There are four versions of the manga:
For me, I'd have to say it's the tankoban. As much as I love all of the beautiful color pages of the original run and kanzenban, and as much as I appreciate how the shinsouban separated out the side stories, I still think the tankoban is the superior release. I think it has the best cover art, I love all of Naoko's messages throughout each volume, I love how Eternal Sailor Moon's transformation phrase is actually consistent, and it's just the version that makes me the most nostalgic. I definitely appreciate some of the changes made in the shinsouban (e.g. "Mercury Aqua Mist," a lot of the redrawn artwork), but at the same time I also think some of the redone art looks....bad. I'd love for the tankoban version to get a full-color re-release some day, but I know that if the manga ever does get colorized, it'll be the kanzenban version.
- There's the manga as it originally appeared in Nakayoshi. This can be considered the "unadulterated version" of the series.
- There's the manga as it was first compiled in the tankoban format. This 18 volume version had many new pages added, lots of touched up art, rewritten dialog, and rearranged panels. It was also all in black-and-white and included numerous messages from Naoko in both the margins and in the author's pages at the end of each volume.
- There's the manga as it was re-released in the shinsouban format. This 14 volume version restored a few color pages at the beginning of each volume and featured more dialog rewrites and touched up and completely redrawn art (especially in the first arc). All of the marginal messages were removed and replaced with chibi drawings of the characters. The original end-of-volume author's pages were also removed and replaced with new messages/comics from Naoko. The main canon stories were compiled in 12 volumes; the side stories were compiled separately in 2 "Short Stories" volumes, which also included "Parallel Sailor Moon," which was written after the release of the tankoban.
- Finally, there's the manga as it was re-re-released in the kanzenban format. This 10 volume version restored all of the color pages and did not separate out the side stories. There were further art and dialog changes, though not as extensive.
For me, I'd have to say it's the tankoban. As much as I love all of the beautiful color pages of the original run and kanzenban, and as much as I appreciate how the shinsouban separated out the side stories, I still think the tankoban is the superior release. I think it has the best cover art, I love all of Naoko's messages throughout each volume, I love how Eternal Sailor Moon's transformation phrase is actually consistent, and it's just the version that makes me the most nostalgic. I definitely appreciate some of the changes made in the shinsouban (e.g. "Mercury Aqua Mist," a lot of the redrawn artwork), but at the same time I also think some of the redone art looks....bad. I'd love for the tankoban version to get a full-color re-release some day, but I know that if the manga ever does get colorized, it'll be the kanzenban version.