“Prism Power” now live on Kickstarter!
After months of preparation, I’m incredibly excited to announce that the Kickstarter campaign for Prism Power: A Fan’s Guide to Sailor Moon is finally live!
Prism Power: 173% Funded on Kickstarter and Counting!
Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined when I started this blog two and a half years ago that not only would I be writing a book about Sailor Moon, but that I would be sitting down for coffee to chat with those involved in bringing the series to TV.
The world apparently works in mysterious ways, however, and that’s exactly what’s happening.
I’m incredibly pleased to announce that the Prism Power book will be featuring an exclusive interview with Sailor Moon series director and critically-acclaimed anime veteran, Junichi Sato!1
Unlike the other stretch goals — including the 悪霊退散 (Akuryo Taisan) bookmarks printed on Japanese-style washi paper and the oh-so-close-to-being-funded illustrated map of Sailor Moon‘s Azabu-Juban — this exclusive interview with Junichi Sato will be joining the anime episode and manga act reviews as a part of the book itself.
If this is something that interests you, there’s more information available in today’s Kickstarter update, including some of the questions I plan on asking, and an opportunity for you to submit your own! It’s not every day that we get to ask why certain choices were made to someone who personally had a hand in Sailor Moon‘s creation, so I’m hoping to make the most of it!
In closing, I just want to say how immensely thankful I am to all of you who read Tuxedo Unmasked, and have even turned this personal project of mine into an exciting two-way dialogue. None of this would be possible without you.
Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne
Though hardly on the same level of the brutal Sailor Moon debates we’re used to dealing with here on this blog, the subject concerning the connection between Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne is one of those seemingly simple issues that the fans can never quite agree on.
If these two are sisters, then that opens up a whole new slew of questions, such as the nature of their seemingly romantic relationship and how two related people could each have their own Sailor Crystal. If they aren’t, why do they look so much alike??
Today we’ll be taking a look at Sailors Lethe and Mnemosyne — the so-called “sister Senshi” — to see if they really are related, and just what’s going on with all this Sailor Crystal confusion. You might want to grab a science book, because this whole issue is about to get astronomical!
Don’t even get me started on the Nephrite color-changing issue…
Since I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about the importance of school uniforms and their relevance to the series, I think it’s about time that we give some attention to what the men of Sailor Moon are wearing. And that’s what I fully intend to do.
Tuxedo Mask… wears a tuxedo. And a mask. Done.
Now that we’ve got that mystery solved, I’d like to turn your attention to something you’ve probably thought a lot less about: just where did the inspiration for the uniform’s worn by the Dark Kingdom come from? Were they completely made up, or did Ms. Takeuchi take her inspiration from the uniform of some long-forgotten army?
If this is a question that ever has crossed your mind, you’re in luck, because we’re going to take a closer look at exactly that today. It’s time to put on your sleuthing hat, because things are about to get interesting!
So how old are you REALLY, Rei??
If you’re anything like me, I’m sure one of the first things you thought about as you got out of bed this morning is: “By golly, I hope there’s someone out there willing to explain to me how the Japanese education system functions, and how this fits in with the world of Sailor Moon!”
Good news! You’re in luck.
As it turns out, Ms. Takeuchi put a lot of thought into the characters’ birthdays when she was creating the Sailor Moon universe, but unfortunately had little to no actual consideration for what impact this might have on the grades the girls should end up in at school.
Today we’re going to take a look at the ages of the Sailor Soldiers upon their first appearance and see whether they actually work out in the real world, and if we can try to make some sense of all this chaos!
If all this impending math makes your head spin, don’t worry — I’ll keep this relatively painless!
The rabbits just keep multiplying!
And by “two Sailor ChibiMoons,” of course I mean “two actresses playing the role of a single Sailor ChibiMoon, because having two Sailor ChibiMoons in the same musical would be ridiculous.” But since writing a good, concise title is such a challenge, I suppose we’ll have to deal with a little ambiguity.
Title issues aside, this is actually a question that’s been bothering me for quite some time now. While the young actresses taking on the role of ChibiUsa were generally pretty young, they were never quite young enough that it would have been a Full House-style situation and that the actresses simply weren’t able to remember all of their lines, right?
Figuring that there has to be something much deeper going on here, I finally decided that it was about time to dive head first into this mystery to solve the riddle of the dual rabbits.
I hope you join along, because this is bound to make for an interesting ride!
A Star Seed… maybe?
I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that the world of Sailor Moon must be a tough one to live in.
After all, on any given day you could just be waltzing along, minding your own business, when all of a sudden some jerk comes along and saps your life force energy, snatches your Pure Heart Crystal, removes your Dream Mirror, or tears away your Star Seed. And if your name is Naru, it’s pretty much guaranteed that every single one of these will happen to you. Poor thing.
But out of all of these enemy-luring plot devices, the idea behind the Star Seeds always seemed the most confusing to me, especially as they relate to the general “citizenry” of the Sailor Moon universe. So, in an attempt to try to make some more sense of the whole thing, I decided to do some research into what a Star Seed actually is.
Join me as we take a trip back to the 1970s, and explore some New Age religions in an attempt to unravel what Star Seeds are, and how they tie into Sailor Moon. Sit tight, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride!