‘Sailor Moon’ became a cult-favorite in the US during the 90s, but with no new product in years, the series has become out of print on DVD.  Some of the DVDs are extremely rare and therefore quite expensive when you can find them.  But with the new series, ‘Sailor Moon Crystal’ arriving this year, Viz Entertainment has secured the US rights to the entire 200-episode original series, the three movies and all subsequent specials  and will be marketing it all once again to American audiences.  And how will it arrive?  In a variety of ways!

The little-seen Sailor Starlights in their female forms.

Once more, Viz will be release the entire run of ‘Sailor Moon’ on DVD and for the first time on Blu-ray, but will also make the series available for streaming on Hulu and Viz.com’s streaming site Neon Alley.  The show will be presented in its original, uncropped aspect ratio, 4:3 and will also be restored to the original Japanese versions (the show was heavily edited/censored for youthful US audiences) and will be accurately subtitled.  (In the US, the characters Sailors Uranus and Neptune– lesbian lovers in the original Japanese show– were changed to cousins.)  Also included will be ‘Sailor Stars’, which introduced three new characters, the Sailor Starlights, aliens who come to Earth to find their queen.  The twist is that the Sailor Starlights are female in super hero mode, but switch to males in their civilian guises as a boyband.  This season has never been adapted to English before, so it’s a big deal for US fans.

The show will be released two episodes a week on Mondays, with four already released to kick things off.

Viz is also releasing physical DVDs and Blu-rays.  These will be available in boxed sets which will each cover about half of one season, featuring roughly 18-26 episodes.  The first arrives in the fall, with the DVD/Blu-ray combo as a limited special edition and a regular DVD edition.  A downloadable version of the subtitled version will be available in June, with a dubbed version available on the Blu-ray.

As for those dubs, the English voices will be completely rerecorded with a new cast and the characters will go by their original Japanese names.  The sexual overtones and innuendos will remain intact.  (I’m not sure I really care.  I never watched the dubbed versions anyway.)

Oh and Viz also secured the US rights for the new series ‘Sailor Moon Crystal’ so the US distribution should be strong.  Previously, it was only slated to be released via the Japanese service Nico Nico Douga.

Well, looks like I’m going to need to write a few additional articles so I can afford it all.

Are you excited to pick up the restored original versions of this show?  What are you most looking forward to?

Source: DenOfGeek