The Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The 25th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album CD was released in Japan on April 4th. I picked up my copy from Amazon Japan which meant that I got the Amazon Japan exclusive sticker featuring Usagi and Chibiusa. Having had a chance to listen to the album a couple of times I thought I would share my thoughts on it. Overall it’s enjoyable to hear these iconic tracks with a bit of a twist. All considered I much preferred the 20th Anniversary Memorial Tribute album released about 5 years ago as it had a bit more variety and a lot of the songs on this album are just a rehash of those. Some of the tracks are pretty good but I wouldn’t say any of them are superior to their originals for all that’s worth.

Moonlight Densetsu performed by LiSA is decent. We’ve seen this song redone so many times though and this is hardly the best we’ve seen! It’s a more upbeat version and a more significant departure from the original than the other one we have on this album.

La Soldier by Gesshoku Kaigi is one of the better tracks. La Soldier, although featured in the final real episode of Sailor Moon R, is a musical song. It’s actually the only musical song on this album and was also the only musical song on the last Tribute Album. It’s a great song and it certainly would have been nice to see more covers of musical songs.

Moon Revenge by BiSH is terrible! I’m all for switching things up but this one is a bit too much! It’s starts out fast and gets faster until it’s pretty much a joke at which point there’s a bunch of screaming. What a farce! We got a cover of Moon Revenge, which is from Sailor Moon R The Movie, by Momoiro Clover Z a few years ago. It would have been nice to get a cover of another movie song instead or in addition to this.

Otome No Policy is Otome No pointless. What a waste of time! Yoko Ishida returns to do a “cover” of this ending theme from Sailor Moon R. It’s pretty much the same as the version she recorded 25 years ago. Further she performed it just recently at the Classic Concert. What is the point of this? It’s a tribute album! You don’t just get the same artist to do the same song in the same style. What is this, Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone?

Kakumei wa Night & Day or Revolution is Night & Day by Etsuko Yakushimaru is finally something a bit new. Here’s a song we didn’t see on the last Tribute Album for a change! This is from Sailor Moon Crystal, sort of it. It’s a character song which originally featured the entire cast. While it’s certainly nice to hear something a bit different this really isn’t a song I had much affection for. The Sailor Moon Character Song CD was released in April 2015 but didn’t actually include any music from the series but instead songs performed by the cast. Character songs are common for Sailor Moon series. The original anime and live action series had many such songs released on CDs and singles, some of which actually appeared on the shows. This makes me wonder why this was chosen for inclusion instead of some perhaps more memorable character songs from the past? I would have enjoyed a duet of You’re Just My Love covered by a pair of popular artists. Regardless I do appreciate the attempt at something different on this album that is so much a rehash of songs we hear time and time again … and again.

“Rashiku” Ikimashou or I’ll Go As Myself, performed by Sonoko Inoue, is a fairly enjoyable track. This ending theme for Sailor Moon SuperS which was also included at the end of the Ami’s First Love special is a fun pop upbeat pop song which lends itself well to being covered by a new artist! This version is a bit different which is always good. Isn’t that the point?

Kaze mo Sora mo Kitto or The Wind, the Sky, Surely, is the second track performed by Gesshoku Kaigi. This was originally the ending theme for Sailor Stars. This is a decent track which departs a bit from the original but doesn’t surpass it in quality.

The Sailor Stars Song is performed by Silent Siren. This is a great opening theme so it’s kind of hard to do a bad job of it. Silent Siren’s cover is enjoyable.

Eternal Eternity is performed by Ziyou-Vachi. This is the first ending theme for the third season of Sailor Moon Crystal which originally featured Sailor Uranus and Neptune and was performed by their voice actors. Upon hearing this song I immediately recognized Avu-chan, who provides the Sailor Uranus part of the vocals on this song. Avu-chan was half of the duet which performed Ai No Senshi on the first Tribute Album. Since her performance was not as a member of Ziyou-Vachi on that album I did not originally spot that this was yet another artist who was returning for this album. Having a transgender woman to provide the voice of Sailor Uranus is a bit odd to me. Haruka is a woman with masculine tendencies. To have her voice performed by a transgender woman who herself identifies with femininity seems potentially insensitive. That said I don’t know much about this particular artist. Perhaps this is a character that she somehow identifies with so without specifics I can’t really pass judgement.

Finally we have two bonus tracks which are both performed by voice actors from Sailor Moon Crystal. This being the voices of Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus. They perform Moonlight Densetsu or Moonlight Legend, the Sailor Moon anime opening theme, and Tuxedo Mirage, the Sailor Moon S ending theme. While this is an interesting choice for performers the songs are pretty much like the ones we’ve already heard. Tuxedo Mirage in particular is almost indistinguishable from the original. Not too impressive but as so called bonus tracks I feel like it’s better than nothing.

Ultimately a limiting factor in my enjoyment of this album may simply be that I’m unfamiliar with many of these artists. If I were a Japanese music fan living in Japan and familiar with some or all of these bands I might be excited to hear them perform some of these songs which I enjoy so much but I really come at this only as a Sailor Moon fan who has no real investment in these artists. Still there were tracks on the first Tribute Album that really blew me away. When I heard Tommy heavenly6’s La Soldier I was so impressed with it that I sought out and listened to a number of her albums. This album didn’t encourage me to do anything similar with any of the artists involved.

As packaging goes this one is nothing too extraordinary. The cover is a bit disappointing as it’s just recycled art from the recently released Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary Book.

The CD is pretty neat with a sort of rotational symmetry which may frustrate you if you’re trying to orient it correctly. I decided to try to line mine up straight with the hard to make out Compact Disc logo.

The included booklet which includes 20 pages is quite nice. With so many CDs these days having little to no insert it’s nice to see a few pages of art and full lyrics for all songs as we see here. I’ve included photos of all pages of this booklet at the end of the post.

I also got a special sticker for having pre-ordered this from Amazon Japan. There are a number of different stickers which are included depending on where you got the album. These were all cover art from the Sailor Moon manga. The sticker I got featured Usagi and Chibiusa with the other Sailor Guardians in the background.

Do I recommend this? My feelings on it are pretty lukewarm. If it wasn’t evident I much preferred the 20th Anniversary Tribute album. Still there are a few enjoyable tracks that a fan might appreciate. It may not be worth the effort to import but should it become available to download from a digital service like iTunes down the line that would be a justifiable purchase. There is also, of course, the option of acquiring it less than legally. I will always encourage supporting the show though there are certainly no shortage of options for doing so with the way Sailor Moon is monetized these days. I won’t facilitate sharing such things on this site but ultimately I leave that kind of decision to you!

Keep reading for more images of the box art and all pages of the included booklet.

The Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album was finally release on January 29th. I got my copy a couple of weeks ago and have been quite happy with it. I would encourage readers to buy a copy for themselves from sites such as Amazon Japan, CD Japan or JList. Alternatively you can download the album illegally from the Miss Dream web site.

This album, as we have mentioned before, includes covers of popular Sailor Moon songs by a variety of Japanese musical artists. We spoke a lot about who these bands were in earlier posts about this album. I generally enjoyed the album quite a bit. It filled me with nostalgia for these famous songs which I’ve listened to countless times over the years but still offered something new to appreciate with the different takes all of these artists have on these songs which are now up to 20 years old. Below I will include brief thoughts on each of the tracks.

The first track, Moonlight Densetsu, is the original theme song used in the first four of the five seasons of the Sailor Moon anime. The original theme song was done by DALI but in the S and SuperS seasons it was rerecorded by Moon Lips. This cover by Momoiro Clover Z more closely resembles the Moon Lips version. Momoiro Clover Z originally faced much criticism from fans when their performance of this song at the Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary event was not great. They are set to perform the theme song for the new Sailor Moon anime yet they could not do a decent cover of this song. This album version, as opposed to their live version, sounds considerably better benefiting from the studio polish that only post production can bring. It stands to reason that the theme song we finally get will have a similar quality.

Heart Moving was the original ending theme for the first half of the first season of the anime. The version on this album performed by Shoko Nakagawa is quite a bit more upbeat than the original.

Princess Moon, the ending theme for the second half of the first season, is performed by Haruka Fukuhara. My only thought when hearing this version is that the artist sounds extremely young. This is fair as Haruka Fukuhara is only 15.

Otome no Policy, the ending theme for Sailor Moon R, is performed by Etsuko Yakushimaru. This version features a lot of interesting electronic effects, like random beeps reminiscent of dial up modems. The entire song seems whispered which is an odd choice. The end effect is that it makes me think that there might be a Japanese ghost stuck in my music player, which is all right since this rendition is fairly enjoyable.

La Soldier was not a theme song used in the anime, but was originally a song used in the Sailor Moon Musicals. It has been used in every Sailor Moon musical to date. It was also used in the final battle in Sailor Moon R. The version of this album is performed by Tommy heavenly and is by far my favourite track on the album. There is a rock type quality added which is quite enjoyable and Tommy heavenly has a great singing voice.

Ai No Senshi is the other track which is not an opening or ending theme. This song was first used when the Sailor Soldiers face off against Rubeus and the Ayakashi Sisters in Sailor Moon R and again in Sailor Moon S when Haruka gives Usagi a lift in her car. The original version of this song has a great beat and this one does as well. The song is now a duet done by Mariko Goto and Avu-chan. Avu-chan’s voice sounds very much like that of a man, which is not terribly surprising as she is a trans woman. The duet works well, though the voice can be a bit distracting. This rendition is good though the original version needed no improvement.

Tuxedo Mirage, the ending theme for Sailor Moon S, is the second song performed by Momoiro Clover Z. Their performance is perfectly serviceable but not exceptional. They are a popular band that is in my mind neither impressive or lacking in talent. I’m sure their performance of the upcoming theme song will be equally unremarkable.

“Rashiku” Ikimasho is the ending theme for the second half of Sailor Moon SuperS as well as the Ami’s First Love special. The cover by Haruko Momoi is very good, though the original song was also great and didn’t really require any improvement. This song could easily have been worse if done poorly, so I give it credit for holding up well.

The Sailor Stars Song was the second opening theme, used for the Sailor Stars series. The cover by Mitsuko Horie is not as good or fun as the original. Her style of singing does not really mesh well with the tone of the music.

Kaze mo Sora mo Kitto, the ending theme to Sailor Stars, is performed by Makoto Kawamoto. The music itself is not terribly different than the original track though Mokoto Kawamoto’s singing voice is a bit different, and quite enjoyable.

The bonus track is a French language version of Moonlight Densetsu by Clémentine, a French singer who performs mostly in Japan. It’s a very interesting track as it is more of a departure from the original than any other. The style of music is a complete novelty. The French translation takes many liberties, sometimes having only passing similarities to the original lyrics. Overall I found it quite enjoyable and found that Clémentine has a good singing voice.

This is a good album and one I would suggest all Sailor Moon fans make the effort to pick up.

Here’s a trailer for the Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album which will be released on January 29th. It gives a preview of each of the tracks and gives us the details about every artists which will be performing a song. As we’ve seen before the songs are mostly the opening and ending themes, with a few other popular Sailor Moon songs included. The official web site has also been updated with more information about each track and artist.

Here is the track listing as well as the artists performing them. We’ll look at who the newly mentioned artists are later in this post.

1: Moonlight Densetsu (Moonlight Legend) – Momoiro Clover Z
2: Heart Moving – Shoko Nakagawa
3: Princess Moon – Haruka Fukuhara
4: Otome no Policy (Maiden’s Policy) – Etsuko Yakushimaru
5: La Solider – Tommy heavenly⁶
6: Ai No Senshi (Soldier of Love) – Mariko Goto & Avu-chan
7: Tuxedo Mirage – Momoiro Clover Z
8: “Rashiku” Ikimasho (I’ll Go As Myself) – Haruko Momoi
9: Sailor Stars Song – Mitsuko Horie
10: Kaze mo Sora mo Kitto… (The Wind, The Sky, Surely…) – Makoto Kawamoto
Bonus Track: Moonlight Densetsu – French Version – Clémentine

Once again we see Momoiro Clover Z, the band who will be performing the theme song for the new anime set to premier in July, performing Moonlight Densetsu. They have previously performed this song twice live and this version sounds much better, having been cleaned up in a studio.

We discussed Mitsuko Horie and Shoko Nakagawa in our first post about this album and then talked about Mariko Goto, Haruko Momoi and Tommy Heavenly⁶ when more details were announced. With this latest news we have five more artists joining the list with Haruka Fukuhara, Etsuko Yakashimaru, Avu-chan, Makoto Kawamoto and Clémentine. Read on more more on each of these artists.

Haruka Fukuhara is a 15 year old actress, model and singer who is well known as the main actress on Cooking Idol Ai! Mai! Main!, a live action and animated cooking show. She has released a number of singles, most of which have to do with cooking.

Etsuko Yakushimaru is a J-Pop singer who has been the vocalist for the Japanese rock band Sōtaisei Riron since 2006. She also writes and composes music under the pseudonym Tika.

Avu-chan is the lead singer of the band Ziyoou-Vachi (Queen Bee). The members of this glamrock Japanese band are all transgender women. Avu-chan is teaming up with Mariko Goto to perform Ai No Senshi.

Makoto Kawamoto is a Japanese singer who has been working since 1996. She is well known to anime fans for performing 1/2, the second opening theme for the anime series Rurouni Kenshin.

A bonus French version of Moonlight Densetsu is also included on this CD sung by Clémentine. Clémentine is a French language singer who primarily works in Japan. This song will be sung in French though no preview is included to date so we will have to wait until the album is released to see what this sounds like.

You can preorder the album from Amazon Japan, CD Japan or JList.