Ahh, the age old "What's the difference between the anime and the manga?" question... Well, a lot. I sucked it up and bought all of the SuperS manga after being swayed by In Defense of SuperS's page/summary on the manga. And I know that they're dead right: a thorough list of differences would be stinking impossible. But I'm dumb enough to try! Either click the link and learn somethin', or read my rambling summary of SuperS. Both are painful. And both contain spoilers. Sadly, the Amazon Trio die horrible, explosion deaths after a senshi each. Of course, they don't really have personalities, so it's not overly traumatic. Well, except when Hawk-Eye finds out about Tiger-Eye's horribly messy death... Still, vaguely developed or no, there's plenty to infer about our fine, formerly animal friends. Like the fact that they all wear press on nails(god, I hope those things are press-on...)Fish-Eye talks like a valley girl(although I did read it in English...), and Hawk-Eye does seem extremely upset about Tiger-Eye...Hawk-Eye's also the one who goes undercover as a woman--complete with breasts(also the only one who doesn't attempt to seduce a senshi). So, no, it's not your anime Trio. No alcohol, no whoring themselves out to all of Tokyo... At least the Amazoness Quartet seems far more...tolerable. The fact that this version hasn't been largely responsible for the deaths of my favorite villains could help...yes, while I do enjoy SuperS the anime more than I should, the fact that the Trio gets roughly shoved aside by the Quartet added to the fact that the Quartet is annoying as hell makes the second half of the season an experience in watching Zelda yell at the screen. At least there's not such problem in the manga...(although I have been known to yell at books before) Meanwhile, what about dream mirrors? There are none. But the stuff with regular mirrors is damn creepy anyway... Rini: When I was little, Mommy used to tell stories until I fell asleep. Darien: About what? Rini: About big empires that sunk into the ocean, the mysteries of the pyramids, about haunted diamonds, artificial humans, vampires, and stories about mirrors... Bunny: About mirrors? Rini: On the other side of the mirror this dark world supposedly exists. Well, not only is Nephrenia on the other side of the mirror, everyone in the Dead Moon Circus uses mirrors to spy on the scouts. There's a nice pleasant thought! Oh, and mirrors are also used in brainwashing attempts...(Helios also seems to be able to travel through them.) As for good guys...Darien is so much sweeter in the manga...even though I think he's hot, in anime he really does have a tendancy to be such a condescending jerk to Serena. Speaking of Serena...well, she's Bunny in the manga(yeah, accurate translation although calling Rini "Rini" doesn't make any sense now...Although any kid with a nickname like "Little Bun" would have a difficult, miserable existance...) And while she does have her moments of being completely fifteen, there are also times when...well, when I first heard about Sailor Moon from friends, I was not expecting the middle schoolness of the sailor scouts and especially not that the title character/leader would be a klutzy crybaby. The manga has what I thought Sailor Moon would be like--a tough chick who can save the earth, dammit, not someone who still needs prompting from Tuxedo Mask and the other scouts when it's time to waste the enemy. As for Helios/Rini, my major squick of SuperS, it's much better here. There is the fast paced factor that keeps one from having to sit through episode after episode of "Ohh, Pegasus!" Hell, when Pegasus appears to her after the age shift, half of Rini's thrill seems to be that Helios thinks she's the maiden who'll save the world. And, thank god, Pegasus/Helios moves in to kiss her in this version instead of the other way around... Moving on to Rini by herself, yeah, she can get annoying. I like the Rini of S and SuperS far more than I like the little brat from R who I hoped would die horribly...but manga Rini...you really can't help but feel sorry for her sometimes. I won't go into all the reasons(there are summary sites for that and I don't want to have too many spoilers...) Naturally, my frail and feeble little summary--hell, it's not even a summary. It's just a jumble of things I thought were neato and things that sucked(kaleidescope thing=neato. Amazon Trio dying=sucked)--can't capture the true hella cool-ocity of the manga. The pictures really are gorgeous and the pace is absolutely amazing. Yeah, I was reluctant about cost too, but hey, it was worth it. :)