If you’re anything like me, the moment you heard that there was going to be a real, live Sailor Moon attraction opening up at Universal Studios Japan (USJ), you were probably overcome with excitement. This is very likely the one and only time that we’ll ever be seeing the Sailor Soldiers in a theme park setting, so we’re going to need to make the most out of the experience.
Now that we’re only two months out from the unveiling of Sailor Moon: The Miracle 4-D, it’s about time that we take a look at what USJ has in store!
For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, Universal Studios Japan — located just outside of Osaka — has launched a program titled “Universal Cool Japan 2018: Raise the Heat on Japan’s Cool.”1 The event is set to run from January 19 to June 24, 2018 and features some of the biggest names in Japanese media:
- Final Fantasy
- Detective Conan
- Monster Hunter
- Sailor Moon
While I’m actually a big fan of almost all these series and would love to ramble on about all the details, for the sake of conciseness, we’ll keep to just the Sailor Moon part of this program.
First, some bad news: the Sailor Moon related events start off later than the rest, and will only be available from March 16 to June 24, leaving fans with just three months to schedule in a trip.
With that out of the way, what exactly will fans be able to expect to see? Glad you asked!
Fully Immersive Cinematic Show
Not satisfied with a downright tiresome 2- or even 3-D, USJ adds a whole extra “D” in Sailor Moon: The Miracle 4-D to keep the magic alive.
Seriously, though, “4D” basically means that it is a 3D movie combined with other elements in the theater such as fans, sprinklers, vibrating chairs, etc. to make for an even more immersive experience.
USJ is still tight-lipped on the plot of the movie, but we do know that it will feature an all new story starring multiple Sailor Soldiers, and — possibly most exciting for me — will take us into the iconic transformation scene.2
Sounds exciting to me!
Themed Food
As you may or may not know, I’m a sucker for any food that is themed after an anime, game, or other series — and that goes double for Sailor Moon.
USJ offers four different foods to guests:
- Sailor Moon Cafe Plate
This set includes a crescent-shaped croissant, a Luna-shaped cracker in a bowl of corn soup, and a questionably-themed grapefruit and shrimp salad. - Sailor Moon Compact Cake
A strawberry cheesecake decorated to look like Sailor Moon’s Crystal Star compact - Moon Prism Power Cake
In case you didn’t have enough cake, we have a (blue)berry, pistachio, and pineapple-flavored cake in pastels to inspire memories of the transformation scene - Sailor Moon Drink
What this strawberry and lemon soda lacks in a creative name, it makes up for in a paper collar and bow around the glass
Though the actual cinematic experience won’t be starting until March, at least the food is available for purchase now.
Sailor-Posing Opportunities
As a nice little bonus to the experience, USJ has provided a spot for fans to take photos in front of a backdrop of the Earth (as seen from space) and also offers high quality replicas of the Cutie Moon Rod and the rest of the Sailor Soldiers’ Star Power Sticks to pose with in the pictures.
My only real gripe about this is that while they seem to have done a really good job at making their replicas on point — almost on par with the Proplica line, from what I can see — USJ decided to turn the ball of the Cutie Moon Rod into an obnoxious Universal globe, with logo and all.
Moon Merch
Never willing to let a chance to sell fans new products slip by unused, a selection of Sailor Moon merchandise was recently announced and available for purchase in the park:
- Sailor bow headbands, sporting the bow and brooch of your favorite of the five inner senshi
- T-shirts, available in seven different designs: five sporting the bows of each of the inner senshi, one starring the silhouettes of the original Sailor Team in their respective colors, and one purple shirt with Luna’s face on it
- Minature shoulder bags, available in five different designs based on each of the Sailor Soldiers
- Sailor bow hair clips, sporting… yes, five bows after the five Sailor Soldiers
- Luna ticket holder, which is a plush case with a place for you to put your park ticket, and a strap to put over your shoulder
As a bit of an aside, I absolutely understand that I’m in the minority here, but as a male fan of Sailor Moon I really do wish that they would provide more products that I could actually wear or otherwise use. The hair clips and headbands are cool and all, but that’s not really gonna work for me, sadly.
And that about sums up everything we know at this point! I’m sure more information will be announced slowly to keep the excitement up, but I’m already pretty much sold on this experience. The biggest question mark is what the show’s going to be like, since that could make or break this whole event.
This is all pure conjecture on my part, but judging by the fact that the Compact Cake is designed after Sailor Moon’s brooch in Sailor Moon R and, that the posing items are also from the same season, my best guess would be that the movie would probably be set around the Black Moon Clan story arc. In fact, the original promotional art was even redone to change Sailor Moon’s brooch, which adds a bit more support to this theory. Alas, we’ll have to wait until March until we know more!
Is anyone planning on going to this event? I’d love to hear from you!
References:
I’ll be in the area and I’d really like to go to this event, however my Japanese is iffy at best and I can’t understand enough of the website to know how to book tickets. The English language USJ site seems to have absolutely no information about it at all and I can’t find a customer service email address to contact either. Super frustrating 🙁
It’s really too bad, but it definitely seems like they have no interest in advertising this to non-Japanese-speaking groups. x_X
Which is a shame when you consider just how massive almost ALL these franchises are.
What caught my attention is that she´s drawn in a style that resembles manga, unlike most of the official art… or it´s rather a mix of both manga & anime style.
It´s kinda exciting to know there will be a new story. Man, I´d kill for the opportunity to see her henshin in 4D! T.T
And another tasty-looking SM themed food…
Hi. I am in the US and my daughter is going to Japan to go to USJ for the Sailor Moon event but she can not find a place to buy the tickets. Can you please help us. She will be there between March 23 and 30. Thank you. Vilma and daughter Stephany
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Unfortunately, the website definitely isn’t very intuitive — nor do they offer English for the Cool Japan tickets!
The page for buying the Sailor Moon tickets is here, and specifically you’re looking for the button near the bottom that says 今すぐ購入する.
Hope your daughter is able to go!!