In the Name of the Moon, She’ll Entertain You! The 10 Best Episodes of ‘Sailor Moon’

variety.com:

Wilson Chapman editorEven people who haven’t watched an episode of anime in their life probably recognize “Sailor Moon.” The pretty guardian is one of the most famous and beloved anime characters in the history of the medium, and in her home country of Japan she’s a veritable cultural icon on the level of Goku from “Dragon Ball Z.” And while the original manga by Naoko Takeuchi started it all, most fans of the character discovered her from the first anime adaptation, which premiered on March 7, 1992.The ’90s “Sailor Moon” anime is by no means perfect.

Because it was created concurrently with the manga, premiering only three months after the first “Sailor Moon” chapter was published, it’s a very loose adaptation, with entire character backstories and personalities being altered and key arcs playing out in vastly different ways.

At an even 200 episodes across five seasons, it’s also much, much longer than the original manga, which ran for a mere 60 chapters, and a lot of that length is padded by superfluous and forgettable filler.

And when it originally premiered in the English-speaking world, it was subject to a legendarily awful dub that chopped up episodes, changed the genders of whole characters in order to censor queer relationships and contained some truly woeful voice acting.And yet there’s a reason why the anime, currently streaming on Hulu, remains such a beloved touchstone.