How Did the Sailor Senshi Get Their Planetary Names?

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Filed under Articles, In-Universe Lore
How did you get the name "Moon," exactly?

How did you get the name “Moon,” exactly?

It’s a question that I imagine haunts many of us late into the night as the sweet call of sleep continues to stay just out of grasp: are the planets named after the Sailor Senshi… or are the Sailor Senshi named after their planets?

Or, put another way, is the planet Mars named for the Sailor Soldier of fire and burniness,1 or does Rei Hino go by the moniker “Sailor Mars” because that is the name that her planet is known as?

Like all things in the Sailor Moon universe, this question is slightly more complicated that it seems at first blush, so it looks like we’re going to have to get our hands dirty and just dive right on in. Break out your manga volumes and astronomy textbooks, because there’s a lot of background reading we’ll need to do!

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Is Usagi Just a Copy of Minako from Codename: Sailor V?

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Filed under Articles, Characters, Making Of, Manga, Minako Aino, Usagi Tsukino
♪ One of these things is not like the other ♪

♪ One of these things is not like the other ♪

Whether Minako is considered a prototype for Usagi or a completely unique character seems to be a matter often debated among fans — and not without good reason. After all, it’s a well known fact that Ms. Takeuchi originally started Codename: Sailor V as a one-shot story meant to tell the tales of a sailor-suited warrior of justice. Only later did that idea get transformed into the Sailor Moon world that we came to know and love.

The anime even played heavily, perhaps too heavily, on this trope, adding further fuel to the Usagi/Minako copycat fire.

And yet, like practically everything else in the Sailor Moon universe, things are not as simple as they seem.

Today we’re going to take a look at Usagi and Minako’s characters in-depth and and see if we can settle once and for all just how similar (and different!) they really are. I hope you’ve got a talking cat handy, because you just may need one to untangle this mess!

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Happy Birthday Michiru Kaioh!

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Filed under Blog, Michiru Kaioh
Happy Birthday Michiru! (courtesy of Non's blog)

Happy Birthday Michiru! (courtesy of Non’s blog)

Sailor Neptune — talented violinist, painter, and a Sailor Soldier who will rip your heart out in the pursuit of her mission.

Considering that my first encounter with the anime after Sailor Moon R was through episode summaries, I had actually read about Haruka and Michiru’s misadventures before I ever had any idea what they actually looked like. And yet, somehow, when I first saw the grainy, low-res late-90s screenshots of them, the character designs was a perfect fit for how they was portrayed in the series.

Much like the ocean that she represents, Michiru gives off the image of a calm, gentle beauty, but carries within her an unimaginable force that could break a ship in two.

In honor of Michiru Kaioh’s birthday, I’d like to take the opportunity to highlight five interesting facts about the Senshi of the sea and her role in Sailor Moon. Happy Birthday, Michiru!

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What Would a 90s Live Action PGSM Have Looked Like?

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Filed under Articles, Fandom, PGSM, Real World
Could Rie Miyazawa have been a 90s Usagi?

Could Rie Miyazawa have been a 90s Usagi?

It’s a moment that happens to us all: you’re just sitting there on the couch on a lazy Sunday, your daughter crawling across your lap as you read a 26 year old book about the world of Sailor Moon. Totally relatable, I’m sure.

As you’re flipping through the pages and deftly avoiding aggressive toddler hands, you come across something that catches your attention: a young Japanese fan’s plea for a live action Sailor Moon — nearly a decade before the concept was even close to becoming a reality. What makes this all the more intriguing, though, is who they thought would be perfect to play the roles of each of the Sailor Senshi.

That’s right, today we’re going to take a step back in time to 1993 and look at some of the hottest names in the Japanese pop culture world as we fill out our totally 90s Sailor Moon cast list. Put on something obnoxiously neon, because things are about to get radical!

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What Is a Sailor Yell? The Sailor Star Song Explained

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Filed under Anime, Articles, Making Of, Music
A Sailor... Yell??

A Sailor… Yell??

Despite having debuted over 25 years ago, Moonlight Densetsu still consistently ranks in the top 100 songs played in karaoke.1 While it may be the pride and joy of the Sailor Moon fandom, there’s always been a special place in my heart for its oft-forgotten younger sibling, Sailor Star Song.

The song is probably best remembered for setting the dramatically different tone of Sailor Moon‘s fifth and final season, as well as for… well… bordering on being nonsensical.

But today I hope to change that.

Though I may not be able to explain what makes this song so awesome, I hope to at least shed a little light about the story Ms. Takeuchi was trying to tell through her lyrics.

Read on as we discuss just what’s involved in a good, proper Sailor Yell, and how you can give one too!

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5 Things You Didn’t Know About Sailor Moon (I Promise!)

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Filed under Articles, In-Universe Lore, Lists, Real World
Five Senshi, Five Facts... it all works out!

Five Senshi, Five Facts… it all works out!

Nearly without exception, the “X facts you didn’t know about Y” style of article is pretty much doomed to certain failure. After all, you must have gotten your information from somewhere, and invariably other devoted fans have probably scoured the same resources you have.

And don’t get me started on how the articles are riddled with inaccuracies, or that most of these writers aren’t even fans of the series to begin with…

After seeing yet another of these articles pop up into my news feed this morning, it got me wondering: if I were to come up with some of the most obscure Sailor Moon trivia I could think of, what would I write about? And — more importantly — do I actually think I could come up with anything that would surprise even the most diehard Sailor Moon fans who read this blog?

You know what? I think I can… but I’ll leave you to be the final judge of that!

Read on as I pull out all stops and discuss some of the most obscure bits of Sailor Moon trivia I know!

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How Did Sailor Neptune End Up in Season 1 of Sailor Moon?

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Filed under Anime, Articles, Making Of, Michiru Kaioh, Real World
Wait a sec... is that...?

Wait a sec… is that…?

If there’s one thing I love more than tackling modern day Sailor Moon rumors, it’s finally putting to rest stories that have been with the fandom since its earliest days. And today I’m happy to say that we’re going to talk about just one of those stories!

That’s right, we’re going to talk about the supposed blink-and-you’ll-miss-it inclusion of Sailor Neptune in the first season of Sailor Moon, a whole two seasons and a little over a year before she ever was unveiled to the public.

Is it really the Sailor Neptune we all know and love? And if so, how did she get there?

Well, you’ll just have to read on to find out!

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