In The Name of Love and Justice, Let’s Learn All About Sailor Moon
She’s fighting evil by moonlight and winning love by daylight. She is the one Sailor Moon, and we’re talking about her today.
Since 1991, Sailor Moon has been one of the biggest names in shoujo and magical girl anime. In her thirty year history, she’s become ingrained into pop culture as one of the most recognizable fictional characters out there. Even if you haven’t watched a single episode of Sailor Moon, you probably already know how she fights evil by moonlight and wins love by daylight. So let’s go over some of the basics, talk about this meatball headed superhero, and maybe figure out who she could and couldn’t beat in a fight.
The Sailor Moon Basics
First introduced as regular fourteen year old schoolgirl, Usagi (or Serena if you grew up on the DIC dub) was known for being lazy, a crybaby, and clumsy. She’s consistently late for school where she is a subpar student, and cries in the most minor hint of trouble. This doesn’t change when talking cat Luna tells her that she’s the reincarnation of a powerful moon themed warrior and has to transform into Sailor Moon in order to save Tokyo—and by extension the world—from the forces of evil.
Instead, Usagi becomes a crybaby with superpowers who briefly finds her inner strength to defeat the bad guys to save the day. Over time she finds a whole team of reincarnated planet themed magical girls to fight with her, and with her team she learns to rely on her team and finds her own confidence as Sailor Moon.
Over time Usagi learns that she’s not just Sailor Moon but the princess of the moon and eventually in the future, the entire galaxy. She gains more and more allies, new powers, and more powerful weapons to use against the forces of evil. But through it all her strongest tool is the power of friendship and love for her friends.
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The History of Sailor Moon
Sailor moon was created by manga artist Naoko Takeuchi, and first appeared in Takeuchi’s one-shot series, Codename: Sailor V. The basic premise of Sailor V was by and large indistinguishable from Sailor Moon, except that it followed Minako and her talking cat, Artemis. Eventually Sailor V worked as a prequel for Sailor Moon, with Minako revealing herself as Sailor Venus.
The original designs for each of the Sailor Senshi was very different. Some had exposed midriff, very different styles of gloves, masks, and in one example a cloak and gun. Eventually, Takeuchi decided on a more uniform look for each of the characters with different color schemes and shoe styles.
Sailor Moon’s iconic odango hairstyle was based on Takeuchi’s own life. Before especially difficult classes or exams she would style her hair into those buns for good luck.
Her Powers
For the most part, Sailor Moon has pretty standardly styled powers of a magical girl. Every season a different special item allows her to transform into her crime fighting alter ego. And with some regularity she gains a new item that she funnels her magic through to attack. In the first season it’s the crescent wand, but eventually items like her Holy Grail let her use combined powers from all of the Sailor Sensei. Sailor Moon is also shown healing people who had been corrupted by the antagonists, and teleporting with her fellow Sailor Sensei.
Sailor Moon can also use the Silver Crystal, which becomes a sort of MacGuffin in the series. It’s a magical crystal that only members of Moon Kingdom royalty can use, but almost every season has various bad guys and villains attempting to steal the crystal to use its powers for themselves. Sailor Moon uses the crystal to increase and focus her powers and attacks, as well as allows her to be reincarnated over and over again.
Her Teammates, the Sailor Sensei
In the first few seasons we meet Sailor Sensei for all of the inner planets with Sailors Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus. There isn’t a ‘Sailor Earth,’ but Tuxedo Mask more or less fills this role. Later we are introduced to Sailor Chibi Moon—Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Masks’ child who traveled back from the future—and Sailor Pluto who guards the time door. After that Sailor Uranus and Neptune join, followed by Sailor Saturn. In the final season the Sailor Starlights show up, but they aren’t really Sailor Moon’s teammates as much as their own squad who are looking for their own princess and work alongside Sailor Moon while they happen to be on Earth.
Each of the Sailor Sensei have their own special powers, many referencing back to their planet or the Roman Mythology linked to their planet’s name. For example, Mars specializes in fire, while Neptune uses water.
Sailor Moon Cyrstal
In 2014 Toei Animation rebooted the series with Sailor Moon Crystal. This series very similar to the original but with more animated art style, and less filler. Instead, the story followed the pace of the manga very closely. The final arc was released as a two-part movie which was released on June 9th and 30th 2023.
Sailor Moon in Other Media
You will see Sailor Moon pop up and referenced in so many places. There was a tabletop role-playing game published in 1999 as well a multiple video games across a number of platforms. But you will also see either her iconic transformation sequence or costume referenced all over the place if you know where to look. From Gundam to The Princess Diaries, Sailor Moon remains a cultural touchstone.
Who Would Win in a Fight? (Any Shonen Protagonist) or Usagi?
This topic comes up all of the time, and honestly, they wouldn’t. Think of your favorite shonen protagonist and then think of Usagi… They’d get along, right? But what if they fight over food or need to spar? First of all, Usagi would never spar anything.
But by the end of the series, Sailor Moon has practically become a goddess. I don’t think Goku is going to be able to kamehameha his way out of that one. But also, they’d be buds.
Happy adventuring!
