Hey Moonies! The Sailor Moon Licensing News train is showing no signs of slowing down! A new press release confirms new Latin American licensing deals from Toei Animation Inc. of Los Angeles. Brazil’s “little known” CD & DVD Factory as well as Mexico’s Towers Entertainment are both set to release the series on DVD. As of this writing, there are no merchandise deals being announced, however if you are a fan of DragonBall and Saint Seiya, we recommend reading the rest of the release here if you would like to learn of DVD and merchandise releases in Latin America. Toei is also predicted to have a much higher annual dividend this year than originally forecast. Enhorabuena a Mexico y Brasil! Viva la Sailormoon!

So, we don’t know what surprises this week is going to bring in terms of licensing news. Maybe there will be nothing? Sailor Moon news of this kind tends to come in short bursts for a few weeks and then it disappears for a while. We came across an editorial in the Japanese news over the weekend that featured a very interesting thought about the Sailor Moon anime in comparison to PGSM. The article is called “Is Sailor Moon = Drama? How Do 20-Year-Olds Feel The Generation Gap To Their Juniors?” and is written by blogger Yae Onoda. She asked various people in their 20s about the fads of today that are popular with youth, and if they felt that things were any different for them when they were that age. A 26-year old was asked about Sailor Moon, and she definitely felt a generation gap. She watched the cartoon as a child, but her little sister was in high school when PGSM was broadcast. She thought that the drama was definitely a departure from the anime, and wanted to “punish it in the name of the Moon!” She likened PGSM to the Sailor Moon anime as new artists covering old songs that were popular. She felt that those fans who were attached to the anime, would likely be frustrated with PGSM. Fans, do you agree that there is a generation gap between PGSM and the Sailor Moon anime? Leave your thoughts below!

91.8 The Fan’s radio talk-show, Kana’s Korner, will be interviewing Barbara Radecki, the voice of Sailor Neptune on Jan 20 at 2:00pm (Pacific). They will ask her what it’s like to be part of such an outstanding series as well as see how she’s kept busy after Sailor Moon.

91.8 The Fan is a contemporary radio station for anime and manga fans that can be accessed internationally. The 24/7 live radio station features DJs, interviews, and contests. It promotes legal ways to consume the media via free releases, online releases, and more. Within the radio’s first six months of existence they have interviewed over a hundred and twenty industry icons.

Update: Here’s the link to the podcast episode in iTunes.

(photo from IMDb)

Toei Animation Europe announced that Portugal’s Dreamia Group has a broadcast license for all 200 episodes of Sailor Moon in Portuguese! The show will be part of their Childrens’ Pay TV channel, Canal Panda. The show will premiere on March 7th, airing at 1:00 PM and 8:30 PM on weekdays, and 1:00 PM and 9:00 PM on weekends. But the even more surprising part, is that Dreamia also has the rights to bring Sailor Moon to Africa’s shores for the very first time! We here at Moon Chase are all very excited about this. The Portuguese speaking countries of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, and the Republic of Cape Verde will all be experiencing Sailor Moon later this year in Portuguese. Finally, almost 20 years after first being broadcast in Japan, Sailor Moon will have touched every continent on Earth (minus Antarctica). Congratulations to Sailor Moon on your continued success worldwide!

Image Credit: Toei Animation Europe

Now, we can finally report this to fans since there is a press release! Sweden’s Plus Licens has renewed their friendship with Sailor Moon years later in a new partnership with Toei Animation Europe. From 1996-2002, Plus Licens held the license for the franchise and led Sailor Moon through Sweden, Finland, Russia, Poland, and Hungary. It also appears that for Sailor Moon’s branding and identity, they will be using the same style guide created in Italy under the guises of creator Naoko Takeuchi. Plus Licens is happy to work again with Sailor Moon, as Maria Ornyd (Category Head of Media) says that the series was the very first Japanese property in Plus Licens’ portfolio. The press release makes special note that they will be working with the series from the broadcast and publishing perspectives, excluding the manga. As of this writing, we are unaware of Kodansha and Princess Naoko Planning’s (PNP) future plans with the manga. Publishing (in Plus Licens’ case) includes television, merchandise, and DVD rights for all 200 episodes throughout their territories in Eastern Europe. Congratulations to Plus Licens, Toei Animation, and Naoko Takeuchi/ PNP, and we wish you continued success with Sailor Moon wherever she may be in the world!

Image Credit from Plus Licens

(And on another note to the companies, can we keep with the pretty press releases? It’s always nice to see an image or two of Sailor Moon rather than reading text with all-too-familiar shades of blue seen on nearly every licensing and release site we monitor!)