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RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Ouch, sucks to be him. *Ponders* Is the name symbolic here? I know that's the snake eating its own tail. Typhis... I hardly knew ye.

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Ah, MOTD! I love it! Necros, nice name for them. Is that the singular and plural, or is necro the singular?

Courtesy of Moon Chase Blog:

BREAKING NEWS: Italian Press Release Shows Potential of International Revival of Sailor Moon!


Finally, after many months of waiting, Toei Animation Europe finally posts an official press release announcing the return of Sailor Moon! As we reported not too long ago, Italy's Backstage Licensing and Toei have signed an exclusive deal to resurrect Sailor Moon on the Italian market. Backstage, will be managing the TV, publishing, merchandising, and theatrical release rights of the franchise (Sacre Bleu, does this mean the manga as well?). The press release also says "The feasibility of this project also relies on a close collaboration with the original author of SAILORMOON, Mrs Naoko Takeuchi." This is echoing what the licensing reporters were speaking of before with the Style Guide. But the best part of this press release is a quote from Mr. Kanji Kazhaya, the General Director of Toei Animation Europe:

"We are very happy, to have Backstage as the licensing partner of SAILORMOON. It is one of the most important factor of success. We are certain that strategically Italy is the ideal country to initiate a global re-launch of the classic Japanese animated series, such as SAILORMOON. The Italian public has traditionally been passionate about ‘anime'."

Perhaps, this strategy chose Italy first to "test the waters" since it is not necessarily one of the bigger markets that Sailor Moon has been successful with (a Spanish dub for example, would be shown in various markets in Europe, South, and Latin America, and the English dub would go to Australia and the UK, aside from North America). Best to see what happens in a smaller market in case it doesn't go well (but we can't imagine Sailor Moon not doing well)!

Unfortunately, the press release also announces that the series is delayed to air again, this time listing it as Autumn 2010. Another website, MangaForever, has posted a new image and this may be from the style guide considering the copyrights posted below. We have to say, we love this new logo (if it will be a new logo) - it is a LOT better than the old titles which just appeared to look like drab colored text during the show openings. We have featured this new image above - what do you all think?

We recommend all of our Italian readers, send Toei, Mediaset, and Backstage licensing their most heartfelt "Grazie Tanto!" This was a long time coming, Italia!

From the Official Toei Animation Europe press release:

The return of SAILORMOON!


The International “relaunch” of SAILORMOON will take off from Italy.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Paris (January 25, 2010) -Toei Animation and Backstage ink a deal to re-launch the classic
‘anime’ SAILORMOON on the Italian market. The Italian agency will manage the exploitation of
the following rights for Italy: TV, publishing, merchandising and theatrical release. The feasibility
of this project also relies on a close collaboration with the original author of SAILORMOON, Mrs
Naoko Takeuchi.

«We are very happy» commented Kanji Kazahaya, Directeur General, Toei Animation Europe, «to
have Backstage as the licensing partner of SAILORMOON. It is one of the most important factor
of success. We are certain that strategically Italy is the ideal country to initiate a global re-launch
of the classic Japanese animated series, such as SAILORMOON. The Italian public has
traditionally been passionate about ‘anime’».

Toei Animation confirms the trust given to the Italian agency, which is already in charge of
managing other important Toei Animation properties such as Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya and One
Piece.

In Japan, SAILORMOON has been a real cultural phenomenon but also one of the biggest success
worldwide during the 90’s. With 5 seasons, a total of 200 episodes of 26 min. each, plus six
feature films, SAILORMOON managed to conquer a wide public, mainly female, thanks to its
uniqueness and a plot full of humor, actions and emotions.

«We are thrilled to manage SAILORMOON rights for the second time» said Gianpietro Peia,
Backstage CEO. «We are very proud of the outcome of the delicate negotiation with the author
and also of the trust gained by Toei Animation. SAILORMOON can rely on hundreds of passionate
and excited fans so we are positive about obtaining good commercial results. Many Italian
companies have already expressed their interest and they will be able to take advantage of a
totally new and redesigned Style Guide».

Mediaset have already purchased the TV rights and they should air the first series in Autumn
2010.


Credits:

Toei Animation Europe, SAS

With headquarters in Tokyo and sales offices in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Paris, Toei Animation (Jasdaq: 4816) ranks
amongst the world’s most prolific animation production studios. Toei Animation’s operations include animation
development and production, and worldwide marketing and program licensing. Founded in 2004, Toei Animation Europe, is
in charge of the distribution and exploitation of Toei Animation’s animated series in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Among its most famous series: Captain Harlock, Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, Sailormoon, Digimon Adventure, One Piece,…

http://www.toei-animation.com

Backstage

Backstage is one of the first Italian independent agency that since 1991 has been active in the licensing business. It operates around
different main fields: Entertainment (from Tv animated series to movies), Brand and Art licensing. Backstage works with the most
renowned Italian companies building a relationship of mutual trust with Licensees and Licensors (Toei Animation, Marvel, Lucasfilm,
Artestar, etc.). The mission of Backstage is to provide its commercial partners with a complete service while developing effective
licensing campaigns. Backstage operates with the headquarter in Modena and one office in Milan.
Counting 15 employees divided in different departments, it guarantees a high level of service both to the Licensor and the Licensees
through sales, communication, marketing and Brand Assurance activities. The wide choice of characters allows the development of
diversified licensing plans, all customised to satisfy every single need of our partners.
http://www.backstagelicensing.com.

For further information:

Isabelle Favre

t. +33 175001552
i.favre@toei-anim.net

Lorenzo Varrà
t. +39 059 340700
lorenzo.varra@backstagelicensing.com

From Moon Chase:

Italian Fans, Mark Your Calendars for March 1st!
Today, Moon Chase came across a very intriguing story posted today by an Italian group organizing a Sailor Moon petition A few news outlets in Italy are buzzing with the news of Sailor Moon's TV premiere date today! The show will return on March 1st on Mediaset Premium's Hiro Channel (earlier than what Toei wrote in their press release) but as of this writing we don't have a timeslot to share. There will be more to hear about this from HIRO later - this seems to be the only statement about Sailor Moon in their February release, and they announced a few other February highlights. Another blog that wrote of this news today also made special mention of a fan campaign in Italy for an uncensored DVD release, a re-release of the manga, and an Italian doujinshi project. We are keeping an eye on news coming out of Italy, and we will let you know the moment we learn of a time slot! Special thanks to Light for sending in this story!

UPDATE
From Backstage Licensing site (Google translated & fixed):

Toei Animation, Backstage and Mediaset tell us about the new relaunch of the TV series and licensing of future projects for Sailor Moon.

The news of the revival of SailorMoon, after about 10 years since the last shift TV, now circulating for some months in the world of licensing and is attracting increasing interest from companies who hope to find, for 2010/2011, a License strong female with a long exposure on television.

Backstage strongly believes in the potential of this license, and has undertaken during 2009 with Toei Animation in order to obtain directly from the author of the series, Ms. Naoko Takeuchi, the green light to operate on the Italian market the rights to exploit global including television rights, publishing, music, merchandising, theatrical. "We are very proud to run for the second time the license rights to Sailor Moon," says Gianpietro Peia, CEO Backstage "and we're pleased with how we managed to handle the negotiation with Toei Animation. It is not easy to gain the trust of the companies of the Rising Sun, but thanks to the incredible work we have achieved with Dragon Ball, Backstage is now the reference point in Italy for the world of Japanese animation. "

Even Mediaset immediately expressed a strong interest in the TV series, composed of 200 episodes, 3 movies and 3 specials, and has won the television rights with the objective of planning Sailor Moon since the autumn. "I could not make me run a series historically part of the assets Mediaset, "says Fabrizio Margaria, program director of the band boys Mediaset. "After being gone for a long time from the small screen, I am very pleased to be able to reprogram on our networks. Likely, you never say anything for sure with the schedules, which goes on air this autumn and will be all the episodes in full, ie without the old complaints that now is anachronistic to the delight of all the old fans."

Toei Animation is closely monitoring the implementation of the development plan of the license. Italy is certainly one for the Japanese anime of the main markets in Europe and business results in terms of licensing have always been extremely positive. "We're happy," commented Mr. KanjiKazahaya, CEO of Toei Animation Europe "to entrust the revival Sailor Moon at Backstage. Italy is strategically ideal country for a global revival. The Italian public, in fact, has always shown great awareness of Japanese animation, decreeing some of the biggest international successes in terms of merchandise. "

The expectations in terms of business results are very ambitious, Sailor Moon can count on a very broad base of knowledgeable and affectionate confirmed by market research conducted recently by the Research CRA Milan.

"With Sailor Moon is hoping to repeat their success with Dragon Ball," says Stefania Perletto, Licensing Director at Backstage, "The research we have confirmed that the property has a high reputation, not only on target adult women, now mothers, who Sailor Moon discovered her first television transition, but also on younger age groups. At the same time we note that the response of companies is very open to the license also because there seems no new strong female character on the market."

To create the optimal conditions for the exploitation of property by companies, Backstage has requested and obtained by the author to intervene on the Style Guide to Sailor Moon. The development work of the new Style Guide has been entrusted to a team of creative Italian and coordinated by Elena Grazioli, head of Brand Assurance Backstage, and with the approval of the author, is finalizing the graphics of the first series. "The Italian companies would experience a gallery of new images and new poses for the development of their products," he told us Elena Grazioli.

To learn more about Sailor Moon, they have organized an Licensing Backstage Meeting, which will have guests Ryuji Kochi (Toei Animation), Fabrizio Margaria, Fulvio Albertella.

The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 11th at the offices of [b]Milan Backstage in via Lombardini 10.

Coughler wrote:Well now Guess Canada and U.S. get bugger all.

Sabrblade wrote:

Coughler wrote:Well now Guess Canada and U.S. get bugger all.

What do you mean by that?

Coughler wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Coughler wrote:Well now Guess Canada and U.S. get bugger all.

What do you mean by that?

No dvds of the show. No networks are broadcasting re runs and the last portion of the series hasnt been translated to english.

Sabrblade wrote:Currently, it would seem that Italy is going to be a sort of testing ground for what could be a possible global revival of Sailor Moon. It it's successful there, there's achance that other countries (like the U.S.!) might get it back as well! FUNimation still hasn't lost its interest in the series and hasn't given up in its attempts to acquire the series.

There may be hope for the future yet!

Sabrblade wrote:

Coughler wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Coughler wrote:Well now Guess Canada and U.S. get bugger all.

What do you mean by that?

No dvds of the show. No networks are broadcasting re runs and the last portion of the series hasnt been translated to english.

But didn't you see what I wrote at the end?

Sabrblade wrote:Currently, it would seem that Italy is going to be a sort of testing ground for what could be a possible global revival of Sailor Moon. It it's successful there, there's achance that other countries (like the U.S.!) might get it back as well! FUNimation still hasn't lost its interest in the series and hasn't given up in its attempts to acquire the series.

There may be hope for the future yet!

Have a little faith.

Besides, who wants reruns of a subpar dub, when we could get a whole new and more faithful redub?

Coughler wrote:I kinda liked most of the voice actors. Except jupiter who is the same voice as the kid from pokemon

Funimation! yay. i have hope. Thanks to them i am the proud owner of the Yu Yu Hakoshu series, Dragon Z/GT ninja turtles (2003)

Sabrblade wrote:

Coughler wrote:I kinda liked most of the voice actors. Except jupiter who is the same voice as the kid from pokemon

Funimation! yay. i have hope. Thanks to them i am the proud owner of the Yu Yu Hakoshu series, Dragon Z/GT ninja turtles (2003)

Some of the voices were decent (i.e. - Chibiusa/Rini's second voice), but a lot of them were unfaithful and just random/bad/weird voice choices.

Who did Susan Roman (Juptier's dub voice) do in Pokémon?

Coughler wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Coughler wrote:I kinda liked most of the voice actors. Except jupiter who is the same voice as the kid from pokemon

Funimation! yay. i have hope. Thanks to them i am the proud owner of the Yu Yu Hakoshu series, Dragon Z/GT ninja turtles (2003)

Some of the voices were decent (i.e. - Chibiusa/Rini's second voice), but a lot of them were unfaithful and just random/bad/weird voice choices.

Who did Susan Roman (Juptier's dub voice) do in Pokémon?

Ash I believe.