The Future of the Musicals

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Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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#1
So I think we can all agree that there will be a fifth musical this year based on the Stars arc. But what about after that?

Will there be another musical next year (and the year after that, etc)?
If so, will they go back to the beginning and adapt the manga all over again?
Will they do story mash-ups?
Will they remake the Kaguya Island musicals? The Dracul arc musicals?
Will they do totally brand new stories?
Will they do musicals based on the side stories (namely Snow Princess Kaguya)?
Will they do a Sailor V musical (featuring all of the Sailors, of course)?
Will Yuga stay on in the role of Tuxedo Kamen or will she leave? If she leaves, will the musicals continue to have all-female casts, or will they start casting men again?

What do you guys think? What do you want to see happen with the musicals? Should they keep going or stop? Stay all-female or not? What would you like to see them do story-wise? Character-wise?

Personally, I hope they continue. Even if I've found the past few a bit lackluster, I still always enjoy them. (I just want them to start putting out CDs again! At least digital releases of cast recordings!) I do hope the Stars musical will be Yuga's last (I know people love her, but she was really mediocre in UNV and AE so, in my opinion, it's time for her to go) and, while the all-female cast thing was a really fun concept, I think if the musicals continue, they should go back to hiring men and women. (Or at least hire someone who's around Usagi's actress's age to play Mamoru. The obvious age difference between Yuga and Satomi/Hotaru is a big part of why I feel the ~miracle romance~ in the musicals has fallen flat for me.)

As I mentioned in the Amour Eternal thread, I'd love if the sixth musical were a Black Moon / Dead Moon Circus mash-up featuring the Ayakashi Sisters and Amazones Quartet since both groups were omitted from their respective musicals. Perhaps the Ayakashi Sisters show up looking to avenge the rest of their Clan and, knowing Chibiusa was in part responsible for their demise, manipulate her future guardians into attacking her?

If/when the current group of Inners "graduates" and is recast, I wouldn't mind their doing a redux of the Dark Kingdom arc showing how the girls first met up and awakened as Sailors and how Usagi and Mamoru met since all of that was glossed over in "La Reconquista."

I'd also love to see some supporting characters (e.g. Naru, Umino, and Motoki) in a musical for once! I think the only supporting character to appear in a musical was Ms. Haruna way back in the very first musical. Naru, Umino, and Motoki were important characters in the 90s anime and manga (and, sans Umino, the live action show), so I think it's high time they appeared in a musical.
 
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Seira Hazuki

Solaris Luna
Jan 17, 2007
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#2
This is a great thread as I've been thinking about this a bit.

My thoughts:

* I think they should continue making it all female. Takarazuka Revue had such a huge influence on Naoko and the Sailor Moon manga, and, perhaps tied to that, the men she draws in her manga are all incredibly feminine... It just feels like watching Naoko's manga come to life with real people. That said, I agree that after the Stars musical they should find someone new to play Tuxedo Kamen.

* I want completely new stories. No redos of Kaguya Island or the Last Dracul. Those two felt like they would have been filler arcs in the original anime. They're just really out of place in terms of the characters and story lines they introduce. I'd honestly prefer a Chibi Moon musical set in Crystal Tokyo with her meeting the Sailor Quartet or something.

* Ideally, it would be cool if a brand new musical was supervised by Naoko who'd contribute designs for any new characters or villains... Because when Myu's left to its own devices, it can be downright hideous at times....

* I'd be so down for a Sailor V musical especially if they'd modernize the Dark Agency to fit in more with the kind of idols that are in Japan now. The only thing is that w/o Artemis, any Sailor V adaptation would feel like it was missing something, but I guess 'Boss' could take his place.

* A Snow Princess Kaguya Musical would be cool, but I feel like it would be hard to adapt it with the main character being a cat... But I think if they went a more Sailor Luna-esque route (meaning a young girl playing Luna and then her human form played by an older actress), then I don't think that would be that bad. Just please, please, please avoid the weird bodysuit from the very first musical.
 

MariaTenebre

Systema Solare
Jul 22, 2009
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#3
I would love it if they did remakes of the Kaguya Island arc and the Dracul arc. Especially the Dracul arc as I really loved that series and I would like a more in depth explanation and backstory on Sailor Astarte and who she is. She is such a cool character I just wish we got to know her backstory and how she fit in the series. Was she one of Sailor Moon's Guardian Senshi? Was she a Princess in her own right? I would love for her story to be expanded upon. Also to Seira Hazuki the fact that they were like filler arcs in the 90s anime is the reason I liked them. I definitely thought they fit in with the established story. I just wish they could have been expanded upon more. Honestly it would have been cool of the Kaguya Island arc, Dracul arc and Dark Sirius arc were adapted to new seasons of the 90s anime. There was even a 90s anime styled pic made by Toei of Bloody Dracul Vampir. So it is a shame this arc wasn't animated.
 

Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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#4
I don't think the Kaguya Island and Dark Sirius stories could have sustained their own seasons, but they certainly would have made fun movies. The Dracul arc I think could work as a half-season (a la the Doom Tree arc). I agree with you regarding Sailor Astarte: I definitely want them to bring her back in a future musical and really flesh out her character and backstory. Of all the original characters from the musical, she's hands down the most interesting and mysterious.
 

MariaTenebre

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Jul 22, 2009
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#5
MementoNepenthe said:
I don't think the Kaguya Island and Dark Sirius stories could have sustained their own seasons, but they certainly would have made fun movies. The Dracul arc I think could work as a half-season (a la the Doom Tree arc). I agree with you regarding Sailor Astarte: I definitely want them to bring her back in a future musical and really flesh out her character and backstory. Of all the original characters from the musical, she's hands down the most interesting and mysterious.
Yeah I guess your right. I think the Dracul arc could have become a full season if it was expanded on though. Maybe the Kaguya Island movie could have been the Sailor Moon Classic movie and the Dark Sirius story could have been the Sailor Stars movie. However yeah I really wish they expanded on Sailor Astarte. She deserved far more attention then she got.
 

Seira Hazuki

Solaris Luna
Jan 17, 2007
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#6
I never saw the appeal of Sailor Astarte... She looks like a recolor of Sailor Saturn and even her whole deal of being possessed by multiple entities pretty much cribs from Hotaru's story in the Infinity arc. She's basically Sera Myu's version of an Otaku senshi. I guess her name's cool though. :yawn:

The Kaguya and Dracul Musicals definitely fit in tone with the original musicals which were more '90s anime inspired... But the new musicals are much closer to the manga which Kaguya and Dracual just does not fit in with tone wise or aesthetically, in my opinion. Unless they completely rewrite the stories and redesign the new characters introduced.

Other ideas they could explore:

1) Uranus and Neptune's origin story as a musical would be EPIC. This feels like a no-brainer to me considering how popular the duo is in the musicals. Just imagine the kind of music that would come out of this too.

2) A Silver Millennium musical could also work as I really liked the flashbacks we saw in La Reconquista and Amour Eternal.

3) A musical focusing on Usagi and Mamoru's wedding, I mean not just the event itself, but also everything leading up to it. Maybe even resurrect Beryl as an enemy.
 

Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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#7
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before on here, but I think the Silver Millennium story would work better as a ballet or a fully sung-through opera than as a musical. There's something about it...its epic tragedy, its fairy tale, mythic quality...that seems to cry out for something more elaborate and sophisticated than a run-of-the-mill ~Sera Myu~

I do agree with you that Sailor Astarte is largely a Sailor Saturn clone, but I think that is in part due to how little stage time she got (resulting in our knowing so little about who she is) and in the Myu producers being a bit lazy/unimaginative when it came to costumes/designing new characters. I do still feel like there's a lot of untapped potential with her though. For instance, I've always felt she was supposed to be Muslim, and I'd love to see that be realized because a canon Muslim Sailor Soldier would be fantastic.
 

MariaTenebre

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Jul 22, 2009
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#8
Seira Hazuki said:
I never saw the appeal of Sailor Astarte... She looks like a recolor of Sailor Saturn and even her whole deal of being possessed by multiple entities pretty much cribs from Hotaru's story in the Infinity arc. She's basically Sera Myu's version of an Otaku senshi. I guess her name's cool though. :yawn:

The Kaguya and Dracul Musicals definitely fit in tone with the original musicals which were more '90s anime inspired... But the new musicals are much closer to the manga which Kaguya and Dracual just does not fit in with tone wise or aesthetically, in my opinion. Unless they completely rewrite the stories and redesign the new characters introduced.

Other ideas they could explore:

1) Uranus and Neptune's origin story as a musical would be EPIC. This feels like a no-brainer to me considering how popular the duo is in the musicals. Just imagine the kind of music that would come out of this too.

2) A Silver Millennium musical could also work as I really liked the flashbacks we saw in La Reconquista and Amour Eternal.

3) A musical focusing on Usagi and Mamoru's wedding, I mean not just the event itself, but also everything leading up to it. Maybe even resurrect Beryl as an enemy.
Well I would much rather they go back to the tone of having the musicals be more 90s inspired as I prefer the 90s over the manga. I loved Sailor Astarte and I never thought she looked like a recolor of Sailor Saturn. Her look is quite different. Also her personality is different from Hotaru and the entities that possess her are quite different from Mistress 9. Either way I would love to see her return and the musicals do a new version of the Dracul arc hopefully with a detailed backstory for Sailor Astarte.

MementoNepenthe said:
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before on here, but I think the Silver Millennium story would work better as a ballet or a fully sung-through opera than as a musical. There's something about it...its epic tragedy, its fairy tale, mythic quality...that seems to cry out for something more elaborate and sophisticated than a run-of-the-mill ~Sera Myu~

I do agree with you that Sailor Astarte is largely a Sailor Saturn clone, but I think that is in part due to how little stage time she got (resulting in our knowing so little about who she is) and in the Myu producers being a bit lazy/unimaginative when it came to costumes/designing new characters. I do still feel like there's a lot of untapped potential with her though. For instance, I've always felt she was supposed to be Muslim, and I'd love to see that be realized because a canon Muslim Sailor Soldier would be fantastic.
I never got the Muslim idea from Sailor Astarte. Quite the contrary I always thought of her as having more of a Canaanite or Pagan vibe. She is the incarnation of Astarte the Canaanite/Hebrew/ Phoenician Goddess of justice, civil order, love and war. She was even stated by Lilith of Darkness to oppose Yahweh and that Yahweh would be threatened by her. So I doubt she would worship the same God who she is said to oppose. That would be like Usagi worshiping Queen Metalia. Also again I don't see how she is a Saturn clone. Heck her outfit more so resembles Sailor Mercury then Sailor Saturn. She has a relatively different hairstyle and outfit.
 

Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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#9
She's a strange character. Her name (Shiva) is that of a Hindu god. She's said to be of Phoenician descent. She lived with her mother in Eastern Europe until she disappeared (which never got resolved iirc). Her surname and Sailor name (Astarte) is the Hellenized version of Ishtar, the Mesopotamian analog of Venus. Her main attack is "Solomon Jihad." Her transformation call is "Moon Astarte (Power Make Up?)." She has a weird/awkward sense of humor. She's very mysterious and fears having DID. She has a very similar hairstyle to Hotaru and Ami, and her reddish-purple image color seems somewhere between Saturn and Pluto.... It's like she's a mix of so many different sources and characters. I never got a "Pagan" vibe from her; rather, due to her Middle Eastern ancestry and attack phrase, along with her growing up in Eastern Europe which has a sizeable Muslim population, I've always interpreted her as being Muslim. Of course, one may read her as being Hindu or Jewish or not having any particular religious affiliation. It's definitely something I'd like to see explored if they ever bring her character back.

But since I made this thread to discuss the future of the musicals and not Sailor Astarte, let's get back on topic. :)

What about a musical based on "Another Story?" Though I've still yet to play that game, I know it's incredibly popular among fans, so perhaps a musical adaptation could be a possibility?
 

MariaTenebre

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Jul 22, 2009
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#11
MementoNepenthe said:
She's a strange character. Her name (Shiva) is that of a Hindu god. She's said to be of Phoenician descent. She lived with her mother in Eastern Europe until she disappeared (which never got resolved iirc). Her surname and Sailor name (Astarte) is the Hellenized version of Ishtar, the Mesopotamian analog of Venus. Her main attack is "Solomon Jihad." Her transformation call is "Moon Astarte (Power Make Up?)." She has a weird/awkward sense of humor. She's very mysterious and fears having DID. She has a very similar hairstyle to Hotaru and Ami, and her reddish-purple image color seems somewhere between Saturn and Pluto.... It's like she's a mix of so many different sources and characters. I never got a "Pagan" vibe from her; rather, due to her Middle Eastern ancestry and attack phrase, along with her growing up in Eastern Europe which has a sizeable Muslim population, I've always interpreted her as being Muslim. Of course, one may read her as being Hindu or Jewish or not having any particular religious affiliation. It's definitely something I'd like to see explored if they ever bring her character back.

But since I made this thread to discuss the future of the musicals and not Sailor Astarte, let's get back on topic. :)

What about a musical based on "Another Story?" Though I've still yet to play that game, I know it's incredibly popular among fans, so perhaps a musical adaptation could be a possibility?
Actually I believe the proper translation of her name is Sheba in reference to the Biblical Queen of Sheba. Astarte had counterparts in several Middle Eastern religions such as Al Uzzah in Arabia, Ashtart in Canaan and polytheistic Israel, Inanna in Sumer and Ishtar in Babylon. In the story Lilith of Darkness states that Yahweh basically tried to over throw Astarte and fears her. Plus I don't know if she is from Eastern Europe I thought it stated she was from Lebanon because it stated she was of Phoenician descent and Phoenicia is modern day Lebanon. Her attacks draw from various Middle Eastern namely Canaanite, Hebrew and Arabic ideas not exclusively Islamic. So that made me think of her as being more Pagan oriented. Plus I actually do have some friends of Jewish and Lebanese background who are Pagans. Given that she being the incarnation of Astarte was stated to oppose Yahweh it wouldn't make sense in my eyes for her to be a Muslim and to basically worship the same God she was said to fight against.
 

Rika-Chicchi

Staff member
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May 7, 2009
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#13
Neon Genesis said:
What about a PGSM reunion musical like they did with that Kirari live show?
Would like to see that, & the Senshi actresses could also use it as a chance to mock themselves & one another on their real-life selves at present (e.g. Rika starting her gravure works at 28, two of them passing 30 & still not married, how Keiko is filthy rich these days, etc.). :D

If only that could really happen, of course. lol
 

Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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#14
So, as it turns out, there was indeed a Stars musical, it was Yuga's last, they did continue doing musicals and with all-female casts, they did go back to the Dark Kingdom arc (with NogiMyu, The Super Live, and NogiMyu 2019), and we are getting a Snow Princess Kaguya musical next year. Furthermore, we're getting a restaurant show next month (the plot of which is unclear) and an ice show next year (plot also unknown).

Anyway, the reason I've resurrected this thread is because I was thinking earlier... Given how the musicals have been using all-female casts since their revival, what would people say to an all-male cast/Kabuki-style musical? I don't think it's remotely likely to happen, but if it did, what would you guys think about it?

Naruto did a kabuki play last year and again last month, and it looks pretty cool:


A Sailor Moon play/musical in that vein would definitely be something I'd be interested in. Of course, if they ever did do a kabuki-style show, they'd probably do the Dark Kingdom arc yet again since it's the arc with the most male characters.
 

Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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#16
Bumping this thread again since it's a topic that's been on my mind.

We'll probably get an announcement about this year's musical within the next month or so, but in the meantime, let's speculate on what it could be!

It's safe to assume that the principal cast will be the same as that of Kaguya-Hime's Beloved (with perhaps one or two recasts), but will Luna stick around? Will they add an Artemis?

And, most importantly, now that the Nelke Myu have covered all five story arcs and the Snow Princess Kaguya side story, what are they gonna do next?

There's a chance they'll do an original story (which would be wonderful and something the fandom is desperately craving at the moment), but I don't know how likely that is. The Nelke run of musicals has been characterized by its fidelity to the manga, so it seems more likely that they'd continue to stick to that for source material. (There's always a chance of an R movie, SuperS movie, Doom Tree arc, or even an Another Story musical, but those all feel like extreme longshots to me.)

However, they've basically run out of material at this point. None of the remaining side stories is substantial enough to support a 2.5 hour musical, and a Sailor V musical seems like the greatest longshot of all (at least after a Parallel Sailor Moon musical). It's possible they might use the first Chibiusa's Picture Diary as the basis for a new vampire musical a la the Dracul Arc, but given how much of a flop those musicals were, I'd wager the producers would be reluctant to go that route. The Exam Battle Chapters could possibly be strung together into a cohesive musical with some story overhauling, but again, that doesn't feel likely.

I think a Black Moon arc adaptation is the most likely scenario. The Nogizaka46 musical already gave us an extremely manga faithful adaptation of the Dark Kingdom arc, so a BMC musical is the next logical step (and since a new musical with Nogizaka46 is unlikely, it would have to be part of the "regular" musicals). Petite Etrangere took a lot of creative liberties, so there's still room for a hyper-faithful adaptation, and the old Bandai "Birth of Black Lady" musicals are proof that a musical with all of the Black Moon villains and all of the Outers is possible. Of course, they might skip ahead to the Infinity arc, or even the Dream arc (so they can do Stars next year in order to create marketing synergy for the Crysternal Stars adaptation hopefully).

Anyway, those are my thoughts. What do you guys think?
 
Sep 24, 2008
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#17
Although I never watched the original Myu versions of this but mish-mashing the villains does wonders for character development from what I'm seeing, eg: Beryl and Galaxia working together or Pluto and Beryl sharing a musical number.
 

Starlight

Aurorae Lunares
May 31, 2009
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#19
We can forget a new story or adaptation of material that was exclusive to the anime, video games or Bandai musicals. Sailor V being a prequel that doesn't feature Sailor Moon and Parallel Sailor Moon not being canon makes them unlikely candidates as well. That leaves Casablanca Memory, the Exam Battles, and Chibiusa's Picture Diaries. I think the most likely to get adapted is Casablanca Memory and then the Exam Battles.
 
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