Why Does Sailor Moon Use a Kaleidoscope in the Dream Arc?

Kaleidomoon Scope? Moon Kaleidoscope? Who knows!

Kaleidomoon Scope? Moon Kaleidoscope? Who knows!

… and why does it look nothing like a kaleidoscope??

After watching season after season and following Sailor Moon’s adventures from one story arc to the next, we cheered along as our sailor-suited hero fought the forces of evil with various sticks, rods, and… well, more rods. It’s a simple idea with an even simpler naming scheme, so I never really thought much of it.

Well, except for the naming travesty that is the Moon Stick, but let’s put that aside for a second.

Today, we’ll be taking a look at Sailor Moon’s fourth wand — and the first one belonging uniquely to Super Sailor Moon — the Kaleidomoon Scope. While it may seem to make little sense on the surface, once you peel back a few layers, the puzzle starts to come together.

Stick around, things are about to get colorful!

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What Does the Brooch on Super Sailor Moon’s Waist Do?

Count the brooches!

Count the brooches!

While changes to Sailor Moon’s costume — and in particular, her brooch — was nothing new for the first three seasons of the series, once Usagi powered up to Super Sailor Moon, her design took a radical change. Whether it was for the better or worse is a matter up for debate, but not what we’ll be touching on today.

Today we’ll be looking at the interesting issue surrounding the fact that Super Sailor Moon boasts not just one, but two brooches on her costume, and what the function of this second brooch may be.

Stick around, it’s gonna be another exciting ride!

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What Was it Like to Record Audio for the Sailor Moon S Movie?

Tell me your secrets!

Tell me your secrets!

Whether it’s due to really restrictive NDAs signed by everyone involved, a stronger sense of respect for one’s prior workplace, or a power-hungry industry that will shut out anyone who opens their mouths from finding new work, it’s pretty uncommon to find tell-all accounts of what it was like working behind the scenes of Sailor Moon, or even any anime really.

While I wish I could say that I’m here to sate your (and my?) desire for drama, I’m actually here to share with you a heartwarming account by Kotono Mitsuishi, voice of Sailor Moon and Usagi Tsukino.1

Sit back, relax, and enjoy!

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Does Usagi Need Her Brooch to Stay Sailor Moon?

So if that brooch was gone, then...?

So if that brooch was gone, then…?

“Moon Prism Power, Make up!!”

With those five simple words, the klutzy 14 year old crybaby Usagi Tsukino turns into the sailor-suited soldier of both love and justice, Sailor Moon. Once her power is unleashed, she’s able to fight the toughest monsters the enemy can throw at her, and… umm… heal the baddest of the bad?

What I’d like to talk about today is something that has been on my mind for awhile: does the brooch make Usagi into Sailor Moon, or is it just a way of channeling her inner power?

Hopefully you’ll join me on this in-depth look into the source of Sailor Moon’s power!

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What Are the Sailor Soldiers’ Favorite Ways of Fortune Telling?

Usagi getting her fortune told (ep. 2; using yarrow stalks)

Usagi getting her fortune told (ep. 2; using yarrow stalks)

Once again, we’re going to be talking about something that you never knew you wanted to know: the way that each of the Sailor Soldiers prefers likes to throw their fate to the wind and find out what their fortunes may be.

That’s right, we’re talking about fortune telling! Join along for another trip into exploring the profiles of our favorite Sailor Soldiers!

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What Kind of Magazines Does Usagi Read?

Not even pretending to study

Not even pretending to study

Say what you will about Usagi’s lack of interest in educational pursuits, but despite her rather… questionable scores in her scholastic pursuits, at the very least we should give credit where credit’s due: she is portrayed in the anime quite often reading comics, magazines, or other materials. All that hard work (?) must be paying off, because her Japanese — as in, language arts,1 or the study of a national native language — scores are her highest.2

  • Japanese: 52 pts.
  • English:10 pts.
  • Math: 20 pts.
  • Social Studies: 32 pts.

In honor of Usagi’s uncharacteristic pursuit of language arts, I’m going to take you on a tour of Usagi’s room, and we’ll look at some of the magazines she seems to enjoy reading as well as their real-life counterparts.

Let’s get started!

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Today, Usagi turns… 45 years old??

No offense to any 40 year old readers

No offense to any 42 year old readers

That’s right, dear readers! According to the original story as told in the Sailor Moon manga and anime, Usagi would be turning 42 on June 30, 2019.1 Hard to believe that our favorite sailor-suited soldier of love and justice would now be entering her fourth decade of life, isn’t it? While we may know her as a young and energetic junior high school student, she would now have been out of school longer than she ever spent in school.

Due to all of the odd time traveling mechanics and the start of Crystal Tokyo, it’s a bit harder to say anything about ChibiUsa. However, assuming that – like we have to do with Usagi – ChibiUsa was born in a normal universe, she would be turning around 18 years old today.2

In honor of the two birthday girls, I’ve selected five articles each about Usagi and ChibiUsa that may be of interest to you. Articles are in no particular order.

Usagi

ChibiUsa

If you have any questions or suggestions for future articles, I’d love to hear from you!