Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon

Usagi Tsukino is an average student and crybaby klutz who constantly scores low on her tests. Unexpectedly, her humdrum life is turned upside down when she saves a cat with a crescent moon on its head from danger. The cat, named Luna, later reveals that their meeting was not an accident: Usagi is destined to become Sailor Moon, a planetary guardian with the power to protect the Earth. Given a special brooch that allows her to transform, she must use her new powers to save the city from evil energy-stealing monsters sent by the malevolent Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom.

But getting accustomed to her powers and fighting villains are not the only things she has to worry about. She must find the lost princess of the Moon Kingdom, the other Sailor Guardians, and the Legendary Silver Crystal in order to save the planet from destruction.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tsukino, Usagi Main

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Hino, Rei Main

Tomizawa, Michie Japanese

Aino, Minako Main

Fukami, Rica Japanese

Kino, Makoto Main

Shinohara, Emi Japanese

Mizuno, Ami Main

Hisakawa, Aya Japanese

Chiba, Mamoru Main

Furuya, Toru Japanese

Luna Main

Han, Keiko Japanese

Artemis Main

Takato, Yasuhiro Japanese

Zoisite Supporting

Nanba, Keiichi Japanese

Nephrite Supporting

Mori, Katsuji Japanese

Simone, Jamie Producer

Satou, Junichi Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Endou, Yuuji Sound Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Ikuhara, Kunihiko Episode Director

Reviews

Mar 9, 2009

Skadi

Recommended

It is often true that things experienced in your childhood never seem to live up to the wonderful memories you had of them when experiencing them again as an adult. It was with this state of mind that I entered my viewing of Sailor Moon, mostly from a desire to relive some nostalgia from my youth. I can truly say that it exceeded my expectations and left all those fond memories intact. As with most anime fans my age, Sailor Moon was one of the first series that I watched. It is one of those titles that many people know outside ... the anime fan base. Though it’s probably not the first "magical girl" anime it does in my opinion define the entire genre.

The first thing that is going to come to many people’s attention is going to be the artwork and sound quality. When compared to today’s standards it looks primitive and plain. The music is particularly uninspired and I doubt it was all that interesting when this show was new. The background music and sound effects feel like they are drawn out of a 80s B action movie. This show could really use a complete remastering of the audio. The voice acting though is strong and I felt the actors did a good job in portraying their characters though some of the performances, particularly from the villains are pretty campy.

Animation wise, the colors and styles are typical of what you expect from this era. The colors feel plain and washed out a little and we don’t have a lot of the detail that many modern shows have. This is not to say it’s bad, because it’s really not fair to compare it to newer shows because the technology has changed so much, but I still think it is relevant. I gained an appreciation for it as the series unfolded and I think most people will as well.

The overall story is something Sailor Moon does exceptionally well. From the start we get a sampling of a bigger danger to come and it moves along fairly slowly in the beginning. We get introduced to Usagi right away who quickly becomes Sailor Moon and starts fighting the enemy. Over the course of the first half of the series the other Sailor Warriors start to appear as we learn more about them and their pasts and building the friendships amongst each other. The plot does a great job of telling the origins of the Sailor Warriors and the reasons for the villain’s attacks. The last half in particular was very interesting and exciting. As a romance there is a lot to like about Sailor Moon. It treats the viewer to a serious and realistic feeling relationship that really puts its modern counterparts to shame. I found it to be the most compelling and rewarding part of the show.

The action is something that just isn’t that interesting however. It feels to simplistic and formulaic. The enemies change but after a while they all seem like they are the same. They get defeated in the same ways and the action itself never gets to be that exciting. Most of the shows battles are very short as well and the Sailor Warriors various special abilities take up most of them. They got a little long and boring as well after the 20th time seeing them. Anyone who is expecting or desiring intense magical action and special effects will be disappointed.

It wouldn't be a magical girl show without the famous transformation cut scene. Sailor Moon has plenty of these, and they get to be a bit unwieldy at times as the cast grows. Sailor Moons is the longest but the other Sailor Warriors are pretty short, which is good. Plus while we have to watch Usagi transform every time we often don’t have to watch all of the others or we get a shortened version. This is good because it takes away from the story.

The real shining light of Sailor Moon is the characters. Usagi as the lead is one of my favorite characters in anime. She starts off as a bit annoying with her crying and silliness but she really shines as a comedic character. She manages to grow during the course of the series and become stronger and more courageous. She has several love interests, or crushes would be more accurate. Eventually this grows into a serious relationship which I found very satisfying. Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask is the main love interest and both are completely oblivious of each other’s alter egos. I always found it amusing that he couldn’t tell Usagi was Sailor Moon when they look and act exactly alike.

Of the Sailor Warriors, Ami and Rei get the most screen time since they are brought in pretty early in the series. The conflict between Usagi-Rei was pretty amusing most of the time though it did seem to wear on me over time. My personal favorite of the girls was Makoto/Sailor Jupiter. I liked her the most from my childhood and that continued to today. She is one of the funnier characters, especially when she finds someone new who reminds her of her sempai who broke her heart. Minako is the last of the girls to be brought in and was probably the least interesting. Since she was bought in near the end there wasn’t enough time to really bring out her personality or give us much information on her past. The cast has a number of supporting characters which are pretty fun. Usagi's school friends are constantly getting into danger and a nice little side romance develops there. Luna serves as the advisor to the group and serves as the resident cute animal that must accompany magic girls on their adventures.

Overall I can’t recommend this series enough. Every fan of anime should see this show at least once. I would love to give it a 10 rating but the lackluster action and sound bring it down from being perfect.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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May 5, 2015

ggultra2764

Mixed Feelings

Back in the 1990s, Sailor Moon was the queen bee of popular shoujo titles by helping to popularize the magical girl genre to international fans and being the first series within the genre to feature a magical girl fighting against the forces of evil instead of using her magic to do fun and mundane things that older titles like Creamy Mami did. I was a sucker for the series when I was a kid during that period as I watched the butchered American syndicated version of the series released by Dic during the mid-90s. Our heroine of focus here is klutzy and book-dumb middle schooler ... Usagi Tsukino, who is tasked by a talking cat named Luna to become the magical girl known as Sailor Moon to thwart the evil activity of the witch Queen Beryl and her forces among the Dark Kingdom. Along the way, Usagi gains several additional allies to assist her with four other middle school girls who can become Sailor Senshi and a mysterious tuxedo-clad man named Tuxedo Mask who often pops up as a walking plot device to save Usagi whenever she gets in trouble against the "monster of the day".

Taking off the nostalgia goggles of watching this baby nearly 20 years later, I'd hate to say that Sailor Moon hasn't really aged all that well. All the character types and plot tropes that were milked by Sailor Moon during its heyday are a common part of many modern magical girl titles, many of whom offering more fleshing out of their plot and character elements than Sailor Moon does. Here, many of the characters are rather lacking in depth and have one-dimensional personalities with the good guys fighting for "love and justice" to save the world and the bad guys being evil for the sake of being evil. As a lead character, Usagi was rather obnoxious at many points in the series with her being ridiculously clueless, clumsy and crying incessantly if she ran into some sort of problem, which makes it kind of questionable why this would make her a character relateable to younger female audiences. Even with the romance Sailor Moon dabbles into at points, the relationship developments are either not convincing or are too underdeveloped to get seriously invested in thanks to the rather shallow character depth.

The plot mostly follows a "monster of the day" format that takes up much of the show's run with Usagi stumbling upon the monster's plot, transforming to combat them, often getting herself in trouble, having Tuxedo Mask save her in the nick of time and then uses her powers to finish off the monster. Later episodes do slightly pick up in quality when revelations concerning the origins of Usagi and her friends come to light and the stakes are raised with Beryl trying to further her plans. But the series still resorts to monster of the day plots for many of its episodes and milks enough deus ex machina in thwarting perilous situations that Usagi and the other Sailor Senshi get themselves into. Pretty much, the series is very predictable with its plot developments if you've seen your fair share of anime.

Visually, Toei was obviously running Sailor Moon on a limited budget with the reused animated frames, underwhelming action scenes, minimal detail on scenery and plain-looking character designs. The soundtrack isn't much better as much of it consists of bland and low-key tracks that don't do too well at effectively capturing the mood and tension within Sailor Moon's key scenes. I might get quite a bit of flak for this from purists, but I much preferred DIC's soundtrack to Sailor Moon since it at least attempted to capture some sort of mood during key scenes in spite of how cheesy it is nowadays.

Overall, I suppose I don't get what makes Sailor Moon all that popular with fans. Sure it popularized magical girl titles. But the character archetypes and storytelling tropes within it haven't aged well and are a common occurrence in many modern magical girl titles, a number of whom offering better fleshing out of their premise and characters than Sailor Moon, like Cardcaptor Sakura and Princess Tutu. I would sooner recommend those titles and a number of other modern magical girl titles than Sailor Moon and I don't feel pressed to dig into the later seasons of the franchise anytime soon.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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May 17, 2026

Nykima

Not Recommended

It is with a sense of disappointment that the viewing of Sailor Moon comes to an end, a work considered a cult classic and a must-see in the world of magical girls and shoujo. It tells the story of Usagi Tsukino, an ordinary high school girl who encounters a black cat named Luna, who offers her a special brooch allowing her to transform into Sailor Moon, a vigilante fighting the forces of evil. It was with genuine curiosity and openness that the viewing began, and the higher the reputation, the steeper the letdown.

Because Sailor Moon has no shortage of promises. The plot is simple in ... its premise: young and pretty high school girls transform into beautiful heroines to kick the bad guys' behinds. The intended audience is clearly that of dreamy young girls, especially with the themes of romance and friendship strongly present throughout this first season. And beyond that, the universe itself brims with untapped richness: planets, astrology, gemstones, Greek mythology. More than enough to build something genuinely compelling, without even needing to overcomplicate it.

But the gap between what the series could have been and what it actually delivers grows wider with every episode.

The most immediate problem is the filler. Out of the 46 episodes in the season, only 18 are canonical, accounting for just 40% of the content. Their sheer volume does not help when the story, much like the original work, is already formulaic. The episodes are extremely repetitive, with no variation, featuring a relentless parade of villains of the day to the point where certain episodes could be swapped around without changing anything of substance.

Where the anime does improve on the manga is in its narrative pacing, which is more balanced than in the original work. The filler episodes allow lighter and more serious moments to be blended together, and the Sailors are gradually introduced with their distinct personalities. It is one of the few areas where the adaptation earns its place. Unfortunately, the changes it introduces elsewhere bring little of value: age differences, pointless romances, alterations to certain characters' personalities. These decisions are difficult to understand and clearly reflect certain biases.

The action sequences follow the same pattern of unfulfilled promise. Magical girls mean magical powers, and with enemies attacking humans, one would expect at least a minimum of fights worthy of the name. The problem is that they are extremely flat and repetitive: virtually no strategy, patterns that repeat themselves identically from one episode to the next. No surprises, no depth. The power system is equally underdeveloped: no explanation of how the powers work is ever provided, no limits are established, and it remains unclear why certain attacks work in some cases and not in others. No training, no constraints, no real progression. A universe so rich in concepts, so barren in execution.

The characters follow suit. Usagi is a decent character for her time, but she proves even more irritating in the anime due to her very weepy nature and her screaming. Her Japanese voice grates on the nerves rather quickly, while the French version is considerably more bearable. She does however benefit from a logical character arc and gradually grows in maturity, making her the most complete presence the series has to offer.

Her supporting cast tells a different story. Her romance with Mamoru leaves far more to be desired than in the original work. Their relationship is built on the classic destiny trope, not inherently problematic, but one whose success depends entirely on the author's writing ability. Here, it serves primarily to avoid naturally building and developing the romance, which is lazy. Mamoru himself has no real existence outside of the protagonist and is confined to a simple role of emotional support. The rest of the Sailors, unlike in the original work where they are very bland, are slightly less so thanks to the filler episodes, which give them more charm and amusing moments. However, if one skips the filler, they remain just as one-dimensional as in the manga. Given how much each of their cosmic identities had to offer, the missed opportunity stings.

The one domain where the anime genuinely rises to meet its ambitions is its visual identity: strong, iconic and memorable. Despite some inconsistencies, the animation is very acceptable for its time and the backgrounds complement the atmosphere of the story well. The transformation sequences and the music are two other undeniable positives. It is almost frustrating how well the series wears its surface, given how little lies beneath it.

Sailor Moon proves to be a major disappointment given its status in the world of shoujo and magical girls. The filler is a mixed subject: while its presence is excessive, it did manage to breathe a little more life into the secondary Sailors and offer some enjoyable slice-of-life moments. Unfortunately, this does not make up for the major flaws: a very repetitive story, sometimes problematic adaptation changes, flat fights, an underdeveloped power system, a romance that leaves much to be desired, and bland secondary characters.

Recommended primarily to young girls, fans of magical girls, and those wishing to study the history of the genre. For everyone else: the transformation sequence is dazzling, but what follows rarely justifies the spectacle.

In short: Sailor Moon shines like a constellation... but its brilliance remains largely visual.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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