Why Did the Amazoness Quartet Serve as Chibi Moon’s Guardians?

Amazoness Quartet

Amazoness Quartet

The Sailor Moon series is no stranger to making some seemingly inexplicable choices when it comes to groups and planetary associations. Jupiter, for example, is most definitely one of the outer planets… and yet we find her as a member of the Inner Senshi.

Odd though that choice may be, it pales in comparison with the bizarre choice of having Sailor ChibiMoon’s team be made up of… the Amazoness Sailor Quartet? No matter what way you try to cut it, there really just aren’t isn’t any logical connection between the asteroid belt and the Moon.

… right?

As we’ve learned many times before, sometimes the most difficult part of solving a mystery isn’t necessarily in finding the answer, but in finding the right way to frame the question.

Today we’re going to take a closer look at the Sailor Quartet, and why Ms. Takeuchi may have chosen these manga-only Senshi to serve as Sailor ChibiMoon’s guardians. You may want to keep a pen and paper handy, because things are about to get complicated!

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Is the Sailor Moon Universe Full of Ghosts and Other Monsters?

Ami ain't afraid of no ghost

Ami ain’t afraid of no ghost

So we all know about Youma, Cardians, Droids, Daimon, Lemures, Phages, and even the oft-overlooked Genius Loci. But when you dig just a little bit deeper into the lore of the Sailor Moon universe, it becomes fairly clear that there’s a lot more than meets the eye — specifically, that there are other monsters out there that report back to no one, and that are simply running amok on their own accord.

After all, if Rei is able to commune with spirits there must be something more out there than just the simple back-and-forth of good guy vs. bad guy that we see play out in the series, right?

I think it’s about time that we discuss these lesser appreciated “villains” and the role that they play in the Sailor Moon universe. It can be lonely being a freelance villain, and I think it’s about time that they get the attention they deserve!

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What Are 5 of My Favorite Bits of Sailor Moon Trivia?

ChibiUsa wants to know more!

ChibiUsa wants to know more!

It should probably come as no surprise that, in the course of researching the 270+ articles posted on Tuxedo Unmasked, I happen to run across a lot of small bits of trivia. While some of what I find is interesting (and detailed) enough to turn into a full-blown article, more often than not it’s just something I note down for future reference and go on with my life.

Today we’re going to do a bit of a “spring cleaning” of sorts and share five of my favorite bits of Sailor Moon-related trivia that I’ve run across over my nearly 3 years of researching the series. Though I’m sure most of you reading this are already pros when it comes to everything about the series, hopefully you’ll find at least one gem in this list that you’ve never heard before!

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Who Do the Genius Loci Villains in Sailor Moon Work For?

Genius Loci Bonnoun

Genius Loci Bonnoun

“Genius what?! Thor’s brother wasn’t in Sailor Moon!”

If this was your first response upon reading the title, I really don’t blame you. The Genius Loci — not Loki, the aforementioned brother of Marvel‘s Thor — are a small subset of villains in the Sailor Moon universe that frequently end up end up getting overlooked.

Though often clumped together with the Lemures and the Dead Moon for reasons I’ll discuss below, it turns out that we actually know very little about these (mostly…) manga-only enemies, where they come from, and — possibly most importantly — who they work for.

Today we’ll be talking about the peculiar state in which the Genius Loci live, work, and perform evil deeds, and see if maybe we can learn a little more about their role in the Sailor Moon universe while we’re at it. Stick around!

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Why Is There No Sailor Sun in the Sailor Moon Universe?

Shush, Endymion, and let me tell you about my OC, Sailor Sun...

Shush, Endymion, and let me tell you about my OC, Sailor Sun…

The longer the Sailor Moon series went on, the more Sailor Soldiers we were introduced to, with Sailor Soldiers practically crawling out of the woodwork to join the cast in the fifth and final season, Sailor Stars.

And yet, despite the fact that we had countless Sailor Soldiers of planets, asteroids, dwarf planets, and even stars, there’s someone suspiciously absent from our solar system lineup: a Sailor Sun.

Today we’re going to talk about Sailor Sun’s absence in the Sailor Moon roster, and how this possibly relates all the way back to the Moon Kingdom and the Silver Crystal. I hope you left some room for breakfast, because this article is most definitely going to be sunny side up!1

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What is Kazuko Tadano’s Secret to Drawing Sailor Moon?

The Sailor Team

The Sailor Team

One question I often (not unreasonably) get asked is: why do I so rarely talk about Sailor Moon Crystal on this blog?

Truth be told, it’s not that I don’t want to talk about it. It’s rather that bringing the Sailor Moon Crystal series into the equation introduces several key issues into what we discuss here, including:

  1. the series takes place decades after the original manga/anime ran, and the world has since changed;
  2. the story tracks closely with the manga and doesn’t add too much new information; and
  3. Sailor Moon Crystal is still a work in progress, so any theories unique to the series could still change.

Fortunately for us, with the recent announcement1 that Kazuko Tadano — character designer for the first two seasons of the 1990s Sailor Moon anime — will be reprising her role as character designer for the upcoming Sailor Moon Crystal movie, this gives us a chance to take a look back into the past to hopefully answer some questions about the series’ future.

Today, we’ll be taking a deeper look into what Ms. Tadano thought of the characters in Sailor Moon, and her philosophy in how she draws women. Stick around, because things are about to get interesting!

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