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SPOILERS
The live action television series based on Sailor Moon is not perfect, but I love it and its flaws. I think I love Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon the same way someone loves Power Rangers: the overdone colorful costumes, cheesiness, and borderline goofy martial arts just add to its charm. I would call shows like this soap operas for kids. They look different from other TV shows, the acting is usually over the top, and you cannot help but question the logic now and then (or all the time). However, there is drama and excitement that takes you out of the real world along with the colors, costumes, and conviction of the actors. Also, as far as live action adaptations go, it is a lot of fun! It makes use of the source material while also being its own story, which I think helps separate it enough that fans of one or the other do not have to get too worked about how close they are.
Usagi with the stuffed doll version of Luna and a small picture of her Sailor Moon form
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Sailor Moon series:
Manga by Naoko Takeuchi - Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (1991)
Anime - Sailor Moon (1992), mutlipe seasons & movies
Live Action - Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (2003)
Anime - Sailor Moon Crystal (2014), 20th anniversary celebration series
There are also musicals and other spinoff uses of the material
The Sailor Moon story centers around mainly Usagi, a Japanese teenage girl with her head in the clouds. (Or Serena in the English anime version.) She listens to popular music stars, admires the masked superhero Sailor V, and does poorly in school because she is such an airhead. However, she is well-liked due to being so sweet. As for family life, she lives with her mother and little brother, and they all get along happily, if chaotically and comically. Her only real problem is that she dreams of being famous or strong or just a bit more special, and she is mostly too busy being a teenager to be any of those things. Suddenly, the magical moon cat Luna drops into her life and tells Usagi that she is actually the reincarnation of one of the ancient Moon Princess's protectors. This gives her the power to use special tools provided by Luna to transform into Sailor Moon, guardian of the earth from otherworldly evil forces. (Usagi means "rabbit" in Japanese, and traditionally rabbits are associated with the moon as their version of the man in the moon.)
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The transformation sequences are always sparkly, colorful, and just a little bit ridiculous. They have made the anime famous and set a precedent within the magical girl genre. In the animated show, Usagi has impossibly long, blonde pig-tails that are the subject of many jokes. (For example, one character calls her "meatball head" in the English version.) This is Sailor moon's iconic hair style. In the live action version, however, Usagi has typical Japanese black hair she wears in high pig-tails. So, when she transforms into her alter ego, her hair suddenly turns blonde! While a bit silly, and definitely too much like a costume, we can at least say that it is a better disguise than what her character wears in the original anime. She still retains her red boots, long gloves, and famous sailor uniform with big bows. (Another big change is that Luna is not a talking cat, but a living doll! Luna goes back and forth between being a stuffed animal that moves around a bit to being computer animated.)
Computer animated Luna shown her with Usagi
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With Luna's help, Sailor Moon searches for the reincarnation of the Moon Princess as well as the other Sailor Scouts. One by one they find them while defeating monsters hiding throughout the city looking for souls to steal.
First she finds Sailor Mercury (blue, water/bubbles) in her own school in the form of Ami, the bookish daughter of a doctor. They become best friends after Ami understands that Usagi would like to be her friend whether or not she is a Sailor Scout.
Then the two of them discover Sailor Mars (red, fire), who is a mysterious girl named Rei who lives at the local Shinto shrine and has supernatural priestess powers.
Next is Sailor Jupiter (green, lightning), who is a tall, imposing girl named Makoto who transfers into their school. It terms out that despite her hard exterior and athletic ability, she is actually a sweetheart who likes to bake and craft.
Finally, much to Usagi's delight, they discover that Sailor Venus (orange, love power) was the renegade superhero Super V all along as well as Usagi's favorite pop singer Minako Aino. She is more serious about everything than the others because (1) she too has a moon cat, who is white and named Artemis, (2) she remembers her past life, and (3) she is dying of an unnamed disease, possibly cancer. (I think Japanese people dislike talking about cancer, so I cannot recall it ever being mentioned by name in the show.) Her time is running out and she is determined to find the princess, as she is the leader of the protective Sailor Scouts.
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In the books and anime, we meet the rest of the Sailor Scouts, who each have special artifacts and are mostly a bit older. Sailor Saturn (purple, world destoryer) carries a scythe staff, Sailor Neptune (teal, ocean) has a magic mirror, Sailor Uranus (yellow, explosive) has a sword, and Sailor Pluto (deep green, time) holds the time key garnet staff. While Sailor Saturn is revealed to be so powerful that she mainly remains sealed up by choice, the other three act as mentors to the younger Sailor Scouts in battle, love, and life.
First picture: Pluto, Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune
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While all this is happening, we see what the villains are up to as they gather energy for their dark mistress Beryl, as well as the life of the orphaned Mamoru (or Darien in the English version of the anime). Sailor Moon encounters a handsome masked man in a cape and top hat who calls himself Tuxedo Mask and steals jewels in the hopes of finding a special crystal a woman in his dreams tells him to find. Usagi meets him too, but as Mamoru: an attractive but arrogant college student who thinks she is a dumb kid. While Tuxedo Mask is not as enamored with Sailor Moon as she is with him, he is very curious about her and respects her as a fighter, making it even harder for him to see that Usagi is Sailor Moon despite them ending up in the same place all the time due to their secret exploits.
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The enemies follow the pattern of the first season of the Sailor Moon anime: Queen Beryl commands a few generals who then send monsters out into the world to harvest people's energy. They target areas where people are likely to feel happy or excited, such as conventions, fashion shows, and concerts. While Queen Beryl and her minions look human despite their otherworldly clothes and colorful hair, their monsters are basically walking cartoons. One might have a helicopter/plane head while another is a walking cactus. They are quite funny to watch, especially as the Sailor Scouts fight them in pig-tails, skirts, and heels.
Queen Beryl's henchmen (above), Sailor Moon fighting a monster (below)
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After a long cat and mouse chase, everyone learns (1) who Sailor V is, (2) who Tuxedo Mask is, and finally (3) that Usagi was the Moon Princess all along. The personality of the long dead princess still exists within her. This is where the story really differs from the Sailor Moon books or anime. At this time I have not read the manga, but I have seen a lot of the anime, and I can say that the old version of the Moon Princess is gone. Usagi is essentially her reborn. Basically, she is not a separate person. We even see glimpses of the far future when Usagi is an adult and she seems very similar to the flashbacks of the Moon Princess. She is serene and fair and a strong ruler despite the ineptitude of her youth. The anime paints a picture of a post-apocalyptic future that Usagi and Mamoru rule while training their daughter to take over after them. That daughter ends up time traveling back to the present, which is how we learn about all of this, and lives with Usagi as her "cousin" while also fighting as a little Sailor Scout. However, in the live action TV show, the story takes a very different turn. In fact, it flips the whole thing on its head.
Above is Luna in her live action human form, which she stays in on and off. Her personality seems to change, going from mentor to child. Below is the anime Luna on one of her very rare occasions for becoming human, in this case to spend time with a man she had feelings for. She is a more mature character in the anime, and eventually ends up with fellow moon cat Artemis, who she has a kitten with who plays a bigger role in later stories. You can see where the design idea for the live action version's costume came from, but otherwise I think they decided to keep things a little more for kids. Magical girl anime often feature sidekicks who go back and forth between being adults and chibi cute.
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In the live action show, we discover that the Moon Princess Serenity was a very different sort of girl from Usagi, or at least became that way after the death of her beloved in the war. It turns out that Mamoru is the reincarnation of the Earth Prince and their engagement was disrupted by the senseless war between the earth and the moon. Queen Beryl's henchmen were originally his generals, who he turned his back on in favor of seeing his beloved, and Beryl was a girl who loved him from afar. The Sailor Scouts were the Moon Princess's generals. When Earth Prince Endimione died, the Moon Princess mourned for him and released the full force of her magical powers. The crystal Mamoru dreamed of is actually hidden within Usagi's heart and it is powerful enough that her previous incarnation destroyed the entire Moon Kingdom, taking down most of the earth with it when she lost the Earth Prince.
Usagi, or Moon Princess Serenity's reincarnation, cries over her injured beloved.
Mamoru in his earth prince attire fighting alongside Usagi as Sailor Moon
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The final episodes of the show feature some crazy battles where Usagi finds herself slipping away as the Moon Princess takes over. The Moon Princess is more vicious in battle than Usagi is and having a force inside her that cares for nothing but her dead love tears at Usagi. Of course, in the end, the Moon Princess admits that Usagi is a sweet girl and that she can be the permanent protector of the crystal's power.
Moon Princess Serenity in the midst of battle, blocking Usagi's personality.
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There are some truly questionable parts to the show now and then. For example, while the cat Luna is something of a mature character in both the anime and live action show, her human form is the exact opposite. On the occasions in the anime when Luna transforms into a human, she is a young adult with long hair. In the live action show, on the other hand, she is a tiny and annoying ten-year-old girl. (Perhaps she is a replacement for Mini Moon who doesn't make an appearance?) Another long-running issue is that Makoto, or Sailor Jupiter, becomes convinced that she is meant to be alone forever as she was in her last life, and constantly pushes love away. As I mentioned before, the cancer situation with Minako (Sailor Venus) is also handled oddly. The character dies not on screen, but after we learn that she decided to go through with a dangerous surgery without ever having told the group about her illness, although it is suggested that she comes back with the incredible power they tap into at the end. Or maybe she just came back for the ending credits, I cannot remember. In another instance, an evil henchman infiltrates Usagi's class to torment her and turn her classmates against her, which goes on for so many episodes that I sometimes forgot it was still happening. The same is true of the time that Sailor Mercury and Mamoru were brought to the dark side. (Very reminiscent of Sugar Sugar Rune.) There are other clichés and Usagi's sort of ridiculous cheerfulness gets annoying over time, especially since she is usually whining or talking wistfully when she is not gushing about how excited she is for something. The group calls her their little sister, and while that is nice and all, you know full well why it is "little sister": Usagi is a baby. Although this is probably to counteract the overly adult, scorned Moon Princess personality as well as Mamoru's overly serious outlook on life, her voice does grate on your nerves over time. This was also done in Yu-Gi-Oh, but Yugi's youth and stubbornness play an actual role in the story beyond being nice.
Usagi gushes over something good to eat
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Despite the problems, I really enjoy watching this show. The over the top story works in its favor, the effects are goofy until they are suddenly sort of badass, the costumes are always shiny and girly, and really everything has a distinct feel that you enjoy getting sucked into, even if sometimes you cannot help but scoff a little.
In a classic oddball scene, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask fall off a building and are caught in the protective beam of light emanating from her wand. They have no choice but to wait until they reach the ground and spend a bit of time together. Usagi is still happy Usagi, and she is so elated by the whole experience that she begins singing her favorite pop song. This perplexes but intrigues Mamoru, disguised as Tuxedo Mask.
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