As if the Sailor Moon fandom needed to have more unfortunate news…

We just received an email from representatives of the real Sarah Lafleur contact us. Unfortunately, the person who we thought we had a legitimate interview with was in fact an impostor. We had gone through and double checked a few things before we began to seriously keep in contact with this person and we did not find that she was an impostor at the time. However, now we know differently. Perhaps, in time, I will share more of this story.

On behalf of the entire Moon Chase Blog Network Staff, I want to apologize to all the readers of this site, especially those of you who had sent in questions. A lot of them were really good, and there was a total of 7 pages in questions that we had sent to Sarah. I also want to apologize to the real Sarah Lafleur for this mishap, and I will remove all links and traces of exclusives that we had from this imposter over the next few days. I do want to assure you that the other stars we have had interviews and exclusives from, Roland Parliament, Emilie-Claire Barlow, Linda Ballantyne, Lyon Smith, and Stephanie “Sugar” Lyn Beard are not imposters – I have known some of these stars for years to know that they are “the real thing” and not impostors to just take the Sailor Moon fandom for a ride. Again, I sincerely apologize to the readers that this situation happened at all.

We’re sorry to say that Togashi’s latest anecdote has us completely stumped.

ロクサーヌさん……高い……それは高いですって……。
rokusa~nu san …… takai…… sore ha takai desutte……
Roxanne-san… tall… that is tall it is.

Or, more fluidly:
Roxanne-san… tall… that she is.

Very cryptic, Togashi-san, very cryptic.

While we can’t make heads or tails of this message (He doesn’t have any character named Roxanne in his manga, and we can’t figure out who she might be), this does mark his 11th week in a row releasing a Hunter x Hunter chapter!

Despite all the video game addiction scares, you’ve lasted more than 10 weeks Togashi-san! Kudos! Let’s hope this trend continues. 🙂

Last night, we got wind of a couple blog articles that were quoting Toei Animation Inc.’s Latin American Licensing Representative Eduardo Lucio, as saying that Sailor Moon will return in 2011.

First, we’ll feature a translation of the last paragraph posted in this post by ANMTVLA.

The news is very encouraging regarding Latin America. Exclusive to us, Eduardo Lucio, Toei Animation’s representative in Latin America has confirmed that Sailor Moon will return to our region next year, possibly with the original dub and uncensored . This adds to the confirmation by Capital 8 that they will be selling the entire series, but this is still not ruling out the chance of a redub for a new remastered version like Evangelion. Therefore, one of the fans’ biggest requests is becoming a reality with the launch of the new decade.

JBOX.com.BR also posted an article that only said that a release was going to come to Brazil in 2011, but did not quote anyone from Toei Animation.

We were unsure if this was a rumor or not considering that there was no press release linked, quoted, or mentioned in this article, and sought to confirm this as soon as we could. We have since learned that Toei Animation does not have any official Sailor Moon licensing news for Latin America to share with the press at this moment.

Fans, we know that this is a VERY exciting time with the series’ resurrection in Europe and Japan but please don’t count your chickens before they hatch. We have to always wait for a press release, or legitimate word from an actual person involved with these companies. Toei Animation Europe and Backstage Licensing have done a very good job at keeping fans up to date with whatever they can through their press releases, and we know that Toei Animation Inc. in Los Angeles will follow much of the same procedures when the time is right to make their announcements. Right now, it is a waiting game to see what will happen with the series. Thanks for your understanding, cooperation, and your patience! We know you are all excited but we need to be careful, ok?

And to the bloggers at ANMTVLA and JBOX.com.BR, please fix your posts. You aren’t doing the fandom or Sailor Moon any good by posting exclusives like this without verifying your facts.

Not too much to report now, but we thought we’d still report these since these actors were all featured in huge roles during Sera Myu!

Kenji Urai is a Prince!

Fresh off his win at the 44th Kinokuniya Theater Awards, Kenji Urai (Tuxedo Mask from 2001-2002) will be making an appearance in a stage musical, and he wil get to play a prince! Bara to Samurai: Goemon Rock Overdrive (Rose to Samurai: Goemon Rock Overdrive) began on March 18th in Tokyo, and will travel through to Osaka in April and May. The play takes place in the 17th century, about two pirates named Goemon and Ann. Lured by a reward, another pirate tries to kidnap Goemon, but captures Ann instead. Everyone finds out later that Annu is the long-lost daughter of the recently deceased King, and is set to rule over his kingdom. At her first party, Annu meets a prince named Charles from another country who falls in love with her, but Goemon isn’t ready to give her up easily. Kenji is playing Prince Charles, and has received some rave reviews from fans already over his performance! At a promotional event held earlier this month, the two leading cast members playing Ann and Goemon (Yuki Amami and Arata Furata) were excited for the chance to cosplay as pirates on stage!

Tae Kimura Presents at 33rd Japanese Academy Awards After Winning Year!

2009 was a great year for Tae Kimura (Fisheye in Sailor Moon SuperS musicals). She won two awards for her role in the critically acclaimed film All Around Us (including a Japanese Academy Award), and became well known around Japan. A few weeks ago, she appeared to present an award at the Japanese Academy Awards, and was also nominated for a Best Supporting Actress award for her role in the Japanese film Zero Focus. This movie was about a mysterious disappearance of a woman’s husband. We have a photo of her at the awards featured here (in the brown dress). Unfortunately, she didn’t win, but we are still proud of everything she has achieved! Zero Focus will be released to DVD and BD this June. Fans can check out more information about the film in English here.

Maki Aizawa Goes Shopping and Has a Beauty Blog

Maki Aizawa (Loof Merrow in 2004) went for a little shopping trip with her friend, Yuko Ogura (another idol) before they had to go to work. This for some strange reason was covered by the tabloids (*sigh*). They went to one of the most trendiest stores in Tokyo called ISBIT DAIKANYAMA which is very popular among idols for the eclectic selection of clothing it carries. They tried on a few items and took some photos of themselves without makeup and went on their merry way (which included posts on both Yuko and Maki’s blogs). Maki is the girl on the right side of the photo we have posted here. Maki also started a beauty blog a few months ago which is slowly gaining some steam with her fans. She reviews beauty products that she uses.

Tabe Mikako in New Lipstick Commercial!

Tabe Mikako (Yaten Kou/Sailor Star Healer) is currently being featured in a new lipstick commercial in Japan for Orbis Rouge Crystal. This lipstick has special shine enhancers in it to make your lips sparkle. Orbis has two commercials for this product, the first one features Tabe putting the lipstick on and talking about how it makes her lips sparkle. The second one, features Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott playing a Chopin waltz off of her brand new album. Both aim to show that this lipstick will make you sparkle and shine at just the right moment! Fans can check out videos of both commercials here!

Anza Oyama a Matter of Weeks Away From South America!

Anza Oyama (Sailor Moon from 1993-1998) is the lead singer of Japanese metal band Head Phones President, and they are heading out for the first time to South America a month from now! They will be playing four shows in Brazil, and 3 of them are at anime conventions: the concert on April 24th will happen at Anime Hero!, then they will head off to Anime Osasco the next day, and then to Porto Allegre’s J-Party Ballads on the 30th. On May 2nd, they will finish their tour playing in Rio de Janeiro. We know our friends at SOS Brazil are very excited about this and we can’t wait to hear what they have to report! The band sings in English, and their style of music is definitely a departure from the cutesy songs fans know Anza best for singing in Sera Myu. Fans who want to give their music a listen can check out their MySpace! We wish Head Phones President the best of luck on their tour and we hope to see them perform in other places as well.

Ok. Not the real Sailor Moon, but still a cool one anyway! Cosplayer Maria Watanabe is on a mission to bring joy to people visiting Japantown and to teach everyone she can (especially children) about Japanese culture. She cosplays at Sailor Moon on Saturday Afternoons in San Francisco’s Japantown, speaking only as Sailor Moon would in Japanese! Fans can check out a wonderful piece here from the SF Public Press which features an audio clip in which she goes into the legend that Sailor Moon is based on, and how happy she is cosplaying as Sailor Moon! The writer could have gotten the description of Sailor Moon down a little better (she definitely doesn’t have blue hair). She has also started a special group for cosplayers, and welcomes more company to join her at the mall. If any of our readers in San Francisco happen to see her, we’d love to hear of your experiences! While we may not have the real Sailor Moon back in North America, it is refreshing to learn of interesting and creative ways that people are still keeping the spirit of Sailor Moon alive. Domo Arigato Goza Imasu Maria!