An album of Sailor Moon Eternal character songs was released today, February 10th

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal Character Song Collection Eternal Collection - Cover

A new CD featuring character songs went on sale today, February 10th, in Japan. The full title of the album is “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal Character Song Collection Eternal Collection”. Character songs are hardly new to Sailor Moon! These are songs which are performed by voice actors from the series as those characters. I don’t know what, if any, of these songs will actually appear in the films. Often character song don’t actually appear in the film or series they’re associated with but in some cases they have.

The album is available to stream on a number of platforms. Many of these, including Spotify, are restricted only to users in those areas. Apple Music allowed me to play 90 seconds of each track which gives a nice impression of most songs. This was a longer preview than I found on any other servies.

Update: You can stream the entire album on Spotify!

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal Character Song Collection Eternal Collection - Luxury Edition

You can also order this from online stores. I usually order my Sailor Moon CDs from Amazon Japan but for whatever reason this album is not in stock. It is available to order from CD Japan for 3500 yen, $33.50 US. There are two versions of the album. The “cheaper” version, which is still expensive by North American standards, has an MSRP of 3500 yen. The “Luxury Edition” costs over double that price with an MSRP of 7800 yen, almost $75 US. This comes with a “Moon Crisis Bangle”, which is a nice word for bracelet, as well as a ticket to the Eternal Weekend Party event in Japan on March 21st. Needless to say I don’t expect that this version of the album would have much appeal to fans outside of Japan.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal Character Song Collection Eternal Collection - Vendor Exclusive Bonuses

There are a number of vendor specific bonuses for those particular retailers. These include things like stickers, magnets and file folders.

The album has quite a large number of tracks by many of the actors in the films. This includes all of the Sailor Guardians, Tuxedo Mask, the Amazoness Quartet and the Amazon Trio. For the individual tracks all Sailor Guardians are credited as Super Sailor ___ while in the final track which includes all Sailor Guardians they are all credited as Eternal Sailor ___. A full track list with character and actors is included below.

1. ETERNAL MYSTAR by Kotono Mitsuishi as Super Sailor Moon
2. formula in blue by Hisako Kanemoto as Super Sailor Mercury
3. Signpost by Rina Sato as Super Sailor Mars
4. Don’t Look Back by Ami Koshimizu as Super Sailor Jupiter
5. I’m gonna be an IDOL! by Shizuka Ito as Super Sailor Venus
6. Dream colored fist love by Misato Fukuen as Super Sailor Chibi Moon and Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Helios
7. Astral Mission by Junko Minagawa as Super Sailor Uranus, Sayaka Ohara as Super Sailor Neptune, Ai Maeda as Super Sailor Pluto and Yukiyo Fujii as Super Sailor Saturn
8. Welcome to the circus by Reina Ueda as CereCere, Sumire Morohoshi as PallaPalla, Yuko Hara as JunJun and Rie Takahashi as VesVes
9. Dream’s Eyes by Satoshi Hino as Tiger’s Eye, Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Hawk’s Eye and Shota Aoi as Fish Eye
10. Ray of light by Kenji Nojima as Tuxedo Mask
11. Moon Effect by Kotono Mitsuishi as Eternal Sailor Moon, Misato Fukuen as Eternal Sailor Chibi Moon, Hisako Kanemoto as Eternal Sailor Mercury, Rina Sato as Eternal Sailor Mars, Ami Koshimizu as Eternal Sailor Jupiter, Shizuka Ito as Eternal Sailor Venus, Junko Minagawa as Eternal Sailor Uranus, Sayaka Ohara as Eternal Sailor Neptune, Ai Maeda as Eternal Sailor Pluto and Yukiyo Fujii as Eternal Sailor Saturn

Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 is already out in theatres in Japan with Part 2 coming out tomorrow, February 11th. Fans are still awaiting some confirmation of when we might be able to see the films outside of Japan. Though it seems likely the movies will be streamed on Netflix, there has been no indication of when that might be.

Source: Sailor Moon Official Site

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III volume 2 Japanese Blu-Ray review

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray - Vol. 2 - Contents

The latest Blu-Ray release for Sailor Moon Crystal’s Infinity Arc was released on July 27th in Japan. This is the second of three releases covering this story arc and includes episodes 30 through 33. The set also includes a 24 page booklet with episode descriptions, interviews and character art. This is a Japanese only release with no English subtitles. You can order it from online retailers such as Amazon Japan for 6516 yen, about $65 US.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray - Vol. 2 - Front

The packaging for this release highlights Sailor Uranus and Neptune with a great cover image on the Blu-Ray itself. The colours on the box match Sailor Uranus’s Sailor Fuku with a yellow bow.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray - Vol. 2 - Disc

Episodes included in this release are Act 30, Infinity 4 – Sailor Uranus – Haruka Tenoh – Sailor Neptune – Michiru Kaioh, Act 31 – Sailor Pluto – Setsuna Meioh, Act 32 – Infinity 6 – Three Guardians, and Act 33 – Infinity 7 – Transformation – Super Sailor Moon. These cover the Witches 5’s Viluy, Tellu, Cyprine and Ptitlol, the appearance of Setsuna Meioh and Sailor Pluto as well as the origins of the Holy Grail and Sailor Moon’s transformation into Super Sailor Moon. Also included is the first appearance of Sailor Saturn, but only in flashback form, and a brief appearance by Mistress 9.

I watched all four episodes and didn’t notice any changes in animation from the original streaming release as had been done with the first 26 episodes. As there were no changes to the last release either I suspect we won’t be seeing any changes to the episodes of this story arc.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray - Vol. 2 - Special Booklet 2 - Pages 12 and 13 - Interview with Yukiyo Fujii, the voice of Sailor Saturn

The packaging advertises a 28 page booklet. Funny I only counted 24. I suppose we could be really creative and count the cover page and back cover as “pages”? Like with other booklets this includes episode summaries, interviews and character art. This one includes interviews with five voice actors Misato Fukuen, Sailor Chibi Moon, Junko Minagawa, Sailor Uranus, Sayaka Ohara, Sailor Neptune, Yukiyo Fujii, Sailor Saturn and Ai Maeda, Sailor Pluto.

Some audio commentaries are also included with the episodes themselves. The same voice actors appear for all four of the commentaries. This includes Hisako Kanemoto, Ami, Rina Sato, Rei, Misato Fukuen, Chibiusa and Yukiyo Fujii, Hotaru. I don’t speak Japanese so I don’t know what they talk about.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray - Vol. 2 - Blu-Ray

It’s a bit hard to justify buying this Japanese only release at this price which is close to what you’d pay for the entire 14 episode Dark Kingdom story arc in Japanese and English. Surely the four episodes per disc is a better deal than with earlier releases but since there are no changes to the animation this time around you can still watch the streaming version for free instead of buying this.

The third volume, including the final five episodes of this story arc, will be released on Blu-Ray on August 31st. You can preorder it online from sites like Amazon Japan. It costs a bit more, with an MSRP of 10,584 yen, about $105 US dollars. This post on the Sailor Moon official site indicates that the version will include a box to store all three volumes in, which seems to justify this roughly 50% increase from the previous volumes.

Keep reading for more images of the packaging including photos of all pages of the included special booklet.

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Sailor Moon Crystal Season III volume 1 Japanese Blu-Ray review

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Contents

The first of three volumes of Sailor Moon Crystal Season III is now available on Blu-Ray. Volume 1 was released on June 29th in Japan. This is a Japanese language release so there is no English audio or English subtitles. You can import it from sites like Amazon Japan for 6909 yen, about $67 US. This release features four episodes, where the first 26 episodes of the series were only released on disks containing two episodes a piece. This time we get Act 27 parts 1 and 2 as well as Acts 28 and 29. The set comes in a smaller package than the earlier releases, which should fit more conveniently on your shelf. It also includes a 24 page special booklet with interviews and art.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Cover

The episodes included are Act 27, Infinity 1 – Premonition – First Part and Second Part, Act 28, Infinity 2 – Ripples, and Act 29 – Infinity 3 – Two New Soldiers. This covers the introduction to the Death Busters, the Sailor Guardians facing off against Eudial and Mimete, meeting Hotaru, Haruka and Michiru as well as Sailor Uranus and Neptune. With the first 26 episodes, plagued by sloppy inconsistent animation, a number of minor improvements and changes were done to the animation for the Blu-Ray release. None of this is present here. If you’ve seen the streaming version you’ve seen the version which is presented on this release. It seems they put a bit more time and money into the animation the first time so there was no need for updates.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray vol. 1 - DVD

The episodes include an optional audio commentary. These four episodes all feature commentary by Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Sailor Moon, Junko Minagawa, the voice of Sailor Uranus, and Sayaka Ohara, the voice of Sailor Neptune.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Special Booklet - Cover

As with earlier releases a 24 page special booklet is included. The contents are somewhat like what we’ve seen before. There are episode summaries, interviews and character designs. Osabu’s page is not present in this booklet. There are a total of five interviews included. These are with Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Sailor Moon, Hisaka Kanemoto, the voice of Sailor Mercury, Rina Sato, the voice of Sailor Mars, Ami Koshimizu, the voice of Sailor Jupiter, and Shizuka Ito, the voice of Sailor Venus.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Special Booklet - Pages 18 and 19 - Rei and Makoto designs

All in all this set is a more worthwhile purchase than the previous sets were. The cost is about the same and there are twice as many episodes. Without any changes in animation though, there isn’t much to get from collecting these when the streaming version is subtitled and free, though not quite at Blu-Ray quailty. Further now that we know that English Blu-Ray sets are coming with entire story arcs costing close to what a single Japanese disc does, it seems a little pointless for an English speaking North American fan to buy these Japanese only releases. All said we haven’t seen the English release yet. It seems unlikely that it will be plagued with terrible video quality like all North American releases of the original series have been, but that’s still a possibility. We may find that this is the better quality set to have when all is said and done. The French DVD and Blu-Ray came out last week and seems to be of exceptional quality though, so it seems likely the English release will be the same.

The next set will be released on July 27th and can be pre-ordered from sites like Amazon Japan. It is similarly priced at 6909 yen. It will include four episodes, Acts 30 to 33, bringing us to Sailor Moon’s transformation into Super Sailor Moon and the first flashback look at Sailor Saturn.

Keep reading for more photos of the packaging and all pages of the included special booklet.

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Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38, Infinity 12 – Infinite – Journey, review

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - The 10 Sailor Guardians

The entire Infinity arc of Sailor Moon Crystal is now available to view online. The final episode we’ll see for a while, Act 38, Infinity 12 – Infinite – Journey aired on Japanese television on Monday June 27th at 11pm Japan Standard Time. Immediately afterwards it was available to view on Crunchyroll, Neon Alley and Hulu, starting at 10:30am Eastern Time. This week is a bit of a mixed bag as we wrap up the story of Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn and then move on for a teaser of the upcoming Dream arc. We still have no official confirmation that this new arc will be adapted. This episode is just doing exactly what the equivalent manga chapter did. While it seems likely at this point that we will be seeing more episodes this would certainly not be the first show to have a really awesome cliffhanger final episode which we never saw a follow up to.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Title Screen with Sailor Saturn

As always we start with an unreasonably long flashback! This week’s spans 3 minutes and 13 seconds which covers half of the last episode! At least we see a lot of Sailor Saturn. The opening theme, In Love With the New Moon, is the first version sung by Etsuko Yakushimaru. The full length version of this song is also heard in the episode itself. This is my favourite version of the opening so it was nice to hear. The ending theme used is Eternal Eternity sung by the voices of Sailor Uranus, Junko Minagawa and Sailor Neptune, Sayaka Ohara.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Super Sailor Venus

Sailor Moon blasts out of the Pharaoh 90/Mistress 9 monster juice thing and in doing so causes some damage. She gives everyone super transformations! Well almost everyone. How come Tuxedo Mask doesn’t get an upgrade? He’d look great in some transparent shoulder pads! Poor guy. At least he has his male privilege to fall back on.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Sailor Saturn smiles Sailor Moon Crystal Act 37 - Super Sailor Moon going to her death

Sailor Saturn, who was supposed to be destroying the world at the end of the last episode, decides to attack Pharaoh 90 and go to her death. She turns and smiles to her friends just like Sailor Moon had last week. This was a nice touch, as both seem willing to sacrifice themselves to save others.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Three Women and a Baby

Unfortunately Sailor Saturn has to die. Sailor Pluto is the one to do this. She’s upset about it, although this was kind of the plan all along. Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were ready to kill Hotaru in order to save the world. The solution now is to lock her, Pharaoh 90 and the Tau Star System away forever. Sailor Pluto does this with the Dark Dome Close attack. Her penance for killing Sailor Saturn? Her and her friends have to raise the reincarnated baby version of her! There’s some sort of odd justice here. This will be a tough conversation when she gets a bit older and asks why she has three moms! This is basically a genderbend version of Three Men and a Baby, a mediocre 80s comedy movie by Leonard Nimoy. “Well you see we helped killed your Dad and then killed you, so you’re adopted. Sorry not sorry.”

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - The Messiah

Sailor Moon becomes Neo Queen Serenity. OMG she was the one we saw in the visions. This isn’t the future version of Neo Queen Serenity possessing Sailor Moon in some way. This is Usagi in full control of her faculties. There’s no other consciousness in there. So I wonder why she doesn’t seem to remember what happens. Sailor Moon asks where this baby came from, and Sailor Uranus basically says it’s “From precious you”, which no doubt is a terrible translation, but basically she believes that Neo Queen Serenity caused Sailor Saturn to reincarnate as baby Hotaru. Sure. The original Queen Serenity is the one that sent everyone to reincarnate in the present time after they were all killed. Future Neo Queen Serenity is the one who sent Sailor Pluto back in time to reincarnate as Setsuna. It stands to reason that Sailor Moon, the present version, is the one that did this. There’s no other consciousness which is doing stuff here. It’s not insinuated that old lady uploaded consciousness computer simulated Queen Serenity on the Moon has any real power here. Why doesn’t Sailor Moon have full memory of doing this? It doesn’t really add up to me.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Super Sailor Chibi Moon

Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn leave and then we have a commercial break. There’s meant to be a massive passage of time here but I don’t feel that this is well conveyed at all. In the original manga the Infinity arc concludes here which is the end of a chapter. Following this we get The Lover of Princess Kaguya side story which is a full manga book which is the equivalent of the Sailor Moon S movie, which then has a side story about Rei. There are a bunch of other side stories published later which are understood to take place during this break which is basically the time when the girls are preparing for their high school entrance exams. Ami’s First Love, which was adapted in an anime special, falls into this period as well. The first three story arcs all follow one another directly, but the Dream arc was never meant to do so. When the manga was rereleased in 2003 the chapters were broken up differently so they ended up breaking this particular Act up very poorly so that this passage of time isn’t properly demonstrated and happens between pages of the same story. I think Sailor Moon Crystal had a good chance to pace things out a bit differently and have the season end here, but they didn’t do that and instead, it’s time to go to high school.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - High school girls

This episode is kind of like the first episode of Sailor Stars from the original Sailor Moon anime. Those first 6 episodes of Sailor Stars basically fix the problems that the SuperS season skipped, including some characters which will be returning later in the Dream arc. The girls are supposed to be in high school before meeting Pegasus as we see here. Most of the girls have Juban High School Uniforms. Rei does not, as she goes to her own school which does not use high school entrance exams. We don’t really have an equivalent to these in the West. I suppose maybe the SATs are something similar but as a Canadian this is also something I only know of through TV and movies. I’ve never had a test so important in my schooling that it required me getting addicted to caffeine pills like Jessie Spano. So much to say Japanese high school entrance exams are a big deal and the source of a lot of stress, and the girls are meant to have been preparing for this during the long period covered by the commercial break which we don’t even get in the streaming version.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Solar Eclipse

Chibiusa says she’s going to leave on April 1st, at the time of a Solar Eclipse. The next Solar eclipse that will occur on April 1st is in 2098 and there certainly wasn’t one in the 90s when the manga was written, but this is pretty nitpicky even for me. She mentions in her letter to her mother “Please come to pick me up”. How exactly does this work? Is Neo Queen Serenity from the future going to travel to the 30th century to come pick up Chibiusa? Who’s guardian the Space-Time Door with future Sailor Pluto dead and Diana in the past?

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Artemis and Luna cry for Diana

Speaking of Diana! Usagi says to Luna, who isn’t present when this is said, that she will see Diana “very soon”. What does this mean? From the frame of reference of Diana then she would see her parents soon, in the future. From Luna and Artemis’s point of view they won’t see her soon at all. Diana is a kitten. Chibiusa, who is born in less than a decade, is 900 years old in the 30th century. Is Diana a permakitten born in the 20th or 21st century and never aging? Permakittens would revolutionize the pet industry! Kittens are most of the reason people have adult cats!

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Usagi and Chibiusa see Pegasus

So the gang are watching the eclipse and they hear a bell. They turn around to see… Pegasus! Well we don’t see Pegasus but in the manga version of Act 38, the final image has Usagi and Chibiusa seeing Pegasus. There’s no preview for another episode, but we will likely at some point be seeing Act 39, Dream 1 – Eclipse Dream. This will be part of the 4th story arc which, if current trends continue, will likely be referred to as Season 4 or Season IV in Japan. I’ve still been calling them arcs or phases but I may start using the term season if that becomes well established. We have no specifics on if and when we might get new episodes but perhaps we will learn something tomorrow at the live event to celebrate Usagi’s birthday.

Keep reading for more screenshots from this episode.

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Sailor Moon Crystal Season III CD 1 review

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III CD 1 - Cover

The first of three Sailor Moon Crystal season III theme song CDs was released on April 27th in Japan. I ordered mine from Amazon Japan so I was lucky enough to get it by Thursday the 28th. This CD single costs 1365 yen, about $13 US, and contains two tracks and a bonus DVD. The songs included are the current opening and ending themes for Sailor Moon Crystal’s Infinity arc. If you’re looking to check out the full length versions of these songs you should support the official release and buy the CD though you should be able to find these tracks somewhere on the internet.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III CD 1 - CD

The opening theme, In Love With the New Moon, is sung by Etsuko Yakushimaru. She previously covered Otome No Policy in the 20th Anniversary Album. Included with the CD is an ad for Etsuko Yakushimaru’s rock band Sōtaisei Riron’s latest album New World which was released on the same day. This is my favourite of the two tracks on this short single. A karaoke version is also included if that’s something you’re interested in.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III CD 1 - New World ad

The ending theme, Eternal Eternity, is sung by the voices of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, Junko Minagawa and Sayaka Ohara. This song embodies the Infinity arc as it is sung by these characters.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III CD 1 - DVD Menu

Four music videos are included on the DVD. The TV sized opening and closing are pretty much what we’ve seen on TV and in the streaming show, but with lower resolution. The longer album length music videos included clips from Sailor Moon Crystal’s Infinity arc. There appears to have been some attention put into what clips would be included as they have footage up to and including Act 29, which was the latest episode to air prior to this CD’s release, but nothing further as far as I noticed.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III CD 1 - Back

Two more CDs will be released at one month intervals. A second CD with the same opening In Love With the New Moon, but sung by Mitsuko Horie, the voice of Sailor Galaxia from the original Sailor Moon anime, and the second ending, Maiden’s Advice, sung by Misato Fukuen, the voice of Chibiusa will be released on May 25th. A third CD single with the opening In Love With the New Moon but this time sung by Momoiro Clover Z and the third ending theme, Only Eternity Brings the Two Together, sung by Kenji Nojima, the voice of Tuxedo Mask, will be released on June 22nd.

Keep reading for more images of this CD’s packaging. No screenshots are included since they’re all from scenes we’re already seen before.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III CD 1 - Cover

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III CD 1 - Back

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III CD 1 - Lyrics

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III CD 1 - DVD

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III CD 1 - Spine

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III CD 1 - Fan Club ad

Watch a ton of Sailor Moon Crystal season 3 footage including the new opening, closing and half of Act 27

Sailor Moon Crystal Infinity Arc Ending - Sailor Uranus and Neptune

There was an event today at the Anime Japan convention in which we saw the new Sailor Moon Crystal opening, closing, got a new trailer and even got a preview of what seems to be about half of Act 27. All of this footage is now available online, though the episode footage is of lower quality with people talking over it. Those people happen to be the voice actors for Sailor Moon, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn as well as the new director, but this is still a fairly terrible way to watch a clip.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 - The Sailor Guardians ready for battle

This is not all of Act 27, yet it appears to be a continuous episode. Is this what people saw at the premiere event earlier this month? If it is then we may have been wrong in assuming Sailor Moon Crystal will not have a 1:1 ratio of manga chapters to episodes. Yes this clip concludes after the fight with the Daimon that comes from the girls at Mugen Academy but at less than 12 minutes we are hardly getting a full episode. Not everything seen here is in proper order either. We see Usagi disguised as a student of Mugen Academy. Is this a change in the order of the story or are we just being presented with a bunch of out of order clips from the first two episodes, strung together in a somewhat cohesive way? Regardless, it was mentioned that this season will span 13 episodes and there are 11 manga chapters for the Infinity Arc, so while this isn’t a 1:1 ratio, only two new episodes will be added to this season. It is still not clear if or how Act 27 will be split.

The better quality footage is of the music videos for the opening and ending themes. We previously mentioned that this is only the first of the ending themes and that many CDs would be released throughout the coming months. Also included is the CD cover art for the first single.

Sailor Moon Crystal Infinity Arc - Opening - Usagi with no shoes

Here is the new opening In Love With the New Moon sung by Etsuko Yakushimaru. She previously sang the cover of Otome no Policy on the 20th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album and her voice here reminds me a lot of that song. This new opening has a lot of naked people in it, if you’re into that.

Next is the first ending theme Eternal Eternity sung by the voices of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, Junko Minagawa and Sayaka Ohara. This song reminds me of a few other anime themes including the opening theme for Revolutionary Girl Utena. Some of the visuals reminds me of the footage in the opening as well. The other that came to mind was a song from the Street Fighter II anime movie Itoshisa To Setsunasa To Kokoro Tsuyosa. Yes I know, I seem to only have watched anime the late 90s. It was better then.

Sailor Moon Crystal Infinity Arc Ending - Sailor Neptune and Uranus

Finally we have the new trailer, which includes some footage we’ve seen before.

Sailor Moon Crystal Infinity Arc - Preview Trailer - Artemis and Luna

There’s a lot of new footage here so I’ve included a bunch of screenshots for your convenience lower in the post. Of note is just how different Luna and Artemis look! Reminds me of something out of the Moon Animate Make-Up! project. What do you think of the new animation? I think it looks great, but obviously a bit different. I’m real excited for this new season which is a bit over a week away. Here’s hoping we get some news about a streaming version soon.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal season 3 CD - Sailor Uranus and Neptune

Source: Sailor Moon Official Site
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Watch the trailer for Sailor Moon Crystal’s Infinity Arc which starts Monday April 4th with a new opening and ending theme

Sailor Moon Crystal Infinity Arc trailer - Sailor Chibi Moon and Hotaru

This morning was the premiere event for the first episode of the Sailor Moon Crystal Infinity Arc in Japan. Some lucky fans were able to watch Act 27, Infinity 1 – Premonition, ahead of the rest of us. Only those in attendance were able to see it but a new trailer has been released so that we can see Sailor Uranus, Neptune and some of the Death Busters in action. On top of this we got a lot of news about the series, which is set to premiere on Tokyo MX on Monday April 4th at 11pm Japan Standard Time, 10am Eastern Daylight Time, and every Monday after this. It will replay on other channels throughout the week. There has been no mention of streaming options for international viewers. For now we are hoping for more information while relying on our friends in Japan to record the broadcasts so that they will be fan translated early in the week. Watch the trailer below.

The series has a new opening and ending theme for the Infinity arc. The new opening is “In Love With the New Moon” by Etsuko Yakushimaru who sang the cover of Otome No Policy on the 20th Anniversary album. The new ending theme is “Eternal Eternity” and will be sung by the voices of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, Junko Minagawa and Sayaka Ohara. A CD release with these new songs will be released on April 27th and is already available for pre-order from Amazon Japan and CD Japan.

Sailor Moon Crystal Infinity Arc trailer - Michiru and Haruka

The animation looks a bit different from what we’ve seen, though it’s hard to tell specifically from just these clips. My concerns about the lack of shading in the preview image aren’t worrying me with what we’ve seen from this footage. I think what we’re seeing in this trailer looks quite good, though they are likely just sharing the best looking stuff they have. What do you think?

Sailor Moon Crystal Infinity Arc trailer - Minako and Makoto

Source: Sailor Moon Official Site

Update: [2016-03-09] I previously mentioned that 11pm Japan Standard Time was 9am Eastern Time. This has been corrected to 10am Eastern Daylight Time. I was not keeping in mind the upcoming time change occurring this weekend which puts this release under Eastern Daylight Time, as Daylight Savings Time will be observed for many in the Eastern Time Zone. I’ll be sure to include the correct time zones when April 4th approaches. Apologies to those in the Eastern Time Zone who do not observer DST who are probably just really confused by all this nonsense.

Keep reading for more screenshots from the trailer.

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The Infinity arc of Sailor Moon Crystal will begin this April

Sailor Moon Crystal Infinity arc character art

An announcement has been posted to the official Sailor Moon site about an upcoming convention appearance at AnimeJapan 2016. In this article it is mentioned in passing, as if it was something we already knew, that the new episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal will be coming this April! These new episodes will cover the Infinity arc of the manga which introduces us to Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Saturn as well as the Death Busters. We don’t have any specifics about the time except that it will be some time in April.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 133 - Chibiusa is an old lonely cat lady watching Sailor Moon

Details will be revealed at the AnimeJapan 2016 convention on March 26th in Tokyo. Guests in attendance will include Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Sailor Moon, Junko Minagawa, the voice of Sailor Uranus, Sayaka Ohara, the voice of Sailor Neptune, and Yukiyo Fujii, the voice of Sailor Saturn. Attendees present at this panel will receive a Sailor Moon Crystal postcard. Hopefully this event will give some specifics about a premier date and streaming options for international viewers outside of Japan. It is safe to say that one way or another, an official or unofficial fansubbed version will be available within a few days of any new episode’s release, but it would be much more convenient, morally and otherwise, to have the show streamed along with the original broadcast on Japanese TV.

Usagi watching TV

Sailor Moon Crystal’s voice actors for Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Saturn and more revealed at this morning’s live event

Sayaka Ohara, Sailor Neptune, Junko Minagawa, Sailor Uranus and Kotono Mitsuishi, Sailor Moon

There was a live streaming event this morning in Japan, related to the upcoming Infinity arc of Sailor Moon Crystal. Art was shown, but since we’d seen that earlier this week this was not a big revelation. We did not get any details about a schedule for the series but we did get cast information for the upcoming season. Junko Minagawa, the voice of Sailor Uranus and Sayaka Ohara, the voice of Sailor Neptune, joined the event. The actress voicing Sailor Saturn, Fujii Yukiyo, showed up momentarily via a separate video.

Yukiyo Fujii, the voice of Sailor Saturn

In addition to this the actors playing the Death Busters, including the Witches 5, were announced. A full cast list, with IMDB links, is included below.

Sailor Uranus – Junko Minagawa
Sailor Neptune – Sayaka Ohara
Sailor Saturn – Yukiyo Fujii

Professor Tomoe – Takuya Kirimoto
Kaolinite – Hikari Yono
Pharaon 90 – Takaya Hashi

Eudial – Chiaki Takahashi
Mimete – Yuki Nagaku
Viluy – Rina Honizumi
Tellu – Naomi Ohzora
Cyprine – Umeka Shouji

I don’t watch much newer anime but a lot of these voice actors have a great deal of experience from recent years. MoonSisters.org posted a nice summary of all of their works on their Facebook Page. Most noteable is Takaya Hashi, who will be voicing Pharaon 90, who played a few small characters in the original Sailor Moon anime. He played Astronomer Dr. Sergai Ajimov in episode 120 of Sailor Moon S and the ventriloquist in the Sailor Moon SuperS Special.

Sailor Moon S episode 123 - Ptilol and Cyprine

Another odd thing was the inclusion of Cyprene but not Ptilol. In the recent musical Un Nouveau Voyage only Cyprene appeared, though Cyprene and Ptilol, twins, appeared together in the manga and original Sailor Moon anime. Assuming Sailor Moon Crystal will continue to be faithful to the manga it seems only logical that Ptilol will also be making an appearance. If this is the case she will likely also be voiced by Umeka Shouji.

The Exhibition of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon

Also announced at the event this morning was “The Exhibition of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon” in Tokyo from April 16th to June 19th. This exhibit will have stuff from the Sailor Moon comics and anime as well as merchandise for sale.

Sailor Moon Crystal Infinity arc character art

An image of the Infinity arc’s art was revealed, but as this was the same we’d seen earlier this week this wasn’t really anything new. We continue to wait for some confirmation of a timeline for the new episodes. At this point we can only speculate as to when it will be released.

Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Sailor Moon

Thanks to Twitter user @aers00 for streaming the event. I was unable to view the feed on Niconico and so I was happy to have an option to watch it while showering and getting ready this morning. I hope others who were looking to do the same found the feed as well.

Junko Minagawa, the voice of Sailor Uranus

Sayaka Ohara, the voice of Sailor Neptune

Voice actors playing the Death Busters