In yesterday’s post (and apologies for the late-night typos, they have been fixed), it turns out that Fumio Osano (better known as Osabu), had written a message to the fans in the June 2013 issue of Dengeki Hobby Magazine. It is located in the orange box at the top of the second page. Here, is our translation (Thanks Emi!):

The orange part reads:

A message from Naoko sensei’s editor, Osabu. He’s been Naoko sensei’s editor back then and even now.  Well known among fans with his nickname Osabu,  Mr. Fumio Osano of Kodansha gave us, S.H. Figuarts, comments.

The white part reads:

While Bandai Collectors worked very hard to keep the original feel of  Usagi’s action pose and face, at the same time, they tried to update the looks to the current style. Even the ad is also very particular so please check it out. When you see the ad you would go “gotta buy this!” LOL  Hope you guys can bring all the senshi out.  If Usagi sells, all the senshi should become available I think. I personally like to see Sailor Saturn! Let’s do it!

And, I asked some questions that many of you had to Xavier Lim at Bluefin Tamashii Nations!

MC: Will the new figure have packaging/instructions in English? How much assembly will be required?
Bluefin/TN: As of this moment, the packaging and instructions will be still be in Japanese.  There may be an additional licensing sticker on the box that may vary by region, but that is there only to mark it as an officially licensed product.

MC: Is Sailor Mercury a prototype being tested or is it next in line? Are there figures of other characters also being planned or is it too early to say?
Bluefin/TN: Tamashii Nations will often tease figures of future releases or items they would like to test consumer reception on before continuing forward.  Prototype figures without release dates or pricing information do no indicate an item is going to be released next. There have been many cases in the other product lines where a prototype figure has been shown before, but has not been released, only to have other characters come out beforehand.

MC: When will the figure actually hit the shelves, August, September or October? Many sites are reporting different dates from August-October for when they will actually ship the figures to customers.
Bluefin/TN: The official Japanese release date is August 2013.  For the U.S. and Canada, it is Sept 2013.  Some stores that have very large fulfillment centers may believe they will not be able to ship out in time before the end of September and have indicated an early October release date.

MC:  How much input did Naoko Takeuchi have in the design of the figure?  What was the collaboration like? How were the facial expressions chosen? How long did this Sailor Moon figure take to develop?
Bluefin/TN: Yes she is involved.  This figure has actually been delayed until now by her request.  Otherwise this figure would have been revealed a few years ago.

MC: How long will the two bonus faces be available, and will all launch figures have them? Approximately how many figures will be in this first production?
Bluefin/TN: 1st release bonuses will be packaged inside and will be available on all figures in this 1st production cycle.  I cannot reveal production numbers at this time, nor can I indicate if/when a second production will occur.

MC: What is the timeline for the production run of the figure (first press and subsequent presses)? What window will there be for fans to purchase the figure before it gets removed from circulation?
Bluefin/TN: In N. America at least, the 1st release of the figure will be still readily available for retailers to re-order at least until December.

MC: At Tamashii Nations 2012, a figure of Sailor Moon and Luna in Chibi/Super-Deformed design was announced. Are they going to be released and if so when?
Bluefin/TN: Hopefully soon!

Only a few more months until release! Are you Moonies excited yet?

Anime North 2013 is only a few days away! The main schedule was announced recently on the Anime North website.

Here’s a listing of the Sailor Moon related events that may be of most interest to those of you attending. Most of these are at the Doubletree International Hotel, unless otherwise indicated. Autographs are at the Toronto Congress Centre and the photoshoots are outside, in front of the Congress Centre.

Friday

• 4pm – 5pm  » Opening Ceremonies (Plaza ballroom)
• 6pm – 7pm  » Behind the Mic with J. Micheal Tatum, Chris Cason, J. Swasey, and J. Stocker (Toronto panels)
• 6pm – 7pm  » Autographs: Lynda, Katie, Susan (Autographs Hall F, TCC)
• 7:30pm – 8:30pm  » Autographs: John Stocker (Autographs Hall F, TCC)
• 8pm – 9:30pm  » Ask an Anime Character with Lynda, Katie, Trina, Susan (Toronto panels)

Saturday

• 12pm – 1pm  » Sailor Moon Photoshoot (TCC 2, outside of TCC)
• 1pm – 2pm  » So Many Voices with John Swasey, Chris Cason, John Stocker (Plaza C)
• 1pm – 2pm  » Memories of the 80′s (Lynda, Katie, Susan) Toronto panels
• 1pm – 2pm  » Autographs: John Stocker (Autographs Hall F, TCC)
• 2:30pm – 3:30pm  » Autographs: Sailor Moon voice actors (Autographs Hall F, TCC)
• 5pm – 6pm  » Sailor Moon Voice Actors Q&A (Toronto panels)
• 6pm – 7pm  » Sailor Moon Industry Panel: presented by Moon Chase (Halton panels)
• 6pm – 7pm  » Sailor Moon R movie (Paris room)
• 7pm – 8pm  » Sailor Moon S movie (Paris room)
• 9pm – 10pm  » Sailor Moon Series Discussion (Windsor panels)

Sunday

• 12pm – 1pm » Canadian Voice Acting Industry (Toronto panels)
• 2:30pm – 3:30pm  » Autographs: Lynda, Katie, Susan, John (Autographs Hall F, TCC)
• 3pm – 4pm  » Sailor Moon Photoshoot (TCC 2, outside of TCC)
• 6pm – 7pm  » Closing Ceremonies (Plaza AB)

There will also be some industry panels that you may want to check out to ask industry reps your questions directly. The Crunchyroll panel will be on Saturday from 1pm – 2pm in International C. Funimation will have two panels (in previous years these are the same aside from fan questions). Funimation will have their first panel on Saturday from 2pm – 3pm in International C, and their second panel will be be on Sunday from 12pm – 1pm in International C.

There are lots of events at this year’s Anime North and we’re looking forward to reporting on the convention. You can find myself (Emily) and our new photographer/writer SixthCrow (Blake) at many of the events listed above as well as others.

If you’re able to make it to Anime North this year, feel free to approach us and ask questions or have your photo taken for Moon Chase. See you there!

A few days ago, a blogger named Seaside Tears was wandering around Sofmap (a Japanese electronics store), and noticed that there was a small exhibition devoted to the upcoming Tamashii Nations S.H. Figuarts Sailor Moon figure featuring flyers, figures, and a large display playing the commercial over and over again. And surprisingly, there was also an unpainted Sailor Mercury prototype on display. The post got picked up by Tomopop, and later Crunchyroll, and then the news got to me via staff member BlueSwim. While the figure has not been officially announced, it is unknown if it ever will be either. This may be a test from Bandai to gauge public reception towards the figure. Many of our older fans may remember that Irwin did this once a very long time ago with the Amazoness Quartet. But unfortunately, they never got made due to Irwin dropping the line (and later facing bankruptcy). If fans are interested in seeing a Sailor Mercury figure produced, feel free to leave comments here or on our Facebook page, as well as on Bluefin Tamashii Nations’ Facebook Page, or on Tamashii Nations Japan’s Facebook Page if you can write in Japanese. For those of you looking to pre-order the Sailor Moon figure, please check our previous post for a comprehensive list of places you can pre-order the figure from. The exhibition is traveling around to different Sofmap stores around Japan until the end of the month (check here for a schedule). For now though, here are some images (credit to Seaside Tears) of the exhibition!

Hey Moonies! This is a quick post to let you know I just received a email from Bluefin Tamashii Nations which contained a sales sheet along with some product descriptions on upcoming figures (I don’t know what other properties you fans may be interested in, so comment below if there are other figures you might like to know about). The new Sailor Moon figure will be released in cartons containing 24 figures each with an MSRP of $42.99 USD. The figure will have the following UPC Code of 4543112644909 and SKU of BAN64490, for those of you who are looking to purchase this and want to make sure you are getting a legitimate figure and not a knockoff. The figure will be released in September 2013. The description of the figure on this sales sheet reads:

S.H.Figuarts – Sailor Moon

Appropriately timed with the 20th anniversary of the insanely popular Sailor Moon anime, everyone’s favorite princess joins the S.H.Figuarts series in beautiful fighting form with a full array of option parts. Sculpted with elegant proportion S.H.Figuarts Sailor Moon stands on its own as a gorgeous display piece. Meticulous attention to detail has enabled a faithful portrayal, and part of the hair has been rendered with clear parts for enhanced realism. In addition to high-detail and stunning proportion this figure set features advanced articulation for recreation of your favorite Sailor Moon Action scenes. And to top it all off- a wealth of accessories are included! Two types of Moon Sticks (with/without Silver Crystal), effect parts for “Moon Tiara Action”, and 8 interchangeable hand parts (3 left, 5 right) will expand the playability of S.H.Figuarts Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon’s feline partner, Luna will be included too with neck and tail articulation. Aiming for a superbly expressive Sailor Soldier, in addition to three interchangeable face parts, two added face parts will be included as limited first production issue bonus parts!

As for where you can purchase this, if you fans spot it anywhere, please let us know and we will post it on the blog (please via email at moonchasers@nospamplzkthxgmail.com), it is hard to keep up with the facebook posts). The only place I know of at this moment is Gundam Planet, which did have a pre-order deal of 10% off the cost if you order now, I am not sure why fans can’t pre-order at the moment.
And for those of you who are Daft Punk fans, unfortunately those gorgeous figures are not on this sale sheet yet. I’m waiting too, and am eagerly awaiting those as well! Special thanks to Bluefin for passing this along to us (it was great chatting with you on Monday)!

EDIT:
Here is where you can order this figure so far (but some have just a listing and are not open for pre-orders just yet, keep an eye out on these pages). The links we have posted are from reputable sites, but this is by no means a complete list. Please let us know if you know of others!
Amazon
Amazon.ca (Not listed yet, but told they will have it)
Anime Island
Big Bad Toy Store
Fantastic Plastic Toys
GG Infinite
Gundam Planet
Hastings (Not listed yet, but told they will have it)
Just Action Figures (Not listed yet, but told they will have it)
Man of Action Figures
Power Anime
Robot4Less (Not listed yet, but told they will have it)
Things From Another World (Not listed yet, but told they will have it)
Toys Logic
Toy Tards (in Canada)
Toy Wiz
TSI Inc. (Not listed yet, but told they will have it)
Urban Collector (Not listed yet, but told they will have it)

And one last link: there is a store locator here for those who want to try to find it locally.

EDIT: Here’s a whole gallery of official promotional images!

Hey fans!

There have been some  small pieces of news we’ve been hearing about the new Sailor Moon anime, so we would like to include all the information here in an easy to reference post. (thanks to fans on our Facebook page for tips!)

Unfortunately we do not yet have a confirmed start date nor do we have an official title for the new series.

Crunchyroll most likely to stream the new Sailor Moon (tip from ステファニー チャールズ)

According to this article, Sailor Moon 2.0 was announced on Crunchyroll as having a summer 2013 start date (possibly a hint that they will be doing the streaming). Unfortunately, there is no date other than “summer” listed, with the other summer announcements falling under a header of June to August 2013.

Here’s a screengrab of the picture from Crunchyroll:

Not sure why the picture is cut off at the bottom, but it seems a little premature to announce the show on a streaming website without a confirmed title or start date. However, we have been suspecting that Crunchyroll would be doing the streaming, given their connection to Toei Animation.

(Edit: the above has been corrected to reflect that the linked article is a list of upcoming anime series, not necessarily series that will be streaming on Crunchyroll)

New Sailor Moon Anime is Delayed

According to multiple tweets by Fumio Osano, the new anime series is delayed (screengrabs of the tweets below)

If you want to read the tweets on twitter, here are the links to the conversation threads, based on the questioned asked:

• Any news on when it will start…?
• Will it come out in June/July? (tip by Chris Tenney)
• How much longer will we have to wait for more news?
• Can you tell us some official info soon about the new Sailor Moon?
• Has the new anime officially been delayed? (tip by Audra Peloquin)
• Will it be broadcast in winter 2014?

As you can see, Fumio Osano has indicted multiple times that the new anime is delayed. Although we are looking forward to seeing the new series, we’re not very surprised about this news.

In January, Sailordees reported:

[NDK in September 2012] helped me to finally meet a representative from Funimation I had spoken to over the phone face-to-face and have a good chat about what was going on with Sailor Moon. For those who are wondering why we still don’t have any of the anime yet, I have been told that there are still a lot of hurdles to jump through, and that it is going to take “more than a cheque” to bring the series back. As of then, the new series was not even up for license and was still very early in production.

and

In July, we all learned of the new Sailor Moon series on its way to the world next year. Here’s something you probably didn’t know though. While some fans thought that this article from 2009 had marked the start of negotiations for a new series, I can now confirm that this was purely a rumor back then and there had been no thoughts about anything new. Talks about a new series did not start until about 6 months prior to the announcement, and the success of the revival played a big role in determining if there should be something new. And it was only a couple of weeks before the event was announced to the public, that i’s were dotted and t’s were crossed. So everything with respect to this new series happened pretty fast. This was pretty surprising to learn, since back in 1997 when the series had ended in Japan, tensions had pretty much decided that episode 200 was it for the anime. We had also gotten the idea from our contacts that there was no hope for anything new in the last couple of years.

Sorry about the somewhat bad news, Sailor Moon fans. We will be keeping an eye on this, and looking out for any official information confirming when we can expect to see the new anime series. Until then, we encourage you to be patient. Hopefully the new series will be well worth the wait!

Edit: Added a link to the 2009 article referenced above.

Also, an important note - at the upcoming media marketplace shows (such as MIPCOM, Kazachok, etc.), Toei Animation is continuing to appear but Sailor Moon is no longer on their list of properties they are presenting. This means neither the original series nor the new series appear to be currently available for license.