Sailor Moon Eternal
What Is Sailor Moon Eternal?
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal marked the 4th installment of the new Sailor Moon Crystal Anime series. As opposed to airing as webcast episodes, this particular season of the show debuted as two separate movies. While the first part was set to debut in 2020, COVID-19 impacted the production schedule and pushed the first release date to January 8th, 2021. Part 2 followed one month later on February 11th, 2021. The films were exclusively released in theaters in Japan until it was announced in late April that Netflix would be premiering the films worldwide on June 3rd, 2021. This exciting news was followed with another announcement that the movies are to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray in Japan on June 30th, 2021.
Sailor Moon Crystal has been known to be closely adapted from the Manga, unlike the original Sailor Moon Anime from the 90s that had a lot of filler content. For this reason, many fans have been excited to see what this version of the events would look like on the big screen. The first preview released by the animation studio TOEI Animation unveiled the new character designs (seen below), as each season thus far has had a distinctive style due to changes in directors. What’s especially exciting about this film is that the original animation director from the 90s Anime, Kazuko Tadano, has returned as animation director. The corresponding season from the older Anime that matches Eternal would be Sailor Moon SuperS, which covers the Dream Arc from the original Manga.
In the previous season of Crystal, Sailor Moon and friends defeated a menacing enemy with the help of some new allies, the Outer Sailor Guardians. Combing their powers, Sailor Moon transformed to become Super Sailor Moon, alongside her daughter from the future who became Super Sailor Chibi-Moon. The season ended as the girls entered their senior year at school with life returning back to normal. In the final moments of the last episode, the friends are seen observing a rare eclipse event when Usagi and Chibi-Usa hear a strange bell. It can be assumed that what they turn around to see will be Pegasus, a magical flying horse that aids them in the next storyline.
As seen in the first trailer and the clip above, this season of Crystal seems to really pull on elements from the past with the attacks and transformations looking identical to that of the 90s Anime. As usual, Kotono Mitsuishi returned for her role as Sailor Moon, adding further familiarity to the new series. Several trailers have been released both prior to and after the films’ release (posted below). New music was also commissioned for the movie, as well as remakes of popular songs from the 90s Anime. For me, personally, it’s the key visual artwork below that I’m completely in love with.
09/07/2020
A new sneak peak has been released! The clip below features our first look at Zirconia. Apparently viewers are being asked to guess who the voice actress is. There is also rumors of a full trailer releasing next week. Exciting!
10/04/2020
A new theme song has been revealed! “Tsukiiro Chainon” was jointly performed by Momoiro Clover Z (who performed theme songs in the prior seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal) and the cast of the Inner Sailor Guardians (Moon/Kotono Mitsuishi, Mercury/Hisako Kanemoto, Mars/Rina Sato, Jupiter/Ami Koshimizu, and Venus/Shizuka Ito). The song was composed by beloved Akiko Kosako with lyrics by Naoko Takeuchi. Could this be more perfect?!
10/15/2020
Finally, the first trailer has landed with initial looks at Helios and the Planetary Princesses. There are many shots in this trailer that resemble the Manga, which is causing a lot of great hype for the first film and its devotion to the true story. Tsukiiro Chainon is featured here with some extended attack footage from the Inner Guardians.
12/04/2020
It’s been a few months since our first full trailer for Sailor Moon Eternal. Today I bring you another teaser with footage of all the Inner Guardians transforming and doing their introduction poses. We’re a month away people!
12/09/2020
Two 15-second trailers came out today. There were most likely made to be ads during other programing. One features the guardians and the other Sailor Moon, Sailor Chibi Moon and Helios.
12/15/2020
Today a small teaser trailer came out featuring Sailor Moon. I’m sure Usagi and Mamoru fans are loving this!
12/23/2020
Here’s another small trailer that came out today featuring the Inner Sailor Guardians. We’ve seen a bit of this footage already.
12/28/2020
As the year comes to an end in only a matter of days, we’ve been blessed with yet another small trailer today featuring Sailor Chibi-Moon. In the Manga, Chibiusa admires Sailor Moon and envies her ability to be an adult. Just then, she meets Helios who stirs romantic feelings in her, causing her to experience her own adult feelings. This is definitely a cute recap. The first film debut very soon my friends!
01/06/2021
It’s a New Year and 2 days before the first film comes out and we’ve seen nothing since October. WELL, today we have a trailer for the second film! This trailer is 100% the most exciting one so far. It begins with a lot of focus on the Outer Guardians, with some amazing snips of Sailor Saturn included. There are some exiting shots of the Amazoness Quartet and romantic moments between Sailor Chibi-Moon and Helios. For a brief moment, the audience gets to glimpse Queen Nehelenia and a montage of her next to the queen of the white moon, Queen Serenity. However, the most exhilarating part is the debut of Eternal Sailor Moon! Are you all freaking out like I am?
01/15/2021
With the first film now released and the second one releasing in less than a month, it looks like more and more content is being shared. Today we have the full Music Video for Tsukiiro Chainon. There’s a lot of spoilers throughout the video; if you’re not a die-hard Sailor Moon fan, none of it may trigger you, but if you’re like me, there’s little left to the imagination. That is not a complaint by the way!
The quality of the video below isn’t optimal, but this is how the source was uploaded unfortunately.
02/04/2021
I’ve noticed Japan has some interesting traditions and habits when it comes to their media process. One of those peculiar ones is releasing digest videos. They are like summary videos that review the content of a show or movie so far for the audience to get caught up quickly. It looks like this is a digest video of the first film to remind fans who’ve watched the first one of what took place. I think it’s great if you saw the first film, but for many of us, this is just a long spoiler fest. A lot of the scenes here were featured in the Tsukiiro Chainon Music Video above, but this time we have the dialogue and story content to back it up. If you’re super hyped like me, go ahead and indulge, but I know some social media groups have banned sharing this video because of the potential spoilers, so you may want to stay away if you want a clean viewing experience.
02/08/2021
Only a few more days to go until the second Sailor Moon Eternal film premieres. Today another trailer has dropped for the second film and this one contains something MONUMENTAL to Sailor Moon fandom. Fans who have longed mourned the lack of love Sailor Saturn was given in the 90s Anime can now rejoice, for she finally has her own transformation sequence! The last season of Sailor Moon Crystal also overlooked a new transformation for Sailor Pluto, so it’s great to see that has been added into the film as well. I absolutely cannot wait to see all of this come together when the films are globally released!
02/22/2021
The second film has now been in theaters (in Japan) for just over a week now. There is still no news of what the plan is for International audiences, but a new mini-trailer has been released featuring Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask‘s romance in the films, as well as extended shots of Eternal Sailor Moon. See below!
04/27/2021
I AM OFFICIALLY FREAKING OUT. It’s been MONTHS since the Sailor Moon Eternal films were both released in Japanese theaters and there has been complete radio silence. I know myself and many other fans have been wavering with doubts and questions for quite some time now. I am DELIGHTED to share that today Netflix announced it will be debuting Sailor Moon Eternal on June 3rd, 2021! It’s not a complete surprise since certain hints and spoilers circulated over the last few months, but with so much time going by since the release, fans were left to wonder. After watching Netflix’s debut trailer today, it makes sense as to why we had to wait so long. The trailer features dialogue from Sailor Moon in multiple different languages, suggesting that Netflix complete a multi-dub ahead of time. This bodes well for fans of Sailor Moon all over the world. This raises some questions, though, about whether or not the same cast from the prior seasons will be returning for the English dub and if VIZ Media will be able to release a home-video copy at all. On the other hand, Sailor Moon hitting Netflix is historical first for the series in both Canada and the US. I can only wonder if this opens the door to seeing more Sailor Moon content made available on the platform in the future. I’m even more excited that I can share these two films with my close friends on the most popular and accessible streaming platform! Check out the announcement trailer below!
04/28/2021
I didn’t think I’d be back here so soon with another update, but I am not complaining! This time, the home-video release of Sailor Moon Eternal has been announced in Japan. There will be standard and limited edition DVD/BD sets releasing on June 30th, which is also Sailor Moon’s Birthday. There is no news as to whether there will be any additional language tracks, or even English subtitles, but we can assume not based on past releases. I would recommend before anyone goes trigger-happy, let’s see what happens with the international release and if our side of the world will get a dubbed home- video release as well!
05/06/2021
Just about a week ago it was announced that Netflix would be handling the films’ international releases. Today we have a new trailer (more of an actual preview) for both films. The trailer confirms that both films will debut on the same day (June 3rd). This was also our first glimpse at the English voices and I’m sure fans will recognize a lot of familiar ones from the recent English dubbed handled by VIZ. There are most likely some characters who had to be recast due to it being a different dub altogether. I am growing more and more excited by the day and literally cannot wait to watch these films in both English and Japanese. We aren’t far off yet my friends!
06/03/2021
May felt like a long month to me, but it finally passed and here we are on the 3rd of June, the day of dreams! Sailor Moon Eternal has premiered worldwide today in two parts via Netflix, already dubbed into several languages. I took the day off work to watch both films and it was worth the wait. I have so many thoughts, but that might be better shared in a full post. All I can say is that I pray for the success of this series from both fans and non-fans alike so that we may see the next and concluding chapter of the story. This will be the final update from me here, but here’s hoping the journey is not over. Just a reminder that the Japanese BD/DVD release is scheduled for the end of June, and as this is Usagi/Chibi-Usa’s birth month, there are already special events scheduled, so don’t miss them!
FEATURED ARTWORK
@animeanonymous (Anime Anonymous) “Visual for animated film “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie Part 2” premiering in Japan on February 11, 2021” Twitter, 15 Jan, 2021, 2:43 p.m., www.twitter.com/animeanonymous/status/1350166746284494849/photo/1.
“セーラームーンど真ん中世代です。” Sumaing, www.sumaing.jp/blog/staff5th/20200924.php.
Sailor Moon Latam “Sailor Moon Eternal” Facebook, 08 Jan, 2021, 8:47 p.m., www.facebook.com/sailormoonlatam/photos/a.2206290469620167/2774977216084820.
FEATURED VIDEO CLIPS
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」 特報30秒 /Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie Trailer” YouTube, uploaded by sailormoon-official, 18 June 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nz-NpHwF4o&ab. Accessed 31 August 2020.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」超特報映像／Pretty Guardians Sailor Moon Eternal The MOVIE” YouTube, uploaded by sailormoon-official, 18 June 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=67bOG9kcv5M&ab. Accessed 31 August 2020.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “USAGI BIRTHDAY SPECIAL MOVIE【2020】” YouTube, uploaded by sailormoon-official, 29 June 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=msRhSR16SLk&ab. Accessed 31 August 2020.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」「＃ジルコニアの声優は誰だキャンペーン」映像” YouTube, uploaded by 東映映画チャンネル, 07 September 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc4swimDp6Q&ab. Accessed 08 September 2020.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “「月色 Chainon」Short ver.／ももいろクローバーＺ with セーラームーン＆セーラーマーキュリー＆セーラーマーズ＆セーラージュピター＆セーラーヴィーナス” YouTube, uploaded by sailormoon-official, 04 October 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3EzWzCH9LU. Accessed 06 October 2020.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」《前編》予告映像60秒／/Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie Trailer” YouTube, uploaded by sailormoon-official, 15 October 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4ntci4Sr8U. Accessed 17 October 2020.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」《前編》６戦士の＜変身シーン特別映像＞解禁！/Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal” YouTube, uploaded by 東映映画チャンネル, 04 December 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmgkqrDqE4U. Accessed 04 December 2020.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」《前編》15秒スポット＜セーラー戦士編＞解禁！/Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal” YouTube, uploaded by 東映映画チャンネル, 09 December 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1I3IOh08Ws. Accessed 10 December 2020.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」《前編》15秒スポット＜ストーリー編＞解禁！/Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal” YouTube, uploaded by 東映映画チャンネル, 09 December 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvInVw0JAHw. Accessed 10 December 2020.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」《前編》うさぎと衛の＜スペシャル映像＞解禁！ /Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal” YouTube, uploaded by 東映映画チャンネル, 15 December 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrUX69e4DBw. Accessed 16 December 2020.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」《前編》4戦士の＜スペシャル映像＞解禁！ /Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal” YouTube, uploaded by 東映映画チャンネル, 23 December 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8zaZ_aqykY. Accessed 24 December 2020.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」《前編》ちびうさ＆エリオスの＜スペシャル映像＞解禁！/Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal” YouTube, uploaded by 東映映画チャンネル, 28 December 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ1AOLOVXVs. Accessed 29 December 2020.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」《後編》予告映像／Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie Trailer” YouTube, uploaded by sailormoon-official, 06 January 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aci1w_–cpc. Accessed 09 January 2021.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “”Moon Color Chainon(Tsukiiro Chainon)” Animation Music Video / MOMOIRO CLOVER Z with Sailor Gurdians” YouTube, uploaded by MCZofficial, 15 January 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9azzcQGAAg. Accessed 19 January 2021.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」《前編》ダイジェスト映像解禁︕/Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal” YouTube, uploaded by 東映映画チャンネル, 04 February 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wJzEME184I. Accessed 06 February 2021.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」《後編》外部太陽系戦⼠の＜変身シーン特別映像＞解禁！/Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal” YouTube, uploaded by 東映映画チャンネル, 08 February 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmd0IXSohlo. Accessed 09 February 2021.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」《後編》うさぎと衛の＜スペシャル映像＞解禁！ /Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal” YouTube, uploaded by 東映映画チャンネル, 22 February 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ7vsbwFiUQ. Accessed 23 February 2021.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal the Movie | Announcement | Netflix Anime” YouTube, uploaded by netflixanime, 27 April 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D2statICww. Accessed 24 April 2021.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」BD/DVD発売決定！” YouTube, uploaded by sailormoon-official, 28 April 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nXZ89gu3nM. Accessed 28 April 2021.
Takeuchi, Naoko. “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie | Official Trailer | Netflix” YouTube, uploaded by Netflix, 06 May 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDnKDYpvEgo&t=2s. Accessed 07 May 2021.