Viz Media licenses Sailor Moon (original anime franchise)

[Mach Rider]

Curious if this is a repackage or it uses Toei's own upscale. The latter would absolutely be an improvement if so. I know later sets switched to the Toei upscale rather than what Viz Media prepared for Hulu. I'd held off buying the sets originally (financial reasons and such), so I might take the plunge regardless.

If this is the Toei upscale I’ll probably buy it and swap the discs into my LE sets…those sets look too good to just get rid of.

[Serial Experiments Nobue]

I'd welcome a silent upgrade... Viz's blu-rays for the first three seasons are completely unwatchable. (Which was particularly frustrating since S is my favorite season.) Had to go with the DVDs in my LE sets to watch those. The upscaled DVDs looked better, though at the expense of reduced contrast and color saturation (and clarity, obviously).

Guess I'll be awaiting reviews on this to see if I can replace the BDs in my LE sets as well.

[NJ_]

An important thing to note is that Right Stuf lists an interview with Katsuyuki Sumisawa as one of the extras. He was a scriptwriter for some of the first 3 seasons and Viz interviewed him a while back for one of the InuYasha Blu-ray sets which from what I read elsewhere, he talked about both that series and Final Act in the same video so they could have interviewed him again for this or on the same day as that interview (similar to how some of the dub cast interviews here and in Crystal were taped on the same weekend).

If the interview is there then it's a good sign of these being new discs.

EDIT:

Oh....I just remembered, back when they were posting birthday clips on social media, some people noticed that the first season clips looked different from their upscale.

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialVIZ...8945457769574/
https://twitter.com/VIZMedia/status/1277980209648558080

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDbnB3uJWfQ (<-- embedded post if that link doesn't work)
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialVIZ...4654499477983/
https://twitter.com/VIZMedia/status/1290301402112094209

Anyone here or at the Blu-ray boards able to compare?

[MrMcBonk]

Those definitely look way better than Viz's old set. (Which as mentioned are basically unwatchable). I stopped buying after the first set.
I could probably rip that episode and find the matching cut some time when I have the motivation.

[WTK]

"An Interview with Katsuyuki Sumisawa" isn't listed.


https://www.viz.com/watch/tv-series/...t/7103/blu-ray

Sailor Moon: The Complete First Season Blu-ray

6-Disc Blu-ray Set, 46 Episodes (1-46), 1080p HD, 4:3 Aspect Ratio, English and Japanese Stereo Audio, English Subtitles

SPECIAL FEATURES: Sailor Moon Day Highlights, Announcement Panel and Fan Reactions, Behind-the-Scenes Footage of the Dub Recording, Moonlight Memories Pt. 1, Anime Expo Sailor Moon Panel, Official Cosplay Team Interview, Clean Opening & Ending Songs, Art Gallery, Trailers

[WTK]

Sailor Moon Announce Trailer | Sailor Moon: The Complete First Season | VIZ https://youtu.be/OikHs-2zXO0

[NJ_]

New trailer on their Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialVIZ...16505486203534

[MrMcBonk]

Looks like same old shitty master. Deinterlacing artifacts very visible on fine detail.

[NJ_]

New discs confirmed, keep an eye on this thread.

[NJ_]

^Katsuyuki Sumisawa interview confirmed, wonder why they didn't advertise it on their site?

[MrMcBonk]

Someone uploaded the comparison to SC as well. They did a good job at least of filtering out that terrible analog tape noise.
https://www.screenshotcomparison.com...4191/picture:0

It's not new film scan nice, but it looks actually watchable now. Maybe I can finally start buying these. Though I did try watching the show a year or two ago again and got up to episode 60 or so and lost interest and was frustrated with part of the characterizations compared to the comic.
Anyone know if the streaming versions have this new master yet?

[Serial Experiments Nobue]

Now this is promising. Will definitely be keeping tabs on this, and will double dip on the first three seasons in an instant if the video has indeed been fixed for these new releases.

[NJ_]

Anyone know if the streaming versions have this new master yet?

I doubt it since I don't think they ever did replace the bad master Hulu had for SuperS & Sailor Stars' subbed episodes when the half-sets with the new masters came out.

[Slowhand]

Trailer | Sailor Moon: The Complete First Season | VIZ
https://youtu.be/UL_F6L1tSAM

Order Sailor Moon: The Complete First Season on Blu-ray today!