Worth mentioning, I'm a 30-something Transfem, so I've got a bit of a unique perspective on Sailor Moon as someone that identifies more with shows aimed at women and comes from that general era of anime, but also had ZERO nostalgia for it because I'd just go "Girl show, ew" and then watch Yu Yu Hakusho instead. I feel like thinking of a lot of these episodes as filler isn't really the right way to approach things. Sure, the plot takes its time, but for the most part the show really isn't about the action and story as much as it's about these characters hanging out and doing slice of life shenanigans, right? Like, you're not really coming back to watch Usagi fight things, you know what she's going to do already. You're generally coming back to see her get turned into a tennis ball or try to get free stuff from a manga artist, right? I think if I had to list my favorite or most memorable episodes from Season 1, most of them wouldn't really be plot episodes. Sure, Jadeite being nearly run over by an airliner is great and I think Nephrite's arc is really solid (implications aside). But the stuff that really stuck with me when I watched it around a year ago was things like the time Luna had a fat Tuxedo Mask knock-off chasing after her while Zoisite keeps getting tortured with sewer rats, lol! Or like when Nephrite tries to lure Sailor Moon into a trap with an obvious bait letter only to reveal that EVERYONE IN THE CLASS got the same letter. AND IT STILL WORKS! Season 1 is just such fun cheesy shenanigans and I'm 100% all here for it. Point is, I think the show's still doing what most fans want it to do whether plot's really happening or not, so I feel like having an 'essential episodes list' really does miss the point. It's not like Naruto where there's this intricate plot you just have to wait on, people are mostly in it for the characters. - Also wanted to say I feel like the show totally does have a point behind the memory erasure. This is going to sound really goofy after what I've just said, but a large part of this show's finale is the trauma these girls go through. You see Sailor Moon get beaten down over the final stretch and when she gets to the end, everyone's just straight-up dead. What this means is two things. First, it's kind-of the ethical thing to do? They're finally able to just be normal girls again, if Beryl is the final bad guy then it'd be pretty messed up to force them to live with that, so it makes the forces of good look more merciful. Secondly, it gets across a bigger thematic point, right? They lose their memories, but now they have to actually choose to regain them. They have to opt into all this pain and suffering willingly because it's part of who they are and because doing what's right and being able to remain friends are all worth the trauma being a Sailor Scout is going to give them. Like, that's pretty whatever now, but for like the 90s? In a girls' show? I think there's totally something there, you know? Sure, it's not going to be for everybody for sure, but I still really respect this series for what it is, even after just season 1. Although, let's be real, they should have gotten to the other team members faster, Usagi REALLY just cannot carry a show on her own at all! Those first few episodes are freaking ROUGH! Sorry for the ramble, but yeah, I think that's all I really have to say about this as a fairly new Sailor Moon fan, lol!
Hi, Tommy from the podcast. Sailor Moon gets much better, and Sailor Moon S is excellent (especially because it adds Sailor Uranus). I've watched the first three seasons, and it gets better each season. I haven't seen enough of Super S to decide on that. The first season isn't bad - it ended up in my middle-of-the-road spot of my year end's rankings - but it isn't as good as the later seasons.
Worth mentioning, I'm a 30-something Transfem, so I've got a bit of a unique perspective on Sailor Moon as someone that identifies more with shows aimed at women and comes from that general era of anime, but also had ZERO nostalgia for it because I'd just go "Girl show, ew" and then watch Yu Yu Hakusho instead.
I feel like thinking of a lot of these episodes as filler isn't really the right way to approach things. Sure, the plot takes its time, but for the most part the show really isn't about the action and story as much as it's about these characters hanging out and doing slice of life shenanigans, right? Like, you're not really coming back to watch Usagi fight things, you know what she's going to do already. You're generally coming back to see her get turned into a tennis ball or try to get free stuff from a manga artist, right?
I think if I had to list my favorite or most memorable episodes from Season 1, most of them wouldn't really be plot episodes. Sure, Jadeite being nearly run over by an airliner is great and I think Nephrite's arc is really solid (implications aside). But the stuff that really stuck with me when I watched it around a year ago was things like the time Luna had a fat Tuxedo Mask knock-off chasing after her while Zoisite keeps getting tortured with sewer rats, lol! Or like when Nephrite tries to lure Sailor Moon into a trap with an obvious bait letter only to reveal that EVERYONE IN THE CLASS got the same letter. AND IT STILL WORKS! Season 1 is just such fun cheesy shenanigans and I'm 100% all here for it.
Point is, I think the show's still doing what most fans want it to do whether plot's really happening or not, so I feel like having an 'essential episodes list' really does miss the point. It's not like Naruto where there's this intricate plot you just have to wait on, people are mostly in it for the characters.
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Also wanted to say I feel like the show totally does have a point behind the memory erasure. This is going to sound really goofy after what I've just said, but a large part of this show's finale is the trauma these girls go through. You see Sailor Moon get beaten down over the final stretch and when she gets to the end, everyone's just straight-up dead.
What this means is two things. First, it's kind-of the ethical thing to do? They're finally able to just be normal girls again, if Beryl is the final bad guy then it'd be pretty messed up to force them to live with that, so it makes the forces of good look more merciful.
Secondly, it gets across a bigger thematic point, right? They lose their memories, but now they have to actually choose to regain them. They have to opt into all this pain and suffering willingly because it's part of who they are and because doing what's right and being able to remain friends are all worth the trauma being a Sailor Scout is going to give them.
Like, that's pretty whatever now, but for like the 90s? In a girls' show? I think there's totally something there, you know?
Sure, it's not going to be for everybody for sure, but I still really respect this series for what it is, even after just season 1. Although, let's be real, they should have gotten to the other team members faster, Usagi REALLY just cannot carry a show on her own at all! Those first few episodes are freaking ROUGH!
Sorry for the ramble, but yeah, I think that's all I really have to say about this as a fairly new Sailor Moon fan, lol!
Hi, Tommy from the podcast. Sailor Moon gets much better, and Sailor Moon S is excellent (especially because it adds Sailor Uranus). I've watched the first three seasons, and it gets better each season. I haven't seen enough of Super S to decide on that. The first season isn't bad - it ended up in my middle-of-the-road spot of my year end's rankings - but it isn't as good as the later seasons.