Who Destroyed the Moon Kingdom and Ended the Silver Millennium?

Okay, who did this??

Okay, who did this??

What was once merely referenced in passing as a peaceful utopia, the story surrounding the Moon Kingdom and its demise became increasingly more complicated as Sailor Moon‘s lore deepened.

While it would be easy to say that Queen Beryl is responsible for the fall of the Moon Kingdom, I don’t think that’s exactly a fair assessment when you take into account all of the other forces at play behind the scenes. After all, was it Queen Beryl’s unchecked jealousy that spurred her on, or does the blame rest entirely with Queen Metalia for playing to her weaknesses?

Or perhaps it goes even deeper than that…

Today, we’re going on a trip back to the Silver Millennium to analyze all the many moving parts that brought down a great empire. Bring a jacket — I hear it’s cold on the Moon!

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Who Sentenced Sailor Pluto to Death?

Oh, Pluto... if only you knew what's coming next

Oh, Pluto… if only you knew what’s coming next

While Sailor Saturn is generally considered by fans to be the most unlucky of the Senshi, personally I’d argue that it’s Setsuna who really got the short end of the Moon Stick.1 Between her unrequited love for a married man, having a non-sensical back story, and getting killed for literally doing her job, it’s not easy being Sailor Pluto.

One thing that’s always bothered me, though, were the circumstances surrounding her death in the Black Moon arc. Why did she die, and who condemned her to death in the first place?

Today we’re going to take a closer look into Sailor Pluto’s so-called “taboos” and how they ended up being placed on her. Make sure your Space-Time doors are fully closed, you’ve had your morning coffee or tea, and let’s get going!

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Why Were Rules So Loose at Usagi’s School in Sailor Moon?

Makoto's Juban Junior High ID card

Makoto’s Juban Junior High ID card

Pop quiz! When you hear about Japanese schools, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?

  1. A warm and inviting place to freely express yourself.
  2. A totalitarian environment that makes Joseph Stalin look like a softie.
  3. An environment centered around nurturing your unique strengths.

While technically none of those are true across the board, I think we can generally agree that 2 is a lot closer to the image of Japanese schools portrayed in most anime and video games.

And yet with all of Miss Sakurada’s throwing Usagi out of her classroom for the mere transgression of eating lunch early, I can’t help but find that Juban Junior High seems to give their students a lot of free reign.

Today we’re going to take a look at the ins and outs of Juban Junior High and see what we can find out. Be sure to comb your hair and tuck your shirt in, kids! We’re playing purely by the rules here.

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When Did the Silver Millennium / Moon Kingdom Fall?

Sadly, these fireworks aren't going to last forever

Sadly, these fireworks aren’t going to last forever

Over the decades, many fans on both sides of the Pacific have tried to answer this seemingly simple question in a variety of interesting ways, ranging from a sheer commonsense approach (which, as we’ve learned time and again, doesn’t exactly work well with Sailor Moon) to in-depth analyses of the clothing the denizens of the Silver Millennium wear.

Unfortunately each of the answers I’ve heard thus far seems to fall short on one point or another, and I find myself wanting something just a little bit more concrete. Assuming that’s even possible.

Today we’re going to take a look at some of the popular theories surrounding the fall of the Silver Millennium and then take a stab at the question ourselves. If you’ve also been mulling this over for the past dozen or so years, this one’s for you!

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What Does the Full Sailor Moon Timeline Look Like?

Pretty much none of the timeline makes sense... but we'll try anyway!

Pretty much none of the timeline makes sense… but we’ll try anyway!

It’s a very rare occasion that I can make any definitive statements about Sailor Moon that doesn’t require a bunch of asterisks, footnotes, or hedge words just to cover all my bases. But I can say with absolute conviction that the Sailor Moon timeline is… well, screwy.

This is only to be expected, of course, when you consider that more and more story elements were added to both the past and the future as the series continued, requiring all sorts of course corrections to answer some questions, all the while leaving more in their place.

Today we’re going to take a bird’s-eye view of the Sailor Moon timeline and see if we can make some sense out of this tangled ball of yarn, and figure out where some of the (as of yet) unanswerable questions lie. I hope you’ve had your morning coffee, because you’ll want to pay attention for this one!

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How Did the Sailor Senshi Get Their Planetary Names?

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

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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