* Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon (Pretty Soldier Sailormoon), the anime aired in Japan from 1992 to 1997 on television. The anime is divided into five seasons with 200 episodes total. The season titles are Sailormoon, Sailormoon R, Sailormoon S, Sailormoon SuperS, and Sailormoon Sailorstars.

* The anime's story was based on the original manga written by Takeuchi Naoko, who wrote and illustrated 18 volumes of manga that ran monthly in Japan's Nakayoshi magazine. After the popularity of her Sailor V manga (a 3 volume story centered around the life of Sailor Venus before going to Japan), Naoko decided to write a story about a team of superheroines and she wanted to put Sailor V on the team.

* The story of Sailormoon centers around the life of Tsukino Usagi, a clumsy 14 year old crybaby who finds out she is really the princess of the moon reborn on the Earth in 20th century Tokyo. After she finds a talking cat named Luna, Usagi also finds that she is the super-heroine Sailormoon and that it is her mission to protect the Earth along with other Sailor Soldiers. Usagi finds adventure, love, and friendship through her journey as a Sailor Soldier.

* Although the story of the manga is very similiar to the story of the anime, there are some differences. One example would be the storyline in the first arc of Sailormoon R involving the Aliens. This story is not part of the manga, it was developed in order for the manga storyline to get ahead of the anime. At that time the manga publications were being released prior to each season of the anime.

* The story of Sailormoon was also shown in three movies. These movies were called Sailormoon R: The Movie, SailormoonS: The Movie, and Sailormoon SuperS: The Movie. Each of the movies premiered following the season which they are each named after. Sailormoon S: The Movie is also known as "The Lover of Princess Kaguya" which was actually written in a manga by Naoko. This story can be found in a separate book, or also in Sailormoon manga Volume 11. Click here for my own summaries of the movies. These movies have recently been subtitled and dubbed by Pioneer and have been released commercially. These movies are available subtitled, dubbed and in DVD format.There was also a television special that aired called Ami-chan no Hatsukoi (Ami's First Love) which is only available through fansubs.

* Sailormoon was aired in many countries after it's release in Japan, it was also released and dubbed in the English language by a company called DiC. DiC is widely criticized in the Sailormoon fan community for it's editing of Sailormoon, mainly due to the changes in storyline, removal of parts of individual episodes, and removal of entire episodes within a series. The first two seasons of Sailormoon were aired in the United States and Canada over the last few years. Most recently, Cloverway (another company) has acquired the rights to the next two seasons of Sailormoon - seasons S and SuperS. These two seasons aired on Cartoon Network. There have been mixed reactions to these new dubbed episodes. Most complains have been centered around the dislike of the new voice talent in the dubs, and also the changes in continuity from episode to episode. The dubbed version also changed themes centered around homosexuality, violence, and religion.

For more information and LOTS of detail regarding this series I advise you to check out Hitoshi Doi's page, he is one of the true "guru's" of Sailormoon information. Go to his page here. Another really good resource for Sailormoon information is the Sailormoon FAQ written by Ken Arromdee.