Sailor Moon is a household name in both America and Japan. Originally a manga, Sailor Moon gained worldwide popularity due to the anime released by DIC Entertainment in North America. The 90’s anime has a place in the hearts of many millennials either as a fixture of childhood or a passion that has continued through their whole lives. Sailor Moon has an enormous presence that has taken the form of themed cafes, major brand collaborations, games, anime reboots, stage plays, and of course musicals.
Many of their musical productions have been exclusive to Japan, but Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live toured through 21 US cities in 2025. On March 19th, we were lucky enough to catch the Houston show of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live.
Pre-Show Atmosphere
The Houston show played at the Smart Financial Centre in Sugar Land, one of Houston’s many suburbs. The crowd was mainly adult and young adult women. A lot of people were dressed in Sailor Moon inspired outfits or cosplay for the occasion. In the lobby for the musical, there were several photo backdrops for attendees to take photos. There was also an area to buy merch.
It was a festive atmosphere with many different friendly and excited people, often in groups of friends or with their partner on a date. The posters and special light sticks sold out quickly. This left a few fans disappointed but never the less ready for the show to start.
Super Live Plot
I loved Sailor Moon when I was a child; I was renting the one VHS Blockbuster had almost every week. I actually have only seen up through the first arc of the original 90s anime. Luckily, that was all the background knowledge I needed. The musical has about a 3 hour run time, and it sprints through the Dark Kingdom arc, hitting all of the major plot points.
For those who need a refresher or aren’t quite as familiar, the story goes that 14 year old Tsukino Usagi finds out that she’s actually a Sailor Guardian tasked with saving the Earth, finding the other Sailor Guardians, protecting the moon princess, and keeping the Silver Crystal out of the hands of evil. She finds this out from a talking cat named Luna. Luna gives her a magical broach that lets her transform into Sailor Moon. Throughout the story she befriends and finds the other four Sailor Guardians, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus. They all work together to fight the forces of evil that Queen Beryl is behind. A mysterious man named Tuxedo Mask is also searching for the Silver Crystal though his allegiances remain unknown. Usagi can’t help but find herself drawn to Tuxedo Mask who she is interested in, but does not quite know much about him. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live follows the Sailor Moon and the other Sailor Guardians as they take on Queen Beryl and Usagi falls in love with Tuxedo Mask.
Performance
This being an internationally touring musical, the cast was kept to 12 performers. Each performer had their own strengths and weaknesses, what surprised me was the physicality of the show. Of course there were a lot of physical elements in the fights and dances. What really left a big impression on me was the physical comedic performance from Usagi, played by Tanaka Riko. The number of prat falls, running up and down stairs in heels, jumping around, skidding across the floor with exposed knees, it was incredibly impressive and unexpected. Usagi has always been a clumsy character with a loud, big, crybaby personality. Tanaka Riko was able to capture that childishness perfectly.
Other stand outs were of course Tuxedo Mask, played by Tatemichi Riona, and Queen Beryl, played by Okamura Sayaka. With the short run time of the musical, Tatemichi Riona as Tuxedo Mask was able to capture the hearts of Usagi and the audience. Incredibly charming, and very difficult to do in a show balancing so many characters and plot points.
Okamura Sayaka was a wonderful Queen Beryl, with the best song in the show, showing the depth and range of Okamura Sayaka’s vocals. She brought the animated and cartoonish villian Queen Beryl to life and was a lovely heel to our Sailor Moon.
Design/Technical Elements
Since Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live is an international touring show with only one night in each city, the set design was pretty Spartan. Although there were not any large intricate set pieces and the only thing that moved were the light pools that the performers would also wield, the simple 3 staircase with a large projection screen design was effective. The projector and lighting helped transport the viewer to new and drastically different locations, and carry the story. The projector and screen also played a huge roll because the entirety of the musical was in Japanese.
Subtitles
As someone who has been to a stage play or two, I was not sure what to expect when it came to subtitling Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live. Usually in a theater or opera house, there is a space above or below the stage where subtitles can be projected. The subtitles usually are white text on a black background, sort of standard foreign film or closed captioning subtitles. At Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live, the subtitles were pleasantly incorporated into the environment. To do this they used a large screen projecting as the background. This kept the audiences eyes at character level and allowed for more interesting comic book like graphic design to incorporate the subtitles into the show. While sometimes the pacing could be a tiny bit fast, the subtitles made the musical an easy to enjoy experience.
Encore
I consider myself to be a casual Sailor Moon fan at best, and the encore was very unexpected for me. My friend who’s very into Sailor Moon and Japanese stage plays and musicals says that it’s typical for the Sailor Moon musicals, but I did not see it coming. The encore consisted of some of the songs we had just heard in the musical itself, some new original songs, and a crowd pleasing performance of the original 90s anime theme song. At the very end of the show, we were allowed to take photos and videos.
Reaction
As I stated previously, I have only seen the first season of the original 90s anime. With that in mind, I could not stop comparing things to what I remembered from the anime.
The main theme of the musical was love, which kind of disappointed me. From my memories, I always associated friendship as the core theme of Sailor Moon. So much of the story focuses on getting power from your friendships. Love was of course there too, but friendships were as important, if not more important. The other Sailor Guardians don’t get as much screen time I would like either. I believe this is due to how much is being squeeze in to the less than 3 hour run time. As much as I love Usagi and she is the title character, I also love Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako and wish we got more of them.
With the theme of love in mind, I was also shocked by how many kisses there were in this musical. I believe I counted 3, which was 3 more than I was expecting. I don’t know if I just don’t remember them from the American anime or if they were censored out but I was surprised. Just like I was surprised when Venus pulled out a sword and Sailor Moon stab herself with it! That was not on my bingo card for Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live!
The encore wasn’t as important to me personally and kind of wish that they had used that time to flesh out more of the story. It took the anime over 15 hours to tell the same story, and they had less than 3 hours to get to the same point.
Final Thoughts
When it’s all said and done, even though there were some things I wish were different and some surprises, I really enjoyed the musical experience! I believe it was accessible to more casual fans like myself, but highly entertaining for more diehard fans like my friend. I am a big fan of live theater, and it was a thrill to be able to experience this show in my hometown. It was such a positive fan atmosphere and a great show! I really hope they continue doing tours in the US!
Check Out More Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live
To see when a show is near you check out the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live website and social media!
