ALWAYS THERE TO DEFEND: NEW SAILOR MOON ANIME TO DEBUT IN 2013

In 1992, the celebrated Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon anime debuted in Japan, capturing the hearts of thousands of young fans. The series would eventually explode across the globe, resulting in five major story arcs, stage musicals, live action series, and countless pieces of iconic merchandise (after all, who didn’t want their own sailor outfit?). We shared in the excitement of their battles and victories, we laughed at their antics, we sang that catchy theme song, and we definitely envied their cat. Now, twenty later, creator Naoko Takeuchi has announced that we don’t have to put away our plastic moon scepters just yet–the series will return with a new anime debuting in the summer of 2013.

On the morning of July 6th, Sailor Moon fans who tuned into Japan’s premier video sharing site, Nico Nico, for the 20th anniversary talk featuring pop band Momoiro Clover Z, were pleasantly surprised with the news that Takeuchi and Kodansha Comics already have a new series in the works. Kodansha editor Fumio Osano has confirmed that the new project will not be a film, but a serialized anime. They have yet to release any details beyond its existence, its format, and its debut timeframe, but longtime fans of the series have already begun to speculate that this new anime will be a reboot geared to both young, potential-moonies, and older fans.

The presence of Kotono Mitsuishi (voice actor of Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon) and Toru Furuya (voice actor of Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask) at the anniversary event has certainly raised some eyebrows — will they reprise their roles in the upcoming series? The voice actor cast remains to be seen, but what we do know is that Momoiro Clover Z will provide the show’s theme song, it will be produced by Toei animation, which also animated the original series, and it will be distributed worldwide (!) after it runs its course in Japan, though I’m sure people will be subbing it and uploading it online much sooner than that.

I am totally pumped for this reboot, I just hope they maintain Haruka and Michiru’s relationshipwhen the series finally makes its way over the the States. What are you hoping to see in the new Sailor Moon series?

New 2013 Sailor Moon anime will be in Japanese with many language subtitles…

The lack of any significant news about the new Sailor Moon anime set to start airing this summer has been pretty frustrating. Naoko Takeuchi’s editor Fumio Osano (@osabu8) has been very active on twitter and answers many questions either by saying he doesn’t know the answer yet or he’s not allowed to give one. While details aren’t really there it seems obvious from all that he says that the new anime is still in the works, though it seems like many of the specifics aren’t quite figured out.

Recently a user SnowWolf2012 asked him if the simultaneous worldwide release mentioned at the 20th anniversary event was going to be in Japanese or in many languages. The answer was simply:

Japanese voice with many languages captions,perhaps

Not very definitive, but it seems that we might be seeing a Japanese release with subtitles in other languages, presumably including English, for the original release. A dub could certainly follow at a later time.

With the vague wording of that tweet it doesn’t seem anything is set in stone but a subtitled release appearing online soon after the show originally aired would certainly be consistent with how other shows have been doing things using services like CrunchyRoll or FUNimation’s site. As with any anime series a dubbing and home video release would likely follow some time later while TV broadcasts happen only for more popular anime series.

So that’s your little tidbit of news. Not much to go on but ultimately we’ve gotten nearly nothing in the way of new information on this show since the original announcement at the 20th anniversary event. We will definitely strive to bring you any new information as we learn about it.

A big thanks to SnowWolf for bringing this to our attention at the Sailor Moon forums and thanks to Fumio Osano for being so active in communicating with the fans.

Fumio Osano states that US viewers will be able to watch the new 2013 Sailor Moon Anime online

Fumio Osana, @osabu8 on twitter, has responded to a fan’s question about how US viewers will be able to watch the new Sailor Moon 2013 anime, asking if it would be available online. His reply was:

@DanielleSwaw yes,you will watch on internet.

Short and sweet. Based on this statement it would seem that international distribution of the show, at least at first, is planned to be done online. How exactly this will be done isn’t specified but it seems reasonable that we will see it on some kind of streaming site. Some sites like Crunchy Roll and Funimation already do this.

This news was preceeded by a statement from not long ago by Fumio Osano that the show may be released subtitled in other languages.

We still don’t have many specifics about the new Sailor Moon 2013 anime that starts this summer but as soon as we get any new information we’ll be sure to share it with you.

Thanks to Danielle Swaw for asking the question and thanks to Sarah Trim for bringing this news to our attention via our Facebook page.

Sailor Moon Opening (English)

NEW ITALIAN SAILOR MOON DOLLS AND WANDS!!!

An Italian Sailor Moon fan posted this exciting news on the LJ smcollectors community this evening: black and white pictures of brand new Italian Sailor Moon dolls, figures, and even a crescent moon wand!

http://community.livejournal.com/smcollector/494125.html

This comes not too long after a new clothing line was introduced. I'm so anxious to see color pictures of the new dolls and wand!

I'm not sure how I feel about the new dolls yet; the packaging is so new and different! The wand itself looks to be a copy of the older Japan/Europe crescent moon wand, with the three different rings. I honestly don't expect them to make new toys of any items that were never released in Europe in the first place - so probably no Eternal locket or Twinkle Yell. I wonder if there will be a new Star Locket? I'll be pretty happy with whatever we get!

What do you think of this new merchandise? What, if anything, do you plan on buying? I'm not too keen on the dolls, but seeing more pictures could sway me. I'll most likely pick up whatever RPG toys they release - hopefully there will be a lot of them! Sailor Moon is apparently doing really well in Italy, so let's keep our fingers crossed (and our money saved) for a massive influx of new merchandise!


UPDATE: Color pictures of the dolls are here!

UPDATE X2: Color pictures of the figurines, including Beryl and Serenity! Also, trading cards and some cute little Sailor rings!

Korean merchandise!

As some of you may have noticed, a couple of eBay sellers started posting rare, sought-after Korean merchandise in large groups at very reasonable prices a few weeks ago. Some people worried that it was a scam, since nobody had seen some of these plush on eBay in - well, years, even - and all of a sudden somebody was posting ten at a time. I guess the general consensus is someone found an old box of Korean stuff. Anyway, I got my items this week and other people have gotten their things too, so these sellers are definitely legit!

Although I wanted the satin cat plush, the excellent figure, the 11" doll and.. well, everything from Sonokong really, I decided to hang on to some of my money for Anime Boston and just buy the fuzzy plush and a rare cat item I'd never seen before. Besides, since so many are being posted now, it means there's a lot more on the English market and (hopefully) prices will stay low in the future. Anyway, here's what I got. You can click on any of the photos to view a larger size.



First up: the fuzzy cats! One quirk on the cat boxes is that Artemis is shaded in grey, like Diana. When I first saw pictures of the Korean cat plush I thought that it was just lighting, but it's actually pretty consistent on all the box art.





My question is why did they go to the trouble? All the Artemis merchandise is white and I know I've seen these particular images before and Artemis was white in them, too. Weird. Another thing that a friend pointed out - Moon is transformed, but Minako is in casual wear. Overall, though, I think the Korean packaging is very cute. The boxes themselves aren't in the best condition, even though they were packaged for shipping very well, which lends to the "someone found an old discarded box of Korean merch" theory.





The plush! First thing I noticed was that these are a bit larger than the Japanese Luna & Artemis. Luna is dark blue - I like how her color varies from blue to grey to black on all the various merchandise. Her eyes are blue too. Apparently another user in serasell got a fuzzy Luna plush with brown eyes, so I guess there were a couple of different productions of this plush. I wonder if there's a grey Artemis somewhere. LOL.

This next item was the most exciting to me. It's a cute Luna backpack! I had never, ever seen it before. Isn't it weird how after like 15 years, "new" merchandise is still popping up? Korean merchandise in particular has always been pretty rare and mysterious. I didn't even know about the Korean excellent figure until last year. I wonder what else is hiding in Korea.





Weirdly, the front shows Sailor Moon wearing the Artemis backpack instead of the Luna one. Also, Artemis is white! But the clip art on the back shows him grey again.. hmm.



Anyway, this is a really cute, soft, and pretty well made backpack. It has a side zipper pocket, and the top opens and closes with a drawstring. The top flap with Luna's face on it snaps shut with a gold magnetic enclosure. Though it looks small, it actually has a decent amount of room in it - both the Korean cats fit!





Along with this Luna backpack, a similar Sailor Moon backpack was posted. The colors are cute, but I think it's weird that Sailor Moon has a side ponytail. So I didn't buy it. More interestingly, there's also indication on the backpack box art that an Artemis backpack was made! Sadly, I haven't seen it posted amongst the other Korean merchandise. The only hint I've ever seen of its existence is on the packaging for the Luna backpack, so I think this is extremely rare. I would love to find it some day.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2011

New accessories, where to buy from Italy, re-reading the manga, and Super Sailor Moon cosplay (again)

I seem to have some trouble updating this.. to be honest, I haven't bought much in the way of Sailor Moon in a few weeks. I've mostly been building up a modest Gothic Lolita wardrobe. I did make a Sailor Moon-esque coordinate though, which I'll probably post when I get some decent pictures.

I'm honestly not too excited about the new Italy toys, though I'll probably buy the Crescent Moon Wand, definitely the Luna Pen, and perhaps a couple of dolls. For those of you who are wondering where to buy the new toys, Ochibawolf posted with information that Muscara is selling some of them! It looks like they have the dolls and trading figures. Muscara has been selling Italian Sailor Moon toys for a loooooong time now, so I would check them out.



So, I was also at Katsucon last weekend! However, I mostly cosplayed Nia from Gurren Lagann. I did wear school uniform Sailor Moon for a brief spell, but don't have any pictures :/ However, I did get a brand new set of manga Sailor Moon accessories, thanks to this lovely cosplayer, who's still one of the best Sailor Moons I have ever seen! Even if she doesn't cosplay it anymore :'( Here's my new brooch:



I also recently got in a big shipment of feathers for my Eternal Sailor Moon cosplay! My cat is OBSESSED.

Italian Luna Pen

I got my Italian Luna Pen today! I ordered it on the 26th of March, and it actually arrived Saturday the 9th, but it was a signed delivery and I was unavailable, so I had to pick it up myself. Considering it came from Italy to upstate New York, I didn't find the shipping time too unreasonable. Anyway, I thought I'd post a little review of the Luna (or "Lunar") Pen and the magazine it came with! You can click on any of the photos for a larger version. Here's how the package arrived:








The pen itself cost 15.00 EUR and the shipping cost was 10 EUR, so the total was about $36 USD. This is competitive with, and mostly cheaper than, what I've seen listed on eBay.






Front & back of the pen & magazine. I really like that the plastic blister packaging on the pen slips off so you don't have to damage the packaging at all!




The gem on the end of the pen is actually a somewhat translucent plastic. It's a nice touch that doesn't show up very well in the photos I've seen.




Like the Japanese Luna Pen, this pen breaks open in the middle and only the bottom part can be used as a pen. This always disappointed me; it would look much cooler if it were a clicky pen, or if the bottom half was the cap instead. Ah well. All in all, it's definitely cheaper in every way when compared to the Japanese Luna Pen, but is still a fun toy and it's nice to see a new design. Hopefully later I will make some comparison pics; I stupidly left my Japanese pen at my apartment even though I probably need it at Anime Boston in two weeks.

Next, here are some pictures from the magazine! I was sort of thinking of just selling it but it's actually really fun to look through. The artwork and presentation is very nice. Disclaimer: I can't read any of this, not even a little bit.




The beginning of the magazine has a few pages dedicated to Ami. I don't have the first magazine, but I'm going to venture a guess that each once will have a few pages dedicated to a certain senshi at the beginning. However, they all have a little section in the magazine, including Tuxedo Mask/Milord and the cats. Here are a few samples:



Girl Power! Section.



Mercury planetary facts



Rei's fashion section



Makoto's cooking tidbits



Minako's manicure advice



Artemis recycling tips (I found this amusing for some reason)



My favorite section! The clip art of the items is soo nice.

All in all, Muscara.com had great service, the Pen was pretty much what I expected, and the magazine was a nice surprise. I can't wait to see more stuff from Italy!


EDIT: I didn't notice it when I was making this post, but it was brought to my attention in the comments. The gem on top of the Luna Pen actually has lip gloss in it! What a cute surprise!