Where Did the Rumors that Naoko Takeuchi made Netflix Use Japanese Honorifics Come From?
I have been scouring the internet trying to find official sources, press releases, audio or video recordings and all Google shows me is these things came from the word of mouth on fan forums with no receipts to back it up and people just buy it as fact because someone said it is so. Unless someone can provide actual physical evidence that this was indeed state, no one should just believe things based on word of mouth. It seems ridiculous to me that Naoko Takeuchi has that much power to be able to force an international dubbing studio to make such a change when she couldn’t even stop Toei from altering the Sailor Starlights from women to men who gender change into females when they transform. If she did have that power she could have stopped production of the Sailor Stars season before it could finish and forced them to revert them back but she didn’t so it doesn’t make much sense that she could hold such power on an international bases regardless of whatever power she currently has. And yes I have looked at the original press release when Sailor Moon was allowed to be redistributed and lo and behold not even that says anything about what powers she holds. All it says was and I quote “The fresh uncut and uncensored release of Sailor Moon featuring the most accurate adaptation available will be just as creator Naoko Takeuchi intended.” That doesn’t mean she had a say in the dub, when I looked up what this meant online it said and I quote “that the anime and manga have been translated and adapted to faithfully match the original creators vision without censorship or story alterations.” That just means they were more faithful in the translation from Japanese to English and source material, they didn’t alter the music or edit anything out, they didn’t change names or censored anything. That’s all that means, nothing more, nothing less.
And let’s look at this from a logical standpoint here, it makes no sense for Naoko Takeuchi to allow all five seasons of the original anime including the three side films and all three three seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal to be dubbed in English without the honorifics just to decide all of a sudden for the last four major protects (the four films for the last two arcs of the manga) demand that they be used all of a sudden that really kind of makes her look like she’s not a stable person that is very over controlling, unreasonable and indecisive, which isn’t something I have ever heard associated with her personality. I mean yeah, I understand her having control of her work but to be okay with them not using honorifics for so long to all of a sudden not okay with it just doesn’t make sense.
My point is this: There’s too many inuendoes, outuendos and speculation with no actual sources other than fan chat with no receipts to physically confirm this claim and until their is either press releases or video evidence instead of word of mouth (or text) it should be accepted by all fans of Sailor Moon that the use of honorifics in the last four films was more than likely an dubbing choice by the company chosen by Netflix to dub the films.
Truth be told, it’s very sad we have yet to have a consistent dubbing of Sailor Moon. Every English dub from DiC to now Netflix has had inconsistencies with dubbing Sailor Moon. And in case no one knows what I am talking about DiC dub changed Moon Tiara Magic to Moon Tiara Vaporize in one episode, for at least four episodes of Sailor Moon R Moon Crystal Power was Moon Star Power and Moon Crystal Healing Activation was used for the first two Specter Sisters with the final two’s changed to Moon Crystal Healing Power. In the Cloverway dub, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto’s transformation phrases altered between Uranus, Neptune and Pluto Planet Power and Uranus, Neptune and Pluto Star Power, and I’m pretty sure in SuperS Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus Crystal Power altered with Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus Star Power (I can confirm that Mercury Star Power was used for Mercury Crystal Power) and then the Pioneer dub altered many things in the three films. Moon Scepter Elimination was changed to Moon Princess Elimination in R: The Movie, Moon Crisis Power was changed to Super Moon Crisis Power and Rainbow Moon Heartache was changed to Rainbow Moon Heartache Reform in S: The Movie and finally Moon Cosmic Dream Action was changed to Super Moon Crisis Power. Now we got the ViZ Media and Netflix dubs with the inconsistency of using the characters names with and without honorifics. It really sucks that both times we got a dub of Sailor Moon we had inconsistencies both times.
And what’s worse, for me at least, is that Sailor Moon Crystal was the only adaptation this time around I actually enjoyed. I didn’t like the redub of the original anime. Sorry, not sorry, but I will always be a DiC dub Sailor Moon fan. The DiC dub is what made me a fan of Sailor Moon. The voice acting, the music DiC made for the show, especially Sailor Moon’s transformation music, and the cute little Sailor Says at the end of each episode, that just brings back so much joy and happiness for me and I will always favor that dub over any other. And yes that means the edited versions of the three side films are also my favorite dubs as well since they use all the original DiC voice cast and music.
Anywho, sorry for going off topic. I just really don’t understand where these rumors started and for me I won’t believe that the choice to use honorifics in the Netflix English adaptation of the four Sailor Moon Crystal films was forced by Naoko Takeuchi without receipts so until someone can link a press release, newspaper article with no anonymous sources claiming to be an insider or video or audio evidence from anyone involved in the dubbing, be that be Netflix officials, the voice cast or from the company hired by Netflix to dub them, and was just an inaccurate dubbing choice by the company hired by Netflix to dub the films.