BREAKING NEWS: Naoko Takeuchi Finally Acknowledges Sailor Moon is Back on ANIMAX!

Just the Barest Minimum?

This morning, Sailor Moon Channel updated again predictably, as it does at the beginning of the month. We on staff were fully expecting her not to acknowledge that the series was back on the air, and feature either a new game or addition to a feature on the site, and some new fan letters to Luna. Well, both of those were there. The 8th Luna Report was posted, and this one featured more snippets from the manga to put together a typical day for the Senshi. Right at the top of the fan letters posting was a letter from a 25 year old fan named Risa from Kanagawa Prefecture. Our plans for Phase 4 had included a template for fan letters to SMC, and one of those were planned to include something about being happy the show was back on the air on ANIMAX and how it's a joy to see something we all enjoyed when we were younger again. However, we've been unbelievably busy with the other phases of the campaign and keeping a Hawk's Eye on what's going on in Japan, so this part was shelved to go with the upcoming phase. This letter must have been one of several she received from Japanese fans, and this may have prompted her to finally take some acknowledgment of the rebroadcast. The picture we have featured above is a screenshot of the index page (the frames are just not aligning properly, this is why the Moon and the spark on the right have gaps), but in a box, we have highlighted the announcement, which simply says that Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon is broadcast from Mondays to Fridays on ANIMAX. It doesn't link anywhere.

Here's the translation of the letter from Risa!

The rebroadcast of the animated cartoon 'Sailor Moon' started 9/1 on ANIMAX, and when I was in grade school I looked forward to watching it happily every day! I loved Sailor Moon!

I am turning 25 years old and the cartoon is still a big favorite of mine (*laughter*). I am happy! Please continue with the forever lasting eternal Sailor hero that I wanted to be when I was younger!

Hey Risa, there's no reason to be embarrassed being a fan of it at such an age! We know of many fans who are much older! And here is "Luna's" very un-fun response:

Sailor Moon finally began rebroadcasting! Please continue your support and everything else you are doing and watch it everyday! Broadcast details are on the right of the home page above the News.

We thought we'd see something a little more fun from "Luna". This response just appears very bare bones and boring compared to the energy she has for responding to the other letters.

This does, however give us a few more pieces to the puzzle. This announcement comes nearly a month after the rebroadcast, and nearly two months after Kotono's first interview promoting the return of the series. Moreover, there was never an announcement about the movies rebroadcasting on Toei Channel. Perhaps, there is still a lot of animosity between Naoko and Toei , and she felt that she would have to publicize the movies on Toei Channel if she announced the series' return on ANIMAX (they were being packaged together as Sailor Moon Matsuri [Sailor Moon Festival] ) and perhaps this is the reason why she avoided posting anything on the site about it.

Still though, something doesn't seem right. A proper site with something like this would have at the very least linked to ANIMAX's Sailor Moon subsite. This is why this is just a bare minimum mention. "Luna" could have said something like "I am watching it to" or "I am glad to have my adventures with Sailor Moon again", but it looks like it was never meant to be.

Nonetheless, ありがとうございます 武内直子. 私たちは愛美少女戦士セーラームーン. として、それと思ったほど悪くないではなかった！ あなた美少女戦士セーラームーン英語で、別の機会を与えていただけますか？

EDIT: The announcement now links to ANIMAX!