The first series starts off with introducing us to the star of the show, Usagi Tsukino (or Serena for English dubbed fans). We learn of her clutzy and crybaby behavior, and of course, how poorly she does in school. Well, you probably already know all about this, so I'll make it short. Usagi meets up with Luna, a talking black cat with a crescent moon on her forehead. (Usagi's name means rabbit/bunny and her last name Tsukino is a pun for "of the moon." Put it together Tsukino Usagi, that's how it's written in Japanese, means rabbit of the moon. That's why you see bunnies and moons all over Usagi's blanket, if you ever happen to notice.)
Luna tells Usagi that she's one of the Pretty Soldiers she's been looking for. She gives Usagi a brooch that can transform her into the soldier of justice, Sailormoon. Usagi thinks it's all a hoax, but Luna proves her wrong by telling her to shout the words, "Moon Prism Power Make-Up." Usagi never really wanted to become Sailormoon, but she couldn't help seeing people in danger. Her mission was to find the Moon Princess in order to protect the earth from evil. As the series proceed, Usagi and Luna find out that Ami Mizuno, the smartest student at Usagi's junior high (a well-known genius in Japan), is Sailormercury. Next they find out that Rei Hino, the miko (shrine maiden) at Hikawa Jinja (Fire Stream Shrine) is actually Sailormars. Along the way, we see scenes of Usagi and Mamoru (Darien) always fighting against each other. He calls her odango-head, which means "dumpling head." Mamoru is actually Tuxedo Kamen (Tuxedo Mask). He saves the soldiers every time they're in danger.
Sailormoon, Sailormercury, and Sailormars fight against the Dark Kingdom led by Queen Beryl and the Four Generals, Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite. They are trying to gather up a huge amount of energy and get the Ginzuishô (Silver Crystal) to resurrect their leader, Queen Metallia. Jadeite was defeated by Sailormoon, Sailormercury, and Sailormars, and so Queen Beryl put him into an eternal sleep as punishment for his failure. Nephrite takes over. He uses the constellations as a form of attack against the soldiers. Before he dies, he finds out that he had true feelings for Naru (Molly). So I guess he wasn't that bad. In fact, this scene was really sad.
The show proceeds with Zoisite taking over. His mission is to find the seven Nijizuishô (Rainbow Crystals), which will lead the Dark Kingdom to find the Silver Crystal. He finds some of the Rainbow Crystals with Nephrite's Dark Crystal, but Tuxedo Kamen also gets some. Sailorjupiter also joins the team. Her true identity is Makoto Kino. Usagi and the others call her Mako-chan. Makoto is really strong and can fight against boys at her school. Due to her size, she has to wear her old school uniform because Usagi’s junior high school doesn’t have Makoto’s size. That’s why you see them going to the same school, but having different uniforms on.
After all the seven rainbow crystals appeared, Zoisite sets up a trap for Tuxedo Kamen, and he gets injured. The soldiers are trapped by Kunzite, and they almost get finished off when Sailorvenus makes her scene. Aino Minako is Sailorvenus, and she also has a talking-cat called Artemis. Minako was one of the first soldiers to fight evil. She was known as Sailor-V. Tuxedo Kamen makes it back to his apartment, but Zoisite has already figured out his identity. They meet at the Tokyo Tower, and Usagi is accidently taken with him! They learn of each others secret identity in their fight against Zoisite. Tuxedo Kamen is injured badly and is taken away by the Dark Kingdom after the Silver Crystal appeared. It was Usagi's true tear that made it appear. Everyone learns of Sailormoon's true identity. She is the Moon Princess they've been searching for all this time, and Mamoru is her lover, Prince Endymion.
Zoisite is punished by Queen Beryl for not obeying her orders against Tuxedo Kamen. The queen apparently wanted Mamoru to live, but Zoisite wanted to kill him. So Beryl kills Zoisite. Kunzite is saddened by this because he loved Zoisite. (Yes, they're both guys. So that means they're gay, but in the English dub they changed Zoisite to a woman.) Anyway, Queen Beryl brainwashes Mamoru, and he becomes one of the Dark Kingdom's generals. Kunzite hates him, but Queen Beryl is in love with Prince Endymion.
Okay, I want to get done with this summary. It's getting longer than I thought! So, the soldiers eventually find the portal to the Dark Kingdom. It leads them to the North Pole. Kunzite blocks them along the way and tries to steal the Silver Crystal. The soldiers are instead sent back to the past by Queen Selenity. She tells Sailormoon that she's her mother from the past, and that the site that they're on is the remains of the Silver Millenium. Queen Selenity takes them back through time to relive the past. Usagi learns of her love for Prince Endymion, and how the Dark Kingdom destroyed their Silver Millenium. She also learns of how Princess Selenity (herself) and how all the others died. With Queen Selenity's final power she sealed Metallia, Beryl and their followers within the Silver Crystal.
Because Queen Selenity used the power of the Silver Crystal, she herself will die from the extreme power that it contains. The cats told her not to, but it was the only thing to do. So she sent everyone to a time where she hoped that they didn't have to go through all the fighting, but the Dark Kingdom managed to break the seal somehow later. Queen Selenity then died, and after learning about the whole story, Usagi fought against Kunzite with more courage than she ever had. Kunzite dies with his parting words of "Zoisite." Not truly explained in the English dub, the soldiers fight against the Dark Kingdom, but all of them died except for Sailormoon. Before Sailormars died, it was here that she showed how she truly cared for Usagi. Queen Beryl then brought Sailormoon to her kingdom, and showed her the new Prince Endymion. She tells Sailormoon of how even the Silver Crystal couldn't bring him back to normal anymore because Sailormoon had not truly obtained the powers as a princess yet.
Mamoru as Prince Endymion then tortures Usagi around. (Not seen in the English dub.) Sailormoon finally attacks him with her Moon Tiara Action attack, but he is still able to get up. She then takes out her music locket, and it plays their song. He touches it and his memories come back to him. The spell is broken. Mamoru throws a rose at Queen Beryl striking her in the chest. It looks as if her whole body shattered or something and she flees. Mamoru is hit by the dark crystal that Beryl threw at Sailormoon, and he dies as well. Sailormoon wanted to kiss him, but she told Mamoru, who was already dead, that she couldn't be so selfish and kiss him because the other soldiers were unable to kiss their beloved ones before they died. The Dark Kingdom crumbles as Sailormoon leaves.
Final battle, Usagi as Princess Selenity defeats Queen Metallia, who had already taken over Beryl's body, by using the powers of the Silver Crystal and the powers of the soldiers spirits. As Usagi is sucked in by the ball of light, she thinks about how it would be so great to become a normal student again, no fighting, just a normal life. Her wish is granted, and so everyone is okay but they don't remember anything. Luna and Artemis look on as they proceed with their normal life.
