Sailor Moon Shrine

"Usagi Tsukino is a normal girl until she meets up with Luna a talking cat who tells her that she is Sailor Moon. As Sailor Moon Usagi must fight evils and enforce justice in the name of the Moon and the mysterious Moon Princess. She meets other girls destined to be Sailor Senshi and together they fight the forces of evil."

Sailor Moon how I love thee. I grew up on the original English dub, until getting it in the US was impossible. My first time in online fandom was Sailor Moon Geocities and Angelfire sites where I read way too much fanfic (mostly first season Usagi/Mamoru). Then I read the manga which made me love the series even more, and will likely always be my favorite version. I've also seen the live action, which I like but don't love, and Sailor Moon Crystal, which I also enjoyed. With that said I've not seen the musicals in their entirety but what I have seen I liked.

So why? Well I think the first reason I loved it was it was really the only kids show that featured more than one female character and not only that but each one had a well defined personality that was different from the other characters. The story could be silly in a way I enjoyed (I find I've less patience for some of the silliness now but it's still very watchable) but it also had a seriousness that I enjoyed.

Then when I got the internet I was able to explore the fandom (my first!). There were so many fans united in our love for the series and the fanfics! To this day I swear the old-school Sailor Moon fandom had some of the best fics I've ever read and while some of that is nostalgia glasses I will probably always stand by it.

Getting the manga when I did was tricky, since you couldn't buy it legally in the US at that time, but once I read it I fell in love all over again. While I loved (and still love) the orginal anime I still wanted something more from the story and here I found it. A rich and complicated story that built upon itself with themes and characters that was everything I wanted from this story. And that art, just gorgeous, by far the prettiest manga I've ever seen. This is the series I go to whenever I need a reminder that no matter how dark things get I will always find the strength to walk my path.

Not gonna lie, I cried when I learned of Sailor Moon Crystal and that the anime and manga were getting re-released. And while it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I love the art but some of the changes they made from the manga sadden me. I will say that season 3 and to my suprise the movies for the 4th and 5th arc were far better in that respect than the first two seasons though.

In conclusion this canon and to an extent the fandom is still the one place I could go to when ever I need to remember to laugh, to cry, to love and to find my inner light just like it was when I first found it over 20 years ago.