Usagi Tsukino (月野 うさぎ, Tsukino Usagi) is the warrior of love and justice, Sailor Moon (セーラームーン, Sērāmūn). Originally from a prosperous civilization on the Moon known as the Moon Kingdom, she was reborn on Earth and re-awoke as the leader of the Sailor Senshi.
Nomenclature & Etymology
Etymology
Usagi is written in the hiragana spelling of the Japanese word for "rabbit" (うさぎ, usagi)
Tsukino, The kanji of Tsuki (月) translates to "moon" while the kanji for no (野) translates to "field" or "civilian". The syllable no (の) also indicates possession, so while the literal translation of her family name could be "moon field" or "moon civilian", others may translate it as "of the moon."
Her full name, when said in the Japanese naming-order, Tsukino Usagi, gives two additional puns: No-Usagi (野うさぎ), meaning "wild rabbit"; and Tsuki no Usagi (月のうさぎ), meaning "Rabbit of the Moon". The latter derives from an Asian folktale about a rabbit that is said to reside on the Moon.
Nomenclature
Naoko Takeuchi included many occultist arts to finely detail each character. For Usagi, these things include:
- Birthstone(s):
- Pearl - Purity, humility and innocence.
- Alexandrite - Believed to strengthen intuition, aid creativity and inspire imagination.
- Moonstone - Love, passion, fertility and great luck.
- Zodiac Sign: Cancer - Tenacious, highly imaginative, loyal, emotional, sympathetic, persuasive; Moody, pessimistic, suspicious, manipulative, insecure.
Appearance
Civilian
Usagi has blue eyes and long blonde hair that she wears in odango.
The outfit that Usagi usually wears is a light blue middle school uniform (which later became her iconic everyday outfit), which has a blue sailor collar with two white stripes. She has a red ribbon on the front of her uniform, which she ties her magical locket to. She has a white school top with blue sleeves which have white stripes on, like the collar. In the summer, she wears a white top with short puffy sleeves. She has a blue pleated skirt with a blue ribbon on the back. She usually wears white socks and black cross-strap Mary Jane shoes.
Senshi
Sailor Moon’s original fuku consists of a white leotard with a blue collar that has three stripes on it, white gloves, light yellow shoulder pads, and a blue skirt, along with a red bow on the chest and at the back. She also wore a pair of red knee-high boots with a white border at the triangular top and crescent moons, gold earrings consisting of a stars with a crescent moon beneath, white-bordered red circular hairpieces (one on each odango), feather barrettes in her hair, and a choker with a golden crescent moon on it with a clip that is similar to her transformation brooch attached to it. Her brooch is worn on the middle of her chest bow, along with a mask that disappeared in Act 16.
Her tiara has changed a few times in the manga; at first it was a golden tiara with a red gem in its center. It later disappeared after she threw it at Jadeite in Act 3. A new one appeared in Act 4 which looked like the old one, but the gem in the center was bigger. After she met Sailor Venus in Act 8 the tiara changed into a crescent moon with a gem in the middle.As Super Sailor Moon, her fuku almost completely changed; she has two wing-like barrettes in her hair, her earrings are no longer dangling moons, but simply crescent moons affixed to her ears. Her choker is yellow with a red heart in the center. The stripes on her collar change from white to yellow and her shoulder pads are translucent and more wing-like in shape. The back waist bow becomes long, white and billowy with a yellow belt around her waist. However, the most obvious change is her skirt; it is now white with a yellow and blue border at the bottom. In the manga, there were more noticeable changes; her collar is blue in front and yellow in the back, the colors blended into each other over her shoulders. Instead of two different-colored stripes at the bottom of her skirt, the colors seem to blend into each other, creating a subtle transition from yellow to blue.
In this form, her fuku underwent the most radical changes; she no longer wears a tiara and instead has a gold crescent moon on her forehead, her earrings have a star at the bottom of each crescent moon. The choker is red with a dark yellowish orange heart and a gold crescent moon under it while wearing the same white wing barrettes in her hair. The collar itself is like her old one, but is dark blue with two gold stripes and in place of her shoulder pads are short solid pink bubble-like sleeves with a red band at the end. In the place of her front bow is a gold heart with a crescent moon at the bottom, with what appears to be four angel wings coming out of it. Her gloves are the same as before, but with a red v-shape border along with a golden star. Her skirt is attached to her top in a red v-shape with a crescent in the center of the v along with three layers on it; the top layer is yellow, the middle layer is red and the bottom layer is blue. Her back bow is replaced with a huge set of angel wings and two very long, thin red ribbons trailing down from them. Her boots are now knee length with v-shape borders with a crescent moon on them.
Main Page: Princess Serenity
Main Page: Neo-Queen Serenity
Personality
Usagi's is a bit selfish, and very much a crybaby. She is also considered lazy, clumsy, as well as an academic-underachiever. She was also a terrible cook, as shown several times during the series. She was also shown to be easily made jealous and possessive of Mamoru.
However, it was shown that she cared very deeply for her friends and family. She is very trusting, and believes that everyone has a better true nature; this could be seen as both a character strength and a character flaw at times. She did not believe in killing humans, even when they had been transformed into vicious monsters, and always sought ways to heal them instead.
Over the course of the series, Usagi matured a great deal although she was still prone to some childish behavior and bouts of silliness; she became a capable young woman.
Background
After rushing to school because she over slept, she spots some kids tormenting a black cat; putting band-aids on the cat's forehead. After Usagi chases the boys away, she removes the band-aids to reveal a crescent moon on the cat's forehead.
Later, Usagi received a poor grade on her exam and trys to toss it away. The crumpled up paper hit a man on the head, named Mamoru Chiba, who then began taunting her throughout the first half of the season.
It was later that night that the cat, named Luna, spoke to Usagi about the new enemy attacking Earth; the Dark Kingdom. To prove that it was not a dream, Luna gave her a magic brooch that allowed Usagi to become Sailor Moon. It was on her first mission where she met the mysterious Tuxedo Mask, and crushes on him from then on.
For a while, Usagi struggled on with school, as well as fight against the Dark Kingdom on her own -with the help of Tuxedo Mask. Eventually she was joined by school genius Ami Mizuno; a classmate of Usagi's who Luna suspected might be a youma. Ami was later revealed to be Sailor Mercury.
Usagi and Ami then continue to fight the Dark Kingdom's minions. Then Usagi meets Rei Hino, a teenage shrine priestess who went to a private school. She, like Ami, was a Sailor Senshi. The soldier of fire, Sailor Mars. They began hanging out together and Rei join Ami and Usagi as they continued to fight against the Dark Kingdom.
Sometimes Usagi would argue with Rei. The arguments would center around Usagi's laid-back attitude towards responsibilities or the rivalry of Tuxedo Mask's affection.
One day, Usagi was running late for school when she accidentally ran into a group of guys who began to pick on her. She was rescued by a new transfer student, Makoto Kino. While other students avoided Makoto, due to her history of violence in her previous school, Usagi kindly introduced herself, and Makoto shared her food with her. Makoto was revealed to be the Sailor Senshi of Lightening: Sailor Jupiter; and joined the three of the other Sailor Senshi.
Shortly after being introduced to Sailor Venus, Usagi is once again confronted by Mamoru. He apologizes to her for all the times he made fun of her. Seeing that he was injured, Usagi becomes concerned and follows him into a Dark Kingdom trap. Usagi was forced to transform into Sailor Moon to save her and Mamoru's life; who then revealed himself to be Tuxedo Mask. After he was seriously injured in a sneak-attack by Zoisite, Sailor Moon gained the Legendary Silver Crystal and was revealed to be Princess Serenity.
Tuxedo Mask was then kidnapped by the Dark Kingdom and Usagi fell into a depressed state; worrying about him. Once he was revealed to be alive but under the control of the Dark Kingdom, Usagi gained back her determination to save him. After thwarting many of the Dark Kingdom's attempts to capture the Silver Crystal, Usagi and the Sailor Senshi travelled to the North Pole. They aimed for a place known as D-Point, to defeat the Queen Beryl and save Tuxedo Mask. On their way across the tundra, one by one Usagi's friends are forced to sacrificed themselves to help her reach the base. After finally arriving at the Dark Kingdom headquarters, she had to fight against Mamoru, who was still under the enemies control. Eventually Usagi was able to break the hold over him, only to have him die in her arms when he was protecting her.
In the final battle, she faced off against the leader of the Dark Kingdom; using up all her strength and destroying it. She collapsed and the blast spread throughout the entire area, consuming everyone.
The next morning, Usagi woke up in bed, rushing to school with no memory of her time as Sailor Moon. The other Sailor Senshi and Mamoru are alive as well and have no memories of being Sailor Senshi as well.
| Live-Action Background |
|---|
| While running to school, a plush cat falls from the sky and lands on her head. She puts the cat on a rail and continues to run to school. It stands up and observes her afterwards.
Later when Usagi is home from school, she goes to bed to take a nap but finds the plush cat waiting for her. The plush cat moves and talks to her, leaving Usagi shocked and scared. It introduces itself as Luna and tells her she is a Sailor Senshi. It informers her that she must destroy a great evil, that can only be destroyed by a princess. Usagi thinks it's all a dream and goes back to bed. Luna then leaves behind a cellphone, and tells her to avoid the jewelry show at OSA-P, and leaves. After waking up Usagi goes shopping. While shopping, she gets the feeling that Naru is in danger and goes to the jewelry show. Luna sees her again and gives her the Heart Moon Brooch. Luna and Usagi sneak into the jewley show when Luna tells her to take a picture of one of the models. Using the cellpone, Usagi takes a secret snap. She is then instantly disguised as the model. Afterwards, she enters the show through the back entrance to the hall. The show finishes and Naru's mother comes on stage to steal energy from everyone there. Usagi appears and tells her to stop. However, Naru's mother -who was a youma in disguise- starts to attack her. Luna tells Usagi to transform using the phrase "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!" Usagi follows her orders and transforms into Sailor Moon for the first time. |
| Remake Background |
|---|
| In the first episode, fourteen-year-old Usagi is first seen sound asleep and dreaming of a princess and a prince. Her slumber is disturbed, however, as she is woken up by an alarm clock.
She realizes that she is late and hurries to get ready and leave. After leaving her home, she hurries to school and accidentally steps on a black cat. She picks it up and peels off the band-aids on its forehead. Usagi stares at the cat until she hears the school bell and leaves. In the next season; enjoying her first real date with Mamoru, Usagi is pushed aside by the collision of a young girl with bubblegum pink hair who "kisses" her boyfriend instead. She is even more shocked when the girl introduces herself as "Usagi" and demands that she hand over the Silver Crystal she has in her possession. Before she can get any more answers out of her, the girl runs off. When an entirely new monster appears, Usagi uses her new Cosmic Heart Compact to transform into her third evolved Sailor form. |
Senshi Info
Usagi can transform into a "Sailor Soldier" by wearing a special device (usually a brooch) and shouting a special command that activates the device. Her original transformation command is "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!" (ムーンプリズムパワー、メイクアップ! Mūn Purizumu Pawā, Meiku Appu!). She gains a new basic transformation sequence for each of the five major story arcs.
In the fifth arc of the manga, she becomes Eternal Sailor Moon with "Silver Moon Crystal Power, Make Up!" instead of "Moon Eternal, Make Up!".
As the protagonist and leader, Usagi has special and stronger powers than any of the other characters in the series. Her physical attacks, usually one-offs and not always successful, include Sailor Moon Kick.
One of her techniques is the "Ultrasonic Wave" (超音波, chō onpa), which involves her red hair pieces acting as an amplifier for her whaling.
Some attacks are were changed, added or made exclusive to certain version of the Sailor Moon series. The list below shows the changes as well as the inclusion or exclusion of certain ones.
Attacks
| Supersonic Waves | " | N/A | " | " |
| Moon Tiara Boomerang | " | " | ||
| Sailor Moon Kick | " | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Moon Twilight Flash | N/A | " | " | N/A |
| Moon Sparkling Sensation | N/A | N/A | N/A | " |
| Moon Healing Escalation | " | " | " | " |
| Sailor Planet Power | " | " | TBA | N/A |
| Sailor Planet Attack | " | " | TBA | N/A |
| Moon Princess Halation | " | N/A | " | " |
| Moon Spiral Heart Attack | " | N/A | " | " |
| Rainbow Moon Heartache | " | N/A | " | " |
| Rainbow Double Moon Heartache | N/A | N/A | " | N/A |
| Moon Gorgeous Meditation | " | N/A | " | " |
| Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss | " | N/A | TBA | N/A |
| Double Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss | N/A | N/A | TBA | N/A |
| Silver Moon Crystal Power Therapy Kiss | Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss | N/A | TBA | N/A |
| Silver Moon Crystal Eternal Power | Silver Moon Crystal Power | N/A | TBA | N/A |
| N/A | Sailor Teleport | " | TBA | N/A |
| N/A | Sailor Body Attack | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | Double Sailor Moon Kick | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | Moonlight Attractive Attack | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | Princess Star Attack | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | Princess Harp Healing | N/A | N/A |
Items
| Transformation Brooch | " | N/A | " | " |
| Disguise Pen | " | Teletia S | " | " |
| Crystal Star | " | N/A | " | " |
| Cosmic Heart Compact | " | Heart Moon Brooch& Lipstick | " | " |
| Holy Grail | " | N/A | " | " |
| Holy Moon Chalice | Eternal Moon Article | N/A | TBA | Eternal Moon Article |
| Silver Crystal | " | " | " | " |
| Tiara | " | " | " | " |
| Moon Stick | " | Moonlight Stick | " | " |
| Cutie Moon Rod | " | N/A | " | " |
| Spiral Heart Moon Rod | " | N/A | " | " |
| Moon Kaleido Scope | " | N/A | " | " |
| Eternal Tiare | " | N/A | TBA | " |
| N/A | N/A | Princess Sword | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | Princess Harp | N/A | N/A |
| Feather Clips | *N/A (Classic and R)
|
" | " | Certain Versions Only |
| Red Hair Pieces | " | " | " | " |
| White Feathred Mask (First Arc only) | N/A | *N/A
|
N/A | N/A |
Development
Usagi's signature hairstyle derives from a "good luck charm" of the artist's. In college, Naoko Takeuchi would put her own hair up in odango before difficult class exams.[1] 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. Stylistic use of differently-colored hair does sometimes appear in later artwork. Out of all the Sailor Senshi, Usagi's personality is closest to Takeuchi's own personality at the time that the series was created.[2]
Certain background details of Usagi's character were chosen symbolically. For instance, her Western astrological sign is given as Cancer, which in astrology corresponds to the moon. In reference to a popular Japanese belief, Usagi's blood type O, supposedly indicates friendliness, optimism, and carelessness.
Gallery
| Anime Gallery |
|---|
 Surprised after the transformation  Sailor Moon introduces herself to Balm in episode 2.   Sailor Moon with a cut on her face   Sailor Moon facepalms    Sailor Moon offers the confused Shakoukai coffee.  Sailor Moon and the spirit of Queen Serenity  Sailor Moon, Mercury and Mars after Nephrite's death   Sailor Moon being attacked by Evil Endymion 
   Holding Mamoru's hand  Sailor Moon trapped in her nightmares   Sailor Moon holding the dying Prince Demande  Sailor Moon using the Silver Crystal       
  Sailor Moon after destroying Pharoah 90, holding a reborn Hotaru  Season's eyecatch   Super Sailor Moon   
  Sailor Moon after switching her age with Sailor Chibi Moon  Sailor Moon attacked by Zirconia   .png "SMSuperS 163 (infobox).png (327 KB)")    
 Eternal Sailor Moon in the opening.    .png "SMSS 173 (1).png (689 KB)")    Movies
     Misc.
.jpg "Sailor Moon poses (background 1).jpg (126 KB)") Sailor Moon's first pose .jpg "Sailor Moon poses (background 2).jpg (36 KB)") Sailor Moon's second pose  Sailor Moon's third pose  Super Sailor Moon's solo pose  Super Sailor Moon posed with Sailor Chibi Moon  Eternal Sailor Moon pose
Moon Tiara Action  Moon Healing Escalation  Moon Princess Halation Moon Spiral Heart Attack Rainbow Moon Heart Ache Moon Gorgeous Meditation Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss Silver Moon Crystal Power
 Super Sailor Moon    
 Sailor Moon on the case for laserdisc 1 of the SuperS series Sailor Moon on the case for laserdisc 5 of the SuperS series Sailor Moon on the case for laserdisc 9 of the SuperS series Chibiusa, Sailor Moon, and Tuxedo Mask on the case for laserdisc 4 of the R series.  Sailor Moon on Volume 1 of the Sailor Moon R DVD collection. Sailor Moon and others on the cover of an anime DVD collection. Super Sailor Moon and the other Solar System Senshi on the cover of a DVD boxset containing all of the anime movies.   Sailor Moon on the cover of laserdisc 1 of the S series.   Sailor Moon on the cover of the first installment of the Talk Box series released on 2011
 _THISRES_277102.jpg "-large--AnimePaper-scans Sailor-Moon Usagi-chan(0.85) THISRES 277102.jpg (87 KB)") Sailor Moon on the cover of an official school calendar.  Sailor Moon and others on the official Sailor Moon calendar for 1995.  Super Sailor Moon and others on the official Sailor Moon calendar for 1996.  Eternal Sailor Moon and others on the official Sailor Moon calendar for 1997.
 Sailor Moon on the back of her R single  Sailor Moon on a Brazilian DVD promo card  Sailor Moon and others on an ad for Sailor Moon merchandise.  Super Sailor Moon with Pure Heart Crystals on official anime merchandise      Sailor Moon on a bonus card from a French DVD box set   The Inner Senshi and Sailors Uranus and Neptune on the Tuxedo Mirage / Warrior of Love single. |
| Live-Action Gallery |
|---|
Usagi transforming  Usagi with Rei listening to Minako's CD Usagi making a slam dunk Usagi crying after Minako's death Usagi with a jar of popcorn.
 Usagi as Sailor Rabbit  Usagi, Ami, Makoto & Minako after defeating Mio. |
| Remake Gallery |
|---|
    Sailor Moon standing along with Luna in the night.  Sailor Moon's tiara forming into her boomerang.  Sailor Moon performing Moon Tiara Boomerang  Sailor Moon posing after finishing her transformation. .png "Screenshot (746).png (769 KB)")        Queen Serenity's spirit conversing with the Sailor Senshi.    Usagi with Luna in the opening sequence     Usagi receiving her brooch from Luna  Usagi disguises herself as a nurse in episode 2       Usagi in her stewardess disguise in episode 3  Rei, Usagi and Ami in episode 4.   Makoto, Usagi, and Ami in episode 6   Usagi realizes that Mamoru is Tuxedo Mask.            Usagi in Prince Demande's dress Usagi dreaming of marrying Mamoru  Usagi, wearing her new high school uniform
                      
            Misc.
  Promotional image. .PNG "310b65c590c764af594822a7dfd558c3(Usagi Tsukino, Sailor Moon Crystal).PNG (943 KB)")  Sailor Moon holding the Silver Crystal in a key image.  Sailor Moon in the opening   The Inner Senshi and Sailor Chibi Moon on the official poster of the second anime arc.  Moon Healing Escalation  Moon Princess Halation  Super Sailor Moon alongside the other Solar System Senshi in the official art for the Sailor Moon Crystal Infinity arc     A picture of Sailor Moon on an advertisement for the MOON PRIDE CD.  Character designs for Usagi Tsukino and Sailor Moon in the August 2014 issue of Anime CUTiE  Sailor Moon on the first cover of the Blu-ray DVD.      The Inner Senshi in their civilian forms.   Usagi and Ami hugging Chibiusa Character designs for Usagi Tsukino and Sailor Moon in the August 2014 issue of Anime CUTiE   Usagi, Minako and Ami  A promo for aniON station |
Trivia
- In the original DiC English dub, Usagi is named "Serena" as "Serena" is very close in spelling and pronunciation to "Serenity".
- In early promotional videos, DiC used the name "Victoria"; and on Kodansha's English website, she was at first referred to as "Celeste".
- Usagi was the only one out of the Inner Senshi who was not part of the Three Lights fan club in the anime.
- Kotono Mitsuishi, the actress who played Usagi in the anime, was sick during the production of episodes 44 through 50; during that time the character was instead voiced by Kae Araki who later voiced Chibiusa/Sailor Chibi Moon.
- Usagi has mistaken alcohol for punch and has gotten accidentally drunk on two occasions: the first was in Episode 22 and the second in Episode 108.
- Usagi is the only character to appear in all 200 episodes and in all 3 movies.
- According to a translation of an anime fanbook, Usagi hopes to one day go to the Palace of Versailles.[3]
- In episode 4, it was noted that she wasn't very good at swimming.
- In Act Zero of the Live-Action series, before becoming aware of her identity as Sailor Moon, Usagi fought jewelry thieves as a vigilanty known as "Sailor Rabbit".
- Miyuu Sawai, the actress who plays Usagi, auditioned for the role cause her friends insisted on it.[4]
- Her lunar symbol is the crescent moon (☽) and is seen on various brooches, wands, rods, clothing etc. represented by Luna, the Roman goddess/Selene, the Greek goddess.
- In alchemy, silver is represented by ☽.
- During the confrontation with Death Phantom in the remake anime, despite being in her Sailor form, he refers her as the Queen of the Moon.
Reference
- ↑ From Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Shinsouban Volume 3.
- ↑ Sailor Games - Interview of Naoko Takeuchi at the San Diego Comic-con
- ↑ Translation of Usagi's anime profile from Dies Gaudii
- ↑ It is mentioned during the behind the scenes video before the series aired on television.