Darkpower: The Site
October 4, 2006
As we continue to sit and debate over whether the latest rumor over a big budget, live action, big screen adaptation of the anime hit Sailor Moon is truth or just a fabrication of someone’s very vivid imagination, and as we make up our minds one way or the other as to the confirmation of such rumor and refusing to be swayed to the other side of the aisle, we continue to emphasize a point that has been in the fact sheets for a few years, and one that which we, long time fans of the series, comics, and fandom in general, have long wished wasn’t true.
That is the fact that the very animation company that has produced the anime series in question, as well as many other top of the line Anime series, has a strangle hold of the series, and it seems that regardless of what you may believe to be the truth, whether it may be that the franchise’s creator is angry at North American dubbing companies effectively ruining her series, a legal dispute preventing any foregoing advancement to be made concerning any future implications of the series to be released stateside, the animation company in question having the apparent notion that we here in the States are so evil that we would not give such a deserving creation the chance to make another name for itself, or any combination of the above, one thing is for certain: It is because of this that the North American Moon fans have been neglected for so long that it now seems as if the fans no longer care about the anime, live action series, manga, and anything else that would be associated with the series.
The animation company that is being discussed, of course, is Toei Animation, an animation company in Japan that has the dibs on Dragonball and Power Rangers as well, two franchises that they think are the top seeds in their lineup. It is because these two franchises, the former being the most important as the latter one continues to be taken over by an American company that continues to churn out series after series after series that no one seems to care about as much as when the series first made landfall onto Western Civilization, that the Sailor Moon franchise has become all but forgotten by these deviants. They believe that somewhere in our minds that we care more about storylines that take weeks and months at a time to get past five minutes just to make no point at all or a show that makes full cast changes every year and has become so confusing and so silly that no one with an IQ well above two would possibly get into them than a show that had an enormous amount of depth, story arcs that do not take forever but leave you wanting to tune in next time to see what happens, and characters that we as human beings can relate to and will want to give a care about. They think that because a DVD set sells less than the prized possessions that they shove down our throats each and every time they get the chance, that we just don’t care anymore. Sorry to say, but this is not the case. We cannot care if we are never given the chance to care, and to this day, not a single person in wherever office in the Toei empire thinks that us Sailor Moon fans, the very fans that pump out fanfiction after fanfiction, the very fans that still provide numerous fanarts of our favorite characters, the very fans that had fansubbed the recently made live action remake of the first story arc of the franchise's very storied history, the very fans that chomped at the bit in order to prove or disprove the big budget theatrical motion picture that would be to star a sultry singer turned actress that many were cringing at the thought of such an, in their own words, abomination being casted, would go out and buy any of the merchandise that they would put on the shelves for us North American fans to devour. Of course the people who get played into buying the stuff they plow down our throats are going to buy every single little thing they could get their hands on. Have they seen any big name media conglomeration here in the States. Manufactured music stars that pollute our TV screens and radio airwaves, not to mention loads of radio and talk show hosts that seem to be on the Bush Administration’s buyout list, have been widely accepted because many Americans just have not been given any type of alternative, so they must accept such junk. This is the same with you, Toei. If you do not allow anything different to be seen or to be heard, then the fans will respond in kind.
By the way, Toei, I do want to point out that no huge news coming out of the Dragonball front in respect of financial gains have been made by anyone because quite frankly not many have been buying much of the merchandise lately, and when was the last time you’ve seen any little kid have a Power Rangers tee shirt on here in the states? I would imagine it would be a very scarce number, if any. The rest of the little kids have moved on to something better. Yet you continue to think that these two franchises, once more the former being the most prized possession, will pull in more money than a live action version of a beloved anime that nearly every single fan in North America has sang the praises of when they read any sort of description or any sort of fansub of the aforementioned show is viewed. This is, at best, shameful. The way you turned your back on the fans due to this act is, for lack of a better phrase, absolutely repulsive. Just because you do not want to admit that there is a sort of market out there for a beloved franchise that has been all but immortalized into worldly pop-culture, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. There is something to be had in this field, but you choose not to care.
If there is a legal dispute taking place as to who owns what in this fandom, I urge for whoever is responsible for moving such a thing forward to do so, for the sake of fans everywhere. We should not have to guess who we should put the blame towards for trying to commit homicide towards a franchise that has been immortalized by many.
And if the creator herself, Naoko Takeuchi, is behind the failure of caring for the North American fans, which one should doubt is true, due to the fact that the lack of the uncensored and uncut DVD box sets that were released before this mess took place also being pulled from store shelves as a direct result of this deviant act of treason contradicting the reasoning behind her accused involvement in this decision, if she is to blame, then I have to say this to her: Shame on you, Naoko. Shame on you and the people who work for you, for ignoring the very fans that had made your own franchise the franchise that it is today. This is true at least in my mind, but I cannot doubt that many others that will read this will agree with me in the assumption the the North Americans are the ones that made your creation what it is today. The act that you caused to be implemented has showed that you really do not care for the beloved fans that immortalized your very creation. If your involvement in this catastrophic decision is indeed the truth, then you, Naoko, would have stabbed us dear fans of Sailor Moon and other works from you right in the back and then smeared whatever blood you got on your hands from the stabbing into our faces and laughed right into them. Like I said, this is not to say that I believe that you did perpetrate this drastically malicious act of treason against the Anime world. And I do not believe that you have. I just pray that I am correct, because may the Anime world, may every Anime and Manga fan, and may every artistic creator in such a field such as the one you are currently a part of, forgive you if I am wrong.
My finger in all of this mess points to the traitors at Toei Animation, who has, to me, proved that Corporate America has polluted and influences the minds and souls of those in other countries to do the same and make every single decision a monetary one. While a company must make money to stay a business, one must question in today’s world of greed and corruption by those we are supposed to trust as to whether any decision based upon money is one out of survival or one out of pure greed. One will only have to drive to a gas station to fill up their car in order to know that many decisions of this kind are because of the latter reason.
So this is to the people at Toei Animation: As I believe you are the lone perpetrators behind this shameful act of treason on not only the world of pop culture, but to the fandom of Sailor Moon in North America and to the Anime business and culture in general, you need to make a decision, and make it now. Either you find a reason to let the fans, the deserving, waiting fans, the loyal fans, be able to view their beloved show in the way they want it, or you sell your share of the rights, your library, to someone who does care, and who will be more than happy to know just how much we North Americans still care, about a fourteen year old klutzy, spacey, ditzy, and loyal girl save the world by being a princess of the Moon, about a franchise that has enough staying power to still wow generations of new and old fans, about a franchise that is able to stay immortal and still able to have enough fan created material to matter, about a franchise in which people will come in droves to talk about the smallest of rumors that a live action, big screen movie would be in the works, and about a franchise that we obviously, still care very deeply about. Either get with it, or get out of it.
Good night, and good luck.
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