To celebrate the 20th anniversary of ‘Sailor Moon’ Toei is releasing a new series, ‘Sailor Moon Crystal’ which is set to begin streaming internationally on July 5th at 7pm and will continue debuting new episodes every other Saturday for, reportedly 26 episodes on Nico Nico Douga, a Japanese file-sharing platform.

‘Sailor Moon Crystal’ is a reboot, starting the show off from scratch for long-time fans and hopefully a new generation.

The new series will be directed by Munehisa Sakai and Fumio Osano, who edited the original series.   Kotono Mitsuishi (‘Evangelion’, ‘One Piece’, ‘Gundam Build Fighter’) returns as Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon. Fighting by her side will be Hisako Kanemoto (‘Squid Girl’, ‘Gargantia’) as Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury, Rina Satou (‘A Certain Scientific Railgun’) as Rei Hino/Sailor Mars, Ami Koshimizu (‘Kill La Kill’, ‘Code Geass’) as Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter and Shizuka Itou (‘Hayate the Combat Butler’, ‘Gurren Lagann’, ‘Jormungand) as Minako Aino/Sailor Venus.  (At this point, the show will most likely be recorded only in Japanese with subtitles and not dubbed.)

Here is the official description of the show:

Usagi Tsukino is a little clumsy and a crybaby, but she’s one spirited eighth grader.  One day she meets Luna, a black Cat with a crescent moon mark on her forehead, and turns into the pretty, sailor-suited guardian of love and justice, Sailor Moon!  A chosen guardian of justice, Usagi apparently has a mission to protect a princess, and to find her fellow Guardians of the Legendary Silver Crystal.

Meanwhile Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom sends her subordinates to the town where Usagi lives.  They cause strange events to occur there, all in an effort to acquire the tremendously powerful Silver Crystal.  Can Sailor Moon and he other Guardians successfully find the Legendary Silver Crystal and protect the princess?

You can check out the concept art of the inner Senshi below – just click the image to enlarge them:

SAILOR MOON/USAGI TSUKINO:

SAILOR MERCURY/AMI MIZUNO:

SAILOR MARS/REI HINO:

SAILOR JUPITER/MAKOTO KINO:

SAILOR VENUS/MINAKO AINO:

Still to be announced/revealed are Tuxedo Kamen (Mask)/Mamoru Chiba, Queen Beryl and the cats, Luna and Artemis and this mysterious Princess who is presumably Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen’s daughter from the future, Small Lady/Chibiusa Tsukino.

Are you a fan of the original manga and anime?  Are you excited to see a modernized spin on the concept?

Source: Crunchy Roll