Sailor Moon episodes 43 and 44 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon episode 43 - Sailor Mars yelling at Sailor Moon

Episode 43 and 44 of the original Sailor Moon anime were added to Hulu and Neon Alley this morning, October 6th. As with every Monday two new episodes in Japanese with English subtitles by Viz are added to these streaming services. This week the first season is starting to wrap up as the gang tries to get into the Dark Kingdom to free Tuxedo Mask and have a flashback to their past.

Sailor Moon episode 43 - Sailor Mars with the Moon Stick

Episode 43, Usagi Abandoned: The Falling-Out of the Sailor Guardians, centers around the girls having a mutiny against Sailor Moon! But things aren’t as they seem. The mutiny is nothing more than a ruse to try to get Sailor Moon into the Dark Kingdom to rescue Tuxedo Mask. In this process Sailor Mars steals the Moon Stick from Usagi! Seems fitting after Usagi stole her boyfriend! This is the episode which was recently reanimated, scene by scene, by a team of over 250 different animators. If you haven’t already watched Moon Animate Make-Up! I would suggest watching that version of the episode instead of watching this.

Sailor Moon episode 44 - Princess Serenity gazing at the Earth

Episode 44, Usagi’s Awakening: A Message from the Distant Past, is all about the flash back. Other stuff happens, mainly Kunzite dying and the discovery of a portal to the artic but really we are all about the flash back sequence. Kunzite attempts to randomly send the Sailor Guardians through time but thanks to a little meddling from the Moon Stick they are sent to the Moon where they get a lovely lesson in history from the ghost of Queen Serenity, Usagi’s mom from her past life. The Moon used to be a great place to live back in the days of the Silver Millennium, and Princess Serenity fell in love with a man from Earth, Prince Endymion. Too bad an army from Earth led by Queen Beryl destroyed the kingdom on the moon and killed everyone. Queen Serenity uses her last bit of strength to send everyone into the future to be reincarnated, including some generic Sailor Guardians! Indeed we see Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus in this episode but we also see some other Sailor Guardians in these bubbles that are going to the future. Some have speculated that one is Sailor Neptune due to her hair but as this episode was made before even Sailor Pluto has made an appearance in the manga any resemblance to future characters is purely coincidental. It’s unclear what the exact timeline of this past is, though based on the Earth technology it seems medieval. The DiC English dub stated this time period to be “1000 years ago” and this seems like a decent approximation. The name Silver Millennium does not actually refer to any particular period of time, but rather the kingdom itself which is located in the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon.

Sailor Moon episode 44 - Not Sailor Neptune

Differences from the manga in the events of the past are numerous. Beryl’s jealousy isn’t really touched upon. The Shitennou are present but there’s no mention of them being Endymion’s generals. Princess Serenity is killed instead of taking her life after Endymion dies. Queen Serenity seems to be a ghost rather than a hologram generated by a supercomputer which she uploaded her consciousness to. We’ll see all that before long in Sailor Moon Crystal. This episode also marks the first appearance by Kae Araki as the voice of Usagi and Princess Serenity. Kotono Mitsuishi was off due to an illness and missed 7 episodes. Kae Araki later returned to voice Chibiusa and Black Lady.

Sailor Moon episode 44 - Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion dying

Also Queen Serenity is Jesus.

Sailor Moon episode 44 - Queen Serenity is Jesus

Sailor Moon episodes 37 and 38 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon episode 37 - Usagi as a Princess

This morning, September 15th, the two latest episodes of the original Sailor Moon anime were added to Hulu and Neon Alley. Every Monday two new episodes, subbed by Viz, will be added. This week we have episodes 37 and 38 which are all about the Dark Kingdom’s terrible attempts to uncover Sailor Moon’s identity.

Sailor Moon episode 37 - Artemis is Luna's contact

In episode 37, Let’s Become a Princess: Usagi’s Bizarre Training, the Dark Kingdom is running a Princess Seminar in the hopes of capturing Sailor Moon. The logic is pretty simple. Sailor Moon is Princess Serenity so by running a seminar that looks for certain Princess like innate abilities, they will be able to find Sailor Moon! The first thing they look for, the ability to throw a discus, is a decent test. Usagi does great at this as it’s nearly identical to her Moon Tiara Action which she used consistently until she got the Moon Stick and didn’t need to any more. Unfortunately the other tests, how to drink soup, how to politely serve tea and how to dance, are things that Usagi was terrible at and disqualified her from being considered to be Sailor Moon. Turns out Kunzite totally missed the boat on this one as he had no idea Sailor Moon was completely awkward, which calls the logic of this trap into question. One discovery that is made in this episode is that the person Luna has been communicating with through her computer at the arcade is actually Artemis who for reasons unknown continued this deception instead of simply coming clean. Also Artemis eats cat food right out of the can. How does he use the can opener?

Sailor Moon episode 38 - Usagi can't ski

In episode 38, The Snow, the Mountains, Friendship and Monsters, the plot of the week assumes that Sailor Moon is a good skier. The Dark Kingdom has a ski contest going off of the assumption that Sailor Moon would be the winner. Usagi is in fact a completely terrible skier. It’s only because she had no control over herself that she awkwardly and ineptly flew to the front of the pack and into the enemy’s trap. There is no indication as to why the Dark Kingdom would think Sailor Moon was good at skiing, but we can chalk this up to another failure on Kunzite’s part. Meanwhile this episode gives Usagi and Rei a chance to have a heart to heart about Mamoru. Rei comes to terms with the fact that Usagi stole her boyfriend and gives her blessing to the relationship.

Sailor Moon episode 38 - Usagi and Rei

Don’t forget that you can also now watch the first 23 episodes of Viz’s new Sailor Moon dub on Hulu.

New dresses and lingerie items from Peach John

Sailor Chibi Moon lingerie

The first round of Sailor Moon pyjamas and lingerie were released in February. Now, as posted on the official Sailor Moon site, Peach John is expanding their line to include lingerie of all 10 Sailor Guardians as well as 7 dresses including some school uniforms. They now offer lingerie for rest of the Sailor Guardians, Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, Pluto and of course the completely inappropriate Sailor Chibi Moon lingerie! The existing and new lingerie items have also been upgraded to include a skirt! They still include the original bra top, panties and choker on top of the new skirts. That’s right, you’ll need to upgrade your Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus lingerie sets. All sets cost 7,538 yen (about $70 US).

Sailor Moon lingerie and dresses

This round isn’t all about lingerie! Bandai is also offering some costume style dresses of some of the Sailor Guardians’ civilian school uniforms as well as dresses for Princess Serenity and Black Lady. Go to school dressed up as Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto or Minako. The school uniforms are 5,378 yen (about $50 US). If you’re really rich the Princess Serenity dress is 14,018 (about $130 US) though at a slightly more affordable 9,698 (about $90) you might be able to convince your father to buy you the Black Lady dress.

Rei's school uniform dress

Pre-orders from Premium Bandai begin September 19th.

Princess Serenity dress

Black Lady dress

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Sailor Moon episodes 35 and 36 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon episode 35 - Kunzite holding Zoisite while he dies

Two new episodes of the original Sailor Moon anime, in Japanese with English subtitles, have been added to Hulu and Neon Alley this morning, September 8th 2014. This week we have the aftermath of Usagi being revealed as Princess Serenity and Mamoru being abducted by the Dark Kingdom. Tired of listening to subtitled episodes? The first 23 episodes of Viz’s new Sailor Moon dub have also been added to Hulu and Neon Alley for a limited time.

Sailor Moon episode 35 - Sailor Mars slapping Sailor Moon

Episode 35, Returning Memories: Usagi and Mamoru’s Past, takes off where we left with Mamoru mortally wounded and Usagi transformed into Princess Serenity. We get a pretty good look at the events of Silver Millennium in which Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion fell in love. Unfortunately with some memories revealed Mamoru is taken away by the Dark Kingdom for as of yet unknown purposes. Most of the episode deals with the Sailor Team trying to get out of the Starlight Tower. One interesting exchange occurs when Sailor Mars slaps Sailor Moon in the face. She’s upset that Mamoru sacrificed himself for a crybaby like Usagi and is probably a bit upset that she stole her boyfriend. Zoisite dies in this episode, killed by Queen Beryl for ignoring her order and trying to kill Tuxedo Mask. Kunzite is upset about this but not enough to actually do anything about it! Finally at the end of the episode Sailor Moon uses her Moon Stick to destroy a massive building. No big deal.

Sailor Moon episode 36 - Minako does Usagi's hair

Episode 36, Usagi’s Confusion: Is Tuxedo Mask Evil?, has us introduced to Minako while there isn’t anyone getting killed. Sailor Venus’s first appearance was amidst a battle after which she just ran off. Usagi doesn’t actually get to meet Minako as a civilian until after the excitement which ended in the last episode. Usagi is depressed after having lost Mamoru to the Dark Kingdom and Minako has the solution to this problem. Makeover! Minako and Usagi head over to a local salon which is having a sale which as always is a plot by the Dark Kingdom to find Sailor Moon. Oh yes, that’s their new plan. Now that the Rainbow Crystal thing is all played out they’re trying to find out who Sailor Moon is so that they can steal her Crystal. This week it’s all about DNA testing! They find a blonde hair at the site of the last battle and, assuming it’s Sailor Moon’s, they use it to cross reference against everyone who comes in to the salon. Minako sets off the machine and they assume she’s Sailor Moon. It turns out she got one of Usagi’s hairs on hers when brushing her. Wouldn’t it also make sense that the hair that was found by the Dark Kingdom was actually from Sailor Venus and that this is what set off the false positive? Anyway, Tuxedo Mask comes back and he’s evil. Not really evil but kind of evil and without much of a memory. This is all very distressing but Usagi is in better spirits just knowing he’s alive.

Sailor Moon episode 36 - Evil Tuxedo Mask

Tune in next week to see how else Kunzite can try to find out who Sailor Moon is.

Sailor Moon episodes 33 and 34 are now available on Hulu

Sailor Moon episode 33 - Sailor Venus appears

Episodes 33 and 34 of the original Sailor Moon anime are now available on Hulu and Neon Alley. As with every Monday two new episodes, subbed by Viz, are added online. This week we get the introduction of Sailor Venus and the revelation that Usagi is Princess Serenity.

Sailor Moon episode 33 - Zoisite as evil Sailor Moon

Episode 33, Enter Venus, the Last Sailor Guardian, introduces us to Minako Aino, Sailor Venus, as well as her cat Artemis. Note of course that she is by no means the last Sailor Guardian. The introduction of this character is actually somewhat secondary to the rest of the plot, as she only appears late in the episode and does not introduce herself as Minako to most of the girls until episode 34 at the end of which Usagi still doesn’t know who she is. Minako does appear briefly early on as she overhears Usagi mention that she is Sailor Moon in a crowd. Not the best way to hide your secret identity! The plot revolves around Zoisite disguising himself as Sailor Moon in order to lure in Tuxedo Mask. This ultimately works as he stabs Tuxedo Mask in the shoulder, injuring him severely and discovering his secret identity. Meanwhile Kunzite has the Sailor Guardians trapped until Sailor Venus comes to the rescue. Usagi asks if Sailor Venus is actually the Princess they’ve been looking for. I guess she hasn’t seen the new intro.

Sailor Moon episode 34 - Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask

Episode 34, The Shining Silver Crystal: The Moon Princess Appears, is one of the more eventful episodes of the series. All cards are on the table! Zoisite, and Queen Beryl by association, have discovered that Mamoru is Tuxedo Mask! He challenges him to come to Twilight Tower with his Rainbow Crystals. Usagi has the misfortune of running into him in the street right before he’s whisked away to the showdown. Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship grows during a long elevator ride just as he discovers she is Sailor Moon and then she discovers that he’s Tuxedo Mask! As if that wasn’t enough, Tuxedo Mask is mortally wounded and Usagi is revealed to be the Princess they’ve been searching for all this time. Rei isn’t going to be happy about this!

Sailor Moon episode 34 - Usagi is Princess Serenity

Sailor Moon content added to the Line Play mobile game

Sailor Moon in Line Play - Sailor Moon Crystal room

Sailor Moon Crystal content has been added to Line Play. What’s Line Play? It’s an avatar based mobile game where you can dress up your character, buy furniture for your house and interact with other players all while doing menial tasks (or paying money…) to get gems to buy more items. I’d never heard of this game when this news was announced on the Sailor Moon official site so I downloaded it to see what it was all about.

Sailor Moon in Line Play - Sailor Moon Crystal room

Line Play is a Japanese game but there is an english version. It is available in the iTunes store for iOS devices and the Google Play store for Android devices. I have heard people had issues getting the iOS version in English speaking countries but I had no issue installing it on my Android device. To say the game isn’t really for me would be somewhat of an understatement but it seems to appeal to some people. The Sailor Moon content is interesting enough. You can add Sailor Moon Crystal as a friend and after doing so you can travel to Sailor Moon Crystal’s room which is totally filled with cool Sailor Moon Crystal gear! Sailor Moon themed furniture and decorations as well as costumes. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get some of these items for yourself? Indeed you can! Using the “Gacha” in the Sailor Moon Crystal room you can use 2500 gems to get a random Sailor Moon item. With the 10000 gems you start with you can get four such items. You gain gems at a slow rate while playing or, naturally, you can pay real money to buy some!

Sailor Moon in Line Play - Serena School Uniform

I played all of my gems and got four items. First I got two copies of Usagi’s school uniform which is called “Serena School Uniform”. This is a curious choice of names given Serena is the name from the old English dub, not that used in the English adaptation of Sailor Moon Crystal or for the new dub of Sailor Moon which will soon be released by Viz. Still, many fans of the series from back in the day may be used to that name and so she is referred to as Serena. Next I got Serenity’s dress, which is a rare item. Both of these are clothing items which can be equipped through your closet. Next I got a Moon Stick Chair which is a furniture item you can place in your house. Finally I got Luna which is a fashion accessory which can be placed on your head.

Sailor Moon in Line Play - Serenity Dress

While playing Sailor Moon also took a number of baths. So scandalous!

Sailor Moon in Line Play - Usagi taking a bath

Keep reading to see more images from the game.

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

Moon Pride music video - Endymion and Serenity

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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Sailor Moon Crystal Act 1 first impressions

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.1 Usagi - Sailor Moon - Usagi and Luna

This morning the first episode of the new Sailor Moon anime, Sailor Moon Crystal, premiered worldwide on Crunchyroll, Niconico and Hulu. The show is free to watch on a number of these services. For more details, check out these instructions on how to watch the show. I personally found the quality of Crunchyroll’s stream to be higher than Hulu or Niconico’s and so I would recommend checking them out to watch the show if you haven’t already.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.1 Usagi - Sailor Moon - Title screen

The episode, titled Act.1 Usagi – Sailor Moon, resembled the first episode of the original Sailor Moon anime quite closely. This is fairly expected given this series is meant to resemble the Manga closely and the first episode of each series was quite faithful to that. In fact the first Act of the manga is also titled Usagi – Sailor Moon. With only 26 episodes for this series we certainly can’t expect an episode per episode repeat of the original show.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.1 Usagi - Sailor Moon - Morga

In this episode we get a pretty good look at Silver Millennium, the ancient kingdom on the Moon, as well as Princess Serenity and Endymion through a couple of Usagi’s dream sequences. Once again we have Morga, a monster impersonating Naru’s mother as ordered by Jadeite, as the main villain of the episode. We are also introduced to Luna, Naru, Umino, Shingo, Sailor Moon’s mother Ikuko and her teacher Haruna. We also see mention of Sailor V, who will later be appearing as Sailor Venus, who shows up in a newspaper, is mentioned by Umino and is the star of her own video game.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.1 Usagi - Sailor Moon - Serenity and Endymion

One aspect which bothered me a bit was the reaction Usagi had to her first meeting of Mamoru. Instead of being annoyed but a little intrigued she is instead completely infatuated with him from the beginning. We shall see how this relationship develops throughout the series. If this show truly does mirror the manga, things should escalate fairly quickly.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.1 Usagi - Sailor Moon - Super Sonic Wave Attack

Sailor Moon makes two attack in this episode. The first is the same Supersonic Waves attack which she made in the first episode of the original anime, which she almost never uses again. The second was Moon Tiara Boomerang. This attack was first used in the live action Sailor Moon series. In the original Manga the attack was Moon Frisbee and in the original anime it was Moon Tiara Action. In the rereleased Manga books the move was updated to be called Moon Tiara Boomerang, as is seen here.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.1 Usagi - Sailor Moon - Ami Mizuno

Act.2, as I guess we are now referring to the episodes as acts, will be premiering in two weeks time, July 19th at 7pm JST, 6am EST and 3am PST in the same places. Since Ami is shown very briefly at the end of this episode I would imagine she will be joining as Sailor Mercury as of the next act. This would be consistent with Sailor Mercury’s appearance in the second act of the Sailor Moon manga “Act 2: Ami – Sailor Mercury”.

Keep reading for more screenshots from the episode.

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Watch more leaked Sailor Moon Crystal footage including the ending theme

Sailor Moon Crystal episode 1 - Ami Mizuno

This will likely be the last leaked clip we’ll be posting about since the premiere of Sailor Moon Crystal is just around the corner. In this new leaked footage we see a flashback of Serenity and Endymion in Silver Millennium, Usagi being late for school and talking with Ikuko Mama, Sailor Moon talking with Luna, a brief look at Ami and the ending theme, Gekkou, by Momoiro Clover Z. Watch the clip, which may be removed shortly, below.

Keep reading to see some screenshots of the clips.

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Volumes 9 and 10 the Sailor Moon Manga Complete Editions are now out

Sailor Moon Manga Complete Collection - Vol. 9 and 10

Last week, March 25th, volumes 9 and 10 of the Sailor Moon Manga Complete Editions were released in Japan. Volume 9 features Endymion and Serenity on the cover while volume 10 features all 10 Sailor Guardians. This concludes the story of the Sailor Moon manga with the Stars story arc featuring Galaxia and the Starlights. Volumes 11 and 12 of the manga will be released later this month and will likely contain Code Name Sailor V and the Parallel Sailor Moon story, as that’s all that has not been published to date. Parallel Sailor Moon was originally published only in the Materials Collection Artbook but also added with the 2004 edition of the manga which is what we recently saw translated into English by Kodansha Comics USA. As with other volumes this complete edition features all colour pages previously only seen in the pages of Nakayoshi where they were originally published.

Sailor Moon Manga Complete Collection - Chibiusa's Picture Diary - The Secret of the Hammer Price Shrine

With most of these two books dedicated to wrapping up the main story we only have one side story included, that being the final Chibiusa’s Picture Diary story, the Secret of the Hammer Price Shrine. This story has Chibiusa and Hotaru getting into high jynx with their trendy friends Naruru, Naru’s sister, and Ruruna who dress up as Sailor Guardians who fans refer to as Sailor Channel and Sailor Guccicci.

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