August 28th 1995, 20 years ago today, the Sailor Moon anime first aired on YTV in English in Canada. This marked the beginning of the popularisation of the series in North America, where it acheived a great amount of success, as it had been and continued to do throughout the world. As a Canadian I experienced this first hand as the show played repeatedly on YTV and Global many times a day in popular time slots. Sailor Moon was an instantly recogniseable icon amongst Canadian adults and children alike when the show was in its prime. The series first aired in US on syndication starting September 11th 1995 though many American stations relegated it to less desireable times than Canadian stations had done. I recall getting up to watch the show in the early hours of the morning weekdays on UPN 38 and WPIX as many other fans surely did. Though everyone’s personal experience with Sailor Moon may differ wide spread exposure to the series in the US was less common until Toonami began airing the show on June 1st 1998.
Some of you may be wondering how we can be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the show in North America when we are also celebrating the 20th anniversary of the show in Japan. It took over 3 years for the show to be dubbed and released domestically, with the first episode being aired in Japan on March 7th 1992. The so called 20th annivesary celebration that has been going on in Japan has therefore been going on for over 3 years. The 20th Anniversary brand still appears all over the Japanese Official site which is titled the Sailor Moon 20th Annivesary Project Official Site and the Official Twitter account @sailormoon_20th. At this point we are actually closer to the arbitrary 25th annivesary of the show in Japan than the 20th.
Whatever the case Sailor Moon, as most of us have known it, has been around for 20 years. Here’s to 20 more!
Possibly Related Posts
-
Anime Expo to host a huge Sailor Moon reunion with nine voice actors in LA this July -
The Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon series premiered 10 years ago today -
The Sailor Moon Anime turns 20 today -
The Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album is available for digital download in North America -
A live concert to celebrate the Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary Memorial Tribute Album will be held February 27th
Awesome news! I still wonder if another Sailor Moon anime will make a return like Crystal.
Awesome news! I still wonder if another Sailor Moon anime will make a return.
Sigh, good times…good times. I remember when Sailor Moon first arrived on North American television back in September 11, 1995. As a kid, it was the very first show that I got into anime for the first time. Who would never forget when Usagi Tsukino transformed into Sailor Moon for the first time when Luna gave her the transformation brooch, after Usagi met with Luna earlier.
Indeed, here’s to 20 more wonderful years!
By the way, if Sailor Moon came out in 1995 here in North America, when were the VHS tapes first released? because that’s how I was exposed to Sailor Moon, I found a bunch of episodes on a VHS tape in a Blockbuster when I was a kid.
The 2 episode feature tapes came out at least by 1997. I still remember them. Hollywood Video. Good times.
I think I might have found them a little later, because I remember the tape I found having about 4 or 5 episodes.
I’d guess within that first year though I’m not sure. I remember for example when the Doom Tree arc was announced and then released on VHS and it was after the others were out and quite a while after I was into Sailor Moon. I don’t have any such tapes so it’s hard to tell what the info on them is. I’ll poke around.
The Amazon page says 1997.
http://www.amazon.com/Sailor-Moon-Jupiter-Venus-Arrive/dp/6304492324
http://www.amazon.com/Sailor-Moon-Scouts-Unite-VHS/dp/6304404905/
I never got them at their original release time but I bought all of these types:
http://www.amazon.com/Sailor-Moon-Legend-Begins-Show/dp/B0000525JM/ref=pd_sim_27_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=0KB47X56DZXVNWQ6PX3Z&dpSrc=sims&dpST=_AC_UL160_SR91%2C160_
I still have the DVDs!