Phase 3 and Phase 4 Changes

Hey Moonies. It has been suggested to us by a few of our advisors that we raise our survey goal for Phase 3 up to 500. We are currently at 306, which isn’t necessarily a bad number, but considering that it is less than half of the surveys we got on the previous one (807 now), it doesn’t look good to the places we plan to send these to. At the same time, we also understand that fans are tired of taking the site surveys so we’re going to leave it open for sure until Midnight, October 4th. We’ll see what the numbers are like then and we’ll decide a plan of action. This still doesn’t mean readers can assume it will be open again after that. If we are close to 500, then we will stop it for good. For the last one, we heard from a few of you afterwards that didn’t get a chance to do it (even though it had been running for nearly 4 months). So we relented, and allowed those of you to do it. But for Phase 3, we will not allow anyone to complete it after it is over. We are already weeks behind on sending these results out (but of course, Phase 1 didn’t finish any time near the end of July as we had hoped). So please, if you haven’t yet, finish the release and merchandise survey!

Now, onto the upcoming Phase 4. We all thought Peter’s comment yesterday about Naoko Takeuchi was depressing enough, but then this morning one of our auxiliary members from Japan got back to us with their findings... and they were not good. We can’t elaborate on what they were, but once again we’re going to have to change our strategy. Fight harder in certain places that we still can, and forego a few other things that would have been a lot more effective. Those avenues are strictly one way, and even though there is plenty of room, the landlords will not consent to a two way street. We’ll leave you to decide what that image means, but we can’t say what the matter is. Due to these developments, Phase 4 is going to be delayed even further than what we had targeted until we figure out the best way to effectively use what avenues we do have left. But do not worry - the work you have all helped to put in for the other phases is still very useful to the companies in North America!

Now, there may be one or more sites saying some pretty mean things about our campaign. We’re not going to name who they are, but they are all saying that our campaign will be futile, and that the only way to support Sailor Moon is to buy official merchandise and releases from Japan. We’re sorry to say this, but here’s the thing. Fans aren’t ordering these straight from the manufacturer. Each online site (YesAsia, Amazon, CD Japan, HMV etc.) has their own warehouse, wherein they will receive an order of a certain stock amount of product from Toei. Then they ship it out to you. Toei isn’t going to necessarily see or know where these products are going. What they will see is how many sold, and this will determine if they need to produce more units or not. At best, high volumes of orders may prompt Toei to extend the run past two years, but it is highly unlikely that sales in Japan will have any impact on the North American market. Now, we’re not saying don’t order these - it’s really up to the fan and if they are able to really enjoy and understand Sailor Moon without subtitles. We also understand that these releases, though a little pricey, are at least giving fans Sailor Moon in some way. But just be aware that you are supporting Sailor Moon in Japan and it may not do a whole lot of good for North America or the rest of the English-language market in the long run.

In the meantime, we really encourage you to participate in Phase 2 of the campaign, more than ever, especially in the letters to Toei. We have provided specific contact information in our forums for this. Phase 4 will happen, but Phase 2 needs to be a lot stronger than it is right now. Considering we only have 39 members on our forums, we don’t think that many letters have been sent to FUNImation or Toei. And for those of you who are complaining that we aren’t posting the addresses on the blog, there is a reason for that. This is somewhat sensitive information and we are at least doing our part on our end to prevent spam. And it also adds a small element of surprise to the receiver.

There is no Moon too high in the sky, and no island too far. We are not going down without a fight.