Sailor Moon Crystal is a lavish adaptation of the manga, incorporating every small detail omitted from the more formulaic 1994 adaptation, and bringing specific s to life using every advancement in animation since then. With such a meticulous eye for detail and efforts to modernize a 30-year-old story, it's curious why one rather obvious chance to reflect on modern society goes unfulfilled.

Sailor Pluto and the Sailor Quartet are the most prominent examples of BIPOC characters in Sailor Moon and were designed specifically with darker complexions or lore tied to a specific ethnic region. Still, Crystal doesn't do enough to honor that and the final Crystal film, Sailor Moon Cosmos, squanders the opportunity to adequately represent that diversity on screen.

Sailor Pluto is the First BIPOC Sailor Guardian

The Mistress of Time Wields Incredible Power

Sailor Moon is the story of the Princess of the Moon, reincarnated as a 14-year-old Japanese schoolgirl, Usagi Tsukino, to fight for love and justice as Sailor Moon along with her nine Sailor Guardians. The glamorous outfits and hairstyles of these women are a cosplayer's dream. However, they are all slender and non-disabled, with little diversity of body type, shape, race, or ethnicity, except for a few key characters.

Sailor Pluto distinguishes herself visually by being the tallest Sailor Guardian, having long dark green hair, and a darker skin complexion. Although her race or ethnicity is not stated in the manga, Pluto's skin tone is specifically shaded darker than the rest of her peers. Takeuchi's inspirations for the character are Black and Latina fashion models, Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington respectively, which explains her darker skin in the manga, but sadly, those muses aren't referenced in Sailor Moon Cosmos.

Sailor Pluto possesses many incredible powers, including energy attacks, the ability to stop time, and her representation of a BIPOC character in an internationally beloved anime. Cosplayers worldwide look to anime for inspiration, with many choosing to embody a character that reflects their shared physical or cultural similarities. Unfortunately, the cast of Sailor Moon provides limited options, and it's surprising that producers wouldn't capitalize on existing diversity within the franchise to better reflect the reality of the world.

The Sailor Quartet Are Under-utilized Characters

The foes-turned-friends share a fascinating lore

The Sailor Quartet are first introduced as performers in the Dead Moon Circus, featured in the 2021 two-part film, Sailor Moon Eternal, but later become Sailor Guardians in their own right. Named after the first four asteroids discovered in the solar system, CereCere, JunJun, PallaPalla, and VesVes are resting in the Amazon Jungle, waiting for the day they will be called to protect Sailor Chibi Moon.

However, when Queen Nehelenia finds them, the evil queen awakens the four girls free prematurely and enlists them into her service, meaning they were likely reincarnated as local South Americans. VesVes and JunJun have a slightly deeper hue to their skin than their sisters, CereCere and PallaPalla, pointing to the diverse ethnic makeup of their South American homeland.

More subtly, their much-derided hairstyles are actually a nod to their heritage, as West African hair banding and braiding were brought to the Amazon region during the Atlantic slave trade era. These intricate hair designs drew the ire of fans for being too outlandish, but the Sailor Quartet simply ascribe to a different beauty standard than the other Sailor Guardians, and that's okay.

Other Long-Running Anime Pull Off BIPOC Representation Better

International audiences want to see themselves reflected in their favorite anime

Many contemporary anime feature diverse casts, increasing the visibility of BIPOC, queer, and gender-non-conforming characters. While Sailor Moon Crystal succeeds in spotlighting the latter two, it fails at appropriately representing the heritage of key BIPOC characters like Sailor Pluto and the Sailor Quartet.

Other popular anime franchises that have been rebooted or revived, like Bleach: Thousand-Years Blood War, Hunter x Hunter (2011), and Pokémon: New Horizons, have all made efforts to forefront BIPOC characters, or update character models to include a range of melanated skin tones.

New or updated characters in legacy anime, like Pokémon's Roy or Hunter x Hunter's Canary, give BIPOC fans more opportunities to get hooked on a particular series, or have their cosplay regarded as something other than "niche". International competitors in animation and publishing continue to raise the bar for reimagining classic characters, like Brazilian Yara Flor, assuming the mantle of Wonder Woman, or Miles Morales' Spider-man.

Unfortunately, with Sailor Moon Cosmos being the final entry in the Crystal reboot, the only opportunities to diversify the cast are a surprise continuation of the series or another complete retelling of Sailor Moon.