Sailor Moon

I can't talk about all the anime or mangas that I love without talking about Sailor Moon.  I actually started out collecting Sailor Moon cards even before I knew what Sailor Moon was.  Then, they started broadcasting the show early in the morning on weekdays.  I would get up super early right before going to school just to watch a repeat episode.  If you know how I absolutely hate (and that's putting it mildly) getting up early in the morning, then maybe you can begin to understand (just a bit) how much I love this series.

The video above is the actual Japanese opening to the series.  The American version has pieces of it cut and put together.  It wasn't until much later that I found out that the American version had cut out a lot of the original Japanese version.  They apparently did that because they wanted to make it more age appropriate for girls, since the main character, Serena, is only 13-14 years old.  Although even as a child, I noticed that some scenes didn't appear quite right.  Nevertheless, I was hooked to the show.  I loved the amazing artwork and songs, even the American ones.  One of my favorites is probably during the last battle with Queen Beryl called Carry On:

It's very cheesy, I know, but I love it anyway.  Among my other favorite songs are: Rainy Day Man, The Power of Love, and She's Got the Power (all of which are currently on my mp3 player).

While there were many series to Sailor Moon, my favorite was probably Sailor Moon R (which stands for Romance).  Like the title suggests, it mostly deals with the romance between Serena, or Sailor Moon (aka the Moon Princess), and Darien, or Tuxedo Mask (aka the Prince of Earth).  They also get to travel to the future to visit their future selves, and although I didn't think it was possible before, I loved Neo-Queen Serenity's dress even more than the Moon Princess one.

It wasn't until I discovered the manga that I completely appreciated the artwork that went into this series.  Check out the pictures below (some of which are from the artbook).

The official artbooks (there's four of them) easily sell for over $100, and it's not hard to see why.  Sailor Moon will always be my hero and fashion inspiration.