Sunday 15 May 2016

Blast from the Past 1: Sailor Moon


Sailor Moon wasn't the first anime I've ever seen in my life. As a child I have seen Heidi made by Fuji Television but it never registered as being made in Japan for me.

My first run in with Sailor Moon was on the Turkish network. Back then we had access to it and I was just blown away about this magical girl while I couldn't understand a thing, my knowledge of the Turkish language is non-existent. Later on it was broadcasted on RTLplus in German, a language I could understand and I was hooked.


A lot of the super heroes in my youth were men, Batman & Superman. Oh yea, you did have Batgirl and Wonderwoman but they didn't have their own series. At least not on my television channels. And here you have these regular school girls turning into magical superheroes and kicking ass. I loved it! Eagerly I waited for the next episode and if I couldn't see it I begged my dad to tape it for me. 

Sailor Moon hit a lot of subjects that were very controversial back then. You had a same-sex couple and the Sailor Starlights whom were men in the human world but transformed to women to fight evil. Even the antagonists had a same-sex couple. Sadly the USA version took out all of this, because poor little kiddies can't handle the truth. So if you want to see the real stuff, check out the Japanese version. 

Sailor Neptune & Uranus

My favourite Soldiers are Sailor Mercury and Jupiter. While Sailor Mercury is the quite one with the brains and takes good care of her friends, Sailor Jupiter was the tall tomboyish one who just kicked ass. 

Sailor Mercury & Jupiter

Some of the episodes were brutal as you were confronted with death, deception, cruelty and loss of friendship. But no matter how bleak the future looked, the Sailor Soldiers never stopped fighting. 

Death of Sailor Venus

When it finally came out on the Dutch network, I had already become a bit of a snob when it comes to cartoons and anime and preferred watching it in the original language. Even the German voices sounded better than the Dutch dubbed version. I was 21 by then so they were just a bit too late with it.

I still have a soft spot in my heart for Sailor Moon, I still collect the merchandise. It's not bad to have a bit of a magical girl in you. ;)

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