I just got off a virtual press junket for Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live touring the USA from now until April 26 when it ends in New York. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live will be in Seattle too on March 25-26 and it’s one of the only stops that gets two shows. Sailor Moon reminds me of growing up and watching tv afterschool with my sister-we loved that show so much. And the whole press junket was in Japanese with English translation and I’m also part-Japanese so it was the coolest thing to get to do my work in the two languages I grew up with for the very first time. (And also I really need to do Duolingo Japanese. I’m doing Spanish right now and I think I’m actually learning a lot.)

There were three cast and characters from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon at the press junket along with their translator and they were:

Makoto Matsuda, Lead producer of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live, Founding Chairman of The Japan 2.5 Dimensional Musical Association. 

Satomi Toma, the Choreographer of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live

Riko Tanaka,(who plays the role of Sailor Moon) of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live. 

Where you can find a bit about Sailor Moon if you don’t know the story

I was a teenager when I first watched Sailor Moon but I dug a little for the details on Wikipedia and you can too. Sailor Moon is a manga character from Japan created in 1991. She starts out as Usagi, a middle school student who meets a cat on the way home from school one day and the cat gives her a magical brooch that allows her to turn into Sailor Moon and protect the earth from Evil. This manga was turned into anime in Japan from 1992-1997 and also in the USA in 1995 and also Canada where I grew up. The story evolved over time and I can’t remember where I left off. But I remember buying all the Sailor Moon things when we went to Japan and it’s cool how much we have here now in the United States. You can watch the series on Netflix and Hulu.

Someone asked Riko Tanaka who plays Sailor Moon in Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live what is it that people like about Sailor Moon? And she talked about how Usagi is charming and clumsy and people want to help her and that when she becomes the Sailor Moon character she is unbeatable and powerful and the contrast and gap between the two makes her intriguing. And I think this might be it too. We all can kind of relate to Usagi but aspire to be like Sailor Moon.

Someone asked about what is a 2.5 D musical

Makoto Matsuda explained something on the lines that it’s based on the idea of bringing the 2 d world of manga and comics to life in kind of an in-between world of expressing 2D in the world of 3d. There is song, music, dance technology and so much more than a regular musical. And a manifesto to call it a new thing, instead of calling it a musical, calling it the Super Live. Apparently this has become a popular medium for a robust young audience who traditionally didn’t go to musicals in Japan.

And I this he also said this too, I was scrambling to get everything written down, but this statement feels like this is the heart of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live. That even in the fighting scenes: “it’s not the all-mighty unbeatable character. It’s a normal girl in the lead fighting position. The action and fighting is about friendship, love and trust and building of the human character. It’s a story about what it is to honor peace and love in this environment. It is not in the best state to be fighting actually. It’s pointing the other direction about how wonderful it is to honor the message of love and peace. And by the character being not-all mighty, it’s relatable and that’s why it’s been loved for 3 decades.”

Also the cast is Japanese because Sailor Moon is a Japanese girl and her story is set there, so this was something that was important for this show too. Japan has been very popular in the travel space recently so I wonder if people might also go to this show also because they had such a good experience on their travels. Are you planning to go to Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live? Or maybe have you gone already? I’d love to hear about it! Also I’m curious about what age this show is good for, I might try to take my niece.

You can find out more about the 21 places on the show’s US tour here as well as how to get tickets.

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)