Check out images of the full cast of this summer’s Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical - The entire cast

The official Sailor Moon site has been updated with images which shows the entire cast of this summer’s Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical. We previously only got images of the two Sailor Teams, Team Moon and Team Star, which will be played by 10 of the 46 member pop band. The rest of the cast is composed of musical actresses including Mikako Ishii, who played Sailor Pluto in the last 4 musicals, who will be portraying Tuxedo Mask. Other characters revealed in this image are Naru, Umino, the Shitennou Jadeite, Nephrite, Zosite and Kunzite as well as Queen Beryl and Queen Serenity. Queen Serenity had not been announced in the previous message I posted about this musical. She will be played by Mai Shiraishi, yet another member of Nogizaka 46.

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical - Mai Shiraishi as Queen Serenity

The Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical will play in Tokyo this summer in June and September. It will cover the dark moon story arc and include the cast of Nogizaka46, a 46 member Japanese pop band, spread out over two teams. Some performances will include Team Star and the others will have Team Moon. The rest of the cast will be composed of other musical actors who are not members of the band. Based on the cast information it seems likely the format of the musical will be somewhat like others we’ve seen, covering the Dark Kingdom arc of the manga, which is the first season of the original anime.

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical - Mai Shiraishi as Queen Serenity

Check out cast information and images of this summer’s Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical - Team Moon and Team Star

A few weeks ago we got our first look at the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical. This new musical will be playing in Tokyo this summer first at the Tennōzu Galaxy Theatre June 8th to the 24th and then at the TBS Akasaka ACT Theater September 21st to the 30th. What, you may ask, is this musical all about? Nogizaka46 is an all female pop band in Japan and this is a Sailor Moon musical featuring members of that band. As we can see from the promo image and the posts on the Sailor Moon official site and musical’s official site, 10 of the band members have formed two Sailor Teams. One is Team Moon and the other is Team Star.

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical - Team Moon

The two teams seem to be identical in costume and appearance, though we can clearly see that the members in those costumes differ from one image to the other. With multiple shows being put on over a fairly short time the two teams are scheduled to perform on different nights. At first I imagined this was to give the other team a break on the off days but since a lot of the other cast of the musicals is only listed once it seems like not everyone is on that schedule. Perhaps this setup is simply meant to vary the performances to feature more of their talent. It remains to be seen if the performances themselves will vary depending on the team performing. Perhaps each team will have an exclusive song to encourage people to see multiple performances! At this point this is only speculation.

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical - Team Star

Here’s a translated cast listing. I’m not good with Japanese names (since Google Translate messes them up) so I had a little help from this Anime News Network article for this list. I attempted to find a relevant link when possible. All members of Nogizaka46 have profiles from the official site and for others I tried to find a profile or social media link.

Team Moon:
Sailor Moon/Usagi Tsukino: Mizuki Yamashita (Nogizaka46)
Sailor Mercury/Ami Mizuno: Riria Itō (Nogizaka46)
Sailor Mars/Rei Hino: Kazumi Takayama (Nogizaka46)
Sailor Jupiter/Makoto Kino: Ami Noujo (Nogizaka46)
Sailor Venus/Minako Aino: Hina Higuchi (Nogizaka46)

Team Star:
Sailor Moon/Usagi Tsukino: Sayuri Inoue (Nogizaka46)
Sailor Mercury/Ami Mizuno: Miria Watanabe (Nogizaka46)
Sailor Mars/Rei Hino: Ranze Terada (Nogizaka46)
Sailor Jupiter/Makoto Kino: Minami Umezawa (Nogizaka46)
Sailor Venus/Minako Aino: Kana Nakada (Nogizaka46)

Naru Osaka: Yuka Yamauchi
Umino Gurio: Marina Tanoue

Kunzite: Chihiro Andō
Zoisite: Sari Kojima
Nephrite: Shin
Jadeite: Rina Takeda

Ensemble (I assume this means background dancers, various monsters and such):
Mayuko Kawamoto, Mayu Kaburagi, Kumiko Saitō, Ayuka Kurachi, Minami Watanabe, Mami Mitsuoka

Queen Beryl: Nami Tamaki

Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru Chiba: Mikako Ishii

Director: Worry Kinoshita

Sailor Moon Petite Étrangère musical - Sailor Pluto

Only the main cast of the Sailor Team will be composed of Nogizaka46 members. The rest of cast of characters are played by various musical stars and dancers, as was the case with other musicals. To me the most interesting casting decision here is that Mikako Ishii, who played Sailor Pluto in the last few musicals, will be playing Tuxedo Mask! It’s well established that Sailor Pluto has an unrequited love for King Endymion in the future! What better way to gain someone’s affection than to literally become them? Also returning is Chihiro Ando as Kunzite. She previously played Tiger’s Eye in the Amour Eternal musical. As we see from this an other casting we once again have an all female cast even including the male characters.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Amour Eternal Musical - The Amazon Trio

It seems clear that the story will cover the Dark Kingdom story arc though beyond that it’s hard to get a sense of what the content or structure of the musical will be like. Given the cast and that we have two returning cast members I’m inclined to think that it will be a similar presentation to musicals we have seen in the past.

So … which Team are you rooting for? Is that how we’re supposed to be reacting to this? Go Team Star! No way Team Moon is the best! … and so forth.

Sailor Moon The 25th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album track listing and cover art has been revealed

Sailor Moon The 25th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album cover art

Sailor Moon The 25th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album will be released on April 4th. You can pre-order it from sites like Amazon Japan. The Sailor Moon Official Site has posted a track listing for the album which shows us what will be included and what artists will be performing them. It also includes the album cover which is somewhat underwhelming as it’s art we’ve already seen for the 25th Anniversary Book. I’ve translated the track listing below.

1. Moonlight Densetsu (Moonlight Legend) by LiSA
2. La Soldier by Gesshoku Kaigi
3. Moon Revenge by BiSH
4. Otome no Policy (Maiden’s Policy) by Yoko Ishida
5. Kakumei wa Night & Day (Revolution is Night & Day) by Etsuko Yakushimaru
6. “Rashiku” Ikimashou (I’ll Go As Myself) by Sonoko Inoue
7. Kaze mo Sora mo Kitto… (The Wind, the Sky, Surely…) by Gesshoku Kaigi
8. Sailor Stars Song by Silent Siren
9. Eternal Eternity by Ziyoou-vachi

A bit of a mixed bag here. I was hoping for a bit more of a variety of tracks that weren’t on the 20th Anniversary Tribute Album. Most of these are songs from the original Sailor Moon anime with only one musical song and two songs from Sailor Moon Crystal. I would have liked to have seen more songs from films, musicals or even the live action series which had not been revisited rather than rehashing the same songs yet again.

LiSA

As always the album starts out with Moonlight Densetsu or Moonlight Legend, the Sailor Moon opening theme, this time performed by LiSA. This is surely the Sailor Moon song which has been performed by the most artists.

Gesshoku Kaigi

La Soldier, performed by Gesshoku Kaigi, is a song which was used in most of the early Sailor Moon musicals. It was also featured at the end of Sailor Moon R episode 88. Gesshoku Kaigi will also be performing Kaze mo Sora mo Kitto or The Wind, the Sky, Surely, the ending theme for Sailor Stars. They are the only band to perform two songs on this album.

BiSH

Moon Revenge, performed by BiSH, is the first track that wasn’t on the 20th Anniversary Tribute Album. It was the theme song of Sailor Moon R The Movie which had the five Sailor Guardians each performing in this song. BiSH currently has six members. Perhaps one of them won’t be included in the song or will only sing in the parts where all members are involved. Previously Momoiro Clover Z performed a cover for this song which worked well as that group includes five members.

Yoko Ishida

Otome no Policy or Maiden’s Policy, the Sailor Moon R ending theme, is being performed by Yoko Ishida who originally performed the song for the Sailor Moon anime. This seems an odd choice for a tribute album which is otherwise all covers by new artists. I would expect that this version would be done in some other style especially after we just got a cover of it by Yoko Ishida for the Classic Concert.

Etsuko Yakushimaru

Kakumei wa Night & Day or Revolution is Night & Day is perhaps the most obscure inclusion on this album. It was originally included in the fairly unmemorable Sailor Moon Crystal character song CD. It was not, to my knowledge, ever included in the series itself. Character songs have existed for the original anime and the live action series but the more memorable ones of these were featured in those series although many were only included in singles and albums. There are surely many other character songs which could have been used instead of or in addition to this one. The song will be performed by Etsuko Yakushimaru. This is a particularly odd choice as this song, like Moon Revenge, was performed by the five members of the Sailor Team. Since Etsuko Yakushimaru is a single artist I’m not sure why this track was chosen. This, like all other Sailor Moon Crystal tracks, was not included in the 20th Anniversary Tribute Album since Sailor Moon Crystal did not exist at the time.

Sonoko Inoue

“Rashiku” Ikimashou or I’ll Go As Myself will be performed by Sonoko Inoue. This was the second Sailor Moon SuperS ending theme which was also used for the end credits of the Ami’s First Love special which played with the Sailor Moon SuperS movie.

Silent Siren

The Sailor Stars Song, the second opening theme used for the entire Sailor Stars series, will be performed by Silent Siren.

Ziyoou-vachi

Eternal Eternity will be performed by Ziyoou-vachi. This was the opening theme for Sailor Moon Crystal Season III.

Sailor Moon 25th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album exclusive incentives

The post also included a list of vendor exclusive bonuses. These are art by Naoko Takeuchi which was originally included with the manga.

What do you think of the artists chosen for these tracks? Which are you most looking forward to hearing?

The Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final musical is now playing in US theatres and coming to Canada April 4th

Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final banner

Fans of Sailor Moon musicals who aren’t able to make yearly trips to Japan will be happy to hear that they may be able to head to their local movie theatre to see the latest musical! Indeed Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final has already been playing in some US theatres since March 10th. Many locations have more showings of the musical coming up including some tonight. Visit the sailormoonlive.com web site for a full list of participating theatres in North America to see if yours is having a showing!

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final - Cosmos

The “film” will be showing here in Canada at Cineplex theatres. The Cineplex site has showing starting on Wednesday April 4th. Links for individual Canadian theatres on the sailormoonlive.com site redirect to that page.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final - The Three Lights

The presentation is a filmed version of the stage musical. Showings are in Japanese with English subtitles. Have any of you had a chance to attend any of the showings which have already taken place? Will any of you be attending showings in your city?

Fans interested in a Japanese copy of the DVD release of this musical can order it now as it was released today, March 14th.

Three new Sailor Moon concerts are coming in 2018 and 2019

Nogizaka46

According to information posted to the official Sailor Moon site we have three new Sailor Moon musicals coming in 2018 and 2019! This follows the conclusion of the current series of musicals with the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final musical this past summer. We’re getting something a bit different with each of these musicals this time around. With each being its own thing it doesn’t seem like they will necessarily follow a continuity as musicals have in the past. What’s more it doesn’t look like these will be traditional musicals but rather Sailor Moon themed concerts. Because of this I’m not sure I would label such as thing as “Seramyu” as the other musicals generally are, but it remains to be seen exactly how things develop to say for sure.

Logo - 3rd Sailor Moon Musical

The first of the concerts will feature Nogizaka46 which is an all female pop band similar to AKB48. The band of 46 members will somehow perform this Sailor Moon themed concert though we don’t really have details on what this would entail.

Logo Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical

The next is dubbed The Super Live. What does this mean? The title reminded me of Kirari Super Live which was the name of the concert put on by the cast of the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series. The site describes it as a mix of singing, dancing and video gimmicks. We are told that TAKAHIRO will be putting this show together though I can’t say I understand who that is. This particular concert will be performed at the Japonismes event. This is a sort of Japanese cultural expo that takes place in Paris, France.

Logo Super Live x Sailor Moon musical

Finally the 3rd musical is… something we don’t really know anything about. It’s just referred to as the new musical. We’ll have to wait until we learn more about that.

Will all three of these really be done by the end of 2019? With the endless delays to Sailor Moon Crystal one shouldn’t put too much faith in the timeline until we get some specifics. I wouldn’t book those plane tickets just yet!

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Classic Concert CD review

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Classic Concert CD - Booklet

The Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Classic Concert CD was released in Japan on December 6th. This sells for 3500 yen which is about $31 US. Media in Japan is usually more expensive than in North America so this price is actually pretty reasonable. This CD includes the entire performance of the Sailor Moon Classic Concert which was performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan this past August. Now that I’ve given the CD a few listens I felt like sharing some thoughts on it. You can pick up the CD from Japanese retailers such as Amazon Japan and CD Japan.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Classic Concert CD - Back

All around the album is great. It’s a real mixed back of very classical sounding renditions while others have a more modern feel. It’s not simply the case that all songs are performed in the same style as we’ve seen with the Sailor Moon SuperS Orgel Fantasia album which makes everything sound like it’s played by a music box. The selection of music is also quite varied. While it is mostly renditions of popular opening and ending themes from the original Sailor Moon anime there is also a bit of background music as well as music from musicals and Sailor Moon Crystal. Sadly nothing from the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series has made the cut!

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Classic Concert CD - Booklet 1 - Makoto Yoshida and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra

The CD comes with your standard sort of insert booklet that’s only a handful of pages. It includes a full track listing and information on the many people who worked on the music and this concert in particular.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Classic Concert CD - Track listing

I’ll give a few thoughts on each of the tracks. This won’t be anything thorough! I’m not really a music buff and I know even less about actual concert music. I took the trumpet in school for 3 years pretty much because it was part of the curriculum and after the end of the 3rd when some of my classmates who had started that same year had surpassed me in skill it was evident that it wasn’t happening for me so I concentrated on drawing and messing around with computers. One of those paid off. The set comes in two discs with a total of 21 tracks.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Classic Concert CD - Disc 1

Disc 1 track 1 is background music from the introduction to episodes.

Track 2 is Moonlight Densetsu (Moonlight Legend), the iconic Sailor Moon opening theme! This has been done in a variety of styles over the years and here is yet another! A fairly faithful adaptation.

Track 3 is Ai No Senshi (Guardian of Love), a song which was featured in Sailor Moon R and Sailor Moon S and that has been redone a few times. This is one of my favourite songs from Sailor Moon and it’s very well done on this CD. It has an epic quality that fits it quite well.

Track 4 is Heart Moving, the first ending theme for the first season. This is a decent instrumental version of the song but not the greatest. While I don’t have any strong feeling about this song as an ending theme there are a number of instrumental versions which feature in important and emotional scenes in the first season including when Sailor Moon is discouraged after the death of her friends and finds the motivation to continue fighting. This version doesn’t evoke the same emotional reaction in me than that particular version does.

Track 5 is Princess Moon, the second ending theme for the first season. This track reminds me of something out of ballet which I think suits it. It starts to show the range that this concert can offer.

Track 6 is Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute (Wanting to Be Together With You) which is the first ending theme for Sailor Moon SuperS. Why do we jump ahead so far instead of staying somewhat chronological? No clue. This is similar to the TV version and is a good track.

Track 7 is Otome No Policy (Maiden’s Policy) which is the Sailor Moon R ending theme. This is a punched up version which isn’t really classic as many of the tracks leading up to this have been. It includes vocals by Yoko Ishida who originally performed the song back in the 90s. I prefer the version on the 20th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album personally.

Track 8 is “Rashiku” Ikimasho (I’ll go with my looks) which is the second ending theme for the Sailor Moon SuperS season. It has a sort of big bang feel and includes vocals once again from Yoko Ishida though she did not perform this song in the original anime.

Track 9 is background music for Sailor Uranus and Neptune. This is a variety of music used in the anime mostly when the characters are introduced or transform. It features a lot of violin as the music in the original Sailor Moon anime did, with Michiru being a violinist. This is quite a good track for fans of those characters! They always did have great theme music.

Track 10 switches gears and gives us a song from Sailor Moon Crystal. Eternal Eternity is the first ending theme for the 3rd season, which is also all about Sailor Uranus and Neptune. All versions of this song just remind me of the Utena opening theme.

Track 11 is short and just gives us the music for the commercial break bumper for the first season. It sounds so much like the original version that I was expecting the weird “chirp” sound which can be heard on the laserdiscs of the first season.

I guess there was an intermission at this point? On to disc 2…

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Classic Concert CD - Disc 2

Track 1 has Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Sailor Moon, speaking over some background music and then transforming to Sailor Moon’s first season transformation music. A fairly faithful version of this music.

Track 2 is Moon Revenge, the theme song from Sailor Moon R The Movie. This is one of the better songs from the original anime. This version is great as well. It’s a more classical rendition lacking the more upbeat tone of the original song but it works quite well. Some portions remind me of the instrumental version featured in the film.

Track 3 is Tuxedo Mirage, the ending theme for Sailor Moon S. The version here is very similar to what we heard on TV, without the vocals. A good track but it just doesn’t give us anything new.

Track 4 is La Soldier which is a song which was used in a number of the early Sailor Moon musicals as well as the final episode of Sailor Moon R (Let’s pretend episode 89 doesn’t exist because I hate it!). This is a good rendition but not as good as the original and nothing could top the Tommy heavenly6 version from the Tribute Album for me.

Track 5 is a Three Light Medley which merges two songs which the Three Lights performed during Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, Todokanu Omoi -My Friend’s Love- (Unreachable Feelings: My Friend’s Love) and Nagareboshi he (To the Shooting Stars). When this one started I was a bit worried because the Three Lights are a pop group and their music doesn’t translate to classical music. Still the orchestra manages to give these songs a disco kind of 70s pop sound which I think works really well. The track lacks vocals I think because the concert hall didn’t have enough place to include Taiki’s forehead.

Track 6 takes a song from the recent Sailor Moon musicals with Ai No Starshine (Starshine of Love) from the Sailor Moon Amour Eternal Musical. Again we go with a somewhat modern sound almost fitting to an 80s TV drama theme song if that makes any sense. I appreciate the unique take on the song and that an orchestra can have such an atypical sound.

Track 7 is Moon Pride, the first Sailor Moon Crystal opening theme. It’s performed with a big band sort of sound. Enjoyable.

Track 8 is Gekkou (Moonbow), the first Sailor Moon Crystal ending theme. Again this track is quite similar to the original version which had a very orchestral sound. Decent but nothing new here.

Track 9 is New Moon ni Koishite (In Love With the New Moon), the Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 opening theme. It has what I believe is a lot of saxophone and other brass instruments. A fun track.

The final track is an encore which is the Sailor Stars Song, the opening theme for the Sailor Stars season of the original anime. Yoko Ishida performs the vocals for this version, though again she was not the one to contribute the original vocals. She does a decent job. She attempt to rouse the crowd and get them to sing along which doesn’t seem to work all that well. I’m not sure if this is because the crowd isn’t participating much or simply because they didn’t bother to put a mic in the crowd to properly pick up the audio. I don’t know how popular the Sailor Stars Song is in Japan but I wonder if this was really the best track to try to get people to sing along to. If they’d done this with Moonlight Densetsu, the iconic opening theme used for the first four seasons, no doubt a ton of people would know the words. Does the average Japanese casual fan know the words to the intro of the final season which had significantly poorer ratings?

All considered I quite enjoyed this CD and recommend fans import it if they’re interested.

Keep reading for more pictures of this CD including photos of all remaining pages of the booklet.

Continue reading

A Sailor Moon 25th Anniversary Classic Concert Album is coming December 6th

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon 25th Anniversary Classic Concert Album cover

A CD collecting music from the Sailor Moon 25th Anniversary Classic Concert is coming December 6th! This concert, where the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra performed songs from various Sailor Moon series, took place in Japan on August 2nd and 3rd at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. This album will be released in Japan but is available to order online from sites such as Amazon Japan and CD Japan. The price is 3500 yen which is about $33 US.

The album collects mostly opening and ending themes from all five seasons of the original Sailor Moon anime, a couple of songs from the musicals, a few songs from Sailor Moon Crystal and a bit of instrumental background music. Some songs are instrumental while others include vocals. A track listing is available on the Official Sailor Moon site. I’ve translated it and included it, and a description of where the songs are from, below for your convenience.

Disc 1:

1. Background Music
2. Moonlight Densetsu (Moonlight Legend) – Opening theme for the original Sailor Moon anime
3. Ai No Senshi (Guardian of Love) – Song featured in Sailor Moon R episode 68 and Sailor Moon S episode 102
4. Heart Moving – Season 1 ending theme #1
5. Princess Moon – Season 1 ending theme #2
6. Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute (Wanting to Be Together With You) – Sailor Moon SuperS ending theme #1
7. Otome No Policy (Maiden’s Policy) – Sailor Moon R ending theme
8. “Rashiku” Ikimasho (I’ll go with my looks) – Sailor Moon SuperS ending theme #2
9. Background Music for Sailor Uranus and Neptune
10. Eternal Eternity – Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 ending theme #1
11. Commercial Break Bumper Background Music

Disc 2:

1. Moon Prism Power Make Up! Background Music (Although the title is similar to that of a song from the original Sailor Moon anime this is the background music which plays when Usagi transforms into Sailor Moon)
2. Moon Revenge – Sailor Moon R The Movie theme
3. Tuxedo Mirage – Sailor Moon S ending theme
4. La Soldier – Song from many early Sailor Moon Musicals
5. Three Lights Medley: Todokanu Omoi -My Friend’s Love- (Unreachable Feelings: My Friend’s Love) and Nagareboshi he (To the Shooting Stars) – Two songs from Sailor Moon Sailor Stars
6. Ai No Starshine (Starshine of Love) – From the Sailor Moon Amour Eternal Musical
7. Moon Pride – First Sailor Moon Crystal opening theme
8. Gekkou (Moonbow) – First Sailor Moon Crystal ending theme
9. New Moon ni Koishite (In Love With the New Moon) – Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 opening theme
Encore. Sailor Stars Song – Sailor Moon Sailor Stars opening theme

In order to promote this release a four minute video of the concert has been released. You can watch it embedded below.

I look forward to sharing my thoughts on this album once it’s released.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon 25th Anniversary Classic Concert Album vendor exclusive items

Fans in Japan can get special exclusive incentives from various retailers. Amazon Japan and CD Japan are not included. One of the incentives is from the Official Sailor Moon Fan Club however this item does not appear to be available from the international Sailor Moon Fan Club.

Watch the Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final musical with English subtitles by Miss Dream

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final - Mamoru proposes to Usagi

The latest Sailor Moon musical, Le Mouvement Final, was presented in Japan from September 9th to October 1st. As with other recent musicals one performance was made available to stream to Japanese fans and Miss Dream, the fan subbing group, recorded the stream and has created an English subtitled version which they have made available for download. Fans can follow this link to download Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final musical!

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final - The Three Lights

This latest musical is the last of the current wave, following the Stars story arc of the manga, which had been adapted as the Sailor Moon Sailor Stars season of the original anime. This covers the story of the Sailor Starlights, posing by day as the pop group the Three Lights, as they join the other Sailor Guardians to fight Sailor Galaxia and the Animamates. I haven’t watched the musical yet but once I do I’ll likely post something with my thoughts on it. For those who have watched it, what did you think?

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final - Haruka meets Seiya

Sadly this will be the last musical in this recent wave which started back in 2013 with La Reconquista and continued with five musicals starring all female casts. I would never assume this will be the last Sailor Moon musical ever as we’ve seen the musicals come back after an 8 year absence in the past, but the next one we will see will quite possibly be something quite different with a different cast and potentially be yet another retelling of the story.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final - Cosmos

The Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final musical, which is now playing in Japan, will be released on DVD March 14th

Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final banner

The latest Sailor Moon musical, Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final, began being performed in Japan yesterday, Friday September 8th! The DVD has now been announced and it will be released on March 14th 2018. This DVD will have an MSRP of 7,800 yen, about $72 US and is currently available for pre-order from online retailers such as Amazon Japan and CD Japan.

I haven’t generally had anything good to say about these DVD releases in the past. This is a Japanese only DVD with no English subtitles or audio. The video quality of the last 4 musicals has been an embarrassingly sub par 480i which seems especially disappointing given there are HD versions of the musical available online in Japan. This is the kind of stuff we would have expected in the 90s but in 2017 there’s no excuse! There will be no Blu-Ray version of this release. Instead the DVD will simply have a Blu-Ray equivalent price! Will they somehow make this DVD a bit better and at least have progressive scan video? Seems unlikely.

There are currently no specifics about what special features may be included but these usually include a number of bonus features including interviews and other behind the scenes featurettes. Check out my reviews for the La Reconquista, Petite Étrangère, Un Nouveau Voyage and Amour Eternal DVDs to see what kind of special features those included.

Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final DVD ad

Additionally, as has been done in the past, some special covers for the previous DVD releases will be available exclusively at the venues where the musical is being performed. These exclusive covers feature manga art corresponding to the story arc being covered by the particular musical.

Check out the Sailor Starlights and Princess Kakyuu from the Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final musical

Princess Kakyuu, Sailor Star Maker, Sailor Star Fighter and Sailor Star Healer from the Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final musical

The official Sailor Moon site has been updated with an image of Princess Kakyuu and the Sailor Starlights, Sailor Star Maker, Fighter and Healer, from the upcoming Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final musical. The cast of this musical was previously announced with Asami Okamura as Princess Kakyuu, Riona Tatemichi as Sailor Star Maker, Meiku Harukawa as Sailor Star Fighter and Saki Matsuda. as Sailor Star Healer. What do you think of the new costumes?

satomi_okubo_as_sailor_cosmos_with_chibi_chibis

Last week we also got a look at the Sailor Cosmos and Sailor Chibi Chibi costumes as it was announced that Satomi Okubo, who previously played Sailor Moon in earlier musicals, will be returning as Sailor Cosmos.