The first season of the Sailor Moon anime television series was produced by Toei Animation and directed by Junichi Sato. It was broadcast from March 7, 1992, to February 27, 1993, on TV Asahi. The first season of the classic anime series version of Sailor Moon adapts the first arc of the Sailor Moon manga series by Naoko Takeuchi, the "Dark Kingdom" arc.
It follows the adventures of Usagi Tsukino and her friends. After the magical cat Luna reveals Usagi's true identity as the titular character, Usagi fights to protect the Earth from the Dark Kingdom, who previously destroyed the ancient Moon Kingdom.
In the 1993 favorite episode listings for Animage, "Loved and Chased! Luna's Worst Day Ever" came in first place, with "Naru's Cry! Nephrite Dies for Love" coming in third place, "The Sparkling Silver Crystal! The Moon Princess Appears" coming in sixth place, "Memories Return! Usagi and Mamoru's Past" coming in ninth place and "Love for Ami?! A Boy Who Can Predict the Future" coming in eleventh place. The following year, the two-part series finale "The Sailor Warriors Die! The Tragic Final Battle" and "Usagi's Everlasting Wish! A New Reincarnation" took first and second place respectively. Eight DVD compilations were released in Japan between May 21 and July 21, 2002, and the series was later released in a remastered edition in two box-sets from December 11, 2009 to January 21, 2010.
In the English language adaptation of the series by former licensee DIC Entertainment, the season was cut down to 40 episodes and also added an ending segment, "Sailor Says," to teach a moral based on the story that had just been shown. The episodes were first broadcast on YTV in Canada from August 28 to October 24, 1995, and later had its first-run syndication in the United States from September 11 to November 3, 1995. On June 1, 1998, reruns of the series began airing on Cartoon Network's weekday afternoon programming block, Toonami. Due to the ratings success of these reruns, the remaining seventeen episodes (promoted as "The Lost Episodes") also began airing on November 30. In 1999, Cloverway Inc. once again contracted Optimum Productions to produce English-language adaptations of Sailor Moon S and SuperS with Pioneer Entertainment handling home video distribution. This dub featured less censorship and was first broadcast on YTV in Canada and later on Toonami in the United States. The dub finished airing on Toonami on September 13, 2002. The first season was later released by ADV Films in a subtitle-only DVD box set in 2003. Eventually, on May 16, 2014, the season was re-licensed for an updated English-language release by Viz Media and they released the season in two uncut DVD and Blu-ray compilations on November 11, 2014 and February 10, 2015 for parts one and two respectively. Hulu began streaming the series in the United States on May 19, 2014, with Tubi TV following suit in Canada on July 15, 2016. On May 31, 2024, Adult Swim began airing the uncut Viz Media English dub as part of its Toonami Rewind programming block, marking the first broadcast of Sailor Moon on American television in 23 years, also showing episodes previously unaired in the country.
The score was composed by Takanori Arisawa. Three pieces of theme music are used for the episodes; one opening theme and two closing themes. The opening theme for the whole season is "Moonlight Densetsu" performed by the idol group Dali. "Heart Moving", performed by Misae Takamatsu of Sakura Sakura, is used as the ending theme for the first 26 episodes, and "Princess Moon", performed by Ushio Hashimoto, is used for the remainder of the season. DIC Entertainment made an English-language version of the Japanese opening theme for its adaptation.
Several video games were released to promote the first season of the original Sailor Moon. On December 18, 1992, Angel (a subsidiary company of Bandai), published Sailor Moon for Game Boy, and on August 27, 1993, published Sailor Moon for Super Nintendo Entertainment System. A port for the Sega Mega Drive developed by Arc System Works was released a year later. Also in 1993, Black HCS developed and published a beat 'em up video game called Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Kessen Dark Kingdom for Sharp X68000. In 1995, Gazelle developed the arcade game Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, which was published by Banpresto.
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