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is a fictional character in the ''
Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The se ...
'' media franchise. She is a black cat who has the ability to talk, and serves as a mentoring figure for the
titular character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...
and her companions, the Sailor Guardians. Luna makes her debut in the first act or episode of each version of the series, in which she meets Usagi Tsukino and tells her she is Sailor Moon, and gives her a brooch that allows her to transform. Luna features prominently in the first story arc, and although she becomes a supporting character for the rest of the series, she keeps providing the Sailor Guardians and
Tuxedo Mask Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element f ...
with advice, her family relationships are explored alongside her partner
Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified with ...
and their daughter from the future Diana, and she even manages to transform into a human being at key points of the series (including the ability to transform into a Sailor Guardian in the 2003 live-action series).


Profile

Luna first appears in the series as a mysterious black cat with a crescent moon mark on the forehead that meets Usagi and tells her she is Sailor Moon, a Guardian destined to fight evil. Luna gives Usagi the mission to find her fellow Sailor Guardians and Princess Serenity, whom, unbeknown to both of them, is Usagi herself. The two of them meet Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino, and Makoto Kino, whom Luna assist to awake respectively as
Sailor Mercury is a fictional character in the ''Sailor Moon'' manga series created by Naoko Takeuchi. She is the alternate identity of , a teenage Japanese schoolgirl, and a member of the Sailor Guardians, supernatural female fighters who protect the Solar Sys ...
,
Sailor Mars , better known as , is a fictional character in the ''Sailor Moon'' manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. In the series, Rei is her sailor form's alternative human identity as part of the Sailor Soldiers, female supernatural fi ...
, and Sailor Jupiter, before encountering
Sailor Venus , better known as , is a fictional character in the ''Sailor Moon'' and '' Codename: Sailor V'' manga series written by Naoko Takeuchi. Minako is her sailor form's alternative human identity as part of the Sailor Soldiers, female supernatural fig ...
and Artemis, a male white cat that also has the ability to speak and who has been secretly providing Luna with details on her mission. Halfway through the first arc, Luna's backstory is revealed: in the Silver Millennium, she was a servant to Princess Serenity, sworn never to leave her side, as well as an advisor to her mother,
Queen Serenity The ''Sailor Moon'' manga series features an extensive cast of characters created by Naoko Takeuchi. The series takes place in Tokyo, Japan, where the , a group of ten magical girls, are formed to combat an assortment of antagonists attempting ...
. When the Moon Kingdom fell at the hands of the
Dark Kingdom The is a group of fictional characters in the ''Sailor Moon'' manga series by Naoko Takeuchi. They are the chief villains of the first story arc in every version of the series, and were first introduced in the first chapter of the manga, "Usagi ...
, she and Artemis were put into a long sleep and sent down to Earth to look after the Sailor Guardians, who would eventually be reborn there. Part of Luna's memory was suppressed, in order to make her task easier; she only knew that she was supposed to find and awaken the Sailor Guardians of the inner Solar System. Further details on Luna and Artemis' origin are revealed in the final arc of the manga, in which it is stated they were born in Planet Mau, home planet of the evil Sailor Tin Nyanko. Over the course of the series, Luna develops a close bond with Usagi, though early on it is on uneasy terms, as Luna often upsets Usagi by giving her advice she does not want, often leading to comic results. The whole Tsukino family adopts her as a pet, even when they are unaware of her true identity. In an anime-only storyline, Shingo Tsukino is shown to be reluctant to accept Luna at first, and his animosity is enhanced by an attack from the Dark Kingdom; however, at the end of the episode, he seems to be friendly towards her. Luna also becomes good friends with Ami. Luna and Artemis have an implied romantic relationship, which is confirmed when they meet Diana, who is their daughter from the future. During the ''
Sailor Stars The fifth and final season of the ''Sailor Moon'' anime series, ''Sailor Moon Sailor Stars'' or simply ''Sailor Stars'' (originally released in Japan as , and later as ''Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Sailor Stars'') was directed by Takuya Igarashi ...
'' anime, Luna also develops a crush on Kou Yaten, the male civilian form of one of the
Sailor Starlights The ''Sailor Moon'' manga series features an extensive cast of Fictional character, characters created by Naoko Takeuchi. The series takes place in Tokyo, Japan, where the , a group of ten magical girls, are formed to combat an assortment of ant ...
. In the live-action series, Luna is portrayed as a stuffed toy rather than a real cat. Usually she is represented by a
puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to move ...
, though CGI effects are used for complicated scenes.


Aspects and forms

Even when Luna does not have as many incarnations and special powers as the Sailor Guardians and Tuxedo Mask, she nonetheless manages to get some transformations, as well as a long lifetime virtually spanned between the Silver Millennium era and the 30th century.


Human form

The character is first shown to get the ability to transform into a human being in the manga special ''The Lover of Princess Kaguya'', which was released a month after the end of the third arc of the series. In this side story, Luna falls in love with a human named Kakeru. It is stated that Kakeru's wish is to meet Princess Kaguya someday. During the climax of the story, Sailor Moon uses the Silver Crystal to transform Luna into a human woman. At first, Kakeru thinks this woman is Kaguya, but then he notices Luna's crescent moon mark in her forehead and realizes it is her. This side story was adapted into '' Sailor Moon S: The Movie'', which marks Luna's only transformation into a human in the first anime adaptation. Luna's human form appears in the main story timeline in the climax of the ''Dream'' arc, after
Queen Nehelenia The are a group of fictional characters from the ''Sailor Moon'' manga series created by Naoko Takeuchi. They serve as the main antagonists of the fourth arc, called ''Dream'' in the manga, ''Sailor Moon SuperS'' in its first anime adaptation, an ...
's defeat, alongside Artemis and Diana, who also appear in their human forms. The three of them appear once more as humans in the final arc, when Tin Nyanko attacks them. In '' Sailor Moon Crystal'', the second anime adaptation, Luna's human form appears earlier during the climatic battle against
Queen Metalia The is a group of fictional characters in the '' Sailor Moon'' manga series by Naoko Takeuchi. They are the chief villains of the first story arc in every version of the series, and were first introduced in the first chapter of the manga, "Usag ...
, in which Artemis spots her praying on the Moon in this form.


Sailor Luna

In Act 27 of the live-action series, Luna gains the ability to turn into a young human girl, given the name , and is able to transform into , the "Guardian of Love and Small Things." Her uniform is colored in
yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In th ...
and
purple Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters ...
, along with purple boots with white fur atop of them as well as in the sleeves, a jingle bell instead of a brooch, and a cat ear motif in her dark blue hair. Luna's personality as a human girl is essentially identical to her normal self, except that she has a mild obsession with sweet foods and behaves more like a real cat, in that she runs from dogs and is easily distracted by toys. She also has heightened hearing and is able to move extremely quickly. Luna involuntarily transforms back into a
plushie A stuffed toy is a toy doll with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, stuffed animals, and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be c ...
under certain circumstances such as sneezing, taking a direct attack from an enemy, or falling unconscious. In the ''Special Act'' epilogue, Luna is the only one of the Guardians who is still able to transform without outside assistance. She is also shown living mainly as a human with Usagi's family, with whom she gets along quite well, though she still takes on her cat form when necessary. She is also shown to have taken on some of the personality traits of Usagi and her mother, such as acting in the same melodramatic manner when waking up in the morning.


Special powers and items

Luna's most distinctive power is her ability to talk like and communicate with human beings. This trait is only shared by Artemis and their daughter Diana. In all versions of the series, Luna provides the Sailor Guardians with many of their special items, particularly early on. The items always spring into existence, seemingly out of thin air, and it is unclear whether she is creating them herself or simply transporting them from some other location. Luna is also shown to be capable of handling machines, as shown when she accesses a secret laboratory below Game Center Crown, or an arcade machine in the first anime adaptation. The first time Luna manages to transform into a human is thanks to the power of the Silver Crystal; however, in subsequent appearances, she transforms by herself. Human Luna gains additional powers such as the ability to fly, to teleport herself and others, and is even capable of surviving in the vacuum of space. Luna loses all of these powers if the crescent moon mark on her forehead is hit by an attack, as shown when she, Artemis, and Diana are struck by Tin Nyanko, which renders them as normal cats. It is also stated by
Princess Kakyuu The ''Sailor Moon'' manga series features an extensive cast of Fictional character, characters created by Naoko Takeuchi. The series takes place in Tokyo, Japan, where the , a group of ten magical girls, are formed to combat an assortment of ant ...
in the final arc that Luna's Star Seed is almost as powerful as a Sailor Crystal. In the live-action series, Luna uses a special cell phone named Lunatia L to transform into Sailor Luna, by dialing 6-7-2 and shouting "Luna Prism Power, Make up!". In this form, she uses a special attack called "Luna Sucre Candy" which bombards an enemy in exploding sweets. Her main weapon is the "Moonlight Stick", which looks identical to Sailor Moon's "Moonlight Stick" from the same series and which she can transform into various other objects, such as a paper fan or a butterfly net.


Development

The concept of a talking cat guiding a schoolgirl to becoming a Sailor Guardian first occurs in '' Codename: Sailor V'', Takeuchi's manga series that served as the basis for its successor ''Sailor Moon'' in which Artemis appears before Minako to reveal to her she has been chosen as "Sailor V" to protect Earth. When ''Codename: Sailor V'' was proposed for an anime adaptation, the story was revisioned so that it would eventually become ''Sailor Moon'', and the talking cat role would result in Luna. Luna has blue eyes in the manga, the live-action series, and in the '' Sailor Moon Eternal'' film, but red eyes in both anime TV series. In the ''Materials Collection'', Takeuchi describes Luna's whiskers as long, and the character shares her page with Artemis, whom the author labels as opposite to Luna, though being her "other half". Luna and Artemis also share their page with an unused characer called "Diana the Moon Fairy", whom Luna does not like very much. This character never appears in the series, but her name was given to Luna and Artemis' daughter. Though Luna's age is never discussed in any version of the series, Takeuchi states in the ''Materials Collection'' that Luna's human form appears to be a year younger than Usagi and goes on to describe her as frail, as if she had recently lost a lot of weight. The author says her hair is the same color as her cat form's fur—blackish-gray—with two '' odangos'' in either side of her head. The character of Sailor Luna was designed by Takeuchi herself. One of the only times she appears in an outfit other than those Takeuchi designed—her Guardian uniform or her purple shirt and yellow skirt—is in the Special Act, where she serves as the flower girl at Usagi and Mamoru's wedding. Luna's name comes from the Latin word for Earth's Moon. Luna is also the divine embodiment of the Moon in the
ancient Roman religion Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, ...
.


Actresses

In the original anime, as well as the live-action series, Luna is voiced by
Keiko Han is a Japanese actress, voice actress and western astrologer. She sang the theme songs in productions such as '' Story of the Alps: My Annette'' and '' Kazoku Robinson Hyōryūki Fushigi na Shima no Furōne''. Han is a fortune teller of western ...
, the same woman who voiced
Queen Beryl The is a group of fictional characters in the '' Sailor Moon'' manga series by Naoko Takeuchi. They are the chief villains of the first story arc in every version of the series, and were first introduced in the first chapter of the manga, "Usag ...
. Her English voice actress for the entire series was
Jill Frappier Jill Frappier (born October 7, 1944) is a British-Canadian voice actress. Frappier was born in Lord Louis Mountbatten's stately home, Broadlands, in Romsey, England. She moved to Canada in 1967 to work as a British hostess at the British pav ...
, who portrayed the character with an English accent, described as "fairly old, not to mention cranky and British". In the live-action series, Sailor Luna is played by Rina Koike, who thought that she was going to play
Chibiusa is a fictional main character from the ''Sailor Moon'' manga series created by Naoko Takeuchi. She is one of the main characters of the series. She is introduced in Chapter 14, "Conclusion and Commencement, Petite Étrangere", first published in ...
until she went in for a costume fitting. However, Chibiusa never appears in ''Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon''.
Ryō Hirohashi is a Japanese voice actress affiliated with Aoni Production. She mainly voices young girls and young boys. She is known for voicing Miles "Tails" Prower in the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series. Biography Hirohashi was born in Niigata Prefecture, he ...
has voiced Luna in all media following ''Sailor Moon Crystal'', while
Michelle Ruff Michelle Ruff is an American voice actress known for her work in anime and video games. In her early voice acting career, she used her mother's name, Georgette Rose, as a pseudonym. Some of her roles include Fujiko Mine in '' Lupin the Third'', ...
has portrayed the character in the English dub of this version. In the stage musicals, Luna has been portrayed by Tomoko Ishimura (1993-1994), Misato Matsumoto (2018-2019), Hiroko Wakasa (2018), Yune Sakurai (2021; cat form), and Marisa (2021; Human Form).


Reception and influence

In the first official ''Sailor Moon'' character popularity poll, Luna was the eighth most popular character out of thirty eight choices. One year later, now with fifty choices, Luna was the twenty-second most popular character. Her role in the series has been compared to Rupert Giles' in ''
Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the 1992 film of the same name, also written by Whedon, although the events of the film are not consid ...
''. Writer Mary Grigsby considers Luna, along with the other cat characters, to blend pre-modern ideas about feminine mystery with modern ideas such as the lucky cat. In his review of
season one Season One may refer to: Albums * ''Season One'' (Suburban Legends album), 2004 * ''Season One'' (All Sons & Daughters album), 2012 * ''Season One'' (Saukrates album), 2012 See also * * * Season 2 (disambiguation) Season 2 may refer to: ...
episode "Loved and Chased! Luna's Worst Day Ever", Michael Mammano from ''
Den of Geek ''Den of Geek'' is a US and UK-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture. The website also issues a bi-annual magazine. History ''Den of Geek'' was founded in 2007 by Simon Brew in London. In 2012, DoG Tech LLC licensed ...
'' thought that a Luna-centric episode "would have come earlier in the show" and that very little of Luna's background is known, considering her pivotal role in the series. In a review of ''Sailor Moon Crystal'', Meghan Sullivan from IGN pointed that there are "weird issues" regarding Luna's role, particularly how the character "remembered being from the moon, but couldn't remember what the moon princess looks like?" However, on a review of a later act, the author praised the "growing friendship between Luna and Usagi", and how the latter defended the former when the brainwashed Mamoru attacked her. In her review of the season finale, Sullivan stated that voice actress Ryo Hirohashi "did an amazing job expressing helplessness and despair as Luna watched Metalia steamroll over everyone and everything back on Earth." In her reviews of ''Crystal'', Gabriella Ekens from
Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ...
stated that series was "poorly animated" and that "Luna sometimes looks more like a horse than a cat." In her review of the act in which Artemis and Sailor Venus made their debut, Ekens considered that "Artemis consistently looks more like a cat than Luna, sometimes even while they're in the same shot."


Appearances in other media

Luna is featured in ''
Nakayoshi is a monthly ''shōjo'' manga magazine published by Kodansha in Japan. First issued in December 1954, it is a long-running magazine with over 60 years of manga publication history. Notable titles serialized in Nakayoshi include '' Princess Kni ...
'' crossover video games ''Nakayoshi to Issho'' and ''Welcome Nakayoshi Park''. In a collaboration between ''Sailor Moon'' and
Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It has created a number of multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being '' Resident Evil'', '' Monster Hunter'', '' Street Fighter'', ''Mega Man'', ''De ...
as part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the ''Sailor Moon'' franchise, the Felyne cat companion assumes the form of Luna and wields Usagi's Cutie Moon Rod weapon in the ''Monster Hunter XX'' expansion of '' Monster Hunter Generations''. In the second episode of '' RuPaul's Drag Race: UK Versus the World'', American contestant
Mo Heart Mo Heart, previously Monique Heart, is the stage name of Kevin Richardson (born May 22, 1986), an American drag queen, reality television personality, and recording artist best known for competing on the tenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' ( ...
's look for the "Kitty Girl" runway theme was as Luna, which according to Andy Swift from ''
TVLine ''TVLine'' is a website devoted to information, news, and spoilers of television programs. History In late 2010, ''Entertainment Weekly''s Michael Ausiello announced that he would be leaving ''EW'' after nearly two years in their employ to est ...
'', was among the most incredible of the week.


Notes


References

{{Sailor Moon Anime and manga mascots Anime and manga sidekicks Comics characters introduced in 1991 Female characters in anime and manga Fictional advisors Fictional cats Fictional characters with slowed ageing Fictional extraterrestrial characters Fictional familiar spirits Sailor Moon characters Shapeshifter characters in comics Talking animals in fiction