1) Introduction
Sailor Moon is a cartoon about teenage sailor-suited superheroines, aimed at
young girls, which began broadcast in North America on September 11, 1995 (August
28 on YTV in Canada). In Japan it was produced by Bandai. The English language
version was produced by DIC Entertainment and aired in syndi- cation (not Fox,
though one episode was shown on Fox as a special). The series is a dub of a
Japanese cartoon (anime) whose name (Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon) is usually
translated as "Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon"; this cartoon is based on a manga
(Japanese comic book) created by Takeuchi Naoko. (Note: All Japanese names in
this FAQ are listed Japanese style, with family name first.)
The last TV episode aired in Japan on February 8, 1997; the last manga was the March 1997 Nakayoshi (which became the end of volume 18 of the collected manga). The replacement for the TV series was a shojo-style Cutey Honey remake (named Cutey Honey Flash) worked on by many of the same people working on the Sailor Moon series. Cutey Honey Flash lasted one year. The manga was replaced with "Mizuiro no Tamago", a completely unrelated manga.
There is no truth to the rumor that Takeuchi Naoko is considering making more Sailor Moon. The USA Save Our Sailors has claimed this, but then they also claimed "Prince Uranus" (see the appendix). The page they point to was written by a fan, not Naoko, and doesn't include any quotes from her. Takeuchi has also said that there will be no more Sailor Moon manga.
In North America, DIC made 65 episodes available in 1995-1996. There was apparently a big falling-out between Bandai and DIC, and a lot of rumors abound.
17 more episodes were dubbed mainly for Canadian release. They were first shown in the US long after their original run in Canada. The voice actors for Darien and Sailor Mars had left (or were fired) for these episodes. Adding the 17 newer episodes takes the series up to Japanese episode 89, and the end of the R storyline. It was reported that DIC planned to delete the references to Sailor Uranus and Neptune and the S storyline, but they didn't.
S and SS were dubbed by DIC in 2000 and are shown on Cartoon Network, starting June 12, 2000. Pioneer has released the movies and is releasing the S and SS seasons on tape and DVD. AD Vision is releasing the DIC dub episodes on video.
| Distributors and toy producers are as follows: | ||
| Country | Distributor | Toys |
| USA | Program Exchange (was Seagull Entertainment) | Bandai USA |
| Canada | Kaleidoscope Entertainment | Irwin Toys |
| Australia | ? | Croner-Tyco |
| New Zealand | ? | ? |
Note: There are lots of spoilers here. Read at your own risk.
The Sailor Moon FAQ was created and is maintained by:
Ken Arromdee / arromdee@rahul.net / http://www.rahul.net/arromdee
Please do not email Mr. Arromdee with questions regarding sailormoon.org.
He is not affiliated with this website.
The FAQ has been HTMLized by Jen Maher-Bontrager of sailormoon.org.