Sailor Moon Forum

Imagine if Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman was allowed to do an American animated version of the Sailor Moon mythology?

He did. It's called W.I.T.C.H. Only lasted two seasons due to the usual ABC/Disney executive meddling. The comic is still going strong in Europe, though.

He did WITCH? I didn't know that, otherwise I would have watched it.

More stuffs below.

Note: Fernando Sanz specifically mentions, more than once, that the license was very expensive, which pretty much debunks what the Italian site reported as "free license" rantipole. This was a pretty informative segment. Read on!

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PlanB: How was it, after the process, Towers and Capital 8 were able to acquire the remastered versión of Sailor moon from Toei? What did you have to sell (to them)?

Sanz: Basically, it was an expensive product. Sailor Moon is an expensive product, mainly because it's starting to reappear in markets all over the world. It is being relicensed all over.

PlanB: We’re not going to tell you all the details of how it was acquired, etc, because (if we did), Toei’s offices would be burned down at this moment.

Sanz: It was a difficult process. There’s a lot of things that I would take too long in explaining, but basically we fought, we insisted a lot with Toei, with Naoko, so that we could acquire the license. I believe a lot of it had to do with the fondness Naoko Takeuchi has towards the fans in Latin America.
Obviously the license cost much more money so that it could be released. But one of the conditions was to respect not only the version that we had presented to Toei and Naoko (the Talk Box), but also to respect the image, the quality, the audio; in other words, to make it the best we could, to not ruin it like other franchises, where they get cuts here and there; to comply with one of the guidelines which is to not cut anything and to have the best quality audio and video possible so as to not deceive the fans.

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Ditto this. I had no idea! Still, Sailor Moon is Sailor Moon... and while I'm sure W.I.T.C.H. is good I would still love to see him take the existing story we know and love and add his special brand of sophistication to it that he did with Gargoyles and Spider-Man.

More stuffs below.

Note: Fernando Sanz specifically mentions, more than once, that the license was very expensive, which pretty much debunks what the Italian site reported as "free license" lol. This was a pretty informative segment. Read on!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PlanB: How was it, after the process, Towers and Capital 8 were able to acquire the remastered versión of Sailor moon from Toei? What did you have to sell (to them)?

Sanz: Basically, it was an expensive product. Sailor Moon is an expensive product, mainly because it's starting to reappear in markets all over the world. It is being relicensed all over.

PlanB: We’re not going to tell you all the details of how it was acquired, etc, because (if we did), Toei’s offices would be burned down at this moment.

Sanz: It was a difficult process. There’s a lot of things that I would take too long in explaining, but basically we fought, we insisted a lot with Toei, with Naoko, so that we could acquire the license. I believe a lot of it had to do with the fondness Naoko Takeuchi has towards the fans in Latin America.
Obviously the license cost much more money so that it could be released. But one of the conditions was to respect not only the version that we had presented to Toei and Naoko (the Talk Box), but also to respect the image, the quality, the audio; in other words, to make it the best we could, to not ruin it like other franchises, where they get cuts here and there; to comply with one of the guidelines which is to not cut anything and to have the best quality audio and video possible so as to not deceive the fans.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I dont know if its worth translating the stuff regarding the Talk Boxes themselves (which is what the rest of the podcast is about), but these guys are definitely not fooling around. Fernando Sanz also manages the Facebook page "Sailor Moon Mexico" and updates daily, and replies to fan questions and comments. They take fan feedback VERY seriously. They are interacting with the fans on a very very down to earth level, and giving us exactly what we ask for!! (if its manageable, y'know, if Naoko approves etc L O L)

Like a hot topic right now is whether or not to dub the 2nd ending, "Princess Moon", and even down to which artist should interpret it (being the original singer of the Latin American opening and ending themes, or Salome Anjari, who has done numerous VERY well done renditions of the songs)

It makes me feel so fortunate that this is the dub version I relate to the most, since it's getting such a grand treatment. These guys are definitely perfectionists who want everything just as much as the fans do

This is the version of Princess Moon by Salome Anjari, which is spot on with the Japanese lyrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhvGTkADU8o

Really wish Kodansha Comics would consider the fans instead of their pockets for once

However, if we took that analogy about Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, we wouldn't have trolls like Joe Quesada and Brand New Day.

As mindbendingly stupid as Brand New Day was,

Glad to finally get the whole picture with a full translation of the source. Bravo, Vilhelm. Bravo.

So, Naoko's become a hard nut to crack, eh? Seems like she sure has changed over the years since that interview she did way back when (in which she appeared rather shy and such).

I gotta wonder why she's become so stern with this, as, Nangbaby is very much right that, even in this day and age, the show cannot air on American TV with some small censorship to make it more viewer-safe.

Take that Chibiusa gun scene, for example. The gun needs to at least be altered to look unrealistic for a TV edit. Maybe airbrush it bright blue and remove some of its finer details to make it look like one of those generic-looking fictional blaster guns seen in fantasy/sci-fi fiction. It gun stay a "weapon" without looking like a real-world "gun".

A home video release would be nice, but it wouldn't be as successful by itself without a TV broadcast.

But, wait a sec! The recent Hebrew dub (which is brand new, if I may add) was indeed censored to a certain extent. How did that dub get licensed if Naoko wanted no edits?

One More Day.

Maybe it's the Americans being stubborn?

What have the Americans to do with the Hebrew dub?

Maybe she doesn't want homosexuality and death removed and major storyline changes like in the current English Dub, and maybe she doesn't want the old dub to ever see the light of day ever again.. I don't blame her. I feel really proud as a moonie that Naoko is finally putting her foot down.

That could be it. The problem is, is that Sailor Moon is still too cute to be put on Adult Swim, so, unless inspiration hits (or TeenNick takes it), we're stuck.

Maybe she doesn't want homosexuality and death removed and major storyline changes like in the current English Dub, and maybe she doesn't want the old dub to ever see the light of day ever again.. I don't blame her. I feel really proud as a moonie that Naoko is finally putting her foot down.

I honestly think Funimation and Nicktoons would certainly be her best choice, though.

Maybe she doesn't want homosexuality and death removed and major storyline changes like in the current English Dub, and maybe she doesn't want the old dub to ever see the light of day ever again.. I don't blame her. I feel really proud as a moonie that Naoko is finally putting her foot down.

Like I said, Nicktoons would be the best station to air it.

On that, I agree. but it would still have to be censored just a bit in order for it to air for its target audience of children.

Well, yeah, there's always going to be a bit of editing, but there are ways to do it without making drastic changes to the storyline and character development, and I think that's what Naoko wants.

I think such mild edits can be made too. But this translated info from Vilhelm states otherwise, implying that Naoko wants nothing edited and no content altered whatsoever.

Well, that shoudn't be taken too literally if the Hebrew TV-Aired dub had censorship. Maybe there's exceptions for the TV broadcast since each country has different sets of restrictions of what can be aired on TV.

Then Towers/Capital8 came and bought the DVD distribution license, made their own dub using the old voice actors from the early 90s, and sold the DVDs. So essentially, two different dubs, two different licenses, two different companies. But the same show.