The first cover of
the Sailor Moon manga as published by Kodansha on July 6, 1992 in Japan. Title
translates to Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon.
美少女戦士セーラームーン
(Bishōjo Senshi Sērā
Mūn)
 |
| The first cover of the Sailor Moon manga as published byKodansha on July 6, 1992 in Japan. Title translates toPretty Soldier Sailor Moon. |
 |
| Sailor Moon logo used on the first two seasons of the English dub and other foreign versions, of the anime. |
Manga
Written by Naoko Takeuchi
Published by Kodansha
English publisher Canada, United States: Kodansha Comics
USA
Demographic Shōjo
Magazine Nakayoshi, Run Run
English magazine Mixxzine, Smile
Original run 1991 – April 1997
Volumes 18 (List of volumes)
TV anime
Directed by Junichi Sato
Written by Sukehiro Tomita
Music by Takanori Arisawa
Studio Toei Animation
Network TV Asahi
English network
Australia: ABC, Seven
Network, Network Ten, Fox Kids
Canada: YTV, Global
Ireland: Fox Kids
New Zealand: TV2
United Kingdom: Fox
Kids, ITV
United States: USA
Network, Cartoon Network, Syndication
Original run March 7, 1992 – February 27, 1993
Episodes 46 (List of episodes)
TV anime
Sailor Moon R
Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara
Written by Sukehiro Tomita
Music by Takanori Arisawa
Studio Toei Animation
Network TV Asahi
English network
Australia: ABC, Seven
Network, Network Ten, Fox Kids
Canada: YTV, Global
Ireland: Fox Kids
New Zealand: TV2
United Kingdom: Fox
Kids, ITV
United States: USA
Network, Cartoon Network, Syndication
Original run March 6, 1993 – March 12, 1994
Episodes 43 (List of episodes)
TV anime
Sailor Moon S
Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara
Written by Yoji Enokido
Music by Takanori Arisawa
Studio Toei Animation
Network TV Asahi
English network
Australia: Fox Kids
Canada: YTV
New Zealand: TV2
United States:
Cartoon Network
Original run March 19, 1994 – February 25, 1995
Episodes 38 (List of episodes)
TV anime
Sailor Moon SuperS
Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara
Written by Yoji Enokido
Music by Takanori Arisawa
Studio Toei Animation
Network TV Asahi
English network
Australia: Fox Kids
Canada: YTV
New Zealand: TV2
United States:
Cartoon Network
Original run March 4, 1995 – March 2, 1996
Episodes 39 (List of episodes)
TV anime
Sailor Stars
Directed by Takuya Igarashi
Written by Ryota Yamaguchi
Music by Takanori Arisawa
Studio Toei Animation
Network TV Asahi
Original run March 9, 1996 – February 8, 1997
Episodes 34 (List of episodes)
Films
Sailor Moon R: The
Movie
Sailor Moon S: The
Movie
Sailor Moon SuperS:
The Movie
Stage musical series
Sailor Moon musicals
(SeraMyu): 25 stage shows based on the Sailor Moon franchise were released
between 1993 and 2005.
Live-action series
Pretty Guardian
Sailor Moon: a 49 episode live action series directed by Ryuta Tasaki ran from
October 4, 2003, to September 25, 2004. There were also two direct-to-video
releases: a sequel (Special Act), and a prequel (Act Zero).
Video games
Sailor Moon (Angel)
1993
Sailor Moon R
(Bandai) 1993
Bishoujo Senshi
Sailor Moon S - Jougai Rantou!? Shuyaku Soudatsusen (Angel) 1994
Bishoujo Senshi
Sailor Moon S (Bandai) 1995
Pretty Soldier Sailor
Moon (Gazelle/Banpresto) 1995
Pretty Soldier Sailor
Moon: Another Story (Angel) 1995
Bishoujo Senshi
Sailor Moon SuperS - Zenin Sanka!! Shuyaku Soudatsusen (Super Famicom) 1996
Sailor Moon SuperS
Shin Shuyaku Soudatsusen (PlayStation/Sega Saturn) 1996
Quiz Bishoujo Senshi
Sailor Moon (Gazelle/Banpresto) 1997
Related series
Codename: Sailor V
Anime and Manga
Portal
Sailor Moon, known in
Japan as Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon (美少女戦士セーラームーン Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn?, officially
translated "Pretty Soldier Sailormoon"[1] or "Pretty Guardian
Sailor Moon"[2]), is a media franchise created by manga artist Naoko
Takeuchi. Fred Patten credits Takeuchi with popularizing the concept of a team
of magical girls,[3][4] and Paul Gravett credits the series with
"revitalizing" the magical-girl genre itself.[5] Sailor Moon
redefined the magical-girl genre, as previous magical girls did not use their
powers to fight evil, but this has become one of the standard archetypes of the
genre.[6]
The story of the
various metaseries revolves around the reborn defenders of a kingdom that once
spanned the Solar System, and around the evil forces that they battle. The
major characters — the Sailor Senshi (literally "Sailor Soldiers";
frequently called "Sailor Scouts" or "Guardians" in many
Western versions), teenage girls — can transform into heroines named for the
Moon and planets. The use of "Sailor" comes from a style of girls'
school uniform popular in Japan, the sērā fuku ("Sailor outfit"), on
which Takeuchi modeled the Sailor Senshi's uniforms. The elements of fantasy in
the series are heavily symbolic and often based on mythology.
Before the Sailor
Moon manga appeared, Takeuchi had written Codename: Sailor V, which centered
around just one Sailor Senshi. She devised the idea when she wanted to create a
cute series about girls in outer space, and her editor suggested she should put
them in sailor fuku.[7] When Sailor V was proposed[by whom?] for adaptation
into an anime, the concept was modified by Takeuchi so that Sailor V herself
became only one member of a team. The resulting manga series merged elements of
the popular magical girl genre and the Super Sentai Series which Takeuchi
admired,[8] making Sailor Moon one of the first series ever to combine the two.
The manga resulted in
spinoffs into other types of media, including a highly popular anime, as well
as musical theatre productions, video games, and a tokusatsu series. Although
most concepts in the many versions overlap, often notable differences occur,
and thus continuity between the different formats remains limited.
 |
The first season DVD box set, released in North America in 2003 by ADV Films. |
The 200 episodes of
the Japanese anime seriesSailor Moon were adapted from the eighteen volume
manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. The
episodes were directed by Junichi Sato, Kunihiko Ikuhara,Takuya Igarashi, Takao
Yoshizawa and Hiromichi Matano, and produced by TV Asahi and Toei Animation.The
first four seasons were dubbedand released in North America by DIC
Entertainment and Cloverway. The series concentrates on the adventures of Usagi
Tsukino, a schoolgirl who learns that she and several other girls can transform
into superheroines, Sailor Senshi, and fight against evil forces that threaten
the world.
The series aired from
March 7, 1992, to February 8, 1997, on TV Asahi in Japan. In North America, the
episodes aired from September 11, 1995, to December 21, 2000, on YTV in Canada,
and in first-run syndication (and later on Cartoon Network) in the United
States. In addition to the two hundred episodes, three feature-length films
were produced, as well as five short films. The fifth season, Sailor Stars, has
not been licensed for release in English. As of May 2004, the series has
officially been taken off the air in all English-speaking countries due to
lapsed licenses which have not been renewed; this news was met with great
controversy among English-speaking fans.
The first two seasons
of the series, Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R, were sold across 20 VHS volumes
in Japan in 1995, and by the end of that year, each volume had sold more than
300,000 copies.In 2001, ADV Films released the English dubs of the first two
seasons to 20 VHS volumes.The two first English language seasons were released
on 14 Region 1 DVDs in 2002 by ADV.ADV also released subtitled and uncut
versions of the first two seasons in two separate Limited Edition DVD box sets
in 2003.Pioneer Entertainmentreleased the English dubbed (edited and uncut),
and subtitled versions of the third and fourth seasons, Sailor Moon S and
Sailor Moon SuperS respectively, on DVD and VHS in 2001 and 2002.
At the start of
Sailor Moon S, the episode numbers for the dub were adjusted by YTV to match
those of the original Japanese version. There had previously been a gap in
numbering because of the seven episodes that had been cut or merged in the
previous two seasons. Because of this, episode numbers 83-89 were never used
for the dub. However in the United States, 83-89 were used for the dub on
Cartoon Network, and did not match those of the original Japanese version.
Story
The protagonist of
Sailor Moon, Usagi Tsukino(Serena Tsukino in the English dub), an ordinary,
ditzy, 14-year-old girl — or so she thinks — discovers a talking cat named
Luna, who reveals Usagi's identity as "Sailor Moon", a special
warrior with the destiny of saving the planet Earth, and later the entire
galaxy. Usagi must now find the Moon Princess and protect Earth from a series
of villains, beginning with the Dark Kingdom that had appeared once before,
long ago, and destroyed the Kingdom of the Moon.
- the Dark Kingdom arc
(Sailor Moon)
- the Black Moon arc
(Sailor Moon R)
- the Mugen/Infinity
arc (Sailor Moon S)
- the Yume/Dream arc
(Sailor Moon SuperS)
- the Stars arc (Sailor
Moon Sailor Stars)
The anime added an
additional minor arc at the start of the second series, and spent the first few
episodes of Sailor Stars wrapping up the plot from the previous series. Taking
place before the manga timeline, its sister seriesCodename: Sailor V tells the
story of Sailor V, Minako Aino and her adventures during the year before Sailor
Moon itself starts. Many characters from Codename: Sailor V return inSailor
Moon, including Sailor V herself (under the name "Sailor Venus"). The
musicals added several extra storylines, including an extended version of the
Stars arc, including revivals of past villains, the revival of the Dark
Kingdom, a trip to Kaguya Shima (Kaguya Island), a group of villains from
Nibiru and the Dracul Series.
Characters
The series features
an extensive cast of characters. Initially, the main protagonists aretitle
character Sailor Moon, her love interestTuxedo Mask, and the Guardian Senshi
(Sailors Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus). They are later joined by Chibiusa,
Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask's daughter from the future, and the Outer Senshi
(Sailors Uranus,Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn).
Each major arc of the
manga and its anime adaptation features a different group of villains: the Dark
Kingdom (in the Dark Kingdom arc of the manga and in the first season of the
anime), the Black Moon Clan (in the Black Moon arc of the manga and in Sailor
Moon R), the Death Busters (in the Mugen/Infinity arc of the manga and in
Sailor Moon S), the Dead Moon Circus (in the Yume/Dream arc of the manga and in
Sailor Moon SuperS), and Shadow Galactica (in the Stars arc of the manga and in
Sailor Moon Sailor Stars). The first episodes of Sailor Moon R feature a filler
arc that introduces the Makaiju, two aliens that arrive to Earth to find energy
to collect for an alien tree, and that the first six episodes of Sailor Moon
Sailor Stars re-introduce Queen Neheleniafrom the Dead Moon Circus.
Supporting and
recurring characters in the series include Luna, Artemis, and Diana (three cats
that act as advisors to the Sailor Senshi), the families and friends of the
Senshi, theSailor Starlights and their Princess Kakyuu, and the mysterious
Chibichibi, among others.
[edit]Production
Before the Sailor
Moon manga, Takeuchi published Codename: Sailor V, which centered around just
Sailor Venus. She devised the idea when she wanted to create a cute series
about girls in outer space, and her editor asked her to put them in sailor
fuku. When Sailor V was proposed for adaptation into an anime, the concept was
modified so that Sailor Vherself became only one member of a team. The
resulting manga series became a fusion of the popular magical girl genre, the
Super Sentai Series, of which Takeuchi was a fan.Recurring motifs include
astronomy, astrology, Greek myth,Roman myth, geology,Japanese elemental
themes,teen fashions,and schoolgirl antics.
Talks between
Takeuchi and her publishers originally envisaged only one story-arc, and the
storyline developed in meetings a year prior to publications,but having
completed it, Takeuchi was asked by her editors to continue. She issued four
more story-arcs,often published simultaneously with the five corresponding
anime series. The anime series would only lag the manga by a month or
two.Takeuchi has stated that due to the largely male production staff of the
anime, she feels that the anime version has "a slight male
perspective".
Media
Manga
The complete original
manga spans 52 chapters, known as Acts, as well as ten separate side-stories.
Its main series appeared in serial form in Nakayoshi, Kodansha's shōjo
mangamagazine, from 1991 to 1995; the side-stories were serialized in Kodansha's
Run Run. Kodansha has published all the chapters and side-stories in book form.
The first edition came out as the series was being produced, from 1992 through
1997, and consisted of 18 volumes with all the chapters and side stories in the
order in which they had been released.
The second edition,
called the shinsōban or "renewal" edition, began in 2003 during the
run of the live-action series. Kodansha redistributed the individual chapters
so that there are more per book, and some corrections and updates were made to
the dialogue and drawings. New art was featured as well, including completely
new cover art and character sketches (including characters unique to the
live-action series). In all, the new edition consists of 12 main volumes and
two separate short-story volumes.
By the end of 1995,
the thirteen Sailor Moon volumes then available had sold about one million
copies each, and Japan had exported the manga to over 23 countries, including
China, Mexico, Australia, most of Europe and North America.
The revised manga is
being re-released in North America by Kodansha Comics USA, though Random House
acts as distributor, with the first volume being released in September 2011,
the second volume was released in November 2011, with further volumes to follow
bimonthly.
Anime
The Sailor Moon
anime, co-produced by TV Asahi, Toei Agency and Toei Animation, started airing
only a month after the first issue of the manga was published. With 200
episodes airing from March 1992 to February 1997 on TV Asahi, Sailor Moon is
one of the longest magical girl anime series. The anime sparked a highly
successful merchandising campaign of over 5,000 items, which contributed to
demand all over the world and translation into numerous languages. Sailor Moon
has since become one of the most famous anime properties in the world.Due to
its resurgence of popularity in Japan, the series returned to the airwaves on
September 1, 2009. Also, Italy is getting it rebroadcast in northern-hemisphere
autumn 2010, also getting permission from Takeuchi who will be releasing new
artwork to promote.
Sailor Moon consists
of five separate arcs. The titles of the series are Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon R,
Sailor Moon S, Sailor Moon SuperS and Sailor Moon Sailor Stars. Each series
roughly corresponds to one of the five major story arcs of the manga, following
the same general storyline and including most of the same characters.There were
also five specialanimated shorts, as well as three theatrically released
movies: Sailor Moon R: The Movie,Sailor Moon S: The Movie, and Sailor Moon
SuperS: The Movie.
The anime series uses
traditional animation techniques throughout. It was directed by Jun'ichi Satō,
then Kunihiko Ikuhara and later Takuya Igarashi in succession. Character design
was headed by Kazuko Tadano, Ikuko Itoh and Katsumi Tamegai, all of whom were
also animation directors. Other animation directors included Masahiro Andō,
Hisashi Kagawa, and Hideyuki Motohashi.
The series sold as
twenty "volumes" in Japan. By the end of 1995, each volume had sold
approximately 300,000 copies.
There were noticeable
differences between the manga and anime, including the radical personality
change of Rei Hino, the toned-down focus on Mamoru Chiba in later seasons, the
large emphasis on the Sailor Starlights in the final arc, the notable asbence
of the four Outer Senshi during the SuperS season (while they were present
during the forth story arc of the manga), the removal of several characters
including Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon and Sailor Kakyuu, the break-up sub-plot
between Usagi and Mamoru and the inclusion of an extra 'arc' in Sailor Moon R
sometimes referred to as the 'Makaiju arc', Diana's late introduction in the
anime, the homosexual relationships between Zoisite and Kunzite,the
personalities of the Ayakashi Sisters and the Witches 5, and the removal of
Sailor Cosmos.
Art books
Kodansha released special art books for each of the five story arcs, collectively called theOriginal Picture Collection. The books contain cover art, promotional material, and other work done by Takeuchi. Many of the drawings appear accompanied by comments on how she developed her ideas, how she created each picture, whether or not she likes it, and commentary on the anime interpretation of her story.Another picture collection, Volume Infinity, appeared in a strictly limited edition after the end of the series in 1997. This self-published artbook includes drawings by Takeuchi as well as by her friends, her staff, and many of the voice-actors who worked on the anime. In 1999, Kodansha published the Materials Collection; this contained development sketches and notes for nearly every character in the manga, as well as for some characters who never appeared. Each drawing is surrounded with notes by Takeuchi about the specifics of various costume pieces, the mentality of the characters, and her particular feelings about them. It also includes timelines for the story arcs and for the real-life release of products and materials relating to the anime and manga. At the end, the Parallel Sailor Moon short story is featured, celebrating the year of the rabbit.
Stage musicals
The musical stage shows, usually referred to collectively as SeraMyu, were a series of live theatre productions that played over 800 performances in some 29 musicals between 1993 and 2005. The stories of the shows include anime-inspired plotlines as well as a large amount of original material. Music from the series has been released on about 20 "memorial"albums.The popularity of the musicals has been cited as a reason behind the production of the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon TV series.
Musicals ran twice a year, in the winter and in the summer. In the summer, the musicals showed only in the Sunshine Theatre in the Ikebukuro area of Tokyo; however, in the winter they went on tour to the other large cities in Japan, including Osaka, Fukuoka,Nagoya, Shizuoka, Kanazawa, Sendai,Saga, Oita, Yamagata and Fukushima.
The final incarnation of the series, The New Legend of Kaguya Island (Revised Edition) (新・かぐや島伝説 <改訂版> Shin Kaguyashima Densetsu (Kaiteban)), went on stage in January 2005. Following that show, Bandai officially put the series on a hiatus,although the productions have not been revived since 2005 leading many fans to speculate that the series has been, for all intents and purposes, canceled.
Live-action series
The Tokyo
Broadcasting System and Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting screened a tokusatsu
(live-action) version of Sailor Moon from October 4, 2003 through September 25,
2004. The series, titled Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (often shortened to
"PGSM"), used an entirely English-language title for the first time
in the Sailor Moon franchise. It lasted a total of 49 episodes.Almost one
thousand people applied for the parts of the five main characters.
The series' storyline
more closely follows the original manga than the anime at first, but in later
episodes it proceeds into a significantly different storyline from either, with
original characters and new plot developments.
In addition to the
main episodes, two direct-to-video releases appeared after the show ended its
television broadcast. These were the "Special Act", which is set four
years after the main storyline ends and which shows the wedding of the two main
characters, and "Act Zero", aprequel which shows the origins of
Sailor V and Tuxedo Mask.
Video games
More than 20 Sailor
Moon console and arcade games have appeared in Japan, all based on the anime
series. Bandai and a Japanese game company called Angel (unrelated to the
American-based Angel Studios, as of 2010 known as Rockstar San Diego) made most
of them, with some produced by Banpresto. The early games were side-scrolling
fighters, whereas the later ones were unique puzzle games, or versus fighting
games. Another Storywas a turn-based role-playing video game.
The only Sailor Moon
game produced outside of Japan, 3VR New Media's The 3D Adventures of Sailor
Moon, went on sale in North America in 1997.
A video game was
released in Spring 2011 for the Nintendo DS, called Sailor Moon: La Luna
Splende (Sailor Moon: The Shining Moon).
st. T �
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uot;Special Act", which is set four
years after the main storyline ends and which shows the wedding of the two main
characters, and "Act Zero", aprequel which shows the origins of
Sailor V and Tuxedo Mask.English adaptations
The English
adaptations of both the manga and anime series became the first successfulshōjo
title in the United States. The anime adaptation of Sailor Moon attempted to
capitalize on the success of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.After a bidding-war
between Toon Makers, who wanted to produce a half live-action and half
American-style cartoon version,and DIC Entertainment, DiC — then owned by The
Walt Disney Company — and Optimum Productions acquired the rights to the first
two seasons ofSailor Moon,from which they cut a total of six episodes (five
from the first season and one from the second season) and merged the final two
episodes of the first season into one. Editors cut each of the remaining
episodes by several minutes to make room for more commercials, to censor plot
points or visuals deemed inappropriate for children, and to allow the insertion
of "educational" segments called "Sailor Says" at the end
of each episode. The second season, named Sailor Moon R in Japan, was dubbed
solely as Sailor Moon with the "R" removed from the logo.
The English
adaptations of Sailor Moon S and Sailor Moon Super S, produced by Optimum
Productions and Cloverway, stayed relatively close to the original Japanese
versions, without skipping or merging any episodes. Some controversial changes
were made, however, such as the depiction of Sailors Uranus and Neptune as
cousins rather than lesbian lovers.
Toei has never licensed
the fifth and final series, Sailor Stars, for adaptation into English. As of
May 2004, the rest of the media franchise has officially gone off the air in
all English-speaking countries due to lapsed and unrenewed licenses.
The manga publisher
Mixx (later Tokyopop) translated the Sailor Moon manga into English in 1997.
The manga initially appeared as a serial in MixxZine but was later pulled out
of that magazine and made into a separate monthly comic to finish the first
through third arcs. At the same time, the fourth and fifth arcs began printing
in a secondary magazine called "SMILE". After its initial
publication, the entire series was reprinted in the smaller volume format known
in the beginning as "Pocket Mixx" before Mixx became Tokyopop. In
total, the series was collected into 11 "Sailor Moon" volumes, 4
"Sailor Moon Super S" volumes, and 3 "Sailor Moon Stars"
volumes. The volumes included extra stories that were not run with the monthly
comics. Sailor Moon collects the first three arcs (the Dark Kingdom [Mixxzine
1-1 to 2-1 + Comic issues 1-7], Black Moon [8-19], and Infinity arcs [20-35]).
Sailor Moon Super Scollects the Super S/Dream arc [Smile 1.1-2.6] and Sailor
Moon Stars collects the Sailor Stars arc [Smile 2.7-3.10]. They feature the
content from the original manga collections (though the names of characters
introduced in the first two story arcs were changed to those used in the
English anime), as well as the occasional new sketch and "thank you"
commentary from Takeuchi.
The Tokyopop English-language
manga officially went out of print on May 2, 2005 after the license expired,
but was later revived by Kodansha Comics USA in association withRandom House.
The new English editions are based on the 2003 deluxe Japanese editions, and
features a total of 16 volumes (12 for the main Sailor Moon manga, 2 volumes of
short stories, and 2 volumes of Sailor V). The first volumes of Sailor Moon and
Sailor V were released on September 13, 2011 with later volumes are being
released bimonthly.
Music
Most of the TV series
used for an opening theme "Moonlight Densetsu" (ムーンライト伝説Mūnraito Densetsu?, lit. "Moonlight Legend"), composed by
Tetsuya Komoro with lyrics by Kanako Oda. It was one of the series' most
popular songs. "Moonlight Densetsu" was performed by DALI as the
opener for the first two anime series, and then by Moon Lips for the third and
fourth.The final series, Sailor Stars, switched to using "Sailor Star Song"
for its opening theme, written by Shōki Araki with lyrics by Naoko Takeuchi and
performed by Kae Hanazawa."Moonlight Densetsu" made its final
appearance as the closing song for the very last episode, #200. "Moonlight
Densetsu" has been covered and remixed many times by artists such as the
punk supergroup Osaka Popstar, Kitade Nanaand Tsuji Nozomi. It is believed that
the song's melody was inspired by "Sayonara wa Dance no Ato ni"
(Goodbye at the End of the Dance), performed in the 1960s by Chieko Baisho.Numerous
people wrote and composed music for the Sailor Moonmetaseries, with frequent
lyrical contributions by creator Naoko Takeuchi. Takanori Arisawa, who earned
the "Golden Disk Grand Prize" from Columbia Records for his work on
the first series soundtrack in 1993, composed and arranged the background
musical scores, including the spinoffs, games, and movies. In 1998, 2000, and
2001 he won the JASRAC International Award for most international royalties,
owing largely to the popularity of Sailor Moon music in other nations.
The English-language
dub of the anime series used the melody of "Moonlight Densetsu", but
with very different lyrics and instrumentation. At the time, it was unusual for
anime theme songs to be translated, and this was one of the first such themes
to be redone in English since Star Blazers. The English theme has been
described as "inane but catchy".The Japanese theme is a love song
based on the relationship between Usagi and Mamoru ("born on the same
Earth"); its first verse, as it appears in the English subtitles, is as
follows:
I'm sorry I'm not
straightforward,
I can say it in my
dreams
My thoughts are about
to short circuit,
I want to see you
right now
The English
"Sailor Moon Theme" rather resembles a superhero anthem. Its first
verse is written:
Fighting evil by
moonlight,
Winning love by
daylight,
Never running from a
real fight,
She is the one named
Sailor Moon
All three versions of
the series also make use of insert themes, battle music, and image songs, with
the original being much more prolific. Over 40 Japanese music albums were
released for the anime alone, many of which were remixes of the previous albums
in jazzstyle, music box, French, etc. In addition, 33 different CD singles were
released, many of them centered around specific characters. The second most
prolific country in terms of Sailor Moon music releases was Germany, which
produced some fifteen albums and singles, including five by the pop band Super
Moonies. In North America, only three albums were released. These numbers do
not include the CDs from the Musicals, which were only released in Japan. At
least one CD was released per musical, as well as various collections, such as
Villain Collections or many songs sung by a single actor or actress. Various
CDs were also released for the live action adaptation as well.
Moonlight Densetsu
was released as a CD single in March 1992, and was an "explosive
hit"."Moonlight Densetsu" won first place in the Song category
in Animage's 15th and 16th Anime Grand Prix.It came seventh in the 17th Grand
Prix, and "Moon Revenge", from Sailor Moon R: The Movie, came eighth.
"Rashiku Ikimasho", the second closing song for SuperS, placed
eighteenth in 1996.In 1997, "Sailor Star Song", the new opening theme
for Sailor Stars, came eleventh, and "Moonlight Densetsu" came
sixteenth.
Reception
The manga won the
Kodansha Manga Award in 1993 for shōjo.
Originally planned to
run for only six months, the Sailor Moon anime repeatedly continued due to its
popularity, concluding only after a five-year run. In Japan, it aired every
Saturday night in prime time, getting TV viewership ratings around 11-12% for most
of the series run.Commentators detect in the anime adaptation of Sailor Moon
"a more shonen tone," appealing to a wider audience than the manga,
which aimed squarely at teenage girls.The media franchise is one of the most
successful Japan has ever had, reaching 1.5 billion dollars in merchandise
sales during the first three years. Ten years after the series completion, the
series has featured among the top thirty of TV Asahi's Top 100 anime polls in
2005 and 2006. The anime series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in
1993.Sales of Sailor Moon's fashion dolls overtook that of Licca-chan in the
1990s; Mattel suggested that this was due to the "fashion-action"
blend of the Sailor Moon storyline. Doll accessories included both fashion
items and the Senshi's weapons.
Sailor Moon has also
become popular internationally. Spain and France became the first countries
outside of Japan to air Sailor Moon, beginning in December 1993.Other countries
followed suit, including Australia, South Korea, the Philippines (which became
one of its carrier network's main draws to become the third biggest network in
the country), Poland, Italy, Peru, Brazil, Sweden and Hong Kong, before North
America picked up the franchise for adaptation. In 2001, the Sailor Moon manga
was Tokyopop's best selling property, outselling the next-best selling titles
by at least a factor of 1.5. In Diamond Comic Distributors's May 1999
"Graphic Novel and Trade Paperback" category, Sailor MoonVolume 3
ranked #1 in sales out of all of the comic books sold in the United States.
Critics have
commended the anime series for its portrayal of strong friendships, as well as
for its large cast of "strikingly different" characters who have
different dimensions and aspects to them as the story goes on,and an ability to
appeal to a wide audience.Writer Nicolas Penedo attributes the success of
Sailor Moon to its fusion of the shōjo manga genre of magical girls with the
Super Sentai fighting teams. According to Martha Cornog and Timothy Perper,
Sailor Moon became popular because of its "strongly-plotted action with
fight scenes, rescues" and its "emphasis on feelings and
relationships", including some "sexy romance" between Usagi and
Mamoru. The romance of Usagi and Mamoru has been seen as an archetype where the
lovers "become more than the sum of their parts", promising to be
together forever. In contrast, others see Sailor Moon as campyand melodramatic.
Criticism has singled out its use of formulaic plots, monsters of the day,and
stock footage.
Drazen notes that Sailor
Moon has two kinds of villains, the Monster of the Day and the "thinking,
feeling humans". Although this is common in anime and manga, it is
"almost unheard of in the West".Despite the series' apparent
popularity among Western animefandom, the dubbed version of the series received
poor ratings in the United States when it was initially broadcast in
syndication and did not do well in DVD sales in the United Kingdom. Anne
Allison attributes the lack of popularity in the United States primarily to
poor marketing (in the United States, the series was initially broadcast at
times which did not suit the target audience - weekdays at 9:00 a.m. and 2:00
pm). Executives connected with Sailor Moon suggest that poor localization
played a role.Helen McCarthy and Jonathan Clements go further, calling the dub
"indifferent", and suggesting that Sailor Moon was put in
"dead" timeslots due to local interests. The British distributor, MVM
Films, has attributed the poor sales to the United Kingdom release being of the
dub only, and that major retailers refused to support the show leading to the
DVD release appealing to neither children nor older anime fans.
Both the manga
editorial vid and the anime series were released in Mexico twice in a quite
accurate translation in Imevisión (what is now TV Azteca), which also aired
almost complete versions of Saint Seiya, Senki, Candy Candy, Remi, Nobody's
Girl, Card Captor Sakura andDetective Conan. With quite a success and in the
U.S. censored version in the Cartoon Network that was very quickly taken off
the air due to the lack of viewers being lackluster compared to the original
version; due to sensitive or controversial topics a Catholic parents' group
exerted pressure to take it off the market, which partially succeeded - but after
the whole series had been aired once from Sailor Moon to Sailor Stars and some
of the movies.
Due to anti-Japanese
sentiment, most of Japanese media other than animated ones was banned for many
years in South Korea. A producer in KBS "did not even try to buy"
Sailor Moon because he thought it would not pass the censorship laws, but as of
May 1997, Sailor Moon was airing on KBS 2 without issues and was
"enormously" popular.
In his 2007 book
Manga: The Complete Guide, Jason Thompson gave the manga series 3 / 4 stars. He
enjoyed the blending of shōnen and shōjo styles, stating that the combat scenes
seemed heavily influenced by Saint Seiya, but shorter and less bloody, and
noting that the manga itself appeared similar to Super Sentai television shows.
While Thompson found the series fun and entertaining, the repetitive plot lines
were a detriment to the title which the increasing quality of art could not
make up for; even so, he still states that the series is "sweet, effective
entertainment".Thompson states that although the audience for Sailor Moon
is both male and female, Takeuchi does not use excessive fanservice for males,
which would run the risk of alienating her female audience. Thompson states
that fight scenes are not physical and "boil down to their purest form of
a clash of wills", which he argues "makes thematic sense" for
the manga.
When comparing the
manga and anime, Sylvian Durand first notes that the manga artwork is gorgeous,
but that the storytelling is more compressed and erratic, and that the anime
has more character development. Durand felt "the sense of tragedy is
greater" in the manga's telling of the "fall of the Silver
Millennium", giving more detail on the origins of the Shitennou and on
Usagi's final battle with Beryl and Metalia. Durand feels that the anime leaves
out information which makes the story easier to understand, but judges the
anime more "coherent", with a better balance of comedy and tragedy,
whereas the manga is "more tragic" and focused on Usagi and Mamoru's
romance.
For the week of 11
September 2011 - 17 September 2011, the first volume of the re-releasedSailor
Moon manga was the bestselling manga on the The New York Times Manga Best
Sellers list, with the first volume of Codename: Sailor V in second place. The
first print run of the first volume sold out after four weeks.
Legacy
The anime has been
cited as reinvigorating the magical girl genre by adding dynamic heroines and
action-oriented plots. After its success, many similar titles immediately
followed. Magic Knight Rayearth, Wedding Peach, Nurse Angel Ririka SOS,
Revolutionary Girl Utena, Fushigi Yuugi and The Vision of Escaflowne all owe
much of their basis to the popularity of Sailor Moon.Sailor Moon has been
called "the biggest breakthrough" in English dubbed anime up until
1995, when it premiered on YTV, and "the pinnacle of little kid shojo
anime".Matt Thorn notes that soon after Sailor Moon, shōjo manga began to
be featured in book shops, as opposed to fandom-dominated comic shops. It is
credited as the beginning of a wider movement of girls taking up shōjo
manga.Gilles Poitras defines a "generation" of anime fans as those
who were introduced to anime by Sailor Moon in the 1990s, noting that they were
both much younger than the other fans and also mostly girls.
Fred Patten credits
Takeuchi with popularizing the concept of a Super Sentai-like team ofmagical
girls, and Paul Gravett credits the series with "revitalizing" the
magical girl genreitself.[5] The series is credited with changing the genre of
magical girls—its heroine must use her powers to fight evil, not simply to have
fun as previous magical girls had done.
In the West, people
sometimes associated Sailor Moon with the feminist or Girl Powermovements and
with empowering its viewers, especially regarding the "credible,
charismatic and independent" characterizations of the Sailor Senshi, which
were "interpreted in France as an unambiguously feminist position."
Although Sailor Moon is regarded as empowering to girls, and feminist in
concept through the aggressive nature and strong personalities of the Sailor
Scouts,it must be noted that it is a specific type of feminist concept where
"traditional feminine ideals [are] incorporated into characters that act
in traditionally male capacities".] Whilst the Sailor Scouts are strong,
independent fighters who thwart evil (which is generally a masculine
stereotype), they are also ideally feminized through the transformation of the
Sailor Scouts from teenage girls to magical girls which heavily emphasizes on
jewellery, make-up, and their highly-sexualized outfits (cleavage, short skirt,
and accentuated waist).The most notable hyper-feminine features of the Sailor
Scouts (and most other females in Japanese girls’ comics) are the girls’ thin
bodies, extremely long legs, and, in particular, round, orb-like eyes. Eyes are
commonly known as the primal source within characters where emotion is evoked –
sensitive characters have larger eyes than insensitive ones. Male characters
generally have smaller eyes and do not contain a sparkle or shine in them like
the eyes of the female characters. The stereotypical role of women in Japanese
culture is to undertake ‘romantic’ and ‘loving’ feelings;therefore, the
prevalence of hyper-feminine qualities like the openness of the female eye (in
Japanese girls’ comics) is clearly exhibited in Sailor Moon, as well.
Thus,Sailor Moon emphasizes a type of feminist model by combining traditional
masculine action with traditional female affection and sexuality through the
Sailor Scouts.[104] Its characters have also been described as "catty
stereotypes", with Sailor Moon's character in particular being singled out
as less-than-feminist because her favorite class is home economics and her
least favorite is math.[ The series creator has said she based Usagi on
herself, and is meant to reflect her reality.
Sailor Moon has also
been compared with Barbie, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,Buffy the Vampire
Slayer,and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.
James Welker believes
that Sailor Moon's futuristic setting helps to make lesbianism
"naturalized" and a peaceful existence. Yukari Fujimoto notes that
although there are few "lesbian scenes" in Sailor Moon, it has become
a popular subject for yuri parodic dōjinshi. She attributes this to the source
work's "cheerful" tone, although she notes that "though they
seem to be overflowing with lesbians, the position of heterosexuals is earnestly
secured".
In English-speaking
countries, Sailor Moon developed a cult following amongst various anime fans
and male university students,and Drazen considers that the Internet was a new
medium that fans used to communicate and played a role in the popularity of
Sailor Moon.Fans could use the Internet to communicate about the series, using
it to organize campaigns to return Sailor Moon to U.S. broadcast, and to share
information about episodes that had not yet aired, or to write fan fiction.In
2004, one study suggested there were 3,335,000 sites about Sailor Moon,
compared to 491,000 for Mickey Mouse. NEO magazine suggested that part of
Sailor Moon's allure was that fans communicated, via the Internet, about the
differences between the dub and the original version.The Sailor Moonfandom was
described in 1997 as being "small and dispersed". In a United States
study, children paid rapt attention to the fighting scenes in Sailor Moon,
although when questioned if Sailor Moon was "violent" only two would
say yes, the other ten preferring to describe the episodes as "soft"
or "cute".
International revival
Toei regained control
over the license to distribute Sailor Moon outside of Japan in 2004. On
February 4, 2010, Toei began negotiations to re-license the entire series
globally. In February 2010 the show returned to Albania in its original form.
As of March 1, 2010, a new remastered Sailor Moon has returned to Italian
television. Toei has also stated if it is popular in Italy, an international
revival will begin. However, it has yet to be announced if the English version
will be re-licensed. It should be noted that the English version only consists
of most of the 1st season as well as the entire 2nd, 3rd and 4th seasons (minus
the SuperS TV special). In 2010, Toei offered 200 refurbished episodes of
Sailor Moon at MIPTV.The anime is also scheduled to begin playing on TVB J2
channel in Hong Kong once more in August 2010. Sailor Moon has returned to
Portuguese television in January 2011 and is going to make its way to Africa
sometime in 2011. Toei has started to license the refurbished Sailor Moon
episodes to countries which the show has not been air before, like Israel,
which began airing on January 2011. In December 2011 Sailor Moon was aired for
the third time (after 1995 and 2000) in Poland. On January 23, 2012 ABS-CBN
began re-airing the original series with new Tagalog dubbing, 11 years after
its Philippine debut on TV5. ABS-CBN airs it on its flagship station on a daily
basis and on a weekly, marathon basis on its anime-themedHERO TV cable channel.
In 2009, Funimation
announced that it was considering an entire re-dub of the Sailor Moon series
and asked people to take part in a survey on what their next project should be.
The re-dub of the Sailor Moon series was included. The results of the survey
have not been released to the public.
In 2011, Kodansha USA
announced that it would publish the Sailor Moon manga in English, along with
the lead in series Codename: Sailor V, both were released on September 13,
2011.The manga will continue to be released bimonthly with the next Sailor Moon
and Codename: Sailor V volumes being released on November 15, 2011.
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