The Art of Fan Art

Sailor Moon Edition

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Sailor Moon originally hit the manga shelves from 1991 to 1997 with 52 chapters published over 18 volumes. By 1992 the manga had picked up a big enough fan base to warrant an anime series, which was broadcast until 1997. Today, it still sits as one of the most successful shōjo mangas.

In July of 2012, it was announced that a re-boot of the original Sailor Moon series was going to be released. Going by the name Sailor Moon Crystal, it premeried in 2014 as part of the Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary celebrations. The series even received three theatrical films based on the series, however they are purely side stories and do not line up with the timeline or events from the original series.

In 2003 a 49-episode live action version of the series was released. It was broadcast from 2003-2004 and was a retelling of the Dark Kingdom arc with a few storylines, and some original characters not seen in the animated series. However, it never made it’s way to the US, but you can find versions of it with English subtitles.

Sailor Moon is still one of the most popular manga series of all time, seeing readership world wide. Before the US got its hands on the show, the TV series was picked up in Spain, France, Russia, South Korea, the Philippines, China, Italy, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong first.

Sailor Moon is also credited for reinvigorating the magical girl genre. After it’s success, many other magic-girl themed mangas and animes came to surface.

1. Sailor Moon Bookmarks by Liaze