In the name of the Myu, I will educate you!

AKA, “The Sera Myu Info Post”.

Since the Sailor Moon Musicals are coming back, I’m sure there are going to be new fans looking to get into them. As they have such an extensive history, however, this can be daunting so I thought I’d give an introduction to this wonderful incarnation of the Sailor Moon story.

I promise to be as coherent as I can, but even with all the restraint I possess I may just end up fanboying all over this post.

For starters, where do we get the title “Sera Myu”? It literally just comes from the term “Sailormoon Musical”, which in Japanese is pronounced “Seramuun Myuujikaru”, which fans have shortened to the term Sera Myu. Since the title of the series is usually written as one word (セーラームーン: Sailormoon) in Japanese, this term can be written either with or without the space between the two words. I usually put the space in since I’m used to the English standard of breaking the title into two words.

As I’ve mentioned previously, the musicals began in 1993 and were meant to end in 1997 when the anime concluded airing, as most anime musicals do. The shows experienced unprecedented success, however, and continued to produce 2–3 musicals each year before finally going on hiatus in 2005. These 2–3 shows usually consisted of one new musical, a revised version of that same musical (known as a “Kaiteiban”), and sometimes a special show like a concert or revue.

Since they ran for so long and mounted so many shows, the musicals are grouped into different “Stages” for organization purposes. The shows are officially divided into three stages, but most fans group the shows into four stages; one for each of the four actresses to play Sailor Moon over the course of the shows: Ohyama Anza (now known simply as ANZA), Hara Fumina, Kanbe Miyuki, and Kuroki Marina. By breaking down the Myu this way, they look like this:

Sailor Moon 2013 Updates #2

In an earlier post, I promised that I would keep posting updates for Sailor Moon‘s revival as I got them, so here we go with a few new bits of information!

New Anime:

The new anime is finally in production, according to Miss Dream, and should begin airing sometime between November and January. Personally, this news is disappointing after a year of being told the series would begin Summer 2013, but perhaps that was a mistranslation or misunderstanding. Maybe the show was meant to go into production in the summer and we all just jumped the gun in thinking that summer was meant to be the air-date.

Though to be honest, the new anime is barely even a concern of mine anymore when we have a…

New Musical:

So much news coming for this! The first images of the cast in costume have been released and they look great:

When the new musical was announced I knew that I wanted the costumes to be re-vamped but not fully overhauled and, assuming these will be the costumes they wear on stage, I’m very happy with the new designs. The overall look is much sleeker than the original versions:

These are the 1993 costumes, BTW. They improved quite a bit by the time the shows closed in 2005.

They’ve kept the double skirt, which I am very glad about, though for some reason Jupiter and Venus now have underskirts matching their main color rather than their accent color, which bothers me. The sailor collars are still flared at the shoulders but are less broad and dramatic, and there’s still a braided accent running vertically on the bodice.

Some of the changes: shinier, more plastic skirts which could be a plus depending on how they catch the light on stage or a detriment depending on their movement as they look heavier than the original materials. There are cleaner accents on the belts and shoulder pads which I love because those beads on the belts were always my absolute least-favorite aspect of the original designs. No beading on the skirts’ hems makes me less happy, though, because the way they sparkled in motion was magical in the old shows. They look to be using real boots instead of vinyl covers strapped to character shoes, which is nice, but the brooches are all identical, which is a bummer as I really liked the unique designs all the Sailors got before:

All in all, I’m very happy with the costumes. They’re better fitted and sleeker, but haven’t completely lost the old-school aesthetic.

We also know the title of the show now: La Reconquista. The title means “The Reconquest”, which could mean a few things. I’m guessing means that the show will be kind of like the original musical Gaiden Dark Kingdom Fukkatsu Hen in which the Dark Kingdom is revived and defeated after Sailor Moon’s first triumph over Queen Beryl, rather than being a strict retelling of the Dark Kingdom arc of the manga or anime. “The Reconquest”, however, could still refer to a more faithful manga/anime retelling if they give some focus to the Silver Millennium story and how the Sailors must once again beat the Dark Kingdom back. The title could even refer to the fact that the musicals themselves are back and are going to “reconquer” the theatre, and if this is the case, I hope it means they will continue making musicals for as long as they are successful like they did in the original run.

2013 may be more than halfway over, but things are just beginning to get started for Sailor Moon! I look forward to picking up as much information as I can in the coming months and compiling it here.

Sailor Moon Musicals Are Back!

Okay you guys, my computer was broken for about a week and a half at the beginning of June so I’ve been catching myself up on what I’ve missed out on in that time. Of course I ended up missing out on some of the most exciting news of the year:

Translation by Miss Dream

I mean, do you understand? Do you understand? The Sailor Moon Musical will once again be a thing that exists, not just on YouTube and in crazily expensive memorabilia shipped in from overseas, but as actual live theatre! I just can’t even compose myself right now.