Friday, April 22nd, 1:00 am
Update
- Jay Navok
SM in Japan
Forums member Yoshimoon has kindly written for us a front
page update describing his experiences with Sailor Moon in Japan right
now. Before we get into the article, I wanted to mention a few, brief things.
-Our archive site, sailormoon.ws, will no longer be
used as a temporary mirror for Genvid when the site goes down. We need the index
page for something else. All that's changing is the index, though. If Genvid.com
goes down for an extended period of time in the future, please check the forums
for status information.
-Forums member yajiuma has
pointed
out that the April
2005 calendar at the Sailor Moon channel website is still of the live action
series, which is rather interesting. He also wrote in
this
thread that Keiko is in an upcoming movie; "Mizuchi
Rikka" in "Mizu ni sumu hana." Check the thread for links and a picture.
Sailor Moon’s Presence in Japan by Yosenex Orengo (Yoshimoon)
When I first arrived in Japan in July of 2004, I expected to find Sailor Moon
stuff everywhere. And indeed, in every town I have visited, I have found at
least one Sailor Moon product. I happened to get here just as the live action
series was concluding, so Princess Harps, Keitais, Sailor Fukus and Moonlight
sticks were everywhere. The rewrite of the manga was and continues to be at
almost every book store as well. DVD shops have all of the recently released
anime DVDs, live action DVDs and even a decent Sailor Myu section.
Unfortunately, after the live action series ended, Sailor Moon began to
disappear everywhere. You will find an occasional toy shop with Super S
merchandise, or silly toys that no one wants: like the actual Japanese Moon
Cycle, or a Barbie-like dream house. Any key chains you find today will be of
the live action, or Naoko’s newer art style. Anime based products are virtually
non-existent.
At Karaoke many Sailor Moon songs are there, and every Japanese person who I
have personally Karaoked with know Moonlight Densetsu, but many have never heard
of Kirari Sailor Dream before I chose it at the Karaoke box. Recent Pop n’
Music, another rhythm game by Konami, arcade machines do include Moonlight
Densetsu as well. In one arcade in Shinjuku, I managed to find Banpresto’s
Sailor Moon game.
Dragon Ball Z still continues to thrive in merchandise despite having no new
material in terms of manga and anime for years. There are always new card games,
figures, and video games coming out. Any DBZ fan would find plenty of toys and
such at any nearby convenient store. Everyone knows the name Sailor Moon in
Japan and the giggle when I tell them that my interest in Sailor Moon eventually
lead me to come to Japan. Male or female, young or old, everyone can say tsuki
ni kawatte oshiokiyo. We do have occasional new Sailor Moon releases, a new
figure is scheduled to come out this June, Act 0 was recently released as well.
The latest Myu was Marina’s final but was completely full when I attended it.
Fans still exist.
I don’t think Sailor Moon will ever die completely as long as fans are out
there, but companies have shown little interest in preserving the memories of
Sailor Moon as a whole. Sadly anyone expecting to find a ton of merchandise upon
arriving in Japan at the moment, would find more stuff in the nearest Chinatown.
Thanks Yoshimoon!
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