No, Sailor Moon was not pink! Even the fans are not happy: “It’s hard to get this color”

If we talk about the cult anime of the 90s, Sailor Moon is one of the first that comes to mind. In addition to its immense popularity, anime also has a very defined aesthetic that continues to inspire many creators today – such as Pixar’s latest, Red Alert…

With this brilliant watercolor background, these pastel colors and this pink filter, the aesthetic sailor moon It’s iconic… but it turns out that the pink filter was actually a bug that went too deep into our brains!

Recently there was a debate on X (twitter) about how some anime ended up with a different color than their creators originally intended. and sailor moon A perfect example, as the pink hue we remember is nothing more than wear and tear on the original acetates.

Poor preservation of films

As explained by @nappasan (Japanese-to-English translation professional) on social media, this color change is due to poor conservation of the video masters, a mistake that Toei Animation did not correct when releasing the physical editions. While it’s understandable that fans are nostalgic for this faded color, like a sepia photo, it’s not the style the creators intended. “This is revisionism and cannot be tolerated“, said the internet user.

Thus, in the Latin American version sailor moonYou can see how the anime has cooler tones rather than pink because it’s a video master before the original material gets degraded.

“This is a video master of the Latin American version that was made before the tape was a disaster. It’s not rosy, and that’s how kids watched the series at the time. The pink tint doesn’t have to represent some nostalgia, it’s the Mandela effect.“

Many users then shared other “evidence of the crime,” such as screenshots comparing Japanese DVDs from the 2000s and the laserdisc version of the anime from the 90s, showing that the different versions change color.

“Sailor Moon Comparison on LD (Laserdisc) and DVD. The top row is DVD. Compared to the lower LD, it is red and dark. You can see that Jupiter’s hair, the details on the walls, etc. It is broken. The skin tones of the characters look more “anime” and have more natural colors on DVD.“

But perhaps the ultimate proof is the original films themselves. Although few have been preserved, it is possible to find the original acetate film from the legendary anime, and indeed the pink tint is nowhere to be found.

In the end, the debate came down to the personal preferences of each fan. As many argue that the original finish desired by the creators should be preserved, others prefer to remember sailor moon With that pink tone, an aesthetic that has become popular and that reminds them of their childhood.

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Dragon Ball case

However, the debate shed light on an important issue: the poor preservation of the original material. Some fans also remember that this “aesthetic” pink tone has become a green or orange tone in recent seasons.

And this isn’t the first time that Toei Animation has had a problem with the maintenance of its films, as this also applies to Dragon Ball, where wear and tear can be seen on a green sky that should be blue.

“Green skies in Dragon Ball? When the scans were done on film for the Dragon Box release, the colors in the film were washed out. Toei sent it as is and never fixed it. Many Toei series that were digitized from movies like Goldfish Warning also had this problem”, explained a user on X (Twitter) who compared the versions.

So far, it doesn’t appear that Toei has any plans to fix these poor colors in its production. So green and pink seem to be here to stay.

You can watch Dragon Ball on Prime Video via ADN, or directly on ADN.