The late 1980’s and early 1990’s saw a monstrous wave of Japanese Anime take over North American audiences; predominantly found on children’s cartoon networks, Anime quickly became a staple of western entertainment and international pop culture as a whole. At the center were classics such as Pokemon and Dragon Ball, these shows raised the shareholding eyebrows of many studio executives and their reproductive rights would soon be swallowed-up, allowing for the properties to became even bigger. One such franchise that has slowly become more prominent over the past few years has been Sailor Moon, which has garnered somewhat of a cultural resurrection through reruns and the 2014 reboot series, Sailor Moon Crystal, and it appears Universal Studios is looking to bank on the growth of the property.
Universal Studios has previously dipped it’s toe into other properties for the purposes of creating an attraction such as Dragon Ball Z and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure for their Cool Japan annual events, and the Moonies will finally get their moment in the spotlight. Anime News Network reports that Universal Studios plans to open a ‘Sailor Moon’-based attraction formatted in 4-D at their Japanese theme park in Osaka, Universal Studios Japan, by March 18, 2018 and will be titled Sailor Moon: The Miracle 4D. However, the studio will be opening the attraction only temporarily until June 24, 2018.
Very few details about the ride were provided, but it is mentioned that it will involve the titular character and the rest of the Sailor Scouts (no reports on how many of them, but it assumed the main-5) take-on a new threat in an original story.
‘Sailor Moon’s’ fame continues to reach tremendous heights, and this attraction will be a must-see for any Moonie, and any Anime fan alike. It is rather interesting to see studios begin to take approaches at promoting these characters and their stories, and who knows? We may yet to a see major live-action adaption in the future.
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