Moon Color Chainon Album CD and Blu-Ray review

Posted on March 4, 2021 by Adam

Two Moon Color Chainon singles were released on January 13th 2021. I moved a week after these were released so my review is a bit late! These CD singles also included a bonus Blu-ray. There are two version of the Sailor Moon Eternal theme song Moon Color Chainon, hence the two releases. One is the Eternal Edition release which features the song performed by Momoiro Clover Z as well as the voice actors from Sailor Moon Crystal while the Momoiro Clover Z version has the song only performed by Momoiro Clover Z. Each CD has a number of other tracks though only the Eternal Edition features new tracks. Everything on the Momoiro Clover Z Edition has been released before.

If you’re looking to check out these albums and are hoping to save your money you’re in luck. Both the Eternal Edition and Momoiro Clover Z Edition albums are streaming on Spotify. The Eternal Edition includes the full album though the Momoiro Clover Z Edition only includes their version of Moon Color Chainon. That song is the only one that is new to this album so you could find the others on other albums though I don’t believe any of them are on Spotify.

I’ll break down each CD with a track by track review. First up is the Eternal Edition which features Super Sailor Moon on the cover art.

The first track is Moon Color Chainon. This version features vocals by not only Momoiro Clover Z but also the voice actors for the Sailor Team, that being Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus, from Sailor Moon Crystal. I suspect this is the actual one used in the film itself hence it’s called the Eternal Edition but I’m actually not certain of this. This song has grown on me since I first heard it and I quite enjoy both versions.

The second track is Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute or Wanting To Be Together With You, the first Sailor Moon SuperS ending theme, covered by Yoko Ishida. Yoko Ishida has previously provided the vocals for a number of Sailor Moon songs including Otome No Policy (Maiden’s Policy), the Sailor Moon R ending theme, and Ai No Senshi (Guardian of Love), which was used twice in the series. She did not provide the vocals for this song in the original series, so this is a first for her. I understand this song was used in the ending credits of Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 but I’m still waiting to actually see the film! This is a good cover of the song. It’s not a drastic change from the original.

The third track is a cover of “Rashiku” Ikumasho or I’ll Go As Myself, by Anza. This was the second ending theme for Sailor Moon SuperS. See a pattern here? Anza was the very first actress to play Sailor Moon in the musicals and held that role longer than anyone else. I believe this version was used at the end of Sailor Moon Eternal Part 2 which I am also looking forward to actually seeing at some point. Anza is fantastic and this cover is quite good.

The other three tracks are just instrumental versions of the first three tracks. This is a pretty standard thing to include in most Sailor Moon singles or short albums. I wonder who this appeals to. While I find these interesting bonuses which I appreciate having for completion’s sake I usually listen to them once and skip them every other time I listen to these albums. The whole point of the Eternal Edition is that the songs have different people doing the voices and those vocals aren’t even on these tracks.

Next up is the Momoiro Clover Z Edition which features just songs by that band. The first track is once again the Sailor Moon Eternal theme song Moon Color Chainon however this one only features Momoiro Clover Z and none of the Sailor Moon Crystal cast. Whether you like this one more probably depends on whether or not you’re a fan of Momoiro Clover Z! I think this album is targeted towards fans of the band!

The second track is Moonlight Densetsu or Moonlight Legend, the theme song for the original Sailor Moon anime, as covered by Momoiro Clover Z. This track was previously included in the Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary Tribute Album which was released on January 29th 2014. It’s a decent cover of the iconic theme song!

The third track is Moon Pride, the Sailor Moon Crystal theme songs for all of seasons 1 and 2, once again performed by Momoiro Clover Z. They are the original performers of this song so this track really isn’t something new. This track was previously released on the Moon Pride Single which was released in two versions on July 30th 2014.

The fourth track is Gekkou or Moon Rainbow, the first ending theme for Sailor Moon Crystal, again performed by Momoiro Clover Z. This version of the song was also included in the Moon Pride Single.

The fifth track is Tuxedo Mirage, the ending theme for Sailor Moon S, performed by Momoiro Clover Z. This song was previously released on the Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary Tribute Album along with Moonlight Densetsu.

The sixth track is Moon Revenge from the Sailor Moon R movie performed by Momoiro Clover Z. It’s decent but I prefer the original. This was also included as part of the Moon Pride Single however it was only included as a bonus track on the CD version of the single and not the Blu-Ray version.

The seventh track is New Moon ni Koishite or In love with New Moon, which was the opening theme for Sailor Moon Crystal’s third season. This Momoiro Clover Z rendition was the third and final version of the song which was used for Acts 34 through 37. It’s not my favourite version of this theme song but it’s, again, decent. This was previously released on the third Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 CD single which came out on June 22nd 2016.

Finally the eighth track is the karaoke or instrumental version of Moon Color Chainon. As I mentioned I don’t particularly care for these tracks.

Each CD comes with a Blu-ray disc which has a music video of that version of Moon Color Chainon on it. These are pretty bare bones discs with a single image, similar to the album cover art, as the menu.

The Eternal Edition version includes the “Animation Music Video” which is available in its entirety on YouTube. It’s a nice video which includes a ton of footage and therefore a ton of spoilers for the Sailor Moon Eternal movie.

The Momoiro Clover Z version includes the “Artist Music Video” which has footage of Momoiro Clover Z recording the song in a studio. A lot of those clips are very similar to those seen in the short version of the Eternal version of the Artist Music Video which is available on YouTube however since this version is much longer, there is some new footage. One example is extra clips of musicians playing various musical instruments which were used in the song.

The packaging and booklet aren’t anything terribly earth shattering. We’ve got lyrics for the songs and some credits for those who worked on the albums. I’ll include more photos of the packaging and booklet at the end of the post.

I got my copies from Amazon and each came with a vendor exclusive card. It was actually the same card which came with each release so I ended up getting two identical cards! Had I known I may have opted to buy one of the albums at the slightly less expensive price for the version which didn’t come with this card.

Are these worth getting? I’m finding it tough to continue to justify buying Sailor Moon CDs when they’re being streamed on a server I already pay for. Physical media for music is become more and more obsolete with every passing year. It’s nice to have for collectors. You can hear all of the tracks in the Eternal version on services such as Spotify. You can hear the only new track from the Momoiro Clover Z version on Spotify as well. Although the other songs on that album were all released previously they do not appear to be available on streaming music platforms so unless you happen to have the 20th Anniversary Tribute Album, the CD only Moon Pride Single and the third Sailor Moon Crystal season 3 CD, this might be worth picking up to hear some of those songs.

I’m still waiting impatiently for news on when we will be seeing the Sailor Moon Eternal films outside of Japan! I certainly hope to be able to see the films soon.

Keep reading for more pictures of the packaging and from the Blu-ray video.

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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.

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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 Blu-Ray vol. 9 review

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Adam

I’m a little late with this review but the latest volume of Sailor Moon Crystal, volume 9, was released on Blu-Ray on June 10th. Like with other releases this only includes two episodes, in this case Act 17 and 18. These stories, part of the Black Moon story arc, focus on Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus. The cover for this release features all of the Sailor Guardians together in their civilian school uniforms. The volume 10 box art will feature the often neglected Sailor Pluto. You can buy volume 9 from Amazon Japan for 5194 yen, about $42 US, plus shipping. Pre-orders for volume 10 will be shipped out tomorrow.

The charm included with this release is Sailor Mars’s Star Power Stick. We will likely be seeing Sailor Jupiter and Venus’s Star Power Sticks as the next two charms.

The contents of the disk are pretty standard. Two episodes are included. Act 17, Secret – Sailor Jupiter and Act 18 – Invasion – Sailor Venus. Video quality is great, as always. There are animation changes from the original streaming versions which are mostly minor and cosmetic. Crystal Comparisons is a great site to check out to compare the two versions. A frame which had Chibiusa incorrectly wearing a short sleeved blue uniform has been corrected to have her with the white uniform she wears in the rest of the scene. A scene in Act 17 had Usagi using the Moon Stick instead of the Cutie Moon Rod to use Moon Princess Halation. This has not been corrected for the Blu-Ray version.

Commentary are included as always. On these episodes we have Munehisa Sakai, the director for the series, as well as Ami Koshimizu, the voice of Sailor Jupiter, and Shizuka Ito, the voice of Sailor Venus. As always I do not speak Japanese so I can’t really comment on the quality of the commentary itself.

Once again a 20 page full colour special booklet is included. This book includes episode summaries and art for the included episodes 17 and 18. The first interview is with Revo, the composer for Sailor Moon Crystal’s opening theme Moon Pride. The other interview is with Ryo Hirohashi, the voice of Luna, and Yohei Obayashi, the voice of Artemis. Character art included shows Luna, Calaveras, Petz, Asanuma and a bunch of items.

It’s hard to recommend buying this. Episodes are still available to stream for free online. This is a Japanese only release with no subtitles. It’s probably worth the wait to get the English version which Viz will be released at some undetermined time in the future. But you don’t need me to tell you whether or not to buy something.

Keep reading for more images from this set including photos of all pages of the included special book.

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

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Adam

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

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

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

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

Source: Anime Expo schedule via Moonkitty.net

Sailor Moon Crystal Original Soundtrack Review

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Adam

The Sailor Moon Crystal Original Soundtrack was released in Japan on December 24th. Now that I’ve had a chance to listen to it a couple of times I’m ready to share my thoughts. The CD contains mainly instrumental background music from the show by Yasuharu Takanashi, though it also includes the TV sized opening and closing themes Moon Pride and Gekkou (Moonbow) by Momoiro Clover Z. The first CD has 30 tracks and the second has 24. A full track listing can found on the official Sailor Moon site with a rough translation in my last post about the soundtrack.

The two CD set is not that expensive, costing about $25 US plus shipping which is pretty good for a Japanese release. You can get it from retailers such as Amazon Japan, CD Japan or YesAsia. If you’re unwilling to pay this modest cost to support the show, I’m sure you can find a site where you can download the soundtrack.

The music included covers the full first years of Sailor Moon Crystal which includes the 13 episodes which are already available, covering the Dark Kingdom story arc, as well as the upcoming Black Moon Clan story arc. This means there are a number of tracks here which have not been heard on the show before. While it may be obvious that some tracks, such as “Black Lady”, “The Gate of Time” or “Sailor Chibi Moon’s Theme” may be new there are other tracks in here which for whatever reason have not been heard before.

It’s difficult for me to know for sure, since I’m really going by ear and memory, but of the tracks there are a number which I don’t believe had been included in the show. Mainly the themes for all Sailor Guardians but Sailor Moon seem completely new. Why Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus did not use their themes in their premier episodes isn’t something I pretend to understand. Perhaps these tracks were simply written later in the life of the series of maybe there was a decision not to use them. Similarly all but Usagi and Ami’s themes didn’t seem familiar to me. Ami’s theme was heard in her first episode but I don’t believe Rei, Makoto or Minako’s themes had been heard before. For the most part the rest of the tracks are some that have been heard before.

The insert is pretty lacklustre with the pages inside being printed only in black and white. This includes a track listing, information about the artist Yasuhara Takanashi including an interview and a couple of pictures. I don’t read Japanese but I have included photos of all pages at the bottom of the post. Otherwise the packaging is simple but appealing, with images of the Moon and the Earth on the CDs themselves.

The music in the show is generally enjoyable, and if you’ve seen the show you probably have a decent idea of what that music is like. The CD set is quite cheap, so I would recommend it to fans of the show. As this covers all music from the first year there’s no concern of having this become obsolete and there being another CD set coming out any time soon.

Keep reading for more photos of the CD and included black and white booklet.

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The Sailor Moon Crystal Original Soundtrack will be released December 24th

Posted on December 12, 2014 by Adam

A Sailor Moon Crystal soundtrack will be released on December 24th in Japan. This soundtrack will feature background music from the entire first year of the Sailor Moon Crystal anime. This two disk set will include the Dark Kingdom story arc which will soon be completing as well as the Black Moon Clan story arc, sometimes referred to as the second season, which will begin in January 2015. The track information given on the Sailor Moon official site as well as the Evil Line Records site clearly shows it spanning until the end of the Black Moon Clan arc with 2nd disk titles including “Sad Black Lady” and “Through the Gate of Time”.

The cover art is included above. It includes Prince Endymion, Princess Serenity and Luna in a stained glass window style. You can order the CD from online retailers such as Amazon Japan, CD Japan or YesAsia. MSRP is 3000 yen, about $25 US.

As I have mentioned many times I do not speak Japanese but here is what I can piece together from the track listing with the help of Google Translate. I tried to make sense of the names but some of them are total guesses based on some broken English because translation software is impressive but we’re still in 2014.

DISC 1

Prelude: The Lengend
1. Legend of the Moon

Chapter I: Make Up!
2. Moon Prism Power Make Up!
3. Star Power Make Up!
4. In The Name of the Moon I Will Punish You!

Opening Theme
5. Moon Pride (TV Version)

Chapter II: Tuxedo Romance
6. Tuxedo Mask
7. Mamoru’s Theme

Chapter III: Sign of Phantom
8. Shadows lurking in the darkness
9. Beginning of the grotesque

Chapter IV: Pretty Guardians
10. Sailor Moon’s Theme
11. Sailor Mercury’s Theme
12. Sailor Mars’s Theme
13. Sailor Jupiter’s Theme
14. Sailor Venus’s Theme

Chapter V: Girls’ Holiday
15. Bright Sunlight
16. A New Day Has Begun
17. It’s Not Good, I’m Goofy ???
18. Every Day Wonderland ???

Chapter VI: The Ordeal of Love
19. Evil Tuxedo Mask
20. Conflicted Mind
21. A Deep Sorry
22. Love Again

Chapter VII: The Battle
23. Shock
24. The Darkness Attacks
25. Moon Healing Escalation!
26. The Sailor Guardians of Love and Justice

Chapter VII: Friendship
27. The Bonds of Love
28. Irreplaceable Friendship
29. Moments of Peace

Intermission
30. Sailor V Game

DISC 2

Chapter IX: The True Face of the Sailor Guardians – Pretty Girls
1. Usagi’s Theme
2. Ami’s Theme
3. Rei’s Theme
4. Makoto’s Theme
5. Minako’s Theme

Chapter X: Small Stranger – Little Moon
6. Chibiusa’s The
7. Dazzling World
8. Dreamy Waltz

Chapter XI: The Return of Phantom
9. More Darkness Than Ever
10. Anxiety and Impatience
11. Tragic Battle

Chapter XII: Sad Black Lady
12. Black Lady
13. Quiet Sorry
14. Unleashed Anger

Chapter XXII: Through the Gate of Time
15. Door
16. Sailor Chibi Moon’s Theme

Chapter XIV: Determination
17. Omen of Doom
18. A Prayer to the Moon
19. Decision to Chest ???

Chapter XV: The Final Battle
20. The Final Battle

Chapter XVI: The Miracle of Love
21. Love Theme

Final Chapter: Finale: To The Future
22. A Refreshing Wind
23. The Story Will Continue Tomorrow ???

Ending Theme
24. Moonbow (Gekkou) (TV Version)

Pre-order the first Sailor Moon Crystal visual book

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Adam

This Friday, August 22nd 2014, a Sailor Moon Crystal visual book will be released in Japan by Kodansha. This book will include information and images from the new Sailor Moon anime, Sailor Moon Crystal, including voice actor and staff information as well as a number of bonuses. Included will be a sleeve for the previously released Moon Pride single by Momoiro Clover Z and a DVD featuring the TV sized version of Moon Pride and a trailer for Sailor Moon Crystal. This DVD will be region 2, viewable only on Japanese DVD players or for those who have a region free DVD player or drive.

The art book, likely the first of many of it’s kind, can be preordered from Amazon Japan or CD Japan. Once I receive my copy I’ll post more information and images.

Source: Moonkitty, Sailor Moon: The Moonieverse and the Sailor Moon official site

Momoiro Clover Z’s Moon Pride CD single is out now

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Adam

The CD single for Momoiro Clover Z’s Moon Pride was released on July 30th. The single is also available for digital download on iTunes. The Japanese physical release comes in two versions. The CD only version includes a bonus track of Moon Revenge covered by Momoiro Clover Z which is also available in the iTunes release. The Blu-Ray combo pack includes a Blu-Ray of the music video. All versions contain the theme song to Sailor Moon Crystal, Moon Pride, and the ending theme, Gekkou. It was recently revealed that the lyrics to the Sailor Moon Crystal ending theme Gekkou were actually written by Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi. It is credited to Sumire Shirobara which is actually Naoko Takeuchi’s pseudonym. I guess Surikurume was taken.

I picked up both physical copies on Amazon Japan (CD only version, Blu-Ray combo pack). It’s unfortunate that buying both was necessary to get the Blu-Ray and bonus track! The Blu-Ray is pretty simple. It has no menu and plays the music video for Moon Pride by Momoiro Clover Z. This includes some scenes from the intro to Sailor Moon Crystal, a bit of footage from transformation scenes and the first episode and other footage of Silver Millennium which may or may not be from future episodes of the series. You can watch the full video in the embedded clip below or download a subbed version from Sailor Moon Center.

The Blu-Ray version does not include the overlaid text and CD box art. This combo version includes only the opening and ending themes on the CD, with bonus karaoke versions of each song. The art on the cover features the Sailor Guardians from Sailor Moon Crystal. This is the art that is included for the iTunes release, though the contents are the same as the CD only version.

Though the CD only version does not include the Blu-Ray it does have the bonus track of Moon Revenge by Momoiro Clover Z. Moon Revenge was originally the theme song for the Sailor Moon R movie and was at the time sung by Peach Hips, which means the vocals were comprised of the voice actors who played the Sailor Guardians in the original Sailor Moon anime. While it’s nice to see a cover of this song it is certainly much more fitting to hear the version as sung by our favourite voice actors. As it is played in the Sailor Moon R film the voices of certain characters are heard when they appear on screen, which complements the film perfectly. The CD only version features Momoiro Clover Z in Sailor Moon style uniforms on the box art.

So what is a North American fan to do? Well you can certainly import them from Amazon Japan (CD only version, Blu-Ray combo pack) or CD Japan (CD only version, Blu-ray combo pack). Both versions are relatively inexpensive but the shipping costs will be high. CDs are not region coded so fans throughout the world will have no problem listening to them. Japanese Blu-Ray discs are region A so they are viewable in North America, but not all over the world. Alternatively you can just buy the individual track or all three plus karaoke versions from iTunes. Brad at Moonkitty compiled a list of iTunes links for many countries so you can buy them if you’re in the US, Canada, Mexico, UK, Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan or Peru. Certainly, there are web sites where you can download rips of the CDs for free, but as Sailor Moon fans it would only be right to support the show by purchasing this CD if you plan on listening to it.

Keep reading to see photos of both CDs and their inserts.

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Watch the music video for Momoiro Clover Z’s Moon Pride

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Adam

Check out this music video for Moon Pride, the theme song to Sailor Moon Crystal by Momoiro Clover Z. The music video shows a decent look at Silver Millennium, the ancient kingdom on the Moon where Princess Serenity and Endymion fell in love. We also have a good look at the Sailor Guardians, including transformation footage of Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus which we hadn’t seen yet.

This video is an advertisement for the CD and Blu-Ray release of Moon Pride to be released on June 30th. Both the CD and Blu-Ray release include Moon Pride, the opening theme, and Gekkou, the ending theme. Both are performed by Momoiro Clover Z. The CD and Blu-Ray combo pack version includes this music video. The CD only version includes a cover of Moon Revenge, the theme song from the Sailor Moon R movie, as performed by Momoiro Clover Z. Check out the cover art for both releases:

Moon Pride by Momoiro Clover Z - CD and Blu-Ray box art

Moon Pride by Momoiro Clover Z - CD box art

Pre-order the CD only version (CD Japan, Amazon Japan) or the CD and Blu-Ray combo pack (CD Japan, Amazon Japan).

Keep reading for more screen shots from the music video.

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Momoiro Clover Z’s Moon Pride CD single is out now

Watch the music video for Momoiro Clover Z’s Moon Pride