By: KK
I cannot say I've been a Sailormoon fan very long. Perhaps
a year and a half.
Heck, I wasn't even into Anime before Sailormoon except
Speed Racer, I didn't know anything about
the Japanese Culture, and well, I was clueless.
But one day I see this cartoon called "Sailor Moon" come on
Cartoon Network.
Looks interesting enough...talking cats...evil guys,
battles, a few catchy songs...
not bad. I really got into Sailor Moon.
However, Anime-related items were always hard to come
across around my way
so I had nothing but the episodes I taped off of
television. Then, I thought,
wait a second, I have a big gray machine downstairs, that
Computer thing.
And it has The internet, too! Maybe I could find a few
pages out there on it.
Well gee! I didn't expect to find THIS many pages. I don't
remember what the first
Sailor Moon page I visited was, but I remembered being
overjoyed, whether it was
any good or not.
Soon, I stumbled upon a site maintained by one Hitoshi Doi.
I thought it would
be interesting to learn more about Serena and her gang. So
I clicked on Character
Guide. But what's this? Tsukino Usagi? That didn't
seem very familiar...
well, soon I found out this is the Original Japanese
version! And quite
soon after that I found out it was lots better than the one
I had been watching.
So now I was into the adventures of Usagi and friends. I
learned more and more
every day, about seasons after the dubbing ended, movies,
character's past and future,
other Senshi, and how that bratty pink-haired kid ChibiUsa,
formerly known as Reeny to me,
became Sailor Chibimoon. (Er, nothing against ChibiUsa
fans, I'm one myself.
But she IS pretty bratty, c'mon...)
So through me stumbling across Sailor Moon on the Cartoon
Network I ultimately
and quickly became a Bijousho Senshi Sailormoon fan. I
still don't know everything
about the series; I don't know about all the Villains yet,
like the Death Busters, and I have not seen most
of the series. The only thing I have is over a gigabyte of
Sailormoon AVIs, MPGs, MOVs and
QTs to rely on. But I still want to learn as much about the
series as I can.
So then I ask some people why DiC is so evil, if DiC is
really what helped
me discover Sailormoon? Surely not every fan of the
Original had access to the
original series and discovered it in its original form. So
in some ways I thank
DiC for bringing me Sailor Moon, even if it had to be in
its own butchered,
censored format. I know not all DiC fans of Sailor Moon
even HAVE the Internet
and may never see the true beauty of the Original, but I
say at least they can
have some Sailor Moon, rather than missing it altogether.
There are, or have been, Online organizations against DiC,
and I have no doubt
in my mind a lot of them were introduced and weened on the
DiC version of Sailor Moon.
So why turns your backs so quickly? Sure, now you know the
Japanese version, and the Manga,
but would you have that without DiC? I'm not sure some of
you would.
So maybe I'll be the first one to say this, but:
Thanks, DiC.
Comments on this article can be sent to: KK.
