First Thoughts: Childhood Nostolgia.

Oh woe is me. Where does someone begin with the massive pile of mini-skirts that is Sailor Moon? Do I start with the huge amount of episodes that was ultimately cut off in the English dub? How about the severe cuts between Japan and America? Heck, why not start with the Pen & Paper RPG?!

It seems fitting, actually, to start at the beginning. The best place to get this snowball rolling is the first time I ever caught an episode. It was ages ago when I first flipped to Cartoon Network, and caught my first dose of Meat-Ball-Head-Tiara-Action, so there is no way I can completely remember which of the episodes hooked me, but hooked I was. It seems obvious really, considering I share a good deal in common: sad to say I was a lazy girl growing up with a large appetite, and little need for exercise. But the fact that she could get up and do so many great things was a huge pick-me up. She was terrified out of her mind, but it was fascinating all the same.

Even if it usually went more like this...

Eh, every good anime has a draw back.

But yeah, this was my show. I always had to be near a TV when this show came on. It ended up being ironic, since I always had to fight my older brothers for the remote, and both of them were huge DBZ fans at the time. The fact that I was willing to wrestle people over ten years older than me speaks volumes for my devotion for the show, and for all the other fans. This fandom spawned books, replicas, games, dolls, (and sadly a full line of body pillows) and a group of people who will shove a cutie-rod up your backside if you talk trash.

But why? What did this anime do for girls that struck such a chord? Speaking for myself, it was what Goku and Superman was to the male populace, but much closer to home. Serena, or Usagi-chan if you prefer the Japanese version, was closer to our age and acted in this scary situations in the same way most of us probably would too (panic, cry and get the hell out of dodge). The difference is that she conquered the fears for us, always stood back up, and finished the job. Thus she became our hero, and a n example for us to reach for what we were afraid of. It also helps that she wasn't shy in romance, and was always hands on with her boyfriend...too much in some cases really.

Sweet Romance in all of it's stalker glory. But we'll get to their relationship at a later date.
Either way, despite her nature as a lazy-crybaby, I ate the show up like candy. I still consider this to be the very first anime I ever fully got into beyond Pokemon and Digimon; the gateway anime, if you will. It was my introduction to anime as a whole, and a good deal of the things it would bring. For example, it introduced me to The Magical Girl Genre, in which young girls are given magic powers to fight monsters or so, and the basic principle that Anime is done by Perverts...

And yet the fanbase has normally been distinctly female.

The main plot of the show was fairly simple, to those who are not in the know, and revolves around a group of girls with magic powers. Serena Tsukino, or Usagi Tsukino, is visited by a talking cat named Luna, who tells her that she is severa others are Sailor Scouts (Sailor Senshi, for the Japanese version) and that they are to protect the city from The Negaverse, or the Dark Kingdom, ruled by Queen Beryl and her Henchmen. The mystery comes in the form of royalty, as the girls are also supposed to be on the look out for the Moon Princess, as they are to be her guards.Every episode the girls are attacked by a creative monster, attempting to steal 'energy' for their dark ruler, they go through the super colorful transformations, they toss around attacks, our hero is pulled from death by the brave Tuxedo Mask...

Now hang on! I am a Feminist by trade, and you'd think I'd be appalled that these girls need this one little guy here to get off their butts and do the work? Hardly. Tuxedo Mask may be the main love interest, resident female fan-service and a typical James Bondage, but he's also hard working. It's not easy pulling that klutz out of her incidents, and its always our protagonists who do the main work. He's a side-character at best, but he added just the right amount of romance to make girls swoon. Besides, it could be worse. His personality is less than impressive, but at least he has one. As a feminist, I support female-empowerment well enough, but I also support teamwork amongst the sexes more.

But enough equality talk. How's the show?

As I said, the episodes always followed the same pattern. It always ended with Moonie destroying the monster with her big fancy attack, and everything going back to normal. There were, of course, deviations to make things interesting; Moonie had to deal with the henchmen on occasion, and the final episodes always took a more dramatic route. Still, you never missed much if you missed an episode, but you also had fun if you watched it religiously (like me!). It was funny, romantic,  and even had moments that left you suspenseful...all 200 episodes.

That big controversy will be dealt with later.
I intend to cover as many issues, cuts, jokes, and cliches as much as I can on my childhood hero, and see just how many jokes I can wring out of it. Stick around for next time, as we examine our main character in more detail.

Toodles!