Sailor Moon

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This article is about the media franchise in general. For the title character, see Usagi Tsukino.

Sailor Moon (美少女戦士セーラームーン, Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn^?, officially translated as Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon) is the title of a famous media franchise created by Japanese manga artist Naoko Takeuchi. It is generally credited with popularizing the concept of a sentai (team) of magical girls (mahō shōjo), as well as the general (re-)emergence of the magical girl genre itself.

The story of the various metaseries revolves around the reincarnated defenders of a kingdom that once spanned the solar system, and the evil forces that they battle. The major characters—called Sailor Senshi (literally "Sailor Soldiers"; known as Sailor Scouts in the North American version)—are teenage girls who can transform into heroines named for the moon and planets (Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, etc).

The original manga resulted in spinoffs into many other types of media, including a highly popular anime, musical theatre productions, video games and a live-action tokusatsu series. Although most concepts in the many versions overlap, there are often notable differences, and thus there is limited continuity between the different formats.

[edit] Story

Fourteen-year-old Usagi Tsukino is an ordinary schoolgirl until she is found by a talking cat named Luna. Through Luna, Usagi learns that the world is about to be attacked by a Dark Kingdom that had appeared once before, long ago, and destroyed the kingdom of the moon. She is granted powers to defend the Earth against the coming onslaught, and is led to a number of friends who join her in the battle.

Usagi fights using the identity of Sailor Moon, and as the story progresses she learns more and more about the enemies which face her and the evil force that is sending them. Gradually she discovers the truth about her own past life, her destined true love, and the possibilities for the future of the Solar System.

The plot spans five major story arcs, each of which is represented in both the manga and the anime, usually under different names. These are the unnamed original arc, the Black Moon arc (Sailor Moon R), the Infinity arc (Sailor Moon S), the Dream arc (Sailor Moon SuperS), and the Stars arc (Sailor Stars).

[edit] Characters

In order of appearance. See individual articles and the article on the Sailor Senshi for more detail.

• Usagi Tsukino - The main character of the series, Usagi is a carefree schoolgirl with a heart of gold. She transforms into Sailor Moon.
• Mamoru Chiba - Usagi's boyfriend and destined true love. He transforms into Tuxedo Mask.
• Ami Mizuno - The 'smart and sweet' genius of the group. She transforms into Sailor Mercury.
• Rei Hino - A slightly short-tempered miko who attends a Catholic private school, although she is Shinto. She transforms into Sailor Mars.
• Makoto Kino - The very tall tomboy who lives alone because her parents died in an airplane crash. She transforms into Sailor Jupiter.
• Minako Aino - Acted on her own as Sailor V before joining the other Sailor Soldiers. She transforms into Sailor Venus.
• Chibiusa - A little girl from 1,000 years in the future who becomes Sailor Chibi Moon and co-stars in certain arcs of the series.
• Setsuna Meioh - A woman whose earthly life is very mysterious. She transforms into Sailor Pluto, the guardian of time.
• Michiru Kaioh - A highly talented violinist with some precognitive ability. She transforms into Sailor Neptune and works closely with Sailor Uranus.
• Haruka Tenoh - A very friendly and masculine girl who once dreamed of being a racer. She transforms into Sailor Uranus and works closely with Sailor Neptune.
• Hotaru Tomoe - Daughter of a possessed mad scientist whose life has been greatly shaped by her father. Sickly and weak, but able to transform into the powerful Sailor Saturn.

See also: List of minor Sailor Moon characters

[edit] Manga

Main article: Sailor Moon (manga)

The Sailor Moon series began as a manga drawn by Naoko Takeuchi. It was an evolution from her earlier Codename wa Sailor V idea, expanding the concept into a team of five girls rather than just one. <ref name="shinzoubon2back">Takeuchi, Naoko (September 2003). Sailor Moon Shinzoubon Volume 2. Kodansha. ISBN 4-06-334777-X.</ref> It is considered shōjo manga, and consists of five major plot-arcs. Its main series was serialized in Kodansha's Nakayoshi from 1992 to 1995, and the side-stories were serialized in Kodansha's Run Run. All were eventually published in book form by Kodansha, in two different editions (one as the series was produced, and the other beginning in 2003).

Naoko Takeuchi 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. <ref name="shinzoubon2back" /> The story's themes are an amalgamation of Takeuchi's various passions, including astronomy, astrology, Greek myth, Roman myth, geology, Japanese elemental themes, and schoolgirl antics. Sailor Moon is also a fusion of the popular magical girl and sentai genres of which Takeuchi was a fan,<ref name="McCarterInterview">McCarter, Charles. Public Interview with Takeuchi Naoko (Q & A Interview). EX:CLUSIVE. www.ex.org. Retrieved on 2006-11-30.</ref> one of the first series ever to combine the two.

[edit] Anime

Main article: Sailor Moon (anime)

See also: List of Sailor Moon episodes

The Sailor Moon anime was produced by Toei Animation, and started airing only a month after the first issue of the manga was published. With 200 episodes airing between March 1992 and February 1997, Sailor Moon is one of the longest magical girl anime series.<ref>See Ojamajo Doremi, which holds the record at 201 episodes.</ref> The anime sparked a highly successful merchandising campaign, 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.

Strictly speaking, Sailor Moon is an anime metaseries. It consists of five separate television series, which are often incorrectly referred to as seasons by English-speaking fans. Each series roughly corresponds to one of the five major story arcs of the manga. There were also three theatrically-released movies, as well as four special animated shorts.

All of Sailor Moon was animated traditionally. It was directed at different times by Junichi Satō and Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character design was headed by Kazuko Tadano and Ikuko Itoh, both of whom were also animation directors. Other animation directors included Masahiro Ando, Hisashi Kagawa, and Hideyuki Motohashi.

[edit] Musicals

Main article: Sailor Moon musicals

The musical stage shows, usually referred to collectively as Sera Myu, were a series of live theatre productions that played over 800 performances in some 26 musicals between 1993 and 2005. The stories of the shows include original plotlines as well as a large amount of new material.

The series ran twice a year, in the winter and in the summer. In the summer, the only venue for the musicals was the Sunshine Theatre in the Ikebukuro area of Tokyo; however, in the winter it went on tour to the larger cities in Japan.

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)^?), was staged in January 2005. After the January 2005 show, the series went on a "hiatus", according to the current producer, BMO. ^{[citation needed]}There have been no signs that the show will continue.

[edit] Live-action series

Main article: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon

A live-action version of Sailor Moon was broadcast from October 4, 2003 through September 25, 2004. The series is known officially as Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (usually abbreviated to PGSM by fans), and it is the first series in the franchise to have a fully English title. It lasted a total of 49 episodes, and the broadcast originated from the Tokyo Broadcasting System. Another 28 television stations in Japan retransmitted the series. ^{[citation needed]}

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, there were two direct-to-video releases after the show ended its television broadcast. These were the "Special Act" (the wedding of Usagi and Mamoru), set several years after the series ended, and "Act Zero", a prequel which showed the origins of Sailor V and Tuxedo Mask.

[edit] Video games

Main article: Sailor Moon video games

Several Sailor Moon console and arcade games were released in Japan. With the exception of the Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon game developed by Angel, which was released in France in 1996^{[citation needed]}, not a single one of these were released outside of Japan. ^{[citation needed]} The games are hard to find in any other country unless downloaded from the internet as ROMs.

Bandai produced a small number of Sailor Moon games, but the majority were handled by a Japanese game company called Angel. The early games were side-scrolling fighters, whereas the later games were unique puzzle games, and even later titles chose to use a versus fighting game style. Another Story was a role-playing game.

The games mainly saw release on the Super Famicom, with the first side-scroller being ported to the Sega Mega Drive. A separate arcade side-scrolling fighter was also released. In addition, two side-scrolling adventure games were produced for the Game Boy (Sailormoon and Sailormoon R), and a side-scrolling game was also produced for the Game Gear (Sailormoon S), as well as a game for the PC Engine. A final versus fighting game was released for the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation. The last Sailor Moon-related game to date was released in November 2001 - Happy Chibiusa World. It is unknown whether further games are planned, but it is unlikely.

[edit] English adaptations

Main article: Sailor Moon (English versions)

[edit] English-dubbed anime

After a bidding war between Toon Makers and DiC Entertainment, DiC (which at the time was owned by The Walt Disney Company) acquired the rights to the first 72 episodes of Sailor Moon, consisting of the entire first series and two-thirds of Sailor Moon R. Through the omission of 6 episodes and the merging of two, the total episode count was reduced to 65, the minimum number of episodes required for strip syndication on US television. The remaining episodes were each cut 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 remaining 17 episodes of Sailor Moon R were adapted later, and were treated in much the same way.

The English adaptations by Cloverway of Sailor Moon S and Sailor Moon SuperS (the third and fourth series) stayed relatively close to the original Japanese versions, and no episodes were skipped or merged.

The 5th and final series (Sailor Stars) has never yet been licensed for adaptation into English. As of May 2004, the rest of the series has officially gone off the air in all-English speaking countries due to lapsed licenses which have not been renewed. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] English-language manga

The manga was translated into English in 1997 by manga publisher Mixx (now renamed Tokyopop). The US comic was released as three series: "Sailor Moon", which collects the first three arcs (the Dark Kingdom, Black Moon, and Infinity arcs), Sailor Moon SuperS, which collects the SuperS arc, and Sailor Moon Stars, which collects the Sailor Stars arc. They feature all of the content from the original manga collections (though with names changed to those used in the English anime), as well as the occasional new sketch and "thank you" commentary from series creator Naoko Takeuchi.

As of May 2005, Tokyopop's license to the Sailor Moon manga has lapsed, and the English-language manga is out of print. <ref>Tokyopop Out of Print. Retrieved on 2006-10-18.</ref> <ref>The Comics Reporter. Retrieved on 2006-10-06.</ref>

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (Japanese) Sailormoon Channel - The official website
• (Japanese) Sailor Stars website: TV Toei website (using web archive).
• DMOZ Sailor Moon Directory A directory of many Sailor Moon sites.
• Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon at the Internet Movie Database
• Sailor Moon (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Sailor Moon (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Project WikiMoon

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