If you are a male that turns twenty in a year and you like Sailor moon then you are either weird, or you are me. Hah. Anyway, I have no idea why I like Sailor Moon, I just do. It's fun to watch I guess. It also has a catchy theme song in a variety of languages and is usually hilarious, as well as romantic in places.
Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi (who is in fact a woman, for those who thought that the series was created by pervy men for pervy men) and first emerged in 1991 as a manga. It was later released as an anime series that ran all the way up to 1997 in Japan and even later in other countries. Eventually it rose to become as of 2011 one of the most recognised manga and anime products to date. That's where I get confused. Except for the cool dudes at Alt:Mag, nobody who I have met in my whole entire life seems to know what Sailor Moon is. Not one person. Did nobody watch it as a kid? Even when I go to the MCM Expo in London every year the number of people cosplaying as something from this metaseries has declined, so much that last time I went I did not see one Sailor Scout (grumble grumble... fucking Vocaloid). Well maybe this series is still popular in America and other countries but in the UK it seems more or less dead to everyone. Well... maybe this is about to change!
Toei (the animators of the Sailor Moon anime) have regained control over the license to distribute this series outside Japan. In 2010, Toei began negotiations to re-license the entire series globally. It is currently being aired in Albania, Hong Kong, Portugal, Poland and Africa, while Italy and Israel got a brand spanking new remastered version of the original series. Italy also got a release of the first Sailor Moon related video game since 1997, 'La Luna Splende' on the Nintendo DS. Lucky Bastards. It has yet to be announced if the English version will be re-licensed, although Funimation have considering re-dubbing the series. Also, Toei have said that if the remastered episodes are popular in Italy, then an 'international revival' will begin. Come on Italy, Alt:Mag is rooting for you.
Toei (the animators of the Sailor Moon anime) have regained control over the license to distribute this series outside Japan. In 2010, Toei began negotiations to re-license the entire series globally. It is currently being aired in Albania, Hong Kong, Portugal, Poland and Africa, while Italy and Israel got a brand spanking new remastered version of the original series. Italy also got a release of the first Sailor Moon related video game since 1997, 'La Luna Splende' on the Nintendo DS. Lucky Bastards. It has yet to be announced if the English version will be re-licensed, although Funimation have considering re-dubbing the series. Also, Toei have said that if the remastered episodes are popular in Italy, then an 'international revival' will begin. Come on Italy, Alt:Mag is rooting for you.
Kodansha USA have re-published the Sailor Moon manga in English. It topped Nielsen BookScan's top 20 graphic novels in American bookshops for January, beating huge series such as Fullmetal Alchemist and One Piece to the number one spot!
So all is good, and I have my fingers crossed firmly for a re-airing of the Sailor Moon anime in the UK. It will get a new generation of kids into a decent cartoon series, and give us die-hard fans a chance to see one of our favourite anime series on a TV screen again after so many years. I remember being so happy when I was young when I was watching all the new anime series as they aired on Cartoon Network and Toonami, and it'd be nice if the kids of today could discover anime for themselves as well. Another benefit of this re-launch is that hopefully it will bring anime back into the mainstream, which will give it a better reputation that it has currently, which seems to be that it is just porno with cartoons, because you know, it totally is and everything... Zing.
So all is good, and I have my fingers crossed firmly for a re-airing of the Sailor Moon anime in the UK. It will get a new generation of kids into a decent cartoon series, and give us die-hard fans a chance to see one of our favourite anime series on a TV screen again after so many years. I remember being so happy when I was young when I was watching all the new anime series as they aired on Cartoon Network and Toonami, and it'd be nice if the kids of today could discover anime for themselves as well. Another benefit of this re-launch is that hopefully it will bring anime back into the mainstream, which will give it a better reputation that it has currently, which seems to be that it is just porno with cartoons, because you know, it totally is and everything... Zing.
