Heroes and vigilantes have permeated pop culture for years. From their origins in fairytales and the swashbuckling novels like Alexandre Dumas’ “The Three Musketeers,” to more modern examples like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we have always been fascinated by seemingly ordinary people who go on to change the world and triumph over evil. Toei Animation’s 1992 anime adaptation of “Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon” has been credited for creating the modern magical girl genre in anime, with it being the trope codifier for several staples of the genre today.
As a long-time fan of the series, I’ve always looked at the 90s series fondly, as it was the series that introduced me to anime and other kinds of Japanese media. However, as the more recent anime adaptation “Sailor Moon Crystal”—which promotes itself as being more faithful to the original manga—comes to a close, I wanted to take a look at the 90s series again and ask: does it still hold up? Is it still the superior anime adaptation of “Sailor Moon,” or is the praise for it rooted solely in nostalgia?
“Sailor Moon” follows 14-year-old Usagi Tsukino—probably better known as Serena to American readers—as she meets a talking cat named Luna, who tells her that she is a magical girl. Usagi’s mission is to find the other four magical girls, called the “sailor senshi/guardians” in the series, and their ultimate goal is to locate and protect the missing Princess Serenity. As the series progresses, Usagi endures several hardships and challenges that she must overcome as she fights for a better world where she can live in peace with all of her friends.
The original manga, written by Naoko Takeuchi, was released in 1991, and it instantly became a critical success. The success of the manga caught the attention of Toei Animation, who sought to adapt the series into an animated format. The original anime aired from 1992 to 1997, when it became a cultural juggernaut worldwide, introducing tropes that would become staples of the magical girl genre, such as the transformation sequences and the trope of introducing a new monster in every episode.
One of my first grievances with the 90s “Sailor Moon” is the amount of filler episodes. When the anime first aired, Naoko Takeuchi was still actively writing and publishing the manga, and in order to give her more time to write the manga, Toei sought to include filler episodes that follow Usagi and her friends’ misadventures. There are some filler episodes that I enjoy, such as the episode where Usagi must fight a monster in a fortune house, but most of them are redundant and do not serve to progress the plot in any way. The inclusion of filler episodes also led to some bizarre plotlines, such as when one of Usagi’s friends, Rei Hino/Sailor Mars, enters into a relationship with Usagi’s intended love interest, Mamoru Chiba. This whole “Rei dating Mamoru” plotline is not present in the manga, and it leaves an incredibly sour taste in my mouth, especially since the audience is supposed to be rooting for Usagi and Mamoru’s romance throughout the series, and it does not make sense for Rei’s character.
Another bizarre plot line appears in the first movie in the series, “Sailor Moon R: The Movie,” where Mamoru is being controlled by an alien named Fiore, and the sailor guardians must save both Mamoru and the earth from being destroyed by Fiore. I personally could have done without it, and it doesn’t help that Fiore’s character design is pretty ugly. Still, the film remains a favorite amongst “Sailor Moon” fans, and there are some sweet moments between Usagi and Mamoru in this film that I enjoy.
The two biggest grievances I have with the 90s “Sailor Moon,” however, are the one-dimensional characters and the unnecessary changes made to the plot. Every character in the original anime is given a stock personality (Usagi is a klutz, Rei is mean and quarrels with Usagi often, etc.), and it never feels like the characters grow in any way. This is alright in the earlier seasons when we are still getting to know the characters, but by the time the final season, “Sailor Moon Stars,” rolls around, the characters are still quite immature and childish, despite the audience having seen them enter high school in the previous season.
The 90s anime also has a habit of changing plot points for seemingly no reason, which happens more often as the series progresses and becomes darker. It doesn’t really know how to balance the humor and the darker elements of the series, leading to moments where the series sacrifices the seriousness of some plot points for humor and laughs. The most egregious example happens in the final season, where a little girl named Chibi Chibi is introduced and quickly becomes attached to Usagi. In the manga, Chibi Chibi is actually another sailor guardian named Sailor Cosmos, a version of Usagi from the distant future who travels back in time in order to convince her younger self to not make the same mistakes that she did. Chibi Chibi/Sailor Cosmos’ introduction is a bittersweet, yet hopeful conclusion to the series, as Usagi swears to continue fighting for a better future despite the toll it will have on her. In the 90s anime, however, the explanation for Chibi Chibi is…weird. At the end of “Sailor Moon Stars,” it’s revealed that Chibi Chibi is, essentially, the soul of the main villain, Sailor Galaxia, but in human form.
I honestly don’t understand why Toei changed Chibi Chibi’s character, especially when the entirety of her arc in the manga is that, by going back in time, Chibi Chibi/Sailor Cosmos realizes that she did make the right decision and had no reason to doubt herself. It seems like Toei wanted to include Chibi Chibi without having to include her role as Sailor Cosmos, but the explanation given in the 90s anime is 10 times more confusing than the manga’s explanation. Luckily, this is remedied in “Sailor Moon Crystal,” where Chibi Chibi is Sailor Cosmos, but the fact that it took almost 20 years for Toei to realize that they made a mistake baffles me.
Of course, I feel that I can’t discuss the original 90s “Sailor Moon” without talking about its infamous first English dub. “Sailor Moon” originally aired in the United States in 1995, dubbed and distributed by DiC Entertainment. Nowadays, the dub is infamous for its “Americanization” of the series, censorship, and corny dialogue. Similar to the original “Pokemon” anime, all of the names of the characters were changed in order to sound more Western: Usagi became Serena, Ami/Sailor Mercury became Amy, Makoto/Sailor Jupiter became Lita, Minako/Sailor Venus became Mina, etc. The only sailor guardian who didn’t get a name change was Rei, although her name was anglicized to “Raye.”
The original “Sailor Moon” dub also censored “nudity” shots, any references to Japanese culture, and most egregiously, the LGBTQ+ elements present in the original Japanese version. In the third season, “Sailor Moon S,” we are introduced to two new sailor guardians, Haruka/Sailor Uranus and Michiru/Sailor Neptune. It becomes immediately apparent that the two are in a lesbian relationship, and they have become fan favorites for being many people’s first exposure to lesbian representation in anime. However, in the original dub of “Sailor Moon,” Haruka and Michiru were changed from a lesbian couple to cousins. This aspect of the dub has since become a joke among fans, as Haruka and Michiru still act quite romantically toward each other despite the dub writing them off as cousins. Apparently, America in the 1990s thought implied incest was better than actively writing Haruka and Michiru as an openly lesbian couple, but that’s neither here nor there.
Another aspect of censorship and Westernization in the original “Sailor Moon” dub that baffles me is that Rei’s role as a miko/shrine maiden is almost entirely cut out. In the original Japanese version, Shintoism is a major part of Rei’s character, and I’m surprised that they managed to find a workaround for a character who is intrinsically tied to Japanese culture. Since the original dub wanted to be more educational by including “Sailor Says” segments at the end of every episode, they could have included a segment teaching kids about Shintoism, shrine maidens, and how they impact Rei’s character. These aspects of the dub have worsened how I feel about the original anime over time, and I wish that kids in the 90s were given a better version of “Sailor Moon” to look back on nostalgically.
There are some aspects of the original 90s “Sailor Moon” that I enjoy, however. The art style of the original anime has become synonymous with the name “Sailor Moon,” and its cutesiness fits the series incredibly well. The music is also one of my favorite parts of the original series, often blending multiple genres together, such as jazz, classical, and flamenco. The anime’s opening theme song, “Moonlight Densetsu,” has become one of the most iconic openings in anime, and I still listen to it frequently. The opening theme song to the final season, “Makenai,” while underappreciated, is also incredibly good, and I was very happy that these two songs were brought back in the Stars arc of “Sailor Moon Crystal.”
While the original “Sailor Moon” anime is still widely beloved and praised by anime fans worldwide, there are many faults that hurt it as a series as a result of the questionable production choices made by Toei. Still, I would recommend watching the original anime if you are interested. The series is beloved for a reason, after all, and if there’s nothing else that interests you, stay for the fighting scenes. They are always a joy to watch.
