Reunion of Cats, Jennifer Cihi, and More At Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration

Voice actors Ron Rubin, Jill Frappier, and Loretta Jafelice will have a reunion for the first time at a convention, for their roles as the talking celestial cats in Sailor Moon.

Ron Rubin is well known as the original voice of Artemis for the entire run of the DiC and Cloverway dubs of Sailor Moon. He is one of the busiest animation actors around and his voice can be heard in countless anime shows and cartoon series.

Jill Frappier was the original voice of Luna for the entire run of the DiC and Cloverway dubs of Sailor Moon. She is an actor, storyteller, drama teacher “extraordinaire,” and has performed in well over 100 plays at major theatres in Toronto and across Canada, including the Shaw and Stratford Festivals. She also makes pottery, under the brand Jill’s Objets.

Loretta Jafelice is best known for her roles of Eugeal of the Witches 5 and Diana, the celestial kitten from the future. She also voiced some monsters of the day.

Another highlight guest for us this year is the wonderfully talented Jennifer Cihi, the singing voice of Sailor Moon.

Jennifer will be performing alongside Serasymphony in a special ticket concert that will run appriximately 90 minutes including intermission and will start at 8pm in the Imperial Oil auditorium. Concert tickets are discounted for attendees of the Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration if purchased in advance. Public sales of the concert tickets will open on April 24th for those who wish to only attend the concert.

Concert ticket prices are discounted to $12.50 for Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration general attendees (Ages 12+), $6.25 – for Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration Child attendees (Ages 6-11), and free for children 5 and under accompanying a Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration general attendee with a concert ticket. Prices go up for event attendees on April 24th (the discount will be reduced). Questions about tickets for the concert can be emailed to info@blc3music.com.

Fans will also have the opportunity to meet SeraSymphony and Jennifer Cihi before the concert at the convention, even if they do not have concert tickets. Their will be separate panels for Jennifer Cihi and SeraSymphony as well.

Other guests of honour added to this year’s event are:

Cosplay Guest of Honour – Grey Cosplay

Our seventh cosplay guest of honour, GreyCosplay, is a Toronto based cosplayer who has been enjoying the art and the challenge of bringing his favourite characters to life for 4 years.  From anime and manga to video games and comics, Grey has dabbled in it all.


Cosplay Guest of Honour – Phil Mizuno

Our sixth cosplay guest this year is Phil Mizuno, an up and coming Canadian-native cosplayer who followed his heart and is pursuing his passion to empower others through positivity and creativity. Phil has been cosplaying for just over 2 years, and currently lives and creates his cosplays in Toronto, Ontario.


Guest of Honour – Fan Fiction The Show

Joining us for a second year, Fan Fiction The Show will be entertaining you again with the hilarious antics of a Sailor Moon themed fan fiction comedy performance. The one hour performance will be rated PG so that all of our attendees can enjoy it!

 

This year’s event is quickly evolving into a very full day of spectacular guests and lots of fun activities. We hope to see you there if you can make it!

Pre-registration tickets are $25 for general admission to the convention. General admission at the door will be $30. Children 6-11 are $5 off and children 5 and under are free.

 

The full press release is available here. If you would like to be added to the press list for future press releases about this event, please send an email to info@sailormooncelebration.com

Jill Frappier Pottery at Arts Market & Upcoming Appearance in Assassin’s Creed

Jill's Objets

As you may know, Jill Frappier (Luna) creates a variety of pottery items under the brand name Jill’s Objets. Her pottery is now available at the 846 College street location of the Arts Market in Toronto. The Arts Market is a group of gift shops showcasing items created by local artists. The College street location is open Wednesday to Friday 12pm-7pm and on weekends from 11am-7pm.

If you are in or near Toronto and would like to check out Jill’s variety of pottery, that is a great place to see and purchase her pottery any time of year.

Here is a preview of some of the items you will find in the store:

Jill's Objets - Display at Arts Market

Also, for those who had attended this year’s Sailor Moon Celebration in Toronto, you might have witnessed Jill’s dance moves in our video game area! We will post a video clip of Jill dancing to a game with some of the attendees soon, on our Youtube channel. We could definitely see her zumba skills in action.

Fans may also be interested in keeping an eye out for the next Assassin’s Creed video game. Jill participated in motion capture as a character for the game back in August, and she said she had a great time.

We will be keeping an eye out for more convention appearances as well, as Jill Frappier and Ron Rubin are interested in appearing together at more shows to meet the fans in future.

I will have another voice actor update for you as well soon.

More Guests Announced for the Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration

In case you missed the announcements on the event page, we have confirmed Jill Frappier (Luna), Susan Roman (Sailor Jupiter) and Ammie Cosplay as the latest guests for the Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration that I will be hosting at the Ontario Science Centre on Sunday, September 27th.

Jill Frappier

This will be the first time since 2013 that Jill Frappier and Ron Rubin (the voices of Luna and Artemis) will be reuniting at an event! This is an opportunity to meet both cats that you won’t want to miss.

Jill Frappier is our third announced Guest of Honour, and she portrayed the original voice of Luna for the entire run of the DiC and Cloverway dubs of Sailor Moon. Jill is an actor, storyteller, drama teacher “extraordinaire,” and has performed in well over 100 plays at major theatres in Toronto and across Canada, including the Shaw and Stratford Festivals.

Jill’s voice is frequently heard in CBC radio dramas and televised cartoon series. Her most notable cartoon roles are Luna in Sailor Moon, Mrs. Prysselius in Pippi Longstocking, Doucette in Anatole, the wicked Sherry in Totally Spiez, Little Mutt in Animal Shelf, Auntie Yorkshire in Pecola, and the Lady in Waiting (Jane’s Mom) in Jane and the Dragon. Her pottery, under the brand Jill’s Objets, was recently featured at the One of a Kind Show in Toronto.

 

Our Cosplay Guest of Honour is none other than Ammie Cosplay, who has cosplayed all of the sailor senshi!

Ammie Cosplay

Ammie started sewing well over a decade ago and has been actively making Sailor Moon costumes for 10 years. As a masters level cosplayer she strives to teach other cosplayers, both novice and masters, tricks of the trade and believes through her own trial and error in the art of costume making, she would like to share the wealth of knowledge she has obtained in the hobby. She has been featured in magazines and books around the world regarding her costumes and lives by the motto “if I can make it, anyone can make it!” If you would like to keep updated with Ammie’s cosplay, you can follow her on deviantART.

 

And last, but certainly not least, our latest guest announcement is Susan Roman, the original voice of Sailor Jupiter in the entire run of the DiC and Cloverway dubs of Sailor Moon!

Susan Roman

Susan is also known for many other voice roles including Snowy the dog in TinTin, Melissa Raccoon from the second season of The Raccoons, Champ Bear in The Care Bears Movie and the Care Bears TV series, Good Luck Bear in Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot and The Care Bears’ Big Wish Movie, Oliver and Judy Tate in Beyblade, Salima in Beyblade V-Force, and she had a recurring guest role as the Morlock leader Callisto in the first X-Men animated series. Susan also enjoys gardening and has had her garden featured in Toronto garden tours.

Panels, presentations, and other activities currently on the schedule for the Toronto Sailor Moon Celebration include:

  • Q&A session with Roland Parliament: ask your burning questions about what it was like to be the voice of the geeky Melvin, the experience of voice directing Sailor Moon, or even find out more about his book Sailor Moon Reflections
  • Q&A session with Ron Rubin and Jill Frappier: ask your questions about what it was like to be the voice of a talking cat and how being part of the anime series and movies from beginning to end influenced their views of Sailor Moon and the roles of Artemis and Luna
  • Q&A session with Susan Roman: ask your questions about what it was like to be the voice of the powerful and feminine Sailor Jupiter and how being part of the anime series and movies from beginning to end influenced her view of Sailor Moon.
  • Autographs and photo ops with Roland Parliament, Ron Rubin, Jill Frappier, and Susan Roman
  • Sailor Moon merchandise: presentation on a selection of merchandise available in Japan and Canada, includes some real life merchandise that you can see up close!
  • Sailor Moon Classic versus Sailor Moon Crystal: open discussion of the two animes
  • Mythology and Sailor Moon: discussion of the influences of mythology in the story of Sailor Moon
  • Gender, Sociology, and Sailor Moon: discussion of the aspects of gender and sociology as related to Sailor Moon (and Sailor Moon cosplay) in North America
  • Sailor Moon singalong: It’s like a group karaoke! Sing along to various Sailor Moon songs, in English and Japanese. Lyrics will be on a screen so everyone can follow along.
  • Cosplay parade
  • And more!

If you are interested in running a panel or event, you can sign up here.

Pre-registration tickets are $12, pre-registration with a commemorative wristband is $14. At the door, admission will be $15, and the wristbands will be $2 each.

Buy your tickets here! Pre-registration will close on Friday, September 18th.

I hope to see you there!

 

 

Jill Frappier Appears on X Company

X Company is a relatively new television series created by Stephanie Morgenstern (Sailor Venus #1) and her partner Mark Ellis. The series is about a secret organization in World War II era.

Here the series description from IMDb:

X COMPANY is an emotionally-driven character drama, set in the thrilling and dangerous world of WWII espionage and covert operations. It follows the stories of five highly skilled young recruits – Canadian, American and British – torn from their ordinary lives to train as agents in an ultra-secret facility on the shores of Lake Ontario. These agents parachute behind enemy lines, where they’re fair game for torture and execution. From elegant hotels to hellholes in the field, it’s one risky operation after another, masterminded by the brains of Camp X.

It’s worth noting that Camp X was a real spy facility, the first in North America, and trained hundreds of spies. The series inspired by Camp X (which includes many historically accurate details) airs on CBC on Wednesdays at 9pm eastern, and you can watch full episodes of X Company on the CBC website.

In episode 5, Jill Frappier (Luna) plays the role of Lisette. She’s seen at the beginning of the episode, just after the title screen, talking on the train to two of the main characters who have gone undercover as a married couple as a means to enter a town in France where young girls are disappearing.

xcompany_ep5

image property of CBC, et. al.

We’ll keep you updated about any other guest appearances by Sailor Moon cast members. If it’s anything like Flashpoint, we can expect to see at least a few more.

 

Countdown to Unplugged: A Weekend of Awesome

Unplugged Expo 2 Logo

Hey, fans! It’s just under three weeks until the second annual Unplugged Expo.

The self-described “weekend of awesome” is going to feature a variety of Sailor Moon talent that fans will not want to miss!

unplugged_sm_celebrationunplugged_sm_slide

In case you haven’t seen all of their updates, here’s the current list of Sailor Moon voice actors you can expect to see at Unplugged:

  • Jill Frappier (Luna)
  • Katie Griffin (Sailor Mars #1)
  • Terri Hawkes (Sailor Moon #2)
  • Julie Lemieux (Sammy, Peruru, etc.)
    JulieLemieux
  • Stephanie Morgenstern (Sailor Venus #1)
  • Toby Proctor (Tuxedo Mask #2)
  • Susan Roman (Sailor Jupiter)
  • Ron Rubin (Artemis)

…And here’s the list of the Sailor Moon Voice Directors (and sometimes Voice Actors too!) who will also be appearing at Unplugged:

  • Roland Parliament (Voice Director, Melvin)
  • John Stocker (Voice Director)

Want more? Here is the complete list of anime guests on their website.

Unplugged Expo will be held at The Daniels Spectrum Centre in Toronto on October 26th-27th, 2013. Weekend admission is $20 +taxes if you pre-register by October 21st.

I will be there to cover as much as I can for Moon Chase readers, and I hope to see you there as well!

Edit: Added Roland’s promo video.