Genvid & Dies Gaudii Forums

I've been thinking about this every now and again since Sailor Moon was wiped out in the US. That was... 2003, correct? IIRC, we were one of the first countries to lose the rights to anything related to SM.

I've asked around and read up on as much on the subject as I could, but I have yet to get a full account of what happened and why. In fact, really all I have to go on is mostly conjecture.

Anyway, after much research and discussion, the two most common theories I keep hearing are:

- Takeuchi wanted to make an attempt at something unrelated to Sailor Moon, so she killed it off to have a better shot at it being recognized apart from it.

and

- She killed off licensing rights to the show and manga to drum up hype for the live action. After the lukewarm reception, she didn't re-license them out of spite.

I find it kinda hard to believe that it would be so simple as either of these theories. Yet the fact that no one in any real position to know for certain will say anything leaves these to be the only real explanations we have.

What are your thoughts?

I heard one of the reasons why Sailor Stars isn't licensed is cuz the Japanese didn't want to ruin the "family friendly" reputation it had in North America.

As for the theory of Naoko pulling the rights out of spite, I think that's just silly. The first theory however, that's the first I heard of it so I don't know.

That first theory branching out from Sailor Moon could be somewhat plausible, but I seriously doubt that's true considering her strong and personal love of the character(s) that she has expressed over the years in various ways (Manga notes, website passages, interviews etc).

That second theory is about "hype" for the live action show doesn't make any sense. PGSM was a Japan exclusive show and withdrawing and a license from the American (or global) market would not have much impact (especially positive) on the locally broadcasted program...



It is more likely that the author was letting certain agreements expire in order to regain more creative rights or control over her character, and since then has not actively sought to once again expand the franchise on a global scale.

Why would Naoko Takeuchi have anything to do with the anime? Mangaka usually don't have alot of control over their anime adaptions, let only the rights.

Very true, but what I meant is that by letting certain contracts expire she would then be able to choose which companies would get further licensing.

(Disclaimer: Keep in mind that all of this is mostly conjecture.) She has mentioned that both she and her husband have had stress-related problems. Which sounds likely given their less-than-impressive ability to get stuff done in the past few years...

With PNP, Naoko got herself in a position where she would have a fairly high level of control over the Sailor Moon franchise, so one can assume she wants to be personally involved whenever her creation is concerned.

It could simply be a matter of her wishing to keep that level of control, but the demand for all things SM being larger than the time and energy she is currently able to put into it.

If you look at things from a broader scale we've actually been given a lot of Sailor Moon.

The musicals were in production way past Sailor Stars finished airing. PGSM came out only 5 or so years (can't be bothered looking up exact years) after Stars. Musicals stopped around half way through PGSM and then PGSM stopped. That was only 3 or so years ago.

In that time the DVDs just got released in Japan (Sailor Stars hadn't seen a DVD release until 2-3 years ago) and the manga was reformatted with new covers and some new art and content.

The Sailor Moon official site (how many old manga/anime series can boast a fortnightly updated website?) is updated constantly also.

Compare this to say Dragonball which only has the upcoming movie to brag about (and some games I guess), the Sailor Moon franchise is doing pretty well.

Despite that Naoko is obviously having some problems (stress or whatever it may be). She started that manga Toki Meka and released one volume of it and it was pretty much confirmed that she was planning on releasing a second volume the next year... only she didn't.

Naoko has the rights to Sailor Moon. As soon as she does ANYTHING I'm sure she'll do something concerning Sailor Moon.

On the contrary, I think. I use a similar argument to say that it's the Sailor Moon franchise that isn't doing pretty well.

Dragon Ball is for me, one of the best franchises kept nowadays. The anime finished on 1997, but certainly, that wasn't the end of the franchise! Shueisha has done a great job on keeping Dragon Ball fresh for the new generations, and at the same level than other popular Shounen Jump works like Naruto or One Piece (Battle Stadium D.O.N, or Jump Super Stars anyone? Or even the recently released OVAs due to Shounen Jump's 40th anniversary...)

Akira Toriyama haven't given up on Dragon Ball either; just like SM, the manga was reformatted on a kanzenban edition some years ago (and a lot of mangakas worked on it!). Toriyama has also done some joint projects; Cross Epoch comes to my mind (Dragon Ball&One Piece crossover). Another good one is the Dragon Ball&Kochikame crossover, done for the the 30th anniversary of Kochikame's serialization.

I won't think about the fact that every single console out there has some Dragon Ball game. And it really saddens me to look on some japanese online stores; only to see that every year, new DB merchandise is being released. On the contrary, leaving the manga and DVDs aside, there hasn't been new SM merch since the end of PGSM.

The merchandise thing says a lot. Some days ago, I was browsing through all the anime-related calendars that are going to be released for 2009. This little one...honestly, made me want to cry ;_;

Oh, well. I always keep the hopes for some amazing rebirth just like Saint Seiya. The franchise was put to sleep for about 10 years (1991-2002). Sanctuary Chapter appeared and...things haven't stopped since then ^^ (Coming up next year: the Lost Canvas OVAs!!!! )

Not to mention Dragon Ball is doing well world-wide. DVDs and toys are still being released here, Italy, Spain, German, and other countries. Last time I was in Italy (about a year ago) they had DBZ chips, candy, DVDs, and the show was reairing. Yet the only person who knew Sailor Moon over there was my 24 yr. old cousin.

Can we say this about Sailor Moon in any country? No one under the age of 16 remebers the show here. In other countries this is more, or less the same.

T O T A L L Y agreed!

Wasn't there talk that there was a dispute between Naoko and Toei over the rights? or was that ehh the manga distributer.

Or was that thrown down and proved wrong?

I feel like I missed some epiode of the SM license saga.

If memory serves, the most we have had are mumurings about supposed dissagreements between Naoko and (possibly?) Toei. Pretty much solid speculation.

Feel free to shoot me down if I'm wrong though

I can't help but think that would make a good Doujin Staring Naoko-hime.

[edit] Oh! At last, after 5 years my 100th post! Here's to 100 more.

Depends on who "we" are.
Over here, the Bonnier Carlsen publishing house (and they're pretty big) were going to publish the manga in Swedish, but a few months after their initial press release their negotiations with Kodansha came to a dead stop. They cited disagreements between Naoko and Kodansha as the reason, on their website and in e-mail replies. IIRC, there have been similar statements from other European publishers.

I think you're thinking about that one episode in the SMR boxset that wasn't there. AVD *or whatever the company is called* said it was because of disputes between the creator and such.

No, I'm talking about owning/distribution rights that was disputed.

maybe it was just a rumor.

Read here....

http://www.saveoursailors.org/naoko2003.html

I really can't understand Naoko's point... she has established the PNP in order to rule over the Sailor Moon production and all the rights was frozen worldwide, then nothing more was released....

I mean, stopping the rights when there is still an interests is sooooooo smart, it's better to release the product when no one cares anymore.... right?

I hate the way she is doing things, this show NO RESPECT for us.
She have an official site right? Then, what about spending two fu**ing words for her fans, we are the ones that made her a $$$RICH$$$ woman! We deserve an explanation....
There are no excuses...

Hey Naoko, what you waiting for? Thanks to your stupid policy Sailor Moon will be forgotten sooner or later!

This is driving me mad....

I think that Naoko (or Toei) will be bring back sailor moon anime soon!!

why?? maybe I'm a little bit optimistic!!

Toei has a new cash cow called Pretty Cure, they have no interest in bringing back Sailor Moon.... sad but true.

Don't get me started! That show's such a ripoff it's insulting!!! Even the hairstyles are the same (for the most part). Seriously. That show is making a fortune though... but hey, maybe they'll see this as a sign there's still a market for girls anime and relaunch Sailor Moon!

Maybe they are going to apply a strategy similar to the one Toho is using for Godzilla franchise? Like taking breaks for several years, and then revamping the series, showing it from some different angle.

True... YesPC5 is a total ripoff, the previous seasons was more different.

Anyway, another pretty cure series will run next year (The girls are so ugly.... bleah XP ), so I think there is no room for SM...



It's my hope.... but it's a risk for Naoko, you know, Toei is making successful majokko series on her own and this not helps at all.

Naoko should release the series worldwide very soon, if Pretty cure will be released in the world (and this already happened in some countries) all the young audience will be catched and Sailor Moon can also be seen as a PC ripoff by young people, oh my god, kill me before that!!!!
Looking at Pretty cure's actual ratings I don't think Toei will resume SM another time.... also, without an author they are free to do what they want with PC. Toei should know how boring authors can be, right Naoko?

PNP = Bad policy.

Yeah, I've gotta say that I've been pretty apprehensive about PNP. Gave me a bad feeling in my gut the first time I heard of it.

Anyway, I dug around on SOS (haven't been there in about a decade, wow) and found this article to be quite telling:

http://www.saveoursailors.org/kablooey.html

I have absolutely no idea what NT could be thinking. She is lord and ruler over all rights due to PNP, but she seems content to sit on the whole thing. We're coming up on what, 4 years now after the expiration of any and all rights? Since then there has been absolutely nothing to show for it, not even a peep as to what future plans may be. Oh, aside from possible downloadable episodes on the Japanese iTune store, but I haven't been following that exactly and nor does it do most of us much good.

It just seems so bizarre that PNP seems so content to let Sailor Moon fade off into obscurity like this without so much as an explanation. I'm with Yaten on this one, I think we fans who have been buttering Naoko's bread all these years at least deserve some kind of context to put this into.

Theory: Maybe they were testing the waters with PGSM but it didn't do to well selling merchandise and the ratings weren't THAT amazing. Maybe Sailor Moon isn't profitable in Japan anymore (or that's what the people in charge think anyway).

No....
PGSM's run was after the re-run of the anime, and that was very successful, PGSM is a sentai for little girls, and sentai are generally made for a young boys audience. I think that girls like anime more, that's why PGSM "failed". It was an experiment....
And, come on, if Pretty Cure can shake the audience so well without a decent story and character development, well.... you know, Sailor Moon can still kick ass, it's up to Naoko and Toei.

Anyway, I have a bad feeling about this..... sadly....

Thinking that SM is no more profitable in japan is not a good excuse for freezing the rights all over the world, where SM can still be a huge hit, so many years from the last run, they can make a new army of fans...
The problem is that Toei want to promote PC and seems like Naoko is ok with it......



Totally agreed, thank you.....

The thing about that is, they have yet to even TRY anything with the anime or manga since, or even bring it up. The most we've gotten was some poll for episodes via iTunes which, to my knowledge, nothing ever came of.

It all comes back to PNP whenever I think about this. She can do whatever she jolly good well pleases with this thing but won't even talk to anybody about it.

If she really doesn't feel like dealing with the franchises because she is busy or whatever, then she could just get in touch with Toei and have them distribute a set of those "Anime Legends" boxes. And I'm sure Adult Swim would be more than happy to run the show until the end of time, since anything that isn't Cowboy Bebop or Family Guy seems to tank on their schedule. Thats really all you'd need to do to shut most people up over here in the US. Cripes, I'd even settle for ONE game to be released here out of the blue.

I just can't believe, even after close to 5 years, that she would be so content to see it go out like this. Or maybe she's not content to see that happen, but I guess we'll never know because SHE WON'T TALK TO ANYONE.

For all I know, she could be dead and the event was covered up for some reason, and that is why no one can get in touch with her.

Seems like she is not dead....

She will be at the next Japanese 2009 cosplay event "world cosplay summit" as mangaka special guest and judge, I really HOPE that a holy soul will ask her " are you thinking?".

I also hope the rights aren't frozen for the Sailor Moon cosplay fukus too...
You can expect everything from the GREAT PNP! jolly good..... just joking, of course, but I'm pretty tired of this, you know.....

A few months ago I stumbled across a discussion forum (think it was a general TV forum) with a two-year-old Sailor Moon thread in the archives. A poster there had said something along the lines of "I don't get why everyone keeps saying Sailor Moon was sooooo fuckin' original with magical girls transforming and fighting! We already got that with Mew Mew and Wedding Peach."

I checked; nobody had replied and pointed out a few details...

Haha. This is a question I would most like to ask Naoko if I ever got to sit with her one on one - the series was loved despite it's flaws and mismanagement, so why take it away for so long? I would love to send her our stats some day so she can see all the countries Moon Chase gets visits from and where Sailor Moon has had an impact in the world.

I honestly think it's a sad day when the only new thing we hear about her is from Togashi who mentions her freaking out at the sight of a monkey in her garden.

This poor woman has no idea how much she means to all of us