Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon

Usagi Tsukino is an average student and crybaby klutz who constantly scores low on her tests. Unexpectedly, her humdrum life is turned upside down when she saves a cat with a crescent moon on its head from danger. The cat, named Luna, later reveals that their meeting was not an accident: Usagi is destined to become Sailor Moon, a planetary guardian with the power to protect the Earth. Given a special brooch that allows her to transform, she must use her new powers to save the city from evil energy-stealing monsters sent by the malevolent Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom.

But getting accustomed to her powers and fighting villains are not the only things she has to worry about. She must find the lost princess of the Moon Kingdom, the other Sailor Guardians, and the Legendary Silver Crystal in order to save the planet from destruction.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tsukino, Usagi Main

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Hino, Rei Main

Tomizawa, Michie Japanese

Aino, Minako Main

Fukami, Rica Japanese

Kino, Makoto Main

Shinohara, Emi Japanese

Mizuno, Ami Main

Hisakawa, Aya Japanese

Chiba, Mamoru Main

Furuya, Toru Japanese

Luna Main

Han, Keiko Japanese

Artemis Main

Takato, Yasuhiro Japanese

Zoisite Supporting

Nanba, Keiichi Japanese

Nephrite Supporting

Mori, Katsuji Japanese

Simone, Jamie Producer

Satou, Junichi Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Endou, Yuuji Sound Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Ikuhara, Kunihiko Episode Director

Reviews

Jul 20, 2026

demonstrations

Recommended

The first season of the anime “Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon” is a mixed bag. Bishoujo Senshi takes viewers on an emotional roller coaster between “boring and forgettable episodes” and “surprisingly good episodes.” A review from someone who didn’t watch it as a kid, for others in the same boat.

The series’ art is stunning. The opening sequence, music, backgrounds, animation, and commercial breaks—the artists’ work deserves a 10/10. The artists do an especially good job with the color palette and animations. Given the technology of the ’90s, this title is the most beautiful thing that could have been created. The music is authentic and fits the ... series perfectly. It doesn’t blow your mind, but it very unobtrusively complements the series’ overall aesthetic.

To be brutally honest, it’s hard to call the overall story “good.” It’s just okay. The setting is way too generic. Yes, it’s shōjo, and an older one at that, but viewed through a modern lens, it’s hard to take something like this seriously. The overall plot doesn’t have any glaring plot holes, but it’s as predictable as can be, and it’s hard to take its drama seriously.

The storylines of individual episodes are the worst part of the series. The episodes at the beginning and end follow exactly the same formula. It gets incredibly boring.

The transformation scenes are beautiful, but Sailor Moon’s is incredibly drawn out. For the other characters, it’s short, which is a plus.

In the first season, it’s hard to single out the characters as a strong part of the story. If anything, they’re just average, just like the plot. The main character, Tsukino Usagi, is a truly well-developed and interesting character who evolves over the course of the season. But the other characters aren’t fleshed out enough to really appreciate them. The only one worth singling out is Rei Hino, who is unique in her own right due to her deep immersion in Japanese culture. And the creators clearly made an effort to establish the “tsundere” trope between her and Usagi. You could say that Rei is actually Sailor Moon’s best friend. It’s a classic, but a worthy one!

The series is definitely worth watching at least once, since it still has a significant influence on everything you see in the anime industry! And it’s aged quite well :)

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 20, 2025

Supersonic_Pain

Mixed Feelings

I feel like this show, more than any I've ever seen outside of maybe a few comedies, is the most "Saturday Morning Cartoon"-esque series I've ever seen.

The vast majority of these episodes, you could just kind of "flip on" and not really need to think that hard about the plot and, in that respect?

I think by isolated episode, it's a good, enjoyable show.

I think it's funny, the main 3 Scouts (we'll get to the other 2 in a second) and Luna have good chemistry, it has cool moments at times, including a genuinely sad moment with one of the villains.

The problem is if you try ... to watch it at a pace quicker than, like, 2 episodes a week.

This is not the show to try and watch at any sort of accelerated pace because is it miserable to sit through the exact same scenario like 45 times.

>Sailor Moon meets person
>We get to know person for a few minutes
>Jabroni of the arc turns person into monster
>Sailor Moon and friends fight with their one signature attack each
>Short denouement

If you're watching this like a Japanese schoolgirl in the early 90s where you're only watching one episode a week?

Perfectly fine formula.

However, it got on my nerves towards the end.

I don't think it helps that a lot of the characters are kind of bland.

We meet Sailors Moon, Mercury, and Mars pretty early on and they're good. Great. That is a strong trio you can build off of. You've got your clumsy crybaby jackass MC, her hot-headed rival in Mars, and the cool-headed mediator in Mercury (my personal favorite).

We get a few episodes of just those 3 and then in the later half, we meet Jupiter and Venus. Jupiter, like, has her own personality but I'm not really sure why she needs to be here. She just kind of seems like a less aggressive Mars to me? She's kind of tough and tomboyish but also is super boy-crazy and... I don't know, is that not just Sailor Mars? I mean, I like Jupiter but she never really sold me on her existence.

I think Venus is the worst one though, not because I dislike her but I'm not even really sure what she's supposed to be? She appears with a second cat and her role is basically "oh, we've gotta wrap this shit up, Artemis, drop some lore about the Dark Kingdom". She only really got one episode ABOUT her and even then, idk, the only impression I hypothetically got was Moon going "wow, Venus is so much more mature than us"... and is that not just Mercury? She even throws some proverbs for Mercury to just go "oh, actually, this is what the proverb is and how you use it."

She's, at best, really bland and at worst kind of aggravating since her cat Artemis is really heavy-handed at railroading the plot back onto the rails after filler hell. She doesn't even have the plus of having a striking design like Jupiter, she's a blondie with blue eyes like Moon, only her hair's just a straight curtain of blonde unlike Moon's famous hairstyle.

Tuxedo Mask kind of sucks for the most part too.

His role is:
1. As a civilian (mind you, he's a college student and Moon is a middle schooler), to shit on Moon
2. As Tuxedo Mask, to throw a rose at the Monster of the Week and encourage Sailor Moon to fight and win

He does get something to do in the later stages of the story but even then, a lot of it is still just a more anti-hero version of being Tuxedo Mask.

The villains kind of suck.

I like the minions of Queen Beryl, even if they're just:

Zoisite and Kunzite: "I'm gay!"
Nephrite: "I'm straight!"
Jadeite: "I'm a jackass!"

But Queen Beryl herself just kind of sucks too.

She sits there, ominously moving her hands around a crystal ball while her minions do her actual dirty work until the literal last episode. Her 3 moods outside of the last episode are:
1. Ominous crystal ball
2. Talking to Queen Metalia (who is just Evil Energy/an evil that needs to be awakened, even less interesting than Beryl)
3. "you have failed me, minion, but I will give you yet another chance/you have failed me, minion, DIE!!!!"

It's hard to tell with how fatty this series is with filler (22/46 episodes are canon according to MAL, which means more episodes are filler than are canon) but the Dark Kingdom arc just seems kind of plain?

Like, this is the plot of Sailor Moon if you take out all the filler:
We meet Sailor Moon
*fast-forward*
We meet Sailor Mercury
*fast-forward*
We meet Sailor Mars
*fast-forward*
Jadeite says "fuck it" and fights them
Nephrite appears, does a couple Monster of the Week tricks, and seduces a middle school girl
We meet Sailor Jupiter
*fast-forward (side note: what do you MEAN Ryo Urawa is filler, bro was so good for Mercury)*
We meet Sailor Venus
Sailor Venus and Artemis drop a whole bunch of lore about who the Dark Kingdom is, what the Silver Crystal is, who the Moon Princess is, etc.
The Dark Kingdom actually bothers to strike
Sailor Moon vs. Dark Kingdom

If you try to watch this show without the filler, it seems like it's really skinny and lacking any substance which is kind of weird because it's still 2 cours long without the filler.

The ending sucks too. I'm sure you can guess why just by looking at the last two episodes' titles (which are spoilers, as much of spoilers as looking at the episode titles beforehand can be), it actually pissed me off so bad I dropped it down a point or two.

Idk, man, it's entertaining enough if you're just watching it episode-by-episode, but it's not really that good as a whole. It's super repetitive and when it's actually on track and about the Dark Kingdom, it's some of the worst episodes in the show (outside of the like one or two episodes Nephrite gets towards the end of his arc but given how much fucking filler we get, kinda wish we got more with him).

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 17, 2026

Nykima

Not Recommended

It is with a sense of disappointment that the viewing of Sailor Moon comes to an end, a work considered a cult classic and a must-see in the world of magical girls and shoujo. It tells the story of Usagi Tsukino, an ordinary high school girl who encounters a black cat named Luna, who offers her a special brooch allowing her to transform into Sailor Moon, a vigilante fighting the forces of evil. It was with genuine curiosity and openness that the viewing began, and the higher the reputation, the steeper the letdown.

Because Sailor Moon has no shortage of promises. The plot is simple in ... its premise: young and pretty high school girls transform into beautiful heroines to kick the bad guys' behinds. The intended audience is clearly that of dreamy young girls, especially with the themes of romance and friendship strongly present throughout this first season. And beyond that, the universe itself brims with untapped richness: planets, astrology, gemstones, Greek mythology. More than enough to build something genuinely compelling, without even needing to overcomplicate it.

But the gap between what the series could have been and what it actually delivers grows wider with every episode.

The most immediate problem is the filler. Out of the 46 episodes in the season, only 18 are canonical, accounting for just 40% of the content. Their sheer volume does not help when the story, much like the original work, is already formulaic. The episodes are extremely repetitive, with no variation, featuring a relentless parade of villains of the day to the point where certain episodes could be swapped around without changing anything of substance.

Where the anime does improve on the manga is in its narrative pacing, which is more balanced than in the original work. The filler episodes allow lighter and more serious moments to be blended together, and the Sailors are gradually introduced with their distinct personalities. It is one of the few areas where the adaptation earns its place. Unfortunately, the changes it introduces elsewhere bring little of value: age differences, pointless romances, alterations to certain characters' personalities. These decisions are difficult to understand and clearly reflect certain biases.

The action sequences follow the same pattern of unfulfilled promise. Magical girls mean magical powers, and with enemies attacking humans, one would expect at least a minimum of fights worthy of the name. The problem is that they are extremely flat and repetitive: virtually no strategy, patterns that repeat themselves identically from one episode to the next. No surprises, no depth. The power system is equally underdeveloped: no explanation of how the powers work is ever provided, no limits are established, and it remains unclear why certain attacks work in some cases and not in others. No training, no constraints, no real progression. A universe so rich in concepts, so barren in execution.

The characters follow suit. Usagi is a decent character for her time, but she proves even more irritating in the anime due to her very weepy nature and her screaming. Her Japanese voice grates on the nerves rather quickly, while the French version is considerably more bearable. She does however benefit from a logical character arc and gradually grows in maturity, making her the most complete presence the series has to offer.

Her supporting cast tells a different story. Her romance with Mamoru leaves far more to be desired than in the original work. Their relationship is built on the classic destiny trope, not inherently problematic, but one whose success depends entirely on the author's writing ability. Here, it serves primarily to avoid naturally building and developing the romance, which is lazy. Mamoru himself has no real existence outside of the protagonist and is confined to a simple role of emotional support. The rest of the Sailors, unlike in the original work where they are very bland, are slightly less so thanks to the filler episodes, which give them more charm and amusing moments. However, if one skips the filler, they remain just as one-dimensional as in the manga. Given how much each of their cosmic identities had to offer, the missed opportunity stings.

The one domain where the anime genuinely rises to meet its ambitions is its visual identity: strong, iconic and memorable. Despite some inconsistencies, the animation is very acceptable for its time and the backgrounds complement the atmosphere of the story well. The transformation sequences and the music are two other undeniable positives. It is almost frustrating how well the series wears its surface, given how little lies beneath it.

Sailor Moon proves to be a major disappointment given its status in the world of shoujo and magical girls. The filler is a mixed subject: while its presence is excessive, it did manage to breathe a little more life into the secondary Sailors and offer some enjoyable slice-of-life moments. Unfortunately, this does not make up for the major flaws: a very repetitive story, sometimes problematic adaptation changes, flat fights, an underdeveloped power system, a romance that leaves much to be desired, and bland secondary characters.

Recommended primarily to young girls, fans of magical girls, and those wishing to study the history of the genre. For everyone else: the transformation sequence is dazzling, but what follows rarely justifies the spectacle.

In short: Sailor Moon shines like a constellation... but its brilliance remains largely visual.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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