Q:You've got the songs mixed up for Un Nouveau Voyage, the wrong songs have the wrong titles and Infinite Labyrinth is completely missing. Get good.

Anonymous

They’re definitely correct, it’s made following the song booklet that came with the DVD. 

Mugen Labyrinth is absent because it doesn’t appear in the song booklet or the DVD Menu, I thought this was strange too though it appears in the musical’s pamphlet. The likely explanation is that it simply doesn’t have lyrics and refers to the instrumentals in the Infinity Labyrinth (Second battle against the Witches 5) scene, it’s also possible that it was a song that was deleted. 

The no-lyrics but appears in the pamphlet even though its merely instrumental also happens to the first movement of the Piano Symphony. Hope that explains things.

Q:You should really subtitle in Standard American English, it makes people who use your subtitles more comfortable. :)

Anonymous

I am not American, so it’s much more difficult for me to recognise what would be correct American English and what would be not. Better just to keep one standard.

Q:When is SeaofSerenity's Anniversary?

Anonymous

seaofserenitysubs:

I have honestly no idea sorry.

Counting years only serves as a reminder that the end is nigh. 

Our first post announcing our opening on our website is November 11th, 2013 so that would be our officially anniversary, however we had been working on translations for the musicals some time before that since we opened with 6 shows already finished.

~Hikari

Q:hi, wow, this is the anon who just asked you about your pgsm subs and i was going through your asks tag and i just noticed--you put up with a LOT of abuse from sailor moon fans while you're subtitling shows for $0 with nothing to gain back from the community, monetary or otherwise. you're all extraordinary!! :D THANK YOU for your hard work!

Anonymous

Merci beaucoup!

If you do want to support us, the best way is to reblog our various postings or tell your friends about us. In particular, we’re particularly keen on getting more people into the Sailor Moon Musicals which are by far the most overlooked aspect of the series. I mean just look at this terrific sequence. I get chills every time:

https://youtu.be/OW7GfIjms7s?t=2h1m42s

Q:hey! sorry if you've been asked this before, but would you personally say that your translations of PGSM are more accurate than other groups'? (i don't wanna name names and create bad air, so to speak) i've been looking for accurate translations :)

Anonymous

I sure would like to think so, but I don’t want to be in this business of “I am better than Group X Y and Z”. It just promotes hostility. Besides you’d just be taking my word for it.

Try out our subs and decide for yourself. To toot my own horn,I think they’re pretty solid.

If any lines feels funky or off or doesn’t mesh well with your understanding of the scene, drop us a line and we’ll tell you why we have translated the line as such.

I will say that though, we get very few complaints about actual translation and if there are genuine ones, we fix them, most complaints are ad hominen attacks because sadly in a large fandom like Sailor Moon, there’s just more people who are likely to get mad over something like romanising Tellur a different way.

Thanks!

@dreamysuzu

Love Yuki Nakamura genuinely and sad she never got to sing Traditional the Grace but Mariya Izawa has terrible enunciation and was the most difficult actress to translate by miles, oddly her little sister Arisu who appears as Chibimoon in the same musical has no such problem. Mariya is just kind of a translator’s nightmare, especially with the VHS-only quality. I suspect she’s just not opening her mouth as widely as she should on stage.

Q:Hey just I've spotted an error on your subs (from the Mimete/Venus pictures). Mimete should be "Mimet". Thanks!

Anonymous

Thank you for your message.

I’m a little confused. It does say “Mimet” doesn’t it?

If you mean this one:

http://seaofserenitysubs.tumblr.com/post/139795688400/mimet-attempts-to-get-in-on-minakos-act-winter

If you mean it should say “Mimete” rather than “Mimet”. This is actually intentional on my part. The “Mimete” spelling comes from a sidepanel in the manga that was written by Naoko Takeuchi.

Personally I prefer to go back to the original source word and balance that with the sounds of word rather than pulling from what the author’s written unless they’ve explicitly said “This is how you write it”. Japanese –> English romanisations are often inconsistent even from the same person and since Naoko Takeuchi was not writing with an English audience in mind, I have taken the “Mimete” spelling to be aesthetic on her part rather than her stating the definitive English spelling.

The spelling Mimet, I’ve derived from the mineral Mimetite. 

That said, please feel free to spell the names however you wish. There’s not really one “right” answer. (though something like Meme-it is probably not right)

We also use “Eudial” “Tellur” “Vilyui” and “Cyprine”.

Q:Also I had a bit of a question about translation. People often use "Spectre Sisters" or "Phantom Sisters" for the Ayakashi sisters, but I've sometimes seen "Weird Sisters" as well and it makes me wonder if perhaps Naoko Takeuchi had a Shakespearean reference in mind? "Weird" can mean uncanny or supernatural like "Ayakashi" and given that the arc deals with altering the future, a theme heavy in Macbeth with the Three Weird Sisters (the witches) maybe that's a connection?

specialguestvillain

The issue with “ayakashi” is that it can have several different meanings so its hard to pinpoint what Naoko Takeuchi meant in Japanese straight-away and therefore even harder to discern what would be the English equivalent, however with a little contextual analysis, we can work out what fits best. 

Specifically “ayakashi” refers to a monster that appears during shipwrecks, which is where the “phantom” and “spectre” are coming from. However, within the context of these characters, it doesn’t really make much sense. The Sisters are neither related to shipwrecks or monsters. 

More generally, “ayakashi” can refer to things (and this is how its usually used) that are ghostly, suspicious or weird, hence “weird” sisters as you’ve picked up. You are also correct in seeing “ayakashi” being connotative towards weird in the sense of being unearthly and strange. Basically the word “ayakashi” opens up a large range of plausible translations. everything from “odd” to “ghostly”.

In my opinion, judging from the context the characters are placed in… Kouan does fortune telling, Berthier does dowsing, Petz leads an army of body-snatchers and Calaveras is a medium. In my opinion, the idea of “ayakashi” that Naoko Takeuchi was going for is best represented by the English “supernatural”. After all, the connotation of supernatural is present behind nearly all meanings of “ayakashi”,

 Hence, we personally choose to translate them as the “Four Supernatural Sisters”. I feel this best fits the context and implications of the word. 

As for being a Macbeth reference, I’m honestly a little in doubt. The Japanese I believe in Macbeth uses  “3人の奇妙な姉妹” (sannin no kimyou na shimai) rather than “ayakashi”, from an English perspective it looks plausible, from Japanese it is unlikely (of course, not impossible). Since you have to jump through the English language to get through the logic rather than the Japanese. Though, interesting that the original Black Lady musical reduces the sisters to three which could be possibly be related. Although Rubeus is also absent which makes it seem coincidental.

 I do think the English dub suggests your theory if I remember correctly, Lita calls them the weird sisters. The word “ 奇妙” does not really have an especially supernatural connection, “strange” as in “unusual”.

I hope that explains it, if I’ve failed to explain something properly, please send us another message.

Thank you for your question!

(If you have anymore, send them away, these are my favourite kind of asks)

Q:I want to watch the musicals based on continuity, not by stages so how would you list them per arc? Like which are the ones that cover the DK arc, which ones that cover the BM arc, etc? Also, even within each arc is there a way to watch them in order in regards to continuity?

Anonymous

The musicals are really stand alone productions. They are not properly continuous with any version and not even really continuous within themselves when there is some sort of “continuity” it is either an off-hand in-joke with the audience or its expressly pointed out but I’ll try and do my best. You also have to account that most musicals have a revised version in the Winter, where some plot elements, characters, lines, songs etc get changed around.

Where’s a Kaiteiban the bare bones of the show are the same, but it’s got enough changes to warrant it as a separate production.

Just a fair warning, if you’re trying to fit the musicals into a strict continuity, you’re in for a gigantic headache. Musicals are listed next to their “arc” and then explained more in depth below. S = Summer, W = Winter, Sp = Spring

Summary —

Dark Kingdom: S93
Black Moon Clan: S01, W02, Sp02
Death Busters: S94, S02, W03
Dead Moon Circus: S95, Sp96
Shadow Galactica: S96, W97, S97, W98, S98, S03, W04
Kaguya Island: Sp99, S99, S04, W05
Dracul Series: W00, S00, W01, Sp02

Dark Kingdom: S93

No musical covers this arc properly.

1993 Summer - Gaiden - Dark Kingdom no Fukkatsu Hen, serves as an alternative sequel to the anime’s first series.

Black Moon Clan: S01, W02, Sp02

Black Moon Clan’s storyline was skipped in the First Stage

These two musicals primarily take their material from the manga, there are some anime elements but there’s also a very large amount of original material.

Summer 2001: Tanjou! Ankoku no Princess Black Lady 
Winter 2002: Tanjou! Ankoku no Princess Black Lady (Kaiteiban) - Wakusei Nemesis no Nazo

Spring 2002: 10th Anniversary Festival - Ai no Sanctuary, original storyline but serves as a partial sequel to the Black Lady musicals.

Death Busters: S94, S02, W03

Summer 1994 - Usagi - Ai no Senshi e no Michi - An abridged retelling of the anime’s Kaolinite arc.

These two shows are a more manga based telling of the Infinity arc. Large amount of original content.

Summer 2002 - Mugen Gakuen ~ Mistress Labyrinth ~
Winter 2003 - Mugen Gakuen ~ Mistress Labyrinth ~ (Kaiteiban)

Dead Moon Circus: S95, Sp96

Dead Moon Circus’s storyline was skipped in the Second Stage.

These two musicals imply reference to some events of the manga but it’s rather ambiguous. Large amount of original storytelling. Some anime elements too, but it’s neither manga or anime based specifically. 

Summer 1995 - Yume Senshi - Ai - Eien ni…
Spring 1996 - Yume Senshi - Ai - Eien ni… (Kaiteiban) - Saturn Fukkatsu Hen

Shadow Galactica: S96, W97, S97, W98, S98, S03, W04

These two musicals like the SuperS ones don’t strongly resemble either counterpart, but some scenes are reminiscent of the Nehelenia arc.

Summer 1996 - Sailor Stars
Winter 1997 - Sailor Stars Kaiteiban

These two musicals are a sort of expansion on the Sailor Stars musicals as the anime had finished its run by this time, some scenes resemble the latter parts of the anime.

Summer 1997 - Eien Densetsu
Winter 1998 - Eien Densetsu (Kaiteiban) - The Final First Stage

This musical blends together elements from the SuperS and Eien Densetsu musicals together into a new production.

Summer 1998 - Shin Densetsu Kourin

This musical is essentially a remake of the Eien Densetsu musicals, however there are some Stars elements.

Summer 2003 - Starlights - Ryuusei Densetsu

This musical seems to be a mix of revision and musical to the Starlights musical.

Winter 2004 - Kakyuuouhi Kourin - The Second Stage Final

Kaguya Island: Sp99, S99, S04, W05

Original story. Apparently takes place post-Stars.

Spring 1999 - Kaguya Shima Densetsu
Summer 1999 - Kaguya Shima Densetsu (Kaiteiban) - Natsuyasumi! Houseki Tankentai

These two musicals are remakes of the Kaguya Shima Musicals.

Summer 2004 - Shin Kaguya Shima Densetsu
Winter 2005 - Shin Kaguya Shima Densetsu (Kaiteiban) - Marinamoon Final

Dracul Series: W00, S00, W01, Sp02

An original storyline with a continuity, however, due to one musical having a revised edition which changes some major elements, the canon is confusing. Best to think of it as all canon unless the revision expressly overrides its original. The first musical is actually a remake of an unrecorded musical which is itself a revision to the Usagi Ai no Senshi e no Michi musical. A keen eye might be able to spot parallels between the SuperS musicals and the Transylvania no Mori musicals, the Dracul Series is mainly original though.

2000 Winter – Henshin / Super Senshi e no Michi - Last Dracul Jokyoku
2000 Summer - Kessen / Transylvania no Mori - Shin Toujou! Chibimoon wo Mamoru Senshitachi
2001 Winter - Kessen / Transylvania no Mori (Kaiteiban) - Saikyou no Kataki Dark Cain no Nazo
2001 Spring - Chou Wakusei Death Vulcan no Fuuin

The new musicals 2013 - La Reconquista and 2014 - Petite Etrangere largely follow the manga’s Dark Kingdom arcs and Black Moon Clan arcs relatively closely respectively.