Back in the early 1990s, Naoko Takeuchi created a character named “Sailor V.” While mahou shoujo (magical girls) had been around for decades in manga and anime, ever since Bewitched was imported from America, Sailor V was a unique blend of stereotypical girly interests and action heroine. This attracted the notice of Toei Animation, who told Takeuchi they wanted something like Sailor V, but with a team of girls in the style of sentai shows.
So Ms. Takeuchi came up with Sailor Moon, which took place in the same universe as Sailor V’s adventures, but had a new cast. (Sailor V eventually was brought in to become Sailor Venus.) It was a huge hit, both in comics and animation form. There was a bit of a glitch in that the manga came out monthly, while the television show came out weekly. This caused the anime to have a lot of “filler”, episodes designed to have nothing important happen, or fill in the blanks of minor character’s characterization.
The manga and anime were brought over to America by separate companies. At the time, it was feared that American children were uninterested in shows that took place in foreign countries starring people with non-Caucasian names. So a lot of names and cultural references were changed or dropped. There were also differences in what was considered acceptable for children to watch in Japan and America, so some things were censored. The most notable example is that two characters who had a romantic relationship in the original were changed to “cousins” for the dub.
Despite the changes, and the poor handling of the marketing by the American distributors, Sailor Moon became a hit in the United States, with a huge secondary market in the original Japanese goods. Many teenagers, especially girls, were first introduced to anime by this show, and it helped create the market that exists today.
The US dub has been out of circulation for a while, and will cost you a pretty penny for a legal copy. However, there’s a new Sailor Moon anime coming out this year, supposedly more faithful to the manga, and as part of the marketing for it, Viz Media has been allowed to re-subtitle and soon re-dub the 90s anime. You can find the subtitled version on Hulu–they’re releasing it two episodes a week, with the first week getting four.
So, talk about Sailor Moon, or if you’re not a fan, tell me about a girls’ book series you enjoyed.
