Sailor Moon Cosmos PV Introduces the Sailor Starlights

A new PV for the upcoming Sailor Moon Crystal movie has appeared, giving fans a look at the Sailor Starlights trio of Sailor Scouts. Titled Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos The Movie, though shortened to Sailor Moon Cosmos for brevity, this two-part movie, based on Stars arc of the manga, June 9th and June 30th in Japan. Until then, we have a trailer to watch and ogle as three starlets take the stage. In case you missed it, we previously covered the first trailer.

A home page and an official Twitter account provide further details for the upcoming Sailor Moon Cosmos event. The key visual art we previously showed off is of higher quality this time.

The stars of this PV, and the characters who will work with Sailor Moon and her guardians, are the Sailor Starlights. Sailor Scouts from another galaxy arrive on Earth to find their princess, Kakyuu. They team up with Sailor Moon to fight Sailor Galaxia, the powerful being who destroyed their homeworld, Kinmoku.

While on Earth, the Sailor Starlights (Kou Seiya/Sailor Star Fighter, Kou Taiki/Sailor Star Maker, and Kou Yaten/Sailor Star Healer) disguise themselves as the band called “Three Lights.” The popular boy group sings songs about locating their princess.

A deep contrast exists between the original manga series Sailor Moon Cosmos and the older anime adaptation from the 90s. While on Earth, Sailor Starlights disguise themselves as boys on stage and at school. For the original manga series, they merely cross-dress but remain girls underneath the clothes. This seems to be the case for Sailor Moon Cosmos as well. However, the older anime series had them become boys until they transformed. Compare the original manga series and the first anime adaptation.

The original creator Naoko Takeuchi took issue with this change. It seems to be rectified in Sailor Moon Cosmos. In an interview from 2012, Mrs. Takeuchi confirmed that only girls could be Sailor Scouts and that the Sailor Starlights are cross-dressing girls. She even clarified that she didn’t like the genderswapping in the first Sailor Moon anime adaptation. She also asserted that Haruka was always a girl, but that confusion could be attributed to the poor localization from back then.

If anyone is looking for more gender-bending goodness, and Sailor Starlights in Sailor Moon Cosmos isn’t enough for you, then J-List has a bunch of boys who look like girls. Check out the popular otokonoko section!

Here is more background information for one of the most popular shoujo manga series. Naoko Takeuchi is the artist and writer of the series. She first formed the basis of Sailor Moon in the manga one-shot Codename: Sailor V. That story combined Takeuchi’s love of magical girls and tokusatsu heroes (heroes that transform into powerfully different forms – see Kamen Rider and Super Sentai). It was first published on August 3rd, 1991, in the manga magazine RunRun to rave reviews.

Toei Animation learned of the title Codename: Sailor V and wanted Naoko to build upon it, leading to Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. The first issue was published on December 28th, 1991, and continued until February 3rd, 1997, with 70 chapters. When Codename: Sailor V is added to them, as it is included as a prequel arc, that amounts to 86 chapters. Since Naoko Takeuchi was writing and illustrating for both, Codename: Sailor V saw sporadic and shorter releases. Its last chapter was published on July 3rd, 1997.

Are you looking forward to the final Sailor Moon arc in a proper animation adaptation? Which Sailor Scout is your waifu? Is it Sailor Chaos? Let us know in the comments below.