Pretty Guardian Soldier Sailor Moon is one of the most beloved anime in the world. It has been released by multiple companies, in multiple formats, over multiple years. Recently Viz Media released Sailor Moon: The Complete First Season on BluRay, with an excellent visual transfer and a new dub that fans have praised for being more faithful to the original series. Despite the fact that the BluRay transfer is excellent there is one feature that older fans of the show wishes were on the set: The original dub.
Sailor Moon premiered in America in 1995, courtesy of DiC Entertainment. The series was not a runaway success at first as it premiered primarily on local stations in unfavorable time slots. Eventually success would come when the series aired on Cartoon Network's action block Toonami. When Viz Media licensed the entire Sailor Moon series several years ago, it came with the promise that there would be a brand-new dub produced. The new dub has been praised for being more faithful to the source material, yet there is a growing chorus of vocal fans who want to see the original dub restored and released in one format or another. The reasons why are long and numerous, and they are worth looking into.
Fans Want to Preserve History
For many fans, the DiC dub of Sailor Moon is history itself. It is the first official dub that was released to the public, and they feel that fact alone makes it worth preserving. Hardcore Sailor Moon fans want to preserve the different versions of the series, and thus their desire to see the DiC dub preserved in some way is a part of the overall attempt to document the various versions of the show that came out in America.
A Memorable Soundtrack
One of the things people hate most about the DiC dub has also become one of the things they love most about it: The musical score and songs. DiC famously replaced the original Japanese score with their own score and songs for their dub of Sailor Moon. This has been a source of contention for many Sailor Moon fans who claim DiC's dub score is inferior to the Japanese music, and thus many fans are very happy that Viz's new dub restores the original soundtrack.
That said, ignoring the controversial decision to replace the music in the first place, when one takes a step back there is no denying that a lot of the music in the DiC dub is very good when taken on its own. The reason it took years for the music to become a problem is that many fans simply hadn't heard the Japanese score, and the music they were hearing sounded just fine to them. Even after fans realized they weren't hearing the real score, it was still hard to be mad when the English songs were just as good as the Japanese songs in several cases.
This is also the reason why the original American soundtrack of Sailor Moon (as well as the accompanied Lunarock CD) became the best-selling albums they did, and most self-proclaimed Moonies still hold on to them to this day.
The Original Dub Had Great Voice Actors
While the question of which dub is better acted is more a question of preference than objectivity, there is no doubt the actors in the DiC dub were all professionals who brought their own style and personalities to their roles. This doesn't mean fans want the original dub preserved because they dislike the new actors (there is a lot of evidence to suggest the new dub has been universally praised by fans for the high quality of the final product).
But much like Star Wars fans have the Hayden Christensen and Sebastian Stan argument, Sailor Moon fans have debates about who was a better Tuxedo Mask. Fans of the DiC dub just feel the original actors also brought something special to the series, and they don't want to lose the work of those actors due to time and licensing complications.
The DiC Dub is Nostalgic
Historical importance aside, Sailor Moon fans are also nostalgic about the DiC dub. For many, it was their first introduction to the series, and watching it (warts and all) brings them back to that happy place. For some it was this gem of a show they discovered early in the morning before they made their way to school. For others, it was the show that led the Toonami block and got the action afternoon started. Some of us remember renting the VHS tapes from Blockbuster and watching them during a sleepover party.
It's not just how people discovered the show either: It was the show itself. Many of the fans who mocked aspects of the DiC dub now look at those same aspects with smiles on their faces. The infamous Sailor Says segments -where Sailor Moon gives the audience a moral of the day - were silly then, and they're silly now. The difference if while they are still ridiculous additions to the series, fans are happier to see them because they remember watching cartoons on TV where a moral had to tacked on at the end of the cartoon for almost everything.
When you combine the slang, the music, and the visual modifications as a whole, DiC's Sailor Moon dub was very much a product of the 90's, a time period that is finally far enough behind us that many people are looking at it with nostalgic goggles. The fact that there are animation clips and sounds that are exclusive to the DiC dub that will never been seen or heard again is scary to fans, and they provide a unique enough experience that many argue the two versions can co-exist without stepping on the others toes.
Conclusion
It's interesting to think that when the DiC version was the only version fans had access to, it was frowned upon with scorn. Now that we have a few decades in the rearview mirror it's much easier to see the merits that the original dub provided. Sure, any show that has multiple versions are going to inspire debates about which version is better, however that's not the issue here. In the case of Sailor Moon the issue isn't which version is better, its making sure that all versions are preserved for future generations.
There is precedent for this happening: Several years ago Funimation released their original dub of Dragon Ball Z in a limited edition DVD entitled Dragonball Z: Rock the Dragon Edition. It makes one wonder if Sailor Moon fans could hope for a Fighting Evil by Moonlight Edition somewhere down the road? Whether that happens or not, the desire for an official release of the original DiC dub is unlikely to dissipate anytime soon. Fans of Sailor Moon love the series. Some people like it in more than one form, and it would be nice if fans had access to the version of the series they personally want to watch.