So I posted just yesterday about this Italian Sailor Moon news and now my wonderful Twitter friend, Marie (Elleayu) has translated the article into English for us all!

"Sailor Moon's big return!

The international relaunch of the most loved series in the history of Japanese anime starts in Italy

Toei Animation and Backstage have signed a contract for the relaunch, of the now "anime classic", Sailor Moon on the Italian market. The Licensing agency manages the rights for Sailor Moon for television, publishing (magazines etc), merchandise and possible theater show in Italy. Mrs Naoko Takeuchi, the series' creator, has contributed to the project's realisation in a significant and active way.

"We're happy" says Mr. Kanji Kazahaya, senior partner of Toei Animation Europe "to confide Backstage with the relaunch of Sailor Moon. Italy is strategically the best country for a global relaunch. The Italian public, in fact, has always shown great sensitivity towards 'anime', proved by the great success of merchandise."

Toei Animation confirms their confidence in the Italian licensing agency which also holds the rights of other important Toei properties like Dragon Ball, Sainty Seiya and One Piece.



During the nineties Sailor Moon was a true hype/phenomenon/hit in Japan and one of the biggest success around the world in terms of merchandise. Sailor Moon's "heritage" consists of 200 episodes, 26 minutes each; 5 complete seasons of which there are six +45 minute episodes (lungometraggio means an episode which is longer than 45 minutes; I don't know a word for this in English, sorry ^^") Sailor Moon has captured the hearts of a wide audience, mostly women, thanks to the series' originality, humour, action and sentiment.

"We are really glad that we can manage Sailor Moon's licensing rights for the second time" says Gianpietro Peia, CEO of Backstage "and we are also proud of this result after negotiating with the mangaka. Sailor Moon can count a broad fanbase and well-known all over the world, that's why we hope/think that it will be a commercial success in the Italian regions. Many companies have already shown interest in the development of new product lines which will contain a completely renewed Style Guide."

Mediaset has already shown interest in buying the television rights of the series which should start airing in the Autumn of 2010."

*/Note: theatre shows about anime/cartoons in Italy usually (let's say around 80% xD) include songs (cf Winx Club on Tour, Winx on Ice & Winx Power;; )

- I hope this helped a bit and apologies for English mistakes ^^

Thank you so much Marie for your efforts! Moonies rock!

p.s. And I'd also like to thank the epic SANYO Incognito for sponsoring Moonkitty.net this week! Means so much to be sponsored! Cheers!

Labels: Sailor Moon News, web

I make it a point to regularly surf Amazon.co.jp to check for new Sailor Moon releases and was happy to see that the first Sailor Moon S DVD Box is now up for pre-order.

What really got me excited though was seeing that there are 12 new Sailor Moon CDs set for release in March!

From what I can see they all appear to be rereleases of old Sailor Moon CDs that have long been out of print. Basically the soundtracks for each season and one or two song collection CDs. It's unknown if there will be anything new with these releases such as new cover art but I'm sure all that will be revealed in due time.

This is pretty cool as it shows that the Powers That Be in Japan think that there is still a market for Sailor Moon merchandise.

Personally I think it would be nice if any webmasters reading this took down the mp3s for these CDs from their sites to help support their sales and encourage even more Sailor Moon merchandise from Japan (like new artbooks, musical DVDs or even a new anime!) With these CDs back in print and them being so affordable (only ￥2625 each!) there really is no need to offer mp3s of these CDs anymore. What do you think?

Also in Sailor Moon news in these last 24 hours, this site has some cool news about Sailor Moon's rerelease in Italy and shows a new logo! Personally I love it, especially the star on the "i".
A wonderful fan is translating this page for me but from what I can tell is says that they'll be reairing all the movies and episodes and releasing more merchandise. Basically confirming what was reported a few months ago.

While I'm typing, I may as well get a head start on tomorrow's Sailor Moon Roundup!



Yesterday I finally uploaded some screencaps of the new DVD Boxes! You can see images of the DVD menus here and if you want to compare image quality over the three separate Sailor Moon DVD releases you can check out this Mailbag question that has been updated!

I found a very cool Sailor Cosmos plushie here.

There is some great Sailor Moon fanart on this site!

Chibi Jen shared this fan artist with me who has some spectacular official-looking Sailor Moon fan art on his site! Check it out!

Speaking of Jen, in a few hours she'll have her new Moon Sticks online which I can't wait for. I wonder who'll be featured?

Stay tuned for my review of the second DVD Box Set, another Sailor Moon VA interview and don't forget to enter the competition if you haven't already!

Labels: Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary Celebration, Sailor Moon CDs, Sailor Moon DVDs, Sailor Moon Roundup, web

Posted By: Brad  # Thursday, January 28, 2010  (3) Post a Comment! /

Seriously I don't think since Sailor Moon that there's been a show that I've been so into as much as Glee.

I absolutely love the music on that show and bought a few songs on iTunes during the holidays but then one of my friends bought me both soundtrack CDs for Christmas! How good is that!

I'm on such a Glee high right now that I've decided to feature a few videos with songs from the show over the next few weeks.

This week I wanted to spotlight a Sailor Moon music video to the Glee Cast version of No Air but while searching for a quality music video to this song I became really frustrated! So many fan music videos nowadays feature ridiculously long pre-movie credits and then useless long credits at the end as well. If you're a music video maker and you're reading this please stop putting credits before music videos. If you feel you have to then put it at the end. I thought someone's credits were actually the music video they were going on for so long!

Anyway all the Glee Cast videos had annoying pre-video credits buuutttt I did find this amazing version of the song sung by Jordan Sparks. Love the editing in this video! Really nice and really emotional! Enjoy! Inspired by Glee. hehe



p.s. Spacing out updates. DVD caps, etc coming tomorrow morning. Let's focus on the music today.

Labels: Moonie Music Monday

Hey guys! So I may as well formally announce that the Sailor Moon Roundup will now be posted generally "on the weekend". This year I'm working two jobs, six days a week as well as studying Japanese and Mandarin so trying to post on Fridays is gradually becoming more and more improbable. That's not to say I'll never post on Fridays again. In fact I will always try to post on Fridays it's just that if I don't you can expect it on Saturday or Sunday. Hope this is okay with you guys and gals.

Moving on, I've been so touched by all of the entries in my competition!!! Some of these are really touching and remind me why I love Sailor Moon. Others are just plain funny and quite a few are very creative! You still got another few weeks before the competition closes and you can enter as many times as you want! Click here for more.

Other things you may have missed on MKNET this week is the new Sailor Moon Channel page for 2010, even more Sailor Moon Wallpapers and my exclusive interview with Sailor Mars and Venus voice actress, Emilie-Claire Barlow!

Speaking of interviews, I have another interview with a Sailor Moon voice actress lined up and have been dropping clues on MKNET's Twitter account. Who do you think it is?

Ah, and my Second Sailor Moon DVD Box Set arrived the other day! Will upload photos and a review later today and will also add screencaps to my review of the first box as well.

Elsewhere in Sailor Moon news this week:

SailorAstera.com is celebrating her 10th Anniversary (CONGRATULATIONS!!!) with a brand new layout (BEST LAYOUT EVER!) and her own competition (ORIGINAL!). Make sure to check it out. The webmistress is also a pretty cool gal as well.

There are some fantastic fan made transformations on YouTube this Saturn one and this Mini Moon one really stand out. (Thanks to Chibi Jen for finding these!) This Sailor Earth one is also pretty cool.

Speaking of Chibi Jen, don't forget to check out her fantastic Sailor Moon fan comic, Moon Sticks. Her latest strip was definitely her funniest yet!

Do you love designing your own Sailor Scout? You must check out this page / game! Simply fantastic feature! Can't imagine how much effort went into this!

The Sailor Moon fan film Sailor Moon Anallema is auditioning for international VAs. Worth checking out even if just to see Sailor Moon in so many languages!

Episode 4 of the English Sailor Stars Dub is online!!! This made my week!!! The new Sailor Mars voice actress is spot on!

Do you like Sailor Moon models? Moon Collection has a great post on them. They look soooooo good!

There are some really original Sailor Moon fan films and fan fics out there but there are also quite a few cliches. The makers of an upcoming fan film have made this hilarious parody trailer of what would happen if all the cliches were to be combines (i.e. evil senshi, Chibi Usa growing up, extra long bad attack phrases, etc) but also has some pretty good voice acting and editing!!! Enjoy!

A Sailor Moon fan film I'm really looking forward to is The Last Soldier. It's being made by a group of German fans and will be subbed in English. All the footage they've previewed looks amazing and a seriously can't wait for it to come out!
Building up to the release they've made several short films set outside the movie storyline. The latest one is a rather funny short with Usagi and Minako (Serena and Mina). Check it out.
MKNET gets quite a few visitors from Germany so I'm looking forward to this release bringing the different language speaking communities closer together. Hello to all my German readers!!! :D

A Fruitful Spring has some great Rika Izumi (PGSM's Mercury) updates.

U&M Universe has a cool wallpaper up for the New Year!

Phew! You Moonies sure have been busy!

Enjoy your weekend and check back soon for more Sailor Moon updates!

Labels: Sailor Moon Roundup, web

Posted By: Brad  # Sunday, January 24, 2010  (4) Post a Comment! /

Ready for your big surprise?

How about an interview with the second voice actress of Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus, Emilie-Claire Barlow!

She acts, she sings, she performs and she was a pleasure to interview!

She talks about her time on the Sailor Moon anime and what it was like taking over from two established voice actresses.

She also talks about about her singing career and what aspiring voice actors should do to get into the industry.

Check out the interview here!

In other news I've been blown away by the amount of entries in the competition! Seriously over 60 or so in just a day! Keep them coming guys!

Also don't forget that the second new Sailor Moon anime DVD Box Set comes out tomorrow. I've preordered mine here and I suggest doing the same if you haven't already. After the first box was released, Amazon was "out of stock" days after it's release!

Naturally expect my review with photos and screencaps this weekend. I'll also be adding screencaps to the first review as well. ;)

Have a great week!

Labels: Interviews, Sailor Moon DVDs, site

Hey there! Having a good week? Here's something to freshen you up! NEW SAILOR MOON S WALLPAPERS!!!

Worked very hard on these, especially the box edits so I hope you like them!



Also created a 2010 Sailor Moon Channel Archive page for the new year for you layout fans.

Big update coming tonight, a new interview with a mystery Sailor Moon voice actress! Who will it be? Hmmm....

And if you haven't already, don't forget to enter my competition to win a PGSM CD and Book Set!

Labels: site, wallpapers

Here it is everyone! Your chance to win a mint condition Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon CD & Book set from Japan!

The CD features several hits from the show such as Kirari Sailor Dream, Over Rainbow Road, C'est la Vie and MORE! The book is a hard card paged childrens book which should look great in any collection. Here's a photo of the set!



What do you have to do to win this prize? Well I thought I might use this competition to really spread the Sailor Moon love online and maybe even get some new Sailor Moon fans or revive someone's fandom in the process!

Soooo.... I want you to log into Twitter and make a tweet that contains the following:

I love Sailor Moon because _________ @moonkittynet

Naturally replace the _____ with your reason for loving the series and don't forget to add "@moonkittynet" at the end of your tweet so I can track your entry!

I will choose the winning tweet based on it's humor, originality or personality. Basically whatever makes it stand above the rest.

Competition will close a month from now on the 17th of February. You can enter as many times as you want because the winner will be chosen by quality over quantity.

Have fun and spread the Moonie love!!!

Good luck!

Labels: community, Competitions, Sailor Moon Books, Sailor Moon CDs, Twitter

Happy New Year 2010! Yes it's been a while but as those of you who follow my Twitter account know, I was suffering from a major wrist injury (bruised the joint and ripped the cartilage) which pretty much prevented me from writing anything over 140 characters long without screaming in pain and doubling over.

This is why I love Twitter! It allowed me to stay in touch with quite a few of you guys even when I was unable to update the site.

Speaking of Twitter, Interesting stats: 22% of you guys are guys, 78% are girls. 95% of you love RTing me (thanks!) & most are from US and Canada.

Got those stats from here if you're interested. They forgot to mention that 100% of you are fabulous!

That's interesting as on the MKNET main site there are a lot more Australians, Kiwis and Germans and also a few from Japan (besides myself).

Anyway as a consequence of my wrist injury I fell seriously behind in the Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Anime Episode Guide which I was hoping to have finished by the end of the holidays. Am definitely aiming to get it done by March. I've also got some great Moonie Mailbag Sailor Moon Questions in my inbox to be answered and will most likely get round to them this Sunday. Keep sending them in guys! I will answer them all, don't worry! If you haven't seen the Moonie Mailbag yet, you should check it out. Lots of content to read on a rainy day.

If you haven't been here in a while, you should also check out my review of the new Japanese Sailor Moon anime box set. This weekend I'll be updating it with screencaps from the DVDs so stay tuned!

I've also uploaded a lot of new Sailor Moon wallpapers to the Downloads section which are well worth checking out. There's also a HUGE collection of avatars & icons there if you want to change your avatar for the new year.

In Moonie news, nothing really big officially. Still no news of a new anime series from Japan or a new English redub let alone a rerelease of the series on DVD or Bluray in Region 1 or 4. The anime will be reairing in Italy next month though and Naoko Takeuchi will be drawing some new artwork for the Italians!!! That's pretty amazing and I think the first time she has drawn artwork exclusively for a company outside of Japan.

The official site has updated for the new year, but unlike last year's January update there's no message from Naoko. Interesting now though in retrospect that when Naoko in January 2009 said that 2009 would be an interesting year for Sailor Moon she must have been talking about the new DVDs and the anime's reairing on Animax in Japan.

Meanwhile elsewhere on the web:

Dreaming Moon has updated with some new card scans!

A Fruitful Spring has a new layout, new scans and lots of updates worth checking out!

Moon Sticks has a new strip online!

Moon Collection has a great post about a Moon Kingdom play set.

Sailor Moon plus Cooking equals crazy.

On a side note, I've been reading up on Amazon's Kindle lately and seen there's a lot of manga on it! Thinking about getting one. Do you have one? Please comment below and let me know if it's worth getting!

Oh and one last thing before I go.... got another exclusive interview with a Sailor Moon voice actress coming soon!!! ;)

Labels: community, Moonie Mailbag, Sailor Moon Anime, Sailor Moon News, Sailor Moon Roundup, Sailor Moon Toys, site

Posted By: Brad  # Friday, January 15, 2010  (5) Post a Comment! /