Sailor Moon - The Sailor Moon anime series (Bishojo Senshi Sera Mun?, Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon) was co-produced by TV Asahi, Toei Agency and Toei Animation. It is based on the manga series of the same name by Naoko Takeuchi, and in fact started airing only a month after the first issue of the manga was published. It is the best-known component of the Sailor Moon franchise. With 200 episodes airing from March 7, 1992 to February 8, 1997 on Japan's TV Asahi, Sailor Moon is one of the longest magical girl anime series. The anime sparked a highly successful merchandising campaign, which contributed to demand all over the world and translation into numerous languages. Sailor Moon has since become one of the most famous anime properties in the world. Strictly speaking, Sailor Moon is a metaseries. It consists of five separate television series, which are often incorrectly referred to as seasons by English-speaking fans. Each series roughly corresponds to one of the five major story arcs of the manga. There were also three theatrically-released movies, as well as four special animated shorts. Traditional animation techniques were used throughout the series. It was directed first by Junichi Sato, then by Kunihiko Ikuhara, and later by Takuya Igarashi. Character design was headed by Kazuko Tadano (first three series), Ikuko Itoh (fourth series and part of fifth), and Katsumi Tamegai (fifth series), all of whom were also animation directors. Other animation directors included Masahiro Ando, Hisashi Kagawa, and Hideyuki Motohashi. - answers.com