Japan 2020 Highlights: Shining Moon Tokyo

I like Sailor Moon. Like, a lot. My first tattoo was Sailor Moon's Crisis Moon Compact. It was my first anime, and back when I couldn't actually watch the anime in high school there was a website where I read literally all the scripts for the original anime. Sailor Moon matters to me.

So when I realised the we could go to the Shining Moon dinner show while we were in Tokyo, you bet that I stalked their website until I could book tickets! And then the waiting happened, during which time I watched lots of YouTube videos about the show. To say I was excited would be a massive, massive understatement.

Also while we were planning the trip James surprised me by buying us a pair of Luna and Artemis beanies! So cute, so warm, so weeby ^__^ And relevant to the story a little later on!

After I started writing this post I realised that unfortunately the venue has closed, so I won't talk about the booking process or getting to the venue or anything. Instead, prepare for some gushing, because there will be gushing...

Alright - let's go back in time ^__^

When we arrived at the venue, we were greeted by a staff member at the door who confirmed out reservation and took our drink orders. Tickets came with dinner and a drink, but we had to specify our meal when we booked. I found it a lot harder to choose a drink but in the end went with a pink lemonade, which was delicious.

Then we entered the venue, which was in a basement area. The stairs to go down were decorated with gorgeous hanging pretty things!

And then we were there, and right in front of us was the giant moon I'd seen in pictures. We were greeted by another staff member, who took us through into the theatre and showed us to our seats.

We had booked "A" seats rather than "S" seats, but I have to say our seats were just as good. The S seats were right in front of the stage, and there was a tiered section behind them that was the A section, as well as in an area to the right which is where the costumes were displayed. It was a quiet night though, so our seats were right at the very front of the A section so I was very happy. A bit cheaper and just as good!

At the tables were pretty pink menus, which of course deserved a photo. I was just so excited to be there! I was wearing the Artemis beanie James had bought me, but he'd exchanged his Luna one for a tiara and looked very, very cute. So of course, we took selfies ^__^

But seriously, I was bouncing in my seat I was so excited. Though the house lights were still on the stage looked shiny and amazing already and I was just so ready to see the show!

Our food and drinks arrived very shortly after we sat down, and James got lots of nice attention from the staff over his tiara! I didn't understand what one lady was saying to him exactly (gotta love not speaking the local language), but I heard the word "Serenity" as she gestured to his head. All the niceness made us both even more happy!

The food was nothing to write home about, but the drinks were delicious! I also appreciated that the food was served on a plastic plate on top of the ceramic plate, because we actually got to take the plates home. What a great souvenir!

Speaking of souvenirs, there was a gift shop upstairs from the theatre. I was determined not to buy anything but...well...you'll see...

Before too long, meal time was over and it was show time!

It's almost impossible to describe this show so I'm not even going to try too hard. It was amazing. For a small venue and small cast it was so well done and featured a variety of styles of dance and acrobatic type performances. Nothing was not amazing, and I have to say the ensemble cast was particularly amazing. All the main cast were too, of course, but I was just so impressed with the "background" performers as well.

It was exciting and nostalgic and so well done. I really, really hope that after the pandemic is over they can re-open because if you're a Sailor Moon fan you really ought to watch this show!

Something that was a lot of fun is during the show sometimes the performers would go through the audience. And, so cute, one of the ensemble cast noticed my beanie and made an adorable cat ear gesture to me ^__^

The show finished with Moonlight Densetsu which the audience was allowed to film and take photos during, which as you can see, I did. And then I was surprised because the house lights came up and the main cast wen through the audience to say hello and pose for photos at each table!

Most of my photos came out super blurry, but I'm glad I got this cute one of Mars and Venus because oh my goodness, the Venus was such a wonderful ham of a performer. So cute! James and I also got more barely-understood compliments on our headwear, which was lovely - all compliments are better from the Sailor Scouts!

And then the show was over, leaving me a happy, tired, emotional mess. After sitting a little longer to recover we went to check out the costumes. They were so gorgeous to see up close! I did take photos of all of them but in the interests of some kind of brevity I'm only sharing my favourite ^__^

And we also went to check out the gift shop. Because yes, I had changed my mind, and when I told James you could gets photos of the cast in costume he encouraged me to get them. So I did!

On our way out a staff member was available to take photos for us on the moon, and then it was time to ascend the stairs back into the regular world. Back at the hotel I took photos of our souvenirs, and for the whole rest of the trip I don't think a day went by where we didn't talk about how great this show was!

Writing this post has made me all nostalgic and excited again. I really hope that this show can open up again because it was a really wonderful experience. And if it's fated to have only existed for a short period of time, I've very grateful that I was able to see it in that time!