An Instagram post accidentally confirmed that the Sailor Moon Eternal films are coming to Netflix

Sailor Moon Eternal - VesVes and JunJun - Property of Netflix

A voice actor’s post on Instagram appears to show him recording the dub of the Sailor Moon Eternal films for Netflix. Those who follow this site know that I’m not one to jump to conclusions when rumours are flying around but at this point I feel confident in stating that the upcoming Sailor Moon Eternal films, which are coming to Japanese theatres on January 8th and February 11th, are coming to Netflix. The post made to Instagram earlier today seems to all but confirm this. Thank you to Twitter user Gabe Nwagbala for pointing this out to me. You can thank him by checking out his YouTube channel which features Super Smash Bros., Tekken and Soulcalibur! The post in question, which has since been deleted, was made by voice actor Michael Yurchak. He provided the voice for Hawk’s Eye in the Viz dub of the original Sailor Moon anime. As Viz had generally kept the same voice actors for both their dubs of the original Sailor Moon anime and Sailor Moon Crystal it makes sense that he might be reprising his role for the Sailor Moon Eternal films, which are the equivalent of the fourth season of Sailor Moon Crystal. The photo in question was not meant to leak any information about the project and was likely quite unintentional. Michael Yurchak was simply commending the VSI group for their safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. The monitor in the background of this photo shows two of the Amazoness Quartet, who look to be VesVes or maybe CereCere and JunJun, while the writing at the top of the monitor reads “of Netflix”. That could say “Property of Netflix” or something of the sort. This confirms what was previously suspected when the Screen Actors Guild had a listing for “Astro Girl (Aka: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie)” which had a note stating it was a Netflix dubbing agreement. Note that Michael Yurchak’s Instagram profile states that he is a member of the Screen Actors Guild.

Michael Yurchak recording Sailor Moon Eternal

This isn’t an official announcement but it’s really hard to deny the implications here. This is a voice actor who was previously associated with the series who’s indadvertedly shown us that he’s working on a Netflix project and those characters are from the new Sailor Moon Eternal films and they appear to be in the style in which this movie is going to be. Netflix generally dubs their own series so it’s not unreasonable to expect that since Netflix dubbed this movie it is so that it will appear on Netflix. This post also seems to confirm what many had been hoping and that is that the original voice cast of Sailor Moon Crystal is returning for the Sailor Moon Eternal films. Though Michael Yurchak’s character Hawk’s Eye was not in the earlier seasons he was in the original Sailor Moon anime and Viz kept the same voice cast from the original anime for Sailor Moon Crystal. The obvious interpretation of this image, given the Amazon Trio do interact with the Amazoness Quarter, is that Michael Yurchak is voicing Hawk’s Eye in these films and that, when possible, the rest of the Viz cast will be reprising their roles. There’s a bit of speculation here as I don’t know if Netflix and Viz need to have some sort of agreement, if guild work is a factor or if all of the actors were available and willing to be in these films. We will have to wait for some official confirmation before determining more details about the full cast. If most of the cast is in fact returning there is still some question as to whether Chris Niosi will be returning as the voice of Pegasus, a significant role in these films, as the actor had been recast in some other voice acting work he’d been doing following some controversy.

Stephanie Sheh recording some lines in a Sailor Moon shirt

It is worth noting that last month voice actor Stephanie Sheh, who provides the voice for Usagi in Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal, shared a photo of herself doing voice over work while wearing a Sailor Moon shirt. While this alone is not definitive proof of anything if we consider it in the context of what we’ve learned since it seems plausible that she could have been recording her lines for Sailor Moon Eternal at that time.

We still of course don’t have official confirmation of this. I am a skeptical person who’s threshold for believing rumours is pretty high, but I really do think it is now well established that these films are coming to Netflix. It remains to be seen when we might actually be getting these films. Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 will be out in Japan on January 8th and Part 2 will follow shortly afterwards on February 11th. While a simultaneous release of an English dubbed and subbed version on Netflix would be nice I don’t know if we should realistically expect this. It is nice to see them recording their lines prior to the film’s release which does suggest it could be added to the service sooner rather than later. It also has not yet been confirmed that a subtitled version of the film will be released along with the dub. While a lot of anime on Netflix is both dubbed and subbed I’m reminded of the Pokémon Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution film which had the option of including Japanese audio but had dubtitles, basically closed captions for the English dub, rather than subtitles of the Japanese dialogue.

Some fans have also wondered if the movies being on Netflix would mean no home video DVD and Blu-Ray release. I would say such a release is still quite likely. Many Netflix original movies and series still get home video releases and it is certainly likely that these films would sell quite well to fans who’ve bought the rest of the series even though it was available on other streaming services.

Ultimately a Netflix release of a Sailor Moon film just means more people being exposed to it. While a lot of anime fans subscribe to services like Crunchyroll and Funimation a lot more people subscribe to Netflix. This might allow the Sailor Moon Eternal films to reach a much wider audience beyond the dedicated fans which have been following the series to date!

I sincerely hope that sharing this photo does not have negative consequences for Michael Yurchak. By the time I was made aware of this photo’s existence it seemed to me like the genie was out of the bottle and although I subsequently had a large part in propagating it I think that next step was inevitable, whether it would have been me or someone else who did that. It is clear to me that no Michael Yurchak did not intend to have anything he was working on identifiable based on the image and it was only obvious to fans because of existing rumours about Netflix doing this dub.

Thanks again to Gabe Nwagbala for pointing out the original post to me. He also shared that this was predicted in a video from August by Animal Lover & Anime Fan Natalie “LifeLight” Glevicky. She later posted this new video which discusses the evidence for the Netflix series including this post! If you’re a fan of fighting games such as Tekken, Super Smash Bros. and Soul Calibur you’d be wise to check out his YouTube channel.

Get caught up on Sailor Moon Crystal before the new movies hit Netflix by purchasing the series using the Amazon links below which supports this site:

You can also stream Sailor Moon Crystal on Crunchyroll.

Astro Girl: (Aka: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie)

The Pretty Heroes convention featuring many Sailor Moon voice actors is coming to Toronto June 16th and 17th

Pretty Heroes banner

We’re only a couple of weeks away from a great convention featuring many Sailor Moon guests in Toronto. After two successful years as the Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration this event is being rebranded as the Pretty Heroes convention which will take place the weekend of June 16th and 17th. While this new convention, broader in scope, will still include all things Sailor Moon it will also cover other things which fall under the umbrella of Pretty Heroes. Naturally many Sailor Moon fans will also be interested in many other things which are covered by this convention and so I would suggest you check out the convention’s web site for all of the details. As in the past this convention will be taking place at the Ontario Science Center in Toronto.

Sailor Moon episode 47 - Ail and An

The convention will feature a ton of Sailor Moon related voice actors which includes, from the original English dub of Sailor Moon, Stephanie Morgenstern, the voice of Sailor Venus, Vincent Corazza, the 3rd voice of Tuxedo Mask and the voice of Alan the alien, Sabrina Grdevich, the voice of Ann the alien as well as the original voice of Sailor Pluto, and Barbara Radecki, the voice of Sailor Neptune. Also from Viz’s new dub of Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal is Lauren Landa, the voice of Sailor Neptune, and Amanda Miller, the voice of Sailor Jupiter. There may be more guests announced as the convention comes up so keep an eye out on the guest list for the latest.

Sailor Neptune

I had a great time at the first Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration a couple of years ago but unfortunately I could not attend last year and won’t be able to make the trip to Toronto again this year. Will any of you be attending?

Anime NYC will include Sailor Moon Day on November 18th!

Sailor Moon Day at Anime NYC

Next weekend, November 17th to the 19th, is Anime NYC in at the Javits Center in Manhattan. This event will include an entire day dedicated to Sailor Moon on Sailor Moon Day November 18th! Attending will be the English cast of Viz’s new dub of Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal. This includes Stephanie Sheh, Sailor Moon, Kate Higgins, Sailor Mercury, Cristina Vee, Sailor Mars, Amanda Celine Miller, Sailor Jupiter, Cherami Leigh, Sailor Venus, Sandy Fox, Chibiusa, Erica Mendez, Sailor Uranus, Lauren Landa, Sailor Neptune, Christine Marie Cabanos, Sailor Saturn, Robbie Daymond, Tuxedo Mask, and Chris Niosi, Pegasus. Viz Media will also be in attendance. This convention is sponsored by many leading companies in North American anime including many who are associated with Sailor Moon, so it seems likely that they will also be involved with the event. Sponsors include Crunchyroll, who stream Sailor Moon Crystal, Viz Media, who licenses and releases Sailor Moon in North America, Kodansha Comics, who are releasing the English Sailor Moon Manga, and Tokyo Otaku Mode, who run the Official Sailor Moon Fan Club.

Yoko Ishida

Also attending as a musical guest is Yoko Ishida who performed a number of songs for the original Sailor Moon anime! She sang Otome No Policy (Maiden’s Policy), the ending theme for Sailor Moon R, Ai No Senshi (Guardian of Love), and Suki to Itte (Say You Love Me).

Are any of you planning to attend this convention? Unfortunately at this point Saturday and weekend tickets are already sold out. Friday and Sunday tickets are still available but those attendees will be missing Sailor Moon Day.

Sailor Moon Crystal Season III is now available to view in English on Hulu and Yahoo! View

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 38 - Sailor Saturn smiles

The latest season of Sailor Moon Crystal, covering the Infinity arc of the manga, will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray December 5th. The series had previously been released in Japanese with English subtitles as soon as it had aired on Japanese TV but until now the dub was not available. With the home video release only a month away these episodes are now also available to view with Viz’s English dub on Hulu and Yahoo! View. The series is restricted to paid members on Hulu but it can be viewed for free on Yahoo! View.

Sailor Moon Crystal volume 3 Limited Edition Blu-Ray and DVD set

Viz also put together a trailer for the English version of Season III. There shouldn’t be many surprises with these voices however as the same voice actors who provided the voices for Viz’s new dub of Sailor Moon S reprised those same roles for Sailor Moon Crystal. The Infinity Arc, like Sailor Moon S, introduces us to Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Saturn as the Sailor Guardians face off against the Death Busters. You can watch the trailer embedded below.

Will you be watching the series on a streaming service or will you wait for the video release next month?

Thanks to Kevin for the heads up on this!

Listen to an English clip of Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 including Haruka and Michiru

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 - Haruka

The Infinity arc of Sailor Moon Crystal will be released on home video by Viz on December 5th. In order to promote this release they’ve released a clip of the English dub from Act 27 part 1. This clip shows the girls playing a racing arcade game and first meeting Haruka and Michiru. Watch it below!

Since we’ve already heard Haruka and Michiru in Viz’s dub of Sailor Moon S these voices shouldn’t be much of a surprise for some of us. We first heard samples of those voices over a year ago. Sailor Moon S has since been released in its entirety on home video. While Sailor Moon Crystal is currently only available for pre-order from Right Stuf you can buy Sailor Moon S from Amazon using the links below.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act 27 - Racing

Meet Mary Long, Roland Parliament, John Stocker and Todd Haberkorn at Fan World in Niagara Falls July 21st to the 23rd

Sailor Moon S episode 95 - Umino and Naru

Good news for Sailor Moon fans both sides of the border! This weekend is Fan World in Niagara Falls. This convention will be held at the Conference & Events Center at Niagara Falls on the New York side of the border but it’s close enough for fans on the Ontario side, which has the nicer falls, to attend as well. This events will include voice actors and voice directors from the original English dub of Sailor Moon! One of the series’ great couples, Melvin and Molly, will be there as Mary Long and Roland Parliament make an appearance. In addition to providing the voice of Melvin Roland Parliament was also voice director for the first 65 episodes of the dub. John Stocker, who was voice director for the rest of the episodes, that being the later half of Sailor Moon R as well as all of Sailor Moon S and SuperS, will also be at the convention. John Stocker also did a few voices in the series including Raye’s grandfather.

Sailor Moon episode 32 - Tuxedo Umino Kamen and Naru

Also in attendance is Todd Haberkorn who voiced Jadeite in Viz’s new dub of Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal. Will any of you be at this convention this weekend?

Sailor Moon episode 13 - Jadeite illusion over the city

Sailor Moon episode 7 - Cross dressing Umino with Naru

Sailor Moon Crystal season 3 will be released on Blu-Ray and DVD December 5th

Sailor Moon Crystal volume 3 Limited Edition Blu-Ray and DVD set

This past weekend was Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California. This event included Viz’s Moon Panel, showcasing all things Sailor Moon. The bulk of what we usually see at these panels is a recap of existing information but occasionally we get something new. In this case we have gotten details, including box art, of the third Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray and DVD set. The set then became available to pre-order on Right Stuf’s web site. The set looks like the other two we’ve gotten from Viz, with box art reminiscent of the Japanese releases. Since we had less Japanese releases for this season, grouping together 4 episodes per disc instead of 2, we have less postcards included.

Sailor Moon Crystal volume 3 Limited Edition Blu-Ray and DVD set - Suncatcher

The set will include Acts 27 through 38 which, because of the split up Act 27, is actually 12 episodes. Not much in the way of details on the special features but it looks like we’ve got a booklet with art as we did with the other releases. Right Stuf pre-orders will also include a collectible suncatcher because nothing says Sailor Moon like a sun catcher! MSRP for the set is $79.99 US but Right Stuf has the pre-order up for $71.99. Will you be picking this one up?

Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Manga

The other “news” from the panel was about the Eternal Edition Manga which is coming out in January. We got some art of the covers and the colour pages inside but this is mostly information we knew or had inferred from previously available information. It is nice to have confirmation of what we had suspected though. These will look like the Japanese Compete Edition manga versions which came out recently. They have the same new cover art and a lot more colour pages than we’ve seen in previous releases.

Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Manga - Colour Pages

Support the site by ordering the first two Sailor Moon Crystal sets or pre-ordering the Eternal Edition manga using the links below.

Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Manga - Colour Pages

Image source: @NJ_ on Twitter.

The Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical will be performed at Anime Matsuri in Houston in April

Sailor Moon Amour Eternal poster for Anime Matsuri

The first ever North American performance of a Sailor Moon musical will be taking place in Houston Texas during the Anime Matsuri convention in April. The news of this special performance of the Sailor Moon Amour Eternal musical was posted on the official Sailor Moon site and Anime Matsuri site last month. The specific date of the musical performance has not yet been announced but it will be during the convention weekend which takes place from April 7th to the 9th at the George R. Brown convention centre in downtown Houston, Texas. This may be a slightly modified version of the musical as the entire cast will not be present. At this time only the Sailor Guardians and Tuxedo Mask, with the exclusion of Chibiusa, will be in attendance. Notice that the poster specifically made for this event features all regular cast members but Airi Kanda who plays Chibiusa.

Fumio Osano aka Osabu aka Osa-P

In addition to the musical there will be many Sailor Moon themed guests. This includes Fumio Osano, Osabu, who is best known as the editor of the Sailor Moon manga. Also appearing are voice actors from the English versions of Sailor Moon Crystal and Viz’s new dub of the original Sailor Moon anime Cristina Vee, who plays Sailor Mars, and Christine Cabanos, who plays Sailor Saturn.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Amour Eternal Musical - The Sailor Team

Confirmed guests for the musical are Hotaru Nomoto, Sailor Moon, Yume Takeuchi, Sailor Mercury, Karen Kobayashi, Sailor Mars, Kaede, Sailor Jupiter, Rimo Hasegawa, Sailor Venus,
Syu Shiotsuki, Sailor Uranus, Sayaka Fujioka, Sailor Neptune, Mikako Ishii, Sailor Pluto, Karin Takahashi, Sailor Saturn, and Yuga Yamato, Tuxedo Mask. Also attending are dancers Risa Kawamura, Yoshimi Hidano, Ayano Nagasawa and Ayumi Sagisaka.

Sailor Moon Crystal Set 2 will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray February 21st

Sailor Moon Crystal Set 2 Limited Edition Blu-Ray

It’s been a while since the first story arc of Sailor Moon Crystal was released on home video back in August. Fans have been waiting for news about Sailor Moon Crystal Set 2, including the Black Moon story arc, being released on home video. Amazon and the Right Stuf have listed the product for a February 21st release. Amazon has listing for the regular and limited edition with box art included. The Right Stuf also has the limited edition Blu-Ray, regular edition Blu-Ray and DVD listed with prices. They’re selling the limited edition Blu-Ray for $62.99, the regular edition Blu-Ray for $54.59 and the DVD for $31.22. Who sets a price ending in 22 cents? Mind boggling.

Sailor Moon Crystal Set 2 Limited Edition Blu-Ray

North American Blu-Ray cover for Set 2’s Limited Edition


Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 13 cover

Japanese Blu-Ray cover for Volume 13

The box art seems consistent with the first release. The limited edition cover features Sailor Moon’s third transformation brooch, the Cosmic Heart Compact, which only shows up at the end of the second story arc. This is because this is the cover from the final volume from the original Japanese Sailor Moon Crystal releases. I’ve included a picture of that cover above for comparison. I’d uploaded this picture to a post that I never actually finished reviewing that set. This set will include the English dub of Sailor Moon Crystal which we’ve already heard for these episodes.

Sailor Moon Crystal Set 2 Standard Edition Blu-Ray

The regular edition box art will also likely be that shown on the case which is included inside the special edition set. Details of the release are included on the packaging. We see that this will include episodes 15 to 26. A special feature mentioned is an interview with Momoiro Clover Z, the band which performed Moon Pride, the Sailor Moon Crystal theme. The set is rated TV 14 in the US and PG in Canada. Maybe it’s the whole making out with her dad thing. The set includes art of the original Japanese covers and a full colour special booklet.

Sailor Moon Crystal Set 2 Standard Edition Blu-Ray

For now you can’t actually preorder the set using the links below, but at some point in the future you should be able to. The set is coming out next month after all!

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray Set 1 impressions

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray Set 1 - Contents

The first North American release of Sailor Moon Crystal is out on DVD and Blu-Ray! This came out on August 16th and is available in stores as well as online retailers such as Amazon. Yes I know this review is long overdue. I started it months ago and then just never got around to posting it. I’ll be talking specifically about the Limited Edition Blu-Ray set though the standard Blu-Ray and DVD versions are both out and since those are contained within this set you can get an idea of what they are with this review. The set contains the first 14 episodes of the series, spanning the entire Dark Kingdom story arc. I had pre-ordered the set from Amazon Canada but when it didn’t ship after release I canceled my order and bought it from HMV. I haven’t rewatched the entire set but have watched it a bit to see the quality.

The quality looks really good. This is probably the issue most people, or at least myself, had with the original series release. The old masters from the 90s weren’t great. The Japanese DVDs looked decent but every release we’ve gotten in North America has had significant issues. I don’t blame Viz for that. I think they did the best with what they had to work with. This is a whole other ball game. Sailor Moon Crystal is new. Viz has access to great masters and the quality of the release reflects that. I didn’t do frame by frame comparisons but the show looks generally good. The Blu-Ray looks like a Blu-Ray of a recent show should and the DVD is limited only by the format. Note that this is the same video as the Japanese home video release which had minor changes from the original streaming version. That was the same source that was used for the dub of Sailor Moon Crystal which is included on this set.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray Set 1 - Extras menu

There aren’t a ton of extras in this release. There are art galleries which include a handful of character art from various characters. There’s also a “clean” version of the opening and end credits, meaning they don’t have any credits included, just the original visuals. There’s an English trailer for Sailor Moon Crystal which you may have seen before. There are also trailers for other Viz releases such as their release of the original Sailor Moon anime and some other anime shows.

The set also comes with an 88 page booklet. Since the Japanese releases of the first story arc of Sailor Moon Crystal covered 7 different releases, including a 24 page booklet each, it wasn’t practical to include these as a massive 168 page book, but this booklet is close enough. It includes episode summaries and character art from those included in the Japanese release. Not everything is included or translated word for word. Interviews are included but instead of featuring Japanese voice actors and staff who’d worked on the show these are replaced with interviews with actors from the English dub.

As you can see the character art included is nearly identical.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray vol. 3 Deluxe Edition - Booklet - Rei

Japanese Blu-Ray vol. 3 booklet

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray Set 1 - Booklet - Character designs - Rei and Sailor Mars

North American booklet

While interview content is completely different the layout is very similar.

Sailor Moon Crystal Deluxe Limited Edition Blu-Ray vol. 1 - Booklet interview with Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Sailor Moon

Japanese Blu-Ray vol. 1 booklet

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray Set 1 - Booklet - Interview with Stephanie Sheh

North American Blu-Ray booklet

The packaging looks great. Since there was so much art for the various Japanese releases a series of art cards are included in this. There are seven cards in total which reflect the art included with each of the seven Japanese releases for the first story arc.

Sailor Moon Crystal Blu-Ray Set 1 - Character art

If you have been enjoying Sailor Moon Crystal then you should probably pick up this release. It isn’t necessary if you just want to watch the show, as the streaming version remains available on a number of services, but as more of those require users to pay to view content free of ads or at all we can’t know what the future may bring. Physical media continues to be less and less relevant but if you want to have this series and have it forever this is an affordable way to do it. The Limited Edition Blu-Ray may seem expensive for 14 episodes but a single two episode Japanese release cost about the same. It’s a bargain all thing considered. If you’re a completist and you need a reason to get this when you can still watch the streaming version consider that this set is the only way to watch the series in Japanese with English subtitles including the updated animation.

Keep reading for more photos of this set and the included special book.

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