The argument about whether the manga or the anime is better has been going on for as long as there have been anime adaptations of manga. And for an anime like Sailor Moon, it’s a tricky conversation to have.
Most Western fans are familiar with the series because of the '90s anime adaptation, and though it is criticized for poor dubbing and shoddy animation, it is still the beloved version of the series for many fans. When it comes to fighting sequences in the anime, several even hold up as being better than they are in the manga, outdoing the original material with the use of animation and emotional beats not found on the pages.
10 Inner Scouts Vs Queen Beryl & Queen Metalia
In the manga, Sailor Moon doesn’t defeat Queen Beryl. Instead, it’s Sailor Venus who kills her, with the use of her holy sword. But in the anime, Queen Metalia enters the body of Queen Beryl and, after a fight that kills Sailor Moon’s friends, the two face off one-on-one.
With the power of her friends’ love, she overcomes Queen Beryl’s power to destroy her. Those who grew up with the DiC dub will also be familiar with the killer English song that plays over this moment, “Carry On.”
9 Sailor Jupiter Vs Gamecen
Sailor Jupiter’s introduction to the anime series is slightly different than in the manga as well. In both cases, she’s tricked into thinking someone is romantically interested in her, but in the anime, she ends up going on a date with someone who turns out to be a youma.
The Sailor Scouts show up to help her, and angry and embarrassed at being tricked, Makoto steps in to help, even before knowing she’s a Scout. It’s a cool moment of someone taking action just because she can.
8 Sailor Moon Vs Chaos
When the Sailor Scouts realize that Sailor Galaxia isn’t acting in her own interest and her body has been taken over by Chaos, Sailor Moon does everything in her power to save her and to save the planet she loves.
It’s an intense moment in which Sailor Moon fights back with the power of her love for the place she lives, and for Sailor Galaxia herself, who she is sure she can save. The climactic shattering of Chaos’s sword, as Galaxia takes back control of her body, is incredibly powerful.
7 Inner Scouts Vs Wicked Lady
Chibi-Usa isn’t always the best addition to Sailor Moon, since it’s not always fun to watch a group of teenagers suddenly become group parents to a somewhat bratty child. But her incarnation as Wicked Lady really changes that.
She’s one of the most visually cool villains the Sailor Scouts face, and their first battle against her is so much fun to watch, with the Scouts all using their best moves on her, only for all of them to fail, perhaps for the first time in the series.
6 Wiseman Vs Sailor Guardians
As with all of the battles between the Sailor Scouts and the final boss of each arc, it’s always a battle of the pure will of friendship and love versus the power of darkness and despair.
Sailor Moon faces off against Wiseman, after he has decimated the team, with just the power of the Silver Crystal, and it seems that she’s going to lose. But Chibi-Usa realizes she also has a Crystal inside of her, and with the remaining power of the Sailor Scouts, they manage to defeat him.
5 Sailor Moon Vs Pharaoh 90
The actual battle against Pharaoh 90 is one of those harrowing moments in Sailor Moon when pretty much all of Sailor Moon’s friends die or are incapacitated. After Sailor Saturn leaps into Pharaoh 90 to destroy him, knowing she will die as well, Sailor Moon can’t become Super Sailor Moon to follow her.
While most of the ensuing battle takes place off-screen, the intensity of the moment and the quality of the animation leading up to it make this one of the best moments in the series.
4 Sailor Neptune & Sailor Uranus Vs Germatoid
This is a relatively minor battle in the overall narrative of the Deathbusters arc, but it’s also one of the standout moments from an animation and storytelling standpoint. Germatoid puts his consciousness into the body of several monsters, and Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus work together to figure out which is the real Germatoid in order to kill him.
It’s a surprisingly nasty battle for this magical girl anime and one that sets the Outer Scouts apart from the Inner Scouts regarding what they’re willing to do in battle.
3 Sailor Moon Vs Zoisite
One of the ways that the Sailor Moon anime was really more fun than the manga is the fact that Tuxedo Mask isn’t aware that Usagi is Sailor Moon.
The climactic moment in which they’re trapped in an elevator, with Zoisite trying to kill them with a ball of fire, and Usagi has to decide between revealing her secret identity to Mamoru or dying alongside him to protect it, makes this one of the most epic moments in the series.
2 Koan Vs Sailor Mars
All of the interactions between the Sailor Scouts and the Spectre Sisters land a little better in the anime, just because they’re all given a chance to change their lives and become better people, instead of being killed by Sailor Moon like they are in the manga.
Sailor Mars fighting her Spectre Sister counterpart Koan is especially intense since Mars recognizes that Koan has some good in her and goes as far as to protect her from harm so that she can try to make her life better.
1 Berthier Vs Sailor Mercury
Berthier’s face-off with Sailor Mercury is similar in this way. Berthier tricks her way into a chess tournament that Ami is participating in, and the two of them fight both over a chess game and in an actual battle over the fate of Mercury’s comrades.
Berthier’s attempts to get in her head about whether she really has friends that care about her is a great moment for Mercury, whose feelings of self-worth and her confidence in her friendships really shine as she takes down Berthier.