Is the Sailor Moon manga underrated?

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Is the Sailor Moon manga underrated?

  • Yes, it should be much more renowned.

    Votes: 16 21.6%
  • Yes, but only slightly.

    Votes: 12 16.2%
  • No, it gets about as much recognition as deserved.

    Votes: 30 40.5%
  • No, it is much too highly esteemed for what it is.

    Votes: 16 21.6%

  • Total voters
    74
Sep 6, 2014
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#4
^Ya know while I've seen plenty of fans who prefer the 90s anime or PGSM to the manga I've never actually seen a Sailor Moon fan outright hate the manga. I've seen fans who hate the 90s anime, PGSM, and Crystal though. It may not be every Moonie's favorite version but it doesn't seem to ever appear on any sh!t list.
 
Likes: Starlight
Apr 1, 2017
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D-Point
#5
That pretty much summarizes my own feelings (so far, still reading slowly because of mixed enthusiasm and time budgeting and stuff). I definitely don't like it nearly as much as the '90s anime (which goes on my 'one of the best things ever' list)- my favorite elements and themes from Sailor Moon are '90s anime exclusives, I think the manga's action scenes are confusing and it's character development is way too minimal all around, but I certainly think it's got some cool ideas and some pretty pictures, and I do enjoy it. And if we're counting Codename Sailor V, I liked that quite a bit as-is.

Having seen the first season of Crystal only a few years after my first reading of the Dark Kingdom arc in the manga, I don't have a strong opinion on it. I like the attempt to mix things up a little and I think the action scenes make more sense, but it loses some things and I don't see it as all that much better or worse. So I guess maybe I think lower of the manga than average and higher of Crystal than average, but I think they're both okay and I enjoyed them to some extent.

But I don't see myself writing any hundreds-of-thousands-of-words-long fanfic drafts set in their continuities. *shrug* My biggest enjoyment from the manga is trying to adapt some of it's unique differences into '90s anime continuity equivalents.

For the record, I read the first few chapters of the manga around the same time I started watching the show. But I followed up on watching the show a lot more even though I tend to read comics more often than watching shows, when it comes to other things.
 

MariaTenebre

Systema Solare
Jul 22, 2009
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#6
LifeGaveMeLemons said:
^Ya know while I've seen plenty of fans who prefer the 90s anime or PGSM to the manga I've never actually seen a Sailor Moon fan outright hate the manga. I've seen fans who hate the 90s anime, PGSM, and Crystal though. It may not be every Moonie's favorite version but it doesn't seem to ever appear on any sh!t list.
I have seen some people who hate the manga. However me personally I would say that I like the manga. It is my second favorite adaptation the 90s anime being the first. While I like it less then the 90s anime and in some places I have great problems with it I do think that for instance there were many things that they did better then the 90s anime. For one I liked that the Shitennou and Beryl's backstory were more clearly shown. I think that Dream is far superior to SuperS in terms of plot and storytelling. About the only things I preferred in SuperS were the Amazon Trio's fleshed out personalities and redemption and Queen Nehellenia's 90s backstory but otherwise Dream is the superior version all of the way. I liked that in Dream the Outers came back into the cast instead of waiting till Stars. In Stars while I much preferred Sailor Galaxia's 90s backstory I liked how the Outers became main cast members as opposed to how shafted they were in the anime and the climactic battle at the Galaxy Cauldron. The manga definitely had some things it did better then other adaptations.
 

Yamoon

Aurorae Lunares
Jul 17, 2006
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#11
Well to be honest I don’t think that the manga would have rocked all over the world without the anime in the 90’s.
But Let’s not forget that the manga was only one chapter per month (to compare for exemple with Dragonball which was weekly).

That’s gave few opportunities to develop the background story for second role characters excepted the main one (Usagi). Well that’s the issue actually with Crystal if they didn’t decide to adapt stupidly the monthly manga page by page. They could have developed so much more the story in Crystal without being unfaithful to the story of the manga (which is yeah quite different from the 90’s anime). I mean even the few backsides story (with Rei, Chibiusa, and the exams) would have helped a lot to develop the story and the characters in Crystal.
Anyway, I still think that the Dream Arc in the manga is 10000 much more better than Super S, and the ends of the last Arc would have been a perfect non-existent 4th movie at the time.
 
Sep 6, 2014
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#13
It's actually overrated, I think it's terrible. In any case, I enjoy it for what it is.
I think it had some issues with developing characters not named Usagi (the inners fair okay I guess) and the art style....is not my favorite but I wouldn’t call it terrible. To me anyways The Dark Kingdom arc, The Infinity arc and Dream arc where pretty good (the latter two better than the anime adaptation). The Black Moon arc was okay and yes the Stars arc was pretty awful and you could tell Miss Takeuchi was burned out by the time she got to Stars
 

Neon Genesis

Solaris Luna
Oct 31, 2015
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#14
I wouldn't say the manga is under-rated because I remember for years the manga was held up by fans as the definitive version of the story and you weren't a real fan if you didn't love the manga the best. I think fans are more willing to be critical of the flaws of the manga nowadays but I think the manga is still pretty well liked by most fans. The only version of Sailor Moon I feel like is really under-rated is the early 90s Seramyu because not that many fans have seen the 90s Myus compared to the other versions of the story.
 

Valse de la lune

Lumen Cinererum
Aug 1, 2009
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#15
I had only read parts of it when I was younger. When I arrived on these boards, a lot of people told me to go ahead and take the chance reading it, since that was around the time the manga was being republished.

I did. In fact I recall every time a new one came out I would sit and read the whole book on my day off that week.

Under rated? No. I think it gets the praise it’s worthy of. Maybe it’s not as well known as the anime is, but not under rated in my opinion.
 

Nadia

Aurorae Lunares
Jun 30, 2010
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#16
I think it is slightly underrated, but only slightly.

First, let me stress that it is flawed and does have glaring weaknesses, especially in panel arrangement, pacing, and sequential storytelling. So, I don't believe it should be held as a piece of classic literature. However, I don't believe the story itself gets as much credit as it deserves, and the manga does tell a much more consistent story than the anime, preferring soft resets after story arcs with elements of ones carrying over to the next. I might not like many of the developments in the manga, but overall, plot-wise it is more coherent and connected...if you can tell what is going on (and some of that confusion is due to the nature of manga itself).

To many fans, the old anime is the only version of Sailor Moon that matters, even though a lot of the fanon that applies to the anime is rooted in the manga. If you were to look at the old anime without any knowledge of the manga, there are a lot of developments that come out of nowhere and don't make sense. By contrast some developments are foreshadowed more in the manga. Plus, Takeuchi did pull from a lot of deep mythological sources for the building of this fictional world.

I definitely prefer the old anime...but I have to acknowledge the writing is weaker than in the manga.
 

julayla

Lumen Cinererum
Feb 9, 2018
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#17
Honestly, it's more overrated than underrated (especially with the toxic manga fans). But to me, I was just indifferent to the manga itself and cringed on a few things. Also, even though it was suppose to be a story that was told from Usagi's POV, this manga never really developed too much on the Inner Senshi very well (not counting one side story for each of them), which was the same problem I had with Crystal.
 
Likes: Starlight

Kerochan no Miko

Knight Radiant
Staff member
Site Admin
Feb 29, 2004
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#18
Also, even though it was suppose to be a story that was told from Usagi's POV, this manga never really developed too much on the Inner Senshi very well (not counting one side story for each of them), which was the same problem I had with Crystal.
That's not really an "even though" - that's a "because". The manga was about Usagi and Mamoru and Usagi and Mamoru is what it focuses on. Just because people would like more development of other characters that doesn't mean the author is going to devote time to it, if that's not what they feel the story is about.
 
Aug 16, 2014
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#19
That's not really an "even though" - that's a "because". The manga was about Usagi and Mamoru and Usagi and Mamoru is what it focuses on. Just because people would like more development of other characters that doesn't mean the author is going to devote time to it, if that's not what they feel the story is about.
I agree the anime focus on friendship. Why the manga focus more on romance and love.
 

Kerochan no Miko

Knight Radiant
Staff member
Site Admin
Feb 29, 2004
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#20
I agree the anime focus on friendship. Why the manga focus more on romance and love.
Frankly, the anime had a ton of time to fill, and therefore could have the luxury of expanding on the side characters. The manga had a specific, set storyline and follows just that, and I think that criticizing it for things it was never meant to do is pointless.