Hey Moonies! Why not celebrate the return of Sailor Moon by supporting one of the most well-loved voices of the Engish version today? Judd Apatow’s Funny People is in theaters today and Stephanie Beard (Rini #2) is featured in a Thanksgiving dinner scene. From what we have heard, she can be seen and heard laughing louder than Adam Sandler! This small appearance is huge news for us Sailor Moon fans since this has been a big year for Sugar. After what seemed like an eternity without seeing her anywhere, she voiced a special character on an entire episode of King of the Hill, and now we get to see a glimpse of her on the silver screen. Congrats, Sug! And we totally know you will rock your next audition!

Popular Japanese streaming service GyaO announced earlier this month that subscribers would now have access to Yoshihiro Togashi’s epic anime, Yu Yu Hakusho. Every Friday, 5 new episodes will be posted for subscribers, and the first week’s episodes are free. Delivery of episodes began on July 17th. Fees for the series are as follows. ¥105 will give you access to those 5 episodes for 3 days, ¥1,470 will give you access to episodes 6-25 for 30 days, and there are also ¥420 packages which will give you access to the week’s episodes for 7 days. No word yet on if the show will return to television as of this writing. The episodes will be presented in high quality Windows Media Video format, at 768 kbps.

Moonies, the media outlets in Japan didn’t bother to report a press release from ANIMAX that was released almost a week earlier, even though it was posted on ANIMAX’s site and on animeanime.jp. We’re surprised our handy radar points didn’t catch on it either! So for this, we’re apologizing in advance before we tell you what we learned! No wonder we couldn’t find it on the day of the press conference! On July 23rd at approximately 7PM Japan Time, ANIMAX posted a news release announcing the return of the series. This was later posted to animeanime.jp. The releases don’t tell us anything new that we didn’t share with you when we first found out. The release also acknowledges that the show was a phenomenal hit around the world. However, this is the first Sailor Moon related press release any of us have read that acknowledges the fans. These are the last two paragraphs.

　しかし、作品は国内外とも、近年長らくテレビ放映がされてなかった。根強いファンが多く、新たなテレビ放映を望む声が大きかっただけに、今回のアニマックスでの放映開始はこうしたファンの期待に応えるものとなる。
　かつて『美少女戦士セーラームーン』に夢中になった母親世代、そして新たに作品にふれることになる現在の子供たちに人気を集めることになりそうだ。

Translation:

However, it was not broadcast on television for a long time inside and outside the country in recent years. Because of many hopeful voices for a television broadcast from loving fans which were loud, the broadcast beginning on ANIMAX becomes the one to answer the expectation of such fans.

Sailor Moon was very popular before, and will be popular among children of a new generation who will become fans, and they will be touched by the show.

See fans? If we all work together there is nothing that we can’t do to make our voices heard. We really have to give credit to the fans in Japan – be it the celebrities over the last several years who have shown their love for the show in their own little ways, or the fans who have kept the fandom alive through their own sites and communities. You have helped to bring the show back, and we hope that one day we will all be able to celebrate with you!

This picture comes from Emily’s site – Sailor Moon Snipits! The picture being used in press releases looked a little faded to us.

Last night, as we were searching for more information on this not-confirmed rumor that the show is going to return, we did some digging. The interview will either be posted on AnimeFun, or the forum founder’s website, AnimenoCensura. It also looks like the forum is letting fans get in on the interview, so post here if you have any questions for him! It seems one fan has already asked a question about where the rights are to Sailor Moon.

Also, in Italy, the June issue of Cartoni magazine had an eight page feature about Sailor Moon. The article talks about the series, the movies, the characters, the plight it faced in Italy, and also features an interview with Elizabetta Spinelli, the Italian voice of Sailor Moon. It also has a feature quiz asking which Sailor Senshi you would be! To see pictures of the spread, click here to visit Sailor Moon Fantasy!

We also found out that a fan-written book was published in Italy just weeks ago by Iacobelli SRL , a private publisher. I ♡ Anime: Sailor Moon La Bella Ragazza Guerriera was written by an otaku, Elena Romanello, and is part of their Collana I ♡ Anime series. The title translates to: The Beautiful Girl Warrior. The book is about her cultural impact around the world (especially on gender roles), during her run and beyond when she vanished into thin air. There is a special section about complaints (of which there were a lot in Italy) as well as cosplay! From what we have read it is quite a hot seller! The book is available at many online retailers.

And if that wasn’t enough, we found a product named after Sailor Moon. Trucco Minerale has an apricot blush shade called “Sailormoon”. It is described as having a delicate pale apricot color that illuminates the cheekbones. It should be paired with an illuminating eyeshadow. One blogger noted that if used sparingly, the color is delicate, and the name is attractive. Seeing something like this makes us wonder what else have we yet to find that has been named after Sailor Moon?

Mitsuishi Kotono Makes Announcement!

Not too long ago, we told you about a marathon ANIMAX was holding to revive people’s spirits towards anime in Japan. Breaking not too long ago, was a very important programming announcement out of Japan: Kotono Mitsuishi (Sailor Moon) made a special appearance yesterday in Tokyo at a press conference to announce that ANIMAX will be airing the series from Monday to Friday at 4 O’Clock , starting in September! The Toei Channel will also re-air the series. The article hailed Sailor Moon as an icon of the 90s, being a hit not only with girls but with adults too!

Kotono also said how grateful she was to have played Sailor Moon, as it was her first serious starring role! She also says that her daughter is a fan of the show, just like she is, and smiled! She also shared a story: She had a nightmare the night before her audition for the role, thinking that her mic would be taken away before she got the chance to finish. She was overjoyed to have gotten this role.

This happy news brings us tears of joy. We don’t know what prompted this, but we are so glad that whatever it is, did! Sailor Moon’s long overdue comeback has begun!

ありがとう, 武内直子 ^_^

EDIT: Despite my best efforts, I am very surprised to see that Toei and Animax do not have any stories about this on their sites! Eiga was one of the first sites to report it yesterday, and there is an image of our beloved superheroine included in the release. Moreover, Naoko and PNP are credited!