#syhraus

Not....particularly happy

Commission for @syhraus ^^ Thank you for commissioning me^^

Obviously first answer would definitely be a yes, but I think it really really depends on what you look for when watching an anime.

a BIG hurdle I think to get over is that the show is divided into 5 seasons and all together they add up to exactly 200 episodes. I know One Piece is pushing a 1000 episodes by now and people HAVE watched hundreds upon hundreds of episodes of it if they just get into it and binge watch it, but I think 200 is still a pretty solid number. The arcs are generally around 30 to 40 episodes but you kinda HAVE to watch them in order and can’t really jump around. So just know you might be in for a lengthy sit if you want to watch all of it.

The first season is 46 episodes, but it’s not the BEST season. But it is what people tend to think of when they think “Sailor Moon” (in my opinion the 3rd season is the best the series gets although Stars, the final season is also way up there. The 4th season is the weakest of the bunch).

The other thing about Sailor Moon is the way the show is structured. Sailor Moon is a “monster of the day” show with a larger story for each season, but the story is revealed slowly with the bad guys having some or other scheme like “Steal energy from humans” and sending a monster of the day to go do that, and the girls go and fight the monster, save the victim, and in story episodes learn something new about the main bad guys as they try and figure out how they’re going to stop them for good.

Unlike a show like One Piece, where you have a main story arc stretched to fill as much time as possible and then between major story arcs you have filler, Sailor Moon is a show where you could call a majority of its episodes “filler”, but the filler DOES drive the show, because the show uses the filler to give us what its biggest strength is, namely the characters, how they interact, their relationships with each other, and a very good deal of comedy and sometimes drama.

It boils down to if you like the characters or not, but luckily all the main characters are extremely likeable. I’ve heard some dudes complain that Usagi is an annoying crybaby… but that’s kind of the point? Sailor Moon is a show that teaches you that you don’t have to be a perfect person who does everything right to be a hero. All you need is to want to protect people, and that having and expressing emotions is OK and doesn’t mean you aren’t a strong person.

However if you’re unsure if you’ll enjoy it and you’re not sure you want to sit through the first 46 episodes, there is something else MUCH easier! And it’s how I actually got into the show in the first place, and that’s the very first movie

Sailor Moon R: The Promise of the Rose

It takes place around the 2nd season of the show (Sailor Moon R) but doesn’t tie into any of the major events, doesn’t have any of the main bad guys in it, and really the ONLY lore you need to know is 1: Usagi and Mamoru are boyfriend and Girlfriend and 2: Chibi-Usa, the little girl hanging out with the group, is from the future. The movie is 60 minutes long and although it never gets “as good” as the show does when the show is at its best, it is a perfect summary of what you can expect from the show on average.Fights between the girls and monsters. A big bad guy trying to do a bad thing. Average comedy the show has. Average drama the show has. and most importantly it perfectly shows WHY we like Usagi and her friends as characters.

The movie very recently got re-released on DVD and Blu Ray so its easy to find and I think VIZ allows you to stream directly from their site (My country is blocked so I’m not sure). Just make sure to either watch it in Japanese with subs, or watch the NEW dub, not the 90s original dub which is probably one of the worst dubs I’ve ever heard.

It looks like this

Or the older cover which looks like this

So I guess that’s my answer? Sorry it’s so long ^^; but I think Sailor Moon isn’t exactly a show like Cowboy Bebop where you can tell someone “Oh yeah watch it! It’s awesome!” without any worries. Because Sailor Moon is a pretty particular taste, not so much in its story but more in how the show is structured. And I know in an age of streaming anime which usually cap around 12 episodes and have a continuous story, it’s a bit of a hard sell.

Oh there’s also the Remake “Sailor Moon Crystal” but…. we don’t talk about that one.

Duck you natsumi!