So, Sailor Moon. Originally a magical girl manga written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi that began serialization in 1992; it became an instant hit and, since then, has never looked back. As of 2019, the world-renowned manga has been adapted in several forms: anime series, films, television specials, musicals, video games, tabletop games, a live-action TV show, and recently a 4D theme park attraction at Universal Studios Japan. And that’s not even counting the amount of fan-produced content! Basically, calling Sailor Moon merely a ‘success’ is a bit of an understatement if I’ve ever heard one, and loyal fan communities are still thriving almost thirty years later. However, no matter which adaptation is brought up first, focus will almost certainly be driven to the 90s anime show, which many consider their favorite childhood show; for some their favorite show of all time. But why is this? I’ve been rewatching and examining the show in closer detail, and I’ve found the answer: filler.
Before we dive headfirst into the answer, we must first establish what ‘filler’ is, exactly. If you were to look at the literal dictionary definition, filler is defined as thus: an item serving only to fill space or time in a newspaper, broadcast, or recording. The definition made by anime fans is not far off. Essentially, “filler” is a word used to describe episodes in anime that deviate from the source material and/or story and fill up episode time while the writers try to get the plot back on track or wait for the mangaka to continue it properly. There’s certainly some infamous examples of great swathes of filler episodes in anime, including – dare I say it – Naruto (sorry, Naruto fans). Of course, most of the 90s show’s 200 episodes (yes, 200 episodes) are comprised of filler, but what makes Sailor Moon’s filler episodes better and generally more beloved than say, Naruto’s? (I said I was sorry!) Let’s get right into that.
Now, I’m not going to try and be “fake deep” here. Sailor Moon as a whole isn’t very deep – what you see is what you get. But, no matter how silly what you saw was, there was always meaning to it, thanks in no small part to the three main directors of the show: Junichi Sato, Kunihiko Ikuhara, and Takuya Igarashi, who are well-known figures behind some other incredibly popular magical girl anime, such as Ojamajo Doremi and Revolutionary Girl Utena. So, while Takeuchi was working hard finishing a new chapter of the manga every month or so, these three had to keep the story going in some way or another until said chapter was published. The differences in pacing are quite noticeable, for sure – Sailor Moon Crystal (the newest adaptation, which follows the manga to a T) has a first season of only 26 episodes, while 90s Sailor Moon’s first season consisted of 46. They were given general outlines of the general story, but what did they do that made the often ridiculous filler so memorable?
What they did, to be precise, was take an already great cast of characters and use filler to develop them further. The development in each episode didn’t come as any sort of grand revelation or epiphany for the characters – rather, the writers made sure that whichever character (or character) was given the spotlight in said episode would at least learn one new lesson. For example, Hotaru learning to open up to Chibiusa, Ami getting over her struggles with shyness, and Minako’s decision to keep being a Sailor Guardian despite her obstacles. Sometimes, these episodes was even used to pair up characters that would rarely be seen together in the manga – such as Usagi and Haruka – and the episode would revolve in having the oddly-matched characters work together and forming a new bond. Moreover, filler episodes, being the constant source of hilarity (intentionally or not), often gave a bit of levity to the more serious characters, like Luna or Setsuna, simply by putting them in comedic situations! Most filler episodes would focus on friendship – the core theme of the show – and by the end of any given episodes, the main characters would have a stronger and deeper bond.
This filler benefit didn’t just end at our goody-goody main characters, though. The same treatment was applied to the many villains as well. Although most of Sailor Moon’s villains (besides the main big bad of every arc) would be introduced in one chapter and killed off in the next, the show took great liberties with these one-off characters, and made their best efforts to make them more humorous and sometimes more human. For example, the quirky mini-boss team Witches 5 in third arc, while being shoddy one-hit-kill baddies, became gossipy witches who constantly vie with each other for attention and pull pranks by leaving live snails in lockers. Fisheye, a member of the Amazon Trio in the fourth arc, often questions his actions, and even our main character is genuinely nice towards him when he shows a change of heart. Despite the differences between these two changes, they made the villains a lot more entertaining.
In conclusion, no, Sailor Moon’s filler isn’t perfect; some episodes certainly didn’t work as well as others. That can be said about a lot of filler in anime. Yet, despite this, so many people turn to episodes such as these when they need a bit of lighthearted fun and character development moments. When I look back on what I enjoyed most about the 90s show, I realize it was how enjoyable episodes like these were – where one could catch up on the story, learn a thing or two, and, most importantly, have fun!
The Art Archive 