Sailor Moon & Firetrucks? When Brand Collabs Don’t Fit
Source: SG5 "Firetruck" Music video
The Tiffany & Co. Nike Air Force 1 Low 1837 shoe collab releases today, and I’m feeling the same way about it as SG5.
The Tiffany & Co. Nike Air Force 1 Low 1837 shoe collab releases today, and I’m feeling the exact same way about it as I am about SG5.
When Rolling Stone announced SG5 as a new Sailor Moon co-branded music group, moonies took a wait-and-see approach. SG5 is short for Sailor Guardian 5, and the creator of Sailor Moon gave her absolute blessing to the project. All seemed well in the Moon Kingdom.
After all, we’ve seen other Sailor Moon music acts over the 31-year span since the show first aired. Peach Hips from the 90’s & Momoiro Clover Z from the 2010’s come to mind, so this was business as usual.
That is, until SG5’s first single “Firetruck” came out last week.
“Firetruck” has seen negative reviews from the Sailor Moon fandom for appropriating imagery without the spirit of the classic anime, while receiving positive reviews from music fans and their existing fanbase.
Yeah- that’s right- SG5 Already had fans from their previous music projects, so was this collab necessary at all?
But I’m getting ahead of myself- I GET IT! We all want some kind of cred, this just wasn’t the way to collab or even WHAT to collab with. This also isn’t meant to discredit the artists, SG5 definitely likes Sailor Moon. We ALL do!
But why doesn’t the song or the video work? I’ll give you a breakdown of what we’re seeing visually and how it has a wiggly connection to Sailor Moon:
The 5 members wear color-coded outfits corresponding to the Sailor Moon cast. They also match with the usual Super Sentai (Power Rangers) team as a bonus. If specific colors are all we need, kudos to you Nike!
A rose appears in the video striking glass. Sailor Moon’s beau Tuxedo mask had a thing for missile-precision roses.
The backdrop prominently features a crescent moon and Grecian columns, architecture featured prominently in Sailor Moon’s destroyed Moon Kingdom.
The rest of the video has the ladies destroying government property (a Firetruck!) with firefighter’s axes. It’s hard to summarize this in good faith… Sailor Moon is only anti-cops!
Musically? Forget it. However, apparently we moonies weren’t supposed to expect the music to sound like Sailor Moon based on statements made in their ASMR Q&A last November, hyping up their debut. I discovered this recently, so I felt bummed regardless when the song didn’t lyrically connect and lacked the jazz or disco inspirations present in the classic show.
Lyrically you may be asking, “But are there Firetrucks in Sailor Moon?” It’s a no. But if the members of the band are supposed to represent each Sailor Guardian from the show, we do have a firebender in Sailor Mars, represented by member Ruri. Early previews of ”Firetruck” led to moonies speculating the band would release songs themed to the 5 main Sailor Moon characters.
We were stretching to find a connection even prior to release.
Well, it looks like we have a Pussycat Dolls situation because the only member prominently featured or singing is Rui, their Sailor Moon equivalent. Goodbye any justification of a collab that makes sense!
Marketing collaborations can be a great way to generate buzz and reach new audiences, but for a girl group who has fans already, this could have proven to be a huge misstep. These lovely ladies have a bunch of angry Moon People gunning for them! I actually feel sorry.
Or not, because that’s a solid 4.3 million views I’m staring at at the time of posting. I’m just mad because I already saw Dua Lipa & LAYA do better Sailor Moon homages with no blessings from the brand.
Don’t slap key colors on something, change the packaging a bit, and swear it’s part of my core interests. I don’t enjoy false hopes and it would have instead been fun to discover SG5 with their music video produced by Americans in LA (a trend to make Jpop more accessible that we LOVE), and spot some little moonie influences in their debut video here and there.
Instead- I’m just a salty meatball head.