Sailor Moon is a popular manga and anime series created by Naoko Takeuchi. It follows a team of magical girls who fight against darkness. The series has spawned movies, live action productions, video games, and musicals. Takeuchi has been praised for her “girl power” themes and for reintroducing the magical girl theme into manga. Though the series was not as popular in the United States, it is still regarded as one of the best anime series in Japan and has been an inspiration for girls who would like to write manga.
Sailor Moon is a manga (comic) series, named after the main character created by Naoko Takeuchi. In Japan, Sailor Moon’s immense popularity has led to anime (cartoon versions) of the manga series, movies, live action productions, video games, and musicals. Translations of the comic series in the United States have been popular, even though the dubbed versions of the anime productions have failed to capture the interest of many viewers.
Sailor Moon straddles two common manga genres, the magical girl and the squad genre. Naoko Takeuchi was initially particularly interested in the magical girl genre, but later the popularity of the Sailor V manga series inspired her to rework the storyline to incorporate nine other magical girls into a team to fight the forces of darkness. Each girl has the ability to transform into a “sailor” superhero named after planets or the moon. If you follow the manga, the stories aren’t always consistent due to this plot rework.
Takeuchi has been praised for her “girl power” themes, for including references to classical Greek and Roman mythology, and for reintroducing the magical girl theme into manga. She originally planned to produce only one story, but eventually she produced five different story arcs due to the popularity of Sailor Moon. The complete series was released in book form, actually 14 books in total. The first edition was published in 1992 and in 2003 a second edition with new drawings, some changes and new artwork hit the stands.
The manga series began its run in 1992 and spawned 200 episodes over the next five years. Sailor Moon’s popularity made the manga popular in prime time showings of the cartoon. The live action series had a short run in Japan between 2003 and 2004. In Japan, Sony and Sega both had popular Sailor Moon video games, most notable for its puzzles. A Nintendo Wii game is in production. English versions of Sailor Moon video games are hard to find.
Finding English translations of the Sailor Moon manga is now difficult. The English-language versions of the manga are out of print, so they can be hard to pick up. Also, Sailor Moon did not enjoy the widespread popularity in the United States that it had in Japan, so fewer English issues and books were printed.
Though some criticized Sailor Moon as campy or “stock” entertainment, many clearly enjoyed the stories in all their manifestations. It is still regarded as one of the best anime series in Japan and has been an inspiration for girls who would like to write manga. Takeuchi’s popularity in Japan was comparable to JK Rowling’s in the UK and the US. She is considered a role model for those who would like to follow in her footsteps.
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