Bishôjo Senshi Sailor Moon

I have seen the first six episodes of this live action version of Sailor Moon. I think that it's really fun and creative. The girl that they got to play Sailor Moon is Miyu Sawai. She's cute and has the meatball hair. Sailor Mercury is played by Chisaki Hama and she plays Amy with the kindness and intelligence that is so likable in the anime. Mars is Keiko Kitagawa and she plays the mysterious beauty perfectly. Although, she doesn't have the comical arguments with Usagi that are an anime treat. Jupiter is Myuu Azama who plays the strong and lonely Mako-chan. Ayaka Komatsu is the real life super hero as the series begins Sailor Venus. All in all, the action is very interesting, with a funny and mad energy that is reminiscent of The Banana Splits. The costumes and make up are excellent. And the youma's are really fantastic creatures with wild designs. The transformation and the attacks of the sailor soldiers are colorful and well done. This series of Sailor Pumpkins gets two thumbs up and I hope they have a long running series.

If you're a fan of the Sailor Moon manga or anime you will love this television series. It was a bit cheesy at first and it still is at times but it's so much fun to watch. It really captures the mood of the manga. However, I don't like some of the things they changed. For instance, Luna is now a talking stuffed animal. Thankfully she's not around too much. Crown Arcade is now a karaoke center. Usagi doesn't seem to have a father. And Minako is a popular teen idol. What's with that?! Anyway, I highly recomend it despite those things. You can find fansubbed versions online.

First let me say that I am a great fan of the anime; in fact, my wife and I have been re-watching it recently. But somehow depicting characters in three dimensions makes them more "real" to the viewers.

Everyone in the show is perfectly cast, even if the characters are not portrayed in ways that newcomers who have only seen the anime might expect!

Usagi Tsukino is much the same, actually, except that she doesn't cry at the drop of a hat. She whines and gripes, but she only really turns on the waterworks when there's a good reason to. Miyuu Sawai, who plays her, does an excellent job of portraying the many moods of Usagi/Sailor Moon, the sweetness and naiveté of Princess Serenity, and the coldness of the porcelain-faced Princess Sailor Moon, an uncomfortable and ultra-powerful amalgamation of Serenity and Sailor Moon.

Contrary to what you may have heard elsewhere, Chisaki Hama is the perfect Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury; quiet, shy, insecure, but full of love and compassion, and, once transformed into her Sailor self, bold and confident in battle. Miss Hama also is quite chilling in the story arc which shows Mercury being turned into an agent of evil. Her former sweet smile becomes a frightening leer, and it's quite a relief when she is brought back from the "dark side."

Keiko Kitagawa is the toughest, sternest, most pouty-lipped Rei Hino/Sailor Mars ever seen, and where the Reis of the manga and the anime had a burning ambition to be a pop idol, their live-action counterpart claims vehemently that she even hates karaoke. An amusing love-hate relationship grows up between her and Minako when Mina hoodwinks Rei into becoming-- a pop idol!

Mew Azama IS Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter. Of all the girls, she is undoubtedly the best cast. She's tall, built, brown-haired, and pretty. Her character underwent very few changes from the original version; she's strong, loyal, and brave, and also has a very soft, feminine side. It's hilarious when she's revealed to be just as ga-ga over getting to meet Minako as Usagi is-- mind you, she's a little cooler about it.

The person most different from her anime/manga depiction is Minako Aino/Sailor V/Sailor Venus, portrayed by Ayaka Komatsu, who, with her big round eyes, tiny mouth, and slim frame looks just like an anime character brought to life. In the manga and the anime, Minako can be serene and wise, but most often she's a happy, laughing, carefree klutz who can even surpass Usagi in ditziness. In the live-action series, she's a dead serious character who smiles very infrequently, and until very much later in the series, she stands apart from the other Sailors.

Of course, the fact that she has a fatal illness in this version of the story would make her a very different person. A little of the sillier Minako shows through, however, when she plays the occasional joke on her cat guardian Artemis and when she and the other girls take part in a wacky game show which finishes up with them hitting each other with padded clubs and finally falling into a laughing heap of arms, legs, and smiling faces.

The only shortcomings this show has are some of the sillier monster costumes and the seemingly limited availability of locations; certain areas of Tokyo, one office building in particular, crop up a lot as battle sites.

But overall, it's well-produced, brilliantly acted, and tugs very effectively at the heartstrings, the most heartbreaking episode being the one in which Minako finally succumbs to her illness and dies. But of course, in the Sailor Moon-iverse, no good person ever stays dead.

In summation, I believe that "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon" is one of the best examples of a live-action superhero show ever made.

Let's get one thing straight: this is by no means a masterwork. In fact, it's flawed in many ways: the special effects are bad, the production doesn't seem much more complicated than a DV home movie shot in various places in Tokyo, the costumes seem recycled from Power Rangers as does the action, and the acting needs a lot of polishing.

That having been said, it's an addictive show to watch, even for those far older than the target audience of... 4 to 7 year old girls?

The actresses, for better or worse, nail their characters. Usagi is a klutzy underachiever with no more ambition than going to the mall and singing karaoke. Ami is a super- genius who feels burdened by expectation. Rei is intense about her Shinto duties and wants nothing to do with anyone else. Makoto is a rough tomboy who hides her femininity and feels as if most people will eventually abandon her. The only one who seems different is Minako, a superstar, but for me I think it's only appropriate. For the most part, the charm of these first time actresses, picked from thousands in rehearsals, far outweighs their neophyte status.

I do understand there are many, many changes that upset some people but you have to understand that stuff that works in manga or anime form may not work in live action.

So, even though the show isn't great, why is it so fun to watch? I think it's mostly because of the charm and the heart of the show. Most people who are aghast about it haven't seen it and aren't interested in "getting it." But that's okay; it's not for everyone, certainly. If you do get it, however, it's a guilty pleasure and a very fun show.

In 1992 a very popular anime was released, "Sailor Moon". In 2003, as some sort of a 10 year anniversary, "PGSM", the live action version of the anime, was made. The story is probably known to everyone: Usagi, a normal teenage girl living in Tokyo, meets a talking cat named Luna ( in this version a stuffed puppet ) and gets a mission to transform into Sailor Moon and fight against evil forces of Queen Beryl...

Although the live action is weaker than the anime ( the flaws are plot holes, the lack of spectacle, the mild intensity and the range of the story ) it is much better than it seems. In some other director's hands this could have ended in an catastrophe, but in Ryuta Tazaki's hand "PGSM" turned out to be an excellent show. The wild enthusiasm of the authors and their weird special effects are incredible: Ami's transformation into evil Sailor Mercury is somehow cool. Actually, it's rather got „show-off" written all over it ( when she stomps her boot into the water, and then those dark purple „wings" on her dress ), but it's stylish. Or the Sailor Luna ( a 10 year old girl form of Luna )transformation: it was so hilarious and senseless! You see her shake her butt, then Luna shows up, then there are psychedelic colors in the background, the girl makes some moves as if she is licking her hands as a cat and … presto, she is a sailor senshi too. Rarely will you ever see more kitsch than you get to in that transformation scene. But the authors still did it without a blink of the eye, and you have to give them credit for such courage.

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Miyuu Sawai is absolutely fantastic as Usagi. It's almost impossible not to like her. She is wonderful in many of the comical situations ( when she has a huge fight with her mom a frightened Shingo is hiding under the table and eating his breakfast ) and later proves to be equally effective in drama ( her mourning all day long in bed after finding out Mamoru is already engaged ). The weird part of the story had Minako being a famous rock star, but even that worked. "PGSM" is a sight to behold. In their mix of camp and art, the authors bravely turned the impossible things of the anime into reality ( the costumes, demons, flashing rays )and got away with it. I counted all the grades of all the Act's and the show's average grade is 8.3/10, believe it or not. I don't know how they did it, but they did.

Grade: 8/10