Sailor Moon Industry News Europe: Fall 2010 Update

A lot has been going on with Sailor Moon in Europe in the last months, so let's catch up on the situation in the Moon Kingdom!

☾ First, let's start off with some only-interesting-to-some-and-boring-to-others industry briefs. Toei Animation Europe (TAE) has been exhibiting at lots of different places, and is not letting the work of their brand licensors go unnoticed. At the first of these appearances at Brand Licensing Europe 2010, the animation giant hosted a special event where they handed out three awards honoring companies that they have worked with in the past year with the most success. Winning for Best Licensing Program was Backstage Licensing of Italy for their work with Sailor Moon. Best Promotion went to TFI Enterprises of France for their work with all the Dragon Ball franchises, and Best Involvement went to Plus Licens of Sweden for their work with all the Dragon Ball franchises as well as One Piece. Kanji Kazahaya, President and COO of TAE was grateful, saying: "We are very delighted to start with this first edition of Toei Animation awards for our European brokers... as a Japanese company, it is a great time to share our motivation and challenges with our European partners." We are so happy to hear of Toei Animation's continued successes in Europe! Next, they appeared at Hyper Japan in London from October 1st-3rd, and exhibited their Toei Animation Theatre where for the first time in years Sailor Moon was shown officially in English! Not the dub though. The first episode was shown with English subtitles alongside the first episode of Pretty Cure and Yes! Pretty Cure 5 (also subtitled). We are officially jealous of our London readers who got to attend the screening! And if that wasn't enough, TAE also exhibited their properties at MIPCOM in Cannes, France from October 4th-8th. TAE did not exhibit at MIPJr. this year (a showcase just for childrens programming).

☾ Sailor Moon continues to leave everyone in her moondust in Italy! Backstage Licensing reports that Sailor Moon has peaks of viewers nearing the 1 million mark, and an average market share of around 9% (if the words "market share" confuse you, read our article from last week). What surprised us the most was reading about the girls' 4-14 demographic in Italy (preschoolers, young kids, and tweens) where the article said that Sailor Moon was maintaining a strong appeal with a share close to 40%! Once again, odango-atama/meatball head continues to defy industry expectations.Not bad for an "old show" that is proving to be a timeless classic. Everyeye Italy pointed to a new interview on the Metal Robot Forums with Carlo Cavazzoni, Executive Director of Dynit Italy, which will be releasing Sailor Moon on DVD. Here, is a translation of the Sailor Moon portion of the interview:

METALROBOT: The following questions discuss the issues of the series "Sailor Moon".

METALROBOT: The news of the acquisition of the home video rights for the series "Sailor Moon" has now been confirmed through Dynit's website. Why was a series like this chosen to be added to the Dynit Catalog?

Dynit: The brand was relaunched on an international level, and there are many companies involved in this project in Italy, Dynit Home Video has acquired the rights for the traditional channels (video stores, comics, etc ...). It is a series that has been very successful, and which we hope will conquer a new generation.

7. Was the aquisition of the rights for this series complicated? How did it happen that for a long time, years, the sale of the rights of the series for foreign countries was blocked?

Dynit: We do not know what the motivations were, it often depends on the rights situation in Japan. Sometimes, just to boost yourself up you need to disappear for a long time.

8. METALROBOT: Can you reveal a few more details in type? Will the releases cover all of the series and movies?

Dynit: It will cover the television series.


METALROBOT: Will the releases have a redub or will there only be the original dub with subtitles faithful to the original series?

Dynit: We did not expect to redub the series, we acquired the home video rights of the original dub. The series will be unedited in its entirety, we are now working with subtitles.

METALROBOT: When will the releases be listed for sale on the home video market?

Dynit: We plan to release them in early 2011, in singles and DVD boxsets.

Fans in Italy who were expecting a redub, it appears that there will not be one. We are most surprised reading that the movies will not be re-released with the series. If we remember correctly, the fans loved the movies just as much as the series?! Here is hoping that there will be some hope for releases of the movies in the future. We were irked by Cavazzoni's comment about disappearing just for attention - this really wasn't the case at all. This is almost like all the rumors we read about Yoshihiro Togashi only going on hiatus to get attention for Hunter X Hunter. We can understand feigning off interviewers for keeping the real reason for the rights disappearing under wraps, but to say something like this even in the independent press, is pretty low.

Sailor Moon Producer Moves to The Web With New "Celeb-Toons"

When possible, we here at Moon Chase try to keep fans updated with where the staff behind Sailor Moon is today. This update focuses on Andy Heyward, the former CEO and founder of DiC Entertainment, which was the production company responsible for the first two seasons. Back in the 80s and 90s, DiC was the name in hit cartoons for children, with big shows like Inspector Gadget, Care Bears, Rainbow Brite, The Real Ghostbusters, the Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Brothers Super Show, and countless others. So, with such a legend in children's broadcasting, to studios back during the time that Sailor Moon first came along it looked like if DiC had a show, it would be a hit. Of course though, poor Sailor Moon did not have such a smooth run the first time - and fans can check out our first survey results which show how much the fans appreciated the work Andy did for the series. He only got 15% of the fans' votes! In 2008, the company was folded into Canada's Cookie Jar Entertainment, and Andy Heyward was left with (supposedly) nothing to do (as the article suggests).

Last year, a press release we came across during the early stages of our campaign told us that Andy was back in action with a brand new company creating webtoons cetnered around celebrities for kids. A few of our staff members questioned some of the ideas that were being tossed around (Gisele Bundchen will never come close to Captain Planet, and we would have gone crazy watching perfect Martha Stewart and her perfect crafts in cartoon form). In this weekend's USA Today, he is featured once again now that some of his cartoons have come to life. The article has the bit of an air of a "puff piece" to it, and we find it interesting that it drops the name Sailor Moon twice, without really mentioning how and why DiC didn't produce the movies or the 3rd & 4th seasons of the show. The video has a tiny glimpse of Sailor Moon as well - can you spot it in our shot above? We're pretty sure that while it was one of DiC's biggest successes, it was also one of it's biggest failures due to mismanagement. In the video on the USA Today site, he talks about how there is an opportunity for a strong girl's property in the wake of the imminent "death" of Barbie and Bratz. How many Moonies are with me that Sailor Moon could kick Gisele's butt any day? Who would you rather watch?

His new cartoons are cross-platform making apperances on the web, TV (on The Hub) as well as comics. While we admire Andy for choosing to start fresh, it's our opinion that the shows he's workin' on today don't have the same kind of appeal as the shows he worked on for DiC. Yes, we are in a recession but do kids really need to be learning lessons from Warren Buffet at an early age, or should we let their imaginations run through a world of fantasy for a few years while they still can?


(So the article sort of sanitized something with regards to the sale of DiC: there are many rumors swirling around Hollywood that his divorce to Evelyn Heyward as a result of an extramarital affair had something to do with it. One doesn't have to look too far on the web to learn about it. We also don't buy the comment about him never having worked so hard in his life - the cartoons he is working on now are only a fraction of what he did 20 years ago. We've known about this for a few years now but kept it in our Moon Chase files for pondering...Oh Sailor Moon, so many scandals behind your scenes...)

Korean Actress Dons Sailor Moon Cosplay for Drama!

Note: This article had incorrect information in it's former incarnation (our source was wrong). Now it is fixed and the old article has been removed.

Popular Korean actress Goo Hye-Sun dressed up like Sailor Moon to shoot some scenes for the upcoming drama The Musical to be broadcast on KBS. Hye-Sun plays a medical student who dreams of being a musical actor (and has failed 80 different auditions). Fans may know of Hye-Sun from her work in two Korean live-action adaptations of Japanese franchises: the very popular Hana Yori Dango (Boys Before Flowers) as Geum Jan Di, and from the upcoming Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend) as Riiko Izawa. In a sailor suit and a long blonde wig, she waved her wand through a busy area of Seoul as they filmed. Her costume seemed ridiculous, but Hye Sun didn’t seem fazed by it and was cheerful and happy the whole time!

Netizens took photos and remarked that she looked like manhwa (Korean word for manga) had come to life, and that in a sailor suit they thought she looked pretty and cute. Some were really impressed by her transformation, while others mused “if only she really existed!” We think every Sailor Moon fan in their heart secretly wishes she did, too. Comedienne and Co-Star Park Hyung Lim also showed up and was full of envy when she said that Sailor Moon had been rediscovered!

Fans can check out some of the photos taken below, and a video on Pandora (when it wants to work, it wasn’t doing anything for us for over an hour).

NA Voice Actor Update: Emilie-Claire Barlow and Stephanie Beard

We recently received a tip about Emilie-Claire Barlow (Sailor Venus #2) appearing in a series of video interviews with Chris Potenza, her co-star in Total Drama Island and 6teen. In the various video clips, Emilie talks about her voice acting career and singing career. She mentions working on Sailor Moon quite a few times too, fans can see the videos on Youtube here: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5 (or watch the embedded videos below!). As mentioned in the video interviews, Emilie plays Bunny in the upcoming series Almost Naked Animals, which viewers can expect to see on YTV in the fall.

Here are the video interviews!

part 1


part 2


part 3


part 4


part 5

And now, on to Emilie's musical career. Her latest album, "The Beat Goes On," is inspired by the 1960's. It will be in stores on October 12th. Canadian fans can also catch her performing live on Canada AM on CTV on October 12th. Tune in at 8:50am to catch her performance, she will be on during the last ten minutes of the program. The CTV schedule is here, for Canadian fans who want to check when the show airs in their region.

On October 21st, she and her band will be performing live on JAZZ FM 91.1, at 7pm EST. the hour long show takes place in front of a live studio audience and will feature songs from her new album. Her official newsletter also notes that she will be interviewed by JAZZ.FM91's Ross Porter. Toronto area fans can catch the radio show on 91.1 FM. The station will also be broadcasting online via www.jazz.fm.

On November 26th at 8pm, she will be performing at Aeolian Hall, in London, Ontario. And, in December, at 8pm on the 15th, she will be performing at the Grand Théâtre de Québec in Québec City, Québec. Additional tour dates are available on her official website.


Stephanie Beard's (Rini #2) previously untitled project now has a name! Live with It is a comedic account of a 25-year-old guy's cancer diagnosis, and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease. (description from IMDb). Stephanie will be playing a character named Susan.

We also have minor updates for her other two upcoming films. In A True Story. Based on Things That Never Actually Happened...And Some That Did, her character is named Amanda. A new trailer is available in HD on Youtube here. We suggest only our older readers click through to watch due to strong language and mature themes. Stephanie appears in the trailer at 27 seconds in. In Not Quite College, her character is named Jessica. No official release dates yet for either film, but we will keep you posted.

Stephanie has also appeared in two episodes of the latest season of Weeds, which is described by IMDb as a "comedy about a suburban mother turned marijuana dealer." You can catch her as Fiona in episodes three and four of season six. Canadian fans can catch the series on Showcase or watch episodes online (episode 3, "A Yippity Sippity," can be seen here and episode 4, Bliss, can be seen here). Fans in the US can catch the series on Showtime Network. Showtime has the first episode of season 6 available online as well.

NA Voice Actor Update: Fall 2010

Hello readers! Lots of updates for you this time about the North American voice actors. They've been busy! Updates about Emilie-Claire Barlow and Stephanie Beard will be featured in an upcoming post.

We previously reported that Harvey Atkin (Bumboo/Pox) will be appearing in Barney's Version. This film has now premiered at Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival (Spain), Venice Film Festival (Italy), Toronto International Film Festival (Canada). It is scheduled to show at the Hamptons International Film Festival in New York on October 7th. Still no date for the theatrical release confirmed.

Dennis Akayama is also appearing in a recently released film. He plays Captain Hotaka in Resident Evil: Afterlife. Another installment in the Resident Evil series, this film follows Alice as she joins a group of survivors who want to relocate to a mysterious safe haven known as Arcadia (description from IMDb).

Sabrina Grdevich (Anne/Sailor Pluto #1) appeared in an episode of Rookie Blue, as Anna Vetter. In this episode of the police drama, a heat wave wreaks havoc on the city (description from IMDb).

David Fraser (Grandpa Hino) will be playing Karl Rove in the upcoming film, Casino Jack. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, on September 16th and 17th. It is expected to show in theatres starting in December 2010. An official trailer is available here. He also appears in Covert Affairs as a supervisor in the episode entitled "Houses of the Holy." The show is a crime drama about a CIA agent.

Katie Griffin can be heard as Hikaru in Beyblade: Metal Fusion. Canadian fans may be interested to know that new episodes are coming up on YTV. We previously reported that Robert Tinkler (Rubeus) appears in this show as Gingka. We have also heard that more voice actors from Sailor Moon may be appearing in this series, so keep listening out for them!

Naz Edwards (Queen Beryl) will be appearing on stage in the upcoming musical The Drowsy Chaperone, which runs from November 11 - December 26, 2010 at the Performance Network theatre in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ticket information is available here. Here's the description of the play from the theatre: "A lollapalooza of a musical to take you back to the dazzling fantasy of the 1920's - when stars had charisma, Broadway had romance and audiences had the time of their lives. You know the one... where the Broadway star wants to leave the show because she's fallen for an oil-rich lummox, so the producer hires a gigolo to woo the girl and put the kibosh on the nuptials? Winner of Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score, it's guaranteed to put a song in your heart! Featuring Naz Edwards (Little Shop of Horrors)."

Tracey Hoyt (Rini #1) can be heard in The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! as Sally's Mom.

Sarah Lafleur (Sailor Uranus) appears as the title character in Taylor Warren, a 14 minute short film. It premiered July 25th at the Regency Academy Theatre in Pasadena, CA as part of the 2010 Action On Film Festival. (source: sarahlafleurfan.com)

Alice Poon (Catsy) can be seen in Devil, recently released in theatres, as Officer Choi. This PG-13 film is about a group of people trapped in an elevator who realize that the devil is among them (description from IMDb).

Alison Sealy-Smith (Amphibia) has now appeared in seven episodes Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures as Nurse Lydia. Although these episodes premiered some time ago, we only now have confirmation of her appearance in them.

Robert Tinkler (Rubeus), can also be heard in The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! as Fish, Thing 1, Thing 2, and other characters. Fans can catch this series on Treehouse in Canada and PBS in the US.

Sera Myu Fall 2010 Update (Part 1): Heroes and Enemies!

Only 7 actors from the beloved musicals are moving and shaking in Japan, so here comes your first of two updates!

First, we'll start with the heroes!

Anza Ooyama Continues to Rock!

Anza Ooyama (Sailor Moon from 1993-1998) continued to rock all through Japan with her band HEAD PHONES PRESIDENT this summer. On their recent "Fuse the Soul" tour across the country, one of their featured openers came from this side of the pond! That band was Canada's Domenica, another metal band fronted by a female singer (Bekki). The band commended HPP on their facebook page, telling their fans to check out the band and that "they are definitely a live show to be reckoned with." On the last day of this tour (September 12th), Anza wore a gold bustier with a brown skirt that was a little hard to see in the dark, and she addressed the audience a lot.The writer of this article also noted that Anza has definitely improved on her emotional expression skills and provokes the audience to feel a whole range of different emotions during her concerts. At the end of the show, she wanted a photo of her band with the audience, and even invited Domenica to join them on stage as well! On September 19th, they also played at another event called "Abstinence's Door", which was organized by another Japanese metal band called D'erlanger. The band released a statement to the press saying that they were deeply and greatly moved to be joining such a renowned rock band on stage, and that they had hoped to connect with other bands that are pulling the rock scene in Japan with all of their sounds to have a great time! HPP also just released their latest album Pobl Lliw on September 3rd, and fans can listen to tracks from the album via the band's official MySpace.


Manna in New Horror Film!

Many fans probably remember Kasumi Suzuki as the cute Manna from Tanjou! Ankoku no Princess Black Lady. Well, she has grown up! She is now starring in a horror movie called Kai-Ki: Tales of Terror From Tokyo. The movie's world premiere was in Los Angeles last July, and has since been going around the indie circuit. The horror movie is the last of 3 movies based on the TV show of the same name, all telling different horror stories. This movie in particular has two stories in it, "Possessed" and "Nozomi", both starring Japanese idol Erina Mano (but our Kasumi stars right alongside her). "Possessed" is a story about a hiccuping epidemic among college students turning them into enraged, murderous, monsters. "Nozomi" is about a young girl that is haunted by a ghost that may hold the key to a dark family secret. All of the press surrounding this movie is surrounding Erina's debut, but we're pretty sure that this is Kasumi's first time starring in a Japanese movie that is making it big across the globe. While we couldn't find any comments from her in the press, we were able to find a photo of her from the Japanese premiere in Shibuya on September 4th! She is in the front row on the left... see how Manna has grown?

Kimi no Todoke Premiere Makes Waves in Japan (and Moves Sailor Star Healer to Tears)!

The highly anticipated Kimi no Todoke (From Me to You) live-action movie finally premiered in Japan last week. Mikako Tabe (Yaten Kou/Sailor Star Healer from 2003-2004) plays the leading role of Sawako in this film alongside Haruma Miura who plays Shota (the guy she falls in love with). The press has been featuring stories about this movie for the last few weeks, and both have said that they were really proud of their work and this film, and hoped that the public would also be able to enjoy it. Mikako was also worried that she wouldn't be able to play the role, since after she saw the anime she wondered if any human could actually play these roles. At a test screening last week, both of them were asked what types of people they would like to fall in love with, and Mikako said she prefers guys that who have an abundance of knowledge, where Haruma said that he likes girls who are just like Sawako - black hair, with the motto to do one good deed every day. This screening was done for teenagers, and set in a classroom much like the one used in the movie, and everyone loved it! At the end of the screening, Mikako was moved to tears by the movie feeling touched by the music, and by the support so many had for her character. Mikako and Haruma were moved to tears again at the movie's premiere on September 25th at the TOHO Cinemas in Roppongi Hills! Mikako's eyes were red and swollen as she told the audience “I appreciate it all” in gratitude for the audience's support. We wish this movie continued success in Japan (and abroad too, since these movies are sometimes licensed for distribution here)! The movie's theme song "Reaching You" is performed by Japanese rockband Flumpool, and the single was just released a few days ago in Japan.

Tae Kimura Helps Out Some Very Special Causes (While Still Finding Time to Play a Rock Star)!

Tae Kimura (Fisheye) is still receiving a lot of buzz surrounding her movie from last summer, Tokyo Island (we covered this earlier here). And, she is also appearing at some events for some very special causes. On October 1st the famous manicure hotspot Nail Art Collection in Omotesando Hills, opened up a special auction as part of its pink ribbon campaign for breast cancer. Tae's nails are one of many celebrity nail works by the manicurist with all proceeds going towards breast cancer research. From November 26th-December 3rd, there will be a special Disability Film Festival which will feature her as a guest. Many Ghibli movies will be a part of this festival including Whisper of the Heart and The Cat Returns. Audience members will also be encouraged to express sound effects that are displayed in the subtitles!

Tae is also starring in a new drama special on WOWOW in Japan called Nazekimi. The first part aired on September 25th. Tae also has an upcoming movie next year where she plays an oddball divorcee who forms a rockband with 3 other moms at her kids' school! The movie is called Utahime☆ and the band will play "Smoke on the Water" at a school festival. Everyone had a lot of fun learning how to rock for this movie - and it looks like it will be a hit next summer!




Part Two features all men who have played the same role! It will be posted later this week. Who do you think is the character and which actors are we going to tell you about? Make your guesses below!

Sailor Moon Rising Way Above Industry Expectations in Italy!

Sailor Moon's TV ratings have surprised many in the entertainment industry as it has far exceeded any typical expectations! First, we'll show you what we mean in a table with whatever ratings we have been able to find so far through the Italian news at Ascolti TV.

Date	Viewers	Market Share
September 8th, 2010	563,000	6.68%
September 9th, 2010	570,000	6.65%
September 10th, 2010	522,000	6.76%
September 13th, 2010	736,000	8.40%
September 27th, 2010	952,000	10.71%
September 28th, 2010	703,000	8.30%
September 29th, 2010	620,000	7.54%
September 30th, 2010	917,000	10.76%

So, What Do All These Numbers Mean?

Here, is a short lesson on how to interpret ratings. Most countries (such as Nielsen in the United States), randomly select a portion of the population to have a special set-top box alongside their cable box to gather information about what the household is watching, who is watching, and what they think of what they are seeing. The number you see above under the "Viewers" column, is how many people with those boxes watched the show. The percentage you see next to that number under the "Market Share" column shows you what percentage of people were watching the show, out of all of the other people that were watching TV with those boxes at the same time.

Normally, a cartoon doesn't do very well in the ratings, usually scoring around 1%. Cartoons that are very popular usually start at around 3.5% and rise up. This is because usually children make up such a small part of the sample population. However, those numbers next to Sailor Moon are much, much, bigger than 1 - they are 6,7,8 and 10! This is huge for Sailor Moon, because it shows that it is likely not only children that are watching the show, but probably adults as well. And the final icing on the cake is a recent release at Kidscreen that shows Sailor Moon made the top 5 kids' program broadcasts in Italy! What we found didn't show us any age demographic ratings, unlike the ones we hunt down for We Got the Solution. If these are the results in Italy, who knows what the results might be around the rest of the world?

Fan Luigi Reda pointed out some amazing news to us on our Facebook page, and we were able to find much more through our radar that watches everything about Sailor Moon! Thanks Luigi!