Sailor Moon, known in Japan as Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon (???????????? Bishojo Senshi Sera Mun?

, officially translated "Pretty Soldier Sailormoon"[1] or "Prett y Guardian Sailor Moon"[2]), is a media franchise created by manga artist Naoko Takeuchi. Fred Patten credits Takeuchi with popularizing the concept of a team o f magical girls,[3][4] and Paul Gravett credits the series with "revitalizing" t he magical-girl genre itself.[5] Sailor Moon redefined the magical-girl genre, a s previous magical girls did not use their powers to fight evil, but this has be come one of the standard archetypes of the genre.[6] The story of the various metaseries revolves around the reborn defenders of a ki ngdom that once spanned the Solar System, and around the evil forces that they b attle. The major characters the Sailor Senshi (literally "Sailor Soldiers"; freq uently called "Sailor Scouts" or "Guardians" in many Western versions), teenage girls can transform into heroines named for the Moon and planets. The use of "Sa ilor" comes from a style of girls' school uniform popular in Japan, the sera fuk u ("Sailor outfit"), on which Takeuchi modeled the Sailor Senshi's uniforms. The elements of fantasy in the series are heavily symbolic and often based on mytho logy. Before the Sailor Moon manga appeared, Takeuchi had written Codename: Sailor V, which centered around just one Sailor Senshi. She devised the idea when she want ed to create a cute series about girls in outer space, and her editor suggested she should put them in sailor fuku.[7] When Sailor V was proposed[by whom?] for adaptation into an anime, the concept was modified by Takeuchi so that Sailor V herself became only one member of a team. The resulting manga series merged elem ents of the popular magical girl genre and the Super Sentai Series which Takeuch i admired,[8] making Sailor Moon one of the first series ever to combine the two . The manga resulted in spinoffs into other types of media, including a highly pop ular anime, as well as musical theatre productions, video games, and a tokusatsu series. Although most concepts in the many versions overlap, often notable diff erences occur, and thus continuity between the different formats remains limited . Contents 1 2 3 4 Story Characters Production Media 4.1 Manga 4.2 Anime 4.3 Art books 4.4 Stage musicals 4.5 Live-action series 4.6 Video games 5 English adaptations 6 Music 7 Reception 8 Legacy 8.1 International revival 9 References 10 External links Story The protagonist of Sailor Moon, Usagi Tsukino (Serena Tsukino in the English dub ), an ordinary, ditzy, 14-year-old girl or so she thinks discovers a talking cat named Luna, who reveals Usagi's identity as "Sailor Moon", a special warrior wi th the destiny of saving the planet Earth, and later the entire galaxy. Usagi mu

st now find the Moon Princess and protect Earth from a series of villains, begin ning with the Dark Kingdom that had appeared once before, long ago, and destroye d the Kingdom of the Moon. When the dark nemesis attacked the kingdom, the Queen sent the Moon Princess, he r guardians and advisors, and her true love into the future to be reborn, as a r esult Sailor Moon must help Luna awaken members of the court of the kingdom of t he moon, and the people dedicated to protecting it. As Usagi and Luna battle evi l and search for the Moon Princess, they meet the other Sailor Senshi, incarnati ons of the Moon Princess' protectors, and the mysterious Tuxedo Mask. As the series progresses, Usagi and her friends learn more and more about the en emies they face and the evil force that directs them. The characters' pasts are mysterious and hidden even to them, and much of the early series is devoted to d iscovering their true identities and pasts. Luna, who teaches and guides the Sai lor Senshi, does not know everything about their histories either, and the Sensh i eventually learn that Usagi is the real Moon Princess. The Moon Princess' moth er had her reborn as a Sailor Senshi to protect her. Gradually Usagi discovers t he 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 them represented in both the manga and anime, usually under different names: the the the the the Dark Kingdom arc (Sailor Moon) Black Moon arc (Sailor Moon R) Mugen/Infinity arc (Sailor Moon S) Yume/Dream arc (Sailor Moon SuperS) Stars arc (Sailor Moon Sailor Stars)

The anime added an additional minor arc at the start of the second series, and s pent the first few episodes of Sailor Stars wrapping up the plot from the previo us series. Taking place before the manga timeline, its sister series Codename: S ailor V tells the story of Sailor V, Minako Aino and her adventures during the y ear before Sailor Moon itself starts. Many characters from Codename: Sailor V re turn in Sailor Moon, including Sailor V herself (under the name "Sailor Venus"). The musicals added several extra storylines, including an extended version of t he Stars arc, including revivals of past villains, the revival of the Dark Kingd om, a trip to Kaguya Shima (Kaguya Island), a group of villains from Nibiru and the Dracul Series. Characters Main article: List of Sailor Moon characters The series features an extensive cast of characters. Initially, the main protago nists are title character Sailor Moon, her love interest Tuxedo Mask, and the Gu ardian Senshi (Sailors Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus). They are later joined by Chibiusa, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask's daughter from the future, and the Ou ter Senshi (Sailors Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn). Each major arc of the manga and its anime adaptation features a different group of villains: the Dark Kingdom (in the Dark Kingdom arc of the manga and in the f irst season of the anime), the Black Moon Clan (in the Black Moon arc of the man ga and in Sailor Moon R), the Death Busters (in the Mugen/Infinity arc of the ma nga and in Sailor Moon S), the Dead Moon Circus (in the Yume/Dream arc of the ma nga and in Sailor Moon SuperS), and Shadow Galactica (in the Stars arc of the ma nga and in Sailor Moon Sailor Stars). The first episodes of Sailor Moon R featur e a filler arc that introduces the Makaiju, two aliens that arrive to Earth to f ind energy to collect for an alien tree, and that the first six episodes of Sail or Moon Sailor Stars re-introduce Queen Nehelenia from the Dead Moon Circus.

Supporting and recurring characters in the series include Luna, Artemis, and Dia na (three cats that act as advisors to the Sailor Senshi), the families and frie nds of the Senshi, the Sailor Starlights and their Princess Kakyuu, and the myst erious Chibichibi, among others. Production Before the Sailor Moon manga, Takeuchi published Codename: Sailor V, which cente red around just Sailor Venus. She devised the idea when she wanted to create a c ute series about girls in outer space, and her editor asked her to put them in s ailor fuku.[7] When Sailor V was proposed for adaptation into an anime, the conc ept was modified so that Sailor V herself became only one member of a team. The resulting manga series became a fusion of the popular magical girl genre, the Su per Sentai Series, of which Takeuchi was a fan.[8] Recurring motifs include astr onomy,[7] astrology, Greek myth,[9] Roman myth, geology, Japanese elemental them es,[10] teen fashions,[9][11] and schoolgirl antics.[11] Talks between Takeuchi and her publishers originally envisaged only one story-ar c,[12] and the storyline developed in meetings a year prior to publications,[13] but having completed it, Takeuchi was asked by her editors to continue. She iss ued four more story-arcs,[12] often published simultaneously with the five corre sponding anime series. The anime series would only lag the manga by a month or t wo.[13] Takeuchi has stated that due to the largely male production staff of the anime, she feels that the anime version has "a slight male perspective".[14] Media Manga See also: List of Sailor Moon chapters The complete original manga spans 52 chapters, known as Acts, as well as ten sep arate side-stories. Its main series appeared in serial form in Nakayoshi, Kodans ha's shojo manga magazine, from 1991 to 1995; the side-stories were serialized i n Kodansha's Run Run. Kodansha has published all the chapters and side-stories i n book form. The first edition came out as the series was being produced, from 1 992 through 1997,[15][16] 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 shinsoban or "renewal" edition, began in 2003 dur ing the run of the live-action series.[17] Kodansha redistributed the individual chapters so that there are more per book, and some corrections and updates were made to the dialogue and drawings. New art was featured as well, including comp letely new cover art and character sketches (including characters unique to the live-action series). In all, the new edition consists of 12 main volumes and two separate short-story volumes. By the end of 1995, the thirteen Sailor Moon volumes then available had sold abo ut one million copies each, and Japan had exported the manga to over 23 countrie s, including China, Mexico, Australia, most of Europe and North America.[18] The revised manga is being re-released in North America by Kodansha Comics USA, though Random House acts as distributor, with the first volume being released in September 2011, the second volume was released in November 2011, with further v olumes to follow bimonthly.[19] Anime See also: List of Sailor Moon episodes The Sailor Moon anime, co-produced by TV Asahi, Toei Agency and Toei Animation, started airing only a month after the first issue of the manga was published. Wi th 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 suc cessful merchandising campaign of over 5,000 items,[9] which contributed to dema nd all over the world and translation into numerous languages. Sailor Moon has s

ince become one of the most famous anime properties in the world.[20][21] Due to its resurgence of popularity in Japan, the series returned to the airwaves on S eptember 1, 2009. Also, Italy is getting it rebroadcast in northern-hemisphere a utumn 2010, also getting permission from Takeuchi who will be releasing new artw ork to promote.[22] 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? S tars. Each series roughly corresponds to one of the five major story arcs of the manga, following the same general storyline and including most of the same char acters.[13] There were also five special animated shorts, as well as three theat rically released movies: Sailor Moon R: The Movie, Sailor Moon S: The Movie, and Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie.[23][24][25] The anime series uses traditional animation techniques throughout. It was direct ed by Jun'ichi Sato, then Kunihiko Ikuhara and later Takuya Igarashi in successi on. Character design was headed by Kazuko Tadano, Ikuko Itoh and Katsumi Tamegai , all of whom were also animation directors. Other animation directors included Masahiro Ando, Hisashi Kagawa, and Hideyuki Motohashi.[26] The series sold as twenty "volumes" in Japan. By the end of 1995, each volume ha d sold approximately 300,000 copies.[18] There were noticeable differences between the manga and anime, including the rad ical personality change of Rei Hino, the toned-down focus on Mamoru Chiba in lat er seasons, the large emphasis on the Sailor Starlights in the final arc, the no table asbence of the four Outer Senshi during the SuperS season (while they were present during the forth story arc of the manga), the removal of several charac ters including Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon and Sailor Kakyuu, the break-up sub-p lot between Usagi and Mamoru and the inclusion of an extra 'arc' in Sailor Moon R sometimes referred to as the 'Makaiju arc', Diana's late introduction in the a nime,[original research?] the homosexual relationships between Zoisite and Kunzi te,[27] the personalities of the Ayakashi Sisters and the Witches 5, and the rem oval of Sailor Cosmos.[original research?] Art books Kodansha released special art books for each of the five story arcs, collectivel y called the Original Picture Collection. The books contain cover art, promotion al material, and other work done by Takeuchi. Many of the drawings appear accomp anied by comments on how she developed her ideas, how she created each picture, whether or not she likes it, and commentary on the anime interpretation of her s tory.[28][29][30][31][32] Another picture collection, Volume Infinity, appeared in a strictly limited edit ion after the end of the series in 1997. This self-published artbook includes dr awings by Takeuchi as well as by her friends, her staff, and many of the voice-a ctors who worked on the anime. In 1999, Kodansha published the Materials Collect ion; this contained development sketches and notes for nearly every character in the manga, as well as for some characters who never appeared. Each drawing is s urrounded with notes by Takeuchi about the specifics of various costume pieces, the mentality of the characters, and her particular feelings about them. It also includes timelines for the story arcs and for the real-life release of products and materials relating to the anime and manga. At the end, the Parallel Sailor Moon short story is featured, celebrating the year of the rabbit.[33] Stage musicals Main article: Sailor Moon musicals The musical stage shows, usually referred to collectively as SeraMyu, were a ser ies of live theatre productions that played over 800 performances in some 29 mus icals between 1993 and 2005. The stories of the shows include anime-inspired plo

tlines as well as a large amount of original material. Music from the series has been released on about 20 "memorial" albums.[34] The popularity of the musicals has been cited as a reason behind the production of the live action Pretty Guar dian Sailor Moon TV series.[35] Musicals ran twice a year, in the winter and in the summer. In the summer, the m usicals showed only in the Sunshine Theatre in the Ikebukuro area of Tokyo; howe ver, in the winter they went on tour to the other large cities in Japan, includi ng Osaka, Fukuoka,[36] Nagoya, Shizuoka, Kanazawa, Sendai,[37] Saga, Oita, Yamag ata and Fukushima.[38] The final incarnation of the series, The New Legend of Kaguya Island (Revised Ed ition) (??????? <???> Shin Kaguyashima Densetsu (Kaiteban)?), went on stage in Ja nuary 2005. Following that show, Bandai officially put the series on a hiatus,[3 9] although the productions have not been revived since 2005 leading many fans t o speculate that the series has been, for all intents and purposes, canceled. Live-action series Main article: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon 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.[40][41] Almost one thousand people applied for the parts of the five main characters.[42] The series' storyline more closely follows the original manga than the anime at first, but in later episodes it proceeds into a significantly different storylin e from either, with original characters and new plot developments.[35][43] In addition to the main episodes, two direct-to-video releases appeared after th e show ended its television broadcast. These were the "Special Act", which is se t four years after the main storyline ends and which shows the wedding of the tw o main characters, and "Act Zero", a prequel which shows the origins of Sailor V and Tuxedo Mask.[44] Video games Main article: List of Sailor Moon video games More than 20 Sailor Moon console and arcade games have appeared in Japan, all ba sed on the anime series. Bandai and a Japanese game company called Angel (unrela ted to the American-based Angel Studios, as of 2010 known as Rockstar San Diego) made most of them, with some produced by Banpresto. The early games were side-s crolling fighters, whereas the later ones were unique puzzle games, or versus fi ghting games. Another Story was a turn-based role-playing video game.[45] The only Sailor Moon game produced outside of Japan, 3VR New Media's The 3D Adve ntures of Sailor Moon, went on sale in North America in 1997.[46] A video game was released in Spring 2011 for the Nintendo DS, called Sailor Moon : La Luna Splende (Sailor Moon: The Shining Moon).[47] English adaptations Main article: Sailor Moon (English adaptations) The English adaptations of both the manga and anime series became the first succ essful shojo title in the United States.[48] The anime adaptation of Sailor Moon attempted to capitalize on the success of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.[11][49] After a bidding-war between Toon Makers, who wanted to produce a half live-acti on and half American-style cartoon version,[50] and DIC Entertainment, DiC then owned by The Walt Disney Company[51] and Optimum Productions acquired the rights to the first two seasons of Sailor Moon,[52] from which they cut a total of six

episodes (five from the first season and one from the second season) and merged the final two episodes of the first season into one. Editors cut each of the re maining episodes by several minutes to make room for more commercials, to censor plot points or visuals deemed inappropriate for children, and to allow the inse rtion of "educational" segments called "Sailor Says" at the end of each episode. The second season, named Sailor Moon R in Japan, was dubbed solely as Sailor Mo on with the "R" removed from the logo. The English adaptations of Sailor Moon S and Sailor Moon Super S, produced by Op timum Productions and Cloverway, stayed relatively close to the original Japanes e versions, without skipping or merging any episodes. Some controversial changes were made, however, such as the depiction of Sailors Uranus and Neptune as cous ins rather than lesbian lovers.[53] Toei has never licensed the fifth and final series, Sailor Stars, for adaptation into English. As of May 2004, the rest of the media franchise has officially go ne off the air in all English-speaking countries due to lapsed and unrenewed lic enses.[54] The manga publisher Mixx (later Tokyopop) translated the Sailor Moon manga into English in 1997. The manga initially appeared as a serial in MixxZine but was la ter pulled out of that magazine and made into a separate monthly comic to finish the first through third arcs. At the same time, the fourth and fifth arcs began printing in a secondary magazine called "SMILE".[55] After its initial publicat ion, the entire series was reprinted in the smaller volume format known in the b eginning as "Pocket Mixx" before Mixx became Tokyopop. In total, the series was collected into 11 "Sailor Moon" volumes, 4 "Sailor Moon Super S" volumes, and 3 "Sailor Moon Stars" volumes. The volumes included extra stories that were not ru n with the monthly comics. Sailor Moon collects the first three arcs (the Dark K ingdom [Mixxzine 1-1 to 2-1 + Comic issues 1-7], Black Moon [8-19], and Infinity arcs [20-35]). Sailor Moon Super S collects the Super S/Dream arc [Smile 1.1-2. 6] and Sailor Moon Stars collects the Sailor Stars arc [Smile 2.7-3.10]. They fe ature the content from the original manga collections (though the names of chara cters introduced in the first two story arcs were changed to those used in the E nglish anime), as well as the occasional new sketch and "thank you" commentary f rom Takeuchi. The Tokyopop English-language manga officially went out of print on May 2, 2005 after the license expired,[56][57] but was later revived by Kodansha Comics USA in association with Random House. The new English editions are based on the 2003 deluxe Japanese editions, and features a total of 16 volumes (12 for the main S ailor Moon manga, 2 volumes of short stories, and 2 volumes of Sailor V). The fi rst volumes of Sailor Moon and Sailor V were released on September 13, 2011 with later volumes are being released bimonthly. Music See also: List of Sailor Moon soundtracks and List of Sailor Moon English-langu age soundtracks Sailor Moon opening themes Moonlight Densetsu Original Japanese theme Sailor Moon Theme English theme Problems listening to these files? See media help. Numerous people wrote and composed music for the Sailor Moon metaseries, with fr equent lyrical contributions by creator Naoko Takeuchi. Takanori Arisawa, who ea rned the "Golden Disk Grand Prize" from Columbia Records for his work on the fir st series soundtrack in 1993, composed and arranged the background musical score s, including the spinoffs, games, and movies. In 1998, 2000, and 2001 he won the

JASRAC International Award for most international royalties, owing largely to t he popularity of Sailor Moon music in other nations.[58] Most of the TV series used for an opening theme "Moonlight Densetsu" (???????? M unraito Densetsu?, lit. "Moonlight Legend"), composed by Tetsuya Komoro with lyr ics by Kanako Oda. It was one of the series' most popular songs. "Moonlight Dens etsu" was performed by DALI as the opener for the first two anime series,[59][60 ] and then by Moon Lips for the third and fourth.[61][62] The final series, Sail or Stars, switched to using "Sailor Star Song" for its opening theme, written by Shoki Araki with lyrics by Naoko Takeuchi and performed by Kae Hanazawa.[63] "M oonlight Densetsu" made its final appearance as the closing song for the very la st episode, #200.[26] "Moonlight Densetsu" has been covered and remixed many tim es by artists such as the punk supergroup Osaka Popstar, Kitade Nana and Tsuji N ozomi. It is believed that the song's melody was inspired by "Sayonara wa Dance no Ato ni" (Goodbye at the End of the Dance), performed in the 1960s by Chieko B aisho. The English-language dub of the anime series used the melody of "Moonlight Dense tsu", but with very different lyrics and instrumentation. At the time, it was un usual for anime theme songs to be translated, and this was one of the first such themes to be redone in English since Star Blazers.[64] The English theme has be en described as "inane but catchy".[65] The Japanese theme is a love song based on the relationship between Usagi and Mamoru ("born on the same Earth"); its fir st verse, as it appears in the English subtitles, is as follows:[66] I'm sorry I'm not straightforward, I can say it in my dreams My thoughts are about to short circuit, I want to see you right now The English "Sailor Moon Theme" rather resembles a superhero anthem. Its first v erse is written:[67] Fighting evil by moonlight, Winning love by daylight, Never running from a real fight, She is the one named Sailor Moon All three versions of the series also make use of insert themes, battle music, a nd image songs, with the original being much more prolific. Over 40 Japanese mus ic albums were released for the anime alone, many of which were remixes of the p revious albums in jazz style, music box, French, etc. In addition, 33 different CD singles were released, many of them centered around specific characters. The second most prolific country in terms of Sailor Moon music releases was Germany, which produced some fifteen albums and singles, including five by the pop band Super Moonies. In North America, only three albums were released. These numbers do not include the CDs from the Musicals, which were only released in Japan. At least one CD was released per musical, as well as various collections, such as V illain Collections or many songs sung by a single actor or actress. Various CDs were also released for the live action adaptation as well. Moonlight Densetsu was released as a CD single in March 1992, and was an "explos ive hit".[68] "Moonlight Densetsu" won first place in the Song category in Anima ge's 15th and 16th Anime Grand Prix.[69][70] It came seventh in the 17th Grand P rix, and "Moon Revenge", from Sailor Moon R: The Movie, came eighth.[71] "Rashik u Ikimasho", the second closing song for SuperS, placed eighteenth in 1996.[72] In 1997, "Sailor Star Song", the new opening theme for Sailor Stars, came eleven th, and "Moonlight Densetsu" came sixteenth.[73] Reception

The manga won the Kodansha Manga Award in 1993 for shojo.[74] Originally planned to run for only six months, the Sailor Moon anime repeatedly continued due to its popularity, concluding only after a five-year run.[75] In J apan, it aired every Saturday night in prime time,[9] [76] getting TV viewership ratings around 11-12% for most of the series run.[9][77] Commentators detect in the anime adaptation of Sailor Moon "a more shonen tone," appealing to a wider audience than the manga, which aimed squarely at teenage girls.[78] The media fr anchise is one of the most successful Japan has ever had, reaching 1.5 billion d ollars in merchandise sales during the first three years. Ten years after the se ries completion, the series has featured among the top thirty of TV Asahi's Top 100 anime polls in 2005 and 2006.[20][21] The anime series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1993.[69] Sales of Sailor Moon's fashion dolls overtook tha t of Licca-chan in the 1990s; Mattel suggested that this was due to the "fashion -action" blend of the Sailor Moon storyline. Doll accessories included both fash ion items and the Senshi's weapons.[11] Sailor Moon has also become popular internationally. Spain and France became the first countries outside of Japan to air Sailor Moon, beginning in December 1993 .[23] Other countries followed suit, including Australia, South Korea, the Phili ppines (which became one of its carrier network's main draws to become the third biggest network in the country), Poland, Italy, Peru, Brazil, Sweden and Hong K ong, before North America picked up the franchise for adaptation.[79] In 2001, t he Sailor Moon manga was Tokyopop's best selling property, outselling the next-b est selling titles by at least a factor of 1.5.[80] In Diamond Comic Distributor s's May 1999 "Graphic Novel and Trade Paperback" category, Sailor Moon Volume 3 ranked #1 in sales out of all of the comic books sold in the United States.[81] Critics have commended the anime series for its portrayal of strong friendships, [82] as well as for its large cast of "strikingly different" characters who have different dimensions and aspects to them as the story goes on,[83] and an abili ty to appeal to a wide audience.[84] Writer Nicolas Penedo attributes the succes s of Sailor Moon to its fusion of the shojo manga genre of magical girls with th e Super Sentai fighting teams.[78] According to Martha Cornog and Timothy Perper , Sailor Moon became popular because of its "strongly-plotted action with fight scenes, rescues" and its "emphasis on feelings and relationships", including som e "sexy romance" between Usagi and Mamoru.[85] The romance of Usagi and Mamoru h as been seen as an archetype where the lovers "become more than the sum of their parts", promising to be together forever.[86] In contrast, others see Sailor Mo on as campy[43] and melodramatic. Criticism has singled out its use of formulaic plots, monsters of the day,[87] and stock footage.[88] Drazen notes that Sailor Moon has two kinds of villains, the Monster of the Day and the "thinking, feeling humans". Although this is common in anime and manga, it is "almost unheard of in the West".[89] Despite the series' apparent populari ty among Western anime fandom, the dubbed version of the series received poor ra tings in the United States when it was initially broadcast in syndication and di d not do well in DVD sales in the United Kingdom.[90] Anne Allison attributes th e lack of popularity in the United States primarily to poor marketing (in the Un ited States, the series was initially broadcast at times which did not suit the target audience - weekdays at 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 pm). Executives connected with Sailor Moon suggest that poor localization played a role.[11] Helen McCarthy and Jonathan Clements go further, calling the dub "indifferent", and suggesting tha t Sailor Moon was put in "dead" timeslots due to local interests.[91] The Britis h distributor, MVM Films, has attributed the poor sales to the United Kingdom re lease being of the dub only, and that major retailers refused to support the sho w leading to the DVD release appealing to neither children nor older anime fans. [90] Both the manga editorial vid and the anime series were released in Mexico twice

in a quite accurate translation in Imevisin (what is now TV Azteca), which also a ired almost complete versions of Saint Seiya, Senki, Candy Candy, Remi, Nobody's Girl, Card Captor Sakura and Detective Conan. With quite a success and in the U .S. censored version in the Cartoon Network that was very quickly taken off the air due to the lack of viewers being lackluster compared to the original version ; due to sensitive or controversial topics a Catholic parents' group exerted pre ssure to take it off the market, which partially succeeded - but after the whole series had been aired once from Sailor Moon to Sailor Stars and some of the mov ies.[27] Due to anti-Japanese sentiment, most of Japanese media other than animated ones was banned for many years in South Korea. A producer in KBS "did not even try to buy" Sailor Moon because he thought it would not pass the censorship laws, but as of May 1997, Sailor Moon was airing on KBS 2 without issues and was "enormous ly" popular.[92] In his 2007 book Manga: The Complete Guide, Jason Thompson gave the manga series 3 / 4 stars. He enjoyed the blending of shonen and shojo styles, stating that t he combat scenes seemed heavily influenced by Saint Seiya, but shorter and less bloody, and noting that the manga itself appeared similar to Super Sentai televi sion shows. While Thompson found the series fun and entertaining, the repetitive plot lines were a detriment to the title which the increasing quality of art co uld not make up for; even so, he still states that the series is "sweet, effecti ve entertainment".[48] Thompson states that although the audience for Sailor Moo n is both male and female, Takeuchi does not use excessive fanservice for males, which would run the risk of alienating her female audience. Thompson states tha t fight scenes are not physical and "boil down to their purest form of a clash o f wills", which he argues "makes thematic sense" for the manga.[93] When comparing the manga and anime, Sylvian Durand first notes that the manga ar twork is gorgeous, but that the storytelling is more compressed and erratic, and that the anime has more character development. Durand felt "the sense of traged y is greater" in the manga's telling of the "fall of the Silver Millennium", giv ing more detail on the origins of the Shitennou and on Usagi's final battle with Beryl and Metalia. Durand feels that the anime leaves out information which mak es the story easier to understand, but judges the anime more "coherent", with a better balance of comedy and tragedy, whereas the manga is "more tragic" and foc used on Usagi and Mamoru's romance.[94] For the week of 11 September 2011 - 17 September 2011, the first volume of the r e-released Sailor Moon manga was the bestselling manga on the The New York Times Manga Best Sellers list, with the first volume of Codename: Sailor V in second place.[95][96] The first print run of the first volume sold out after four weeks .[97] Legacy The anime has been cited as reinvigorating the magical girl genre by adding dyna mic heroines and action-oriented plots. After its success, many similar titles i mmediately followed. Magic Knight Rayearth, Wedding Peach, Nurse Angel Ririka SO S, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Fushigi Yuugi and The Vision of Escaflowne all owe much of their basis to the