Anime Hajime Review: Sailor Moon Season One (Part 1 of 6)

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Sailor Moon Season One. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

Usagi Tsukino (voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi) is lazier than your typical middle school student. She is also a crybaby, selfish, and a huge chicken. Despite those things, she is pretty average. However, her life becomes extraordinary when she runs into a talking black cat named Luna (voiced Keiko Han).

To Usagi’s disbelief, Luna tells her that she is the reincarnation of the Sailor Scout known as Sailor Moon. Due to this, Usagi is destined to protect the Earth from the forces of evil. And to accomplish her mission, she must locate the lost Moon Princess.

Though eager to jump into her new role, Usagi quickly realizes that being a Sailor Solider is not a game. In fact, her task is far too great for her to handle on her own. Luckily, she managed to find the other four Sailor Scouts.

First is the brilliant honor student Ami Mizuno, Sailor Mercury (voiced by Aya Hisakawa). Second is the prideful shrine maiden Rei Hino, Sailor Mars (voiced by Michie Tomizawa). The third is the tough romantic Makoto Kino, Sailor Jupiter (voiced by Emi Shinohara). And fourth is the hero Minako Aino, Sailor Venus (voiced by Rica Fukami).

Together, these five Sailor Scouts must fight against some of the most powerful and terrifying beings in the entire universe.

Sailor Moon - Review Structure

That synopsis was but a short idea of what the Sailor Moon series is about. I didn’t even bring up Mamoru Chiba, and his alter ego Tuxedo Mask (voiced by Toru Furuya). Not to mention there a several more Sailor Scouts besides the main five.

Or at least, I haven’t talked about these characters yet.

As you can see, this review isn’t going to be like all my others.

Since there are two hundred episodes to cover, my usual structure wouldn’t do this series justice.

Thus, I will be talking about Sailor Moon’s five seasons individually. Along the way, I will be looking at the good and the bad elements of each respective part.

Only then will I finish off this 100^th review special with my overall thoughts. There we will discuss the problems that persisted and the aspects that endured.

Even though I am doing this review this way, I can’t cover everything. At that will be especially true if I try to keep myself as vague as possible for a show that is twenty years old.

Therefore, please take note.

***I AM ISSUING A SPOILER WARNING FOR THE REST OF THIS REVIEW SERIES***

Sailor Moon Season 1

Usagi and the other Sailor Scouts discover their powers and as well as their enemy -- the Dark Kingdom.

The commander of the Dark Kingdom, Queen Beryl (voiced by Keiko Han), is attempting to resurrect an all all-powerful evil. To do this, the Dark Kingdom dispatch horrific demons known as Youma upon the Earth to collect the life energy from humans.

Season Positives

This was a great start.

That’s a pretty big relief seeing how we have a long way ahead of us. It’s one thing to watch 200 episodes, and it’s another to do that when right out the gate the prospects aren’t looking fantastic.

Sailor Moon cleared this first hurdle easily.

Before I go any further, I can’t ignore this next thing. Sailor Moon season one had a cheap, 90’s budget, and it showed. All the classic money-saving tricks were here. Sequences were always getting reused. Expect to see the same transformation and special move animations repeatedly.

It was clear this series didn’t have many resources to work with.

That said, I do not believe that a big budget automatically means a better product. Sailor Moon knew what it needed to focus on.

Since we would be with these characters for awhile exploring their world, there had to be a world for us to go to. We got to know Usagi’s family and her friends who weren’t the Sailor Scouts, as well as other parts of her daily life.

Not only that, the other Sailor Scouts got their own cast of characters specific to them. They each had relationships, love interests, goals, and aspirations. A large budget can’t replace time and effort.

Despite this series’ animation showing its age, nothing took away from the enjoyment that came out of this first season.

Season Negatives

The problems I have with season one weren’t story breaking. That’s a good thing because some of these problems should have been.

The Villains

The villains in this season were idiots. That and they were awful. Luckily, they weren’t frustratingly awful. But instead, they were hilariously so.

Even though the overall threat was the Dark Kingdom, the Sailor Scouts went through a laundry list of antagonists. And each of these foes was stupider than the last because they keep doing the same damn thing. Each villain’s method of gathering energy was different, but it the people in charge of them to realize something important. The Sailor Scouts were continually kicking their ass.

They insisted on using the same tactic of just throwing Youma at the Sailor Scouts. Surprise, the girls kept winning. Then after an extended period of this always happening, the villains noticed Tuxedo Mask kept coming in to save the day. So, the Dark Kingdom’s next step was to rid of Tuxedo Mask, which, somehow, they did.

But even with this surprise success, the enemy was no closer defeating the Sailor Scouts.

I bring this up because even after the Dark Kingdom “brainwashed” Tuxedo Mask, he still retained his common sense. While under their spell, Tuxedo Mask couldn’t understand why the enemy was always underestimating the Sailor Scouts.

Eventually, the Dark Kingdom put its foot down and decided once and for all to learn the identity of Sailor Moon. And this was the pinnacle of their idiocy. They could not, for the life of them, figure out who Sailor Moon was.

WHY WAS THIS SUCH AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK?

All the Dark Kingdom Generals, a few of them on multiple occasions, had seen and interacted with both Usagi and Sailor Moon. The thought process that must have been going through their heads is baffling to me.

They kept going from, “Who is this random ass girl that looks and acts like Sailor Moon and keeps showing up during all of our schemes?” To then going, “Oh my god Sailor Moon how did you get here so fast?”

ASSHATS, TWO AND TWO.

The Introduction of Sailor Venus

Like all the other Sailor Scouts, I like Sailor Venus. She was part of the group. She was fun, she was funny, she was not a bad character by any stretch of the imagination. Nevertheless, she came out of nowhere, and only a few episodes before the climax of season one.

The other Sailor Scouts got an introduction, but Minako never does. I imagine a lot of you think that I must be insane because she was most definitely talked about throughout this season. She was Sailor V, the mysterious masked hero fighting crime across the city.

You’re right; the show did mention that. The show mentioned that once, during one of the first five episodes. Every other reference to Sailor V after that was to her video game character, and I’m sorry, but that’s who I thought she was. I legitimately thought she was a video game character and was not real.

Then suddenly, she just showed up at the end of a random episode with, conveniently, the information to push us into the climactic showdown. Hell, we didn’t even learn her name until the episode after she got introduced.

For every other Scout, Usagi, Ami, Rei, and Makoto, even though we learned more about them over the course of this season, we still got the initial meeting Minako never had.

The Climax

The main idea here was the Sailor Scouts would die in battle, and that would become the catalyst for Usagi to unlock her hidden power.

Horse crap, not for one second did I believe they were going to remain dead.

I’m coming at this from two angles. The first and obvious one being me watching this show twenty years after the fact knowing full well that I have a hundred and fifty episodes to go.

The second is hopefully a little more critical. Had I been watching Sailor Moon when it first aired, the death of the Sailor Scouts would still not have made a whole lot of sense because never at any point before the climax was such an event even hinted as being a possibility.

Therefore, it should be considered a good twist, right?

Actually no, that would have been a terrible twist. To have a tragic ending just for the sake of having a tragic ending would be ignoring a lot of necessary build up. To kill the Sailor Scouts and then have them remain dead would go against the entire atmosphere the season had built up.

This was a fun, light heart, and easy-going story. Sure, there were difficult, sad, and heartfelt moments. However, there was never any danger. There was never any threat. There was never any tension. There was nothing that would have warranted this ending.

Going along with the scenario of me watching the initial airing, I would have refused to accept that these idiot villains would have been able to kill the Sailor Scouts. That would have meant the Dark Kingdom had Youma that could have done the job and they waited for forty-five episodes to use them. Yes, I said forty-five because the Scouts got killed in a single episode.

This is all moot because they were, of course, not killed off. While I knew this was going to be the outcome, I expected a little effort. The villain was defeated. Everyone got brought back to life. The season then ended. WHAT?

And by brought back I mean that yes, they were alive, but they had forgotten all their memories of each other, and they had no knowledge they were Sailor Scouts because God damn it, we need a set up for season two.

Season One Finale: Synopsis

Sailor Moon, at last, faces off with Queen Beryl as the Dark Lord beings to awaken. The rest of the Sailor Scouts were no more, and Tuxedo Mask died protecting his beloved Usagi.

In her most desperate hour, Usagi discovers that she is the long-lost Moon Princess, Princess Serenity. Usagi uses her full power to drive the darkness back to whence it came.

The struggle is fierce, but ultimately Usagi, relying on the strength of her dear friends, overcomes the evil of the Dark Kingdom. With the battle finally over, Sailor Moon succumbs to the fatigue of the fight and collapses.

Fortunately, there is enough energy left for one last miracle.

Usagi, the Sailor Scouts, and Tuxedo Mask are spared death and return to their home. Unfortunately, their alternate identities, as well as the knowledge of their friendship, are gone. This allows them to live the rest of their lives as normal humans.

Thus, ends Sailor Moon Season one.

Come back tomorrow for Part 2 – Sailor Moon R.