美少女戦士セーラームーン

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILOR MOON

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
18
RELEASE
February 3, 1997
CHAPTERS
61

DESCRIPTION

Usagi Tsukino is a normal girl until she meets up with Luna, a talking cat, who tells her that she is Sailor Moon. As Sailor Moon, Usagi must fight evils and enforce justice, in the name of the Moon and the mysterious Moon Princess. She meets other girls destined to be Sailor Senshi (Sailor Scouts), and together, they fight the forces of evil!

(Source: Kodansha USA)

Notes:

The tankoubon release contains 52 Acts and 9 bonus chapters across 18 volumes; chapter/volume counts follow the tankoubon release.
The shinsouban release contains the original 52 Acts plus 8 new Acts across 12 volumes, but no bonus chapters as all 9 were released separately in Sailor Moon Short Stories alongside another bonus chapter that was previously released in an artbook.
The kanzenban release contains both the 60 Acts and the 10 bonus chapters from the short story shinsoubans across 10 volumes.

CAST

Usagi Tsukino
Rei Hino
Makoto Kino
Minako Aino
Ami Mizuno
Hotaru Tomoe
Haruka Tenou
Mamoru Chiba
Michiru Kaiou
Chibiusa
Setsuna Meiou
Luna
Seiya Kou
Artemis
Black Lady
Fish Eye
Helios
Zoisite
Queen Serenity
Nephrite
Joou Nehellenia
Diana
Sailor Galaxia
Yaten Kou
Chibi Chibi

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILOR MOON

REVIEWS

infinitely
82/100
Despite having some flaws, Sailor Moon is an enduring classic with unforgettable characters and gorgeous artwork
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon

Series experience:

 I just watched the original anime series, and I’ve read the Sailor V prequel

Short review: Sailor Moon is a well-known franchise, and has been a trailblazer for many a shoujo manga and magical girl series. The manga version, though quite different from the more well-known anime adaptation, tells an equally riveting tale of female heroes, weaving comedy, tragedy, and romance into a classic that still holds to this day. Takeuchi’s dream-like artwork and mythology-infused story is simple and straightforward, but definitely turns old stereotypes on their heads. A must-read, especially for shoujo fans.

Full review:

I did my best to make this spoiler free!

Sailor Moon is such a well-known series, I’d be more surprised to hear of an anime/manga fan who doesn’t know anything about it. Despite its iconic status, though, the original work is not as well known as its anime counterpart. Sailor Moon’s anime and manga are completely different experiences.

I believe a lot of the criticism for the manga is directed at the plot. It’s repetitive, riddled with plot holes, and a lot of it doesn’t actually make sense. But once we take into consideration that Sailor Moon is basically taking the formula of a sentai anime and just replacing the whole team with girls, it doesn’t really have to make sense. Still though, the heaviness of the events pile up and the scale gets larger really quickly, and it might be a bit much to digest in a go. I suppose its a series better read leisurely than binged.

Once you look beyond the basic arcs and the big bad guys, there are so many easter eggs, and that’s one of Sailor Moon’s greatest strengths. The manga compared to the anime takes itself seriously, and there’s a bunch of hidden lore that is only hinted at or shown through a flashback, and what we don’t see is what makes Sailor Moon so rich in terms of history. Theories and ships and headcanons abound!

Apart from the plot, Sailor Moon has a HUGE cast of characters for a 61 chapter manga. I believe the anime did a good job of stretching out the series, so we could appreciate each character more, but in the manga a lot of characters come and go, and because of the fast-pacing you hardly notice. Still, a lot of characters (especially the senshi of course) leave a mark and their strong characterizations have people picking favorites to stand by. The fact that there are a bunch of strong fighter characters and not just the main one is quite reminiscent of action shonen manga, but again, with girls instead. I believe this was a big deal at the time, and is quite refreshing for shoujo manga where a lot focus on the just a female lead and two suitors (and a friend or two).

In terms of character development, despite the number of chapters, we do get development, mostly for our main character family. The clumsy and childish Usagi Tsukino from the first chapter is almost completely gone by the end of a series, bearing the weight of a warrior of the universe. The other Sailor Scouts pretty much grow out of immaturity and into their roles as guardians as well. Compared to the prequel Code Name: Sailor V, this quickly evolves from a simple romcom into a heavy action fantasy story, ripe with losses and bittersweet farewells. Sailor Moon evokes a sort of nostalgia for your youth (gone or not), as through our lens we see these young kids have to grow quickly due to evils of older people.

spoilers in this paragraph!
There are a few things that could be called problematic of course, Mamoru and Usagi’s relationship as a college student and a middle school girl, the sexualization sometimes, the almost-incest that happens with Dark Lady, but suspension of disbelief is pretty much a must-have when reading this, as the reincarnation and magic explains away a lot of the incidents.

Regarding the art, I believe Sailor Moon's is something that no animation studio can properly capture. A lot of shoujo manga are absolutely gorgeous in their whimsy, with pastels and laces and gradients that just really look good as pictures and probably would look awkward on screen. In the artbook, Takeuchi describes her intent and processes and it’s really cool to see how open minded she is with things and how her ideas are so unique. I think the direction the 90s anime went with - which was completely different, was a good idea as it formed its own branding. Takeuchi’s style is magical, I was taking so many screencaps on my phone :<

Overall, I believe Sailor Moon is a must read for fans of shoujo manga (or magical girl manga). It might not be perfect, but sitting back and simply going with the flow could have you discovering the most amazing little facts and falling in love with all the characters. Straightforward and honest, the heart of Sailor Moon and the legacy it leaves behind will be eternal.

(For those looking for more fun facts/easter eggs, check out the tuxedounmasked website!! I could scroll through there all day…)

Plot 7/10 
Art 9.5/10 
Characters 8/10

 Overall personal enjoyment 8.5/10

Top 3 fave characters

Kino Makoto/Sailor Jupiter - I still love her sm in this version, she’s strong, fearless, but also somehow such an independent lady and she cares so much for others
Aino Minako/Sailor Venus - maybe I’m biased because I read the Sailor V manga? idk but Sailor Venus’ growth as a character really made me feel for her. She’s committed to her role as guardian and that’s just so admirable
Tenoh Haruka/Sailor Uranus - omg I don’t even know what to say what an icon, and the way they’re so protective of Usagi and so strong and a race car driver? pls pls

Others: Hotaru/Saturn, Setsuna/Pluto, Helios, Luna (and I realllly wished we saw more of the Senshi x Shitennou!!)

Thank you for reading!

Review for the 90s anime: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Review
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GiornoOp
90/100
Honest review, not downplaying or blindly praising the Manga
You think Madoka Magica was your first Deconstruction Magical Girl Anime? Say hello to your prototype mother Sailor Moon Manga!

Take your Anime goggles off, this is what Sailor Moon really is.

Sailor Moon... this seems like another typical Shojo manga, but trust me I gonna unleash everything that people tend to overlook. Sailor Moon is actually more like Seinen disguised as Shojo. And if you are a Madoka Magica fan you should acknowledge and like this manga. SM technically a Shojo manga but how the Anime being handled is like most of Seinen manga.

Plot : 9/10
The plot is really really good, with interesting storyline connected to each parts, but the problem I gonna rate it 9/10 because BMC arc is being rushed and Stars arc, despite the flaws the overall story is great, nothing is Mary Sue so it won't be a much problem. The story is literally a grimdark magical girls tale like a proto-Madoka (another overlooked factor), characters fighting horror monsters like Berserk (ofc it's not really serious as Berserk but it comparable), and especially... (which is most people tend to overlook) Shonen-style power scaling and how the fights are handled compared to Anime (which I'm gonna talk later), not only that the Manga also covered a lot of topics like Suicide, Rape, Incest, Genocide, Human Experimentation, Children Killing, and so on,... this factor makes SM even more Seinen like than most of other Shojo published in Nakayoshi, yes there's even a zombie version of SM you can actually see. And death in this series even make sense, unlike how most people say: "Sailor Moon is just like DBZ because characters just keep being revived!", deaths in SM are more impactful and have more consequences, one that is possible is the sailor guardians having mental issues from being brutally killed and their souls being violated, and even when they are resorted to life they are still affected (life is like death), unlike DBZ is full of pointless deaths, and even Naruto abused the kill-off characters term and some deaths in Naruto are actually pointless

Art : 10/10
Of course it will be a 10/10 because Takeuchi's art is gorgeous that most of companies even struggle to adapt it like how 2016 Berserk was handled. Combining with the Dark tone makes the manga even feels like when you're reading Fist of the North Star, Berserk, JoJo,...

Character : 10/10
Characters in the manga is literally a different story which is noticably they're stronger unlike both Anime Toei nerfed all of them, yes they are even so broken that in their base form they can beat most of typical Shonen verses like Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, people even say SM can beat Goku: https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterRant/comments/62pcs4/every_large_power_feat_or_statement_in_the_sailor/ (I gonna use reddit post for this statement because I'm lazy to write, you can search more but this is a brief for SM-verse powers)
Unlike the Anime all the characters are memorable, Usagi despite sometimes clumsy and lazy but she's less crybaby compared to the Anime (and yes even a crybaby can break a dimension by crying, see the like I posted), Rei is less annoying instead she's also elegant and serious in Manga (luckily Manga goes with ReiNako not UsaRei), Outer Senshis get better roles unlike how Anime downplayed them, Chibiusa is not annoying unlike Anime. Overall characters in manga is more serious than both anime counterpart displayed
Another factor I want to say is the fight scenes, yes the fights in manga is really insane and intense compared to both anime thanks to better power-scaling and insane haxes, which gives you a quite Gurren Lagann-like experience (GL is stronger but characters has also interesting feats, SM-verse even more hax-broken than DBZverse lol)

(Note I actually researched about DBZ and SM power so I can say that, and this comment may trigger some power-scalers especially some goku fanboys that still think SM is weak)

Overall rating: 9/10. Despite some of flaws, this manga is a must-read and you should overrate the manga more. And trust me most of people and even SM fans are likely to downplay the manga because most of them are so obsessed with the Anime and don't even realize how Manga is truly different (or can realize but not really due to being obsessed with the Anime) compared to the Anime, most of them only like to analyze the Plot and they don't even get further. Sailor Moon, just like Tokyo Ghoul, has a moderate/bad anime adaption (Tokyo Ghoul is better than SMC/SME ofc) by companies that doesn't utilize all the manga full potential (Toei, Pierrot, in terms of this thing Toei is far more worse because Toei also wants the show appeal to annoying kids and at least Pierrot has took risk), but also got a great and dark manga adaption.
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baba13
80/100
The Gold Standard of Magical Girl Genre
The Gold Standard of Magical Girl Genre

What can be said about Sailor Moon? It has earned its reputation as a classic. It’s the gold standard of the magical girl subgenre. It’s an interesting series, and I do believe the anime counterpart is actually way more iconic and well-known than its original material. Yeah, apparently the anime is filled with slice of life (due to filler, but I hear its good filler episodes) compared to the manga, which is quite the opposite. Anyhow, I should explain my history with this series. I was sadly one of those folks during my teenage years who looked down on “girly” shows (manga, etc.). However, after some time, I realised that's a stupid assessment to make, and I've grown up since my teenage self. The more I learned about this series, the more interested I became, especially hearing that the author is Togashi's wife. People I respect really appreciate this series, and knowing its cultural significance and legacy, I wanted to do the due diligence to experience it myself. I learned about the Eternal Edition of the series in 2020, and yeah, I just didn't touch it for 4 years. I recently acquired a tablet, and this seemed like the perfect manga to read on a beautiful OLED display, and I was correct.

One element of the author's life I didn’t expect was Naoko Takeuchi receiving a degree in chemistry and becoming a licenced pharmacist. Furthermore, joining astronomy and manga clubs during high school, in this context, really makes the premise and the ability of Sailor Moon make a lot more sense. Being a love letter, to the manga she adored and her studies. Anyway, I should actually talk about the manga proper.

Talking about the plot for Sailor Moon isn’t important at the least.

“Usagi Tsukino is a normal girl until she meets up with Luna, a talking cat, who tells her that she is Sailor Moon. As Sailor Moon, Usagi must fight evils and enforce justice, in the name of the Moon and the mysterious Moon Princess. She meets other girls destined to be Sailor Senshi (Sailor Scouts), and together, they fight the forces of evil!”
(Source: Kodansha USA)

It’s a very standard premise that was unique for its time. Like any story, it all really depends on execution, and it delivers. Firstly, the artwork is stunning, it’s very elegant from the beginning and just gets better and better. Especially as it progresses, it becomes more cosmic (particularly the last couple chapters). The amount of screen tones, the soft lines, the amount of visual information on screen without hindering the reading experience, and the beautiful character designs. All of it just works.

It's interesting how the series balances its feminine & masculine traits. Even those that can be regarded as gender stereotypes, the author embraces them in a positive manner and creates a diligent balance. The series is somewhat the epitome of emotions over logic, or love conquers all, it really isn’t a technical series in the slightest (the polar opposite of HxH). Sailor Moon would use her strong emotions as a form of persuasion and force her enemies to reflect on their wrongdoings, expressing her values and wanting to reshape according to their values. This may seem like a cliché or boring sentiment, which you are partly right, but I do think the love or emotion aspect works in its favour. I don’t think it felt contrived or just roll my eyes compared to something like Fairy Tail, it felt pretty consistent and worked with the type of world Takeuchi created. Overall, it creates a powerful image, a rather progressive outlook on female identity. Young women don’t have to settle within society's expectations of women but can aspire to be courageous, intelligent, and powerful. Though speaking as a guy, I don’t think its obvious target market detracted from my experience.

One aspect I found really interesting was the LGBTQ relationships and certain characters not having a fixed gender. This is definitely not unique in Sailor Moon’s case, as this is shown quite often in Josei and Shojo manga, but it probably introduced people to this subject matter. It’s interesting seeing how this element more prominent in Josei and Shojo manga slovely woven into shounen or seinen manga. The most obvious example would be Togashi’s Hunter x Hunter..

The main aspect of the series that makes it work is Usagi. She is the foundation of what makes this series work. It’s a coming of age for her, and seeing how she grows with her friends is wonderful to witness. If there were some complaints, I would wish it were a bit more psychological. The series has its moments, but when it’s very good, it often deals with a character’s psyche. It’s particularly what makes the last arc the best, in my view. Another complaint would be the antagonist; besides maybe the last one, they don’t really have much depth. It is only the last antagonist who's a bit more morally grey, and the scenarios Usagi has to deal with. It also has a bit too many characters for its length. This aspect the author seems to recognise. So, in these Eternal Editions, you have short stories within the main narrative, and when the arc demands it, she does attempt to focus on the other characters, which is often successful. The main cast is rather charming, and I especially appreciated that one slice of life chapter with Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna, and Hotaru. It's just not enough focus at times, however, this complaint is relatively minor considering the focus will be Usasgi and it's her coming-of-age story.

The writing is pretty good, there are a ton of puns, allusions and symbolism that I would have missed if it weren’t for this exceptional translation and its valuable notes. I didn’t expect it to take so long to read Sailor Moon, but each arc had a natural stopping point, a lot of translation notes to read, and I took it all in.

Overall, Sailor Moon empowers young girls to be more courageous and show they can do better. It tackles the themes of love and family earnestly, explores the uncomfortable realities of the world to a degree, and asks us if it is all worth it. Sailor Moon inspired a generation and continues to inspire people to this day, it’s a classic for good reason. It inspired Cardcaptor Sakura, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Overall, it’s great, it has a wonderful final arc and caps it off with a bang.

Note: Reading Order is the Eternal Edition of Sailor Moon, as it contains everything. However, it’s my recommendation to read Codename: Sailor V (Eternal Edition Vols. 11–12) any time after Eternal Edition Volume 4. I think it’s best to finish the series with the ending and the accompanying short stories rather than going back to the prequel, which can feel repetitive at times.
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