First, to quote from my
Nakayoshi Fan Mail Corner thread:
From the November 1995 issue:
NAOKO.
NAOKOです.「コードネームは セーラーV」のオリジナルビデオは、 来年の春登場にむけて、現在製作中 です。また、なかよし十二月号には、応募 者全員大サーピスもあるので、期待してて ね。それから、十月十四日の午後七時から、 映画版「美少女戦士セーラームーンR」が放 映になるの。まだ、みてない人は、ぜったい に、チェックしちゃってくださあい。
The original video for “Codename: Sailor V” is currently being produced for the spring of next year. Also, in the December issue of Nakayoshi, there's a large service for all applicants, so please check that out. Then, at 7 PM on October 14, the Sailor Moon R movie will be on TV. If you haven't seen it yet, please tune in.
The OVA seems to have been first announced in the September issue:
link
オリジナルビデオ化も決定して,ますますパワーアップ!
It was also decided [for Sailor V] to become an original video, more and more powered up!
みんなで応援よろしくねっ!
Everyone, thanks for your support!
link
オリジナルビデオ化も決定!
Original Video has been announced!
セーラーVちゃんが堂々と復活!!
Sailor V is revived in majesty!!
More information was said to be given in the September issue of RUNRUN, which unfortunately MissDream has no scans of.
I've found a copy for sale on
this site, but I don't know if they ship to the US. (Has anyone bought from there before?)
Anyway, from this we can tell the OVA had been in production for at least two months by the time of Naoko's message in the November issue. In that space of time certainly character designs would have been done, and also at least a first draft of a script. I hope those have been preserved in an archive somewhere and will someday see the light of day. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any more mentions of the OVA after November, so I guess it was canceled fairly soon thereafter?
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Also in the September '95 issue was a page dedicated to Sailor Moon news around the world. A couple of parts caught my eye:
link
Portugal, Israel, Singapore, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Scandinavia, and Poland also have the anime scheduled for broadcast
Israel didn't get a dub until 2011, right? If there had been plans for a dub back in 1995, I wonder what caused them to fall through...
link
イギリスでも、まんがの出版準備中
Also in the UK, they're preparing to publish the manga
Tokyopop didn't release the first volume of their translation for another two and a half years, in April 1998. I wonder what British publisher was going to release the manga originally and why those plans fell through....