Sailor Moon in Japan

Sailor Moon originally appeared in the girl's comics magazine Nakayoshi in February 1992.  Written by Naoko Takeuchi, a young female artist with a background in chemistry, it was an instant hit with Japanese girls.  Almost simultaneously, it was released as an animated TV series, garnering fans of all ages.  Sailor Moon went on to fill 18 volumes of manga (Japanese comic books), 200 television episodes (see the table below), and three movies, as well as various specials.  The main Sailor Moon story (comics and TV) ended in February of 1997.  In addition to the manga and anime (comics and cartoons) of Sailor Moon there was also a series of live stage Sailor Moon Musicals (nicknamed "Sera-Myu" for short). Later, Sailor Moon was remade for Japanese TV as a live (not animated) 49-episode series. This version aired in 2003 and starred Sawai Miyuu as Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon in English

Sailor Moon was adapted into English by a company called DiC and first broadcast in English in 1995.  The series quickly became a hit in Canada and Australia, but received low ratings in the USA where most stations aired it at 6 a.m. or earlier.  On the basis of low American ratings, DiC stopped translation after 65 episodes (7 Japanese episodes were skipped, so English episode 65 was actually Japanese episode 72).  In 1997, prompted by the success of Sailor Moon in Canada and high sales of Sailor Moon dolls, Irwin Toys of Canada sponsored translation of a further 17 episodes which finally completed the Sailor Moon "R" storyline for English-speaking viewers.  Also in 1997, Mixx Entertainment began publishing an English translation of the Sailor Moon manga (comics).  In 1999 Pioneer Entertainment released English translations of the three Sailor Moon feature films (see the Where to Get Sailor Moon Stuff page for shopping info).  Sailor Moon finally returned to American television on Cartoon Network's Toonami program shortly thereafter.  Proving successful, Cartoon Network commissioned translation of 77 more episodes (the Sailor Moon S and SuperS series).  Cartoon Network's English translation of Sailor Moon S series began airing June 12, 2000 (September 16, 2000 on YTV in Canada).  SuperS launched on Toonami September 26, 2000.  In 2001, Pioneer Entertainment began releasing home videos of Sailor Moon S TV series, including an uncut subtitled version, and in 2002 began a home video release of Sailor Moon SuperS (Note: Pioneer Animation has now changed its name to Geneon). In July of 2003, ADV released the first 46 episodes of Sailor Moon in an unedited, Japanese dialogue, English subtitled DVD box set. However, no company has announced any plans to make an English version of the 5th Sailor Moon series "Sailor Stars".