Now that the Sailor Moon Crystal Dice Challenge game has been released Dyskami Publishing has announced that it will release a Sailor Moon Crystal Season III expansion in October or November of this year. This will cover Sailor Moon Crystal’s third season which tells the story of the Infinity arc of the manga. The original game included characters from the first two story arcs which had Dark Kingdom and Black Moon heroes and villains. The season III expansion will include the new Sailor Guardians Sailor Pluto, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn. Sailor Pluto was originally included as a pre-order incentive with the original set. The villains in this expansion will include the the Death Busters’ Witches 5 and Mistress 9. Since this is being sold as an expansion it seems likely you will need the original set in order to play it so be sure to order Sailor Moon Crystal Dice Challenge from Dyskami Publishing’s online store.

Have any of you tried out the Sailor Moon Crystal Dice Challenge game? What did you think of it?

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.

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!

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

Image source: @NJ_ on Twitter.

A new Sailor Moon Crystal S. H. Figuarts figure has been posted to the Tamashii Nations official site. This is Sailor Moon, once again, but this time it is a Sailor Moon Crystal version of Sailor Moon. We had previously gotten some Figuarts Zero statues in Sailor Moon Crystal versions but this is the first Sailor Moon Crystal S. H. Figuarts figure. S. H. Figuarts figures are high quality very posable figures with many extra faces and hands so that you can make them do pretty much anything you can imagine.

This version of Sailor Moon has the Cosmic Heart Compact on her chest, from the Infinity Arc. Will more of the Sailor Guardians be released next? An S. H. Figuarts Sailor Moon Crystal Sailor Mercury would be the obvious next release. Who would you most like to see in this style of figure?

The figure will be released this January. No price has been announced yet but they usually sell for about $50 when first released domestically.

The latest Blu-Ray release for Sailor Moon Crystal’s Infinity Arc was released on July 27th in Japan. This is the second of three releases covering this story arc and includes episodes 30 through 33. The set also includes a 24 page booklet with episode descriptions, interviews and character art. This is a Japanese only release with no English subtitles. You can order it from online retailers such as Amazon Japan for 6516 yen, about $65 US.

The packaging for this release highlights Sailor Uranus and Neptune with a great cover image on the Blu-Ray itself. The colours on the box match Sailor Uranus’s Sailor Fuku with a yellow bow.

Episodes included in this release are Act 30, Infinity 4 – Sailor Uranus – Haruka Tenoh – Sailor Neptune – Michiru Kaioh, Act 31 – Sailor Pluto – Setsuna Meioh, Act 32 – Infinity 6 – Three Guardians, and Act 33 – Infinity 7 – Transformation – Super Sailor Moon. These cover the Witches 5’s Viluy, Tellu, Cyprine and Ptitlol, the appearance of Setsuna Meioh and Sailor Pluto as well as the origins of the Holy Grail and Sailor Moon’s transformation into Super Sailor Moon. Also included is the first appearance of Sailor Saturn, but only in flashback form, and a brief appearance by Mistress 9.

I watched all four episodes and didn’t notice any changes in animation from the original streaming release as had been done with the first 26 episodes. As there were no changes to the last release either I suspect we won’t be seeing any changes to the episodes of this story arc.

The packaging advertises a 28 page booklet. Funny I only counted 24. I suppose we could be really creative and count the cover page and back cover as “pages”? Like with other booklets this includes episode summaries, interviews and character art. This one includes interviews with five voice actors Misato Fukuen, Sailor Chibi Moon, Junko Minagawa, Sailor Uranus, Sayaka Ohara, Sailor Neptune, Yukiyo Fujii, Sailor Saturn and Ai Maeda, Sailor Pluto.

Some audio commentaries are also included with the episodes themselves. The same voice actors appear for all four of the commentaries. This includes Hisako Kanemoto, Ami, Rina Sato, Rei, Misato Fukuen, Chibiusa and Yukiyo Fujii, Hotaru. I don’t speak Japanese so I don’t know what they talk about.

It’s a bit hard to justify buying this Japanese only release at this price which is close to what you’d pay for the entire 14 episode Dark Kingdom story arc in Japanese and English. Surely the four episodes per disc is a better deal than with earlier releases but since there are no changes to the animation this time around you can still watch the streaming version for free instead of buying this.

The third volume, including the final five episodes of this story arc, will be released on Blu-Ray on August 31st. You can preorder it online from sites like Amazon Japan. It costs a bit more, with an MSRP of 10,584 yen, about $105 US dollars. This post on the Sailor Moon official site indicates that the version will include a box to store all three volumes in, which seems to justify this roughly 50% increase from the previous volumes.

Keep reading for more images of the packaging including photos of all pages of the included special booklet.

The second full Sailor Moon Crystal soundtrack was released on July 27th in Japan. This features music which is mostly from the Infinity arc of Sailor Moon Crystal, referred to as Season III in Japan. This is a 2 CD set which is mostly instrumental music though TV sized versions of the season’s opening and closing themes are also included. The CD can be purchased online through sites like Amazon Japan for 3,240 yen, which is about $32 US. This may seem expensive for a CD soundtrack but this is a pretty standard price in Japan. The first soundtrack was released on iTunes for only $18. No indication yet as to if and when this might happen for this release.

The packaging looks great. As with the last release we have a stained glass window style art piece. This one features Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn, four of the central characters of the season. The discs themselves feature images of their guardian planets. Disc 1 shows what I deduce must be Uranus and Neptune and disc 2 shows Pluto and Saturn. Note of course that since the early 90s when the Sailor Guardians were originally created Pluto is no longer a planet so it’s really a planet and a dwarf planet on the second disc.

Included is a short booklet which appears to have a track listing and some interviews. Have I mentioned I don’t speak Japanese? That means I also don’t read Japanese. Looks nice enough! I’ve included photos below for anyone who can read that.

The CDs themselves contain music you’ve likely already heard in the series. While it is advertised as music from “Season III” that does not mean that this is only new music. A lot of the tracks seem to be repeats of music we’ve heard before in the first 26 episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal and thus would have already been released in the first Sailor Moon Crystal Original Soundtracks. There’s still a lot of new music, mostly that related to the new characters such as Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna and Hotaru as well as their super powered counterparts and the villains the Death Busters and Witches 5. Yasuharu Takanashi has been the music composer for the entire series so the new music sounds like the old music. The music in this series is great, as it has always been. I feel that the animation this season was a vast improvement and the solid soundtrack complements it nicely.

The TV sized versions of the opening and closing themes are a nice addition. This includes three versions of the new opening theme In Love With the New Moon and the three ending themes. The first, Eternal Eternity, is sung by the voices of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, Junko Minagawa and Sayaka Ohara. The second is Maiden’s Advice, sung by Misato Fukuen, the voice of Chibiusa. The third is Only Eternity Brings the Two Together, sung by Kenji Nojima, the voice of Tuxedo Mask. We’ve already gotten full length versions of all of these in the individual CD singles so these are not repeated on this release.

I would recommend fans pick up this release if they have the means and interest to import it. It’s a good way to support the show and these kinds of releases. If it comes out on iTunes later that would be a good alternative way to purchase it, avoiding import costs and having a generally lower price tag. If you just don’t want to pay for it I’m sure you can find it online somewhere.

Keep reading for more pictures of the packaging including photos of all pages of the included booklet.

The first of three volumes of Sailor Moon Crystal Season III is now available on Blu-Ray. Volume 1 was released on June 29th in Japan. This is a Japanese language release so there is no English audio or English subtitles. You can import it from sites like Amazon Japan for 6909 yen, about $67 US. This release features four episodes, where the first 26 episodes of the series were only released on disks containing two episodes a piece. This time we get Act 27 parts 1 and 2 as well as Acts 28 and 29. The set comes in a smaller package than the earlier releases, which should fit more conveniently on your shelf. It also includes a 24 page special booklet with interviews and art.

The episodes included are Act 27, Infinity 1 – Premonition – First Part and Second Part, Act 28, Infinity 2 – Ripples, and Act 29 – Infinity 3 – Two New Soldiers. This covers the introduction to the Death Busters, the Sailor Guardians facing off against Eudial and Mimete, meeting Hotaru, Haruka and Michiru as well as Sailor Uranus and Neptune. With the first 26 episodes, plagued by sloppy inconsistent animation, a number of minor improvements and changes were done to the animation for the Blu-Ray release. None of this is present here. If you’ve seen the streaming version you’ve seen the version which is presented on this release. It seems they put a bit more time and money into the animation the first time so there was no need for updates.

The episodes include an optional audio commentary. These four episodes all feature commentary by Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Sailor Moon, Junko Minagawa, the voice of Sailor Uranus, and Sayaka Ohara, the voice of Sailor Neptune.

As with earlier releases a 24 page special booklet is included. The contents are somewhat like what we’ve seen before. There are episode summaries, interviews and character designs. Osabu’s page is not present in this booklet. There are a total of five interviews included. These are with Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Sailor Moon, Hisaka Kanemoto, the voice of Sailor Mercury, Rina Sato, the voice of Sailor Mars, Ami Koshimizu, the voice of Sailor Jupiter, and Shizuka Ito, the voice of Sailor Venus.

All in all this set is a more worthwhile purchase than the previous sets were. The cost is about the same and there are twice as many episodes. Without any changes in animation though, there isn’t much to get from collecting these when the streaming version is subtitled and free, though not quite at Blu-Ray quailty. Further now that we know that English Blu-Ray sets are coming with entire story arcs costing close to what a single Japanese disc does, it seems a little pointless for an English speaking North American fan to buy these Japanese only releases. All said we haven’t seen the English release yet. It seems unlikely that it will be plagued with terrible video quality like all North American releases of the original series have been, but that’s still a possibility. We may find that this is the better quality set to have when all is said and done. The French DVD and Blu-Ray came out last week and seems to be of exceptional quality though, so it seems likely the English release will be the same.

The next set will be released on July 27th and can be pre-ordered from sites like Amazon Japan. It is similarly priced at 6909 yen. It will include four episodes, Acts 30 to 33, bringing us to Sailor Moon’s transformation into Super Sailor Moon and the first flashback look at Sailor Saturn.

Keep reading for more photos of the packaging and all pages of the included special booklet.

A second Sailor Moon Crystal soundtrack will be released in Japan on July 27th. This 2 CD soundtrack is called “Sailor Moon Crystal Official Soundtracks II”. Why the plural in soundtracks? I don’t know. A sound track refers to the track on a film which includes the music as opposed to dialogue and sound effects. What we call a soundtrack was once referred to as the music from the sound track of a movie. In that sense we really are just referring to the one track but we also talk about tracks on a CD which is a totally different thing. None of these things are actual tracks. There’s no 8 track or record or even a film real medium to Sailor Moon Crystal. A track is just a concept we use to refer to something which exists as computer files on hard drives and CDs. We don’t really mean the sound track of a movie when we say Soundtrack anymore. Anyway I’m ranting. I’ll give them a pass for being really Japanese.

You can pre-order the CD from online retailers such as Amazon Japan and CD Japan for as little as 3000 yen, about $30. This is more than the singles we’ve seen before because this is a full 2 CD set with background music from the entire season. Also included are TV sized versions of all of the opening and ending themes heard in the Infinity arc. A track listing is on the Sailor Moon official site. Here’s an English track listing I got through Google Translate with some help from a translation by Miss Dream!

Disc 1

1. Super Sailor Moon’s Theme
2. In Love With the New Moon (TV size) by Etsuko Yakushimaru
3. Sea Serenade
4. Mysterious Encounter
5. Haruka and Michiru
6. Professor – Pharaoh 90
7. Kaolinite
8. Anxious Dream
9. Hotaru
10. Mysterous Guardians
11. Ripples on the Heart?
12. Man or woman, is that so important?
13. Eternal Eternity (TV size)
14. Uranus and Neptune Make-Up!
15. Sailor Uranus
16. Sailor Neptune
17. Possessed Soul
18. Daimon
19. Moon Cosmic Power Make-Up!
20. Planet Power Make-Up!
21. Arrival of the Sailor Guardians
22. Magnificent Counterattack
23. Moon Spiral Heart Attack!
24. Chibiusa and Hotaru -Flute version-
25. Chibiusa and Hotaru
26. Chibiusa Make-Up!
27. Maiden’s Advise (TV size)
28. Mimi Hanyu
29. Witches’ Song

Disc 2

1. The Three Guardians of the Outer Solar System
2. The Three Guardians’ Mission
3. In Love With the New Moon (TV size) by Mitsuko Horie
4. Mistress 9
5. The Witches’ Awakening
6. A Ruthless Challenger
7. A Fierce Battle with the Witches
8. Sorrowful
9. Bonds of the Sailor Gaurdians
10. The Holy Grail’s Glow
11. Crisis Make-Up!
12. Rainbow Moon Heart Ache!
13. Only Eternity Brings the Two Together (TV size)
14. Shadow of Fear
15. Planet Eating Demon
16. She Who Brings Destruction
17. Hotaru’s Feelings
18. A Sorrowful Decision
19. Infinite Battle
20. Disappearing Planet
21. Silence Glaive
22. Light of Rebirth
23. In Love With the New Moon (TV size) / Momoiro Clover

The 3rd and last Sailor Moon Crystal Season III CD single was released on June 22nd. If you’re interested in purchasing it you can get it from Amazon Japan. This third single features the third versions of the opening and ending themes for this season. The opening theme is still In Love With the New Moon, as it has been all season, but this one is sung by Momoiro Clover Z who performed the ending theme Moon Pride for the first 26 episodes. The new ending theme is Only Eternity Brings the Two Together, is sung by Kenji Nojima, the voice of Tuxedo Mask. The CD single comes with normal and karaoke versions of full length versions of both songs as well as a DVD with TV sized and full length videos for each.

The packaging is much like the other two singles. Now that we have all three we can put them together to get a full image of all of the Sailor Guardians.

As the music goes if you’ve seen the later episodes of the season you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. This version of the opening theme isn’t my favourite. I still prefer the first version, sung by Etsuko Yakushimaru. The ending theme is decent. I believe this is the only theme for Sailor Moon which features a man so that’s something!

The DVD is pretty basic. The menu doesn’t have much exciting. The opening and endings are the ones from the streaming version only in standard definition and without credits. Later versions of the intro featured Super Sailor Chibi Moon and then later Sailor Saturn but this one only has normal Sailor Chibi Moon alongside Super Sailor Moon. Fans looking to see wet t-shirt contest Mamoru without credits may appreciate this. The full length versions have clips from throughout the season. The intro has clips from the four episodes late in the season which used this intro. The ending theme has footage of Mamoru from throughout the season’s first 12 episodes which demonstrates just how little he’s actually done lately. That’s cool though because he looks good in a wet t-shirt.

Keep reading for more images of the packaging.