London Gets to Experience Sailor Moon (Again) as Part of An Animation Festival!

From Toei Animation Europe's Headquarters this morning, we learned that Sailor Moon is part of a special festival celebrating animation at London's Barbican Art Gallery! Watch Me Move: The Animation Show traces the history of animation over the last 150 years. Over 100 films are being featured this year from a broad range of animatin styles including cutout, collage, puppet, clay, stop-motion, and anime, among several others. The reviews we have read from others around the web have been positive! Likewise, if any of our readers are going to go to this exhibit and would like to tell us more about it, we would love to hear from you! The exhibit runs until September 11th of this year. Fans can also check out a schedule of film screenings and special events. Excerpts from the Sailor Moon anime are featured in the exhibition itself, there are no set screenings for specific episodes listed. It is likely that these are subtitled in English. This is the second time that fans in London are able to watch an official version of the show in English, even though there are no complete episodes this time.

The release also mentions that the show will be presented in two history museums in Germany, however as of this writing we are unaware of which museums those are.

Summer 2011 Sailor Moon Cosplayers Galore!

Hi Moonies! We all feel the draught of nothing exciting to report in the Sailor Moon world this week (and we wish it were different). Some cosplayers have been in the news for dressing up like characters from Sailor Moon, so we're going to share them with you!

First, a cosplayer from England named Katie Beckett who was mentioned in both English and German presses for her Super Sailor Moon costume at Nemacon in Middlesbrough, England!

Image Credit: Yahoo!	Image Credit: Zeit

Second, we have more Super Sailor Moon and Super Sailor Chibi Moon at Los Angeles' Anime Expo!

Image Credit: Los Angeles Times Hero Complex

Thirdly... who remembers Michelle Phan? She is famous for her makeup tutorials on Youtube, and received a fair amount of press about her Sailor Moon tutorial in the Japanese press. She was part of a special launch event for "YouTube NextUp", an initiative by the popular video sharing site to help young animators get their work noticed in Japan. YouTube NextUp has a global reach for the next generation of content creators. If an animator's submission wins, they will be able to work with the leading animators in the anime industry in Japan (but, you have to hurry as submissions are due by July 18th). At the launch, she gave some encouraging words to anyone interested in entering, that they have effort and show passion for their craft in their video. It's nice to see her talking about something other than makeup!

Breaking News: Sailor Moon Manga Coming to Germany

We've received confirmation that the Sailor Moon manga will be returning in Germany via EMA publishing in October 2011.

Releases will be once a month. The German version will be based on the Japanese 2003 edition, with the previous 18 volumes condensed into 12. Each book will sell for 6.50 € and include colour pages. Also included in EMA's release will be the two volumes of short stories as well as the 2-volume prequel Sailor V.

Congratulations to fans in Germany!

Breaking News: Sailor Moon to Return in German Language Market!

Guten Morgen Deutscher Moonies! Ich habe einige guten Nachrichten fur sie! Germany's FinanzenNachrichten reports that Munich's licensing company M4e has acquired the rights for Sailor Moon! M4e will be managing free and pay TV broadcasting rights, home entertainment, and licensing and merchandising for the anime in the German speaking world, including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland! The press release also makes a note that after the successful relaunch of the franchise in Italy next year, it was only logical that the next steps include the Iberian market (Spain and Portugal), Scandinavian market, and the German market. The article also hints that they will be making use of the new style guide created in Italy!

Congratulations to our Moonies in Germany! You will be able to watch Sailor Moon soon!

Trivia: So Germany did something really interesting with their version of the release and commissioned a pop group to make the accompanying soundtrack which gave the series' a technopop flavor. They were the Super Moonies, and fans can check out their first opening here!

BREAKING NEWS: European Sailor Moon Revival Imminent, Still No Word About The English Version

In this month's Kazachok Licensing Magazine (which we presume was handed out at their recent conference), there is an article about the return of Sailor Moon. We've patched together the image here large enough for you all to read - and everything in the pink box says nothing different than what the black text in French says (click the image to view). One note though - when they say "textiles" they mean "clothing". Here's hoping they have a lot more t-shirts etc. available for us older fans!

Anyway, back on topic. There is nothing mentioned here for the UK or any other English language territories, but the article does confirm a return for the following countries for the Winter/Spring TV Season in 2011: France, Germany, and Scandinavia. As of this writing we don't know which Scandinavian countries will be included (we have gotten a lot of responses from Finland, on our last survey - did you Finns not get it?). It also said that new merchandise will be available in Italy from Backstage at the end of the year, including luggage, clothing, accessories, stationary, and books. As of this writing, we are unsure if "Books" includes manga. Bandai, is also going to be manufacturing some toys such as dolls, plushes, playsets, and figurines. We hope to see a return of the gashapon in Japan! It is important to note that it is possible that not every market will get all of Sailor Moon if they did not get it before. Many Sailor Moon fansites are reporting this but they are forgetting this key piece of information - this is why we started our latest campaign.

And, a word to the fandom around the world - please try to keep your sites updated with all the different versions of Sailor Moon with as much information as you can find (such as a cast list), now that the revival is happening this should be a lot easier. There have been so many times when our site (and several others) have been in a pinch for information about a different version and it simply could not be found. Your readers will thank you :).

Silly Stories About Sailor Moon!

In light of all the ugly incidents from the last week, we had to scrap our plans for our joke post this year - we may post it later after this all blows over! However, we were in luck and found a bunch of silly Sailor Moon related stories to share with you this weekend!

A Horse Named Sailor Moon Makes the Move from Germany to the United States!

No, Pegasus wasn't for sale. In Germany, just days ago at the 2010 Spring Elite Auction of Oldenburg Sport horses in Vechta, Germany , a beautiful dark bay colored horse named Sailor Moon fetched the highest price. He was sold for a whopping 140,000 Euros (almost $188,500 USD) to the lucky Marta Kaufmann of Los Angeles. The horse will make his way there, and be used in dressage competition. Sailor Moon has some pretty hefty lineage in his pedigree, he is the grandson of Rohdiamant of Oldenberg, Germany, and the son of dressage winner Sandro Hit. We're not quite sure what inspired the name of this horse as he does not have a crescent moon on his head, and Sailor Moon isn't a girl, but this was still a silly story to read - Sailor Moon never ceases to pop up in all corners of every day life! The photo we have featured here is from Ov-Online.De and the woman on the left petting the horse is Marta. Fans can check out his page in the auction guide here, and two videos here and here. This is not the only horse in the world named Sailor Moon. A mare, affectionately nicknamed "Moonie", lives in Australia.


Another Celebrity Professes Their Love For Sailor Moon!

Donald Glover has sure come a long way! Right after he graduated college, he was hired by Tina Fey to be a writer on 30 Rock. Then, he was cast in NBC's current comedy hit Community as the dim-witted Troy Barnes. On March 19th, his first special aired on Comedy Central. He was asked by AV Club in an interview why he thinks it's the best time to be a black nerd, and what his nerdiest quality is. In his answer, he gave a surprise answer about Sailor Moon!

Also, I was really into Sailor Moon as a kid, so that was pretty nerdy. I loved Sailor Mars. That was my thing. You know that weird teenage thing where you kind of dabble in, "What if you could make a cartoon real? Maybe she could be my girlfriend." It was sadness.

Sadness? How many readers of this blog wish Sailor Mars were their girlfriend? There's nothing to be ashamed of, Donald!

Marine-Style Fashion Popular Once Again in Japan?!

The spring and summer fashion season is upon us once again. Do you remember the warm feeling you got wearing a sailor suit or dress as a child? How about that navy blue coat with the gold buttons on each arms paired with a sharp pair of pants with that infamous sailor collar? The navy blue, white, and red color scheme is making a fashion comeback in Japan as we speak - Japanese people still feel the warmth and feel much younger when they wear Marine-Style fashion. This was highlighted just recently for an article in the Mainichi Shimbun, and also had a section talking about sailor suits! The article says that this Marine look is pretty familiar to women in Japan. As schoolgirl uniforms, the "sailor suits" or seifuku were introduced in Japan in the 1920s. They were typically thought of as only schoolwear and not playful at all until a certain franchise turned that notion on its head! Sailor Moon took off the sleeves, shortened the skirts a little, and put a spin on the classic uniforms for the Sailor Senshi's battle attire. This had such an influence on the seifuku culture that when the 2000s rolled around, there were all sorts of variations on the seifuku not just for uniform purposes, but for cosplay as well. We knew Sailor Moon was influential but we had no idea it had such an impact on fashion in Japan!

Can You Spot the Dub Music Sighting On Our Forums?

Our forums have this neat little arcade feature where members can pit themselves against each other for the top score (but you have to be logged in for your score to count). One of these games is 13 Phobia, a strange game with lots of smiley faces. You play against the computer and pick smiley faces from the group. The player that picks the 13th smiley face loses. Yes, it's a dumb game... but does anyone recognize the song that plays when the game starts? Here's a hint (or if you really can't hear it, here's a second)! We don't know if the game developers were fans of Sailor Moon, but what a wonderful coincidence that it's on our forums!

In Memoriam: Veronika Aryana Neugebauer

On October 11th, 2009, the voice of Sailor Jupiter in the German dub of Sailor Moon, passed away suddenly. She was only 40 years old. She had played many roles in German dubs of anime, including Ash Ketchum from Pokemon, Naga the Serpent from Slayers, Dr. Atsuki Chiba/Paprika from Paprika, and many others. She was also the daughter of legendary German voice actor Hartmut Neugebauer. Throughout her life, she had lived in New York, Munich, Paris, and London, and learned how to act. She began her acting career when she was only 5 years old, as a voice actor for many children's cartoons in Germany. Later, she was frequently used as the German dubbing voice of Neve Campbell. In 2003, she won the German Dubbing Prize for her outstanding work dubbing the voice of Eileen Walsh in The Magdalene Sisters. Her funeral was held on October 19th, and her invitation read "An angel has come home, how beautiful you were with us, thank you for your love". She is survived by her father Hartmut, her mother Ananda, and her sister Miryam who is also an actress. She is buried in Munich's North Cemetery. Our staff sends out our deepest condolences and sympathies to the Neugebauer family on this tragedy. Fans can watch her first episode as Sailor Jupiter on Youtube (Part 1, Part 2).