Odango for the Sailor Moon Soul

Top Ten Sailor Moon Songs

2010-04-11T13:43:00.007-04:00

Hey guys!

I'm SO sorry about the lack of activity in the past few weeks. Life has been super crazy, what with midterms and other such stuff. I promise that won't happen again, at least not until finals.

Moving on, I promised a music post during my last update, so here it is! I've decided to count down the top ten Sailor Moon songs. The list will include both English and Japanese songs, as well as closings, movie songs, etc. Basically, if you heard it on Sailor Moon, it's free game. I have to point out though that this list was created from my own personal opinion. I'm sure a lot of you will disagree with my rankings, and you know what? That's okay. In fact, I'd like to hear your reasonings on why your top ten list differs from mine. I actually had a lot of trouble deciding which songs were "better" than others, so who knows? Maybe your opinions will change my mine. ;)

That brings me to something I'd like to address-- There are a lot of songs affiliated with the Sailor Moon series and I tried to include as many songs as I could while I debated rankings. However, seeing as I'm only choosing the top ten, I couldn't include them all. That doesn't mean I don't love them any more than the ones I mention here.

As an apology for the lack of updates, I will post number 10 and 9 this week. Here they are!

10. My Only Love-
In my humble opinion, A Crystal Clear Destiny (dub episode 30) is the WORST English dub episode ever created. I can get through most of the dub episodes, and there's even a few I genuinely like, but I don't think I've been able to sit through all of A Crystal Clear Destiny since I was about seven. It's just that horrible. I could write you a few pages on why I hate it so much more than the rest, but I'll spare you. The only redeeming quality that this episode has is "My Only Love". Don't ask me why (because I seriously don't know), but I actually like this song more than the Japanese song it replaces.

9. Tuxedo Mirage-
As you all probably know, this is the ending of Sailor Moon S. What you might not know is that Naoko Takeuchi herself wrote the lyrics! I really like the calm, reflective tone that comes across throughout the entire song. Here's an English translation of the lyrics:

In the dish of the moonlight I take off my star earrings
What should I do, my heart is, my heart is filled to the top
Even if these fireworks turn into stars, even if we lose our love into darkness
I beg of you, do not stop your kisses
You can steal me away with your scent of velvet
This is love my heart found in the galaxy

*The mantle of the evening spreads out in a rainbow
More and more, I love you
Tuxedo mirage
Tuxedo mirage

The canary music box softly fades out
What should I do, my heart is, my heart is stuffed up
Even if these tears turn into stars, even if we lose our merry-go-round
I beg of you, do not stop your kisses
I want to be taken in by your gaze of velvet
This is love my heart pledged in the galaxy

Gently held close in a storm of flower petals
Never, never, disappear
Tuxedo mirage

*Repeat

See you next week!
Mikomi

Sailor Green Lantern!

2010-03-18T20:00:00.008-04:00

Alright, I have to admit that this week's post isn't entirely all about Sailor Moon, but one of my friends showed this to me, and I have to share. I think you'll all get as much a kick out of it as I do.

Last year, they made an animated Green Lantern movie called Green Lantern: First flight. I can't officially say Sailor Moon has been an influence on anything because I don't have any real evidence to back it up with, but there's no way you can't see the similarities to it in the following video. You see, for the movie the Green Lantern got a Sailor Moon transformation sequence! I kid you not. Someone actually decided to take the scene and put it to the Sailor Moon transformation music. It worked... creepily so. See for yourself!

The Green Lantern is an old school western super hero comic that began way back in the 1940's. If you're interested in learning more about it you can click here. However, all you really need to know to understand the following video is that to transform, the Green Lantern puts on a ring, kind of like how Sailor Moon grabs her brooch and shouts out her transformation phrase.

I'm also including a link to someone who parodied the transformation sequence as well as some of the other scenes from the movie to the English Sailor Moon opening song: Click Here
It's not nearly as good as the other video in my opinion, but it's still pretty amusing.

I think I'll feature some music next week...
See you then!
- Mikomi

Coloring!

2010-03-11T13:19:00.003-05:00

I just finished watching episode 154 of Sailor Moon, "Confrontation in Dreams! Minako and Makoto's Broken Friendship". For those who aren't obsessed enough to memorize the synoposis of every Sailor Moon episode ever created (probably a good thing), this is the episode in SuperS when CereCere attacks a kindergarten bazaar. I wouldn't say it's one of the better episodes of the season, but there's definitely some pretty amusing parts. I'm a HUGE fan of the little boy who takes pleasure in giving Minako hell.

In the spirit of kindergarten, I decided to feature Sailor Moon coloring book pages this week! I found them a while ago when I was googling Sailor Moon images. Truthfully, I'm surprised you can still find something like this online, especially on a free website. The selection's great. While looking through it, I found multiple shots of all the Senshi as well as Mamoru and the Sailor Starlights. However, for some strange reason, they're convinced that Makato's name is Marcy. Does anyone know if that was her name in one of the many international dubs made?

Hellokids.com's Sailor Moon coloring pages

Also, I realized that I gave the wrong episode number for last week's video clip. "Huge Shock for Usagi! Mamoru Declares a Break Up" is actually episode 61. I don't know what the English equivalent is seeing as I was originally getting the numbering from Wikipedia and that seems to be a bit off. However, I'm getting this new number off of my official second season box set, so I should hope it's correct. ^^;; Sorry for anyone who tried to look it up and came up with a different episode. With all the episodes that have been subtracted from the English dub, everyone seems to have a different way of counting the episodes. I guess using the title is the only sure way of getting the episode you want.

See you next week!
Mikomi

Meet the Parents

2010-02-28T09:28:00.007-05:00

Wow... I can't believe it's already March. It seems like 2010 is flying by. Wasn't it just Decemeber? When time flies it generally means we're busy. I know I am and it's been getting a little overwhelming for me and my friends at times. I'm sure this is the same for everyone reading this as well. So, like I promised last week, I'm posting an anime clip this week. And it's funny! Laugh a little and let some stress out. It's good for you.

So, everyone loves the Tsukinos. Besides our favorite moon bunny, there's Shingo, Ikuko-mama, and Kenji-papa. For the most part they're a pretty typical television family. The dad's the bread winner, the mom's a homemaker who loves to cook for her family, and the little brother loves driving his sister nuts. With all of that, who couldn't love them?

Perhaps a certain boyfriend getting scared off by an over protective Kenji-papa?...

Here's a clip from episode 61, "Huge Shock for Usagi! Mamoru Declares a Break Up". For the English dub, this is episode 42, "The Cosmic Caper". I know this is a pretty depressing episode overall, but there's a really great part in the beginning before Mamoru calls it off. Chibiusa has disappeared from the Tsukino's house and Usagi teams up with Mamoru to search for her. This scene occurs after they've found Chibiusa (at the park) and they've brought her home. Enjoy!

See you next week!

- Mikomi

Sailor Moon Artbooks Cheap!

2010-02-25T13:10:00.006-05:00

As I mentioned in my past update, I've been dying to get a Sailor Moon art book. While it's hard to pick out my favorite things about the series, I know the gorgeous artwork in the manga is way up near the top. No matter how many times I look at one of Naoko Takeuchi's pictures I can't help but stare. I can't even begin to imagine how much work and talent went into each and it's evident in everything she created.

Unfortunately as we all know, the Sailor Moon art books are expensive. I've been searching on ebay for the past few weeks and the cheapest book I've been able to find cost about $40 plus another $10 for shipping. Now, I don't know about you, but that's not the sort of money I can just throw around on the fly.

Still, with that said, I am now the proud owner of the Sailor Moon art book volume three. How, you ask? That's why I'm posting. :)

During my search, I happened to look up at the google advertisement bar and low and behold, what do I see but... "Buy Sailor Moon Art Books" and a link to a blog spot, just like the one you're reading here. Usually I ignore those sort of ads, but this time around I couldn't help myself. I was just desperate enough to to click on it even though I didn't expect much. Maybe I'd find an old, outdated offer to sell the books at the same prices I had found on ebay or maybe someone ranting about how much they wanted to buy one of the books (like me!). But instead, I found a legit seller who had only posted the ad on February 14th! And best of all, he was selling the books for $25 plus shipping. It was almost too good to be true.

Of course, usually when you think that, it is too good to be true, so I did a little checking into the seller. His name's Eugene Wu and he's a professional concept artist/illustrator for films, comic books, and newspapers. It seemed promising, so I decided to send an email off to make sure he hadn't sold the books already. He hadn't. In fact, he had a good amount left. So, after a few hours of deciding which book I wanted the most, I sent him the money by paypal and my book arrived today! Seeing as he only shipped it out on Monday, that's pretty amazing.

If anyone's interested in buying an affordable Sailor Moon art book (because I doubt you'll find them any cheaper than this) you can click here to get to Eugene's blog.

There are a few things to mention though. For one, the books Eugene is offering are Chinese. This means that they're in Chinese (obviously) and soft covered instead of the Japanese originals that are in hard cover. As far as I can tell, the quality's the same though and if you're just interested in the art, that's the important part.

Also, since I bought my book, Eugene has increased the price of volumes 3 and 4 to $29.99 and the price of volume 5 to $34.99. I guess he figured out how valuable his merchandise is. So, it's a little more expensive now, but still cheap compared to what else you might find. The price of shipping ($5.55) is still the same though and if you buy all three books he's offering (volumes 3, 4, and 5) they're only $60.00 together plus shipping (still only $5.55), which is the same deal he was offering before.

So, if you're interested in purchasing the Sailor Moon art books, I highly suggest you check the blog out. The link can be found again below.

Eugene's "Buy Sailor Moon Art Books" Blog

Of course, because this blog is for everyone's viewing pleasure and not just for the people interested in buying Sailor Moon merchandise, here's a few of my favorite pictures from the volume three art book.

And just so everyone knows, seeing as I spent the past two posts on manga art, I will be featuring something from the anime next. See you then!

- Mikomi

Manga Style

2010-02-19T22:28:00.014-05:00

It took me a while to decide what I wanted to post as my first real listing here. I debated anime clips, a few amvs, even some of the Sailor Moon activities I've accidentally run into over the years. But, in the end I decided to go with something a little simpler and pull from my latest SM ventures.

Every year or so I crave new Sailor Moon merchandise. In the past few years I've tracked down the season 2 box set, the SuperS books, and then finally, last year I got the Stars books, completing my collection of the series. This year I've set my sights on one of the art books. I'm currently watching an auction on ebay for the second art book, which features artwork from the R arc. I hope I get it!

So, in honor of the book and all the beautiful artwork it holds, I've decided to feature Manga Style as my first listing. I've known about Manga Style for a while now and I encourage everyone to check it out because it's just getting more and more amazing as time goes. They have an amazing amount of information on the manga series, including Naoko Takeuchi herself, buying the books, original designs, and so much more.

However, the most amazing part of this website (in my opinion at least) is their collection of art. Original and reprint covers, online calendars, the princess room... It's great. And their crown jewel of the art gallery? A full collection of scans from the art books including translated liner notes. Feast your eyes on a few examples of what you can find in the books and when you run out of images here, go over to explore Manga Style and check out the rest.

Enjoy!

Select Scans from Art books 1-5

If you've enjoyed this, please check out Manga Style. They've got all of this and way, way more!

Hope I've brightened your day!
- Mikomi

Welcome!

2010-02-18T21:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome!

My name is Mikomi and Sailor Moon has been a huge part of my life since 1997 when one of my good friends introduced me to the anime. Ever since then my appreciation of the series has done nothing by grow. Now, thirteen years later, Sailor Moon has a very special place in my heart. As corny as it may sound, the series has been somewhat of a grounding block for me. There's just something nice about knowing the good will prevail over evil, the girl will get the guy, and the heroine will be her good old, ditzy self no matter what the occasion. In an ever changing world, that sort of guarantee is vital to a person's sanity. At least, I know it's vital to mine.

Life has been changing a lot for me lately. Like many in the Sailor Moon generation, I began my first term of college this year. It's been a great experience so far-- new friends and opportunities--but at the same time it's also been a huge adjustment to get used to and I have to admit I'm not the sort of person who deals with change well. As a result, I've noticed that the time I spend reading, watching, and googling Sailor Moon has drastically increased lately. But, every time I engage in some sort Sailor Moon related activity, my mood drastically increases and I'm sure I'm not the only SM fan out there who's experienced this. Our sailor suited soldiers just have a way of warming our hearts with their ridiculous antics and ever-hopeful attitudes!

Because of this, I've decided to share a little Sailor Moon joy with any fan in need of a pick me up. I'll be posting pictures, links, videos, and anything else Sailor Moon related that I can find that's guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Enjoy!