She's the One Named Sailor Moon

“Fighting evil by moonlight

Winning love by daylight

Never running from a real fight,

She’s the one named Sailor Moon”

Cartoons, superheroes, they become a part of every child’s childhood in some way, shape, or form. For me, I entered the world of superheroes through the world of:

Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon is an anime, which is a drawn in a Japanese cartoon style that features large eyes, wild color combinations, hair that defies all logics at times, and disproportionate bodies. This particular style is an art form that continues to grow increasingly popular.

With Sailor Moon, it was the catchy songs, the bright colors, the sparkles, the pink, that immediately drew me, a young, extremely “girly” five-year old, in. Much like a moth to to flame, this is the series that first introduced me to the world of anime, and in an even broader perspective, superheroes. 

Taking a look at this cartoon from where I stand now, this series seems to be the epitome of femininity in our culture today. The fact that this series was created in Japan, just goes to show how cultural norms, more specifically Americanized cultural norms, have spread. 

For example, the main girl Usagi, or Serena, which would be her english dubbed counter part, is a blonde haired, big-blue eyed, young white girl. I mean, does this particular racial identity seem familiar? I might just add this series takes place in modern day Japan.

On another note, she is a fairly gluttonous girl, who lives off of junk food, video games, and being lazy. And still, even before her secret life as a vigilant by moonlight, she has always had, and always will, a perfect figure by most standards; slim waist, busty, and long, slender legs.

She’s pretty much fully developed. And she’s only thirteen, and in the eighth grade during the pilot episode. 

Together, along with her friends, all essentially middle school students for the first season at least, the girls stand for truth, love and justice. They are cute, but sexy as the prance along in their sailor uniforms, consisting of: skin tight leotards, short skirts, and high heels that are a really questionable choice in footwear while fighting crime.

Aside from their life fighting crime, the big theme of many episodes is love. Whether it be going gaga over a guy, fighting over a guy, or attempting maintain a relationship (you know, eight grade girl, with freshman guy in college, but hey, they were soulmates in a past life, and don’t forget the twist when their daughter is sent from the future) with a guy. This age gap, is most likely due to cultural differences though, and may be more accepted in it’s original culture of Japan vs. America.


Ironically, while the girls (especially Sailor Moon) do find themselves in peril on a pretty daily basis, Tuxedo mask, is often the character that we’d call the ‘damsel in distress.’ The guy equivalent, anyway. He’s been kidnapped, brain-washed, turned against the team, kidnapped again, etc. He adds quite the twist to generalized gender norms, dare I say. Also, note that his power is throwing roses that somehow make everyone stop what they’re doing. Something that means well, but is kind of a joke compared to the other powers that are represented in this show.

Still, it’s a nice change, because he and Sailor Moon together, it’s their love (and the help of their friends) that acts as the ultimate source to destroying all evil! Hell yeah! Cheesy. Extremely cheesy, I’ll admit it, but it shows a sense of equality in their relationship, which is quite refreshing. With their age gap aside, their difference in personality does tend to bring out the best in one another other. (Plus they're pretty cute, but that may just be me)

I think the most interesting thing about this series has to be how much was cut as the show was prepped for the English dub. In the Americanized adaption, all the scenes featuring same-sex couples (to the point where they even changed a guy character into a girl) were cut, a lot of the violence was lost, and they didn’t even dub the final season which involved the gender bending of three characters that literally transformed back and forth from guys into girls. I do mean literally, by the way.

Basically there was a big shift in the intended audience as it went from teens, to children, where every episode would end in with a, “Sailor Says” that would describe in full pep, what do to in various scenarios, and then back to teens again. That was a transition that even I, as a five year old, was able to pick up on. 

Do not get me wrong, because even though there's a lot of negativity from my observations, I still love Sailor Moon. It was one of the biggest impacts on my childhood, and I’m completely psyched for the remake that should be (so they say) released this summer '14! It’s just looking back now, there are a lot of things that make more sense because I have the original plot line that was altered, to look back on. That said, there are a lot of things that are just as confusing as they were when I was a kid as well. I'm still fascinated with all the cultural references with some that are the same, and some very different. And I think that despite the skimpy outfits (the ones my parents feared I'd cosplay some day as I got older), the show can be very empowering for young girls. Because for me at least, Sailor Moon was the show that made me think that girls could be powerful. Girls could be heroes too. 

~ Story