Tag Archives: Real World

What Did Kazuko Tadano’s Interview Reveal About the Sailor Moon Crystal Movie?

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Filed under Crystal, Interview, Real World
Please, Super Sailor Moon, give us SOME information?

Please, Super Sailor Moon, give us SOME information?

At this point, I’m beginning to think that TOEI Animation simply enjoys toying with Sailor Moon fans’ delicate hearts. Just when you forget that they’re even supposedly making a fourth season to the Sailor Moon Crystal franchise in the form of a movie — bam! — there TOEI Animation is again with just enough information to get your hopes back up.

And that, my dear friends, is exactly where we find ourselves after the most recent release of the fan exclusive Pretty Guardian newsletter.

If it wasn’t enough to just drop the name of famed Sailor Moon character designer and animation director Kazuko Tadano, they also had to throw in just a few dazzling tidbits about Sailor Moon Crystal while they were at it.

Today we’re going to take a look at what she actually said in the interview, and see what information we can glean from it! Are you sitting down for this?

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What Would a 90s Live Action PGSM Have Looked Like?

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Filed under Articles, Fandom, PGSM, Real World
Could Rie Miyazawa have been a 90s Usagi?

Could Rie Miyazawa have been a 90s Usagi?

It’s a moment that happens to us all: you’re just sitting there on the couch on a lazy Sunday, your daughter crawling across your lap as you read a 26 year old book about the world of Sailor Moon. Totally relatable, I’m sure.

As you’re flipping through the pages and deftly avoiding aggressive toddler hands, you come across something that catches your attention: a young Japanese fan’s plea for a live action Sailor Moon — nearly a decade before the concept was even close to becoming a reality. What makes this all the more intriguing, though, is who they thought would be perfect to play the roles of each of the Sailor Senshi.

That’s right, today we’re going to take a step back in time to 1993 and look at some of the hottest names in the Japanese pop culture world as we fill out our totally 90s Sailor Moon cast list. Put on something obnoxiously neon, because things are about to get radical!

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What Did Sailor Moon’s Animators Think of the Anime’s Nudity?

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Filed under Anime, Articles, Interview, Making Of, Real World
I still find it shocking that this is official art by Naoko

I still find it shocking that this is official art by Naoko

If you grew up in the pearl-clutching 80s and 90s in North America, the very concept of nudity appearing in a children’s cartoon was absolutely unfathomable. Exposed flesh on a children’s cartoon? Oh, my word!!

That was one of the biggest shocks for me — and I’m sure many of you — when I first started watching anime in the late 90s: the fact that my favorite characters are here, transforming, battling, or just flying around naked… and it’s all just so normal.1

But one thing that I’ve always wondered is: what did the production staff think about all this? Fortunately for us, Kimiharu Obata,2 key animator for several episodes of Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R, has kindly put pen to paper to talk about this very issue. Feel free to read this in the office — it’s absolutely SFW!

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How Much Is Sailor Moon’s Silver Crystal Worth?

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Filed under Articles, Real World
Next up, on Sailor Moon Pawn Stars

Next up, on Sailor Moon Pawn Stars

It probably goes without saying that Sailor Moon’s Silver Crystal is not for sale, and even if it were, there’s just no way that you could put a price on something as powerful as that. After all, it can heal the forces of evil, destroy intergalactic demons, and even make aliens realize the beauty of love. If that’s not worth top dollar, I don’t know what is!

However, as one who spends far too many hours of my life pondering every little intricacy of the Sailor Moon universe, I started to wonder: just how much would the Silver Crystal be worth if sold on the open market?

In true Tuxedo Unmasked fashion, we’re going to deconstruct the Silver Crystal and see just how much Queen Beryl would be looking to pay to buy one of her very own. I hope you’ve got your credit card handy, because things are gonna get pricey!

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Why Are Sailor Saturn and Sailor Pluto’s Roles Reversed?

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Filed under Articles, Hotaru Tomoe, In-Universe Lore, Real World, Setsuna Meioh
Just what's going on here, girls??

Just what’s going on here, girls??

Ms. Takeuchi’s near obsessive attention to detail is just one of the many things that make Sailor Moon such a great series. No matter how many times you watch or read through it, there’s always something new to discover.

And yet, despite her impressive ability to get even the tiniest details right on matters ranging from mythology to astronomy — and in a pre-Wikipedia world, no less!! — even Ms. Takeuchi messed up at some pretty crucial points.

… or did she?

Today we’re going to take a look at the ancient Moonie myth surrounding just what is going on with the Great Pluto and Saturn Mix-up. I hope you like Greco-Roman history, because things are about to get mythical!

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How Was Sailor Moon Affected by the 1995 Hanshin Earthquake?

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Filed under Articles, Musical, Real World
Sailor Sting & the Police

Sailor Sting & the Police

Though we often talk about how Sailor Moon has had a lasting impact on the real world, it’s important to remember that the series did not exist in a vacuum. Throughout the five years that it was front and center in society’s consciousness, the world continued to change around it — and not always for the better.

As many of you already know, prior to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami, the Great Hanshin Earthquake that struck on January 17, 19951 was the largest-scale natural disaster Japan had faced in recent history.

What many of you probably don’t know, however, is that Anza and the other members of the Sailor Moon Musical — Seramyu — cast were in Osaka for their final performance of the season when the earthquake occurred.

Today we’re going to talk about the lasting impact the Great Hanshin Earthquake had on Sailor Moon and even on the story’s canon! There’s some interesting trivia here, so you may want to stick around!2

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5 Surprising Real World Locations in Sailor Moon

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Filed under Articles, Lists, Real World
The Mita Suzuki Building in Minako-ku

The Mita Suzuki Building in Minako-ku

As any longtime reader can probably tell you, many of the landmarks shown in Sailor Moon are often grounded in the real world. From the iconic Tokyo Tower — a staple of nearly any pre-2000s anime — to the pachinko-parlor-turned-game-center Pachinko Crown, there’s no end to the references to keep your budding Japanophile busy researching late into the night.

But as I’m sure you also know, I’m not exactly interested in rehashing the same tired trivia you can find anywhere else on the internet. Nope, I built my self-proclaimed Sailor Moon “blogging career”1 around the concept of discussing the minutia that is so bizarre, so seemingly insignificant that you wouldn’t even think to question it.

So today I’m going to talk about five of my favorite blink-and-you’ll-miss-it real world locations that showed up in the Sailor Moon anime. Whether you’re preparing for a round of Trivial Pursuit: Anime Edition or just happen to be a fan of early 90s Japanese pop culture, you won’t want to miss this one!

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