kodansha announces 2013 worldwide release of sailor moon art book

new york, october 13, 2012 – continuing the celebration of the 20th anniversary of naoko takeuchi's manga masterpiece, sailor moon, kodansha is pleased to announce that the sailor moon art book will be released simultaneously throughout the world next year.

The sailor moon art book joins previous announcements about the future of sailor moon that include a new anime series, currently planned to debut next year. This new art book will feature takeuchi's most popular work selected from five sailor moon art books which had been previously published in japan. It will also include several unpublished original drawings!

The sailor moon art book will be released in the united states, japan, and five other countries simultaneously. Each country's edition will be a trade paperback with dust jacket, in full color, and will have original, special bonus material. The trim size and page count will be identical for all seven releases.

Sailor moon fans around the world can look forward to this amazing art book next year! Don't miss it!

About kodansha usa publishing, llc

established in new york in 2008, kodansha usa publishing (kup) is a subsidiary of kodansha, japan's largest publisher. Kup's first works under the kodansha comics imprint were katsuhiro otomo's akira and masamune shirow's the ghost in the shell. Kup has expanded their catalog to include such titles as fairy tail by hiro mashima, shugo chara! By peach-pit, and sailor moon by naoko takeuchi, the highest selling manga in the u.s. In 2012. Kodansha comics is distributed by random house publisher services.

Sailor Moon on air in Germany

The German channel, Animax, just acquired the TV rights to broadcast the Sailor Moon series in German-speaking European countries (those series amount to 199 episodes dubbed in German).

Animax will promote the broadcast with online ads and a press campaign.

Aiming 4-12 year-old girls, the series tells the story of Usagi Tsukino, an ordinary, ditsy, 14 year-old girl when she meets a talking cat named Luna who reveals Usagi's identity as "Sailor Moon", a special warrior with the destiny of saving the planet Earth, and later the entire galaxy.

Toei Animation Europe inked a deal with Viz Media Europe for the DVD rights of the Sailor Moon series.

Viz Media Switzerland will release the complete Sailor Moon saga in Germany (5 series/ 200 episodes) in German and in the original version with German subtitles while Kazé will release the first series (46 episodes) in all the French-speaking European countries in the original version subtitled in French and with the French dubbed version as well.

Synopsis: Usagi Tsukino is a second-year middle school girl who is a little clumsy and a crybaby, but she is full of energy. One day, she meets Luna, a black cat with a crescent moon on her forehead, and she transforms into Sailor Moon, a sailor-uniformed pretty guardian of love and justice! As a chosen guardian of justice, Usagi seems to have a mission to find the Illusionary Silver Crystal with the other guardians and to protect the princess.
Meanwhile, the queen of the Dark Kingdom, Queen Beryl, also sends minions to the town where Usagi lives to obtain the Illusionary Silver Crystal, which has immense power. This causes strange events to unfold….

Can Sailor Moon really find the Illusionary Silver Crystal with the other Sailor guardians, and protect the princess…!?

The new Sailor Moon anime will begin streaming worldwide on the Niconico service in July. Producer Atsutoshi Umezawa (Precure franchise) said that it "is not remaking the previous anime, but adapting the original manga and starting from scratch again."

Munehisa Sakai (One Piece, One Piece: Strong World, Suite Precure) is directing this new adaptation of Naoko Takeuchi's original manga at Toei Animation, the studio behind the first anime. Yūji Kobayashi (scripts on Saint Seiya Omega, Smile Precure!) is in charge of the series scripts, and Momoiro Clover Z is performing the theme song.

Yukie Sako (chief animation director on Majestic Prince, Nyan Koi!) is designing the characters, and Yasuharu Takanashi (Naruto Shippūden, Fairy Tail, Precure franchise) is composing. The art directors will be Takashi Kurahashi (Mononoke, Gatchaman Crowds, Hakaba Kitarō) and Yumi Hosaka (Mononoke, Gatchaman Crowds). King Records is producing the soundtrack.

Toei Animation confirmed with ANN on Thursday that the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal anime will have 26 episodes. It will stream worldwide every other week for one year with Kotono Mitsuishi reprising the starring title role. The anime will also star Hisako Kanemoto as Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury, Rina Satou as Rei Hino/Sailor Mars, Ami Koshimizu as Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter, and Shizuka Itou as Minako Aino/Sailor Venus.

The new anime will run on the first and third Saturdays every month, beginning July 5 at 7:00 p.m. (6:00 a.m. ET).

ARAIT Multimedia group acquired the TV broadcasting rights for the 5 series of Sailor Moon (200x26’) for Spain.

The series aiming young girls will be broadcast in Catalonia on TV3 from December 23rd.

The German TV channel VIVA acquired the TV rights for the complete Sailor Moon series (200 x 26’).

The TV channel will start broadcasting the series on February 17th every week days with 3 episodes per day at 5.30pm.

MCD Television group acquired the TV broadcasting rights for the first season of Sailor Moon (46x26’) for Turkey. The series, aiming at young girls, will be broadcast on Kidz-Animez in May.

After the successful releases of the two first series in DVD, the DVD publisher Kazé will soon release for the first time in France the movie Sailor Moon R in DVD! They also highlighted the series on their Japan Expo booth through a photocall and goodies distribution.

Abysse Corp. acquired the merchandising rights for Sailor Moon and will soon release new exclusive «gifts» products (mugs, key chains, t-shirts, posters...) in France, French-speaking European countries and Spain.

Anime Expo announced today that they will be welcoming the dub cast from Sailor Moon as their guests of honor for 2014.

Timed in honor of the 20th anniversary of Sailor Moon, guests will include Linda Ballantyne (Sailor Moon, seasons 3 and 4), Susan Roman (Sailor Jupiter), Katie Griffin (Sailor Mars), Karen Bernstein (Sailor Mercury, seasons 1 and 2), and Stephanie Morgenstern (Sailor Venus, seasons 1 and 2). The guests will be on hand to participate in a Sailor Moon panel, as well as individual autograph sessions.

Check out AX's website for biographies of each guest.

Fans in or near the Niagara region may be interested in checking out the Niagara Falls Comic Con this summer, which will be running June 6-8, 2014 at the Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls, Canada.

Some of the Canadian Sailor Moon cast members will be appearing as guests. Linda Ballantyne (Sailor Moon #3), Katie Griffin (Sailor Mars #1), Susan Roman (Sailor Jupiter), Toby Proctor (Tuxedo Mask #2), and John Stocker (Voice Director #3) will be appearing all three days at the convention.

Attractions will include:
Photo-ops with the Ecto-1 Replica (from Ghostbusters)
Cosplay Contest
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist Legacy Series
Board Gaming Tournaments
Video Game Arena
and more

The convention hours will be:
Friday, June 6: 4pm-9pm
Saturday, June 7: 10am-7pm
Sunday, June 8: 10am-6pm

Admission is $25 for a single day ticket, or $60 for the weekend.

More information about the Niagara Falls Comic Con (including details of other guests) is available on their website and their Facebook page.