Religion as the Driving Force of
Sailor Moon
But What Really Happened in the End Anyway?
Spoiler Alert!
The first couple seasons of Sailor Moon was incredibly popular in North America, though the later seasons were not as well received. This has led many people to only know part of the story, but since my thesis covers all of the story I will provide a brief outline of the story from Wikipedia (because they managed do the impossible and make it only a couple of paragraphs) so you are able to follow the examples and references better. It is important to note that this is biased on the manga series, because there is a lot of discrepancies between the North American and Japanese versions of the anime series the manga will act as the cannon for my project. I will be breaking this overview up into the five story arcs found within the series.
As Wikipedia exlains:
In the first arc, the group battles the Dark Kingdom. Led by Queen Beryl, a team of generals—the Four Kings of Heaven (四天王Shiten'ō?, lit. "Four Heavenly Kings")—attempt to find the Silver Crystal to free an imprisoned, evil entity called Queen Metaria. Usagi and her team discover that in their previous lives they were members of the ancient moon kingdom called Silver Millennium. The Dark Kingdom waged war against them, resulting in the destruction of the moon kingdom. Its ruler Queen Serenity later sent her daughter Princess Serenity, her guardians the Sailor Soldiers, their feline advisers Luna and Artemis, and the princess's true love Prince Endymion into the future to be reborn through the power of the Silver Crystal. The team recognize Usagi as the reincarnated Serenity and Mamoru as Endymion. The Soldiers kill the Four Kings, who turn out to have been Endymion's guardians who defected in their past lives. In a final confrontation with the Dark Kingdom, Minako kills Queen Beryl; she and the other Soldiers then sacrifice their lives in an attempt to destroy Queen Metaria. Using the Silver Crystal, Usagi succeeds in killing Metaria and resurrects her friends (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 2015: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon).
Black Moon
As Wikipidia explains:
At the beginning of the second arc, Usagi and Mamoru's daughter Chibiusa arrives from the future to find the Silver Crystal. As a result, the Soldiers encounter Wiseman and his Black Moon Clan, who are pursuing her. Chibiusa takes the Soldiers to the future city Neo-Tokyo, where her parents rule as Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion. During their journey they meet Sailor Pluto, guardian of the Time-Space Door. Sailor Pluto stops the Clan's ruler Prince Demand from destroying the time-space continuum, leading to her death. Chibiusa later awakens as a Soldier—Sailor Chibi Moon—and helps Usagi kill Wiseman's true form, Death Phantom (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 2015: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon)
topicstock.pantip.com
As Wikipedia explains:
The third arc revolves around a group of lifeforms called Death Busters, created by Professor Soichi Tomoe, who seek to transport the entity Pharaoh 90 to Earth to merge with the planet. Tomoe's daughter Hotaru is absorbed by the entity Mistress 9, who must open the dimensional gateway through which Pharaoh 90 must travel. Auto-racer Haruka Tenoh and violinist Michiru Kaioh appear as Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, who guard the outer rim of the Solar System from external threats. Physics student Setsuna Meioh, Sailor Pluto's reincarnation, joins the protagonists. Usagi obtains the Holy Grail, transforms into Super Sailor Moon, and attempts to use the power of the Grail and the Silver Crystal to destroy Pharaoh 90. This causes Hotaru to awaken as Sailor Saturn, whom Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna initially perceive as a threat. As the harbinger of death, Hotaru uses her power of destruction to sever Pharaoh 90 from the Earth and instructs Setsuna to use her power over time-space to close the dimensional gateway. Usagi, as Princess Serenity, then uses her power to recreate the planet (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 2015: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon).
Infinity
Dream
As Wikipedia explains:
The next arc introduces the Dead Moon Circus, led by Queen Nehelenia, the self-proclaimed "rightful ruler" of both Silver Millennium and Earth. Nehelenia invades Elysion, which hosts the Earth's Golden Kingdom, capturing its High Priest Helios and instructs her followers to steal the Silver Crystal. As Prince Endymion, Mamoru is revealed to be the owner of the Golden Crystal—the sacred stone of the Golden Kingdom. Mamoru and the Soldiers combine their powers with those of the Holy Grail, enabling Usagi to transform into Eternal Sailor Moon and kill Nehelenia. Four of Nehelenia's henchmen, the Amazoness Quartet, are revealed to be Soldiers called the Sailor Quartet, who are destined to become Chibiusa's guardians. They had been awakened prematurely and corrupted by Nehelenia (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 2015: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon)
Sailor Stars
As Wikipedia explains:
In the final arc, Usagi and her friends enter high school and are drawn into a battle against Shadow Galactica, a group of false Sailor Soldiers. Their leader Sailor Galaxia plans to steal the Sailor Crystals of true Soldiers to overthrow the galaxy and to kill an evil life-form known as Chaos. After killing Mamoru and most of the Sailor Soldiers, Sailor Galaxia steals their Sailor Crystals. Usagi travels to the Galaxy Cauldron to defeat Galaxia and revive her teammates. Joining Usagi are theSailor Starlights who come from the planet Kinmoku, their ruler Princess Kakyuu and the infant Sailor Chibichibi who came from a distant future. Later, Chibiusa and the Sailor Quartet join Usagi and company. After numerous battles as well as the death of Galaxia, Sailor Chibichibi reveals her true form as Sailor Cosmos. Usagi then destroys Chaos with the "Legendary Silver Crystal." Mamoru and the Sailor Soldiers are revived and return to Earth with Usagi. The series ends with Usagi and Mamoru's wedding, six years later (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 2015: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon)
Works Cited
“Project Wikimoon: Home,” WikiMoon, Last Modified April 7, 2015, http://wikimoon.org/index.php?title=Main_Page.
“Sailor Moon Wiki: Home,” Sailor Moon Wiki, accessed September 9, 2015, http://sailormoon.wikia.com/wiki/Sailor_Moon_Wiki.
“Sailor Moon.” 2015. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, last modified on Nov 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon.
Takeuchi, Naoko
2011[2003] Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, vol. 1-2. Naoko Takeuchi, trans. New York: Kodansha Comics.
Takeuchi, Naoko
2012[2003] Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, vol. 3-5. Naoko Takeuchi, trans. New York: Kodansha Comics.
Takeuchi, Naoko
2012[2004] Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, vol. 6-8. Naoko Takeuchi, trans. New York: Kodansha Comics.
Takeuchi, Naoko
2013[2004] Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, vol. 9-12. Naoko Takeuchi, trans. New York: Kodansha Comics.