In the name of the moon…are you looking forward to the upcoming Sailor Moon Eternal movies? The official website for Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon Eternal (Pretty Guardians Sailor Moon Eternal The MOVIE) went live this week and revealed a bit of news.
This new two-part animated feature film will be animated by Studio DEEN and Toei Animation. The two movies will take the place as the fourth season for the Sailor Moon Crystal anime series and will be covering the Dead Moon arc of the Naoko Takeuchi’s original manga.
In the original story arc, it features the Dead Moon Circus which is led by Zirconia who commands the Amazoness Quartet and the Amazon Trio. She is in search of the legendary Golden Crystal which will allow her to free the dark Queen Nehelenia who seeks to take over the Earth.
“Sailor Moon Eternal” anime film visual; coming 2020 https://t.co/skKnbstbXp pic.twitter.com/dNGAT4TmU7
— moetron | pKjd (@pkjd8I8) June 30, 2019
The first of the animated films is scheduled to open in Japan in 2020. Chiaki Kon, who directed the third season of the anime will be returning to direct both of the films, Kazuko Tadano is on character designs, and Kazuyuki Fudeyasu is attached on script work. Naoko Takeuchi, who created the Sailor Moon franchise is credited with the original work and with supervision.
The voice cast from the Sailor Moon Crystal series will also be returning which includes Kotono Mitsuishi as Sailor Moon, Hisako Kanemoto as Sailor Mercury, Rina Satou as Sailor Mars, Ami Koshimizu as Sailor Jupiter, Shizuka Itou as Sailor Venus, and Misato Fukuen as Sailor Chibi Moon.
Sailor Moon, which was also known as Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon and later Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon follows the adventures of a school girl known as Usagi Tsukino who is able to transform into Sailor Moon to battle against the forces of evil. Since it made the scene the franchise has become an iconic series that has made billions in merchandising and is one of the best selling shōjo series of all time.
The manga ran from 1991 to 1997 with sixty chapters collected in eighteen volumes. It was licensed for an English release by Kodansha Comics in North America. It was adapted into an anime series by Toei Animation and aired in Japan from 1992 to 1997. A second more modern anime series that followed more closely with the Japanese shōjo manga series titled Sailor Moon Crystal began airing in 2014. VIZ Media licensed the English release of the series.