On Friday, July 6 from the AnimeExpo convention in Long Beach, California, Andrew Tei reported on Animeondvd.com's site that ADV Films claimed to have the subtitled rights to the first 2 series of "Sailor Moon." Their release was supposedly, "being held up currently by material availability." We immediately attempted to confirm the story and found that ADV did not have these rights. ADV first revealed interest to fans at this year's Sakura-Con in the state of Washington.

ADV continues to release the dubbed DiC version of these episodes for Home Video. Recent releases include:

Green Eyed Monsters (Vol. 7)

And In This Corner - Sailor Venus! (Vol. 8)

Field Trips (Vol. 9)

Trials and Troubles (Vol. 10)

The subtitled rights are currently being negotiated with ADV and with, at least, one other Home Video distributor which we are not allowed to identify.

We have tried to impress upon some of the parties involved how important it is for a dual-language DVD release to have cut scenes reinstated and the value of dubbing dropped episodes. Some of us here believe that such additions would result in "feature-like business" for the releases (if produced with care). It is believed that Pioneer has sold close to a million copies of each feature, while ADV has (predictably) averaged far less.

The locker poster. (Can't get enough of that hot pink background!)

However, Home Video sales of the DiC version have been very good. Several, independent sources have now confirmed that initial sales (during Christmas of 2000) were terrific but then dropped off dramatically. Nevertheless, sales have averaged much higher than ADV expected.

This phenomenon may have been best explained by Laura Saotome, a Sailor Moon fan, who wrote to us (sometime ago), "It's been almost 9 months since Cartoon Network has showed the dubbed Sailor Moon, and Sailor Moon R series. I never thought it could be possible, but I actually miss the old episodes! Will they never be shown on Toonami again? How many times are they going to repeat S and Super S? If I would've known that they might never show the old episodes again, I would have never been so stupid to record the new episodes over all my old ones!" Many other fans probably felt the same way.

Volumes 7 & 8 were delayed but eventually released. Volume 9 was originally supposed to come with a "Collector's edition, full-color Sailor Moon locker poster" and Volume 10 with "Exclusive Sailor Moon trading cards" but these extras were switched. Volume 9 came with the trading cards (some of which were not exclusive) and Volume 10 came with the locker poster. As we previously reported, these extras were added to help keep up sales.

Huh?

Fans may have noticed something very peculiar on the ADV VHS boxes starting with Volume #5 ("Red Hearts and Silver Crystals"). On the back of the boxes the Cartoon Network logo was added with the phrase, "Only on Toonami. Toonami.com." This was false advertising. These episodes were never exclusive to the network and are available via syndication.

Even more amusing, as Laura Saotome pointed out (above), is that these episodes weren't even on the Cartoon Network for almost a year! But in defense of the network, we were told that they had intended to start showing the DiC episodes again on Friday, May 4, 2001 but just before then WB-TV took control and started to make changes. Presumably the Cartoon Network logo still appears on all of the recent releases due to contractual obligations. (In other words, the network & ADV made a deal that ADV must uphold even though it's no longer relevant.)

Here's an example of a Spine Mural. (Since when does Buena Vista Home Entertainment know more about how to market an anime series than ADV? Well, at least ADV hasn't overdone the airbrushing!)

Missing from the ADV boxes are the Spine Murals which encourage fans to buy every volume of a series. Some of us here consider this seemingly mundane omission a major mistake by ADV.

Volume 10 marks the end of the dubbed version of the first series. Scheduled next for release on September 11 are the first 2 volumes of the second season, "Sailor Moon R." The first tape has been entitled, "The Return of Sailor Moon;" the second tape is called, "Tree of Doom."

The Return of Sailor Moon (Vol. 11) Release: September 11, 2001

Tree of Doom (Vol. 12) Release: September 11, 2001

Old Business ADV Addendum ADV Films release of the first series had additional Guardians Of Order Collectible Cards (in VHS cases of Volume 7) and a locker poster (in VHS cases of Volume 8). These may have predated the cards & poster we previously reported with Volumes 9 & 10. The cards and poster may not be in every VHS case of Volumes 7 & 8 (and 9 & 10 for that matter). A source wishing to remain unidentified said, "...It is customary for (distributors) to print extra boxes than tapes or free giveaways since printing is so much cheaper. That's why boxes are sometimes left unmarked with no hint of anything special inside. Usually stickers are placed on those boxes but even that has gotten too expensive lately."