A debate has resurfaced for fans of Sailor Moon’s famous 1990s anime — is its fourth season completely skippable?
Watchers of Sailor Moon have had the conversation for years whether the fourth season of the show, Sailor Moon SuperS that ran from Mar 4, 1995 to Mar. 2 1996, is even required viewing, considering its differences from the rest of the show and how disjointed it feels to the main narrative.
Where the first three seasons focused on Usagi Tsukino as Sailor Moon and the other Sailor Scouts, the fourth season instead shifts its attention to Chibi-Usa for a more self-contained story that many don’t feel hits as hard as what came before it.
The first three seasons got progressively more complex as it dug into the lore of the moon civilization and switched to focus on Chibi-Usa and her friends in the fourth, which, when compared to previous seasons, felt like complete tonal whiplash.
On Reddit, a thread called “Is Sailor Moon’s 4th Season of the 90’s Anime Completely Skippable?” garnered dozens of responses as avid show watchers argued on both sides of the fence.
“I don't hate Chibiusa, but I like her in small doses,” wrote one user. “She was hilarious in season 3. I don't like her enough to want to watch an entire season focused on her and her horse romance and her elementary school friends. It's not what drew me to Sailor Moon in the first place, so the huge shift wasn't interesting to me.”
On the flip side, another person called it a “mixed bag” because of “good stuff” that shouldn’t be skipped. “The villains are as great as ever, the aesthetic of the baddies is great, it looks gorgeous and there are some pretty good episodes, like any season,” the fan wrote. “I personally don't care for the plot of SuperS and Pegasus, but even that aside, there's plenty of filler episodes that are really fun.”
Perhaps the most intriguing response came from a supporter who argued that just liking the show should be enough to want to watch the fourth season. “I mean, if you don't like fun, go ahead,” wrote the person. “Like why bother watching any of the show if you're so willing to skip an entire season because it doesn't have much of an impact on an admittedly bare-bones story? Do you not like the show enough to actually watch it?”
If you want to tune into season 4 of Sailor Moon to make the decision yourself, the anime is currently streaming on Hulu and Crunchyroll.
