Archive for the Sailor Moon Category


Sailor Moon The Super Live Event 2025 Report

April 20th, 2025

View of the stage at Sailor Moon The Super Live, 20205 at NJPAC in Newark, NJ. Five women in brightly colored super-hero version of girls "sailor style" Japanese school uniforms, sing and dance with a stage lit tot imply Tokyo, while a screen shows a deep-space image and the words "The Starry Heavens" behind them. Photo by P. Lawler, 2025.
 
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.

Here are thelastblackmoon and kawaiikiwicosplay as Sailors Uranus and Neptune with friends and on their own.


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 was 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 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 though were extra cool and rhythmic-gymnastic-like ribbons which lit up, then could be stiff, as well. They were incredible, but completely overwhelmingly the winnerwere 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 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 Moonight 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!





And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor

December 25th, 2023

Today we’re going on a ride down a rabbit hole, so buckle in. 

This story begins in the 19th century with a figure whose name, at least, almost every woman of my generation knew…Fannie Farmer. Younger generations may not be as familiar with her, she was a real woman, not a corporate mascot. Farmer was the Principal of the Boston Cooking School in the late 1800s. Every time you read a recipe and it has measurements, lists of ingredients, then cooking directions, you are reading her specific influence. She was among a number of women who brought nutrition and food science into existence, with medicine and chemistry weighing in for the first time about what people ate affecting their well-being backed scientifcally. The Boston Cooking School Cook-Book was *the* text book on how to prepare foods…and for generations afterwards, editions of what became The Fannie Farmer Cookbook taught American women what and how to make for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This morning I finished reading the text portion of the Cook-Book, and turned to the ads. For fun, I decided to see which of the companies listed still exist – so far Knox is it. We came across a company that no longer exists, but my wife suggested that it had become part of General Mills, and the ground fell beneath my feet. In the meantime, looking up things like Grist Mill Entire Wheat Coffee and The Pure Food Company’s (unrelated to the current one of the same name…) Cocoanut Butter…

 

And advertisement from 1989 for "Cocoanut Butter" featuring a naked angel baby rising from a broken coconut.

“Health Springs From Cocoanut”


…I ended up reading the entirety of the General Mills Wikipedia page. Where I learned some amazing things. They had a “Aeronautical Research Division and Electronics Division.” Did they? Why? Well, according to Wiki, “The General Mills Electronics division developed the DSV Alvin submersible, which is notable for being used in investigating the wreck of Titanic among other deep-sea exploration missions.”

… Oh. Okay. Of course a cereal and food company would build submersibles. ????

It gets weirder.

“[General Mills] along with its subsidiary The Program Exchange, backed DiC Entertainment in syndicating the Dennis the Menace animated series.” So, of course GM sponsors cartoons, they sell cereal.

Of course my ears pricked right up at the mention of DiC, because they are most famous for one thing.

And there it was:

The opening panel of the English dub of Sailor Moon. from DiC featuring the five Inner Senshi superimposed on a poorly drawn city night scene with the DiC logo of the words 'Sailor Moon' over a crescent moon image.“From 1997 until May 31, 2004, General Mills sponsored and syndicated the first 82 episodes of the original Sailor Moon English dub …”

But wait, there’s more!

While talking about this on the Okazu Discord, longtime friend of Okazu Cryssoberyl had this to say:

“Some of you may know the name of a website called “Save Our Sailors”, which – when it wasn’t peddling “Prince Uranus” theories intended to degay HaruMichi – was concerned with keeping the English release of Sailor Moon on television. As part of these efforts, one planned idea was a “procott” of Kellog’s Pop-Tarts. Fans were supposed to all go out on a particular day and buy Pop-Tarts. Now, Pop-Tarts aren’t from General Mills, but after this “procott” happened, DIC, sponsored by General Mills, returned to syndicating the show. It was then claimed that the procott had been a success because it had drawn General Mills, Kellogg’s competitor, into the move. (Even though it very definitely had nothing to do with it.)”

We’ve talked about Prince Uranus here before, but I absolutely did not remember the Pop-Tart thing, but wife was amazed that she did!

So, as I told the class at Keio University just a few weeks ago…the answer to every question is Sailor Moon. Even, apparently, if the question is “Does this company which makes “Entire (i.e.whole) Wheat Coffee” from 1898 still exist?

Please enjoy the variety of eye-straining fonts on this ad from the Boston Cooking School Cook-Book, edited by Fannie Farmer for Imperial Granum cereal.

An ad from 1898 for "Imperial Granum" cereal with eye-watering font choices

 





Sailor Moon S Kaguyahime no Koibito is a Christmas Movie

December 26th, 2021

As the rest of the world deliberates whether Home Alone or Die Hard counts as a Christmas movie, I have always felt myself above such things. ^_^ But then, translator Jocelyne Allen pointed out that Sailor Moon S Movie is in actual fact a Christmas movie and I could not argue. When she reminded me that this week the Sailor Moon Musical Kaguya-hime no Koibito was available for streaming on Japan 2.5. Stage Play World, my wife and I put together an impromptu double play of a story neither of us much like. ^_^

Firstly, Sailor Moon S The Movie is streaming in dub for free on YouTube right now for US folks. We never bought the new Viz release, so I dragged out our old Pioneer (!) DVD.  You can rent it on Amazon Prime or buy it for only about $5 more on Amazon, which gives you a sense of how popular it is.

The basic plot of the movie is that Luna and Artemis are on the skids. Luna, feeling sick, is found by a handsome man who is himself ill. He nurses her back to health. She learns that he is a Oozora Kakeru, a researcher who is obsessed with a comet that is approaching earth, which he has named “Kaguya-hime” after the moon being from the Taketori Monogatari. Kakeru’s lover is Himeko, a woman chosen for a space mission to study the comet. There is a little tension between them as Kakeru had also wanted to be an astronaut. Luna falls in love with Kakeru, but can do nothing when he falls ill.

As Christmas approaches, so does the comet, and with it Snow Princess Kaguya is revealed to be an alien who wants to take over the earth, naturally. The Senshi fight, are defeated and band together to defeat the enemy. Usagi grants Luna’s wish to become human for one night. She takes Kakeru to space and kisses him. She returns to Earth, and Artemis.

When the Sailor S Movie came out originally I watched it for the then-precious moments with the Outer Senshi. It was originally released in Japan in 1994, my three-disk “uncut” movie box set is from 2001, so possibly older than some of you reading this. Having Haruka and Michiru on screen sharing tea or shopping together was a big deal still.

If you still need proof that this is a Christmas movie, check in at about 21 minutes in:

 

Note the incongruous use of L’Chaim when Tuxedo Kamen throws a top at a snow dancer. This is wildly inappropriate – he should have said “Chag Sameach.” ^_^

Immediately after this, we fired up the Sailor Moon Musical Kaguya-hime no Koibito, starring Nogizaka46 members.

It was…not bad? Also terrible, but in the exact way I love. ^_^ To begin with here is the opening song, which was shaky but solidified up. Mercury was the weakest singer throughout, but the rest of the cast was good to great.

 

The bad stuff was more than one song about how much girls need guys, and until they have them are permanently unfulfilled. And Tuxedo Kamen’s final solo, about which my wife said, “This is unnecessary.” A shame too, because Riku Sorahane had a great voice. From the moment she stepped on stage we could see that she had been trained as a Takarisienne. It was in every motion she made.

Other strange bits were the Luna ballets and Himeko making a comment about being pregnant, which would definitely have kept her out of space. Also the final thanks felt like there was stuff that was supposed to have been said, and instead we have “thank you very much” shouted a us an excessive number of times, even for one of these musicals.

Speaking of excessive, they say “Starry Heavens” 8 times.

So…the good bits. Overall pretty good music. Snow Kaguya had a operatic voice that worked well. The Outers were all great. I can’t embed this, but here is a clip of the Outer Senshi actresses watching the show digest. At 1:30 they watch the bit where they arrive on stage: https://youtu.be/KBHlvUVcDnw?t=90. ^_^

The very best bit, in my opinion was when the Senshi “transform” they each have some dance moves that were adapted from their henshin sequence. I though this extremely clever.

The second best thing was that Haruka and Michiru are glued at the hip throughout the whole performance – even to the point of a small perfomative hug as they leave the stage the first time and holding hands as they leave the second time. It’s more than we ever got in the animated movie and it was overt enough that I wondered idly, if we’ll ever see them stage kiss in an official property.

Overall, it wasn’t as Christmasy as the animated movie, but it was fun. Again, I can’t embed it, but here is the show digest video, so you can get an idea of the spectacle.

Next year as everyone is waggling their Scrooged at you, don’t forget – Sailor Moon S Movie is also a Christmas movie. ^_^





Sailor Moon Eternal on Netflix

June 6th, 2021

2021 has been an “interesting” year in every meaning of the word, In the middle of so much wonderful and awful news, Netflix announced a Global (excluding Japan) release for Sailor Moon Eternal, Parts 1 & 2. The movie had been delayed in Japan, due to the pandemic, then pushed out in between two lockdown state of emergencies this past spring. Given that this, of all the arcs, is least likely to appeal to any adults not already fans of the series and being the one most likely to need a very young audience, it’s kind of obvious that it was being set up for failure as a theatrical release. Making it two movies didn’t help, as it forced people in Japan to make time *twice* to sit with other people in a small room for an hour in a pandemic. Frankly, the whole thing was so poorly handled, its a wonder we actually got the thing at all.

But we did, in the end, get the thing. And you know what? I think it was pretty darn good! Certainly better than I expected.

Sailor Moon Eternal, Part 1 is a re-introduction of the Inner Senshi without rehashing much of the history from the first three seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal. In rapid succession we meet Usagi, her daughter from the future, Chibi-Usa, and her boyfriend and eventual eternal consort, Mamoru. If you don’t understand their super weird dynamic when you begin the story, it is going to be super weird. This sentence was written for my mother who says she’s going to try to watch it. I’m just saying, that if you walked into this part cold, it would be befuddling.

Both bad and good, we spend almost no time with the Amazon Trio. On the positive side, we don’t get endless rapey chest mirror scenes, but on the bad side, the gender queerness of Hawkseye and Fisheye ends up reinforcing negative tropes. Of all the characters in the entire series, Fisheye is my  #1 vote for why this series desperately needs a full rewrite to bring it up to date with  modern understanding of gender and sexuality. I want a Sailor Moon in which she gets a chance to tell Hawkseye and Tigerseye that she was Assigned Male at Human Transformation.

Thankfully, we also got a brief moment with each of the Senshi in a relatively pure form. Character tells us her dream, powers up, defeats baddie. I love when the spirits of their planet castle come to help them power up, so swoon on that for me. It’s basically the only part of this manga arc I really like.

Voice acting (I watched the sub, as I am wont to) was great, I want to shout out to Watanabe Naomi for absolutely doing a Zirconia that was actually creepy.

Sailor Moon Eternal, Part 2 is begins with the Outer Senshi and again, this was the strongest portion of the movie. It was outstanding to see Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna recognize their vows to be a family and raise Hotaru, their happy home life together, and this scene in particular:


If the whole thing had stopped here, that would have been fine. ^_^ Along with I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 3, this has definitely been the year of the Yuri family. ^_^ When I log into Patreon, the thing that is written in this space is something like, “Why are you creating today?” or “What have you worked on today?” or something like that… Well…this image right here is why I am still writing Okazu. THIS is why I am creating today, So that someone looks at this and says, “That there is my ideal world I want to create.”

I consider the Amazoness Quartet a whole wasted opportunity every time. They deserve better than just being sent back to sleep. Can someone give them a decent comic arc, please? Saturn stepping up as Chibi-Usa’s companion was nice, but the Asteroid Senshi still deserve their own story.

I very much liked seeing the Senshi in their Princess (i.e. dressed-up) forms and the final powerup scene was beautifully done.

Most importantly, I want to give props to the animators for killing the transformation sequences. I could watch just them and the attacks and be happy. And, finally Saturn has an official henshin, yay! For once, the extra time Toei got from the delays went to taking better care with the animation. Kon Chiaki’s direction was on point and the whole package is that, as a theatrical experience, Sailor Moon Eternal was not going to let us down, as earlier seasons of Crystal had.

I’ve been thinking about this specific issue a lot. There’s something to be said for making sure people assigned to the creation of a beloved series give a shit about that series. Viz was doing really well on that score, until this release, when they and Netflix allowed a man who has been credibly accused of sexual assault of an industry colleague to be involved with the production. Lynzee Loveridge has written poignant and heartfelt coverage of this and I have to say I really feel her.  Almost 30 years of upskirts and down shirts (Part 2 was especially obnoxious in this regard) and sex pests infesting every aspect of this series – for little girls – sends a clear message that we will never ever be free of the creeps as long as all those “nice” guys let them have power and influence.

Just as impactful for those of us who rely on translations and adaptations – localization companies who put any old translator or actor on a series that is, in the original language, a breakthrough of representation for a marginalized audience,  is going to come off looking like they intentionally insulted that audience. It’s not 1995 and it’s not okay to put a vocally anti-trans person in a role that is trans or trans-adjacent, for instance. It’s not acceptable to put someone who doesn’t *care* about language used by a queer writer to tell a queer story to translate that story. When you pick some guy to direct the world’s most famous series for little girls, he’d better LOVE that series to death, or get him the fuck off the project. Sailor Moon Crystal Season 1 looked like crap. There has yet to be an edition of the manga into English that I think is better than okay. It’s been more than a quarter of a century. This stuff is important.  It’s time for a power up.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 6
Characters – YMMV on every last one of them, but we voted 9
Service – Yes, sadly – 4
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

So, overall, the movies themselves are very well done, men who are sex pests suck and this series needs an overhaul. If I had the time, I would definitely be inclined to rewrite the whole thing. ^_^

No we sit back and wait for for news of the last season. Again.

 





Sailor Moon Stars Limited Edition, Part 2, Disk 3

May 18th, 2020

There is no chance that this is the last post I ever make about Sailor Moon, but it may be the last post I make about the original 1990s anime. For the last time, we are going to talk about Sailor Moon Stars Limited Edition, Part 2, Disk 3, in which no one listens to either of the Princesses they have sworn to defend, because 16 year olds make shitty decisions.

Because no one listens to Usagi and Kakyuu-hime, and no one else suggests they all work together, they are picked off by Galaxia, whose backstory isn’t as much of a surprise as she apparently felt it might be. No Sailor Cosmos here to clog up the works, just another Senshi blundering around with mostly no idea what to do.

Which makes me wonder how I would have ended it. Let’s do that at the end.

On the positive side, Seiya gets to say what needs to be said to Usagi. This time, I was really glad about that. Once Mamoru’s fate was revealed, it was a lot easier to forgive both of them for everything they didn’t do right.

Haruka and Michiru spend the last few episodes being really gay, in case you didn’t know they were a couple.  I felt and still feel that this was specifically directed at the corner of fandom who just would not admit that they were really together. Their final moments are both heart-wrenching and extended and good heavens there were still people who just would NOT believe they were together. (I bet those people are all gay now, if you know what I mean…)

And then the epilogue comes and everyone lives happily ever after. For real.

Until 1000 years in the future when Crystal Tokyo is destroyed. Because just as no one thinks “Hey, let’s listen to the Princess,” no one would say, “HEY, we know what happens, let’s not be defeated by the Black Moon.”  I’m looking at you, Ami. You’re supposed to be the smart one.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 9
LGBTQ – 5 Michiru and Haruka are very, very gay.
Service – 3 Does Galaxia’s hair count? It’s really great hair. Oh, right, and some nudity

Overall – 8

So, how would I have ended it? How about this…

Sailor Moon and Kakyuu-hime would have convinced the Senshi to work together. They would have combined their powers and healed Galaxia, reuniting her with Chibi-Chibi. Hell yes, I would have included Sailor Cosmos – that’s a great costume. SHE would have told the combined Senshi Galaxia’s backstory and would have accompanied Sailor Galaxia home, by way of healing the planets she destroyed.

We would have had two epilogues…the one we got and one in Crystal Tokyo in the future where everything was shiny and perfect and Princess Small Lady was a little older, playing with the Asteroid Senshi, Saturn and Pluto at the Doors of Time, while the rest of the Senshi attended Queen Serenity and King Endymion in Crystal Tokyo as other planetary Senshi visited.

But no one asked me.

Viz has done an exemplary job with this classic title. I want to once again thank every person who worked on this release. Your love and attention was greatly appreciated. This is the definitive Sailor Moon.