Kotaku attempted to track down the Toon Makers’ Sailor Moon pilot and stumbled upon another show which isn’t Sailor Moon at all

Team Angel - Group shot

Every once in a while some Sailor Moon related article gets enough mainstream attention that even people who aren’t into the show send it to me! This has been the case for the past few days with Kotaku’s article on the “Long-Lost American Sailor Moon”. What the article contains is a fairly in depth explanation of the Toon Makers’ Sailor Moon series, also known as “Saban Moon” to some fans, which culminates not in finding the actual Toon Makers’ pilot but instead something called “Team Angel” which is absolutely not Sailor Moon and at best loosely inspired by it.

Toon Makers' Sailor Moon voice-over session script title

Most of the information contained in the article is information which was already known to some of the fan community. This is all about the clip which was shown at Anime Expo in 1995 which was a mix of live action and animated segments and would have been a Power Rangers style Americanized Sailor Moon. The author, Cecilia D’Anastasio, admits not to be being a Sailor Moon fan. The reader follows along with her attempt to find more about the clip. She does a good amount of investigative work which doesn’t lead to much but she presents it in a fairly compelling way. The article includes a mention of the voice over script which I bought back in 2012, back when this site was relatively new.

Toon Makers' Sailor Moon - Sailor Mars

Also featured are some of the cels which ended up on eBay. I ended up buying a lot of these when they were sold and I’m glad I did as there aren’t many more sold after that original batch if my eBay saved searches are any indication! Images used in the article and video are mostly from the Moon Sisters web site which has a lot of information about the show. Some of those, including the up close head shots of the Sailor Guardians, are also in my personal collection. The Moon Sisters photos which made it in the video were from the original auction before I painstakingly removed the cels from the lined paper they were stuck to and got better photos of them.

Toon Makers Sailor Moon - Live action Luna

This cat was apparently heavily drugged and peed everywhere

One interesting new tidbit of information which I hadn’t seen before what that the white cat, who was actually Luna in this version, was so drugged that it kept peeing everywhere. Having a cat in a show isn’t as easy as having a dog! As many cat owners probably know bringing a cat to a new environment or to encounter new people usually results in a frightened hiding cat. TV cats usually have a calm temperament or are heavily drugged!

The author tracks down Rocky Solotoff who mostly gives us information we knew before and puts her in touch with Frank Ward who, after many dramatic interactions, may not ever have actually been involved with the Toon Makers’ Sailor Moon pilot. Either Rocky Solotoff misremembers Frank Ward’s involvement in the project or Frank Ward simply doesn’t remember working on it. Some 24 years later neither would be all that surprising. The 17 minute Toon Makers’ Sailor Moon pilot, it would seem, is still lost and may never be recovered. What is it that was finally found? What is the big reveal of this article? You can see the clip embedded below.

Team Angel - Stars

I don’t feel that the video’s title “Lost American Sailor Moon – Team Angel” is terribly accurate. This is a couple minutes long clip pitching a show called Team Angel. There is certainly something which could be said to be Sailor Moon inspired about this show but it is not well demonstrated that this is “American Sailor Moon”. There’s a group of girls who transform to be superheroes but that’s about it. It was made in 1998, years after Sailor Moon had already aired in English here in North America and in the same year that Sailor Moon started to air on Cartoon Network. I see Sailor Moon as an influence but also Power Rangers, Spice Girls, Xena and probably a bunch of other things.

Team Angel - Around a fountain

The fact that this is a girl team doesn’t need to be Sailor Moon inspired. This was 1998 when the term “Girl Power” permeated popular culture. The Spice Girls were at the height of their popularity and I think this shows in the show as well. Xena Warrior Princess was a hit show which could easily explain the greek style costumes from the beginning of this clip. The Charlie’s Angels movie was only a couple of years away. I’d say a girl power show like this is more reflective of what was going on 20 years ago than it would today.

Team Angel - Transformation - Nails

Certainly some of the transformation sequence look Sailor Moonish. The greek goddesses style somewhat matches what the Sailor Guardians looked like in Silver Millennium though I don’t think this resemblance is likely to be intended. Knowing that this was done by people who were involved with the Toon Makers Sailor Moon version suggests those similarities are more than a coincidence but if they weren’t I wouldn’t assume a connection. To me claiming that this is a Sailor Moon show is a bit of a stretch. An exaggeration to make this discovery fit with the narrative of the article when ultimately it seems to simply be an unrelated show pitch which loosely fit the description which Frank Ward was given. It seems like the idea of the article was to reveal the actual footage of the Toon Makers’ Sailor Moon show and when they got something else rather than just scrap it, they tried to make it fit. Kotaku tried to put a square peg in a round hole and judging by the article’s popularity, they did a decent job of making it fit.

Team Angel - Not Chris Pratt

This is not Chris Pratt

Another fun thing I noticed in this trailer was this guy who looks a lot like Chris Pratt. The similarity was so striking that I had to see what he looked like in 1998! Sadly it doesn’t appear to be him as the actor in this scene has detached earlobes while Chris Pratt’s are attached.

Team Angel - Transformation - Headband

What do you think? Does Team Angel look like Sailor Moon to you?

Keep reading for more images of this clip. Do you recognize any of the actresses?

Continue reading

The new English voice cast for the Sailor Moon S and SuperS movies as well as the Ami’s First Love special have been announced

Sailor Moon S The Movie - Luna kisses Kakeru

Last weekend was Anime Expo in Los Angeles and, as has occurred at past conventions, Viz had a Moon Panel on Sailor Moon Day. One thing which was announced at this panel was the cast for the upcoming English versions of Sailor Moon S The Movie, Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie and the Ami’s First Love special which plays with Sailor Moon SuperS. The films will be showing in theatres in late July and early August. The cast is a mix of new voice actors, a few who are returning after minor roles and some main cast members doing minor roles in the films.

First up is the cast of the Sailor Moon S Movie which has Kakeru, the man who Luna falls in love with, Himeko, an astronaut and part of Kakeru’s love triangle, and Princess Snow Kaguya, the villain of the film.

Sailor Moon S The Movie English cast

Kakeru – Chris Hackeny
Himeko – Claudia Lenz
Princess Snow Kaguya – Melissa Fahn

Himeko is voiced by Claudia Lenz, who also goes by the name of Eden Riegel, who previously voiced Koan in Viz’s new dub of Sailor Moon R and Sailor Moon Crystal.

Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie - Perle, Chibiusa and Diana

For the long titled Sailor Moon SuperS: The Nine Sailor Guardians Unite! Miracle of the Black Dream Hole we have a cast which includes Poupelin, Banae and Oranja, the three villain henchmen, Perle, the reformed villain and love interest for Chibiusa, the Bonbon Babies, giant candy looking monsters, and Badiane, the main villain seeking to imprison the Earth’s children into an energy dreaming eternal slumber not unlike The Matrix.

Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie English cast

Poupelin – Kyle McCarley
Banane – Ben Diskin
Oranja – Robbie Daymond
Bonbon Babies – Erica Mendez
Perle – Colleen O’Shaughnessey
Badiane – Tara Sands

We have a few returning cast members here! Banane is voiced by Ben Diskin who is Umino in the series and the Ami’s First Love special as well as Fiore from Sailor Moon R The Movie. Oranja is voiced by Robbie Daymond who plays Tuxedo Mask in the series and all of these movies. The Bonbon Babies are voiced by Erica Mendez who Sailor Uranus in the series and films and also voiced Reika. Badiane is voiced by Tara Sands who has played a number of single episode roles in Sailor Moon and was also Bulbasaur in Pokémon.

Ami's First Love - Mercurius

Finally we have the Ami’s First Love short which plays with the Sailor Moon SuperS film. The only new voices here are Bunnun, the voice of the monster, and Mercurius, Ami’s rival.

Ami's First Love voice cast

Bonnun – Colleen O’Shaughnessey
Mercurius – Kyle McCarley

Both of these actors were also in Sailor Moon SuperS. The voice of Bonnun, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, is also Perle in the SuperS film. The voice of Mercurius, Kyle McCarley, was also Poupelin in the SuperS film.

For show times and a list of participating theatres be sure to check out the Fathom Events web site. The Sailor Moon S movie will be shown with the R movie dubbed on July 28th and subbed on July 30th. The Sailor Moon SuperS movie will be shown with the Ami’s First Love special dubbed on August 4th and subbed on August 6th.

Though the Fathom Events site only lists US theatres Canadians will also have a chance to see these films on those same dates at select Cineplex theatres. Though show times and theatres are not yet listed on their site keep and eye out on their listings for dubbed and subbed showings of Sailor Moon R and S as well as dubbed and subbed showings of Sailor Moon SuperS and Ami’s First Love.

Are any of you going to be able to see these films in your cities? It was a real treat to see Sailor Moon R in theatres a couple of years ago and I hope to be able to get out to see the other films as well!

Sailor Moon Crystal season 3 will be released on Blu-Ray and DVD December 5th

Sailor Moon Crystal volume 3 Limited Edition Blu-Ray and DVD set

This past weekend was Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California. This event included Viz’s Moon Panel, showcasing all things Sailor Moon. The bulk of what we usually see at these panels is a recap of existing information but occasionally we get something new. In this case we have gotten details, including box art, of the third Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray and DVD set. The set then became available to pre-order on Right Stuf’s web site. The set looks like the other two we’ve gotten from Viz, with box art reminiscent of the Japanese releases. Since we had less Japanese releases for this season, grouping together 4 episodes per disc instead of 2, we have less postcards included.

Sailor Moon Crystal volume 3 Limited Edition Blu-Ray and DVD set - Suncatcher

The set will include Acts 27 through 38 which, because of the split up Act 27, is actually 12 episodes. Not much in the way of details on the special features but it looks like we’ve got a booklet with art as we did with the other releases. Right Stuf pre-orders will also include a collectible suncatcher because nothing says Sailor Moon like a sun catcher! MSRP for the set is $79.99 US but Right Stuf has the pre-order up for $71.99. Will you be picking this one up?

Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Manga

The other “news” from the panel was about the Eternal Edition Manga which is coming out in January. We got some art of the covers and the colour pages inside but this is mostly information we knew or had inferred from previously available information. It is nice to have confirmation of what we had suspected though. These will look like the Japanese Compete Edition manga versions which came out recently. They have the same new cover art and a lot more colour pages than we’ve seen in previous releases.

Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Manga - Colour Pages

Support the site by ordering the first two Sailor Moon Crystal sets or pre-ordering the Eternal Edition manga using the links below.

Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Manga - Colour Pages

Image source: @NJ_ on Twitter.

Sailor Moon S is coming to DVD and Blu-Ray starting November 15th

Sailor Moon S Part 1 - Blu-ray

After waiting for an entire year we finally have some concrete details about Viz’s release of Sailor Moon S. This weekend at Anime Expo it was announced that the first part of Sailor Moon S is coming to home video on November 15th 2016. You can pre-order this set from Right Stuf Anime for $62.99 US. This first set will include episodes 90 to 108 of the series which is a few episodes before Hotaru first shows up. Box art seen above shows that this will look a lot like earlier releases and include a full colour booklet with a lot of art and other information about the series. This set will include the show both in Japanese and English dialogue with optional subtitles. This will have Viz’s new English dub of Sailor Moon S. An extended trailer showing many new English clips from the early episodes of Sailor Moon S have been released which you can watch below.

For a limited time pre-orders from Right Stuf will come with a collectible gold coloured coin showing Sailor Moon’s Cosmic Heart Compact, her transformation item during the S season of the anime. The set is exclusively available to pre-order from Right Stuf for now but it will be available from other retailers prior to its release.

Though no details about a Moonlight Party were mentioned, it seems likely that one will take place at some point to give us a sneak peak of some dubbed episodes of Sailor Moon S. This has typically been done before all sets are released as a way to advertise the upcoming release. We’ll be sure to share any information about such events or dubbed episodes being added to Hulu as we learn about them.

Meet the cast of Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal at Anime Expo this weekend, July 1st to the 3rd

Viz's cast of Sailor Moon S announced at Anime Expo 2015

This weekend is Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California. Once again this convention will play host to a number of Sailor Moon actors, this time with a lot of the cast from the new dub of the original Sailor Moon anime and Sailor Moon Crystal. Could this mean we will finally be getting news about the English dub of Sailor Moon S? It’s been a whole year since the voice actors for Sailor Moon S were announced at Anime Expo 2015. We are long overdue to see these episodes. The voice actors will be signing Sailor Moon S art at the convention so I think it would be reasonable to expect to learn something related to Sailor Moon S at Sunday’s panel!

Sailor Moon S poster from Viz Media

This convention will feature Stephanie Sheh, Sailor Moon, Cristina Vee, Sailor Mars, Amanda Miller, Sailor Jupiter, Cherami Leigh, Sailor Venus, Sandy Fox, Chibiusa, Robbie Daymond, Tuxedo Mask, new voice actors from Sailor Moon S Erica Mendez, Sailor Uranus, Lauren Landa, Sailor Neptune and Christine Cabanos, Sailor Saturn. Most of the events will be going on this Sunday, July 3rd. The Sailor Moon panel will be at 10am Pacific Time and an autograph session will be held at 1:30pm. The cast will be signing Sailor Moon S posters provided by Viz.

Viz’s new English voice actors for Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Saturn and more revealed at the Anime Expo Sailor Moon Panel

Viz's cast of Sailor Moon S announced at Anime Expo 2015

Viz’s Sailor Moon panel took place today at Anime Expo in Los Angeles. You can watch the stream of the event at Ustream. The main announcement that took place was the cast of Viz’s new dub of Sailor Moon S. Though most of the cast appeared in earlier seasons the new characters who’s voices were announced were Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, Sailor Saturn and Professor Tomoe.

The new cast, all of whom were in attendance, are listed below:

Professor Tomoe by Keith Silverstein
Sailor Uranus by Erica Mendez
Sailor Neptune by Lauren Landa
Sailor Saturn by Christine-Marie Cabanos

Keith Silverstein as the voice of Professor Tomoe

Keith Silverstein also voiced Usagi’s father Kenji Tsukino while Erica Mendez also voiced Reika, Motoki’s girlfriend.

We previously mentioned that Erica Mendez would be appearing at Unplugged Expo July 31st to August 2nd in Toronto based on her role as Reika. Now that she’s been cast as the voice of Sailor Uranus fans of Sailor Moon will have another reason to meet her.

Erica Mendez as the voice of Sailor Uranus

There was more announced at this event. We’ve learned that there will be another Moonlight Party on July 17th. This will coincide with the release of the English dub of the second half of Sailor Moon R on Hulu.

Lauren Landa as the voice of Sailor Neptune

It was also announced that the dubbed version of Sailor Moon Crystal will be exclusive to Hulu. We can infer from this that Sailor Moon Crystal will not likely be playing on English television. Though the subtitled version of Sailor Moon Crystal will remain available on Crunchyroll and Niconico, this does not leave any option for viewing Sailor Moon Crystal in Canada, where Hulu is not available. Canadians still have no legal option for viewing the streaming version of the subbed and dubbed versions of the original Sailor Moon Anime. This said there are many proxy.

Christine-Marie Cabanos as Sailor Saturn

A clip of the English dub of Sailor Moon Crystal was shown, and can be seen at the 41 minute mark of the stream. The first two episodes will be premiering at Anime Expo today at 6pm Pacific Time, which is 9pm Eastern Time.

Stephanie Sheh as Usagi in Sailor Moon Crystal

The Sailor Moon Crystal English dub will premier at Anime Expo on July 3rd in Los Angeles

Anime Expo Logo

The first two episodes of the English dub of Sailor Moon Crystal will be premiered at the Anime Expo convention in Los Angeles on Friday July 3rd at 6pm, as part of Sailor Moon Day. The anime convention’s schedule is now online, where the event was listed. This will be Act 1, Usagi – Sailor Moon, and Act 2, Ami – Sailor Mercury. The English dub, by Viz Media, will keep the same cast that their new English dub of the original anime used. Some of those actors will be present at the convention. Since this convention takes place in California all times will be in Pacific Time.

Anime Expo will take place the weekend of July 2nd to the 5th in Los Angeles California. The convention will feature many guests from the English dub of the original Sailor Moon Anime and Sailor Moon Crystal. In attendance will be Stephanie Sheh, the voice of Sailor Moon, Cristina Vee, the voice of Sailor Mars, Amanda Miller, the voice of Sailor Jupiter, Cherami Leigh, the voice of Sailor Venus, Robbie Daymond, the voice of Tuxedo Mask and Sandy Fox, the voice of Chibiusa and Black Lady. Kyle Hebert, who played the Priest who turned into the monster Boxy in the new dub, will also be at the convention though he may not be involved in the dub of Sailor Moon Crystal or the Sailor Moon themed events.

KISS and Momoiro Clover Z

Also at the convention will be Momoiro Clover Z, the band which performs the Sailor Moon Crystal opening theme, Moon Pride, and ending theme, Gekkou or Moonbow. Momoiro Clover Z will be performing on Thursday July 2nd with KISS members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. The two bands recently collaborated on a single released as Momoiro Clover Z vs. KISS. Watch the video below.

Friday is Sailor Moon Day at Anime Expo. This starts with the Official Sailor Moon Panel by Viz Media and the cast of Sailor Moon from 10am to noon. Following this from 1pm to 2:30pm will be a screening of Sailor Moon’s best episodes, though we don’t know what those will be at this time. From 4:30pm to 5:30pm will be a Sailor Moon Cosplay gathering. Then from 6pm to 7:30pm is the English dub premiere of Act 1 and 2 of Sailor Moon Crystal. Other events listed in their schedule that will likely be relevant to Sailor Moon fans are the Viz Media panel on Thursday July 2nd at 1:15pm and the Viz Animation Panel featuring Neon Alley on Saturday July 4th at 4pm.

Viz Media

Source: Anime Expo schedule via Moonkitty.net

More clips of Viz’s new Sailor Moon dub including Usagi, Ikuko Mama, Jadeite and Beryl

Sailor Moon opening - Queen Beryl in the Dark Kingdom

Two new clips of Viz’s new Sailor Moon dub have been leaked. These feature the beginning of episodes 1 and 2. You can hear the voices of Usagi, Ikuko Mama, Jadeite and Queen Beryl. These were recorded at Anime Expo on July 5th. Viz premiered the first two episodes of their new dub at a panel where they unveiled the new cast. Recording was not allowed at the panel which is why the video is not visible. Because these only included audio I’ve embedded the YouTube clips to only include the progress bar.

The first clip is the beginning of episode 1, The Crybaby: Usagi’s Beautiful Transformation. You can hear Usagi’s opening monologue followed by the scene where she wakes up late for school and talks to her mother. Usagi is voiced by Stephanie Sheh and Ikuko Mama is voice by Tara Platt.

In this second clip we hear the first bit of episode 2, Punishment Awaits: The House Of Fortune Is The Monster Mansion. It starts out with side characters talking about the fortune house but then contains a brief exchange between Jadeite and Queen Beryl. Jadeite is voiced by Todd Haberkorn and Queen Beryl is voiced by Cindy Robinson.

Thanks to Dakota from our comments for finding these clips.

Source: Baillie Puckett‘s YouTube channel.

Listen to a short clip of Viz’s new Sailor Moon dub

Leaked Viz dub clip from Anime Expo

A 25 second clip of Viz’s new Sailor Moon dub has been leaked! This was recorded last weekend at Viz’s panel at Anime Expo where the new dub cast was announced. It features Usagi, as voiced by Stephanie Sheh, from the begning of episode 2. No other characters are present in this scene. Episode 2 was played first accidentally. Once this was noticed the audience was told not to record anything, so no more clips are available. Here’s a transcript of what is said in the clip:

I’m a cancer with blood type O. My birthstone is a pearl and I am a bit of a klutz. Some people might say I’m also a little emotional. So one day this strange cat named Luna appeared, turned me into a guardian in a sailor uniform and told me I had to fight bad guys. Boy does that ever make me nervous, but I’m sure it’ll all work out fine.

Source: Sailor Moon Obsession on Tumblr

The original Sailor Moon anime will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray starting November 11th

Sailor Moon first season box art

This past weekend at Anime Expo Viz Media announced at their panel that the original Sailor Moon anime would be released on DVD and Blu-Ray starting November 11th. This release will include the original Japanese audio with English subtitles as well as Viz’s new English dub. The voice actors for the new dub were revealed along with the first two episodes at the convention on Saturday.

Sailor Moon DVD and Blu-Ray limited edition coin

The first release will include the first half of the first season which covers 23 episodes. It will come in a chipboard box with room for the second half of the first season which will be released at a later date. Special features will include a full colour 88 page booklet, a dub recording behind the scenes featurette, art galleries and convention featurettes. Online retailer Right Stuf is offering a 1.5″ collectable coin to customers buying the limited edition set. Their price for the set is $56.99.

Sailor Moon DVD and Blu-Ray limited edition coin

Source: Moon Chase! and Crunchyroll