Happy 1 AM everyone! I’m awake to translate some breaking news regarding the new Sailor Moon musical: La Reconquista. Earlier tonight on Twitter @osabu8 shared some images of the costume designs for this new musical, which included the new subtitle for the upcoming September 2013 performance.
There is a press release via Comic Natalie, which I have translated in full below:
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A new work by Naoko Takeuchi of “Sailor Moon”, a musical entitled “Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon -La Reconquista-“. Today, July 3rd, the 5 sailor soldiers and Tuxedo Masks’s costumes have gone public.
Including Tuxedo Mask, the entire cast is female, which has become a hot topic of conversation. As for the other cast members, the Sailor Soldiers’s enemy will be the Dark Kingdom, with Queen Beryl portrayed by Hatsukaze Midori, with her subordinate Kunzite of the Four Generals portrayed by Ryo Saika, known for playing male roles in Takarazuka theater. As for the actress cast as Jadeite of the Four Generals, that would be the first of her kind in Japan, a female actress who is a popular model in the drag king magazine publication KERA BOKU (Index Communication): Ruuto.
As for the subtitle, “La Reconquista”, it refers to a period in history between the 14th and 15th century when Christians took back the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims, in an attempt to recover their previously owned terrirtory (an exercise to take back their country). In this musical, the Sailor Soldiers and Tuxedo Mask fight with the enemy, the Dark Kingdom, to restore peace on earth, and for that reason this subtitle was chosen.
The musical “Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon -La Reconquista-” will begin performances on September 13th in Tokyo at the AiiA Theater Tokyo. Tickets will go on sale to the general public beginning August 17th.
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In addition, the second round of pre-orders for tickets to this event will be available between July 3rd ~ July 9th for NicoNico Douga subscribers. According to @osabu8, there will also be more news regarding the new Sailor Moon musical: La Reconquista in the August issue of Nakayoshi magazine, which goes on sale today (July 3rd).
Luckily, I have a subscription to Nakayoshi magazine, and I will provide a scan of the referenced page tomorrow afternoon as soon as my copy arrives.
The new musical costumes are a lot more mature and darker than previous ones from the older musicals. The phrase “La Reconquista” means “The Reconquest” in Spanish, and given that the new musical is supposed to be in the style of a come-back, a means of the sailor soldiers taking back what is theirs, I hope this means that the script and performance will be of a darker nature. The costumes and the facial expressions of the cast certainly look that way.
I’m also very pleased that many of the cast members are long-time Takarazuka veterans. In particular, I’m especially happy about the actres portraying Jadeite – this will be the first time that a popular drag king model will be cast in a musical dedicated to an anime series, so this is groundbreaking, especially for Japan where being gender-queer isn’t completely socially acceptable. This is extremely progressive, and I can’t wait to get more news of it as it comes out.
Stay tuned. I’ll be updating this post tomorrow with more information as it becomes available.
Edit: According to this page, here is the known cast so far –
Sailor Moon: Satomi Ookubo
Sailor Mercury: Miyabi Matsuura
Sailor Mars: Kanon Nakaki
Sailor Jupiter: Yuu Takahashi
Sailor Venus: Shiori Sakata
Tuxedo Mask: Yuuga Yamato
Queen Beryl: Hatsukaze Midori
Kunzite: Ryo Saika
Zoicite: Misaki Komatsu
Nephrite: KORO
Jadeite: RUUTO
Lemures Leader: Shintani Mayumi
Queen Serenity: Jamie Natsuki
Noooo, why no Hikari Ono!
Hmm so the s costumes are out now, and they look pretty darn good. =0
Anyway, I originally said the following: “Quick glances at the actresses:
Based on their looks alone, I can see Yuu Takahashi as Jupiter, Kanon Nanaki as Mars, and Shiori Sakata as Venus. I’m not sure on how well they’ll play the roles but that’s just at the glance. As for Satomi Ookubo and Myabi Matsurra as Moon and Mercury, I don’t see it (yet), but I’m open to see what happens. As for Yuga Yamato as the first Tuxedo Kamen, this should be interesting. If nothing else, the musical already makes sailor moon history just for that.”
Looking at the folks in costume, I’m going to revise my statement a little bit.
Kanon Nanaki I’ll stick with as Sailor Mars as it’s almost scary on how similar she is. If the voice matches up, then she’ll be enjoyable to watch.
Shiori Sakata as Sailor Venus looks pretty good overall, but it’s not of a lock to me when compared to Kanon Nanaki/Sailor Mars.
Of the three I mentioned I’d stand by, Yuu Takahashi doesn’t stand out to me as Jupiter. I don’t know how to say it, but the whole look seems off.
The surprise of the bunch to me goes to Satomi Ookubo as Sailor Moon. She does look good in the uniform, so I’m curious what the result will be. Then again, Anza didn’t quite fit the mold when she played the part in the musicals and she played it rather well.
As for Myabi Matsurra as Mercury, hmmm. The cut of the wig doesn’t seem right and to me seems a little too dark in color. Combined with her look, it doesn’t scream mercury to me, but if she can play the part well, it might soothe some of those issues.
Finally, what little I can see of Yuga Yamato looks good, but I would like to see a full costume picture of her as Tuxedo Kamen, and what she’d look like as Marmoru, if applicable to the musical.
As for some of the folks who no have roles, it looks like the cast is filling out, so hopefully we’ll see images of all of them coming soon. =)
laters,
RRViper
(who never actually disappears from anywhere, he just hovers in the shadows watching from afar)
1920×1080 Wallpaper – I already LOVE the 5th Stage :D
http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/9540/mm64.jpg
LOVE this wallpaper – it’s now on my desktop! :D
Oh. My. God. I’ve been a fan of SeraMyu since Fumina’s stage. I am thrilled it is coming back! One thing that I hated about Fourth Stage is that they hired cute young girls that lacked singing/chemistry, I hope that trend does not continue. But no more negativity, I’m very happy to see the musicals get rebooted. It’s truly a Sailor Moon revival!!! As for La Soldier, they HAVE to have it. Period. The best way imo to go about it is to do a remix. Brand new start is fine, do a remix, no big deal, but La Soldier has to be there. Encore number. All day. Errday. lol
I think…I think I’m going to die. This is just too much.
LOOK.HOW.FUCKING.AMAZING.THEY.LOOK. PERIOD.
I can see each and every one of these girls as their roles! They look amazing!!!! And the costumes!!! YES!!! I’m a guy and I’m flipping out about them lol! YAAAAAY!!! I wonder if La Moon will also be included…