Category Archives: Making Of

Where Did the Sailor Animamates Get Their Names?

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Filed under Articles, Language, Making Of, Shadow Galactica
Not the full team, but... close enough!

Not the full team, but… close enough!

I know that I’ve brought it up (many times) in the past, but I absolutely love the fact that when Ms. Takeuchi settles on a theme, she tends to stick with it. And stick with it she did in terms of having a unifying naming pattern — gems, minerals, elements, and metals — for nearly all of the primary villains in the Sailor Moon series.

Today we’re going to take a look at some of Sailor Galaxia’s minions, the Sailor Animamates, and see where their names came from. Though some of these are probably obvious on the surface, there are actually a few surprises worth sticking around for!

Grab some shovels and hardhats, kids. We’re digging deep!

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How Similar Is the Sailor Moon World to the Actual Azabu-Juban?

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Filed under Articles, Crystal, Making Of, Real World
Disclaimer: this is not a real photo

Disclaimer: this is not a real photo

One thing that I’ve always loved about the world of Sailor Moon just how how much of the real world Ms. Takeuchi, and later the anime staff, included into the series. You can really feel tell that she really did live in Azabu-Juban before choosing it as the backdrop for her series in how detailed and alive the various locations are.

Today, we’re going to talk about something near and dear to my heart – real life locations that appear in the world of Sailor Moon! For the sake of simplicity, we’ll be talking about Sailor Moon Crystal today, but I do plan on sitting down to write an article about the old 90s series and manga once I get enough old pictures together.

Well, let’s get started!

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Who Were Moon Lips and Why Did They Sing Moonlight Densetsu?

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Filed under Anime, Articles, Making Of, Music
This is from a Sailor Moon stage show and has nothing to do with Moon Lips... but it DOES cause nightmares

This is from a Sailor Moon stage show and has nothing to do with Moon Lips… but it DOES cause nightmares

Moonlight Densetsu really is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to bringing us a plethora of fan rumors and other mysteries surrounding Sailor Moon‘s famous theme song.

After two full seasons of using the original cut of the song, sung by the mysterious and short-lived DALI, the animation studio decided to record a new cut of Moonlight Densetsu starting with Sailor Moon S season. What’s interesting about this version, though, is that it’s actually credited to two different groups – which is the mystery we’re going to look into today.

Put on your scuba gear! We’re about to take yet another deep dive into this moonlit destiny!

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What Were Naoko’s Sailor Moon Comedy Comics About?

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Filed under Articles, Making Of
Oh, Naoko, you and your jokes...

Oh, Naoko, you and your jokes…

If we were to sit here and talk about everything I love about Ms. Takeuchi and her work on Sailor Moon, we’d probably be here for quite awhile. Since we neither have that kind of time, nor is anyone really interested in reading my open love letter to the creative force behind this series, I’ll spare you.

But there is one point that I’d like to highlight today, and that’s how often she was willing to step outside her comfort zone to try new things with her characters, both in her art and in her storytelling.

Today we’re going to take a look at when Naoko branched out into comedy strips starring our favorite soldiers of love and justice! If that interests you, stick around!

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What Are Some Difficulties Faced in Translating Sailor Moon?

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Filed under Articles, Fandom, Language, Making Of
What translating feels like

What translating feels like

One common theme that runs through many of the topics I end up discussing is that of the differences between Japanese and English nuance, and how much of that gets lost in translation.

I want to make it clear that I don’t mean this as an indictment against some of the translators who have taken on (or been assigned) the challenge that Sailor Moon has to offer. In fact, I’d like to take a look at some of the challenges people face when translating Sailor Moon – or really, any Japanese media with a sufficiently deep enough plot – into another language.

This topic may be a little inside baseball, but if you’ve ever been interested in the art of translation, this article may be for you!

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Where Did the Dead Moon Circus’ Lemures Get Their Names? (Part 2)

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Filed under Articles, Dead Moon Circus, Language, Making Of
♪ It's the eye of the tiger ♪ It's the thrill of the fight ♪

♪ It’s the eye of the tiger ♪ It’s the thrill of the fight ♪

If I were to compare the Lemures in Sailor Moon SuperS to any of the other Monsters of the Day, I’d say their closest match about probably be the early Dark Kingdom youma.

What do I mean? Well, the Lemures felt a lot like just lower-ranking members of the Dead Moon Circus, like they were simply lower on the corporate ladder than the Four Kings, who had already managed to secure positions as supervisors through long days at the office, countless unpaid overtime, and a little bit of corporate schmoozing.

Contrast that with the Cardians, Droids, and Phages, and you can see their role is pretty different.

But that’s not what we’re here to talk about, now is it? We’re here to continue taking a look into where the Lemures get their names from. Stick around as we continue with Part 2 of this series!

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Where Did the Dead Moon Circus’ Lemures Get Their Names? (Part 1)

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Filed under Articles, Dead Moon Circus, Language, Making Of
"Where we're going, we don't need roads!"

“Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!”

Bringing up the topic of the Sailor Moon SuperS anime in conversation can be about as divisive and unwise as discussing politics at the dinner table, religion over Thanksgiving, or subs vs. dubs in a comic book shop. You just don’t know where the other party stands, and no matter what their opinion is, they’re bound to be passionate about it.

But today we’re only skirting around the issue of whether or not the series has any merits, and instead are talking about something we can all hopefully get behind: where did the names of the Lemures come from? Stick around to find out!

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