Mystery Moon ~ Fun Factoids

In the world of Sailormoon, there are many quirks and oddities that exist throughout the series. Some of them even occur outside the anime and manga, in the form of hidden clues to characters introduced much later. Let’s check ‘em out!

1. Hotaru only ages with Chibiusa!

Due to the bond that grows between Hotaru and Chibiusa, something weird happens. Whether it's due to Hotaru's desire to fight with Chibiusa, or Hotaru's interaction with Chibiusa's crystal, Hotaru's body only ages when Chibiusa's around. This is how she can be in the 9th grade with Chibiusa, rather than being much older. That's also why she appears much shorter in Sailormoon SuperS-Stars as opposed to her Sailormoon S self. Originally she was in the 6th grade, making her technically 11 or 12 years old, though Prof. Tomoe changed her appearance to that of perhaps a small sixteen year old. After she is reborn, she only ages to about 10, but later when 30th century Chibiusa and Hotaru transform to their "Eternal Star Senshi" selves, they appear 13. When 30th Century Chibiusa goes home, Hotaru stops aging, and will stay in this young body until Usagi gives birth to "our" Chibiusa and that kid can "catch up."

2. You can see the Parallel Senshi in the anime!

Technically no, but if you can rent a copy of the SuperS movie, or see the part in the SuperS manga of when the Inner Senshi we're first assigned duties of watching over Princess Serenity, you'll get a pretty good glimpse into what might have been. ^u^ There is also one episode of StarS, in which Sailor Mercury has a flashback to being a child again, while trying to help Sailor Uranus, and there is also episode 183, where as Rei is reminiscing about her "cousin" Kengo Ibuki, she remembers being a small child at his cottage. And there's the SuperS episode, where as the Senshi are on their way up the mock elevator into the Dead Moon Circus, each team member tells a tale to Sailor Chibi Moon about how each of them saw "Pegasus" in their dreams as children. Although this had nadda to do with the series, in this flashback, we see each of the Inners as children, thus giving an even nicer glimpse into what could have been, had the Parallel Inners met Helios. With each Parallel Inner being a shorter version of each of their mothers, episodes like this become more exciting!

3. Kousagi might exist in the "normal" manga!

Okay, maybe. ^_^ There are points in the Sailor Stars manga that I find interesting. Like where the Amazons confuse Chibi Chibi with Usagi's second daughter. I know it's only a guess, but for once, let's pretend that they meant Kousagi. Most people think that since we don't see her at 30th century Chibiusa's welcome home party, that she doesn't exist, period. But look carefully, in those panels, you'll see that Chibiusa is the youngest person there.

First of all, what moron would allow kids at a drinking party to begin with?
(I won't count Chibiusa here. she's 903 years old, and thus, legal.)
Second, Chibiusa was gone long enough for at least 3 or 4 extra people to be born
(I am counting twins, triplets, ect.) and third...IT'S A BIG FREAKING CASTLE!!!!! It takes Chibiusa at least a day to get from her room to the bathroom! Don't ya think that with all this freaking room, that oh, I dunno ... perhaps they could spring for a nursery someplace? If you keep an open mind, it's fun!

4. 30th Century Chibiusa has a thing for guys who look like Diamond/Demand/Demande!

An interesting note here, if you stop to think about it, Peruru and Helios are creepy, white haired freaks who are between 904~1000 years old .... Kinda like Diamond. Could it be that perhaps something happened while she was Black Lady that would have such an effect on her later?

Think about it, she did live with Diamond for a while, and it could have been that he was so pissed off and hard up after the whole Serenity incident that he could have decided to go for Black Lady instead. I mean, she's easier, she's eager to make a difference, and at that Black Lady stage in her life, she was just rebellious enough against her 'rents to make her more *ahem* "vulnerable". Mayhaps she went from longing for her biological daddy (Insert spew here, thank you) to longing for her Dead Moon Dream Daddy, and thus, her fascination for Peruru and Helios.

Hell, Helios and Diamond even dress alike.

Besides, Diamond shares a few personality traits with them:

Helios and Diamond are known for having bad 'tude problems early on, except for when the chick(s) they are in lust with are in trouble, or otherwise can't see them.

Peruru and Diamond seem to enjoy fine consumables. (Sweets for Peruru, booze for Diamond.)

Peruru and Diamond both have troublesome brothers.

Helios and Diamond both have a freaky third appendage. Golden Horn for Helios, 3rd eye for Diamond.
Makes ya wonder, eh?

5. Certain people never existed in the manga!!!

Sadly, yes. TOEI has a nasty habit of adding people and storylines that don't exist in other people's mangas. Here's a breakdown:

People who never existed in the manga:

1. Yuuchirou Kumada (Chad)
2. 95% of all "Baddies of the day"
3. The guy who Ami crushed on in the 1st season who possessed a rainbow crystal (Greg)
4. The rainbow crystals
5. Alan, Ann, Fiore and the Doom tree
6. 99.99% of all "daily acquaintances" (People who the Senshi helped)

Things that never happened in the manga:

1. The four sisters never became good, they were too busy being dead.
2. Kunzite and Zoicite never fell in love with each other. In fact, Naoko once drew a picture, in which the four generals had once loved the Inner Senshi:

Kunzite once loved Sailor Venus

Zoicite loved Sailor Mercury

Jedite loved Sailor Mars (Though in Act 3 of the manga, she kills him)

Nephrite loved Sailor Jupiter in their past life. (But she's the one who killed him in the manga.)

3. Nephlyte never dated Naru, in fact, he never even met her.
4. Naru was only friends with Umino, and not too much else was even hinted at.
5. Chibiusa WAS 903, NOT 6-10 like the anime would have you believe. 30th century is where she came from, NOT WHEN SHE WAS BORN. So she's STILL Kousagi's older sister.
6. Kaolinite wasn't such a bitch after all.
7. Mamoru NEVER dated anyone other than Usagi.
8. Usagi NEVER dated Seiya. Although she kissed Usagi, there was ZIPPEDY DOO DA between them.
9. Seiya never crushed on Kakyuu.
10. Nepherenia NEVER went good, she was blown too bits and bits and (clap clap) beefy bits!
11. Galaxia NEVER went good. She was blown away as well. She may have been reborn, but I've yet to see her drop trou in front of Usagi for no apparent reason.
12. There was no ice rink on the moon.
13. Just forget the first 13 episodes of Sailormoon R. It never happened.
14. Mamoru NEVER broke up with Usagi, nor did he have the wandering eye that the anime gave him.
15. Naru was NOT an only child. Pick up a copy of Sailor Moon StarS graphic novel #2 to see Naruru, her younger sister. (Poor Naru!)
16. Rei's grandfather was more than 3 feet tall, and had the same haircut as Umino (Melvin.) He's only seen briefly, and he's much younger and more adult than his anime counterpart.
17. Master Pharaoh 90 ... how Kaolinite loved him ...'s power .......

This is only a small list of inconsistencies. I encourage you all to buy up all the manga written by Naoko, to supplement your anime Sailormoon collection as the manga provides not only the REAL story, but also characters that unfortunately, you won't find in the anime.

6. The Senshi have all seen each other in their birthday suits!

Okay, I hope this helps a few people out their with their myths on relationships that NEVER existed *COUGH HOTARU AND CHIBIUSA COUGH COUGH*. 'Scuse me, must be congestion. Or maybe you do own the manga, in which they say things like "Bunny (Usagi) is our mistress" or anything that comes out of Rei's face. When it comes to those comments, lemme state that they meant something to the effect of "we will protect her as though she were our love", meaning that they put their mission first, and daily life second, and they only want to protect their friend. And Sailor Mars only says things like "I don't need men" because in graphic novel #11 (or Sailormoon short stories vol. 2 if you read Japanese ) , there's a manga titled Casablanca Memory, where Rei deals with a very nasty heartache over her father's assistant, Mr. Kaido.
Anyway, there's no doubt, that if you've ever seen a website on Sailormoon characters, then you've seen at least one pic of more than one Sailor Senshi like this:

Lemme point out, that although Naoko drew a good portion of what you see out their, nowhere in the storylines does it ever state that these girls all fall in love with each other. I believe Naoko drew some of the images to keep us on our toes, or perhaps to try something new, or otherwise um..."excite" potential male readers. I could be wrong about her intentions, but whatever the reason, there are several pics drawn by her, that feature both nudity and/or um...touching by the other Senshi. Remember, some girls in Japan between the ages of 10-16 go through a phase in which they may like both sexes. Some like Usagi outgrow it, others like Haruka have already found that special someone of the same gender, and some like Michiru may still be able to love both genders, each girl is different. Anyway, don't get the wrong impression. Even through the touching and the nudity, it doesn't mean that they love each other.

The established couples of the manga are:

Usagi and Mamoru

Haruka and Michiru

Chibiusa and Helios

Lethe and Mnemosyne (WTF???)

Kenji and Ikuko

Luna and Artemis

and Kakeru and Himeko.

So as you see, even though you may see Hotaru get jealous over Chibiusa being friends with Naruru and Ruruna for example, Hotaru and Chibiusa are still not lovers. (Sorries Hotaru/Chibiusa fanfic otaku! Not my fault, I didn't write it.) For more information, visit amazon.com or sasugabooks.com and buy the manga to add to your collection.

7. Chibiusa has two "full" names!
Technically. After receiving several strange letters about the Chibiusa and Parallel Chibiusa pages, I decided to review all of my files. To my amazement, I found that Chibiusa really does have more than one name!

In the manga, her birth name is: Princess Lady Serenity
In the anime, her full name is: "The Small Lady" Tsukino Usagi

On the basis of technicality, Tsukino Usagi can be considered her birth name for both series, since both she and her little sister are named after their mother. Why her name would change between the two remains a mystery to this day. And some would prefer to combine the two (as some of my e-mails suggest) so her name reads:

Princess Small Lady Serenity Usagi Tsukino Chiba

or in some other cases:

Princess Small Lady Serenity (The) Chibi (usa) Usagi Tsukino Chiba (Shields)

I personally prefer either her manga name or one of her nicknames. I don't even want to imagine the hell of typing out her full-combo name on a nametag for her, should she go into retail. >.<

8. Chibiusa may have kept her real name for the U.S. DiC/Cloverway dub after all!
As many of you know, several of the US released "uncut" tapes of Sailormoon S still referred to her as Chibi-usa, but did you know that you've never known her as anyone other than "Little Bunny"?
Both Chibiusa and Kousagi are abbreviated spellings of "Little Bunny", a play off of their mother's nickname, "Usagi" which of course means "Bunny". The nicknames were devised as a way to tell the sisters apart from their mother. Since the show was being picked up in the US, and had already suffered through far too many edits, many assumed that this clever little joke would not survive, since DIC officials thought that American audiences were too stupid to say something as "bizarre" as "Chibiusa".

Many had no idea what was about to transpire .........

When the character debuted on syndicated programming in America, the DIC staff had dubbed her name: Rini, though no official spelling existed until Cloverway took over the release of the series. Many fans until then spelled her name phonetically, which for an American phonics system was "Reeny". But by the year 2000, her name was officially spelled "Rini". Now for the bunny part.
While scouring the Internet for a different page, I accidentally wound up on a baby name site. Ironically, they had a list of Japanese baby names, and to my surprise, I found the name "Rini"
listed under feminine names. And after reading through the whole page, and then reading several Japanese-English dictionaries, I found out that the name translates to ...............

"Little Bunny".

This unofficially makes Rini one of a handful of Senshi to retain her original name. Other Senshi include:

Ami ,Who's English name Amy is a play off of the original spelling.

Rei ,Who's English name Raye is a different spelling of the original.

Usagi ,Who's English name Serena is a short name for Serenity, and who's English manga name is Bunny.

Minako, Who's English name Mina is not only a short name for Minako, but her daughter's name too.

Michiru ,Who's English name Michelle is a sloppier version of the original.

And Hotaru ,Who's name was horribly mispronounced by everyone except for Rini, but was mostly left alone to begin with.

Weather this was an in-joke made by the DIC/Cloverway staff, or an unexpected twist in an attempt to create a short name for "Serena" is left up for debate, but apparently no matter which version you go by, be it Chibiusa, Kousagi or even Rini, the fact remains that ...well ... a bunny is a bunny. ^_^

9. Sailor Mercury is the only Senshi who's hair and eye color remain almost EXACTLY the same in EVERY scene between the anime and manga!
With the exception of two manga pictures and a few rare episodes where her hair appears almost green, Ami's coloring remains in tact. Some people think that almost all of the Senshi retain their perfect looks in the anime... but they would be wrong! How you ask, re-reading that last paragraph in complete disbelief? Well, to get that tiny little statement, we shall have to venture into the urban legend that is Usagi's hair.............

Originally, Sailor Moon and her Earth mother Ikuko had pink hair and red eyes.
(As seen above on this site.)

When the anime went into production, the animators at TOEI decided that the blond-haired blue eyed look would be more popular, and would play off of Sailor V.

(Since the original plan was to merge Sailor V into Sailor Moon, but Naoko thought otherwise.)

When Chibiusa was later introduced in the anime, her original coloring stayed intact, possibly as an in-joke to those reading the manga. It was also a clever ploy to elongate the SailormoonR storyline, by making it slightly more difficult for the characters to decipher the identity of the mysterious Chibiusa. This wound up confusing far too many fans, who may not have had access to the manga, and it also confused many newer fans.

In some flashback moments in both the anime and the manga, Queen Serenity also had pale, white-pink hair, though it sometimes looks lavender in the anime. This combined with Ikuko's coloring further proves that the red eyes and pink hair of Chibiusa and Kousagi are genetic traits inherited from Usagi's family line, and NOT the result of any experiment gone awry.

Kousagi has pink hair, but her blue eyes actually come from her father Mamoru, as their eyes are the exact same shade of blue.

On a side note, the reason why Chibiusa's look seems so different from her mother, is because she takes more after Mamoru. If you'll note, her eyes are colored like her mother's, but they're shaped like her father's eyes. Her mannerisms and attitude also mimic Mamoru, as does her story.

Kousagi has more of her father's coloring, but takes after her mother. The two share the same personality, the same facial features and even their teams parallel each other (no pun intended), which just leads to the humor of her being a... well ... second bunny! ^_^

The white-haired Serenity/Sailor Moon/Chibiusa images were to be reminiscent of Usagi's past life as Princess Serenity of the Silver Millennium, and of her future as the next queen. (Same applies to Chibiusa, minus the past life quote.) Usagi's hair once again appears white while she is Neo-Queen Serenity in the manga, but remains blonde for the rest of the anime.

As for Chibi Chibi, while her hair appears pink in the manga, the anime features a red-haired Chibi Chibi, to play off of the anime storyline of her being Galaxia's Starseed. Despite this glaring error
in the anime, her hair stays pink throughout the manga, since she is also Sailor Cosmos, the alternate universe Sailor Moon. Hence where her hair is white. And in many newer images released for the reprint mangas, Sailor Cosmos is featured with the same red eyes as Chibiusa.

Naoko Takeuchi produced several images for each Senshi, where the characters' hair and eye color did not match their anime counterparts.

Makoto's hair appears green, which is symbolic of her planet and astrological sign of Sagittarius.

Rei's hair is naturally purple, but appears red, since her planet is Mars, and her sign is Aries.

Originally, Sailor V's eyes were yellow-orange, but appear blue throughout most of the series.

Neptune and Hotaru's coloring lighten and darken in each episode of the anime, though not by much.

In the manga, Sailor Uranus's hair is platinum blonde, cream, or even white, but her hair is dark blonde in the anime. Her eyes are dark blue-green in the manga, alternating between green and blue, but the anime features a teal-eyed Haruka.

There are even moments in the manga, in which both Usagi and Ikuko have reddish-brown hair, and blue-green eyes, similar to Makoto, only darker.

Other times, the characters were altered for the anime, to appeal to a more "Western" demographic.

Originally, Seiya's hair was blue, and all 3 Starlights had short hair. But the production staff and even Bandai filed enough complaints to Naoko, that she altered the characters, giving them rattail ponytails and Yaten a mullet. This was one of the things Naoko hated most about the anime production, but though Seiya's hair was black in the anime, it remains dark blue in the manga.

Mamoru's hair also appears dark blue in the manga, but is black in the anime.

Sailor Pluto was originally a VERY dark-skinned Senshi, but her skin becomes lighter as the series progresses.

Makoto's coloring darkens throughout the anime, and Rei's hair appears black with either red or purple highlights.

The cats were changed for a more "magical" appearance:

Luna was originally a black cat with blue eyes, but she appears purple in the anime. Her eye colors change from time to time in the manga, between mahogany, red and blue.

Diana was originally a gray kitten, but appears lavender in the anime.

Artemis originally had green eyes, but his eyes are blue in the anime.

Eventually, the Senshi were altered even in many colorized manga images, to appeal to the anime fans of Sailormoon, hence why Sailor Moon is most often seen as a blonde haired-blue eyed "Valley Girl" on the cover of many issues. There are even rare pics of Rini with blue eyes, and rarer pics where she too has blonde hair. So in the end, Sailor Mercury remains the only unchanged character, possibly due to her immense popularity when the series debuted.

10. The older a cat gets, the fewer cat features it has when it becomes human!
A little known fact here. The older the cat, the more human it is. Whether this is indicative of how strong the bond between a Senshi and her guardian cat is, or a transformation brought on by Mau cat puberty, the visual fact remains that the cat features are destined to fade away at some point.

For example:

When Artemis goes into "Human mode," he has almost no cat features at all, save but for his usual "bad kitty" grin.

Luna's live action form, is that of a 10 year old, so she retains her ears and tail, whereas her manga/anime form is an entirely human adult, with no cat features whatsoever. None!

Diana's human form, is that of a 13 year old. So she retains her tail, but for the most part, she is all human.

The Pink Cat's form is that of an 8 year old, and she retains her tail, ears and whiskers.

And just like the Senshi, each cat's mind and mode of speech become more refined as they age as well.

Artemis begins as a very perverted feline early on, but he becomes more of a father figure by SuperS. Possibly due to his bond with Diana, but it could be a sign of his "growing up."

Luna acts more like a den mother to the Senshi, but does show plenty of schoolgirl emotion during the SailormoonS movie. But by the end of the series, she is completely adult.

Diana begins as a shy, quiet companion to Chibiusa, but becomes brave and highly intelligent by the end of the series. She does tend to grow up with Chibiusa in this sense.
^_^

The Pink one is still a child/kitten, so she really does act like an 8 year old.

Intentional or not, it's little things like these that make the series so enjoyable and sweet.

11. Chibi Chibi's doll may be a sign of things to come!
In episode 186 of Sailormoon StarS, Chibi Chibi is seen carrying a rather expensive porcelain doll. Normally, this would not be worth a mention ... if not for the name Chibi Chibi gives the doll...

CHIBI

Why is this important you ask? Because Chibi is also the nickname Chibiusa gives Kousagi in the Japanese edition of Parallel Sailor Moon!!

That's right! Believe it or not, but the doll is a brief example of things to come. The doll even bares a few, slight quirks that are shared by the then unborn Kousagi. For example:

The doll lasts for only one episode.
Kousagi lasts for only one mini manga.

The doll is a VERY expensive treat for Chibi Chibi.
The Parallel Sailor Moon manga was originally part of a VERY expensive artbook, The Materials Collection, and is now a part of Sailormoon Short stories Vol. 2

The doll has very defined curls and ringlets.
Kousagi has very defined curls and ringlets.

Chibi Chibi plays mother to the doll for the whole episode, before accidentally dropping her on a wooden floor, breaking her. But though her time was short, the doll remains a cute but unintentional in-joke for those who have seen the Parallel Manga, which was originally published a full two years after the "Chibi" doll debuted in the StarS anime. It's moments like these that can bring joy, to those still dreaming of a "Parallel Sailor Moon" anime.

And for those who'd like even more insight into this brief but sweet in-joke, please visit my explanation on Chibi Chibi on the main page.

12. You can buy goods that resemble Parallel Senshi, but not actually have them in it!
Lazy, but true! Aside from the usual "Let's buy an Inner Senshi toy/ect. in it's Super-Deformed/Chibi state and pretend it's Parallel Sailor ________" trick, there is also one other way to have something of theirs.

On the back of one Sailormoon SuperS DVD box set, are numerous typos, but the most interesting one of all is the description of the series. Below is the description taken verbatim from said box:

"Chibi dreams of a beautiful and mysterious Pegasus that becomes her friend. Suddenly
The Dead Moon Circus arrives in town, and the Amazon Trio emerges as the newest group of villains to threaten the Earth! Sailor Moon's battle against them goes badly until the Pegasus gives Chibi-Moon the Super Sailor Chibi-Moon power! Meanwhile, Artemise and Luna are in for a surprise when Diana arrives-their' daughter from the future?! Pegasus sacrifices his freedom and the Golden Crystal to save Mini-Moon's life, but just as everyone begins to fear that Queen Nehellenia has won, the Queen is betrayed! Sailor Moon attempts to use the power of the Golden Crystal, but that's not enough. Will Mini-Moon's idea defeat Nehellenia, and even if it does, can Sailor Moon and Mini-Moon avoid being trapped on darkmoon?!"

If you were to read that literally, then instead of this being a paragraph of errors, this would be a synopsis of a story in which Chibi (Kousagi) befriends Pegasus, but both forms of her sister
(Chibi-Moon and Mini-Moon make Rini-Moon) get the powers instead of her. Pegasus is a dawg who loves them both, Sailor Moon can't stay out of trouble, the Amazon Trio make threats and the Circus is on the Moon, which is dark. Pegasus sacrifices himself? Chibi befriends him? And who the hell is Artemise? Even though it's painfully obvious that whomever wrote this didn't watch the whole season, it's this sort of thing that allows the Sailormoon otaku in us all to let our imaginations run free.

13. Three of the 11 "main" Senshi have bows that don't match on their costumes!
It's true! Sailor Mars, Sailor Venus and Sailor Uranus feature miss-matched bows on their costumes.
Even as Sailor V, the bows on Minako's Sailor outfit do NOT completely match!

Similarly, the Amazoness Quartet Senshi have odd bows, as do many of the Senshi after their "Eternal" transformations.

14. The 1995-2001 North American version of Sailormoon featured product placement!
In episode 124 (117 for dubbies) Sailor Mars comments that a daimon reminds her of Jell-O.
In the Sailor Moon Novels by Tokyopop/Smile, Serena makes plenty of references to product names and celebrities befitting the 1990's storyline. Among them but NOT limited too are The Gap, Ferbies, Tamagotchi, Godzilla, Gundam, CNN, Oakley, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and CK.

These references were added to make the Sailor Senshi sound more like typical American Girls with extra big finances to blow on expensive goods, rather than hard working Japanese heroes. The people who did the writing for North America were afraid that American children wouldn't understand a show based in Japan, but would understand girls that acted American. This was the same excuse given when Digimon season 4 was given a digital makeover, as both Digimon 04 and Sailormoon featured many scene alterations, removing Japanese foods like steamed buns, rice cakes and sushi with hamburgers and doughnuts. An unwise move, as American children aren't THAT stupid, and besides, SAILORMOON WAS MENT FOR ADULTS ANYWAY SO WHY BOTHER TO EDIT IT DOWN??? Just because something has a toy line, doesn't mean it's for kiddies. Look at South Park for example.

15. The original prototypes for the American Sailormoon dolls were all messed up!
In 1995, several magazines ran ads for the first North America line of Sailormoon dolls. These dolls were made by Bandai America, and the first line featured all five Senshi with BOOTS! This would later be corrected for Sailor Venus, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mars, while Sailor Mercury's first dolls had black hair with blue patches! Then when Irwin took over as the 20th Century closed out, Mercury's hair was changed to black! EEEEEEeeeeeK!! Her hair would not be changed to blue, until the 2000-2001 dolls were released. Below is a pic I scanned in a few years ago, taken from a magazine I borrowed from my mom:

Furthermore, the ad also features a dark blue back bow for Sailor Venus, when it should be yellow, a proper red back bow for Sailor Moon, even though the front bow is pink, a red back bow for Sailor Jupiter when it should be pink, and a purple back bow for Sailor Mars, when it should be red! Now, boots aside, isn't it something that these prototypes were never released and the dolls we did get were more accurate? (Remember, I said boots aside.)

16. Aside from Cloverway renaming Sailor Chibi Moon "Sailor Mini Moon" she was almost not alone!
According to a scientific find reported by Discovery in February of 2013, an asteroid is sometimes thought of as a "mini" moon. This by proxy makes Vesta, Pallas, Juno and Ceres also Sailor Mini Moon by default!