Why were some changes to the 90s anime made?

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Aug 16, 2014
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#1
Some 90s anime differences made sense.Because of time and both manga and anime were ongoing the same time.Anime had episodes weekly.Why manga had chapters monthly.Why others don't make sense Mamorous age, The dark kingdom being real monsters instead of creations, The memory wipe and others ?
 
Jul 31, 2012
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#2
Could have been to appeal to a certain demographic. I think the majority of the changes were for the better as the series is iconic. Some of these changes make the story more cohesive and a better narrative. I don't know about the Mamoru age change.....maybe it was to appeal to some type of fetish or something? Maybe it wasn't as big of a deal to them because of their previous age of consent laws or whatever? Or maybe they were experimenting with the audience to see how the rating would do?

One thing I will never forget is a video someone posted of Sailor Moon in anime form and they switched the camera and it was nothing but a bunch of adult men jumping up and down! I still grin at that to this day.
 
Jun 17, 2019
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#3
Because Sailor Moon was always originally conceived as a multi-media mix from the start, so each separate adaptation was free to do it’s own thing. This wasn’t the usual case of a manga getting popular and then a studio going to the mangaka and asking to adapt it into an anime, the 90’s anime was never supposed to follow the manga, just like every other adaptation besides Crystal. Sailor Moon is a multiverse franchise not unlike Marvel.

Furthermore you have to understand that a lot of the changes such as the tone and maturity was meant to suit the anime’s distinctly younger audience, the 90’s anime was aimed at kindergartners while the manga was for the age range of around 8-13.

I do agree that alot of the changes like aging up Mamoru and making Chibi-Chibi be Galaxia’s Star Seed were simply stupid though.

I don't know about the Mamoru age change.....maybe it was to appeal to some type of fetish or something?

One thing I will never forget is a video someone posted of Sailor Moon in anime form and they switched the camera and it was nothing but a bunch of adult men jumping up and down!
A lot of the changes also had to do with the fact that the 90’s anime was told from a more male perspective than the manga’s female focused one.
 
Aug 16, 2014
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#4
Because Sailor Moon was always originally conceived as a multi-media mix from the start, so each separate adaptation was free to do it’s own thing. This wasn’t the usual case of a manga getting popular and then a studio going to the mangaka and asking to adapt it into an anime, the 90’s anime was never supposed to follow the manga, just like every other adaptation besides Crystal. Sailor Moon is a multiverse franchise not unlike Marvel.

Furthermore you have to understand that a lot of the changes such as the tone and maturity was meant to suit the anime’s distinctly younger audience, the 90’s anime was aimed at kindergartners while the manga was for the age range of around 8-13.








A lot of the changes also had to do with the fact that the 90’s anime was told from a more male perspective than the manga’s female focused one.
Yeah I disagree with they were not trying to follow the manga.Because if they were they would not been taking any of the manga plot points or was stretching out the plot.Like the filler alien plot.Until we got towards Chibusa or the rainbow crystal arc.

Also why there was more of a male staff.The anime why gear towards a younger audience was still gear towards girls.They were Japanese dolls and toys that were gears towards girls.
The last might well truthfully because demographics.The anime does seem to be more for kids.
 
Jun 17, 2019
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#5
Because if they were they would not been taking any of the manga plot points
What specific plot points did they take from the manga though? Most of the stuff such as ships and what-not were made up and anime original.


Also why there was more of a male staff.The anime why gear towards a younger audience was still gear towards girls.They were Japanese dolls and toys that were gears towards girls.
Because unfortunately Japan is still very sexist when it comes to who they allow in the corporate and directing world so most big name anime directors end up being male by default.
 

Masquerade

Solaris Luna
Nov 22, 2016
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#6
Osabu has reportedly stated that during the conception of Sailor Moon, he and Toei agreed the anime would never get ahead of the manga. The first step to do that was introduce the other Sailor Soldiers only after 20 episodes of Moon going solo. However, since Mercury and Mars were sillhouettes in the opening, fans were eager to know who they were. So, they rushed their appearance and the Rainbow Crystals saga was created to make time up for further developing of the story by Naoko.
So, that "rush" to present Mercury and Mars more quickly and keep the show fresh and interesting was one of the reasons Rei's personality got changed in the anime.
I also remember Junichi Sato said in a interview to Brazilian fans that after episode 10 aired, Naoko approached him and said "hey, Rei's a refined lady." But they already had a number of episodes ready to air, and she had already been established as short-tempered and outgoing.
But I believe these weren't the only reasons Rei was so different in the 90s anime. Sailor Moon is also a comedy anime, and having someone to "antagonize" the main character would be really convenient as a plot device. The interview is in this video, but I haven't watched it in ages and I don't remember in which timecode his interview begins. There are English subtitles you can activate, tho.



I don't know about the Mamoru age change.....maybe it was to appeal to some type of fetish or something? Maybe it wasn't as big of a deal to them because of their previous age of consent laws or whatever? Or maybe they were experimenting with the audience to see how the rating would do?
The Tuxedo Unmasked guy suggested that since Sailor Moon was a Saturday night primetime show watched by kids and their families, having an adult male character in the spotlight alongside the girls would go well with the audience.
And I once met a male cab driver in his late twenties/early thirties who didn't watch Sailor Moon since like 1997, and he not only remembered Tuxedo Mask, but also said he liked him the most in the show. Guess this theory makes sense.
 
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#7
since Mercury and Mars were sillhouettes in the opening
Silhouettes? They outright show them point blank in Classic’s first opening.


But I believe these weren't the only reasons Rei was so different in the 90s anime. Sailor Moon is also a comedy anime, and having someone to "antagonize" the main character would be really convenient as a plot device. The interview is in this video, but I haven't watched it in ages and I don't remember in which timecode his interview begins. T
I also once read in a Sailor Moon theories book that it was a combination of Rei’s seiyuu influencing her personality change and the fact that they had Hikawa Shrine located near or at Roppongi so they wanted to make Rei fit that Roppongi image as a modern, flashy extrovert, which would help in attracting kids and boost up ratings.
 
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Masquerade

Solaris Luna
Nov 22, 2016
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#8
Silhouettes? They outright show them point blank in the Classic’s first opening.
Well, their senshi forms are in sillhouettes.

I also once read in a Sailor Moon theories book that it was a combination of Rei’s seiyuu influencing her personality change and the fact that they had Hikawa Shrine located near or at Roppongi so they wanted to make Rei fit that Roppongi image as a modern, flashy extrovert, which would help in attracting kids and boost up ratings.
I read this on Tuxedo Unmasked.
 
Jun 17, 2019
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#9
The Tuxedo Unmasked guy suggested that since Sailor Moon was a Saturday night primetime show watched by kids and their families, having an adult male character in the spotlight alongside the girls would go well with the audience.
So Mamoru was the cast member that was meant to appeal to the adults in the audience?
 

B sizzle

Lumen Cinererum
Dec 26, 2021
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#11
I am actually glad that happened. Here is my thing, if I can watch the anime and it is so close to the manga, why read the manga or watch the anime if the read the manga first?

That is why I did not feel the need to read the yu yu haukasho or dbz manga, because there not many differences between the manga and anime. Because of differences between the anime and manga in sailor moon, not only am I going to watch the rest of the show on Hulu but got the eternal edition because of how good I heard it was with the conclusion of stars and codename sailor v manga. Everyone gets the best of both world’s.

Also there are people who like both, just the manga or the anime everyone won.

I do feel bad NT did not get the story she wanted shown fully. I may disagree with almost following the manga to a tee, in Japan it is a tradition. Also she created the manga and they should have put more consideration into what she wanted m. However it even worked out in the end she gets adaptation she wants with crystal. Now it is way closer to her manga and will get with stars even.

There are many differences , as I watched the dark kingdom arc, the accidentally spoiled stars for the anime and manga for myself, Al and an, and the black moon.

I have not read the manga for dark kingdom but the latter portion of the dark kingdom arc was excellent, epically the nephrite and naru romance as creepy as it was. I loved the mamarou brainwashing and the final two episodes are hard to top.
Some of the stuff for the manga sounded cool like

Serenity commuting suicide and Venus killing queen beryl. Also the senshi being princesses of their own planets was pretty damn cool to. Hence why as much as I like stars marked them one shot offed was questionable.

Of course l like Al and an so the anime wins there and I do like the sailor scouts being separated and moon, Luna, and artimis not trying reawaken the other. I thought that was great. The finale was great(notice a trend in both the manga and anime).

Black moon was up and down on both. Of course the
major differences for me was the survival of the specter sisters. In a way I was disappointed to see when I looked up the differences in this arc they died in the manga. However that was probably the best decision from a story perspective. Still glad they lived because I liked them and koan and berthier are my girlfriends

Plus the dungeon the inners were kept in was way scarier sounding than the ship in the anime.

Now I have not seen the stars anime and I cannot judge it yet. However I love the final part of the stars manga and think it is amazing, from start to finish.

Then the sailor guardians being tuned evil and usagi being forced to kill them and galaxia

The graves of the starlights, the moment of hopelessness when usagi’s thought mamarou and her friends no longer existed when galaxia melted their crystals. Usagi and galaxia’s fight, her saving galaxia. Also they killed the cats, I was stunned at that.

Then Galaxia finally seeing the light and dying right afterwards. Then usagi trying to be convinced by chibi chibi to destroy the galaxy cauldron only to make chibi chibi see the error of her ways and the sailor cosmos reveal.

Then usagi willing to sacrifice herself to destroy herself and revive her friends. In way despite getting one shot killed in a way the sailor guardians played more of a role at the end of the manga, they were dead but the power usagi used to kill chaos was probably significant.

She does destroy chaos but lives and restored mamarou, and the sailor guardians to life within the cauldron. The scene where she reunites with them is great and I love the white dresses and cloths for mamarou.

You also get the marriage at the end of the manga.

The anime has some interesting things in stars for what I heard. One thing is the sailor guardians stick around till near the end and only are gone for a short time. I like the idea of them being gone longer in the manga, it made it when the sailor guardians got restored to life that much sweeter. Obviously mamarou gets offed early in both.

However the positive of them being around longer and gone shorter was they did not get one shot killed and inners, Neptune and Uranus went out in a hero’s fashion it sounds like. The sailor guardians getting restored to life was cool and seeing the princess of the starlight’s getting revived on screen was nice. It had a good sounding ending overall, so i think I will like it.

The biggest difference was also rei, she seems cool on the manga but I like rei from the anime. She is great and her fighting with usagi feels like ranama and akane.
 
Aug 16, 2014
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#12
Osabu has reportedly stated that during the conception of Sailor Moon, he and Toei agreed the anime would never get ahead of the manga. The first step to do that was introduce the other Sailor Soldiers only after 20 episodes of Moon going solo. However, since Mercury and Mars were sillhouettes in the opening, fans were eager to know who they were. So, they rushed their appearance and the Rainbow Crystals saga was created to make time up for further developing of the story by Naoko.
So, that "rush" to present Mercury and Mars more quickly and keep the show fresh and interesting was one of the reasons Rei's personality got changed in the anime.
I also remember Junichi Sato said in a interview to Brazilian fans that after episode 10 aired, Naoko approached him and said "hey, Rei's a refined lady." But they already had a number of episodes ready to air, and she had already been established as short-tempered and outgoing.
But I believe these weren't the only reasons Rei was so different in the 90s anime. Sailor Moon is also a comedy anime, and having someone to "antagonize" the main character would be really convenient as a plot device. The interview is in this video, but I haven't watched it in ages and I don't remember in which timecode his interview begins. There are English subtitles you can activate, tho.





The Tuxedo Unmasked guy suggested that since Sailor Moon was a Saturday night primetime show watched by kids and their families, having an adult male character in the spotlight alongside the girls would go well with the audience.
And I once met a male cab driver in his late twenties/early thirties who didn't watch Sailor Moon since like 1997, and he not only remembered Tuxedo Mask, but also said he liked him the most in the show. Guess this theory makes sense.
Hmm this interesting , I did not know there was this much information.
 
Likes: Masquerade
Jun 17, 2019
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#13
I am actually glad that happened. Here is my thing, if I can watch the anime and it is so close to the manga, why read the manga or watch the anime if the read the manga first?
We also got version specific ships out of it like KunZoi, Reisagi, NephNaru, Umino/Naru, etc so there’s something for everyone.


The biggest difference was also rei, she seems cool on the manga but I like rei from the anime. She is great and her fighting with usagi feels like ranama and akane.
Which is exactly why I ship them as much as I do, as per my username, mutual tsundere ships inspired by Rumiko are my fave type of ship dynamic. XD
 
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NJ_

Gurges Ater
Oct 31, 2009
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#14

B sizzle

Lumen Cinererum
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#15
We also got version specific ships out of it like KunZoi, Reisagi, NephNaru, Umino/Naru, etc so there’s something for everyone.



Which is exactly why I ship them as much as I do, as per my usernam, mutual tsundere ships inspired by Naoko are my fave type of ship dynamic. XD
Lol Thar was awesome because all those ships worked well. I like kunzoi, it worked out great, they felt natural together. Also one of my favorite parts of the anime is kunzite saying that “I will not say refresh” Lfamo.

Resagi is just great, even if it was friendly so far where I am at I love it. I would ship them together no question. It some of the best parts of the show.

Where do I begin on nephrite, my favorite villain of the show. He was so much more entertaining than jadaite I personally was glad when they offed jadaite and replaced him with nephrite that is when I got hooked on the series. I did like usagi, rei and ami, ms haurna, usagi’s mom, naru, mamarou(season one only, never huge his tuxedo mask thing) but queen beryl was bland till they brainwashed mamarou, meaning the show needed a good villain and it got one. I also liked zoisite and Kunzite a lot.

Then epic romance with naru, where he turned good. It was so great how she feel for him and the tragic final episode where he dies to me the saddest episode of the series. He went out in epic fashion to. Him and naru we a perfect tragic couple.

I love umino and naru together, they fit each other like a glove. Umino despite being corny most of the time, is so fun to watch and such a good guy I just like him, the kind of person you want to succeed. I think it worked out great.

Hey a bunch of ships NT inspired where great. NT laid the groundwork for a lot of grat stuff and ships, stories, possibilities . In fact I like your username, I think fits this fandom perfectly. Lol
 
Jun 17, 2019
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#16
but queen beryl was bland till they brainwashed mamarou, meaning the show needed a good villain and it got one. I also liked zoisite and Kunzite a lot.
Beryl is one of those rare villain cases where she’s actually given more characterization in the manga than 90’s anime (The only other two being Galaxia and Rubeus)


Hey a bunch of ships NT inspired where great. NT laid the groundwork for a lot of grat stuff and ships, stories, possibilities .
Very true, I also equally ship Venus/Kunzite, Reinako and Chibi-Usa/Hotaru and those were pretty much all manga/NT based. I’m just saying that if it weren’t for the 90’s anime diverging so heavily from the manga the fandom wouldn’t have this great diversity of ships that we do and we would be stuck only on Naoko’s take on things.

Heck my own personal Sailor Moon OTP Demande/Saphir is a 90’s anime and Myu only exclusive ship, so I’m grateful for the diverging storylines just for them. :P
 
Feb 8, 2021
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www.deviantart.com
#17
Beryl is one of those rare villain cases where she’s actually given more characterization in the manga than 90’s anime (The only other two being Galaxia and Rubeus)



Very true, I also equally ship Venus/Kunzite, Reinako and Chibi-Usa/Hotaru and those were pretty much all manga/NT based. I’m just saying that if it weren’t for the 90’s anime diverging so heavily from the manga the fandom wouldn’t have this great diversity of ships that we do and we would be stuck only on Naoko’s take on things.

Heck my own personal Sailor Moon OTP Demande/Saphir is a 90’s anime and Myu only exclusive ship, so I’m grateful for the diverging storylines just for them. :P
The anime also introduced Rei's cousin Ibuki who is based on her manga grandpa.
 
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Akari @ria

Lumen Cinererum
Jun 17, 2017
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#18
I remember reading on the internet that, in part, some changes made in the 90's anime series were made to please adult fans of the series. Even today series such as "pretty cure" have appeal to adults. I often heard in the pretty cure fandom that in Japan there were parents worried about the fact that in the cinemas there were not only families with children but also adults, often men. Even in toy stores, the same situation.
Years ago I found this video, I think it is interesting that even then there was a part of adult fandom watching the anime.
They reproposed the interview with Naoko, distorting her name lol
 
Jun 17, 2019
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#19
I remember reading on the internet that, in part, some changes made in the 90's anime series were made to please adult fans of the series.
The manga is much more adult oriented than the 90’s anime though which is more childish by comparison.

I think you meant they made it more gender neutral to appeal to a more general audience/men compared to the manga’s very Shojo framing?
 

B sizzle

Lumen Cinererum
Dec 26, 2021
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#20
Beryl is one of those rare villain cases where she’s actually given more characterization in the manga than 90’s anime (The only other two being Galaxia and Rubeus)



Very true, I also equally ship Venus/Kunzite, Reinako and Chibi-Usa/Hotaru and those were pretty much all manga/NT based. I’m just saying that if it weren’t for the 90’s anime diverging so heavily from the manga the fandom wouldn’t have this great diversity of ships that we do and we would be stuck only on Naoko’s take on things.

Heck my own personal Sailor Moon OTP Demande/Saphir is a 90’s anime and Myu only exclusive ship, so I’m grateful for the diverging storylines just for them. :P
I did notice a lack of character with beryl in the anime until they made the reveal about the moon kingdom and her attacking it and killing the guardian’s past incarnations. So it no shock to hear she had better character in the manga overall. I hope they did jadaite better to. The rest I liked of course.

Rubeus to me was underwhelming to in the anime. I liked the specter sisters better than him, way better. Then Esmeraude was far better. Overall the black moon clan was underwhelming, Esmeradue was offed weirdly, and Demande was not that great either.

Wiseman was good but it was obvious he was the one pulling all the strings and was still underwhelming. I did like black lady version of chibiusa. Overall the black moon saga was very hit and miss. The finale was great though, so far that is one thing the anime has not missed on.

I have not seen the stars anime but will watch jt. I love manga galaxia, she is just amazing and was perfect. She is a true villan, someone who killed the sailor guardians, mamarou and other sailors just for power. Then turned usagi’s dead friends against her forcing her to kill them, then threw their crystals in the cauldron and melted them. She was trying to end their existence all together, we discovered after they did not, but made usagi lose the will to fight by making her think that. She was a true villain.

From what I heard, in the anime she is not nearly as evil. She kills the sailor guardians and mamarou but does not kill the starlights or the cats. Also the deaths were no where nearly as brutal. Then she gets turned good by usagi, and galaxia returns all the star seeds and restores the sailor guardians mamarou, and the starlight’s princess to life. I liked usagi herself restoring the sailor guardians and mamarou back to life better. I would written that galaxia in the anime bringing everyone back took a toll on her and resulted in her death. Still an okay ending but her dying in the manga was better just as she had a change of heart.

From what I hear the most notable ship of the four generals and four inners was kunzite and Venus. I think it was a ship that could work even with everything in the anime.

However Reinako is awesome, I love it. Them holding hands in the final chapter is hard to forget. NT all but made them a full blown ship, it felt like. Two opposites, one who is a calm warrior and one who is energetic as you can get. I would not mind it being a full blown ship one day in another series.

Not familiar with Saturn or chibiusa as a ship nor sauturn but it seems to be in the same age range as each other. I will see when they finally introduce Saturn.

I agree due to the 90’s anime we got various ships like reisagi to a degree, matoko and Jupiter flirtation, rei and yuichiro, ami and Ryo leading a boy who see into the future. Kunzite and zoisite was good. Hell Venus and that Alan guy, Venus and the vollyball guy. So many ships.

I am not into Saphir and Demande for obvious reasons, but seeing as they are the bad guys, it would make the most sense if we do this type of love. Lol