Overview:

Sailor Moon (美少女戦士セーラームーン, originally translated as Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon and later as Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The series follows the adventures of a schoolgirl named Usagi Tsukino as she transforms into Sailor Moon to search for a magical artifact, the "Legendary Silver Crystal". She leads a group of comrades, the Sailor Soldiers, called Sailor Guardians in later editions, as they battle against villains to prevent the theft of the Silver Crystal and the destruction of the Solar System.

The manga was adapted into an anime series produced by Toei Animation and broadcast in Japan from 1992 to 1997. Toei also developed three animated feature films, a television special, and three short films based on the anime. A live-action television adaptation, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, aired from 2003 to 2004, and a second anime series, Sailor Moon Crystal, began simulcasting in 2014. The manga series was licensed for an English language release by Kodansha Comics in North America, and in Australia and New Zealand by Random House Australia. The entire anime series has been licensed by Viz Media for an English language release in North America and by Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand.

Since its release, Sailor Moon has received acclaim, with praise for its art, characterization, and humor. The manga has sold over 35 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling shōjo manga series. The franchise has also generated $13 billion in worldwide merchandise sales.

Plot

One day in Juban, Tokyo, a middle-school student named Usagi Tsukino befriends Luna, a talking black cat who gives her a magical brooch enabling her to transform into Sailor Moon: a soldier destined to save Earth from the forces of evil. Luna and Usagi assemble a team of fellow Sailor Guardians to find their princess and the Silver Crystal. They encounter the studious Ami Mizuno, who awakens as Sailor Mercury; Rei Hino, a local Shinto shrine maiden who awakens as Sailor Mars; Makoto Kino, a tall and strong transfer student who awakens as Sailor Jupiter; and Minako Aino, a young aspiring idol who had awakened as Sailor Venus a few months prior, accompanied by her talking feline companion Artemis. Additionally, they befriend Mamoru Chiba, a high school student who assists them on occasion as Tuxedo Mask.

In the first arc, the group battles the Dark Kingdom, whose members attempt to find the Silver Crystal and free an imprisoned, evil entity called Queen Metaria. Usagi and her team discover that in their previous lives they were members of the ancient Moon Kingdom in a period of time called the Silver Millennium. The Dark Kingdom waged war against them, resulting in the destruction of the Moon Kingdom. Its ruler Queen Serenity sent her daughter Princess Serenity, reincarnated as Usagi, along with her protectors the Sailor Guardians, their feline advisers Luna and Artemis, and the princess's true love Prince Endymion, who in turn was reborn as Mamoru.

At the beginning of the second arc, the Sailor Guardians meet Usagi and Mamoru's future daughter Chibiusa, who arrives from a 30th-century version of Tokyo known as "Crystal Tokyo", which is ruled by Neo Queen Serenity, Usagi of the future and has been attacked by the group of villains known as the Black Moon Clan. During their journey, Sailor Moon and her friends meet Sailor Pluto, Guardian of the Time-Space Door. During the climactic battle of the arc, Sailor Pluto dies trying to save the sailor soldiers and Chibiusa was brainwashed by the enemy and turned into the Black Lady, but was eventually reformed and awakens as a Guardian herself—Sailor Chibi Moon.

The third arc introduces car-racer Haruka Tenoh and violinist Michiru Kaioh, who appear as Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, whose duty is to guard the Solar System from external threats. Physics student Setsuna Meioh, Sailor Pluto's reincarnation, joins Uranus and Neptune in their mission to kill a mysterious girl named Hotaru Tomoe, whom they identify as the Guardian of Destruction Sailor Saturn. However, when Saturn awakens she joins the final fight against the main antagonists of the arc, the Death Busters, sacrificing her life in the process. With her newly obtained powers as Super Sailor Moon, Usagi restores the Earth and Hotaru is reincarnated as a baby.

The fourth arc explores the Sailor Guardians' dreams and nightmares when the villainous group Dead Moon Circus exploits the Guardians' deepest fears, invades Elysion (which hosts the Earth's Golden Kingdom), and captures its High Priest Helios, who turned into a Pegasus and tried to ask Guardians for help. This storyline also addresses Mamoru's relevance as protector of the Earth and owner of the Golden Crystal, the sacred stone of the Golden Kingdom. Mamoru and all ten of the reunited Guardians combine their powers, enabling Usagi to transform into Eternal Sailor Moon and defeat Dead Moon's leader, Queen Nehelenia.

In the final arc the Sailor Starlights from the Kinmoku system, their ruler Princess Kakyuu, and the mysterious little girl Chibi-Chibi join Usagi in her fight against Shadow Galactica, a group of both corrupted and false Sailor Guardians and led by Sailor Galaxia, who have been rampaging across the galaxy and killing other Sailor Guardians to steal their Star Seeds, Sailor Crystals—the essence of their lives. After Mamoru and all of the main Solar System Guardians are killed by Shadow Galactica, Usagi travels to the Galaxy Cauldron, the birthplace of all Star Seeds of the Milky Way, in an attempt to revive her loved ones and to confront Chaos, the source of all strife in the galaxy.

Characters

Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon is the main heroine in Sailor Moon series and the main protagonist of the franchise, as well as its title character. Her civilian name is Usagi Tsukino, A carefree but whiny schoolgirl who is known as the leader of the Sailor Guardians. She is the love interest of Mamoru Chiba. Sailor Moon's attack names center around the moon, love, mystery and light. She starts out as a frightened, reluctant girl, and others often have to bail her out, but she gradually comes to accept her full identity. She eventually becomes the strongest and most powerful Sailor Guardians in the galaxy, but her capacity for caring about other people is frequently shown to be much stronger and more powerful still.

Sailor Mercury

Sailor Mercury is one of the central characters in the Sailor Moon series. Her real name is Ami Mizuno, a genius schoolgirl who can transform into one of the series' specialized heroines, the Sailor Guardians. Sailor Mercury is the first member of the Sailor Team to be discovered by Sailor Moon, and serves as the "brains" of the group. Her powers are associated with phases of water, and she can use her supercomputer to quickly analyze a foe in battle.

Sailor Mars

Sailor Mars, real name Rei Hino, is one of the original five Sailor Guardians and, in the anime, the 2nd in command of the Princess' four guardians. She has two pet crows named Phobos and Deimos who, in the manga, are her guardians. Despite being Shinto, she attends a Catholic high school. She is portrayed as being very popular and well liked in school, despite her temper. Her name means "Spirit of Fire", and her attacks are mostly based on fire.

Sailor Jupiter

Sailor Jupiter, real name Kino Makoto is one of the members. Her name means "Faithfulness of Wood", and her attacks are based around lightning and wood. Wood, Japanese astrology, represents strength and flexibility. She sees herself as a protector, even before she became a Sailor Guardian.

Sailor Venus

Sailor Venus, real name Aino Minako is one of the members. Her name means "Beautiful Little Child of Love", and her attacks are based around love, with the exception of Crescent Beam and Crescent Beam Shower. Minako starred in her own series before Sailor Moon. This manga series was called Codename: Sailor V and detailed her adventures as Sailor V. When Sailor Venus appeared to the Guardians, she announced herself as their Princess. It is revealed later that she is not the moon princess, but disguised herself as so to protect the Inner Guardian. As Sailor Venus, she is the leader of the Inner Guardian.

Sailor Chibi Moon

Sailor Chibi Moon, real name Chibiusa Tsukino, is one of the central fictional characters in the Sailor Moon series. When she first appears, she is a small child from the 30th century who visits the past to seek help from the series' primary heroines. Chibiusa's dream is to one day become a real lady, to have her own prince, and to be friends with everyone she knows. Meanwhile, she is a fairly ordinary little girl; she likes pink and red, pudding, pancakes, and rabbits. Her favorite school subject is drawing, while her least favorites are language classes.

Tuxedo Mask

Mamoru Chiba is the only major (human) male character in the Sailor Moon eries. He can transform into the rose throwing hero Tuxedo Mask in order to protect Sailor Moon; he is the reincarnation of Prince Endymion of Earth and in the 30th century he will be known as King Endymion. He is the future father of Chibiusa/Rini. The series often portrays him as stoic, steady and introverted. Unaware of his dual-identity as Tuxedo Mask, he suffers painful headaches and visions whenever Usagi gets into trouble, and he transforms unknowingly into Tuxedo Mask. As Mamoru, he tries to piece together his strange dreams, and as Tuxedo Mask, he tries to remember his past and identity, while searching for Princess Serenity.

Sailor Pluto

Sailor Pluto, real name Setsuna Meiou guards the gates of time. Sailor Pluto's first appearance is during Sailor Moon R, where she watches over Chibiusa in the past. She has a very special relationship with Chibiusa and she's the oldest if the nine Sailor Guardians. She is the keeper of the Garnet Orb.

Sailor Neptune

Sailor Neptune, real name Michiru Kaioh is one of the Outer Guardians. Elegant, sophisticated, though sometimes cold and capable of sharp anger, she has been described by Usagi as "the ideal princess". She is the Keeper of the Deep Aqua Mirror.

Sailor Uranus

Sailor Uranus, real name Haruka Tenoh is one of the Outer Sailor Guardians. She is the Keeper of the Space Sword. Haruka is very tomboyish, strong, and she hates anything feminine. As a Sailor Guardian, Uranus' tactics (along with Neptune's) can be controversial and morally ambiguous, which puts her at odds with Sailor Moon and the other inner Guardian - particularly since they can frequently involve sacrificing lives. Haruka's name means "Far Sky King", although her attacks do not exactly reflect this.

Sailor Saturn

Sailor Saturn, real name Hotaru Tomoe is a young girl who becomes the powerful Sailor Saturn, the Guardian of Ruin and Rebirth. In Japanese mythology, the firefly are thought to be the souls of Guardians, who have died in war. When she was first introduced, she was possessed by Mistress 9. She is later adopted by Sailor Neptune, Sailor Uranus, and Sailor Pluto. Her best friend is Chibiusa. Hotaru is the only Sailor Guardian to not receive a name change in the English anime. Sailor Saturn wields the Silence Glaive, just like the other Outer Guardians, who each carry a weapon.

Adaptions

Anime

The 1992 Sailor Moon anime, co-produced by TV Asahi, and animated by 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 story line and including most of the same characters. There were also five special animated shorts, as well as three theatrically-released movies: Sailor Moon R: The Movie, Sailor Moon S: The Movie, and Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie.

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 manga.

Before the Sailor Moon manga, Takeuchi published Codename: Sailor V, which centered around just Sailor Venus. The side-stories of the Sailor Moon manga 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. Another picture collection, Volume Infinity, appeared in a strictly limited edition after the end of the series in 1997.

Video Games

More than twenty Sailor Moon console and arcade games have appeared in Japan, all based on the anime series. The early games were side-scrolling fighters, whereas the later ones were unique puzzle games, or versus fighting games. 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.

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' story line more closely follows the original manga than the anime at first, but in later episodes it proceeds into a significantly different story line 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.

Stage Musicals

The musical stage shows, usually referred to collectively as SeraMyu, were a series of live theater productions that played over 800 performances in some 29 musicals between 1993 and 2005. The stories of the shows include anime-inspired plot lines 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.

Related illustrations