Senshi Minus One Reunite With Naoko!

Naoko Takeuchi invited Kotono Mitsuishi, Aya Hisakawa, Michie Tomizawa, and Rika Fukami to her house for a New Years’ lunch. Emi Shinohara was probably also invited but wasn’t there. She posted a photo of everyone enjoying champagne and wine! From left to right in this photo: Rika Fukami, Naoko Takeuchi, Aya Hisakawa, Michie Tomizawa, and Kotono Mitsuishi. She writes:

Super Gorgeous!

This is a New Years Party at the house of the original author of Sailor Moon, Naoko Takeuchi~

Aya Hisakawa, Rika-chan Fukami, Michie Tomizawa and I had a wonderful lunch with Naoko Takeuchi!

It was too fun!

It was too delicious!

Do we ever get tired of talking about Sailor Moon?
Mitsuishi was in the best spirits after all that champagne and wine!

Kotono is so cute – and this is definitely a rare look inside Naoko Takeuchi’s house! It sure looks pretty regal to us – we wonder if she themed her house to be Princess Naoko’s palace? Did Yoshihiro Togashi take this photo?

The Seiyuu Also Invaded a Shopping Arcade!

The Shinmachi Shopping Arcade to be exact! The Machi★Asobi Vol 2. Exhibit opened in the arcade in January, featuring all sorts of anime and manga memorabilia from drawings, to autographs, and costumes. Some of the seiyuu involved with Sailor Moon had autographs that were featured in this exhibit, and they included: Michie Tomizawa, Rika Fukami, Mika Doi (Queen Serenity), Emi Shinohara, the late Kaneto Shiozawa (Prince Diamond), and Megumi Hayashibara (Himeko). Some Sailor Moon movie posters were also featured as part of the exhibit. To see more pictures, click here!

Going back to Kotono…

Kotono also appeared at a special press event for Kokkeko-san a little over two weeks ago with the entire cast of the show (she is front row and center, holding the Kokkeko-san doll). This article features an interview with them, and Kotono had a lot to say about her role! She spoke about how Kokkeko-san is a lovely mother who just wants the best of her kids, and just like many other mothers, has to deal with a husband who doesn’t always help her. She thinks that this is a great cartoon for mothers and children to bond to watching it together. She enjoyed and sympathized with this role, being a mother just like Kokkeko-san! All of the cast also wished that they had moms like Kokkeko-san! Kotono ended the interview saying how much she loved the arts, and asked for all mothers to watch it with their children.

Emi Shinohara Plays Piano For Peace!

Besides using the power of thunder to save the world, did you also know that Sailor Jupiter plays the piano? This is one of many talents listed on her official agency profile, and we were a little surprised to learn of this sighting! There is a piano that has traveled all over Japan, and is known for being a symbol of peace. This piano survived the bombing at Hiroshima, and has a very interesting story behind it (and we can even share it with you in English)! On January 23rd, a special concert was held at the Cultural Information Center in Hanoura, Anan City, in Tokushima, Japan. The piano still holds small amounts of radiation and shards of glass throughout its lacquer, but the piano tuner who restored it (Mitsunori Yagawa) commented that those who hear how good the piano sounds, they cannot tell that it was part of such a horrific event. Emi Shinohara accompanied singers at this concert which played to an audience of 300. This piano is one of four pianos which survived the bombing, and a different one that Yagawa has restored will be making its way to New York City later this year to mark the 9th anniversary of the September 11th attacks and International Day of Peace. There was even a special part of the concert where some very talented 7th graders played the piano as well. We have featured an image of Emi Shinohara accompanying soprano Miki Furumoto above.

Hear Sakura Tange in Video Games!

Sakura Tange is probably most famous for playing Sakura in Card Captor Sakura, and well known for singing that show’s theme song. She also had a small role as Miharu Akiyama in episode 139 of Sailor Moon SuperS. Fans of Sakura can hear her voice in two video games this month! The first is Fate/Extra, where she plays Saber, the lead female warrior. This was not met without controversy as she is playing a role once played by Ayako Kawasumi. Fate/Extra is the fourth game based on the popular Fate/Stay Night series. The second game that fans can hear her in is Konami’s Love Plus Valentine, which was just released last week. She plays Rinko Kobayakawa, a first year high school student. This game is a dating sim that is all about being in love when you are in high school!

Part Two will be posted a little later this week!

We’re saving the best for last! Two translated entries from Kotono Mitsuishi’s blog!
EDIT: I started putting this post together a long time ago, but couldn’t get it finished until now. Sorry Moonies! And, as of this writing, it doesn’t look like there has been any footage of the event broadcast.

Sailor Event (posted December 6th, 2009)

She has an event to go to, but should she cut her bangs? I cut them last night during bathtime.

In the morning I looked in the mirror and thought I looked bad (*_*)!

I didn’t cut them straight, obviously. There is no time, so I am going like this! (T_T)

She wrote about an appearance on an upcoming episode of Idoling for the rest of the entry where she had something to do with an Evangelion snack contest. In the past, she has narrated segments on the show!

5 Sailor Senshi Together! (posted December 6th, 2009)

There was a large gathering at the DVD launch of Sailor Moon!

We were all so excited and pleased to see everyone!

When 5 soldiers are all gathered together, I wondered if it would distort the magnetic field.

They are the ones with all the power, right?

Uhehe (*laugh*)!

After all, it’s great!

Sailor Senshi Sailor Moon

That’s a girl’s bible!

And now, a compilation of all the photos from the event, but we’re going to show you them a little differently. There’s no video yet of the event, but we know what order that things took place in. So, we’re going to present the photos to you in that order! It’s the closest thing we can bring you to seeing the event!

Backstage, Naoko Takeuchi Came to Say Hi To Everyone!

Kyan Chiaki Cosplays and Performs as Sailor Moon!

(From Kyan Chiaki’s blog)

(From Mycom)

(From AV Watch)

(From Famitsu)

(From TV Life)

HIMEKA Sings Moonlight Densestu (Moonlight Legend, aka. theme from first 4 seasons and movies)!

(From Mycom)

(From Famitsu)

(From TV Life)

Seiyuu Come Onstage and Speak Of Their Time On the Series!

(From ANIMAX and AnimeAnime.jp)

(From Sankei MSN)

(From Mycom)

(From AV Watch)

(From TV Life)

(From Famitsu)

(From Cinema Today)

Top 5 Episodes Revealed!

(From Mycom)

(From Famitsu)

Everyone Gets Together For One Last Shot!

(From ANIMAX and AnimeAnime.jp)

(From Mycom)

(From AV Watch)

(From Famitsu)

(From TV Life)

The Event Ends, And Everyone Attending Gets Some Flyers.

(From Lunatic Circus)

Moon Chase’s Other Posts Covering The Reunion Are Located Here, Here, Here, Here and Here.

Two nights ago, a new article was posted on Sankei MSN about the event, and it featured a few new details. Of all the articles we have read, this one takes the cake for snappiest intro: “The Sailor Senshi who had the eyes of the world nailed to them in the 1990’s came back!” There were some interesting comments from Rika Fukami (Sailor Venus) saying that “the boys have become herbivores and the girls are becoming stronger and stronger” since Sailor Moon’s reign. Since then, anime featuring girls transforming into superheroes and fighting has become standard. This especially connects with the popular “Fresh Pretty Cure” that is taking Japan by storm as we speak! She is interested in the origins of that series. Aya Hisakawa said that before this role, she had many small parts playing babies and young children. Working on the very last post, with all of the photos compiled together, along with translations of the entries featured on Kotono Mitsuishi’s blog. This will be up soon, I promise!

This is probably going to be one of the final updates from the newsmedia (unless other articles show up). CinemaToday had the same quotes from Kotono Mitsuishi in their article and didn’t have anything new to say (except for a comment that HIMEKA felt like she was ready to die since she felt like she was in heaven seeing all the seiyuu!). But, that story did have a nice photo! In the next few days we’re just going to have a post with all the photos from the event we have been able to find. That way, you fans can see them all in one place! TV Life didn’t have anything new either, except for a quote which I think I forgot to translate in my previous article – Kotono joked that even when they are all fat and old, they would still be happy to have been known for a work that both adults and children can continue to enjoy forever and ever! AV Watch didn’t have anything new either. I am going to save 2Chan for a whole other post, later. Now, onto another interesting blog entry I came across! This blogger also went to the event, and she featured a photo (which we have uploaded here for you today) of two flyers the staff handed out after the event was over, advertising the mobile site and the DVD collection release (featured above). This blogger waited outside the hall after the event, and all of the seiyuu and Naoko walked in front of her! She was so in awe that she didn’t know what to say , and asked Kotono some dumb questions like “will this be broadcast on ANIMAX?” She said that she expected that it would be! We haven’t seen or heard anything about any plans to air this on TV, but as soon as we find any footage, we promise we will post a copy! The blogger was so in awe of Naoko’s presence, that all she wrote was that she looked beautiful in purple and that the Great Master had passed.

We’ve been noticing a few blogs have been slightly altering the pictures that we have posted and putting their own watermarks on them – it is a blog’s choice to do so, however please remember that these photos came from news articles which we linked to and referenced in our posts. It isn’t fair to claim them as your own! Also, it’s okay to reference us when posting about this event, but please also give the Japanese sites and blogs credits – they are where this all originally came from!

The first news outlet to break any news of the reunion was AnimeAnime.jp, and the second and third were Famitsu and MyCom. We’re going to fuse this with a blog entry of a fan that we found! This fan was so excited the night before that she didn’t know what to wear and thought about going early to buy as much Sailor Moon merchandise as she could from other stores around UDX! We probably would have done the same thing too! The fan noted that the first few rows were reserved for the media, and that to enter you had to have proof of either an e-mail saying that you had won the lottery, or a special postcard. Chiaki Kyan began the event pretending to be Sailor Moon, and acted out her infamous “Moon Healing Escalation!” attack! She seemed very excited to be performing as Sailor Moon – though looking at the closeup pictures posted on Famitsu, we have to wonder why she didn’t have a better wig or at the very least, red boots! Chiaki also revealed that during the commercials she would turn around just like Sailor Moon! The fan loved her cosplay, to say the least! Then HIMEKA came to perform two songs – Moonlight Densetsu, and announced her new single Hatenaki Michi from the anime Tegami Bachi. After HIMEKA finished performing, she told the audience that she learned Japanese after watching Sailor Moon, and it was a favorite among her and her friends back in Canada. She remembered learning her katakana cards with Sailor Moon!

Then, the Seiyuu came out one by one as each of them said their transformations – Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus Crystal Power – Make Up! The quotes being reported are much the same as before – but there’s a few more that I can add! Michie Tomizawa said that 1800 people applied for this event’s lottery and that she looked forward to seeing the fans after a very long time. Hold on a moment – 1800 applicants? This event should have been opened up to at least 500! Emi Shinohara was a little nervous she was going to walk into the wrong dressing room and also to meet everyone again, but as soon as she walked in it was like she went back in time and by the time she was on stage, she was too worn out already from laughing with the other stars! Rika Fukami added that while they were all excited to see each other, they were just as excited to see the fans. They began to speak about their favorite episodes. Kotono had two favorites – the episode where Neflite died (episode 24), and another episode where Sailor Moon wanted to save Hotaru but could not transform (episode 125 – thank you fans!). The former changed her perspective on her character, and the latter actually made her cry when she recorded the episode! Rika Fukami joked that she felt like she had graduated when she finally played Sailor Venus, since before that she played a youma! Emi Shinohara joined in saying that she played two villains before Rika did (Cyrene and Jumeau)! These sites are reporting that it was Rika Fukami who noted she felt like her castmates were classmates. Michie Tomizawa shared more about her confusion about what was starting, and that she was worried that this party might have been happening at someone’s house, joking that Aya Hisakawa wouldn’t have been able to clean it, and that no one should serve the caviar until she had arrived!

Rika remembered how their musical group Peach Hips had to sign 3000 posters and it was Aya who kept pointing out to her where she should sign because she kept signing her posters in different places! They also spoke of how Sailor Moon had aired all over the world, even in countries that have hosted the Olympic Games. Rika told a story of how Naoko Takeuchi used to joke of world domination, however she seemingly achieved it with this one cartoon. We still believe she should have been a part of this event. It was wonderful to read of what happened, but unfortunately we can’t help but feel like there is a hole that could only have been filled by Naoko.

Tomorrow, we’ll post the end of what happened at this event along with the top 5 episodes voted by fans that were screened at the show!

EDIT: Continued from last night, and two more articles have popped up, one from AV Life, and another from TV Life. It doesn’t appear that fans were allowed to take photos inside this event. The first few rows were occupied by media (and judging by how much media was there, we’re surprised that there’s only a few articles). Back to what happened at the event…

Michie Tomizawa revealed that the actors would often get together at her house for private Christmas parties not to discuss work at all and to chill out! Sometimes they did speak about Sailor Moon though, despite their best efforts. It was after this, that the results of a poll from ANIMAX were revealed to the audience. The 5 favorite episodes, chosen by the fans were:

5. Episode 25 (“Jupiter, the Brawny Girl in Love”)
4. Episode 1 (“Crybaby Usagi’s Magnificent Transformation”)
3. Episodes 34 & 35 (“The Sparkling Silver Crystal! The Moon Princess Appears” and “Memories Return! Usagi and Mamoru’s Past”)
2. Episode 24 (“Naru’s Cry! Nephrite Dies for Love”)
1. Episodes 45 & 46 (The very end of the first season, “The Sailor Warriors Die! The Tragic Final Battle” and “Usagi’s Everlasting Wish! A New Reincarnation”)

Then the five actresses shared their sentiments on the series and answered some questions from the fans. Kotono Mitsuishi said that the show was a treasure in her life. Aya Hisakawa said that this was the first children’s anime that she had ever done and she was so happy that these characters were so well-loved. Michie Tomizawa said that she was proud of this show and listed it first on her resume because it had such a leading presence! Emi Shinohara also agreed with Kotono’s sentiments that this was a treasure, and noted that everyone behind the scenes worked very hard to make this work the best that it could be. She was happy to have worked on such a show, and she loved being able to fight and destroy enemies in so many different places! Rika Fukami said that it was this show that helped her to learn the true meaning of friendship. Kotono ended the talk saying that she does not feel old watching the show, and it is a show that both adults and children can enjoy. Sailor Moon, she said, will be loved forever and ever. And with that, the event ended. We could not agree with you more Kotono. Tomorrow, I will look at the other two articles and see if they say anything different.

And, as predicted, Naoko Takeuchi was absent. We have seen so many images of the actresses together, looking very happy to be speaking of their time on Sailor Moon, and this is more or less the same sentiment felt by the North American VAs as well. We wonder, if one day, Naoko will ever be happy about Sailor Moon again, just like the seiyuu.