Viz Licenses Original Sailor Moon Anime Franchise

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by TheBoss062

Are they Region Free?

The DVDs are region locked and the Blu-ray probably also.

[TheBoss062]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

The DVDs are region locked and the Blu-ray probably also.

Darn shame

[Snl40boi]

Originally Posted by Andy2992

The fact Madman still hasn't announced a release date for Stars part two leads me to believe that the rumour that there's something going down with the English license being revoked might actually be true. I sold off all my US blu ray sets to get the Madman ones and now I could potentially be left with an incomplete set.. ugh.

Meanwhile I have all the series on Blu Ray thanks to viz. including Sailor stars parts 1 and 2 with no issues.

[Taikero]

I've followed this thread off and on for a few years and it's really unfortunate how this series has been treated. It seems like the more popular a series is, the worse it's treated.

I don't really understand why studios self-sabotage by not preserving their most popular TV shows, but it seems like that's par for the course despite the obvious long-term commercial benefits of preserving popular works.

Even unpopular works may some day be popular if cultural shifts decide that a piece of entertainment was ahead of its time. It's always in a studio's best interest to preserve every creative work in the highest quality format possible, and that goes double for anything with good ratings.

[neoz]

^^^

It's Viz, they pretty much don't care about their licenses. Pretty sure if they could just focus on manga they would.

[SillyG]

Originally Posted by Taikero

I've followed this thread off and on for a few years and it's really unfortunate how this series has been treated. It seems like the more popular a series is, the worse it's treated.

I don't really understand why studios self-sabotage by not preserving their most popular TV shows, but it seems like that's par for the course despite the obvious long-term commercial benefits of preserving popular works.

Even unpopular works may some day be popular if cultural shifts decide that a piece of entertainment was ahead of its time. It's always in a studio's best interest to preserve every creative work in the highest quality format possible, and that goes double for anything with good ratings.

I've waited 20+ years to be able to own the uncut Japanese version of Sailor Moon (I recall downloading bits of the first season in the mid 2000s or so, but I decided to wait for an official local release). It's a blessing to be able to own them now as I certainly would not have been able to afford them in my childhood or even my teens! And I never thought that I would be able to own them on Blu-ray as well! They may not be the Blu-rays that the series deserved (as they weren't sourced from the original film), but I am nevertheless grateful for what we got.

I grew up watching the DiC dub in Australia in the mid-90s, and it stood out more than any of the Western animations. I loved the animation, the storylines, the fact that it didn't shy away from romance, monsters, and even the odd moment of stronger violence (Nephrite's death, anyone?) even with its (at the time) G rating on morning television. While I never cared for the U.S. dubs, the DiC cast definitely put more into their roles than the Viz dub. The Viz cast sound so monotonous and bland in comparison, like they're merely phoning in their lines. It's a shame as a series of this calibre deserves so much better (though the quality of such dubs seem consistent across the board nowadays). Similarly, the returning cast of Digimon did a great job on Tri (one of the few occasions where I would watch both the original and U.S. dubs), but the new cast sucked all the life out of their characters. Who the hell casts these people? It really does sound like they don't even budget for retakes of badly-performed lines!

It's crazy to think that I am just one half-season away from owning the entirety of the Sailor Moon series (both the original and Crystal runs). The addition of the double/triple episode (I think in Season 4), was also a great surprise, and I wish that it had been brought to my attention when I first started watching the set as I had no idea of its existence and ended up watching it was when I was about halfway through the season.

I also enjoyed Crystal a lot more than I thought I would, and appreciated its no-filler approach to storytelling, though the often silly sitcom-like structure of the original series will always be my preference.

[kthnxbai]

Originally Posted by Imaginarion

She’s the reason SM was unlicense-able for 15 years to begin with. Naoko Takeuchi is extremely touchy about ANYTHING with regards to her magnum opus, and is slighted by even a single typo in an episode title. She seems to not have taken issue with the piss-poor video quality of Viz’s sets, for some reason, but instead something incredibly minor that was printed in one of the LE booklets. I do not know what specifically she took issue with, though. And she has absolute control over the license, not Toei. So she can rescind it whenever she wants. An absolute nightmare to work with.

That's not how this works. Toei has control over the licensing for the Sailor Moon anime, not Naoko Takeuchi.

[Lum]

Originally Posted by kthnxbai

That's not how this works. Toei has control over the licensing for the Sailor Moon anime, not Naoko Takeuchi.

Wasn't there a span no merchandise or memorabilia of any nature was available outside Japan?

[bongozoid]

Originally Posted by SillyG

The addition of the double/triple episode (I think in Season 4), was also a great surprise, and I wish that it had been brought to my attention when I first started watching the set as I had no idea of its existence and ended up watching it was when I was about halfway through the season.

Sorry, I don't follow this - can you please explain?

[SillyG]

Originally Posted by bongozoid

Sorry, I don't follow this - can you please explain?

Between episodes 131 and 132 (or episodes 3 and 4 of SuperS), they aired a 60 minute (?) SuperS special in Japan, which was comprised of three acts. The first act served as a recap of the first three seasons, and the following two acts were side-stories that weren't necessarily within the chronology of the anime, but serve to provide some further character development of Haruka and Michiru in Act II, and Chibi-usa in Act III. The later two acts were comprised entirely of new material.

It was a nice little special, and it doesn't appear to have been remastered like the main episodes had been.

It is available on disc 3 of Part 1 of SuperS in the Australian release, and it should be present in the Viz release as well. It has been dubbed in English along with the regular episodes.

[kthnxbai]

Originally Posted by Lum

Wasn't there a span no merchandise or memorabilia of any nature was available outside Japan?

Yes. I don't know the details as to why (and won't pretend to), but Toei didn't renew the licenses for the series for a very long time after they'd expired and that's why there was that dry spell for so many years.

[BoscoTheMan82]

Originally Posted by kthnxbai

That's not how this works. Toei has control over the licensing for the Sailor Moon anime, not Naoko Takeuchi.

Toei can't license the series to anyone without her approval. It is exactly the way it works.

[bongozoid]

In case anyone is after the Australian releases, JB Hi-Fi in NZ currently have some killer specials - e.g. Season 1 blu-ray set for NZD$29, each movie for NZD$10-11

[kk1]

Originally Posted by BoscoTheMan82

Toei can't license the series to anyone without her approval. It is exactly the way it works.

So she let SM be licensed for use on condoms but has problems with Blu-rays? Weird.

[SillyG]

Originally Posted by kk1

So she let SM be licensed for use on condoms but has problems with Blu-rays? Weird.

Gross.

Feminine hygiene products I can understand, but... that? Talk about a mood killer.

[NLScavenger]

Originally Posted by kk1

So she let SM be licensed for use on condoms but has problems with Blu-rays? Weird.

Checks on Google

......

[ThisIsJonny]

[MOONPHASE]

Hey if the Japanese Government wants to give you free Sailor Moon Condoms, take them.

[Imaginarion]

Originally Posted by kk1

So she let SM be licensed for use on condoms but has problems with Blu-rays? Weird.

If you watch/read any interviews with her (few and far between, since she is notoriously reclusive) you'd know that Naoko is... a strange character. I admire her artistry, and obviously am incredibly grateful to her for giving us Sailor Moon, but... she's a bit nuts. And not your typical Japanese otaku/hikikomori nuts, either. Again, all due respect to her as an artist, but it's true.

[SillyG]

Madman (Australia/New Zealand) has updated their B2B schedule to include June releases (though more may be added as it is looking unusually sparse), and there is still no update on Season 5 Part 2.