Visuals and cast information for the Nogizaka46 Sailor Moon collaboration have been released!

Nogizaka46 is a Japanese girl group consisting of 46 members. Earlier this year, it was announced that there would be a stage collaboration between this group and Sailor Moon! It has now been revealed that it will in fact be a stage play covering the Dark Kingdom arc!



Rather than just one cast, the girls of Nogizaka46 have been split into 2 "teams," the Moon Team and the Star Team, both of which will form a separate case for the inner senshi. All other roles will be played by non-Nogizaka46 members, but will be keeping with the all-female casting introduced in New Myu.

The cast list:

Team Moon: 
Sailor Moon: Mizuki Yamashita
Sailor Mercury: Riria Ito
Sailor Mars: Kazumi Takayama
Sailor Jupiter: Ami Noujo
Sailor Venus: Hina Higuchi

Team Star:
Sailor Moon: Sayuri Inuoe
Sailor Mercury: Miria Watanabe
Sailor Mars: Ranze Terada
Sailor Jupiter: Minami Umezawa
Sailor Venus: Kana Nakada

General Cast:
Naru: Yuka Tamauchi
Umino: Marina Tanoue

Kunzite: Chihiro Ando
Zoisite: Sari Kojima
Nephrite: Shin
Jedite: Rina Takeda

Ensemble:
Masuko Komouto
Mayu Kaburagi
Kumiko Saitou
Ayuka Karuchi
Minami Watanabe
Mami Matsuoka

Queen Beryl: Nami Tamaki

Tuxedo Mask: Mikako Ishii

Notable among the cast is the inclusion of Naru and Umino (!!!) and the return of Chihiro Ando (former Tigers Eye) as Kunzite, and of Mikako Ishii (former Pluto) as Tuxedo Mask, all of which I am very excited for! 

Additionally, something probably nobody else will care about is the director is Worry Kinoshita! He is the director for the Engeki Haikyuu stage plays and I absolutely love him.

Casting aside, the stage play will run from June 8-24 and from September 21-30, with the teams alternating performance days.

So, what are everyone's thoughts!

I'm curious to see how well it winds up being done. I think it has a lot of potential to be cute/great/etc. or vaguely embarrassing/low-ish quality...

I love the sequined costumes. They're really gaudy, but in an endearing way.

Oooh thanks for posting Cardea! I hadn't seen the casting list. Having Umino and Naru is very interesting as they have never had Myu appearances before and then Umino's never been portrayed in any live action version so that'll be a first.

I'm a little bummed that it seems to be a Dark Kingdom storyline again, but maybe they'll change it up enough to be different from La Reconquista. Maybe it'll be more OG anime based? Guess we'll find out!

I think having Mikako return to play Tuxedo Mask is very interesting! I hope she does a good job. I feel like I could enjoy a female Tuxedo mask if I like the direction and writing of the role.

Anyway, other than that....I'm not a fan of the costuming and I was kinda complaining about it being too many sequins last night. However, this morning I had a thought. Since this is an idol group, these girls will be no strangers to singing and dancing at the same time. So more sparkles for more complex choreography? What do ya'll think? XD XD

I'm actually pretty excited about this myself, which I was not expecting from the original announcement! I'm not sure how good or new it will be story-wise (being the Dark Kingdom...again...), but I think with the main girls being from Nogizaka46, they'll definitely put on a good show! I would LOVE to see some more complex choreography, and I think this would be a good opportunity to have something like that, since like Brit said they have more experience with singing and dancing simultaneously. I saw someone comparing it to the Kirari Super Live in hoping it might be more of a music show type thing than a story-based performance, which I think could work nicely!

I also think it might be based more on the original anime, due to the inclusion of Naru and Umino, and also because there has been more of a focus on the original anime recently, such as the USJ event. In any case, I'm curious to see how much they'll be incorporated into it, as well as how they'll deal with Umino's glasses!

I wasn't so sure on the costumes at first, but as I look at them more, I think I'm liking them more! The sequins are a LOT, but I like the wavy ribbon details on the bow and the side of the collar! I also think its cute that everyone has a gold and white underskirt. Really for costumes, though, I feel like you get a better idea once you see them in motion!

OH! One thing I meant to ask; obviously this isn't the continuation of the musicals, as those are continuing in summer of 2019, which leads to a few questions, the most important 2 are: 
Will the Nogizaka collaboration continue past the Dark Kingdom arc?
Since this is more of a "special performance," will it be recorded, or will it be an exclusively live event?

For the second question, that's probably related to how Nogizaka does things; I'm not sure if they're the type of group that releases DVDs of everything or focuses more on the exclusivity of attending live events. In any case, I hope at least some recordings are released, if not the whole event!

Oh... i had hear about of this but with more informations it's very interessant ! I love the first arc so for me it's good. I am very suprise to see umino and Naru it's super ! 
I prefer the team moon, just when i look the visual xD, but it's strange, two teams... the show will not the same because each actor brings differents things. It's difficult to exprim that in english, i'm sorry^^
I'm impatient, i hope a record, i want to show that !

Those costumes are cute! But what is the difference between a stage show and a musical? Is it because it's inherently smaller, with a shorter runtime and less of a cast?

Have you watched "Kirari Super Live"? I think it might be something akin to that. Or like some of the shows the old Myu would do as more promotions of the upcoming musicals where it was more like a concert with the cast rather than a full on musical.

Wow Pluto becomes Tux!! I'm not against that. I liked her as Pluto, so I'll be excited to hear her singing the lower notes and doing all the manly-man poses just to see how comfortable she is in that range too. And is it just me or is there something mildly in-character about Pluto wanting to play as a man...? I mean she's feminine and all but... I don't know how to describe it ^^;;;.

Aiyaaaa DK again.... I hope they do something like @Mitsukara's fancomic/fic and really spice things up!!

Spoiler:

I don't know anything about the director. Does he have a particular style of aesthetic or storytelling?

My first thought when I saw the Twitter about it earlier was that the two teams were gonna have a song battle at the end of each performance or something. I didn't see that they were alternating days. So now I'm kind of sad about that since using two teams somehow in one performance would have forced them to do something iinteresting. Opposito Senshi, anyone? Anyways, my overactive imagination aside, it must be a scheduling thing. I've got the impression over the years that idols have to work pretty dang hard, working on multiple projects at the same time whenever they can.

@cardea you're totally right about the costumes: you need to see them in motion. I hated the old Myu ones a lot less after finally seeing a full performance!

And YES what ARE they going to do about his glasses?!?!

For the director: one of the strongest (if not the strongest) points of the Haikyuu musicals he is directing is the characterization in them. While this is also due to the actors, of course, in a lot of the cast interviews they mention how good Worry was about working with them in helping to develop the characters but also in giving them room to come up with their own ideas of the character.

Since the characterization is one of the most important things to me in a performance, I'm hoping his reputation will uphold in this as well, and even if they don't do anything particularly new with the story, they will maybe provide some interesting characterizations!

Oh that would be fantastic!!

both ami's look the same but this sounds cool

I'm excited for this. I was HOPING to head to Tokyo to see these, but alas.. no luck. Unless a miracle happens before September ><

I legitimately screeched when Mikako was announced as Tux. 
She's a personality for sure, and genuinely loves the fans. 

I'm not expecting terrific acting from the main girls, but I may be pleasantly surprised. 

I hope we get DVDs from these. x

I saw a post on tumblr yesterday mentioning rehersals are probably going on with the first performances coming up next month. Maybe we'll get to see some pics posted on twitter or something!

Rehearsals have begun! A few days ago, actually! There have been posts on twitter from Mikako (Tuxedo Mask), as well as some of the Shitennou actresses and Naru and Umino! No pictures from the Nogizaka girls, at least none that I've seen, and no pictures in costume!

Pictures under the cut for those who are interested!

Spoiler:

Awww perfect role for Jadeite, a baby faced girl. <3 <3

I wonder if the Nogizaka girls have a contract they gotta follow with social media. I wouldn't doubt it tbh. xD

ohhh the shitennou perfect Jedeite, and nephrite. I am a little suprise with the face of kunzite but after make up and disguise....  i am impatient !

I agree on the shitennou! I was surprised to find out Chihiro Ando was going to be Kunzite, as she seems too... cute? Given, she also looks cuter than I imagined a Tigers Eye to be, but I loved how she did the role! Since I like her as an actress, I'm actually a bit excited that she doesn't seem to fit the role, because maybe she'll have an interesting take on it. (For example, I don't think Kawasaki Miki fits my usual view of Kunzite, but I loved how she played him!)

Also..... MORE NEWS!!!!!

First of all, Luna will be in this musical! As a puppet! They are collaborating with a puppet theater company whose name google translates to Puppet Theater Hitomi. I don't know anything about the company, but I'm definitely interested to see how it goes! Since its being done by a puppet troupe, I think it should be well done, but it will be interesting to see how they integrate that with the actresses.

That's the main news, but in other news...

One portion of the news post makes mention of special live shows made after the performances which can only be seen in person... this is speculation, but I'm hoping since this part is specifically mentioned to be only in person, that means the musical itself will be recorded!

And last but not least, the music is being done by Shunsuke Wada!!! He does the music for the Haikyuu!! stage plays (the same ones that I know the director from), and the music in those is amazing! (I own all the albums for them and listen to them frequently; they're mostly instrumental but he has a wonderful use of themes/motifs, and using styles to represent different groups/people) I had actually been hoping he would be involved with the music when I saw that Worry was the director, so this is great news! In my opinion, the only other person I would have maybe preferred is Akiko returning to do it, but I didn't think that was likely. 

The rest of the crew was listed as well, but there aren't any other names I recognize and I'm not sure if they autotranslated correctly, so I won't list them here. The news post with all this info on the official website is here which has a link to the cast and staff page here. The news post is rather long, I believe everything else is just a reiteration of information we already know, or is ticket information.

Ok so just seeing a puppet Luna alone makes this whole production worth it for me. XD

 A+ reporting cardea! Thank you!!

This show has become much juicier than I expected when we first heard about it!! I hope you're right that it will be recorded!

Most of all I'm looking forward to hearing the Nogizaka girls sing tbh. I watched a musical called Lilium a while ago that was put on by members of a similar idol group and I was super blown away by their ability since the music was very different than their usual pop songs. I'm hoping Nogizaka are also going to make the Inner Senshi shine in that way~~~.

More visuals have been released!!!

Serenity!:

Everyone!:

I highly recommend opening the second picture in a new tab and zooming in to take a good look at everyone!

We've already seen the senshi, so I don't really care much about them, but omt! Mikako's Tux looks amazing! I love the way they chose to do the wig; I think this more relaxed style suits Mamoru more than the styled look they went with for for Yuuga. The shitennou are a bit... shiny? Their wigs look great and their facial expressions are perfect, but the outfits themselves are a LOT.

Beryl is gorgeous. Serenity's dress is sooooo pretty and her wings are wonderful.

And Naru and Umino. Are. Perfect.

Lol you beat me to it! I was so happy to see Umino's glasses revealed and our first look at Pluto!Mask XD.

I love Serenity's wings too!! But I'll leave it at that XD.

Clearly the costume direction saw the 20th anniversary Myu and thought "NOT ENOUGH SHINY! RECLAAAAIM"

Awww haha I see all three of us were rushing to get this up. I actually really like Serenity's design! I really like all the detailing they put into it, it's different and fresh. There's also something interesting about it though. If you zoom in, it kinda looks like it has a Sailor Bow design with possibly her hand over a brooch? I wonder if that is just part of the design or something to do with the show itself?

I agree about the Shittenou...maybe its just the lighting from the photoshoot or whatever Photoshop job was done. They look like B movie spaceman suits. Bahahaha. xD

Umino and Naru look adorable! Tuxedo's look is pretty good but I wanna actually see her in action. xD Is it just me or did they up Beryl's sexy lady factor by like 20???

The Shitennou look like they’re wearing fire proof suits! XD

Oooo good catch, Brit re: the hidden brooch!! I wonder, indeed!

Brit-chan wrote:

Is it just me or did they up Beryl's sexy lady factor by like 20???

To be fair, the last one *was* super haggy lol... (Which I loved!) But you're totally right!

Before I start! I was going to include pictures, but there are too many I like, so I decided to include none of them. For pictures from the musical, check out Sailor Busters. As of my typing this, there aren't any of the Team Star pictures included yet, but she's been updating the site as pictures come out, so they'll probably be up sometime soon!

As promised, here is a rough idea of thoughts I've seen from Japanese fans who have seen the show on Twitter:

mixed reactions.

Some people love the show, some people absolutely hate it, but most are somewhere in the middle. And not like an "it was okay" the middle, but a "I don't know what I think" the middle. And they're all talking about it! Which I am very grateful for! The rest is under a spoiler tag because there are... spoilers.

Spoiler:

In general, in addition to finding out info about the show, this was also an interesting look comparing the Japanese and English myu fandoms. Something wonderful I've discovered is English fans tend to refer to "old" and "new" myu, while Japanese fans refer to them as "Bandai" or "Nelke." I already knew that, but what I did not know is that they shorten Bandai Myu to "banmyu." How cute. 

Anyways, based off of the comments and pictures I've seen, I think I'll enjoy it, but I also think it will feel different than myu, and more like a stage play. Since I love stage plays, that should turn out well for me, but I do wonder how the general English fandom response will be, especially since we're approaching it as a myu. 

SO. Given all that, what do y'all think? Sound like your jam? Sound like not your jam? Still not sure what to think?

One last note. I don't have sources for these because it is mostly from memory of what I have seen over the past few days, but! Shoutout to @ryuusagi on twitter for basically outlining the entire show. If you're like me and follow random Japanese Sailor Moon fans on twitter, he's a good one!

I feel like maybe I'll enjoy it a bit more than the Nelke Myu? (Also i think i'm gunna start calling them that way from now on, i think its easier than old and new myu imo, especially now that we've moved past those first 5 onto different productions).

If the music and staging feel more like Banmyu, and the story and character dialogue is interesting enough, then I think I can get over some subpar singing. Though, it's kinda concerning that they have picked girls who aren't the strongest singers...wouldn't you want to pick girls from your group that show cases your group in a good light? Shouldn't some of these girls be used to singing and dancing at the same time by now? Ah well, I'll have to reserve full judgement till I can watch more than that commercial clip, which I know was a rehearsal anyway.

I actually liked puppet Luna from the pics! I've noticed the western fandom in general seems to have a hard time with puppets and plush animals as replacements for Luna. xD I did find it odd that you could see the puppeteer though and not so much cause of a Western point of view but because I've seen clips of other Japanese shows/stage things, where puppeteers or background stage hands like that are all in black to blend in, but ya know, if you've ever seen the musical Avenue Q, they don't try to hide the puppeteers there so it's not like a taboo thing to do in theater.


Thanks for mentioning who you follow (i've been meaning to ask but always forget XD)! I'm gunna give them a follow.

And lastly, I'll share this image I saw last night courtesy of this twitter post.

Spoiler cause spoiler:

I read all of you,... and i want to make my opinion !!! i want to watch all of that. I think i will like it^^ thank you for all informations!

I sooo prefer the terminology Bandai/Nelke myu. I was wondring if there was an abbreviation for the latter... nerumyu, maybe? this reminds me of a post that said "if bobobo bobo bobo had a stage play, would it be bobosute?"

On the thought that Nogi should pick their best girls... while of course this is a large collaboration, it's not the only thing Nogi has going on, and also in general, they want to keep a balance between giving their more experienced girls publicity while also creating opportunities for their newer/less known girls to gain a fanbase. I'm not a Nogi fan and I have absolutely no idea how these girls rank popularity-wise or talent-wise, but I don't think it would be surprising if they aren't necessarily the best Nogi has to offer. (However, they did still have to make it into the girl group out of however many girls were applying, so they can't be too terrible either!)

BUT that doesn't mean they're bad either! Because all we have to go on so far is one short clip and other people's opinions.

Also! On the topic of the puppeteer's outfit. I think that when she's actually on stage, the grey will blend pretty well with the background, moreso than black would. Both Tux's outfit as well as some of the ensemble villain outfits are black, so the lighting is likely set up to make the black pop. In this context, I think the grey will probably be easier to flit over and less likely to confuse her with another character. Plus, since Luna is black, if her puppeteer were wearing black, it might make Luna hard to distinguish.

And YES I love that shot!!! It's actually a perfect example of why I'm really pumped for this myu--something like that has an entirely different feel from anything so far, and it looks GREAT.

And I'm glad y'all are excited about it too! I really hope there are some more clips released soon, and hopefully an announcement about a DVD or livestream, though that seems unlikely until September.

YAY Thank you for summarizing all that intel, cardea!!! I don't follow Japanese accounts but obviously I should be XD.

An acquaintance of mine that I met years ago through cosplay has seen it and provided some comments in English on her Twitter as well ( @KillMeNeko ).

Apparently there was a club scene...

Spoiler:

ALSO I JUST RECOGNIZED BERYL!!!! The actress, Nami Tamaki is a well-known jpop singer! I used to listen to her song, Reason from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny aaaall the time >___<!!!

Some interesting things I've seen complaints about, and was wondering what you guys think! So there have been various concerns over NogiMyu bringing in Nogi fans, with some people thinking this is good, we can make more myu fans, and other people seeing it as bad, because the focus is less on the myu itself.

Obviously you can't tell by looking at someone whether they're a myu fan or a nogi fan or both unless their clothes give it away, but something people have noticed is the gender ratio! Bandai myu, obviously, was made with children in mind, so the audience was a lot of children with parents, along with other Sailor Moon fans in general. Nelke myu, with it's takarazuka influence, still brought in Sailor Moon fans, but also especially brought in female fans, since takarazuka is generally intended for girls. Nogimyu, on the other hand, has apparently brought a male fanbase with it! 

Nobody was complaining that men shouldn't go see the show, but I think the general thought process was Sailor Moon is a series about girls for girls, so having it become a show of girls performing for guys felt odd.

Of course, I haven't been to any of the shows, so I can't confirm for sure how much of the audience is actually men and how it compares to other myus. And some of this is coming from things I've seen in English, others from what I've seen in Japanese. None of it is necessarily the general consensus, just what some people think based on what I've seen.

That being said, any thoughts?