The Lover of Princess Kaguya Sailor Moon musical is coming in September!

Posted on April 2, 2021 by Adam

The next Sailor Moon musical, The Lover of Princess Kaguya, finally has a new release date of September 2021 in Japan! This musical was originally scheduled to be performed in Japan in the summer of 2020 however it was postponed along with many other events such as the Tokyo 2020 summer Olympics, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Sailor Moon official site has been updated to mention only that the event will take place in September, though specific dates and locations for these performances are not yet specified.

Years ago this musical was only referred to as the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon New Musical and it was planned for a 2019 release. This was when it was announced alongside the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical and The Super Live musical. We finally have a proper updated logo for the musical in which we can see Luna and the somewhat awkward full title Musical Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The Lover of Princess Kaguya. The Lover of Princess Kaguya manga story on which this musical is based is all about Luna falling in love with a human. This story is probably best known to some fans as Sailor Moon S The Movie which was an adaptation of that manga story.

We still don’t know much about this musical than we did in 2019. With this story focusing on Luna, will we be seeing excellent puppet work like they did in the Nogizaka46 musical? While Human Luna will be appearing in this musical that is only briefly near the end and Luna will be an actual cat for most of the story.

Would you consider traveling to Japan in September of this year? Though the ongoing pandemic is still raging in many parts of the world, many people in all age groups will likely have access to vaccines by the end of the summer making this a low risk trip for many, which certainly wouldn’t have been the case last year.

If you’re looking to catch up on the manga story this musical is based on it is included in volume 6 of the Eternal Edition of the Sailor Moon manga.

The Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show has been delayed until June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Posted on April 18, 2020 by Adam

The Sailor Moon official site has announced that the Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show which was originally planned for early June 2020 has been delayed by a year, now taking place in June of 2021, due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The original planned dates for this show were June 5th, 6th and 7th 2020 and the new dates are June 4th, 5th and 6th 2021.

Customers who had previously bought tickets to the show are being offered tickets for the new dates and times. Refunds are also available. Over the past few weeks we had speculated that this event might be delayed. The show’s star Evgenia Medvedeva headed to Tokyo in anticipation of border shut downs between Canada and Japan which suggested the show was still planned, but finally it was decided that this event should not be held as originally scheduled.

It remains to be seen what changes, if any, may occur to the cast of the show. A year is certainly a long time so it’s possible that some of the many world class figure skaters who were originally scheduled for the event may not be able to take part of the show a year later.

While this delay is an unfortunate consequence of this pandemic which has caused a lot of hardship for people across the globe, it is certainly a prudent decision all considered. If any fans had been planning on traveling to Japan for this show it may be time to reconsider international travel this summer. Stay safe and stay healthy everyone!

Evgenia Medvedeva is headed to Japan in anticipation of the Sailor Moon Prism on Ice show

Posted on April 5, 2020 by Adam

Last week I shared the poster for the upcoming Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show which is planned for June. I also mentioned that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, these dates could be in question. On Wednesday Russian figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva, who will star as Sailor Moon in the show, mentioned on Instagram that she is currently on her way to Japan in advance of anticipated border closures between Canada and Japan. As she recently returned from the United States to Canada, she mentions having been in quarantine. This is likely the 14 days of self isolation mandated by the Canadian Government for those returning from international travel. She also makes reference to ice rinks and gyms being closed, as is currently the case throughout Ontario.

She had the following to say:

I ended quarantine after returning from the US to Canada. I have been spending time at home for more than last two weeks. The ice rinks and gyms are closed in Canada, nothing works. As you know, we will have “Prism on ice” (sailor moon show) this June in Japan. In accordance with border closures between Canada and Japan for an indefinite period, my team and I decided to leave Canada and fly to Japan in advance. I am safe and everything is good! I love all of you, be safe and please take care of yourself and your nearest and dearest!

While it is certainly possible that this event could be impacted by the ongoing pandemic, it seems like it isn’t canceled yet! Evgenia Medvedeva is headed to Japan early in order to work on her training in anticipation of this show. She is not the only person traveling to Japan from Canada and any further restrictions on international travel could impact who might be available for this show.

If you’re living outside of Japan and were hoping to attend this show, I would suggest you reconsider any international travel this summer. Even if the show continues as planned, the worldwide health crisis is likely to be ongoing in many countries and spending time traveling and in airports is a risk which should not be taken lightly.

Regardless of what happens we are certainly hoping Evgenia Medvedeva and the rest of the cast and crew involved with the show continue to be healthy during these difficult times. Stay safe, stay healthy and take care of yourselves.

The poster for the Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show gives us a look at Evgenia Medvedeva as Sailor Moon

Posted on March 28, 2020 by Adam

The Sailor Moon official site has been updated with the poster for the upcoming Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show. This poster gives us a look at Russian figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva as Sailor Moon. She had previously worn what appears to be the same costume at a press event last month.

We didn’t get much in the way of new details. We had previously learned of the cast and schedule for the ice show, which will take place in Tokyo the weekend of June 5th to the 7th. These dates are still listed on the official site. Though June is still a few months away, it’s certainly possible that this schedule will be impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis which is affecting not only Japan but countries worldwide This event includes talent from around the globe including Russia, the United States of America, Canada and of course Japan. Fans who were planning on attending may want to reconsider any international travel plans they would have had for the next few months.

It’s worth noting that this event is scheduled to occur nearly two months before the original planned dates for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which would have taken place from July 4th to August 9th of this year, but have been delayed until 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic.

Stay safe and stay healthy!

The cast for the Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show includes Anza, Evgenia Medvedeva, Kurt Browning and many more world class figure skaters

Posted on February 17, 2020 by Adam

The Sailor Moon official site has posted a lot of details about the upcoming Sailor Moon Prism On Ice show which was announced last summer. The event will be taking place June 5th to the 7th at the KOSÉ Shin Yokohama Skate Center in Tokyo. We had previously learned that Evgenia Medvedeva, a Russian figure skater and Olympic medalist, was going to be in the show. We now have confirmation that she will be playing Sailor Moon herself! An article at Oricon includes photos of Evgenia Medvedeva in her Sailor Moon costume! The rest of the cast includes Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus as well as Tuxedo Mask. The villains are the Dark Kingdom’s Queen Bery, Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite and Kunzite. All of the above mentioned characters will be portrayed by figure skaters, most of whom are world class competitive skaters, from around the world.

Also appearing in the musical is Anza as Queen Serenity. Anza is best known to Sailor Moon fans as the first to play Sailor Moon in a Sailor Moon musical. She continued in this role for many years. The other special guest, who’s role is not mentioned, is Kurt Browning. He is a World Champion figure skater who was a well known sports celebrity here in Canada in the 1990s.

The show will also have a voice cast which includes the main cast from Sailor Moon Crystal. Only the Sailor Guardians currently have voice actors listed at this time. This could mean that the show will mainly feature those characters in spoken roles or perhaps the others will be announced at a later time. The details on the site list them as being the voice actors from the Sailor Moon Eternal films. As the Dark Kingdom specific characters will not be in the Sailor Moon Eternal films, they may not have been mentioned for this reason. It may also prove more complicated in booking voice talent from a previous season when there hadn’t been an expectation for them to be reprising their roles in the future.

Music will be by Akiko Kosaka, who has been involved with music in the original Sailor Moon anime, the Sailor Moon Musicals and Sailor Moon Crystal.

A full translated cast list in included below:

Sailor Moon/Usagi Tsukino: Evgenia Medvedeva
Sailor Mercury/Ami Mizuno: Satoko Miyahara
Sailor Mars/Rei Hino: Mirai Nagasu
Sailor Jupiter/Makoto Kino: Alissa Czisny
Sailor Venus/Minako Aino: Becky Bereswill
Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru Chiba: Andrew Poje
Queen Serenity: ANZA
Kunzite: Jason Brown
Jadeite: Takahito Mura
Nephrite: Dylan Moscovitch
Zoisite: Seiya Hashimoto
Queen Beryl: Shinko Sakamaki

Additional skaters: Youji Nakano, Shigeru Matsumura, Koichi Kobayashi, Kohei Yoshino, Yuka Kono, Takana Ito

Special guest appearance: Kurt Browning

Voice cast:

Sailor Moon/Tsukino Usagi: Kotono Mitsuishi
Sailor Mercury/Ami Mizuno: Hisako Kanemoto
Sailor Mars/Rei Hino: Rina Sato
Sailor Jupiter/Makoto Kino: Ami Koshimizu
Sailor Venus/Minako Aino: Shizuka Ito

Other staff:

Screenplay: Takuya Hiramitsu
Choreography: Yuka Sato, Benji Schwimer (Assistant)
Music: Akiko Kosaka, Lunar Eclipse Meeting

As I put the list from the official site through Google Translate some of the names that aren’t hyperlinks may be incorrect. I’ve included Wikipedia links when I found them to give some insight into what those athletes have done.

Are you excited for this event? Will any of you be making the trip to Japan to check out this show in June? Who are you most excited to see?

Continue reading →

Some thoughts on the Sailor Moon x Akiko Kosaka 45th Anniversary Music History concert which took place November 9th and 10th

Posted on November 19, 2019 by Adam

We had previously reported on the then upcoming Sailor Moon x Akiko Kosaka 45th Anniversary Music History Supported By Pretty Guardians concert. At the time there was still quite a bit that was unknown about the concert which took place on November 9th and the 10th, a Saturday and Sunday. One lucky reader was able to attend the November 10th performance and passed on his thoughts about the concert which I’m happy to share. I’ll be paraphrasing some of the highlights of his experience.

The concert took place at Quest Hall, which is located in Harajuku, a district in the Shibuya Ward of Tokyo, which is next to Minato, where Azabu Juban and most locations in the Sailor Moon manga take place. The venue housed a couple hundred people which is quite small compared to what would be used for something like a Sailor Moon musical. The audience was mostly composed of women who would have been old enough to be watching Sailor Moon in the 90s, though there were some younger fans as well.

The goal of this event was to celebrate Akiko Kosaka’s career. She has contributed a lot of music to the Sailor Moon musicals as well as the original Sailor Moon anime and Sailor Moon Crystal. This event seems to have been mostly focused on the musicals, though there were a few songs from the anime as well. Akiko Kosaka performed at the piano for the entirety of the concert, with her music being complemented by a keyboard, guitar, bass and drums. A full set list for both days was posted to the official Sailor Moon Twitter account. You can see those set lists below.

The performers were not in costume though they did wear Music History t-shirts for the second half of the performance. They moved about the stage acting out some of the songs with a small amount of dancing, using the space provided.

The highlights of the show mentioned were the performance of Triple Dreams, a song first performed as part of the 1995 SuperS musical Dream Warriors – Love – Into Eternity… It was also mentioned that Anza, the first actress to play Sailor Moon, and Hikari Ono, who performed a number of roles throughout many musicals, stole the show. The audience seems to have enjoyed the show immensely.

There weren’t a ton of products available at the show. A post on the Sailor Moon official site highlighted some of these, which includes pamphlets, magnets, shirts and water bottles. Artists were also selling some of their own merchandise which were in fairly limited stock. Those in the premium seats got extra merchandise which included a booklet of piano sheet music for three songs and a CD including piano versions of some Sailor Moon songs. In the past such items have been sold on Japanese auctions sites such as Mercari for very high prices.

It does not appear that the show was filmed, making a DVD or Blu-Ray release of this concert unlikely. Though it was not mentioned it is always possible that an audio recording was made for a potential future CD release.

Were any of you lucky enough to attend this concert? What are your thoughts on it?

A two day concert, Akiko Kosaka 45th Anniversary Sailor Moon Music History Supported by Pretty Guardians, is coming to Tokyo November 9th and 10th

Posted on September 1, 2019 by Adam

A two day concert named “Akiko Kosaka’s 45th Anniversary Sailor Moon Music History Supported by Pretty Guardians” will be taking place in Tokyo on November 9th and 10th. This two days concert will actually include two different performances with completely different artists on each day. November 9th will be a relaxed piano concert with some conversations and the 10th will have a band performance. So what exactly is this? Akiko Kosaka is well known for having written many songs for the original Sailor Moon anime as well as Sailor Moon Crystal but in this case it is likely her involvement writing many songs for the Sailor Moon musicals which is the basis for this concert. We can tell from the other artists appearing at this event that this will almost certainly involve performances of a number of Sailor Moon musical songs as this will involve performers from the musicals. Across the two days actresses who portrayed almost all of the Sailor Guardians in the musicals, that being everyone but Sailor Pluto, as well as others will be performing. Sailor Pluto is likely only absent because Yuuko Hosaka, who originally played Sailor Pluto in some musicals, was originally scheduled to be involved with the event but had to cancel.

With this year’s Sailor Moon musical being delayed until 2020 this concert may serve as a nice alternative for some fans. I can only speculate as to the specific format but with there being performers to represent each characters with no duplicates it seems likely that some effort to have someone take the part of the Sailor Guardian they previously portrayed is likely. Will they wear some sort of costume or just sing some classic songs? Who knows! Here’s a breakdown of who’s going to be involved and when.

Not everyone is going to be involved with both days, but here’s a list of the actors which are going to be there for both November 9th and 10th. Akiko Kosaka, who’s career is being celebrated with this concert, will evidently be there for both days. Anza, the first actress to play Sailor Moon in a musical from 1993 to 1998, will likely be performing as Sailor Moon. Hisano Akamine, the third actress to play Sailor Mercury from 1999 to 2000, will likely be performing as Sailor Mercury. Misako Kotani, the second actress to play Sailor Mars from 1994 to 1997, will likely be performing as Sailor Mars. Emi Kuriyama, the seventh actress to play Sailor Jupiter from 1999 to 2000, will likely be performing as Sailor Jupiter. Akiko Miyazawa, the fourth actress to play Sailor Venus also played Queen Beryl and musical exclusive characters Bilhah Emerald and Elizabeth Bathory, a vampire. She will likely be performing as Sailor Venus. Sanae Kimura, the first actress to play Sailor Uranus from 1994 to 1997, will likely be performing as Sailor Uranus.

Yuuta Mochizuki, the second actor to play Tuxedo Mask, also played Kunzite in the very first musical and later the musical exclusive character Count Dracul. He is also well known for playing the Red Power Ranger in Zyuurangers, the series which was adapted in North America as the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. He will likely be performing as Tuxedo Mask. Hikari Ono has played Hawk’s Eye, Sailor Star Maker, Loof Merrow, a musical exclusive pirate, Bloody Dracul Vampir, a musical exclusive vampire who is Dracula’s daughter, and Prince Demande. It isn’t clear who she would be portraying in this concert as there doesn’t seem to be an actress to represent each of the Sailor Starlights.

The only person who will only be at the first day performance is Sakoto Yoshioka who played Princess Kakyuu in a musical in 1997. While it’s possible that she could be reprising her role as Princess Kakyuu, there is currently only one Sailor Starlight scheduled to be present on the first day so it doesn’t really add up.

There are a more performers who will only be there on the second day. This is when the full cast was originally planned to be together all at once. Yuuka Asami, the sixth actress to play Sailor Neptune from 1999 to 2002, later returned to play Jadeite in 2003. She will likely be performing as Sailor Neptune. Mao Mita, the fourth actress to play Sailor Saturn from 1999 to 2000, will likely be performing as Sailor Saturn. Tamaki Dia Shirai, the third actress to play Chibiusa from 1995 to 1996, will likely be performing as Sailor Chibi Moon. Ryuuji Kasahara played a number of characters including Kunzite, Death Ra, a musical exclusive member of the Death Busters, Tiger’s Eye, MC Fly, a musical exclusive minion of Galaxia, Chaos, Professor Tomoe, Baron Gilles de Rais, a musical exclusive vampire, and Dark Nibiru, a musical exclusive character. It’s not clear who he will be portraying. Momoko Okuyama, the first actress to play Sailor Star Healer in musicals from 1996 to 1998, may be reprising her role but once again as there is no Sailor Star Fighter actress involved we can’t be sure what role she will be playing.

With this event only taking place on a single day it may prove more difficult to get tickets than other musicals. Do any of you hope to be able to make it to this concert? I’m certainly hoping a CD or video release will be made available for fans who aren’t likely to attend.

Source: Sailor Moon official site Original Story with an Update.

The Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical is returning with a new cast in October

Posted on August 9, 2019 by Adam

Last year’s Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical will be returning to Tokyo later this year! In October the musical will be returning with a new main cast, still composed of members of the Nogizaka46 group, but different from the Team Star and Team Moon casts which performed the musical last year. This is likely as a result of this year’s Sailor Moon musical being delayed until 2020. We’ve learned that the musical we were originally going to get this year will be an adaptation of the Princess Kaguya’s Lover manga story.

Aside from the cast change it seems like this musical will likely have the same story as what we’ve already seen. This time around the cast will include Shiori Kubo as Sailor Moon, Hazuki Mukai as Sailor Mercury, Seira Hayakawa as Sailor Mars, Junna Ito as Sailor Jupiter and Mayu Tamura as Sailor Venus. The rest of the cast, which was originally not composed of members of the Nogizaka46 group, will remain the same.

Do any of you plan on being in Japan in time to see this musical? Having already seen this musical on the Blu-Ray set, which includes two versions, one for Team Moon and one for Team Star, I wonder if they will bother releasing another version of the DVD or Blu-Ray with this new cast. If they do it would be tough to justify such a purchase.

Source: Sailor Moon official site and Anime News Network

A Sailor Moon Ice Show starring Evgenia Medvedeva is coming to Japan in June 2020

Posted on July 1, 2019 by Adam

During the Usagi’s Birthday event held on June 30th in Japan a number of things were announced, one of which was a Sailor Moon Ice Show, that being a figure skating show, which will be taking place in June of 2020. This was then shared on the Sailor Moon Official Site. Though we don’t have many details of what this will be like it was announced that Russian figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva will be involved. I’ve posted about Evgenia Medvedeva on this site a number of times. She first made an impression on the Sailor Moon fan community with her Sailor Moon inspired figure skating routine in which she skated to Moonlight Densetsu, the original Sailor Moon anime’s opening theme, and transformed into a Sailor Moon costume during her performance. She later met with Naoko Takeuchi who awarded her with a sketch. She’s a dedicated fan of anime and Sailor Moon specifically. Below you will find a video of her comments, in English, on joining this show.

What will this show be all about? We can only speculate at this point. With only one star announced to date we do at least know that it will feature at least one professional figure skater. Will this be something like the Disney On Ice type of shows? Honestly I’ve never seen this kind of show so I wouldn’t know where to start. If any of you are fans of figure skating shows, do you have thoughts on what this might be like?

Though skating isn’t referenced in the Sailor Moon manga the original Sailor Moon anime features skating in episode 39, Paired With a Monster: Makoto, the Ice Skating Queen. In this episode we are told that skating was the most popular sport in Silver Millennium. The Sailor Moon Another Story RPG for the Super Famicom also shows a skating rink on the Moon. It is certainly possible that the story of the Ice Show will reference this episode of the original anime.

As a Canadian I’m inclined to refer to this as simply “skating” and not “ice skating” because what else do people skate on? Are roller skates actually more popular than ice skates in some places? As the event is simply being called an “Ice Show” by official sources this is what I will call it as well.

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical Blu-Ray review

Posted on June 5, 2019 by Adam

The Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in Japan on March 20th and I’ve been working on this post since around then. The musical was originally performed in Japan last summer but I’d never gotten around to seeing any version of it until now. As such this will be a review of the Blu-Ray itself as well as my thoughts on the musical. If you’re looking to pick it up there are three version up on Amazon Japan. The limited edition Amazon Blu-Ray, now sold out, includes two folders. The regular Blu-Ray seems to be the same without the folders. Finally the DVD is a bit less expensive but of much worse quality. Keep in mind that as is often the case with Japanese Sailor Moon releases this set includes no English audio or subtitle options.

Right off I have to say that I’m very happy to see that this release is on Blu-Ray and not just on DVD. I have not hidden my contempt for the sub par DVD releases we’ve gotten for the recent musicals, always featuring horrible looking 480i standard definition video. This release finally gives us a Sailor Moon in high definition! Looking at the fine print on the back of the box we see that it’s technically 1080i and not 1080p as you might see for most Blu-Ray releases. I guess they just love that interlaced video! What’s the difference? It’s nothing major! 1080i mean it’s interlaced instead of the 1080p progressive scan. Interlaced video works with scan lines where odd and then even lines are updated one at a time instead of the entire image being loaded one complete frame at a time. If you pause an old VHS tape you have probably noticed how there are often two images overlaid on the screen at a time which is the side effect of this. It can also affect the quality of screenshots. At such a high resolution it’s harder to notice and in motion it’s even less obvious. Most television is broadcast at 1080i and still of very high quality, so it’s really not a big problem as far as I’m concerned. Screenshots included in this post have not been modified to eliminate the scan lines and they still look decent.

Overall the image quality is quite good! This musical looks great in high definition and after seeing so many standard definition releases, this really is a pleasure. The musical features a lot of fun special effects which are projected onto the stage and these are all captured beautifully in high definition. The sets, actors and costumes all appear clearly like only those who attend these shows in person have been able to see in the past! The camera work on the musical is good, following the important action when needed and letting us see the full musical. All special features included are also in high definition and those look great as well.

The musical itself is quite enjoyable. This is the Nogizaka46 musical meaning it features members of the band Nogizaka46 as the main cast. They make up two teams, Team Moon and Team Star, and this three disc set includes the full musical in both Team Moon and Team Star versions! From what I could tell both of these musicals were essentially the same, with the main cast of Sailor Guardians differing between teams. All other characters were played by the same actors in both versions. As this covers the Dark Kingdom story arc the extended cast includes Tuxedo Mask, Queen Beryl, the Shitennou, Queen Serenity as well as Umino and Naru. It’s great to see Usagi’s friends included in this musical.

The story of the musical follows that of the manga quite closely, which also follows quite well with the original anime and Sailor Moon Crystal. This is more faithful than most other musicals. Although there is no English dub or subtitles on this set fans familiar with the series should still be able to follow easily enough. We start out with the first story, introducing us to Usagi, Umino, Naru and even Haruna as well as Luna and Morga. We then move on to the second with the introduction of Mercury and then Mars, all somewhat following their introductions from the manga. Next we start to combine stories by having Sailor Jupiter introduced during the Masquerade Dance Party and things start to deviate.

The main difference in this version, which we start to see at the party, are the pairings between the Sailor Guardians and the Shitennou. This was originally hinted at in some art in the Sailor Moon manga though those relationships, aside from a bit of Minako and Kunzite’s, were not really fleshed out. These were brought back in Sailor Moon Crystal which was a nice addition, though the series was so closely based on the manga that there wasn’t room for much deviation. They were kept alive to dwell on the pairing only to be killed off later before it really went anywhere.

The rest of the musical goes through the story of the manga which has been touched upon in previous musicals. The gang go to the Moon and talk to a hologram of Queen Serenity. We get a series of deaths and suicides and evil Mamoru trying to kill Usagi and ultimately the world is saved.

Finally the musical ends with an interesting scene! The gang are hanging around and Usagi sees something falling from the sky. Is this meant to be Chibiusa? If so, why are we including this scene? The first story arc of the manga does indeed end with the arrival of Chibiusa to set up the Black Moon story arc but in that case there was the intention to have it continue! The Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical is, as far as I understand it, only meant to be a one time thing. Could this really be setting up a Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical 2? Not sure about that!

Technically the musical looks great. The puppet work on Luna was particularly impressive. There was an actor who can very clearly be seen controlling Luna, which can be a bit distracting, but the actual cat’s movements were something which would not have been possible by other means. Beyond Luna there were also Phobos and Deimos puppets. These two crows were also controlled by human puppeteers which can be seen on the stage. Luna even gets a chance to ride on one of the crows!

The musical is followed by the now expected seemingly never ending series of encores which includes an enjoyable rendition of La Soldier, a classic from the first Sailor Moon musicals, and a version of Moonlight Densetsu sung by the entire cast. We then have each cast member sharing a few words and crying, which has become another staple of the final performances of the musicals.

Aside from the Team Moon and Team Star discs there is a third disc which includes bonus features. Each feature has both a Team Moon and Team star version. The first feature is a “cast cam” which is a bunch of behind the scenes footage of rehearsal and the performance of the musical. One moment includes the cast of Team Star singing happy birthday to Ranze Terada who plays Sailor Mars in Team Star. This was funny to me as it was, in September 2018, her 20th birthday which reminds us that she, and many others in this musical, are so young that they were no only born after Sailor Moon started airing but even after the original Sailor Moon manga and anime were done.

Next there is a game! I should remind everyone at this point that I do not speak Japanese so it was a bit hard to tell exactly what was going on. In each case they pitted the Sailor Guardians, who were a different group between the Team Moon and Team Star games, against the Dark Kingdom, who are the same actors in both versions and therefore both games. As far as I can tell Team Moon did a game of charades and Team Star did a Pictionary or Win Lose or Draw style game where one sketches something and the others have to guess it. Both seem entertaining but it’s hard to get much from these features when you don’t speak the language.

Finally we have a series of clips to highlight the various characters. These are all clips from the musical but often the camera angle is changed to focus on that particular character. This sort of features seems mostly useless to me.

The packaging is good. This is a nice looking set with photos of both casts on the front. The art of the discs themselves is quite nice. There’s an insert with a few pages again showing both casts.

Since I ordered the Amazon Japan limited edition version my copy also came with two mini folders. One features Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask and the other features the Sailor Guardians.

All in all I would say this set is quite worth it. Yes it is expensive compared to buying a movie in North America but it’s not much more than the other musical releases and it really is a much higher quality release. After so many sub part standard definition DVDs it’s a real treat to get this Blu-Ray. The image quality is fantastic. The set includes two full versions of the musical and numerous extras. The lack of English audio or subtitles is of course a problem for English speaking fans. This set was made for a Japanese audience but other fans should enjoy it.

Ultimately fans may find that this istheir best chance at seeing this musical. Like many others I enjoyed watching the fan subbed versions of the musicals supplied by Miss Dream. After they received a takedown notice for four recent musicals, it seems that they will not be subtitling any of the newer musicals. (June 8th update: Miss Dream’s Dan Bednarksi has clarified in a comment on this post that the issue had to do with the trouble getting a translator for this musical. The two teams added complication to this issue as it would potentially double some of the work needed.) As a result importing the musicals on video may be the only way some fans will be able to see them! I certainly hope that some time soon we will be seeing international releases of these musicals with subtitles for fans to enjoy. Perhaps this will happen around the time we get more Sailor Moon Crystal!

Keep reading for a lot more photos of the set and screenshots from the musical.