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
