you think of this casting? Could you tell that it was Naomi Watanabe based on the clip? Which of her previous works have you enjoyed?

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