Kappei Yamaguchi has been announced as a guest of honour at this year’s Anime Revolutionconvention in Vancouver.

Here’s the announcement from Anime Revolution:

Anime Revolution welcomes the ever-popular Japanese voice actor Kappei Yamaguchi as an official Guest of Honour.

Mr. Yamaguchi’s versatile voice can be heard voicing many leading characters in a number of top ranking anime titles such as: Usopp from the number one shounen series in Japan: One Piece, Shinichi Kudo and Kaito Kid from the forever continuing series Detective Conan/Case Closed, L from Death Note, Teddie/Kuma in Persona 4, Inuyasha from Inuyasha, Ranma Saotome from Ranma ½, Raimon “Monta” Taro in Eyeshield 21, and Ryuichi Sakuma in Gravitation, to name a few.

Let’s not forget that Yamaguchi-san was the voice of Artemis the plush / CGI animated cat in the Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Series!

We hope fans will enjoy seeing the voice of Artemis in PGSM in Vancouver! Be sure to tell us about it if you are able to attend.

While perusing Japanese news aggregators for anything interesting I could find for our readers, I came across this tidbit.  Keiko Kitagawa (Sailor Mars in PGSM) blogged a few days ago about meeting PGSM producer Shinichiro Shirakura and PGSM director Ryuta Tasaki, and they mentioned to her that it had been 10 years since she had acted in PGSM.  Keiko could not believe that much time had passed! She then shared the story of her audition for the show.  When she was just 17 year old, Keiko didn’t think she was very attractive, nor could she sing, dance, or do any sort of rhythmic gymnastics.  She considered herself to have no talent, and was just your average, boring, high school student.  The night before the audition, she still didn’t know what to do, so she cut a sweet potato in half and wrapped it in plastic, and put a chisel in her bag.  She slipped past the more attractive girls in the audition that had their skilled performances ready, and silently carved a potato stamp in front of the judges. She passed! And the rest is history.  She has not forgotten the generosity of Shirakura and Tasaki for accepting her act.  And with this potato, Keiko is living history that one of the biggest lessons we have all learned from Sailor Moon still holds true: be yourself no matter what!

Greetings Sailor Moon fans! I have some good news to report for fans of PGSM – perhaps fans may remember a scene from the start of Act 9 where a boy looks at a big clear jewel before cutting to a scene with Tuxedo Kamen stealing a big diamond known as the “Joy Queen”- well, he has grown into a Studio Ghibli star! Ryunosuke Kamiki, who plays the boy in the opening scene of Act 9, has played numerous roles connected to Studio Ghibli, most recently Sho (known as Shawn in the English version) in the movie Arietty. Ryunosue Kamiki has also had 3 other major roles with Studio Ghibli – in Howl’s Moving Castle, he played Markl (Howl’s apprentice), in Spirited Away he played Boh (a baby who gets turned into a rat), and in a 2006 short called “The Day I Bought A Star” he played the role of Nona.

For anime fans, there are also some connections between Sailor Moon and Arietty. Setsuya Tanabe and Tomoko Fukui are both in-between animators on Arietty – Setsuya was an in-between animator on the Sailor Moon R movie and Tomoko was an in between animator on the Sailor Moon SuperS movie. Kochi Usami is a key animator in Arietty, and was a key animator for the Sailor Moon S movie. As well, Hideki Hamasu is a key animator in Arietty and was a key animator for the Sailor Moon R movie, and the Sailor Moon Super S and Sailor Stars seasons. Arietty opened in theaters just this last weekend, so fans should check their local movie listings for showtimes! While we can’t see Sailor Moon on North American television for the time being, fans will definitely want to check out their work in Arietty!

PGSM fans, mark your calendars! On September 22nd, a boxset of the entire PGSM series is set to be released in Japan. For those fans who are unaware, PGSM stands for Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon and is the live action version of Sailor Moon which aired on Japanese television from 2003-2004. An article at Animate.tv has a couple reasons for why they think this boxset is being released. The first is that many of the stars (most notably Keiko Kitagawa who played Sailor Mars) have gone on to bigger and better things in their acting careers. The second, is that some of the new generation of fans have never seen a live action version of Sailor Moon on TV. The timing of this release is perfect given the anime’s revival which is happening around the world. The boxset will include all 49 episodes, the two specials (Special Act and Act Zero), and Kirari Super Live – a live event in almost the same vein as the Sera Myu musicals, starring the cast of PGSM. All other extras included on the initial release will also be included. No word as of this writing if Super Dance Lesson will also be included. This dance lesson was part of a special offer, and fans had to fill out an application included with only certain magazines many years ago to get a copy. The boxset is currently on preorder at Amazon.jp and will cost ￥23,210 before shipping (roughly $290 USD).

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!