Another Great Anime (Sailor Moon)

Member Name: saturnsenshi

Product:	Sailor Moon
Date:	08/10/02 (691 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cute costumes, good storyline, you will love certain characters and have a favourite

Disadvantages: Sailor Moon is an annoying brat

So what is Sailor Moon about? Well, I’ll start from the beginning.

Sailor Moon was created by (then) 24-year-old Takeuchi Naoko, who was given an idea by her editor to dress her heroines in sailor suits. She came up with Wa Sailor V. The story of Aino Minako, a 13-year-old girl who was your everyday teenager until one day playing volleyball she hit a white cat with a crescent moon on its forehead. The cat, named Artemis, gave Minako a transformation compact that turned her into Sailor V, the sailor suited hero who fought crime. (This is also how Sailor Moon began. Except she was descovered by Luna the black cat, not Artemis)

After a while the manga became so popular Takeuchi decided to make another one. This time the main character was Usagi Tsukino (‘rabbit of the moon’), who Miss Naoko later revealed was based on her. Usagi was Pretty Sailor Soldier Sailor Moon. The clutzy, 14-year-old, crybaby, blonde ‘meatball head’. The new manga only included the two sailor characters, Sailor Moon and the previous Sailor V. Takeuchi later decided to create the inner senshi (Mercury, Jupiter and Mars) after watching numerous Japanese cartoons that included team heros. The new anime show was called Sailor Moon instead of Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon in the American dub.

Although the series was only supposed to last three volumes, it became so popular Takeuchi decided to continue the anime with the Sailor Moon R series where Sailor Moons future daughter Sailor Chibi-Moon and Sailor Pluto were discovered. Soon after came Sailor Moon S with the other outer senshi, Uranus (my personal favourite ^-^), Neptune and Saturn being discovered.

Now for the storyline...

Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts fight to protect the galaxy from evil. They all have their unique powers based on their planet with the outer senshi having a great deal more power than the inners. This is because the inners only protect Earth, where as
the outers protect the entire Universe from harm.

Series 1 was based around the evil Negaverse. The force that tried to destroyed the moon and are trying to collect energy from humans to build up their forces again. They usually collect energy from peoples sins, such as envy and pride. If they can take over the moon and steal the imperial crystal from Queen Serenity (later revealed as Sailor Moons mother and that Usagi is the Moon Princess) they will have enough power to take over the entire universe. Queen Beryl of the Negaverse did eventually defeat the scouts (killing all but Sailor Moon) until she called upon the strength of her friends to help her defeat Beryl. Needless to say it worked. In the R series Sailor Moon died but was bought back to life by her daughter Chibi-Moon.

The Sailor Powers...

Sailor Moon is said to be the most powerful senshi of all because she is the Moon Princess and the rightful protector of the galaxy, yet it seems Sailor Saturn is the most powerful of all. While Sailor Moon has an impressive eleven different attacks and most scouts only have an average of four, all of Sailor Saturns attacks are immensely powerful. With three little words, ‘Death Reborn Revolution’ (Ribbon in the anime version), Saturn can destroy an entire planet. She also possesses the attacks/abilities: healing, Silence Glaive Surprise (smashes her glaive to the ground destroying the enemy) and Silent Wall (shields her and anyone she chooses from attacks).

Senshi’s:
Mercury: senshi of ice and water
Mars: senshi of fire
Jupiter: senshi of thunder and lightening
Venus (as in the goddess, not planet): senshi of beauty and love
Uranus: senshi of sky and wind (how ironic?)
Neptune: senshi of the sea
Saturn: senshi of silence and destruction
Pluto: senshi of time

There is an entire list of sailors including Sailor Fireball, sailor stars, and the evil and most powerful of all Gal
axia, but they would take forever to name. Basically if it’s in the universe this show has covered it. Including sailor cosmos!


The difference between the Japanese and American version...

This really annoys me. Sailor Moon was meant for an older audience to an extent. This is because when any of the sailors transform they are meant to be naked and the final battle between Galaxia and Sailor Moon was done completely naked (aside from her Eternal Sailor Moon wings). Needless to say this was never shown in America due to DiC targeting the dubbed version at children. This series also included Uranus committing suicide over her lover Neptune dying. Yes, Uranus and Neptune are lesbians. So how did DiC handle this? They did the worst thing possible. They made them cousins. That just made things worse by adding the thought of incest to the concoction. The papers were all over that story.

Personally I think they should have just rated the show M or PG13 and shown everything. The Japanese version is much more enjoyable with the characters personalities being correct (including Ami (Mercury) trying to get out of her nerdish ways, while in the US version she is a complete nerd and proud of it) and the beautiful relationship between Haruka (Uranus) and Michiru (Neptune). There is also a lot more emotion and thought in the Japanese version with Hotaru’s (Saturn) lonely existence and scouts having to choose between loved ones and the fate of the world. I do understand that over in Japan there is a lot less censorship than in America but it ruins the story completely. Uranus and Neptunes meeting cannot be explained if they are cousins.

Although I love the Japanese version if you can't get a hold of it the English version is still good to watch. There's plenty of comedy including Sailor V pretending to be Sailor Moon and Rei's (Mars) embarrassing attempt to get Darien (Tuxedo Mask) to go out with her.

Sailor E
arth...

A lot of people wonder why there is no Sailor Earth when in reality there is. Sailor Earth is not a sailor scout. He’s Tuxedo Mask. Sailor Moons future love and Chibi-Moons father. He dates Rei until she visits the future and discovers Usagi and Darien were lovers in a past life and she gracefully moves aside and supports their relationship.



Sailor Moon began in Japan during 1992 and ended on February 8,1997 in Japan and 2000 in the US. Sailor Moon originally aired 200 episodes and three movies, had 18 volumes of comics and 120 episodes in the US. The story has been translated into many languages and even had a few different versions, including the N/A version. Sailor Moon is still popular. Websites still update, a musical was created and there are petitions and campaigns to bring back Sailor Moon and the N/A versions of the show.



Well I hoped that helped out anyone who hasn't seen or heard of Sailor Moon before. Thank you for reading the whole thing even though it was like a novel, lol.

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