A whole new meaning to “Movie Stars”.
A new trailer was released on Monday for Sailor Moon Cosmos, confirming that the two-part anime film project will open in Japan on June 9th and June 30th. The trailer also showcases the new Sailor Starlights characters, as well as confirming their voice actors.
Sailor Moon Cosmos is the latest follow-up to the rebooted series of the Sailor Moon anime that began with Sailor Moon Crystal. That initial anime series debuted in 2014, as a new adaptation of Naoko Takeuchi’s 1991 magical girl manga, which had previously been adapted starting in 1992. Sailor Moon Crystal ran for three seasons of television anime, with the third airing in 2016. Following that, a two-part film series titled Sailor Moon Eternal, adapting the Dead Moon arc of the original manga, released in 2021.
Now, Sailor Moon Cosmos represents the latest entry in the series started by Sailor Moon Crystal, and potentially the last. The movies will adapt the Shadow Galactica arc of Takeuchi’s manga, the final storyline of the series. The new trailer posted on Monday confirms that these final films will release on June 9th and June 30th.
The trailer also shows off the new characters who will be joining the Sailor Moon cast: The Sailor Starlights, and new Sailor Guardians from the planet Kinmoku. Saori Hayami will play Taiki Kō/Sailor Star Maker, Marina Inoue will play Seiya Kō/Sailor Star Fighter, and Ayane Sakura will play Yaten Kō/Sailor Star Healer.
The Sailor Starlights are notable in the franchise due to their manner of shifting between male and female presentations when transforming. In Takeuchi’s original Sailor Moon manga, the characters simply disguised themselves as men in their civilian forms, while the Sailor Moon Sailor Stars anime season which previously adapted the story in 1996 had the characters actually changing between male and female forms for their transformation.
Whether it was due to the potential controversy of the Sailor Starlights characters or not, the Sailor Stars season of the classic Sailor Moon went unreleased in North America during the show’s original heyday here in the mid-to-late-90s. That finally changed when Viz Media released the series to streaming in 2016, as part of their uncut release of the full original Sailor Moon anime, along with a Blu-ray and DVD release of the series in 2019.
With previous streaming distributions of the Sailor Moon Crystal continuation movies handled by Netflix, hopefully, Sailor Moon fans abroad won’t have to wait that long for an English release of Sailor Moon Cosmos and its new adaptation of this storyline.
