miss thing, i'm talking about gp perception; i'm sure there are plenty of straight men among the core sailor moon fanbase who grew up with it, but in terms of gp perceptions, sailor moon deters straight male fans (which i'm 100% ok with lmfao). there's a definite metaphorical barrier of entry to potential fans who might be interested in the storylines of the manga but would be deterred by a lot of the content of the 90s anime, save the classic finale, death busters plot-focused episodes, nehelenia arc, and final clash with galaxia.
overall, sailor moon as a franchise is not targeted towards straight male anime fans at all, and it doesn't really appeal to that core demographic (not counting longtime fans who stuck around since the 90s/00s). the only magical girl shows that have a largely male following are, well, specifically targeted towards men (this recent wave of dark seinen magical girl shows), and it's often because the men in question are creepy weirdos who are for some reason really into seeing young anime girls engage in brutal violence. i think if toei had invested the proper time and resources into crystal, it could have been this amazing mature magical girl show that appealed to an incredibly wide array of groups, but that is unfortunately not our reality.
Also, I don't think the 90s anime has intense action at all lol. There are a few really good fight scenes, but between budget constrains, censorship, and male animators who were too cowardly to let the girls be the planet-busting ass-kicking goddesses Naoko envisioned them to be, most of the fight scenes ended up being really lame, and that's part of why the general public has this misconception that Sailor Moon is "waving-wands-and-saving-this-super-cheerful-world."