Sailor Moon

“Only the only person anybody can talk about! The famous sailor-suited guardian of justice! There are rumors she’s actually a special investigator for the police.”

This quote, from Umino, the “nerdy” classmate, is about Sailor V, the mysterious vigilante who is famous enough to inspire her own arcade game and is often featured in headlines in the newspaper. Sailor V is an inspiration for Usagi’s transformation and alternate identity as Sailor Moon, and her mysterious presence continues to shadow Usagi throughout this first volume. When Usagi plays the Sailor V arcade game, she identifies so much with the character that she dreams as Sailor V, and Sailor V’s avatar comes to life to give her advice.

“Get away from Naru-chan! You old monster lady!! Me? I’m, uhh…the pretty Guardian in a sailor suit! Guardian of love and justice, Sailor Moon!”

This quote showcases Usagi’s powerful love and concern for her friends and fellow humans, highlighting The Power of Friendship and the Limitations of Ambition. Although Usagi is often careless and absentminded, even self-absorbed at times, when danger threatens anyone, she snaps into action. Before she even knows she has magical powers, she runs to help Naru after receiving a frightening vision, without a care for her own safety. During this transformation, Usagi uses her alter ego as a method of empowerment to enact her desire to protect her friend through magical means.

“I have high hopes for you, Mizuno-san. Superior humans like you carry the world’s future on their shoulders, you know. You are what everyone aspires to be, so keep studying, and keep raising that bar.”

This quote underlines the difference between the magical Sailor Guardians and the magical but evil Dark Kingdom dwellers. They identify Ami as superior to her friends because of her intellect and consider the rest of humanity disposable. Usagi, while imperfect, celebrates and defends her friends’ imperfections, and they treat her the same way. Friendship and support defeat ambition and greed at every turn in this narrative.

“As sacrifice, submit to our supreme ruler. Gather all the data you can find…about the legendary Silver Crystal.”

This quote reflects the first instance of brainwashing found in the narrative. Brainwashing, mind control, and shapeshifting are the signature strategies of the Dark Kingdom dwellers, showcasing their talent for deception. Additionally, they use the ubiquity of technology in 1990s Japanese culture as a conduit for their nefarious ends. Technology is useful for navigating everyday life but is easily co-opted by evil in this narrative, while the mysterious magical items provided by Luna from the Moon Kingdom are reliable, powerful, and positive.

“I will not stand by and let you take advantage of these students’ genuine love of learning to brainwash them! The pretty Guardian in a sailor suit, Guardian of love and justice, Sailor Moon! And in the name of the moon, I’ll punish you!”

This is one of Sailor Moon’s first famous indictments of the evil she faces. Usagi’s powerful love for her friends, combined with her fierce sense of justice, leads her to proclaim the truth about the situation at hand before dispensing justice. Notably, at every occasion, her words always point out the true villains and their perfidy while emphasizing that the victims of the plot were doing their best and are blameless. Since ordinary people are often recruited to be brainwashed and made into mindless henchmen, this distinction is important for Sailor Moon to make. Additionally, it emphasizes the supportive and friendly mindset of Sailor Moon and its advantages over the ambitious cruelty of her enemies.

“Just as I suspected! You’re the brains of our group! The Guardian of water and intelligence, under the protection of Mercury. You are Sailor Mercury! We’ve been looking for you.”

This quote comes from Luna discovering the next Sailor Guardian, Sailor Mercury. Although Ami was just caught in the brainwashing plot that Sailor Moon foiled, the alternate identity of Sailor Mercury empowers her to enact justice on the Dark Kingdom dwellers who tried to recruit her to their ends. Up until this point, Usagi had been forced to grapple with this strange new reality on her own, so the addition of a new kind, intelligent friend is a welcome one. It provides Usagi with a new, robust type of support network: one that also interacts with the magical world and does not need to be protected from it.

“Thanks for shattering my eardrums, Bun Head. We’re always running into each other, aren’t we?”

This quote exemplifies the bickering nature of Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship before they understand each other’s true identities as Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon. It emphasizes the theme of Alternative Identities as Empowerment. Up until this point, Mamoru has always been pictured alone and speaking to people in passing. Now, he has a conversation with Usagi on the bus, trying to prove that Luna can talk. This intimacy places Mamoru in a more friendly and less isolated position in the narrative, although the reader still knows that he is Tuxedo Mask and that he may not actually be Usagi’s friend.

“Don’t cry! If you cry, you’ll set off your ultrasonic waves! And that world is unstable! All the hostages will be doomed!”

This quote, coming from Sailor Moon’s rescue of Rei and the hostages in the Dark Kingdom’s palace, shows Usagi’s growth as a character. Although she is still a “crybaby,” when Luna reminds her that her tears could hurt the people around her, she stops immediately. This type of emotional control is important to her character since it shows how important the well-being of others is to her.

“We’re a team, Rei-chan! We’ve been looking for other Guardians like you! I’m so glad we found you, Sailor Mars!”

This quote displays the joy that Sailors Moon and Mercury feel at the prospect of growing their team. Although their magical skills are impressive, they need all the help they can get. The highlights the power of friendship and the limitations of ambition. At this point in the narrative, the friendship and support of these three girls can be contrasted against the jealousy and competition among the kings of the Dark Kingdom under Queen Beryl. The kings isolate themselves through argument and sabotage, while the Sailor Guardians protect and support each other.

“The crystal is a sacred stone with infinite power—which is why everyone is after it. But if it were used for evil, that would spell disaster.”

This quote finally spells out the importance of the legendary Silver Crystal. This artifact, the target of the Dark Kingdom and Tuxedo Mask, is revealed to contain enough power to destroy an entire planet and therefore must be protected from evil hands. Although Luna clearly knows more than she is saying, the Guardians have enough information to know that they have to protect the crystal.

“Sailor Moon! The only way to banish darkness…is with an even greater light!”

This quote, spoken by Tuxedo Mask, shows his first intervention in the larger battles between the Dark Kingdom and the Guardians. Although he intervened to help Usagi in the last battle at Crystal Seminar and saved her from falling off the balcony, he was protecting her as an individual. In this case, he is alerting the monsters to his presence and putting himself in the crossfire to end the fight for everyone, showing his growing alliance with the Guardians.

“Tuxedo Mask. Something must be wrong with me. Just hearing his name makes my heart pound…it’s weird. His warm hands. His arms around me. They feel so familiar. Like I’ve known him for a long, long time.”

This quote, spoken in Usagi’s internal monologue, muses on the strange emotions she experiences in the presence of Tuxedo Mask. She is confused at the strong physical sensations he engenders and reflects that she feels as if she’s known him for a long time. The intimacy, trust, and friendship between them, though confusing, is nonetheless apparently a source of power since it is similar to the feeling that allowed her to regenerate a new tiara. This feeling is another indication of the advantages of friendship and love over solitary ambition.

“Someone beat me to our spot…and it’s the super-strong transfer student! Oooh…her lunch is so cute! It looks yummy too. And the pouch she brough it in is adorable!”

This quote is also written in Usagi’s internal monologue. This humanizing quote shows that Usagi, although she has had to handle huge crises, is still happy-go-lucky and carefree at heart. Although Makoto scares the other students, Usagi’s kindness and ability to see the best in everyone allow her to befriend the tall girl immediately, despite their age difference.

“I will not stand by and let you use the sacred image of a blushing bride…and the echo of whispered sweet nothings for your own evil ends!”

This quote is another example of Sailor Moon’s fierce declarations against the cruelty of the Dark Kingdom. She points out that the monster is taking advantage of one of the most powerful symbols of intimacy, vulnerability, and love—a wedding—and turning it into a trap for heartbroken people. She uses the power of her alter ego to dispense justice on this evildoer, and in the process, she empowers Makoto to throw off her enchantment.

“You were controlling him? You tricked me? He…doesn’t really love me? Dammit! I—I’ll show you the true force of a girl’s pure heart!”

In this quote, Makoto grapples with yet another romantic disappointment. Her heartbreak, which prompted her to leave her old school and isolate herself, is, in this case, the catalyst for her empowerment through becoming Sailor Jupiter. She is able to cast thunderbolts and a hurricane of roses at the Dark Kingdom dwellers, destroying them.

“Curse you, Sailor Moon! Are you determined to block us at every turn? If only I had the legendary Silver Crystal! Then I wouldn’t have to put up with this maddening energy-collecting nonsense.”

This quote, from Queen Beryl, shows her frustration at the sudden, powerful obstacle of Sailor Moon. It also shows the limitations of their strategy for attaining power, namely draining life force from people. This life force is limited and depletes quickly, showing the drawbacks of harming people for one’s own personal gain.

“The four of us together. Ami-chan, the brains of the team, a girl genius with an IQ of 300. Sailor Mercury. Rei-chan, the beautiful priestess who controls fire and sees the future and is a little scary when she’s mad. Sailor Mars. Mako-chan, the super-strong big sister of the team, who controls thunder and lightning and is actually a romantic at heart, Sailor Jupiter. And me, Sailor Moon. I’m supposed to be their leader…as we fight the enemy and search for the princess and the legendary Silver Crystal!!”

This quote shows the first time the team is assembled in its entirety. Sailor Moon discusses the powers and talents of each of her teammates and then muses on her newly established role as leader of the group. She is not sure if she can fulfill this role, even with her magical powers.

“No, it’s not what you think! I didn’t mean for this to happen. I need to find the legendary Silver Crystal. But I don’t know the first thing about it. And I don’t have the power you have!”

This quote comes from Tuxedo Mask, who has found himself sabotaged by his own machinations. He took advantage of the same networks of technology utilized by the Dark Kingdom and released a press statement to newspapers and TV stations informing everyone about the Silver Crystal and his belief that it was in Japan. He believed that this would lead him to the crystal, but instead, it alerted the Dark Kingdom to the presence of it and caused a crisis. He admits in this moment that he has no knowledge of the crystal and no magical powers and, in a rare moment of vulnerability, that he may, in fact, be in over his head.

“It’s not like I can conjure mist or flames or storms like Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter. I don’t have any power…I’m just a useless coward. Everybody needs me, and there’s nothing I can do.”

This quote underlines Sailor Moon’s main weakness, namely that she is uncertain about her own abilities and often doubts herself, and emphasizes the theme of alternative identities as empowerment. She contemplates her responsibility toward others and, for the first time, is paralyzed by that responsibility instead of galvanized by it. Her youth and inexperience, usually the key to her happiness and confidence, make her feel helpless and inadequate.

“I transformed…right in front of him. He’s not my enemy…He can’t be. He’s always rescuing me. It’s like…He knows everything about me. Why? I want to know. Why are you always helping me?”

This quote, from Usagi’s internal monologue, discusses the mystery of Tuxedo Mask. His purposes are mysterious, but he always swoops in to save her from danger, Additionally, their mutual feeling of intense familiarity is overwhelming. She reflects on the fact that he now knows that Usagi is Sailor Moon, which puts him at an advantage over her, but he seems also to have her best interests at heart.

“None of them have fully awakened. But Sailor Moon especially has a long way to go. It’s too soon. We should wait.”

This quote, spoken by Luna to a mysterious figure on her computer screen, shows that Luna is very deliberate in the information she reveals to the Guardians. The situation highlights The Intersection of Spirituality and Technology in Modern Japan. Although she acts as a mentor figure to the Guardians, she also withholds information for mysterious reasons, just like Tuxedo Mask. This keeps Luna from fully participating in the friendship and support of the Guardians, who share almost everything with one another.

“I found them that day, when I was exploring D-Point at the North Pole. It was as if they had been calling to me. Those hidden, cursed ruins—the remains of the Dark Kingdom. I gave in to their siren call, and I opened the seal. And again, with my own hands, I freed Queen Metalia. This was my destiny. The legendary Silver Crystal.”

This quote, spoken by Queen Beryl, reveals her past as a human explorer who discovered the ruins of the Dark Kingdom and unleashed Queen Metalia. Now, Beryl is transformed into a Dark Kingdom dweller and is consumed by her desire for the Silver Crystal. While the Dark Kingdom dwellers have magical powers, they are all isolated by their own ambitions and schemes to acquire the crystal, preventing them from working together to achieve their ends. They utilize domination in order to get what they want, as opposed to Luna and the Guardians, who use kindness and support to earn the loyalty of others.

“What is the Dark Kingdom, Luna?! They keep using people for one evil plot after another…Who are they?! What do they want?!”

This quote, spoken by a frustrated Ami, showcases the Guardians’ lack of information. Ami, as the brains of the group, feels that inadequacy the hardest. She feels responsible for protecting everyone from harm, and she can’t do so without more knowledge of these evil spirits. Ami, the most technologically fluent of the group, nonetheless has to face the inadequacy of the medium compared to the magic of the Moon Kingdom and Luna’s prior knowledge.