Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 1 (2003)

Reading this brought back so many memories.

As a kid, watching Sailor Moon on TV, I was obsessed with Serena’s (Usagi) and Darien’s (Mamoru) relationship.

Unfortunately, the manga is a mess. There is poor character development, cluttered panels, and a lack of focus on the overall story.

In terms of pace, it is incredibly fast. The story took days, not weeks. Although it may seem unfair to compare the manga with the anime, this read disappointed me, since I am a huge Sailor Moon fan. The filler episodes improved the plot greatly. The villains got a chance of being evil and to discover who they are.

The anime was full of suspense and drama. In fact, there were a few battle scenes where I wasn’t sure about the Sailor Warriors’ victory, and they even lost some battles, like normal heroines do sometimes. The manga rushed through all of that quickly. Soon after, they were going to fight a new foe.

Based on the writer’s confirmation, the author ran out of ideas and threw random things into the story.

As I mentioned, Sailor Moon’s character development is lacking. Having hardly any character characteristics or emotions beyond the surface level prevented me from becoming invested in the characters. As for the romance, it was chaotic as well. The two love interests start out hating and despising each other. Their hatred for each other suddenly disappears when they kiss. In a previous life, they were lovers.

The blandness and flatness of every character annoys me? All the girls discuss friendship and love, but I’ve never seen them casually hang out and discuss feelings like normal people. Every time a character died, it did not bother me at all. My goal was to write this review and move on to my life as quickly as possible. There is one prop I give Sailor Moon, which is that it has so much open lesbian representation for a story written at the time it was written.

You can also find this review on my blog: Click Here ( )

⭐️ 3.5

I really liked this manga! It was a bit hard to read/understand at times, probably just the translation, but otherwise I really liked it. It was really sweet and wholesome, but it was also serious when it needed to be. My interest was especially peaked by Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon’s strange relationship. They both seem to think they know each other somehow and I am curious to find out why. Can’t wait to read volume 2! ( )

Reminds me of my childhood ( )

Children's comic. Japanese school girls with delight over video games, princesses, jewellery, boys. Set in Japan, the story includes subtle aspects of the culture - lunch bags, food, uniforms. The explanation of the words and names from the translations into English I found useful. With it's simple storyline this book serves as the first in the series of Sailor Moon and her companions on a quest to protect the princess...and stars Luna the cat with a bald patch in it's head. ( )

When I was younger, probably around 3rd grade or so, I would wake up every morning before school and watch an episode of Sailor Moon. I loved the Sailor Scouts and even after all these years I can still sing the theme song word for word. My very first OTP pairing was Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask( this was before OTP was even a thing) and I always wanted a talking black cat named Luna. However, can you believe I never read a single manga book? Well I finally rectified that (although it has taken way too many years, that I don't even want to count)

Never I've never reviewed a Manga before (that doesn't meant I haven't read one), in saying this I ask you to please be kind about this review. Hopefully as I read more Manga and review more books (and graphic novels and comic books which I plan to review as well) I'll get better about these reviews. First off I'm super surprised at how well the art in the books have held you, you could hardly tell that these books are almost 25 years old (please don't think about how old that would make me considering). The artwork was really well done.


Secondly it took some getting used to, to read right to left. I was a little confused at first but I eventually got the hang of it. Usagi (Sailor Moon) is a bit of a crybaby and immature but considering she is only 14 (younger than I remember her being) it actually makes sense. The manga is separated into different acts which actually made it easier to read for me (and made for good stopping points if I had to). These books are definitely made for younger girls but I really enjoyed it, however I am saying that I may be a little biased since nostalgia and all. I even have Artemis shoes. ( )