Usagi Tsukino's Life as Sailor Moon, Explained (2024)

Usagi Tsukino is the teenage protagonist of the epic magical girl shojo anime Sailor Moon. Long before she was a student attending Juban High School on Earth at the beginning of Season One, she was the princess of the legendary Moon Kingdom. Usagi undergoes a lot of character growth over the original anime's five seasons.

Not only does Usagi grow in emotional depth and maturity, but she also grows as a superhero. Evil entities have their eyes on Earth and its inhabitants' energy, and Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask, and her Senshi stand between the two factions. As the otherworldly threats evolve, so must Sailor Moon's powers and transformations.

Moon Prism Power, Make Up

Usagi Tsukino had not a single clue that she was meant for something more in the first episode of Sailor Moon Season One. Her biggest worry was flunking out her math test and finding time to play her favorite Sailor V video game after school. Then the moon cat Luna crashes into Usagi's life and tells her about her great destiny.

Luna gives Usagi her first transformation item: a magical Transformation Brooch that she wears on her school uniform bow. The Brooch flips open in Usagi's palm and her first transformation into Sailor Moon begins. Usagi has some basic but powerful abilities and attacks: her red odango shields can sense her friend Naru crying, she seems to have some increased agility versus her clumsy regular self, and her golden Tiara spins into a scythe-like disc against her enemies.

The Moon Princess Awakened

The mission that Luna gives Usagi/Sailor Moon is split into three parts. Sailor Moon needs to battle the forces of the Dark Kingdom. She must also find and awaken her fellow Sailor Senshi, and they must uncover the reborn Moon Kingdom princess, Serenity. Serenity is the key to restoring the Silver Crystal, which holds the power of the Moon Kingdom.

Everyone wants the Silver Crystal, both for good and bad, because of its vast abilities, and Princess Serenity is the one meant to wield it. Sailor Moon and her handsome ally Tuxedo Mask have many flashbacks to a hazy time in the past. It's obvious to the audience but not to the characters that Usagi's flashback memories are of being Princess Serenity and falling in love with Tuxedo Mask's past self, Prince Endymion of Earth, before the Moon Kingdom fell. When Queen Beryl and her minions gravely injure Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Moon's broken heart fully awakens her memories and finally transforms into her former self: Princess Serenity. Sailor Moon transforms into Princess Serenity several other times throughout the series when her strongest healing and exorcism abilities are needed most.

Moon Crystal Power, Make Up

Usagi got her first transformation from her mentor, Luna. Usagi's third transformation and first power-up comes from her mother's spirit, Queen Serenity. One of the Guardians, demons who gather energy for the Makai Tree, breaks Sailor Moon's Transformation Brooch. Queen Serenity gives Sailor Moon something new and more powerful to transform with: the Crystal Star.

The Crystal Star is a fancier version of Sailor Moon's first Transformation Brooch. This new item and transformation enhances Sailor Moon's strength, in general. It also gives her added healing powers, and the moonlight-based attack, Moon Princess Halation. Queen Serenity also gifts Sailor Moon the Cutie Moon Rod, which is an upgrade of the Moon Stick weapon.

Moon Cosmic Power, Make Up

Sailor Moon worries deeply over the next roadblock with her transformation abilities, dreaming that the other Senshi make fun of her when she tries to retire from being Sailor Moon. She can't transform without the light of the Silver Crystal that it no longer has anymore. The solution is for Usagi and Mamoru together, their energy summoning a new transformation item: the Cosmic Heart Compact.

The Cosmic Heart Compact holds a pink heart-shaped crystal. It comes along with a weapon upgrade: the Spiral Moon Wand. The Spiral Moon Wand is created by Usagi and Mamoru's combined love, too, when they join hands. Sailor Moon's powers are always a product of love, whether it's from a mother's love, romantic love, or her love of the universe.

Crisis, Make Up

Sailor Moon's next huge evolution is transforming into Super Sailor Moon. Forces for good and evil seek the Holy Grail throughout the third season. Three Talismans (the Deep Aqua Mirror, the Garnet Orb, and the Space Sword) combine to summon the Holy Grail.

The Holy Grail is an enormously powerful artifact, and it's the key to Sailor Moon's Super Sailor Moon Transformation. It also enhances Sailor Moon's powers. The Holy Grail is different from the other transformation items because Sailor Moon doesn't have to keep it on her person; it seems to have spiritual sentience and arrives out of thin air when she needs it to transform.

Moon Crisis, Make Up

Matrilineal power and tradition are a huge theme throughout Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon gets many of her key powers and transformations from her ethereal and loving mother, Queen Serenity, and her mother's delegate, Luna. Following tradition, Sailor Moon also takes her daughter along with her in her later transformations.

Chibiusa comes from the future where Usagi assumes her role as Neo-Queen Serenity, and she works closely with her mother. Sailor Moon's next transformation is tied directly to her daughter's joint transformation, using the Crisis Moon Compact and the Chibi Moon Compact. Both Senshi are in their Super form, and they gain new attacks to help defeat the Lemures.

Moon Eternal, Make Up

Sailor Moon has her final, and most powerful, transformation in the fifth season. Sailor Moon becomes Eternal Sailor Moon, who has the power to heal and revive the universe's worst foes, and rebirth the universe. Her uniform's colors are white, pink, red, blue, and gold.

Eternal Sailor Moon also bears angelic wings. Sailor Moon's Crisis Moon Compact evolves into the Eternal Moon Article with the planetary light of the Inner and Outer Senshi. Sailor Moon's healing powers are unparalleled in this final form, and it's this transformation that saves the universe from Mistress 9 and brings Hotaru back to life.

Usagi's Engagement

Usagi and Mamoru have a long and epic love story that spans through several lifetimes. No matter what happens, whether it's death or lost memories, the couple finds each other and falls in love all over again. Chibiusa's time-traveling gives Mamoru and Usagi a glimpse into their future together.

They know that one day Usagi will be Neo-Queen Serenity and Mamoru will be King Endymion and will watch over Crystal Tokyo. They're also destined to have two daughters. Mamoru takes a significant step toward that future in the fifth season when he proposes to Usagi with a beautiful pink crystal ring.

Differences in the Manga

Sailor Moon's transformations in the manga tend to be rather consistent, though nearly all the transformations are instant versus the anime, which has repeated, fully animated sequences with a musical theme. There's also less focus on using objects manually to start the transformation. Sailor Moon merely raises her arms into the air, shouts out her transformation phrase, and changes right away. The manga also has one extra transformation command for Sailor Moon: Silver Moon Crystal Power, Make Up. That transformation uses the Silver Crystal in the Eternal Moon Article for its power-up.

The Holy Grail is created differently in the manga versus the anime. Rather than coming from three Talismans joining, Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask, and Sailor Chibi Moon combine their hearts to create the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail is summoned once more when all the Senshi come together, and will not appear unless they are united.

Usagi's engagement ring is more present in the manga, especially in the art pages, and the official proposal scene is a bit more mature and intimate — and incredibly sweet. Mamoru also wears a simple silver engagement/wedding band in the manga. Both manga and Sailor Moon Crystal have an official wedding scene and plenty of wedding art. The manga wedding scene has Usagi in a lush wedding dress straight out of a 1990s bridal magazine, and she tells Mamoru that she feels that she's expecting their first child, Chibiusa.

Sailor Moon (1992)

TV-PG

Action

Adventure

A group of schoolgirls discover they are incarnations of super-powered alien princesses, and use their abilities to defend the earth.

Release Date

September 11, 1995

Cast

Stephanie Sheh , Kotono Mitsuishi , Kate Higgins , Aya Hisakawa , Cristina Valenzuela , Michie Tomizawa , Emi Shinohara , Amanda Céline Miller , Cherami Leigh , Rica f*ckami

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

5

Creator

Naoko Takeuchi

Main Characters

Susan Roman, Jill Frappier, Katie Griffin

Production Company

Toei Agency, Toei Animation, Toei Company

Number of Episodes

200

Differences in the Reboot: Sailor Moon Crystal

Sailor Moon Crystal is the manga-loyal reboot, and it includes all the major plot and power-up events. The major difference between the original Sailor Moon anime and Sailor Moon Crystal is there are virtually no filler episodes in the reboot. The most recent Sailor Moon Crystal movie, Sailor Moon Cosmos​​​​​​, goes beyond Mamoru's proposal and includes an actual, fairy tale-worthy wedding scene.

Sailor Moon Cosmos also has a proposal scene between Mamoru and Usagi that differs slightly from the manga. It's nearly frame-for-frame like the original anime proposal scene, except Usagi's engagement ring is silver and has a diamond solitaire rather than a pink heart-shaped gem. The Sailor Moon Crystal series transformation scenes are quite similar to the original anime, with extended transformation sequences (versus in the manga where the transformations are instant), though many fans were disappointed with the clunky CGI sequences which replaced the iconic hand-drawn original sequences.

Sailor Moon Crystal

TV-14

Action

Adventure

Usagi Tsukino is chosen to be a guardian of justice and is sent on a quest to locate a Silver Crystal before the Dark Kingdom invades the Earth.

Release Date

0000-00-00

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

4 Seasons

Creator

Naoko Takeuchi

Main Characters

Kotono Mitsuishi, Ryô Hirohashi, Kenji Nojima

Production Company

Kôdansha, Toei Animation

Number of Episodes

41 Episodes