Neon Genesis wrote:

Sailor CJ wrote:

The age rating thing was really messed up on manga back in the 90's. Chobits did not have an age rating. You know, Chobits, in which a robot with the appearance of a young has to be "turned on" to be, well, turned on. I was about 10 when I picked that one up. But again, it's situational. I was fine reading it since I was able to grasp the moral of the story, but my younger sisters wouldn't likely be able to get it.

I think that the animated version of Sailor Moon is just fine, but I would advise future parents to really reread the manga and determine for yourself if its appropriate for your children.

I thought the Chobits manga was 16+?  That's what the anime was rated in any case.  I remember ADV also rated the uncut Sailor Moon DVDs 15+.  Even if I'm not entirely sure of Sailor Moon being for kids, that always seemed too high of a rating to me.  The new Viz sets are rated TVPG which seems a much more reasonable rating to me.

I did some research and apparently it's only the new Dark Horse edition of Chobits that doesn't have an age rating. My parents still didn't bother to get the back of my old editions though, haha.

TBH, children can grow up in some home environments that could "impact their innocence". I was 7 when my parents divorced, grew up knowing to say "no" to illegal drugs being sold in my community, and by age 13, I knew about some adult issues and subjects that can't be discussed on this message board. Hint: it starts with the letter "A" and it's the most divisive issue in the US since Slavery caused the Civil War (became illegal), but we learned to own people and force them to work is morally wrong since then.

I posted on message boards about 2 teen cartoons (Totally Spies and Teen Titans) with Y-7 ratings I watched in my 20s had strict (even stricter) rules on what members can discuss. I'm aware on North American TV, Sailor Moon was directed to younger children...this was esp. true 2 decades ago, but the fan base has grown older to their 20s and 30s currently and we get to view uncensored original Japanese versions on the internet.

I think it's perfectly suitable for kids.. so what if they cry? Be thankful your kid isn't a sociopath?

I grew up watching things like Watership Down, an rather bloody animated movie full of rabbits killing each other / mauled by other creatures, and Scruffy (1980's, basically the dog version of Bambi but worse) and I turned out just fine, I'd say.

Compared to some of the things that kids could be watching these days, I think Sailor Moon is by far appropriate enough for kids as well and I think the TV-PG rating is an appropriate choice. Like Neon Genesis said, there are much more 'traumatizing' G-rated movies like "Watership Down" where cartoon rabbits rip each other apart with their teeth and claws. Sure the Sailor Moon has its moments of adult/teen-oriented humor, but I could easily compile a list of similar situations/innuendos in other cartoons (new and old) geared toward children. I also think that kids wouldn't notice it. When I was 7, I watched the Tenchi Muyo dub (thinking that it was appropriate for me). If anybody remembers the Tenchi Muyo dub, it was full of sexual moments and curse words--oh, and it was on right after all the kiddies got home from school. Despite how blatant the sexual innuendos/scenes were in that anime, it all flew right over my head.

Here is an example:

Let's not forget the awkward, more-questionable-than-the-original dubbed scenes from Sailor Moon. XD I never realized how inappropriate/awkward some of these scenes were until now.

Spoiler:

My 6-year-old cousin watched the clip with me and thought that it was funny because "the evil scientists were playing twister instead of being evil." Not once did he wonder why Tomoe was peeking in or why the screen focused on Mimete's leg.


To reemphasize my point on children not noticing anything, here is one last example that I found very amusing. So a friend and I were playing a video game called Pangya. As we were choosing our characters and equipment, her little sister walked into the room right when we landed on 

this witch character.:

The child's reaction was, "*Points and gasps* ...LOOK AT HER SHOES!"

Sailor Moon is suitable for kids. When i was 8, i had seen MA15+ Family Guy episodes and the sexual stuff flew straight over my head.

As for scary stuff, i used to get really scared. I remember for a whole year i was scared of gas masks because i saw a villain in a cartoon wear one. And when i first saw Spirited Away i got freaked out for some reason

I'm pretty sure its suitable for kids.

I think Sailor Moon is suitable for children. Even with the deaths, and dark themes of especially the first and final seasons, it's still appropriate for children.

Keep in mind that there were a lot of surprisingly grim or dark children's movies that were still rated G.

Yeah, like Ringing Bell and Dog of Flanders.

NaoUranus wrote:

honestly my idea of what is appropriate for kids and most other peoples tend to differ (I was watching R rated movies at age 8  ) But at the same time it has to do with what is acceptable in Japan and what is acceptibal here. We edited out things that here at the time would not have been "sutible" for children whil even inJapn the anime in all it's glory might have still been sutible in this case it also varys depending on culter and what is accepted where.

I remember reading Japanese parents were actually pretty shocked by the ending to the first season of the original Sailor Moon anime and there were some kids who got upset watching it but I don't know if that was just fan rumor or if parents really did get upset about it.  I know there was some outrage a few years ago when they had a sex scene in Gundam SEED and some Japanese parents complained about it being too racey for an early evening show.  I know Naoko originally wanted to kill off the Sailor Soldiers at the end of the first arc of the manga but she was told not to by the editors because it might upset people and she was mad the original anime got to kill the characters off when she couldn't with her manga.

I started off watching the English Dub of the anime, and I would stand by my opinion 100% saying that it's for children. I was fooled into thinking Haruka and Michiru were cousins, I thought Usagi and Mamoru were the cutest things ever, and there was not a single "bad" thing about Sailor Moon that my parents wouldn't have approved of. 

I never even watched the Subbed version until I was like, 13, and I was shocked. I was at a birthday party, and one of my friends was interested in Sailor Moon and so I showed her a clip of the final showdown in Season 1 of Sailor Moon and Endymion. However, I could only find a Subbed clip, and when we watched it, there were tears in our eyes. I had no idea that it was so violent. 

I still have not seen the full subbed version to this day, which is something I plan on doing in the future. I'm glad that I was not exposed to it as a kid, but I am glad it exists, because I think the Sub is more suitable for viewers my age and above. I definitely think it requires a more mature audience, but then again, I haven't seen the entire thing.

This is a hard topic because Sailor Moon sends out such a beautiful message for young children. I think that its message is definitely suitable for all ages, but I also think that the Dub gets that message across just as well as the Sub, so the Dub is more suitable for kids than the Sub.

That's one reason why even though I prefer the Viz dub over the DiC and Cloverway dubs, I do still hope Viz will eventually be able to get the rights to those versions on DVD so then there's a version of Sailor Moon available that younger children can enjoy too.  I think it's important to also remember that every kid is different and some kids can handle the intense content better than others.  There were some kids who were perfectly fine watching Disney's Bambi but I do have a friend who said she was traumatized by it when she was a kid and even though she's an adult now, she still won't watch that movie.  I mean, there's still kids out there who are scared of the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz and that's a G rated movie, so I personally think we shouldn't be so quick to assume all kids could handle something like Sailor Moon but that's just my personal opinion.

I find it most suitable for preteens.

I believe that Sailor Moon is suitable for children. There will be children out there who it is not suitable for, but that is up to the parents to understand their own children and monitor the media their children consume. The Sailor Moon anime and manga** were targeted towards elementary-school children. I don't have a problem with any of the themes present in the original show. I think children's shows are best when they have depth to the storyline, and Sailor Moon has that without anything I interpret as overwhelming.

I think subjects such as death and relationships are dealt with carefully in the manga. There are lots of relationships, or scenes that imply intimacy, but nothing overt or inserted for shock value. The deaths are sad, but most things die, and overall even the grisly stylized manga deaths are rather tame compared to factual violence and decay. In general I don't think that children only being exposed to media where no one dies or goes away does them any good. There are a lot of themes in Sailor Moon about friendship and relationships that personally helped me as a child.

As far as Princess Serenity's suicide in the manga, I feel it is not presented as a good thing. It happens, it's dramatic, but it's something that the majority of characters are brought to pieces over. I don't feel like it is romanticized in a positive light, but dramatized as a tragedy. I think situations like that, which are emotionally charged, provide benefit for young readers and learners. It's when harmful behaviors are depicted as "cool" that I worry about a need for significant emotional maturity.

**The Sailor Moon manga has extensive use of furigana, smaller kana printed next to all kanji characters. Furigana has a number of uses, but when a work has furigana next to every kanji that work is expected to be read by young children who are learning fundamental kanji reading. Even the kanji for "moon"--which is one of the first kanji taught to children after learning numbers zero through ten--has furigana every time it appears in the manga.

In a word: no. I don't think Sailor Moon is suitable for kids. It's dark, and the more homosexual themes in it (don't hate me guys) make me say I would not show this to my cousins or my children until they were 11 or 12. Around the age I was when I got into it. I'd show them the dub, but I also don't want them to see a skewered version of the characters and story. So yeah.

But of course, it does depend on the maturity of the child.

I do believe the anime (moreso Crystal than the 90s version now) would be okay to show to kids. All my friends who watched it were no more than 5-6-7 years old when they began watching it and they're very healthy and sane today. It has theme like friendship, body esteem, silliness, childishness and most of the "adult jokes" there is in this thing wouldn't even be understood by young children (a bit like any child's show really). I won't go unto that topic, but I don't think the very vague homosexuality would be a threat to children.

I think what would be important when making a child watch this show is how we answer their questions (because kids are known for very pointed questions). It's not worse than Card Captor, Digimon, Pokemon and a lot of the stuff playing when I was very young. I think the most difficult thing to answer with the 90s anime would be why Usagi's friends are so mean and cruel to her (because they're really borderline bullying her every days in said anime).

I wouldn't recommend the manga for young children however for the simple reason that where they are kinda defeated in both the anime and crystal, the villains are actually burnt to ashes / destroyed / gruesomely killed in the manga. I'd wait until they're pre teens or teenagers before getting those out.

Oh yeah, the manga is definitely aimed toward an older crowd.

Considering it's target audience (at the time) and that most of us watched it as children, yes. It is.

As for the 90´s anime, I think it´s totally ok for kids. Of course, some parents would bother with Uranus and Neptune. Unfortunately, prejudice will always appear here and there. If I had kids, I would let them watch without any problems.

But... I would think twice about the manga. I´d show it to a child at least 10 years old. That was when I started to understand lots of mature concepts.

Definitely suitable for kids, I wasn't traumatised at all by the classic ending with deaths and all at the age of four or five. To be frank, I was very drawn to the final battle of classic XD It's just that you watch it from a slight different perspective when you're older, more conscious of what is actually happening in the story and probably try to analyse bits.

I personally think Sailor Moon is meant for all ages. It's marketed as a shojo which is marketed towards young girls, kids essentially. 

I grew up watching the dub, which was edited to be more "kids friendly" according to the US anyway. I also have watched the sub version and I see nothing in there that isn't kid friendly. Kids are remarkable at being able to understand things and accept things for what they are. It would be parents who would have issues, but then again, there's going to be one parent that's not happy with anything media puts out.

The manga is rated ages 13 + which is reasonable considering there are themes of suicide/tragedy in addition to the sexual references (same goes for SM Crystal).

However, the 90s Japanese anime is more lighthearted and a lot of the sex jokes are subtle enough to fly right over kids' heads. While I believe that the show may be more relevant and relatable for a teen/adult audience, Sailor Moon also sends a positive message to kids! As long as a kid doesn't have a very conservative family and is a quick enough reader to watch with the subtitles, he/she could definitely watch the 90s anime.

I watched the cringey English dub as a child and really I wish I had watched the original Japanese version instead.
I was VERY confused about the incest cousins . . . "Mommy why are the cousins looking into each others eyes like that????"  

I think it all depends on the culture.   Like the OP said, this is a kid's show in Japan.  Their culture regarding sexuality isn't as stringent as America is.  Can you imagine the reactions if they showed the original non-cut version in America?  I'm pretty sure they would not show that to kids.  Although, they could have used Cartoon Network's Adult Swim Night Programming, which would have been okay since, that programming segment was geared towards teens and young adults.  I watched the DiC dubbed when I was young and several years back I watched the subbed version, I could not believe the stuff the had cut out and was shocked by it.  Especially when I learned there was the 5th season, Stars.  When I watched that season for the first time, I couldn't help but think no wonder why Cloverway/Geneon never dubbed this season for American TV.  That being said, they did a lot of changing for the dubbed, such as Michiru/Haruka to being cousins instead the lesbian couple they were meant to be.  It's all about the editing.  But yeah, if you edit it right, then yes, it's a kids show.  However, without the editing, it would not be a kids show in America, but would have probably been for teens or more so for young adults.

Of course. Sailor Moon is fine for children to watch, especially Classic and R, though the other ones are not that much troublesome, as well. Besides, I don't think Sailor Moon is intended for 7 year old children, I'd say it's mostly for children 9 to 10 years old and pre-teens, 11-12. Though if it's still worrisome to adults, the children can always watch the dub, of course.

Lavender wrote:

Of course. Sailor Moon is fine for children to watch, especially Classic and R, though the other ones are not that much troublesome, as well. Besides, I don't think Sailor Moon is intended for 7 year old children, I'd say it's mostly for children 9 to 10 years old and pre-teens, 11-12. Though if it's still worrisome to adults, the children can always watch the dub, of course.

The sailor moon anime is loaded with cursing, death, apocalyptic themes, torture, sexual assault, sexual innuendos and plenty of sensual fan service while the manga has strong themes of suicide and adultery, an abundance physical and psychological torture and much more. The dub is loaded with homophobia which isn't appropriate for any age :/ I firmly believe Sailor Moon is best for ages 13 and up as it states on the English Kodansha manga. 
However, Japan has marketed Sailor Moon to a wide audience. PGSM was definitely aimed towards a younger audience judging by the merchandise. They used to sell a lot of kids' toys in the 90's but recently the merchandise has been marketed to mostly teen and adult collectors.

Manga itself was targeted 9-15 year old girls since it was published in Nakayoshi, so the anime has the same age range. Obviously there's younger and older and male fans. 

 

Nowadays, it's all aimed at the older long time fans judging by the merch that's getting brought out, and the price of everything.

Moderator's Note:

I noticed that this thread is very similar to a thread recently posted in the Theories, Debates, and Headcanons section, so I'm going to lock this thread and redirect direct everyone there: Greatest Hits! Is Sailor Moon Really a Kids' Show?
Feel free to voice your opinions in that thread instead~ Thank you!