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

Posted on July 17, 2022 by Adam

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!

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

Posted on November 4, 2017 by Adam

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.

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.

Sailor Moon Amour Eternal DVD impressions

Posted on April 7, 2017 by Adam

The latest Sailor Moon musical, Sailor Moon Amour Eternal, was released on DVD on March 15th. What’s that? Still not on Blu-Ray? No. This is a DVD only release despite the fact that there is an HD streaming version available in Japan. The set includes two discs, the main feature and some special features, as well as a special booklet which is a sort of program. Photos of all pages of that booklet will be included at the end of this post. This is a Japanese only release so don’t expect to be able to follow too well if you only speak English. Fans looking for a subtitled version of the musical should check out the fan subbed version by Miss Dream.

First off let’s talk about the main feature, coming in at a whopping 2 hours and 43 minutes, the 4th of the recent wave of Sailor Moon musicals, Sailor Moon Amour Eternal. This was a decent musical with the most notable change to me being the inclusion of the birth of Princess Serenity back in the days of Silver Millennium. We never got much about this time of her life in other series and it’s interesting to see the other Sailor Guardians fully grown at this time in this particular continuity. The main cast of the 5 actors playing Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus were replaced for this musical. They will all be returning for this Fall’s upcoming musical.

DVD	HD download

The bad part about this release is sadly the terrible video quality. As with the three prior releases this DVD is 480i video. What this means specifically is that it’s interlaced video, something like the signal we’d get for a standard definition TV broadcast or VHS tape. Oddly the release is still 16:9 widescreen optimized for widescreen displays but somehow not optimized for a progressive scan display, which is what almost everyone would be watching this on. For prior releases I gave Evil Line Records the benefit of the doubt, assuming the release was of low quality due to older cameras used for the recording. Now that we’ve seen 1080p HD releases available to stream in Japan for not only this musical but the last three, it is obvious that this is not the case. This DVD is poorly authored and the company that released it is to blame. Just look at the comparison screenshot between the download version and the DVD version to see the drastic difference in quality. Even if a Blu-Ray release was not viable, a progressive scan release has been the standard for movies released on DVD for nearly 20 years. Many older TV shows are released interlaced simply because that was the limitation of TV at the time but even most early DVDs of movies are progressive scan. No excuses for this one.

Also included with the main feature is a full length audio commentary! This includes the main cast of Hotaru Nomoto, Sailor Moon, Yume Takeuchi, Sailor Mercury, Karen Kobayashi, Sailor Mars, Kaede, Sailor Jupiter, and Rimo Hasegawa, Sailor Venus

The second disc includes over an hour of special features which aren’t terribly appealing. We start out with a 30 minute interview between Hotaru Nomoto, who played Sailor Moon, and Yuga Yamato, who played Tuxedo Mask. As I don’t speak Japanese I can’t really elaborate on the actual content.

Next is a stage presentation for a Birthday Night special event, likely held on Usagi’s birthday of June 30th. This is only a few minutes long.

We then have over half and hour of video showing the recording of the audio commentary. Here we get a picture in picture view of the musical with the five cast members giving their thoughts. Not terribly useful to those who would also watch the entire commentary.

Finally we have an alternate take of the Amazon Trio talking with the audience during the intermission. This one is from the November 6th show. Since these involve audience interactions the intermission for each show would be unique.

A note about the various menus on both discs! They use a hilariously cheesy Comic Sans font. Comic Sans is the kiddy or comic style font that you’ll see in a lot of older web sites or perhaps some that are just a little cheap. Over the years it’s gotten a reputation for bad design. In this DVD’s defense however let’s remember that in Japan Comic Sans wouldn’t have the same reputation. I would simply ask our native English speaking fans, what kind of font is any Japanese text written in? Would you be able to tell a fancy and trendy Japanese font vs. a cheap and dated one? Not likely.

Also included is a 20 page booklet which is similar to what you might see in the program sold with the musical. This includes bios for the characters and the lyrics for all songs.

That’s about it. Is this worth it? Costing the equivalent of over $50 US and having abysmal video quality and some fairly lack luster extras this release isn’t terribly appealing to fans who might not actually speak the language. It really would have been nice if this physical release was at least of equivalent or comparable in quality to the relatively cheap digital copies which are available for a fraction of the price in Japan. All said I can’t really recommend buying this, but hard core fans might want to anyway!

Keep reading for more images of the box art, menus and photos of all pages of the included special booklet.

Continue reading →

Karin Takahashi, Sailor Saturn, will not be returning for the next Sailor Moon musical

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Adam

An announcement has been made on the official Sailor Moon site stating that most of the cast of the Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical will be reprising their roles for the next musical which will be taking place in the fall. The exception to this is Karin Takahashi, who was also Sailor Saturn and Hotaru in the Un Nouveau Voyage musical, who will not be returning for the next musical. I thought she did a great job in the last couple of musicals and am sorry to see her go. (Update: The new actress who will be portraying Sailor Saturn is Mirai. I was originally confused by the statement thinking it meant she will be announced in the future, as Mirai is the Japanese word for “future”.)

Returning cast members include Hotaru Nomoto as Sailor Moon, Yume Takeuchi as Sailor Mercury, Karen Kobayashi as Sailor Mars, Kaede as Sailor Jupiter, Rimo Hasegawa as Sailor Venus, Shuu Shiotsuki as Sailor Uranus, Sayaka Fujioka as Sailor Neptune, Mikako Ishii as Sailor Pluto, Airi Kanda as Sailor Chibi Moon, and Yuga Yamato as Tuxedo Mask. We don’t have any specifics about the musical at this time but it seems only logical that this 5th in the recent set of musicals would cover the Stars story arc of the Sailor Moon manga. With the musical taking later this year there is always the chance of other cast changes between now and then, but for the moment only one change in casting is anticipated.

The Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical will be performed at Anime Matsuri in Houston in April

Posted on February 12, 2017 by Adam

The first ever North American performance of a Sailor Moon musical will be taking place in Houston Texas during the Anime Matsuri convention in April. The news of this special performance of the Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical was posted on the official Sailor Moon site and Anime Matsuri site last month. The specific date of the musical performance has not yet been announced but it will be during the convention weekend which takes place from April 7th to the 9th at the George R. Brown convention centre in downtown Houston, Texas. This may be a slightly modified version of the musical as the entire cast will not be present. At this time only the Sailor Guardians and Tuxedo Mask, with the exclusion of Chibiusa, will be in attendance. Notice that the poster specifically made for this event features all regular cast members but Airi Kanda who plays Chibiusa.

In addition to the musical there will be many Sailor Moon themed guests. This includes Fumio Osano, Osabu, who is best known as the editor of the Sailor Moon manga. Also appearing are voice actors from the English versions of Sailor Moon Crystal and Viz’s new dub of the original Sailor Moon anime Cristina Vee, who plays Sailor Mars, and Christine Cabanos, who plays Sailor Saturn.

Confirmed guests for the musical are Hotaru Nomoto, Sailor Moon, Yume Takeuchi, Sailor Mercury, Karen Kobayashi, Sailor Mars, Kaede, Sailor Jupiter, Rimo Hasegawa, Sailor Venus,
Syu Shiotsuki, Sailor Uranus, Sayaka Fujioka, Sailor Neptune, Mikako Ishii, Sailor Pluto, Karin Takahashi, Sailor Saturn, and Yuga Yamato, Tuxedo Mask. Also attending are dancers Risa Kawamura, Yoshimi Hidano, Ayano Nagasawa and Ayumi Sagisaka.

The Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical will be released on DVD in Japan March 15th

Posted on February 11, 2017 by Adam

The latest Sailor Moon musical, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Amour Eternal, is coming to DVD in Japan on March 15th. This was announced on the Sailor Moon official site and the Evil Line web site. This DVD will be in Japanese only and region 2, which won’t play on most North American DVD players. Why DVD and not Blu-Ray, you might ask? This is a question I’ve been asking myself for the past 3 musicals. Considering there was an HD stream of this musical, I’m a bit baffled we’re still only getting a standard definition DVD. Hopefully we will at least getting a progressive scan DVD as opposed to the 480i releases we’ve gotten for the rest. A commercial for this release was posted to YouTube. Watch the embedded clip below.

The DVD is available to buy on Amazon Japan for 6,265 yen, about $55 US or on CD Japan for 7800 yen, $68.82 US. This 2 disc DVD set will include the musical and a number of special features. The musical itself is 2 hours and 43 minutes. An audio commentary by the 5 main actors is included but it isn’t explicitly clear if this is referring to a full length audio commentary. The bonus disc will have 77 minutes of content. This includes an interview with Usagi, a video of the performance done on Usagi and Chibiusa’s birthday, June 30th, and a special focusing on the Amazon Trio and Zirconia. Also included will be a 28 page booklet which is a sort of program with information about the musical.

If you’re looking to support the musicals I would suggest buying this DVD. Fans looking to watch the musical with English subtitles can download the fan subbed version released by Miss Dream.

The Pretty Guardian Amour Eternal musical is the 4th in the latest wave of musicals. It cover the Dream arc of the Sailor Moon manga, the equivalent of Sailor Moon SuperS in the original Sailor Moon anime, which has the Sailor Guardians teaming up with Pegasus and facing off against Nehelenia and the Dead Moon Circus.

The Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical will be playing in Hokkaido March 11th and 12th

Posted on January 15, 2017 by Adam

The still terribly named “Amour Eternal” musical took place in October and November of last year but another 4 performances are now being scheduled to take place at the Eniwa Municipal Hall in Hokkaido. These shows will be taking place at noon and 5pm on March 11th and 12th.

For fans outside of Japan who are unwilling to make the long cross continental voyage to check out the musical you can download a not so legal English subtitled version of it from fan subbing group Miss Dream. The Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical covers the Dream story of the Sailor Moon manga, which we still haven’t seen in Sailor Moon Crystal and are all patiently awaiting news about.

Will any of you have a chance to see this musical in Eniwa, Hokkaido?

The Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical is now available to download and watch with English subtitles

Posted on December 3, 2016 by Adam

The latest Sailor Moon musical, Amour Eternal, recently played in Japan. The final performance was available to download through a number of Japanese on demand services however this was little help to international fans who couldn’t speak the language or even access these services which were limited to a Japanese audience. As per usual the people at Miss Dream have subtitled this musical and have made it available on their web site.

For the first time the musical is available on HD. The previous musicals were likely shot on old cameras and released only in standard definition. The video in this release seems better. I hope this means we will be getting a Blu-Ray release of this musical instead of the sub standard interlaced DVDs we’ve seen for the last three.

I haven’t had the time to watch the musical yet but look forward to doing so and maybe doing a review which is something I always drag my feet on for the musicals. Thanks to Miss Dream for subtitling this musical and for Twitter user aeors00 for supplying them with the raw version of the musical.

The final performance of the Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical will be available on video on demand in Japan November 11th

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Adam

An update has been posted to the Official Sailor Moon site indicating that the final performance of the Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical will be available to view online and on video on demand at a number of web sites. This does not appear to be a live stream but instead a video that will be available after the show. The final performance will be November 6th with the on demand version being available November 11th. The distribution sites listed are:

DMM.com

Rakuten Showtime (Link 1, Link 2)

These sites don’t have the Amour Eternal musical posted yet and the official site mentions only that it will be available on the 11th of November at noon (12 o’clock) for DMM.com, Rakuten Showtime and d Anime Store and at midnight (24 o’clock) for J:COM, iTSCOM, TOKAI and Video Pass. This means midnight at the end of the day or midnight on November 12th and not the beginning of the day on the 11th. Japanese people make some distinction between 00:00 and 24:00.

I’ve never watched a video on any of these services. The first link, DMM.com, can be navigated in English but when I tried to create an account it stated that many services were not available outside of Japan. The same kind of region restriction is likely in place for many if not all of the sites. Many of them have the last three Sailor Moon musicals available to view for 980 yen, about $9.40 US. For 2900 yen, about $28 US, you can download and stream a musical. No specific pricing for the Amour Eternal musical is available at this time. In past years the Sailor Moon musicals had been streamed online on Niconico however they are not listed as an option this time.

What does this mean for you, the every day fan who doesn’t live in Japan but wants desperately to watch the new Sailor Moon musical? Well you may be able to watch it for a price if you navigate some Japanese site and take the risk of being region blocked, though there are proxy services to get around this kind of thing. Alternatively it means it is it quite likely that someone will be able to record a version of this and that it will be subtitled. The hard working people at Miss Dream have made fan subbed versions of the last three musicals and, although they have not commented on this particular news, they have mentioned that they will sub the DVD or a streaming version if one becomes available.

If any readers have had any success viewing anything on these sites outside of Japan I would appreciate if you could post a comment with the details.

The Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical premiered today in Japan

Posted on October 15, 2016 by Adam

The latest Sailor Moon Musical, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Amour Eternal, premiered today in Tokyo. This musical covers the Dream story arc of the manga, which has the gang facing off against the Dead Moon Circus and meeting Pegasus. This was adapted as Sailor Moon SuperS in the original Sailor Moon anime. The main actresses playing Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus are all new for this musical with the rest of the Sailor Guardians and Tuxedo Mask reprising their roles.

I haven’t seen the musical yet since I don’t live in Japan. I don’t know any of the specifics about an upcoming streaming version but usually one of the later performances gets streamed which would ultimately lead to us being able to view a fan subbed version. A number of English speaking Sailor Moon fans were in attendance for the premiere. Were you lucky enough to see it? If so, what are your thoughts?

The DVD of the Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical will be released on March 15th 2017. This was announced on the Sailor Moon Official Site. It will cost 7800 yen, about $75 US. It will include the musical and bonus features. We don’t have the specifics on those special features at this time.

For more images from the musical check out Natalie.mu.

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