The Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The 30th Anniversary Memorial Album will be released on vinyl February 18th

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The 30th Anniversary Memorial Album

Great news for Sailor Moon fans with an appreciation of antiquated media! It’s not just about VHS and laserdiscs anymore! A new album will be released exclusively on vinyl. This two record set is called the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The 30th Anniversary Memorial Album.

Where’s the CD version? There is none. Unlike with the earlier Memorial Albums this only includes songs which were previously available in other soundtracks so there is no need for a CD release as fans can get these tracks on CD elsewhere or in some cases listen to them through a streaming service. This is a two disc or rather a two record set with each record having a side A and B. The records themselves are pink! The set is not that expensive with an MSRP of 5800 yen which is about $40 US. It is available to pre-order from a number of Japanese retailers.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The 30th Anniversary Memorial Album

The box art features a number of images. The blue images show art in the style of the original Sailor Moon anime while the pink ones are Sailor Moon Crystal. This reflects the fact that the first record contains songs from the original anime and the second contains songs from Sailor Moon Crystal.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The 30th Anniversary Memorial Album

While the last two Anniversary Memorial Albums contained a lot of covers of popular Sailor Moon songs by other bands and singers this version is basically a collection of theme songs by the original artists. It’s basically all of the opening and ending themes from the original Sailor Moon anime and Sailor Moon Crystal as well as the themes from the films.

A track list with an explanation of what the songs are from is included below.

Disc 1

Side A:

  • 1. Moonlight Densetsu (Moonlight Legend) – DALI – The original Sailor Moon theme song
  • 2. Heart Moving – Misae Takamatsu – The first ending theme for the first season of the Sailor Moon anime
  • 3. Princess Moon – Ushio Hashimoto – The second ending theme for the first season of the Sailor Moon anime
  • 4. Maiden’s Policy (Otome no Policy) – Yoko Ishida – The ending theme for Sailor Moon R
  • 5. Tuxedo Mirage – Kotono Mitsuishi, Michie Tomizawa, Aya Hisakawa, Emi Shinohara, Rika Fukami – The ending theme for Sailor Moon S
  • 6. Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute (Wanting to Be Together with You) – Miwako Fujitani – The first ending theme for Sailor Moon SuperS
  • 7. “Rashiku” Ikimasho (I’ll Go As Myself) by Meu – The second ending theme for Sailor Moon SuperS
  • .
    Side B:

  • 1. Sailor Stars Song by Kae Hanazawa – The opening theme for Sailor Stars
  • 2. Kaze mo Sora mo Kitto… (“The Wind, the Sky, Surely…”) by Arisa Mizuki – The ending theme for Sailor Stars
  • 3. Moon Revenge by Kotono Mitsuishi, Michie Tomizawa, Aya Hisakawa, Emi Shinohara, Rika Fukami – From Sailor Moon R The Movie
  • 4. Moonlight Destiny by Hiroko Asakawa – From Sailor Moon S The Movie
  • 5. Morning Moon de Aimashou (Let’s Meet at the Morning Moon) by Pretty Cast – From Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie
  • .
    Disc 2

    Side A:

  • 1. Moon Pride by Momoiro Clover Z – The first opening theme for Sailor Moon Crystal
  • 2. New Moon ni Koishite (In Love With the New Moon) by Etsuko Yakushimaru – The first version of the opening theme for Sailor Moon Crystal Season III
  • 3. New Moon ni Koishite (In Love With the New Moon) by Mitsuko Horie – The first version of the opening theme for Sailor Moon Crystal Season III
  • 4. New Moon ni Koishite (In Love With the New Moon) by Momoiro Clover Z – The first version of the opening theme for Sailor Moon Crystal Season III
  • 5. Gekkou (Moonbow) by Momoiro Clover Z – The first ending theme for Sailor Moon Crystal
  • 6. Eternal eternity by Junko Minagawa and Sayaka Ohara – The first ending theme for Sailor Moon Crystal Season III
  • .
    Side B:

  • 1. Otome no Susume (Maiden’s Advice) by Misato Fukuen – The second ending theme for Sailor Moon Crystal Season III
  • 2. Eien Dake ga Futari o Kakeru (Only Eternity Brings the Two Together) by Kenji Nojima – The third ending theme for Sailor Moon Crystal Season III
  • 3. Tsukiiro Chainon (Moon Color Chainon) by Momoiro Clover Z, Kotono Mitsuishi, Hisako Kanemoto, Rina Satoh, Ami Koshimizu and Shizuka Itoh – The opening theme for the Sailor Moon Eternal films
  • 4. Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute (Wanting to Be Together with You) by Yoko Ishida – The ending theme for Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1
  • 5. “Rashiku” Ikimasho (I’ll Go As Myself) by Anza – The ending theme for Sailor Moon Eternal Part 2
  • 6. Moon Effect by Kotono Mitsuishi, Misato Fukuen, Hisako Kanemoto, Rina Sato, Ami Koshimizu, Shizuka Itoh, Junko Minagawa, Sayaka Ohara, Ai Maeda and Yukiyo Fujii – A song from Sailor Moon Eternal Part 2
  • .
    Will you be picking up this set? Do you have something to play it on or are you just looking to keep it as a collectible?

    Source: The Sailor Moon Official Site

    Dua Lipa’s retro anime style music video seems heavily inspired by Sailor Moon

    Dua Lipa - Levitating - Transforming

    Singer Dua Lipa’s latest music video for the song Levitating is a joy to watch for fans of classic anime. The art style seems inspired by 80s and 90s anime while the content of the video itself seems to be influenced by Sailor Moon. The Moon is featured prominently. A locket with a crescent Moon on it is very similar to Sailor Moon’s first transformation broach. The crescent Moon frequently appears in the background. There’s even a short magical girl style transformation! You can watch the video on YouTube embedded below.

    Though the Sailor Moon references are surely intentional the art style of the video itself doesn’t match Sailor Moon much. I would say that it more closely resembles 80s anime styles. Many have compared it to Creamy Mami, an anime series from 1983 which I am not personally familiar with. The colours and designs do appear to be similar. A friend of mine pointed out the similarity to Dirty Pair, from 1985, which I think could also be an inspiration. Creamy Mami can be streamed for free on Retrocrush.

    Dua Lipa - Levitating - In front of a crescent Moon Sailor Moon episode 1 - Japanese DVD - Sailor Moon poses

    The video’s animation was done by NOSTALOOK who specialize in making retro style anime. A full length music video done in traditional style animation certainly is impressive! I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what else this group makes. You can follow the group on Twitter, Instagram or YouTube.

    Dua Lipa - Levitating - A crescent Moon shaped locket

    Do you like the video? What elements do you think are inspired by Sailor Moon and which might be from other series?

    Dua Lipa - Levitating - Transforming

    Source: Crunchyroll

    Dua Lipa - Levitating - Dua Lipa flying a car

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray review

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Cover

    Sailor Moon Eternal was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan on June 30th. This included both a standard and limited edition of both. Good news for Japan, which previously had seen only a theatrical release of the films. Less useful internationally as many countries are streaming the films on Netflix with English audio and subtitle options. Still the limited edition Blu-ray and DVD have a number of nice features fans may be interested in checking out. I picked up the limited edition Blu-ray, which I’ll be discussing in this post.

    There were a number of vendor exclusive versions of this release which differed amongst retailers and while I got the release from Amazon Japan I opted not to pay the cchionsiderable extra cost on top of the already high price tag for these exclusives. In retrospect I enjoyed the box art so much that perhaps a nice print of it would have been worthwhile, but it’s a bit late for this!

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Discs

    The set itself comes with a really beautiful package. This isn’t a standard DVD or Blu-ray sized box but instead something the size of a laserdisc or LP jacket. Inside are four discs. There’s a Blu-ray of the films, a Blu-ray disc of bonus features and two audios CD soundtracks, one for each of the movies.

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Chibiusa and Usagi

    Blu-ray

    Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 - Big Chibiusa and Small Usagi

    Netflix

    Disc 1! The movies. There isn’t much on this except for the two Sailor Moon Eternal films. I won’t repeat my review of those films. I quite enjoyed them and you can read my more in depth thoughts in my full reviews of Part 1 and Part 2. Interestingly enough the two movies are just one long video track of this Blu-ray. This doesn’t mean this is one movie or that it was always intended as one movie as there are still ending and opening credits, but we could easily have had separate video tracks for these.

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Part 1 chapters

    The disc’s menu has chapter markers which more or less break the movies up into single episode Acts, like with the TV series. This isn’t perfect again because some of them are shorter than others. The “Ami” chapter is only about 11 minutes and the “Rei” chapter is about 12. The second film’s chapters are broken up a bit more evenly as that story isn’t as clearly separated into distinct stories like with Part 1. Keep in mind that there are no English audio or subtitle options. As with all other Japanese Sailor Moon video releases, this is only meant to be viewed by a Japanese audience. If you want to watch it in English, get a Netflix subscription!

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - The Amazoness Quartet

    Blu-ray

    Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal Part 2 - The Sailor Quartet

    Netflix

    The video quality of the Blu-ray is quite good. It’s hard to compare a Blu-ray to a stream of a movie because there are all sorts of things which can affect a streaming video’s quality. Netflix adjusts its video quality based on a user’s bandwidth so I don’t know if the quality I was watching the movie at was the best possible. I took some screenshots from the Netflix stream for my reviews but there may have been issues with using a web browser to do that. The Blu-ray, to me, looks superior to the streaming version I’d seen on Netflix. I had watched the films twice on the Netflix app on PlayStation 5 and then once through the Netflix site a web browser on a laptop connected to a TV via HDMI. I’ll include a few screenshot comparisons here and at the end of the post. Keep in mind there is jpeg compression on these images which is a form of lossy compression but that same transformation was applied consistently to both types screenshots using the built in Mac OS screenshot function. I did find the level of detail in the Blu-ray release is superior to what I saw with the streaming version. The fine detail such as lines looks better.

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - To be continued...

    Part 2 ends with a screen saying “To be continued”. This was included in the original Japanese theatrical release but was not in the Netflix version that most people have watched. The insinuation here is evident. They intend to continue Sailor Moon Crystal with a Stars arc. What that will look like or when we will get it remains to be seen. I hope we aren’t going to have to wait months for this one!

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Disc 2 menu

    The second disc is another Blu-ray and includes all of the bonus features. The menu is all in Japanese but I will explain the feature in the order they’re seen on the menu. Many of these had previews posted on YouTube which I’ll include links to. As with the movies these are only available in Japanese. As many of the features involve some Japanese person or people talking throughout this might not be terribly useful for fans who don’t speak the language.

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Interview with director Chiaki Kon

    The first feature, accessed with the top left button, is an interview with the movie’s director Chiaki Kon. She was director on Season III of Sailor Moon Crystal as well as both films. For whatever reason a Luna plush on a stool is featured prominently in the center of the screen while Chiaki Kon is off to the side. The interview is 9m46s but you can watch a three minute preview on YouTube.

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Interview with character designer Kazuko Tadano

    Next, the top right option, is an interview with character designer Kazuko Tadano who also worked on the original Sailor Moon anime. It’s hard to ignore the one very distracting aspect of this interview which is the large cartoon face which is superimposed over her face in every scene. I recall seeing Kazuko Tadano at Otakon in 2008 where she seemed to have no qualms about being seen in public. I recorded a panel she was on and my camera ended up losing the footage. Perhaps her image can’t be captured on camera! This feature is 10m30s and a short preview can be seen on YouTube.

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Moon Effect music video

    The next feature is a Moon Effect music video. This is a long clip from the film only the actual dialog and sound effects are removed keeping only the song itself. The video is 6m11s long.

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Trailers

    Next up is a series of trailers and ads for the film. Having seen a lot of these I think I may have seen them all but it’s so hard to tell at some point as many commercials and trailers reuse a lot of the same footage over and over again. The whole thing is 7m10s.

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Interview with the main Sailor Guardian cast

    After this we have a 20 minute interview with the main cast of Sailor Guardians and Nehelenia from the first film. This, like many of the interviews, occurs on stage. This includes Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Sailor Moon, Hisako Kanemoto, Sailor Mercury, Rina Satō, Sailor Mars, Ami Koshimizu, Sailor Jupiter, Shizuka Itō, Sailor Venus, Misato Fukuen, Sailor Chibi Moon, and Nanao, the voice of Nehelenia. A short preview can be seen on YouTube.

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Interview with the Amazon Trio cast

    We then have an interview with Kotono Mitsuishi and the voices of the Amazon Trio. By all indications this nearly 22 minute video is hilarious, but I have no idea what they’re really saying. At one point they do a game where there are four options per question and … well I don’t know what the questions or answers are. Check out a preview on YouTube.

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Interview with the full cast in Princess dresses

    Next we have all of the Sailor Guardians’ voices from both films in princess dresses. They all look quite lovely! Throughout this 18 minute clip we see them all answering various questions while wearing evening gowns which are colour coordinated to suit the Sailor Guardians they voice. There’s a lot of posing for photos going on. This preview is on YouTube.

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Interview with the core cast

    Finally we have a stage interview with the voices of Chibiusa, her mom and her two boyfriends. This 21 minute interview includes Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Sailor Moon, Misato Fukuen, Sailor Chibi Moon, Kenji Nojima, Tuxedo Mask, and Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Pegasus. I can’t tell if Yoshitsugu Matsuoka is really nervous, doing a bit or both. Is this Bob Newhart level awkward comedy or perhaps some sort of thing that women find appealing? Really not sure. One fun part of this feature is a wild crescent moon shaped flower arrangement. As with the other features you can watch a short clip on YouTube.

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Booklet - Pages 28 and 29

    The 3rd and 4th discs are audio CDs. Disc 3 is the soundtrack for Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 and Disc 4 is the soundtrack for Part 2. The labels on the discs themselves indicate this and the track listing in the booklet also breaks them into “Part 1″ and “Part 2″. Both have large numbers of tracks as well as TV sized versions of the songs included in them. Disc 3 has more tracks which may be because of music which is used in both films appearing on this soundtrack. I haven’t done a detailed study of each track and identified where it appears in each film, but it seems to mostly be broken up by the films. The part 1 soundtrack has 51 tracks, 49 of which are fairly short instrumental tracks. Track 50 is Moon Color Chainon, the theme song for the films. At 2m35s it is a shorter version of the song, with the full length version being 4m20s. Track 51 is the movie sized version of Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute (Wanting to Be Together with You) by Yoko Ishida which is only 1m32s as opposed to the 5m17s full length version.

    The part 2 soundtrack is similar but with only 34 tracks, most of which are are instrumental. Track 28 is the full version of Moon Effect which is a whopping 6m12s, like the version on the Sailor Moon Eternal character song album. Track 33 is another TV length version of Moon Color Chainon. At 2m34s it’s one second shorter than the version on the part 1 soundtrack. I guess one of these is the one with Momoiro Clover Z and one is the version with the voice actors but I honestly can’t tell the difference. Track 34 is the movie sized version of “Rashiku” Ikimasho (I’ll Go As Myself) cover by Anza. This version is only 1m34s. The full length versions of all of the songs on these soundtracks were previously released on the Eternal Edition of the Moon Color Chainon album. It seems like none of the tracks on these soundtrack CDs are available elsewhere, except for the full length version of Moon Effect.

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Booklet - Pages 4 and 5

    Also included is a special booklet. I’ve included photos of each of the pages with most being at the end of this post. This starts off with character art for all of the characters in the movies. Next is a “Cast Comment” from each of the voice actresses portraying the Sailor Guardians. We then have the “Character Design Comment” which shows us individual art of each character which was used for the cover art. I think that cover image is quite amazing so it’s nice to see each character with a bit of detail here. We then have a “Key Animation Gallery” which shows storyboards and how they compare to images from the final product. There is then an “Event Report” which seems to give a bit of a description for a number of events related to the promotion and release of the film. A “Music Review” discusses the new songs featured in the film. There is then an “Interview” but it’s not entirely clear to me who that interview is with. Finally there is the track listing for the “Original Soundtrack”, the 3rd and 4th discs in this set.

    Sailor Moon Eternal Limited Edition Blu-ray - Back Cover

    So what’s the verdict? Is this set worth getting? Since it’s a Japanese only release with no English subtitles or audio for the films or any features, this has a limited appeal. While the movies are available to stream on Netflix the features in this set are most certainly not. The music soundtracks are the only way which is currently available to get most of the songs included, so that’s an aspect to consider. It’s worth noting that even though such a thing hasn’t been announced yet it seems quite likely that international versions of this film will be released in time. I expect a North American English DVD and Blu-Ray release will come eventually. That version will likely have Japanese audio as well as English audio and subtitle options. So why get this one? International releases (meaning outside of Japan) will likely include few to none of the special features in this release. Instead I would expect some cast interview with English voice actors and some character art. As always, we’ll be sure to share any info about such a release if and when we hear anything.

    Keep reading for more images of the set including photos of all pages of the booklet.

    Continue reading

    Moon Color Chainon Album CD and Blu-Ray review

    Moon Color Chainon CD and Blu-ray - Both covers

    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.

    Moon Color Chainon CD and Blu-ray - Eternal Edition - Cover

    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.

    Moon Color Chainon CD and Blu-ray - Momoiro Clover Z Edition - Cover

    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!

    Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary Tribute Album - Cover

    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!

    Momoiro Clover Z - Moon Pride CD Single

    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.

    Moon Pride CD Single - CD Version

    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.

    Sailor Moon Crystal Season III - 3rd single - Front

    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.

    Moon Color Chainon Blu-ray - Eternal Edition 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.

    Moon Color Chainon Blu-ray - Momoiro Clover Z Edition - Drums

    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.

    Moon Color Chainon CD and Blu-ray - Eternal Edition - Booklet

    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.

    Moon Color Chainon CD and Blu-ray - Amazon vendor exclusive card

    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.

    Continue reading

    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

    The Moon Color Chainon Animation Music Video shows us many spoilers for the Sailor Moon Eternal films

    Sailor Moon Eternal - Young Rei

    Sailor Moon Eternal is now out in Japanese theatres. Those of us outside of Japan are still hoping for news of when the movie will be out in their area. If you’re looking for a 4 minute and 20 second video which gives clips from throughout the entire movie I’ve got some good news for you! An “Animation Music Video” of the Momoiro Clover Z song Moon Color Chainon, the theme song for Sailor Moon Eternal, has been released. The entire video is footage from Sailor Moon Eternal. This seems to be mostly from Part 1 but it seems like this includes some scenes from Part 2. This is a mix of old footage and a ton of newer footage not in previously trailers and officially released clips. Be warned there’s everything in this. Every character people got annoyed at me for posting screencaps of is in this. If you haven’t read the Dream arc of the manga and don’t want to be spoiled for the films, don’t watch the clip which I’ve embedded below!

    Of course at this point none of this is “new” footage as the first movie is actually out. I haven’t seen the film yet! I’m really looking forward to seeing a decent version of it, hopefully on Netflix some time soon, but I haven’t been watching the low quality cam footage which can be found if you spend a bit of time looking.

    Sailor Moon Eternal - Deimos and Phobos

    I figure this video is also on the Blu-Ray which comes with the Moon Color Chainon CD/Blu-Ray combo which came out a couple of days ago. My copy of both of the albums is in the mail somewhere in Cincinnati and I’ll be doing a review after I receive it at some point. I’ve got a big move coming up so my posting may slack a bit in the next few weeks but I’ll get around to it when I can.

    Sailor Moon Eternal - Cats getting shit done

    Lots of fun stuff in here! What’s your favourite part? Young Rei and Usagi are very cute. Human Artemis and fairy Phobos and Deimos are cool! Chibiusa kissing the horse is always funny. Those cats are looking bad ass!

    Sailor Moon Eternal - Chibiusa kisses a horse

    Keep reading for more screenshots from this clip.

    Continue reading

    The Sailor Moon Eternal theme song Moon Color Chainon has been released … sort of

    Moon Color Chainon

    The Sailor Moon Eternal theme song, Moon Color Chainon, has been released in Japan as we get many details about the CD and Blu-Ray releases posted to the official Sailor Moon site. Though Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 won’t be released until January 8th 2021 and the CDs and Blu-Rays of Moon Color Chainon will be released on January 13th the song is already available to stream on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. Unfortunately fans outside of Japan will find that any links to these songs won’t work! Momoiro Clover Z did perform this song live and full length versions are also available online. The YouTube video embedded below is one such example.

    We’ve also gotten a lot of details about other track which will be included on the full albums. Here I was expecting these would be closer to a single but we can now see that there will be a few tracks on each!

    Ziv Zulander as Randal Crandle

    The Momoiro Clover Z Edition of the album will include the version of Moon Color Chainon by Momoiro Clover Z without the Sailor Moon Eternal cast. The other songs on this album are listed as the “-ZZ ver.-” which most likely means that Momoiro Clover Z performs that version and not that Ziv Zulander, The Bots Master, will be recording the vocals. Note that all of the tracks but Moon Color Chainon were included with earlier Sailor Moon Crystal albums. Here’s a track listing.

    M1: Gesshoku Chainon (Moon Color Chainon) – The Sailor Moon Eternal theme song – Momoiro Clover Z ver.
    M2: Moonlight Densetsu (Moonlight Legend) – The original Sailor Moon anime theme song -ZZ ver.-
    M3: Moon Pride – The first Sailor Moon Crystal theme song -ZZ ver.-
    M4: Gekkou (Moon Rainbow) – The first Sailor Moon Crystal ending theme -ZZ ver.-
    M5: Tuxedo Mirage – The Sailor Moon S ending theme -ZZ ver.-
    M6: Moon Revenge – From Sailor Moon R The Movie -ZZ ver.-
    M7: New Moon ni Koishite (In love with New Moon) – The opening theme for season 3 of Sailor Moon Crystal -ZZ ver.-
    M8: Gesshoku Chainon (Moon Color Chainon) [Instrumental or Karaoke version]

    Moon Color Chainon

    The Eternal Edition of the Album includes the version of Moon Color Chainon by not only Momoiro Clover Z but also the cast of Sailor Moon Eternal! All three songs on this album are the ones which will be played with the films. The cover art for this album is included at the top of this post. The second track is a cover of the first Sailor Moon SuperS ending theme by Yoko Ishida, who performed a number of songs in the original Sailor Moon anime but not this one. This is the ending theme for Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1. The third track is a cover of the second Sailor Moon SuperS ending theme which will be performed by ANZA, the first actress to play Usagi in the Sailor Moon musicals. This is the ending theme for Sailor Moon Eternal Part 2.

    M1: Gesshoku Chainin (Moon Color Chainon) – The Sailor Moon Eternal theme song – Momoiro Clover Z with Sailor Moon (Kotono Mitsuishi), Sailor Mercury (Hisako Kanemoto), Sailor Mars (Rina Sato), Sailor Jupiter (Ami Koshimizu) and Sailor Venus (Shizuka Ito)
    M2: Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute (Wanting to Be Together with You) – The first Sailor Moon SuperS ending theme – Yoko Ishida
    M3: “Rashiku” Ikimasho (I’ll Go As Myself) – The second Sailor Moon SuperS ending theme – ANZA
    M4: Gesshoku Chainon (Moon Color Chainon) [Instrumental or Karaoke version]
    M5: Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute (Wanting to Be Together with You) [Instrumental or Karaoke version]
    M6 : “Rashiku” Ikimasho [Instrumental or Karaoke version]

    All considered it seems like the Momoiro Clover Z Edition includes a version of the theme song which won’t actually be in the movie and some covers which we’ve actually gotten in other releases while the Eternal Edition includes three tracks which will be in the movie, all of which we’ve never actually heard on other releases! If you’re only going to buy one of these then the Eternal Edition seems like the obvious choice for Sailor Moon fans, though perhaps Momoiro Clover Z fans will be inclined to pick up the other album!

    The CD and Blu-Ray can still be ordered from a number of online retailers, though currently Amazon Japan does not seem to have the items in stock. The Momoiro Clover Z version (Amazon Japan exclusive, regular edition, CD Japan) is 2500 yen which is about $24 US while the Sailor Moon Eternal version (Amazon Japan exclusive, regular edition, CD Japan) is 2200 yen which is about $21 US.

    What do you think of the song? Which song are you most excited to hear?

    Listen to a clip of “Moon Color Chainon”, the Sailor Moon Eternal theme song by Momoiro Clover Z

    Momoiro Clover Z - Moon Color Chainon

    A preview of the theme song for the upcoming Sailor Moon Eternal films has been posted to the official Sailor Moon site! The song, by Momoiro Clover Z, is “Gesshoku Chainon” which roughly translates to “Moon Color Chainon”. What’s a chainon? Chaînon is a french word meaning a link in a chain. I suppose this is a reference to the Sailor Guardians all being individual links in the chain that is the Sailor Team. You can check out the short clip of the song which features the members of Momoiro Clover Z below. It includes a few seconds of new footage from the upcoming films.

    Two different CD and Blu-Ray sets for this song will be released on January 13th 2021. They will each include a different version of the song. The Momoiro Clover Z Edition includes the song performed only by the group Momoiro Clover Z. The Sailor Moon Eternal Edition includes a different version of the song which is performed by not only Momoiro Clover Z but also voice actors from the Sailor Moon Eternal film. The voice actors who will be providing vocals on this version of the song are Kotono Mitsuishi as Sailor Moon, Hisako Kanemoto as Sailor Mercury, Rina Sato as Sailor Mars, Ami Koshimizu as Sailor Jupiter and Shizuka Ito as Sailor Venus. There does not appear to be any version which includes both songs, so fans looking to get both will need to buy both versions.

    Sailor Moon Eternal - Moon Color Chainon Video - The Sailor Guardians

    Exclusive cards are available for those who order from specific retailers with each different retailer including a different card. The Momoiro Clover Z version (Amazon Japan exclusive, regular edition) is 2500 yen which is about $24 US while the Sailor Moon Eternal version (Amazon Japan exclusive, regular edition) is 2200 yen which is about $21 US.

    Sailor Moon Eternal - Moon Color Chainon Video - Momoiro Clover Z singing

    The band Momoiro Clover Z has contributed a lot of music to Sailor Moon Crystal going back to the very beginning. They performed Moon Pride, the original opening theme for the series. Fans may notice that Momoiro Clover Z used to have five members but that this video only includes four. Momoka Ariyasu left the group at the beginning of 2018 and is not featured in this song.

    Sailor Moon Eternal - Moon Color Chainon Video - Sailor Moon

    Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 will be in theatres in Japan starting January 8th 2021. It will be followed shortly afterwards by Sailor Moon Eternal Part 2 which will hit theatres on February 11th. The movies are an adaptation of the Dream arc of the Sailor Moon manga which was also adapted as Sailor Moon SuperS in the original 90s anime.

    Sailor Moon Eternal - Moon Color Chainon Video - Sailor Mercury

    What do you think of the song? Keep reading to see more screenshots from this video.

    Continue reading

    Check out KILLY’s music video for “Sailor Moon”

    Sailor Moon - KILLY

    Canadian hip-hop artist KILLY”s latest music video is for a song called Sailor Moon! You can check out the video below.

    Check out this link to buy or listen to the song on various streaming services and stores. So what does this song have to do with Sailor Moon? Well it seems that KILLY’s “bad bitch” leans on him like Sailor Moon! The song mentions SRT though I don’t imagine this a reference to .srt files, the SubRip Subtitle files sometimes used for downloaded fan subbed versions of anime such as Sailor Moon! The song isn’t exactly full of references to the show, but it is in fact called Sailor Moon and KILLY does appear to have a fondness for the character!

    When asked about his interest in Sailor Moon in an interview with Complex KILLY he said that he wasn’t a huge fan but that he used to watch it when it came on TV while he was a kid. KILLY was born in Toronto and moved to Victoria, BC when he was 8. As a fellow Canadian I know that Sailor Moon played quite a bit on TV here especially back when it was first airing starting in 1995 which means most Canadians who were young at the time are at least somewhat familiar with the show, but KILLY was born in 1997 so he may have seen the show when Sailor Moon S or SuperS aired in Canada years later.

    Follow KILLY on Twitter or Instagram for more.

    What do you think of the song?

    Check out the rap song “Sailor Moon” by lilbootycall

    Sailor Moon by lilbootycall

    This rap song is a few years old but I first heard it earlier today. It’s “Sailor Moon” by lilbootycall. The artist refers to the subject of the song as his “lil’ Salor Moon”. You can listen to the song’s music video on YouTube below. Just a heads up that there are drug references and explicit language in the video, if this is something you care to avoid.

    The video has 4.5 millions view and the song has been listened to nearly 5 million times on Soundcloud, where it originally appeared. Learn more about lilbootycall and hear more of his music by checking out his official web site.

    The instrumental music which is looped throughout the song is background music from the original Sailor Moon anime. The song is referenced as “A Girl’s Feelings” or more accurately “Feelings of a Girl in Love”. This music is heard often throughout the first season when Usagi is enamoured with one boy or another.

    Besides using the name Sailor Moon and music from the series the song doesn’t have much to do with the series. Check out the lyrics to the song below.

    [Chorus]
    She gon’ pop it open, she gon’ make it pour
    Even though I drive a foreign, damn, I still feel poor
    Sushi on my dinner plate, eating crème brûlée
    Icing on that chocolate cake, that sound like the perfect date
    She gon’ pop it open, she gon’ make it pour
    Even though I drive a foreign, damn, I still feel poor
    Sushi on my dinner plate, eating crème brûlée
    Icing on that chocolate cake, that sound like the perfect date

    [Verse]
    You my lil’ sailor moon, come and visit me
    Come and kick it at the crib or you can keep on dissing me
    I don’t really care, ’cause I’m getting to the money, but
    Don’t you come back crawling when you seeing all these hunnids, yeah
    You my lil’ sailor moon, come and visit me
    Come and kick it at the crib or you can keep on dissing me
    I don’t really care, ’cause I’m getting to the money, but
    Don’t you come back crawling when you seeing all these hunnids, yeah

    [Chorus]
    She gon’ pop it open, she gon’ make it pour
    Even though I drive a foreign, damn, I still feel poor
    Sushi on my dinner plate, eating crème brûlée
    Icing on that chocolate cake, that sound like the perfect date
    She gon’ pop it open, she gon’ make it pour
    Even though I drive a foreign, damn, I still feel poor
    Sushi on my dinner plate, eating crème brûlée
    Icing on that chocolate cake, that sound like the perfect date

    [Outro]
    Damn
    Like the perfect date
    Yeah, damn
    Like the perfect date
    Perfect date
    Yeah
    Fuck, fucking perfect date bullshit. This is why I hate… love. Fuck

    What do you think of the song?