Back in December of last year, I was thrilled to finally review the Sailor Moon Season 1, Set 1 Limited Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack released by Viz Media with enhanced visuals, new dub, and additional bonus features. Now, season one of the iconic shojo anime finally comes to its conclusion in Set 2, containing episodes 24-46. While the release doesn’t fix the visual issues that plagued Set 1, however, the second half of the first season reminds me why I still adore Sailor Moon to this day.
Tag Archives: Sailor Moon
Apricotsushi Shops: Sailor Moon Merchandise
Welcome to Apricotsushi Shops, a new series where I highlight cool Japanese products I’ve found in my travels and the all items I’m currently pining over on my wishlist! Sometimes I’ll focus on a specific theme, and sometimes I’ll share whatever I can’t get off my mind, but one thing’s for sure… You’ll want to hold onto that wallet!
I think I have a Sailor Moon problem. I’m not even watching the new anime, Sailor Moon Crystal, but I can’t stop looking at Sailor Moon merchandise! For someone who grew up with the series, the recent revival is everything amazing you didn’t get when you were a kid (well, if you were a kid like me living in the middle of nowhere, USA). But, not all Sailor Moon merchandise is created equal. Today, I’m going to show you the cream of the crop!
This Q-Pot x Sailor Moon collaboration is everything I’ve ever wanted
I’m not usually very savvy when it comes to things like high-end jewelry and cosmetics, but Q-Pot has always been on my radar for their amazing sweets-inspired collections. But since the vast majority of their items carry a hefty price tag, I’ve been able to stay away… until now. Their upcoming Sailor Moon collection, due to launch June 30th (Usagi’s birthday), contains some of the most gorgeous pieces of jewelry I’ve ever seen!
Sailor Moon Season 1, Set 1 LE BD/DVD Combo Pack Review
It’s no secret that the Sailor Moon anime has had a big impact on my life, both as a show that offered female role models to aspire to when I was young and being the impetus for my lifelong love of Japan. Earlier this year, I recorded a podcast dedicated to the franchise, and when VIZ Media announced the series would be coming to Blu-ray this year, I was thrilled. Now that I’ve gotten hold of the Sailor Moon Season 1, Set 1 Limited Edition Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack, I can say being able to watch the series in its entirety uncut is an absolute joy, but unfortunately the experience is marred by subpar video quality.
Thanks to Sailor Moon, I’m now obsessed with figurines
Way back in May, I preordered my first figurine. Sure, I’ve picked up the odd gatchapon or two over the years, and even had a sort stint where I bought a number of Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy Play-Arts figures back in high school (I believe I wound up with Vincent, Sephiroth, and Axel but ended up selling them when I moved to Australia), but this was the first time I’d been so interested in getting my hands on a figurine that I preordered it. Now that my S.H Figuarts Sailor Moon is finally safe in my grubby hands, I think it’s safe to say that I’m officially a converted figure lover.*
I won’t take just any figurines, though. I believe the reason I could never get into the “scene” before (if you can even call it that) was because I assumed all Japanese anime/video game figures were $100+ affairs that were lovingly sculpted and painted but end up doing nothing more than sitting in the same position on people’s shelves for all eternity. Imagine my surprise when I gradually found out that there were many equally nice (from my not-very-discerning perspective) figurines available at a fraction of the cost (between $30-$50) that were actually posable and came with accessories! Now here was my true calling.
Even still, I couldn’t allow myself to go out and buy just any figurines. Thus, I proposed a very strict rule: I would only buy figures of characters from my absolute favorite series, and only if they were characters I actually had a personal emotional investment in. So, when it came down to it, there weren’t ever really that many figurines that met my criteria. That is… until now.
I have to say, there is something surprisingly satisfying about being able to take my very own Sailor Moon figurine and put her in almost every iconic pose from the series imaginable. The S.H Figuarts Sailor Moon may appeal to the little girl who liked to reenact epic dinosaur battles with her plastic toys inside me (I was never really one for dolls), but it certainly doesn’t feel like a cheap child’s toy! It comes with a number of different faces and hands, making it really fun to try all sorts of different setups. Unfortunately, the one nitpick I have is that her hair is quite hard to pull off when going to change faces, and I’m always worried I’ll break something or nick the paint, but I imagine it would be hard to make it more durable while still keeping it cheap and maintaining the posing options.
Also, I’ll readily admit that I’m not really all that creative when it comes to attempting to put my beloved Sailor Moon figure in new poses. Whenever I open the box to take out a new hand or go to adjust her legs into a different position, I’m sudden zapped of all my creative vision and ultimately end up just putting her in one of the generic poses found on the back of the box. I’m happy enough with that, but hopefully I’ll shake this “figure block” soon so I can start creating some neat new scenes with her! I’m constantly amazed by how creative and fun the photos fans post on the internet are. I guess for now I’ll just stick with this cute generic peace sign pose:
Now, this wouldn’t be a post about how I’m newly obsessed with figurines if I didn’t go into detail about what I’m currently drooling over. With Sailor Moon acting as a “gateway drug” of sorts, I’ve now amassed quite the purchase history and wishlist…
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Who wouldn’t want an adorable Shizue/Isabelle figurine to keep them on task? This Nendoroid took the internet by storm after it was announced, and though I hesitated to preorder it, I decided to bite the bullet and order one of myself now that it’s officially released. One of the big reasons I went for this and not, say, some other Animal Crossing: New Leaf merchandise is because, well, a lot of it is actually rather creepy… (it’s the mouths, I tell you!) I really hope they don’t release a Brewster Nendoroid, because that’d probably be the end of me.
The only thing that’s kept me from preordering one of these Digimon Adventures figurines is the fact that it looks like only their faces are interchangeable. My wallet’s thanking whoever designed them for not making them fully posable…
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Now this gorgeous Monster Hunter 4 Nendoroid has two things going for it: 1. the girl is wearing Lagombi armor, which is all kinds of adorable (not to mention Lagombis are basically mean oversized rabbits) and 2. she comes with a Felyne. I suppose it’s pretty obvious that I’ve already preordered it! The only thing I wish is that it came with a smiling face, rather than the upset face in the corner and the weird open-mouthed wonder face featured in the other two shots. Oh, and a BBQ spit accessory, but I guess I can’t have everything…
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Finally, the impending new Sailor Moon anime means that I’ll probably find myself dying to buy figures like the ones above for months to come. Unlike the Nendoroids or the S.H Figuarts Sailor Moon, however, they are not posable or alterable in any way, which means I should be able to resist adding them to my collection. Each character comes in two variations and boxes give no indication as to what figure you’ll be getting, so it could potentially be quite the money sink trying to get the one you want! I’ll need to be very careful in protecting my wallet if this figure obsession persists…
*I’m using “figure” and “figurine” interchangeably because I’m not really sure what the difference is!