Since the end of the anime and the cancellation of the english dub, Sailor Moon has been grounded in Japan in 2004, after Toei put the entire franchise into lockdown, causing tension between them and Sailor Moon's creator, Naoko Takeuchi. But, Sailor Moon's influence in anime has resulted into the creation of more Shojo or Magical Girl animes like Pretty Cure, Cardcaptor Sakura, Negima and Tokyo Mew Mew.
But the question is, what about Sailor Moon herself? Back in Japan, there was a live-action version of Sailor Moon, which is almost true to the manga itself, but with a few, minor changes. Back in the good ol' US. of A, and as I stated before, because of the lockdown, the english distributors have let their licences expire, no plans for a Sailor Stars dub with all the controversy that went with it and some fans have given up on Sailor Moon, including the members of the S.O.S., Save Our Sailors Campaign, stating that Sailor Moon will never, EVER, come back to American shores again.
All that changed on May of 2009, when FUNimation, the famed anime distributor, known for their dubs of Dragon Ball Z, Baki the Grappler, Kiddy Grade, Blue Gender, Negima and so much more, did a survey on which anime they dub next and one of the choices were a "redub of the entire Sailor Moon series", which includes dubbing the final season, Sailor Stars. That choice blow every moonie's mind, even yours truly.
It seems that FUNimation has a sudden interest on Sailor Moon and try to make it stay true to the original japanese verision, a lesson Gen Fukunaga's people learned the hard way when they did their dub of Dragon Ball Z long ago, when Ocean Group called the shots with the first dub. By the time FUNimation break off from Ocean Group and became their own company, they did redubs, their way.
Since then, FUNimation's power level was OVER 9000, no pun intended, when they did dubs of other animes and learned one valuable lesson, never mess with the original, and they've been doing it ever since. So far, the survey has since closed and no word on when FUNi will do a Sailor Moon redub
I did a video series on it once on how FUNimation redubs Sailor Moon. Unfortunently, my videos were removed by Toei, stating it violated copyrights, which is not true. I was trying to reach the olivebranch with both Toei and Naoko-chan over Sailor Moon, but Toei snapped it into two and spit in my face for it. It seems that Toei started a crackdown on all Sailor Moon related videos on YouTube, making it harder for us moonies to speed up Sailor Moon's return.
Sailor Moon can't be in lockdown forever if Toei continues their outright defiance against the fanbase, just to appease Viacom and their war against YouTube and the users who like to post their videos for fun and not for profit. Despite this, Sailor Moon was being revived in every single country, starting with Italy. Meaning if this continues eleswhere around the world, we hope and pray the U.S. is next. But only time will tell.
Fast forward to September 13, 2011, Kodansha, the manga company responsible for the Sailor Moon manga, decided to reprint the entire series, including its prequel, Codename: Sailor V (which at the time wasn't published into english). By the time the re-releases of the manga, it got rave reviews and it was selling like hot cakes. Speaking of hot, Sailor Moon merchandice was poping up everywhere, clocks, action figures, posters and of course, t-shirts sold by the store called Hot Topic.
And on top of this, it was announced on July 2012 that a new Sailor Moon reboot anime will be released in the summer of next year, 2013 and according to my sources, this reboot will stay true to the source-material from the manga.
The manga being re-released and a new Sailor Moon anime reboot are awesome and all that. But, the only Sailor Moon will ever truly be revived in the states if all 200 episodes of the original anime should be re-released,redubbed and uncut, including its final season, Sailor Stars. Then, and only then, Sailor Moon's journey back will be complete. Let's keep hoping.
Before I go, let me tell you how Sailor Moon got me into the art and animation business today. I've been a fan of Sailor Moon since 1995 and never stopped loving Ol' Moonface. Yes, its true she is a ditz, there is no secret to that.
But, when it comes to friends, family and saving the universe, she may not have the fighting spirit of Rekka no Ryo (Ryo of the Wildfire) or the wisdom of Optimus Prime, but just like the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz, she has courage and she will not hesitate to stand up for her friends and her family. And that statement couldn't be more true, Sailor Moon represents one of my 5 virtues: Courage. The other virtues and the characters that represent them are:
Optimus Prime: Wisdom
Batman: Resourcefulness
Ariel the Little Mermaid: Love
Rekka no Ryo (Ryo of the Wildfire): Rightgeousness
And if it wasn't for Sailor Moon, I wouldn't be in this art and animation business today. And whenever I hear Terri Hawkes says "Moon Prism Power," I will always think of her as the heart and soul of Sailor Moon and that's saying something.
Bottom line, Sailor Moon is one of the greatest icons of anime, always have, always will be. Let's hope our dreams of a redub come true. Until then, in the name of the moon, I salute you, Meatball Head. And I hope for another 20 years of Moonie Goodness. Thanks for everything and....
A Very Happy Anniversary to our Favorite Magical Girl Series,Sailor Moon. Here's to another 20 years.
Stay tune for some closing statements from ACF's Founder....with a surprise guest.
(Mega Man X8 victory theme plays)
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