Usagi Tsukino / Sailor Moon (anime)

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Sailor Moon(セーラームーン, Sērā Mūn [Romanization] is a fictional character in the Sailor Moon metaseries and the main protagonist of the franchise, as well as its title character. Her civilian name is Usagi Tsukino (月野 うさぎ, Tsukino Usagi^?, — Serena Tsukino in the Sailor Moon (English adaptations)) English-language versions. A carefree schoolgirl, she can transform herself into the de facto leader of the series' primary heroines, the Sailor Senshi.

Due to the series' widespread popularity in many countries and to her distinctive and oft-copied odango hairstyle, she has become one of the most immediately recognizable and iconic anime characters worldwide. She is the only character to appear in all 200 episodes of the anime, and is present in all 52 acts of the manga as well as all 51 acts of the live-action series.

Usagi, Serena's given name in the English-language versions of the series, derives from "Serenity", the name Serena went by in her past life. In the English manga she is mostly called by the nickname Bunny, which is the literal meaning of Usagi. Her boyfriend for most of the series, Mamoru Chiba|Darien Shields, calls her by the affectionate nickname "Usako" (which is a diminutive, the suffix -ko meaning "child") or "Buns" in the English due to her round hair buns and love of rabbits.

Profile

The metaseries introduces Usagi Tsukino as a schoolgirl living in 20th-century Tokyo. She is initially depicted as a well-intentioned but underachieving crybaby who prefers the life of a normal teenage Earth girl. Nevertheless, she continues to fight the evils of her past life and protects the Earth with the Imperium Silver Crystal, as the Champion of Justice, Sailor Moon, which provides for most of the conflict within both the manga and the anime.

Her journey begins when, while running to school, she sees some neighborhood kids abusing a cat and rescues it (in the manga she accidentally steps on said cat). Later, the cat comes into her room and reveals herself as a talking cat named Luna, who serves as the mentor|guardian for Sailor Moon. Luna gives Usagi a magical broch which helps her transform into Sailor Moon (the "soldier of love and justice"), and tells her that she is a Soldier who must fight for peace. She also tells her that she must find the rest of the Soldiers, as well as their princess. Though at first Usagi is portrayed as a "reluctant heroine" (in the anime she often is rescued by Tuxedo Mask) as time goes on her character grows more confident and mature. However, she still has her crybaby moments late into the metaseries.

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Usagi in her school uniform, as drawn by Naoko Takeuchi. Takeuchi consistently portrays Usagi as a lazy daydreamer, but one with an enormous heart.

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Usagi Tsukino as seen in the first season of the anime

Usagi lives in Azabu Jūban|Crossroads (a real district of Tokyo) with her mother Ikuko Tsukino, her father Kenji Tsukino, and her brother Shingo Tsukino. Usagi's family take their names from the real family members of the metaseries' creator, Naoko Takeuchi. Out of the Sailor Senshi, only Usagi and Minako Aino live in conventional nuclear families. Usagi is also the only one known to have a sibling.

Usagi does not perform well at school, and often seems unintelligent (especially in the anime), though the storyline generally attributes this to naïveté and laziness rather than to actual stupidity. This is because she spends her time eating, playing video games and reading comics (including RunRun, which published the Sailor V manga in real life) rather than studying.^{[citation needed]} She is often portrayed as a character that is better at art than science, as with her inability to answer that apples fall from trees because of gravity.

Usagi has a boyfriend named Mamoru Chiba|Darien Shields. Mamoru and Usagi's relationship forms an important part of Usagi's life, as well as of the series. The love they share helps Usagi make it through many challenges. Mamoru becomes Usagi's boyfriend after many trials, and they date for a long time during the series. Mamoru eventually proposes to Usagi, and they ultimately get married.

A number of connecting episodes at the end of the first series reveal one of the biggest secrets about Sailor Moon and she realizes that she is Princess Serenity (the "crown princess" of the Silver Millennium) reborn. In the second series, Usagi learns that she will give birth to a daughter (Chibi-usa) by her boyfriend and future husband. Usagi will also become a "sovereign of the Earth", known as Neo-Queen Serenity, by the 30th century.

The series shows how Usagi loves sweet foods and how easily they distract her. She loves cake so much that it is listed as her hobby in the manga, and her favorite subject is listed as Home Economics. She is also said to dislike carrots (although she eats them in the anime), and is terrible at both English and mathematics. In addition to being a genuine friend, Usagi is extremely good at brown nosing when it's needed and, of course, crying to get what she wants. She is afraid of dentists and ghosts, and her greatest dream is to be a bride. Usagi loves wikipedia:rabbits as well as the colors white and Pink, and is apparently a member of the Manga Drawing Club at school, though her skill level varies widely when shown in the anime. She stands 150 centimeters (4 ft 11 in) tall.

In the manga and anime, Mamoru gives Usagi the nickname "Odango" (a kind of rice dumpling), based on her distinctive hair-style. At first this is always accompanied with the suffix "-atama," meaning "head," but as time goes on it is left off. Usagi hates the name at first, but as they become close it develops into a sign of affection. Later in the series, other important male (or androgynous) figures in her life, Haruka|Amara and Seiya, adopt the name as well. Because there is no North American equivalent to odango, the English dub almost always uses "Meatball Head," once "Donut Head," and, somewhat incongruously, "Moon Face." In the English manga, Mamoru calls Usagi "buns or bun" which is both an approximation of odango and short for Bunny.

She is hinted to have a physical relationship with Mamoru. She was seen sleeping with him in the last volume of the manga.

Appearance

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Usagi (Serena) Tsukino in school uniform

Variations

Usagi often seems inconsistent from version to version within the series. In the manga, while she starts out as a crybaby, she quickly matures and learns to make decisions for herself..

The series often portrays Usagi as just lazy rather than lacking intelligence. Sometimes,Usagi can be the laziest crybaby knuckle-headed Sailor Soldier but courageous. This shows when she passes her high-school exams without trouble when threatened with being separated from her friends.

The anime often portrays Usagi as more flaky and child-like. She often bickers with Chibi-usa, begs Mamoru to buy her things and bickers with Rei very childishly, but shows just as much caring as her manga counterpart. She does evolve during the course of the series, but generally lacks the maturity of her manga counterpart except in the last few episodes of each story arc.

The dubbed version made Serena more of a ditz than Usagi, featuring for example lines such as "Hi, you look like da bomb in those kimonos", which emulates stereotypical valley-girl usage. By contrast, in the following episode, Neo-Queen Serenity talks without this pseudo-valley girl dialect, showing this was intentional and inherent to the voice actress.

Usagi in the live-action series differs slightly from her manga and anime counterparts. She appears much more outgoing and extroverted, and seems to make friends very easily, which immediately puts her personality in conflict with her fellow Senshi, all of whom were loners to varying degrees. She rarely uses formal grammar with those of her age (though she does with adults), and refers to everyone as "[given name]-chan," which is very informal and a way of expressing closeness. She even teases Ami when Ami continues calling her "Tsukino-san," a formal way of speaking to classmates, saying that it is as if they are not friends. Every time a new Senshi appears, Usagi immediately tries to make her a friend, even though almost all of them resist. However, through Usagi's influence, the other Senshi gradually begin to realize that they are stronger together than they are alone. Usagi also has a habit of forcing her interests on the people that she makes friends with. This is prominent in her relationship with Rei, when she tries time and time again to get her to sing.

Aspects and forms

First appearance
Form	Manga	Anime	Live-action
Usagi Tsukino	Act 1	Episode. 1	Act 1
Sailor Moon	Act 1	Episode. 1	Act 1
Princess Serenity	Act 9	Episode. 34	Act 25
Princess Sailor Moon	—	—	Act 36
Neo-Queen Serenity	Act 16	Episode. 68	—
Super Sailor Moon	Act 30	Episode. 111	—
Eternal Sailor Moon	Act 42	Episode. 167	—

As a character with different incarnations, special powers and abilities, transformations and a long lifetime which (virtually) spans the ancient Silver Millennium era and the 30th century, Usagi gains multiple aspects and aliases such as Princess Serenity, Sailor Moon, Princess Sailor Moon, Super Sailor Moon, Eternal Sailor Moon, and Neo-Queen Serenity.

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Sailormoon's first anime appearence

Sailor Moon

The series frequently refers to Usagi's Senshi identity, "Sailor Moon", as the "Soldier of Love and Justice", and once as the "Soldier of Mystery". Her sailor fuku (uniform)|, originally colored blue and red (or dark pink), with a crescent moon motif, gradually changes to incorporate more pink and yellow and adds a heart motif as well. She also wears red hairpieces and white barrettes resembling feathers, both of which can be used for minor attacks. Her personality is no different from when she is a civilian, although certain powers and abilities are unavailable to her in that form.

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Symbol of the Moon Kingdom

Sailor Moon's attack-names center around the moon, love, mystery and light. She starts out as a frightened, reluctant girl, and others often have to bail her out, but she gradually comes to accept her full identity. She eventually becomes the strongest and most powerful Senshi in the galaxy, but her capacity for caring about other people is frequently shown to be much stronger and more powerful still.

As she grows stronger and more powerful, Sailor Moon gains additional powers and abilities, and at key points her appearance and title change to reflect this. The first change takes place during the third major story-arc — Act 30 of the manga and Episode 111 of the anime — when she obtains the Holy Grail and becomes Super Sailor Moon. Her uniform becomes more ornate (see top of page), and her powers are increased; at first she is unable to take this form without the Grail, and is weakened when its effects fade. Near the end of the S series, she takes this form using pure desperation and the combined powers and abilities of the other Senshi after the Holy Grail has been destroyed. Later, in Act 34 (episode 128), Pegasus' power enables her to transform without it.

Sailor Moon receives her third form at the end of the fourth major story arc (in Act 41 of Dream in the manga, and Episode 168 of Sailor Stars in the anime). The combined powers and abilities of the other members of the Sailor Team transforms her into Eternal Sailor Moon, whom Diana says is the closest in power to Neo-Queen Serenity. Her uniform is even more radically altered—most significantly, two pairs of angelic wings adorn her back. They replace her standard back bow as they are attached only at the waist and are in the shape of a large bow.

In the manga, Eternal Sailor Moon uses the Silver Moon Crystal (an evolved form of the Silver Crystal) to carry out her attacks. In the Sailor Stars anime it's less clear whether the crystal she is using is still called the Silver Crystal. The names of the attacks are congruent with the manga, which uses the name of the new crystal, but the crystal is not clearly given a new name.

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Princess Serenity in the anime

Princess Serenity

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Princess Serenity as seen in the manga. Unlike in the anime, Serenity is almost always pictured with silver hair.

Princess Serenity (プリンセス・セレニティ, Purinsesu Sereniti^?) lived in the Moon Kingdom during the age of the Silver Milennium as the daughter of Queen Serenity, who ruled the Silver Millennium and watched over the Earth. Princess Serenity's guardians and closest friends were Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus, who were princesses of their own respective planets, but lived on the moon with her at times.

Princess Serenity often explored Earth to see real greenery, even though forbidden to do so. On one of her visits, she met the crown prince of the Earth, Endymion, and they fell in love.

During the attack which caused the Moon Kingdom's downfall, Prince Endymion died protecting Serenity. In the manga, she committed suicide out of grief, while in the anime Queen Metaria killed both of them. Serenity's mother, the Queen, was able to seal away the evil which had inspired the attack, but everyone involved was killed. Before her own death, the Queen used the Silver Crystal to give her daughter and others another chance at life, hoping in particular that, this time, Serenity and Endymion could find happiness together. In the live-action series, it was Princess Serenity herself who destroyed the Moon Kingdom, after Endymion was killed during the war to keep the two apart.

Eventually, Serenity reincarnates as Usagi Tsukino in the 20th century. Usagi occasionally takes the form of Princess Serenity during the metaseries, often at climactic moments when more strength is needed than Sailor Moon can access. Usagi discovers her identity as a princess in Act 9 of the manga, Episode 34 of the anime, and Act 25 of the live-action series.

In the manga, while Takeuchi draws Usagi herself with white, yellow, and even pink hair, Serenity almost always has white hair. In the anime, both characters are always blonde. In the live-action series, she has black hair, just like Usagi, and it is worn straight rather than in pigtails. This emphasizes the ambiguity of her identity before it is revealed that she is Usagi.

At climactic moments, Usagi as Serenity sometimes gains a pair of functioning angelic wings. She does this during the final battles of SuperS, to save Chibi-usa when the two of them encounter Pegasus and Sailor Stars, during the fight with the fully-possessed Galaxia when she grabs the Sword of Sealing. It is unclear if this power comes from her past life, is Usagi's own power, or came from Pegasus and the Sword of Sealing.

The first two series dubbed by DiC refer to Princess Serenity as Princess Serena (although the original name is used at least once, to emphasize the similarity between Princess and Neo-Queen Serenity). In the last two series, dubbed by Cloverway, the name Serenity is used.

Princess Sailor Moon

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Princess Sailor Moon's uniform is considerably more elaborate than Sailor Moon's.

Unique to the live-action series, Princess Sailor Moon is a powerful combination of Sailor Moon and Princess Serenity, introduced when Usagi is "possessed" by the spirit of her former self. She originally appears after Queen Beryl held the Shitennou hostage in exchange for Mamoru. Silently furious, Sailor Moon transforms into Princess Sailor Moon and halts Queen Beryl using her sword.

It is obvious that Princess Sailor Moon is not the same as Usagi when she shows no remorse for the fate of the Shitennou (at least Nephrite's fate), and when she refers to Mamoru as "Endymion" rather than using his civilian name. She is also constantly angry, and tends to leave flaming carnage in her wake. In one Act, Usagi's friend Naru accidentally gets too close and winds up in the hospital for a while. Though smiling in most promotional material for the series, Princess Sailor Moon does not smile in the series itself until the very end.

Princess Sailor Moon states to Usagi during inner dialogue that she has no qualms about destroying the Earth if Endymion is ever taken from her, and later on even summons her own special minions to fight her friends, all bearing moon-shaped signs similar to hers. Usagi struggles to suppress her power in fear that she would eventually destroy the world, something that comes to light in an Ideon-like fashion for the series finale. Her internal conflict is the major conflict for the rest of the series.

Princess Sailor Moon has a sword, which also doubles as a harp with invisible strings. She plays this in sorrow while thinking of her lost prince, and is capable of using it to heal people and the land. Other than this, the exact effect of playing the harp is unclear, but much of the time it causes the power of her Silver Crystal to feed the power of Queen Metaria, accelerating the devastation of the planet. Using the sword in its capacity as a weapon, Princess Sailor Moon can deflect enemy attacks and can unleash devastating projectile attacks. She also has the ability to levitate, and to teleport.

Like other characters unique to the live-action series, Princess Sailor Moon's outfit was designed by Naoko Takeuchi herself. Her sailor outfit was considerably more elaborate than Sailor Moon's, and included pearls on her gloves and lace on her skirt.

Neo-Queen Serenity

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Neo Queen Serenity in the anime

During the second major story arc, it is revealed that Usagi, as Serenity, will eventually become the queen regnant of a new Silver Millennium called Crystal Tokyo, which will already exist in the 30th century. She is first seen in this future form in Act 16 of the manga and Episode 68 of the anime. Usagi learns that she will be given the title "Sovereign of Earth," and Mamoru will become King Endymion alongside her. It is stated in the anime that she becomes Neo-Queen Serenity after warding off a second Ice Age, though the specifics of this are never discussed. This incarnation is shown to be more mature than the present day Usagi, though she still has her moments—in Episode 104, Chibi-usa gives the Senshi a letter from the future, in which the Queen asks them to train her—the letter is simplistic and contains almost no kanji. Also, in Episode 146, Diana says that the King and Queen sometimes play sick to get out of things. Letters she sends though the Door of Space-Time to Chibi-usa are sometimes signed with a drawing of herself (and sometimes King Endymion) instead of a name.

According to Diana, Neo-Queen Serenity is Usagi's most powerful form; Eternal Sailor Moon is second in power only to the Queen. However, in the manga, Neo-Queen Serenity addresses the present-day Guardian Senshi, stating that after she became queen, she lost her power as a Senshi. Although this could also be translated as that she is no longer able to transform into Sailor Moon, for she does still demonstrate a considerable amount of power (eg: reviving the citizens of 30th Century Tokyo with the Spiral Heart Moon Rod and bestowing the Senshi with "Planet Powers" and her own past self with new "Cosmic Powers"). Furthermore, in the second arc of the anime she does not transform into Sailor Moon despite the fact that the other Senshi have already transformed, and that her kingdom was under attack. However, she is still seen showing great powers in a flashback where King Endymion of the future describes to the present day Senshi and Tuxedo Mask the great feats of Neo-Queen Serenity during the time she brought about peace. Sailors Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto refer to her as the "Messiah of Peace" or the "True Messiah" standing opposite the Messiah of Silence, Mistress 9.

She wears an altered version of the dress she wore as a princess, with the shoulder pieces omitted and a large, wing-shaped bow replacing the smaller one of the princess outfit. In the manga, Neo-Queen Serenity's dress is similar to her past form's outfit. She also wears a crown and new earrings. The crescent moon is always visible on her forehead, just as it was with her princess form. Her face and facial expressions are drawn to look more mature than the 20th century Usagi, but her iconic hairstyle is retained.

In the original anime and manga series, this form is the one that Chibi-usa considers as truly being her mother, while Usagi of the past is regarded as more of a big-sister figure, and many characters often mistake them for sisters. In the English-dubbed anime, however, "Rini" frequently refers to "Serena" in her civilian or Senshi forms as "Mama". Although aware of the situation, Chibi-usa rarely does this.

Special powers and items

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Sailor Moon's pre-battle taunt pose, an iconic symbol throughout the series: "In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

Usagi is not shown using any special powers and abilities in her civilian form. She must first transform into a Sailor Senshi by wearing a special device (usually a brooch) and shouting a special command, which activates the device. Her original transformation command is "Moon Prism Power, Make-up!" She gains a new basic transformation sequence for each of the five major story arcs. In her basic form, the command changes as she becomes stronger and more powerful and obtains new transformation devices, evoking "Moon Crystal Power" and later "Moon Cosmic Power". A transformation into Super Sailor Moon initially requires her to already be in Senshi form and to use an additional item (called the Holy Chalice/Rainbow Moon Cálice) as well as the command "Crisis, make-up!", but in the anime this saps her power, strength and energy. For the fourth story arc she gains the power and ability to transform directly into Super Sailor Moon via Moon Crisis, and in the fifth arc becomes Eternal Sailor Moon with Silver Moon Crystal Power in the manga, or Moon Eternal in the anime (and once in the manga). Most of Sailor Moon's anime transformations involve the use of shiny red or pink ribbons which come out of her brooch and form her uniform. Feathers and wings also figure prominently in some sequences, particularly the transformation into Eternal Sailor Moon. When her detransformation is shown, ribbons reappear and unravel from around her body and go back into the brooch. Usually the clothes she was wearing before she transformed reappear, but if her detransformation is forced, she may be left naked with the ribbons hanging loose around her body. She also has the Disguise Pen, which allows her to take on a human disguise by saying "Moon Power!" This is used very frequently in the first story arc, but is only mentioned once during the third arc.

As the protagonist and leader, Sailor Moon has the most special powers and abilities of any character in the series. Her physical attacks, usually one-offs and not always successful, include Sailor Moon Kick and Sailor Body Attack, as well as the occasional use of her hair pins as projectile weapons. In her very first battle, she cries in terror and the red hair pieces on her odango amplify the sound waves, doing damage to the enemy. Her odango ornaments can also be used to hear faraway sounds, although this is rarely ever used.

General magic attacks are her most common type of power and ability. In each adaptation of the series she can remove her tiara and turn it into a throwing weapon, which is her first major attack and which she continues to use on occasion far into the anime series. In the anime she demonstrates the ability to control the path of her Tiara, and once, to enlarge it and then shrink it around the enemy, ensnaring them. In the manga, a powered-up tiara enables her to attack with Moon Twilight Flash while in the live-action series this move requires an item called the Moon Stick and is her primary attack, though she also sometimes uses unnamed beam attacks. In the manga and anime she only uses the Moon Stick to perform Moon Healing Escalation and return possessed humans to their normal selves; Luna says in the anime that this item belongs to the leader of the Sailor Senshi. In the anime, she once uses her tiara to purify a group of possessed people, and in the live-action series she can heal others without any incantation.

One cannot always distinguish between healing or purifying powers and attacks, as the monsters of the day in the series are usually created by corruption of an object or person. Sailor Moon has one or two primary attacks per story arc, most of which require a unique rod or wand, and in the original anime, each of them causes the target monster to shout a phrase and revert back to what it was made from (or to dust). These primary attacks are: the first series' Moon Healing Escalation, the second series' Moon Princess Halation, the third series' Moon Spiral Heart Attack and Rainbow Moon Heart Ache, the fourth series' Moon Gorgeous Meditation, and the fifth series' Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss and Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss.

A handful of powers come up only once and in critical situations; often the common repeating powers in the anime are only one-offs in the manga. In the anime, Sailor Moon uses her transformation command when battling Queen Metaria and when turning the Ayakashi Sisters into normal women. She says Moon Cosmic Power when struggling to destroy Pharaoh 90, and at the end of the series uses Silver Moon Crystal Eternal Power to fight Chaos.

Sailor Moon can be temporarily powered-up by the other Sailor Senshi lending her their powers, as shown in the climax of the Sailor Moon R movie and multiple times throughout the series. She also often attacks in tandem with her future daughter, Sailor Chibi Moon, and, at critical moments, receives power from individuals such as Luna, Queen Serenity, her future self, Mamoru, ChibiChibi, and others.

By far, Sailor Moon's most important item is the Silver Crystal, which is the "holy stone" of the Silver Millennium. It figures significantly in the first, second, and fifth story arcs, as it is the proof of her identity as the moon princess of the Silver Millennium and the source of her power. It eventually evolves into the Silver Moon Crystal.

Development

In the initial proposal for the Sailor Moon series, each of the five heroines had a completely unique outfit. Eventually it was determined that they would wear uniforms based around a single theme, and Sailor Moon's costume concept was the closest to that which would eventually be used for all the girls. The original did have some small differences, including color changes, an exposed midriff, and ribbons around the gloves and boots. She also had a mask, which would appear in a few chapters of the manga itself before being discarded. These aspects of Sailor Moon's costume are shown in multiple pieces of early artwork, along with a gun and cloak, which were also parts of the original concept.

Usagi's signature hairstyle derives from a "good luck charm" of the artist's; in college, Takeuchi would put her own hair up in odango before difficult classes or exams. In the initial sketches, Sailor Moon had pink hair. By the intermediate stages of development, Takeuchi planned to have the character's hair be blonde in civilian form and change to silver when she transformed, but she was told by her editor that silver hair would be too plain for cover art. Nevertheless, stylistic use of differently-colored hair does sometimes appear in later artwork, and the concept of the heroines' hair changing color when transformed is used in Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.

Of all the Sailor Senshi, Usagi's personality is closest to Takeuchi's own personality at the time Sailor Moon was created.

Certain background details of Usagi's character were chosen symbolically—for instance, her Western astrological sign is given as Cancer, which in wikipedia:astrology corresponds to the moon. In reference to a popular Japanese belief, her wikipedia:blood type is given as O, supposedly indicating friendliness, optimism, and carelessness.

The kanji of Usagi's surname translate as "moon" (月, tsuki^?) and "field" (野, no^?). Her given name is in hiragana (うさぎ, usagi^?) and so its meaning is not inherent, but the word itself means "rabbit" and this is used as a pun frequently throughout the series, even in her hairstyle and possessions. Her entire name is structured as a pun, as the syllable "no" indicates a possessive, so that her name can also be understood as "Rabbit of the Moon." This derives from a Japanese folktale about the rabbit that is said to be visible in the Moon's face, much like the Western Man in the Moon. The English-language manga gives her the nickname Bunny to partially preserve this pun; many other localizations use the name Bunny as well. "Usagi" is not a common given name in Japan.

Similarly for the dubbed anime, "Serena" is probably at least in part a play on the word Selene, a moon goddess in Greek mythology who fell in love with a shepherd named Endymion. It also derives from the name of the series' moon princess, which is alternately either "Selenity" (from Selene) or "Serenity" (from the Sea of Serenity on the moon), both of which would be rendered in Japanese as Template:IPA-ja. In an early DiC promotional tape that advertised Sailor Moon to television stations, Usagi was called Victoria. Another preliminary name that appeared on Kodansha's English website in an advertisement for the series was Celeste.

Reception

Template:Expand section Sheila Rose Browning describes Sailor Moon as "one of the most popular and well-known manga characters in Japan."

Actresses

In the Japanese animated version, Usagi is voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi with a higher voice than Mitsuishi's natural voice. During the recording of the early episodes, Mitsuishi had to mentally prepare herself to play Usagi. While Mitsuishi had her appendix removed (episodes 44–50), Kae Araki played her character.

In the English dubbed version, Serena is played by Tracey Moore (episodes 1–11, 15 and 21), Terri Hawkes (episodes 12-14, 16–20, 22–82, and movies) and Linda Ballantyne (episodes 90–166). Jennifer Cihi provides the English vocals for Serena's songs in the series.

In the stage musicals, Usagi has been played by four actresses: Anza Ōyama, Fumina Hara, Miyuki Kanbe who played the character with a "cute and high voice", and Marina Kuroki. The numerous musicals are frequently grouped into "stages" according to which of these actresses was currently playing Sailor Moon.

In Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Usagi is played by Miyū Sawai, who also plays Queen Serenity in the Special Act.

Comedian Samantha Bee played Sailor Moon in a live-action production at the Canadian National Exhibition.

Trivia

• In the English Dub her name Serena can be traced back to the name Selene who was the Greek goddess of the moon.
• Kotono Mitsuishi, the actress who played Usagi in the anime, was sick during the production of episodes 44 through 50, and during that time the character was instead voiced by Kae Araki who later voiced Chibiusa/Sailor Chibi Moon.
• In Act Zero of the live-action series, before she discovered her identity as Sailor Moon, Usagi cosplayed as "Sailor Rabbit" to fight against jewelry thieves.
• Mamoru often called Usagi by the nickname "Usa-ko" (うさ子; meaning "little rabbit").
• Usagi was the only character to appear in all 200 episodes of the anime.
• The fact that Usagi disliked carrots was mentioned in the live-action, anime, and manga versions of the series.
• In early promotional videos for the English dub of the anime presented by DiC, Usagi was called "Victoria." On Kodansha's English website, she was originally referred to as "Celeste."
• Sailor Moon's voice actress Kotono Mitsuishi was sick between episodes 44 and 50 of the anime. The character was instead voiced by Kae Araki who later voiced Chibiusa/Sailor Chibi Moon.
• Her civilian given name (うさぎ; Usagi) means "rabbit," and her family name (月野; Tsukino) is as a homophone of the phrase "of the moon" (月の), making her name a pun referring to the Japanese legend of the "rabbit of the moon."
• Her pigtails give an impression of a rabbit's (albeit elongated) ears.

References

Usagi: very weak and always called crybaby, weakest of the sailor senshi but is the leader of the sailor scouts.