The Sailor Moon Cosmos films are coming to Blu-ray and DVD in Japan on December 20th

Sailor Moon Cosmos DVD and Blu-ray announcement

Good news for those who like to spend a lot of money to import movies they don’t understand! The official Sailor Moon site has announced that Sailor Moon Cosmos Parts 1 and 2 will be release on regular and limited edition DVD and Blu-ray sets on December 20th 2023! As with other Japanese Sailor Moon releases this will only include Japanese audio with no English subtitles. Japanese Blu-ray discs are region A so they will play in a North American Blu-ray player however their DVDs are Region 2 which won’t play on a North American player. You can watch the short trailer for the Blu-ray release below.

There are two version of each of the Blu-ray and DVD release and they aren’t cheap! The single disc Blu-ray or DVD, which somehow costs the same in 2023, has an MSRP of 10,000 yen, about $69 US. The four disc sets also costs the same on DVD and Blu-ray with an MSRP of 16,000 yen or $110 US. What’s the difference? The four disc set has a second DVD or Blu-ray with special features including an anime music video, likely the one we got with the soundtrack, creditless openings for the films as well as two CDs with music from the films.

There are also vendor exclusive special incentives from a number of retailers. There are acrylic figures with different characters being included with the films from different retailers. Those are even more expensive than the regular four disc set though price varies slightly between retailers.

So when do we get to see the movies here? We still don’t have any news about a release of the Sailor Moon Cosmos films outside of Japan but that doesn’t stop people from speculating! As the Sailor Moon Eternal films were released on Netflix less than a month prior to the Japanese Blu-ray release of those movies many are thinking that we will be seeing these movies either in theatres or on Netflix, before December 20th. I’m not totally convinced of this timeline as it seems odd to time a North American release with a Japanese home video release, or to do the opposite, but it seems that usually Japanese Blu-rays are released after movies are released here.

The original timeline which I speculated about back when Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 1 was released in theatres predicted that if we heard about and got a release of Sailor Moon Cosmos with a similar delay that we did for Sailor Moon Eternal then the Netflix announcement would be in September, next month, and the streaming premiere would be in November. There’s still time for this to happen!

All that said I am reluctantly looking forward to importing these movies for their absurdly high price. If a North American release isn’t out by then I will watch the Japanese version and surely follow along well enough as the story is pretty close to the manga. It’s also likely, in the event that a North American release is still not announced prior to December 20th, that someone will fansub the films. This sometimes happens as quickly as a few days after a show airs or is available on video. Perhaps these fansubbing groups will not be working hard on the days before Christmas and we can expect it a bit later.

Will you be picking either of these sets up? If so which one?

Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical news: DVD and Blu-ray details, international streaming announced and music track previews

Musical Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon - Princess Kaguya's Lover Poster

The Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical begins performances in Japan on Friday September 3rd. This musical has been delayed due to the pandemic but is finally being held with audiences at 50% capacity. There’s been a lot of news about the musical recently so I’ll put the most important stuff in this post.

It was announced that the musical will be streamed not only in Japan but internationally as well! This is great news as the musicals have only started to become accessible outside of Japan recently. The Japanese streams will start along with the first showings as early as September 3rd for a hefty price of 3700 yen, about $34 US. There will be a 20% discount for those who attend the show. In contrast the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical which was streaming this past week only cost $15 US to stream! We don’t have details about the international streaming option at this time. It seems unlikely this will be available on September 3rd along with the Japanese stream. We only know that the distribution will be done through Globe Coding. Note that this is the same service which was used for the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon 2019 musical stream. I purchased a ticket for that and watched it and did not have any issues! I’m expecting that since the musical is streaming outside of Japan that it will have subtitles for fans to watch along with.

We’ve also gotten details about the home video release of the musical. It will be released on both DVD and Blu-ray on January 19th 2022. Preorders will start on September 3rd, along with the first showing of the musical. It won’t be cheap! The DVD will sell for 8,500 yen, about $77 UD, while the Blu-ray will cost 9,500 yen, about $87 US. This will include a disc with the musical itself and a second disc with bonus features. This is only the second musical we get on Blu-ray after the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical. After years of really low quality DVDs for the recent musicals I’m happy that these are finally coming out on Blu-ray, even if the price tag is a bit higher!

Finally we’ve gotten previews of some of the songs from the musical. This includes a very short version on YouTube as well as longer tracks on a number of streaming services. A collection of those links can be found on linkfire. The two tracks are You’re My Universe and this musical’s version of Moonlight Legend, the original theme song for the Sailor Moon anime. Both songs are performed by the actresses playing the Sailor Team in the musical. You can watch the shorter versions of these songs on YouTube below.

The Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical is based on the manga chapter story which was the inspiration for Sailor Moon S: The Movie. The musical will focus heavily on Luna who falls in love with Kakeru and ultimately turns into human Luna. Are any of you expecting to see this one live or do you plan on streaming it or importing the home video release?

Details for the Sailor Moon Eternal Japanese Blu-ray and DVD have been revealed

Sailor Moon Eternal poster

The Sailor Moon official site has been updated with details about the upcoming Sailor Moon Eternal home video release which is coming on June 30th, Usagi’s birthday. We previously mentioned that there were a number of versions of this release, including the Limited Edition DVD and Blu-ray releases which are packed with extras. The bare bones versions of both the DVD and Blu-ray do not appear to have any of the extra features but instead simply include the two Sailor Moon Eternal films.

Sailor Moon Eternal Part 2 - Poster

Both the four disc limited edition DVD and Blu-ray have similar features with the Blu-ray obviously having HD 1080p video while the DVD has a standard definition, almost certainly 480p, video. The contents are as follows:

  • Disc 1: The actual movies, both on a single disc, with audio commentary provided by Misato Fuken, the voice of Chibiusa, and Kenji Nojima, the voice of Tuxedo Mask, on both films. Sailor Moon Eternal Part 2’s commentary also features Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, the voice of Helios/Pegasus.
  • Disc 2: Bonus features which includes a music video for the character song “Moon Effect”, a collection of promotional videos for the film, footage of the film’s premiere, a video of an Amazon Trio night, a completion report interview (?), a stage greeting (?) and interviews with Chiaki Kon, the director of the films, and Kazuko Tadano, character designer and animation director of the films. I don’t understand what all of these features will be.
  • CD 1 and 2 are still only described as being the Sailor Moon Eternal drama collection and will include the movie versions of Moon Color Chainon and Moon Effect. This certainly isn’t enough to fill two audio CDs so I think it’s safe to say we don’t have all of the details we could have about these.
  • A special booklet measuring 28cm x 17.5 cm or roughly 11″ x 7″.

Ultimately a lot of these features are very much in Japanese and audio or dialogue centric making them difficult for fans who don’t actually speak Japanese to get much out of. With the movies coming to Netlix weeks before this video release this might not be a worthwhile purchase for everyone!

While I usually order my Sailor Moon videos and CDs from Amazon Japan, this has become impossible lately. This release is not in stock and I don’t know if it ever will be. CD Japan seems to be a popular option with fans. I can’t say I enjoy paying more in shipping and import fees than the actual price of a product. There are also versions with pre-order exclusive bonuses such as figures which are even harder to get outside of Japan. There are proxy services which will allow you to get these. I don’t have much experience with these.

Are you looking to pick up this set? If so, where are you planning to buy it from?

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 is out on home video today!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 - Blu-Ray cover

Today is the day! Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 is now available to purchase on DVD and Blu-Ray, which means the entire original Sailor Moon anime, with Viz’s new English dub, is now out! Fans have been waiting to see the final season of Sailor Moon dubbed into English since the 1990s but after Sailor Moon S and SuperS were dubbed, the final season never followed! The set is now available to purchase in stores and online. Fans looking to buy it from Amazon can do so using the links below.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 200 - Galaxia fights Princess Serenity

Have you gotten your copy yet? Did any of you wait until now to watch the fifth and final season? What did you think of the final episodes? If you’re looking to pick up any of the earlier sets you can support the site by ordering them from Amazon using these links.



Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 1 is now available to pre-order on DVD and Blu-Ray from Amazon

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Blu-Ray set box art

Following last week’s news about Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 1 coming to DVD and Blu-Ray on June 18th fans can now pre-order the set from Amazon. This includes the less expensive DVD version, selling for just $28.26, as well as the standard Blu-Ray version, which is selling for $61.12 and the Limited Edition Blu-Ray which is $71.73. This is slightly less expensive than pre-ordering from RightStuf, which currently costs $71.99, though users ordering from RightStuf will be able to get the exclusive coin. If you pre-order from Amazon using the links below, or any other Amazon links such as the ones on the left sidebar on the main page, this will support this site.

This set includes episodes 167 to 183. This includes the short six episode Nehelenia arc, which is a sort of bridge between the SuperS season and Sailor Stars, and the introduction of the Sailor Starlights and their alternate identities, the Three Lights! The set will end with the introduction of the mysterious Chibi Chibi! These will be available for the first time with English audio, featuring Viz’s new English dub of the series, as well as Japanese audio with English subtitles. We never got a straight answer as to why Sailor Stars wasn’t originally dubbed but some fans believe that it was because the content would have been considered inappropriate for some viewers. If that was ever true it seems like this is no longer the case!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - The Sailor Starlights

Do you ship Seiya and Usagi? Will you be getting this release? I’m certainly looking forward to watching it in English for the first time. Though I’ve imported the Japanese DVDs and laserdiscs of Sailor Stars over the years the copies I’ve watched the most were VHS fan subs and a bootleg DVD, both of which used the VKLL subtitle scripts.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 182 - Chibi Chibi

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 174 - Taiki, Seiya and Yaten - The Three Lights

Check out the cover art for the upcoming Sailor Stars DVD and Blu-Ray release

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Blu-Ray set box art

We’ve got our first look at Viz’s upcoming home video release of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars which is coming to DVD and Blu-Ray later this year. It was previously announced that this set would be out in the Spring, but we have not received any specifics about a release date beyond this. The box art features Eternal Sailor Moon with her Eternal Tiare. This was shared in an article on the Kodansha Comics web site discussing Sailor Moon. It is mentioned that the first 17 episodes of the season will be included in this first set which will also contain behind the scenes interviews. This is the English release by Viz which will include the first ever English dub of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars as well as Japanese audio with English subtitles.

Osabu

The article includes a humourous interview with Sailor Moon editor Fumio Osano, commonly referred to as Osabu, in which he seems to suggest that North American readers may be interested in the Eternal Editions of the manga because of their large hands. Perhaps he has been baffled by the size of American comics since seeing an Xbox controller years ago! He also discusses his involvement with the manga over the years and more specifically his work as it relates to the North American audience.

Source: @fredjfrancis on Twitter

The Eternal Editions of the manga which are mentioned really do look great. They feature new translations, larger glossier pages and all colour pages which originally appeared in Nakayoshi. Order the first two volumes and pre-order others using the links below:


Though Sailor Moon Sailor Stars is not yet available to pre-order you can support the site by buying previous releases using the links below:



The Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray March 20th

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical - Sayuri Inoue and Mizuki Yamashita as Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon in Weekly Shonen Magazine

Good news for musical fans who have TVs that were made after 1992! It has been announced on the official Sailor Moon site that the recent Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical will be released not only on low resolution DVD but also on high definition Blu-Ray! This 3 disk set will include two version of the musical, that being both the Team Moon and Team Star versions, as well as bonus features! This is great news given the last 5 musicals, all released long after Blu-Rays and high definition televisions were commonplace, were only released on a low quality 480i DVD. I’ve complained about this time and time again as the past musical releases are really not in keeping with where the rest of the video industry is. This has become particularly frustrating in light of the fact that streaming and digital versions of the musical, uniquely available in Japan, are available in significantly higher resolutions than the DVD releases. I had previously suspected that the reason for the low quality releases was that older style video cameras had been used for the recordings, but this does not appear to be the case.

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical - The entire cast

This is particularly useful for North American fans who would normally not be able to play Japanese DVDs but are able to play Japanese Blu-Rays. Japan is in DVD region 2, while North America is in DVD region 1, requiring a region free DVD player to be able to watch a Japanese DVD. When it comes to Blu-Ray discs however a different system based on letters is used and both North America and Japan are part of Blu-Ray region A. I play all of my imported Japanese Blu-Rays on my off the shelf Canadian PlayStation 3 and 4 systems without issue. Keep in mind that these Japanese releases do not have any subtitles so fans will only be able to watch them in Japanese.

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon Musical - Sailor Mercury, Mars and Moon

These releases unfortunately will not be cheap! The Blu-Ray release is 9504 yen, about $84 US, and the DVD at a modest 8424 yen, about $75. There’s certainly a good deal of content at that price but this still seems quite expensive! Bonus features on the third disc will include rehearsal footage, backstage video and more.

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical - Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon

I certainly hope that this means we will be getting Blu-Ray releases of musicals in the future. While that may be the case this release may also be given more attention due to the fact that it involves members of the band Nogizaka46 and will appeal to a new audience. We don’t have any box art yet but I think a reversible cover with Team Moon and Team Star would be fun. Do you plan on picking up this release?

Watch these clips for Sailor Moon SuperS Part 1, out on home video April 24th

Sailor Moon SuperS Limited Edition Blu-Ray and DVD

Sailor Moon SuperS Part 1 will be out on DVD and Blu-Ray on April 24th. Those looking to pre-order it should be careful to get the right version. I often get these from Amazon however the Special Edition is hard to find on the site. The Amazon listing for the product only includes the DVD and Regular Edition Blu-Ray but there is a separate page with no box art which has the Special Edition Blu-Ray. This includes a box to house both volumes and a special booklet. The set can also be pre-ordered from Right Stuf. They have Special Edition Blu-Ray, Standard Edition Blu-Ray and DVD copies listed on their site.

As is often the case with such a release Viz has given us a sneak peak at a lot of the voices in the form of some videos. These ones were posted to the Viz Media Twitter account as well as their YouTube channel. This includes a full trailer showing various characters and a couple of clips of the Amazon Trio. You can watch them embedded below:

We also recently got cast information about Sailor Moon SuperS Part 2! Long ago we learned about the actors appearing in Part 1 but it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago at Anime Boston that we finally got an announcement of who would be voicing Queen Nehelenia (now spelled Nehalennia) and the Amazoness Quartet. This was confirmed on Twitter. The Amazon Quartet take the place of the Amazon Trio as the season’s villains once their story arc is completed. The cast includes Laura Post as Queen Nehalennia, Erica Lindbeck as Ves-Ves, Xanthe Huynh as Palla-Palla, Erika Ishii as Jun-Jun and Cassandra Lee Morris as Cere-Cere. Cassandra Lee Morris previously voiced Calaveras of the Ayakashi Sisters in Sailor Moon R.

Cast info for Sailor Moon SuperS Part 2 - The Amazoness Quartet and Queen Nehalennia

Are you planning on picking up this set?

Sailor Moon SuperS Part 1’s DVD and Blu-Ray release has been delayed until April 24th

Sailor Moon SuperS Limited Edition Blu-Ray and DVD

Fans waiting for Viz’s next Sailor Moon TV series release will need to be a little more patient. The release had originally been scheduled for April 10th, as we mentioned back in November, however some readers have noticed that pre-orders were being delayed until April 24th. Indeed the listings on Amazon and Right Stuf’s web sites now show an April 24th release date. After some concern in our comments section reader Drew reached out to Viz for clarification and they confirmed that the new release date for Sailor Moon SuperS Part 1 is in fact April 24th. This is only a two week delay but I know some fans have been waiting quite some time for this one!

Sailor Moon SuperS Special - Haruka and Michiru during SuperS

I’m not aware of any reason given for the delay, though such things are not uncommon. Since there haven’t been any dubbed episodes released to stream yet this will be the first chance we get to hear Viz’s new Sailor Moon SuperS dub. It will also be the first time the Sailor Moon SuperS Special will be available in North America. This shows, amongst other things, what Haruka and Michiru were up to during the Sailor Moon SuperS season. Are you planning on picking up this set? You can pre-order it from Amazon using the link below.

Japanese Sailor Moon R Blu-Ray Collection Volume 1 review

Sailor Moon R Japanese Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Cover

The Sailor Moon R Blu-Ray Collection Volumes 1 and 2 have now been released in Japan. These are my thoughts on volume 1, which was released on October 4th. I delayed getting this review up so long that volume 2 was since released on December 6th. Some of you expressed interest in seeing the quality, given some issues with the Viz Blu-Ray releases of Sailor Moon R, so I’ve included a lot of screenshots within the post and at the end of it. This collection includes Sailor Moon R episodes 47 to 68 in Japanese and Japanese only! There is no dub and no subtitle track on this release so it may have limited value to English speaking fans. Be warned!

Sailor Moon R episode 59 - Viz Blu-Ray - Young Ail and An

Viz Blu-Ray

Sailor Moon R episode 59 - Japanese Blu-Ray - Young Ail and An

Japanese Blu-Ray

Sailor Moon R episode 59 - Japanese DVD - Young Ail and An

Japanese DVD

The video quality in this release is what I would again call good but not great. To see examples just click through on the images and then on the 1920×1080 link to see the full picture. There is a bit of loss from JPEG compression but it should give a decent idea of the relatively quality of the releases. Basically, as with the first season, what we have is an upscalled or upconverted and cleaned up version of existing standard definition masters. So while the video here is 1080p, Blu-Ray resolution, this was not obtained from going back to the film source (film is used as an intermediate in animation from this era) but instead the old video sources were used and with various filters these were extrapolated into high definition video. I’m not a fan of this technique. I’d just as soon see a good quality standard definition release than pretend this is “really” HD, but your mileage may vary. The techniques used to upscale these is fairly impressive and the image we get is probably the best we’ve seen for the original Sailor Moon anime, but it still isn’t what we’ve seen for things like the Sailor Moon R Movie which was released on Blu-Ray earlier this year.

Sailor Moon R episode 61 - Viz Blu-Ray - Usagi cries

Viz Blu-Ray

Sailor Moon R episode 61 - Japanese Blu-Ray - Usagi cries

Japanese Blu-Ray

All that said Viz used a similar technique when they released their Blu-Rays a few years ago but they seem to have had significantly inferior quality master video sources to work with. The actual techniques they used to convert the video to high definition were likely different as well, as we’ve seen minor differences in the various releases they had as the series was, and continues to be, released. I don’t think it’s fair to put the blame solely on Viz for the poor quality release we got from them, as they have done great work with high quality source material as we’ve seen with their Sailor Moon Crystal releases and their release of Sailor Moon R The Movie on Blu-Ray which is considerably nicer looking than the Japanese DVD. That said their releases of the Sailor Moon TV series are so bad that the Japanese DVD release and many other international releases are of much nicer video quality.

Sailor Moon R episode 60 - Japanese DVD - Chibiusa points a gun at Usagi - Interlacing artefacts

Japanese DVD screenshot with visible interlacing artifacts

Sailor Moon R episode 60 - Japanese DVD - Chibiusa points a gun at Usagi

Japanese DVD screenshot without any visible interlacing artifacts

Sailor Moon R episode 60 - Viz Blu-Ray - Chibiusa points a gun at Usagi

Viz Blu-Ray

Sailor Moon R episode 60 - Japanese Blu-Ray - Chibiusa points a gun at Usagi

Japanese Blu-Ray

One reason for which I was more excited for the Sailor Moon R release than the first season was that the Japanese DVDs for Sailor Moon R and beyond had interlaced video. What does this mean? A standard TV signal is interlaced, meaning the signal is sent one field at a time. Every second scan line is refreshed every 30th of a second but only one field is sent every 60th of a second. This means when you look at a still you’ll often see these lines in it looking like saw teeth or a comb. The images above illustrate this by looking at the interlaced DVD image. This isn’t really noticeable on older TVs or even modern HDTVs but if you’re watching video on a computer screen, pausing, getting screenshots or trying to convert the files for download, like many fan subs you may have downloaded, this can be a problem. You probably noticed this back in the VHS days when you’d pause a film and sometimes there would appear to be a double image while other times there would not. For a show which was at some point on film, like Sailor Moon, this isn’t visible in all frames. For shows that were shot on video, like the live action series and the musicals, there’s no getting around the fact that every frame will have visible interlacing. Because of this I often need to find scenes with little motion for my live action screenshots or to use a filter to remove odd or even lines. The DVD standard supports progressive scan, which does away with this interlacing problem, and the first season DVDs were converted to progressive scan which made them look a bit nicer on an HDTV. The deinterlacing process does not negatively affect picture quality because all of the information is there. For whatever reason, probably cost related, this was not done for Sailor Moon R, S, SuperS or Sailor Stars on DVD. Now that the video is going through all kinds of post processing to upconvert to HD resolutions, removing any interlacing artifacts was the first thing that was done. So much to say this is one way in which these Blu-Rays are objectively better than the Japanese DVD release. The upconverting is a bit of smoke and mirrors but the deinterlacing is one aspect which is a real noticeable improvement.

Sailor Moon R Part 1 Japanese Blu-Ray - Easy to read credits!

As an indication of the quality of the video in this release we can finally read the text in the Sailor Moon R credits with some success! If you’re like me you pass the time listening to “Otome no Policy” while trying to read some of this text. I’ve always been able to make out some words on the laserdisc and DVD releases but it seems like much more is visible now. Note that the quality changes as the season goes on and while it was harder to see the words in the early episodes this becomes easier with some of the later episodes. So what does this text say? It’s mostly nonsense. These are sentences which are grammatically correct english which seems to have some meaning but the text has no bearing on Sailor Moon. “CONVERSATION is impossible as the open topped rail diesel car clatters into the 3/4 mile Trebelica tunnel” … “For Bedimir the Trebelica tunnel is a masterwork, three years in building”. Web searches for terms like “trebelica” and “bedimir” don’t identify this text as being anything important or even references to real people or places. Others, however, like Stari Bar in Montenegro, appears to be references to a real things. This could be an actual magazine or newspaper clipping but the exact source isn’t something that is terribly obvious, even when the text is mostly legible. Often in movies and TV shows fake newspapers are used and this could be an example of such a thing. This is not Lorem ipsum, which is a sort of real looking but totally nonsensical pseudo latin text which is often used for fake newspapers and such in films.

Sailor Moon R episode 59 - Japanese Blu-Ray - The Moonlight Knight

Japanese Blu-Ray

As for the content on these Blu-Rays we have pretty much the first half of Sailor Moon R, episodes 47 to 68. These are episodes I have some fondness and nostalgia for! I got into Sailor Moon when there were only 65 dubbed episodes which included the first half of Sailor Moon R and I didn’t see the second half until I got some fansubs some time later, before they were eventually dubbed. It’s probably due to this that I have a greater level of nostalgia for those episodes which include only the first half of Sailor Moon R. My bias makes me want to argue that they are somehow of better quality but I simply can’t trust my own opinion on this issue to be unclouded. The first half of this release is the Makaiju story arc, known as the Doom Tree saga in the original English dub. I really enjoy these episodes even if they aren’t based on any manga story like the rest of the season. Ail and An, the villains, are compelling characters and these episodes tie in nicely to Sailor Moon R The Movie, though no one present seems to notice the similarity between these nearly identical looking enemies. The rest of the episodes introduce us to Chibiusa, the time traveling girl lost in time, and some of the Black Moon Clan. This set includes episode 67, the swimsuit episode where Chibiusa somehow befriends a plesiosaur, which for a long time was not available to English speaking fans but this episode has since been released to stream and on Viz’s release so its inclusion is less exclusive than it once was.

Sailor Moon R Part 1 Japanese Blu-Ray - Disc 4 menu

Not much in the way of special features here! Aside from the episodes themselves we have the same usual extra. “Clean” opening and closing credits which means the opening and ending theme animations without the actual credits. The picture quality for these is not too great, and not as good as the rest of the Blu-Ray. Also included are the 15 second commercials! These originally played on Japanese TV to advertise the next episode and they are not the same as the next episode previews, though they are quite similar. These weren’t included in the Sailor Moon R laserdisc release, as the only special features in those releases were on the first season discs, but they were included in the Sailor Moon R memorial. These aren’t terribly exciting but it’s better than nothing as features go! I’m including the disc 4 menu above, which includes those extras. The rest are available at the bottom of the post. The menus are basic. Links to the episode with an image showing the disc art in nice quality.

Sailor Moon R Japanese Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Episode guide episodes 58 to 60

Also included is a booklet with episode descriptions. Each description includes a bit of production art for that episode which is a nice touch!

Sailor Moon R Japanese Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Disc 1 art comparison Sailor Moon R Japanese Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Disc 2 art comparison

The cover art for this release and the included discs is mostly reused from the laserdiscs which were again reused for the DVDs. I’ve included a lot of images showing what art was reused for what. One exception is the image of Chibiusa on the cover which is a bit awkwardly out of place as it’s not from any laserdisc art for Sailor Moon R. The main thing which I liked about this release was the inclusion of Ail and An as well as the Moonlight Knight. These characters, unique only to the first 13 episodes of Sailor Moon R, dominated three of the laserdisc covers but were completely absent from the DVD cover art. Similarly they are generally absent from other home video releases as it seems like most people would rather just treat Sailor Moon R as “Chibiusa and Black Lady”. Though they aren’t featured on the cover art itself we see them on the disc art which is quite a nice inclusion! These are characters featured in a quarter of the season after all! It’s half of this set!

Sailor Moon R Japanese Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Back Sailor Moon R Japanese Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Sailor Venus's shoe mistake on the Blu-Ray
Sailor Moon R Japanese Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Sailor Venus shoe mistake laserdisc Sailor Moon R Japanese Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Venus's show fixed on the DVD

Also of note is the return of a Sailor Venus shoe error on the image on the back of the box. This error dates back to the laserdisc days but it was corrected with the Japanese DVD release. For whatever reason this error creeped back up! It’s clear that the DVD art wasn’t actually reused here but that we’re seeing laser disc art. The DVD art had modified colours that aren’t seen here. Basically the shoe problem, as discovered by Twitter user Sailor Mikey, is that Sailor Venus should have an open shoe with the top of her foot exposed but in this image it’s orange across the top of the foot.

Sailor Moon R Japanese Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Inner back art comparison

Also notable is the art on the back of the box itself, inside the sleeve, which is actually an amalgam of two laserdisc covers. The individual art is used for the discs, which you can still see, but this image is a new composite of the two. We have Sailor Mercury, Mars, Venus and Jupiter put together but the Ayakashi Sisters are removed. Again we don’t want the outside box art to actually represent characters restricted to these episodes! This was mostly seamlessly done as the Sailor Guardians were in front of the Ayakashi Sisters for the most part however if you pay close attention there is a bit of an odd point at the end of Sailor Jupiter’s hair as this was previously covered by Calaveras’s neck.

Sailor Moon R Japanese Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Inside back

All in all I’m not sure this set would appeal to most English speaking fans however if you’re a real completist and want the series in its best possible quality, and don’t have the Japanese DVDs or some other comparably nice looking international release, this might be worth picking up. It’s not cheap! Both collection 1 and collection 2 can be ordered from sites such as Amazon Japan. These will set you back about $150 US dollars plus shipping a piece! I’ve already gotten my second set in the mail though I haven’t had much of a look at it yet besides taking a few photos of the box art. It stands to reason that it’s more of the same but I’ll put together a nice review if I have a bit of time.

Keep reading for more screenshot comparisons, photos of the box art, the included booklet and the menus.

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