Author Roland Kelts

One of the most interesting panels I attended at Otakon this year was “Pop Culture From a Multipolar Japan,” hosted by Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. I read Japanamericarecently, so some of Kelts’ points were familiar to me, but hearing him explain in detail how anime reflects the crucial bases of Japanese culture was still enlightening.

However, I was a little surprised when he mentioned Sailor Moon as an example of Japan’s multipolarity. Basically, Kelts said that when the Emperor was revealed to be powerless at the end of World War II, the idea of a trustworthy father figure was taken from Japanese culture in a way it has never really recovered from- hence the “the great leader is actually corrupt” subtext present in many anime.

“I’m trying to get you to think a little bit about this idea that Japan is a multifarious, blender of a culture…a multipolar state because it lost its binaries. It lost its sense of a leader and a people…and so when you have these artists like Tezuka and subsequent generations- Otomo, etc.- writing about the world they live in, it’s much more multipolar in depiction that what you expect from, for example, U.S. popular culture. The superhero stories…instead you get the girls of Sailor Moon.

“You get teams, right? Groups of people who have to work off each other and figure things out. You don’t get the great leader. And if you do get the great leader, the great leader’s corrupt,” said Kelts.

In general terms, I believe Kelts is right- I think the popularity of team-based stories in Japanese culture has to do with the way Japan had to radically realign itself (and in some cases, have itself forcefully realigned by the U.S.) after WWII, including, but by no means limited to, the reduction of the Emperor from the leader of the nation to a powerless symbolic figure. However, how well does Sailor Moon fit his example?

After all, the Senshi may be a team, but Sailor Moon, a.k.a. the Princess, definitely emerges as the ultimate authority figure by the end, doesn’t she? And we all know the other Senshi were kind of useless anyway after Sailor Moon S (oh yeah, I went there! *rimshot*.)

The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that there were other parallels to the situation Kelts described in the story. In the first season, the Senshi are looking for the Princess, this sort of divine figure that will hopefully make sense of everything for them. And it turns out to be…Usagi, seemingly at that time the weakest and most immature out of the whole group. She may not have been corrupt (at least not until PGSM at any rate), but it’s still easy to see that plot point as an expression of the idea that the “great leader” will always ultimately be a disappointment.

And yet, in the end Usagi isn’t a disappointment, is she? Did the Japanese really give up on the idea of a leader figure, or did they just give up on the Confucian, patriarchal version? I think it’s the latter; I apologize if this all seems a bit out of character for this blog, but these are the kinds of questions considering Sailor Moon in a Japanese context, not just an entertainment context, leads you to ask.

Whether you agree with Kelt’s assertion that Sailor Moon is one example of Japan’s trend towards multipolarity post-WWII or not, I highly recommend Japanameria, even though Sailor Moon is only mentioned in passing in the book. It was written before the 2008 financial crisis, which means some aspects of the interplay between the U.S. and Japan have changed in the few short years since Kelts wrote it, but it’s still a great resource if you’re looking to understand why our favorite anime are the way they are.

There are some fantastic Sailor Moon cosplayers at Otakon this year- there's more where this came from.

Last year, Otakon featured a panal called, “The World of Sailor Moon,” hosted by Yosenex of Genvid.com. This year, it seems like con organizers made an attempt to streamline the schedule, and one of the casualties was our dedicated Sailor Moon panel.

Instead, two fandoms were put together into one panel, run by college students Tina Maiese and Brandon Auman, who covered SM and Dragonball Z, respectively. While the hosts were friendly and the crowd was enthusiastic, this combo panel seemed to occur at the expense of SM fans- about 75% of the panel ended up being devoted to DBZ.
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Toby Proctor (Tuxedo Mask #2) can be heard in two episodes of Turbo Dogs, an animated series. He is joined by other Sailor Moon voice actors, including: Catherine Disher (Mimet), Ron Rubin (Artemis), Colin O’Meara (Andrew) and Lyon Smith (Sapphire). The episodes where you can hear them are titled “The Muffled Mess-Up/Return to Lender” (aired December 2010) and “Best Buds Forever/Alsatian Aces” (aired January 2011). He also appears as a police office in an episode of XIII: The Series, a Canadian action series based on a Belgian comic book. The series is about XIII, who is trying to uncover the truth about his past life while being hunted by a dark anti-government organization. Toby appears in episode 7, “Undertow.”

Barbara Radecki (Sailor Neptune) appeared in an episode of Good Dog as Julia, the ex-wife of the main character. The dramatic comedy is about a TV producer who “caves in to network demands and asks his young girlfriend, Claire to move into his house, but she doesn’t move in alone.” (description from IMDb). This is another series by Shaftesbury Films that includes cast from Sailor Moon (Murdoch Mysteries also had Julie Lemieux and Wendy Lyon guest star in 2009, in separate episodes). The episode featuring Barbara is called “Jack Nicholson.” During this episode, the main character, George, gets a table at a restaurant by claiming that Jack Nicholson will be meeting him for dinner, but his ex-wife is sitting at the next table so he makes excuses to try to leave. In a later episode of this series, David Fraser (Grandpa Hino) appears as Executor, when the main character “deals with the fallout of promising a non-existent television show to the most beautiful woman in the world.” (description from IMDb)

Speaking of David Fraser, he’s been busy! He’s appeared in four different TV series recently. In addition to Good Dog mentioned above, the following is a list of his other appearances. Breakout Kings premiered in March, and David was in the sixth episode, “Queen of Hearts,” as Milt Langley which first aired in early April. The show is about a group of ex-cons working with U.S. Marshals to track down prison escapees. What’s Up Warthogs is about some teenagers who make the morning announcements into a show. David appears in the seventh episode, “The Fall of Warty,” as Jerry the janitor which first aired in late April. Almost Heroes is comedy about brothers forced to take over their father’s failing comic book store after his untimely death. David appears as Baker in the fifth episode, “Terry and Peter vs. Their Hero.”

Jill Frappier (Luna) appears as a recurring character in the Canadian television series Life Unjarred as Helene. So far she has appeared in episodes 4-6, 11, and 13.

Emilie Barlow (Sailor Mars #2, Sailor Venus #2) will be performing on August 13th at Scene Desjardins in Levis, Québec. She will also be performing on the Harmony Square stage at the fourth annual TD Brantford International Jazz Festival, a free outdoor show which will be running September 16th-18th. Her performance is schedule for 5:00 p.m. on September 17th. In October, fans can see Emilie in Québec and Ontario. She will perform on October 27th in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec at l’Espace Rona at 8:00 p.m. On the 29th, she will be in Terrbonne, Québec and performing at Salle Desjardins – Le Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne at 8:30 p.m. On the 30th, she will be in Burnstown, Ontario, on the Schoolhouse stage at Neat Coffee Shop at 8:30 p.m. In December, she will be in Brampton, Ontario on the first, performing at the Rose Theatre at 8:00 p.m. On the second, she will be in Markham, Ontario, at the Markham Theatre performing at 8:00 p.m.

Fans in the United States who would like to hear Emilie’s voice in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, which we previously reported about, can catch the series on The Hub and Canadian fans can find it on Treehouse TV.

Vince Corazza (Alan/ Tuxedo Mask #3) appeared in episode 16, “the Magnificent” of the Supah Ninjas TV series, as Mallini the Magnificent. We also have a release date for Rock and Roll: The Movie, which we’ve previously reported about. The US film release date is July 30th, so interested fans can look out for it soon!

David Huband (Serena’s Dad) will be appearing in a TV short called Dave vs Death. The comedic short is about a man named David Kane who, on his deathbed, challenges Death to a game of chess. “If Dave wins, his life is spared. For every piece lost, someone he cares about will die.” (description from IMDb). A poster is now available for the thriller film Dream House (see right), which we previously reported will premiere in theatres on September 30th. A trailer is also available, but if you watch past 1:11 it may spoil the plot. You can see David around 50 seconds into the trailer. He’s the police officer on the left.

Maria Vacratsis (Negaforce) appeared in episode six of Skins, which we previously reported as including Sabrina Grdevich (Anne/Lizzy/Sailor Pluto #1) in two other episodes. The series is about a group of teenagers in Baltimore.

Liza Balkan () is featured in The Drowning Girls which is on stage at the Thousand Islands Playhouse Firehall Theatre, until July 30. Described as “the wettest show you’ll ever see, The Drowning Girls is an acclaimed and highly theatrical mystery based on a real life series of murders called “Brides in the Bath” from Edwardian, England.” (description from Kingston This Week) Showtimes are Tuesdays to Sundays at 8 p.m., with Friday and Saturday matinees at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are available at 1000islandsplayhouse.com. A review of the play is available here.

(Images from Emilie Barlow’s Flickr pool, IMDb, and North Country Public Radio)

Sailor Moon T-shirts are now available in the Hot Topic e-store. The product description states: “This fitted white tee features a front screen of Sailor Moon posing with her cosmic crescent wand.” However, fans will notice that she is actually holding the cutie moon rod, from the R season.

The white, cotton shirt is an online exclusive priced at $22.50 to $26.50 and available in sizes XS to 3XL. The product details also indicate that it is imported.

For fans curious about the licensing details, you can use the magnifying glass on the Hot Topic product page to zoom in even more than hovering over the product. If you zoom in enough at the top, you can see that the printed label only lists Naoko Takeuchi/PNP and Toei Animation in the copyright notice.

We think that the release of this new T-shirt may be in response to Kodansha’s interest in seeing merchandise available that coincides with the upcoming manga release. If we hear more details about similar products we will be sure to let you know!

Photos from Hot Topic. Thanks to Moon Chase fans Ashley Smith and Audra Peloquin for the tip!

Edit: More T-shirt designs have been added!

The black Purrrfect T-shirt for girls features Artemis and Luna with text that reads “We’re Purrrfect Together,” The black Sailor Senshi T-shirt for girls features the five inner senshi, and the black Hero T-shirt for girls features Tuxedo Mask with the words “I Need a Hero.” Thanks to Moon Chase fan Kristy Young for the tip about the extra designs!

Edit 2: We just got some more details in a Moon Chase exclusive! Other T-shirt designs will be coming soon and fans can expect to see additional merchandise in the fourth quarter of this year. The T-shirt designs are licensed to Hybrid Apparel.

Clare Grant and the Girls of Team Unicorn Cosplaying as the Senshi

Last night’s episode of Conan featured Seth Green as a guest. During his interview, Seth talked about the San Diego Comic-Con and cosplay. Seth told Conan that there are lots of people in costume at Comic-Con and that he noticed a change a few years ago in the type of people who like the kind of content you find at Comic-Con. He said that in recent years, hot girls started liking cosplay and dressing up (or at least became able to admit it out loud). So, instead of the previously hired models in costume at exhibitor booths who would look at the crowds of nerds in disdain, there are now girls who are dressed up and excited to have their picture taken “because they are dressed up as Sailor Moon or whatever.”

Also, when Conan asked what the sexiest costume was that Seth saw at Comic-Con, Seth replied that last year his wife (Clare Grant) and the girls from Team Unicorn dressed up as the Sailor Scouts and he thought that was pretty awesome. Conan didn’t know what the Sailor Scouts were, so Seth had to explain that they are Sailor Moon and her associates. Seth also joked that Conan would have a rough time at Comic-Con if he doesn’t know who the Sailor Scouts are!

Fans can see the clip of the show with Seth Green on CTV’s website, on Team Coco, or on Scene NFO.

Also, fans may be interested in this popular music video by Team Unicorn, which includes another reference to Sailor Moon:

Photo from Curse the Cosmos. Originally printed in the book Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope.