Sailor Moon Eternal to be Toei Animation and Studio DEEN Co-Production

Sailor Moon has been running for nearly thirty years now, and one of the major commemorations marking the occasion will be a two-part film project bringing back much of the cast and staff behind the Sailor Moon Crystal reboot series. Acting as a Season 4 for the anime series, the film project is dubbed Sailor Moon Eternal and will be adapting the Dead Moon arc of Naoko Takeuchi's original manga series. More details behind the two films are still coming to life, but the official website for the films has confirmed that it will be a collaboration between two production studios.

The official website for Pretty Guardians Sailor Moon Eternal THE MOVIE (via Anime News Network) recently opened and announced that the two-film project is a co-production between Toei Animation (the studio behind the anime series since the 90s) and Studio DEEN (which most recently was attached to The Seven Deadly Sins: Wrath of the Gods among other projects).

There unfortunately aren't too many details as to how the production will be split between the two studios, but it's clear that Toei Animation is doing it big for this franchise as it reaches out to other studios outside of its own umbrella. Sailor Moon Eternal has been gathering together in a great way as well as series creator Naoko Takeuchi has signed on to the project to supervise.

Chiaki Kon has returned from Sailor Moon Crystal to direct the new films, Kazuko Tadano, character designer for the original Sailor Moon anime, will serve as character designer, Kazuyuki Fudeyasu (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) will be writing the scripts, and the returning voice cast from Sailor Moon Crystal series was confirmed as well.

They include Kotono Mitsuishi as Sailor Moon, Hisako Kanemoto as Sailor Mercury, Rina Satou as Sailor Mars, Ami Koshimizu as Sailor Jupiter, Shizuka Itou as Sailor Venus, and Misato Fukuen as Sailor Chibi Moon. The first film in the two-film project is currently scheduled for a release in Japan sometime in 2020.

Sailor Moon was originally created by Naoko Takeuchi for Nakayoshi magazine in 1991. More than 28 years later, Sailor Moon stands as one of the most influential shojo series ever created; popularizing the magical girl sub-genre with fans all over the world. The series can currently be found streaming on Hulu, and they describe Sailor Moon as such, "Usagi Tsukino is a clumsy but kindhearted teenage girl who transforms into the powerful guardian of love and justice, Sailor Moon. Meeting allies along the way who share similar fates, Usagi and her team of planetary Sailor Guardians fight to protect the universe from forces of evil and total annihilation."

via ANN