In the 90's, the "good ole days" for my fellow millenials, Cartoon Network was THE channel to watch. The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Swat Kats, the Acme Hour, Toon Heads (!!!); these were the shows. One of the most popular shows "back in the day" was Toonami. Originally aired on Cartoon Network from 2001-2008 (now back on Adult Swim,) aired Japanese anime and American "action cartoons" like Batman and later, the Justice League.
For us kids in the states, Toonami was how we were introduced to Dragon Ball Z, Gundam Wing, and Sailor Moon. It was amazing television....or so I heard.
You see, I never watched the anime in that block. I watched Batman, and later Justice League, but never any anime. Honestly, I prejudged it. It didn't seem interesting, and only the "weird kids" were into it, so I just didn't bother. Well, I am writing this to say, I was wrong.
Last year my girlfriend introduced me to Sailor Moon. I knew of the show, but basically by name only. Tl;dr, I loved it. In hindsight, I'm glad my experience came about this way as opposed to the dubbed version on Toonami. Apparently, the series was butchered when it came to the states, changing characters, plots, and even cutting out whole episodes! Anyway, here's some background.
Aside from being one of the most popular and well-known anime series ever, Sailor Moon is a bonafide superhero franchise, culturally in the same ballpark as Batman, Spider-Man, or even the Justice League.
If you remember the English dub back in the day, during the heyday of Cartoon Network’s Toonami block, multiply that by about ten-fold and that’s about how big "Sailor Moon" was in Japan. It’s largely credited with redefining the “magical girl” genre and demonstrating that a female-dominant action show could be internationally successful.
Sure, you could say it was primarily targeted at children (in the states anyway,) but the show has held up remarkably well these twenty five years. The themes are timely and resonant, and the music is pretty stellar. People are even writing grad theses about it! So what is the story of Sailor Moon, exactly?
Sailor Moon is about Usagi Tsukino, a lazy, self-professed crybaby, but kindhearted 14-year-old girl who by chance meets a talking cat named Luna, who tells her that her true identity is the bishojou senshi (pretty guardian) Sailor Moon. Luna explains that she's a warrior who has been sent to Earth to defend it against evil. (That first episode, where Usagi meets Luna for the first time, is iconic in Japanese pop culture, as imitated and parodied as, say, Clark Kent in the phone booth.) Along the way she’s joined by four other senshi: Sailors Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus (and in later seasons, Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, and Saturn).
She falls in love with Mamoru Chiba, a.k.a. Tuxedo Mask, a guy in a top hat and cape who throws roses at monsters (you just have to watch.) In the first season, their mission is to find something called the "Legendary Silver Crystal" and to find the Moon Princess, whom the sailor senshi have been sworn to protect (and that's just the first season.)
Does this sound silly? Well, it kind of is, but really, that's part of the show's charm. It’s a warm, optimistic, and deceptively smart coming-of-age story, touching on all the major issues of adolescence—personal identity, responsibility, friendship, love, empathy, the expansion of one’s world and role within it, along with subtle social commentary—with humor and heart.
Sailor Moon is packed with lovable protagonists, sympathetic villains, and wonderfully silly comedy (the creators really lean into the absurdity of the monster fights, much to the show’s benefit). The story arcs can take some time to build, yes, but it typically leads to tense, resonant finales, and the series even sometimes ventures into straight-up artistic or thematic brilliance.
I can't stress that last part enough. I liked the show enough for its humor and good characterization. What really made me love the show though, was how it used the complicated issues the senshi were in as commentary on society: challenging our views on feminity, on the gender binary (indeed, for the nineties, the show was remarkably progressive, in a way still not seen in the states,) the failings of the education system, capitalism and its impact on human development, and a solidly feminist critique of our culture.
The series presents a wide variety of flawed, sympathetic, capable female characters (none of whom entirely fit traditional ideas of femininity) and celebrates them for their unique strengths and interests.
It’s a fun series and in many ways an important one, the kind of program that has left a mark on its many fans from across the globe. If you accept my recommendation and give Sailor Moon a chance, you’ll immediately get caught up in the mechanics, identifying your favorite attack sequences and villains, choosing which characters are the best matches to you and your friends.
You know, superhero stuff. And then just like that, you’ll get emotionally invested and once you hit that five-to-10-episode streak leading up to a season finale, it’s all over. Do not be surprised if this animated, sometimes formulaic Japanese children’s show makes you cry. You are not alone
