People in France Miss Sailor Moon, Too.

We came across this article from a couple weeks ago posted on Manga News. A major manga publisher in France, Glénat, takes the time each month to answer questions from fans on their forums. This month's question set featured an interesting one about Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2 from one of their fans. We are posting a translation, mais pour les fans qui comprennent le francais, vous peuvent lire l'article ici.

Q: I would love to know if the end of the marketing of Sailor Moon is also in Japan. Is it possible to know the reasons that motivated such a decision from Naoko Takeuchi? I also see that Sailor V is in still in your catalog as well (Note: it is listed as being out of print). Is this normal? Besides that, will the licence for Ranma 1/2 expire in France?

A: We do not know the particular terms of the contract between the author and her Japanese editor. The author alone decided to manage the rights of her work abroad, she has been controlling them since the contracts arrived to the end of their renewal. We don't know the reasons that motivated her choice, we can only suppose that the most logical reason was an economic one, this is the first consequence of this act. The license of Ranma 1/2 is not foreseen to expire, which concerns another author, that did not decide to recover her rights.

We have also more or less learned that FUNImation is in the same boat with the rights to the anime. We are halting our Japanese letter writing phase plans as now we are hoping to find better contacts in Japan in light of all of this news. Fans are not advised at this time to contact Nakayoshi or Kodansha, as the manga has been out of print for two years now, and neither has published any new work from her since. Pretty much the only marketing of Sailor Moon that we have seen since is on Sailor Moon Channel.

To answer the fan's question about Naoko's appearance at Otakon in 2010 - we can't say for sure right now. However, given that she only rarely comes out of hiding (her appearance at Bandai Hobby Center being her first in years), as of now it isn't looking terribly likely. We also don't know what is up with her husband, Yoshihiro Togashi as he disappears in and out of the manga industry for indeterminate periods of time. Perhaps if he returns to a more regular schedule this could hint for a possible return for Naoko to manga but for now it's looking that 99% she will not be there.

We are filing this under Operation Moonrise so that fans can see what other companies are saying about the rights!

North American VA Update: July 2009!

Hi Moonies! We've got another North American VA exclusive for you all at the end (we always save the best things for last)!

The Death of Alice Blue to Finally Have Canadian Premiere!

A movie we have been following for a very long time is finally going to premiere in its home country! The Death of Alice Blue (part I - The Bloodsucking Vampires of Advertising) has been invited for its Canadian premiere to the Montreal World Film Festival. This one runs from August 27th to September 7th, and we'd tell you more except that as of this writing none of the films showing this year have been announced on the site. We wonder if any of the VAs in this one (Barbara Radecki, Katie Griffin and her husband Michael Kulas) are going to attend? Congratulations to Park Bench and Alex Appel for finally getting this movie a premiere in Canada and here's hoping it gets a distributor so the rest of us can see it soon!

A Sapphire Shines Again!

Lyon Smith (Prince Sapphire) shared some news and stories with us! He has his own official site now which we encourage fans to go visit - he posts a lot of really cool links to his works too! While his time on Sailor Moon wasn't as pleasant as many fans may think it might have been, he is also excited about a possible redub and if he was given the chance he would do it again! Hey FUNImation, are you reading this? Consider Canada for a re-dub! This is our second official VA that has confirmed to be interested in reprising their role for a re-dub of Sailor Moon (this is great news for Operation Moonrise)! Some fans may not know this behind-the-scenes story, but when Lyon was first cast he was called in to replace Tuxedo Mask. It was his first series that he had landed as a regular! At the time though, production was too intense (and we've heard similar stories from other actors from those first years). But the show did launch his voice career, and since then he has voiced memorable roles in other anime, cartoons and video games! He played Pythias in Mythic Warriors: Guardians of Legend, the Mysterious Guy in Biohazard 0, Kevin and Michael in Beyblade, Ed in Get Ed, Magma in Spider Riders, and he is currently appearing in Bakugan Battle Brawlers which has been a huge hit with the kids all over North America! In the first season he played Masquerade, and in the second season (which is recording right now) he plays Prince Hydron. And this prince's voice is based on none other, but the Japanese voice of Prince Diamond! We really admire Lyon Smith for watching episodes of Sailor Moon in Japanese - we're not sure how many others have (we know Roland Parliament did for sure). He will be reprising his role as Masquerade for the upcoming Bakugan video game. And there's even more Lyon to be heard in CBC's Magi-Nation - he plays the hero, Tony Jones! In another awesome coincidence, Lyon was also a student of Roland's!

Lyon Smith is also a budding musician - he writes his own music and also helps out with sound design for plays in Toronto. He currently composed music and worked sound design for the play A Singularity of Being, which is loosely based on the life of Steven Hawking. Lyon's music is really worth checking out if you're into alternative rock! He covered the song You Believe in Rock and Roll for a David Bowie tribute album (2.CONTAMINATE) which is on iTunes. He has his own site for fans to check out his music - and altrock fans will take a liking! There's even a bit of experimental and mashing in there too. And best of all, all the music is free! He is also on MySpace as well. We once again encourage all our readers to check out his music.

Special thanks to Lyon and best of luck on your upcoming works!

Breaking News: Flashpoint Blog Launch

Our new Flaspoint blog, We Got the Solution is officially launched today! Please head over there and subscribe if you're interested in following all our Flashpoint coverage.

And, for anyone heading to Polaris this weekend in Richmond Hill, Ontario; I'll be attending the Flashpoint panel. Hope to see you there!

Sailor Moon Inspires English Conversational Learning!

It has been a long time since we've posted any summaries of letters we have read on Sailormoon Channel, but one from just a few days ago has piqued our interest. A 16-year-old girl named Amelie from Tokyo wrote in to say that all girls around the world know and love Sailor Moon and it is a great place to start conversation - especially in foreign languages! Amelie later wrote that she was happy to have the chance that this lets her have a conversation in English and it has helped her improve her English language skills. We'll let you read into why you think this letter was posted on your own. "Luna" replied saying that she is happy that the topic is so internationally known, and how it has helped advance conversational skills in English. Luna began her reply with a simple "Sugoi! Amelie is good at English!" Our other favorite letter was near the end when 14-year old wrote in saying that knowing all the names of the Senshi helped her learn the names of all the planets in English! Luna remarked that it was necessary to learn the planets in English for Science class.

And completely off topic, this marks my first entry on my new laptop :) the old one was destroyed by yet another virus prompting me to finally open my new one.

Another Well-Loved Cartoon Finally Has A Release On The Way!

Hey Moonies! This once again is another completely off topic post, but The Me and I decided to post it because we have a lot of things in common with this fan community.

MTV used to air cartoons. Good ones too. Who here remembers a show called Daria? The show ran for 5 seasons, and has a special place in the heart of all of Moon Chase's staff members. This was a cartoon that really had teenage life down to a T. Sadly, this gem of a cartoon barely had any DVD or VHS releases, leaving many fans to turn to P2P to get their episodes. And back then, the technology just wasn't there. The Me and I have quite the collection of grainy, uncut, episodes in wonderful .rm format. Yes, there are better ones floating around, but unfortunately those were captured from reruns on Nickelodeon, where the show was edited. If you thought Sailor Moon's edits were terrible, some of the things that were cut out of Daria were just as ridiculous, if not more (I mean really, Nickelodeon? What was the reason for cutting out Sick, Sad, World?). One site continued to remain active to keep up with the fandom - Outpost Daria. We really love this site as it is the ultimate resource for anyone who is a fan of this cartoon!

Since 2002, there have been a few efforts by fans to get the show released in entirety on DVD. In fact, the show was so heavily requested that for quite a while now, the show was #3 on TVshowsonDVD's list of "Most Requested Unreleased Shows" . The Me and I have even on occasion lent our support wherever we could over the years. I remember 2-3 years ago there were some Daria shirts kicking around at a Hot Topic and I found one in a really obscure town. Needless to say, every time I wore the shirt everyone was asking where I got it and we'd reminisce about the show. We did our part wherever we could! Hours ago, we just received the best news from TVshowsonDVD - a blogger was lucky enough to get an advance copy of another release of an old MTV show, The State.And sure enough, there was a commercial about Daria being released in 2010. We were so excited to hear this news that we just had to share this with you - Daria fans have been waiting 7 years for a release like this, and we hope that this inspires all of you Sailor Moon fans to keep going even though sometimes it may seem like a lost cause! Now there are a couple things we haven't read a lot of details into - the first is, as of this writing we cannot confirm all of the original music cues will be included. Since Daria was on MTV, and MTV pretty much lived to play music videos, they had the rights to all the music that was played on the show anyway. However, times are different, and we had heard that this was the #1 reason why the show wasn't released for years. The second thing is, we're reading on forums that the show probably won't make it out till 3rd or 4th quarter 2010. We'd love for it to be sooner, but what's another year or so? At least the fans are getting a release!

All in all, all of us on staff are really happy and excited for this release! We hope this inspires fans who haven't had a lot of faith in Sailor Moon lately to join our campaign!

And we'd like to take this time to congratulate the staff of DVDaria for all their years of hard work - we're just starting to scratch the surface with the big names involved with Sailor Moon and your persistence in getting a release was really formidable. We hope that this release is everything that you hoped for!

In celebration, we've decided to share a few links to our favorite episodes.

Ep. 1x02: The Invitation
Ep 1x08: Pinch Sitter
Ep. 3x01: Daria!
Ep. 3x03: Depth Takes a Holiday
Ep. 3x06: It Happened One Nut
Ep. 5x13: Boxing Daria

ANIMAX to Broadcast Anime-Reviving Special Marathon!

And Morning Musume Member Reveals Secret Cosplay Fantasy?

It wasn't too long ago that Yasuo Yamaguchi (legendary anime producer), spoke out on turmoils in the anime industry. Japanese network ANIMAX, will be broadcasting a 24-hour anime marathon beginning on August 22nd at 7 PM. The special, entitled "We Like Anime" is meant to energize Japan about anime again. And, it has quite a bit of star power to help out for this special! Yesterday, a promotional event was held to announce the project, and some of Japan's most loved idols were there to talk about their involvement in the special, and which anime they liked! These idols were (from left to right) Natsuki Kato (she was in Battle Royale II), Chiaki Kuriyama (who many of you must know from Battle Royale and Kill Bill), Mari Yaguchi (former leader of Morning Musume), and Toshiki Kashu (Kamen Rider Agito). They all shared their stories of how they began to watch anime from kindergarten and of all of the series that had a special place in their hearts (such as Dragon Ball, Evangelion, Rozen Maiden, Detective Conan, and Fist of the North Star). But the really interesting part was when Mari talked about who she wanted to cosplay as! When she was little, she loved Sailor Moon and used to watch anime all day. She still dreams of cosplaying as Usagi Tuskino/Sailor Moon with her long blonde hair! OF course, the news outlets made her seem a little silly for this, but if Shoko Nakagawa can do it, why can't Mari? We look forward to hearing more about this special and maybe we'll even see Mari cosplay as our favorite superhero! We think a marathon like this is a step in the right direction to get Japanese people excited about anime again. While as of this moment we are unsure if Sailor Moon will be included, if this is the case, then this will be the first time the show has been on the air ANYWHERE in the world since the end of PGSM. ANIMAX, if you are reading this, please bring back Sailor Moon! It's long overdue for a return, and if Japan could for a moment, remember this show, many people would be excited to watch anime again as it was one of the biggest hits in the early nineties!!

Many news sites are talking about this event - let's hope that this marathon helps the anime industry!

Flashbits from Banff!

The Banff World Television Festival was held from June 7-10th of this year! And among the many special guest speakers at the event were none other than the co-creators of Flashpoint, Stephanie Morgenstern (Sailor Venus #1) and Mark Ellis. At the festival, they held a one our session talking about their craft, and answering such burning questions like:

What was their secret of breaking into the US market when so many others have tried before and failed?


How do you make a Canadian series airing worldwide not look like it was made in Canada?


How much influence does CTV and CBS have on creative decisions, such as direction and casting?

Their appearances and experiences with the show were written about in the press!

¤Before it all started, the New York Times talked with Mark and Stephanie, along with Anne Marie La Traverse (Producer), Bill Mustos (Producer), and Nina Tassler (President of CBS). They spoke of how the show came to be, how it doesn't look Canadian, and how the American entertainment industry has shifted to allow more international fare to be broadcast. Flashpoint was a pioneer in letting Canadian TV get on US airwaves!

¤Days after the festival, cartt.ca posted an article talking about how the show was shaped at the writing table - instead of having a show runner, all of the writers and freelancers collaborate as a team. However, we disagree with their comment about their lack of experience. Stephanie Morgenstern has acted on various TV shows and wrote for two critically acclaimed short films, Remembrance and Curtains. The former even has a movie in the works. Mark Ellis was also a writer on Remembrance. While this may not seem like a lot, the fact that these two productions won many awards speaks volumes that they had some pretty good skills to start with! Plus, the show spent four years in development (watch the W5 special for more). That's more than many shows on the air today can say!

¤Sometime after the festival , the Calgary Sun posted an article wherein Mark and Stephanie talked about some of the challenges to stay true to Canada within the episodes, despite limitations put on by CBS.