ATTENTION TOWNSPEOPLE!!

THE NEW SAILOR MOON ANIME HAS A TITLE AND ARTWORK AND A (tentative) RELEASE DATE! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!

omg squeeeeeee!! (English translation here)

Just to give you all an idea of why this is such a huge deal - nearly everything to do with Sailor Moon went out of print around 2003 (or thereabouts) and there was absolutely no new content. Anywhere. No repeats of anime, no reprints of manga, no toys being made - NOTHING. Sure, the live-action series came out in 2004 (which I have not seen 'cause... I have this thing about the bits I've seen. Like... it's going to be weird watching it. Maybe I should just suck it up and try it for real) - but that was it. To borrow a phrase - Moonies were kind of experiencing Wilderness Years of their own.

Then the 20th Anniversary happened in 2012, and The Powers That Be opened the floodgates. Manga reprints, new toys and T-shirts, a new stage musical, and HOLY CRAP A REBOOTED ANIME! SLATED TO BE RELEASED SUMMER 2013! IS THIS THE REAL LIFE??

Except Summer 2013 came... and it went... And there was zero news about the anime. No casting or artwork or ANYTHING! The fans would go ape over the latest lipstick line - but I was all "Yeah, yeah, shiny pretty stuff - oooh, that Sailor Mercury Figuart looks awesome (my birthday's in a few months, FYI) - BUT WHERE THE CRAP IS THE ANIME???"

Friends, Romans, Countrymen - we wait no longer. Today, the official Sailor Moon website put up a countdown in the animation section of the site (which, I suppose they're going to go through with because... why the hell not?) and then the above image and text was leaked by someone in the Toei Animation offices and the internet went wild (MoonKitty has the full rundown of everything we know - which looks so much less anemic than it did yesterday).

I am super-stoked about this. Sailor Moon was my gateway into anime when I was thirteen (I have a younger sister to thank for that - much to my parents' chagrin) and even though I went through a period of time where I kind of distanced myself from it (to my great shame) - I've come back in recent years and I cannot WAIT for this! It's influenced me creatively in so many ways and it represents a bright spot in my junior high and high school years (which generally just suck for everybody all the way around. Show me someone who loved middle school and I will show you a flaming hot liar). For a lot of us in the 90s, the Sailor Scouts (shut up, I'm a dub baby) were our first foray with female superheroes and that means a great deal (a team of interplanetary princesses who double as superheroes and kick ass in high heels and have their own unique personalities and are the bestest of best friends and there's a super-awesome love story thrown in for good measure - what's not to love?)

I'm still not totally sold on July being the final release date because it's been pushed back so much since the initial announcement and I'm pretty skeptical still, but even so - there's only one thing for it. WE DANCE!

(What did y'all think we were going to dance to?)

EDIT: Interestingly enough, all this comes the day after I changed my laptop's wallpaper scheme to Sailor Mercury. Serendipity, indeed.

Also - there will be reviews. Look forward to it! :)