Sapphire in the Musicals

(Please note that I haven't seen any of the musicals yet; this is based on information I found, as well as music and clips.)

As you may have known, there are staged musicals based on Sailor Moon in Japan; these are popularly known as "Sera Myu". The recent productions of the show (Fall 2001, Spring 2002) have been based on the Black Moon arc of Sailor Moon (the titles of the latest musicals translate to "Birth! Princess of Darkness, Wicked Lady" and "The Secret of Planet Nemesis")... And yes, Sapphire's in them. ^_~

In the musicals, Sapphire (or "Blue Sapphire", as he's named on the cast list) is played by Yuri Kuroda. The weird thing about this is that Yuri is a she, therefore, Sapphire is being played by a woman. 0_o (A bit odd casting there, but considering Prince Diamond is also being played by a woman... -_-;) At any rate, Kuroda makes a cute-looking Sapphire. ^_^

Another interesting fact is that Sapphire's Droids from the manga, Veneti and Aquatiki, both make an appearance in the musicals; Veneti is played by Izumi Ogino, while Aquatiki is played by Yuka Kuwahara (she's played by Kunhi Hon in the second musical). Considering that they never appeared in the anime, I also find that a little strange... (Perhaps they needed more female roles...? ^_~) I don't believe they sing in the show, since their voice credits aren't on the CD for the musical, so I assume they only have acting or dancing roles.

Songs:
Sapphire has no solo songs in the first musical (out of the villains, only Prince Diamond and Wicked Lady appear to have solos). However, you can hear him (her?) sing in the Black Moon family group number "Rise to Action! Rebellious Family", and as one of the back-up singers in Diamond's solo, "Innocent Demand" (these are Tracks 05 and 09 on the first musical CD, respectively). I believe there are no new villain songs in the second musical, although there is a slightly "new" version of the song "Innocent Demand" (still no solos for Sapphire, though ^_~).

Costumes:
Sapphire's costume is fairly consistant to his usual outfit, although he wears dark blue shoes instead of the usual white ones... The decorations on his jacket also look more like crystals rather than steel bars (but perhaps crystals look better in stage lights). And in the curtain call, I could swear he was wearing Black Crystal earrings, which made me wonder... Is his character in the show more like his manga version? (The presence of Veneti and Aquatiki would certainly agree with this...) Or were they just trying to make his costume match with the rest of the family?

[Ed. note: I've finally found out that the plot of these musicals are indeed based on the manga; you can find both a review and plot description for one of them on this webpage.]

As for Veneti and Aquatiki, their costumes are red and blue, respectively (kind of like Cyprine and Ptilol of the Witches 5; in fact, their costumes are quite similar to theirs, too). I must admit, I liked their outfits... ^_^ They don't have the long wavy hair like they did in the manga, though; they both have rather short bobs, similar to Sapphire's hairstyle. (Although, I can understand why their costumer shied away from using their original design... They're fairly amorphous and undefined in the manga.)

To see my fanart of Veneti and Aquatiki (and Sapphire! ^_^) from the musical, click here.

Images:
Below, are a few screenshots of Sapphire from the musical:
Close-up of Sapphire
Sapphire & Prince Diamond
Sapphire & Wicked Lady

And here are some images of Sapphire's actress, Yuri Kuroda:
In a cool outfit - From a musical fan event
Singing a duet - With Sailor Venus (!)
Close-up - From a practice session
Rehearsal - With Sailor Moon's actress, Marina Kuroki
Civies - The villain actresses in black outfits (From left to right: the actresses of Emerald, Prince Diamond and Sapphire.)

For a bit more information on Yuri Kuroda, click here; it's in Japanese, though. (If anyone could translate some of it for me, I'd really appreciate it; I'm curious to see what that reference to Buttercup of the Powerpuff Girls is about... Favourite cartoon character, perhaps...? ^_~)

Or, check out Yuri Kuroda's official webpage, Kuroyurhythm. (In Japanese)

To see more of my musical info on the Black Moon family, go to the Control Room.

Live-Action Black Moon Family?

By now, you may have heard of the live-action T.V. version of Sailor Moon now airing in Japan (as of October 2003), called "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon". So far, it appears to be based more on the manga than on the anime... The show is very much like Power Rangers, down to the monsters in a cheesy-looking rubber suit (I guess they spent most of their budget on the costumes and CGI special effects ^_~).

Naturally, since the series has just started, there is no guarantee that it will reach a second season... Still, I thought it would be fun to speculate what some of the Black Moon Family members might look like, by looking at the characters that have appeared so far...

Here's what Prince Diamond might look like. (BTW, this is Zoycite, not Malachite. Hard to believe, but it's true... So there. ^_~)

And a glimpse at what Rubius could look like... This is Nephlite, BTW. Whoever decided to give him that hairstyle should be shot... And who's great idea was it to give him the tiara?

And let's really hope Sapphire's wig turns out nothing like this... Maybe Jedite's actor just doesn't look good as a blond... He's definitely better looking without it. ^_^

Sailor Moon and related characters created by Naoko Takeuchi, and used without permission.

Webpage graphics courtesy of 7 Rings

Images from the musical seen above courtesy of Cruel Angel; actresses' image and musical review from Solar Miracle Make-up!; musical screenshots are from SeraMyu Antics and are used with permission; live-action screenshots are from Sailor Moon Live.