For Those Of You Who Missed Animazement

This post has JPEG versions of all our slides and all our major announcements made at our presentation at Animazement! As much as I really wanted to be there, I couldn't - mainly because my schedule didn't permit it, and I would have had to fly there. And as you all know, I absolutely have to get a new laptop (my old faithful isn't going to last much longer) so all my savings are going towards that. This was the first year one of our staffers was attending a con with a Sailor Moon Panel, and having learned a lot from the panel last year (we were the only ones without a powerpoint presentation and most of our points that we had submitted weren't even read) we thought we'd actually make a presentation and have one of our valuable staffers present it. The plan was that I was going to text in the middle of our presentation with a greeting for the fans and a major announcement, but that didn't happen as I ran late running errands and I had to leave to go lend my support to local TV. So, for all of you wondering what this late breaking announcement was:

A Campaign Will Begin At The End Of This Coming Week.

We are working very hard behind the scenes to put this together in phases. However, for those of you who are really wanting to get involved and have your voice heard on more than just polls and surveys, please join our forums. We will only be posting that campaign information there.

We also pledge to you we won't do anything "infamous" like the Pop-Tarts procott (if provoked on the forums, I may share a story of a similar procott I had to do for another organization a long time ago). As much as we can, we staffers will keep you all up to date on what we are doing and how we are doing it.

BUT: we need every fan who has ever watched an English dub of Sailor Moon in their own countries to get involved. Mostly, we want North Americans , but we'll have plenty of things for places like the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and everywhere else the English dub aired. And for the rest of you international markets? We will have something for you to do too - don't worry, we aren't forgetting you!

So please, join our forums. Tell all your friends. Tell your friends to tell their friends. Post links in your sigs on any forums your on with a short sentence like "Hey, Remember Sailor Moon? I sure do and I'd love to have it back! Join me on the Moon Chase Forums!" and add a link. If you have a blog or a site, please link us. We need all the fans we can get to make this a success!

And now, our presentation which we have aptly titled: Moon Beams! Powerpoint chopped off the bottom of my slides when it converted them to JPEG.

Slide 1: Title and names of staff.










Slide 2: Naoko Takeuchi and Yoshihiro Togashi

Yoshihiro Togashi

☽ It’s been too long since we’ve heard from him, he came back twice last year in ten week increments to publish new chapters of Hunter X Hunter. Hunter X Hunter is also getting the Sailor Moon remix treatment as new volumes were released last year with improved drawings.

☽ On the bright side, Yu Yu Hakusho will released (by Bandai) in Japan on Blu-Ray this October and is predicted to be a hot seller! No word on Sailor Moon coming to Blu-Ray. We’re saving our pennies for the day though!

☽ He wrote about Naoko seeing a monkey in their garden last November. His short message read "My wife saw a monkey in the garden. He escaped to the junior high school in the neighborhood after that. The people in the junior high school have seen that monkey recently, even though we live in the same neighborhood and just noticed it now." Yoshihiro also thanked his fans for their patience, and says that his drawing skills are getting strong again. He is also on some sort of diet that requires him to get 10,000 steps a day and he plays outside with his son a lot. He also said to his fans that it was inexcusable for them to have had to wait this long for the manga to return, but at the same time we’re wondering what’s going on since we haven’t heard anything this year.

Naoko Takeuchi
☽ In January, Sailor Moon Channel posted a picture of Naoko and a short message and drawing from her visit to the Bandai Toy Factory last October. Our favorite part of this post wasn’t the picture that was posted, but the heading "Sometimes Naoko Takeuchi as Princess Naoko shows her nerd side to the public in photos!". She is looking well and we hope to hear more of her again!'

Slide 3:

Naoko Takeuchi

☽ Frequent Sailor Moon Cosplaying Idol Shoko Nakagawa has also ventured into manga, and revealed that she was partly inspired by Naoko’s work. One of her mangas, Noko no Koi is about a girl raised without love who is saved by a mysterious figure. The other one is Sukashikashipan-Man (sand dollar man) who looks like most tokusatsu heroes.

☽ Naoko was also cited as a major figure in the history of Girls Novels in Japan when they took a turn from being all about romance to being about the friendships between girls. Sailor Moon was a brilliant example of the power of friendship overcoming everything (when all the senshi fought together, they were unstoppable)! To all the girls who read these manga, every character is strong and brave for who they are in their personalities, and they inspire every girl to be true to themselves and to have a good heart.

Slide 4:

Toei Animation:

☽ Pretty Cure has been given a second chance in the North American market. When 4kids lost the license to the showin 2008 without doing anything with it, Toei took the show upon themselves. The English dub is produced by both Toei and the Ocean Group, and as of this writing can only be seen on Canada’s YTV. Fans outside of Canada can watch it if you know where to look (wink wink nudge nudge - we can’t tell you to be fair to the companies!) We really recommend it though - the dub really reminds us all of what Sailor Moon should have been like in it’s heyday.

☽ There is still no word about any future plans for Sailor Moon. However, Toei did launch their own on demand service in North America, initially on Direct2Drive, later adding crunchyroll and Vuze (formerly Azureus). They also entered a digital partnership with Funimation on distribution of their series. Though Sailor Moon scored the highest in a survey of potential series for this service in North America by a longshot, it remains to be seen if the series will be added. Toei hasn’t completely ignored Sailor Moon - the show is often mentioned in their short “About Our Company” blurbs.

☽ If fans want to see Toei expand their ondemand service, please support them - right now this is the best any Sailor Moon fan can do. Toei is just starting out on it’s own in North America and if their ondemand service gets more popular, who knows what series they may add next! Toei, if you bring Sailor Moon back, we’ll forgive the atrocity that was Dragonball Evolution!

Sailordees' Note: Of Course, everything changed a few days before this was presented. Fans should still support their service though!

Slide 5:

Geneon:

☽This story completely missed our radar and we didn’t notice it until just a few weeks ago. Though, this did happen in February which is starting to look like the busiest month of the year outside of Moon Chase for us all. If you visit the site you’ll see that this and last February had barely any posts.

☽ As some of you may recall, Geneon folded and left the North American anime industry in late 2007. However, the company hasn’t necessarily been asleep. Many of their former titles were picked up by Funimation, and their titles through Bandai Visual Entertainment were picked up by Bandai Entertainment. We also learned that New Generation Pictures, which was involved with the dubbing, subtitling, and translation of quite a few Geneon series has managed to compensate for their losses by getting a ton of video game work! And we just found out that ADV will be re-releasing the first Appleseed Movie, which was once a Geneon property.

☽ In November of last year, Dentsu (Geneon’s parent company) announced that it was selling 80.1% of its ownership in the company to NBC Universal's Universal Pictures International Entertainment (UPI). UPI in turn, merged the company with its Universal Pictures Japan division to form a new company, and on February 1st of this year, Geneon Universal Entertainment Japan (GUEJ) was born! GUEJ has released some titles on Blu-Ray (in conjunction with RONDO ROBE, the new name for Pioneer Animation, a label under the Geneon umbrella specifically for animation and related entertainment) including ef - a tale of memories, Fate/stay night, and To Aru Majutsu no Index (A Certain Magical Index) and Card Captor Sakura (which just got a big Blu-Ray boxset)! We also spotted a few soundtracks and other music CDs.We were excited to read this and we really hope that someday this will mean that Geneon will come back to North America. Their reps were always the friendliest at cons and they really did a lot with their fans. A few independent anime store owners that we have spoken to preferred Geneon’s pricing strategies in the past, and they aren’t fans of Funimation’s pricing or release strategies. For example , Ouran High School Host Club was released in two volumes of 13 episodes each, priced at 60 dollars a volume. Many stores also find Funimation releases are more pricier than others.



Slide 6: NA Voicestars:

☽ Stephanie Morgenstern’s (Sailor Venus #1) TV Series Flashpoint is still the biggest story of the year . She created the show, writes, and produces the show along with her husband, Mark Ellis. The show is going to get picked up for a third season by CBS , and airs in many international markets such as the UK, New Zealand, Poland, and Latin America. The show has been nominated for a few TV awards in Canada.

☽ Two other VAs were featured on the show as well - Alice Poon (Catsy) in the episode “Attention Shoppers” and Robert Bockstael (Prince Diamond) in “Haunting the Barn”.

☽ The show is only on DVD in the UK and Australia, and is available on iTunes in Canada. As of this writing , the episodes are only available streaming through CBS.com in the United States.

☽ And here is our big announcement at the con this year - Moon Chase will be starting a blog devoted to Flashpoint, and the two blogs will be networked as part of the Moon Chase Blog Network. Sailordees has read fan input and will only post specific flashpoint stories which directly relate to Stephanie Morgenstern. Flashpoint is one of the top reasons why our readership has increased over the last year, however many fans feel that we are covering this more than other stories. The blog has a really great name, but we can’t tell you what that is right now. The only hint we can give you is that it comes from a line said a few times each episode by members of the cast. Keep your eyes on the site for more information!

Slide 7:

☽ Two years after moving to Hollywood, things are finally starting to look up for Stephanie Beard (Rini #2) and we are so glad - she has been through too much in the last two years! She appeared on King of the Hill a few weeks ago playing a trendy teenager who just wanted a normal, classy cotillion. Her name was Michael Savage (named after the infamous personality of the same name), and she was royally embarassed by Bobby and Peggy hill when they showed up in grungey gangster clothes. The show is streaming on Fox.com for fans who want to check it out.

☽ Stephanie Beard also wrote to us exclusively with the news that she is indeed in a scene in the upcoming Adam Sandler movie, Funny People. She is sitting next to him in a Thanksgiving Dinner scene, but she isn’t sure if they cut that scene out or not. So when the movie is out in July, please go see it and look for Stephanie!

Slide 8:

☽ Emilie-Claire Barlow (Sailor Venus #2) released her 7th jazz album Haven’t We Met. The album is really good and Sailordees is very close to posting a review of it. Emilie-Claire has roles in two popular Canadian cartoons, 6teen and Total Drama Island. The shows have become so popular internationally , and you guys can actually check these shows out on Cartoon Network! She also has a large fanbase of her music in Japan and travels there once a year to perform at Tokyo’s legendary Cotton Club. In fact, she just announced that she will be appearing there again in August! She was featured in a few news articles in Japan which praised her not only for her voice, but for her production and arrangement skills - something few female jazz vocalists do! Last year she won a National Jazz Award in Canada for Female Jazz Vocalist of the year. She was nominated for the same award this year, but didn’t win. She continues her cross-Canada tour in support of her latest album.


Slide 9:

☽ Roland Parliament (Melvin and ADR Director) is now teaching at Niagara College’s Acting for Film and Video program. Roland has always been teaching students everything from voice acting, to audition preparedness, to skills for radio and marketing. He loves to teach students and he is still hard at work on a textbook all about voice!

☽ Jill Frappier’s (Luna) Dragontrails Drama has helped many kids make it big in the entertainment industry! Dragontrails is a special drama school where kids learn all about acting, movement, and fighting skills in Toronto. Kids who have gone there have gone on to star in films and TV shows like Cinderella Man, A History of Violence, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Law and Order, and even Flashpoint. In fact, one of the girls who is making her name in Canadian entertainment is Hannah Endicott-Douglas, who last year starred as Anne in a brand new Anne of Green Gables movie on CTV, as well as starring in an episode of Flashpoint - “Planets Aligned”. Jill has a lot of really cool programs for kids at her school from those who want to act professionally to those who just want to do it for fun!

- Sarah Lafleur (Sailor Uranus) had a major role this season on Ugly Betty as Molly, the love interest of Daniel Meade, the editor of Mode. We’ve caught a couple episodes this season and we have come to love her character. She is sweet, humble, charming and seems like the perfect woman for Daniel!

Slide 10:

☽ Megumi Hayashibara (Himeko in S Movie) and Hikaru Midorikawa (Ail, Fiore) returned to their roles as Lina Inverse and Zelgadiss Graywords in Slayers Revolution and Slayers Evolution-R (to be released by Funimation sometime in 2010).

☽ Michie Tomizawa (Sailor Mars) came out of retirement at an anime festival in Nakano last fall. She appeared at a special talkshow event at Anime Bunkasai last September and answered questions from fans who wanted to know more about being a Seiyuu!

☽ Toru Furuya (Tuxedo Kamen) continues to make appearances at Intel, Gundam, and other anime-related events. He’s quite the geek, maintaining his own website, and even dressing up as Ray Amuro.

Slide 11:

☽ Anza Oyama (First Sera Myu Sailor Moon) joined Japanese rock band Vitamin Q and released an album with them late last year. Vitamin Q is a much softer rock band compared to her heavy metal band, Head Phones President!

☽ Yuu Shirota (Sixth Sera Myu Tuxedo Kamen) is currently appearing on J-Drama Tenchijin on NHK . The show started in January and will run until November. The story centers on Naoe Kanetsugu, a loyal and devoted samurai in Echigo Province in the 16th century. Kanetsugu was trained in his early childhood by Uesugi Kenshin and after his death, served Kenshin's adopted son Kagekatsu and is known for his extreme loyalty to the Uesugi family. He also made every effort to protect the people of Echigo with a strong sense of justice and genuine sympathy toward commoners.

☽ Miyuki Kanbe (Third Sera Myu Sailor Moon) tragically passed away last June of sudden heart failure. She continues to be missed by Sailor Moon fans, her colleagues, fellow actors, friends, and family. Her death was one of the most popular news stories for some months afterwards and fans are still shocked and saddened by the news. Two weeks before she passed away, she had talked with her agent about acting again, as well as expanding into the fashion industry. She had so much ahead of her, and this was truly a tragedy. We still send our condolences and prayers to her family

Slide 12:

Sorry we don’t have more, there probably is more but we barely have time to cover everything that we’d like to. Sailordees also lost many of her important links to keep up with the actors during one of her several laptop meltdowns in the last few months. Now that we have a new writer we’re still trying to organize the site and hopefully divvy up who writes up what. We’re always looking for more writers and if you are interested in giving us a hand please send us an email - moonchasers@gmail.com.

Slide 13:

☽ Keiko Kitagawa (Sailor Mars) and Mew Azama (Sailor Jupiter) are now college graduates. Keiko earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce, and Mew earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Academic Advising and Career Counseling.

☽ Rika Izumi (Sailor Mercury) returned to the idol industry last year. She was in a movie called Clearness, appears occasionally in Ray magazine, and was featured asa beautiful woman in a ramen commercial for Nissin!

☽ Kappei Yamaguchi (Artemis) returned to his role of Goku, for the Japanese dub of Dragonball Evolution. The movie was not well received there either. In fact, probably the only good thing about it was the Japanese theme song "Rule" by J-pop queen Ayumi Hamasaki.

Slide 14:

A short profile of Keiko Han (We provided this because they were not able to attend, and we had dug up some interesting information on them that we thought we'd share with fans!)

☽ Keiko Han: Born April 5, 1953 in Tokyo, Japan.
☽ Not only a seiyuu, but a fortune teller too! She has written five books about astrology, including a Hello Kitty themed book in 2000 about the Chinese Zodiac. We kid you not! We’ve added the only picture of it that we could find.
☽ She is a veteran seiyuu having starred in over 30 different anime alone!
☽ Played Luna and Queen Beryl in the anime, and played Luna in PGSM.
☽ Is also famous for her role in Mobile Suit Gundam as Lalah Sune.
☽ Like the English voice of Luna, she is also an acting instructor ! She teaches voice to college students at Tokyo Media Academy
☽ Currently appearing as a narrator in Tytania. This series is a space opera about people who try to liberate the galaxy from the rule of the Tytania-clan and seek refuge with a rebel force.

Slide 15:

☽ Yasuo Yamaguchi: Born sometime in 1935 on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture.
☽ Began working for Toei Animation in 1958, was an assistant director by 1963 and later transferred to production. He has been with Toei for almost their entire existence, Toei began in 1956.
☽ Worked on many series including Maple Town, Getter Robo, King Kong, and Candy Candy. Maybe some of you remember watching Maple Town in the 80s on Nickelodeon?
☽ Candy Candy was his first foray into anime aimed at girls – the story goes that he was the only producer left that Toei could ask to work on it. He really didn’t want to work on a girly anime!


Slide 16:

☽ As Chief of the production section, he produced Sailor Moon.
☽ After he retired in the 90s, he became an adjunct professor at Tokai university, and researched digital anime making processes for the Japanese Ministry of Trade and Industry.
☽ He now serves as the chairman of a Canada- Japan content forum, and is the interim executive director of the Japan Video Association.
☽ The "Canada-Japan Content Forum" was established and officially started its activities on January 1, 2008 with the aim of expanding exchanges between Canada and Japan in the field of digital content. The CJCF conducts activities to promote exchanges between Canada and Japan in the sector of digital and traditional content including video games, animation, mobile content, Internet content, music, film, drama, TV programs, photography, etc. The animation scene in Canada is just starting to boom with many programs making it big around the world, and perhaps there is something for Canada to learn from Japan since they have been animating for much longer!
☽ He is a founder of the Toei Animation Research Center.
☽ On May 4th, called for major changes to improve the Japanese and the North American Anime Industry , saying that the anime industry bubble has burst. Citing the worldwide economic troubles and Japan's own specific problems, Yamaguchi says that the number of anime programs in 2000 was 124, and had more than doubled in 2006-- 306 –but that it has been dropping, down to 288 in 2008. He also notes that anime companies tend to keep chugging out the same moe and mech materials, something many of us have complained about at some point or another. Fansubs and poor management of overseas distribution are also cited. That last point about overseas distribution has been something we here at Moon Chase have been vocal about for a while.

Slide 17:

Keiko and Yasuo stuff: See them next year, we hope.








Slide 18:

BREAKING NEWS:

☽ Please visit our site as soon as possible. Funimation has posted a survey asking for fan input on a re-dub of Sailor Moon. As of this writing we do not know if Funimation has any rights to Sailor Moon, however they are holding the majority of Toei’s North American licenses. We also don’t know if any of this includes the lost episodes, specials, or Sailor Stars.

☽ We have posted information about the poll and facts that fans should consider when making their comments to Funimation. Please read our article before you answer the survey so you know about the issues surrounding this.

☽ This is exciting news and all of us on staff are currently planning a campaign to further get our voices heardfrom both Funimation and Toei beyond this poll.

☽ We will only be posting campaign information on our forums, so if you are interested please join us! moonchase.freeforums.org

☽ Campaign Information Will Not Be Posted on the Site. This is because it is a lot easier to manage the action through the forums, and we don’t want to have our posts turn into one long discussion thread that may really veer off topic .Campaign Information will only be visible to members who have joined our forums.

☽ Our forums are dying for people to post! We’re really trying to make the site more interactive than our front page comments. The site gets between 100-200 hits a day from all over the world and it just seems that the same few people are always commenting, and we are sure that most of our readers probably want to interact with other readers. We’ve already got a pretty cool 3 word RPG thread and we’d like it if more people participated!

☽ We have a lot of really big things planned this summer, so stay tuned!

Slide 19:

Any Questions?

- Thanks for your time and for visiting Moon Chase!