Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Famitsu and MyCom Reports on the Sailor Moon Reunion Event!

The first news outlet to break any news of the reunion was AnimeAnime.jp, and the second and third were Famitsu and MyCom. We're going to fuse this with a blog entry of a fan that we found! This fan was so excited the night before that she didn't know what to wear and thought about going early to buy as much Sailor Moon merchandise as she could from other stores around UDX! We probably would have done the same thing too! The fan noted that the first few rows were reserved for the media, and that to enter you had to have proof of either an e-mail saying that you had won the lottery, or a special postcard. Chiaki Kyan began the event pretending to be Sailor Moon, and acted out her infamous "Moon Healing Escalation!" attack! She seemed very excited to be performing as Sailor Moon - though looking at the closeup pictures posted on Famitsu, we have to wonder why she didn't have a better wig or at the very least, red boots! Chiaki also revealed that during the commercials she would turn around just like Sailor Moon! The fan loved her cosplay, to say the least! Then HIMEKA came to perform two songs - Moonlight Densetsu, and announced her new single Hatenaki Michi from the anime Tegami Bachi. After HIMEKA finished performing, she told the audience that she learned Japanese after watching Sailor Moon, and it was a favorite among her and her friends back in Canada. She remembered learning her katakana cards with Sailor Moon!

Then, the Seiyuu came out one by one as each of them said their transformations - Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus Crystal Power - Make Up! The quotes being reported are much the same as before - but there's a few more that I can add! Michie Tomizawa said that 1800 people applied for this event's lottery and that she looked forward to seeing the fans after a very long time. Hold on a moment - 1800 applicants? This event should have been opened up to at least 500! Emi Shinohara was a little nervous she was going to walk into the wrong dressing room and also to meet everyone again, but as soon as she walked in it was like she went back in time and by the time she was on stage, she was too worn out already from laughing with the other stars! Rika Fukami added that while they were all excited to see each other, they were just as excited to see the fans. They began to speak about their favorite episodes. Kotono had two favorites - the episode where Neflite died (episode 24), and another episode where Sailor Moon wanted to save Hotaru but could not transform (episode 125 - thank you fans!). The former changed her perspective on her character, and the latter actually made her cry when she recorded the episode! Rika Fukami joked that she felt like she had graduated when she finally played Sailor Venus, since before that she played a youma! Emi Shinohara joined in saying that she played two villains before Rika did (Cyrene and Jumeau)! These sites are reporting that it was Rika Fukami who noted she felt like her castmates were classmates. Michie Tomizawa shared more about her confusion about what was starting, and that she was worried that this party might have been happening at someone's house, joking that Aya Hisakawa wouldn't have been able to clean it, and that no one should serve the caviar until she had arrived!

Rika remembered how their musical group Peach Hips had to sign 3000 posters and it was Aya who kept pointing out to her where she should sign because she kept signing her posters in different places! They also spoke of how Sailor Moon had aired all over the world, even in countries that have hosted the Olympic Games. Rika told a story of how Naoko Takeuchi used to joke of world domination, however she seemingly achieved it with this one cartoon. We still believe she should have been a part of this event. It was wonderful to read of what happened, but unfortunately we can't help but feel like there is a hole that could only have been filled by Naoko.

Tomorrow, we'll post the end of what happened at this event along with the top 5 episodes voted by fans that were screened at the show!

EDIT: Continued from last night, and two more articles have popped up, one from AV Life, and another from TV Life. It doesn't appear that fans were allowed to take photos inside this event. The first few rows were occupied by media (and judging by how much media was there, we're surprised that there's only a few articles). Back to what happened at the event...

Michie Tomizawa revealed that the actors would often get together at her house for private Christmas parties not to discuss work at all and to chill out! Sometimes they did speak about Sailor Moon though, despite their best efforts. It was after this, that the results of a poll from ANIMAX were revealed to the audience. The 5 favorite episodes, chosen by the fans were:

5. Episode 25 ("Jupiter, the Brawny Girl in Love")
4. Episode 1 ("Crybaby Usagi's Magnificent Transformation")
3. Episodes 34 & 35 ("The Sparkling Silver Crystal! The Moon Princess Appears" and "Memories Return! Usagi and Mamoru's Past")
2. Episode 24 ("Naru's Cry! Nephrite Dies for Love")
1. Episodes 45 & 46 (The very end of the first season, "The Sailor Warriors Die! The Tragic Final Battle" and "Usagi's Everlasting Wish! A New Reincarnation")


Then the five actresses shared their sentiments on the series and answered some questions from the fans. Kotono Mitsuishi said that the show was a treasure in her life. Aya Hisakawa said that this was the first children's anime that she had ever done and she was so happy that these characters were so well-loved. Michie Tomizawa said that she was proud of this show and listed it first on her resume because it had such a leading presence! Emi Shinohara also agreed with Kotono's sentiments that this was a treasure, and noted that everyone behind the scenes worked very hard to make this work the best that it could be. She was happy to have worked on such a show, and she loved being able to fight and destroy enemies in so many different places! Rika Fukami said that it was this show that helped her to learn the true meaning of friendship. Kotono ended the talk saying that she does not feel old watching the show, and it is a show that both adults and children can enjoy. Sailor Moon, she said, will be loved forever and ever. And with that, the event ended. We could not agree with you more Kotono. Tomorrow, I will look at the other two articles and see if they say anything different.

And, as predicted, Naoko Takeuchi was absent. We have seen so many images of the actresses together, looking very happy to be speaking of their time on Sailor Moon, and this is more or less the same sentiment felt by the North American VAs as well. We wonder, if one day, Naoko will ever be happy about Sailor Moon again, just like the seiyuu.

5 comments:

ShinraiTenchi said...

I think that Ms. Mitsuishi might have been referring to Sailor Moon S Episode 125, A Bright Shooting Star! Saturn and the Messiah, since the Holy Grail is destroyed and Sailor Moon is unable to transform into her Super form, until the Sailor Soldiers unite their thoughts and lend her their remaining strength/hope. That's the only episode I recall where Usagi was unable to transform and save Hotaru on her own.

That happens to be one of my favourite episodes as well :3

esahC said...

Episode 125.

You're welcome. Just keep this up is all I ask. :)

Sakky said...

Thanks for the updates! I think the failure to transform eps. is 125 Kagayaku Ryuusei! SATAAN Soshite MESHIA. Moon is trying to become Super Moon without the grail so she can go after Saturn in MP90 :D

Moon Chase said...

Thanks guys! I'll edit this article later and add the rest probably this afternoon or this evening. I thought I'd post what I had so far so you guys wouldn't be waiting. Two more news articles popped up this morning and one of them has a much better image of the seiyuu with the banner!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for having a wonderful blog that keeps up to date with what's happening in the sailormoon world! But I was confused by your last sentence about hoping that Naoko would be happy about sailormoon again...what did you mean by that? Was it said that she wasn't happy about sailormoon anymore? or do you mean that you hope to SEE her in public acting as happy as the seiyuus about sailormoon? Either way, I pretty sure Naoko will ALWAYS love sailormoon it's just that she's so busy being a mother now i think so she can't always dedicate her time to sailormoon (or any of her other works). But thank goodness she did attend the 20th anniversary event!