Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, The Complete Fifth season, is coming to Blu-ray May 28th

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars The Complete Fifth Season

It looks like won’t need to wait much longer for the next season set of the original Sailor Moon anime. Last week in a since deleted Tweet Viz announced that Sailor Moon Sailor Stars The Complete Fifth Season would be coming to Blu-ray on May 28th. Why was the Tweet deleted? Who knows! Is May 28th still the official release date? Probably. The set is not listed with any online retailers yet, but should be showing up soon. Along with the announcement we also get our first look at the cover art for this release which features Eternal Sailor Moon.

With the release of the fifth and final season this will complete the rerelease of the series on Blu-ray. While the first few sets included significantly improved video quality the difference becomes less noticeable for the later series which already looked quite good in the sets released a few years ago.

The set will include English audio as well as the original Japanese audio with English subtitles. Will you be picking it up?

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 is out on home video today!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 - Blu-Ray cover

Today is the day! Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 is now available to purchase on DVD and Blu-Ray, which means the entire original Sailor Moon anime, with Viz’s new English dub, is now out! Fans have been waiting to see the final season of Sailor Moon dubbed into English since the 1990s but after Sailor Moon S and SuperS were dubbed, the final season never followed! The set is now available to purchase in stores and online. Fans looking to buy it from Amazon can do so using the links below.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 200 - Galaxia fights Princess Serenity

Have you gotten your copy yet? Did any of you wait until now to watch the fifth and final season? What did you think of the final episodes? If you’re looking to pick up any of the earlier sets you can support the site by ordering them from Amazon using these links.



Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 is now available on Amazon Prime Video

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 on Amazon Prime Video

Yesterday we reported that a number of online retailers were offering Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 as a digital download but that it was not available on Amazon Prime Video. Though it was not listed along with the rest of the series, the final 17 episodes of the season are in fact listed on the site. Fans looking to buy these digitally from Amazon Prime Video can support the site by using the link below.

I don’t believe this is a new addition, but simply something I didn’t notice previously. When one looks at the Amazon Prime Video page for Sailor Moon it only lists up to season 501, Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 1. This is what I originally looked at to try to find if the new episodes were available. Part 2 is listed on a totally different page which is likely why I hadn’t seen it.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2

For those who’ve gotten the digital version, what do you think? If you’re still looking to buy the physical release on November 12th you can support the site by pre-ordering it using the links below.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 is now available to download digitally from iTunes, Google Play, the PlayStation Store and the Microsoft Store

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 on iTunes

The physical release of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 is less than two weeks away which means the series is now available to purchase digitally from a number of online retailers. The series is available to purchase separately for the English dubbed episodes or in Japanese with English subtitles. The retailers currently offering the series are iTunes, the PlayStation Store, the Microsoft Store and Google Play. Strangely absent is Amazon Prime Video who had Part 1 up for sale two weeks before that set was released physically. The Amazon Video page for Sailor Moon does not include these final 17 episodes of the series.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 200 - Sailor Moon

With these episodes now available the entire Sailor Moon series is available in English for the first time ever! Since Sailor Stars was never dubbed with the DiC/Cloverway dub of Sailor Moon the Viz dub is the first and only official English version we’ve gotten.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 200 - Galaxia fights Princess Serenity

Buying digital downloads of the original Japanese version with English subtitles seems unwise as the series was available for free in this format for quite a while on Hulu. The service is now only available for paying customers who can still stream the series in its entirety in Japanese with English subtitles as well as the first four seasons in English. Sailor Moon had been streaming for free on Yahoo! View but that service no longer exists. Canadians can stream the entire series in Japanese with English subtitles on TubiTV. This is a free streaming service with ads.

Have any of you downloaded this version to listen to the end of the dub of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars? If so what did you think? If you’re holding off for the physical release you can support the site by pre-ordering it from Amazon using the links below.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 200 - Galaxia, Usagi and Chibi Chibi

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 is now available to pre-order from Amazon

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 - Blu-Ray cover

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2, the final release in Viz’s new dub of the original Sailor Moon anime, is now available to pre-order from Amazon. The set will be out on November 12th of this year, just in time for Christmas. You can support the site by pre-ordering it using this link or through the links below. A lot of people used the Amazon links on the site to buy the first set which is greatly appreciated. I run Sailor Moon News as a hobby but these ads which I pepper all over the site help cover the modest expenses that the site incurs.

It bears repeating that the Right Stuf already had the set up for pre-order and fans chosing that retailer can get a “Gift With Purchase” of some Sailor Stars Art Cards if they pre-order using this link. The design of those cards hasn’t been released yet. I don’t get a kick back from Right Stuf but don’t let that stop you if you’re looking to get those cards!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 - Blu-Ray back

Are you planning on getting this set? I was quite happy with Part 1, as you can tell from my review. If you’re missing any sets, here are a bunch of links where you can order them.



The updated Sailor Stars relationship chart lists Sailor Uranus and Neptune as Partners, not Lovers

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Blu-Ray Limited Edition Booklet - Replacement - Sailor Uranus and Neptune are Partners

This afternoon I received my replacement booklet for the Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Limited Edition Blu-Ray set. I was surprised to see this so quickly as I’d only put in the request 11 days ago on September 8th and today on the 19th it arrived at my door. Great turnaround by Viz and Warner Brothers! I was however a bit surprised to check out the relationship chart and to see Sailor Uranus and Neptune were listed simply as “Partners”. I was hoping their connection would show “Love” like is indicated for Usagi and Mamoru. Additionally the lyrics for Moonlight Legend have not been corrected.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Blu-Ray Limited Edition Booklet - Replacement - Relationship Chart

In the press release by Viz it did indeed state “Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus are not friends, but in fact, partners” and we understand in this context that this means romantic partners and not, say, two people working together to sell insurance. In the relationship chart is that so clear? Are they partners in fighting evil or partners in the bedroom? Having watched the dubbed version of Sailor Stars Part 1 the faithful adaptation makes it clear beyond any doubt that these two share an intimate relationship with a number of suggestive lines. As I’d mentioned in an earlier post on the issue, they were previously listed as “Partners” in the Sailor Moon S relationship chart and that didn’t seem to have caused the same concern. Of course no one even noticed the error with the lyrics going back to the first season so I’m not sure how much people paid attention to such specifics. It’s worth noting that the term “Lovers” was used extensively in the Sailor Moon R relationship chart, though these two were not in that season.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Blu-Ray Limited Edition Booklet - Replacement - Romaji Lyrics

Although the original press release mentioned “The erroneous text is in the romaji provided with the song lyrics.” and fans assumed this was in reference to an untranslated piece of text from Moonlight Legend, the Sailor Moon anime opening theme for all but this season, this doesn’t appear to have been fixed. I’m wondering if there was perhaps another romaji problem that was corrected? I did not do a page by page word for word comparison of both booklets to check.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Blu-Ray Limited Edition Booklet - Replacement - Replacement Booklet with Letter

Other minor changes exist in the relationship chart such as the Three Lights’ names being corrected to given name first, where this was inconsistently using their family name first in the old chart. They are also listed as “Sailor Star Lights” as a group where they weren’t before. Minor formatting changes exist on other pages but as I mentioned I didn’t do an exhaustive comparison.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Blu-Ray Limited Edition Booklet - Replacement - Letter

What do you think? Am I being extra picky by expecting these two to be listed as being in “Love” after all that’s gone into this? Did you get your replacement booklet yet? Have you noticed any other differences?

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Blu-Ray Limited Edition Booklet - Replacement - Comparison

Viz Media has begun the replacement program for the Sailor Moon Sailor Stars booklet

Sailor Moon Blu-Ray booklet - Sailor Stars - Relationship chart

Following the release of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 1’s Limited Edition Blu-Ray on June 18th, some fans found issues with the included booklet. Viz Media has posted an update on their official web site which has details on how to get a replacement booklet. This involves sending an e-mail to SailorMoonStarsBooklet@visionmedia.com with your Full Name, Phone Number, Email address and Mailing Address.

Sailor Moon S episode 106 - Haruka holding Sailor Neptune

I sent in my own details and the response from Viz mentioned that replacement booklets would start to be sent out “no later than the end of September”. There was no need to send in the original booklet or provide any proof of purchase for the original set.

Sailor Moon S episode 110 - Haruka and Michiru

We previously reported on the issues with the booklet. The main concern was that Sailor Uranus and Neptune’s relationship was mentioned as being a “Friendship”. I jokingly suggested many other changes to the chart to reflect the reality of the season. Viz does not get into any details about the changes being made to the booklet in their post, referring only to “several errors”. They had previously mentioned that there will also be a correction to Japanese Romaji lyrics for the theme song “Moonlight Legend”. This pertains to the first line which was not translated in the English version of the lyrics. This error has been in those lyrics in every booklet since the very first season. Odd that this only gets corrected in the Sailor Moon Sailor Stars booklet as this is the only season not to use this song as its opening theme, instead featuring it only once during the end credits of the final episode of the series.

Viz’s full statement appears below:

Updated: SAILOR MOON Season 5 Set 1 Statement
Dear SAILOR MOON fans,

The booklet included in the Limited Edition version of SAILOR MOON Sailor Stars Season 5 Part 1 included several errors which we have addressed.

For those of you who purchased that product, we now have a replacement solution for the booklet. As soon as possible, please send an email to SailorMoonStarsBooklet@visionmedia.com with the subject line “Sailor Moon Replacement” and include the following details:
Full name
Phone number
Email address
Mailing address to where the replacement booklet should be shipped

Once you have provided the information, you will be on your way to receiving a replacement booklet.

Thank you again for your continued patience. We appreciate your ongoing support for SAILOR MOON. If you have any questions or thoughts on the replacement process, please reach out to us through this page or through social media:

Facebook: facebook.com/OfficialVIZMedia
Twitter: @VIZMedia and @Sailor_Moon_NA
The VIZ Media Team

Here is the complete response I received via e-mail:

Dear SAILOR MOON fan,

Thank you for your email and for providing your contact information.

Replacement booklets will start to ship by no later than the end of September 2019. Requests will be fulfilled in the order received assuming complete and correct contact/shipping information has been provided.

We appreciate your patience and your ongoing support. If you have any questions or thoughts on the replacement process, please reach out to us through this page or through social media.

Facebook: facebook.com/OfficialVIZMedia
Twitter: @VIZMedia and @Sailor_Moon_NA

The VIZ Media Team

It’s not clear if or when sets sold at retail will include the new booklet. You can buy Sailor Stars Part 1 from Amazon using the links below. Part 2 will be out November 12th.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 is coming November 12th. Check out the box art!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 - Blu-Ray cover

We now have confirmation that Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 is coming on November 12th. This was originally listed on the Deals Are Us web site and today was posted to the RightStuf web site. Both list a release date of November 12th.

September 14th update: The link to RightStuf’s web site I originally posted did not include the “Gift With Purchase”. Fans looking to get a set of Sailor Stars cards which comes with the purchase from RightStuf should instead check out this product listing.

After only seeing the Deals Are Us listing I wrote a lengthy post where I looked at the feasibility of a November 12th release date based on the time between all previous seasons’ Parts 1 and 2 finally determined it was plausible for a ton of reasons but now that RightStuf has it listed as well I’d say it’s all but certain that November 12th is the legit release date and all of that analysis is a bit pointless.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 2 - Blu-Ray back

The box art which is included with the RightStuf listing is nice but a bit busy. It seems like these characters were all sort of pasted on top of one another. Why is Chibi Moon even there? The back features Sailor Chibi Chibi and some pretty standard text. My only real concern is what Neo Crystal Tokyo is. Neo Queen Serenity is the Queen of Crystal Tokyo and while I’ve seen other anime and manga, such as Akira, refer to future Tokyo as Neo Tokyo, I don’t believe the term has ever been used in Sailor Moon.

The episodes included in Sailor Stars Part 1 were released digitally two weeks before the physical media release, which is common for mainstream movies. Should this occur again for Part 2 we should be getting those digital versions on October 29th.

Sailor Stars Part 2 isn’t up for pre-order on Amazon yet but you can pick up Sailor Stars Part 1 or any previous sets using the Amazon links below.



Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 1 Limited Edition Blu-Ray review

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 1 Blu-Ray - Contents

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 1 was released on Blu-Ray and DVD a couple of months ago, on June 18th. Fans who haven’t already picked it up can get from stores locally or from online retailers such as Amazon. Since it’s been out a while I’ve had the time to watch the entire set and so I wanted to give some general impressions about it. Though the video quality of these releases has generally not been great, this series looks better than sets in the past have. The new English dub is pretty good, as it has been for the rest of the series, and the script remains mostly unchanged.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Viz Blu-Ray - Seiya

Viz Blu-Ray

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - Seiya Kou

Japanese DVD

First let’s look at the video. The quality certainly does not compare with that of the Japanese Blu-Ray sets which have been released more recently, but it’s fairly good. To be sure this won’t look like a newer anime series such as Sailor Moon Crystal does on Blu-Ray. This Blu-Ray was mastered from older standard definition video which was put through software to upscale it to high definition. What that gives is something that I wouldn’t really say looks any better than the Japanese DVD releases which came out well over a decade ago. That said I’m not sure that comparison really matters. We’ve never gotten Sailor Stars in North America before. The subbed version was out on Hulu a few years ago but there was no dub and that release used similar source material as this. When it comes to comparisons, we don’t have an old North American release to compare it to. This release certainly looks better than nothing, which is the baseline!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Viz Blu-Ray - Professor Tomoe and Baby Hotaru

Viz Blu-Ray

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 167 - Professor Tomoe and Hotaru

Japanese DVD

In this post I have provided comparisons to the Japanese DVD release. Since the Japanese Blu-Ray releases have not gotten to Sailor Stars yet I don’t have that for comparison. It’s pretty difficult to conclusively say if one is better than the other. The Viz Blu-Ray is certainly HD, in that it is 1080p, but that HD image lacks detail that would be there if it had been mastered from a film source. Anime of the time was drawn on cels and shot onto a film intermediate which was then transferred to video before broadcast. We have been told that this higher quality film version of Sailor Moon is lost. It is fairly evident from close examination of screenshots, or even upon viewing the video itself, that this is an upscaled version of standard definition video. There has also been some amount of post processing done in order to clean up the image. This means the colours will look more solid and have less noise on them, but potentially at the cost of detail, but is it detail that matters? Sailor Moon, like most traditional animation, is largely chunks of solid colour separated by solid black lines. The filters used seem to be optimized to this, giving a consistent colour and clear lines. Had this been a live action series with actors with pores and hair as well as other textured things, a different type of upscaling filter would likely have been used. While we shouldn’t necessarily mourn the loss of some grain there is a loss of detail in the backgrounds which aren’t as much just solid colours as we can see from the example of the cherry blossom tree behind Professor Tomoe in the above pictured image. Had we gone back to the film source for these, something which we’ve been told is impossible, then the image would likely look much better. If you check out my review of the Japanese Blu-Ray sets and look at the samples of the Make Up! Sailor Guardians on Blu-Ray you’ll see what that could have looked like.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Viz Blu-Ray - Young Queen Nehelenia

Viz Blu-Ray

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 172 - Young Nehelenia

Japanese DVD

With earlier releases by Viz we had more ghosting, which means a double image or shadow near some lines, as well as some interlacing artifacts. I didn’t notice any such problems in this set. No doubt the quality has improved likely due to the fact that these episodes were made four years after the first season so the quality of the masters available get a little better with each year. This is likely also why the ADV releases of Sailor Moon seasons 1 and R were the worst while the Pioneer releases of Sailor Moon S and SuperS looked much better. Don’t take my word for it though! Check out the many comparison images here and later in the post to judge for yourself. There’s no objectively correct answer to how much post processing looks best, sometimes it’s just a matter of personal preference. While there has been some change in quality with these screenshots due to jpg compression it should give a good idea of what each looks like.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Viz Blu-Ray - Mamoru sees something on the wing

Viz Blu-Ray

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 173 - Mamoru sees something on the wing

Japanese DVD

Moving on from the video quality to the content. This is the first time we’re getting an English dub of Sailor Stars which is quite a treat. For years people considered this season to be impossible to market to the North American public, though I never really understood why. Is it really all that scandalous to have men who transform into women and vice versa? Sure, the Sailor Starlights’ outfits are fairly revealing but as far as anime goes this isn’t terribly shocking. It’s a joy to finally hear Sailor Stars in English. This is a cast we’ve heard for the past four seasons and three films as well as for Sailor Moon Crystal so even though it’s a departure from the DiC/Cloverway dub of most of our youth, for me there was still enough familiarity with the cast that it feels like Sailor Moon. The new actors for the Sailor Starlights do a great job. Having women play them as both men and women works well. This was the same approach which was used for the Japanese dub many years ago. The alternatives, either having two actors per character or having men do the voices would likely not have worked as well. For those who don’t appreciate the English version they also have the option of listening in Japanese with English subtitles.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Viz Blu-Ray - Sailor Saturn

Viz Blu-Ray

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 172 - Sailor Saturn

Japanese DVD

The episodes included are the first half of Sailor Stars. This includes the amazing six episode Nehelenia arc in which she is given a very different ending as she got in Sailor Moon SuperS. The rest of the episodes are about Usagi getting to know The Three Lights, more specifically Seiya, as she grows further and further out of touch with Mamoru who is away and somehow completely out of touch. This parallels the Sailor Starlights who have appeared and who fight Sailor Galaxia’s Sailor Animamates. My feelings on Sailor Stars have changed over the years. I originally found Seiya sort of annoying as he was just a distraction from Usagi’s true relationship which she never waivers from. This is generally true but I find the story much more appealing. She is hurting and though there is no infidelity he fills a need she has for companionship. His interests in her are not reciprocated which is more tragic than anything. I’ve given more thoughts on all of the episodes in my individual reviews which you can find by searching the episode numbers in the search field on the site if you are interested. So much to say it is a very good half season and I’m glad that everyone can see it now, assuming some fans haven’t already seen it some other way!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Viz Blu-Ray - Special features

There aren’t a ton of special features included. Each disc has an Art Gallery which doesn’t seem to be Japanese concept art but more likely something by Italian artist Marco Albiero who does a remarkable job of duplicating the original anime style. For whatever reason the Blu-Ray viewing software I use to take screenshots couldn’t load the Art Galleries so you can take my word for that.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Viz Blu-Ray - Interview with Lauren post, the voice of Nehelenia

Also included are three voice actor interviews. The first is with Laura Post, the voice of Nehelenia. Having also been in SuperS it’s a bit odd to see this interview here but she mostly talks about her appearance in those first 6 episodes which fits.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Viz Blu-Ray - Interview with Stephanie Sheh, the voice of Usagi

Next we have an interview with Stephanie Sheh, the voice of Usagi. This is the longer of the interviews. She does the whole thing with her dog! A few things stood out to me. First she mentions that the season was pretty long. This is objectively untrue as Sailor Stars is the shortest Sailor Moon season with only 34 episodes. One can hardly blame her for thinking this though as Usagi and Sailor Moon dominate this season like no other. It would be difficult to count but it seems likely that Usagi had more lines in Sailor Stars than any other seasons except perhaps the first one. There was much less focus on other Sailor Guardians. Chibiusa who dominated SuperS is gone, along with her father, for most of the season. Stephanie Sheh also makes a joke that it was lucky that Usagi didn’t have a cell phone because if Mamoru didn’t respond to a few texts this would be a sign of trouble. More generally she is lucky that this occurred at the dawn of the Internet age where it would be believable that Usagi would not have access to e-mail or chat software. I consider myself an early adopter of the Internet and I had no Internet access at home while Sailor Stars was airing. Ami is shown to communicate with some people through the Internet, but she is clearly an outlier amongst her friends. She also mentions that she ships Usagi and Mamoru and thinks her relationship with Seiya is inappropriate. This is probably best as such a view reflects her character’s! There’s also a funny bit where she wonders what’s up with the Starlights, asking similar questions that many fans have like if they’re men who turn into women, women who turn into men, women dressing as men or what? All around I found the interview very humourous. It’s obvious that Stephanie Sheh has spent a lot of time with the Sailor Moon character throughout the years and has many thoughts about the series.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Viz Blu-Ray - Interview with Stephanie Sheh, the voice of Chibi Chibi

Finally we have “A Chibi Interview with Stephanie Sheh”, the voice of Chibi Chibi. It’s a short interview where she talks about that character. She mentions being happy to play Chibi Chibi and points out that in the Japanese version the voice of Usagi played Chibi Chibi as well, but it wasn’t clear why. This is funny because in the manga there is a clear connection between the characters which doesn’t actually exist in the anime. It might make more sense for Chibi Chibi to share voice actors with another character, but I’ll avoid the specifics for now. Fans who are familiar with the end of the series will understand why.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Viz Blu-Ray - The non super credit less opening

Beyond the interviews we have a “Clean Opening” and “Clean Ending” which basically means the intro and ending without Japanese credits overlayed. These are of a very poor quality! The Japanese releases humourously refer to these as being “Non Super” meaning they aren’t HD. While they are technically HD in that they are encoded on the disk as 1080p, they are clearly taken from something of roughly the same quality as a VHS tape. A nice extra to have though one we’ve seen on every Japanese release ever.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 1 Blu-Ray - Blu-Ray opened

As for the packaging this set continues to look quite nice, as have other released to date. This is all new art, whereas the Japanese releases have continued to reuse the original laserdisc box art for decades. The special booklet that is included with the Limited Edition is quite nice, including episode summaries and art of a number of characters. I believe all of this art is once again done by Italian artist Marco Albiero. The booklet also includes a relationship chart which has been the source of some controversy which I posted about closer to it’s release as well as an ad which refers to the first three seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal as the entire series.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 1 Blu-Ray - Booklet - Final message

Since this booklet is meant to cover the entire series it has cast information and summaries for the entire season. It also includes a nice goodbye message to the fans which I will quote below.

To all the longtime fans and those who joined us during this journey: This previously unreleased season is here because of you. Your support makes the stars twinkle brighter and we couldn’t have done this without you!

Starlight Honeymoon… THERAPY KISS!

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Viz Blu-Ray - Eternal Sailor Moon

All considered I think this set it worth getting. The video quality is not the best possible but it is quite good. While the Japanese Blu-Ray which is coming in November will probably look marginally better, it won’t even have English subtitles, let alone English audio, so it’s of little use to most fans. If you’re only looking to watch the Japanese series with subtitles you can of course always stream these episodes, but buying this set or digital downloads of the episodes is the only way to get Viz’s English dub. I look forward to seeing part two of Sailor Stars and rewatching the final episodes. For those of you who are interested in this set but have not gotten it yet, you can support the site but buying it using the Amazon links below.

Keep reading for more images of the box art and comparisons of the video quality between this Blu-Ray and the Japanese DVD release.

Continue reading

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars will be released on Japanese Blu-Ray starting in November

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Japanese Blu-Ray - Volume 1

Great news for Sailor Moon fans who are really picky about video quality and don’t like having money! The final season of the original Sailor Moon anime, Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, will be released on Blu-Ray in Japan with volume 1 coming November 13th and volume 2 coming January 8th 2020. This follows decent but expensive releases for the first four seasons of the original Sailor Moon anime. While the quality of these has generally been better than what was released by Viz, these are still HD upscaled versions of standard definition source material. By this I mean to say that TOEI did not go back to the film source to get these HD versions but has done post processing on the same masters used for their DVD releases many years ago.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Japanese Blu-Ray - Volume 2

The cost of these is certainly not cheap! MSRP for each volume is 14,800 yen, about $136 US. You can already pre-order the standard or vendor exclusive versions of volume 1 from Amazon Japan. Having just watched the first Sailor Stars set released by Viz and been fairly happy with the video quality it gets harder and harder to justify getting these sets, which only include Japanese audio and no subtitles! Certainly the video quality of the earlier seasons is the worst of the Viz releases and every season the sets look a little better. It’s easy to assume this is due to Viz doing a better job, which is certainly part of what’s going on, but I also think it’s just a matter of the masters for the series looking better for the later seasons. The ADV DVD releases of Sailor Moon’s first season and Sailor Moon R were horrendous but the Pioneer DVD releases of Sailor Moon S and SuperS were much better looking for the same reasons.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Laserdisc - Volume 1 - Eternal Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Laserdisc - Volume 6

The art which we’ve seen looks quite good. As with previous releases this is box art which was originally used for the initial VHS and laserdisc releases. This art is done by Katsumi Tamegai who was an animation director for many episodes throughout the Sailor Moon series, including the final episode. This art was also used for the Japanese DVD release. Volume 1 has an image of Eternal Sailor Moon on the outside and Usagi with Chibi Chibi on the inside, though she’ll only show up for the last two episodes of the set. I’ve included images of the laserdiscs for reference throughout this post.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Laserdisc - Volumes 3, 4 and 5 - The Sailor Starlights and the Three Lights

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Laserdisc - Volume 9

The outer cover for volume 2 is an amalgamation of three different laserdisc covers showing each of the Sailor Starlights and their civilian Three Lights counterparts. The inside shows Princess Serenity and a less evil Galaxia which I suppose is a bit of a spoiler!

Included in volume 1 are episodes 167 to 183 while volume 2 will have episodes 184 to 200. This is the same breakdown Viz used with their release as it splits the season evenly with 17 episodes per set. The special features are much like what we’ve gotten with other releases. This includes low quality (non super) creditless versions of the opening and ending credits and 15 second commercials for each episode. A booklet with episode descriptions will also be included.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Japanese Blu-Ray - Vendor exclusives

As always we have vendor exclusives for a number of retailers. You can see them shown in the image above. It isn’t always obvious what these are! Members of the official Sailor Moon fan club who order the set through the club will get A4 sized sticker sheets with each volume as well as a laserdisc jacket sized poster for buying both volumes. We don’t know what images those will include at this time. A4 size is roughly equivalent to a standard 8.5×11″ letter piece of paper. A laserdisc jacket is roughly the size of a vinyl record jacket.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Japanese Blu-Ray - Amazon exclusive box

The Amazon exclusive which is available to customers buying both volumes is a box to house both sets which has art similar to the laserdisc box which housed all of Sailor Stars.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Laserdisc - Box

The Animate exclusive, which is available only to those ordering both volumes, is a set of three acrylic key rings. Each features an image of one of the Sailor Starlights with their Three Lights alter ego from the box art.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Laserdisc - Box back

The Seven Net exclusive for volume 1 is an acrylic plate, which I believe is what is sometimes called a pencil board, showing an image of Eternal Sailor Moon and the Sailor Guardians. The exclusive for volume 2 is a B2 sized tapestry featuring an image of Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn which was originally on the back of the Sailor Stars laserdisc box. B2 size is about 20″x28″.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Laserdisc - Volume 2 - Sailor Chibi Moon and Sailor Saturn

Finally the Neo Wing exclusives are a separate A2 sized cloth poster which comes with each volume. These are images of the first two laserdisc covers, that being Eternal Sailor Moon for volume 1 and Sailor Saturn and Sailor Chibi Moon for volume 2. A2 size is about 16.5″x22″.

Have any of you been buying these sets?