Hey readers, Anime North starts today!

Here’s a breakdown of some key Sailor Moon related events this weekend:

• Return of Sailor Moon presentation is today, Friday at 5 pm in the Halton room. This is my solo presentation on behalf of Moon Chase. Come check it out! I have Moon Chase buttons to give away
• Cosplay battle chess: Sailor Moon versus the Negaverse is tomorrow, Saturday, roughly between 10am and 1pm (check in for players is the first half hour).
• Sailor Moon photoshoot is tomorrow, Saturday at 1 pm, immediately following battle chess. Location is TCC 2 on this map:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24359255/AN%20Photoshoot%20Map%20TCC.jpg
• The Ontario Cosplay Wars : Battle IV – North War I (Anime North 2012) starts at 2 pm on Saturday and will end roughly around 3:30 pm. They are looking for Sailor Moon cosplayers to participate!
• Sailor Moon discussion panel is tomorrow, Saturday, 9pm in Venice room. I will be one of four panelists, come check it out and let’s chat about Sailor Moon!

I can also be found at the booth for Polaris after my presentation today, and before the panel tomorrow. I’ll be wearing my anime-style Princess Jupiter cosplay tomorrow as well, so I should be easy to spot!

If you see me this weekend, feel free to ask for a Moon Chase button. They’re cute!

Have fun if you’re going and enjoy the con!

We have now launched a third version of the survey for fans to fill out. We revised the survey again to include some of the most recent merchandise additions (like the new Sailor Uranus t-shirt). We hope to have several more comments on that t-shirt, so it is around the same as the others (which have hundreds each). We did not get as many comments on our Facebook photo as we had hoped. This photo has now been deleted (but all of your comments have been saved and retained, and they will count when we do our final tally). For those fans who wish to have the prices handy as they fill out the survey, they are as follows (note that all of these products are manufactured by Hybrid Apparel, except for the costume which is manufactured by Leg Avenue):

T-Shirts – Hot Topic prices start at $22.50

T-Shirts – FYE prices start at $16.99

Hoodies – Hot Topic prices start at $49.50

Long Sleeved Raglan Shirts – Hot Topic prices start at $26.50

Costume – Hot Topic prices start at $60.00

We have also revised the survey to include these prices for the fans to make it easier for them as they fill it out.

Right now, the current merchandise releases are the only items that are licensed for the anime versions of the Sailor Moon characters. We are aware that fans are tired of seeing merchandise without the anime at this point – we understand the situation and we do welcome comments on the very last question with respect to this. Please make sure not to specifically ask for aspects of the anime’s release (such as on DVD/BD, TV, actors etc.). We have already completed many surveys to show that there is heavy demand for it as well as what formats the anime should be released on. However, it is okay to comment that you are not motivated to buy anything because the anime has not been re-released yet. Overall, this survey will speak volumes on what is working and not working in respects to the merchandise, so once again we would like to ask Sailor Moon fans to take it!

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While in the past to save Sailor Moon, others have suggested “procotts” of products to boost Sailor Moon, we’re not going to Save Our Shirts that way. Instead, we would rather find out the reasons behind this and present this to those who put the merchandise in the stores. Do the fans not like what is there? Are the prices too high? Are you expecting there to be other things in the store? Is it difficult to order from Hot Topic because the shipping is too high, or do you prefer to buy your merchandise in person and the stores are simply too far away? Would you rather see the merchandise at a different store? These are all key questions we ask in the survey. We’ll give you some vague spoilers from what we have read so far. Opinions about the thickness (or rather the lacking of it) are very popular, as well as the price and smaller sizes. We’re hoping that fans that have not bought merchandise (or for whatever reason stopped), will add their voices to our survey. We still need some more, and since we have the ears of those who are involved, we hope to reach our goal as quickly as possible so we can continue to have Sailor Moon merchandise. But, those on the receiving end need to understand where us fans are coming from for future merchandise cycles. We don’t want to see the merchandise disappear from Hot Topic, but at the same time they should know where the fans are coming from and how this can be improved. A lot of the new merchandise that is out is hard to find easily anyway, and having a major store to sell the product helps improve fan access to it (and by the looks of it, the vast majority of you don’t have an FYE nearby). So if you have something to say about any of the Sailor Moon merchandise, please take our latest survey. Word of mouth also goes a long way as well – we’ve been able to get people we interact with daily to think about what’s on the shelves and add their input.

Pop Culture Pieces All the Way From Japan…

There were a few interesting op/ed articles posted in Japan on MyNavi at the end of March. The first one was posted by a blogger who talked about the foreign adaptations of Sailor Moon and how some of the names that were given around the world seemed a little off.  The writer (a blogger named “sunplant”) made note of one of the big cultural nuances of the series.  Usagi means bunny, and in Japanese culture, this is an image of a character that is both strong and delicate.  But, some of this meaning is lost when Usagi is named “Bunny” in other parts of the world.  Bunny does not mean the same thing in other cultures! Ami Mizuno was most likely to be called “Amy” in other countries, and Rei Hino was called “Ria” in some places (for example, Rea in Italy).  But, she didn’t quite understand how Makoto Kino became “Morea” and Minako Aino became “Marta”.  These names were nowhere close to the original ones! Chibi-Usa, or some variant of it, was kept in most countries. In Italy she is called Kibi-Usa.  In Germany, most of the names were unchanged.  In China, some of the characters used in the names changed the meanings of them slightly.  And, Sunplant also made mention of Sailor Moon’s North American “meatball head” joke! She struggled to understand that one and thought of the head of Usagi covered in ketchup.  But, she really liked the name Serena!  The next few were all about polls that were conducted (all with multiple answers allowed, so the numbers don’t add up to 100%).  Out of 394 males who were surveyed about who the strongest female character was to them, 24.4% voted for Sailor Moon, 8.1% voted for Sailor Mercury,  and 7.1% voted for Sailor Mars (where is Sailor Jupiter?).  Comments about them included that Sailor Moon was the best, she could really pull off being an amazing “pretty soldier in a sailor suit”, and that she was strong and cute; Sailor Mercury was the most realistic and to some the strongest; and Sailor Mars had the best attack power and could get the job done! To contrast, 547 women were surveyed asking the same question, and the most famous 5 Sailor Moon characters dominated the poll. Sailor moon was #1 with 59.0% of the vote, Sailor Venus came next with 19.7%, Sailor Mars with 19.6%, Sailor Mercury with 19.4% and Sailor Jupiter with 18.6% of the vote. They admired Sailor Moon for her independence and her strength; one thought Sailor Venus was stronger than Sailor Moon; Sailor Mars has beautiful black hair and could manipulate fire (and one even liked Keiko Kitagawa’s performance); Sailor Mercury is smart and doesn’t rely on her looks; and Sailor Jupiter is the strongest among the characters and so,e miss seeing uniforms with longer skirts. To end, this article celebrated Sailor Moon’s victory among both groups surveyed!

Licensing News and New Hirings at Toei Animation

And a little bit of industry news that may seem boring, but it is important for those following Toei Animation to take note of. First of all, let’s look at a hiring that will affect Toei Animation Inc. (TAI), the Los Angeles subsidiary of Toei Animation (this is the office responsible for handling all the licensing for North America for all Toei Animation properties). Long-time Toei Animation executive Hiroyuki Kinoshita has been promoted to Chief Operations Officer (COO) of TAI. He is also the COO for Toei Animation Europe S.A.S (their subsidiary in France that handles Europe), and the CEO of Toei Animation Enterprises in Hong Kong (which is the marketing base for Asia). This adds another staff member to the Los Angeles Office. Second, is one that hits close for our fandom. Toei Animation in Japan has hired Iriya Azuma as the director of its global licensing business department. Iriya worked as a producer and planner on the Sailor Moon R and S series and movies, as well as Make Up! Sailor Senshi. We’ve noticed that Sailor Moon is having a bit of a shaky time in other countries right now, so we have our fingers crossed that Iriya will be able to make the current Sailor Moon revival bigger and better in the months and years to come. Iriya is especially responsible for directing the international licensing programs for the studio’s top brands (which right now include titles like Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Toriko, and Pretty Cure). Discotek has also licensed two Toei Animation oldies that are goodies for otaku – Lovely Complex and Captain Harlock. Contrary to what some fans had speculated on our Facebook page earlier this month, we would like to remind everyone that NO ONE has a license for the Sailor Moon anime yet. Licenses for merchandise pertaining to the anime in North America belong to Hybrid Apparel (T-shirts), Buckle Down (Belts), Leg Avenue (Costumes), and Great Eastern (general merchandise). So no more insisting on the truth of a rumor you might have read.

Fans interested in watching the full episode can tune into CBS or CTV at 8pm.

Hi Sailor Moon fans! We continue to be pleased with the responses that we have seen so far on Operation Moonrise Phase 7. We have obtained a lot of surveys so far, however we are still short of our goal, so we are really encouraging any fans who have not taken the survey yet to do so as soon as they can. Please note that we do have some questionable news regarding the sales of some of the latest merchandise in the survey, and that we can’t move forward until we have received a larger number of responses. The faster we can obtain responses from fans, the faster we can resolve these issues with the companies to ensure customer satisfaction for buyers. While this survey may look long at first, there are not a lot of required questions on it, and moonies will find that there is a lot of flexibility as far as stating their opinions on a particular piece of merchandise. For example, we’ve received comments from mothers stating that they would like to see clothing in children’s sizes, and that the junior sizes are just too small and they want to see more unisex sizes or regular woman’s sizes – comments like this will let the companies know that there are other demographics that they could aim Sailor Moon merchandise towards. Also, please encourage other Sailor Moon fans to take this survey – word of mouth and sharing via social media can go a long way to encouraging more survey responses for the companies to review. Overall, keep in mind that the only way these companies can learn and improve is by you the fans supplying them with feedback. Our surveys do a good job of organizing this into an easy format for them to read and consider.

Greetings Moonies! We have been really happy with the results and the positive feedback for our latest survey. However there has been a recent curveball – while the current survey has been running, there has been some recent product lines additions by Hot Topic. Not to fear though, the current surveys that we have received so far will still be forwarded to our contacts; however we are modifying the survey to allow comments for the most recent additions to the Sailor Moon product line. For users that have finished the survey, they will have to redo the mandatory questions, however they may only comment on the recent T-Shirt designs that were recently released (although if you are taking the survey for a second time, and you have any other additional comments to add, feel free to do so). If you are taking the survey for the first time, please complete the entire survey. We understand that there will be some duplicate surveys in the report (which we will make a note about); however we also felt that we should be fair to the fans that finished the survey first and give them the opportunity to respond to the most recent merchandise. Once again, we thank the fans of Sailor Moon for stepping up to take these surveys and for being flexible to the changing product lines that are currently being created to bring our favourite show back to life!

In addition to the link above, readers with smartphones that have QR Code readers can snap this photo below and take the survey on their mobile phones.  We make no guarantees how this will display or run on mobile devices.  For those fans who try this please let us know how it goes!  Also, Hybrid Apparel forwarded us catalog images of the new T-shirts to share with you all.  This is the first time we’ve seen images like this that go down to who designed the shirt and what colors and inks are being used.  We like seeing the names of the shirts too!
    

It was on March 7th, 1992, that the first episode of Sailor Moon was broadcast in Japan on TV Asahi.  20 years later, the show is making waves in territories familiar and new after a long almost 5-year slumber.  We wish there was more than just this short blurb on MyNavi in Japan to commemorate today – where are you Sailor Moon Channel ?  What are your memories of Sailor Moon? What was it like the first time you watched the show? Post your comments below!

While we know that every Sailor Moon fan wants the anime back, that is not the focus of this survey so please make sure not to put any comments about the anime specifically in there (i.e. dvds, and/or blu rays). As far as merchandise for the manga goes, we were told last year that Toei Animation holds all the merchandising rights for everything Sailor Moon. Toei Animation and Kodansha are two independent companies and are handling the revival on their own terms. So while we do know that fans really want to see manga merchandise (and Kodansha is also aware of this), it isn’t possible at this moment.

Thank you for the responses to this survey so far – we are really looking forward to compiling the results and seeing what the fans wishes are for obtaining the latest in Sailor Moon merchandise.