10 Reasons "Sailor Moon" Is One of the Greatest Anime Cartoons Ever

If you watched this show, you know why it's the absolute best.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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For true fans, the Americanized version of Sailor Moon was just the tip of the iceberg. It was adapted for an international audience by DiC Entertainment via Bandai, and brought to the U.S. in 1992 by Cartoon Network. Originally a shoujo manga series called Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, the series was created by legendary manga artist Naoko Takeuchi. The U.S. version opened up an entire world of Japanese manga and anime to a new audience. For that reason alone Sailor Moon’s greatness can’t be underscored.

Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon’s 18 volumes have sold over 1 million copies worldwide. But what sets it apart from other “magical girl” series like Magical Princess Minky Momo and Magical Idol Pastel Yumi is that the Sailor Soldiers were always kicking ass and saving the planet while we waited to see what evil monster Queen Beryl of the Negaverse conjured to retrieve the magical Legendary Silver Crystal from the Sailor Soldiers—Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, Sailor Venus, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Jupiter. Was Darien Shields, otherwise known as Tuxedo Mask, going to help? Would he ever discover that Serena was his long-lost bae from the Moon Kingdom? Would Luna and Serena have another come-to-Jesus moment? So much suspense! So much intrigue!

Visually stunning, and widely critically acclaimed, Sailor Moon changed everything for manga and anime fans in America. It was, and still is, the archetype. So, to celebrate the anniversary of its original run back in 1991, here are the 10 Reasons Why Sailor Moon Is the Greatest Ever​.

Angel Elliott is a freelance writer for Complex. Follow her on Twitter at @angelelliott.

It introduced many in the U.S. to the wonderful world of anime.

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Sailor Moon was the anti-Disney princess.

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Naoko Takeuchi's animation is unparalleled.

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Sailor Moon was a no-frenemies zone.

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Sailor Moon created the Magical Girl Warrior genre.

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Usagi and Mamoru knew true love.

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Sailor Moon ripped the runway on the regular.

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Gotta love that Sailor score.

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We learned more than a few things from those PSAs.

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It was a trailblazing LGBT cartoon.

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