In grade school, I was introduced to the wonderful world of Sailor Moon. The anime aired on the now defunct UPN, and was probably one of the happiest times of my childhood. These moments of happiness were prolonged when Cartoon Network picked up the series and aired more episodes as part of their Toonami programming block. Life was great for a short time, and then it went off air, plunging me into a pit of sadness as dark as the Dark Kingdom because there was no (legal) way of reliving the series in DVD/Blu Ray form.

Thankfully, the folks at Viz Media picked up the rights to the original series and have remastered the original anime with a new English dub, due for release via official Blu-Ray/DVD box set this November!

The original Japanese names will remain intact– sad face to those who enjoyed Usagi as Serena– and the original series will not be censored whatsoever! That’s right. Zoisite will remain a male, while Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune won’t be just extremely close cousins, but lovers.

To ramp up the hype, Viz has released two clips, one featuring Usagi running into her love-to-be, Mamoru, and another featuring clip of an un-British Luna the cat. Other than the new voices, you’ll also notice a slight change to some of the dialogue.

Take a look at both clips below:

Alright, I won’t lie, it’s a bit jarring that Luna is no longer British. It’s rather difficult getting such a distinct voice from your childhood out of your head. In the same vein, Usagi’s new voice sounds younger than I remember her to be– still the high pitch tone of annoying, but in a different, more childish way. I’ll have to hear a bit more from the series to really gauge how the emotional depth fits with the awkwardness. No complaints with Mamoru’s voice, however, as his actually sounds a bit like the original’s, yet a tad bit smoother, deeper.

If you’re interested, here’s the lineup of the full cast:

Main Voice Cast
Stephanie Sheh as Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon
Kate Higgins as Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury
Cristina Vee as Rei Hino/Sailor Mars
Amanda C. Miller as Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter
Cherami Leigh as Minako Aino/Sailor Venus
Robbie Daymond as Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask

Supporting Voice Cast
Johnny Yong Bosch As Artemis
Michelle Ruff as Luna
Danielle Nicole as Naru Osaka
Ben Diskin as Gurio Umino
Tara Platt as Ikuko Tsukino
Keith Silverstein as Kenji Tsukino
Nicolas Roye as Shingo Tsukino
Cindy Robinson as Queen Beryl
Todd Haberkorn as Jadeite
Liam O’ Brien as Nephrite
Lucien Dodge as Zoicite
Patrick Seitz as Kunzite

You can pre-order the Blu-Ray DVD set now on Viz’s website. The box set will include the first 23 episodes, an exclusive 1.5” gold tone coin featuring Sailor Moon’s first transformation brooch and phrase (while supplies last), and an 88-page full-color premium booklet, all within a shimmering chipboard art box that still has room for Set 2 of the collection.

The box set is releasing just in time for the holiday season on November 11, 2014 and is currently set to retail for $56.99!

If you haven’t checked out the new anime, Sailor Moon Crystal, you can watch the first episode here, or read my premiere recap.

[HT: Crunchyroll]