Last night at the American Manga Awards, hosted by Anime NYC and the Japan Society, Sumiko Arai’s contemporary Yuri romance manga The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t Guy At Allwon the Best New Manga Series award.
This series has been a game changer, from breaking the walls on merchandise and marketing to significant sales. Of course Arai-sensei’s art and story are phenomenal, with likable characters and a romance we are all invested in, plus a great built in soundtrack. ^_^ But there’s more going on here – Yen and Kinokuniya have mad massive investment in promoting this title, and that’s paid off in a way that has let Yen know that Yuri is worth promoting.
I have a lot of thoughts about this of course, but let me just say, congratulations to Arai-sensei, to the team and Yen Press and to all of us here at Okazu!
The familiar barrage of guitar notes of “Ready to Rock”, BAND-MAID’s opening song for Rock Is a Lady’s Modesty, hyped up an expectant crowd. On stage, however, was not the band; present instead was RockLady’s Director, Shinya Watada, Otoha Kurogane’s voice actor, Miyuri Shimabukuro, and Producer Hidetake Nishigaya. The topic at hand: the staff’s favorite scenes and a peek behind the curtain on production.
The Saturday morning panel was the group’s second during this year’s Otakon, the first being held the day before in one of the larger conference rooms of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Having only the chance to visit the conference on Saturday, I was curious whether interest in the series was strong enough to carry a second session. I was pleasantly surprised; despite the smaller room, the attendees, roughly 120 in total, were as loud and raucous as a Fuji Rock crowd (or at least my imagination of such). I was pretty impressed by the number of fans who showed up to hear more about a niche title that aired on a small streaming platform.
The panel was MC’d by Nishigaya-san, with Watada-san and Shimabukuro-san as the guests of honor. Both shared two clips each that were their personal favorites and discussed why. Watada-san highlighted two post-jam ending scenes; Otoha’s first colorful outburst and immediate switch back to lady-like speech from the end of episode 1, and the battle of the bands scene with our full group panting, sweating, in front of a stunned crowd. Both moments were stressful to direct, and he was relieved that they managed to hit with the intended impact.
Shimabukuro-san’s choices were both spirited character moments. First was lead character/guitarist Lilisa and Otoha’s first exchange of vulgarities in episode 3. The second was Lilisa’s defense of the rock greenhorn Tina in episode 8. She would mention that her biggest challenge was keeping her speech intelligible during the not-infrequent torrents of screamed insults.
After the favorite scenes section, the panel moved on to Q&A. Shimabukuro-san mentioned taking drum lessons to get into the role, but given her novice status she did not end up drenched in sweat like her character. The staff were asked about their favorite Western rock bands (Watada: Bon Jovi; Nishigaya: Green Day).
The most interesting revelations came towards the end. Nishigaya-san touted one last surprise: a prerecorded segment with BAND-MAID, who provided both music and motion-capture for the musical performance scenes. Of their anecdotes, my favorite was from drummer Akane Hirose, who said that Otoha’s freestyle drumming in episode 1 was an unrehearsed jam that was requested at the end of a recording session.
All in all, it was a fun panel. The only mildly disappointing part was that Akira Sekine, the seiyuu for Lilisa, was not there to trade stories with Shimabukuro-san, which could’ve brought out some more lively banter. Also, there was no season 2 tease or even a shoutout to the upcoming localization of the manga coming next month. Still, I was pleased to see that the show garnered enough love for there to be two panels dedicated to it.
After the panel I left the hall and grabbed myself a chili-smothered half-smoke at the Ben’s Chili Bowl stall located at the north end of the convention center’s skybridge that spans across L Street. Given the central location, I had a great vantage point to watch the throngs of anime fans passing by, many in cosplay. While I didn’t see anyone dressed up as Otoha or Lilisa, there was still plenty of RockLady-like rebellion put on display. Perhaps the next time I make it to a convention I will see more proper ladies saying “Gokigenyou~” with middle fingers up.
Our first in-person live Sailor Moon stage show was in 2002, when we stumbled into a performance hall quite accidentally, and found ourselves in a Sailor Moon gift shop for a show that was playing. It was a version of the third season, Super, so were were delighted to be able to see it. We went to Shining Moon Tokyo, the Sailor Moon restaurant as part of the 100 Years of Tokyo Tour, where the show had incredibly clever use of a very small space. One of the defining moments was Mars using some kind of LED light effect baton that, when swung, looked as if it was flames. (This is pertinent to this report, bear with me!)
And, finally, we were able to see the first iteration of Sailor Moon The Super Live when it came to Washington, DC and New York City in 2019. That was a lovely fully 2.5D experience, with panels from the manga in the background as the story played out. Beryl was joined by Kunzite alone of the Shittenou who appeared as baddies.
And on Friday, my wife and I attended the Sailor Moon The Super Live North American Tour 2025 event in Newark, NJ at NJPAC, as part of the 21-city North American Tour. We had sat on the idea of going for a week, so were unable to get VIP tickets, but when we got an email from NJPAC to RSVP to a “secret” pre-show event, obviously, we did immediately. And that, starting right off, was an indication of just how far NJPAC was leaning into this show. We used secret code “silvercrystal” to get an RSVP. It was adorable cringe. ^_^
Of course, we arrived too early! I walked up and down the line as people arrived taking pictures of all our cool Sailor Moon dress up, shirts and gear. At the bottom of this post is a gallery of photos I took of everyone. Two quick disclaimers: Everyone gave me explicit permission to use these photos, but if you want yours removed, please free to ask and I will! Conversely, if I took your picture and it’s not here, I apologize, just let me know and I’ll find it and add it. I had a lot of pictures to comb through. The entire (windy) time we waited, music from Sailor Moon anime and shows wafted around the plaza. You could see folks bopping and singing along to their faves.
Once inside, we headed up to the pre-show event. Again, NJPAC did a wonderful job. When we checked in, we got a bingo card. I did my best to fill out as many of the boxes as quickly as I could, because it was fun, and ran back to get a prize, which was a really large, cute Luna stuffed animal. She now sits proudly next to our Osaka-ben talking Kero-chan next to where I am typing. ^_^ We had “asian-inspired” food, which was a very generous interpretation of Chinese-ish pork, shrimp or mushroom buns, pasta with sesame oil and desserts choices of brownies, lemon bars, strawberries, and mochi donuts, with a choice of hibiscus or matcha boba drinks. We ate some food then had a few of everything dessert, while (again) ran around taking pictures…because everyone was SO cute. ^_^
Here are a few pictures I want to share specifically, just because the Outers looked amazing, as they always do. But do please check the entire gallery.
And this outstanding group of Outer Senshi princesses:
Then it was time for the show. The story hasn’t changed…but actually, it has. Every show I have seen has made small changes to the story. Here, they did some interesting things on a meta-level. While several songs insisted that all of the Senshi are still “normal girls” they likewise insisted that their powers are part of that “normal.” THIS is who they are and it’s perfectly okay.
They leaned deeply into their defining characteristics of Justice (Moon), Intelligence (Mercury), Passion (Mars), Courage (Jupiter) and Love (Venus.) This theme repeated, as did the song Starry Heavens and My Universe. And, while their introductory songs did briefly give their backstories, these were stripped of angst and centered on how Usagi changed their lives. If a lack of something can be considered a theme, then lack of angst was a key theme here. We get a number of pieces about Beryl, the war between the moon and earth and Endymion and Serenity in the second act, but the death of the senshi is – refreshingly – absent, and it is Sailor Moon who lifts herself up, then rejoins her friends. Likewise, Queen Metallia is presented as an annoyance to Beryl, a tool, that she had no choice but to use but she is uninterested in giving her the Legendary Silver Crystal if possible, as she plans to keep it for herself.
There were a number of moments played for jokes and a number of moments in which the audience just laughed, knowing what thing was being referenced.
The effects were presented in several ways – stage lighting and a large screen in the back that ran subtitles of dialogue and songs and also stood in for city scenes. Miasma and Queen Metallia were nicely presented on the screen. There was a metal framework in front of the screen implying the city of Azabu Juban and Tokyo tower, which I quite liked. It would light up as the miasma left and Sailor Moon saved the city..again. ^_^ But, once again my favorite effect was in the different LED light sticks that were used…and the LED spinners.
This show had LED lighting effect in short batons, long lances which I thought were extra cool and rhythmic-gymnastic-like ribbons which lit up, then could be stiff, as well. They were incredible, but completely overwhelmingly the winner were the spinners. You know fire spinning, right? These were similar. Things that were spun, but because it is a programmable LED, the effects were amazing. They could imply a galaxy, or an attack…the Senshi’s attacks were met with crowd approval, but when the spinners kicked in to show the planetary symbols, the crowd went wild. ^_^ It looked amazing.
The cast was excellent. This was an exhausting show. Just the number of times Usagi had to collapse to her knees make me tired. ^_^ They had stairs which they ran up and down, singing (they were doing the singing live as the occasional imperfect note confirmed,) and of course dancing, “fighting” and generally running around. The harmonies were solid, and they were just…the Senshi. Riko Tanaka’s Usagi was cute, clumsy, and somehow stronger than you expected (wifey says, “with a pair of pipes”,) while Kanon Maekawa as Ami was slightly less vulnerable than she previously has been portrayed, Rei Kobayashi was a perfect Rei, focusing on her own strengths and desires, Kisara Matsumura as Makoto had a pleasant soprano, and left her heartbreak behind in one sentence, and Marin Makino’s Minako was confident and still, somehow, a little goofy. I find myself less and less tolerant of Tuxedo Mask, but have to give props to Riona Tatemichi’s performance and the script for somehow making him a bit sympathetic. But the winner and still champeen is, without a doubt, Sayaka Okamura as Queen Beryl. Holy crow could that woman sing.
Once Beryl kidnaps Mamoru and the Senshi have to travel to the Dark Kingdom, the tone of the music changes dramatically. A neon sign reads “Dark Kingdom,” and the world is not dark, but a brightly lit party-all-the-time-even-if-you-don’t-want-to honky-tonk. Beryl sings “Burn Up The Dance Floor,” a song of violent, yet catchy, retribution and she just nails every note. Her reprise in the revue portion was even more enthusiastically received. Absolutely outstanding performance.
Props to the extras, as well, who work really hard with little credit, playing characters like the Dark Kingdom creatures, Haruna-sensei, Naru’s Mom, and Usagi’s Mom, in scene after scene.
The revue portion included a version of La Soldier. I sat next to a family that included a dad who was not familiar with any of this, but clearly bopped to some of the catchier tunes, a mom who was a fan and a kid who was not, but was well-behaved and absolutely befuddled when the entire audience suddenly began to sing this song. ^_^ My wife howled at the appropriate point and was delighted that she wasn’t the only one.
After a few other songs, it concluded with Moonlight Densetsu. I don’t know how long this will stay up even though the audience is given explicit permission to record and post this video with the hashtag #SailorMoonSuperLive, but here is Moonlight Densetsu from the finale!
I hope you will also take a look at these photos of the creativity and joy of the audience.
This was a fantastic show. There are a very few seats left for remaining NYC shows…it looks like Philly and Hartford are sold out. I highly recommend this experience, if only to be part of a dedicated, shockingly non-toxic fandom. ^_^
Now that this tour has been so successful, you know I’m hoping that they do Super with the Outers next time. ^_^ I understand that having 8 more people on the tour is a lot of logistics, but…I wanna see the Outers use those LED spinners for their attacks!
As I have been shouting from the rooftops, the live-action extravaganza Sailor Moon The Super Live is on tour. I have seen any number of live stage performances of Sailor Moon, including my very first trip to Japan! I saw Sailor Moon The Super Live in NYC in 2022 and enjoyed it immensely and have plans for seeing it next month when it comes NJPAC – why not join me and say hi! ^_^ The tour is adding a few dates now – they just added a *4th* date in Seattle, wow, so definitely see if you can be part of this. It’s really quite wonderful.
And, now, Okazu friends in London have experienced the show for the very first time! Rue Bell was kind enough to write up this report for us. Thank you Rue, I’ll turn it over to you….
I attended Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The Super Live (henceforth Super Live) in London with some friends and members of the Okazu Discord Server. Like may geeky events in London, the experience started on the London Underground before we even got to the theatre, with more and more passengers wearing Sailor Moon themed clothes, bags and hair buns as we drew closer to the Camden venue. Seated tickets were available for a premium, but most of us opted for the basic standing ticket. There was a merchandise stall that included photos of the cast and Sailor Moon branded light sticks.
Super Live is a musical adaptation of the first season of the anime, which is the part of Sailor Moon that I have the most familiarity with and nostalgia for, having watched selected episodes on VHS as a child. The plot introduces Sailor Moon and the four Inner Senshi, then they battle against Queen Beryl and her six monster for possession of the Silver Crystal. Tuxedo Mask is in every fight as a love interest and ambiguous friend-or-foe figure.
Super Live is performed entirely in Japanese, with translations projected onto a large screen. The musical numbers were translated with animated typography, and standard subtitles were used for the spoken dialogue in-between. I thought this worked well, however in this
particular venue overhanging balcony seats meant the dialogue subtitles were not visible from about half of the standing area, which is likely to have created a poor experience for audience members in those areas.
I enjoyed the shimmer, sparkle and spectacle of Sailor Moon when I was a child, and I think Super Live’s impressive production lived up to it. The dancing was, to my eyes, impeccably synchronised and choreographed, and it was backed up by a huge screen at the back of the
stage, and an LED-covered set and props that all pulsated and changed colour in time with the music and dancers.
As an adult, the interactions between the Sailor Senshi are my favourite part of the Sailor Moon anime. These unsurprisingly weren’t the focus in this musical with a highly compressed plot. However, one person I went with did notice that the Senshi actors still conveyed these dynamics using small interactions, so the observant fans will enjoy those. There were also two musical numbers focussed on the diverse personalities and skills of the Senshi. The message that there are all sorts of ways to be a girl or a woman is quite important to me, so I appreciated these performances being there, and got quite emotional about them in the finale.
I think the Tuxedo Mask performance deserves a particular shout-out. He was played by the female actor Sufa, and she nailed his cool, confident presence in every scene. The performance reminded me of an otokoyaku – a woman playing a man’s role – in the Takarazuka Revue. I don’t think that this is intended to be seen as queer, but I expect that yuri fans will nonetheless enjoy watching an actor playing with gender roles.
I would definitely recommend Super Live to any Sailor Moon fan, it adapts many of the things that drew me to the original series. The run in London ended on March 19th 2025, but at the time of publication a North American tour is planned for March and April 2025.
Last week, I had the opportunity to go to Yuriten 2025 in Osaka, my first Yuri-themed event in Japan.
I’ve lived here for many years, but most of that time was spent in the Aomori countryside, pining from the sidelines as so many otaku events came and went in the big city. Finally, though, after moving to the Kansai area, I got my chance to see the Yuri fandom up-close and in-person.
Recently, I started my own lesbian game development studio, Yuri Kissaten! We’ve released two games so far and several more to come. So of course I am now honor-bound to go to all LGBTQ+ otaku events in the Kansai area!
Yuriten 2025 was held from February 8-16 in the Shinsaibashi area of Osaka, north of Dotonbori and close to a lot of Namba’s lesbian bars (a very nice touch). This year’s Yuriten was held in Osaka Space, which seems to be a different, and smaller venue than previousyears where it was held at Namba Parks.
I went with a friend on February 11th, a national holiday. Osaka was absolutely buzzing with activity, but the area around the event was surprisingly quiet. After curry lunch at a nice little cafe, we went to Osaka Space and descended down the stairs to the basement floor event.
Yuriten definitely felt like a low-key affair. With free entry and a very quiet atmosphere, it was almost like a pop-up museum. High-resolution manga prints for a couple dozen series, a guided path through the space, and a place to write a memo for future guests to look on. Everyone was quiet, almost in reverence to the beauty of fictional lesbianism. I had to whisper to my friend anytime I had a comment.
With how museum-like it felt, I’d honestly have loved an actual exhibit with Yuri genre history and some really old magazines on display. But this is more like a showcase of creators and series past and present–it’s run by Village Vanguard (basically the Hot Topic of Japan), and so the goal is definitely to help boost manga sales in a niche but growing genre.
There were many series on display, some I recognized, and some I had never seen before. That’s part of the appeal of the event, I imagine; see some really cool art from comics you’ve never heard of, or only seen a pic or two online, and finding new series to read through.
It also showcased Strawberry Panic and Aoi Hana, two of the classic Yuri schoolgirl romance anime series of the 2000s. That’s some nice representation! Strawberry Panic was the first Yuri media I ever found, and it hit me in a very bad way to realize that it’s turning twenty years old next year.
Time passes very quickly…
Anyway, most everything else was currently running or just-finished manga series firmly in the Yuri genre.
I noticed one RPG called Witch & Lily, but practically everything else was manga. It’s fitting for a Village Vanguard event, but I was disappointed to find little love for other mediums, especially games, music, movies, and novels. (Especially games… I’d love to be featured here one day…)
This year also seems sorely lacking in “heavy hitter” series. Compared to previous years like 2019, Yuriten didn’t feature many of the current bestsellers like I’m In Love with the Villainess, How Do We Relationship, or almost anything from Comic Yuri Hime magazine, let alone recent non-romance series with Yuri elements like Witch from Mercury or Dead Dead Demon’s De-De-De-De-Destruction. I understand that series like Love Bullet or The Guy She Was Interested Wasn’t a Guy At All probably became popular too recently to coordinate an appearance, but it felt distinctly like there was something lacking from Yuriten. Like we only got a slice of the fandom, not a full celebration.
Still, I really appreciate what did show up. The fact that there’s so much popular Yuri out there these days that I’m lamenting what’s missing is a sign of just how many great series are running right now! I just hope Yuriten continues to expand in future years, and hopefully goes to more cities than just Tokyo and Osaka.
Of course, at the end of the mini-exhibit was the gift shop. Lots of exclusive, overpriced items from all your favorite series, and manga for series you want to dive into.
I got me a couple cheap goods, as well as one nonfiction essay manga which stars a butch protagonist (very rare in manga!). I was very tempted to get a manga-branded t-shirt and parade that thing around for years, but I didn’t see any from my favorites.
Yuriten was certainly a fun experience, a free half an hour you can spend observing a slice of the Yuri fandom, and a place for a few exclusive items for smaller series that otherwise may never get any other merch. It made me really wish for bigger, more ambitious events in the future, though, especially something where we can actually meet and talk to other fans. A full Yuricon, perhaps…
(Also, look at this very strange and expensive dress my friend and I found while shopping after the event! Would you wear this to Yuriten?)
Erica Friedman is the Founder of Yuricon, ALC Publishing Lesbian Icon. Speaker, Writer, Editor/Adapter, LGBTQ manga tastemaker, 百合人. Proud to be a MLS. Learn more >>
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Last night at the American Manga Awards, hosted by Anime NYC and the Japan Society, Sumiko Arai’s contemporary Yuri romance manga The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t Guy At All won the Best New Manga Series award.
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