(Lit. 'Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon)
But most of us probably know it better as...
A dense klutz of a schoolgirl named Usagi Tsukino, AKA Serena, gets informed by a talking cat that she's actually the princess of the long-dead Moon Kingdom, and it's her destiny to protect earth from all kinds of evil(initially the Negaverse/Dark Kingdom, with a new entity every season), by transforming into Sailor Moon(one of the nine Senshi, or Soldiers(aka Scouts), one for each planet).
DiC were the ones who brought the series to the US for the most part.
They brought almost all of the first season(excluding a few episodes, including half of the final two), and most of the second; R(the last few episodes of the Dark Moon arc were never dubbed for some reason).
The dub hasn't aged well, but it's sure better than what Cloverway pulled later on.
(The small Canadian company that, to their credit, finished off R, then localized S and Super S.)
While they didn't remove nearly as much as DiC did, they did make a few changes, and their voice actors were horrible.
But enough about the bad stuff, let's talk about the good.
Season 1
The very first season. Introduces the core characters, and the first major villains.
It was released as a pricey uncut set by ADV a few years ago, and it's probably even pricier now.
The Senshi of Season 1, in order of appearance
Sailor Moon / Usagi Tsukino / 'Serena'
The main character. Clumsy, lazy, addicted to junk food, and an all-around slacker.
Somehow also the reincarnation of the Moon Princess, and the most powerful character in the series.
She can be a goofball, but when things get real, she comes through every time, and never wants to let anyone die. (Except herself; and she frequently fails anyway.)
Fun fact: She's voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi, who also voices ExcelExcel in Excel Saga.
There's even an episode in Excel Saga when Excel pretends to be Sailor Moon. Best seen in the sub, since the delivery of her infamous pre-battle taunt is almost word-for-word the same.
Sailor Mercury / Ami Mizuno / 'Amy'
The second Senshi introduced. Intelligent and capable of determining enemies' weaknesses.
Interestingly enough, she probably has the most episodes about her in the series(including her own short OAV, seen above), because she was among the most popular.
Fun facts:
-Although conveyed as bookwormish and shy, the anime suggests there's a lot more to her on several occasions, and has her break the trope many times.
She is the Starlights' biggest fan, for one.
-In Super S, they hint at a relationship between her and Shingo; Usagi's brother. Who is at least seven years younger than her. o_O
Sailor Mars / Rei Hino / 'Raye'
The third. Stubborn to a fault, and often thinks she should be the leader.
She's one of the few besides Usagi who has a constant significant other;
Yuichiro, aka 'Chad'. Although he's crazy about Rei, she frequently ignores him, though she probably returns his feelings in some form or another.
Despite that her and Usagi bicker constantly, they're probably the best friends of the group.
Fun fact: Although Usagi beat her in the contest for Mamoru's affections,
she's seen more of Mamoru than Usagi ever will.
Sailor Jupiter / Makoto Kino / 'Lita'
The fourth, physically the toughest, and was determined the best of the ten in
'the greatest debate of all time'.
Fun fact: Every guy on the planet reminds her of a senior she fell in love with.
Sailor Venus / Minako Aino / 'Mina'
The fifth, believed to be the second most powerful in terms of attacks.
She was believed to be the Moon Princess for a time, despite the fact that she's
from Venus.
Fun fact: Minako is infamous for mixing up proverbs, something that is very often lost in translation, since they're usually plays on Japanese sayings.
Oh yeah, and I guess this guy:
Tuxedo Mask / Mamoru Chiba / 'Darien Shields'
Usagi's significant other. Originally a jerk, but they eventually reveal their identities to one another and the rest is history. Their relationship never gets any better than it was in the first season, just more and more complicated, mostly because Mamoru can be kind of a jerk to Usagi. (Though why he endures her is anyone's guess.)
Fun fact: He has no small amount of girls that he's involved with on the side, though none are any threat to his relationship with Usagi, she always gets jealous. (Though more than a couple probably wonder why a college student is dating a middle schooler.)
Main Villains: The Dark Kingdom
Queen Beryl, and her entourage of the Dark Kingdom('Negaverse')
They seek energy to revive Queen Metallia, and rule the universe, or something like that.
Jadeite / Nephrite / Zoisite / Kunzite ('Malachite'), her four generals.
Fun facts:
-The final episode, originally two, was cut in half, to cut out the Senshi being killed in the first episode('captured by the Negaverse' in the dub), and Endymion/Mamoru smacking Sailor Moon around for most of the second.
-Zoisite was changed into a female, mostly because of his relationship with Kunzite/Malachite(dub).
-Nephrite's brutal death was
not edited in the dub.
He's also the only one of the four generals with a car.
-In the manga, each of the four generals was a guardian for one of the Inner Senshi; it was also implied they had a relationship with them.
-Jadeite is the only one of the four who doesn't die; he's just put into eternal sleep.
Season 2: R(for 'Romance', supposedly)
Introduces more Senshi, and Usagi's daughter from the future.
Most of the villains are from other planets, the future, or both.
Also released by ADV, sub-only. My third favorite season.
The new Senshi of R:
The Moonlight Knight
Tuxedo Mask's 'replacement' for the Doom Tree Arc.
An alter-ego of Mamoru created because he had no memory of being Tuxedo Mask or Endymion.
He spouted just as much poetic nonsense in the sub as he did in the dub.
Sailor Chibi('Mini') Moon / Chibi-Usa Tsukino / 'Rini'
She's Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask's daughter, so she's slightly less detestable than the usual character of this type.
Fun facts:
-Sailor Moon S(Season 3) uses her mostly worthless 'Pink Sugar Heart Attack' to hilarious effect, mostly interrupting their attacks and speeches.
-Her brief stint as The Black Lady almost makes up for everything stupid she's ever done.
Sailor Pluto / Setsuna Meioh / 'Susan'
The guardian of time. Speaks softly, carries a big stick. The first 'Outer' Senshi introduced in the series.
Fun fact: Chibi-Usa's guardian-helper, Luna-P was her creation.
She's probably Chibi-Usa's main guardian, since her mother and father were too busy ruling the world and all that.
Main Villains(two arcs): the Doom Tree & the Dark MoonDoom Tree Arc
Ail and En ('Alan and Ann')
Seek energy to revive the Doom Tree. Disguise themselves as sibling students, who appear at the same time that new victims do. Not suspicious at all!
Fun facts: another member of their 'family' is the antagonist in the Sailor Moon R movie.
Ail's flute playing has its own unique tune in the dub.
Dark Moon Arc
Wiseman, an avatar of Death Phantom, who wants to rule the universe.
Was kicked out of the future Crystal Tokyo by Neo-Queen Serenity, along with his subordinates(who think he works for them).
He controls the mostly moronic Dark Moon family:
(Prince Demande, Saffir, and Esmeraude)
Who in turn dispatch Rubeus and his equally worthless subordinates, the Ayakashi Sisters:
(Petz, Calaveras, Berthier, Koan)
Fun facts: Wiseman is pure evil. Beryl wants Endymion, and the later villains all become redeemed in some form or another, but not Wiseman. He wants to destroy everything, end of story.
Esmeraude isn't fortunate enough to be killed by her superior; she gets turned into a crazed dragon,
then killed.
Demande actively pursues young Usagi because the older one won't return his affections.
Not creepy at all!
The Ayakashi Sisters are among the only villains in the series who not only get redeemed, but continue to make appearances in later episodes of R. (No later seasons, of course.)
They're the only villains who take on all the Senshi as a group, quartet against quartet.
(Rubeus fights Sailor Moon in the meantime.)
Season 3: SThe S stands for 'Super'. Which probably wasn't a bright move in hindsight.
New soldiers appear from the outer rims to seek something called the Talismans, while the best villain in the entire series uses science to fight them.
Published in the US by Geneon/Pioneer, with the horrible dub and uncut subs.
You never want to hear Haruka's dub voice. Michiru's wasn't too bad. No one from the original cast was involved, except for Luna and Artemis' VAs. The new Serena tries to impersonate the original VA, and mostly fails.
The new Senshi of S:
Sailor Uranus / Haruka Tenou / 'Amara' &
Sailor Neptune / Michiru Kaioh / 'Michelle'
The guardian of the sky, or wind, and the guardian of the seas, or ocean, respectively.
Two of the other Outer Senshi, Haruka is considered the most powerful among them in terms of abilities and strength. Michiru's no slouch, either.
Their infamous relationship was changed to make them 'cousins' in the dub.
Cloverway made no effort to hide scenes that suggested this obviously wasn't the case.
Fun facts: Haruka has both a motorcycle and a car, much like Mamoru. Except she's a better driver.
Most of the Inners thought Haruka was a guy, and fell for him on sight.
Haruka and Michiru are both shameless flirts with the same gender, though they go about it in different ways. Only Haruka seems to get jealous.
Sailor Saturn / Hotaru Tomoe (unchanged, somehow)
The Soldier of Silence, Saturn is by far the deadliest of the ten: she has an attack that can destroy an entire planet, at the cost of her life.
Her father, Soichi Tomoe, is largely responsible for everything bad(and awesome) that happens in S.
Main Villains: Science!(Mistress 9 and the Witches 5)
Professor Tomoe, actually Hotaru's father possessed by a Daimohn.
Still the most hilarious villain in the entire series.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bkX6Zo792M
He serves Mistress 9, who in turn serves some all-powerful deity called Pharaoh 90, who's never seen. He keeps Hotaru around to be a host for Mistress 9. Soichi was possessed by a daimohn when he made a deal with Pharaoh 90 to keep him and Hotaru alive after an explosion in his lab.
They want pure hearts to help revive Mistress 9.
Kaorinite, his personal assistant.
He also has the best villain clique in the series. The Witches 5.
They're so awesome they deserve individual sections.
Eugeal, the first Witch. Drives a stationwagon and has a gun which she blasts people's hearts out with.
Mimete, the second Witch, kills her by
destroying her brakes.
Mimete, Witch 2.
She's a rabid fangirl who only targets celebrities.
They start dropping like flies after these two.
Telulu, Witch 3. Pulled the plug on Mimete.
Gets eaten by a giant plant of her own creation. Killed in her second episode.
Byruit, Witch 4. Dismembered by nanomachines. In her first episode.
But wait, it gets
better.
Cyprin
and Petirol, Witch 5. They share one mind and one body.
The Senshi actively work together(imagine that), and cause them to kill each other. (Also in their first episode.)
Fun facts:
-Tomoe never kills any of his subordinates, or gets angry at them.
He even plays
Twister with them. (Seriously)
They don't really need his help to thin their numbers, anyway.
-Kaorinite dies not once, but twice.
(Her second death is quite messed up, since it happens in the blink of an eye.)
-Mimete doesn't actually die; much like Jadeite, she's just left to a fate worse than death.
-Professor Tomoe is the only villain in the series who not only redeems himself, but appears in later seasons.
Season 4: Super S*shrug* Super Super? Super Soldiers? Super Shipping?
This is generally considered the worst of the five seasons.
Hardly a total waste, but it focuses on Chibi-Usa and her love affair with a pegasus.
I wish I was kidding.
Also published in the US by Geneon/Pioneer, with the horrible dub and uncut subs.
Let's skip that crap and talk about the good stuff.
Villains: The Dead Moon CircusLead by Zirconia, an old woman who becomes an old man in the dub for some reason.
They're after the pure dreams of innocents, because that's where Pegasus resides.
Why they want him, who knows.
Zirconia has two cliques of villains, both hilarious for different reasons.
The Amazon Trio: Hawk's Eye, Tiger's Eye, Fish Eye
Hawk likes older women. Tiger likes younger women. Fish Eye likes guys and dressing like a girl.
They're all male. Fish Eye was made female in the dub for obvious reasons.
They like to capture their victims in style.
ONE! TWO! THREE!
Fun facts:
-Their disguises are never elaborate. The Senshi never recognize them despite that they always ditch their disguises in front of them.
(This trope happens over the course of the series, to be fair)
-At first, the episodes try to suggest Fish Eye might be female, then dispense with that ruse entirely.
After they screw up too many times, Zirconia replaces them with....
The Amazoness Quartet
(PallaPalla, VesVes, JunJun, and CereCere)
Their attempts at capturing mirrors usually involve hilarious mishaps with magic. To be updated probably.
Of course, Zirconia works for an even bigger bad...
Queen Nehelenia
Obsessed with pure dreams and living in a fantasy world. The only villain who carries over into the next season, because she works for an even bigger bad. (Sort of)
And this all leads to...
(Continued in later post)
Posts
I still watch my shows and movies on VHS and yes, I do have all the Sailor Moon comics. All fantastic.
I'm thrilled to see my favorite animated heroine is being recognized!
Sure the cartoon was redundant but I loveeee it so.
Also, I remember this used to air on Cartoon Network or something right around the time I got home from Junior High, so I would go home and watch it instead of hanging out with friends.
Sailor Moon: Sailor Stars - The Final Season
The grand daddy. My favorite season of them all. It's equally the most serious and the most hilarious.
This is already way too long, but here's all you need to know.
The new Senshi of Stars
Yaten Kou, Seiya Kou, and Taiki Kou.
Widely regarded as the reason Sailor Stars never has and never will see an official US release.
The Starlights are females who disguise themselves as male to search for the Fire Princess, Kakyuu.
They take on the roles of celebrities, (wisely) believing this would lead them to meet lots of women.
They also replace Tuxedo Mask's role, since he left for college in America in the first episode of Stars.
They had awesome music.
Fun facts:
-Each of the three have a relationship with one of the Inner Senshi.
-Seiya is notorious for flirting with Usagi, and probably comes closest to winning her away from Mamoru than anyone else.
-Despite her cheerful look, Yaten is the most egotistical of the three.
Taiki is a quiet bookworm, much like Ami.
Sailor ChibiChibi
You know another good thing about Stars? No Chibi-Usa.
Sadly, this means she needed a replacement. Fortunately, she can't talk.
ChibiChibi is mostly just a decorative powerup for Sailor Moon, sort of like Pegasus in Super S.
The Villains: The Shadow Galactica
This is the most badass villain in the series. Not even Sailor Moon was able to stop her.
Sailor Galaxia seeks the Star Seeds, ultra powerful forms of energy found inside guardians of planets.
So this means she is actively after the Senshi.
She also had an equally cool clique; all Senshi that she's claimed the Star Seeds of.
Their wristbands keep them alive. If they fail her, she takes them, and they die.
The Animamates
Sailor Iron Mouse
The first Animamate. The only villain in the series who INTERRUPTS SAILOR MOON'S SPEECH AND LEAVES.
This alone makes her the best villain ever.
She is commonly stalked by Galaxia through constant phone calls.
Sailor Lead Crow & Sailor Aluminum Siren
The third and second Animamates.
Aluminum Siren is extremely polite, and gives the Senshi her business card upon arrival.
Lead Crow is her closest acquaintance, and goes postal after Galaxia kills Siren.
Sailor Tin Cat
The last Animamate. Mostly an irredeemable brat.
She briefly gets an uber form from Galaxia, then dies like the rest.
Fun facts:
-Sailor Iron Mouse is taunted by Galaxia's phone calls during her last episode, accompanied by a funeral dirge.
-Sailor Galaxia is the only villain who successfully kills every single one of her opponents, including Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask. She's that hardcore. Sailor Uranus and Neptune try to stop her by pretending to join her to attack her with her own weapons, but she didn't have a Star Seed to take.
-The Animamates' cover is a television station called Galaxy TV.
Uh... there was also this.
The live action series. No, I'm not kidding. I've seen it.
Opening
Details in spoiler. You should read it, it's hilarious.
The Revised Sailors
The most sagely change in PGSM is that the Sailors actually look normal before transforming.
Disguises that work! Oh yeah, and Luna's a talking plush. I don't get it either.
Usagi Tsukino / Sailor Moon
Basically unchanged in PGSM.
Ami Mizuno / Sailor Mercury
Has the best actress, naturally. Mostly the same, though she's even more reserved in PGSM, and has a much darker side.
She actually becomes evil at one point and joins the Dark Kingdom, which is a huge plus in PGSM's favor.
Rei Hino / Sailor Mars
Also mostly unchanged. Even bitchier in the live-action series, IMO.
Makoto Kino / Sailor Jupiter
Why mess with perfection? She's still pretty much the same.
Minako Aino / Sailor Venus
Minako arguably changed the most. She hates being a celebrity, and tries to avoid the spotlight in PGSM.
She's nowhere near the bubbly character she is in the anime.
Tuxedo [strike]Mullet[/strike] Mask / Mamoru Chiba
Oh, sorry. Mamoru's more of a jerk in PGSM. I haven't seen to the point where Usagi and him get together, but before that, it's the same love/hate drama.
The 'New' Dark Kingdom
Queen Beryl
Jadeite/Nephrite/Zoisite/Kunzite
General PGSM errata:
-Zoicite had the most drastic change. No relationship with Kunzite, and he's a down-to-earth pianist.
-There's an episode where Usagi, Rei, and Ami go to a basketball court decked out in street gear to school a gang of thugs at basketball. It's pure hilarity.
-This is basically Sailor Moon Power Rangers. That right there should tell you whether you'll love or hate it.
Other awesome stuff:
Clips and openings!
Original
Live Action !? (This is legitmate.)
Henshin time!
Music!
La Soldier, from the Wiseman fight.
Moon Revenge, from the R Movie
Ai No Senshi, played during the Rubeus & the Four Sisters fight.
Super S Closing, 'Rashiku' Ikumasho
Dub music!
Appeal may vary.
Jupiter's dub song
Carry On, actually tops the sub!
The sub just uses Moonlight Densetsu again. Also, guitar solo!
My Only Love
Truly truly truly outrageous?
Yeah, I grew up on the first season and a half or so. The channel that picked this up here in Canada (YTV) only got rights to partial seasons, I think, so they re-ran the first half of season 1 like twice as I recall, then we got the whole thing, then they dragged their heels on getting season 2. Over the course of a good 2 or 3 years I'm not sure I ever saw the entirety of season 2.
The moment that clued me in that I wasn't watching your average Saturday morning cartoon was when Nephrite/Nephlyte was killed in Molly's arms for consorting with the enemy. I thought, "I have to know more about this show that makes me feel awful about a bad guy dying in the arms of the woman who loves him."
Cue the internet, other anime, obsessive fandom, etc. and there you go.
Also - I love me some anime lesbians. Haruka/Michiru
On the black screen
I remember being excited that Cloverway was going to finish off R(which ended in the DiC dub at Rubeus' death), then at how awful the dub was.
I actually liked Serena's original VA for the most part. (The dub songs have their fans, too)
Also, fun fact: the Sailor Moon Says! segments?
Those were made up of cut sequences, so you'll notice things like Rei's grandfather looking up skirts.
I think the SMS in the Beryl showdown episode even showed the uncut deaths.
We're up to Super S. As much as I hate Pegasus, the Dead Moon Circus came up with some great monsters.
And an episode where Minako spends the day two-timing two of the Amazon trio.
I took up the guitar because I had to play the music from the final two episodes of the first season. It just had to happen.
The Ami one-shot is quite good, it's basically an OVA too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qd06D0D3Gc
Yeah, that was pretty much the most tragic and moving moment of the first season for me. I mean, dang, yo. And then she ends up with Melvin. :?
It wasn't my first exposure to anime, but it was my first that didn't rely on watching whatever tapes my stepsibling had been given by one of their cousins. It was THERE for me.
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I was a huge fan of Sailor Mercury. No denying that. I still am, in fact.
I was only able to watch the first season and parts of R, though, so I'm missing out on a ton of stuff.
I do remember when the Live Action series came out. I decided to watch a few of them and then decided that my brain was an important organism and did not want to damage it anymore.
You forced me to check.
My sister's boyfriend very recently got her the whole Sailor Moon show on DVD, which her and my brother were up in the morning to watch before school.
So it was weird to me to learn this was a "Girl's show". I mean it has girls and short skirts doing provocative attacks. Also Tuxedo Mask was the shit
Also don't they get naked when they transform into the Sailor Stars? I seem to remember that
I to, used to get up early and watch it. Unedited it really was pretty funny.
I was a complete fucking nut for the show. Found a little hole in the wall store who sold subbed VHS of episodes from the final season as it aired, and would attend anime cons and drop $6-700 in merch.
My room was covered in wall scrolls figures, clocks everything... the total topper was i got a tattoo of sailor saturns symbol. thanks fucking god it was also associated with my birth astrological symbol. As I have had several uncomfortable encounters with gay men at starbucks who recognize it and my 31 year old grown ass is scared!!
There's a particular term for it I believe which i've totally forgot. A word that's one down from hentai.
My older sister has just finally gotten into anime over the past 6 months after about a decade of ignoring my giant collection. I started off by loaning her my Japanese subs of the first season Sailor Moon. She enjoyed it so much she hunted down the rest of the series and then the manga. As it was 20 years ago, Sailor Moon is a great gateway anime.
Wow. My fandom stops at owning the whole series.
Well, and the Sega Saturn fighting game...
It's pretty bad, but it had some nice music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=236UkkKTfjY
At the time, just having a game with them in it was awesome to me.
It was the first import I ever bought.
I also have some collectibles, like the extremely short-lived collectible card game.
It had six character decks, and was based on the first season.
Make no mistake: they knew who part of their target audience was, but beyond the occasional fanservice, the series is genuinely hilarious at times, and sets up some epic fights. There's really nothing that's even close to the kind of content you're thinking of, though.
Stuff like Haruhi and Nanoha is way more risque than Sailor Moon ever was.
The Moonlight Knight.
After everyone lost their memories at the end of Season 1, Luna decided to let Mamoru remain amnesiac for some reason or other.
So since he couldn't remember, an alter ego called Moonlight Knight took over for Tuxedo Mask.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbjcy943Hcs
DiC's redone music is really obvious.
Gateway Anime for me as well.
I LOVED watching this when I got home from school. Well, and Dragon Ball Z of course.
And I also remember how MAD I was when they never dubbed Sailor Stars.
But I finally got to watch it a few years ago and awww yea.
I don't mind so much knowing how bad the dub was, I will always Sailor Moon.
Also the live-action had a charm to it that was interesting. The most frustrating part was the ending though. It plays out like they got 2 episodes from the ending of the series and all of a sudden realized they were 2 episodes from the end of the series and had to quick finish it. Up to then it was telling a decent story but suddenly just wrapped it up as quick as possible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTSDVYXwJU
Also, since they didn't have a Chibi-Usa they had Luna transform into an adorable little girl, Sailor Luna. If I remember correctly she was actually kind of rad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygTFpB323V4