Though it’s been 22 years since Sailor Moon first hit the airwaves, the overwhelming popularity and influence of this magical girl show continues to be seen today. The original manga by Naoko Takeuchi have sold millions of copies worldwide and still receives wide praise.

The story focuses on Usagi Tsukino, a ditzy middle school student who, after meeting a magical cat named Luna, is granted the ability to become Sailor Moon. She eventually meets and recruits four other girls – Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus – in her quest to find and locate their missing princess and the “Legendary Silver Crystal.” They are assisted by the mysterious and handsome Tuxedo Mask, with whom Usagi falls in love.

The “Sailor Guardians” fight various adversaries over the 18 volumes of the manga and 200 episodes of the original animated series; these different villainous groups help to separate the different story arcs. Throughout these plotlines, Sailor Moon meets other allies – Sailor Pluto, Sailor Neptune, Sailor Uranus, and Sailor Saturn – and becomes stronger because of it.

Sailor Moon as a character has become one of the most recognizable, dynamic and important female heroines, and the series as a whole helped to reinvigorate the magical girl genre. The series has expanded far beyond the first television series and the original manga to include stage dramas and musicals, three films, and many video games.

The original series, which ended in 1997, had many changes when dubbed into English, most notably changing the relationship between Sailors Neptune and Uranus from lovers to “cousins,” and changing the gender of the character Zoisite. Many of the more violent scenes were censored, and many characters had clothing changed to something that DIC and Cloverway, the localization team, found “more appropriate.” In May of 2014, Viz Media announced that they had acquired the rights to the original anime series and decided to re-dub the English version without the changes and censorship made by the previous localization team. This re-dub can be viewed streaming on Hulu.

Also in 2014, a reboot of the anime called Sailor Moon Crystal began airing online. This version of the anime sticks closer to the original manga’s storyline and can be viewed either on Hulu or Crunchyroll. Check out our review in this week’s Mondo Media section.