Sailor Moon

By Julie Miyashiro

The Japanese Animation, Sailor Moon, introduces the Inner Senshi and Chiba Mamoru (Darien, Tuxedo Mask). They include Tsukino Usagi *(Serena, Sailor Moon), Ami Mizuno (Amy, Sailor Mercury), Rei Hino (Raye, Sailor Mars), Makoto Kino (Lita, Sailor Jupiter), and Minako Aino (Mina, Sailor Venus). In the beginning of Sailor Moon, each Inner Senshi is fourteen years old. The Outer Senshi are not revealed until Sailor Super S. All of the Senshi live in a real city called Juuban that is considered a wealthy city.

Tsukino Usagi is also known as Usa-ko, Princess Serena, Neo-Queen Serenity, Super Sailor Moon, and Eternal Sailor Moon. She is the most compassionate and sensitive of the Sailor Scouts. She is considered as the �meatball head� of the Senshi, often crying and reflecting her character as that like an airhead. She is arguably the most powerful of the Inner Senshi, and when she is forced to destroy evil without the other Senshi, she finds inner strength and courage that has helped her defeat enemies from Sailor Moon, such as Queen Beryl. Serena is prone to eating, playing games, shopping, reading comics, and not doing homework. Even when she and the Inner Senshi form �study buddies� that provides a way to keep a track on each other�s studies, Serena often forgets or skips �study buddies� to do something more pleasant than school work.

The brains of the Sailor Scouts would unquestioningly be Amy. Using a mini compact computer and a VR visor, she is able to analyze the weakness of the opponents whom she and the other Scouts face. Her aspirations in the future are to follow in her mother�s footsteps as a doctor. The Sailor Scouts almost lost Amy when the college she had always wanted to go to accepted her. Fortunately, Amy was convinced to stay and helped save the Sailor Scouts. While the object of Serena�s affection is Darien, Amy finds a deep attraction to Greg, whom she finds out to be a carrier of one of the seven crystals that would form the powerful silver crystal, Ginzuishou.

The third Sailor Scout lives with her grandfather in the temple on Cherry Hill. Later on, a musician that had acquired stage fright, Chad, would also join to help out at the temple. In the beginning of Sailor Moon, Raye finds herself infatuated with Darien, but later comes to realize that Serena and Darien are destined to be together and rule Crystal Tokyo as Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion. Unlike the other Inner Senshi, she attends a private school and goes out on many dates. She is known to be able to read fire and predict danger. In one episode, Raye reveals that she is a talented singer and songwriter who is not afraid to work hard.

When Lita first came to Serena�s school, the majority of the people refused to talk to her because they had heard she had a reputation of liking to fight and having been kicked out of her last school. Selena befriends her to find out that she is the fourth Sailor Scout, an accomplished cook, and she has the remarkable ability to find a passing cutie that reminds her of one of her ex-boyfriends. Lita is so tall for her age that her new school did not have a uniform that would fit her, so she settled with wearing her old school uniform.

The last but the most experienced of the Sailor Scouts, Sailor Venus, rescues the other four Inner Senshi from Malachite. Before uniting with the Sailor Scouts, she was known as a model under the alias Sailor V. She is dedicated to conquering any evil, even having to quit volleyball to have time for defending the world. In one episode of Sailor Super S, she has to reevaluate her reasons for being among the Sailor Scouts, but fortunately doesn�t leave the Sailor Scouts. She is never without the second guardian, Artemis, who is her faithful cat, even when she gets a bit boy-crazy and depressed because she has no boyfriend.

Together the five scouts fight evil against first Queen Beryl and her legion of loyal subjects, the twins Alan and Anne, Rubeus and the four sisters, Emerald, ____, Sapphire, and his brother, Prince Diamond.

In Sailor Moon and Salior R, the Sailor Scouts cannot defeat their enemies without the occasional aid of Tuxedo Mask. Serena later finds out his identity to be Darien, whom she is destined to rule Crystal Tokyo with. In Sailor Moon, though allied with the Sailor Scouts, he is searching to gain his memory from flashes of images. He is an orphan due to an accident that killed his parents and has worked prodigiously to become someone. The wicked Queen Beryl turns him against his beloved, but even then he sends a guardian, the White Night, to protect Serena and the Inner Senshi. When Serena saves him from the spell Queen Beryl put on him, the White Night becomes the soul to revive Darien.

The last episode of Sailor S alludes to two of the Outer Senshi, but it isn�t until Sailor Super S that they are officially introduced. They are stronger, older, and more developed in character. Setsuna Meioh (Trista, Sailor Pluto), Ten'ou Haruka (Amara, Sailor Uranus), Kaioh Michiru (Michelle, Sailor Neptune), and Tomoe Hotaru (Hotaru Tomoe, Sailor Saturn) make up the Outer Senshi.

Trista is the oldest of the Sailor Scouts, though an exact age can only be summed up in a simple quote �older than dirt�. She is the guardian of the time gate or the keeper of time and is also the voice behind the Luna-P ball that guides Rini.

When Amara was first introduced in Sailor Super S, Mina and Serena had thought she was a guy. They met in the arcades while Mina and Serena raced cars in the arcade. Amara once had a dream to be a famous race car driver, but she is said to have given it up because she realizes she is not good enough to race. She has incredibly short hair and a habit of dressing in slacks rather than skirts or dresses. She is more powerful than the Inner Senshi and because her mission with Michelle was to find three Pure Heart Crystals, she did not desire to befriend or assist the Inner Senshi. She was determined to get the Pure Heart Crystals before Doctor Tomoe.

Michelle was among the two Outer Senshi discovered in the last episode of Sailor S, along with Amara. She is usually seen next to Amara, but is generally the quieter of the two. Michelle is talented in the arts and music, excelling in painting and with the violin. In one of the Super Sailor S, she is seen bouncing a lemon on a violin while playing the violin harmoniously. She is very traditional and deeply personal and sentimental. Her powers exceed the Inner Senshi, even though she is not much older then the Inner Senshi, she is more mature.

The youngest of the Outer Senshi is Hotaru, the only Senshi to keep her original Japanese name. The pale girl is Rini�s best friend and has the ability to heal wounds. Her father is the Great Professor Tomoe whom the Senshi are battling to keep him from taking Heart Crystals. Hotaru is also known as the Senshi of Destruction, the Sovereign of Silence, and Mistress 9. Sailor Saturn�s legend explains that when something goes horribly wrong or if any unseen danger is coming, she is to find a way to destroy the danger, even if it means destroying the Earth.

Sailor Moon is among one of the Japanese Animations that you can find Japanese traditions intermingled with contemporary themes. There is an episode with a traditional tea ceremony where each of the Senshi wear kimonos, another episode that includes traditional drums that the Japanese have used, and in every episode, the code of honor from the samurai is expressed. In every episode, Sailor Moon introduces herself every time she meets an enemy, which in the old tradition, the two fighters each introduce themselves before attacking. When a person does not introduce himself or herself, it would be like stabbing a best friend behind the back; it�s dishonorable.