My notes about Sailor Moon:

I discovered Sailor Moon during the summer of 1997. I was surfing the net and found a huge number of web sites devoted to Sailor Moon. I like cartoons very much and as I read what people had to say about the series I found that I actually wanted to read or watch all of it.

That was about the time when Sailor Moon had been taken off television here in the United States so I wasn't able to just tune in and watch. Eventually I heard about the release of some Sailor Moon video tapes and I started looking for them. Over the following months I collected the six English language version tapes that were being released by DiC in cooperation with Disney. After than I had to wait a while until the "Doom Tree" series was released. By the time I had those tapes as well, I was starting to search for a place to buy the rest of the episodes.

As I continued reading various articles on the web about Sailor Moon, I found many that were saying the English versions weren't as good as the original Japanese versions. I then set about finding a place where I could get the original Japanese videos. I located a fan subber in Canada. A true fan subber, is someone that subtitles and copies rare (in that country) videos for other fans and they charge only for materials and shipping. The owners of the copyrights seem to tolerate this as it helps them judge if there is enough interest in a new market country to be worth it for them to make a localized version for that country. Another trait of the true fan subber is that once the holder of the copyright announces that they are going to release the property in the country the fan subber serves, the fan subber stops distributing copies. Over the next year I managed to get all of the Japanese versions of Sailor Moon from episode #73 through #200 (#200 is the last episode). I am now looking for a way to buy episodes #1 through #72 since I do prefer the Japanese version of the story and I would like to see all of the parts that got left out in the production of the English version.

Once I got into the Japanese episodes one of the things I was most pleased with and intrigued with is that the Sailor Moon series, all two hundred episodes, comprise a single story. I had read about this before on web sites, but the fullness and richness of the story didn't come to me until I started watching the Japanese version videos. This is a major departure from the various cartoons produced in this country (USA) where each episode is a standalone story with little plot and no major goals in sight. I find watching Sailor Moon more like reading some of those classic children's tails that Daddy grew up with.

Another neat thing I discovered while watching Sailor Moon is that I love the language. I have taken up the study of Japanese and I have been making progress. I have decided when I get those earlier episodes in the Japanese version I won't bother to look for videos with subtitles.

One of the things I like best about Sailor Moon is that no one would ever guess she is a super hero. Even the other Sailor Scouts are always teasing her about not really being the type of girl who should be Sailor Moon the leader of the Sailor Scouts. Tsukino Usagi (family name first then given name) is the girl who turns out to be Sailor Moon. Until the day she is told of her destiny she has no idea that life has something very special in store for her. Her name though is a bit of a clue. In Japanese, "Tsuki" is the word for moon. When the particle "no" is post fixed to a word it indicates possession. "Usagi" is the Japanese word for bunny or rabbit. Usagi's name (Usagino namae - See how the "no" works?) means "Moon's Bunny".

In many ways Usagi is quite an unlikely candidate for an important roll in the world. She is though very sensitive of both her feelings and those of others. When given a choice she places others ahead of herself even if it has serious consequences for her. She does not like to fight and avoids battle as much as possible, but when there is no choice, she does what she must. Because of her lackluster performance as a student, her general avoidance of hard work, and the way she hesitates going into battle, Sailor Mars is particularly critical of Usagi as not being fit to fulfill her destiny as Sailor Moon. Later in the Story Sailors Uranus and Neptune are even more critical. The others pick on Usagi from time to time, but mostly they try to help her improve.

A curious point, at first, is how loyal Sailor Mars is to Sailor Moon. On several occasions Mars puts her life on the line for Sailor Moon. Indeed all of the Scouts are intensely loyal to Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon is, as they put it, their "very important friend" (translation). In point of fact, all of the Scouts are in some way unusual and are picked on by their peers. Sailor Mercury is picked on for being a "book worm" and excellent student. Though she is well respected, most prefer not to be her friend. Sailor Mars is feared for her psychic powers. She is a maiden at the Cheery Hill Temple and she is seen as mysterious and scary. Sailor Venus is very pretty and has dreams of being an "idol" staring in movies, singing, and so on. Most of the other girls at school see her as being stuck up. Sailor Jupiter has a deserved reputation for being a fighter. When people give her trouble, she gives it back. Jupiter is a tall muscular girl and is self conscious of her appearance. She tries to make up for it by being an excellent cook, figure skater, and housekeeper. This leads to others being either jealous of her talent or afraid of her strength. What all the Sailor Scouts have in common is Sailor Moon. She is their friend, without qualification, accepting each for who they are and being happy to have them as her friends.

I have said before that I much prefer the original Japanese version of Sailor Moon to the version that is distributed here in the U.S.A. One of the differences that led to my opinion is the way the U.S. English version remakes the characters of the story. Here is a good example of what I mean.

When Sailor Moon has her confrontation with the evil queen of the Negaverse. The two versions show the character of Sailor Moon in very different ways. In the U.S. English version, Sailor Moon uses "Cosmic Moon Power" with the clear implication that her intent is to destroy the queen. In the original Japanese version Sailor Moon uses "Moon Healing Escalation". In using this power, Sailor Moon's intent is to heal the queen by removing all of the evil from her.

As it turns, out when all of the evil is removed nothing remained. This could lead to the superficial conclusion that the difference I have pointed out doesn't matter. The difference though is in Sailor Moon's intent. In the case of the original character, she is trying to heal and preserve. In this case being the soldier of love is at least as important as being the soldier of justice. In the case of the U.S. English version, Sailor Moon is dispensing justice with no concern at all for the queen. If you are able to watch the entire story you will find that Sailor Moon's ultimate destiny is of such a nature that she could not be successful if she was in fact the person portrayed in the U.S. English version. That would lead to a very different ending to the story where evil ultimately wins.

In the final episodes, Sailor Moon is offered the weapon and opportunity to simply destroy Sailor Galaxia, but she refuses. I will be very curious to see if DiC ever releases the final episodes in a U.S. English version. I wonder how they might mangle that part of the story to make an ending. Perhaps, if we are lucky, DiC will realize what a mess they have made of the story and simply discontinue production of the U.S. English version before they get that far.

Copyright © by Liesel Siobhan

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