Tag Archives: Sailor Moon Episode 1 – The Crybaby: Usagi’s Beautiful Transformation

Episode 1, The Crybaby: Usagi’s Beautiful Transformation, is the iconic first episode in which Usagi meets Luna and transforms into Sailor Moon in order to fight the first monster who has been masquerading as the mother of her friend Naru.

Watch Act 1 and 2 of the English dub of Sailor Moon Crystal on Hulu now

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Sailor Moon Crystal English Title Screen

Sailor Moon fans who have been holding out for the English version can finally watch the new Sailor Moon anime. The first two episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal are now available to watch on Hulu and Neon Alley. We also have some news about the home video release. The Dark Kingdom story arc, which includes Acts 1 through 13, will be released on DVD, Blu-Ray and Limited Edition Blu-Ray February 9th. The three versions are available to pre-order on Amazon. The DVD will be $44.82, the DVD and Blu-Ray combo pack will be $69.99 and the limited edition combo pack will be $79.98.

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

For many fans this may be the first time they watch this series. Act 1, Usagi – Sailor Moon, is the first episode of the series based on the first act of the Sailor Moon manga. In it young Usagi meets Luna who lets her transform into Sailor Moon. Act 2, Ami – Sailor Mercury, wastes no time in introducing us to the second Sailor Guardian the genius girl Ami. Long time fans may note strong similarities between Sailor Moon Crystal’s first two acts and the original anime episodes 1 “The Crybaby: Usagi’s Beautiful Transformation” and 8 “The Girl Genius Is a Monster: The Brainwashing Cram School of Horror”, but this is just because of similarities to the manga. The original anime series told the story at a much slower pace and quickly deviated from the manga so fans will be surprised to see just how much things change along the way with this story. Sailor Moon Crystal was a very faithful manga adaptation, so this is a great way to appreciate the original story. Next week will be Act 3, Rei – Sailor Mars, which again moves the story along quickly by introducing yet another Sailor Guardian. This gives a good indication of the faster pace Sailor Moon Crystal is taking.

Sailor Moon Crystal Act.2 Ami - Sailor Mercury - Sailor Mercury

For those fans living in Canada, or elsewhere who can’t view the region restricted content on Hulu, I would suggest using some sort of proxy to view the content. There are many options to do this, some of which you will need to pay for, but a free option is Hola.org.

Support the site by preordering Sailor Moon Crystal on DVD or Blu-Ray using the links below.

20 years ago today Sailor Moon was unleashed upon the English world

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Luna waking Usagi

August 28th 1995, 20 years ago today, the Sailor Moon anime first aired on YTV in English in Canada. This marked the beginning of the popularisation of the series in North America, where it acheived a great amount of success, as it had been and continued to do throughout the world. As a Canadian I experienced this first hand as the show played repeatedly on YTV and Global many times a day in popular time slots. Sailor Moon was an instantly recogniseable icon amongst Canadian adults and children alike when the show was in its prime. The series first aired in US on syndication starting September 11th 1995 though many American stations relegated it to less desireable times than Canadian stations had done. I recall getting up to watch the show in the early hours of the morning weekdays on UPN 38 and WPIX as many other fans surely did. Though everyone’s personal experience with Sailor Moon may differ wide spread exposure to the series in the US was less common until Toonami began airing the show on June 1st 1998.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 133 - Chibiusa is an old lonely cat lady watching Sailor Moon

Some of you may be wondering how we can be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the show in North America when we are also celebrating the 20th anniversary of the show in Japan. It took over 3 years for the show to be dubbed and released domestically, with the first episode being aired in Japan on March 7th 1992. The so called 20th annivesary celebration that has been going on in Japan has therefore been going on for over 3 years. The 20th Anniversary brand still appears all over the Japanese Official site which is titled the Sailor Moon 20th Annivesary Project Official Site and the Official Twitter account @sailormoon_20th. At this point we are actually closer to the arbitrary 25th annivesary of the show in Japan than the 20th.

Sailor Moon 20th anniversary logo

Whatever the case Sailor Moon, as most of us have known it, has been around for 20 years. Here’s to 20 more!

Sailor Moon episode 1 - Usagi runs into Mamoru

Episode 1 of Sailor Moon Crystal edited with DIC dub audio

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Sailor Moon Crystal DIC dub Sailor Says clip

Here’s something cool that a fan whipped up. It’s the first episode of Sailor Moon Crystal edited to fit with dialog from the first episode of the English dub of the original Sailor Moon anime. It actually fits quite well though the episode is shorter than the full version as some scenes did not exist in both version. In a few instances a short clip from the original anime is included but for the most part it’s video from Sailor Moon Crystal and audio from the old Sailor Moon anime. She even included a Sailor Says segment! Watch the episode in the embedded clip below.

Since both the first episode of Sailor Moon Crystal and the original Sailor Moon anime followed the manga closely this fits very well. Only in a few scenes did things not really work, such as Molly talking to Serena who isn’t actually in the room, but it mostly worked. A similar exercise would probably work decently for act 2 and potentially act 3 as the episodes where Ami and Rei are introduced in the original Sailor Moon anime followed the manga quite well. I spoke to Jessica who created this clip about the possibility of more episodes but there are currently no plans to do so as this would become impossible as the series progresses and deviates greatly from the source material.

Source: Jessica aka Time Machine on YouTube.

More clips of Viz’s new Sailor Moon dub including Usagi, Ikuko Mama, Jadeite and Beryl

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Sailor Moon opening - Queen Beryl in the Dark Kingdom

Two new clips of Viz’s new Sailor Moon dub have been leaked. These feature the beginning of episodes 1 and 2. You can hear the voices of Usagi, Ikuko Mama, Jadeite and Queen Beryl. These were recorded at Anime Expo on July 5th. Viz premiered the first two episodes of their new dub at a panel where they unveiled the new cast. Recording was not allowed at the panel which is why the video is not visible. Because these only included audio I’ve embedded the YouTube clips to only include the progress bar.

The first clip is the beginning of episode 1, The Crybaby: Usagi’s Beautiful Transformation. You can hear Usagi’s opening monologue followed by the scene where she wakes up late for school and talks to her mother. Usagi is voiced by Stephanie Sheh and Ikuko Mama is voice by Tara Platt.

In this second clip we hear the first bit of episode 2, Punishment Awaits: The House Of Fortune Is The Monster Mansion. It starts out with side characters talking about the fortune house but then contains a brief exchange between Jadeite and Queen Beryl. Jadeite is voiced by Todd Haberkorn and Queen Beryl is voiced by Cindy Robinson.

Thanks to Dakota from our comments for finding these clips.

Source: Baillie Puckett‘s YouTube channel.

Watch Sailor Moon episodes 1 to 4 for free on Hulu

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Sailor Moon on Hulu

Following Friday’s announcement of Viz’s acquisition of the rights to the series, the first four episodes of Sailor Moon are now available to view with subtitles for free on Hulu and Neon Alley, including episode 2 which has never been dubbed. Viz will be releasing two new episodes every Monday from now on. Though the episodes can be viewed for free they will include commercials which can’t be skipped. Hate commercials? That’s too bad. Hulu’s pay service Hulu Plus is truly terrible as it will not remove commercials.

The episodes are completely uncensored with English subtitles. The current episode previews are kept though they have been moved from before the credits until after the credits. Next episode previews are included in their normal spot at the end of the episode. Commercial bumpers are the only thing missing from these episodes.

Sailor Moon episode 01 Screenshot - Japanese DVD

Japanese DVD
Sailor Moon episode 01 Screenshot - Hulu

Hulu

The quality of the release is quite good. Since it is streaming it is not perfect but the quality is comparable to the Japanese DVD releases, the current best quality release there is, as can be seen with these example screen grabs.

Sailor Moon episode 2 screenshot - Japanese DVD

Japanese DVD
Sailor Moon episode 2 screenshot - Hulu

Hulu

The Hulu service is not available in all countries. As a Canadian I needed to use a proxy service to view the episodes. I use Unblock-US, a pay service, though others exist. I was not able to access the Neon Alley site directly even from a proxy. Though no legal Canadian option is available at this time Viz is trying to find a way to bring the show to Canadian. This includes talking to YTV about the possibility of airing it on TV. Once the DVD and Blu-Ray releases are out later this year, Canadians will be able to enjoy those.

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