Sailor Moon, My First Love

Would it be too cheesy to say this show changed my life?

Every anime fan has a special place in their heart for their very first anime. It was their gateway into this crazy universe that sucks in fans and churns out crazy people. Even if the anime wasn’t that spectacular of a show it still can be very special and often that person thinks that anime could do no wrong and sees it in a nostalgic light.

My gateway anime was Sailor Moon.

I am pretty sure I have mentioned that somewhere on the internet or maybe it is just obvious to me. But Sailor Moon is the reason that 14 years later I am still an anime fan. Nothing can ever live up to the magic of Sailor Moon (except Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles the manga) and it’s probably pointless for anything to try. XD


I can still remember the days of running home to catch Sailor Moon on Cartoon Network. Despite the fact that the English version butchered the series I still looked forward to every single episode. I also remember lying to my friends about why we had to walk home so fast. I converted them to Moonies soon after so it’s all good. And how long has it been since I thought about the word moonies?

My father likes to take credit for my anime obsession. And I guess in a way he does deserve it. Granted I was watching Sailor Moon on my own I really thought it was just another cartoon on TV. A really great one but not anime. On my 14th birthday (I think X_X) my father bought me Sailor Moon comic number one. Not the graphic novel but the tiny little comic version of it. Enter a very excited Tenchi who had no idea what a manga was. It was the beginning of the end. Or the beginning of the beginning.

Do you know how much ink this picture alone used? XD

Excited with my new manga I went on our brand new computer (now an ancient dinosaur) and found out as much as I could about Sailor Moon. All the spoilers (as Japan was more than halfway through the series at this point), the manga pictures, the weird fangirls. It was all awesome. It wasn’t so awesome when my dad went ballistic when I killed the ink cartridge three times while printing every single manga pictures. Serves him right Mr. Taking Credit!

While hunting down the Sailor Moon manga I became familiar with other mangas and learned how big this anime/manga world was. I also learned that the Sailor Moon anime was much more awesome in the original Japanese. I also might have bought one or two…or 16 bootleg copies of Sailor Moon S and Super S. This was in the day before instant downloads and every anime site uploading episodes start from Japan okay. DON’T JUDGE ME!

So 14 years later….I still have not watched the entire series yet. I must be the worse fan ever. I shall use the excuse they stopped showing it on Cartoon Network, the place where I was buying the naughty bootlegs from disappeared, and I spoiled the series for myself. Once I found out the ending the intensity to watch the whole series decreased. Yes I am the perfect fan.

I have decided to right this terrible wrong I have committed. I can’t very well preach the awesomeness of this series if I haven’t seen the entire thing right? That and I need to finish things that I start. Sailor Moon is my gateway anime and I love it. So it’s natural that I would want to/need to finish this series.

So I shall watch Sailor Moon from scratch in its original Japanese. Maybe if I stop watching so many useless reality TV shows I will have time for 200 episodes on top of all the other anime I want to watch/seriously behind on.

I have already started working towards my goal. Zomganime has every single Sailor Moon episode fan subbed and ready for viewing pleasure. Thank you Zomganime. I thought it would be difficult to find a series most people consider ancient but my website of choice has them. Happy blogger is happy.

That being said….there is something weird about watching the episodes in Japanese. I watched all of S and part of Super S in Japanese uncut. But the first season and R I have only seen the American version of. So despite how much I thought I hated the voice actors and the cuts I find myself remembering Usagi’s American voice and how the background music didn’t seem so lame. In fact most of the background music is really out there and doesn’t mesh well with the scene at hand. So American version…thanks for making the transformation music and fighting music a whole lot less lame.

But they were lovers. Not cousins. You shall never be forgiven for that offense.

So despite the fact that the start of the series isn’t as magical as I remember it I am still happy. Perhaps I have been a bit spoiled with the newer stuff that Sailor Moon just looks old to me now. Maybe it is hard for me to look past the flashback to the 80’s music. And definitely a certain useless male who tosses flowers around seems 100 times more annoying in the original. That and I’m not 14 anymore. Things should change 12 years later.

But I am still happy. I shall ride out the iffy animation because I know this series gets much prettier. Yes some voices remind me of nails on a chalkboard but maybe that is part of the endearing part of the show. And I shall try my hardest to get American Luna’s voice out of my head (despite the fact I like her meanness in the American version a lot better than less evil Luna). I will remember the excitement I felt running home to catch the newest episodes. I will refind that bit of magic that is lost in my childhood. I will dust off my Sailor Moon wand and annoy my cat with the random noises it makes, just like I did 12 years ago.

Yes my cat is older than dirt.

And yes I do still own TWO Sailor Moon wands.

Hopefully my post has inspired someone out there to watch Sailor Moon and see how anime really invaded America one Sailor Soldier at a time.

But if anyone calls Sailor Moon an overrated classic I will be busting some heads. One Moon Spiral Heart Attack at a time.

Get caught up in the magic.