Sailor Moon and Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Stephen Victor · Post by **Stephen Victor** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 2:12 pm

Am I the only one who has noticed some similarities between Buffy and Sailor Moon? It's mostly the first two seasons of Buffy that remind me of SM, but there are some similarities in the later seasons too. I'm not claiming that Buffy is a rip-off of SM or anything, but still, there are some similarities ... both Usagi and Buffy being magical girls wishing they were normal instead, both having an intelligent, bossy Guardian, Ami and Willow both being smart and quiet, Rei and Cordelia being pretty similar in personality ... there are also some plot similarities, for example:

[spoiler] Both Angel and Tuxedo Mask turn evil, only to turn good again, be killed immediately afterwards and be revived later on.

Both Usagi and Buffy have a girl show up in their lives that claims to be their little sisters.

Both have plots dealing with a totally innocent girl needing to be killed in order for the world to saved but Usagi and Buffy are reluctant to do so. [/spoiler]

Usagi04 · Post by **Usagi04** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 2:28 pm

I noticed that to. http://www.sailorscouts.co.uk/ has a section on this, if that helps.

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 2:43 pm

This only applies to the NA dub, but both dub Luna and the Guardian guy have British accents.

I've never watched the show, but I've heard of the Guardian guy because of my interest in the English stereotype.

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 4:48 pm

There's also something about this listed at the Animerica website. One of the similarities they mentioned at their site is that both Usagi and Buffy have friends who have questionable sexual preferences(or something like that). Usagi has Haruka and Michiriu, and Buffy has Willow and Tara.

ParaKiss_Groupie · Post by **ParaKiss_Groupie** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 4:55 pm

Cardcaptor Takato wrote:There's also something about this listed at the Animerica website. One of the similarities they mentioned at their site is that both Usagi and Buffy have friends who have questionable sexual preferences(or something like that). Usagi has Haruka and Michiriu, and Buffy has Willow and Tara.

Their relationships are questionable? They seemed pretty clear to me... Haruka and Michiru are lesbians, as are Willow and Tara.

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 5:40 pm

That's what they said...then again, I haven't been to Animerica's site in a long while, so I'm probably quoting wrong.

Em · Post by Em » Wed Nov 19, 2003 7:32 pm

Usagi04 wrote:I noticed that to. http://www.sailorscouts.co.uk/ has a section on this, if that helps.

Go to the editorials section on the site that's were you'll find it.

But there are a lot of smilar thing's in Sailor Moon and Buffy most have been metioned so I won't add but it's intersting anyway

Post by **Tiff** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 8:06 pm

There was also an article in Animerica Magazine comparing the two shows.

NameGoesHere · Post by **NameGoesHere** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 1:32 am

If only Mamoru had dressed like Angel…

Post by **Tiff** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 2:23 am

NameGoesHere wrote:If only Mamoru had dressed like Angel…

Ah, such lovely thoughts....

LadyFlameSniper · Post by **LadyFlameSniper** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 9:17 pm

And appearance wise, both Usagi and Buffy are blonde...

ParaKiss_Groupie · Post by **ParaKiss_Groupie** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 9:21 pm

I know a way they're different: Usagi is really cool, while Buffy is an annoying bitch! And another way they're similar: They're both dating idiots (Buffy has Spike/Riley/Multiple other people, Usagi has Mamoru)

Akarui Kibuno · Post by **Akarui Kibuno** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 5:45 am

I won't agree on the "Buffy is an annoying bitch" though :p but the "dating idiots" things is kind of accurate, even though the best idiot of the two must be Mamoru, in my opinion.

Rivalee · Post by **Rivalee** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 6:15 pm

Stephen Victor wrote:Am I the only one who has noticed some similarities between Buffy and Sailor Moon? It's mostly the first two seasons of Buffy that remind me of SM, but there are some similarities in the later seasons too. I'm not claiming that Buffy is a rip-off of SM or anything, but still, there are some similarities ... both Usagi and Buffy being magical girls wishing they were normal instead, both having an intelligent, bossy Guardian, Ami and Willow both being smart and quiet, Rei and Cordelia being pretty similar in personality ... there are also some plot similarities, for example:

[spoiler] Both Angel and Tuxedo Mask turn evil, only to turn good again, be killed immediately afterwards and be revived later on.

Both Usagi and Buffy have a girl show up in their lives that claims to be their little sisters.

Both have plots dealing with a totally innocent girl needing to be killed in order for the world to saved but Usagi and Buffy are reluctant to do so. [/spoiler]

I thought so too, especially when [spoiler]angel turned evil, and got killed. The death-scene reminded me of the end of the Metallia-arc in the manga, when Moon killed Tux[/spoiler]

ilovethesailorsenshi · Post by **ilovethesailorsenshi** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 12:23 am

i'm lost... how did angel die and what does that have to do with tux's death at moon's hands?

Bubbles36 · Post by **Bubbles36** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 6:28 pm

Have to post here as it was seeing this that made me join the forum - I don't know why I didn't some years ago when I was working my way through Buffy and Angel and getting online was one of the early things done at my new place!

I agree. [spoiler]The appearance of fake Sailor V and the crane reminded me of Dawn at the end of Season 5. [/spoiler]Also, it's minor, but Usagi kinda translates as Bunny which is similar to Buffy.
I've recently viewed the Live Action series (I understand more closely modelled on the manga) and yes, t[spoiler]here's the sword through the boyfriend bit. [/spoiler]

One thing SM has over the Slayer though is that she does undergo some character development while Buffy seems to stay pretty much the same while everyone else grows in various ways. I guess thinking you might snuff it anytime soon might be relevant.

Iced_Cappucino · Post by **Iced_Cappucino** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 2:47 pm

Wow I never realised that (Being a fan of both shows) it's quite a coincidence.

The whole Rei/Yuchiro (sp?) thing is similar to Cordy/Xander

Spike becomes attracted to Buffy and trys to win her affection just as Seiya does with Usagi.

I just thought of something, [spoiler]in PGSM Ami turns evil and in Buffy Willow turns evil...[/spoiler]

Bubbles36 · Post by **Bubbles36** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 5:41 am

Yeah, I thought of that, too - the dark Willow thing - like I said only viewed PGSM this year - it would've been interesting/cool to have it happen in the anime.

The other (main) thing I think (and this is prob for discussion elsewhere on the forum) is that Usagi and Buffy don't have THAt much going for them apart from they happen to be 'chosen'. Ami and Willow would still be very bright; Rei and Willow would have 'otherworldly' powers; hm, not sure of the parallels for others here.

Then there's the young 'relative' who appears that only our heroine recognises as an interloper.

Hm, hadn't thought of looking at the Spike relationship like that!

Yasha Kodachi · Post by **Yasha Kodachi** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:47 pm

Even though I'm a big fan of both Buffy and Sailor Moon, (Buffy moreso), I never thought of any similarities between them:

Buffy doesn't give off the magical vibe that Usagi does; her power is in physical strength (and snappy dialogue) while Usagi has more typical magical powers. They aren't similar in personality at all, except for that they do wish to be normal sometimes. (I guess it is true that Buffy (and everyone else) remains the essentially the same throughout the whole show, but I think it's actually a good thing; no matter what scary crap got flung their way, the Scoobies were still the same Scoobies I fell in love with.) And I'd take Mamoru over Angel/Spike/anyone else Buffy's ever been with (possible exception: Riley) any day.

The similarities between Giles and Luna, Willow and Ami, Cordy and Rei (? on that last one), and Spike and Seiya arent' that surprising, because their character types don't take a genius to invent: the mentor, the shy and smartypants friend, the narcisistic chick, the weirdo that loves the heroine.... Where's Xander and Makoto? The same thing goes with a lover turning evil; that thar's good angst and drama in any language.

Dawn didn't show up claiming to be Buffy's sister- as far as everybody knew until a few episodes later, she was; Buffy is blonde because, according to Joss, the cute blonde girl always dies first in horror films; if Willow and Tara were more similar to Haruka and Michiru, I might think for a moment that the former was inspired by the latter, since gay characters are pretty sparse; I don't know anything about PGSM, but from what I've heard about Ami's evil stint (god, I hope she killed someone!), it's not much like Willow's, and Willow's evil self/evil potential appeared several times.

I guess on the surface there are a lot of similarities, but they're just coincidences. It's pretty amazing, though, that two shows with so many common elements are so different. It'd be pretty awesome if BtVS were inspired by Sailor Moon, but I think somebody on the show (Joss, a writer, an actor) would have said something about it by now.

Sailor Moon Uncensored

Sailor Moon and Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Sailor Moon and Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Re: Sailor Moon and Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

what?

Buffy and Sailor Moon