Breaking News: New Sailor Moon Merchandise Licenses:

Via Sailor Moon World Italy (and some fans’ messages, thanks!), some new companies involved in merchandising have acquired licenses for Sailor Moon. These include two companies with US branches and one for France; Topps (Germany, Italy and America), Namco Bandai Games America, and Giochi Preziozi France. It is probably safe to infer that Topps will be releasing sticker books (and possibly cards), Giochi Preziozi France will release some (if not all) of the toys made in Italy, and NBGA is likely going to bring La Luna Splende to North America eventually. But, nothing is confirmed, and everyone should have waited for a press release. We have been advised from the companies to play it safe and wait for official word before posting anything like this, but given the criticism and heat we have had to face from some fans, we’re addressing it now as safely as we possibly can. We’ve featured a large photo below filled with cropped screenshots from Kazachok’s Web Guide.

What remains to be known (especially in France and North America), is if this is a sign that the release of the anime is imminent in either of these regions. There are a few other regions in the world that don’t have Sailor Moon either (Russia and Ukraine, to start). In a Japanese press release announcing the return of Sailor Moon to North America, Kodansha made note of how especially in North America, that without the release of the anime and other merchandise, that the manga may not experience the same “big boom” of the past*. We can’t speculate on the progress being made on the anime, due to certain statements made in the last 2 months from companies and representatives all around. We have to wonder if these new merchandising deals are some kind of a placeholder in between that will ultimately aid the anime when the time is right for it to return, while also tiding the release of the manga. Usually, the pattern in Sailor Moon licensing news has been anime first, merchandise and manga second. What do you think, Moonies?



*We had read this the day it was posted but didn’t post anything about it on Moon Chase because you fans were in such a happy mood and we didn’t want to damper the situation! Instead, we all discussed it amongst ourselves for a while and once again, wondered why Sailor Moon was having such a turbulent resurgence.

A Bird? A Plane? Sailor Moon!

Here's a bit of a different kind of Sailor Moon appearance - this time in the air! We're going to give you some background first, from the press release we found on Skyscanner's website. Please keep in mind that this was an April Fool's day joke by Skyscanner, the airline in question doesn't really exist. (you can skip to the end to read about Sailor Moon's appearance, if you like)

Skyscanner, an Italian comparison website for flights recently reported that 59% of travelers would prefer a family only in-flight section and some airlines had seriously considered this option, as well as the ability to offer flights with no children.

Urchin Airways, a fictitious new airline based in the United Kingdom, has decided to capitalize on the demand for separate flights with a different perspective. With over 1 million children flying unaccompanied every year, they decided to provide a specialized service geared to the needs of children traveling without adults. The first available is a flight to New York that took off from London the morning of April first. Soon there will also be flights to Italy, probably to Rome or Milan.

Aside from staff, the "no adults" flights will not allow any passengers over 16 years of age. In addition to a full crew on board, there will also be qualified nannies, ensuring safety and comfort for the duration of the flight.

While the majority of unaccompanied minors fly alone because their parents can not travel with them, a spokesman for Urchin Airways has indicated that there is growing demand from parents to have the opportunity to travel separately, even on occasions where the whole family is traveling to the same destination. Urchin Airways will launch a service for adults only flying parallel to meet the demands of these parents, as well as other adults who want to fly without children on board. The two services will take off and land within minutes of each other, ensuring that parents and children are reunited without issue.

Urchin Airways cabin crew will be dressed as clowns and will oversee a library of video games with a gaming zone. Activities such as racing eggs on spoons will take place in the aisle and the upholstery will be stronger, to accommodate more children kicking the seats. Whereas on regular flights children are accused of making too much noise, here they will be encouraged by the challenge "Who can shout louder?"

The menu will be tailored to the palates of children and include items such as chewing gum, gingerbread men, and string cheese. Food will be served by Oompa-Loompas, who will sing to the children while they work. Rather than offering hot towels, Teletubbies will be used for cleaning and drying the faces of children after eating. And, on flights during the night, Sailor Moon will tuck in their blankets.

Note: Urchin translates in English to '"little mischievous baby."

Although we learned that this was a joke initiated by Skyscanner, we found this was a fun and unusual place for a mention of Sailor Moon and thought you might enjoy reading about it. Too bad we won't really be seeing Sailor Moon on an airline!

Sailor Moon: La Luna Splende Footage

For fans who have been wanting a closer look at the La Luna Splende video game, here's some in-game footage:

If you haven't seen it yet, you may also be interested in reading Sailordees's review of the game.

source: powet.tv/powetblog/2011/03/30/sailor-moon-la-luna-splende-gameplay-footage

Sailordees' Sailor Moon: La Luna Splende Review

Let me start this post with the following.

First of all, we were not given this game as a gift by any of the companies involved. I purchased this game on my own, for my own enjoyment as well as to review this for the readers of this blog, in what has become a very exciting time to be a Sailor Moon fan.

I love Sailor Moon. I love Naoko Takeuchi’s work. I love Sailor Moon: Another Story, and the puzzle games. I was excited at the prospect of a brand new video game, especially for the DS. At the very least, I wondered what the touch screen could bring to Sailor Moon. I had such high expectations for this game, given how good the dolls and other goods coming out of Italy looked.

And then came the first delay – this game was first promised to fans in late 2010, but was delayed until Spring 2011. We thought, that this might have been because of something in development not going well. Despite this, I kept my fingers crossed that this game was going to be good.

Then, I saw the screenshots and heard the first buzz about the game in press releases. I wasn’t impressed with the screenshots, and I thought the plot was a little cheesy. I didn’t really like the name either (Sailor Moon: The Moon Shines…seriously, was that the best that Backstage, Namco Bandai, and everyone else could come up with?) Alas, I saved face and maintained a positive attitude. Maybe I was worrying over nothing.

My expectations became lower for this game. But still, there was that tiny hope that this game was going to be better than what everything up to this point had suggested.


Shipping Hassles:

Let’s begin with shipping hassles, where this all began. Bol.it was the first online retailer (that shipped internationally) to list this game. I was impressed with their site, they even had a pulldown menu with all the United States and Canadian Provinces listed. The forms were a little clunky, but I managed to fit all the things required for a North American address in them. Then, when the confirmation came back to me, I noticed something a little strange. Somehow, my address carried the state/province abbreviation of “EE”. City was there just fine. I didn’t understand why. I contacted support about this a couple times, and never heard back. I had hoped that the correct code on my address would suffice to bring the game here.

Last Friday, when I learned my game was shipped, the receipt carried no tracking number, thereby killing my last shot at telling the courier that my address was incorrect. It was only this morning (Monday, March 21) that I finally got a response back from Bol.it saying that they realized it was a mistake, but they couldn’t change it. I was supposed to contact FedEx, and they had sent me my tracking number. But, to my surprise, it was already in town. I had gotten off just in time to make my way to the depot before it closed to pick it up.

I urge fans to be cautious if they use Bol.it. Yes it is pricey ($71), and you have to really fight with them to get your address corrected, but I was really impressed with the speed of the courier. Fans can save around ten dollars if they purchase the game from Amazon Italy.

Video Game Review:

Finally, it is time to get to what you all are waiting for. The game played just fine on my silver Nintendo DS Lite. Tomorrow, I will try it on a friend’s Japanese DSi. If fans have any requests for systems, let me know and I will try to find someone around me that has one to try. The companies responsible for this game are: Naoko Takeuchi/PNP, Toei Animation, Backstage, Namco Bandai Games Europe, and Open Sesame Inc.. Has anyone heard of that last company? I couldn’t find anything with respect to video games.

EDIT: Open Sesame Inc. found! Open Sesame Inc. has made games for Mister Donut, Pretty Cure, and Gundam before.

The game had no animated movie or sequence of any sort. This screenshot (right) shows the first thing you see after all the company marquees. At this point, my first instinct was to touch the screen with my stylus, but I guess that did nothing. I really did have to push start! In fact, this game has no touch screen capabilities whatsoever. It could easily be played on a GBA. After you selected Adventure Mode, you were lead through a conversation sequence between the Senshi and Luna amongst a sleeping Nina/Naru/Molly. This was not animated, and consisted of Senshi photos with speech bubbles. This next photo (left) shows this at the tail end, where they have all transformed instantly and Sailor Moon promises to punish the Demon in the name of the Moon.



The first level you play is “Mondo dei fiori”, or world of flowers. Enemies in this level consist of only ladybugs, turtles, and flying flowers. What those have to do with the Sailor Moon universe, is beyond me.Each level, is a maze with 20 segments that you have to navigate through from portal to portal.You have to collect 10 crystals, to beat the level. The nature of these puzzles are very limited, as your character is only able to jump and attack, and the down button allows you to go below certain dashed rock tile (this does not include small holes among the shrub tile). How do you solve these puzzles? By using floating platforms and moving rocks. I got through about half of the segments in the first maze as Sailor Moon. You cannot switch characters without getting your crystal count reset, and some crystals and treasure boxes are only available to get playing as certain characters. You also don’t have any lives – you can die but you start the segment you died in over again.A game over, is not possible. I became quickly annoyed with this game after around 90 minutes of play. I did not beat the first level since I ran into a couple dead ends (I restarted the game about 4-5 times). Gameplay itself was a little clunky since it was sometimes hard to maneuver jumps/attacks (and you cannot do the two at the same time). The one positive side to this game was the fact that they had transferred video sequences of the henshin – and these came through quite nicely on the DS!



The music on the start screen featured a melodic interpolation of the Sailor Moon theme, but everything else in the game was very generic, circus-sounding music. I had to slide my volume to mute because I couldn’t take it anymore. The graphics were good outside gameplay, but during the levels themselves, my worst fears were realized. The Senshi really did look as cheap as some of the fans had speculated.




Bottom Line:

I was disappointed, and would give this game a 2/10. I don’t see myself being that enthused about the game that I want to play it every day until I finish it. This is more of a game I would play when I am bored and have lots of hours to kill. I think that many of you will also be disappointed if/when you play this game. I don’t think that this game is a good match for young kids because some of these rock-blocking puzzles are a little tough (especially when the manual or on screen instructions don’t tell you much about what they are supposed to do). Fans, please be cautious when you purchase this game – or perhaps wait 6-10 months from now when the game’s price drops. At the end of the day, this is just one of those products that goes with the weird ones of the past that were too strange to understand (such as Irwin’s Moon Cycle). I am still a fan of Sailor Moon despite this, and I really hope that if there are future video game possibilities, that they are a lot better than this.


A Short Update - More Details:


I have now beaten two out of the three levels - "World of Flowers" and "World of Gems" with 100% completion (so I am fully 66% finished). This is how the game works - in "Adventure" mode, each level is a maze. The top screen displays a grid of either 4x5 squares (World of Flowers), 5x5 squares (World of Gems) or 6x6 squares (World of Enchanted Palace "Mondo del Palazzo Fatato"). Each one of these squares connects to its neighbors differently, and there is one end square with a mirror. You need to use all 5 characters to beat the level and you must collect 10 crystals and several treasure chests per level. However, your character must find this end square and walk through the mirror for their crystals and chests to save. Some of these puzzles are very challenging - I can't imagine anyone having an easy time playing this game, no matter what the age is. I have found one puzzle that is impossible to solve (and thankfully there is a second way out of the square), simply because of the timing. The bombs in the second level detonate too fast to travel over a long distance, and the character does not move fast enough. The boss battles with Lord Kaspar/Kunzite/Malachite are on the other hand too easy. If your character dies in the boss battle, they are allowed to return after you watch Milord/Tuxedo Kamen/Tuxedo Mask throw his roses 3 times. He has failed to hit Lord Kaspar in each of the battles I have played. I think, his presence in the game is the biggest epic fail. In the anime, at least his roses were able to stun the enemy or at least be more productive! Whichever senshi you finish the maze with, is the senshi that deals the final blow to Lord Kaspar, and after the battle ends you see video of their attack from the first season (however, so far Sailor Moon has only thrown her tiara). The 10 crystals form segments of a larger heart crystal - Level 1's is blue, 2's is yellow, and 3's is red. These 3 heart crystals probably form something together (maybe the Silver Crystal?) to awaken Nina, but I have to put this game away for a few days (I won't know how it ends for a while). The treasure chests, correspond to various items you use in "Images" mode. These items are unlocked backgrounds, characters, or decorations used to make images of the Senshi. You can build up to 3 at once, but this is useless because the user is unable to print them. This mode uses the stylus to move and choose aspects of the images. For those of you who are wondering, the enemies in the second level are teddy bears, evil spinning hearts, and butterflies. The third's are tin soldiers, these zombie fish skeletons that jump up and down from the water, and bats.

I will be writing a strategy guide for this, but only after I have beaten the game. This is because I would like to have the beaten grids and the pathways available when I write this, as well as a better sense of where this game is going.

Look What Fed-Ex Brought Me Today...

It's here, and it's live! Today has been such a great day for Sailor Moon and our readers (we will probably let you know why later). Alas, I have just come home and I am a little hungry. Will give this a try later today!

BREAKING NEWS: Sailor Moon: La Luna Splende Release Date Pushed Ten Days Early!

Straight outta Toei Animation Europe's Headquarters in France this morning is a press release announcing the official release date of the highly anticipated Sailor Moon video game for the Nintendo DS in Italy! Sailor Moon: La Luna Splende (The Moon Shines) is going to be released on March 21st, 2011. This is ten days earlier than most sites were reporting (March 31st). We were a little worried just a couple weeks ago when we were unable to find any pre-order information and had a little feeling it was going to be delayed again (but thankfully, it wasn't!). Random Trivia: The game also carries the same name as the second Sailor Moon opening theme in Italian!

Last week, I notified our users via Facebook very quickly that the game was available for pre-order internationally. Now while there is some confusion over which North American systems it will play on (I have heard from some that you can't play international games on the DSi), we're just going to advise fans to wait for other reviews to see if the game will work on their Nintendo DS system of choice. I will be testing this on a DS lite, and possibly a few months later on the first generation DS (basically just to see if it runs, part of the touch screen is dead and this makes games difficult to play :( ). As far as I know I'm the only one on our staff ordering it, and I don't have access to any other DS systems. For those of you who wish to purchase it online, there is only one store that I've been able to find as of this writing that will ship internationally, and that is Bol.it. And, they are also the cheapest, selling the game for roughly 5 dollars cheaper than others. Be aware though, that shipping from Italy to North America will be at least as much as the game costs - my total came to around $71. If any fans are having troubles muddling through the Italian on Bol.it's site, please send us an email and either I or one of my staff members will get back to you as soon as we can to help you navigate your purchase.

The image above appears to be the final cover art, as released by Toei Animation Europe, and the game carries a PEGI rating of 7+, which means that the game is suitable for players over 7 years of age. There are also no other symbols on the game which means it's pretty clean, content wise.

Namco Bandai Announces Sailor Moon: La Luna Splende For The Nintendo DS (Updated!)

Months of speculation have come to a close. Namco Bandai Europe has finally released some details about the Sailor Moon Nintendo DS game they're developing for an Italian release. Sailor Moon: La Luna Splende, which could be translated to either "The Shining Moon" or "The Moon Shine", is an adventure game featuring environmental puzzles that takes place in Molly/Naru's dreams. Sight-unseen, this sounds like it could be similar to the Professor Layton series of games or perhaps the early Nintendo DS game, Trace Memory. For those who have never played any of those games, that's a good crowd to be compared to.

Other pieces of info about the game are that each of the Scouts will have their own abilities, Tuxedo Mask is in the game, there will be 3 worlds(Jewel Palace, Mystery Castle, & Flower Garden) with 20-30 puzzles each, and that the Scout's attire can be customized. The new planned release month for La Luna Spende is March and it will apparently be priced at €29.99(about $40). Sailordees will be importing and reviewing it for Moon Chase when it is released. Nintendo DS games(not to be confused with DSi or 3DS games) are not region-locked and can be played on any original DS or DS Lite. You can find Namco Bandai's Italian press release below.


Press Release: [Namco Bandai]
Logo(Added Via Sailordees) Credit: [Italian Gaming Website, Press Start]


EDIT: More to share with you all (Sailordees here)! Lots and lots of screengrabs are available on several Italian sites (our image credits go to everyeye), and we are featuring them here for you as well. It looks like they have fused a simple RPG with some of the aesthetics from the puzzle games of Sailor Moon's SNES days (S, SS, and Stars). And, we also have a cover image to share as well!

Dicembre Saluti Dall Italiano Sailor Moon

Forgive me Italian Moonies, if my grammar is incorrect! Given that it is December, fans shouldn't really expect there to be any Earth-shattering Sailor Moon news by way of licenses yet. And there isn't much going on in Japan either, save for a mention of a Tuxedo Mask cosplayer at Japan Pop Culture Festival 2010. Italy is still swarming with news of Sailor Moon - a new commercial was uploaded yesterday from DYNIT advertising the upcoming release of the first boxset in January. Since many of you can't see it (and we managed to find a way to), we're going to describe the commercial for you. Images of the anime play against the Japanese theme song. It begins with images of Sailor Moon's nails becoming polished flashing between screens that say "Le Guerriere" (The Warrior) "Che Vestono Alla Marinaretta" (Dressed Like a Sailor) "Sono Tornate" (Has Returned)! And then we hear Cristina D'Avena's voice as Sailor Moon begins to transform. And then comes a screen advertising the uncensored release of Umino lifting up Haruna-Sensei's skirt. As other images of the opening play, more words say that the video is remastered, and for the first time that the episode prologues and previews will be included with Italian subtitles. These will be on a separate DVD (we're assuming, that the editors had some difficulties in lacing in the video for these previews and prologues since they were not dubbed with the regular episodes). Finally, Italian Moonies are going to get almost everything they missed out on the first time around (any of our readers in Italy heard anything new about the missing episode from R yet?). The important part to note, is that Naoko Takeuchi's name/ Princess Naoko Planning is featured twice in this commercial (and we are happy, that finally people are being consistent with their crediting to her). It first appears (we have shown you above) near the end of the commercial with the logos of DYNIT and Toei Animation, and then at the very end alongside the Sailor Moon logo. Below, we have a screenshot of what the collector's box is going to look like. We're not sure if that package just on top of the discs is what the 3-disc holder looks like, or if it is a booklet. The one on the right is the bonus DVD with all the prologues and previews. For those of you who are in Italy and have not watched the commercial yet, click here!



Oh yeah, and Sailor Moon is still doing well in the ratings in Italy, holding the #5 spot. It is holding a market share even higher than The Simpsons!

BREAKING NEWS: GP Publishing Considering More Sailor Moon?

Just hours ago, the Sailor Moon manga was revealed to the public at Lucca Comics and Games in Italy. While details are just starting to surface in the press, one item piqued are interest! The Italian manga and anime community Nanoda reports that one of the representatives at the presentation from GP Publishing (it was either Francesco Meo or Baboni Luca) said that depending on the success of Sailor Moon, GP may decide to publish the artbooks. Looking at how successful Sailor Moon is already in Italy, we think that the manga should have no trouble selling (our Italiano Moonies are going to purchase all of them, right?). The two representatives also thanked Mediaset's Fabrizio Margaria for their revival of the series, and both made special mention of how well the show is doing in the ratings since it began broadcast on Italia 1 in August. Fabrizio also mentioned again that this current broadcast also has significantly less censorship than the first broadcast many years ago. We will be keeping an eye out on the news in the next few days for what else happened at this presentation!

New Sailor Moon Manga to be Previewed at Italian Expo!

In Lucca, Italy, there is a very interesting event happening in just a matter of days. Lucca Comics and Games is an annual expo that both functions as a pop culture convention, as well as a trade show for companies. Fans attending will get to have a small taste of what it is like to be at much bigger media market events such as MIPCOM when they go through the trade show venues! At this event, editors and publishers will be making presentations about upcoming titles and franchises. The new Sailor Moon manga will be making its debut at Lucca Comics and Games 2010 on Sunday, October 31st at 2PM at the Plaza Ducale. The "King of Sailor Moon Licensing" in Italy, Fabrizio Margaria (Program Director at Mediaset), will be on hand for the big reveal. We hope that our Italian readers will be out there in full force in their Sailor Moon cosplay to let us know how it goes! Buona fortuna Sailor Moon - all of us want to see you continue to succeed!

Chibi-Moonie Clothing Revealed!

Hey, Moonies! You may remember a recent article where we tabulated who was making what in Italy...well, the first pieces of merchandise are starting to surface. Italian Brands has just released their licensed apparel catalog for this season which features Sailor Moon! The line is all designed for young girls and is mainly tracksuits, sweatsuits and other activewear. The main color palette consists of navy blue, hot pink, white, mauve, and gray, and a lone green bandana. The line appears to be mainly cotton and/or jersey fabrics, which most moms know are kid friendly in the wash and wear department. We kinda wish that some of the shirts had some glittery shimmer accents to them.

Fans can visit Italian Brands' site here, choose either English or Italian then click 'Brands' and finally click the Sailor Moon logo! These are scans of the actual catalog leaves, so the scanned pages are out of order. We are putting them in order for you below.

This kind of catalog acts as a showcase for stores so that buyers can choose what products they want to order. It is important to remember that these are prototypes at this point and the final products to hit stores might end up being a bit different.

It's still exciting to see merchandise hit this stage of development and it gives us hope for the future of Sailor Moon around the world!

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT ITALIAN BRANDS 2010