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!

Continue reading

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!

Continue reading

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!

Continue reading

What Do Queen Serenity and Queen Metalia Have in Common?

Queen Serenity and Queen Beryl

Queen Serenity and Queen Beryl

Whether you look at the anime or manga or even the live-action series, despite how important they were to setting up the story behind the Sailor Moon series, Queen Serenity and Queen Metalia both get incredibly minor roles with very little explained about their past or motivations. What’s worse, the Serenity name is passed onto her daughter, Princess Serenity, who then passes it on to her daughter, Princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity. But is there more to these characters than meets the eye? I think so, and that’s what we’re here to look into!

Queen Serenity

Starting with the Serenity line, it’s fortunately pretty easy to track down the meaning and history behind her name, though most of it is probably connected more to Princess Serenity / Usagi more-so than her mother. The most obvious and meaningful connection is the Greek myth of the relationship between Selene, the moon goddess, and the mortal Endymion.1 This gets us partly to the name “Serenity,” though we have one (or possibly two!) other sources of inspiration, all inspired by the Greek connection to the moon.

We all know that Ms. Takeuchi had a strong attachment to astronomy during her developmental years and did a lot of research when making the series, so it should come as no surprise that Usagi’s royal name would be connected to a basin on the Moon, the Mare Serenitatis — or, in English, the Sea of Serenity.2 This is also, incidentally, where the Moon Kingdom was said to be located and where the Sailor Team head in both the anime and manga to consult with the memory of Queen Serenity among the ruins of the Silver Millenium.

Naturally Occurring Selenite and Crystal Tokyo

Naturally Occurring Selenite and Crystal Tokyo

So then, what is this third possible reference? Though less of a connection to the late Queen Serenity herself, there seems to be a strong implied connection between Neo-Queen Serenity, Crystal Tokyo, and the mineral known as selenite.3 Selenite is most often clear, though can appear white, pearl, or a variety of other colors depending on impurities. Most notably, it often is found in columns and in tubular designs, not much unlike the designs of the Crystal Tokyo Palace and the Silver Crystal.

Queen Metalia

Chrysoberyl (Alexandrite)

Chrysoberyl (Alexandrite)

Like the Four Kings, the connections to geology are a lot more obvious with the Dark Kingdom. There are two notes about the dual monarchy — Queen Beryl and Queen Metalia — that are not obvious at first glance, however. First off, while the most obvious connection with Queen Beryl is to the gemstone beryl.4 However, it’s a little more complicated than that. You see, the Japanese word for queen is 王女 (oujo; queen) though Ms. Takeuchi tends to write the titles (e.g., princess, queen, etc.) out phonetically, such as クイーン (kui-n; queen). However, the titles for both Queen Beryl and Queen Metalia are misspelled in Japanese, and are written as クイン (kuin; no meaning). Why is that?

Well, it’s to give it a double meaning. While it still sounds reasonably close to queen (and is treated canonically that way), it also looks similar to クリソ (kuriso; chryso). So actually, Queen Beryl’s name is more strongly connected to chrysoberyl.5 Just by looking, you can see that this stone much more closely matches the color scheme associated with Queen Beryl, so it’s pretty clear that this is more likely a closer source for her inspiration than normal beryl.

That means that the chryso- connection probably also remains true for Queen Metalia as well, since her name is also written in the same (misspelled) manner. Since here’s no substance known as metalia, we can rule out any special connection there other than it simply being a reference to metal, but with the chryso- prefix attached,6 it modifies the meaning to the metal, gold.

What that ultimately leaves us with is the villain, an evil queen born of hatred from the sun and named in honor of the mineral gold fighting against the Silver Millenium, ruled by the queen of the moon.

The Forces of the Dark Kingdom

The Forces of the Dark Kingdom

Though we never did learn as much about the motivations behind Beryl, Metalia, and the formation of the Dark Kingdom (outside of the musical, of course!) as I would have liked, it’s nice to know that Ms. Takeuchi went through quite a bit of effort to put a little more detail into their names than you’d initially assume. I have to admit, she’s pretty tricky!