Cardcaptor Sakura when was dubbed by Nelvana in 2000 flopped in the US on Toonami, yet the old dub of Sailor Moon became a hit in the 90s when it came on Toonami. I want to find out what made Sailor Moon succeed in the US back in the 90s while the Cardcaptor Sakura dub flop in the US in 2000.
Cardcaptor Sakura barely got any air time on Toonami it looks like and was in a less ideal time slot compared to Sailor Moon which aired at a time right when people in school got home and even got an 8.5 hour marathon at one point and a sweepstakes relating to it.
June 1 - July 24, 1998 Lineup
On June 1st, Sailor Moon premiered on Toonami at 4:00 PM. Also, Voltron moved to 5:00 PM. From June 8th-12th, Toonami held a write-in sweepstakes titled the Banjo-Kazooie Sweepstakes. This schedule consisted of:
4:00 PM - Sailor Moon
4:30 PM - Robotech
5:00 PM - Voltron
5:30 PM - The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
This schedule existed from June 1 - July 24, 1998.
May 23, 1999 (Lunar Eclipse) Lineup
On May 23rd, Toonami presented a special 8.5 hour Sailor Moon marathon titled: Lunar Eclipse. This schedule consisted of:
On May 31st, the schedule returned to normal. On July 10th, Toonami replaced Moltar and the Ghost Planet Industries with TOM 1 and the Ghost Planet Spaceship Absolution during the first broadcast of the Midnight Run. From July 19th-25th, Toonami held an online sweepstakes titled the "Sailor Moon Wants You!" Sweepstakes. This schedule consisted of:
4:00 PM - Sailor Moon
4:30 PM - ReBoot
5:00 PM - Dragon Ball Z
5:30 PM - The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
This schedule existed from May 31 - September 10, 1999.
June 4 - 20, 2001 Lineup
On June 4th, Cardcaptors premiered on Toonami at 5:00 PM replacing Superman: The Animated Series. From June 11th-17th, Toonami held an online sweepstakes titled the Game Boy Advance Giveaway. This schedule consisted of:[25]
5:00 PM - Cardcaptors
5:30 PM - Tenchi Universe
6:00 PM - Dragon Ball Z
6:30 PM - Dragon Ball Z
This schedule existed from June 4-20, 2001.
June 21 - 22, 2001 Lineup
From June 21st-22nd, a second airing of Cardcaptors replaced Tenchi Universe at 5:30 PM. This schedule consisted of:[26][27]
5:00 PM - Cardcaptors
5:30 PM - Cardcaptors
6:00 PM - Dragon Ball Z
6:30 PM - Dragon Ball Z
This schedule only existed from June 21-22, 2001.
June 25 - 26, 2001 Lineup
On June 25th, Tenchi Universe and The Big O returned to the lineup, at 5:00 PM and 5:30 PM respectively, replacing Cardcaptors. This schedule consisted of:
5:00 PM - Tenchi Universe
5:30 PM - The Big O
6:00 PM - Dragon Ball Z
6:30 PM - Dragon Ball Z
This schedule existed from June 25-26, 2001.
However you also are forgetting Saturday morning cartoons and local channel cartoon blocks on the daily during a limited time slot was a thing during this time period. Toonami was last to get Sailor Moon. It was on local channels before then in syndication. Syndication means it aired every weekday. From what i can find seems it aired early mornings so people watched it before going to school. I am having more trouble finding when Cardcaptor Sakura aired but I suspect it also may have been syndicated since it met the 65 minimum for five day a week syndication and i do know it aired on local channels so. I'm guessing it maybe on local channels also did not get an ideal time slot.
Sailor Moon always had that male appeal of girls kicking ass.
Sakura, on the other hand, is a much more "traditional" mahou shoujo title in that she's more of a kind fairy who brings good to the world, and it's a formula that just doesn't appeal to men that much. That and there's some heavy fujo elements like yaoi teasing, which doesn't appeal to men who're not gay themselves, like, 99% of the time.
It did not get as good of a treatment, such as a worser time slot and the fact that there's more magical girl competitors it had to face. Since its from the same channl its not seen as anything as interesting
I am a fan of both. They are one of my favorites.
But they are very different.
First, Sailor Moon came out several years before Sakura.
It has many more episodes and characters. It's all more literal, it has advanced adult themes for the time. Michiru-Haruka is a great example. Another would be Fish Eye. The characters are minors but they look older. There are a lot of "filler" chapters that are fun, the rivals on duty are a beautiful bizarre thing. It has many films, it is still in tune after more than 30 years.
As for Sakura, she is more brotherly and naive. It focuses more on relationships, away from the sexual. Although yes in orientations, but they do not develop beyond that. The characters are minor and seem as such. Obviously with more maturity, but that's typical of anime. The premise of the anime is the relationship between all the characters, living together, understanding each other. Many people even find it boring due to the fact that it has chapters where 15 minutes are spent just watching them cook, eat and chat pleasantly. The action is more relaxed, there is not as much darkness. It's all softer. Pleasant colors, flowers.
Regarding the US, I don't know what it will be like. I am from Argentina. Both animes are quite popular here.
But Sailor Moon was one of the first anime to appear on TV, back in the early 90s. Sakura in the late 90s.
Because only 39 of the 70 dubbed episodes aired in the USA. The fact that I'm only the 2nd out of 13 responses to provide such an obvious answer to your question (thanks @Absurdo_N) proves that the majority of MAL users know nothing about the USA.
@animegamer245 my point is Sakura isn't that popular with general audiences like Sailor Moon is.
Like, we're talking about casual viewers here. Is Sakura an unknown anime in the fandom? No it is not, which is where I agree with you. However, the average casual consumer cares only about the fighting and doesn't get the moe appeal. The only modern mahou shoujo that has done okay in the mainstream was Madoka, and that was thanks to the shilling that the anime is "different compared to stereotypical girly fare", "smart", "deep", "deconstructive". For some reason those words cause people to swarm in droves for an anime that's literally just slightly better made than the rest of the competition. Sakura didn't have that luxury as it came before the internet.
I don’t really know much about Sailor Moon but Cardcaptor Sakura had stuff like characters being in love with their cousins, child characters falling in love with their teachers, and male characters being attracted to other male characters (which at the time, probably would’ve gone down less well than two female characters being attracted to each other) which may have been harder to sell/censor properly. Idk though, just speculating really.
Sailor Moon is very gay, but with scenes that are ecchi.
Cardcaptor Sakura is very gay, but there aren't a lot of girls in short skirts fighting.
There is also the issue of censorship and episode cuts and I think Cardcaptor Sakura suffered more cuts than Sailor Moon(as far as I know).
This reminds me that I dropped the Sailor Moon anime, maybe one day I'll try reading the manga.
@Absurdo_N
The same sex romantic feelings were removed from Sailor Moon but all romantic feelings removed from Cardcaptor Sakura. I dont know what else was removed from memory since ive yet to watch Sailor Moon and Im still going through Cardcaptor Sakura so i havent read through the list and dont plan on watching the dubs
Lucifrost said: Because only 39 of the 70 dubbed episodes aired in the USA. The fact that I'm only the 2nd out of 13 responses to provide such an obvious answer to your question (thanks @Absurdo_N) proves that the majority of MAL users know nothing about the USA.
There was THAT much cut? That explains why i couldnt find information on it being syndicated because it wouldnt have been enough episodes to meet syndication requirements so it could have only aired once a week while Sailor Moon aired every weekday supposedly before it had a weekly broadcast.