The first images of the Sailor Animamates from Sailor Moon Cosmos have been revealed

Posted on March 28, 2023 by Adam

When the second Sailor Moon Cosmos trailer dropped a few days ago many fans were wondering where the Sailor Animamates were. Well we’ve finally got our first look at them! A character and relationship chart was posted to the Sailor Moon Cosmos official site. This includes pretty much all of the major characters from the Sailor Moon Crystal films. We’ve seen a lot of these before however the important additions are the Sailor Animamates as well as Sailor Phi and Chi and Sailor Lethe and Mnemosyne.

If you’re looking to get a close look at these characters just click through on the chart and you’ll see everyone’s image. The art in these isn’t fantastic but evidently the finished product in the film looks great judging by the trailer.

Familiar to fans of the original Sailor Moon anime are Sailor Iron Mouse, Sailor Tin Nyanko, Sailor Aluminum Seiren and Sailor Lead Crow.

There was one more Sailor Animamate in the manga, Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon. Papillon is the French word for butterfly, hence the wings.

Another few characters who are from the manga but not the original anime are a couple of pairs of Sailor Guardians. There’s Sailor Phi and Chi as well as Sailor Lethe and Mnemosyne.

There are many other characters in that chart with new art for their designs you can check out. I’m only posting the new ones in this post because they seem most newsworthy.

Sailor Moon Cosmos Part 1 will be released in theatres in Japan on June 9th with Part 2 following a few weeks later on June 30th. We don’t have any specifics yet about a North American release of the film. Sailor Moon Eternal was released on Netflix in many countries outside of Japan so that may be what’s planned for this film. A worldwide theatrical release of the film would certainly be great though the world of movie theatres is in a pretty dismal state right now.

The voices of the Sailor Animamates from Viz’s new Sailor Stars dub have been revealed

Posted on May 22, 2019 by Adam

This past weekend was Anime Central in Rosemont, near Chicago. The convention included a Moon Panel on Saturday which included the announcement of the voice actors for the Sailor Animamates in Sailor Moon Sailor Stars which will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray starting June 18th. The newly announced voice actors are Katie Leigh as Sailor Iron Mouse, Andi Rich as Sailor Lead Crow, Faye Mata as Sailor Aluminum Siren and Corina Boettger as Sailor Tin Nyanko. This follows an earlier announcement of the voices of the Sailor Starlights, Chibi Chibi and Sailor Galaxia.

Katie Leigh, who will be playing Sailor Iron Mouse, is a veteran voice actor who has voiced many famous characters that some fans who grew up in the 80s are probably familiar with including Sunni in the Gummi Bears and Rowlf in Muppet Babies. Faye Mata, who plays Sailor Aluminum Siren, has appeared in a number of recent video games and anime series including roles such as Yukako in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Lene in Fire Emblem Heroes. Corina Boettger, who plays Sailor Tin Nyanko, has a background in both live action and voice acting work such as Marshtato Mary in Trolls: The Beats Goes and Anju Yuuki in Love Live: School Idol Project. She also streams video games on Twitch. I couldn’t find much information about Andi Rich. I don’t know if this is because this is a voice actor with little experience or perhaps it’s a pseudonym of someone who has worked under another name. This is sometimes done because of rules relating to union work as was likely the case with Barbara Goodson using the alias Janis Carrol when voicing Ziriconia in Sailor Moon SuperS. If any fans have details on Andi Rich’s prior work feel free to leave a comment to let us know about it.

Since Sailor Moon Sailor Stars volume 1 will only include the first half of the season, that being episode 167 to 183, we won’t be hearing all of these voice actors in the first set. We will be getting all of Sailor Iron Mouse’s episodes but Sailor Aluminum Siren and Sailor Lead Crow will only appear in episode 182, along with Chibi Chibi. Sailor Tin Nyanko will not be introduced until episode 188 which will be on the second set. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for that one!

What to you think of this cast? Are you a fan of any of these voice actors’ prior work? Which of the Sailor Animamates is your favourite? I must admit I’ve always had a preference for Sailor Iron Mouse!

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New images show Sailor Galaxia and the Sailor Animamates from Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final musical

Posted on June 4, 2017 by Adam

We finally got our first look at Sailor Galaxia and the Sailor Animamates for the upcoming Sailor Moon Le Mouvement Final musical this past week. The Sailor Animamates are Sailor Guardians who are being controlled by Galaxia. The photo includes Sailor Lead Crow, Sailor Iron Mouse, Sailor Galaxia, Sailor Tin Nyanko and Sailor Aluminum Siren. We’ve also gotten another photo including the entire cast, the rest of whom we’d already seen with previous announcements. We also previously had cast information about these characters. Coco Isuzu is Sailor Galaxia, Shion Aoki is Sailor Iron Mouse, Miyu Hashigaki is Sailor Tin Nyanko, Yuka Kobayashi is Sailor Aluminum Siren and Iriya Yuuto is Sailor Lead Crow.

In the second photo we see that Sailor Galaxia and her Sailor Animamates are on the ground while the rest of the Sailor Guardians are all flying! Will we be seeing some fancy wire work in this musical?

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 178 and 179 are now available on Hulu

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Adam

The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars have been released on Hulu and Neon Alley. Episode 178 and 179 were accidentally released early last Thursday but were taken down after a day, returning once again this morning. This week we get a great Yaten episode and a so so Taiki episode. I hope everyone loves shipping Luna with Yaten!!

Episode 178, Luna’s Discovery: The Real Face of Yaten, is an episode in which I don’t believe Luna actually learns that Yaten is Sailor Star Healer as the title seems to insinuate. It is possible that the title is not a reference to Luna learning Yaten’s secret identity but instead seeing his true self under the hard exterior he puts on. More on that later. This episode is all about shipping Luna and Yaten! What a lovely couple! We know that Luna is into humans from the Sailor Moon S movie. We can also infer from her jealousy of Artemis and the Nun she thought he was into as being a further sign of her acceptance that cats can be attracted to humans. When Luna goes missing it turns out that she’s been with Yaten, living the good life, riding around in limos, overhearing conversations about their mission that don’t reveal a ton. Yaten is shooting a movie with a really terrible woman name Noriko Okamachi, an actress who is always carrying around her persian cat. She hits on Yaten but is quickly shot down. She later accuses him of being gay for turning her down, which causes Luna to scratch her face. Meanwhile Luna has been dressed up in some adorable/ridiculous girly clothes! Iron Mouse show up and takes Noriko’s star seed. The episode title insinuates that Luna sees Yaten transform, but this does not appear to happen. Luna is injured and left by Yaten who then runs some distance before transforming, seemingly while no one is watching. Naturally should he have transformed in front of a cat, that probably wasn’t something he considered a security risk, but we know it would have been. During the fight Sailor Star Healer mentions a cat and Sailor Moon asks if it’s Luna, to which she responds that it sounds like a nice name. The next day at school Yaten sees Usagi with Luna, referring to her by name. He really should be putting two and two together and figuring out that Usagi is Sailor Moon at this point, but that is a discovery for another time by another person.

Episode 179, Friend or Foe? Star Lights and the Sailor Guardians, has a brief appearance by Haruka and Michiru. Great, so where’s Hotaru? Ah no of course we don’t see her. More on them next week! This episode is not about these cool characters we like. It’s about Taiki. Who likes this guy? He read poetry in this episode! Wow what a sensitive guy. Taiki seems to be all about slumming it on bad TV so he’s doing a cooking show this week, and Makoto comes along. This is a bad choice as the producers have clearly not properly vetted their guest to discover that she’s actually completely terrified of being on camera. Usagi to the rescue who manages to pretty much blow up the studio in a cooking mishap. The enemy is Sailor Chef and we see Taiki transform but we kind of already did a Taiki episode so there’s nothing really novel here. This episode includes a special sneak appearance by two new Sailor Animamates Sailor Aluminum Siren and Sailor Lead Crow. They are visible only briefly and partially obscured as we learn that Sailor Iron Mouse is doing a terrible job and is apparently replaceable. Oh no!

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The Sailor Starlights are first seen in the US today as Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes 172 and 173 are now available on Hulu

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Adam

At long last Sailor Moon fans in the United States can now see the Sailor Starlights in a legal release! This week on Hulu and Neon Alley‘s new episodes of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars we get to see the Sailor Starlights Sailor Star Fighter, Maker and Healer, also known as the Three Light Seiya, Taiki and Yaten. But first we must wrap up this short 6 episode arc and close the story of Nehelenia. Many have noticed that I’m often negative in my reviews so I will just say that this week we are getting two absolutely fantastic episodes of the series. Now let me talk about these wonderful episodes as I complain about little problems I have with them.

Episode 172, Moon Power of Love: The Nightmare Ends, is the last in this mini arc that we are starting out the Sailor Stars season with. The main focus here is on Sailor Chibi Moon and Sailor Saturn. For some reason Sailor Chibi Moon is disappearing. This is somewhat like how Marty McFly was disappearing while time traveling when it looked like his parents weren’t going to get together. This is nonsense in a time travel movie and is double nonsense here. Time travel isn’t involved. Nehelenia does not come from the future and is not affected by time travel. Galaxia, who we will learn is the one that released Nehelenia, is also not traveling through time. Many things have threatened Mamoru and Sailor Moon but they don’t generally result in this Marty McFlying of Chibiusa. Beyond this time travel is not used to resolve the situation and to save Chibiusa either. Whatever. This episode isn’t about Chibiusa McFly. It’s all about Sailor Saturn being awesome! Sailor Saturn appears so late in Sailor Moon S that we don’t get much of a look at her. She is gone for SuperS and although she will be around for this season, she actually doesn’t get much screen time. She never actually gets a transformation sequence or any stock footage attacks. She does manage to use two moves in this episode. First she uses the Silence Wall to block Nehelenia’s attack. She then uses Silence Glaive Surprise which, in the Manga, just makes mist, but here it seems to be much more important. It releases a massive amount of energy even though it is blocked by Sailor Chibi Moon so that it isn’t completed. The insinuation seems to be that this attack would destroy Sailor Saturn and Nehelenia if used to completion.

Finally Usagi shows up after climbing through a bunch of rose bushes. She takes pity on Nehelenia. This is what Sailor Moon is about! This is how Sailor Moon SuperS should have ended. Nehelenia is evil, sure, but she has a rich back story where we can see her as young and innocent and then corrupted. Usagi and her friends feel her pain and this is something which hurts her much more than hostility would. In the Sailor Moon Manga the Sailor Guardians kill the bad guys. In the Sailor Moon Anime they use compassion to find non violent solutions to their problems and this is what I love about the anime. This all works out well. Mamoru is healed, Sailor Chibi Moon returns and sticks around until the end of the episode only. Young Nehelenia is seen waking up from what seems like a bad dream. It’s not clear exactly what her fate is. Either there is some sort of reboot or she’s trapped in a dream of an ideal world, possibly not unlike death. Whatever it’s all good.

I must stop for a moment to discuss what isn’t happening now. Chibiusa leaves at some point and isn’t seen again for most of the season. This is done without any fanfare. I mentioned in my thoughts on episode 167 that her fake leaving should have been retooled as a better departure either at the end of 172 or the beginning of 173. Either place would have been fine. As the final insult when I grabbed my Japanese R2 DVD for Sailor Stars volume 2 to get screenshots of episode 173 it has Sailor Chibi Moon and Sailor Saturn on the cover. Nonsense! Chibiusa is not on this disk at all, which includes episodes 173 to 178. The original laserdisc containing this same image contained episodes 171 to 174, and so it included the majorly Sailor Saturn and Sailor Chibi Moon centric episode which this refers to. So I am sad to see Chibiusa leave, even though I understand why she is gone and the story of the season works best without Usagi having her family around, but it is still an unfortunate departure from the manga, where all 10 Sailor Guardians are present throughout.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars volume 2 Japanese R2 DVD

Sailor Stars Volume 2 on DVD

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars volume 2 Japanese Laserdisc

Sailor Stars Volume 2 on Laserdisc

Finally we get to episodes 173, Farewells and Encounters: the Transitioning Stars of Destiny. We open with a look at the new idol group the Three Lights! It seems everyone is a fan. Minako and Makoto like Seiya. Rei likes Yaten. Ami likes Taiki. Usagi doesn’t seem to know anything about them and is instead preoccupied with the fact that Mamoru is leaving for America. No only did Chibiusa leave between episodes, but her boyfriend is going too! At the airport Mamoru gives her a ring and puts it on her ring finger. He does not flat out ask her to marry him but the symbolism of the ring and its placements is essentially a marriage proposal. The two kiss in the airport as strangers walk by. A North American audience may not find this noteable but in Japan kissing in public is uncommon, which is why it will often seem important for characters to verify that they are alone before they kiss. This public gesture demonstrates the strength of their feelings for one another. Mamoru leaves in this episode, and there is a strange light seen outside of his plane. We won’t learn until much later what that is specifically about. For Usagi, Mamoru has gone to America to study.

As Mamoru leaves, Seiya enters. It’s not even a little bit subtle and it isn’t supposed to be. Even while they are still at the airport the Three Lights arrive, and so Usagi’s potential love interest Seiya enters her life. As he crosses Usagi he senses something about her. The target for this episode is an actress Alice, who is doing a movie with the Three Lights. This puts Usagi once again in Seiya’s presence. She doesn’t know who he is and assumes he is trying to pick her up by suggesting she should. The combat starts and we see one of my favourite villains of the series, Sailor Iron Mouse. She is one of the Sailor Animamates, the Sailor Guardians who work for Galaxia. Sailor Iron Mouse extracts a Star Seed from Alice but it isn’t a True Star Seed so it’s just like a Mirror of Dreams that isn’t Golden or a Heart Crystal that isn’t a Talisman. The Sailor Starlights show up and fight alongside Sailor Moon. For no real reason Usagi decides not to tell her friends about this encounter.

A note on gender. Things get a bit complicated when it comes to the Three Lights and the Sailor Starlights. In the manga they are women who dress as men when they are the Three Lights. In the anime they are men in their civilian forms and women in the Sailor Guardian forms. We can debate weather they are originally or truly men or women. I tend to feel that their true forms are their Sailor Guardian selves and that the Three Light male identities are their disguise. This does not really matter at the end of the day, as gender is fairly fluid in this series, with sexual preference being an independent vector to gender. They are who they are, they love who they love and they are loved by whoever loves them, regardless of their gender. All said I will refer to the Three Light with masculine pronouns and the Sailor Starlights with feminine pronouns.