The original Sailor Moon anime adapted the manga in its own way..it might have changed some things and in a way sonly adapted certain parts of the actual story, but it is a different beast that fit the needs of 90s anime and because of it many can argue the anime was actually superior to the manga. The anime just feels like it was made in the 90s and it works for it.
Sailor Moon
The story might be the simplest and yet it’s not hard to argue that it might still be the best series out of them all. While a more good vs evil storyline, we actually get to see the characters develop and care about them. We begin getting to slowly know Serena / Usagi before she gets any team mates, and after she gets a team mate introduced we get at least some episodes to see them acting together before introducing a new member.
The larger cast of characters at school, their homes and places they hang out really make this season feel more alive than later ones. There is a certain charm that while it might be a basic story it just really resonates. That’s not to say there aren’t complext character relationships and shocking twists along the way, this makes the original series of the 90s Sailor Moon anime the greatest.
Sailor Moon R
There are two aracs here, one that is anime original which some might call filler and the later one adapting the manga which also takes its liberties. The story of the twins in the filler arc is pretty much almost half of the season, so it’s not like it’s only a few episodes. Personally I also think it could’ve lasted a few episodes more, though I’m glad it wasn’t a full series just on this or it would’ve dragged. It’s a solid story that has a satisfying ending but this lead to a problem.
The actual ‘main arc’ is not as strong and actually feels weaker than the filler one. You can’t help but compare it. While the manga arc is not bad, I also feel it didn’t have enough time to set things up like say the original series did so you don’t care as much and since you just finished a storyline not too long ago you don’t feel it’s as much of a sacrifice. Second arc is not bad and overall R is a solid series.
Sailor Moon S
We now move on to S and while it doesn’t seem as exciting since at leas to me an S is less interesting than an R but whatever. Also taking its liberties, this season does stick to only the manga story. It introduces the outer senshi and continues the story in a new direction. This is where they showed what they could do with the story.
It’s a much darker tone and it gives us a captivating story that holds you on the edge to see what is going to happen to the world. It doesn’t matter tha it’s by now the fourth time they’re saving the cosmos, S shows us how you can handle a large cast while not making sacrifizes.
Sailor Moon Super S
Since S was such a great series, showing the full potential of Sailor Moon, they wanted to show this by not giving a new name but instead adding a Super. Super S should be so much better than S right? Well I don’t know what happened but this is easily the worst series of them all. I don’t know how they could’ve dropped the ball so bad on this one.
It’s episodic, the characters don’t have interesting arcs and it feels a drag to watch through it all. To its merit I have to say that Sailor Moon always knew how to design cool and interesting villains to fight. So the potential was there, you had the cast of characters. It’s the writing that failed here.
Sailor Moon Sailor Stars
After the last disappointing series it’s hard to get excited over the next one, but it’s the last one and a bit shorter as well. How does the final arc Sailor Stars do? Well It’s alright. That’s about it, it’s not particularly strong in anything but it also isn’t weak or the worst at anything. Sadly that kind of puts it in an odd position where you don’t really care about what it ends up doing or feel anything about the conclusion to the story you’ve been following which is a shame.
With that said I don’t particulary like the Sailor Stars, they’re not great characters and take time from the already large cast. It’s nice to see the characters get a final hoorah and an ending that can give a decent conclusion to all the stories we’ve been following. It might not feel as epic as you’d want it but it does its job at trying to give closure. I also think Serena Usagi might be one of the strongest characters in fiction. I didn’t talk the movies but there are movies for R, S and Super S, they are basically like extended episodes and none of them were terrible or great.
Sailor Moon > S > R > Stars > Super S
As a kid I began watching Sailor Moon with my sister and always enjoyed it, I did feel a bit weird thinking I was seeing a girls cartoon when my sister stopped watching but nevertheless I mostly stuck with it. Upon rewatching it I can also understand why I became less consistent as later seasons can drag a bit. I especially like how it’s not really seasons, as a kid I loved that each one was a different series with a different name. It made me feel like I was watching something new and evolving.