While the show’s age is apparent and the animation and sound aren’t up to snuff anymore, I found the art style and character designs to be incredibly charming. The colour scheme and design of the backgrounds gives the anime a unique vibe which makes it immediately recognizable from scenery alone.
Even though I did not experience the show in my childhood, it has such a strong nostalgic feel to it that made me immediately attached to the characters. While I often see complaints about Usagi’s personality, I found her to be primarily endearing and relatable. She also contributed to the surprisingly humorous nature of the show. I actually laughed out loud at points, which doesn’t happen to me very often. The other characters are developed to varying degrees. Rei and Ami are introduced early on and have the most fleshed out personalities of the other sailor scouts, both of them provide nice foils to Usagi and each other. Makoto and Minako come later, and this leaves there development with a little to be desired. Makoto has a very likable personality, but she doesn’t fall as solidly into an archetype as Usagi, Ami or Rei. We have a bit less of a grasp on her character and I look forward to seeing more of her in the next seasons. Minako especially got the short end of the stick, I frankly have a hard time thinking of what her personality traits even are. She definitely feels the blandest of the sailor scouts.
Another important character is Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru. As far as love interests go he is very charming as Mamoru, while a little one-note as Tuxedo Mask. This is intentional however, and I think the romance between him and Usagi developed nicely and fairly naturally. It’s nice to see a show where a romance plot actually comes to fruition. The side characters are all fun as well, with a special mention to Naru and her arc involving Nephrite. It was refreshing to see and one of my favourite parts of this season.
The story is formulaic, with a monster of the week format for a good part of the runtime. Still, it gets the job done and in my opinion, none of the episodes felt too much like wasted filler. It was interesting to get new insights into characters, or to watch sideplots develop, I especially liked Ami and Rei’s budding romance sideplots. The weakest point of the show is certainly the fight scenes, which are always the same and rarely make use of interesting tactics or solutions. Still, that’s probably not what you’re watching this show for, or you probably wouldn’t be able to sit through a season. The conclusion was also not my favourite, but might still work out well depending on how the second season handles things.
Overall, this show really resonated with me in a way I didn’t quite expect, and was a very entertaining watch. It’s not something you watch in one big sitting, but at a rate of about an episode a day it really proves its worth. Even if you didn’t grow up with it, give it a shot if you’re interested!
