Over a couple of years ago, I did a blog on Sailor Moon stuck in sort of a (for lack of a better word) rut, At least in terms of getting into the US of A. Honestly it wasn't one of my better blogs, but you know, Every artist is their own worst critic. Regardless, it did get sort of a point through. Said point being there's plenty of reasons that Sailor Moon not being released in america, but the biggest one is the fear of it being unmarketable. Let me explain, Casual anime fans will think it's too old fashioned, Hardcore anime fans will think it's too formulaic, Nostalgic fans won't like it compared to the DIC dub (which I'll get to in a bit), the media (especially Fox News) won't that it doesn't it's sneakily exposing kids to the Gay Agenda, and people don't want to show a (potentially) controversial show to their kids. I'll be honest, PEOPLE NEED TO GET THEIR S**T TOGETHER!!!!! Let me answer a few of the questions that mostly stubborn people might have for this.
BUT BEFORE WE BEGIN... My thoughts on this news. Great news, This should introduce a whole new generation of fans to the series. Though I'm a bit surprised by the choice of VIZ subbing and dubbing the series. Thing is that Other than Bleach and Naruto, 9 times out of 10 they don't know what to do with their own properties that aren't based on ultra successful franchises like Pokemon or DBZ, but seriously, this can work, fresh new blood. this could seriously work.
So First question people might have is "Why Did Viz License Sailor Moon?" That I can't answer but I can provide a decent enough theory. You see anime licensing is funny, FUNimation planned to have around 20 (I Think) animes licensed for american shores so they held a survey asking what animes they wanted to see licensed in the near future. Out of all the ones they expected to have, a few (including this one) went to other companies like Media Blasters and the now defunct Bandai. That's kind of the reason 4Kid$ got One Piece before anyone with a shred of competence did, they saw a huge pile of cash and decided to make what they thought could have been the next Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh.
Second question is a real icebreaker too me, "Is this appropriate to show my kids?" That you'll have to evaluate for yourself. Whatever you say is appropriate for your kids is.If you think your kids are ready to play Call of Duty, let them, but enough rambling, let's talk. Sailor Moon is about a 14 year old named Usagi Tsukino who becomes a Superheroine who fights the monster of the week, falls for a man under the superhero alias named Tuxedo Mask, Joins by a whole bunch of other girls, while going through the scenario of the week, There no real shreds of violence beyond that, at least compared to most fairy tales, and definitely less violent than the Lion King. but how might this be inapproprioate for your child, well there's a bit of sexual stuff in it, not just with the whole short skirts and the weird (to you, possibly) transformations (WHICH ISN'T THAT BAD ONTO ITSELF), but there's a bit of fanservice (which isn't all that bad, at least you could do much worse), and LGBT scenarios (honestly, this is the 14th year of the 21st century, HOW IS THIS EVEN STILL A PROBLEM, I know that Gay Marriage isn't exactly legal in all states yet (let alone universally accepted), but that's my point, LGBT Kids exist, and it's their business what their sexual orientation is), but who am I to judge, Judge for yourself.
Next question people are going to have is "Who Are They Going To Market It To?" It think Sailor Moon is one of those money makers amongst otaku, so their probably going to market it to the people who watched it on Toonami back in the day, but realizing that it was compromised in annoying ways they didn't realize at time, want a better version of it. They likely won't market it to young kids because if they were to do that they'd have to revisit the DIC/Cloverway dub (see above), and the thing is that in order to to that they'd have to get into a lot of legal garbage, and VIZ didn't spend millions of dollars just to pander to the young crowd, since they already do that with Pokemon (no offense to that franchise in any form).
Another question people might have is that "Are They Going To Release The PGSM Tokusatsu That Toei Did A Decade Back?" Short answer, Probably Not. Thing is with tokusatsu is that it's hard to market to in the U.S. One big reason is that if you release it subbed, you might as well read a book, but if you release it dubbed, It's Laughably terrible, even more so than most anime dubs. Another reason it's damn near unmarketable is the fact that Power Rangers is kind of a kids thing, Tokustatsu is kind of a kids thing, Mostly. Children's entertainment standards are different in Japan than in America, so yeah, for those two Big reasons, Don't Expect a release of the live action Sailor Moon Series.
The Final Big Question Here is... "What Series Can You Recommend To Me?" Good question. That I can't answer... Yet. but I can say this. If you want a fresh take on the source material, or are a newbie, Look into Sailor Moon Crystal, but if you prefer the originals most of the time, Wanted a better dub than what you got, or not a fan of newer anime, look into Sailor Moon Classic. That's all I've got.
Before we Sign out I might as well address this since I didn't the last blog, Smash Bros 4. I want to play it. Personally there's some stuff it's missing from it that were in the previous installment, but it has enough new stuff in it that you kind of over look it. It probably won't be as good as Melee or Brawl (or even Project M), but It should be one of the Wii U and 3DS' Killer Apps.
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