Pretty Soldier Buffy Summers

I used to watch Sailor Moon every morning before school when I was 10 years old (on the retrospectively messed up cartoon show Agro's Cartoon Connection). It introduced me to Anime, fantasy, a monster of the week and prolonged sexual tension between characters. Then came Buffy when I was 14 - holy shit, everything I loved about Sailor Moon in people form! 

Anyway, after a few seasons of Buffy I realised why I had taken to it like an old quilt - for the first few seasons - Sailor Moon and Buffy have almost the same story line :

A vacuous teenage girl reluctantly agrees to become a soldier against the powers of evil.

She begins under the guidance of an ever exasperated mentor.

She gradually builds up a squad of warriors with varying degrees of powers.

And later on, procures a younger whinier version of herself.

She also becomes involved with a brooding older guy who she originally can't stand but realises that she is in love with.

Despite him also having a deep dark secret.

The boyfriend gives her a promise ring before a long trip.

He then turns evil.

But of course, she finds a way to get him back.

However this happy period does not last long. . . 

To be honest - I kind of lost interest in Sailor Moon after Chibi Moon comes into the mix (I would have completely lost interest in Buffy when Dawn comes into too if it wasn't for the separate Angel TV series that overlapped sometimes).

Mostly, as an impressionable pre/teen girl, I just wanted to wake up one day and have a talking cat or an English librarian tell me I was something special. . . But not in creepy way.

When I was searching for pictures for this entry I came across some other articles that deal with the same comparison (I didn't actually think I was the first person to think this)

Buffy Studies Minor Tumblr - passing tumblr comment about the comparison.
Carlos Lovely Carlos Tumblr - original passing tumblr comment about the comparison.
Partly Drawn take - although a good article, it uses all of the Whedon verse characters to draw comparisons from which is a bit of a cheat.