A new Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical is coming in April of this year

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical - 5th Anniversary

It’s been over five years since the first Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical premiered in Japan and to celebrate a new presentation of the musical is being planned. Since Nogizaka46 is a band with many members, 46 of them to be precise, they can keep doing this for quite a while. The group is also cycling through members since you can’t be old and still be in an idol group in Japan, so there will likely be newer members of the group performing in this version of the musical.

We don’t currently have a ton of details aside from the show starting in April. After the original Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical in the summer of 2018 there was a 2019 version which was more or less the same actual show with different actors. I watched the 2018 music on Blu-ray and watched the streaming version of the 2019 version and don’t recall noticing any differences.
It seems likely we will be getting essentially the same musical this time around.

Are you interesting in checking out this musical again? Will you be in Japan to see it? Ticket sales will first be made available to members of the official Sailor Moon and Nogizaka46 fan clubs.

The Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show has been canceled

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Prism On Ice - Sailor Guardians

After numerous delays over many years the Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show has been canceled. This star studded show was originally planned for the summer of 2020 but was delayed until the summer of 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year the decision to postpone the show until the summer of 2023 was taken but now the show has been canceled for good. Two pieces of art done by Naoko Takeuchi have been released. These would have been used as part of the show’s promotion but with the show now canceled they are being shared to fans.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Prism On Ice - Tuxedo Mask and Princess Serenity

This show would have featured figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva as Sailor Moon as well as a number of other world class figures skaters such as Kurt Browning.

Source: The Sailor Moon Official Site

A box set with six recent musicals is coming to DVD and Blu-ray on November 17th

Sailor Moon La Reconquista Musical DVD - Queen Serenity, Sailor Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Moon

Good news for fans of the Sailor Moon musicals but perhaps not for those living outside of Japan. A set with six of the recent musicals is coming on November 17th though at this time it is only mentioned to be available from the official Sailor Moon fan club as well as the King Records e-SHOP which only ships within Japan. It will also be sold at the Sailor Moon 30th Anniversary Musical festival which is also in Japan. It isn’t clear if it will be available to members of the International Sailor Moon Fan Club or sold at other retailers. It is not currently listed on either Amazon Japan or CD Japan which I’ve used to buy such products from in the past.

Which musicals are included? This set will feature the 2013 musical La Reconquista, the 2014 musical Petite Étrangère, the 2015 musical Un Nouveau Voyage, the 2016 musical Amour Eternal, the 2017 musical Le Mouvement Final and the 2021 musical Princess Kaguya’s Lover. Noteably absent are the Super Live musical which has never been released on home video and the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical which already has two Blu-ray releases.

Why is this something anyone would care about? Aren’t these already on video? They are but unfortunately five of these six musicals were only released on low quality standard definition DVDs. The Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical was already released on Blu-ray. It’s also worth noting that the price is fairly good, by Japanese standards. The MSRP is 17,600 yen which is about $127. This is about double the usual prince of a single musical on Blu-ray. When I first heard of the news I dreaded seeing the price tag expecting something close to the $300 to $500 range. The price seems appealing, assuming people outside of Japan can manage to get a hold of it somehow.

The recent musicals, despite only being released on low quality DVDs, do appear to have been recorded on some higher quality video. The DVDs were widescreen suggesting they weren’t shot with NTSC video cameras but rather converted from a high definition source. There have also been streaming and downloadable versions of the musicals available exclusively in Japan which were in high definition.

These sets have one disc for each musical with a seventh bonus disc. Since most of the DVD and Blu-ray sets for the recent musicals included a second disc for bonus features it seems unlikely all of those features will be included with this set. The musicals are all fairly long and so, unless video quality is sacrificed, it’s not likely that many hours of special features will be included on the same disc alongside the video of the musical performances themselves.

Japanese DVDs are region 2 so be sure your DVD player can handle this is you’re looking to buy the DVD set. Japanese Blu-rays are region A which is the same region as North America. I’ve had no problem watching Japanese Blu-rays on my Canadian purchased PlayStation 3, 4 and 5 machines.

There will be an online event held on August 20th at 7pm, Japan Standard Time, which those who pre-order this set will have access to view.

Will you be picking up this set, assuming you are able to? I would certainly be happy to revisit these great musicals in high definition!

The Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show has been postponed to 2023

Sailor Moon - Prism on Ice - Poster

The Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Prism On Ice event which was originally planned for the summer of 2020 and was more recently going to take place later this year has been delayed for a third time. It is now scheduled for June of 2023. Though it isn’t explained explicitly on the Sailor Moon Official Site it seems likely that this delay is once again due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has seen rising cases in Japan even over the last couple of weeks.

Evgenia Medvedeva returning to Japan

The event, featuring Russian figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva, was originally announced before the pandemic began. The star headed back to Japan early in 2020 to be ready for the event which was ultimately delayed due to the state of the pandemic in 2020, then again in 2021 and now once again in 2022. She is currently back in her home country of Russia. The ongoing Russian war and invasion of Ukraine may be causing complications with the event but there hasn’t been any specific indication of this.

As has been the case in the past those who already have tickets have the option to attend with the specific date when they can attend being dictated by the date on which they originally had tickets. Refunds are also available for those who are unable to attend at the new date and time.

Needless to say this sort of delay poses a particular challenge for any international fans who had made plans to attend. Hopefully this delay was announced early enough that no one is going be stuck with a plane ticket and hotel reservation planned around an ice show which isn’t currently scheduled!

Are you excited for this ice show? Let’s hope a home video release happens after this event is finally held.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical review

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Kakeru and Luna

The latest Sailor Moon musical, Princess Kaguya’s Lover, is now available to stream with English subtitles from Japan 2.5D Stage Play World. Tickets allow unlimited streaming for a two week period. I chose December 10th to the 23rd and so I had at long last had a chance to watch this musical a few weeks ago. I’ll share my thoughts in this post.

This musical is a pretty faithful adaptation of the Princess Kaguya’s Lover side story from the Sailor Moon manga. This story had previously been adapted as Sailor Moon S: The Movie so fans of the film will immediately recognize the story of Luna falling in love with a human Kakeru as his lover Himeko travels to space all while the evil Princess Snow Kaguya threatens the Earth! As this musical is a more faithful adaptation than even the S movie, which was itself fairly faithful, there will still be a lot of similarity between the musical and that film.

The musical starts out with a brief overview of the early events of the manga, which is not something included in the manga story it is based on. By the end of this we are pretty much where the manga is at the start of The Lover of Princess Kaguya though Diana is strangely absent, because her existence would be inconvenient to the story. Diana also doesn’t exist yet in the Sailor Moon S film adaptation. I suppose technically Diana isn’t born yet in any version of this story but in the manga we are introduced to her in 30th century Crystal Tokyo and she is in this time due to time travel. She only arrives in the 20th century during the Sailor Moon SuperS season of the original Sailor Moon anime.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - A birthday party

We have a shared birthday party taking place which really situates the story in time more than any other. In the musical it is a shared birthday between Minako, Makoto and Setsuna. Minako’s birthday is October 23rd, Makoto’s birthday is December 5th and Setsuna’s birthday is between the two on October 29th. In the manga Setsuna is not included in the celebration, though she is present at the party. It’s okay though as she’s used to being ignored after having spent centuries pining after King Endymion. There’s quite a gap between Minako and Makoto’s birthdays but it’s not uncommon for groups of friends to get together and have a shared birthday party. It’s likely closer to Makoto’s birthday than Minako’s at this point since the events of the musical are leading up to the climax on December 24th, Christmas Eve. Yes, this is a Christmas musical!

An interesting thing which is mentioned in the liner notes for the Sailor Moon Eternal Edition manga is that voice actors Rika Fukami and Emi Shinohara share a birthday on August 8th. It’s possible that the party from the manga was inspired by a real live shared birthday party between those actors who’s birthdays are actually much closer than those of the characters they voice.

One of the main differences between this musical and the manga story it’s based on is the almost complete lack of Artemis. In scenes where he would actually be present in the manga he is instead only referenced. We will see him at the end of the musical… sort of.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Luna describes her name to Kakeru

The main plot of the musical centers around a comet that is going to hit the earth. At first everything seems fine because the comet just sort of died out. How exactly does this work? A massive object in space can’t just disappear. It’s said that it went close to the sun and burnt out. Was it on its way to the earth or not? The whole thing is very odd. The idea of an asteroid crashing into the earth isn’t unreasonable. The musical makes reference to the comet being roughly the size of the one that wiped out the dinosaurs and another like that would of course be very bad. So why a comet and not an asteroid? Well comets go around and around over and over. Asteroids do too, but that’s a bit what comets are known for since we are able to witness them due to the gas which trails behind them, often caused by water ice which evaporates when exposed to sun light. Since Princess Snow Kaguya, the musical’s villain, is said to be returning after 4.5 billion years, roughly the age of the earth, it seems this is meant to be a return equivalent to seeing a comet again.

It’s curious that since watching this musical a very popular Netflix film, Don’t Look Up, similarly features a comet which threatens to destroy the Earth. I have not seen the film and don’t intend to but from what I understand from this great review of the film, Sailor Moon sadly does not make an appearance.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Luna

This musical is all about Luna. After being harassed by the same group of kids or a similar group of kids to those who put a band aid on her in the first manga story she has the exact same thing done to her again. This disorients her and blocks her magic, yet again, which causes her to avoid an accident and end up in the arms of titular character Kakeru, the Lover of Princess Kaguya. Luna falls in love with Kakeru! Sadly Kakeru loves Himeko and while it seems like he may be returning Luna’s affection she’s sort of a Seiya to Kakeru’s Usagi while Himeko is his Mamoru. The difference being that Luna gets to kiss Kakeru.

Haneda Airport to Kennedy Space Center

There’s this very odd thing in the story where we act like going from Tokyo, Japan, to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is really not a big deal. It’s treated as if it was hopping on a train over to the next city. Knowing that Naoko Takeuchi was inspired to write this story after a trip to Cape Canaveral makes one wonder if she forgot having flown the 16 or so hours it takes to cross the Pacific Ocean and the entire width of the United States of America. Himeko travels there for work. Kakeru on a whim takes a couple of days off to join her. Once he falls ill Himeko brings him back to Tokyo and eventually flies back to the United States. Sounds expensive! Meanwhile Luna sneaks onto two of these flights.

Things get real which means that Usagi and Luna have to explain to Himeko what’s going on. They mention that Princess Snow Kaguya, the fairly lackluster villain of the musical, comes from space. She’s shocked, asking if that makes her an alien? Lady, the talking cat is also technically an alien and Usagi is sort of an alien so maybe show a bit of respect and as a scientist, have an open mind?

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Princess Snow Kaguya

It’s repeatedly mentioned that Princess Snow Kaguya was around 4.5 billion years earlier. This date closely coincides with the age of the Earth. As she’s defeated she mentions having seen a light, like that from the silver crystal, 4.5 billion years ago. Does that suggest that there was a Sailor Moon type hero wielding the silver crystal or something like it when the earth was created? Not super clear.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Himeko the astronaut

So there’s a big fight and the bad lady is defeated along with a nice song. This means luckily that the plan to launch a spaceship to destroy the comet in a very Armageddon/Deep Impact sort of way isn’t needed anymore. After countless delays to launching due to unpleasant weather and radiation in space along with the main reason for the mission now disappearing do they scrap it? Well no. They instead completely change the goal of the flight and proceed anyway! They aren’t going to destroy the comet but instead they’ll just go on with their newly added crew member to the Moon Base. Wait there’s a Moon Base now? Is it anywhere close to the ruins of Silver Millennium? Does the space ship even have the right amount of fuel for this completely different mission? They don’t need to reprogram a bunch of flight paths? Is the Moon, where they didn’t actually plan on landing earlier that day, even in the optimal place to travel there at this time of the month? So very odd.

As the Silver Crystal was used to save the day it’s suggested it can simply be used to grant a wish and make Luna human. Since when is that an option? The Crystal seems to be a pretty versatile tool which can be used as a sort of energy weapon, to heal people on a massive scale, to purify or cleanse evil. It seems it’s also able to just sort of make wishes come true as well. In this case it’s “make the cat human for a while” which is actually making Luna turn into a human form which she already had which is in itself a bit odd. Is the Silver Crystal like the Dragonballs?

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Human Luna and Kakeru

Human Luna shows up and … it’s a totally different actress. Human Luna is the same actress who played the shadow Luna who was showing up in certain scenes. What is odd is that the actress who plays Cat Luna is quite young but the actress playing Human Luna is an adult. This gives an odd impression of Luna’s age. I suppose that the intention in casting a younger actress as Cat Luna was a practical one because a cat happens to be smaller than a person but it makes Luna seem like she’s actually a younger woman and then when Human Luna shows up it seems that the idea here is that this is actually reflecting Luna’s actual age. Her feelings for Kakeru are a woman’s feelings and not those of a teenage girl. As a fan of Sailor Moon since watching the old dub in the 90s it’s always hard for me to think of Luna as anything but the older sounding lady from that dub, even if I understand that the canon seems to instead suggest that Luna is somewhere between Usagi’s age, and therefore a peer of hers, or a slightly older young adult, to match the physical appearance of Human Luna in the manga and S movie. The live action series further confuses this with Luna becoming a very young Sailor Luna, but that’s a whole other story.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Himeko is pregnant

We learn that Himeko is pregnant which is something that is very much not in the S movie but it is in the manga. It’s a bit irresponsible to go into space with an unborn child in your womb as it’s being exposed to higher levels of radiation. It is specifically mentioned that there’s a geomagnetic blizzard which I think could be dangerous for the baby once Himeko no longer has the protection which the Earth’s magnetic field gives the inhabitants of the planet while they aren’t in space.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Artemis

Finally Artemis shows up and what a joke this is! He’s basically a very cheap little projected image on the wall. He doesn’t talk. He doesn’t look anything like Luna. He’s totally shafted in this musical!

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Human Luna kisses Kakeru

I did enjoy the musical quite a bit, though it’s far from my favourite of the Sailor Moon musicals. I was never a particularly big fan of the Sailor Moon S movie. It’s good enough but as the movies go it’s my third favourite out of the three. This is the same story and though the manga lacks some of what makes the S Movie a bit weak, it’s still not my favourite story. I understand and appreciate that a lot of people have a special affection for the S movie, consider it to be the better film and also have a great fondness for this manga story. Those fans should be quite pleased with this musical as it’s a very faithful adaptation. Sailor Moon Crystal has given us an accurate anime adaptation of the manga and this musical does a great job of doing the same with the Princess Kaguya’s Lover side story. If only we could get the rest of the side stories and Sailor V adapted somehow!

Bottom line is that you should absolutely support this streaming event. If you haven’t already signed up you can continue to do so until February 3rd. The cost is reasonable and the musical is well worth watching. If you’re a person who’s watched musicals over the years by downloading fansubs you really should be supporting this official release if you have the means to do so. This will show that there’s interest in Sailor Moon musicals and make it more likely that more get released outside of Japan in the future.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Sailor Moon

A final thought on the end of the musical where the cast speak to the audience. A lot of them mentioned how happy they were that this musical was actually able to be performed and that they were lucky that everyone stayed healthy throughout. This serves as an interesting reminder of how severe the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was when this musical took place in Tokyo in September of 2021. Even when I watched this musical in mid December things were going fairly well, pandemic wise, where I live and then in the short weeks since the situation has very quickly become more serious and strict lockdowns are in place in my home province. This musical was delayed a whole year and, like with the Tokyo Olympics, almost didn’t happen. We shall see what the future may bring with regards to a new musical in 2022. I’m hoping for the best but also that if we get a new musical that it’s because it’s safe to do so and that fans are able to travel to Japan to see it without any serious health risks.

Let us know what you thought of the musical in the comments!

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Minako and Rei - REINAKO IS CANON

The Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical will be available to stream with English subtitles starting December 10th

Musical Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon - Princess Kaguya's Lover Poster

Great news for Sailor Moon fans who read English! If you’re reading this site “That means you”! The most recent Sailor Moon musical, Princess Kaguya’s Lover, will soon be streaming for international audiences with English subtitles by Japan 2.5D Stage Play World! Fans who missed seeing the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical earlier this year will also have a chance to stream that musical. This will take place between December 10th and February 3rd with a $20 ticket (plus a $2 service fee) allowing access to stream the new musical for a period of up to two weeks. While previously this type of event was streamed live with the option to watch for 24 hours afterwards, this new event should be better for those hoping to watch the stream more than once.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The Lover of Princess Kaguya musical

The full name of the musical being used for this event is “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Musical -Kaguya Hime’s Beloved-” where “Kaguya Hime” means simply “Princess Kaguya”. Japan 2.5D Stage Play World will also be streaming the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical, previously streamed on the service in August of this year, two Naruto musicals and a My Hero Academia musical. The streams will be available for periods of two weeks. Whenever someone buys a ticket during this period they will only have access to it for the remainder of that period. If you buy your ticket ahead of time you’ll have it for the whole period but if you buy it late you may only have it for a day or two so plan ahead. The two week periods are as follows:

1st: December 10 (Fri) – December 23 (Thu)
2nd: December 24 (Fri) – January 6 (Thu)
3rd: January 7 (Fri) – January 20 (Thu)
4th: January 21 (Fri) – February 3 (Thu)
All in Japan Standard Time

You can buy your tickets now. I’ve already gotten mine for the first period.

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon 2019 musical poster

Having streamed the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical in August I have some idea of how this system will work. The stream is supported through a web browser on a computer or mobile device so I personally connected my laptop to my TV via HDMI though watching directly on a smaller screen is also an option. For the last event I watched it live at the specific advertised time as it would only be available to rewatch after the musical was completed. For this new event it seems like you should be able to stream it any time during that two week period.

Shut Up and Take My Money

Fans of the Sailor Moon musicals who would like to see more events like this should certainly consider getting tickets for this event. This would surely encourage Japan 2.5D Stage Play World to do similar events in the future. Fans have been able to watch earlier musicals, which never had any release outside of Japan, through fan subs. This hasn’t been an option for the last few musicals for a number of reasons. The case for downloading something which would never be released domestically, even if technically illegal, is something fans have justified in the past. This argument is no longer valid as we now have a company which is making these available to us. Those of us with the means to do so now have a way to support this official release. Tickets aren’t cheap for what is essentially a digital rental but it’s certainly reasonable considering this is a fairly niche interest and the alternatives are flying to Japan to see the musical or importing a Japanese home video release which has no English subtitles for a lot more money!

Tuxedo Mask dressed as Santa Claus - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - Sailor Moon S The Movie

Will you be streaming this musical? If so, what period will you be getting tickets for? It is certainly fitting that fans will have the option to watch this musical during the Christmas season!

Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical news: DVD and Blu-ray details, international streaming announced and music track previews

Musical Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon - Princess Kaguya's Lover Poster

The Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical begins performances in Japan on Friday September 3rd. This musical has been delayed due to the pandemic but is finally being held with audiences at 50% capacity. There’s been a lot of news about the musical recently so I’ll put the most important stuff in this post.

It was announced that the musical will be streamed not only in Japan but internationally as well! This is great news as the musicals have only started to become accessible outside of Japan recently. The Japanese streams will start along with the first showings as early as September 3rd for a hefty price of 3700 yen, about $34 US. There will be a 20% discount for those who attend the show. In contrast the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical which was streaming this past week only cost $15 US to stream! We don’t have details about the international streaming option at this time. It seems unlikely this will be available on September 3rd along with the Japanese stream. We only know that the distribution will be done through Globe Coding. Note that this is the same service which was used for the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon 2019 musical stream. I purchased a ticket for that and watched it and did not have any issues! I’m expecting that since the musical is streaming outside of Japan that it will have subtitles for fans to watch along with.

We’ve also gotten details about the home video release of the musical. It will be released on both DVD and Blu-ray on January 19th 2022. Preorders will start on September 3rd, along with the first showing of the musical. It won’t be cheap! The DVD will sell for 8,500 yen, about $77 UD, while the Blu-ray will cost 9,500 yen, about $87 US. This will include a disc with the musical itself and a second disc with bonus features. This is only the second musical we get on Blu-ray after the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical. After years of really low quality DVDs for the recent musicals I’m happy that these are finally coming out on Blu-ray, even if the price tag is a bit higher!

Finally we’ve gotten previews of some of the songs from the musical. This includes a very short version on YouTube as well as longer tracks on a number of streaming services. A collection of those links can be found on linkfire. The two tracks are You’re My Universe and this musical’s version of Moonlight Legend, the original theme song for the Sailor Moon anime. Both songs are performed by the actresses playing the Sailor Team in the musical. You can watch the shorter versions of these songs on YouTube below.

The Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical is based on the manga chapter story which was the inspiration for Sailor Moon S: The Movie. The musical will focus heavily on Luna who falls in love with Kakeru and ultimately turns into human Luna. Are any of you expecting to see this one live or do you plan on streaming it or importing the home video release?

The Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical will be available to stream with English subtitles August 20th to the 26th

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon 2019 musical poster

A Sailor Moon musical will finally be made available to stream legally with English subtitles. The 2019 Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical will be available to stream from August 20th to August 26th from Japan 2.5D Stage Play World. The stream will be available as of 8pm on the date of purchase and for 24 hours afterwards for the cost of $15. This is certainly less expensive than importing a DVD or Blu-Ray or buying an in person ticket, let alone the flight and accommodations while in Tokyo! This of course also costs more than downloading a fansubbed version of a musical but I always encourage supporting the Sailor Moon properties you enjoy by purchasing available legitimate releases. Although there are fansubs available for many Sailor Moon musicals, there is non for the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical. If you’ve been downloading musical fansubs for years using the excuse that there was no legal domestic way to watch them, now is the time to back that claim up with a few dollars!

Japan 2.5D Stage Play World - Naruto, My Hero Academia and Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musicals

The event starts this week with a Naruto stage play followed by My Hero Academia the week of August 13th to the 19th. The streaming service is provided by Globe Coding. You can check out supported devices on this page. I was able to load the test video in 720p on my somewhat old laptop without any real issues. The event is advertised as being held in USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Singapore though it’s possible it works in other countries as well. It is specifically mentioned that it will not work in China (Mainland), Russia, North Korea and Middle East countries or areas (Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine).

The Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical was originally released in 2018. That is the version which was originally released on DVD and Blu-Ray, which I reviewed for this site. Since there are a lot of members of Nogizaka46 (there are 46…) the 2018 show was broken up into two teams. Team Moon and Team Star shared some supporting cast who weren’t part of the musical group Nogizaka46 but the Sailor Guardians in each team were played by unique performers from the popular idol group. The teams alternated different nights of the performance and the home video release included performances by both Team Moon and Team Star. The 2019 version of the musical was performed by a new set of performers from Nogizaka46. Having two versions of the musical already I hadn’t opted to pick up the 2019 Blu-Ray release, but as I haven’t seen the musical subtitled, as Japanese releases of Sailor Moon musicals have never included English subtitles, this will be a great opportunity to watch it again with a new cast and some context of what’s being said!

As musicals go the Nogizaka46 musical was quite good. I enjoyed the story, a retelling of the first story arc from the manga, as well as the excellent puppet work for Luna and the inclusion of Naru and Umino. For $15 I think this is a good deal and although I haven’t figured out which day works best for me I certainly plan on streaming this musical in a couple of weeks. Do you plan on doing the same? Will you be streaming any of the other events from Japan 2.5D Stage Play World?

Check out the poster and cast for the upcoming Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical with our first look at human Luna

Musical Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon - Princess Kaguya's Lover Poster

The poster and cast information for the upcoming Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical have been released. The post was up on the Sailor Moon official site briefly last night after which it was removed. It has now been reposted and the musical site has been updated with information from this musical. I didn’t catch the post when it was first online however I quickly saw the poster shared from a number of Sailor Moon fans. The poster gives us some interesting information. Luna is featured twice! It looks like the Luna in black is meant to be cat Luna while the one in the Human Luna yellow dress would be her when she transforms into a human late in the story. Also featured are Kakeru, Himiko and Princess Snow Kaguya. All ten Sailor Guardians appear which is noteable for the inclusion of Sailor Saturn. Canonically this story takes place between the Infinity Arc and the Dream arc when Hotaru is still a baby. Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna appear in the manga and I guess they got a babysitter for Hotaru during that time. The official site does mention that this is her first appearance in this story. Artemis is not on the poster and is not in the cast list. Perhaps he’ll be a plush toy or something.

Musical Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon - Princess Kaguya's Lover Banner

I was happy to see that the Facebook page “We Are The Pretty Guardians- Sera Myu” shared the names of the entire cast as well as social media links for many of them. When this sort of cast information is posted to the official site I usually spend some time searching names and plugging them into online translators to try to do the same so I’m glad to see that someone has already done the hard work here. Please give their page a follow if you’re on Facebook.

Below I’ve included a cast listing with links to Twitter and Instagram accounts when they exist. I’ve opted for the western given name first, family name second order as I usually do on this site although the source I’m using follows the Japanese practice of family name first and given name second. This is an all new cast. There is no one returning from Le Mouvement Final, which was many years ago, though this musical is continuing with the tradition of an all female cast. There are two Chibiusas which is not uncommon for young actresses given Japanese child labour laws.

Sailor Moon/Usagi Tsukino – Riko Tanaka (Twitter, Instagram)
Sailor Mercury/Ami Mizuno – Kanon Maekawa (Twitter, Instagram)
Sailor Mars/Rei Hino – Rei Kobayashi (Twitter, Instagram)
Sailor Jupiter/Makoto Kino – Kisara Matsumura
Sailor Venus/Minako Aino – Marin Makino (Twitter, Instagram)
Sailor Chibi Moon/Chibiusa – Yurika Kobayashi
Sailor Chibi Moon/Chibiusa – Erena Kamata (Instagram)
Sailor Uranus/Haruka Tenoh – Shinju Terada (Twitter, Instagram)
Sailor Neptune/Michiru Kaioh – Ayana Kinoshita (Twitter, Instagram)
Sailor Pluto/Setsuna Meioh – Minami Chisato (Twitter)
Sailor Saturn/Hotaru Tomoe – Yuka Ide (Personal site)
Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru Chiba – Riku Sorahane (Instagram)
Cat Luna – Sakurai Yune
Human Luna – MARISA (Twitter)
Kakeru – Natsume Oki (Twitter)
Himeko Nayotake – Nanami Tamai (Twitter, Instagram)
Princess Snow Kaguya – Sayaka Okamura (Twitter, Instagram)
Snow Dancers – Moeko Koizumi, Ayumi Ozaka, Ayano Nagasawa, Yuri Hirano, Sakura Morimoto and Eri Yanagida

A lot of the actresses have done some stage work in the past. Riku Sorahane, who is playing Tuxedo Mask, seems to have the most extensive experience. Some of the Snow Dancers worked on previous musicals. Moeko Koizumi was previously in the Super Live musical as a backup dancer. I still haven’t seen that musical! Ayano Nagasawa was in the Amour Eternal musical as one of the Dead Moon Circus.

With the musical coming up in September there are still some travel restrictions in place in Japan for foreign visitors. Are any of you expecting to be able to see this musical or are we all holding out for a home video release of some kind?

The Sailor Moon Prism on Ice musical has been delayed until the summer of 2022

Sailor Moon - Prism on Ice - Poster

The Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Prism on Ice musical, which had been planned for this June, has been delayed by one year until June of 2022 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The ice skating show, which had originally been scheduled for June of 2020, had previously been delayed due to the pandemic. Some events, such as the Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical which is now scheduled for September of 2021, are taking place this year. The same was not possible for the Prism on Ice event.

Sailor Moon Prism on Ice

The stated reasons for this delay are Japan’s travel restrictions and requirements to quarantine for visitors from many countries. This has already meant that foreign visitors would not be attending this summer’s Tokyo Olympic games. While this is not a concern for September’s Sailor Moon musical, an event which is able to generate sufficient ticket sales while selling exclusively to Japanese customers, the same is not true for the Prism on Ice show. This skating event features performers from around the world which made the logistics complicated.

Evgenia Medvedeva's Sailor Moon Figure Skating Routine

It remains to be seen what aspects of the show might have changed following two years of delay. The show’s main star, Russian figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva, was set to play Sailor Moon. She was diagnosed with COVID-19 late last year and suffered from a back injury around the same time. This has kept her from competing. It’s possible that the delay may also be to accommodate Evgenia Medvedeva’s schedule in the hopes that she will be in a better condition to perform in the show by next summer. She is a huge Sailor Moon fan and even traveled back to Japan early, around this time last year, to prepare for the event before it was delayed the first time.

Sailor Moon Prism on Ice - Evgenia Medvedeva as Sailor Moon

Regardless of what happens with the musical we certainly hope for a quick recovery for Evgenia Medvedeva. For fans who were hoping to see this event they may have a chance by next summer to visit Tokyo, assuming travel restrictions are lifted by then. Are you hoping to make it to Japan for this one?