I hear so many great things about PGSM but still haven't seen it. u.u

From what I've seen and read though, I'm going with the manga because of it's story and mythology.

Small Lady wrote:

It seems its turned into that because GUESS WHAT.  

I agree, the best version of Sailor Moon IS PGSM. It legit has the best writing, character development, drama and plot. However, everyone has said just about all the reasons why. SO I'm going to talk about the 2nd runner up and my personal favorite version of SM: the Musicals (and the ones from 93-2005 sponsored by Bandai, not the new ones sponsored by Dwango).

Why are the musicals the best version?  Well unlike what Mars said in her first post where she said all versions are about "Usamamo" (I highly disagree with that for the 90s anime and esp with the musicals), they are SO NOT all about UsaMamo. In fact, often the UsaMamo stuff is just a few scenes here and there and is never the actual FULL focus of the musical.

The musicals bring up portions of sailor moon that don't get a lot of attention or did but wasn't really done justice and done sooo much better.  First is Myu!Beryl. They expanded on her story, made Pluto sympathetic to her and they sang a duet AND she saves SM at the end. :'(   Then how Beryl and Galaxia team up (instead of Nehellennia and it honestly works SOOOOO much better).  

Then we get not one, but 4 original Sailor Moon musicals with new content never seen in other versions. These are the Kaguya musicals and the Dracul musicals. WE HAVE VAMPIRES MESHING WITH SM AND SOME OF THE DARKEST SM CONTENT EVER.  

Lets also talk about how all the villains are generally fleshed out a lot more, we understand their motives and feelings (a lot of times through song) and sometimes you end up wanting to root for the villains once you get their motives.

Not to mention the Starlights are done really well with their roles becoming a bit more as the comic relief (in Stars and Eien Densetsu, they are more serious in Ryuusei Densetsu and Kakyuu Ouhi).  Seiya is actually more serious than the 90s anime, a bit more like her manga counter part, but you really feel her emotions when she sings a duet with Usagi about missing the ones they love. T___T


And Kakyuu's death. OMG. T_____T


AND JUST WHENEVER ANYONE DIES. ITS LIKE FULL HIT RIGHT IN THE GODAMN FEELS.


I could go on and on about the musicals and why they are the 2nd Best version of Sailor Moon. <3

All of this! Aaaaaall of this!

PGSM is number one, no doubt- Kobayashi is one of the best when it comes to character bonding and development!
But the musicals also have some great storytelling and character focus as well.

I always loved the manga more than the original Anime. Not that I hated the original Anime, I mean it was how I got introduced to the series in the first place. But the manga just always did a lot more cool things with the stories and characters in my opinion.

But then I saw Crystal. Holy crab, I fell in love with this version immediately. It was actually seeing a good 95% of the manga being animated, and the show followed it chapter by chapter. The only thing I didn't like was when they made

Spoiler:

But everything else is perfect in my eyes.

I know a lot of Sailor Moon fans don't like Crystal, mostly because of the goofy animation mistakes. But for me, those didn't bother me one bit. Every animated show (especially when it's anime) has mistakes. Sure, I can understand that they have two weeks to create an episode, but they are fixing a lot of things on the DVD releases.

So my vote goes to Crystal.

it was hard decision to make but I said manga. It just holds a dear place in my heart...

I haven't read the entirety of the manga, and though I've seen the anime, I never attached myself to it, so I'm gonna say PGSM! For all the reasons everyone else has stated. There's stunning character development, and everyone has time to grow and be fleshed out.

I'm firmly in the manga camp. I love how dark it is, how screwed up it is, how much more information we get on how the Senshi "system" works, I love that, while the girls other than Usagi don't get a lot of screentime, there are enough clues and peeks to infer awesome headcanons

I love the classic anime from nostalgia mostly - I can still sing along to every transformation, I love the music, but I have so many problems with it overall (sometimes which is not its fault), mostly with how the characters as a whole are handled.

PGSM was visually gorgeous but heartbreaking because it didn't really feel like the girls were friends, which is one of the reasons that I fell in love with the franchise in the first place.

Crystal is a dream come true that's too good to be true. I can concisely describe my feelings as: when it does things right, I'm too happy to hate it, but when it does things wrong, I'm too disappointed to love it.

as for Myu... I've only ever seen one. I'M A TERRIBLE FAN. I need to fix this...

I don't really feel as if there's a right and wrong answer to this question. Each Sailor Moon medium has things it does better than others, and things it does worse than others. This is a highly subjective question based on everyone's personal likes and dislikes. 

That being said, I do like the manga and the 90s anime and wish that we had a combination of the two. I think that would be pretty cool.

Addelyn wrote:

I don't really feel as if there's a right and wrong answer to this question. Each Sailor Moon medium has things it does better than others, and things it does worse than others. This is a highly subjective question based on everyone's personal likes and dislikes. 

^^^^^^^this

i mean i really dislike the classic anime but i also...love it?????? and i know how charming and fun it is and some people prefer it over the other versions and THAT'S AWESOME i hope no one thinks i'm pooing on their preferences

Honestly, I have no interest in PGSM and the Myus. It´s just... Live action series and musicals aren´t appealing to me. So I have chosen the 90´s anime. Because there´s more stories. Some silly, other serious. The inner senshi and the outer senshi have way more screentime. Even background characters get episodes! My main complaint is the terrible ending of Super S, seconded by the lack of the Eternal forms for the other senshi. Speaking of such, Stars is way superior in the anime. Everyone seems to have funny moments, including the villains. For example, Siren and Crow´s relationship is so hilarious sometimes. You kinda feel bad when Siren... Well, you know...

The manag is my favorite. It has the best art (though there isn't really art with the Myus and PGSM), it's the original plot, it's short,fast paced, and easy to get into (for me at least), it's got character development, it got ALL THE THINGS. I'm also a little biased cause it was my first version.

I've only seen the 90s anime, read the manga and some of SMC, but I'd say it's easily the 90s anime. The manga was good, but I feel like even if the anime wasn't the most faithful adaption it turned it into something wonderful. The story was good, the characters were amazing and it was just all around pleasant and there's a reason that so many people loved it and still do!!

Excluding the musicals, I do like the live-action and reboot best.  The live-action has great character development, WITHOUT LAYING IT THICK WITH FILLERS, and the reboot has what Takeuchi had planned in the first place.

I like all versions of Sailor Moon, but if I have to pick which versions I like the most I would say the 90s Sailor Moon Anime, Sailor Moon Crystal, and the Manga.

This thread makes me want to watch PGSM some time.

I think that the anime Sailor Moon was the adaptation I really liked, but the manga (and Crystal) had a more well developed story and world. I read the manga first, so initially of course I was annoyed by the anime filler, but the inter-Senshi relationships and fun made me gradually love them. If only the future Crystal Stars arc could mix those parts from the two, it would be wonderful!

90s anime all the way.

Watching through it from start to finish for the first time was a pleasurable experience I'll never forget, it changed me and made me feel legitimate happiness for the first time in a while. This all only happened within the year, mind.

I don't care if it isn't entirely faithful to Takeuchi-sensei's vision. I adore the art, the 90s zeitgeist, its upsides, even its downsides. All of it.

PGSM!!!!!

I agree with brit entirely. While the musicals are my favorite version of SM, PGSM is the one I think is the best.

All of the girls get such good developments and genuine friendship on bigger grounds than just their past life. The Shitennou all have their own motivations and goals and are dealt with so well. Luna happens in the best way possible. The ONLY downside to PGSM imo is that it only covers the Dark Kingdom arc, but even then, I love the way it ends so I can't complain....

but the musicals are really good too!!!!! it's amazing how in depth they can get with these arcs in just a 2-3 hour period.....

PGSM Is the ultimate for Realistic-ish "what would they be like" Sailor moon stuff. 

But If I had to pick?  Manga/SMC, PGSM, Musicals then the 90s anime.   I was introduced to the series by the 90s anime but like, I found the Manga (and therefore SMC) to be better for me in terms of short attention span, but also I loved the story and characters more and there's more development for my favorites (Like Mamoru).   I think PGSM is a good runner up because it was more realistic in how it went and the unexpected twists to each character was interesting. (Like Ami and then Minako too).

For some, get past the cheesy, PGSM is probably a good version to watch.

I can't help but love the manga. It has the best version of Usagi and the the other senshi and the best version of Mamorou and Usagi's relationship.