Hey gang, so the latest on the Sailor Moon Book (y’know, we really need to make sure we finalize the title so I have something to call it).
Me, I’m now up to my neck in research, which is to say, reading stuff and seeing it it’s useful and sticking it in the bibliography. The sad part is the information isn’t “spread out” consistently – a few things are best found via wikis first then drilled into. I wish someone would write a book on Sailor Moon’s history with a giant bibliography, and I have the terrifying fear someone will want us to do that next (I actually have a few other plans in mind). So this is a pretty erratic experience, but I think I’ve discovered enough useful information.
Two things that came up are:
- The exact history of the first Sailor Moon dub is a bit erratic (indeed, one book, Sailor Moon Reflections) was the best source. Really this early history is kind of a mess, of options, of handoffs, hard-working actors and cultural adaptions, and strange broadcast hours. It’s a bit of a wonder it happened.
- The history of Magical Girl shows isn’t that well documented. I found some intriguing bits and pieces on a manga called Princess Comet, which sounds like a proto-Sailor Moon story (including a lost handsome prince, space magic, and some rivalry) but can’t find much else on it.
Bonnie did her first run through the book and it’s shaping up. It went from “reads like a collection of blog posts” to “reads like an book that needs polishing” due to her extensive efforts. Once I finish my research (this week hopefully) I’ll make a go, then she and I will go over it together later in February.
It’s got a feel of being a kind of extended convention panel, filled with anecdotes and human bits, as well as a clear outline of progression (which was fairly obvious). It took work to get it going, but now it’s really enjoyable as we see the different facets of how this show affected people.
Oh, and we’ll hopefully be speaking at some cons in 2016, stay tuned . . .
The artist is signed on. No spoiling yet 😉
- Steve