Sailormoon's Impact on Anime

[Vagabond]

I've had this question in my mind for a while now. I've heard that while Sailormoon was pretty revolutionary when it first came out, and introduced many concepts which have now become cliches in anime. I just want to know how correct my assertions are since I can not seem to find the information that well on the internet. Feel free to add any other pertinent info or concepts that I may have missed.

As far as I know, Sailormoon introduced these concepts:
1. The all-female shojo magical team - Before all magical girl animes had only one magical girl. Team-adventure animes were either all male or had a mix of males and females (predominantly males)

2. The whiny, immature heroine - Before, all shojo magical girl heroines were fairly "perfect" - meaning they were good in sports, had good grades, mature, popular, etc. Usagi is supposedly the first of her kind in that she had very visible flaws like being a crybaby, eating a lot, and such. I think that was the difference between Sailor moon and her previous counterpart Sailor V. Ever since Sailormoon the whiny but good-hearted heroine has become an archtype for shojo anime.

3. Long transformation and speeches - I've heard rumours that Sailormoon made having long transformation and speeches for every episode standard for magical girl anime. I'm not too sure about this though.

4. Passive male lead - As anyone who watches Sailormoon knows, Tuxedo Kamen often plays the role of damsel-in-distress and Sailormoon has to save him in dramatic story parts. Also, Tuxedo Kamen does not take part in the really important fight scenes (Exp: Kaolinite's 1st death scene, Super ending, SailorStars ending). Before, male leads or partners did most of the rescuing and fighting.

[ilovethesailorsenshi]

those are some pretty powerful words... i agree with you, but most of what you said; i only see in american cartoons... don't get me wrong though, i just haven't seen a lot of anime lately.

[Akarui Kibuno]

Well, I would say I mostly agree. Let's see if I can find other anime with such things:

- Ojamajo Doremi

A team of little witches, whose leader, Doremi, is nothing but a crybaby whose dream is to eat a big steack. Horrible grades, at first she's not even good at magic (hence the title of the series). The team is of three witches first, then it goes up to five, then six, and a seventh witch appears throughout the seasons. And the girls always save the boys they like somehow.

This is the only one that comes to mind for the moment. Though the questions you're asking are pretty interesting, since it indeed looks like Sailor Moon was a pioneer in many aspects...

[sailor_mask1]

HUGE! As huge as the universe itself. Sailormoon is so damn hot and popular that it became an icon, that almost all animes particularly magical, comedy and romance type animes are following its footsteps, or sort of copying if not ripping it. Naoko certainly has created a milestone achievement for herself with the creation of SailorMoon.

There are abundance of animes out there that have copied or parodied it, to be somewhat jumping on the bandwagon and somewhat juicing up on the POPULARITY that SailorMoon created.
The closest I can recall is a certain wedding peach, and believe me there are much, much MORE. There is even a 'hentai' copy of SM entitled Venus 5, This is a good one believe me. And the copies doesn't stop in Anime alone, even american, european and other foreign toons, and sometimes even in live shows as well. even the musics and songs are being used in ads, etc. here in our country I beleive that Alan's flute music was used in a public docu. drama and Michiru's violin music was used in a milk Ad. Pardon if I have to put other things aside from just the anime but I just have to say these to show how much SailorMoon has influenced not just anime but the WORLD as well.

___________________

You wanna get HIGH! -- Towlie
No! we don't wanna get high U Filthy Bastard! -- Cartmann

[Umino]

As far as I know, Sailormoon introduced these concepts:
1. The all-female shojo magical team - Before all magical girl animes had only one magical girl. Team-adventure animes were either all male or had a mix of males and females (predominantly males)

If I'm not mistaken, I think there was an anime with an all girl team before Sailor Moon. However, I don't think it was anywhere as popular as Sailor Moon.

3. Long transformation and speeches - I've heard rumours that Sailormoon made having long transformation and speeches for every episode standard for magical girl anime. I'm not too sure about this though

Cutie Honey beat Sailor Moon in the nude transformation and speeches by 19 years. One of the things Cutie Honey is well known for is her nude transformations. Although unlike Sailor Moon's, Honey's transformations were alot more "ecchi", and for the most part didn't reuse footage. Cutie Honey also had a speech she used before she faced her enemy. She would inform them of each form she used. (She can transform into anyone):

"Sometimes I'm a Hurricane racer, a singer, a model, a cameraman, but my true form is... Warrior of Love, Cutie Honey!"

4. Passive male lead - As anyone who watches Sailormoon knows, Tuxedo Kamen often plays the role of damsel-in-distress and Sailormoon has to save him in dramatic story parts. Also, Tuxedo Kamen does not take part in the really important fight scenes (Exp: Kaolinite's 1st death scene, Super ending, SailorStars ending). Before, male leads or partners did most of the rescuing and fighting.

In Mahou no Mako, Mako often recused her love interest in many situations. Cutie Honey is always saving her friends the Hayami family from trouble. I think Tuxedo Mask is different from other male partners/leads is because he's a bit more active in the fighting. Other males usually got mixed up in danger.

[Aya Reiko]

Point 1 -- True... sort of. Actually it was the first to join mahou shoujo with the sentai genre.
Point 2 -- True. No argument there.
Point 3 -- False. What Umino said.
Point 4 -- False. Again, what Umino said.

I consider SM to be the beginning of the Modern Mahou Shoujo era. Main difference is the introduction of an imperfect lead or leads and the emergence of the team concept in mahou shoujo. But otherwise, it really didn't add anything else to the mahou shoujo genre.

[Usagi04]

I think Sailor Moon influenced anime pretty heavily back when it first came out. I still think it impacts some of the anime of today as well.