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Event Report: Sailor Moon Fan Club Launch
posted on by Sarah Nelkin
This past Sunday was the launch event for the official Sailor Moon Pretty Guardians fan club. Held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, over 2,000 pre-registered members lined up to pick up their membership cards and bonus lip gloss.
The entrance was decorated with a giant moon that visitors could sit on and take a picture.
The entrance to the arena was decorated with the newest merchandise that fans could take pictures of, as well as congratulatory bouquets from King Records, Bandai Namco Entertainment, the Animate store chain, Kenji Nojima's fan club, and the stage musical's Nelke Planning among others.
Goods included a new line from high-end accessory brand Q-pot and accessories from the more affordable "Premium C'est Bon Star" line (which are sold in convenience stores).
Many fans dressed in Sailor Moon-themed attire, with a few others dressed in Momoiro Clover Z t-shirts also mixed in among the crowd.
Before the event, the Kotono Mitsuishi (Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon), Kenji Nojima (Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask), Mitsuko Horie (Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal: Season III theme song singer and original voice of Sailor Galaxia), and the members of idol group Momoiro Clover Z spoke to the press about the fan event. When asked about her feelings about the positive reception overseas to the third season so far, Mitsuishi spoke about her time at anime conventions abroad and how passionate overseas fans are about Sailor Moon, and also expressed her appreciation for that passion. Momoiro Clover Z expressed their memories of watching the show when it re-aired when they were children, and also talked about how excited they were to do an event in a place that smelled nice.
Osabu introduced the upcoming features of the fan club website, including a regular information corner penned by Osabu himself. The corner will feature news about the franchise, and the first issue will even have a report documenting the recording session of the first episode of the third season. The website will also have a free-to-play puzzle game titled "Crystal Puzzle" exclusive to the website featuring art from the manga. Osabu assured fans that it will have no micro-transactions.
During the concert corner, Kenji Nojima sang first with his "Kimi no Hitomi no Moonrise" (The Moonrise in Your Eyes) song from the Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon Crystal Character Ongaku Shu: Crystal Collection album, and then followed up with the first performance of the full version of the third season's third ending theme, "Eien Dake ga Futari o Kakeru" (Only Eternity Brings the Two Together).
The next performance was by Mitsuko Horie, who was introduced by a monologue from Sailor Moon Stars by Mitsuishi. After she performed her cover of the anime's opening theme song, "Sailor Star Song," she sang her rendition of Crystal season 3's opening, "New Moon ni Koi Shite" (In Love With the New Moon).
Although the fan club event was all-seating, some fans of Momoiro Clover Z stood up to shout cheers and jump during their performance of "MOON PRIDE." The idol group also performed the first and second season's ending theme, "Gekkō" (Moonbow).
After the concert corner ended, the cast and staff began a giveaway of Sailor Moon goods, a majority gathered together by Osabu himself. However, possibly the most notable item given away at the event was a box of merchandise and a Sailor Moon figure from the time of the original anime's broadcast, owned by Kotono Mitsuishi herself. Mitsuishi jokingly warned that the box has a VHS videotape which may not play.
The Sailor Moon fan club has ended premium membership registration, but began registration for regular members on Sunday. The cost of a regular membership costs 5,500 yen (about US$51).
Event photos by Rina Satō (no relation to Sailor Mars voice actress Rina Satō)