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
