Who doesn’t love Sailor Moon? This peppy teen hero defeated evil and saved the world on more than one occasion with her crew of Sailor Soldiers and captivated young girls (and boys) with her inspirational wisdom and girl power mantras. She stole our hearts, educated us on the importance of exercise and studying, and was one of the most relatable animated characters for young girls in the nineties. Sailor Moon Crystal has also been doing the classic Sailor Moon justice and is super entertaining for now-adult fans, not just kids.
Even hardcore beloved fans of the show don’t know about these pretty interesting (and a little disheartening) facts about the franchise, the creator of Sailor Moon, and the characters within the original show. We put them all together for this list so you can brush up on your Sailor Moon history.
Check out 15 Things You Didn't Know About Sailor Moon.
15. Neptune and Uranus are gay and were intended to be gay
This is pretty much common knowledge nowadays, especially with the unapologetic depiction of Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus in Sailor Moon Crystal. But back in the day it was a little bit ambiguous.
In the manga and its translations, their same-sex relationship is clear. In the original Japanese-dubbed anime, there were enough euphemisms and underhanded comments and jokes from the pair that made the nature of their relationship clear, even if it wasn’t stark. In the English dubbed version of the anime, the dialogue between the two was completely changed and they were depicted as cousins instead.
Representation means everything to little LGBT kids growing up, so some legitimacy with their relationship could have helped a lot of American kids feel validated. This is a shame, but thankfully Sailor Moon Crystal is going to be different. It’s great that the makers of the new show have no problem taking Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus out of the fictional closet.
14. Luna is an alien (and not from the moon like Usagi)
It's true! In the original Sailor Moon manga, our favorite talking anime cats are actually aliens.
In Sailor Moon, Luna is Usagi's black guard cat and an advisor to the Sailor Scouts. Artemis, similarly, is another alien cat who belongs to Minako Aino (Sailor Venus). Luna served as Usagi's gateway into becoming Sailor Moon. In the manga, it is said that both Luna and Artemis are aliens from the planet Mau-- not the Moon, as we'd assume.
Little is known about the planet Mau, other than that its inhabitants are feline people who have dual forms-- talking cats and humans with cat-like attributes. The character Sailor Tin Nyanko is supposedly from Mau as well, as implied during Sailor Galaxia's galaxy siege. In the new Sailor Moon Crystal show, Luna's human form can be seen briefly. There is another cat in the manga named Diana who apparently did not come from the planet Mau and was born on Earth.
13. The show was inspired by The Power Rangers
In 1993, Han Saban's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers became huge and was very well-received.
Sailor Moon's creator Naoko Takeuchi became inspired by the show's success and decided to write and draw her own version of a superhero team that was all female.
There's quite a bit of difference between Sailor Moon and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, though. While Naoko Takuechi's magical girl franchise had a target audience of young women and the team was powered by astral bodies, Han Saban's gang of costumed color-coded heroes were powered by dinosaurs and had a target audience that was mostly boys.
In an interview a while back, Naoki Takeuchi said herself that her goal was to make "a story like the 'Power Rangers' series [into] a girls' version, where the warriors go fighting upon the instructions from a Central Command Post. It didn't turn out that way, though. Of course, from this concept came 'Sailor Moon.'"
12. Sailor Venus is Cursed
"Protected by Venus, the planet of beauty, Guardian of Love, Sailor Venus! Allow me to punish you with the power of love!"
Sailor Venus, one of the five original Inner Sailor Scouts of the Solar System, is truly the Guardian of Love. She’s also one of the most badass characters in the Sailor Moon universe. It's a shame that she is cursed to never truly find the love she seeks to protect.
Before making her first appearance in the Sailor Moon manga, Sailor Venus, also known as Minako Aino, had her own manga called Codename: Sailor V. Thus, Sailor Venus is the first Sailor Scout to be awakened in the present. In her masked heroine drama, she fought a villain named Kaitou Ace. The Guardian of Love defeated him, but in Ace's final moments before death, he cursed her so that should she would never find true love. Poor Minako.
11. There was almost an American remake of the show
Sometimes Western remakes of Japanese cinema and animation can be really cool. This, we feel, would not have been. I mean, just look at the demo reel!
Thank goodness this adaptation never made it to television screens in the US. After a notably bad screening (we are all that guy laughing in the demo reel) and poor audience response, the project was dropped. The television show was supposed to be a mix of live-action and animation, which with all due respect could have been pretty neat. But the style of animation they chose, the goofy music, and the entirely non-Japanese cast of characters left a bad taste in the audience's mouths. It would be fairly easy to make a show about American girls who are secretly superheroes with directly making an adaptation of Sailor Moon, so why did they bother?
Let's just all enjoy the awesomely cheesy Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon to satisfy our need for a Sailor Moon live-action series.
10. Each Sailor scout had their own castle
The Sailor Scouts are living it up in outer space, it seems.
In the manga and most notably in Sailor Moon Crystal, we get to see Sailor Moon's Moon Castle in all its fancy marble glory. In the manga exclusively, however, each member of the Sailor Scouts (Inner and Outer) have their own personal luxurious mansion to live in. They even have their own names-- Mercury has Mariner, Venus has Magellen, Mars has Phobos Deimos, Jupiter has Io, Saturn has Titan, Uranus has Miranda, Neptune has Triton, and Pluto has Charon.
Since Sailor Moon Crystal is being fairly authentic and sticking to the original storylines in the manga, we may just get to see their castles on the show in all their extraterrestrial glory.
Not only are the Sailor Scouts living in luxury in the Solar System, but as human beings they lived pretty fancy too. Which leads us to our next entry...
9. Most of the Sailor Scouts were super well-off
Believe it or not, just about every Sailor Scout in Sailor Moon is pretty affluent in their human life.
The Juuban district in Tokyo is very much a real place. And it is a very wealthy area. Usagi's house is in this district and just looking at it says enough-- it is a two story home in an area where land is expensive and looks very well-made. Her father is a photographer for a newspaper, which can be a pretty well-paying job. Mako (Sailor Jupiter) is able to live on her own from what seems like a hefty inheritance from her deceased parents' life insurance. Not to mention, the mother of Ami (Sailor Mercury) is a doctor and they also live in the area.
However, this is never really talked about in the series, and there is some debate amongst fans on whether or not every member of the Sailor Scouts is wealthy.
8. All of the attacks are said in english
And no, we’re not just talking about the English dubbed version of the show.
Before every intense attack from either Sailor Moon or the other Sailor Scouts, the name of the attack is powerfully proclaimed and is accompanied by a flurry of bright colors, exciting lights, and typical magical girl visuals. In the original Japanese-language version of the show, all of the attacks are said in English while the rest of the show's dialogue is in Japanese. The Japanese love for saying English words probably comes from the fact that even though English probably sounds very boring and gunky to the native English speaker, it has sounds not usually found in the Japanese language and have an element of strangeness and fun to it. There's quite a bit of English in a lot of anime, whether it is because an English-speaking character is using the language or just because it sounds cool to Japanese audiences.
7. Usagi's family are named after the creator’s family
This little fact about Sailor Moon's creator is just plain adorable.
Our favorite teenage Sailor Scout’s family include her ionate mother Ikuko, her newspaper photographer father Kenji, and her goofball younger brother Shingo. All of these family , including Usagi Tsukino herself, are named after Naoko Takeuchi's own real-life family . Takeuchi hasn't revealed which name is based on which family member in order to preserve her family's privacy.
This act of basing characters on loved ones or family is actually really common. Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, named Homer, Marge, Maggie, and Lisa after his own parents and siblings. Bart is supposedly named after Groening himself as an anagram for his family nickname, "Brat". Stan Lee has even said that the Fantastic Four characters are all based on a few of his own family , and Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic) was based on Stan Lee himself.
6. Tuxedo Mask is a mess
This is pretty obvious to anybody that watched more than a handful of Sailor Moon episodes. However, it is an actual solid fact that Tuxedo Mask, the alter ego of Mamoru Chiba, has been both kidnapped and brainwashed more than any other character in the show's history.
This aspect of Sailor Moon is actually kind of cool. Tuxedo Mask is the only prominent male character in the series and he is also assuming the role of the "damsel in distress". In Sailor Moon, Usagi has to save his useless butt constantly-- out of any other character, Sailor Moon saves him the most.
Too often, superhero-based films and shows feature a lone female character whose primary role is nothing more than a plot device that the hero can save from danger. It's cool to see the roles reversed, but we're also glad that Tuxedo Mask isn't just a vapid character either. He's funny, tries his best to help, and genuinely loves his magical girl partner.
But seriously, get it together Tuxedo Mask.