PRETTY GUARDIAN SAILOR MOON: THE SUPER LIVE Panel Set for SXSW

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live, a 2.5D Musical, begins a North American Tour next month with an official opening in Austin, TX at Bass Concert Hall on March 15. To celebrate, SXSW® Conference and Festivals will host a panel discussion about the musical, which will be the first conference of this year’s event.

The panel will take place on Friday, March 7 from 11:30am – 12:30pm at the Austin Convention Center in Room 8ABC (500 E. Cesar Chavez Street).

Panelists will include Makoto Matsuda, Lead producer of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live, Founding Chairman of The Japan 2.5 Dimensional Musical Association, Fumio Osano, Editor, PNP (the office of Naoko Takeuchi, the original author of the manga series, “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon”), and Riko Tanaka, cast (in the role of Sailor Moon) of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live.

Moderated by Gordon Cox, contributing Theater Editor at Variety and Creator of the Jaques newsletter, the panel will focus on the evolution of the wildly popular and internationally beloved Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. With over 50 million manga copies sold to the acclaimed anime series and over 5 billion in merch sales, a new leading genre of the artform is taking Japan and the world by storm with a live action stage production - the 2.5D Musical.

With book, lyrics and direction by Kaori Miura (Musical: The Prince of Tennis, Tokyo Revengers The Musical), choreography by Satomi Toma, and music by Go Sakabe and KYOHEI, the visually stunning interpretation of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live follows the stories of Usagi Tsukino, a teenage girl who transforms into the heroic Sailor Moon. Together, with her fellow Sailor Guardians, she battles many dark forces to protect the Earth from evil. This newly staged version of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live features an all-female Japanese cast: Riko Tanaka (Sailor Moon), Kanon Maekawa (Sailor Mercury), Rei Kobayashi (Sailor Mars), Kisara Matsumura (Sailor Jupiter), Marin Makino (Sailor Venus), Sayaka Okamura (Queen Beryl), Riona Tatemichi (Tuxedo Mask), Ayano Nagasawa (Ensemble), Ayumi Sagisaka (Ensemble), Minami Watanabe (Ensemble), Izumi Niihashi (Ensemble), Kana Yanagihara (Ensemble), Suzuka Osawa (Ensemble). 

With a mix of action, heartfelt moments and iconic music, this production sees the Manga characters brought to life on stage in an epic story-telling live show experience guaranteed to wow audiences night after night, creating an unforgettable experience for fans and newcomers alike. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live will be performed in Japanese with English subtitles.  

One of the most popular Mangas of all time, “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon” is a global cultural phenomenon. Created by Naoko Takeuchi, Sailor Moon began as a Manga in 1991 in Japan in a girl’s comic magazine published by Kodansha and has since sold over 46 million copies world-wide and has been translated into over 17 languages. It has been adapted as an anime and a live action tv series which has aired in over 40 countries.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live premiered at the AiiA 2.5 Theater Tokyo in August 2018. Following its European premiere in Paris in November 2018, the show had its US premiere in Washington D.C. and New York in March 2019 which sold out within minutes, drawing audiences from over 40 states. It has since played a hugely successful run in Taiwan. A UK engagement of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Super Live began performances on February 3, 2025 in London.