sailor moon reflections

Update – Sailor Moon Book!

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Well here’s the latest update on the Sailor Moon Book . . . the research phase is done!

. . . this is not exciting as it sounds.  First, because we’re not doing an in-depth historical book so it’s pretty basic.  Secondly, most information on Sailor Moon is limited, biased, or piecemeal.  The best sources for discussing the experience were Sailor Moon Reflections and Warriors of Legend – both of which ironically focused on aspects of Sailor Moon different from our focus.  Go figure.

The biggest surprise so far seems to be the ill-explored history of Magical Girls.  Everyone traces it back to Sally the Witch, but Sailor Moon seems closer to Princess Comet (the manga, not the 2000’s anime based on it), but there’s really little on that series.  Probably worth revisiting.

Meanwhile Bonnie finished editing the entire book, and integrated new interviews, so now I’m taking this week to do an editing run.  As the book itself is roughly 120-140 pages that’ll go pretty quick.  In fact, I’m rather glad it’s not voluminous – it’s got a friendly, intimate feel.  It’s like a documentary or series of con panels s a book, and we’ve kept a bit of an informal feel inside the formal organization.

Once I do that pass it’s time for her and I to sit down and read it together – then it goes to prereaders and contributors.

Still not dropping until September or so – sorry folks, we want this done right.  But if we can accelerate it . . .

  • Steve

Sailor Moon Book: An Update

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Hey gang, so the latest on the Sailor Moon Book (y’know, we really need to make sure we finalize the title so I have something to call it).

Me, I’m now up to my neck in research, which is to say, reading stuff and seeing it it’s useful and sticking it in the bibliography.  The sad part is the information isn’t “spread out” consistently – a few things are best found via wikis first then drilled into.  I wish someone would write a book on Sailor Moon’s history with a giant bibliography, and I have the terrifying fear someone will want us to do that next (I actually have a few other plans in mind).  So this is a pretty erratic experience, but I think I’ve discovered enough useful information.

Two things that came up are:

  • The exact history of the first Sailor Moon dub is a bit erratic (indeed, one book, Sailor Moon Reflections) was the best source.  Really this early history is kind of a mess, of options, of handoffs, hard-working actors and cultural adaptions, and strange broadcast hours.  It’s a bit of a wonder it happened.
  • The history of Magical Girl shows isn’t that well documented.  I found some intriguing bits and pieces on a manga called Princess Comet, which sounds like a proto-Sailor Moon story (including a lost handsome prince, space magic, and some rivalry) but can’t find much else on it.

Bonnie did her first run through the book and it’s shaping up.  It went from “reads like a collection of blog posts” to “reads like an book that needs polishing” due to her extensive efforts.  Once I finish my research (this week hopefully) I’ll make a go, then she and I will go over it together later in February.

It’s got a feel of being a kind of extended convention panel, filled with anecdotes and human bits, as well as a clear outline of progression (which was fairly obvious).  It took work to get it going, but now it’s really enjoyable as we see the different facets of how this show affected people.

Oh, and we’ll hopefully be speaking at some cons in 2016, stay tuned . . .

The artist is signed on.  No spoiling yet 😉

  • Steve