Update 1
Update 2
It sure has been a busy newsweek for Sailor Moon!

Anime News Network reports the existence of a bootleg boxset of Sailor Moon Stars on Amazon.com . Fans should know while their marketplace sellers are notorious for selling bootlegged anime, this is not coming from a marketplace seller but from their own main site (and potentially their warehouse as well). It’s like walking into a Best Buy or a FYE store and seeing a pirated copy of your favorite anime with a gold sticker on it that says “Official” when you really know it isn’t. We suggest fans read this article, they have done a very good job of explaining why this boxset is fake. We’re going to go a step further and show you what the real DVDs look like. We here at Moon Chase! do not support this product and as a Sailor Moon Fan, you probably shouldn’t either. The quality of these DVDs are likely to be very poor and make no mistake, NO ENGLISH DUB EXISTS.

This product needs to be pulled, but having read others’ unsuccessful accounts at trying to contact Amazon, fans do have other options.

1.) Post comments on Amazon’s page for the product. Let potential buyers know that this product they are interested in purchasing is fake. And, perhaps seeing less star ratings at the top will also deter them.

2.) Contact Amazon, and voice your concerns by either filling out this form , or over the phone (they will contact you). Let them know that no company in North America has licensed this series for release and that this is a bootleg. Fans may even want to encourage them to speak to Geneon, TOEI and ADV about this series for “official proof”.

3.) Contact Toei. Through their English site we found an email for their Sales office in Los Angeles (isn’t this great? You don’t have to type in Japanese!)! Let them know about the product by sending them a link either to the ANN story or to Amazon and let them know how disappointed you are in the largest online store in the world selling pirated Sailor Moon goods. Fans should note that now is not the time to ask TOEI to bring Sailor Moon back to North America. Their email address is sales@NOSPAMtoei-anim.net . Fans that are interested in contacting them in other ways can go here (et nous encourageons les fans qui parlent Francais devraient entrer en contact avec le bureau en Paris).

I will be contacting TOEI and Amazon about this shortly and we will keep you up to date with anything that happens. We would love to hear what fans have written or conversed to any of these parties above and may use letters in a future story. We will not display your email address but for credit we will display a username. If you get any responses those would also be great to hear! As always you can contact us at moonchasers@NOSPAMPLZKTHXgmail.com. We would like to thank Anime News Network for bringing this issue to light and also trying to get this resolved!

EDIT: ANN has since updated the story – and we’d like to note we have not heard a word from Amazon other than the letter that I had sent was being forwarded to the appropriate department. Amazon has not pulled the item but has now labeled it for what it is – a bootleg! We have to wonder just what it is going to take for them to pull this product and others like it. While we are glad Amazon has identified this product for what it is, we are very disappointed that they are still selling it.

****EDIT #2 (Monday, May 22nd): It appears that at least as of last night, the product has been removed from Amazon’s site. The pictures are still there when you search for Sailor Moon Stars but the products have no names and are listed as not available.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every fan who wrote to the powers that be to get this boxset removed in a matter of a few days after the first notice from ANN! Acts like this support legitimate and legal releases of anime – and probably in some ways lets the companies know that fans are still eager to purchase a real release of the product.

Hot from yesterday’s newsbreaker, two whispers were lurking in the news today!

Geneon Reaffirms Interest in Sailor Moon Franchise!

On the heels of our update on TOEI yesteday, Anime on DVD has posted their recap of events from a Geneon Industry Panel from this year’s Anime Central in Rosemont, IL. Geneon stated this at the panel: “Toei currently has a lockdown on all Sailor Moon licenses, but Geneon may be interested if the situation changes”. We are unsure whether this was a statement made from Geneon on their own or whether a fan asked the question. If it was a fan that asked a question about Sailor Moon, we would like to thank them – questions like this let the companies all know that there is still a lot of interest in the property!

Sailor Moon Helps Inspire Gates Millennium Scholar!

One of the Gates Millennium Scholar winners this year is Montrice Merritt. Montrice is currently a senior and one of the top students in the graduating class of 2007 at Virginia’s Radford High School. She one day dreams of being the U.S. International Ambassador to Japan, planning to attend school in Vermont to study International Relations. As a child she was very interested in Japan, and loved to watch Sailor Moon – and as she grew, so did her interest! She later studied the culture and country through books and enrolled in a Foreign Language program with a Governor’s School in Virginia! We wish Montrice the best of luck in college, and we’re happy to hear of this story! Cosmic Moon Power to you, Montrice!

Just for North America!
Animation World Network reports that TOEI Animation Inc. of North America has created its own consumer products licencing division. It will be under the supervision of Coy Edmunds, formerly a Director and Agent with Focus Sports Management Inc. , a sports management company. The company plans to make it’s official debut at the New York International Licensing Show in June . The first products that are planned for launch are from Digimon. It sounds like the company is back on it’s feet after their first attempt in the North American Market did not meet expectations. This was largely because of disappointing quality in their releases of Slam Dunk, Air Master, and Interlude – the latter of which was probably the best of all the releases.

In any case, the big question on everyone’s mind is: What does this mean for Sailor Moon? Many companies have speculated for years that if the series were ever to be picked up again, it would be likely that TOEI would release it themselves . If the series is ever licenced again in North America by Toei, they will probably be responsible for the licensing of all the toys and other products. Which may mean that they have more control of what kinds of products are put out. However the press release did state that they are “a fully integrated kids-based entertainment studio that develops, produces, distributes and controls the licensing and merchandising for our brands.” We wish we could be there to see what they are planning for the Digimon line. It would be nice if there was some hope for merchandise geared towards an older crowd (such as popular gashapon or resin kits). These were things that North America only saw by way of import stores when Sailor Moon was popular in the late 90’s – early 2000’s. Or perhaps, if the toys were closely correlated to their Japanese counterparts (because, sometimes Japanese toys ARE cooler) but given the range of products from other companies in the past…

All we can really say for now (a phrase Sailor Moon fans are all too familiar hearing), is that we’ll have to wait and see.

2005 marked the debut of a legendary cartoon. Cartoon Network’s Robot Chicken uses stop motion animation to create some of the most hilarious shorts on everything pop-culture you can imagine ! Sadly each episode is only 15 minutes long (but they are jam packed). In the episode “Joint Point” , our favorite superhero, along with a certain red-headed evildoer made their debuts on this show! And umm, they put an evil henchman in a very awkward situation. I was very surprised at the accuracy of the background sequences used in the Sailor Moon henshin scene – they were very close to the original!

Cartoon Network (or perhaps Adult Swim?) has placed streaming versions of every sketch featured on the show on their official website and we encourage fans who haven’t seen this show to watch a few sketches! Without further ado, for fans who haven’t seen or wish to see the sketches, here they are!

WARNING THESE VIDEOS MAY BE A LITTLE NOT SAFE FOR WORK (NSFW).

Fans can purchase the entire first season (which this episode comes from) on DVD and season two should be out sometime this fall. Season three is slated to begin in the fall of this year but keep your eyes peeled for a Star Wars Special June 17th! Canadians can catch the show on Teletoon every night from Monday to Friday (but there is no word on whether the special will hit our airwaves soon).

EDIT: And I thought it was just me. Some (or all) may not work in your browser of choice. We can’t alter the code Adult Swim has given on their site, but we can give you some links. To make matters worse, even we have noticed that sometimes the videos themselves don’t load on Adult Swim -_-.
Part 1: Sailor Moon is Hot
Part 2: Queen Beryl is Hot
Part 3: Queen Beryl’s Evil Plan

Happy Mother’s Day Moonies! In honor of this special day, we have decided to pay tribute to motherly figures from the anime from their loving children!

Queen Serenity

Thanks for saving my life with the power of the Ginzuishou! I fight for love and justice with beauty, honor and grace! I promise to continue to save the world just like you Mom! I ♥ you!

Love,
Princess Serena
P.S. I have never tripped in battle… that was…uhh… a Sailor Moon Imposter!

Luna

Stop smacking Daddy, Mommy! He’s not always dumb! How am I supposed to learn to be a good guardian? And why is Usagi still lazy? I like future mom better so I’m going to give this card to her . Still, have a Happy Mother’s Day ^_^.

Love,
Diana

Neo-Queen Serenity

Happy Mother’s Day Mama! I’m learning how to be a good Senshi and Moon Princess from your past self, but I miss the future :(. This Usagi is too dumb!

Love,
Chibi-Usa
P.S. How is Luna-P?

Osaka-Okasan

Okasan, I wanted to buy you diamonds, but you probably get first pick from every shipment. So I got you flowers instead! Happy Mother’s Day! One day I will sell jewelry just as good as you!

Love,
Naru
P.S. Umino is not a nerd :[!

Dr. Mizuno

Mother, you are an inspiration to me to continue my studies to be the best doctor I can! I like it when we spend time together! Let’s bake cookies again sometime!

Love,
Ami
P.S. Next time face the nice man with the camera!

Michiru, Haruka, and Setsuna

Biologically I have three mamas but Haruka is my poppa. I’ll just wish you all a Happy Mother’s Day! I wrote a violin concerto just for Michiru-mama, painted a model race car for Haruka-papa and used up all my savings to buy Setsuna a Rolex! Thank you for adopting me and helping Tomoe-papa out while he gets better!

Love,
Hotaru