BREAKING NEWS: Naoko Takeuchi makes appearance at Charaben Class!

Since last January, we’ve been covering a second special event ANIMAX had planned in alliance with Foodies TV of Japan to celebrate the return of Sailor Moon. The special class came and went on February 7th, with barely a whisper. Hours ago, a press release and news article finally made it to the media, and revealed some details about what is possibly the most interesting event we’ve ever learned of related to Sailor Moon!

There were two sessions, and not one like it was originally reported. One was held in the morning, and one was held in the afternoon. And, judging by how much was being accomplished at these bento sessions (we had read it was going to be more of a demonstration, not a hands-on workshop), we understand why there were only a small number of people drawn for tickets! Appearing at the afternoon session was none other than the Princess herself, Naoko Takeuchi! She appeared as a surprise guest and took part in the sessions. She enjoyed making the bento with the parents and the children! What an experience for Naoko and everyone else that was there – we wish we had pictures to show you! Maybe Naoko will invite the seiyuu to her place for lunch and serve them Sailor Moon Bento and Kotono Mitsuishi could post a photo – wouldn’t that be delightful? Or perhaps in a new anecdote Togashi could write in a future edition of Jump magazine: “My wife made me Sailor Moon charaben today. It was good, but I would have rather eaten Hunter X Hunter charaben.”

Speaking of which, there may be a glimpse on the videos provided on the special site, except that they are too big (and too slow) to load. The site features instructional videos on the bento, and we warn our readers that these videos are 200 and 400mb in length, and they are only being transmitted at a speed of 20k/s if you are lucky (and we’ve been trying to watch these over a high speed connection). As soon as these get loaded (possibly by tomorrow) we’ll try to (as soon as we can) tell you what else is on there.

ANIMAX and Foodies TV, in conjunction with Japan’s Edu magazine, are holding a contest for children to create their own Sailor Moon bento. Kids can send in their entries between March 1st and 30th, and 3 winners will be announced by Foodies TV, and they will get a feature article in the July issue of Edu. 10 winners will win both of the Season 1 boxsets, so those who don't make it into the top 3 still have a chance to win something amazing! For more information, click here!

Please check out the special site that ANIMAX created with a report of the events. Even if you can’t cook, the images posted are absolutely beautiful to look at!

The press release at Presepe.JP ended best when it wrote (roughly translated) Let's all put our love for Sailor Moon into the Charaben! We can't put this in any better words - if we all had the opportunity to make these charaben, there isn't a fan that wouldn't put their heart and soul into this!