Fighting Evil by Moonlight: In remembrance of Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon was not my favorite character--she was too flighty--but her love story rocked.

I'll admit. I loved Sailor Moon as a kid*. My BFF at the time watched it, so of course I started watching it, too. I think it all started one sleepover when we woke up ridiculously early (like you always do at a sleepover), made some Eggo waffles, and watched some Sailor Moon.

Sailor Venus was the coolest and the most badass. She was vigilante before the group even formed.

I watched it on USA Network at 8 or 8:30 every morning the following summer. I even got my sister to watch it too, because that 's what family does: watch each other's TV shows. I also managed to watch it before school when my mom would drop me off at a neighbor's house on her way to work. It was on either right before or right after The Facts of Life and Gargoyles (other great shows). Another great aspect of my fandom was downloading and saving a ton of Sailor Moon pictures on our computer. This was when household internet was still sketchy and slow, but I would spend hours going through web rings, searching for the best pictures, mostly of the core 5 Sailors (Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus) and Tuxedo Mask.

Sailor Mars was never my favorite, but she was fiery. (Yeah, that was a pun on her powers).

I haven't watched it in years, but going through the wikipedia page tells me it was way more involved than I remember.

But let's break down what I remember and loved about the show:

• Girl evil-fighting squad. Girl power anyone?
  

Total tomboy. Totally likeable. Totally tough. Not really memorable.

• Each Sailor was given a different planet name, and, as we all know, space is awesome.
• The transformations scenes, though illogical, totally pretty.
• Secret identities = comedy gold!
• Secret identities = romantic obstacle gold!

Tuxedo Mask. Greatest. Identity. Ever. Plus he was a cute cartoon character. Mmm, Darien.

• Teen angst!
• School uniforms and short short skirts.
  
• Anime--the one show that I watched that was anime, and it was pretty.
  

Sailor Mercury was my favorite. She was the bookworm, but was a totally sassy superhero. Plus, I think I have her haircut now. Just less blue. And less poofy.

Anyway, I miss this show. It was girly, and fun, and fantastic. I mostly watched the first season (which, according to Wikipedia is 46 episodes long!) before the daughter from the future and the other planets show up, and destiny and past lives are discovered. But I have beautiful memories of the early days of Sailor Moon, when it was all good old fashioned teenage fun. 4th Grade was awesome.


*It's probably been 10 years since I've watched the show, so I think I legitimately call it "when I was a kid".