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Sailor Moon (known as 美少女戦士セーラームーン or Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon, which literally translates as beautiful young girl warrior Sailormoon) is a shoujo (girls) manga (comic book), anime (animated), and live action Japanese series created by Naoko Takeuchi. The story revolves around the reincarnated defenders of a destroyed kingdom that spanned the Solar System, and the evil forces they battle.
Overview
Naoko Takeuchi amalgamated many seemingly disparate themes in the creation of Sailor Moon. Combining her love of space with Greek Myth, Roman Myth, Japanese elemental themes, and Meiji-era sailor-fuku school uniforms, she managed to fuse the popular magical girl and sentai genres and create a completely new and original idea.
The premise is as follows: Immature, underacheiving student Usagi Tsukino discovers that she is the reincarnation of Princess Serenity, the princess of an ancient Moon kingdom. Her role as defender of the Solar System has been reissued to her in light of the reemergence of the evil force that originally destroyed her kingdom, the Silver Millennium. (Note: Silver Millennium is the name of the kingdom; it's not a time.) She fights using the identity of Sailormoon. As the series progresses, Sailormoon is reunited with other reincarnated defenders: the princess's guardian soldiers. She is also reunited with her lover, the prince of Earth, who serves equally as romantic interest and primary protector.
Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon ("Sailormoon" is written as one word or two when addressing the Japanese version because "Sailormoon" and "Sailor Moon" can be found in the original Japanese sources; the English dub shows just "Sailor Moon") is composed of five separate series: Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon R, Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon S, Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon SuperS, and Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon Sailor Stars. There are three Sailormoon movies, and these have independent stories that are separate from the series. The movies fall in the general timeline of each of the three middle series (R, S, and SuperS). Additionally, there are several Sailormoon soundtracks available.
A dubbed American version of the anime was created in 1995. Unfortunately, many changes were made to the basic storyline; it was rewritten to be aimed at very young American girls. Plots were vastly changed; others were completely dropped. Some of the changes include: naming the team the Sailor Scouts instead of the much more accurate Sailor Soldiers; making each of the Sailor Senshi princesses; renaming almost all of the original attacks; censorship of much of the adolescent sexuality; and a complete omission of the Japanese version's original music. This American version was many peoples' first experience with Sailormoon, and the differences between the versions led to unnecessary confusion. However, many fans worldwide would never have known about the series had it not reached America. Most fans regard the American version as a mixed blessing. The first two series of Sailormoon that came to America (Sailormoon, and Sailormoon R) was dubbed by a company called DiC Entertainment, which has been considered to be a sub-standard dubbing company, the first two series were majorly changed and was in syndication, airing early in the morning on usually FOX. Then DiC did something and they were in breach of their contract to dub Sailormoon and then Cloverway Inc., the American branch of Toei picked up dubbing rights to Sailormoon S and SuperS and they are attempting to bring Sailor Stars to America. The American versions of S and SuperS were totally different from Sailormoon and R in that all of the original animation was kept, the series were close to the Japanese version, original BGM music was kept. One major thing that Sailormoon fans didn't like about S and SuperS was the fact that Cloverway "americanized" the series by adding in slang words (such as phat) that weren't in the Japanese series, but many fans agreed that S and SuperS was a major improvement over DiC's dubbing of the first two series. S and SuperS were aired on the cable television network Cartoon Network in their Toonami programming block. The movies were also dubbed by Cloverway and aired on Cartoon Network. It is unsure at the current time if the recently produced live action Sailormoon series will come to the U.S. Pioneer Entertainment (now Geneon Entertainment) has rights to release Sailor Moon S, SuperS and the movies on DVD and VHS both in the dubbed and uncut versions. ADV under their division ADV Films has rights to release on DVD the dubbed version of Sailormoon and Sailormoon R. It was announced recently that ADV has rights to release on DVD, the fully uncut, undubbed version of Sailormoon and Sailormoon R which has all of the fans of Sailormoon extremely happy.
Protagonists
Princess Serenity and the Yon Shugo Jin no Senshi
These five senshi are the first to be introduced in the series. They serve as Earth's protectors. ("Yon Shugo Jin no Senshi" in Japanese means "soldiers of the four guardian deities"; that is their official name.)
Usagi Tsukino (Sailormoon/Princess Serenity) (Serena Tsukino in the American dub)
Ami Mizuno (Sailormercury) (Amy)
Rei Hino (Sailormars) (Raye)
Makoto Kino (Sailorjupiter) (Lita)
Minako Aino (Sailorvenus) (Mina)
Gaibu Taiyôkei Yon Senshi
The four soldiers of the outer solar system protect the solar system from external threats. They are introduced in the third series.
Michiru Kaiô (Sailorneptune) (Michelle)
Haruka Ten'ô (Sailoruranus) (Amara)
Setsuna Meiô (Sailorpluto) (Trista)
Hotaru Tomoe (Sailorsaturn) (Hotaru)
Sailor Starlights
The Sailor Starlights were introduced in the final series of Sailormoon. In the manga, the trio adopt human identities as male pop stars, but in truth they are three mysterious new — and naturally female — Sailor Senshi; in the anime, they are men who become women when they transform into their Senshi forms.
Additional protagonists
Chiba Mamoru (*) (Darien) — Tuxedo Kamen (Tuxedo Mask), prince of Earth, Princess Serenity's betrothed
Luna — Usagi's mentor, a cat from the planet Mau
Artemis — Sailorvenus's partner, a cat from the planet Mau
Chibiusa Tsukino (Rini Tsukino) — a regular character in the second through the fourth series, a girl from the future, daughter of Chiba Mamoru and Usagi Tsukino; becomes a senshi in the third series
Diana — Chibiusa's friend, a cat from the future
Perle (a.k.a. "Peruru") — the good fairy from the SuperS movie
Chibi-Chibi (a.k.a. Salior Chibi-Chibi) — the sweet red-haired girl from the Star Season; not much is known when Usagi meets this little girl but all becomes clear in the final battle against Galaxia
(*) Name not westernized.
Antagonists
NOTE: In the North American dub, all of the different groups of antagonists are lumped together under the term "Negaverse", without really differentiating between them.
Dark Kingdom (Season 1)
"Classic" is a fan-created name
Jadeite
Nephrite
Zoisite
Kunzite
Queen Beryl, queen of the Dark Kingdom
Queen Metallia, master of the Dark Kingdom
Al and En section (Season 2a "R")
[NOTE: Anime only]
Al (from the "al" part of "alien")
En (from the "en" part of "alien")
Black Moon (Season 2b "R")
Black Moon Clan
Crimson Rubeus (Ruby)
Green Esmeraude (Emerald)
Blue Saphir (Sapphire)
Prince Demando (Daimond)
Black Lady
Wiseman
Ayakashi no Yon Shimai — The Four Sisters of the Phantom
Kôan (Catsie)
Berthier (Birdie)
Calaveras (Avery)
Petz (Prisma)
R Movie
Fiore (full name: Fiorial)
Xenian (a.k.a. "Kisenian")
Glycina (a.k.a. "Gurishina")
Campanula (a.k.a. "Kanpanyura")
Dahlian (a.k.a. "Darian")
Death Busters (Season 3 "S")
Death Busters
Kaolinite
Professor Tomoe Sôichi
Mistress 9
Master Pharaoh 90
Witches 5
Eudial
Mimete
Tellu
Viluy
Cyprine
Ptilol
S Movie
Princess Snow Kaguya
Snow Dancers
Dead Moon Circus (Season 4 "SuperS" Part of 5)
Amazon Trio
Tiger's-Eye
Hawk's-Eye
Fisheye
Amazones Quartetto
Cere Cere
Jun Jun
Ves Ves
Palla Palla
SuperS Movie
Poupelin (a.k.a. "Pupuran")
Badiane (a.k.a. "Badiyanu")
Banane (a.k.a. "Bananu," "Pananu")
Orangeat (a.k.a. "Oranja")
Papillote (a.k.a. "Papiyotto")
Bonbon Babies
Shadow Galactica (Season 5 "Stars")
Anima Maids
Sailor Iron Mouse
Sailor Aluminum Seiren ("Seiren" means "siren" in Greek)
Sailor Lead Crow
Sailor Tin Nyanko
Sailor Galaxia
Chaos