A new Sailor Moon Classic Concert will take place this summer

Posted on July 8, 2018 by Adam

Following last year’s 25th Anniversary Classic Concert we are getting yet another Classic Concert with this summer’s Sailor Moon Classic Concert 2018. An image, which will likely be used for posters and the album cover, has art in the style of the original Sailor Moon anime as opposed to least year’s concert which had Sailor Moon Crystal inspired designs. I have a nostalgic preference for the original anime myself though it would certainly have been nice to have seen these designs incorporate musical instruments or something of a musical theme as we saw last year.

The concert will be performed August 28th and 29th at the Tokyo Art Theatre and September 7th at the Osaka Festival Hall. A set list for the concert was posted to the official Sailor Moon site which gives us a good idea of what to expect. There are similarities to the last Classic Concert but there are also some new songs we haven’t heard in a while, such as a nice assortment of character songs from the original anime, mostly those from the Sailor Moon R era. I couldn’t find a translated list of the songs online anywhere but so made an attempt to provide one here.

I’ve done my best to translate the track listing below. I don’t speak or read Japanese so I usually just copy and paste this kind of thing into Google Translate which gives me a rough idea of a translation, usually enough to understand what song it’s a reference to. In this case the set list was only on an image so it was a bit trickier figuring out what these songs were. The list below is incomplete with a few sections including ??? when I just couldn’t make any guess at a translation. This includes kanji which I have no ability to translate. If anyone can shed light on some of those missing or incomplete titles please mention it in the comments and I’ll update it.

Update July 11th: Thanks to a comment by Mayuri I was able to complete the track listing!

M1: Background music
M2: Moonlight Densetsu (Moonlight Legend) – Sailor Moon anime opening theme
M3: Background music
M4: Character songs (Since this is a single song it seems likely this will be samplings from five character songs into a single song)
M4-1: Onaji Namida wo Wakeatte (Sharing the same Tears) – Ami Mizuno’s character song
M4-2: Sei Hi Ai ~ Fire Soul Love ~ – Rei Hino’s character song
M4-3: Starlight ni Kiss Shite (Kissing in the Starlight) – Makoto Kino’s character song
M4-4: Route Venus – Minako Aino’s character song
M4-5: Tuxedo Mask’s Entrance Theme
M5: I am Sailor Moon – Sailor Moon’s character song and the ending theme to the Make Up! Sailor Senshi special
M6: Otome No Policy (Maiden’s Advice) – Sailor Moon R ending theme
M7: La Soldier (Piano) From many early Sailor Moon musicals and Sailor Moon R episode 88
M8: Birth of a Legend (Piano)
M9: Moonlight Densetsu (Moonlight Legend) – Tuxedo Mirage – Piano – Seems like a mix of the Sailor Moon opening theme and the ending theme for Sailor Moon S
M10: New Moon ni Koishite (In Love With the New Moon) – Opening theme to Sailor Moon Crystal Season III
M11: Eye Catch Background music (Commercial break bumpers)
M12: Toccata and Fugue (Bach) (Violin & Piano) – A piece of classical music by Johann Sebastian Bach
M13: Uranus and Neptune Medley (Violin & Piano)
M14: eternal eternity (Violin & Piano) – Sailor Moon Crystal Season III first ending theme
M15: Sailor Starlights Make Their Appearance
M16: Three Lights: Todokanu Omoi -My Friend’s Love- (Unreachable Feelings: My Friend’s Love) and Nagareboshi he (To the Shooting Stars) – Two songs from Sailor Moon Sailor Stars
M17: Wandering Stars
M18: Shadow Galaxia (Part 1)
M19: Golden Queen Galaxia
M20: Shadow Galaxia (Part 2)
M21: Sailor Stars Song (The Sailor Moon Sailor Stars opening theme)

Songs M17 to M20 aren’t specific songs that I’m aware of but likely cover background music or songs related to the Stars arc centering around the Sailor Starlights and Galaxia.

It seems likely that a CD of this concert will be announced and released afterwards. As with the last concert this will likely be a mix of various musical styles using classical and other instruments. Do any of you plan on attending any of these performances?

Sailor Moon The 25th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album impressions

Posted on April 15, 2018 by Adam

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.

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Check out a preview of all tracks on the Sailor Moon The 25th Anniversary Tribute album

Posted on April 1, 2018 by Adam

The Sailor Moon The 25th Anniversary Tribute Album will be released later this week, on April 4th, but you can now see a video previewing of all tracks on the Sailor Moon official site. I had previously posted a translation of all tracks on this album. We have now also learned of two bonus tracks which will be included. These are Moonlight Densetsu (Moonlight Legend), the original Sailor Moon anime opening theme, as well as Tuxedo Mirage, the ending theme to Sailor Moon S. Both of these tracks will be performed by the cast of Sailor Moon Crystal. That being Kotono Mitsuishi, Sailor Moon, Hisako Kanemoto, Sailor Mercury, Rina Sato, Sailor Mars, Ami Koshimizu, Sailor Jupiter, and Shizuka Ito, Sailor Venus. It sure is nice to see that they still have the contact information of the Sailor Moon Crystal cast, what with it having been so long since they’ve recorded any episodes of the show.

Check out the video below.

What do you think? I’ve got a few thoughts already! I don’t like Moon Revenge at all. I’m all for doing a cover in a different style but this fast pace just doesn’t fit the song to me. I’m pretty disappointed with Otome No Policy being so similar to the original version. Why get the original artist back to sing the same song in the exact same way especially after we just got a fairly similar version from the Classic Concert? Hearing Moonlight Densetsu with the new cast is pretty neat, though this song is generally done to death. We had originally gotten a “Pretty Cast” version of this song from the original anime. Pretty Cast was a name for a group composed of the five voice actors voicing the original Sailor Guardians. As they were also the original voices for Moon Revenge I would have preferred to see them do the vocals for this song as a bonus and perhaps give something more fitting to BiSH.

Any favourite tracks out of these? Are you picking up this album this week?

Sailor Moon The 25th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album track listing and cover art has been revealed

Posted on March 25, 2018 by Adam

Sailor Moon The 25th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album will be released on April 4th. You can pre-order it from sites like Amazon Japan. The Sailor Moon Official Site has posted a track listing for the album which shows us what will be included and what artists will be performing them. It also includes the album cover which is somewhat underwhelming as it’s art we’ve already seen for the 25th Anniversary Book. I’ve translated the track listing below.

1. Moonlight Densetsu (Moonlight Legend) by LiSA
2. La Soldier by Gesshoku Kaigi
3. Moon Revenge by BiSH
4. Otome no Policy (Maiden’s Policy) by Yoko Ishida
5. Kakumei wa Night & Day (Revolution is Night & Day) by Etsuko Yakushimaru
6. “Rashiku” Ikimashou (I’ll Go As Myself) by Sonoko Inoue
7. Kaze mo Sora mo Kitto… (The Wind, the Sky, Surely…) by Gesshoku Kaigi
8. Sailor Stars Song by Silent Siren
9. Eternal Eternity by Ziyoou-vachi

A bit of a mixed bag here. I was hoping for a bit more of a variety of tracks that weren’t on the 20th Anniversary Tribute Album. Most of these are songs from the original Sailor Moon anime with only one musical song and two songs from Sailor Moon Crystal. I would have liked to have seen more songs from films, musicals or even the live action series which had not been revisited rather than rehashing the same songs yet again.

As always the album starts out with Moonlight Densetsu or Moonlight Legend, the Sailor Moon opening theme, this time performed by LiSA. This is surely the Sailor Moon song which has been performed by the most artists.

La Soldier, performed by Gesshoku Kaigi, is a song which was used in most of the early Sailor Moon musicals. It was also featured at the end of Sailor Moon R episode 88. Gesshoku Kaigi will also be performing Kaze mo Sora mo Kitto or The Wind, the Sky, Surely, the ending theme for Sailor Stars. They are the only band to perform two songs on this album.

Moon Revenge, performed by BiSH, is the first track that wasn’t on the 20th Anniversary Tribute Album. It was the theme song of Sailor Moon R The Movie which had the five Sailor Guardians each performing in this song. BiSH currently has six members. Perhaps one of them won’t be included in the song or will only sing in the parts where all members are involved. Previously Momoiro Clover Z performed a cover for this song which worked well as that group includes five members.

Otome no Policy or Maiden’s Policy, the Sailor Moon R ending theme, is being performed by Yoko Ishida who originally performed the song for the Sailor Moon anime. This seems an odd choice for a tribute album which is otherwise all covers by new artists. I would expect that this version would be done in some other style especially after we just got a cover of it by Yoko Ishida for the Classic Concert.

Kakumei wa Night & Day or Revolution is Night & Day is perhaps the most obscure inclusion on this album. It was originally included in the fairly unmemorable Sailor Moon Crystal character song CD. It was not, to my knowledge, ever included in the series itself. Character songs have existed for the original anime and the live action series but the more memorable ones of these were featured in those series although many were only included in singles and albums. There are surely many other character songs which could have been used instead of or in addition to this one. The song will be performed by Etsuko Yakushimaru. This is a particularly odd choice as this song, like Moon Revenge, was performed by the five members of the Sailor Team. Since Etsuko Yakushimaru is a single artist I’m not sure why this track was chosen. This, like all other Sailor Moon Crystal tracks, was not included in the 20th Anniversary Tribute Album since Sailor Moon Crystal did not exist at the time.

“Rashiku” Ikimashou or I’ll Go As Myself will be performed by Sonoko Inoue. This was the second Sailor Moon SuperS ending theme which was also used for the end credits of the Ami’s First Love special which played with the Sailor Moon SuperS movie.

The Sailor Stars Song, the second opening theme used for the entire Sailor Stars series, will be performed by Silent Siren.

Eternal Eternity will be performed by Ziyoou-vachi. This was the opening theme for Sailor Moon Crystal Season III.

The post also included a list of vendor exclusive bonuses. These are art by Naoko Takeuchi which was originally included with the manga.

What do you think of the artists chosen for these tracks? Which are you most looking forward to hearing?

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Classic Concert CD review

Posted on January 16, 2018 by Adam

The Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Classic Concert CD was released in Japan on December 6th. This sells for 3500 yen which is about $31 US. Media in Japan is usually more expensive than in North America so this price is actually pretty reasonable. This CD includes the entire performance of the Sailor Moon Classic Concert which was performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan this past August. Now that I’ve given the CD a few listens I felt like sharing some thoughts on it. You can pick up the CD from Japanese retailers such as Amazon Japan and CD Japan.

All around the album is great. It’s a real mixed back of very classical sounding renditions while others have a more modern feel. It’s not simply the case that all songs are performed in the same style as we’ve seen with the Sailor Moon SuperS Orgel Fantasia album which makes everything sound like it’s played by a music box. The selection of music is also quite varied. While it is mostly renditions of popular opening and ending themes from the original Sailor Moon anime there is also a bit of background music as well as music from musicals and Sailor Moon Crystal. Sadly nothing from the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series has made the cut!

The CD comes with your standard sort of insert booklet that’s only a handful of pages. It includes a full track listing and information on the many people who worked on the music and this concert in particular.

I’ll give a few thoughts on each of the tracks. This won’t be anything thorough! I’m not really a music buff and I know even less about actual concert music. I took the trumpet in school for 3 years pretty much because it was part of the curriculum and after the end of the 3rd when some of my classmates who had started that same year had surpassed me in skill it was evident that it wasn’t happening for me so I concentrated on drawing and messing around with computers. One of those paid off. The set comes in two discs with a total of 21 tracks.

Disc 1 track 1 is background music from the introduction to episodes.

Track 2 is Moonlight Densetsu (Moonlight Legend), the iconic Sailor Moon opening theme! This has been done in a variety of styles over the years and here is yet another! A fairly faithful adaptation.

Track 3 is Ai No Senshi (Guardian of Love), a song which was featured in Sailor Moon R and Sailor Moon S and that has been redone a few times. This is one of my favourite songs from Sailor Moon and it’s very well done on this CD. It has an epic quality that fits it quite well.

Track 4 is Heart Moving, the first ending theme for the first season. This is a decent instrumental version of the song but not the greatest. While I don’t have any strong feeling about this song as an ending theme there are a number of instrumental versions which feature in important and emotional scenes in the first season including when Sailor Moon is discouraged after the death of her friends and finds the motivation to continue fighting. This version doesn’t evoke the same emotional reaction in me than that particular version does.

Track 5 is Princess Moon, the second ending theme for the first season. This track reminds me of something out of ballet which I think suits it. It starts to show the range that this concert can offer.

Track 6 is Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute (Wanting to Be Together With You) which is the first ending theme for Sailor Moon SuperS. Why do we jump ahead so far instead of staying somewhat chronological? No clue. This is similar to the TV version and is a good track.

Track 7 is Otome No Policy (Maiden’s Policy) which is the Sailor Moon R ending theme. This is a punched up version which isn’t really classic as many of the tracks leading up to this have been. It includes vocals by Yoko Ishida who originally performed the song back in the 90s. I prefer the version on the 20th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album personally.

Track 8 is “Rashiku” Ikimasho (I’ll go with my looks) which is the second ending theme for the Sailor Moon SuperS season. It has a sort of big bang feel and includes vocals once again from Yoko Ishida though she did not perform this song in the original anime.

Track 9 is background music for Sailor Uranus and Neptune. This is a variety of music used in the anime mostly when the characters are introduced or transform. It features a lot of violin as the music in the original Sailor Moon anime did, with Michiru being a violinist. This is quite a good track for fans of those characters! They always did have great theme music.

Track 10 switches gears and gives us a song from Sailor Moon Crystal. Eternal Eternity is the first ending theme for the 3rd season, which is also all about Sailor Uranus and Neptune. All versions of this song just remind me of the Utena opening theme.

Track 11 is short and just gives us the music for the commercial break bumper for the first season. It sounds so much like the original version that I was expecting the weird “chirp” sound which can be heard on the laserdiscs of the first season.

I guess there was an intermission at this point? On to disc 2…

Track 1 has Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Sailor Moon, speaking over some background music and then transforming to Sailor Moon’s first season transformation music. A fairly faithful version of this music.

Track 2 is Moon Revenge, the theme song from Sailor Moon R The Movie. This is one of the better songs from the original anime. This version is great as well. It’s a more classical rendition lacking the more upbeat tone of the original song but it works quite well. Some portions remind me of the instrumental version featured in the film.

Track 3 is Tuxedo Mirage, the ending theme for Sailor Moon S. The version here is very similar to what we heard on TV, without the vocals. A good track but it just doesn’t give us anything new.

Track 4 is La Soldier which is a song which was used in a number of the early Sailor Moon musicals as well as the final episode of Sailor Moon R (Let’s pretend episode 89 doesn’t exist because I hate it!). This is a good rendition but not as good as the original and nothing could top the Tommy heavenly6 version from the Tribute Album for me.

Track 5 is a Three Light Medley which merges two songs which the Three Lights performed during Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, Todokanu Omoi -My Friend’s Love- (Unreachable Feelings: My Friend’s Love) and Nagareboshi he (To the Shooting Stars). When this one started I was a bit worried because the Three Lights are a pop group and their music doesn’t translate to classical music. Still the orchestra manages to give these songs a disco kind of 70s pop sound which I think works really well. The track lacks vocals I think because the concert hall didn’t have enough place to include Taiki’s forehead.

Track 6 takes a song from the recent Sailor Moon musicals with Ai No Starshine (Starshine of Love) from the Sailor Moon Amour Eternal Musical. Again we go with a somewhat modern sound almost fitting to an 80s TV drama theme song if that makes any sense. I appreciate the unique take on the song and that an orchestra can have such an atypical sound.

Track 7 is Moon Pride, the first Sailor Moon Crystal opening theme. It’s performed with a big band sort of sound. Enjoyable.

Track 8 is Gekkou (Moonbow), the first Sailor Moon Crystal ending theme. Again this track is quite similar to the original version which had a very orchestral sound. Decent but nothing new here.

Track 9 is New Moon ni Koishite (In Love With the New Moon), the Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 opening theme. It has what I believe is a lot of saxophone and other brass instruments. A fun track.

The final track is an encore which is the Sailor Stars Song, the opening theme for the Sailor Stars season of the original anime. Yoko Ishida performs the vocals for this version, though again she was not the one to contribute the original vocals. She does a decent job. She attempt to rouse the crowd and get them to sing along which doesn’t seem to work all that well. I’m not sure if this is because the crowd isn’t participating much or simply because they didn’t bother to put a mic in the crowd to properly pick up the audio. I don’t know how popular the Sailor Stars Song is in Japan but I wonder if this was really the best track to try to get people to sing along to. If they’d done this with Moonlight Densetsu, the iconic opening theme used for the first four seasons, no doubt a ton of people would know the words. Does the average Japanese casual fan know the words to the intro of the final season which had significantly poorer ratings?

All considered I quite enjoyed this CD and recommend fans import it if they’re interested.

Keep reading for more pictures of this CD including photos of all remaining pages of the booklet.

Continue reading →

Anime NYC will include Sailor Moon Day on November 18th!

Posted on November 11, 2017 by Adam

Next weekend, November 17th to the 19th, is Anime NYC in at the Javits Center in Manhattan. This event will include an entire day dedicated to Sailor Moon on Sailor Moon Day November 18th! Attending will be the English cast of Viz’s new dub of Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal. This includes Stephanie Sheh, Sailor Moon, Kate Higgins, Sailor Mercury, Cristina Vee, Sailor Mars, Amanda Celine Miller, Sailor Jupiter, Cherami Leigh, Sailor Venus, Sandy Fox, Chibiusa, Erica Mendez, Sailor Uranus, Lauren Landa, Sailor Neptune, Christine Marie Cabanos, Sailor Saturn, Robbie Daymond, Tuxedo Mask, and Chris Niosi, Pegasus. Viz Media will also be in attendance. This convention is sponsored by many leading companies in North American anime including many who are associated with Sailor Moon, so it seems likely that they will also be involved with the event. Sponsors include Crunchyroll, who stream Sailor Moon Crystal, Viz Media, who licenses and releases Sailor Moon in North America, Kodansha Comics, who are releasing the English Sailor Moon Manga, and Tokyo Otaku Mode, who run the Official Sailor Moon Fan Club.

Also attending as a musical guest is Yoko Ishida who performed a number of songs for the original Sailor Moon anime! She sang Otome No Policy (Maiden’s Policy), the ending theme for Sailor Moon R, Ai No Senshi (Guardian of Love), and Suki to Itte (Say You Love Me).

Are any of you planning to attend this convention? Unfortunately at this point Saturday and weekend tickets are already sold out. Friday and Sunday tickets are still available but those attendees will be missing Sailor Moon Day.

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

Posted on November 4, 2017 by Adam

A CD collecting music from the Sailor Moon 25th Anniversary Classic Concert is coming December 6th! This concert, where the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra performed songs from various Sailor Moon series, took place in Japan on August 2nd and 3rd at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. This album will be released in Japan but is available to order online from sites such as Amazon Japan and CD Japan. The price is 3500 yen which is about $33 US.

The album collects mostly opening and ending themes from all five seasons of the original Sailor Moon anime, a couple of songs from the musicals, a few songs from Sailor Moon Crystal and a bit of instrumental background music. Some songs are instrumental while others include vocals. A track listing is available on the Official Sailor Moon site. I’ve translated it and included it, and a description of where the songs are from, below for your convenience.

Disc 1:

1. Background Music
2. Moonlight Densetsu (Moonlight Legend) – Opening theme for the original Sailor Moon anime
3. Ai No Senshi (Guardian of Love) – Song featured in Sailor Moon R episode 68 and Sailor Moon S episode 102
4. Heart Moving – Season 1 ending theme #1
5. Princess Moon – Season 1 ending theme #2
6. Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute (Wanting to Be Together With You) – Sailor Moon SuperS ending theme #1
7. Otome No Policy (Maiden’s Policy) – Sailor Moon R ending theme
8. “Rashiku” Ikimasho (I’ll go with my looks) – Sailor Moon SuperS ending theme #2
9. Background Music for Sailor Uranus and Neptune
10. Eternal Eternity – Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 ending theme #1
11. Commercial Break Bumper Background Music

Disc 2:

1. Moon Prism Power Make Up! Background Music (Although the title is similar to that of a song from the original Sailor Moon anime this is the background music which plays when Usagi transforms into Sailor Moon)
2. Moon Revenge – Sailor Moon R The Movie theme
3. Tuxedo Mirage – Sailor Moon S ending theme
4. La Soldier – Song from many early Sailor Moon Musicals
5. Three Lights Medley: Todokanu Omoi -My Friend’s Love- (Unreachable Feelings: My Friend’s Love) and Nagareboshi he (To the Shooting Stars) – Two songs from Sailor Moon Sailor Stars
6. Ai No Starshine (Starshine of Love) – From the Sailor Moon Amour Eternal Musical
7. Moon Pride – First Sailor Moon Crystal opening theme
8. Gekkou (Moonbow) – First Sailor Moon Crystal ending theme
9. New Moon ni Koishite (In Love With the New Moon) – Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 opening theme
Encore. Sailor Stars Song – Sailor Moon Sailor Stars opening theme

In order to promote this release a four minute video of the concert has been released. You can watch it embedded below.

I look forward to sharing my thoughts on this album once it’s released.

Fans in Japan can get special exclusive incentives from various retailers. Amazon Japan and CD Japan are not included. One of the incentives is from the Official Sailor Moon Fan Club however this item does not appear to be available from the international Sailor Moon Fan Club.

Sailor Moon Crystal Original Soundtracks II review

Posted on August 6, 2016 by Adam

The second full Sailor Moon Crystal soundtrack was released on July 27th in Japan. This features music which is mostly from the Infinity arc of Sailor Moon Crystal, referred to as Season III in Japan. This is a 2 CD set which is mostly instrumental music though TV sized versions of the season’s opening and closing themes are also included. The CD can be purchased online through sites like Amazon Japan for 3,240 yen, which is about $32 US. This may seem expensive for a CD soundtrack but this is a pretty standard price in Japan. The first soundtrack was released on iTunes for only $18. No indication yet as to if and when this might happen for this release.

The packaging looks great. As with the last release we have a stained glass window style art piece. This one features Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn, four of the central characters of the season. The discs themselves feature images of their guardian planets. Disc 1 shows what I deduce must be Uranus and Neptune and disc 2 shows Pluto and Saturn. Note of course that since the early 90s when the Sailor Guardians were originally created Pluto is no longer a planet so it’s really a planet and a dwarf planet on the second disc.

Included is a short booklet which appears to have a track listing and some interviews. Have I mentioned I don’t speak Japanese? That means I also don’t read Japanese. Looks nice enough! I’ve included photos below for anyone who can read that.

The CDs themselves contain music you’ve likely already heard in the series. While it is advertised as music from “Season III” that does not mean that this is only new music. A lot of the tracks seem to be repeats of music we’ve heard before in the first 26 episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal and thus would have already been released in the first Sailor Moon Crystal Original Soundtracks. There’s still a lot of new music, mostly that related to the new characters such as Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna and Hotaru as well as their super powered counterparts and the villains the Death Busters and Witches 5. Yasuharu Takanashi has been the music composer for the entire series so the new music sounds like the old music. The music in this series is great, as it has always been. I feel that the animation this season was a vast improvement and the solid soundtrack complements it nicely.

The TV sized versions of the opening and closing themes are a nice addition. This includes three versions of the new opening theme In Love With the New Moon and the three ending themes. The first, Eternal Eternity, is sung by the voices of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, Junko Minagawa and Sayaka Ohara. The second is Maiden’s Advice, sung by Misato Fukuen, the voice of Chibiusa. The third is Only Eternity Brings the Two Together, sung by Kenji Nojima, the voice of Tuxedo Mask. We’ve already gotten full length versions of all of these in the individual CD singles so these are not repeated on this release.

I would recommend fans pick up this release if they have the means and interest to import it. It’s a good way to support the show and these kinds of releases. If it comes out on iTunes later that would be a good alternative way to purchase it, avoiding import costs and having a generally lower price tag. If you just don’t want to pay for it I’m sure you can find it online somewhere.

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

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Sailor Moon Crystal Official Soundtracks II, a two CD set featuring music from the Infinity arc, will be released July 27th

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Adam

A second Sailor Moon Crystal soundtrack will be released in Japan on July 27th. This 2 CD soundtrack is called “Sailor Moon Crystal Official Soundtracks II”. Why the plural in soundtracks? I don’t know. A sound track refers to the track on a film which includes the music as opposed to dialogue and sound effects. What we call a soundtrack was once referred to as the music from the sound track of a movie. In that sense we really are just referring to the one track but we also talk about tracks on a CD which is a totally different thing. None of these things are actual tracks. There’s no 8 track or record or even a film real medium to Sailor Moon Crystal. A track is just a concept we use to refer to something which exists as computer files on hard drives and CDs. We don’t really mean the sound track of a movie when we say Soundtrack anymore. Anyway I’m ranting. I’ll give them a pass for being really Japanese.

You can pre-order the CD from online retailers such as Amazon Japan and CD Japan for as little as 3000 yen, about $30. This is more than the singles we’ve seen before because this is a full 2 CD set with background music from the entire season. Also included are TV sized versions of all of the opening and ending themes heard in the Infinity arc. A track listing is on the Sailor Moon official site. Here’s an English track listing I got through Google Translate with some help from a translation by Miss Dream!

Disc 1

1. Super Sailor Moon’s Theme
2. In Love With the New Moon (TV size) by Etsuko Yakushimaru
3. Sea Serenade
4. Mysterious Encounter
5. Haruka and Michiru
6. Professor – Pharaoh 90
7. Kaolinite
8. Anxious Dream
9. Hotaru
10. Mysterous Guardians
11. Ripples on the Heart?
12. Man or woman, is that so important?
13. Eternal Eternity (TV size)
14. Uranus and Neptune Make-Up!
15. Sailor Uranus
16. Sailor Neptune
17. Possessed Soul
18. Daimon
19. Moon Cosmic Power Make-Up!
20. Planet Power Make-Up!
21. Arrival of the Sailor Guardians
22. Magnificent Counterattack
23. Moon Spiral Heart Attack!
24. Chibiusa and Hotaru -Flute version-
25. Chibiusa and Hotaru
26. Chibiusa Make-Up!
27. Maiden’s Advise (TV size)
28. Mimi Hanyu
29. Witches’ Song

Disc 2

1. The Three Guardians of the Outer Solar System
2. The Three Guardians’ Mission
3. In Love With the New Moon (TV size) by Mitsuko Horie
4. Mistress 9
5. The Witches’ Awakening
6. A Ruthless Challenger
7. A Fierce Battle with the Witches
8. Sorrowful
9. Bonds of the Sailor Gaurdians
10. The Holy Grail’s Glow
11. Crisis Make-Up!
12. Rainbow Moon Heart Ache!
13. Only Eternity Brings the Two Together (TV size)
14. Shadow of Fear
15. Planet Eating Demon
16. She Who Brings Destruction
17. Hotaru’s Feelings
18. A Sorrowful Decision
19. Infinite Battle
20. Disappearing Planet
21. Silence Glaive
22. Light of Rebirth
23. In Love With the New Moon (TV size) / Momoiro Clover

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III CD 2 single review

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Adam

The second of three CD singles with theme songs for Sailor Moon Crystal Season III was released on Wednesday May 25th. You can order it along with the first CD from Amazon Japan. It features the second version of the opening theme, In Love With the New Moon, this time sung by Mitsuko Horie, the voice of Sailor Galaxia from the original Sailor Moon anime. The new ending theme is Maiden’s Advice by Misato Fukuen, the voice of Chibiusa. This is a CD/DVD combo. The CD includes the second opening and ending in full length versions as well as karaoke versions. The DVD includes music videos for both songs. This includes shorter TV sized openings and full length versions. The CD is not very expensive, about $13 US plus a bunch of shipping, and I would suggest picking it up to support the show though if you’re feeling cheap I’m sure you can find it somewhere.

The packaging is nice, as with the first disc. It comes with an insert with the lyrics and an ad for the Blu-Ray. The back of the case features Sailor Saturn, Sailor Moon, Sailor Chibi Moon and Sailor Jupiter. This seems like an odd grouping until you see the back of Sailor Mars’s hair on the side. This fits together with the back of the first CD and no doubt the third CD will fit on the right.

What can I say about these songs? I didn’t care as much for this version of In Love With the New Moon as I did the first one. It’s enjoyable just not quite as catchy. The ending theme speaks for itself. Maiden’s Advice embodies everything that is Chibiusa. I feel like I’ll get cavities listening to it!

The DVD features are nothing spectacular. The TV sized opening and endings are pretty much exactly what we see in the episodes only without credits and in lower resolution. The music videos accompanying the full length versions are nice enough. They both features footages of the episodes which we’ve seen to date, right up the end of the latest episode, Act 33. The In Love With the New Moon video shows clips from the entire series, focusing a lot on Usagi’s relationship with Haruka. The video for Maiden’s Advice is all about Chibiusa! It’s just like you’d expect.

The final CD will be released on June 22nd. You can pre-order it from Amazon Japan. The listing shows an image of Momoiro Clover Z though I imagine the art will be consistent with the other releases and perhaps showcase Tuxedo Mask on the cover. This will once again feature the opening theme, In Love With the New Moon, but this time sung by Momoiro Clover Z, the band who performed Moon Pride during the first two story arcs. The new ending theme, Only Eternity Brings the Two Together, will be sung by Kenji Nojima, the voice of Tuxedo Mask. I believe based on the timing of other themes that this new opening and ending theme will be featured during Act 34 which will be available on Monday May 30th. If not, they will almost certainly be featured during Act 35.

Keep reading for more images of the packaging.

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Bringing you the latest news about the new anime series Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal and all things Sailor Moon.

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