But I also like a lot of their TV cartoons. Japanese animators have worked around the limitations of TV animation and given it style. The show that really got me started on anime, of course, is Sailor Moon. I originally watched that in the ‘90s when I was in my mid-thirties, struggling with my Ph.D. thesis. A lot of people hate the dubbed version, and while I admit it isn’t as great as the subtitled original, it’s still pretty good on its own terms.
Sailor Moon is about a schoolgirl of 14 called Serena, a goofy, disorganized crybaby. But a talking cat called Luna comes along and tells her she has a destiny to turn into Sailor Moon and fight monsters from the Negaverse! Her superhero outfit rather resembles a fashion model: micro-miniskirt, go-go boots, long white gloves and a tiara that she throws as a weapon to turn the monsters to dust.
Four other girls come along and they form the Sailor Scouts and fight the Negaverse together. In her fights, Sailor Moon tends to get in over her head, but then along comes a guy named Tuxedo Mask—for his costume—who throws down a rose and gives her new strength to win the fight. Tuxedo Mask bears a certain resemblance to Darien, an arrogant college boy who drives Serena up the wall by calling her “meatball head.” (Her hairdo resembles two meatballs on the top of her head!) So there’s an element of romance in it too…
All this may sound silly, and the first episodes are rather conventional. But the show’s brilliantly structured and becomes emotionally moving. There’s an incredible moment in the middle of the first season when Molly, Serena’s civilian friend who’s fallen in love with the Negaverse villain Neflyte, stands in front of him to protect him from Sailor Moon’s tiara. Then in the next episode Neflyte dies protecting Molly, giving him a certain redemption. That’s a turning point for the show as it becomes more and more affecting.
The first season ends with a powerful pair of episodes where they’re up against the villainess Queen Beryl, and the other Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask die protecting Sailor Moon, then Sailor Moon takes on Queen Beryl alone and feels the spiritual presence of the others. In defeating Queen Beryl, she dies too—but then they all go through some transformation that takes them back to before they knew they were Sailor Scouts. (It’s better to see this ending subtitled—the dubbed version edits the two episodes down to one and softens it considerably.)
My personal favourite episode is “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall,” from the Doom Tree arc in the second season, involving Alan and Ann, two aliens pretending to be schoolkids while stealing energy for their Doom Tree. It’s about Darien is putting on Snow White as a play and all the girls want to play Snow White, but Ann gets the role through drawing straws and cheating! Then Alan sends a clown monster to steal everyone’s energy, and it turns into a Power Rangers show!
If I had more time I’d talk about Dragon Ball, less famous than its sequel Dragon Ball Z but a show I love in itself. And about One Piece, a show about a teenage boy with flesh like rubber who wants to become King of the Pirates. It’s still going strong after twenty years, a Japanese counterpart to The Simpsons.
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