Sailor Moon episodes 15 and 16 are now available on Hulu

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Adam

As of this morning, June 30th, episodes 15 and 16 of Sailor Moon are now available streaming in Japanese with English subtitles for free on Hulu. DVDs and Blu-Rays of Viz’s release of Sailor Moon will be availalbe later this year. Episodes 1 to 23 are now available for digital download from various retailers. Also don’t forget that starting Saturday you’ll also be able to watch the new Sailor Moon anime Sailor Moon Crystal on Hulu.

In episode 15, Usagi’s Panic: Rei’s First Date, we are introduced to a romantic pairing which will tear the fandom apart! The main story is about some park getting destroyed and the groundskeeper becoming evil but no one cares about that as much as all of the dating that happens. Rei falls for Mamoru and nabs a date with him! This drives Usagi crazy and so she gets a date with Umino in order to spy on them. Usagi generally mistreats Umino while Rei and Mamoru’s date is relatively lack luster. Then some squirrels attack people and the good guys beat the bad guys.

In episode 16, A Girl’s Dream: Usagi Becomes a Bride, Usagi is all about getting married, even though she doesn’t have a boyfriend. The Dark Kingdom is targetting Usagi’s sewing teacher, and everyone gets all wrapped up in a wedding dress contest. Usagi has fantasies about marrying Tuxedo Mask and Motoki, seemingly at the same time. Too bad both of them have girlfriends at this time, though Usagi doesn’t quite know it yet. Tuxedo Mask is really Mamoru (spoiler) and is dating Rei while Motoki’s girlfriend is Reika who we’ll see later. Usagi once again abuses of her Disguise Pen. This time to get a wedding dress which is actually different than the dress we see later in the series during Mamoru and Usagi’s premonitions of the future. Whether she actually ends up with that dress is a bit of a time paradox.

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Sailor Moon episodes 13 and 14 are now available on Hulu

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Adam

This morning, June 23rd, Sailor Moon episodes 13 and 14 were added to Hulu. These new episodes dubbed by Viz will be added at a rate of two per week, every Monday, until the series is completed. These episodes are subbed only, though dubbed episodes will be released later along with a DVD and Blu-Ray release.

In episode 13, Girls Unite: the End of Jadeite, the audience gets a big spoiler from the title! Jadeite appears as a massive illusion over the city challenging Sailor Moon to come fight him, and she and her friends do just that. The whole thing is a trap by Jadeite, but not a terribly good one as he is beaten and recalled by Queen Beryl. Having learned the identity of the Sailor Guardians, Jadeite is about to reveal it, but proving herself to be a terrible leader Queen Beryl dismisses this information and freezes him forever, leading people to continually speculate and write fan fiction about the possibility of him returning some day.

In episode 14, A New Enemy Appears: Nephrite’s Evil Crest, we are introduced to the new villains Nephrite and Zoisyte. Naru’s friend Rui is excelling at tennis when she meets Masato Sanjoin, Nephrite’s civilian identity, who infects her racket making her obsessed with tennis. When Rui’s energy level peaks a monster springs from her racket and fights Sailor Moon.

Jennifer Cihi joins Viz and the cast of Sailor Moon for Sailor Moon Day at Anime Expo July 5th

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Adam

An announcement on the Anime Expo web site tells us that Jennifer Cihi, the singer who performed many of the songs for the English dub of Sailor Moon, will be performing at the convention in Los Angeles July 3rd to the 6th. Jennifer Cihi joins Viz and many voice actors for the weekend which will include Sailor Moon Day, July 5th, which is the day the new Sailor Moon anime’s first episode will be released. Jennifer Cihi, who performed the songs I Wanna Be A Star, My Only Love, Call My Name, It’s a New Day, Carry On, I Want Someone to Love, I Want to Hold Your Hand, The Power Of Love and Who Do You Think You Are? will be performing in the opening ceremonies, in Lounge 21 and will be holding autograph sessions.

Viz Media’s press release details all that they have planned for the weekend. Saturday July 5th is Sailor Moon Day when most of the events are planned. Starting at 10am is Viz’s Sailor Moon Official Panel where the first two episodes of Viz’s new English dub of Sailor Moon will be premiered. The cast will be revealed for the first time and will be there to answer questions. Attendees also will be able to pick up a premium poster. At 1pm an autograph session for the voice actors from Viz’s new Sailor Moon dub will be taking place in the autograph area. At 2:45pm at Viz Media’s booth, 1601, there will be a photo op with the new voice cast and the official Sailor Guardian Cosplayers from American Cosplay Paradise. At 3:30pm there will be a gathering of Sailor Moon cosplayers in the main events hall. Viz will also be offering a limited premiere event memorial coin at the convention.

In addition to the new Sailor Moon voice cast the original Sailor Moon English DiC/Cloverway voice cast will also be in attendence. As we posted about back in January, the convention will also be playing host to Linda Ballantyne, Sailor Moon, Karen Bernstein, Sailor Mercury, Katie Griffin, Sailor Mars, Susan Roman, Sailor Jupiter, Stephanie Morgenstern, Sailor Venus, Toby Proctor, Tuxedo Mask, Mary Long who voice Molly, Catsy and JunJun, Ron Rubin, Artemis and John Stocker, voice director for the movies and final two seasons. Linda Ballantyne has mentioned via twitter that the original cast autograph session will be at 12:15pm on Friday July 4th with their panel at 3:00pm. It is not yet clear what voice actors, if any, will be reprising their role in the new dub or what new voice actors may be making appearences at the convention.

The new Sailor Moon anime Sailor Moon Crystal will be streamed on Hulu starting July 5th

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Adam

Hulu now has a page for Sailor Moon Crystal, the new Sailor Moon anime, and will begin streaming it on July 5th. Previously only Niconico and Crunchyroll had been announced as streaming the series, but now Hulu and Neon Alley have been confirmed as offering the series as well. New episodes will be added on the first and third Saturday of every month. Viz Media has placed an English subtitled version of the Sailor Moon Crystal trailer on their YouTube channel to advertise the series airing on Hulu and Neon Alley. You can also watch the trailer with commercials on Hulu!

Hulu is already streaming the original Sailor Moon anime which is being subbed by Viz and will be adding dubbed episodes later this year. Since Hulu and Hulu Plus have ads in their service, fans looking for an ad free experience may still prefer to watch the series on Crunchyroll. Viz will be releasing the original Sailor Moon series and Sailor Moon Crystal dubbed and subbed on DVD and Blu-Ray at a later date.

Sailor Moon episodes 11 and 12 are now available on Hulu

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Adam

This morning, June 16th, episodes 11 and 12 of Sailor Moon became available to view streaming for free, with ads, on Hulu. These episodes are subbed by Viz and will be released at a rate of two episodes per week. Dubbed episodes as well as a DVD and Blu-Ray release will be coming later this summer.

In episode 11, Usagi vs. Rei: Nightmare in Dream Land, we get our first look at Rei and Usagi’s unique relationship. They turn out to be the best of friends but they fight through the best and worst of times. Usagi, Rei and Ami go to Dream Land to investigate a Dark Kingdom plot! While there they see Mamoru on a child’s train, hang out with some robot animals, assault a small child and fight the Dream Princess who’s actually a creepy looking doll monster.

In episode 12, I Want a Boyfriend: The Luxury Cruise Ship Is a Trap, Rei wins a contest for a trip on a cruise ship and brings Ami, much to Usagi’s disappointment. Usagi abuses of her disguise pen to turn into a photographer to sneak aboard and gets a crush on the ship’s captain who’s actually Jadeite!

Sailor Moon episode 12 - Usagi crushing on Jadeite

I’m shipping these two

Sailor Moon episodes 5 and 6 are now available on Hulu

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Adam

The 5th and 6th episodes of Sailor Moon are now available subbed and streaming on Hulu. As was mentioned previously by Viz, who has acquired the rights to the series, two new episodes will be released every Monday! This week includes two new episodes which were previously not dubbed into English. For many nostalgic fans this is a great chance to check out these episodes for the first time!

Episode 5, Scent of a Monster: Chanela Will Steal Your Love has tensions grow between Shingo and Luna, who is integrating herself into the Tsukino family as a pet, as the Chanela appear in town. Shingo and his friend Mika, along with many other children, are hypnotized by the Chanela who are actually a plot by the Dark Kingdom. One has to wonder if the Chanela themselves were actually innocent creatures with autonomy created as part of this plot and discarded afterwards or if they were just mindless tools. This episode features an interesting twist as Usagi, disguised as Sailor Moon, hides her face from Shingo fearing he might recognize her. Later in the series Usagi’s transformed self is never recognized by anyone. Perhaps Usagi, new to her powers, simply didn’t realize this was the case so early in the show.

Episode 6, Protect the Melody of Love: Usagi Plays Cupid, has Usagi befriending a jazz musician Yusuke Amade, whose music is being used by the Dark Kingdom in order to collect energy. Usagi plays cupid in that she gives him advise on how to win over Akiko who he’s interested in. Usagi uses her transformation pen to get into a club and in doing so sports a punky looking green hair style.

Watch Sailor Moon episodes 1 to 4 for free on Hulu

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Adam

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.

Japanese DVD

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.

Japanese DVD

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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Viz Media to release all 200 episodes of Sailor Moon subbed and with a new dub on DVD, Blu-Ray and streaming starting May 19th

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Adam

After years of waiting the original Sailor Moon anime series has been licensed for distribution by Viz! The original Sailor Moon series will be released by them on DVD, Blu-Ray and streaming both dubbed and subbed. Viz has also acquired the rights to the new Sailor Moon anime Sailor Moon Crystal! This was announced on Friday, May 16th, at Anime Central.

The streaming subbed episodes will be released every Monday starting with the first four episodes which will be released on Neon Alley and Hulu with two new episode being released every Monday after that.

In addition to this subtitled release a whole new dub is being produced. This new release will be retaining all original names and story arcs, be completely unedited, and include all 200 episodes, including Sailor Stars which has never previously been released in North America and the 7 episodes from the first two seasons which were never dubbed. Viz has also acquired the rights to the three Sailor Moon movies and the specials. The new dub will be released streaming in late 2014. Details about the cast of the new dub will be announced at Anime Expo in Los Angeles the weekend of July 3rd to the 6th. This will likely be taking place on Sailor Moon Day, which is being held July 5th. Anime Expo will be having as guests a number of voice actors from the original dub of the Sailor Moon anime, including Linda Ballantyne, Sailor Moon, Katie Griffin, Sailor Mars, Stephanie Morgenstern, Sailor Venus, Karen Bernstein, Sailor Mercury, Susan Roman, Sailor Jupiter, Toby Proctor, Tuxedo Mask, Mary Long, Molly, Ron Rubin, Artemis and John Stocker, voice director. Though fans would love to see their favourite voice actors reprise their role there has been no indication one way or another that this will be the case.

These new releases will also be on DVD and Blu-Ray. The subtitled digital download releases will begin in Summer 2014 with season 1 part 1. The dub will be released with the DVD and Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack releases at a later date. The video is mentioned to be the remastered version from Japan, though details on this remastering process are not currently known. The DVD releases currently available in Japan are standard definition releases. The first season and movies are in 480p, progressive scan, though Sailor Moon R, S, SuperS and SailorStars have only ever been released on interlaced 480i DVDs in Japan to date. Based on comments made in an Anime News Network interview it would appear that the work has been done using post processing rather that going back to the original film source. The last DVDs released domestically from ADV were pretty much completely terrible, so we can certainly expect this version to be a vast improvement.

The following trailer accompanies this announcement:

Sailor Moon DVDs to be released in German and French

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Adam

Earlier this week Toei Animation announced that it made a deal with Viz Media Europe for the release of the Sailor Moon anime in German and French language DVDs. The entire 200 episode TV series will be released by Viz Media Switzerland in German DVDs which will have both German dialogue as well as the original Japanese dialogue with German subtitles. The French release will be handled by Kazé who will be releasing the entire first season of Sailor Moon on bilingual DVDs featuring the French dub as well as the original Japanese with French subtitles.

German and French speaking fans may want to think about picking up these releases as there are still no English dubbed or subbed DVDs currently in print.

Below you will find a few samples of the French language dub. Keep in mind that I recorded these from VHS taped versions of a TV broadcast from the 90s so these clips should not be taken as an indication of the video quality of these upcoming releases.