The Differences Between the Anime and the Manga

In both the anime and the manga, Usagi and Luna's initial meeting is basically the same. Luna is rescued, the band-aid is removed, Usagi zooms off to her class, she comes home and is in trouble for a low grade, Luna jumps in the window and tells all. I'd say the main difference is that the Usagi of the anime is much less mature than the Usagi of the manga. In the anime, she's very whiny, very crybabyish. The same is even true, to a lesser extent, of Sailormoon herself. It seems to take longer in the anime for her to accept her destiny and to function adeptly. In addition, the romance between Usagi and Mamoru is much more straightforward. The manga doesn't have the love-hate relationship that seems to happen at the beginning of the anime, before everyone's identities are truly worked out. Rather, they discover each other's alter ego from nearly the beginning. Their relationship also seems to have more of a spark than what is depicted in the anime.

Sailor Mercury was the next to join up. In the manga, Mizuno Ami's name was brought up because she always scored first on tests. However, in the anime, she transferred in from another school. In the manga, she received her henshin stick/transformation pen from the Sailor V video game as a prize for scoring well. At the same time, Usagi receives her disguise pen. But in the anime, Usagi has already received her disguise pen before she ever meets up with Ami. And in addition to that, Ami does not receive her own henshin stick until after she's attacked by a monster. Then, Luna slides it across the floor with instructions on how to use it, and Ami quickly becomes Sailor Mercury and possesses full knowledge of how to use her powers.

Then came Sailor Mars. Her introduction in the manga is drastically different in the anime. For instance, Jadeite never worked at her temple. He merely drove the phantom bus which kept disappearing with people on it. Rei, being a priestess, saw something in the fire, and she found that she could not stop herself from going towards the bus. In the anime, though, she confronts Jadeite in the temple and he captures her. Rather than being in outer space, Sailormoon follows the bus to an underground location. And finally, when the manga Rei transforms into Sailor Mars, she throws an ofuda at Jadeite, whereby he bursts into flames and dies. In the anime, however, Jadeite survives to pester the senshi for several more episodes until he is killed at an airport. Another difference is that the manga Rei is much more adult, much more sophisticated, than she is in the anime. She bickers childishly and gets into razzberry fights with Usagi in the anime, but this is missing in the manga.

Sailor Jupiter was the next to make her entrance. In the anime, Makoto makes her first appearance in time to rescue Usagi after she crashed into a gang of bullies. She beats them all up, and then leaves. Later, Usagi hears from Umino that Makoto got transferred from her old school for fighting. The manga, however, lacks the scenario with the bullies. In both versions, Usagi is hungry, so she goes over to share Makoto's lunch. In the manga, Makoto catches a ball which almost bounces off Usagi's head. They go to the Crown Game Center and play video games. In the anime, she gets mixed up with Game Machine Joe, who is a Rainbow Crystal carrier. (Rainbow Crystals don't exist in the manga.)

Sailor Venus was the last of the Inners to join the group, although she had existed in senshi form before any of the others. In the manga, she was Sailor V, a girl who had previously been in England. She shows up with the moon crescent on her forehead, and masquerades as the Moon Princess for a short while. Then she is revealed to have been the leader of the Inner Senshi in the past, second in command to Sailor Moon. Most of her attacks in the manga have something to do with the moon. In the anime, there is never any doubt that she is anyone other than Sailor V/Venus. In the Japanese version, she appears as Sailor V and it turns out that she is also Venus. In the American dub, she appears as Sailor Venus, and the whole Sailor V issue is basically ignored. In addition, Sailor Venus wears her Love-me chain around her waist in the manga. But in the anime, it merely materializes out of nowhere like everyone else's attacks.