Sailor Moon/Tropes Common to Both the Anime and Manga

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The tropes found in both the anime and manga versions of Sailor Moon.


Tropes A-F

  • Action Girl: Pretty much all of the Sailor Senshi, really. This is actually one of the main points of the series.
  • Aliens and Monsters: Throughout the series' entire run.
  • Aliens Speaking English: Or Japanese, as the case may be.
  • Alien Abduction: In the "R" season, Al and En. Later, Crimson Rubeus (who captures all the Sailor Senshi with the exception of Sailor Moon) and Prince Demand who captures Sailor Moon herself.
  • Amazon Admirer:
    • The Sailor Moon manga has Sailor Moon ordering Tuxedo Kamen to stay out of the battle with Kunzite, after they've discovered each other's mutual identities, because the Dark Kingdom general's too dangerous and she has to protect the Moon Princess. She gives him a kiss before running off to confront Kunzite and protect Sailor Venus, who has lied that she is the Moon Princess. Tuxedo Kamen gives a huge blush before running off after her, because he says nuts to staying on the sidelines.
    • One of the brainwashed ice skating instructors in season one becomes attracted to Makoto when they find out she's too heavy for him to pick up, but she lifts him without breaking a sweat, or losing her balance. Unfortunately, it makes him think that she's Sailor Moon, as Usagi is wobbling on her skates. The episode ends with him resuming his relationship with his skating partner, revealing that it was the youma's influence.
    • In Sailor Moon S, an episode goes into Haruka's backstory right around the time the Witches 5 target one of her former track competitors, a woman named Elsa. Elsa loved racing against Haruka, and introduced her to her violin friend Michiru. While Elsa regretted that Haruka retired from running, because she wanted a chance to win against Haruka fairly, she isn't bitter about losing. Far from it, she's happily wistful and hoping her former rival is well. It's hinted that maybe she wanted something more between them. Haruka is saddened and freezes when Eudial succeeds in taking Elsa's Pure Heart, though to Elsa's credit she had the sense to run for her life and dodge the first shot.
  • Amazon Brigade: The Sailor Senshi, the Amazones Quartet.
  • Amnesiac Lover: Endymion/Mamoru in season 2.
  • Anachronism Stew: The names of the planets in our solar system were given to them well into recorded history, and relatively arbitrarily at that. The senshi, on the other hand, have been around for eons. It really makes no sense that a senshi's powers would be based on the powers of a deity her planet was named after long after she came into being.
    • In the manga, all the Senshi have ancient castles named after moons belonging to their respective planets; the exceptions are Mercury and Venus, whose castles are named after American spacecraft sent to probe those planets in the latter half of the 20th century...
      • There's a theory which handwaves the anachronisms via Sailor Pluto and her father.
    • The Soldier's powers being based on the deity the planet was named after only applies to Jupiter's lightening attacks and Venus' love-based attacks. All the other Soldiers have attacks based on the Japanese name for the planet. For example, Mercury in Japanese is Suisei, which literally means "water star." Hence, Sailor Mercury has water-based attacks.
      • Venus and Jupiter DO have the name-themed attacks as well though. For Jupiter, it's plants. (Flower Hurricane, Coconut Cyclone) Venus has Metal(Venus Love-Me chain, Wink Chain Sword, Manga version of Love and Beauty Shock_.
  • Annoying Younger Sibling: Usagi's younger brother Shingo (Sammy in the English dub). Later, Chibi-Usa.
    • Shingo's more of an aversion really, most of their problems are caused by his sister and despite their bickering he's shown to care quite deeply for her. One episode even showed that he was fairly well-liked amongst Usagi's friends, which is impressive given their exasperation with her sometimes.
  • As Long as There Is Evil: Chaos. In the manga, as long as stars are born, Chaos will continue to be reborn as well. In the anime, it simply returns to the heart of all humans.
  • Art Evolution: One of the most notable examples is Shingo, who is one of the few characters to visibly age between seasons. He starts out drawn much like other children are in anime and manga with short limbs and very rounded features. Later on he looks (appropriately) more like a pre-teen, he's had something of a growth spurt (making him only slightly shorter than his sister) and his face has lengthened too. As a general example for everyone else, compare this screenshot of Sailor Moon herself [dead link] from Season 1 to this one from Season 4.
    • Part of this may be due to an undefined timeline. To complicate matters, the anime, which was produced over 5 years, seems to only really take place over the course of two years. Which two years is hard to say as an onscreen date, printed on a visible newspaper in season 1 says it's 1992, while a similar date in Stars says 1996.
  • Author Appeal: Naoko Takeuchi likes space (the entire friggin' concept), jewelery (most obvious in the villains' Theme Naming), and Cool Cars (Nephrite and Haruka).
  • Back From the Dead: Done as a reset button. This is downplayed in the anime, however, resurrection is one of Sailor Moon's principal abilities in the manga, so much so that the Senshi actually plan to have Sailor Saturn kill everyone on earth, just so Sailor Moon can bring back everyone but the bad guys. This is also played with at the end of the First, Second and Fifth story arc.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Usagi and Mamoru initially meet when she hits Mamoru in the head with a test paper, leading to Mamoru insulting her test score and Usagi screaming at how much she hates him. This progressed in both to rather heated meetings, though it became quickly clear the characters were developing an attraction to each other. This was drawn out much longer in the anime, and each encounter even had its own theme music. In both mediums, however, Usagi and Mamoru eventually realized they were not only Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, who share a more tender and heroic relationship in combat, but also learn they were lovers in the distant past as Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion. Unlike a great deal of these examples, the tension is actually resolved rather early in the series and the drama with the pair after that comes from outside forces trying to force them apart.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Most notably Mamoru as Prince Endymion in Season One. In the manga it's somewhat of a recurring theme for him. In the manga, the original Quirky Miniboss Squad of the Dark Kingdom also falls into this.
    • And in the manga, Amazoness Quartet and, in the final arc, just about every character from the present, except Usagi.
      • Notably, in the anime victims always manage to break out of this. In the manga, not nearly.
  • Butterfly of Transformation: The third season has Sailor Moon's Transformation Sequence heavily showing the butterfly motif while transitioning from Sailor Moon into Super Sailor Moon in "Crisis Make Up!" It even touches on the Butterfly of Death and Rebirth as well. This is used elsewhere, such as using the Sailor Soldiers' power themselves instead of using the usual Holy Grail Transformation Trinket, the latter is currently in the foe's hands.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "[Planet] [Something] Power, Make-up!" The dub usually just took off the "Make-up!", but sometimes you got things like "Moon Cosmic Dream Action!"
  • Calling Your Attacks: All the Sailor Senshi. They don't have to call out their attack names (we know that because they don't always do it), but they usually say the name. Theories on why vary.
    • The dub also gives multiple names to single attacks. For example Sailor Moon's finishing attack in R (Moon Princess Halation) has 3 different names in the dub:
      • Moon Scepter Elimination
      • Moon Scepter Activation
      • Moon Princess Elimination
  • Can't Catch Up: Poor Mamoru. Let's just say there's no Super/Eternal Tuxedo Mask. Not shockingly, he gets kidnapped/killed a lot.
    • Justified in that Mamoru is technically just a human while the senshi are Human Aliens.
  • Cast Speciation
  • Cats Are Magic: The characters find out they are Sailor Senshi with magic powers because two talking cats with crescent moons on their foreheads, Artemis and Luna, appear to inform them and guide them as they try to save the world. They can even make magical items appear by doing backflips.
  • Chastity Couple: Haruka and Michiru
  • The Chosen Many: It turns out there are Senshi all over the galaxy! Heck, there's even a Sailor Galaxia!
  • Clothes Make the Legend: The Sailor's fuku.
  • Collectible Cloney Babies:
    • In the manga, the Inner Senshi receive their transformation pens from playing the Sailor V game, before learning they are magical. The game dispenses them as prizes, and the girls pocket them, including studious Ami. They only learn how to use them later when youma attack them. When Usagi plays, she receives the Disguise Pen to reward her progress for making it that far. She thinks it's a cute prize, until Luna tells her what it really is. Makes sense when we learn that a computer replica of her mother Queen Serenity is revealed to be the brains behind Crown Game Arcade's system, and pulls a Heroic Sacrifice rescuing the Senshi from a brainwashed Endymion. Turns out Queen Serenity knew what would incentivize her reincarnated daughter.
    • Knockoff Sailor Senshi merchandise exists in the anime. Crane Game Joe, one of the seven beings that has a youma inside of him, uses telekinesis to win different dolls from arcade games. He makes sure to collect specific ones, even though they're for children. The DiC dub tried to write that he donates the toys to charity, whereas in the original he kept them for himself.
  • Combined Energy Attack: "Sailor Teleport", "Sailor Planet Attack"
  • Cosmic Forces Trio: The Sailor Starlight titles: Sailor Star Maker (Creator), Sailor Star Healer (Preserver), and the Sailor Star Fighter (Destroyer).
  • Crossover: See Rule 34. Cross with Dragon Ball Z.
  • Cryptic Background Reference: StarS is made of this trope. The anime teases you to a degree with the idea of there being countless senshi and planets out there; the manga offers you brief glimpses of alien worlds, including one where the inhabitants apparently have fish for heads. Not fish heads, fish for heads.
  • Death Is Cheap: One of Sailor Moon's powers is explicitly resurrection, so expect main characters to die at least once per storyline. This is more prevalent in the manga than in the anime; in the latter, Sailor Moon cannot really control this power, so the Senshi tend to die a lot less often.
  • Debut Queue
  • Deconstruction Fic: Has several notable examples including Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon.
  • Determinator and Plucky Girl: Usagi might serve as a poster girl for this trope. Other Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Mask have remarkable Heroic Willpower as well.
  • Did Not Do the Research: Despite his name, Tuxedo Mask wears full evening dress, not a (semi-formal) dinner jacket.
  • Disc One Final Boss: Beryl, Demand, Mistress 9 and Sailor Galaxia.
  • Dude in Distress: Poor, poor Tuxedo Mask. Does not help, that female Big Bads except anime Galaxia seem to be fixated on turning him into their lapdog. Manga Galaxia forces him to kiss her boots, then kills him again. Just to mess with Usagi.
  • Dress-Coded for Your Convenience: The villains always have a unique theme to their clothing style for each group. The good guys tend to look roughly the same.
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Sometimes, as in the S movie where Ami's water attacks (More specifically, attacks that result in ice instead of water) do nothing to the ice-powered villain; sometimes not.
  • Eleventh-Hour Superpower: Princess Serenity typically appeared during final battles.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: Looms as a threat every damn arc/season. Actually happens a few times. The last season involved this for the entire Milky Way galaxy. After the final battle, only Sailor Moon is left alive in both versions. (In the anime, the Starlights and Galaxia also survive; in the manga, Chibimoon and the Sailor Quartetto come from the future and also live.) The entire galaxy gets better, though.
  • Epileptic Trees: An in-universe example, when Chibichibi first appeared the inner senshi began spinning a theory the minute they met her that she was Usagi and Mamoru's second daughter from the future who got jealous from hearing about Chibi-usa's adventures in the past and decided to go back to have a few of her own, which was promptly Jossed by Setsuna showing up. The manga version has this jossed by Queens of the Silver Millenum only being able to have one daughter and Chibi-usa josses it being her daughter stating she didn't feel any connection to ChibiChibi.
  • Everything's Better with Princesses: There's Princess Serenity, and in the manga and English dub, the inner senshi are all princesses as well. The Outers are also Princesses in the manga. Technically speaking, every series of senshi throughout the galaxy has a true princess they protect.
    • The author often refers to herself as "Princess Naoko."
  • Evil Plan: Each Big Bad in the rotation has their own plan to drive their season but they all involve collecting Macguffins like Mana or Heart Drives from humans.
  • Extra-Strength Masquerade
  • Facial Markings: Common across many characters.
  • Fairytale Wedding Dress: The dresses in the "Wedding Day Blues"/"Dream of a White Dress" episode.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death: The cats in the manga, Sailor Venus in the anime. They get better.
    • Or did they? The cats are never seen again after their death scene in the manga.
    • Who are we kidding? All the deaths are rather unpleasant. Mercury falls into a volcano, for Pete's sake.
    • The manga had bad guys and innocent people alike are killed in rather horrifying manners. Flesh melting off of bones, anyone?
  • Fan Service
  • Faux Symbolism: In the Black Moon arc, Rubeus uses crystalline crosses to hold the captured senshi.
  • Five-Man Band: The Sailor Team.
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Usagi is ditzy, fun-loving and lazy, while her younger brother Shingo is much smarter and more responsible.
  • Foreshadowing: In both the manga and anime, Chibi-Usa wants to make a copy of a grail she once saw in her mother's room out of clay as a school project. In the manga she's actually called out on this and asked if it was something Sailor Moon used for an attack, but Chibi-Usa doesn't know. What she ends up creating eventually turns out to be a replica of the Holy Grail, the object Sailor Moon uses to become Super Sailor Moon.
  • Forgotten Phlebotinum: This happens in both incarnations early on.
    • In the first chapter of the manga, Sailor Moon can use her mask as a Spider Sense to see that Naru is in trouble. The anime adaptation of this story showed the jewels in her hair blinking and projecting Naru's cries for help, alerting her to the same circumstances. Despite how obviously useful this is, neither ability appears again.
    • The Disguise Pen only made a handful of appearances before being phased out early. The disguises themselves were usually not that necessary, though they did always turn Usagi into adult bodies, making it useful when she needed to slip into certain situations that required authority a teenage girl doesn't have. By Sailor Moon R (and the Black Moon arc of the manga), it was gone entirely as plots requiring this element were dropped. The Pen's final (and most memorable) appearence was in an episode in Sailor Moon S in which Sailor Venus used it to dress up as Sailor Moon.
    • Episode 5 of the anime showed Usagi using a skill called "Moon Tiara Stardust" that recycled the stock animation of her normal attack, but the effect allowed her to heal children possessed by the monster of the day. This power only showed up once, and by the time she was needed to heal humans again, she used the newly-acquired Moon Stick (which unlike "Moon Tiara Stardust" did actually show up in the manga.)
  • Four Is Death: The four Shitennou, the four Ayakashi Sisters, the Amazoness Quartet, and the four members of Shadow Galactica under Galaxia (in the anime only - the manga had more).
    • If one considers all Sailor Senshi in Sailor Moon S and Sailor Moon Super S not introduced before to be Outer Senshi, then Sailor Saturn is literally death.
  • Frilly Upgrade: Contributes to the image. Eternal Sailor Moon takes this trope to ridiculous levels. At least Super Sailor Moon looked nice.

Tropes G-M

  • Genre Popularizer / Trope Codifier: For the Magical Girl Warrior genre, though Cutey Honey and Devil Hunter Yohko predate it.
  • Giant Waist Ribbon: Averted (bows are too small to count) until the Frilly Upgrade kicks in.
  • A God Am I: Happens a lot, at least once in every season. Beryl, Metaria, Wiseman, Mistress 9, Nehellenia, and Galaxia all increase their power to god status. Of course, they each get defeated by the Sailor Senshi. Subverted in that (in the anime) Esmeraude tried to become a godlike queen, using a crown that Wiseman gave her. Had she realized Wiseman deceitfully rendered the crown to turn the wearer into a mighty dragon, she probably wouldn't have taken it.
  • Gotterdammerung
  • Grand Finale: Notably, the conclusion of the 1st arc was supposed to be this as the latter four seasons/arcs were not initially intended. The anime for example ends Season 1 with a Kill'Em All ending. Obviously everyone got better for Season 2.
    • The manga ending for the entire series is this in spades. It ends with Mamoru and Usagi's long awaited wedding, with all the main Sailor Senshi in attendance, sans Chibi Usa (unless you count the implication that she's already been conceived).
  • Gratuitous English: And Greek, Latin, French, and Portuguese. Most of the By the Power of Greyskull and Calling Your Attacks.
  • Hair Colors: Ami has blue hair. Setsuna and Michiru have different shades of green and Chibi-Usa's is pink (which is odd, when you consider that Mamoru is a brunette with blue highlights and Usagi is blonde). The hair colors aren't just metaphors either. Chibi-Usa's hair color is lampshaded several times.
  • Hand Blast: Sailor Venus' Crescent Beam emanates from her fingertip.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Many of them.
  • Hero Secret Service
  • Hostage for McGuffin: Attempted more than once by the villains. Sailor Moon always caves.
  • Hot Dad: Mamoru
  • Human Aliens: Lots of them, both good and bad.
  • Human Resources: Queen Beryl's evil scheme hinges on gathering human life force to feed to Queen Metaria. Badiane's Black Dream Hole is powered by the "Sugar Energy" of sleeping children. See also Anatomy of the Soul under the Anime section.
    • Depending on how liberal your view of the trope is, the harvesting of Heart Crystals in the second half of Sailor Moon S, or collecting the Star Seeds in Stars, may also count.
    • Might want to count Al and En's harvesting of human energy in R in there too.
  • Humans Are Their Own Precursors: The Silver Millennium was sufficiently advanced to make the Moon (and, in the manga, other planets of the Solar System) habitable, until there was a war that destroyed everything. Modern humans knew nothing about the old civilization.
  • I Just Want to Have Friends: Usagi is a Type A, while Ami and Makoto are Type B. See the page for details.
    • Also that Usagi/Super Sailor Moon is The Messiah, though that may not count.
  • Immortality Begins At Twenty: Averted; aging for magical characters is more of a matter of one's magical development than actual physical aging, which leads to Chibi-Usa looking like a kid at 900 and Sailor Saturn aging as the plot demands rather than on a timetable.
  • Intellectual Property Religion: Serenitism.
  • In the End You Are on Your Own: More than one series ends with Usagi as the last person standing and forced to finish the job herself.
  • In the Name of the Moon: The Trope Namer
  • Invisible Parents: Ami's mother, Minako's Parents and Rei's Father are never shown in the anime. They all appear in the manga at least once, though Minako's are restricted to the Sailor V manga.
  • Invisible to Normals: Nobody notices that Usagi looks exactly like Sailor Moon. Subverted in the manga, where (gasp) Usagi realizes that Haruka Tenoh and Sailor Uranus look exactly alike, and calls Haruka out on it. Of course, this was mainly because Haruka kissed her in both identities and Usagi realized they had the same kiss - and realized that Haruka wasn't a man. In the manga, many people put two and two together faster. A handful of people figure out identities on their own in the anime - Minako's volleyball skills out her to an old friend. And while Shingo never recognizes Usagi and Sailor Moon to be one and the same, Usagi still hides from him when she appears as Sailor Moon.
    • They do not really attempt to hide in the manga because they rarely appear in public (Sailor V and early-chapters Sailor Moon wore masks, so they could afford some open acting), and most of the villains can sense their powers anyway. Usagi and Mamoru actually recognize each other as early as in Act 3, though only Mamoru takes it under consideration. Later, it is implied that Motoki recognized the girls out of costume. The anime, on the other hand, was very, very bad about this.
    • On a smaller scale, Jadeite in the anime frequently shows up in front of Usagi without only the smallest attempt to disguise his appearance (i.e. wearing a hat or a pair of clear glasses)...and yet even after she's already met him, knows his real name, AND knows he's a bad guy, Usagi repeatedly fails to recognize him. He only attempts a proper disguise once (changing his hair and skin tone).
    • Similarly, Nephrite only changes his clothes when on Earth. In his case, he tries to keep a low profile and adopts a human identity in Masato Sanjouin. However, Usagi meets him in his first episode in his human identity and both she and Naru see him later as Nephrite and immediately recognize him as the same person. From this point on, the Senshi recognize him in his human identity - though strangely, they never tell anyone about the murderous millionaire living on the hill.
    • All four of the Ayakashi Sisters appear in both human identities and their actual identities in front of the main characters with the only difference being a change in clothes. No masks, nothing. Nobody ever recognizes them until they reveal themselves. Kooan in particular gets into Rei's shrine twice, in front of her and Yuuichirou, and Rei never recognizes her as Kooan - even when she's seen Kooan in a human identity.
    • The anime gives some implication that there's some actual Clark Kenting letting the girls get away with being seen by everyone but only rarely recognized, but its not consistent. This could presumably explain why the villains can keep getting away with running around in public without anyone spotting them.
  • Joshikousei - Sailor Moon is the patron saint of this trope.
  • Kewpie Doll Surprise
  • Kissing Under the Influence: Bad, bad Mamoru!
  • Large Ham: The characters particularly shine when they make their In the Name of the Moon speeches. A special award must be given to Professor Tomoe, who randomly shatters a test tube while laughing hysterically over his lack of sex life (complete with spinning camera and over-the-top music).
  • Late for School: Usagi. Always.
    • Averted in the second act in the Manga where she shows up on time for once, largely for the sole point of hearing about Ami's massive intellect.
  • Leotard of Power: Hence the numerous shots of the skirts flying up (all cut from the English dub of course).
  • Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Serenity (either one) and Queen Beryl.
  • The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: The villains set these up all the time. The main characters never think to get suspicious.
  • Living Memory: The hologram of Queen Serenity.
  • Living Relic: The hologram of Queen Serenity. Possibly Sailor Pluto.
  • Local Hangout: Game Center Crown, Fruits Parlor Crown
  • Magical Girl: Well, duh.
  • Magical Girl Warrior: Essentially spawned the entire genre and the archetypes used ever since.
  • Magic Music: In the anime, Al from the R series can summon his Cardians by playing a flute. The Three Lights' songs in the Stars season also allow them to send mental messages to people - with the side effect in the manga of drawing the attention of enemies.
  • The Woman Behind The Woman: Queen Metaria with Queen Beryl and Galaxia with Nehellina in Season 1 and Season 5 of the anime, respectively.
  • Meaningful Name: Many, many characters have meaningful names. This is probably the best site to visit if you want to find out what they are. [dead link]
  • Mid-Season Upgrade: Usagi gaining the Silver Crystal, which powered up her Moon Healing Escalation in the first season, and gaining the Holy Grail which gave her a Super Mode, powering up her Moon Spiral Heart Attack into the Rainbow Moon Heart Ache in S.
    • And in Stars, Chibi Chibi upgraded Eternal Sailor Moon's Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss attack to Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss.
      • A lesser example, the Inner Senshi gaining their Super Forms.
  • Mind Control Eyes: Seen in any brainwashed character, particularly Mamoru. Those who had their Pure Hearts stolen or were trapped by the Dead Moon Circus also had them until rescued.
  • Mind Rape: Dead Moon Circus did this to their victims in Super S. It's also how Chibi-Usa became Black Lady in R.
  • Mini-Dress of Power : A number of the female villains wear these.
  • Mirror Morality Machine: The anime has lots of them. Beryl's brainwashing pod for Endymon which failed to make him completely evil. And Wiseman's "dark energy bath thingy" used on Chibi-Usa to make her into Black Lady (Wicked Lady in the English dub), which again, was not absolute. Finally, existence-support bracers that Shadow Galactica members wear, which effect, surprise, surprise, also was successfully resisted by Uranus and Neptune - not that it helped them any. Although the latter might be straight Mind Control devices.
  • Mood Whiplash: The series has a tendency to switch between lightheartedness, melodrama, and just plain silliness at the drop of a hat.
  • Morning Routine
  • Mukokuseki: Yyyyyep. One of the really famous examples. Our main cast - consisting of two strawberry blones, a light brunette, a natural blue and a single raven-hair, all with huge, variously-colored eyes (most being blue) and very light skin tones - are, in theory, all totally Japanese in ancestry. Passing them off as Americans in the original dub was not particularly difficult.
  • My Dear Idiot: Mamoru creates the insulting nickname "Dumpling Head" (Odango Atama in Japanese, Meatball Head in the English Dub) for Usagi, but it later on becomes a term of endearment after they fall in love.
  • My Significance Sense Is Tingling
  • Mysterious Protector: Tuxedo Mask, Moonlight Knight in the Makaiju arc of SMR.

Tropes N-S

  • New Transfer Student: Makoto, Ami, Urawa, Al and En, and the Starlights.
  • Necessarily Evil: The Outer Senshi, especially Uranus.
    • They get better in the manga though. Uranus and Neptune not so much in the anime though, as seen toward the end of Stars where they KILL Saturn and Pluto out of neccesity.
  • The Nineties
  • Obstructive Code of Conduct: Pluto had three of them: 1: Don't let anyone use the Door of Space time. 2: Don't leave your post at The Door of Space-time. 3: Do not use your powers to stop time. Needless to say, she breaks all three of them.
    • Only one of them is a plot point. Her first death in the anime and Manga are the result of breaking one of the Taboos and Stopping time. The time and circumstances in the anime and manga differs. In the manga she does it to stop the villan from touch both Usagi's And Chibi-Usa's Silver Crsytals together. (Which as they are the same object from different points in time would have resulted in a huge paradox) and her death turns Black Lady back into Chibi-Usa and lets her become Sailor Chibimoon. In the anime she simply does it to stop the helicopter she, Uranus and Neptune are in from exploding, thus saving the lives of Uranus and Neptune but getting caught in the blast.
    • Some fanfic authors, perhaps tongue-in-cheek, add: 4. Do not flirt with King Endymion.
  • Odango Hair
  • Official Couple: Haruka & Michiru, Usagi & Mamoru.
  • Older Alter Ego: Early on, Usagi had a pen that let her age up and take on a disguise, such as a reporter, like older, traditional Magical Girls like Creamy Mami and Minky Momo. This was all but forgotten once other girls joined her, except it was used once in the R season.
    • Minako has a compact that serves the same purpose in the manga. It first appears in her own manga, Codename: Sailor V.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: Almost all of the Big Bads. In the manga, it's probably due to the fact that all of them are either the manifestations of the same being - the final Big Bad, Chaos - or under its influence.
  • Only Six Faces: Aside from the hair, most of the girls look alike given the art style.
  • Ordinary High School Student: The Sol Senshi. (Save the Few who aren't in Highschool/Jr. High: Pluto (college) and Chibi-Usa (elementary school)
  • Out-Gambitted: Sailor Moon, after trying to pull a Fake Defector at the end of the first arc.
    • Also the reason for Dead Lesbian Syndrome striking Sailors Uranus and Neptune a second time in Stars; they apparently didn't notice Galaxia wearing the very same brand of bracelet that can sustain you even after your star seed is removed.
  • Out-of-Clothes Experience: Pops up often, even remaining in the dub. Like in the transformation sequences, however, nothing explicit is observable. It is particularly relevant at the very end of the final episode of Stars, Sailor Moon spends the last episode completely naked and with wings on her back.
    • And you wonder why that season was never dubbed...
  • Panty Shot: A surprising amount of them. One time, it's not the viewers who get flashed, but Sailor Jupiter - something that rather draws her eye.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: No-one can tell that the senshi and their normal selves are the same people because they are wearing tiaras. The world must just be one huge Idiot Ball.
    • Fanon holds that the Senshi have a some sort of magical glamour. This is supported by the fact that even Senshi can't see through them without it being revealed to them: When Uranus and Neptune show up the other senshi spend a number of episodes in the dark about their civilian forms despite having met them. The reverse happens when Pluto shows up in her civillan form the first time, a whole arc after being introduced as a senshi, Usagi needs to be clued in as to who she is at first. The same thing happens between the Starlights and the Senshi of earth, though in the starlights' case they are disguised as men (but with the exact same giant ponytails...)
    • Subverted in the R movie by Fiore.
    • Keep in mind that most of the normal people who would see both the Sailor Senshi and their civilian identities are usually busy trying not to get killed by whatever's attacking at the moment.
    • Of course sometimes its so blindingly and stupidly obvious when the main characters are confused by each other's identities that a full-on Face Palm is guaranteed, as well as the words Epic Fail ripping from your vocal chords. Exhibit A, thankyou manga.
  • Parental Abandonment: Ami's father divorced and ran out on her mother years ago. Rei's dad is a high-ranking politician who dropped her off at the shrine after her mother died and only sees her for a monthly lunch date. Makoto's parents died some time in the past and she's lived on her own without legal guardians for a while. Uranus and Neptune already live together by themselves for unexplained reasons, and Pluto is a college student when she shows up in present day. Hotaru, on the other hand, is the daughter of one of the key villains in the 3rd arc, and her mother is dead. In the manga, Hotaru lives with the other Outers after her father's death at the hands of the senshi; in the anime, he loses all memory of his villainous activity and raises her until Pluto comes to get her in the last arc; afterwards she lives with the Outers to match up with the manga.
    • In the manga, Uranus and Neptune state that they have legal guardians/patrons.
      • Doesn't mean they have parents, though.
    • Don't forget, Mamoru's parents died in a car crash when he was six years old.
  • Pimped-Out Dress: the Moon Princess dress.
  • Playing with Fire: Rei/Sailor Mars
  • Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Hotaru, and this was after she had an age down.
    • Notably, however, Hotaru is physically younger after her age-up than she was intially.
  • Power Gives You Wings: Eternal Sailor Moon. Also in the climax of the 4th season in the anime. She jumps off a building to save a falling Chibi-Moon, the two of them collide with Pegasus and then sprout wings. She laters grows wings on her own during her "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight with Galaxia.
  • The Power of Friendship
  • The Power of Love: If you couldn't tell by the heart-shaped compact, the heart-shaped rod, which attacks by hitting enemies with a giant heart, this is what causes her upgrade in S.
  • Praetorian Guard: The Guardian Senshi (Usagi's soldiers and protectors); the Shitennou (King Endymion's guardians, before they defected to Queen Beryl's side), and the Sailor Quartet (Chibi-Usa's guardians, manga only)
  • Pretty in Mink: A few furs show up.
  • Princess Curls: Neo Queen Serenity, Chibiusa and Chibi Chibi.
  • Prophetic Names: "Tsukino Usagi" is a Japanese homophone for "rabbit of the moon" (the Japanese equivalent of the Man in the Moon).
  • A Protagonist Shall Lead Them: Eternal Sailor Moon/Neo-Queen Serenity, in 1000 years for the rise of Crystal Tokyo.
  • The Psycho Rangers: The Ayakashi Sisters, four of the Witches 5, and the Amazones Quartet.
  • Public Domain Artifact: The Holy Grail of course. Said grail is an equal-opportunity P.D.A. however, as it can lead to world salvation (like giving The Messiah her Super Mode) or The End of the World as We Know It (Like summoning a Big Bad Eldritch Abomination from another galaxy) depending on who wields it.
  • Puppy Dog Eyes: Usagi again
  • Put on a Bus: Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn (and Pluto to a lesser extent, though she's dead) in Super S; Chibi-Usa and Mamoru in Stars. Mamoru was put on a plane to be exact, a plane which was attacked mid-flight before ever reaching its destination. Lucky for him Death Is Cheap. Chibi-Usa gets caught in a paradox because of this and ceases to exist outside the memories of the Senshi. Even images of her in photos vanish. Only Mamoru's being put on a bus matched up with the manga, though it doesn't kill Chibi-Moon, just makes the future very unstable. She comes back at the end of the manga, but she's almost completely forgotten by the end of the anime.
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad: A requirement for villianous organizations. The Shitennou (Four heavenly kings) and The DD Girls both from the Dark Kingdom, The Ayakashi Sisters of the Black Moon Clan, The Witches 5 from the Death Busters, The Amazon Trio and Amazoness Quartet, both from the Dead Moon Circus in, Queen Badiane's unnamed Q.M.S. from "The Black Dream Hole", and the Sailor Animamates from Sailor Stars. Almost all are Bishonen or Amazon Brigades.
  • Really Gets Around: Every man on the planet seems to remind Makoto of her ex-boyfriend/sempai.
  • Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Averted hard. The girls are reincarnated princesses, their objects of power are things like makeup, jewelry, and sparkly unicorns, and they kick ass in pretty dresses. And this is never Played for Laughs.
  • Reed Richards Is Useless: Massively averted: in the future, Usagi resurrects the advanced civilization of her previous incarnation and changes the world forever.
  • Reincarnation: Everyone in the main cast, except Chibi-Usa and her cat Diana, who are the children of Usagi and Mamoru, and Luna and Artemis respectively.
    • In the manga, Pluto reincarnates backwards. She dies in the future, but her soul goes back in time and reincarnates some time period before the plot. She shows up after everyone comes back from said future. So presumably, she's going to wait until she dies in the future, and take her own place. At least this explains why she's not guarding the Time Door. The anime had less explanation of what happened.
  • Reincarnation Romance: Usagi and Mamoru.
  • Requisite Royal Regalia: Moon's first attack is throwing her tiara.
    • In Sailor Stars, after she becomes Eternal Sailor Moon and loses her tiara, she throws a frozen pizza instead.
  • Reset Button: Used as a plot element at the end of some season-long arcs
  • Roof Hopping: Tuxedo Mask is fond of this.
  • Rules of Orphan Economics: Sailor Jupiter's parents both died in a plane crash. How does a 14 year old survive on her own? Fanon often presumes a parental trust fund, but there was no mention of same in the show or comic.
  • Rule 34: Sailor And The 7 Ballz.
    • There's also a Doujin artist that goes by the pseudonym "Black Dog" that is famous among the Sailor Moon fandom for his Hentai art and stories.
  • Sailor Earth: Fanfic is crawling with these. Indirect Trope Namers. Canonically, there is no Sailor Earth as Mamoru has the Sailor Crystal representing Earth, and Word of God states only women can be sailor senshi.
    • Ironically, Naoko Takeuchi actually Jossed the possibility of extrasolar senshi out there during the time the manga took place when it turned out that Sailor Galaxia had killed all of them except for Princess Kakyuu, the Sailor Starlights, and those who had joined Galaxia's side. (The anime, on the other hand, implies that there are others she hasn't killed or converted yet.)
  • Science Marches On: Sailor Pluto's transformation call sounds pretty silly these days.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Multiple examples.
  • Sentai
  • Shojo
  • Shoo Out the Clowns: Both straight and inverted.
  • Shoot Your Mate
  • Shout-Out: Quite a few, including numerous references to Goldfish Warning
    • In episode 104, a handsome kid dances like Shin-chan in front of Chibi-Usa, Mr. Elephant included! Poor girl!
    • Many international viewers often scratch their heads at the white Arabian clothes of Moonlight Knight (aka Tsukikage no Knight in Japanese). He's actually a shout out to the very first Tokusatsu super hero, Moonlight Mask (aka Gekko Kamen), who dressed almost identically and was also a Toei franchise. He even had an anime made in the 1970s in which the uniform was even closer to the one used by Moonlight Knight in Sailor Moon (though that incarnation used a helmet instead of a turban).
    • One early episode features a shot of the inside of a visor used by Sailor Mercury. It was almost identical to the view seen by Robocop, including his prime directives.
  • Signature Device: The Sailors' transformation wands.
  • Slapstick Knows No Gender: Both the anime and the manga featured a great deal of physical comedy with the main characters, with Usagi as the most common victim of Amusing Injuries due to her cowardice in combat and her extreme clumsiness. Ironically, Mamoru, the only man in the least likely to be on the receiving end of slapstick humor (though he wasn't immune). The English dub of the anime censored a lot of it out for the first 65 episodes, though this eased off after the licensor switched.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Obviously on the idealistic end of the scale, very much so in the anime version. There it even actually comes up during mid-combat dialogues between Sailor Moon and at least two of the Big Bads, but, notably, said Big Bads throw their speeches about how the world is rotten and hopeless, when they are Brainwashed and Crazy/Possessed by an Eldritch Abomination.
  • So Last Season: Sailor Moon, without fail, will be defeated and get a locket upgrade within the first few episodes. The other Senshi usually just get a casual Mid-Season Upgrade instead.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Every new Big Bad
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Numerous thanks to the Theme Naming. Just look around this page for examples, and check the full entry there for why this page uses the names it does.
  • Stab the Sky: With scepters, not swords, but still fits this trope
  • Stealth Hi Bye: The Outers have a habit of doing this.
  • Step Three: Profit: Many of Jadeite's plans involved creating successful businesses out of nowhere. This theme was revisited occasionally throughout the series.
    • Often subverted, in that he (and/or the Monster of the Week) would simply use mind control to take over someone else's already established business.
  • Story Arc: Five of them.
  • Stupid Sexy Flanders: vis-a-vis Haruka
  • Superhero
  • Super Mode: Sailor Moon gets one during Season 3 from The Holy Grail with which to save the world from evil. Super Sailor Moon came with a butterfly motif, had a stronger version of regular Sailor Moon's attack at the time and usually transformed back into regular Sailor Moon not long after performing said attack. This version has an altered uniform with new hairclips, transparent shoulder guards, etc., but the most noticeable changes are the white skirt with blue and gold trim and the long transparent backbows. Compare Sailor Moon and Super Sailor Moon. Super Sailor Moon is slightly redesigned in Season 4; the butterfly motif is dropped and Sailor Moon is permerantly upgraded to S.S.M. Around the same time Super Sailor Chibi Moon debuted, with the same uniform as Super Sailor Moon except that the blue and gold fuku is pink and gold instead. The other 8 Senshi get Super Modes later on in the story, but the differences between their old and new uniforms are less notable than those of Sailor Moon/Chibi Moon. (i.e. the other 8 Super Senshi still have the same color skirts, etc.)

Tropes T-Z

  • Talking Is a Free Action
  • Team Spirit
  • Theme Naming: Several places, including most villains being named after gems; creator Naoko Takeuchi's hometown Kofu, Yamanashi is famous for its gem industry. Also, the Inner Senshi's surnames relate to their planets and/or powers:
    • Mizuno (Ami) = Water / Mercury (Suisei)
    • Aino (Minako) = The kanji used to represent "ai" refers to love. In Japan, the planet Venus is referred to as Kinsei, which literally translates into "metal star." Venus Love Me Chain and Venus Wink Chain Sword evoke her planet's association with metal.
    • Tsukino (Usagi) = Moon. "Tsukino Usagi" is a homophone for "Rabbit of the Moon" in Japanese. (While the kanji of her name literally translates into "moon field rabbit," no is also a particle that works much like the English of.) The "rabbit" refers to a Japanese folktale which states that a rabbit lives on the moon pounding mochi.)
      • Chibi-Usa shares the same name as her mother, Chibi-Usa was coined by Mamoru (and the author's Editor Osa-P in the real world)
    • Hino (Rei) = Fire / Mars (Kasei). Her full name is a Japanese homophone for spirit of fire, similar to one of her attacks.
    • Kino (Makoto) = Trees / Jupiter (Mokusei). Her powers are actually dually plant- and electricity-based, inspired by the planet's name in both Japanese and English (along with Greco-Roman myth how the oak tree was sacred to Zeus/Jupiter).
    • The Outer Senshi (minus one) also have names relating to their roles as Sailors:
      • Ten'ou (Haruka) means "Sky King" a referance Uranus, the ancient Greek sky deity and planet (Ten'ousei). "Haruka" means "distant".
      • Kaiou (Michiru) means "Sea King" a referance to Neptune or Poseidon, the Greco-Roman sea god and planet (Kaiousei). "Michiru" means "fill" or "overflow", perhaps relating to her water-based powers.
      • Meiou (Setsuna) means "Dark King" and refers to the god Pluto, and by extension, the (former) planet Pluto (Meiousei). "Setsunai" can mean "sad" or "lonely", both of which fit the character.
      • Tomoe (Hotaru) is the Odd Name Out, "Tomoe" being a comma-shaped motif popular in traditional emblems. Of course, The Reveal would lose some of its impact if the Mad Scientist's Sickly Daughter was blatantly named after the one planet that had yet to be represented. "Hotaru" means firefly, which perhaps hints at her true nature. However, her last name does use the same Kanji naming theme using the first character of her planet's name (土) -- it just uses a different reading.
      • A lot of people mistranslate Mizuno Ami as "friend of water", despite the kanji (no) used in most of the last names is "field", and Ami is written with the kanji for second beauty.
  • Theme Table
  • This Is Unforgivable!: Sailor Moon's improvised speech before the standard In the Name of the Moon always ends in "yurusenai", which means pretty much this.
  • Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Particularly glaring in the first season: it never occurs to the bad guys to collect human energy somewhere they won't be defeated by teenage girls in mini-skirts. Not so glaring in other seasons, where the bad guys were either based in Tokyo from the start, or were exclusively searching for something they knew to be in the area. (On the other hand, one main issue in the manga was that all the active senshi were drawn to town by the Dark Kingdom. No matter where they go, the Senshi would have been compelled to go there. Also, Sailor V fought bad guys in Greece and China in the manga, and England in the anime.)
    • Justified, in the manga, the Dark Kingdom says that they have looked all over the world for the Silver Crystal except in Japan.
    • Not to mention that this trope, in-universe, will indeed be taken to word, with the rise of Crystal Tokyo in the future.
  • Trio: Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Mercury for almost half of the first season. Also Sailors Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto once the three met up until the revival of Sailor Saturn. And The Amazon Trio. And the Sailor Starlights.
  • Victoria's Secret Compartment
  • Villain Teleportation: Present, but Subverted with The Witches 5, the only QMS to not use this method of transportation. Instead Eudial and Mimette [Not really the other Witches] would leave Dr. Tomoe's lab (using a car and walking, respectively) and reappearing aboveground in illogicial locations such as a pond or the middle of a furniture store.
  • Visible Sigh
  • Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World: Moreso in the anime.
  • We Are Team Cannon Fodder
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Haruka and Michiru think Usagi was too soft on Hotaru toward the end of the third season to effectively rule them in the future. And practically force her to proves her qualifications by kicking their asses. Which she does easily.
    • In the manga, it was Sailor Moon's turn to chew them out for one count of attempted murder (in connection to their being a Leeroy Jenkins and trying to kill Hotaru).
  • Wing Pull: Usagi/Sailor Moon occasionally sprouts wings, and in the Stars arc, Sailor Moon, the Starlights, Princess Kakyuu, and Chibi Chibi all sprout wings so they can fly to the center of the galaxy.
  • Winged Humanoid: A few monsters of the day, plus Eternal Sailor Moon, the Starlights, Kakyuu, and Chibi Chibi in the manga.
  • Winter Royal Lady: The Big Bad in the Sailor MoonS movie and Snow Princess Kaguya arc.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Hotaru/Sailor Saturn in the Death Busters arc, by way of Demonic Possession and destiny.
  • The World Is Always Doomed: In the manga, we know for certain that The Evil Behind All Evils is not destroyed and one day will return with unimaginable power (although there is still hope, thanks to modern-day Usagi). The anime has a more upbeat ending, but the final Big Bad will exist As Long as There Is Evil, so there is always risk of the old nightmare starting anew.
  • Write Who You Know: Takeuchi Naoko based Usagi's family off of her own. Several of her friends also provided influence on her characters and the setting is a dead ringer for the neighborhood she grew up in.
  • Xenafication: Considering that it's the Trope Codifier for Magical Girl Warrior, Sailor Moon essentially did this to the entire Magical Girl genre.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Chibi-Usa's pink hair, Pluto's and Neptune's green hair, Mercury's blue hair, and several villains with hair colors. Very few background characters have odd hair colors, with one major exception being Usagi's mother, who has purple hair. Others have colors that are fairly odd for Asians but are normal human colors: Minako and Usagi have yellow hair (Perhaps blond) while Haruka has an actual shade of blond or white in some Manga artwork. Princess Serenity also has white hair in manga art.
    • Chibi-Usa's pink hair is actually commented on by several charcters in the manga, remarking that it's clearly not normal, leading to the fanon speculation that everyone else's hair color is for the viewer only and they actually have rather normal hair colors. Takeuchi actually drew a series of images in which the senshi were all given normal hair colors. You realize quickly how difficult it is to identify some senshi without their signature hair...
      • Tricky indeed, but not too hard. Their signature hairstyles are largely still intact, and Mercury and Jupiter are still packing their signature earrings. Process of elimination handles it from there.
      • Here's the image in question if you're curious.
    • Half-averted in the live-action adaptation, where the girls only sport their original hairstyles when transformed - in civilian forms, they all have average hair colors and styles (except for Luna in human form). Even Usagi, whose odango are less pronounced and placed at the sides of her head.
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