What's the deal with Sailor Moon?

Cafe Society
1

I program a TV station. This fall we are starting to air “Sailor Moon” on Saturday mornings. It’s 6am and there is no cash cost for us to run it.

I mentioned this to a co-worker who is a fan of anime and he said, half-joking I think, “great…now you’re going to have every geeky antisocial anime fan emailing you constantly to air more episodes or move it to a better time slot”. According to this person, only really strange lonely guys watch “Sailor Moon”. And I thought I was getting a kids show to fill a half hour or airtime!

I have no opinion of this, since I have never seen the show (my exposure to anime was the occasional episode of “Star Blazers” when I was growing up. I was nonplussed).

I did an internet search and I did see a fair number of fan site, some with incredible amounts of detail - but is the audience composed of some stereotypical antisocial lonely guys getting their rocks off on animated women??

Again, I have no opinion one way or another.

Phouchg
Lovable Rogue

2

Every fan I have ever met has been female. Didn’t you like Voltron when you were a kid? Same idea, different demographic. Otaku boys don’t waste their time on Sailor Moon; that’s what hentai and tentacle porn are for.

-fh

3

The audience is overwhelmingly comprised of young teenage girls. I have sat through more SM episodes blaring in
the backgound than I care to recount. The show has a very good grasp on the story lines that appeal to younger teen aged girls. Teenage angst, cute boys, talking pets, female bonding and super powers! Who could ask for more?

4

My 10-yo dd thought Sailor Moon was All That for about a year or so. She was obsessed. She wrote fan fiction, participated in message boards, etc. The fans were mainly middle school aged girls. She swore she would never love anything as much as Sailor Moon. And then Harry Potter happened…

5

Oh, and just so you know…she DID sign petitions and write letters to cartoon Network everytime Sailor Moon was moved to a different time slot or taken off the air. These girls are rabid fans.

6

I didn’t start watching Sailor Moon until I was in college! The pretty animation was what attracted me at first.

Despite the simplistic storyline and goofy music, I found the series charming and filled with unforgettable characters.

Ah…Nephlite. EHEHHEHEH

7

Ahhhh…so it is the female “Pokemon” for lack of a better term then. I understand now.

Two questions thought:

Hentai?
Tentacle Porn?

scratches head
Phouchg
Lovable Rogue

8

Trust me. You don’t want to know. I know and wish I didn’t.

Oh, all right. Animated, violent pornography, usually involving women being raped by alien monsters (thus the “tentacle”). The women usually wind up enjoying it and wanting more.

9

To quote the Barenaked Ladies:

So somebody must have that angle.

10

Can somebody explain the design of the character to me?

Adult, female, shapely legs to the waist, then the trunk, head, and arms of a young adolescent?

11

Welcome to Japan, where the Oedipus complex meets the Lolita fetish.

12

Don’t forget the oversized eyes. Also, in risqué material, oversized nipples.

13

This web comic has a lot of jokes about tenticle porn. From the monster’s perspective mostly.

14

Hey! I used to watch Voltron as a kid! My cousins and I would pretend we were the characters from the show-I was always the one Princess-Lelora, or something?

15

I remember a few years ago the sumo sekitori (ie. guys who do professional sumo…they are NOT wrestlers) dressed up and did a skit of Sailor Moon on some TV show.

It was embarrassingly funny, to see these huge guys dressed up in miniskirts, wigs and makeup. You can’t look at them in the same way again.

I’m sure Sailor Moon has its share of male fans. And my guess is they aren’t interested in their superpowers.

16

Sailor Moon is popular because it has:

  1. the most memorable characters. Even Molly and Melvin are better than your average victims.

  2. Tuxedo Mask–the best second in all of fiction, along with Spenser’s Hawk.

  3. the villains suffering tragic and memorable deaths that makes the fans us actually sympathize with them at the end.

  4. despite her clumsiness, Usagi has a winning personality that does not overwhelm you.

  5. wild and (sometimes) raunchy humor that only the first Dragonball (not Dragonball Z or GT)matches.

I haven’t seen this show in over two years, yet I still can remember the classic scenes, and can write all about this.

17

Oh, Ranma 1/2 also matches in the humor department.

18

Actually, I’ve known a few Sailor Moon fans who were guys, mostly aged 17-23. They bought the merchandise, tapes (DVDs now, I guess), whatever they could get their hands on. They usually caught hell from other anime fans. Eventually they moved on to Tenchi Muyo! and Ranma 1/2 for the humor and tentacle porn for…the other stuff. Ick.

19

I understand that Sailor Moon undergoes a fair amount of editing/censoring upon import to North America.

So, what sort of stuff are they cutting out… or do I want to know?

20

I’m a guy. I like Sailor Moon. Correction - I liked it. The station that I got it on (YTV) decided to dub Serena with the most IRRITATING voice in the world, lord it was obnoxious.

Anyway, I found in fun and interesting, not to mention when I was a little kid (grade 4, maybe) I had a crush on Amy :wink: