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Moon Chase, in my mind, is SOS 2.0. Like SOS of days past, they claim to have various connections with companies involved with Sailor Moon, making various articles with no tangible sources, and operate in similar ways that SOS did. While they do post some interesting reads and good news at times (also like SOS), a lot of bullshit seems to come from them too. Helping my claim is seeing one alais listed as a past or present member of SOS as well as the main reporter (if you want to call it reporting) for Moon Chase. So yeah, SOS 2.0. I have been wary of this site since late Summer 2010 for various reasons, and between the reasons I had before, claims in the recent few months, and even me being banned from viewing the site, I figured it was time to bring back an SMU tradition. We've upgraded Anti-SOS to bring you Anti-Moon Chase! While this log officially went online on 4/16/2011, I will still cover events involving them from all of April 2011 before this went online, and obviously anything I deem worthy following. Like the old Anti-SOS section, I don't aim to bring up things from before, but there may be exceptions.
 04/26/11 - In an unexpected course of events, it would appear that my theories of Moon Chase not getting back communication from companies are actually incorrect. In an update they made as I worked through the night and morning, they actually posted images of a few e-mails to prove this. My biggest complaint about this site was their claims of "being in the know" yet failing to show any evidence whatsoever to this. The purpose of this section was to either (1) inform people of what I then thought to be them lying about such claims, or (2) give myself (and potentially others who might be as skeptical as myself) some sort of evidence as to why myself (and others) should believe source-less information. And it looks like scenario #2 has actually occurred. Given that the images clearly state to not use outside of their site without written permission, I will not link to these images and ask anyone curious to see them to go to Moon Chase and see for yourself. So now I will publicly apologize, as it is the right thing to do.
I am sorry for the trouble this section has apparently caused within your site. I was clearly wrong in the assumptions I had made, as with what you have showed everyone with your latest (as of this typing) update, it is apparent that representatives from a couple of companies actually have contacted back with you to some extent. I do hope that you can at least understand where my skepticism came from, and I do appreciate that you have provided evidence to put a lot of that to rest.
Before I put this section in the attic of SMU, there are a couple things in this update that I do feel the need to address.
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It has come to our attention that another site is taking screenshots of your comments and posting them on their site, and providing their own "commentary" on what you have posted. We apologize for this, we thought that Facebook was a place for our readers to interact with others and that people who were not fans would respect others' rights to post whatever they wanted on facebook. We do not know why this site will not leave you (as well as us) alone. In light of this, we are going to turn this facebook page private for administrators only. The facebook page will be restored once this has been resolved.
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I will admit that those screencaps being made and posted was probably not the best choice I made, as few of said comments were actually made by your site itself. I do think it is unfair to ban everyone from that page, and hope that you choose to bring it back online for those who wish to use it.
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In the meantime, fans are more than welcome to join our forums at http://moonchase.freeforums.org/ . We have just tightened the settings so that fans may post freely without having to worry about others taking their postings off of the site. No new account can be formed without our approval, and we have been backchecking IP addresses to those we believe are involved before approving them.
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You already seem to have my IP, and honestly, I have no interest in joining your forums. So there's no need to restrict access so tightly. As I have stated before, I have been working alone in this section. No one has been involved besides me. There is no need for you to have people jump through hoops because of one person. I have only made two comments in your blog, and that's all I ever plan to do. I respectfully request that you remove all bans from viewing your site, since you advertise yourself as a news site, and should not restrict people from viewing said news. User-submitted content, whatever you feel is right, but I don't see the point in banning people from viewing your site. If anything, I feel that such banning detracts people from your site and potentially causes ill-will feelings for those who are going to your site for the first time and cannot view it. I do not feel that banning people who state different opinions than you is a good decision. My skepticism might have been the fuel for this section, but you banning me from even just viewing your site was the catalyst for me to actually create this section. I have no issue putting this section to rest now that I have seen proof of actual contact, but will not do so until anyone can view your site without any issues. I don't agree with you banning people from making comments for opinions that don't match your own, but I see absolutely no justification for banning people from simply viewing your site. Granted, I will have a lot less things to update here, but I do not feel right taking this section off the front page as you restrict people from simply reading your site.
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P.S. I do not know if this is going to stop the allegations the website has against us. I have not seen the website myself, nor have I visited it. I bet they are going to show an IP record from a town I used to live in, but the truth and reality is I have not lived there since July. I live between four different cities now. A fan was gracious enough to send me an email with the latest post, and once again, I apologize to you fans. Our staff does not lie to the fans about who we keep in touch with. To prove this, for the next 24 hours these images will be uploaded, of watermarked and blacked out information, but leaving just enough information for a reader to detect that these are, in fact, official communications. Allow me to put these into context. These are only a selection of the many emails I have communicated with reps of some of the companies we deal with. Anything that is blacked out is personal identifying information, or communique which is ultra-sensitive and not for public interest. These have been watermarked, and if these appear on any other websites or forums without proper linkage or credit, Moon Chase will seek action.
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Once again, I appreciate the posting of these images, and do understand why there are black bars where you chose to put them. I will also not post them on here due to your request stated in your update and on the images themselves. But I already stated this at the beginning of this article. Why I'm quoting this section, is you wanting to know where I live for some reason. I'll save you the trouble of tracing it, you can even find my area mentioned here on this site already, the only thing not up to date in that blurb is my current place of employment, maybe I'll update that sometime this week. In any case, I don't see why where I live even matters, but if you trace my IP as seen on those two comments on the blog from the beginning of the month, it will route to Syracuse, NY. That is where my ISP's local office is located. I do not live in the city of Syracuse, I live in a town about 10 minutes north of it called Clay. I won't go as far as telling you my street address or anything more detailed than what I have mentioned. I don't see why you care about my physical location. You should really state why that has anything to do with anything. But anyways, if you did used to live in or around this town and plan to come back at any point, I'm more than willing to buy you a drink or two, or a coffee if you don't drink, or whatever you'd like to accept as a gesture of good-will. I'm not a bad guy and willing to admit being wrong, and am happy to have a chance to make amends like that should the opportunity present itself. So if you're in the area, feel free to get a hold of me to take me up on the offer, and we'll figure something out with our schedules.
And that's all I can think of to say to Moon Chase. So now I'll address fans of Moon Chase who I had previously dubbed the crusaders. Though some of this can also apply to Moon Chase members as well. First off, I would like to apologize for using your comments the way that I did in my previous article. Like I stated above, that was not a wise choice I made in this section. I would also like to ask to not blindly hate me over it. What I mean by that is not asking y'all to suddenly be fans of me by any means, I definitely don't expect any dislike for me to end. But I have noticed that people have made various assumptions of myself and my intentions with this section. I've already made them clear multiple times and have stuck to them, and I've kept all my comments here on this site. I'm expecting to see a fair amount of comments about me following this article. And I'd be silly to think that suddenly I would be in y'all's good graces, so to speak. I'm sure to see comments of how I was "forced to back down" and similar ones, citing that this was a "loss" for me. This couldn't be further from the truth. I decide what I do and where I do it at any given time, no one forces me to do or not do anything. My opinions might strong and controversial, but I am man enough to admit when I have been wrong, in which I have been proven so seeing that there is actual conversations between companies and Moon Chase. And here is me admitting it and apologizing for the confusion in that. Keep on disliking me if you want after this ordeal, that's your opinion and I respect that. As for those who may claim this is a "loss" of sorts, I disagree. First off, I still see this whole things as a disagreement of opinions, with no actual fights of any sort. Being that there was no actual fight, I don't see how "victories" or "losses" exist here. However, I am happy with how things have turned out, seeing such evidence as I have today. I didn't expect a good amount of people to care so much about my personal opinion, but because of this, a lot of skepticism can be put to rest. And I don't see how anyone can consider that a bad thing. Ok, the ride might have been a bit bumpy, but we reached a good ending.
04/25/11 - So Moon Chase hasn't posted articles that raise an eyebrow with claims that usually would fuel this section, and this is a good thing. However, some comments on their facebook page made by either them or people who feel the need to report any negative thing said about them to them (I think I'll refer to these people as their crusaders from now on), have caught my attention. I'm not banned from viewing their facebook page, but I expect that soon after this article going online that they will make it so only people who like the page can see anything posted on it. So I'm going to enjoy this small window of time where I can easily access this page, and blur out all names and pictures not signed by Moon Chase.
facebook screencap #1
This blurb I was actually going to ignore initially since it started out not dealing with false claims and such that would normally spark a reaction from me. But then someone felt the need to mention me, which I find hilarious. So I guess I won't ignore it after all.
While I can't deny the fact that they keep in good communication with voice actors, and will even say they bring a good point in that companies won't say outright if they deal with outside groups of people or not, I do question if these e-mails and phone calls supposedly exist. Not Moon Chase calling and e-mailing companies, I believe that they do. I'm talking about more of any sort of responses from companies from which they base their news. It just feels fishy that some supposed news is reported on Moon Chase and nowhere else, whereas published news can sometimes take some time for them to get online, and I will have more on that later.
I like how this one guy states he says he's not with Sailor Moon Uncensored. No shit. There are only three people on staff here at SMU, and as of this typing I am the only active one. There is no "war" and no "sides" or anything. I have personal opinions about Moon Chase, and want to share my opinions on here as to why I disagree with some of their content and views. That's it. No one else is involved with this site, I have no "army" of any sort nor do I want one. If people enjoy this section, great, if not, no big deal. Hell, I don't even talk about this section on other sites. The closest I came to even sharing my opinion on Moon Chase outside of here is one forum post stating that I stopped taking news with no source on fansites as gospel before the turn of the century. I will admit that a couple people have volunteered to make screen captures for me should my viewing of Moon Chase be hindered further in the future, but right now I don't need that so I politely declined for the time being. Others have linked it, but on their own accord. The most involvement that anyone besides me will have here, will be if Bob and/or Tiff decide to add to this section on their own, no one else. Or screencaps submitted by others keeping me up to date should my access to the site truly be taken away. I still think it's ridiculous for a site that prides itself on reporting news to ban people from viewing said news. Banning people from commenting, fine, but actually seeing the news? Come on.
I'm also amused by the misconception about SMU's involvement in the podcast mentioned. If you're going to badmouth SMU and/or the people on here, at least get the facts right. A quick look at the site where this podcast was posted, and it's clearly seen it was put online in August 2010 (by the way, how is an eight month old audio file considered new?). I wasn't even involved in this other site until their podcast in December 2010, and didn't join their staff until just over a month ago. I'm fine with taking criticism, but at least make sure your information is correct so your stance holds water. I'll even give Moon Chase props right here since they stated there will always be criticism, and since I put up this section, they've been good with handling it, at least from what's viewable publicly.
And this guy mentioning that I made one of the comments on Moon Chase's blog is just absolutely precious. I made that information known myself before I opened this section, and after I opened this section. I even said outright which one was mine. And this is what I feel led to my ban, but I obviously don't know this for a fact.
facebook screencap #2
So there was an article on about.com that had a short interview with someone from Kodansha USA, that pretty much confirmed everything I had assumed about the release from the PR and item postings with descriptions, the only new information from that in my opinion being that there will be a lack of stickers for our release. Someone was nice enough to inform Moon Chase of this and linked it on their facebook page for them. And I have to chuckle some at Moon Chase's response. For a group who supposedly has constant communication with companies as they themselves claim, you would think that this information that the interview provided would have already been well known by them, and that an article with such information would have already been online. Yet they claim that the person there hadn't gotten back to them yet. Once again, I believe that they reached out to Kodansha USA with questions, and them saying right there that a response has not been received makes me feel that my claims that they don't have as good connections with companies as they say hold even more water.
facebook screencap #3
This weekend at Anime Boston, Funimation stated that the Sailor Moon license is currently unavailable. Moon Chase commented that we might be further down the line since it's happening gradually. I think I made my feelings known in my last article about how it's ridiculous to even have a thought of a revival taking place at the same time worldwide. I'll just add that I would like to see proof of any IP launching (or relaunching) simultaneously everywhere in the world. If someone can give me such proof, I will gladly take back my comments on how thinking that such a feat is impossible. My beef with this screencap is one person hoping he didn't cause it. Who are you, and what could you have possibly done to impact big decisions like this at a big company in Toei? It's a ridiculous claim, and more ridiculous that Moon Chase said they took care of those rumors. Did I happen to miss some rumors somewhere? Anyway, then the guy decides to say that he hopes SMU didn't cause this. What? How does this site have anything to do with anything in regards to official Sailor Moon business? The closest this site comes to that is posting news that can be confirmed by official sources. No one here has ever claimed to be involved with any companies (closest was an interview we were able to do early in SMU's life), and in my editorial filled with my hopes for a revival here, I clearly state that I'm not involved with any companies and that the entire piece is my opinion. If you don't like this site and/or my opinions that I post here, that's fine, I don't expect everyone that comes here to just agree with everything that's said here. But there's no need to spread rumors of things that clearly don't exist here. Read this editorial Bob wrote in April 2002 about disliking versus hating. You are turning your dislike for here into blind hatred. We here at SMU are dislikers, not haters. I don't hate Moon Chase, I dislike a fair amount of what they do. I will end this article quoting from near the end of the linked editorial:
"But is it wrong to dislike us? As I said above, no way. We know our site [SMU] is not perfect. Me [Bob] and Dan have been talking recently about how there are a lot of mistakes, inaccuracies, and outdated facts at the site that we've been trying to weed out. If you have a reason to, dislike us all you want, however, being a hater is much different. If you hate us, please have a reason to before joining the crowd, it'll do us all a favor ~_^."
04/16/11 - So the talk of this week has been about the possibility of Naoko Takeuchi herself preventing any possible redubs in the global revival. Of course, this was started by Moon Chase, citing SOS Brazil, which makes me laugh. Here we have what is SOS 2.0 by all means, quoting an extension of the original SOS. Now, I don't speak the language, so I'll admit I can't really comment much on the article. I'll just say that I find it odd that someone working at a local (to Brazil) DVD production company to have such big global information such as that. I'm not denying the possibility that Brazil was not allowed to have a redub, as that appears to be the case for whatever the reason. Seeing that news of this magnitude is usually covered pretty well by other news sites. How is this a qualified source for international news? Also, and please correct me with proof if I am wrong, not one manga-ka has any licensing control of their animated works. So I find it odd that we're literally watching history unfold if Naoko suddenly got that sort of control over the anime, as she would be the first. Wouldn't this be making headlines all over if true? Not just your site?
So that's my opinion on the article, that it has no legs outside Brazil. In the comments on the blog, one of the staff members at Moon Chase decided to add some more comments, which is almost more noteworthy to me than the original article that was posted. Here's the comment with my section breakdown:
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I'm going to try to respond to fans' concerns (but it's been a long day and I'm tired)...
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Because you clearly are the only bridge between the fans and companies...
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We have been told by the companies themselves, that nothing can happen with Sailor Moon without Naoko Takeuchi's permission (be it anime or manga). You have all probably noticed that the revival didn't happen simultaneously, all at once everywhere. It's been happening gradually, one market after another. Because all the parties have to work together, and come to an agreement that satisfies Ms. Takeuchi first, this is why it has happened in "waves" rather than all at once. We have also been told that if something really bad happens and she isn't satisfied, at the snap of a finger we can lose Sailor Moon. This is why the companies don't like rumors, especially ones that name them or Naoko Takeuchi. Everyone has to be very careful.
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I doubt you had heard anything from companies themselves (you've already been proven to have failed on that claim with Funimation at the start of the month), but there is no way for me to prove or disprove that, so I'll go on. However, it's pretty obvious that with a global revival, it would be impossible for every market to launch a the same time. That's just pure logic. No one, single company directly controlled the franchise in every market. Of course it is going to be a gradual revival, it would be stupid to expect otherwise. Logic dictates that a revival would happening in waves. It's just not possible to approve every market at the same exact time. This is not news. And if companies really don't like the rumors, how about you guys stop pretending to speak for them? Companies have, and always will, be able to speak for themselves. Hell, it's so much easier for them to do that nowadays. You claiming to have such connections with them are the rumors, because any actual news that comes about has sources.
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With respect to the old dubs/music cues: we know the masters still exist. DiC has now been swallowed up into Cookie Jar, however Cookie Jar has many of DiC's old cartoons from the 80s and 90s. Some of them, like Inspector Gadget and the Legend of Zelda are here.They can be retrieved again, so this is not a matter to really worry about. It is also possible that Toei has their own copy of the masters. Sailor Moon is not online, because they probably do not have permission from Toei. We learned the music cues still have masters that exist as well, if they are not with Koch or Warner, the original producers still have their own copies. We learned this when we first began Operation Moonrise from one of the composers. We wanted to make sure that there were still copies of everything around.
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Of course the old remnants of the original dub still exist. People have questioned about if it's worth a potential new licensee to purchase the old materials or not, not so much if they're available. Companies don't just destroy their old work when they go out of business, or get bought, etc. Very few things are unrecoverable, something less than 20 years old has a near zero chance of disappearing.
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Again, if I could speak about the court battles that we learned about this would clear matters up for the entire fandom, but I am unable to. I have hinted at it slightly in this article (and one fan picked up on it). It is probably safe to say that Toei had a huge part in bringing the anime back for everyone when it was featured on their Anime BB service a few years ago. So don't blame Toei in these matters, they really aren't that bad. In our interactions with them we have come to know that they are trying everything they can to satisfy everyone, but everything has to go through her first. Everyone is also in constant communication with her as well. They actually liked how we had organized our report and the fan comments into categories as well and it made it easier for them to present them to management up in Japan and higher powers, so be assured that the companies are listening to you and trying to get a satisfying release. However, some things just aren't meant to be.
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So now you want to cite court battles? Maybe I'm crazy, but I have been reading a lot of articles in regards to legal battles in the anime industry worldwide. Not just the US, the entire world. And you expect people to believe that court battles have taken place over one of the biggest anime/manga IPs without any sort of mention anywhere else? What I find most funny is that you use the phrase "if we could speak about..." because you actually ARE! If you couldn't speak of something, assuming you have actual information to speak of that is, then YOU CAN'T MAKE ANY MENTION OF THAT INFORMATION. Hypothetically, if what you say is true and I worked in the legal department for one of these companies you are so in touch with, I would be coming after you for breach of contract confidentiality clauses of sorts for even hinting that you have information. Given your claims of having information and giving hints as to what it is even though you can't say, your site would have already been shut down.
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All I can tell you now is that there is a reason Naoko and PNP are plastered all over everything Sailor Moon. She wants to know exactly where the series is, and how it is being worked. She has control over everything when it comes to approving or disproving something, but the companies (Kodansha and Toei) have some freedom after that. For example... let's take a big one like the anime (and come up with a dumb scenario). Let's say Toei wants to revive SM in country X again, and it was a big hit in X when the series first experienced its heyday. Toei cannot revive Sailor Moon in X without Naoko's approval. If we bring in the new developments of the day, let's also suppose that Sailor Moon's dub in X was butchered cutting out all scenes with Luna and Artemis because talking cats were offensive to X's culture. But now talking cats aren't offensive, and Toei wants to redub Sailor Moon in X and have scenes with cats included. Naoko will give permission for the anime to return to X, but not for the cats to be reinstated. However, when it comes to figuring out what channel the series will be broadcast on, licensing and marketing strategy, Toei can do whatever they want. I think we can call this 55%-45% (60%-40%?) split in control between Naoko and the companies respectively. She has the majority of control, but after she approves something there is some flexibility on the companies' part. Make sense everyone?
Despite PNPs property ownership, they are a very small company. I don't believe there is any sort of PR department. I have a feeling that though Sailor Moon channel is directed by Naoko, she does not work on the website herself, nor does anyone at PNP. The site's development is done by someone outside of PNP. So don't expect to hear any sort of press release from PNP exclusively. Again, Naoko Takeuchi probably has some control over every press release that is released and nothing goes out without her say.
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I'm not going to argue about the level of control Naoko does or doesn't have, because it's moot, since she doesn't with the anime. If Naoko wishes to make a press release, she can, there's no need for a PR department for a company to make a press release.
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I hope this answers some of your questions. Also, please leave a comment on the entry on Moon Chase if you are able to. I am almost glad I haven't finished the last report yet, because I want to write up a section about how poorly received this video game was by the majority of fans, and as well as your thoughts on this development (I'd like to feature some of the comments on the site because they are well written and opinionated, I don't want to take any from here).
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The last time I left a comment stating an opinion that wasn't yours (that wasn't even heated I felt, especially compared to a lot of the other ones), you banned my IP. So I can't comment, and would rather use this section as my own personal comment page. At least I won't be in danger of my thoughts being altered and deleted on my own site. You've actually made me ask more questions, and failed to answer the one I did have about credible sources for your information on the original article. Maybe next time....
04/10/11 - So even though shit eventually died down, some things did happen after my initial posting, but never really got talked about for whatever reason. So to clear up everything in every step of the journey, I decided to highlight everything from how I saw it. I'm going to do this as an exercise that is done in elementary school, to help children learn the differences between facts and opinions. (I really did write this last weekend in preparation for this new section, I just failed to get the section up soon after) So without further ado, here is my "Fact and Opinions" log on the first few days of April 2011 in the Sailor Moon Online Community.
FACT: Miss Dream posted a fake PR on their site saying Funimation had picked up the anime and that Miss Dream would be doing translating, while posting screencaps of their subs with a Funimation stamp, and an ending credits video clip with their names added in and some nonsensical text as well.
FACT: A friend of Miss Dream staff was asked to post this in a community on LiveJournal as it would be too obvious had anyone on the staff posted it there themselves, and the friend agreed and posted it.
FACT: No one on Miss Dream nor any friends of staff posted this fake PR anywhere else. Any other postings of the fake PR were done by no one staffed on Miss Dream nor any friends of the staff.
FACT: The whole thing spread like wildfire sparking a whole lot of comments by many people.
OPINION: A lot of these comments were immature, derogatory, and crossed lines. This is an opinion because clearly the people who posted such comments felt this was appropriate.
FACT: Moon Chase posted an article regarding the news, claiming to be assisting Funimation and other companies in taking some sort of action.
OPINION: I believed many people were making this a bigger deal than it was.
FACT: I posted two comments on Moon Chase's blog with my opinion (the one posted at 7:12PM 4/1) and a link to a fake PR that used names and quotes from people within a company (the comment posted at 7:42PM 4/1) when someone requested such information.
FACT: When I got home from work in the morning of 4/2, curious as to Funimation's thoughts and feelings, I decide to start some research and posted a comment on their facebook page where a link to the fake PR had been posted. Because facebook apparently doesn't like people to easily be able to link direct postings, I'm unable to provide a link there. However, if you go to Funimation's facebook page and go to the link that was posted at around 1:30AM EST to the fake PR, you will see a comment left by me informing them though I didn't participate in the fake PR, that I was a part of the group that had created it, and asked how they felt about it, and if there were any ill feelings to contact me so we could work it out.
FACT: By this time, the fake PR was taken down off of Miss Dream.
FACT: I also did some snooping around Funimation's site for any reactions, the only one being a thread that had posted the release. The only action done by Funimation staff was the locking of the thread at the end of the holiday.
FACT: I typed up my rant which contained the previous two facts.
FACT: Literally minutes after I had posted my rant, Elly of Miss Dream had received an e-mail appearing to come from Funimation. This e-mail had mentioned that Funimation had received a number of e-mails from Moon Chase regarding the fake PR, that Funimation was not planning to take legal action, and requested the takedown of the fake PR.
FACT: In the next Miss Dream update, the prank was addressed as was the e-mail that was received.
OPINION: Everything with this was over.
FACT: Various people now started accusing Miss Dream of faking the e-mail, and comments continued.
FACT: At some point on 4/2, my IP was banned from even viewing Moon Chase.
OPINION: It is amusing that a news site bans people who have different opinions than themselves, and cute in that they justify it by claiming I caused trouble. You would think that they would just prevent me from making comments somehow (I already was planning to continue to not post comments there, clearly one moment of weakness was too much) instead of blocking me from the entire site.
FACT: I don't care enough to send an e-mail about it.
OPINION: As that would be a waste of my time if they can't handle someone having a thought that conflicts with their own.
FACT: Not even SOS banned anyone from just reading their site. Even with our comprehensive Anti-SOS section, they didn't show any bad blood to us here and even spoke nicely of SMU at least once.
FACT: The IP ban is easy enough for me to get around.
OPINION: The only way you'll ever get me to never get access to your site in any way would be for it to not exist. Are you up for the challenge?
FACT: On 4/4, Funimation posted a few tweets, informing everyone they did not have Sailor Moon, they have not been pestered by people nor had they had any contact with who created the PR, and that they expect that fans would be kind to each other no matter what news there was.
FACT: I retweeted that last one.
OPINION: It is amusing that Moon Chase retweeted all three of those.
OPINION: It is also amusing that it was around this time where people appeared to finally let shit go.
FACT: Curious at the second tweet declaring there was no contact made, Elly tweeted to Funimation stating that she in fact had received an e-mail and provided the address given in it.
FACT: Funimation requested Elly forward the e-mail to that address.
FACT: Elly did just that.
FACT: A response was received stating that it appears someone did spoof their e-mail address, they wished the fake PR had not been created, they feel bad for just how badly she has been treated over the situation, and that should they obtain the Sailor Moon anime it will be shouted from the rooftops.
FACT: Inspecting from what I can see of the headers, the casing of the Funimation address was altered and they were sent from locations in different time zones.
OPINION: I'd be more worried about Funimation going after whoever it was that spoofed their e-mail address rather than something that was posted on April Fool's Day and taken down early the very next day.
FACT: At some point on 4/4, Moon Chase posted an article of a fake PR an Italian airline comparison site had created on April Fool's Day about a fake airline company that had mentioned Sailor Moon, finding the whole ordeal cute.
OPINION: Why the love for this joke after ripping apart the other one? Clearly this had more work put in to it and was actually posted on an official site. Should we rally that company's shareholders for spreading such obviously false information?
OPINION: Let's see some consistency on reactions to April Fool's Day jokes. I'm not a fan of the day either, but how about the same reactions be given to them, whether it be hatred to the company in that article to go along with the other joke, or a simple laugh/eyeroll for the anime one to go along with the response to this Italian company.
04/02/11 - So here's the first article in the new section, the revival of Anti-SOS re-purposed for what appears to be SOS 2.0, Moon Chase. Since my rant at the beginning of the month had its second half directed at them, I'm going to just copy and paste that part of my rant here. I'm not going to bother editing it, consider that half of my rant the official launch of this new section! The joke mentioned below is an April Fool's Day joke that was done by Miss Dream that they posted on their site, stating Funimation had acquired the anime and Miss Dream was doing the translation. The first half was my response to the fans in general, the second half is in response to Moon Chase as is follows:
To add, moving to a different subject still dealing with the joke but away from the people, it would appear a group of people is claiming the joke went too far due to how the fake PR was worded. And even go on as to claim that they are assisting Funimation in taking action. So let's bring back some memories and have a modern day Anti-SOS-like mini rant here (only by me this time and not Bob), that I guess could also be considered a semi-extension of an editorial I wrote last year. Fun all around! Let me tear this part by making a few points:
1) If Funimation, Kodansha, or any other potential company, felt that what was done was over the line, I very highly doubt they would enlist the help of a small fansite. They are big companies with their own legal teams to do their work, and could easily find and contact those associated with that joke. It only takes a quick Google search to find the original site it was posted on, and from there their legal teams can easily obtain the necessary information to contact whoever they need to. Them using a fansite to do such a thing is a joke, and what makes this even funnier, is the fact that one of the criticisms of the fake PR was the mention of Funimation teaming with the Miss Dream fansite. Contradiction much?
2) Curious to Funimation's thoughts, I posted on their facebook page under a link someone had posted to the fake PR. I mentioned my association with Miss Dream (I am a part of their staff even though I had minimal involvement in the joke, I just knew it was happening), and outright asked if the company had an issue with it, and requested to be contacted if they did so we could make amends. Funimation does watch and respond to comments there, as of yet I have not gotten a response. I will update if I do.
3) I also went to Funimation's forums. I found a thread where the fake PR was linked and quoted. All that happened was a moderator locking the thread when the day changed from the 1st to the 2nd.
So yeah, I'm done for now.
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