Sailor Moon Manga All Color Edition - Discussion (Vol 3-4 announced)

Dream come true! Not looking forward to triple dipping but I'll gladly do so if these come stateside. I only wish Act 1's coloring looked as good as the exhibit's. (the backgrounds look so bare in comparison...)

The change in colour of the backgrounds is what makes me think they'll released a printed version of this.

There will be a read trial (試し読み) of the first 2 chapters from June 29th to August 31th. (According to the pink box in the magazine scan)

I get that doing a coloring job like the exhibit's version really isn't feasible, but it's weird that they redid act 1. Wouldn't it have been easier to just use what they already had? Either way, I just hope this is a proper colorization and they get rid of the screentones before painting over anything.

Oh and I also want to see how the colors for (Sailor) Chaos are. I always wondered...

That's a flashback panel. So I won't be surprised if it is monochrome.

Part of me is like I wish they released act 1 as rich as in the exibit, but then it will stand out too much, compared to the rest. On the other hand - it is unexpected effort on their side to go back and redo it for consistency. I still find it even as is like a dream come true and cannot wait to buy it.

Are flashback panels usually in b&w?

I mean it's likely they will just use one color (for example: blue scheme).

I'll be okay with it *IF* they finally release those long promised art books and include the original colored version of Act 1 in them (the way Parallel Sailor Moon was included in the Materials Collection).

This would be great. I just lost hope in these artbooks... It has been a while and we havemost likely seen the new art already.

I highly doubt the art books are coming. I'd be happy to be wrong if it turns out they *do* come out, but I think it's something to give up on happening, honestly.

I don't mind the "all color" manga covers using imagery meant for the ice skating show because I love when different parts of the franchise reference each other. It's like how some of the Shinsouban art referenced the live action series.

What is annoying is that Naoko could have just redrawn their legs and it would have been fine. Which is why I've given up on any new art books since at this point I don't think Naoko really cares too much to draw Sailor Moon anymore and with the length of time it's taken, it's only be bound to be super disappointing and there's probably barely any new art that would make it seem worth it.

That's how it feels to me too which makes me sad. It feels like she only draws them when she has to.

Whereas Kazuki Takahashi who, other than a one shot a couple years ago, hasn't done any new manga since Yugioh ended years ago (spinoffs are all done by different people and he's said himself that citing him as 'supervisor' is a big overstatement) but he still draws the characters just for the sake of drawing them and posts them onto his instagram fairly regularly, which I'm always very happy to see.

Hopefully we just have the wrong impression though.

I mean, she's been pretty much retired since the early 2000s all but officially. It's not uncommon.

Do we actually have a source for this or is it just another fan rumor?

Here are some comparisons.

That's still just speculation. I don't think they'd get Naoko to draw all five girls for an ice show when she's never gone all out like that for any other live action project besides PGSM.

Naoko is a huge figure skating fan. Her manga series before Sailor Moon was about figure skating. The figure skating episode of Classic was inspired by her love of the sport. When she first met Evgenia a few years back, she gave her an original illustration she made just for her. It is not surprising that Naoko would use figure skating poses in new cover illustrations. Maybe she was inspired by the ice show. Maybe she drew these covers with using them to promote the show in mind. (I mean, this franchise has never met a picture it didn't recycle ad nauseum.) But the idea that these illustrations were drawn *specifically* for the ice show and are now being used as cover art instead - especially because Naoko's "too lazy" to draw new ones - is absurd.

And like....yeah, the unfinished legs are really weird, but it's not exactly the first time Naoko's illustrations have featured unfinished bodies/legs/arms. It's just the first time the unfinished limbs have been so obvious.

There's a difference between not drawing a full body and actually having art that looks incomplete though. At least on Volume 1, Sailor Moon's leg gradually fades into the background so it's not as jarring. On Volume 2, it literally looks like Mercury's leg was chopped off. Whatever the case, it's very unprofessional looking and even if it was always meant for the ALL COLOR edition, I wish Naoko either drew the full thing or at least blended the legs better with the background or even centered the girls differently.

Maybe she just drew the girls and Kodansha's responsible for the backgrounds and placement of the figures? It's definitely sloppy work, don't get me wrong - I just don't think it's indicative that this is recycled artwork.