I think most people are already familiar to the concept of Sailor Moon being 5 middle school girls being picked as sailor soldiers/sailor scouts to battle evil demonic forces of the Dark Kingdom which is led by Queen Beryl. These battles are often episodic as Queen's Beryl's demons tend to exploit human desires such as tempting them with love in exchange for their energy. These are often shown in very dark fashion as these demon encounters give the series its charm of good vs evil (which I always enjoy) but can get repetitive at times.
While I am a male viewer, shojo's aren't that different from shonens. For starters, the series has an emphasis of romance, friendship & constant fights of good vs evil which is to be expected & excels in those areas. Those tropes are also found in shonens only that shojos have an obvious greater affection for displaying romance. However, aside from being similar the strengths in sailor moon are its characters & style.
The Sailor Scouts are likeable but I wished the team of 5 was formed earlier as Jupiter & Venus took nearly half the anime to debut which didn't offer much interaction to the group at least compared to the original trio. I'm not sure whether it's just me, but I found Usagi to be too much of a cry baby at times. While she definitely shows some maturity towards the end of the series, I always found myself liking Mars & Jupiter a lot more. Regardless, the comedy presented among the scouts is enjoyable.
While it's not the first magical girl series it's definitely the most main stream due its "super heroish" structure of a story. Being very reminiscent of super sentai (power rangers), the sailor scouts take a while to form its team of 5 which begins with Usagi on her own & eventually forming a trio for the majority of the anime. Much of the conflict initially begins with recurring fights with the demons of the dark kingdom & their leaders being Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite & Kunzite.
In it's early episodes, Sailor Moon was a bit darker than the rest of the series as people are constantly being manipulated by temptations but then shifts its tone into a more super sentai style. Much of this is due to the enemy monsters being more over the top than its initial debut as they now have a "design theme" such as a barber monster , boxing monster , snowman demon, figure skating demons, etc. These conflicts often end with Sailor Moon having to use her "Moon Stick" to restore these monsters back to their human form. The anime definitely got a bit silly from episode 25 onwards, but this just adds to its own "fun factor" among other magical girl series.
Most of the cons for this season of Sailor Moon are its repetitive trend of demon of the week, but there are some other problems. A majority of it comes from the writing being a bit sloppy to the point where it has become a bit of an inside joke among sailor moon fans. One of the best examples is Tuxedo Mask as he often appears to save Usagi, however there are a few times where he makes a rescue only to leave within the next minute. Another example (which is a staple of Power Ranger flaws) is the obvious 1 monster at a time or the villains giving too many chances for our heroes to succeed or even more hilarious is the Dark Kingdom having a hard time not recognizing the secret identities of the sailor scouts.
Essentially, you have to go with the flow to get by the weaker parts of Sailor Moon, yet this series has this certain magic which made me want to watch more. Even now I'm still uncertain why I liked this series but I can definitely say it's a good start for the Sailor Moon franchise. I should note that the anime does have a grand but dark conclusion. Most people tend to fly straight away to Madoka Magica but "being dark" has always been a staple for shojos such as Escaflowne, Princess Tutu, Utena & Sailor Moon certainly earns the same recognition. Being my first experience with Sailor Moon, it was a good one as I saw a more delicate side to an anime genre which can give "the feels" in certain episodes. As stated before, I am a male anime fan which usually watches 80's shonen but this magical girl series is a recommended watch. Looking forward to see what happens in the next series being Sailor Moon R.
