Sailor Moon to be animated once more?

Last updated: 06/08/03

After last year's rumors concerning "Sailor Moon X", it was only natural that the dawning of 2003 would bring a new rumor to the front. This time, the purveyors were the time old trumpeters of many a rumor - the ever-muddled Save Our Sailors.

In late January of 2003, the SOS posted a very long article detailing the news that a new Sailormoon anime was in the works. Their source? Bandai's Japanese Sailormoon website. For once, a source that can be checked, assuming you read Japanese. However, the actual source they use for the article, a New Year's message by Takeuchi Naoko, is a bit vague (Translation by SOS):

"And this year maybe there is going to be big news about sailormoon. (In the last half of the year.) We are planning to make an announcement (unscheduled) in this corner. If you have time, please check my page."

In addition to Naoko's New Year's message, the SOS also sources her October 2002 message as proof of the new show, even though she gave no indication of a new series beyond solicitation for ideas. It's also slightly laughable that SOS claims they held off on reporting the October update to give Japanese fans a chance (visitors of this site already know that I reported on that update in September, and Alex Glover had it up in the same month.) Furthermore, SOS jumps right ahead into assuming the new show will be live action, with no real proof to back up their claims except that Takeuchi was inspired by some live action shows (she was also inspired by Playboy for some of her artwork, does that mean she wants to do a hentai Sailormoon series?) and the existence of Sera Myu, but nothing solid. Much of the article is entirely speculation of the SOS, with several falsities. For instance, they insist that nobody should write Takeuchi unless they speak Japanese, but Takeuchi mentioned in the beginning of her October update that she had read a letter from a 13-year-old girl in Russia. The fact that Takeuchi probably has a translator has not crossed the minds of the SOS.

Finally, on June 7th of 2003, the long fabeled update arrived, and Anime News Network was one of the first to get the translation - Takeuchi, interviewed in Young You magazine, announced a new live-action Sailormoon series will be premiering in October of 2003. This one, however, was nothing like the one SOS had been writing about. For more details, please check the appropriate section. Sadly, it seems fans hoping for another anime will just have to keep waiting.