Dark Kingdom arc
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Dark Kingdom arc is the first story arc in the Sailor Moon anime and manga metaseries. Originally it was referred to merely as Sailor Moon, as the series was not expected to continue, but its official subtitle was later given by creator Naoko Takeuchi.[1] It is named after its featured villain group, the Dark Kingdom. A common nickname among English-speaking fans is "Sailor Moon Classic".
This arc introduces most of the major protagonists: Usagi Tsukino, Mamoru Chiba, Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino, Makoto Kino, and Minako Aino. The primary villain is Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom, who sends her servants out into the world to drain human energy and to obtain the Silver Crystal.
A secondary plotline, also involving Queen Beryl and her servants, was created for the anime adaptation, the Rainbow Crystal arc. In this story, the Silver Crystal had been split into seven rainbow-colored parts and embedded in monsters, which had been reborn as ordinary people. Possession of the seven crystals is necessary to reform the Silver Crystal.
[edit] Production
The manga began its run in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine in December 1991, and was published in book form in 1992-1993, encompassing Acts 1-14 (volumes 1-4 of the original manga, 1-3 of the re-released editions). Starting in 1997, the manga series was released in English by Tokyopop, though as of May 2005 it is out of print.[2]
The first episode of the anime, created by Toei Animation, was aired on March 7, 1992 in Japan on Asahi Television. The Dark Kingdom arc ended up with a total of forty-six episodes and very closely followed the manga. It was later adapted into a live-action series called Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.
It was later released in North America by DiC, but not in full. Five episodes of the English dub are missing and two were forged into one. According to DiC, this was done to avoid excessive violence, making the final cut forty episodes. Many of episodes the DiC version of the Dark Kingdom arc were heavily edited, making such changes as renaming place names to sound American, editing Japanese text off buildings and replacing it with English text, and mirror-imaging frames that involved traffic.[3] These changes were met with great controversy amongst Western fans.
When Takeuchi wrote the manga, she originally intended to have all the main characters die in the end, but her editor would not let her, stating, "This is a shoujo manga!" When the anime adaptation was created, all of the protagonists were in fact killed off, although they came back to life, and Takeuchi held a bit of a grudge that she had not been allowed to do that in her version.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Sailormoon Channel (Japanese) Name used on the official website.
- ^ Tokyopop Out of Print. Retrieved on 2007-03-16.
- ^ Sailor Moon Uncensored: Sailor Moon Classic
- ^ Takeuchi, Naoko (October 23, 2003). "Punch!", Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Shinsouban Volume 3. Kodansha. ISBN 4-06-334783-4.
- Takeuchi, Naoko (July 6, 1992, September 5, 1996). Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Volume 1. Kodansha. ISBN 4-06-178721-7.
- Takeuchi, Naoko (September 6, 1992, April 6, 1996). Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Volume. Kodansha. ISBN 4-06-178731-4.
- Takeuchi, Naoko (April 6, 1993). Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Volume 3. Kodansha. ISBN 4-06-178744-6.
- Takeuchi, Naoko (July 6, 1993, March 5, 1995). Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Volume 4. Kodansha. 4-06-178753-5.
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