A Few Sailor Moon Stars Reunite for Crayon Shin-Chan, Bento Lessons, and Fan Spots Many More Changes in HxH #27!

Happy New Year Moonies! Here's to a successful return of Sailor Moon for the rest of the world in 2010! News is a little slow, so instead of splitting these stories, I'm going to put them all together. Yes, we know that there is a lot going on in Italy right now but we are getting back into the swing of things after a much needed Holiday vacation. We promise a full post later this week!

Sailors Moon, Mercury, Mars, and Jadeite Appear in Last Crayon Shin-Chan of the 2009!

Crayon Shin-Chan continues to play on in the wake of creator Yoshito Usui’s death. New episodes will continue to be produced and broadcast for this season at the very least. On December 4th, the last episode of the year aired, and featured Kotono Mitsuishi (Sailor Moon), Aya Hisakawa (Sailor Mercury), Michie Tomizawa (Sailor Mars) and Masaya Onosaka (Jadeite). In the first episode, Shin-Chan and Nanako through a series of unfortunate events are stuck together on the train, trying to follow Matsumi Ageo (played by Kotono), who is going out with a different man (played by Masaya)! They end up following them to a farm, where the man tries to teach Matsumi about farming, and how to plow a field. Nanako, being protective and angry with Matsumi, steps in, and shows them both how to plow. The man is so taken by her, he falls for her instead of Matsumi, and this is the last thing Nanako wants! But, it turns out that they are not on a date after all and he just admires her plowing skills – he is married and has a child! Michie also appeared in this episode playing Ume Matsuzaka.In the second episode, Shin-Chan’s school was having a carnival, and his mother Misae, had to knit something to sell. Unfortunately, she could not knit very well and her scarf had many snags and loose loops in it. We think Aya Hisakawa played a parent in this episode, but it was difficult to discern which one she played! No one bought Misae’s scarf, but towards the end of the episode she left the stall for a moment. A dark figure came up to buy the scarf, and Misae was the happiest person knowing that her scarf sold! The next morning, Shin-Chan’s father Hiroshi left for work, and outside the house took out Misae’s scarf from his briefcase, and wore it. Aww, what a sweet ending!

Kotono also blogged sentiments about Shin-Chan last November. During a meeting of cast and crew of the show, they shared the first few laughs they have had for a very long time. She finds her role as Matsumi Ageo to be a challenge, but it is also a secret weapon for her because it inspires her to set a new high for her performances! She regrets never actually meeting Usui, but hopes to continue to play the role as best she can for as long as she possibly can.

More Sailor Moon Themed Cooking on the Way in Japan!

ANIMAX along with IMAGICA TV's Food and Travel Network Foodies TV to bring fans a little something special. Starting in February, the two channels are going to present specials to show viewers the art of making Bento (Japanese Lunch Boxes) for two months. If any of our readers aren't familiar with what Bento is, here's the short of it: they are home cooked lunches that are sometimes comparmentalized with a few small Japanese dishes. Some people get especially creative with their Bento boxes, fashioning them around an anime theme. YTV also attempted something similar years ago on their website. Sailor Moon will be featured as part of this special series, but we don't agree with how the press release has labeled the show's popularity. They state that it is popular with mothers and daughters in their 20s and 30s. Most recently, we've noticed a surge in blogs of newer teenage fans (and boys as well) talking about Sailor Moon. We are pretty sure that the show is a lot more popular with other demographics than this release suggests. The press release notes that it is not a common occurrence for two completely different companies to collaborate together, and handle all of their PR jointly (ANIMAX is owned by ANIMAX Broadcast Japan and Foodies TV is owned by IMAGICA TV). It is thought that the two companies working together on something like this will do a lot to boost their image in the public eye. If we find any clips of these specials, we will try our hardest to post them for you all!

Togashi Adds More Detail to Hunter X Hunter Volume 27 and Returns to Jump Magazine!


The Togashi World Blog has posted some images of manga frames from the latest volume published of Yoshihiro Togashi's Hunter X Hunter and has compared them to frames published in Jump Magazines. When fans see these, they will see that there is a lot more detail added to the frame than there was in the magazine before. Not only have fans noticed that the quality of the comics in Jump Magazine aren't what they used to be seeing from Togashi, but the press as well. We could understand why some minor details might be added to a frame, but somehow this makes us wonder if Shueisha is pressuring him to churn out stories, and then after the issues are published he takes his own time to put more effort into the manga. We may never know what exactly goes on between Shueisha and Togashim but nonetheless, it is nice to see some new work from him on this popular series - who knows when it will go on the back burner again? Fans can check out the images here. In other Togashi News, in this week's issue of Jump, Hunter X Hunter made its return, and Togashi's message to the fans in this issue was "Happy New Year. Sorry to keep you fans waiting. My goal for this year is to draw as much as possible". Fans can only hope to see Togashi's work for more than ten weeks this year! We expect to see volume #27 published by Viz sometime later this year as #26 has just been released this week!