Archive for the Sailor Moon Category


100 Years of Yuri Tour: Sailor Moon Restaurant, Shining Moon Tokyo

September 22nd, 2019

One of the several exciting events associated with our 100 Years of Yuri Tour was a visit to the Sailor Moon Restaurant, Shining Moon Tokyo. We included this, in part because Sailor Moon is foundational to a whole generation of not only Yuri fans, but also Yuri creators. (I recall a story in one of Hayashiya Shizuru-sensei’s early doujinshi on how she met her partner/assistant Makise Ren at a video rental store, as they both reached for a Sailor Moon S tape.) Also in part because I thought it sounded awesome and wanted to include it.

Shining Moon Tokyo was awesome, and I’m really glad we went. ^_^

To begin with, we were met at the door by a person who confirmed our reservation and took our dinner orders before we had set foot in the place. We then proceeded down stairs into a basement wonderland. Well…a relatively low-budget wonderland, anyway.

 

 

 

 

The tables and chairs were white resin, very 1960s. The stage was small, with stair up each side to a catwalk across the top and the smallest proscenium I had ever seen, not even a meter square. There was a screen across the stage, welcoming us to Shining Moon Tokyo.

 

 

 

The ceiling was hung with the planets…two of which became part of the show, in a rhythmic gymnastics kind of way.

 

 

Costumes in one section of the restaurant were the only decorative items. In most other ways the space felt like a cave or a basement theater…or a kind of modern Mithraeum, where a ritual enactment was about to take place. ^_^

 

 

 

The screen kept telling us that the show would start shortly, but first, we were served dinner. The choices were limited, so between us, we had all three options. I had the sushi platter, with little planetoid sushi.

 

 

There was the moon somen plater.

 

 

And the moon bunny curry.

 

 

Drinks were Senshi-themed. We split between the Sailor Moon (peach), the Venus (mango and green jello)  and the Mars (shiso and some kind of berry.)

 

 

For dessert I think we all got the Silver Millennium cake.

 

 

The food was pretty good as far as it went, which is as far as microwaved platters can go. ^_^ They were served on planet symbol-themed wax paper over special Shining Moon Tokyo plates, which were a gift – after the dinner, we were handed boxes to take them home with us. We joked that if we came back a few times, we’d have enough for a service.

Just as the screen told us the show would begin shortly, I noted that the screen has English subtitles. Huh, how about that.

Then the show began. Not surprisingly, no pictures were allowed of the show, but we were encouraged to take pictures of the revue portion.

The show was the entire first season boiled down into a half-hour, with key points -including the death of the Senshi – kept intact. The individual fight scenes were pretty amazingly well-done. The screen functioned as some of the special effects, so Ami’s and Makoto’s attacks were shown on screen. Rei’s fight was exceptionally well done, using a large puppet for a nine-tailed kitsune and she twirled some kind of effect bar that showed up as flames – we all really liked that effect.

Even Tuxedo Mask had a decent fight scene that included lasers and smoke. “He” was still brainwashed for a bit there, but visually, the whole scene was cool.

Which brings me to Minako. We saw Abe Nanami as Minako/Sailor Venus, and we all commented that she leaned into her role hard. She was fantastic. Her fight was the most abstract, with nice use of light and shadow – and she made good use of the scenario. She also managed to dominate any scene she was in, in a good way. Additionally, as the performance wrapped up, I swore I saw a little byplay between her and Taguchi Mika, who played Mars. It was just a moment of interaction in which I was positive Rei was acting jealous. ^_^

 

 

 

I also want to shout out to the deathlings, played by the other set of actresses that switch off with the team we saw. My god, they were athletic. Even beyond flips and dance-fighting kicks and stuff, they did rhythmic, acrobatic, and aerial gymnastics.  These 12 young woman work really hard for this show and I want to thank them all.

 

 

And then the actresses came out to greet those of us in the audience and my suspicions about Minako were totally confirmed. ^_^ I wasn’t filming, but I did capture photos of Venus throwing a kiss at my wife, and Mars reacting with jealousy, then Venus holding on to Mars for the rest of the greet. ^_^

Here’s the photos in a time lapse video.

 

 

Of course by then, we were all ready to spend money at the shop. Belatedly, I noticed we had nothing Mercury themed. Had I realized, I would have ordered a blue drink. Poor Ami.

 

 

It was a wonderful time and we all enjoyed the heck out of it.I recommend it highly if you’re already a fan of the series or are looking for a themed cafe and show.

After watching Minako in this little scenario, I’m more than ever convinced that it’s way past time for a 21st century update of Sailor Moon, in which the full range of gender and sexuality in the characters is openly acknowledged. Haruka as genderfluid, Minako as pansexual, the Starlights as trans…I think it would be swell. ^_^





Sailor Moon Eternal Edition, Volume 5 (English)

September 3rd, 2019

Volume 5 of Sailor Moon, Eternal Edition is….not what I’d hoped it would be.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful book, with the “holographic cover” and color images that grace this definitive edition…but it’s that this is the definitive edition that sort of bugs me.

One of my big complaints about the 20th anniversary edition was the choice for transliteration of Haruka’s, Michiru’s and Setsuna’s family names. I argued with the translator who rightfully insisted that the transliteration she chose was correct. I equally insisted that it may have been correct, but it is fugly. Sadly, this 25th anniversary edition has continued using them.

Ten’ô, Kai’ô, Mei’ô

Tenoh, Tenou, Tennoh, Tennou, Ten’ou, Ten’oh but… … Ten’ô?  Vile.  It is an abomination. I do not care that it is “technically correct.” I care that it jangles my nerves and ruins my ability to read the story smoothly because it just looks so awful.

Let’s just stop here and take a look how names are transliterated in the real world. You may know the name Ichiro. He’s kind of a famous major league baseball player. His  name is 鈴木 一朗, which is transliterated as Suzuki Ichirou or Suzuki Ichirō and is commonly just written Ichiro in English.

     

The second jersey belongs to 佐藤 友亮 Satō Tomoaki, transliterated as Satoh Tomoaki, a Japanese baseball player with the Saitama Seibu Lions. I only picked baseball players, because they typically have their names on the jerseys, but this applies for most Japanese athletes. Haruka is an athlete.

When we see Haruka in her racing gear in the original anime her name is very sensibly transliterated Tenoh, as it is on this collectible card.

 

 

Ten’ô. There is no sane reason for this choice. 天王 =てんのう Tenou. Frankly for scan, I would have chosen Tenoh, Kaioh and Meioh,, but Tenou, Kaiou and Meiou would have been *fine*. I hate Ten’ô so much, it’s an insult to my eyes every time I see it. It may be correct, but it is terrible.

In every other way, this volume is just fine, but this was – and will continue to be – such an affront that I actually am considering not getting the rest of this series in this edition and just sticking with the Japanese, which will not irritate me. I was so looking forward to a sensible correction to this hideous choice in what is meant to be a magnificent definitive edition in English. It really scarred what is otherwise a momentous edition, as we meet genderfluid Haruka, her partner Michiru, and Setsuna miraculously comes back to life with no explanation whatsoever, bringing Sailors Uranus, Neptune and Pluto together, with their three talismans.

It’s a great volume about which we could talk for hours. To make me feel better about the name issue, I’ve written a short scene for the the “25 years have passed and *we* understand gender and sexuality differently” version I conjectured yesterday in my discussion of Queerness in Sailor Moon. In this version,after the Outer Senshi are introduced, we get an better answer to a question Usagi asked Haruka days ago:

“I never wanted to upset you,” Uranus’s face took on that look of endless sadness that make Usagi ache for her.

“Your Highness,” Neptune’s eyes were wet, “Uranus is both a man and a woman. She is a Guardian of both, with her attributes and strengths limited to neither.”

“I don’t understand,” Sailor Moon looked back and forth at the two women she wanted so much to fight with, not against.

“I’m genderfluid,” Haruka said gently. “I can present as a man or a woman as I want. When I dress as a man, I am seen as a man, and when I dress as a woman, I am seen as a woman.” She smiled tightly, “When I am dressed as a Senshi, I am seen as a Senshi.”

“Oh!” Sailor Moon nodded, “I understand.”

Michiru continued, “Each of us has…”

THERE. Fixed that scene. I feel better. I was >this< far from setting off yesterday in a complete 21st century rewrite of this entire season to fix all the many, many problems. But instead I wrote about queerness.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Visibly stronger than earlier volumes
Story – 7 Kind of a mess by our standards now, but amazing for the time
Characters – 7 Same. Hotaru becomes incredibly interesting from this point on.
Yuri – 5 Haruka trying to seduce Usagi off her case is something; still needs a real love scene between her and Michiru
Service – Same as above

Overall – 7 with a point off for the name issue. 6

Ten’ô, Kai’ô, Mei’ô must die. It’s just so awful.

 





Sailor Moon SuperS Anime, Part 1, Disk 2 (English)

August 12th, 2019

After the wonderfulness of the Sailor Moon Super S Special on Disk 1, is there really anything left worth talking about in this season? Apparently…yes. ^_^

Sailor Moon SuperS Anime, Part 1, Disk 2 continues what I personally find to be the most difficult season to watch – not only because it focuses so heavily on Chibi-Usa, but also because Usagi is positioned as exceptionally grating as a result of her jealousy of Chibi-Usa and Mamoru. Much more importantly, the rest of the Senshi are largely sidelined throughout this season, until their power-ups are needed.

Nonetheless, I think it’s worth mentioning the very queer character who steps front and center on this disk – Fisheye. All of the Amazon Trio are boys, Tigereye tells us explicitly. Fisheye appears to see themselves as female, certain as female presenting. Fisheye’s affection is for men. Fisheye might be  gender non-binary, gender-X, gay, trans, or some other identity, but that is not the point I wish to make. The point that is worth noting is that, 25 years ago,  yet another season of this cartoon gave queer folks a character they could claim as theirs.

I have been thinking about this a lot these days; about how critical it is for young people especially to see someone like, if not the same, as themselves. This is the heart of why I think Shimanami Tasogare is so important. In the story itself, the young protagonist is given a number of older role models who each contribute to his evolving understanding of himself and the people around him. Before Misora, before Shuu-chan from Wandering Son, there was Fisheye, a doomed character because they were on the side of evil (through no fault of their own,), but who provided an example of a way to live to young folks in the mid 90s in Japan. And how powerful a thing is that?

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 2 Usagi is not much better than Chibi-Usa, frankly
Characters – 4 I’m feeling for Fisheye
Service – More lolicon creepiness than I’m comfortable with, frankly.
LGBTQ – 5

Overall – 6

I am literally keeping a list of queerness in Sailor Moon. I expect to write up an article on it when I’ve finished reviewing the Viz edition, In the mean time, I find myself impressed all over again at how freaking queer this 25 year old kid’s anime was. ^_^





Sailor Moon SuperS Anime, Part 1, Disk 1 (English)

April 15th, 2019

It’s been a long time since I watched Sailor Moon Super S the very first time and I am not at all surprised to find that I consider it as unwatchable and excruciating as I felt the first time! It’s got just about everything I don’t like all crammed into a very thin plot (Chibi-Usa, Pegasus, creepy Amazon Trio ripping women’s dreams from their chest while they beg them not to….shudder…) , and while I – like all good fans – have rewritten and retconned it in my own head to be a valuable piece of the mythology, in reality it’s really pretty eh, unless you genuinely enjoy Chibi-Usa and Usagi screaming at each other for a lot of episodes.

That said, there are actually a couple of really interesting plot needles among the rest of the plot hay. So, I’m basically ignoring the story of SuperS for all of those.  You know the rule – it’s 25 years old, there can be no spoilers.

The first interesting plot element is that the Amazon Trio are all male (do not try to make sense of the name, therefore) but Fish Eye is the second gay male character who crossdresses in the series.  With all the women who pass as men in the spotlight of ‘S’ and “Stars”, its sometimes easy to forget Zoisite and Fish Eye who provide the queer quotient in the first season and “SuperS.”

The animation suffered significantly for this season. Remastering could only work so far when the original just wasn’t that great to begin with. The sound quality was surprisingly good, but as the music was mostly on automatic, it adds little to the overall experience. Even the end theme “Baby Baby Love” is not one of the strongest in the pantheon of Sailor Moon music. Especially when you consider the end theme of Stars, which is weep-messy-tears worthy.

I hope you will forgive me for otherwise ignoring much of what happens in this season. I would probably not even be reviewing it but for the most amazing thing being included on Disk 1. The Sailor Moon SuperS Special consists of 2 short stories both of which are basically the only reason this whole season has for existing. This is the first official release of this special in English and you must run out and watch this immediately if not sooner.

Part 1 of the SuperS Special follows Haruka and Michiru as they encounter the Dead Moon Circus at a resort hotel. Haruka is sick in bed and flirting with the maid who is taking care of her, forcing Sailor Neptune to fight the Dead Moon Circus alone.  The punchline of this episode is Michiru’s line – which is the one of the three best lines in all of Sailor Moon – “There seems to be a misunderstanding. It’s not worth saving a world without Haruka.”

Part 2 is the only Chibi-Usa story I can tolerate and is one of the chapters from “Chibi-Usa’s Picture Diary” from the manga.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 2 Ask me how much I care about Chibi-Usa and Helios. Have a seat. It’s gonna take a while.
Characters – 3 Hawk’s Eye and Tiger’s Eye did not age well as character designs or concepts, but we’ll get more Inners, later.
Service – More BDSM creepiness than I’m comfortable with, frankly.
Yuri – 10 A whole episode of Michiru and Haruka being so very, very gay.

Overall – 9 for the Special, 6 for the rest of the season

The SuperS Special and the SuperS movie are good. The rest of the season can go hang. ^_^





Sailor Moon Super Live Event Report

March 31st, 2019

Sailor Moon fandom is, without question, the most charming, delightful and adorable group of people on the planet. I mean that so sincerely. A more joyful, happier group of people I cannot even imagine.

Yesterday, it was my sincere pleasure to gather together with 2000 of the cutest people in the world, decked out in glorious finery as their favorite Senshi, or in Sailor Moon-inspired clothing, with ribbons and bows and handbags and t-shirts and back packs, all proclaiming their love of this lovable series to see Sailor Moon Super Live.

The performance is not quite a musical and not quite a play. It is more properly a pantomime of the key elements of the first Sailor Moon Arc, accompanied by singing, dancing and a host of really fun stage effects. The opening was worth every penny as the effects allowed integration of manga panels, and animated fore and backgrounds. We are able to enjoy rather sophisticated quick-takes on scenes like Mamoru and Usagi meeting, the gathering of the Senshi and the various battles.  The fight scenes, which combined effects, were especially fantastic when, for instance, black light effects turned Usagi’s classmates into monsters and stage elements, lighting and CGI effects combined for attacks and scenery. All of which made for a fun and dramatic stage. There were subtitles being shown but at one point, they had become rather silly, so when Kunzite was laughing evilly – about all he had for lines – I joked that I was surprised it wasn’t subtitled. ^_^ “Bwahahahah. Hahaha. Haha…” Random spoken lines are also displayed in the background as manga panels. Having seen this, I now understand why it’s called a “2.5D Musical” and I think it works.

The songs sung during the show are all original and, IMHO, mostly forgettable, except the song sung by the Senshi to encourage Sailor Moon, which was spot-on for their temperament and relationship to Usagi, and which was reprised during the concert portion of the show. The concert also included “La Soldier” and an extended version of “Moonlight Densetsu” to which we all sang along.

We had paid for the VIP seating, so when the show was over, we got high fives and hand shakes from the cast and a Super Live fan, along with the concert light stick and t-shirt we had bought before the show. The concert light stick could change colors and I giggled every time we all dutifully changed the color to match whomever was singing. We’re such nerds. ^_^

We spoke with folks about the amazing variety of goods and clothes and designs we saw. A lot of the stuff was fan-created, but without difficulty, we saw official Sailor Moon goods from Her Universe and Torrid/Hot Topics (I was wearing my old Inner Senshi HT shirt from the first time they carried Sailor Moon goods back in the 2000s, and people were recognizing it, which means we’ve all been doing this a long effing time. ^_^). And of course folks trotted out their Japanese brand goods – my wife carried her Sailor Moon x Gu collaboration purse, filled with Sailor Moon hand towel and gashopon Sailor Moon locket purses from Japan. Everyone was decked out in their Sailor Moon finest. 

Before and after the show, there was a flurry of photo activity. I took a few pictures of folks who were dressed up. One set of Haruka and Michiru were magnificently cosplaying as this cosplay magazine photoshoot. They looked so good we recognized them cosplaying as this cosplay. How amazing is that?

 

This group we encountered on the street outside the theater. I asked them if I could use this picture.

For some pictures of the cast and from the performance, check out this article on Theatermania. Unexpectedly, Forbes(!) also has an article on the show and short trailer, as well.

The only, only down side was that the music was so loud, it fuzzed out sometimes. This worked okay for the bad guys’ distortion music, but less so when it was meant to be melodic. I’d totally see this again, but bring earplugs to cut back on the noise. 

Ironically, the night before we had gone to see a bit of contemporary dance, Elizabeth, the dance, by Ann Carlson, which was also a kind of pantomime of female dance choreographers’ work, so as we sat through Sailor Moon Super Live, it felt kind of like it was the same – homage to a pop culture phenomenon as the dance troupe paid homage to high culture phenomenon.

Sailor Moon Super Live was a heck of a collage to celebrate of 25 years of a pop culture phenomenon.