Tsukino Usagi is an ordinary 8th grade schoolgirl who, one day on her way to school, saves a cat with a crescent moon on its forehead. At home, depressed after having failed a test, Usagi meets the cat again in her room. The cat, amazingly, can talk, and she introduces herself as Luna. Luna gives the dubious Usagi the ability to transform into Sailormoon, the pretty sailor suited soldier of justice.

Sailormoon faces the Dark Kingdom, an enemy group that wants to take over the Earth. The Dark Kingdom consists of Queen Metallia, Queen Beryl, and the four generals: Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoicite, and Kunzite. Sailormoon's mission is to protect the world while finding the Moon Princess whom she is sworn to protect. She finds allies in Tuxedo Kamen, a mysterious masked man who assists her in her fights but has his own agenda (and whom Usagi/Sailormoon has a huge crush on), and the other Sailor Senshi that she gradually discovers in four other girls: Mizuno Ami/Mercury, Hino Rei/Mars, Kino Makoto/Jupiter, and Aino Minako/Venus.

Usagi's main relationship crisis throughout the season consists of her problems with Chiba Mamoru, an attractive but annoying college student who constantly teases her. He is really Tuxedo Kamen, but he (and the Sailor Senshi) don't discover this fact until much later.

The Dark Kingdom's first job is to gain energy for Metallia by draining the life forces of humans. Later on, however, they begin to look for the ginzuishou ("mystical silver crystal"). Eventually this leads them to go after the seven rainbow crystals sealed inside seven people who were originally the Dark Kingdom's seven original youma. When brought together, the rainbow crystals create the ginzuishou. Thus the new priority of the Sailor Senshi is to find the seven rainbow crystals before the Dark Kingdom does. The Dark Kingdom, the Sailor Senshi, and Tuxedo Kamen all vie for the crystals. Eventually because of the crystals, Usagi and Mamoru discover each other's identities when they are trapped together by Zoicite. Usagi is the true Princess of the Moon, and Mamoru is her lover, Prince Endymion of Earth. Usagi receives the ginzuishou, but Mamoru is kidnapped and brainwashed by the Dark Kingdom.

After a whole bunch of filler episodes in which the Dark Kingdom and evil Prince Endymion/Tuxedo Kamen try to get Sailormoon to hand over the ginzuishou, Usagi, Ami, Rei, Minako, and Makoto must confront the Dark Kingdom, learning about their pasts on the moon in the process. In episode 45, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus all die trying to protect Sailormoon. In episode 46, Mamoru, as evil Prince Endymion, tries to kill Sailormoon, but before he can finally do so, Sailormoon revives his memories. Mamoru then dies trying to save Sailormoon from Queen Beryl. Sailormoon then defeats Beryl and Metallia as Princess Serenity using the ginzuishou and the other Sailor Senshi's powers, then dies, since that is the consequence of using the full power of the ginzuishou. Usagi's last wish is to live a normal life as a normal girl, so her wish is granted, and at the end of the episode, all the girls and Mamoru come back to life without their memories

 

The first arc of R is what is known as the filler arc. That is, the plotline doesn't happen in the manga but it occurs in the anime so that the manga can get ahead of the anime.

Usagi regains her memories after Luna revives them when a new enemy force shows up to attack Naru. The enemies are Ail and Ann, two aliens who take energy from the humans on Earth to feed the Makaiju, the tree that is their life source. Ail and Ann, lovers, pose as two students, Ginga Seijuurou and Ginga Natsumi, brother and sister, at Juuban Junior High School. The plot becomes strange as Ail falls in love with Usagi and Ann falls for Mamoru.

The other Inner Senshi regain their memories in episode 48 after Luna restores them while the enemy is fighting Sailormoon, but Mamoru still doesn't, much to Usagi's horror. Instead of Tuxedo Kamen, Tsukikage no Knight, a new ally, appears to save the girls. Sailormoon gets her powered-up transformation when her first season powers prove too weak to fight the new threat on Earth, receiving the ginzuishou back in the process. The other Inner Senshi eventually gain powered-up versions of their old attacks.

The Makaiju finally lashes out after being fed so much energy and getting some of Usagi's: it attacks Ail, Ann, Mamoru, and Usagi. This is where Usagi reveals her identity to the aliens, and Mamoru remembers his past when she tries to protect him. The Makaiju reveals its past and that of Ail and Ann, who discover what love is after Ann dies protecting Ail from the tree, and then Sailormoon heals the Makaiju. The Makaiju revives Ann, and then she and Ail then go off into space to start a new life with a Makaiju sapling. Tsukikage no Knight also reveals his true identity as being a part of Mamoru's soul.

In the second arc, Chibi-usa arrives from the future to find the ginzuishou to save her mother, Neo-Queen Serenity, in the 30th century. She stays with Usagi's family having hypnotized them into believing that she is a family member. The new enemies are the Black Moon Family, consisting of the Ayakashi Sisters and the main family members: Rubeus, Esmeraude, Safiru, Demando, and Wiseman. Usagi and Mamoru break up in this arc, thanks to visions Mamoru receives from his future self, King Endymion, warning him that he must stay away from Usagi or else she will die.

The Black Moon family is after Chibi-usa and the ginzuishou in order to take over the future Earth. However, the Ayakashi sisters fail at this task, and they are healed by Sailormoon after they are betrayed by Rubeus. Chibi-usa eventually discovers the Sailor Senshi's identities, and Usagi and Mamoru get back together. Chibi-usa then takes them to the future to save her mother. There, they meet another new senshi, Sailorpluto, the guardian of time.

To make everything shorter, the Sailor Senshi find out that Chibi-usa is the daughter of Usagi and Mamoru in the future. The Black Moon are actually exiles from Crystal Tokyo, the Utopia of the future, which Usagi and Mamoru's future selves are the leader of as Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion. The Black Moon desires to take over Earth so that their people may live there. However, they are unknowingly being manipulated by Wiseman, or Death Phantom, for his own purposes. After running away from the Palace upon Sailormoon being unable to awaken her mother, Chibi-usa is kidnapped by Wiseman who warps her mind and causes her to transform into Black Lady. In episode 88, Usagi transforms into Neo-Queen Serenity and with Tuxedo Kamen's help, she manages to get Black Lady to remember her true past. Chibi-usa then discovers that she had the ginzuishou all along (it was sort of absorbed into her), and she and Usagi combine the power of their two ginzuishou to defeat Wiseman.

Sailormoon S (Super)

In Sailormoon S, the new enemy and the new Sailor Senshi search for the three Talismans, which, when brought together, call forth the Holy Grail which gives the user, the Messiah, the power to save or destroy the world.

The new Sailor Senshi are Tenoh Haruka (Sailoruranus) and Kaioh Michiru (Sailorneptune). Haruka and Michiru are extremely dedicated to their mission, willing to sacrifice anyone, including each other, in order to find the Talismans and prevent the destruction of the world from occuring.

The villains are called the Death Busters. Led by Tomoe Souichi and Kaolinite, they are basically mad scientists (in a sense) bent on finding the Talismans, which are sealed in certain pure heart crystals that some people possess. They use daimon eggs to create daimons to attack people and take the heart crystals.

The story begins with Rei receiving visions of the Silence, which is the event that will happen if the Talismans fall into the hands of the Death Busters, which Haruka and Michiru want to prevent. In the first two episodes of S (90 and 91), the Sailor Senshi come into first contact with the Death Busters and the heart crystals. Usagi's powers also become ineffective, and in 91, with the power of love between her and Mamoru, she gains a new powered up brooch and rod. The Inner Senshi also for the first time meet two new Sailor Senshi, Uranus and Neptune, who remain shadowed until episode 92. As Outer Senshi, Uranus and Neptune do not wish to have the Inner Senshi interfering with what they consider their business. They also correctly believe that the Inner Senshi do not have what it takes to save the world; when a person's heart crystal is removed, the person dies, so the three Talisman carriers will die when the Talismans are extracted.

Most of the episodes following involve the development of the relationships between Haruka and Michiru and the other girls as well as Uranus and Neptune with the Inner Senshi. Each heart crystal extracted fails to deliver any of the Talismans; even Usagi's, which shines extremely brightly because of her purity, does not have it. Usagi and the Inners receive a shock when Chibi-usa reappears in S to save Moon and Mars as SailorChibimoon, the pretty sailor suited soldier-in-training. Though her antics annoy Sailormoon, Chibi-usa does play a much larger, important role later in the season.

In episode 109, the Outers and Inners discover each others' identities which creates a major strain on their relationship. Eudial, one of the Death Busters, also learns of their identities, and using this information, she finds out that Haruka and Michiru are carriers of the Talismans, as shown in episode 110. They almost die, but in episode 111, Meioh Setsuna, Sailorpluto, arrives announcing that she has the third Talisman and saves the other Outer Senshi. The Holy Grail is formed, and upon touching it, Sailormoon temporarily transforms into SuperSailormoon.

Tomoe Hotaru, the daughter of Tomoe Souichi, becomes friends with Chibi-usa in episode 112. She has been cultivated by Tomoe to have an entity, Mistress 9, live inside of her. The other Outer Senshi soon discover that Hotaru is actually Sailorsaturn, the senshi of destruction who is destined to destroy the world, and they attempt to kill her. However, the Inner Senshi intervene, and Hotaru is whisked away before anything can happen. Hotaru does not become Saturn as the Outers fear though; after swallowing the kidnapped Chibi-usa's heart crystal, she transforms into Mistress 9, a Death Buster. This leads to the final confrontation between the Sailor Senshi and the Death Busters.

The three Outer Senshi attempt to infiltrate the school, Uranus and Neptune being the only ones who manage to get inside due to Pluto's sacrifice. Inside, they use their Talismans to destroy the daimon that had possessed Tomoe. They then try to kill Mistress 9 as well but Sailormoon takes the attacks, claiming that Hotaru is still alive. Mistress 9 tricks Sailormoon into giving her the Holy Grail and uses its power to draw Master Pharoah 90 to Earth. This destroys the Holy Grail. Mistress 9 is triumphant until Master Pharoah 90 blasts her. Because of this, Hotaru eventually overcomes the weakened Mistress 9 with her own inner strength, becoming SailorSaturn. Saturn returns Chibi-usa's heart crystal to the girl before going off to battle with Master Pharoah 90. Sailormoon, distraught, uses the power of the other Sailor Senshi to transform into SuperSailormoon and goes after Sailorsaturn. In the end, they destroy Master Pharoah 90 and return peace to the world. Hotaru is reborn as a baby and returned to her father. Haruka and Michiru, after battling Usagi and acknowledging her as their princess, leave.

Sailormoon SuperS (Supers)

Pegasus comes to Chibi-usa, asking him to help her. He is wanted by the new enemies, the Dead Moon Circus, for his horn. Pegasus has the Golden Crystal in the horn, which the Dead Moon Circus, composed of Zirconia, the Amazon(ian) Trio, Amazoness Quartet, and Neherenia, want in order to take over the world. The first villains to appear are Zirconia and the Trio.

The Pegasus gives Chibi-usa and Usagi new brooches to transform directly into their super forms, as well as powers that they can apparently only use when they call him. He also eventually gives the Inner Senshi the abilities to transform into their super forms as well. The Inners don't get their new attacks until after the Amazoness Quartet shows up, however.

Pegasus is hiding in the Dream Mirror of a host, and in order to find him and take his crystal, the Trio is ordered to search the dream mirrors of the people of Tokyo. They do so, failing each time, except that Fisheye finally discovers that Chibi-usa is Pegasus's host. However, after talking to Mamoru and Usagi, he realizes that he has no dream mirror, and it's eventually revealed by Zirconia that the Trio isn't human. They are actually animal spirits in human-like bodies. The Trio are ordered to attack Usagi (who Zirconia thinks is the host), but while doing so, a lemure is sent to kill them. The Trio helps Usagi after her Dream Mirror is broken, giving up their lives to do so. (Fortunately for them, they have a happy ending. Pegasus gives them dream mirrors, making them human, and places the dream mirrors where they can remain in peace.)

The Amazoness Quartet appears after that with the same mission, only this time targeting the Golden Mirror, which is a bit more specific and indicates that Pegasus is hiding in it. After more searching and failing to find it, the Inner Senshi and Quartet confront each other after the Quartet decides to do mass Dream Mirror gathering. The Senshi then invade the Dead Moon Circus, and Chibimoon is kidnapped and Pegasus finally captured, his Golden Crystal taken. The Sailor Senshi manage to appeal to the Quartet, who realize that they have been used all along by Neherenia. The senshi then have it out with Neherenia. Moon and Chibimoon gain possession of the crystal thanks to the Quartet, who switches it with a pineapple when Neherenia isn't looking. Chibimoon calls upon the power of the children of the Earth and invokes the crystal's power. However, Neherenia has not yet lost, kidnapping Chibimoon again, Moon following. Neherenia throws Chibimoon off the cliff (they're on a floating piece of the circus headquarters in the air), and as Moon jumps off to rescue her, Neherenia seals herself into a mirror to remain beautiful forever and leaves. Moon manages to wake Chibimoon up just as they're falling past buildings of Tokyo, which causes Pegasus to arrive and save them.

The season ends with Pegasus, who the senshi discover is really Elios, guardian of Elysion and Endymion, leaving, and the Quartet becoming normal girls.

Sailormoon SailorStars

In the first arc of SailorStars, Neherenia returns to seek revenge on Usagi and the Sailor Senshi for thwarting her plans in SuperS. Breaking her soul mirror, the pieces fall to Earth and enter people's eyes, brainwashing them. This of course happens to Mamoru. The Outer Senshi return to fight as Haruka and Michiru are attacked by Neherenia's minions, and Pluto brings baby Hotaru too since she says they will need her help. Hotaru, using her powers, gives the Outers all power-ups, and she grows rapidly until she remembers her previous life and can transform into Sailorsaturn. When reunited, the powers of all the senshi combine to give Sailormoon her final form, Eternal Sailormoon.

Because of the mirror part in his eye, Mamoru becomes brainwashed by Neherenia, and she kidnaps him. This throws Chibi-usa into a time paradox because with her father gone, she will not be able to be born and thus starts to fade. The Sailor Senshi all go to confront Neherenia and rescue Mamoru; however they all become separated along the way, and each becomes trapped by Neherenia in mirrors. Usagi finally manages to reach Neherenia. It turns out that Neherenia really wanted a friend and was lonely by herself, so she gained beauty from a mirror to gain admiration from others, but once she discovered that she couldn't remain beautiful forever, she turned evil. Usagi feels deep sympathy for her, as do the other Sailor Senshi (all of them are crying), and they break free of their mirrors. Mamoru is freed from Neherenia's spell, Chibimoon returns, and then Sailormoon returns Neherenia to her home to start over, where she wakes up as a small child having a bad dream.

The second arc introduces Galaxia and the Animamates who are after the star seeds of the Sailor Senshi. The Animamates target people who they think will have the light of the star seeds, but they always fail. All of them discover the identities of the senshi, but all of them die before they can actually reveal this information to Galaxia.

The Three Lights, an idol rock band, appear in Tokyo at the same time as the Animamates. Their true identities are the SailorStarlights, Sailor Senshi from a different galaxy. Their goal is to find their Princess.

Mamoru leaves to Harvard for a year or so in a plane, but it turns out that while in flight, Galaxia came and took his star seed. In the meantime in Tokyo, Chibi-usa has gone home to the future, and in her stead, Chibichibi arrives, posing as Usagi's little sister after brainwashing Usagi's mom. She has the chalice, which she uses to help Princess Kakyuu come to Earth. She also gives Eternal Sailormoon her new power-up and is revealed to be a senshi.

Most of SailorStars focuses on the Three Lights interacting with the Sailor Senshi and the search for the star seeds. Seiya has a crush on Usagi, but Usagi does not feel the same. The Outer Senshi are extremely hostile to the Starlights because they feel they do not belong on Earth. Eventually the Starlights find their princess, Princess Kakyuu, who saves Usagi and ChibiChibi from Tin Nyanko. However, she is soon killed by Galaxia after her star seed is extracted from her.

The Inner Senshi and the Starlights confront Galaxia, but Galaxia merely kills off the Inners, taking their star seeds as well. She then starts to do massive star seed collecting all over Tokyo, taking any and every one from all the people. The Outer Senshi go by themselves to fight Galaxia, but they are also ineffective. Uranus and Neptune then agree to give up their star seeds to work under Galaxia, killing Pluto and Saturn to prove their loyalty. They also attack the Starlights and Sailormoon, but when given their final order to destroy their former allies, Uranus and Neptune turn on Galaxia, trying to take her star seed. Since Galaxia doesn't have a star seed, this doesn't do much, and she kills them instead.

Sailormoon, Chibichibi, and the Starlights are left, and actually the Starlights do pretty little in the battle except to protect Sailormoon. Chibichibi finally reveals her nature- she is the hope of Galaxia's star seed who was released when Chaos entered Galaxia's body, turning her evil. ChibiChibi transforms into a sword for Sailormoon/Princess Serenity to destroy Galaxia, but Sailormoon refuses to use it. Sailormoon finally wins the battle by reaching towards the goodness left inside of Galaxia, and Galaxia becomes good again once Chao leaves her body. She releases all the star seeds, and then she leaves. The other Sailor Senshi, Kakyuu, and Mamoru return to life, and then the Starlights leave with their princess as life returns to normal at the end of the series.