Sailor Moon Season 1 Part 1 Limited Edition Blu-ray Combo Pack

In the 20-odd years since the franchise began, Sailor Moon and the predecessor Codename Sailor V started as a manga by former pharmacy technician Naoko Takeuchi. Both were primed to become anime, but Sailor Moon won out as Sailor V's anime deal fell through.Over the course of 5 years in Japan, between March 1992 and March 1997, 200 main episodes, 3 feature films, 2 pre-features short films and a trilogy special release during the SuperS season, which was partially based on the fourth manga arc.Between its run, the anime was licensed to various countries. But eventually, licenses ran out. It was orchestrated, or at least from an assumed perspective, to drive up nostalgia factor during the 20th anniversary rerelease.I have seen the English dubbed version by Viz on hulu and I can admit that the critics who trash the voice acting as garbage fail to see the point. I am from a family of artists, with multilingual studies, written word and visual arts as part of my studies, I have learned that a 100% accurate translation in terms of vocal acting and wording of the lines originally spoken in anime is an impossible task that in certain cases, can't be done. But the fact that various episodes that were dropped in the first dub by DiC (later Cookie Jar, then DHX) have been translated into English and dubbed by Viz should be a pleasant bonus to those who had invested in the Japanese DVDs.Between license runs, the underground of fansubbing was originally the only possible way to see the original Japanese episodes and the translation, which, although illegal, was reason enough for major anime companies within North America to take notice on profitable franchises.It was originally proposed that Funimation, who invested in the Dragon Ball metaseries, also from the same anime studio as Sailor Moon, Toei Animation, that by popular demand via poll, that they were to re-dub the series to its full extent. However, due to circumstances, this deal didn't materialize.With the impending worldwide streaming release of Sailor Moon Crystal, a more faithful retelling of the manga, Viz announced they were to do the deal with Toei of translation of both anime versions.This explanation is insight on the phenomena of Sailor Moon.The voices aren't as bad. Stephanie Sheh, who has done voices for the Monster High cartoon and was the sole villainess of the Deadly Six in Sonic Lost World, plays the eponymous heroine in both her civilian and superhero form and I admit she captured the pitch just right.Michelle Ruff, who voiced Fujiko Mine in the short-lived dub of Lupin III, is wonderful as Luna, compared to the DiC dub, which made Luna sound like a very old, Julie Andrews-like nanny.This dub may fall flat in some spots, but the fact the dub is more faithful than previous versions, is reason enough to go buy it.UPDATE: I did 4 binge watching sessions as the discs in the first season go 8-8-7-8-8-7 in terms of episodes, doing 4 discs so far and I've got to say, the only annoyance is that the video is rendered\encoded with black bars, but the fact the video was originally 4:3 and that this cartoon is from the early 1990s, I shouldn't expect much from Toei, who realized that the passion for Sailor Moon was not extinguished. As stated in other reviews, Toei had given the HD masters as the SD masters were in no shape for use. I find no problem with the Japanese names, seeing as I use cartoons from around the world as cultural stepping stones to motivate me to learn about culture and language. I don't mind Japanese music as I've been listening to it since I was 10 and I'm 27 and a former colleague of mine noted the fluidity of Japanese language paired well with music, even when a lover's spat broke out. I don't mind the madness of these comparison and usage in motivating education, because teaching and academics is part of my heritage. I was born to teach and I find making it fun helps.The DiC and Cloverway version are no longer legally releasable so if you were expecting "Serena", you are sadly wasting time. If you were expecting "Usagi", then I welcome you in faithful translation.P.S. I am from a family run by two Internet innovators (grandpa worked in fiber optics and dad was a program manager in Microsoft's various departments that involved or required Internet Access)So, the rating still stands at 5 stars as I can't expect wine from Fijian spring water: with the way thing are, the spring water has been around longer than the wine and if you were to check Biblical records, I'd be right. To be blunt, 1992 was 23 years ago, which was when I was 4 years old and cel animation transitioned to computer hand-drawn only in the last 15-16 or so years. Sure, it will be messy and errors will pop up but that's because it was done by hand in tiny cubicles in short time periods. (Episode 21 will give you an idea of pre-computer hand-drawn workstations.)I commend Viz for restoring faith in the fandom. Keep at it.

I love this show. In fact, it is probably one of my top five animes of all time. Probably much closer to being first place on the list than any other anime show. Without a doubt, it is a 5 star show all the way and a 5 star release all the way (even though i wish it was all of season one instead of only 23 episodes), but the 1 star comes to the new English voice cast.I understand the original DIC dubb in the 90's was heavily edited, and some fans viled that release, but i personally loved it. It introduced me to anime when anime wasn't easily accessible in America during that time. Whereas now, anime is widely available in all forums such as blu-ray, Netflix and even Amazon as part of their streaming collection.This show originally aired at 630am in the morning, but i still forced myself to wake up anyways and not miss any episodes. I even recorded every episode i could on my VHS tapes. The show had heart, laughter, and the English voice cast was just spot on. The biggest problem with this set is the new voice actors really lack "personality". The original DIC dubb had no trouble in that department. I understand staying true to the source, and not deviating, but i think it is great that DIC americanized it for the US audiences and made pop culture references that were relatable. For instance when Serena/Sailor Moon says 'Joey Lawrence' when Molly confides she has a secret crush on an older man. I miss Terri Hawkes voice sooooo much. She was a great Sailor Moon and probably the only one that could voice her besides Tracey Moore who dubbed about 13 episodes in season one. They both balanced comedy and emotion perfectly.Anyways, that is my rant. I love the release, brought it, but find the voice actors to be bland and boring and they are literally reading the Japanese subtitles word for word, but with their English voices.Update:So i got my set today in the mail and i have been watching the episodes for a few hours straight and i get tempted to pop in my old DVDs and watch the original voice cast. As mentioned, a lot of the actors almost sound the same and there is no variety whatsoever. Luna sounds like a kid, Molly sounds like Luna, Melvin doesn't sound like a geek. Serena's mother sounds like a teenager and her younger brother Sammy sounds like he is 30. Yes, i said it using their American names. The 1080P HD isn't even that noticeable after the first episode. Here are something others that bug me.Amy is pronounced OM-ME. AMY is just AMY or AMI. Not OMMMMM-MEEEEEEJedite is just JED-DITE and not JADE-DITE. He is not some chinese jewel.Stephanie is not horrible as Sailor Moon, but she can come off a bit annoying at times. None of the voice actors have any comedic timing in their voice.English subtitles are simple structured sentences that anyone can write and it comes off so bland when the voice actors read it word for word without any ablibs.Here are some dumb lines: So you are part of the bad guys team. REALLY???Luna now says: WHAT? Instead of: WHHHHAAAATTTTTT!!!!!! No personality whatsoever. Just LIFELESS.Jokes are lost in translation and do not come off funny.The boring Japanese music surely doesn't hold up 20 plus years later.The original English music was great and full of energy. They fit each scene perfectly.I miss the original voice cast sooooo much.Saying Moon Prism Power Make Up is sooooo CORNY. Remove the make up.Terri Hawkes laughter was infectious and endearing. Stephanie Sheh just comes off fake when she laughs.Now it is BUN HEAD instead of Meatball head. Americans never use the word BUN and even when they go to Starbucks to get a pastry, they never say: Let me get some buns. Meatball head is just funnier and more relatable. I can go on and on, but let me stop now.I added pictures of the box set and hope you enjoy them.

I grew up on the DiC version and became a big Sailor Moon fan but the prospects of that being onto DVD look remote, so I decided to buy the ViZ production.It should be noted there are differences between the two versions, everything is all re-voiced and the songs are all the originals from the Japanese version. The names of the characters in the DiC are different perhaps I think it was an attempt by at the time to make character names more approachable to the North American viewer. One will also notice there are 46 episodes if you buy parts 1 and 2 while DiC had only 40; the ViZ version as a result makes the overall story and plot line much more coherent. You will find there are episodes that never made the light of day in the DiC version.I won't get into the debate of what is better but what I will say is; I became a fan after the watching DiC version, so if I didn't like it then I would not have bought this version. After watching this version; the main thing I will admit that I do miss is are some of the songs in the DiC version. Having said that, watching the ViZ version does not diminish my enjoyment of it one bit.My main criticism is the package is a flimsy and is easily damaged; I would love to have a collector's edition like other classic series.In short, if you cannot own the DiC version then having this is the next best thing. Well worth the buy.

Blurays were surprisingly in tact, one has a minor scratch but as you can see, this case is not salvageable at all. Completely broken to pieces. So if you are a collector like me... You'll need to get a bunch of replacement cases when buying these off amazon.

I absolutely love this! The packaging is beautiful. The episodes are much brighter and cleaner than any other versions of this show I've seen. Some people are complaining that this isn't the American dub from the nineties, but I'm glad it's a new version. I never watched to old dub as a kind, so I don't have the nostalgia about it and would rather have better voice actors.

I am so very pleased with this re-dub of the series. They didn't cut or censor anything; this is Sailor Moon as it was meant to be seen. I had the old subtitled version already but the audio in this is far better (it doesn't sound like it was recorded on an old VHS tape) and I don't even NEED to put on the subtitles because most of what was re-dubbed was exactly or at least close to what I remember when watching the original. I can finally enjoy Sailor Moon with my kids without having to resort to the old DIC episodes. I couldn't possibly be happier with this product.

They changed the English dub. Its not the original voices.... I bought this for the nostalgic feels but they ruined it by changing the voice actors. Very disappointing !