My perspective is that the English dub is part of the awful treatment the Japanese version received, but it's hardly alone on that matter.
Sailor Moon anime series licensed by Viz (Sailor Stars finally coming West, new dub)
- Thread starter Articalys
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YTV isn't blocking the streaming, that was a misunderstanding due to their vague first tweet about it. Viz doesn't have a stand alone streaming service anymore, it's all through Hulu, which still isn't available in Canada.
Whether or not this affects the streaming for Crystal remains to be seen, but if it does, people will surely rage.
Better than the DBZ Blu-rays where they cut off most of the picture.
That's really not saying much. The DBZ Blu-Rays are a low, low bar.
Of note is that this is the network that actively had Rini's VA host the after school program block for about 4 or 5 years. Plus, Toei's other Magical Girl show, Pretty Cure (First season, Futari wa) was specifically given it's first english broadcast on YTV due to Sailor Moon's success.
The Moon Princess is going to be on this station, it's just a matter of if that'll be enough coverage for Canadian streaming services, or if they're going to have partner with something like Global to expand the reach.
5 pages in, and no mention of the GOAT Sailor Scout?
For shame, GAF.
That's a weird looking pic of Sailor Jupiter.
I don't know. YTV hasn't quite been themselves for a while now.
Pretty Cure was something, but YTV was looking "off" before that. And right after Pretty Cure, YTV dropped the ball on Transformers, a show that was just as big for them with just as much history together as Sailor Moon, maybe even more.
And then YTV missed the boat on My Little Pony, having it right in the palm of their hands, and then tossing it to Treehouse, because they didn't know what to do with it, electing to pick up Pound Puppies instead. And then it seems they realized what a mistake that was, so they went after Littlest Pet Shop... and put it on at 5:00AM.
Which isn't to say that YTV won't pick Sailor Moon back up, but even if they do, they might screw it up somehow, because their best days are clearly behind them.
That's because it's most likely upscaled SD footage.
BTW, the thread title is wrong, Sailor Stars came to the west in the 90s, US =/= the west!
Holy crap was that the time when Warren took over the station?! My childhood right there!! Grogs, PJs, and all!
Fahrenheit
Banned
All time top guilty pleasure. Gonna buy em all on boo ray. I will miss Serenas rather unique voice. She was my first fap ever.
Femmeworth
Banned
Unless they have been working on the dub for a good while, I have strong doubts that it will turn out very good. Then again, we don't know what the release schedule will be like. Worst case scenario: the dub is bad and the sets take forever to come out.
For the UK as far as I know, we never even got Sailor Moon S/SuperS, I even imported DVDs like 7 years back or something like that. And of course saw Stars via fansubs.
I remember back on Fox Kids, watching the final episode of Sailor Moon R which was a total teaser for Sailor Moon S and what happened? We never fucking got it ;_;. I remember being quite upset when I was a kid and seeing it repeat Sailor Moon and SMR without a hint of the '3rd season' aka S.
The internet introduced me to the joys of importing so my kid self was certainly pleased when I finally got to watch the rest of the series
. I enjoyed the original dub and the S/SuperS dub (though that Serena voice was just awful. Granny Serena) but I am looking forward to seeing this new dub. Keeping names intact, keeping the stuff that was edited out of the original dub, either in footage or in translation (the whole cousin thing...)
Can't wait for it
I remember back on Fox Kids, watching the final episode of Sailor Moon R which was a total teaser for Sailor Moon S and what happened? We never fucking got it ;_;. I remember being quite upset when I was a kid and seeing it repeat Sailor Moon and SMR without a hint of the '3rd season' aka S.
The internet introduced me to the joys of importing so my kid self was certainly pleased when I finally got to watch the rest of the series
. I enjoyed the original dub and the S/SuperS dub (though that Serena voice was just awful. Granny Serena) but I am looking forward to seeing this new dub. Keeping names intact, keeping the stuff that was edited out of the original dub, either in footage or in translation (the whole cousin thing...)Can't wait for it
Well, but she is Usagi - her name meaning literally "rabbit" in Japanese was a conscious choice. That's why she has all those rabbit images (stickers, items) all over her place. By changing Usagi's name to Serena you loose those references.
When the anime was aired here in Poland (it was aired with Japanese dubbing and a Polish voice-over) Usagi's name was changed to Bunny. That way they kept its meaning without the name sounding too foreign. They didn't bother to change Chibiusa's name, though, so the word play on "Chibi Usagi" was completely lost.
The vast majority of names come from some word for something in some language, and Japanese ends up using its own language for this. English names and the English language in general just cite other languages to sound more sophisticated, but you still have examples like "Rose", "Faith", "River", "Shepard", "Lance", and so on.
For example, Makoto is a Japanese word for "Truth" and Mamoru means "To protect". On the other hand, it is entirely true that "Usagi" is not really used as a given name, but simply being the word for something isn't anything special.
The primary reference is her full name "Tsukino Usagi" which means "Rabbit on the moon", the Japanese equivalent of the man on the moon. The entire main cast has similar wordplay naming, with each Sailor Soldier having the kanji of their planet in their family name. Of course, this can't be expected to mean much in English, but that's the original intent.
zeopower6
Member
Shhh :x
Hours Left
Member
YTV getting the rights for Sailor Moon again is not something that I'd look forward to. As you mentioned, the YTV of today is a pale image of what they used to be.
I'm all for seeing the show on TV again, but it would preferable be on a channel that knows how to schedule the episodes properly, and sadly, none of the Canadian cartoon channels are very good at this.
And as I mentioned before, none of this would be that big of an issue if these companies could get their streaming plans in order. It's shameful that we still don't have an equivalent in Canada yet.
Mortimer Brewster
Member
Unblock-us to the rescue. This Canadian plans to be watching the first four episodes on Hulu Plus on monday.
Hours Left
Member
It's pretty lame that people still have to resort to that.
Hulu, and other services, have been promising for years to launch in Canada, and we're still waiting. :/
Mortimer Brewster
Member
And thanks to this country's protectionist shit, we'll probably still be waiting for years from now. Unblock works great though and for 5 bucks a month, I am able to access my subs to Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, WWE Network and US Netflix. And its still cheaper then being screwed over by the Canadian telecoms expensive "basic" cable packages.
A YTV broadcast would get them more exposure, which means a higher likelihood of getting merch in stores. But getting the show on that channel is probably easier said than done. The original series would probably be a better fit for Teletoon Retro anyway.
As for Viz's Canadian streaming service, I don't think it'll ever exist. Unless they change the way they do their stuff in the US, there's really no reason to launch a streaming platform exclusive to Canada. I suspect the long delay isn't due to them setting up a service, but rather Viz looking for a Canadian equivalent to Hulu. That doesn't exist.
The Canadian lockout has nothing to do with YTV. It's due to Viz exclusively using Hulu as a streaming platform. That service doesn't allow any non-US IPs in general. Unless Crystal is streamed elsewhere, it will be blocked too.
If you're going to bring up Sailor Moon's success in Canada, you'd be better off mentioning that YTV partially funded the dubs of the latter seasons than the Pretty Cure flop.
The YTV that aired those shows is no more. Unless it's a show that has a line of toys to sell, they really don't air anime anymore. This is the channel that dropped Naruto and Bleach years ago, and never picked up Dragon Ball Kai or InuYasha: The Final Act. Things are going to be harder for Viz's Sailor Moon stuff given it'll all be dubbed in the US too. That won't count as Cancon.
I'd like to think that they do, but Toei is just too lazy to actually remaster them. Then again, I wouldn't be too surprised if they lost the original masters.
YoYo Switch
Banned
FUCK YEA
UberTag
Member
The fact that Friendship is Magic actually could satisfy Canadian content broadcast quotas and it still got buried in terms of Canadian access is positively shocking to me.
Heck, Cancon is a big reason why Sailor Moon made such a big splash in Canada back in the mid-90s enjoying more mainstream presence than anywhere in the United States.
It aired 5 times a day at one point. CBC, Global, Fox affiliates, YTV... you name it. They all had Sailor Moon in their program rotation.
Mortimer Brewster
Member
Sadly, despite Canada being one of Sailor Moon's stronger markets, we won't benefit as much from this new deal. The cartoon/kid focused networks have abandoned anime for the most part and streaming is stuck in the dark ages because the corrupt CRTC is in the pockets of Bell, Shaw, etc who want to protect their cable/satellite fiefdoms. Which leaves us looking for alternatives ie vpn's or pirating.
The subbed version is going to stream two episodes per-week, so assuming that holds, they can run through the entire series in two years.
The first dual audio box set is set for "fall" (maybe six months from now), and they just said on Twitter that the boxes are going to be released as half-seasons. That suggests to me that they're maybe going to stretch the DVD releases out over five years, which is more than enough time for a quality dub.
The dub is going to start streaming "late 2014", so it's probably going to air after the DVD release, and will take breaks twice a year.
http://www.viz.com/anime/ca_streaming
For our members & fans in Canada:
We will soon have an announcement as to
how you too will be able to access all of the
great Neon Alley content
for free!
I haven't accessed this site in a while, so I'm not sure how recent this announcement is. Could they be working on something? Here's hoping...
For our members & fans in Canada:
We will soon have an announcement as to
how you too will be able to access all of the
great Neon Alley content
for free!
I haven't accessed this site in a while, so I'm not sure how recent this announcement is. Could they be working on something? Here's hoping...
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
I thought the DBZ Blu-rays were pretty faithful? Or was that before they cheaped out?
they were cropped.
UberTag
Member
The real bummer will be if they feel obligated to "wait" for the early seasons to be completed before dubbing Crystal.
If they tackle that concurrently with the older episodes, it'll be fine but otherwise we could end up waiting a LONG time for the new anime to be released commercially.
I'm optimistic they'll go with a concurrent release because this is a reboot and not a sequel (i.e. might as well keep the VAs for Beryl & the Generals around to work on the new show and release it when it's done), but who knows?
King Endymion
Member
Germany changed her name to "Bunny" too right? I love that, lol. Maybe the word play could be fixed by having Usagi's name being intact but say that she is called "Bunny" or something.
The word play is completely gone in Swedish too, with Usagi being "Annie" and Chibi-Usa being "Chibusa". >_>
I can't wait to own these blu-ray releases, I hope it will kickstart some interest for the show everywhere. ^_^
Finally, the other half of what made Toonami what it became is getting a major boost, and it's showing to be a trend (it is on Facebook and it's THE #1 trend on Hulu right now; Twitter moves too damn fast for me to make heads or tales of what actually trends at a given time). Let's be honest: I think, without Sailor Moon being on Toonami, DBZ doesn't get on there, either, and doesn't make the impact it made to the block. SM brought the mainstream crowd to the block, and DBZ took over from there.
Getting a redub and an uncensored sub, and the last season, which is awesome. I'm enjoying this news. I wonder if they'll redo the three movies, as well (Promise Of The Rose, to me, is one of the better all around animated movies around, and I would love to see it in it's full, uncut form). I wouldn't have minded Terri Hawks again, either: I thought she was the best Usagi/Serena in the DiC era (Linda was too nasally for me to completely get into, even though it got better over time). Wouldn't of minded Naz Edwards, either (she was the voice of Beryl in the DiC era). She was the only one I can recall that sustained an acting career after the show, even if it was more low key, and I can see either of the two being interested in getting back into the recording studio for a uncut release.
Don't think it'll be completely without edits, though. Remember what incident occurred in Japan after most, if not all, of the episodes aired in that country. I think they'll be some paranoia edits to prevent seizures, even though I don't think any of the light effects are enough to warrant concern (though the Super S MOTD death sequence might get the most attention if they do decide to do those types of edits since I think the red/white pattern will cause the most concern if anything at all).
But this means that the Hulu App on the PS3/PS4/XBone will get a lot more attention (this will definitely get me to renew my sub to Hulu, for one thing).
Now, can we FINALLY get a legal port of Sailor Moon: Another Story game to the US now that it seems like the franchise has been fully resurrected?
Getting a redub and an uncensored sub, and the last season, which is awesome. I'm enjoying this news. I wonder if they'll redo the three movies, as well (Promise Of The Rose, to me, is one of the better all around animated movies around, and I would love to see it in it's full, uncut form). I wouldn't have minded Terri Hawks again, either: I thought she was the best Usagi/Serena in the DiC era (Linda was too nasally for me to completely get into, even though it got better over time). Wouldn't of minded Naz Edwards, either (she was the voice of Beryl in the DiC era). She was the only one I can recall that sustained an acting career after the show, even if it was more low key, and I can see either of the two being interested in getting back into the recording studio for a uncut release.
Don't think it'll be completely without edits, though. Remember what incident occurred in Japan after most, if not all, of the episodes aired in that country. I think they'll be some paranoia edits to prevent seizures, even though I don't think any of the light effects are enough to warrant concern (though the Super S MOTD death sequence might get the most attention if they do decide to do those types of edits since I think the red/white pattern will cause the most concern if anything at all).
But this means that the Hulu App on the PS3/PS4/XBone will get a lot more attention (this will definitely get me to renew my sub to Hulu, for one thing).
Now, can we FINALLY get a legal port of Sailor Moon: Another Story game to the US now that it seems like the franchise has been fully resurrected?
The level sets were good, they only released 2 volumes of that before cancelling the rest and bringing out those "NEW HD WIDESCREEN" awful Blurays that Cheerilee posted.
I'm sure they will redo the three movies, because they mentioned that they have them, as well as all the Specials. The movie dubs are owned by
Promise of the Rose was available in several forms, cut dub VHS, uncut dub VHS (visually uncut, verbally... it was still the dub), uncut subbed VHS, and dual audio DVD. The cut dub was the only version not preserved on DVD.
The American release was also interesting because the movies were animated by the TV staff, using the TV equipment, which meant that they made them in 4:3 with the intention of showing them in widescreen in the theater and DVD releases. But somehow, Toei neglectfully gave Pioneer a set of pre-widescreen masters to use, so we got to see something that even Japan hadn't seen, even if that made it less-than-ideal to try and enjoy the theater-style experience on DVD, as their creators intended.
It seems likely that the movies are going to be widescreen this time around.
A note about the BluRays, for those who didn't notice:
Do you see where it says "inverse telecine"? That might be more commonly known as "de-interlacing".
The animation cels were never interlaced. The film that recorded those cels was never interlaced. TV broadcasts were interlaced. DVD is interlaced.
Viz's source material is Japan's 2009 DVD, not the film that was restored to make those DVDs. You can't "remaster" a DVD. You can "make it look better" (subjectively speaking) by applying blurring and sharpening filters to it, but you'll never draw out more than what was stored in the DVD. In fact, by applying filters you're pretty much doomed to end up with less. But we can take comfort knowing that they're not going to go anywhere near as crazy with the filters as Funimation did with DBZ.
The BluRays (which are going to come with the collectors version box sets) are going to be "upscales", and nothing to get excited about. They're basically the DVDs, doubled from 480i to 480p, then blown up to 1080p, with filters to remove the jaggies.
If you want to get the cheaper DVD box sets, you can do so, comfortable in the knowledge that you won't be seeing anything less than what the people who have the BluRays are seeing, although some people might prefer the way the picture is presented on the BluRays.
Germany actually tried that, during the Doom Tree arc Natsumi referred to her as Usagi, Bunny was treated as a nickname for a few episodes to set up Chibiusa. Of course then Chibiusa showed up and declared her name is Bunny, at the end of the episode there was a line like "Poor little Bunny ... Chibiusa", it really didn't make much sense.Germany changed her name to "Bunny" too right? I love that, lol. Maybe the word play could be fixed by having Usagi's name being intact but say that she is called "Bunny" or something.
The DVDs released in 2009/2010 were the same DVDs released from 2002 to 2005, they were just repackaged, there's no 2009 restoration like Viz claims unless Toei restored the series and decided to never release it.
This release will probably be good but there's no way it will be significantly better than the DVDs Japan got a decade ago. A little bit better is possible, the japanese DVDs of the first season looked a little bit reddish, if they get rid of the red tint it would be an improvement.
Maybe they'll surprise me, I'll wait for some reviews especially for the Blu-Rays.
If they're the same then why did Toei offload ancient masters to ADV and a moderately old one to Pioneer at the same time?
No idea, maybe because they were dicks? It wouldn't be the first time a japanese company gave crappy masters to a foreign company despite better ones being available.
But I do own a few volumes of the original japanese DVD release from 2002 and the entire re-release from around 2009, they are the same discs, the number on the ring matches, same menus, same picture and sound quality, same everything, they didn't even update the artwork on the individual discs. It was just a limited offer at a lower price, the box sets are now out of print and Toei keeps selling the individual DVDs they've sold for a decade.
To be fair, the 2002 remaster is pretty good, they probably couldn't have made it much better unless they opted for a full HD restoration. A little improvement is always possible (like getting rid of the red tint season 1 has) but by 2009 most japanese fans probably already owned the DVDs, there was a limited market for the re-release, so I doubt Toei saw a need to restore the series again at that point when the last remaster was just a few years old.
This is why I'm interested in the american DVDs, Viz could improve the quality a little bit more. The Blu-Rays ... eh, the more I think about it the less I care, they won't be impressive, you can't magically turn SD DVD footage into an HD experience.
Upscaled Blu-ray content can have a significant improvement over the SD source depending on how much work they put in.
In theory you have more space for a higher bitrate picture and it wont have to be upscaled to fit your big tv.
But it all depends on how much work they want to put in.
And by work I dont just mean cropping the picture and DNRing it to hell and back.
In theory you have more space for a higher bitrate picture and it wont have to be upscaled to fit your big tv.
But it all depends on how much work they want to put in.
And by work I dont just mean cropping the picture and DNRing it to hell and back.
I am looking at you Funi
It's my understanding that ADV received no masters from Toei, but rather used the leftover masters DiC had lying around and exercised their contractual right to release them. Presumably they were expecting Toei to cooperate when they requested, at the very least, episode 67's master when DiC's was either damaged or lost (or perhaps never received in the first place), but Toei instead refused for whatever reason and ADV were forced to march on without.
As for how Pioneer ended up with TV masters for S (and SuperS?), that's anyone's guess.
Yeah, I think Viz just got the date mixed up, and their release is technically going to be based on the 2002 remaster, not the 2009 boxed set of the 2002 remaster.
Here's the timeline, best as I can figure.
1992 - Japanese anime begins, clock starts ticking on the life of the masters. Fortunately, they were quickly preserved to non-degrading laserdisc, giving people an accurate reference point for remastering.
1995 - DiC version starts. And stops.
1997 - DiC version restarts. And stops.
1999 - Pioneer/Cloverway brings the movies to America on DVD.
2000-2001 - Cloverway version of S & SuperS. At this point, the masters are about six years old.
2000-2001 - Pioneer preserves the Cloverway version on DVD.
2002 - ADV preserves the DiC version on DVD (seven year old copy of a copy, but apparently stored/preserved better in California than Japan).
2002 - Toei remasters the original version.
2004 - ADV releases their subbed version, and wants the remastered version, but Toei tells them to go to hell. Masters being used are now twelve years old.
Femmeworth
Banned
The fact they are being so damn vague about the remastering process is very worrisome.
Guess we'll find out tomorrow how bad it really is.
Guess we'll find out tomorrow how bad it really is.
Can't you just use Hulu? I'm in europe and it works fine with unblock-us, it's not expensive and I'm sure if you don't want to pay you'll find free alternatives.
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