A box set with six recent musicals is coming to DVD and Blu-ray on November 17th

Sailor Moon La Reconquista Musical DVD - Queen Serenity, Sailor Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Moon

Good news for fans of the Sailor Moon musicals but perhaps not for those living outside of Japan. A set with six of the recent musicals is coming on November 17th though at this time it is only mentioned to be available from the official Sailor Moon fan club as well as the King Records e-SHOP which only ships within Japan. It will also be sold at the Sailor Moon 30th Anniversary Musical festival which is also in Japan. It isn’t clear if it will be available to members of the International Sailor Moon Fan Club or sold at other retailers. It is not currently listed on either Amazon Japan or CD Japan which I’ve used to buy such products from in the past.

Which musicals are included? This set will feature the 2013 musical La Reconquista, the 2014 musical Petite Étrangère, the 2015 musical Un Nouveau Voyage, the 2016 musical Amour Eternal, the 2017 musical Le Mouvement Final and the 2021 musical Princess Kaguya’s Lover. Noteably absent are the Super Live musical which has never been released on home video and the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical which already has two Blu-ray releases.

Why is this something anyone would care about? Aren’t these already on video? They are but unfortunately five of these six musicals were only released on low quality standard definition DVDs. The Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical was already released on Blu-ray. It’s also worth noting that the price is fairly good, by Japanese standards. The MSRP is 17,600 yen which is about $127. This is about double the usual prince of a single musical on Blu-ray. When I first heard of the news I dreaded seeing the price tag expecting something close to the $300 to $500 range. The price seems appealing, assuming people outside of Japan can manage to get a hold of it somehow.

The recent musicals, despite only being released on low quality DVDs, do appear to have been recorded on some higher quality video. The DVDs were widescreen suggesting they weren’t shot with NTSC video cameras but rather converted from a high definition source. There have also been streaming and downloadable versions of the musicals available exclusively in Japan which were in high definition.

These sets have one disc for each musical with a seventh bonus disc. Since most of the DVD and Blu-ray sets for the recent musicals included a second disc for bonus features it seems unlikely all of those features will be included with this set. The musicals are all fairly long and so, unless video quality is sacrificed, it’s not likely that many hours of special features will be included on the same disc alongside the video of the musical performances themselves.

Japanese DVDs are region 2 so be sure your DVD player can handle this is you’re looking to buy the DVD set. Japanese Blu-rays are region A which is the same region as North America. I’ve had no problem watching Japanese Blu-rays on my Canadian purchased PlayStation 3, 4 and 5 machines.

There will be an online event held on August 20th at 7pm, Japan Standard Time, which those who pre-order this set will have access to view.

Will you be picking up this set, assuming you are able to? I would certainly be happy to revisit these great musicals in high definition!

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical review

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Kakeru and Luna

The latest Sailor Moon musical, Princess Kaguya’s Lover, is now available to stream with English subtitles from Japan 2.5D Stage Play World. Tickets allow unlimited streaming for a two week period. I chose December 10th to the 23rd and so I had at long last had a chance to watch this musical a few weeks ago. I’ll share my thoughts in this post.

This musical is a pretty faithful adaptation of the Princess Kaguya’s Lover side story from the Sailor Moon manga. This story had previously been adapted as Sailor Moon S: The Movie so fans of the film will immediately recognize the story of Luna falling in love with a human Kakeru as his lover Himeko travels to space all while the evil Princess Snow Kaguya threatens the Earth! As this musical is a more faithful adaptation than even the S movie, which was itself fairly faithful, there will still be a lot of similarity between the musical and that film.

The musical starts out with a brief overview of the early events of the manga, which is not something included in the manga story it is based on. By the end of this we are pretty much where the manga is at the start of The Lover of Princess Kaguya though Diana is strangely absent, because her existence would be inconvenient to the story. Diana also doesn’t exist yet in the Sailor Moon S film adaptation. I suppose technically Diana isn’t born yet in any version of this story but in the manga we are introduced to her in 30th century Crystal Tokyo and she is in this time due to time travel. She only arrives in the 20th century during the Sailor Moon SuperS season of the original Sailor Moon anime.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - A birthday party

We have a shared birthday party taking place which really situates the story in time more than any other. In the musical it is a shared birthday between Minako, Makoto and Setsuna. Minako’s birthday is October 23rd, Makoto’s birthday is December 5th and Setsuna’s birthday is between the two on October 29th. In the manga Setsuna is not included in the celebration, though she is present at the party. It’s okay though as she’s used to being ignored after having spent centuries pining after King Endymion. There’s quite a gap between Minako and Makoto’s birthdays but it’s not uncommon for groups of friends to get together and have a shared birthday party. It’s likely closer to Makoto’s birthday than Minako’s at this point since the events of the musical are leading up to the climax on December 24th, Christmas Eve. Yes, this is a Christmas musical!

An interesting thing which is mentioned in the liner notes for the Sailor Moon Eternal Edition manga is that voice actors Rika Fukami and Emi Shinohara share a birthday on August 8th. It’s possible that the party from the manga was inspired by a real live shared birthday party between those actors who’s birthdays are actually much closer than those of the characters they voice.

One of the main differences between this musical and the manga story it’s based on is the almost complete lack of Artemis. In scenes where he would actually be present in the manga he is instead only referenced. We will see him at the end of the musical… sort of.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Luna describes her name to Kakeru

The main plot of the musical centers around a comet that is going to hit the earth. At first everything seems fine because the comet just sort of died out. How exactly does this work? A massive object in space can’t just disappear. It’s said that it went close to the sun and burnt out. Was it on its way to the earth or not? The whole thing is very odd. The idea of an asteroid crashing into the earth isn’t unreasonable. The musical makes reference to the comet being roughly the size of the one that wiped out the dinosaurs and another like that would of course be very bad. So why a comet and not an asteroid? Well comets go around and around over and over. Asteroids do too, but that’s a bit what comets are known for since we are able to witness them due to the gas which trails behind them, often caused by water ice which evaporates when exposed to sun light. Since Princess Snow Kaguya, the musical’s villain, is said to be returning after 4.5 billion years, roughly the age of the earth, it seems this is meant to be a return equivalent to seeing a comet again.

It’s curious that since watching this musical a very popular Netflix film, Don’t Look Up, similarly features a comet which threatens to destroy the Earth. I have not seen the film and don’t intend to but from what I understand from this great review of the film, Sailor Moon sadly does not make an appearance.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Luna

This musical is all about Luna. After being harassed by the same group of kids or a similar group of kids to those who put a band aid on her in the first manga story she has the exact same thing done to her again. This disorients her and blocks her magic, yet again, which causes her to avoid an accident and end up in the arms of titular character Kakeru, the Lover of Princess Kaguya. Luna falls in love with Kakeru! Sadly Kakeru loves Himeko and while it seems like he may be returning Luna’s affection she’s sort of a Seiya to Kakeru’s Usagi while Himeko is his Mamoru. The difference being that Luna gets to kiss Kakeru.

Haneda Airport to Kennedy Space Center

There’s this very odd thing in the story where we act like going from Tokyo, Japan, to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is really not a big deal. It’s treated as if it was hopping on a train over to the next city. Knowing that Naoko Takeuchi was inspired to write this story after a trip to Cape Canaveral makes one wonder if she forgot having flown the 16 or so hours it takes to cross the Pacific Ocean and the entire width of the United States of America. Himeko travels there for work. Kakeru on a whim takes a couple of days off to join her. Once he falls ill Himeko brings him back to Tokyo and eventually flies back to the United States. Sounds expensive! Meanwhile Luna sneaks onto two of these flights.

Things get real which means that Usagi and Luna have to explain to Himeko what’s going on. They mention that Princess Snow Kaguya, the fairly lackluster villain of the musical, comes from space. She’s shocked, asking if that makes her an alien? Lady, the talking cat is also technically an alien and Usagi is sort of an alien so maybe show a bit of respect and as a scientist, have an open mind?

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Princess Snow Kaguya

It’s repeatedly mentioned that Princess Snow Kaguya was around 4.5 billion years earlier. This date closely coincides with the age of the Earth. As she’s defeated she mentions having seen a light, like that from the silver crystal, 4.5 billion years ago. Does that suggest that there was a Sailor Moon type hero wielding the silver crystal or something like it when the earth was created? Not super clear.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Himeko the astronaut

So there’s a big fight and the bad lady is defeated along with a nice song. This means luckily that the plan to launch a spaceship to destroy the comet in a very Armageddon/Deep Impact sort of way isn’t needed anymore. After countless delays to launching due to unpleasant weather and radiation in space along with the main reason for the mission now disappearing do they scrap it? Well no. They instead completely change the goal of the flight and proceed anyway! They aren’t going to destroy the comet but instead they’ll just go on with their newly added crew member to the Moon Base. Wait there’s a Moon Base now? Is it anywhere close to the ruins of Silver Millennium? Does the space ship even have the right amount of fuel for this completely different mission? They don’t need to reprogram a bunch of flight paths? Is the Moon, where they didn’t actually plan on landing earlier that day, even in the optimal place to travel there at this time of the month? So very odd.

As the Silver Crystal was used to save the day it’s suggested it can simply be used to grant a wish and make Luna human. Since when is that an option? The Crystal seems to be a pretty versatile tool which can be used as a sort of energy weapon, to heal people on a massive scale, to purify or cleanse evil. It seems it’s also able to just sort of make wishes come true as well. In this case it’s “make the cat human for a while” which is actually making Luna turn into a human form which she already had which is in itself a bit odd. Is the Silver Crystal like the Dragonballs?

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Human Luna and Kakeru

Human Luna shows up and … it’s a totally different actress. Human Luna is the same actress who played the shadow Luna who was showing up in certain scenes. What is odd is that the actress who plays Cat Luna is quite young but the actress playing Human Luna is an adult. This gives an odd impression of Luna’s age. I suppose that the intention in casting a younger actress as Cat Luna was a practical one because a cat happens to be smaller than a person but it makes Luna seem like she’s actually a younger woman and then when Human Luna shows up it seems that the idea here is that this is actually reflecting Luna’s actual age. Her feelings for Kakeru are a woman’s feelings and not those of a teenage girl. As a fan of Sailor Moon since watching the old dub in the 90s it’s always hard for me to think of Luna as anything but the older sounding lady from that dub, even if I understand that the canon seems to instead suggest that Luna is somewhere between Usagi’s age, and therefore a peer of hers, or a slightly older young adult, to match the physical appearance of Human Luna in the manga and S movie. The live action series further confuses this with Luna becoming a very young Sailor Luna, but that’s a whole other story.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Himeko is pregnant

We learn that Himeko is pregnant which is something that is very much not in the S movie but it is in the manga. It’s a bit irresponsible to go into space with an unborn child in your womb as it’s being exposed to higher levels of radiation. It is specifically mentioned that there’s a geomagnetic blizzard which I think could be dangerous for the baby once Himeko no longer has the protection which the Earth’s magnetic field gives the inhabitants of the planet while they aren’t in space.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Artemis

Finally Artemis shows up and what a joke this is! He’s basically a very cheap little projected image on the wall. He doesn’t talk. He doesn’t look anything like Luna. He’s totally shafted in this musical!

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Human Luna kisses Kakeru

I did enjoy the musical quite a bit, though it’s far from my favourite of the Sailor Moon musicals. I was never a particularly big fan of the Sailor Moon S movie. It’s good enough but as the movies go it’s my third favourite out of the three. This is the same story and though the manga lacks some of what makes the S Movie a bit weak, it’s still not my favourite story. I understand and appreciate that a lot of people have a special affection for the S movie, consider it to be the better film and also have a great fondness for this manga story. Those fans should be quite pleased with this musical as it’s a very faithful adaptation. Sailor Moon Crystal has given us an accurate anime adaptation of the manga and this musical does a great job of doing the same with the Princess Kaguya’s Lover side story. If only we could get the rest of the side stories and Sailor V adapted somehow!

Bottom line is that you should absolutely support this streaming event. If you haven’t already signed up you can continue to do so until February 3rd. The cost is reasonable and the musical is well worth watching. If you’re a person who’s watched musicals over the years by downloading fansubs you really should be supporting this official release if you have the means to do so. This will show that there’s interest in Sailor Moon musicals and make it more likely that more get released outside of Japan in the future.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Sailor Moon

A final thought on the end of the musical where the cast speak to the audience. A lot of them mentioned how happy they were that this musical was actually able to be performed and that they were lucky that everyone stayed healthy throughout. This serves as an interesting reminder of how severe the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was when this musical took place in Tokyo in September of 2021. Even when I watched this musical in mid December things were going fairly well, pandemic wise, where I live and then in the short weeks since the situation has very quickly become more serious and strict lockdowns are in place in my home province. This musical was delayed a whole year and, like with the Tokyo Olympics, almost didn’t happen. We shall see what the future may bring with regards to a new musical in 2022. I’m hoping for the best but also that if we get a new musical that it’s because it’s safe to do so and that fans are able to travel to Japan to see it without any serious health risks.

Let us know what you thought of the musical in the comments!

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Princess Kaguya's Lover musical - Minako and Rei - REINAKO IS CANON

The Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical will be available to stream with English subtitles starting December 10th

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

Great news for Sailor Moon fans who read English! If you’re reading this site “That means you”! The most recent Sailor Moon musical, Princess Kaguya’s Lover, will soon be streaming for international audiences with English subtitles by Japan 2.5D Stage Play World! Fans who missed seeing the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical earlier this year will also have a chance to stream that musical. This will take place between December 10th and February 3rd with a $20 ticket (plus a $2 service fee) allowing access to stream the new musical for a period of up to two weeks. While previously this type of event was streamed live with the option to watch for 24 hours afterwards, this new event should be better for those hoping to watch the stream more than once.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The Lover of Princess Kaguya musical

The full name of the musical being used for this event is “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Musical -Kaguya Hime’s Beloved-” where “Kaguya Hime” means simply “Princess Kaguya”. Japan 2.5D Stage Play World will also be streaming the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical, previously streamed on the service in August of this year, two Naruto musicals and a My Hero Academia musical. The streams will be available for periods of two weeks. Whenever someone buys a ticket during this period they will only have access to it for the remainder of that period. If you buy your ticket ahead of time you’ll have it for the whole period but if you buy it late you may only have it for a day or two so plan ahead. The two week periods are as follows:

1st: December 10 (Fri) – December 23 (Thu)
2nd: December 24 (Fri) – January 6 (Thu)
3rd: January 7 (Fri) – January 20 (Thu)
4th: January 21 (Fri) – February 3 (Thu)
All in Japan Standard Time

You can buy your tickets now. I’ve already gotten mine for the first period.

Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon 2019 musical poster

Having streamed the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical in August I have some idea of how this system will work. The stream is supported through a web browser on a computer or mobile device so I personally connected my laptop to my TV via HDMI though watching directly on a smaller screen is also an option. For the last event I watched it live at the specific advertised time as it would only be available to rewatch after the musical was completed. For this new event it seems like you should be able to stream it any time during that two week period.

Shut Up and Take My Money

Fans of the Sailor Moon musicals who would like to see more events like this should certainly consider getting tickets for this event. This would surely encourage Japan 2.5D Stage Play World to do similar events in the future. Fans have been able to watch earlier musicals, which never had any release outside of Japan, through fan subs. This hasn’t been an option for the last few musicals for a number of reasons. The case for downloading something which would never be released domestically, even if technically illegal, is something fans have justified in the past. This argument is no longer valid as we now have a company which is making these available to us. Those of us with the means to do so now have a way to support this official release. Tickets aren’t cheap for what is essentially a digital rental but it’s certainly reasonable considering this is a fairly niche interest and the alternatives are flying to Japan to see the musical or importing a Japanese home video release which has no English subtitles for a lot more money!

Tuxedo Mask dressed as Santa Claus - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - Sailor Moon S The Movie

Will you be streaming this musical? If so, what period will you be getting tickets for? It is certainly fitting that fans will have the option to watch this musical during the Christmas season!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Check out the poster and cast for the upcoming Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical with our first look at human Luna

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

The poster and cast information for the upcoming Princess Kaguya’s Lover musical have been released. The post was up on the Sailor Moon official site briefly last night after which it was removed. It has now been reposted and the musical site has been updated with information from this musical. I didn’t catch the post when it was first online however I quickly saw the poster shared from a number of Sailor Moon fans. The poster gives us some interesting information. Luna is featured twice! It looks like the Luna in black is meant to be cat Luna while the one in the Human Luna yellow dress would be her when she transforms into a human late in the story. Also featured are Kakeru, Himiko and Princess Snow Kaguya. All ten Sailor Guardians appear which is noteable for the inclusion of Sailor Saturn. Canonically this story takes place between the Infinity Arc and the Dream arc when Hotaru is still a baby. Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna appear in the manga and I guess they got a babysitter for Hotaru during that time. The official site does mention that this is her first appearance in this story. Artemis is not on the poster and is not in the cast list. Perhaps he’ll be a plush toy or something.

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

I was happy to see that the Facebook page “We Are The Pretty Guardians- Sera Myu” shared the names of the entire cast as well as social media links for many of them. When this sort of cast information is posted to the official site I usually spend some time searching names and plugging them into online translators to try to do the same so I’m glad to see that someone has already done the hard work here. Please give their page a follow if you’re on Facebook.

Below I’ve included a cast listing with links to Twitter and Instagram accounts when they exist. I’ve opted for the western given name first, family name second order as I usually do on this site although the source I’m using follows the Japanese practice of family name first and given name second. This is an all new cast. There is no one returning from Le Mouvement Final, which was many years ago, though this musical is continuing with the tradition of an all female cast. There are two Chibiusas which is not uncommon for young actresses given Japanese child labour laws.

Sailor Moon/Usagi Tsukino – Riko Tanaka (Twitter, Instagram)
Sailor Mercury/Ami Mizuno – Kanon Maekawa (Twitter, Instagram)
Sailor Mars/Rei Hino – Rei Kobayashi (Twitter, Instagram)
Sailor Jupiter/Makoto Kino – Kisara Matsumura
Sailor Venus/Minako Aino – Marin Makino (Twitter, Instagram)
Sailor Chibi Moon/Chibiusa – Yurika Kobayashi
Sailor Chibi Moon/Chibiusa – Erena Kamata (Instagram)
Sailor Uranus/Haruka Tenoh – Shinju Terada (Twitter, Instagram)
Sailor Neptune/Michiru Kaioh – Ayana Kinoshita (Twitter, Instagram)
Sailor Pluto/Setsuna Meioh – Minami Chisato (Twitter)
Sailor Saturn/Hotaru Tomoe – Yuka Ide (Personal site)
Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru Chiba – Riku Sorahane (Instagram)
Cat Luna – Sakurai Yune
Human Luna – MARISA (Twitter)
Kakeru – Natsume Oki (Twitter)
Himeko Nayotake – Nanami Tamai (Twitter, Instagram)
Princess Snow Kaguya – Sayaka Okamura (Twitter, Instagram)
Snow Dancers – Moeko Koizumi, Ayumi Ozaka, Ayano Nagasawa, Yuri Hirano, Sakura Morimoto and Eri Yanagida

A lot of the actresses have done some stage work in the past. Riku Sorahane, who is playing Tuxedo Mask, seems to have the most extensive experience. Some of the Snow Dancers worked on previous musicals. Moeko Koizumi was previously in the Super Live musical as a backup dancer. I still haven’t seen that musical! Ayano Nagasawa was in the Amour Eternal musical as one of the Dead Moon Circus.

With the musical coming up in September there are still some travel restrictions in place in Japan for foreign visitors. Are any of you expecting to be able to see this musical or are we all holding out for a home video release of some kind?

The Lover of Princess Kaguya Sailor Moon musical is coming in September!

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The Lover of Princess Kaguya musical

The next Sailor Moon musical, The Lover of Princess Kaguya, finally has a new release date of September 2021 in Japan! This musical was originally scheduled to be performed in Japan in the summer of 2020 however it was postponed along with many other events such as the Tokyo 2020 summer Olympics, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Sailor Moon official site has been updated to mention only that the event will take place in September, though specific dates and locations for these performances are not yet specified.

Sailor Moon S The Movie - Human Luna kisses Kakeru

Years ago this musical was only referred to as the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon New Musical and it was planned for a 2019 release. This was when it was announced alongside the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical and The Super Live musical. We finally have a proper updated logo for the musical in which we can see Luna and the somewhat awkward full title Musical Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The Lover of Princess Kaguya. The Lover of Princess Kaguya manga story on which this musical is based is all about Luna falling in love with a human. This story is probably best known to some fans as Sailor Moon S The Movie which was an adaptation of that manga story.

Sailor Moon S The Movie - Luna kisses Kakeru

We still don’t know much about this musical than we did in 2019. With this story focusing on Luna, will we be seeing excellent puppet work like they did in the Nogizaka46 musical? While Human Luna will be appearing in this musical that is only briefly near the end and Luna will be an actual cat for most of the story.

Nogizaka 46 x Sailor Moon musical Blu-Ray - Team Moon - Puppet Luna

Would you consider traveling to Japan in September of this year? Though the ongoing pandemic is still raging in many parts of the world, many people in all age groups will likely have access to vaccines by the end of the summer making this a low risk trip for many, which certainly wouldn’t have been the case last year.

If you’re looking to catch up on the manga story this musical is based on it is included in volume 6 of the Eternal Edition of the Sailor Moon manga.

A new Sailor Moon musical based on the Princess Kaguya’s Lover manga side story is coming in 2020

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon manga vol. 11 - Princess Kaguya's Lover

We have finally gotten an update about the next Sailor Moon musical! According to an update on the official Sailor Moon site it will be coming next summer, in 2020, and it will be following the manga side story Princess Kaguya’s Lover. Fans may be most familiar with this story as Sailor Moon S The Movie, the film adaptation of the manga. This covers the story of Luna falling in love with a human while the earth is attacked by the evil ice alien Princess Snow Kaguya.

Nogizaka 46 x Sailor Moon musical Blu-Ray - Team Moon - Puppet Luna

Luna in the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical

Though we don’t have any real details on the musical we can be fairly certain that it will have Luna transforming into Human Luna. As Luna features heavily in the manga story I am curious to see how they handle cat Luna before her human transformation in the final scenes. The recent Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical featured a fairly detailed puppet Luna which, aside from the somewhat distracting puppeteer, made for a very convincing effect. Could this technique have been done in anticipation of this musical? This would probably be a better choice than to just have people dressed up as cats as they did in the first Sailor Moon musical.

Artemis and Luna from the Summer 1993 Sailor Moon musical

Artemis and Luna in the first Sailor Moon musical (1993)

It’s worth mentioning that this was the third “New Musical” which was announced in early 2018 along with the Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical and The Super Live musical. At the time we had no details about what this third musical was about and it was simply referred to as “New Musical”. It was originally scheduled for summer 2019 but we now have confirmation that the musical is delayed until next summer. Without any other news about upcoming musicals it seems like we may not be getting a musical in 2018 which would make this year the first year without a Sailor Moon musical since 2012.

Logo - 3rd Sailor Moon Musical

The name “New Musical” was almost certainly a placeholder so we should expect a better title to be announced at some point! We have quite a bit of time to wait for this musical so there’s no telling how much longer we’ll have to wait until we get more specifics on this one. Hopefully it won’t be too long! Will we be seeing those Dream Arc Sailor Moon Crystal movies before this musical is out? I won’t be holding my breath for either!

Sailor Moon manga - Princess Kaguya's Lover - Human Luna

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Three new Sailor Moon concerts are coming in 2018 and 2019

Nogizaka46

According to information posted to the official Sailor Moon site we have three new Sailor Moon musicals coming in 2018 and 2019! This follows the conclusion of the current series of musicals with the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final musical this past summer. We’re getting something a bit different with each of these musicals this time around. With each being its own thing it doesn’t seem like they will necessarily follow a continuity as musicals have in the past. What’s more it doesn’t look like these will be traditional musicals but rather Sailor Moon themed concerts. Because of this I’m not sure I would label such as thing as “Seramyu” as the other musicals generally are, but it remains to be seen exactly how things develop to say for sure.

Logo - 3rd Sailor Moon Musical

The first of the concerts will feature Nogizaka46 which is an all female pop band similar to AKB48. The band of 46 members will somehow perform this Sailor Moon themed concert though we don’t really have details on what this would entail.

Logo Nogizaka46 x Sailor Moon musical

The next is dubbed The Super Live. What does this mean? The title reminded me of Kirari Super Live which was the name of the concert put on by the cast of the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series. The site describes it as a mix of singing, dancing and video gimmicks. We are told that TAKAHIRO will be putting this show together though I can’t say I understand who that is. This particular concert will be performed at the Japonismes event. This is a sort of Japanese cultural expo that takes place in Paris, France.

Logo Super Live x Sailor Moon musical

Finally the 3rd musical is… something we don’t really know anything about. It’s just referred to as the new musical. We’ll have to wait until we learn more about that.

Will all three of these really be done by the end of 2019? With the endless delays to Sailor Moon Crystal one shouldn’t put too much faith in the timeline until we get some specifics. I wouldn’t book those plane tickets just yet!