Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon

While the pace of the story is somewhat slow (classic villain of the day type of anime), ultimately the story itself isn't too bad. The humor can be a bit dry sometimes. What is impressive is how strong willed the sailor scouts can be without a man. Go ahead and try it if your into girl power, if your not there still might something else. I encourage starters to try to bear with it at least until sailor mars is introduced. If your still not buying it by that point, then maybe this anime isn't for you.

Sailor Moon is yet another show that I grew up with, and Sailor Moon herself, (Serena in the English dubbed), is one of my childhood icons. Not that I'm saying that I crossed dress as Sailor Moon or anything but even a guy can have a female childhood icon. This was a great show and I loved it when I saw the very first episode. The story was well written and you could actually follow it through and not get lost in it. The art work, brought to us again by the great art teams of Japan. The characters looked great too and with the Japanese being able to bring us great looking girls in skirts. This show also has some of my most favorite music and not just the main theme but also; The Power of Love, Carry On, etc. I've been trying to find some of the other themes as well like that one piano theme that's played during or after a huge event like at the end of the battle with Wiseman. The characters were just great also; though I will admit, Serena at times could be a little childish. She's winy, she can be a loudmouth, but does have a good heart though. I will say that the one character that I really loved was Sailor Jupiter. Not only was she hot as hell, but my god she was strong and was actually a warrior and could hold her own in a fight. I totally love that character about her. Though I did love her though, she's actually not my favorite scout. Oh no; that honor belongs to another, and no it's not Moon. The main antagonists were great and no, I'm not talking about the one's after the Negamoon saga. No, I'm talking about Queen Baral and Wiseman, especially; Wiseman, he was my most favorite antagonist. The show is just great to enjoy and I love watching it again and again. It's real sad though that they stopped dubbing this show after season 4 cause it was a real bum and I was really looking foward to the final season. I've seen bits of it in Japanese, but it's not the same if it's not dubbed in English. Nevertheless though; I throughly enjoyed it and intend to add it to my collection one day. I hear that they're gonna bring back sailor moon in a brand new show this year but haven't heard anything for the 20th or 25th anniversary for it but don't know. If they do though; I hope they bring back the original actors who did the English dubbed and see them again.

**Keep in mind this is a review of the Japanese uncut version of Pretty Soldier Sailormoon, and pulls from my own perspectives of how I feel based on watching the TRUE version. I watched the English dub as a child, and want to compare the two** Childhood memories flood my mind, and I look to one female character that stood out and got me into anime in the first place: Sailor Moon. A true hero, a ray of light in the darkness. One could equate her to a Batman, or a Superman. She comes in many forms, but one true purpose is the reason for her demise: To protect the world from youma who have flooded her city of Azabu-Juuban. Fourteen-year-old Usagi Tsukino was a normal teenager, until she crossed paths with her destiny -- a black cat who would reveal to her the true nature of her life: A soldier in a sailor suit who could save them all. A clumsy, crybaby at first -- Usagi evolves as a character, even more so in the Japanese uncut due to the challenges she faces that were cut out of the English version created by DiC. This leaves the question of Dub vs. Original. In many cases now today, the dubs from animes are sweet and gentle on the ears. But for Sailor Moon, the world was different in 1995 than it is today. The dub would have been better now, and given so, more gentle on the ears. Many animes I watch today have better dub soundtracks, and it is nice to be able to hear my favorite actors reprise roles as other characters. But, for Sailor Moon's English dub, the same cannot be said. There is something about the series that lacks flavor, and the characters make me cringe to hear their screams and attack cries. Sometimes the characters feel as if they are sarcastically stating the attack name. And this is a problem. The Story of Sailor Moon: Once on the moon, the Silver Millennium was a peaceful era. But even enemies still threatened the Moon Kingdom, and Queen Serenity soon find herself turning to the Sailor Soldiers only to fall to Queen Beryl's demise. She used the last power of the Silver Crystal to seal the Sailor Soldiers and their Princess away in the future, in the 20th century, where they could live normal lives. The Princess is reborn to normal parents, and attends Azabu Juuban Junior High, and is late to school every day. One of the Sailor Soldiers, Sailor Venus/Sailor V, ends up being the inspiration for Sailor Moon's powers to come to light. In the Dub, however, this is different. Usagi Tsukino finds her world immersed in youma, demons who steal energy for their own purpose. The Dark Kingdom is after power, and wish to resurrect their master: Queen Metallia. Throughout the series, Usagi comes face to face with many challenges and new comrades. One of the most prominent is Tuxedo Mask. The Soundtrack: Perhaps the best thing about this Japanese uncut version is the soundtrack, which is far better than the English DiC soundtrack. Music fits scenes, and flows perfectly. The music is great, and that is no understatement. In Season 2 this shows even more when music SYNCS to the attack movements. The Characters: The Sailor Soldiers grow on you, and soon you become a part of their world. Juuban looks as if it is a real place, and rightfully so because it is based on the actual area in Japan. The Cuts Made in the English Dub: The Japanese uncut makes the plot make much more sense, in terms of development of characters. If it is possible, do find the Japanese sub uncut, you will save yourself a headache once you have to move into the last season when the most changes happen and there is no English counterpart. Episodes were cut in the DiC version, and Cloverway did a great job in S season and SuperS, but you cannot fully see Usagi's struggle against the enemy without key elements being taken away. Most of the episodes are filler, but they show continuity in emotions. I believe the dub did a great attempt at times, but not entirely so because it changes how you view characters. Not to mention, Sailor V backstory episode in episode 46 that makes you want to cry buckets. The Final Word: Watch this series, if you like old school Toei Animation at its finest. With the remake not too far in the horizon, you should take advantage of the show before it restarts. Great anime, great soundtrack, and awesome dark elements to the plot. Recommend to anyone who loves magical girls, and romances.

So, I grew up with this anime, poorly dubbed, some sloppy as hell art work, the syncing was completly off, and it was pretty much and monster of the week with usagi crying every five minutes, then at the end saving the day. It was repetative and corny as hell, and the voice actors for the most part were horible. But like i said, i was a kid, a 12 year old kid at that and i would race home every day after school to see the next ep, I bought ever poster and doll, and even made my very own sailor scout outfit. And for that reason, I will continusly love this anime and all of it's seasons, and continue to rewatch them over and over again. Add to that, the original Japanes version, I still found Usagi's voice annoying, but with the news of a rebot or spin off or what ever coming out in 2013, I am waiting with batted breath.

Unlike most girls out there Sailor Moon was not my first anime, it was however my first manga...hell Dragon ball Z was my second anime so this was like my third second on my "Gotta watch this after school" list. Let's see, up until the last season and a few fillers the anime very closely follows the manga and is the most imprinting magical anime series that I have seen thus far, I usually cant stand to watch magical girl animes, because the fighting scenes are pretty much copy and paste, i think it was due to the fact that I watched this all the time when I was younger and watched the episodes once a day and not back to back that I was not bored....however! I recently watched all the episodes and moves...the thing is Usagi/Serena is not a Mary Sue magical girl. She selfish, glutinous, clumsy, a cry baby, a little dumb, ditzy, snort and kinda sloppy. But she cares... its because she has all these bad traits and she improves so much and still remains very un Mary Sue like that I love this character... :)

Sailor Moon is a decently old series that many people love. Although it gives off a kid style girl only vibe,it's not. FUNimation and DiC dubbedit horribly,using countless edits and censors. It barely followed the same plot points. They even changed names,and even in one case,Gender. Later in in the series,they had Hakura(Sailor Uranus) and Michiru(Sailor Neptune) were lovers,but they changed them to close cousins. All this dubbing aside, if you watch the subbed version, you will love it. Its much more adult, and no censoring :) The plot is good. It's a funny anime as well. It starts nice but gets darker and darker during the 5 seasons. And in my case, worse and worse. The series wasn't as good. The 5(Stars) compared to the first, it's completely different. Although every anime has a weird or different ending, this was more so. The first 2 seasons were great, and the 3rd was OK. The 4th I didn't care for, and the 5th made me go WTF. It became confusing as they added more characters. As they added,they changed. The creators added 3 more scouts,but I didn't like them. They were confusing. I really didn't like it's later seasons. Sailor moon is a fandom that is fun to make fun of. With most series, there are abridges.Megami33s abridged is the most popular and the best. I highly recommend both name and abridged series

The first season of the anime “Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon” is a mixed bag. Bishoujo Senshi takes viewers on an emotional roller coaster between “boring and forgettable episodes” and “surprisingly good episodes.” A review from someone who didn’t watch it as a kid, for others in the same boat. The series’ art is stunning. The opening sequence, music, backgrounds, animation, and commercial breaks—the artists’ work deserves a 10/10. The artists do an especially good job with the color palette and animations. Given the technology of the ’90s, this title is the most beautiful thing that could have been created. The music is authentic and fits the series perfectly. It doesn’t blow your mind, but it very unobtrusively complements the series’ overall aesthetic. To be brutally honest, it’s hard to call the overall story “good.” It’s just okay. The setting is way too generic. Yes, it’s shōjo, and an older one at that, but viewed through a modern lens, it’s hard to take something like this seriously. The overall plot doesn’t have any glaring plot holes, but it’s as predictable as can be, and it’s hard to take its drama seriously. The storylines of individual episodes are the worst part of the series. The episodes at the beginning and end follow exactly the same formula. It gets incredibly boring. The transformation scenes are beautiful, but Sailor Moon’s is incredibly drawn out. For the other characters, it’s short, which is a plus. In the first season, it’s hard to single out the characters as a strong part of the story. If anything, they’re just average, just like the plot. The main character, Tsukino Usagi, is a truly well-developed and interesting character who evolves over the course of the season. But the other characters aren’t fleshed out enough to really appreciate them. The only one worth singling out is Rei Hino, who is unique in her own right due to her deep immersion in Japanese culture. And the creators clearly made an effort to establish the “tsundere” trope between her and Usagi. You could say that Rei is actually Sailor Moon’s best friend. It’s a classic, but a worthy one! The series is definitely worth watching at least once, since it still has a significant influence on everything you see in the anime industry! And it’s aged quite well :) Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

So I've finally managed to watch Sailor Moon. I think it's essential to watch at least one of the first three seasons by any serious anime viewer. I watched it for several reasons, but mainly because I wanted to understand the phenomenon, girls were crazy about it in the 90s, and it changed its own genre. It was also franchised by many companies for toys, cosmetics and god knows what else. To my knowledge, it was Disney who first started this soft enterprise between fictional narratives and commerce. This kind of stuff gets my attention from a purely analytical and social perspective. But don't get me wrong, it's fun. Especially viewed at this point of time; to see projects that encourage girls to be strong and beautiful within their natural gender roles. Unlike in the West, Japanese people are not obsessed or overtaken by abstract reasoning, they toy with it and eventually make it subject to order and symmetry. They understand the polarity and dualism of reality, they don't make a fuss about it. That aside, three things make it effective and worthwhile: Astrology as indirect annotation and driving force of the narrative, even if superficial, it works. Then we have the possibility of the whole thing being different levels of a single arcade game, big part of it is actually placed in an arcade centre, even the communication station is situated there, and the story is seeded by Sailor V whom Usagi always play her game there as well, supervised by a blonde named Motoki, it's important to observe this because here is the main folding device in my opinion. Finally we have the delicate overlaying of the myth that created this story (or is it the "game" creating it?), that is the Silver Millennium narrative, it's the part most intriguing to me, especially how the memories were revived in the imagination of the main characters, so beautiful. I know this might sound trivial or even confusing by many readers here, but I have to note that I'm mostly interested in the structuring and making of the thing than the stories themselves. Totally recommended, you can trust your little ones with it.

I only watched this show super recently and I regret not watching it when i was younger now that I'm finished with the first season. There are a lot of things I like about it, but I'm going to start with the things I didn't like in this review. I appreciated that there was filler episodes to help flesh out the character's personalities more, but there was way too much at some point and it got a bit boring to watch the filler episodes towards the end. It also changed some really good things about the manga and adds some odd stuff, such as making Mamoru a college student, taking away the fact that Rei doesn't like men, etc. The designs were very cool, the animation was amazing, and the soundtrack was very good. I probably would've rated the story category higher if there wasn't so much filler. So overall, it's very good and I enjoyed it tons, but there are still plenty of things to criticize about it, just like most media.

Sailor Moon is one of the few animes I've seen in my childhood. I remember watching the American version as a kid and secretly loving it as a young boy, despite that I assumed it was a young girls show. At 22, I decided to pick it up again by watching the Viz dub since I remember watching it in English. Even though there is a good amount of filler in this series, the episodes create great potential for all of the guardian's character development. For example, Usagi is a huge crybaby (which some may find funny or plain irritating), but in the last 8 or so episodes, she really grows up and not whines about stupid things. She even builds her courage to fight for her friends and secret crush. While the story has the typical villain sending monsters to terrorize people and the main characters try to stop it, we also get to see interesting and amusing interaction with everyone. The Artstyle in Sailor Moon is superb in my opinion. Despite being a 90's anime, it is very colourful. Almost every scene in Sailor Moon is full of colour (the Sailor Guardians uniform being different colours, the night shots of the city with the pink/purple glare, the transformation sequence), everything just brightens up the scene and makes it feel alive. The only exception is when they show the scenes with the bad guys and everything looks all dark and gloomy (typical though). Soundtrack is good. Pretty bubbly, catchy and perfect at times. The Sailor Moon opening theme is very classic. I always find myself humming "Fighting Evil by Midnight, Winning Love by Daylight~". Even though this is not the tune in the original Sailor Moon, it's iconic, nonetheless. Character is pretty good too. Everyone has their own personality. Usagi sorta fits the stereotypical blonde while having like a huge crybaby. This can be annoying to some, but she grows up and learns what is worth fighting for and doesn't act as clumsy as much. Ami who is a genius sometimes struggles to act all casual and the other girls teach her. Rei is hilarious when she gets mad. Sure, she may be short tempered, but some of her roasts towards Usagi are funny. Mako, who is my favourite guardian, tries to act all tough and tomboyish but she has her feminine qualities. She's able to act like a tough but loving mother to the entire group. Minako is pretty cool too. She has the best strategy when it comes to tracking and finding enemies. Overall, if you want to watch something you saw as a child and thought it was cool, pick up the original Sailor Moon. Sub and Dub are both good IMO.

If you like magical girls fighting evil and wearing mini skirts, you will love this. Sailor Moon is a classic anime that everyone should have watched growing up. Compared to anime now-a-days, it's very old-school. Story: Magical girls with super powers defending in the name of the moon against evil doers. Art/Sound: Classic and Original. Kind of old and sketchy, but nicely done for back in the day. Character: Sarena (Sailor Moon) is a very expressive and silly character. She is usually lazy and clumsy, but that's what makes her so wonderful. Enjoyment: While I was younger, this anime was one of my favorites. I enjoyed the routinely defense of the sailor scouts against the bad guys. They would use their powers to fight, and if it seemed hopeless, I knew they would somehow find a way to win, because it was SAILOR MOON! Sailor Moon and her sailor scouts always have to win. Overall: 7/10

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon is an anime many people grew up with, and I'm sad to say that I wasn't one of those people. It aired way before my time, as I am still basically a fetus compared to many others who enjoy the wondrous form of media that is anime. It was as of two weeks ago, I made the decision to see what the fuss was over this show, and I'm very glad I did. My expectations were actually very low when I first began watching the series, but soon enough I was proved to be quite wrong. I thought the series would just be a handful of teenage girls going teenage girl things, while also occasionally transforming and being ridiculously over-powered, then rinse, and repeat, but I was wrong, well for the most part, but I'll get to that later. For those of you don't know the basic premise of the show, which would be a little surprising as it's everywhere, I'll explain a little. Usagi Tsukino us a 14 year old student, she is very clumsy and a crybaby. One day she discovers a black cat with a yellow crescent on it's head called Luna, which bestows upon her the powers to transform into Sailor Moon and gives her the task of fighting evil and searching for the Moon Princess. There are also other sailor warriors that her and Luna meet along the way, but I'll talk more a about them later aswell. Now one thing you may notice from the plot is that it's a typical magical girl format, because it really does begin as that, as it was the franchise that popularized the genre in both the east and west. The magical girl genre being a very popular one as of now, the series may seem formulaic, but it does change further on. Though one of the formulas in the very beginning I do have a slight problem with. In the very beginning when it's just Usagi fighting only accompanied by Luna, who cannot directly participate in the fight, because you know, she's a cat, went something like this: Usagi goes to school, someone tells her a new thing opened up and they have either really cheap or free shit. Usagi goes and does the thing. Oh no, the thing is run by monsters that are stealing shit of humans. Usagi has to transform and kick some ass. She transforms, get scared, and begins to sob saying that she can't fight. The monster is about to kill her. The monster is suddenly hit with a rose from a high place. Tuxedo mask makes his entrance, tells Usagi she can fight, Usagi's hormones for the masked man gets intense, Tuxedo Mask then leaves after his 25 seconds of fame, Usagi throws her tiara and wins. Everything's okay again. Then it happens again, Usagi, apparently not learning her lesson from when it happened the first, second, or even fifth time. But hey, it's only like that for a little while, and even though in that way, it is very formulaic, it does it in an enjoyable way. So you still have fun with the series. Of course, it does get a little frustrating at points, but it doesn't last for too long in the series, so don't stress out about it like I did, because unfortunately I thought that was going to be what the whole series was, but oh my god, was I wrong. Now where this series really shines, is it's characters. Usagi, though rather dense, is still a very good character, she has some really great moments, and if you take the time to watch the series, which I do recommend you do, you'll see what I mean. Though, I personally find the other Sailor Warriors a lot more interesting than Usagi. Mako, or Sailor Jupiter, I find to be a very interesting character, that I hope they spend a lot more time developing her, aswell as Sailor Venus and even Artemis, in the next season, because I'm very intrigued. I also like how the characters interact with eachother, especially Rei and Usagi, they have this kind of best friend, rival kind of thing going on, and it leads to some interesting and humorous antics. One more thing I'd like to say is that show has the ability to destroy you and your emotions, which may be hard to believe, but I cried like a little bitch in the last few episodes. I mean, holy shit, what happened was LIFE DESTROYING and frankly, I was not expecting anything with that much emotional impact from this series, but once again, I was very wrong. And this is one of the few times I'm glad to say I was wrong, my ego will actually allow it and that means something. This series is an anime I think everyone should at least try and watch once in their lives, as it is a classic for a reason. It may come off as childish, which it is at times, but that's one of it's charms. It has a certain innocence about it, but a hidden maturity and some really dark and emotionally gripping moments. If you can, I'd recommend giving it a chance, because it will surprise you.

So, with the rebuild coming up that we have to hope doesn't take the Evangelion root, here is a review to the first season of Sailor Moon. I am going to say that this was probably my least favorite season out of all of them, but it wasn't the worst animated production. The bad. They had to make a character that was likable in the source material, one of the most likable characters in the manga, like this, she was just whiny in this season, most of time she didn't even have a reason to be whiny other than she doesn't want to do her job, which is saving the world and becoming know as the princess of the moon. Now unlike Shinji, who I defend even though he does whine, she isn't having a horrible family life at this point, she isn't going through traumatic experience after traumatic experience. And I wouldn't even be mad if they didn't make this go on for half of the season. At least in the second half she had a reason to be sad, but they even downplayed her depression from the manga here. And then the season finale, even the Japanese version, was horrible compared to the manga, they explain in the manga that the senshi sacrifice themselves to give Usagi the power to destroy another dimension that is trying to take over the Earth. In the anime they all die and are brought back through the power of love while Usagi kills flower Beryl, it was much less exciting than what the source material had to offer. The good. I loved the portrayal of every other character though. From Jedite being the scum bag that you wanted to see get run over by planes instead of the lack luster death in the manga. Then to Zoisite with his questionable gender because of localization in a homosexual relationship with Kunzite that you kind of wanted to see become something but never got to see until the Sailor Moon RPG (which was surprisingly good). Then you have the relationship between Naru and Nephrite, one which was toted on for episodes after and probably the best example of bad guy gone good in any anime up to date (sorry Naruto fans, Itachi isn't actually good, he still killed his clan and Pain was kind of killing everybody), he also had one of the most bad ass "I'm protecting the woman I love scenes" in anime. All of the villains had more spectacular deaths than in the manga, with the exception of Beryl, so that was a huge bonus for me, because this group will always be the most memorable villains of all time for me. Final Verdict: If just for the minor villain deaths, I suggest this season of Sailor Moon. They explain everything in the second season, so you don't have to worry about it anyway if you don't care for this season. But I suggest watching it. 7.4/10

Sailor Moon for me wierdly is not a show i grew up with. sailor moon however was the show that got me into anime and manga. The apeal with sailor moon for me like most people is that sailor moon is kinda ( in an odd way) an inspiration for people who struggle. for me sailor moon reminded me of myself but what i find amazing about the character is her. she starts off as a clumsy cry baby and comes up on top. The strength with the show is of course the characters and the story. there personality and the way they interact with others really makes you believe these girls are real. The only problem with the show i cant see unless you decide to watch it in english which as everyone knows is a recipe for maddness!

Its good for kids, but I rewatched some episodes as an adolescent and I must say the manga is much better. The anime is too cheesy and long. Usually I'm okay with long story lines, only if they have acts continuing on to each other (like in Naruto) The charcters aren't very identifiable at all. I understand Mako is the tomboy, Ami is the nerd, Minako is the wannabe idol, Rei is the hotheaded priestess, Mamarou is the useless love intrest and Usagi is a crybaby hero. But in the anime it really dosen't enhance those characteristics and makes all the charcters look the same until later seasons. The artwork is a little weird, but its dated, I understand that. However the animation in Stars and Supers was much better. Overall I'd recommend it for your five to thirteen year old because its too cutsey and happy. Even in the japanese version.

I loved Sailor Moon so much. I don't know what it is; the music, storyline, characters, the overall adorable-ness of it all.... But you just get so attached to the characters and how the grow throughout the first series and the other four to follow. I would recommend this big time; I enjoyed it so much!

Usagi is anime's ditziest character — which makes for a perfect comfort show. I've seen a lot of anime protagonists overeat and oversleep, or just be all-around lazy, but unlike a Goku or Luffy or Naruto, when Sailor Moon enters combat or starts training (does she ever actually train?), she remains the same scatterbrained girl in desperate need of an Adderall prescription. She's probably the worst fighter on the team. And there's nothing particularly special about Usagi at all. You couldn't even call her an average, everyday girl. She's well below average. She constantly fails tests and trips over her own feet. Among the other sailors is the smartest girl in Japan, possibly the strongest, and another who can sense evil auras and banish spirits. Meanwhile, Usagi sucks at the only video game she plays every day. This girl isn't good at anything except throwing a tiara. As for my other notes, the fights are fairly copy + paste, but I ended up caring about them enough because they found ways to make the fights meaningful. There's also a good amount of soapy fun to be had with the romances. Unfortunately, I did find the episodic format tiring as I tend to binge watch shows. But once in a while I was surprised by an episode that ends on a heavier note than I thought possible for a magical girl kid's show. It's fun schadenfreude at Usagi's expense and I take comfort that maybe I don't need to change, even if everyone around me says I do. I'm still pretty and I'm still gonna save the world.... but seriously, get that girl some Adderall.

*Ordinary Schoolgirl Usagi does not need to be a Revolutionary Girl Utena* ~~ Love in Sailor Moon always has been hanging around the branch of romance people run up to with eager eyes. Teenage girls pass through days in a city dressed in the blessings of the pink and rosy, ribbon tied by hands who wish to hold those of the people they love--few fulfilled, most in yearning. The sailor soldiers of love and justice were only agents of romance and world peace through local service to me, as nothing else could overcome the sheer attachment of the series to the same subject. It was a pleasant surprise that through the final confrontation, Sailor Moon's love unlocked a more universal concept for itself to cleanly use the slice-of-life elements and the lack of heroic super abilities on a grandiose scale to its advantage. Initially, it gave a stale taste that the expected amount of "Magic" in "Magical Girl" was undetected, but indeed, it seems like older shows are masters of brainwashing right at the denouement, sweeping the floor with an explosive finish to compensate for the slow journey laden only with bread crumbs of refreshing lore and action. Ordinary Schoolgirl Usagi does not need to be a Revolutionary Girl Utena. A protagonist who leads like Usagi--who leads with stellar incompetence, clumsiness, and easily-distracted near-sightedness--is surely to be a ticking time bomb at the mercy of character development (or lack thereof). Her irresponsible behavior contrasting the sober heroism of the other four, to me, sets her above the rest of the cast by miles not only because of colorful dynamics interplaying, but also because Sailor Moon makes a fictional life realistically filled with challenges one would rather want to opt out of in exchange for the simple days of going to school, being late, spending late nights at entertainment; hanging out with friends, talking about boys in turn, eating shortcakes and chocolate parfaits; finding love, giving love, and receiving love. It is the love for the ordinary life and everyone presiding within it that prevails by the end alongside, of course, the same old romance which will never fade away, and will continue to fill the Earth with tempting levels of energy foreign invaders would want to get their hands on and defile with their pessimistic ideals. I could tolerate the myriad of silliness everyone and their mother can fully enumerate by virtue of its time period, production conditions, supreme OP and EDs, and beauty one might attribute to nostalgia-related things, and though it has definitely affected my enjoyment, Sailor Moon still poses considerably in its landing. There will be more to explore for four more seasons and extra content. I am hopeful for the future installments, and shall settle on this score for now, what with its problems that have left me sour much along the way, especially with the way our girls were treated like under-leveled players in terms of the administration of their personality and relevance aside from their powers being dead an episode after arrival. Toleration can really only do so much when the problems still lie at the back of the head.

I'll admit, I kind of wrote off Sailor Moon as something that just wasn't for me, a 90s anime that I could just leave in the rear view mirror, but it appears I was missing out. This was sincerely a lot more fun than I expected, especially given how much filler there was in this series. Sure, most of that filler isn't particular interesting and it is very obvious that the series is just spinning its wheels for a while, buts ome of my favorite moments were pure filler, with episode 31 being one of the stand-out best of the series I'd put alongside or even above many of its canon episodes. This was just a joy to watch, and while the penultimate pair of episodes certainly felt rushed, I can't say it bothered me too much. There's a lot to love about a series like this that can be incredibly silly and serious and manage both pretty well, albeit with some jarring transitions. The monster designs only got better with time, whether ranging into the goofy or the serious. Many of the side characters got at least a moment or two to shine, and while most of them just vanished into the background or were rehashed for cheap emotional moments (looking at you, Seven Rainbow Crystals), the show does this right more often than not. Even if the central story is a bit simple (reincarnations of a fated couple fight an evil power to protect the world), the characters are what really make this show. Sure, there's a lot we don't know about the lead villains (both Beryl and Metalia remain rather enigmatic and just "evil for the sake of being evil" for the most part, albeit with a jilted lover complex in the former), but each of the Four Heavenly Kings was interesting in their own right, with the relationship between Kunzite and Zoisite being a particular stand-out along with Nephrite's gray villain and shockingly tragic end. As for the heroes, Tuxedo Mask does come off as trying a little hard to be a gray hero (it never really works, even when he's trying to be threatening), but his role in the story on both sides of the conflict drives much of the narrative in interesting directions. Each of the Scouts contributes something substantial to the plot as well through their very distinct character designs, motivations and power sets, though Ami is kind of a letdown as we don't get much exploration of her character. For many reasons, I’m still very fond of Mako, but Usagi really is the stand-out among them, balancing a slapstick and teenage girl problems very well with her role as Princess Serenity. It’s easy to be frustrated with her at times, but she also feels like the most normal one of the bunch, just thrown into the deep end with no life preserver. So while I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this series was revolutionary for me, it certainly stands out. I’m glad I took the time to watch it and I’ll have to check out more when I get a chance.

Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, simplified as Sailor Moon, is a series that is known for popularizing the Magical Girl genre of manga and anime. It is considered to be the best Magical Girl franchise of all time. Even if girls and young women are the intended target audience, I think Sailor Moon can be enjoyed by anybody. Sailor Moon is all about a young girl named Usagi Tsukino, who is chosen to be the titular legendary sailor soldier by a talking black cat named Luna. Her mission is to find her allies and protect the world from the forces of the Dark Kingdom. In order to do so, they must find and obtain the Legendary Silver Crystal before their enemies do. The Dark Kingdom seeks the Silver Crystal in order to resurrect their great ruler. However, as the search for it proves to be difficult, they settled on stealing energy from humans to give to their great ruler by having their members sneak into Japan pretending to be normal people. The main character Usagi / Sailor Moon isn't the most competent person, but that actually helps out the comedic part of the series. From the very first episode, it shows her oversleeping and ending up late for school. Her incompetence even carries over to her duties as a sailor soldier where most of the time it's her dodging attacks while freaking out until somebody helps her. Even though Usagi is supposed to be the soldier of legend, the show makes it clear she can't go solo in all of her fights. The second character is Ami Mizuno / Sailor Mercury. She is the top student of Usagi's school having an IQ of 300. Studying has been the only thing she has done in her life and has no experience in making friends with others. That is until she met Usagi and became a Sailor Soldier. From there, Ami learned to become more open to others and no longer fears ending up alone. As a sailor soldier, she is more of a supporter with her ability Bubble Spray helps her and her allies avoid being seen by their enemies and she has a miniature computer that gives info on an enemy's weak point. The third character is Rei Hino / Sailor Mars. Rei is a shrine maiden who is said to have a sixth sense that allows her to detect paranormal beings. People do not accept her because of this, but Usagi believes they are in the wrong for doing so. Despite their friendship, Rei has very little tolerance for Usagi's incompetence and takes nearly every opportunity to criticize her for it. This constantly leads to a lot of childish bickering between the two of them. As a sailor soldier, Rei's specialty is fire magic and she can dispel curses with talisman scrolls even when she's in her civilian guise. The fourth character is Makoto Kino / Sailor Jupiter, and she is very physically strong. Her physical strength does come off as scary to others, but that doesn't stop Usagi from wanting to make friends with her. Makoto has a recurring gag where she developes feelings for boys that have at least one similarity, no matter how big or small it may be, with an upperclassman she previously had a crush on. As a sailor soldier, Makoto uses thunder magic and performs hand-to-hand combat. The fifth and final character is Minako Aino / Sailor Venus. Prior to the events of Sailor Moon, Minako has been protecting the world from the Dark Kingdom alone under the alias Sailor V. She eventually joins the other sailor soldiers after saving them from some high ranked members of the Dark Kingdom. Having some similar physical traits with Usagi, Minako sometimes plays decoy in order to protect her. In their fight against the Dark Kingdom, the sailor soldiers are sometimes assisted by a mysterious man named Tuxedo Mask. Nobody knows who he is or why he helps them, but one thing is clear: He is in search for the Silver Crystal as well. For that alone, everybody remains cautious around him... except for Usagi who is madly in love with him. The Dark Kingdom is the main antagonistic force of Sailor Moon. Their leader Queen Beryl is extremely strict as she gets furious at her minions when their schemes fail. She also hates Usagi immensely for reasons that will be revealed towards the end. Her minions are known as the Four Heavenly Kings. Their names are Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite. Yes, I'm sure you chemistry majors noticed that they are named after minerals. This is a trend with a lot of the villains in Sailor Moon as the author, Naoko Takeuchi, was a chemistry major herself, and I think that's a genius idea. The Four Heavenly Kings are tasked with either collecting human energy, finding the Silver Crystal, or hunt down the sailor soldiers to kill them. To fulfill their tasks, they deploy Youma into Japan. You may have noticed the number of episodes being a total of 46. As a TV show in the 1990s, Sailor Moon utilizes a formula known as either Villain of the Week or Monster of the Day. Most of the episodes consist of the main characters trying to live their normal lives until they find out about what evil plan the Dark Kingdom has been doing behind their backs. After that they fight and defeat the episode's Monster of the Day, which usually consists of a single Youma. One topic that's been heavily debated on social media is should these filler episodes be skipped? In my opinion, old school anime like Sailor Moon are known for their comedic filler, so skipping them would defeat the purpose of getting into them. I know not everybody has free time to get through all of it. My best advice is to go at your own pace. The most logical pace would be one episode a day. Some days, you might have time for multiple or no time for any at all. I mean, as someone who sometimes keeps up with Let's Play channels on YouTube on a daily basis due to finding their current or latest LP to be interesting, who's to say an anime fan can't do the same for an old school anime they took interest in? Sailor Moon's music is considered classic. The opening Moonlight Legend still is a banger of a song to this day. The two endings Heart Moving and Princess Moon both do a good job ending off each episode in a positive note after each Youma's defeat. The cast of voice actors did a good job for each character they played as, but we can't talk about Sailor Moon without talking about the main actress herself, Kotono Mitsuishi. Her role as Usagi is by far her most notable work. Fans of Sailor Moon can never forget the iconic line: "In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!" While the anime my friend recommended to me before were good first impressions on anime, Sailor Moon has gotten me to decide that watching anime is officially one of my hobbies. It's all thanks to an advertisement of Sailor Moon Crystal I found on the YouTube Home Page one day. I did a little research, learned about this first adaptation, and now it's my first favorite anime series. Admittedly, the filler episodes can start to feel repetitive. Regardless, Sailor Moon is still an old school anime classic with a lot of effort put into its artstyle and animation. I have a bias in favor of female protagonists, but I swear I try not to let it affect my final score. Even without this bias, I find Sailor Moon to be a series that can keep you entertained as you watch it. I give the first season of Sailor Moon 9/10.