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* [[Angst? What Angst?]]: Some of the main characters fill this trope: two characters were orphaned at an early age (Jupiter and Tuxedo Mask), two have dead mothers (one of which has a [[Big Bad]] for a father and thus becomes orphaned, while the other hates her father, Saturn and Mars respectively), one is the child of divorce (Mercury), and three never have their parents mentioned at all (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto). Only three characters have whole nuclear families (incidentally, these are the happier, more-or-less well-adjusted characters: Moon, Chibi-Moon and Venus. Furthermore, Usagi and the Sailor Senshi really ought to feel at least ''some'' angst about having to be mankind's defense against the Dark Kingdom. Thanks to the show being very much leaning on the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism|idealistic side of the scale]], this hasn't turned it into [[Dysfunction Junction]]. Only Mamoru ever expressed any issues with his lot in life, and that was really only in the first series and very privately. Rei's issues with her father were briefly explored in a one-shot sidestory, Casablanca Memories.
** Also, pretty much all the victims of the MotWs. You'd think that being attacked and hurt by a horrible monster (repeatedly, in the case of Naru und Unazuki) would scar them for life; instead they're usually cheerful again ten minutes later.
* [[Common Knowledge]]: Many fans often use the art style as an example of the anime art style in the '90s.
** It's probably to differentiate her from Neptune, but Mercury holds the power of both water and ice, not just ice.
* [[Critical Research Failure]]: It's painfully clear in ''Lover of Princess Kaguya'' that Takeuchi didn't know the difference between a comet and a meteor. (And yes, the context makes it impossible to chalk up to translation error.)
* [[Die for Our Ship]]: Mamoru is the biggest victim of this trope, but this show has ''so'' many shipping battles that [[Die for Our Ship/Anime and Manga/Sailor Moon|it has
* [[Draco in Leather Pants]]: Many a villain, whether they get redeemed in the end or not.
* [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]: The creator was hugely surprised when Ami was the most popular Sailor Senshi, ''worldwide''. Hotaru is also one of these.
* [[Evil Is Sexy]]: The bulk of the villains embody this, unless they're an [[Eldritch Abomination]], and are either attractive woman in fairly revealing clothes or pretty boys.
* [[Fan-Preferred Couple]]: Seiya/Usagi tends to be the One True Pairing for people who don't like the concept of an "eternal romance", which is a fairly sizeable portion of the Western fandom. Less so in Japan where Usagi/Mamoru was firmly cemented as the definitive couple from the start, to the point the episode featuring Usagi and Seiya going out on a kinda-sorta date (a fan-favorite in the west and the highlight of ''Stars'' for many) ended up being the lowest rated for ''the whole show''.
* [[Funny Moments (Sugar Wiki)|Funny Moments]]: In the short movie, Ami's First Love when she receives a love letter in school.
** When Rei went to take a bath and saw Mamoru naked in Episode 136.
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* [[Ho Yay]]: Has [[Sailor Moon/Ho Yay|its own page]].
* [[Hollywood Pudgy]]: Naoko Takeuchi meant for Usagi to be a bit chubbier than the rest of the Inner Senshi. [[Sailor Moon Abridged]] has ''ruthless'' fun with this fact at Usagi's expense.
* [[Hype Backlash]]: Some people don't see what the big deal and just see it as a huge fluff fest. Also inverted, others have come back to this anime (mostly thanks to the influx of dark magical girls animes unintentionally curated by Madoka Magica) and love the fact it mixes dark moments with heartwarming moments instead of making it constantly dark all the time.
* [[It's Popular, Now It Sucks]]: There was once a time when males were able to say they liked the series. Now find anything but negativity and [[Accentuate the Negative]] about it. ''Even'' the manga.
* [[It Was His Sled]]: Usagi is the Princess they are all searching for in the first arc, Chibi-Usa is from the future and is Usagi and Mamoru's daughter, the identities of all 10 primary senshi and Tuxedo Mask. Not only that, most of this should be painfully obvious even to someone who has lived in a cave for the past twenty years and is watching the show for the first time.
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** The manga is full of this in the form of [[Family-Unfriendly Death|gruesome and horrifying deaths]], including ''children.'' One notable example is when Kooan burns a little girl to death in Chapter 15.
** Metalia is pretty scary in the manga, she's basically a creepy [[Nightmare Face]] made of an animate shadow. The Daimons are even worse, they're barely describable monsters that are best summed up as masses of flesh with now bones, but some of them still have faces, and these these physically inhabit the bodies of humans. Add to this is some [[Paranoia Fuel]], you have almost no way of knowing if a person you come across is possessed by a Daimon or not.
* [[Peripheral Demographic]]: Both the manga and the anime have a pretty decent male following, of which most came to see pretty girls kick ass. Some of them are also [[Yuri Fanboy]]s who find either some of the canon relationships (the heavily teased Manga!Seiya/Usagi and, most notably, Haruka/Michiru) or some of the fan-made ships to be hot.
* [[Ron the Death Eater]]: Pluto gets vilified more than any other Senshi in fanfiction, especially in [[Ranma ½]] crossovers. Fanon holds that she's actually a [[Manipulative Bastard|Manipulative Bitch]] using the time gates to control the future, usually to bring about Crystal Tokyo [[Utopia Justifies the Means|by any means necessary]]. It's worth noting that the gates are canonically a ''portal'' and ''only'' a portal, not a magical scrying machine or anything of the sort, [[Did Not Do the Research|but this tends to fly right over the fanon's heads]].
* [[The Scrappy]]: Chibi-Usa. See [[Americans Hate Tingle]] below.
** [[Rescued From the Scrappy Heap]]: Sandy Fox's vocal performance as Chibi-Usa in the Viz dub endeared more fans to her character.
* [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny]]: In
* [[Ships That Pass in the Night]]: Hotaru/Shingo is surprisingly popular, even though they’re never actually seen together in the anime or the manga.
* [[Testosterone Brigade]]: The series has a surprisingly significant male following, probably due to its action-oriented nature and all of the female characters (99% of the main cast) qualifying as [[Ms. Fanservice]].
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== Tropes from the Anime ==
* [[Abandon Shipping]]: If fans could overcome them being a Belligerent Sexual Tension couple, most UsaMamo shippers ditched them during the whole breakup arc.
* [[Alas, Poor Villain]]: The Shittenou, Emerald, Prince Diamond, the Witches 5, the Amazon Trio, and the Sailor Animates.
* [[Americans Hate Tingle]]: Although Japanese audiences were quite fond of Chibi-Usa, in the US she's often seen as [[The Scrappy]], often taking the brunt of criticism for the fourth series because it's basically centered around her. The reaction to her first English voice actress probably didn't help either.
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** The German dub used four entirely original theme songs during the run of the show, all of which have become extremely popular both within the German fanbase and with international fans as well.
* [[Badass Decay]]: Mamoru. Mainly because while the anime never gave him anything more than his roses and the occasional moments with his cane, the manga gave him an attack of his own that was strong enough to kill some of the villains. {{spoiler|He still died without a fight in the Sailor Stars manga though. In his defense, so did most of the cast of the manga}}.
** Kunzite is a particularly menacing and dangerous presence in the Dark Kingdom arc of the anime, forming shrewd plans to deal with his enemies and providing a more seasoned and experienced source of aid to his younger partner, Zoisite. After Zoisite dies, he attacks the Sailor Senshi and they just barely survive his onslaught. Then ''directly'' after this happens, Kunzite suddenly becomes the "main villain" for an arc and all this goes out the window. He comes up with
** While more decayed in demeanor rather than character, the frightening Zirconia in ''Super S'' also got a lot more frustrated and pathetic in the last half of the series, whereas in the first half she was chillingly calm and foreboding. Justified in that she had to deal with more rebellious, troublemaking henchpeople and orders from the ''real'' [[Big Bad]], Queen Nehelenia.
* [[Non Sequitur Episode]]: Episode 67. This episode features the girls going to an island, Chibiusa making friends with a dinosaur, and Sailor Moon and company saving the dinosaurs from an erupting volcano. This episode has no references to the actual plot or villains, inexplicably adds ''living dinosaurs'' to a show which, for the most part, did not stray into this territory, and then gets forgotten for the rest of the show. This episode is generally considered the most pointless episode in the show and was actually removed from the English release by Toei themselves (if ADV is to be believed).
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** What's particularly impressive about Metalia is that we only see her a few times, and she's mostly a formless entity who doesn't ''do'' anything. Then we get to the last few episodes of the first series and find out that she had destroyed the Moon Kingdom and taken the lives of the Senshi, Princess Serenity, and Prince Endymion in the past. In the finale, when a fatally wounded Beryl comes grovelling to her, it becomes clear that Metalia is holding ''her'' leash rather than the other way around as we were led to believe. She then merges her power and consciousness into Beryl and declares that she will destroy the entire universe with darkness. Then she reveals her motives during her fight with Usagi - she believes that nothing in the universe and in life is worth protecting, so every living thing must die. In such a short amount of screen time, she establishes herself as a thoroughly pure evil creature.
** Wiseman/Death Phantom is the worst of the bunch. While Metalia had resentment towards life, Death Phantom just loved death and a state of empty nothingness, which is why he wants to destroy the entire universe. To work towards this goal, he corrupted the Black Moon clan into doing his bidding, making them create a dark crystal and then capture different points in the past so that the time gate would weakn enough for them to travel to past-Tokyo from the future and bring the dark crystal with them. In this defenseless world, Wiseman would be able to open the dark gate and let out Death Phantom's power so that the universe could be cast into nothingness. Along the way, he Mind Raped and corrupted Chibi Usa into turning against her family and friends, always telling her telepathically that they'd never loved her so that she could kill them. When Esmeraude proved an unreliable pawn, he used the dark crystal's power to turn her into a mindless beast and sent her off to her death. When Safir turned against the clan, Wiseman hunted him down and murdered him right in front of his older brother, whom he later killed too in an attack meant for Sailor Moon! After further [[Mind Rape]] on both Usagi and Black Lady, Wiseman is able to completely merge with Death Phantom upon opening the dark gate, and then finally makes his attempt to vaporize the universe. What makes him worst is that he wasn't ''just'' a Chaos Spawn. Wiseman was completely evil and self serving ''before'' becoming Death Phantom!
** Before the depths of Wiseman's depravity was revealed, Rubeus held the title of most despicable villain to date. Unlike the other members of the Black Moon clan, he had no redeeming features and was both a misogynist and a sadist. He seemed perfectly on board with going along with anything Wiseman ordered him to do so long as it got him glory and recognition within his family,
* [[Draco in Leather Pants]]: Prince Demande, in particular, gets shipped with Usagi due to the fact he's handsome, has a tragic backstory, and also Mamoru is very divisive in this rendition. People typically just sweep the creepy things he did to Usagi under the rug.
* [[Ear Worm]]: The English opening. Say what you want about the dub, but that song is ridiculously catchy - especially the awesome and epic guitar solo.
** The Outer Senshi transformation theme is pretty kick ass and catchy as well.
* [[Fan Dumb]]: The English dub did NOT change the characters' last names, despite what it says on the Spanish [[Wikipedia]]! With the exception of Amy "Anderson," Serena does refer to her last name as Tsukino in the dub, however, and the other girls' names are never brought up. In material associated with the dub, and the translated manga, the girls' last names were unchanged.
** Also the voice changes from R to S were not because of a company change as the voices were all hired and recorded by the same company through the entire dub series run. Not to mention Dic and Cloverway are given all the blame for the bad dubbing but Optimum Productions is actually to blame for the dubbing includes crappy voices (as well as good voices) and inconsistent scripts.
** At the same time, a nostalgia group for the [[
* [[Fanon Discontinuity]]: For a portion of the fandom that didn't hate Mamoru but still felt bad for Usagi for the whole breakup arc, they just pretend that arc never happened. If the dreams do occur, they simply talk it out like they did in the manga/Crystal.
* [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff]]: The Al/En episodes are much more popular among American and Canadian fans. This is because these episodes have very faithful translations, and not as many censor cuts and no missing episodes. These episodes were actually held up during the first run of the English dub and aired out of order (and thus creating massive plot holes) due to an attempt by [[Di C]] to sell them to Fox as part of a weekend syndication package (the first episode of this arc actually did air on a Fox Kids Saturday morning slot). To the rest of the world, they're just filler episodes.▼
** There's also the aloof way Usagi's friends reacted to the breakup. This is removed and they typically bash Mamoru's face in until he begs on his knees for Usagi to take him back instead.
** Rei and Mamoru being mean to Usagi is removed or at least toned down.
** Haruka and Michiru being ready to kill Hotaru to prevent Mistress 9's appearance. Even in fanworks where they still do, it will be made abundantly clear they don't enjoy what they feel like they have to do.
** Word of God says only girls can become sailor senshi and there can be no Sailor Earth because Mamoru has Earth's Sailor Crystal. That hasn't stopped fanfics writers the opposite for either.
▲* [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff]]: The Al/En episodes are much more popular among American and Canadian fans. This is because these episodes have very faithful translations, and not as many censor cuts and no missing episodes. These episodes were actually held up during the first run of the English dub and aired out of order (and thus creating massive plot holes) due to an attempt by
* [[Hilarious in Hindsight]]: Certain changes and fanwank caused by the english dub that lots of fans complained about (Makoto's femininity de-emphasized, the suggestion all the baddies are related, the inherent creepiness in the Moon Kingdom) would be adopted and explored in later ''Japanese'' adaptations of the series.
** Complaints that Minako's personality went too far into "wacky" from her original manga self, since the ''next'' adaptation did a complete 180 when it came to her.
** Usagi Tsukino is called Serena in the English dubbing, and one of the Sailors is Venus. Fast forward to the world of tennis in the mid to late 1990s with the Williams sisters. Their names: Venus and Serena.
* [[I Am Not Shazam]]: Naruru and Ruruna aren't actual sailor soldiers, but they're avid Sailor Moon fans and dress in outfits resembling them. Their nicknames come from their favorite clothing brands.
* [[Les Yay]]: Oh so many.
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** Raye's character was completely rewritten in the first season to create a character arc in which [[The Starscream|she attempts to usurp control of the team.]] As the arc didn't exist in the Japanese version, it just [[Aborted Arc|peters out]], though there's a callback when Raye is shown to have "stolen" Serena's Crescent Moon Wand. In the original, Usagi ''gave'' Rei the wand because she was the only one she trusted with it.
*** It comes back into play in the final DIC dubbed episode in which now ''everyone'' wants to take over as team leader. In the original version, it was merely a recap episode and they were debating on who should be the new [[No Fourth Wall|main character.]]
** Finally, the characters developed an inability to distinguish rice balls from donuts.
* [[Magnificent Bastard]]: Kunzite, whenever he's ''not'' working alongside Prince Endymion,
** Professor Tomoe, who is not only a brilliant (and hammy) [[Mad Scientist]] but also subverts the [[Bad Boss]] trope and actually got very far in his objectives as a result in spite of his underlings' frequent incompetence.
** Cele Cele of the Amazoness Quartet showed qualities of one in episode 156 when she successfully manipulates her target into betraying his own dream while in the guise of a sympathetic and charismatic [[Rich Bitch]].
** Sailor Galaxia. Her complex scheming and effective manipulations of all of her soldiers, as well as her sheer power and style, puts her squarely here in this trope.
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** At least that was dub-only, as in the Japanese version, she's just yelling at the monster to release her as she is it's creator. '''Viluy's''' death, on the other hand, is frightening no matter which version you're watching. She's slowful and painfully ''disintegrated'' by her own nanomachines, and while once again [[Karmic Death|deserved]] and [[Hoist by His Own Petard|her fault]], it's still frightening to see happen.
*** Worst of all is Mimete's fate: she doesn't really ''die'', per se; she ends up [[And I Must Scream|trapped in an empty void forever.]] It's telling that Sailor Moon looked ''horrified'' immediately after, even though Mimete had been two seconds from killing her.
* [[No Yay]]: Unless you don't mind the creepy things he did to Usagi or you use [[Fanon Discontinuity]] like a lot of the shippers do, Usagi/Demande is seen as this.
** Due to being used for as a trope a la revenge fic, it just being a obstacle for Usagi/Mamoru, it generally being frowned upon to pair Rei with men outside of Jadeite/Yuuichirou, Rei/Mamoru is this. Heck, newer fans are surprised to hear it's a genuine ship.
** In a broken base way and at least in this rendition, Usagi/Mamoru. This is due to people not liking the [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]] and the age gap.
* [[Seasonal Rot]]: ''SuperS'' and ''Stars'' are often cited with this trope in play.
* [[Straw Man Has a Point]]: Uranus and Neptune lob [[The End of the World as We Know It|several]] [[What Were You Thinking?|logical]] [[Protagonist-Centered Morality|accusations]] at Moon in ''S''. To the show's credit, it's really more of a clash of characters than actual morals and Usagi breaks down and admits she cannot bring ''herself'' to kill an innocent. After the crisis of the season is resolved, they actually make her defend her choice.
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* [[Unfortunate Implications]]: Both Zoisite and Fisheye had feelings for Mercury in the manga. Both were made gay in the anime (and made women in many dubs in other countries.)
** The first opening has a sequence where Queen Beryl clenches her fist, and then is shown standing in front of the Dark Kingdom. The second opening has a similar sequence with Princess Serenity and the Silver Millennium.
* [[Unintentionally Sympathetic]]: Usagi, she's often teased and ridiculed, even for simple mistakes. While her friends love her, it swings back and forth how much they love her (especially with Rei).
* [[Unintentionally Unsympathetic]]: Mamoru for bullying Usagi for majority of the first season. If that's not bad enough, he breaks up with her and treats her horribly. Even if it was to protect her, it wasn't fleshed out enough and they decide to pull a [[Screw Destiny]] anyway, for people to consider it a proper excuse.
* [[Villain Decay]]: The monsters of the day became generally goofier as the show progressed and the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] of each villain faction became less and less menacing too.
** [[Starter Villain]] Jadeite started off a competent threat. He had powerful minions, [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb-stomped]] Sailor Moon during their first meeting, and actually managed to succeed in getting away with human energy in one scheme, earning Queen Beryl's compliments. But right after that last event, things began to go downhill for Jadeite. [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|Very downhill.]] Once he got [[Hoist by His Own Petard]] for the last time, Queen Beryl [[You Have Failed Me...|"decommissioned" him for good.]] The rest of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Shittenou]] avoided the trope, with Nephrite and Kunzite never ceasing to be threats (though Kunzite slips when he gets his own arc), and Zoisite never being much of one to begin with
** The Ayakashi Sisters in the manga are murderous maniacs, while in the anime they were merely misled and are granted a chance to live free in modern day Tokyo. The manga also had them capable of killing the Sailor Senshi with ease, something they struggled with in the anime.
** Queen Nehellenia was still evil in the anime, but only because she was misled, and she was eventually redeemed and granted a second chance at life in ''Stars''. In the manga, she was evil incarnate (a spawn of Chaos), responsible for the death of the Moon Kingdom ''and'' the current calamity, and was destroyed by Usagi and Mamoru.
* [[Wall Banger]]: This trope gets [[Sailor Moon/Wall Banger|its own page]].
* [[What Do You Mean It's for Kids?]]: Just try and tell an American fan that even in Japan, Sailor Moon was targeted at young girls and not teenagers or grown men.
* [[Woolseyism]]: ''Yes,'' it is possible for the English dub of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' to actually have a line in English that actually manages to one-up the original, and it happened in the final dubbed episode, too. After Nehellenia throws Chibi Moon off her rising debris platform, and Sailor Moon finishes up a brief BSOD, she turns around and says "I won't lose to you!" and jumps off to rescue Chibi Moon. Her final line to her in English? "I still pity you." Directing this at Nehellenia, who was always envious of Sailor Moon and the Silver Millennium and her kingdom, this line is more effective and leaves more of a sting.
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* [[Esoteric Happy Ending]]: The very end of the Stars arc reveals {{spoiler|that Sailor Moon managed to defeat Chaos, and kept the Galaxy Cauldron in tact, allowing everyone to eventually reborn from there. Her friends all end up being reborn, life does not cease to exist as Sailor Cosmos intended, and she marries Mamoru in the end.}} It sounds happy enough, right? Not quite. {{spoiler|Chaos is only stopped temporarily, having been melted in the Galaxy Cauldron from which all life in the universe comes from. And as long as the Galaxy Cauldron still exists, Chaos will keep rising back up as an all-powerful enemy who will eventually wage a devastating war across the entire galaxy. Sailor Cosmos' final speech helps to soften the impact of this info, but it doesn't change the fact that Chaos will always be present to devastate the Senshi's lives continually in the future.}}
* [[Expy]]: Queen Nehellania's role in the backstory of the Moon Kingdom with her cursing Princess Serenity on the day of her birth makes her eerily similar to [[Sleeping Beauty|Maleficent.]]
* [[Magnificent Bastard]]: Sailor Galaxia, full stop.{{context}}
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