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Where can I watch Sailor Moon Crystal?

Sailor Moon Crystal will air on the first and third Saturdays of every month, beginning July 5 at 7:00 p.m. (6:00 a.m. ET) via Niconico. The series will closely follow the manga series and will NOT be a re-adaptation of the 1992 anime. Below I have added a little Q&A to help with some of the confusion surrounding the series, as well as some new artwork released for the series. Enjoy!

So far Niconico is the ONLY site offering the series, it’s not even broadcasting on Japanese TV. It’s hard to say whether other online streaming sites will have the series, no one has announced it thus far but I am sure we will find out closer to the air date.

How long will the series be?

Sailor Moon Crystal will be 26 episodes long. We don’t yet know whether the series will continue after that, my guess is it will all depend on how well it is received by fans and what Toei thinks is best for the franchise.

Will the series be in English?

The audio will be in Japanese, however you will have the ability to watch it with subtitles in English as well as 9 other languages.

Will I be able to watch the series for free?

If you want to watch it as it airs, probably not. Little is known about how Ninconico will stream the series but it’s looking like the best way to watch will be through the Niconico premium services, which has a monthly fee. It’s 540 JPY a month for the service (Which is roughly $5.35 USD). According to their website their premium members will have priority seating for a series (unless it is limited seating, in some cases premium members may not be able to watch a limited seating broadcast).

Translation site Miss Dream has announced that they will be working on fansubs of the series.

What is Niconico?

Niconico is a video sharing website in Japan managed by Niwango. Users can upload, view and share video clips. However, Niconico differs from other video share site as comments are overlaid onto videos directly and synced to a specific playback time. This allows comments to respond directly to events occurring in the video, creating a kind of shared watching experience with viewers. They also broadcast Live shows which offer live chat rooms as the broadcast is airing.

How Niconico works for live broadcasts:

If a broadcast has exceeded a certain number of visitors, the site’s Free Members will be forced to leave. If a broadcast has limited seating, even Premium Members may be unable to watch.

Free Members can only timeshift 10 programs. Viewing periods differ for each broadcast. Bear in mind that video playback even for timeshifts may fail due to factors such as a poor internet connection. It also appears as if Free Members must reserve a timeshifted broadcast at least 30 minutes prior to air time and I am not entirely sure you will be able to timeshift Sailor Moon Crystal after its air date as a free member. (Please correct me if I am wong!)

Premium Members can timeshift 30 programs and do not have to reserve a program.

So say you miss the episode, you will be able to time shift the episode you missed for two weeks after its air date. What this means for a live broadcast is that you have two weeks to begin watching after the original air date, and then 24 hours to finish watching it after you’ve begun the playback.

So for example, if Sailor Moon Crystal debut airs on July 5 at 7PM (Japan time). You have until July 19 at 7PM (Japan time) to begin watching the episode. That is the time shift period. If you begin watching the episode at 10PM (Japan time) on July 8, you have until 10PM on July 9 to finish watching it. That’s the viewing period.

Will the series every air in America/Canada/etc??

Possibly, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Dubbing a series takes a lot of effort, time, and money! Although they have expressed interest, Funimation does NOT have the rights to an English dub. Keep in mind also that Italy recently paid $1 million for licensing rights from Toei. I highly doubt Funimation will fork over that kind of dough for the series, I don’t believe they have done so in the past, so do not expect an English dub anytime soon. The series is gong to take over a year to air in its entirety anyways so if you’re waiting to watch until the Dub you might be waiting a long time. If you really want to watch the series, I suggest investing in Niconico Premium Services.

Who is working on the new series?

Produced by Atsutoshi Umezawa (Pretty Cure)

Directed by Munehisa Sakai (One Piece and Precure)

Voice actors:

Moon: Mitsuishi Kotono (The original voice actress from the 1992 series!)

Mars: Rina Satō

Jupiter: Ami Koshimizu

Venus: Shizuka Ito

Mercury: Hisako Kanemoto

TIPS

You can sign up for your free account to niconico now (upgrade to premium later if you wish!)

Use Google chrome to navigate www.nicovideo.jp as the browser will translate the site for you making it easier to navigate. Remember if you are searching for Sailor Moon please put セーラームーン in the search bar instead of just “Sailor Moon”, you won’t get results unless you search for it in Japanese.

Want more info on Sailor Moon Crystal? check the source! http://sailormoon-official.com/animation/news/

http://www.globemoon.net/waftf/nico-douga_guide.html A great guide on using niconico’s services, from registration to timeshift reservations. As I was trying to familiarize myself with the site I did notice that some things were difficult to translate via Google Chrome due to the fact that some of the guides were images with text in Japanese only.

There, I hope that helps some! If you have any more questions, any new info regarding the series, have a better handle on how niconico works, or you just wanna say Hey!, Please leave a comment below!

Thanks for reading!!

Photo translations courtesy of Miss Dream http://missdream.org