Sailor Guardians

**Sailor Guardians** (セーラー戦士; Seera Senshi), alternatively called **Sailor Senshi** or **Sailor Soldiers**, are the leading female protagonists in all versions of *Sailor Moon*.

## Etymology

In Japan, many schools impose school uniforms on their students and one of the most common among female middle-school students is the sailor-suit (セーラー服, *seera fuku*). These *sailor* outfits have a distinctive collar and look. The main protagonists in *Sailor Moon* are school aged women who wear these *sailor* uniforms themselves and transform into super-hero forms (*Guardians*) who continue to wear sailor-suits like these real school aged girls - the franchise's original target demographic. Series creator Naoko Takeuchi attributes the idea for this motif to her editor Fumio Osano.

## Overview

Sailor Guardians are magical girls who are initially presented as super-heroes who use their powers to vanquish the forces of evil. They are each associated with an object in outer space. These celestial bodies include stars, planets, moons, asteroids, and comets among other objects.

Sailor Guardians, as magical girl heroines, have both civilian and magical identities. Before transforming into their Sailor forms, the Sailor Guardians look like average girls. They use transformation items to turn into their Sailor Guardian forms through a transformation sequence that grants her a uniform in her theme-colors and her kind of elemental power; these powers come from an object called a "Sailor Crystal" said to be within each of them. Accessories gained with their uniform, such as Sailor Moon's tiara, can also be used as weapons. Usually, during their initial awakening, the Sailor Guardians would have the astrological sign associated with their respective planet display on their forehead.

The franchise initially presents Sailor Guardians as heroines in a fight of light against darkness; however, their more noble characteristics are from the ideology Sailor Moon shares with her close protectors. The idea Senshi are inherently well meaning is gradually subverted throughout the series. This process is completed with the final villains being Sailor Guardians themselves who hold a different point of view. The manga takes this further and suggests Senshi are not inherently different from the villains they have been fighting and they spring from the same source.

Though Sailor Guardians are all humanoid women, others can have similar magical abilities. For example, Mamoru Chiba displays many parallels. He can transform into Tuxedo Mask (a form based on his Tuxedo school uniform), is associated with a celestial body, and has an analogue to a Sailor Crystal: the Golden Crystal.

## Powers

Each Senshi has unique abilities centered around a theme which ties back to their Guardian Planet or Star. For example, the Senshi of our Solar System's planets have powers related to each planet's name. Their names are tied to the Five Elements in Japanese and Greek and Roman Gods in English.

In addition to their elemental powers, the Guardians possess abilities common to all of them like flight, unnamed energy attacks, teleportation, and limited telepathic powers

## Uniforms and Power-Ups

Initially, each Senshi of the Solar System had her own somewhat unique *sailor outfit* with the same basic form but with unique customizations. They bear the hallmarks of a *sailor-suit* including a large collar, a skirt, and a large front bows. They have additional shared elements including tiaras, chokers, back bows, and brooches in their front bows. Only the outfit worn by Minako Aino during her time as Sailor V varies significantly from the others. As they advance to their *Super* and *Eternal* forms their uniforms become more similar with the later only differing in color.

They have many unique elements in their base uniforms. For example Sailors Mars and Uranus have different color front and back bows, Sailors Mercury and Pluto lack sleeves, Sailor Neptune wears a pendant on her neck, and Sailor Saturn has flower-petal shaped sleeves and a spiky, star-shaped, brooch on her front bow. The sub-groups show traces of theming: for instance, the Outer Sailor Guardians do not have stripes on their collars, while the Inner Sailor Guardians each have one, two, or three (in the manga). These initial uniforms are not static and change throughout the story with tweaks to them before they gain their *Super forms*. For example, most of their brooches turn heart-shaped when the Holy Grail awakens in the manga.

In their *Super forms*, their uniforms become more similar to each other but allow for some distinctions to remain, such as earrings and shoe-style. They have back bows with long ribbons hanging from them, heart-shaped brooches in the middle of their front ribbons, and chokers with a star on them. Their collars have a single line on them. They lack sleeves with a small transparent shoulder pads and long white gloves.

The *Eternal forms* replicate each other entirely in form and generally reach an ornate peak. They have star shaped brooches in their front ribbon and waist with stars also appearing as their earnings, on their chokers, boots, and tiaras. They have double layer skirts. They have bubble shaped, transparent, shoulder pads with white sleeves and long white gloves. When Sailor Moon takes on this form she gains wings and loses her tiara while the others do not reflect any of these two changes. This form never appears in the 90's anime for anyone but Sailor Moon.

When the Inner Sailor Guardians appear in the past Silver Millennium and the future 30th century they wear their original uniforms, without any enhancements.

The Sailor Quartet, although Sailor Guardians of the Solar System, don't follow the standard progression of power-ups. Instead, the Sailor Quartet's uniforms combine elements of those worn by the Sailor Team in their first forms and their *Eternal forms*. The outfits have one-layer skirts, belts, chokers, and back-bows like those on the Sailor Team's first uniforms, with boots, gloves, brooches, leotards, and tiaras the same as the final forms. Their shoulder pads reflect the style of the last outfits but in white. Each member has unique earrings.

Sailor Moon, whatever form she takes, always has a more elaborate costume than any of the others. Among other things, in her first form, she has hair ornaments; in her second, she adds a multi-colored skirt, and in her third, she gains wings and a three-layered skirt. She also gains minor, individual power-ups more frequently than any other character. Sailor Chibi Moon progresses similarly, down to the hair-ornaments, and her uniform as Super Sailor Chibi Moon is almost identical to her predecessor's. Chibiusa's *Eternal* form is more similar to that of the rest of the Sailor Team than to that of *Eternal Sailor Moon*.

Sailor Guardians originating from outside the Solar System generally have very different and widely varying outfits, but one single feature connects them all: the sailor collar.

## Sailor Crystals

*Main article: Sailor Crystals*
Sailor Crystals, or "true star seeds" in the 90's anime, are a core part of Sailor Senshi and are intrinsically tied to the enigmatic Sailor Power Guardians. The Silver Crystal is one of them.

## Sailor Princesses

*Main article: Sailor Princesses*
Many Sailor Senshi are also Princesses. This includes Princess Serenity and Princess Kakyuu among others

## Sailor Guardians of the Solar System

### Present

* Sailor Moon
* Sailor Mercury
* Sailor Mars
* Sailor Jupiter
* Sailor Venus
* Sailor Pluto
* Sailor Uranus
* Sailor Neptune
* Sailor Saturn

### 30th Century

* Sailor Chibi Moon
* Sailor Quartet
	+ Sailor Ceres
	+ Sailor Pallas
	+ Sailor Juno
	+ Sailor Vesta

## Sailor Guardians from Outside the Solar System

### Kinmoku Sailor Senshi

* Sailor Kakyuu
* Sailor Starlights
	+ Sailor Star Fighter
	+ Sailor Star Maker
	+ Sailor Star Healer

### Shadow Galactica

* Sailor Galaxia
* Sailor Phi
* Sailor Chi
* Sailor Lethe
* Sailor Mnemosyne
* Sailor Theta *(musicals only)*
* Sailor Buttress *(musicals only)*
* Sailor Animamates
	+ Sailor Iron Mouse
	+ Sailor Lead Crow
	+ Sailor Aluminum Siren
	+ Sailor Tin Nyanko
	+ Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon
	+ Sailor Pewter Fox *(musicals only)*
	+ Sailor Titanium Kerokko *(musicals only)*

### Killed by Shadow Galactica

* Sailor Chuu
* Sailor Coronis
* Sailor Mermaid
* Sailor Mau
* Sailor Cocoon

### Distant Future

* Sailor Chaos
* Sailor Chibi Chibi
* Sailor Cosmos

## Other Senshi

### Miscellaneous

* Sailor Luna *(live-action series only)*
* Sailor Astarte *(musicals only*)
* Phage *(anime only; fake)*
* "Parallel Senshi" *(Parallel Sailor Moon only)*
	+ "Parallel Sailor Moon"
	+ "Parallel Sailor Mercury"
	+ "Parallel Sailor Mars"
	+ "Parallel Sailor Jupiter"
	+ "Parallel Sailor Venus"
* Oppositio Guardians *(Sailor Moon: Another Story only)*
	+ Sin
	+ Nabu
	+ Nergal
	+ Marduk
	+ Ishtar

### Civilians Dressed as Senshi

* "Sailor Channel" *(manga only)*
* "Sailor Guccicci" *(manga only)*
* Sailor Tamasaburou *(anime only)*
* Sailor Rabbit *(live-action series only)*
* Sailor K *(live-action series only)*
* Sailor N *(live-action series only)*
* Sailor M *(live-action series only)*

### Imaginary Senshi

* Sailor A *(live-action series only; daydreamed by Ami Mizuno)*
* Sailor V *(Codename: Sailor V only; Hikaru as Sailor V - daydreamed by Artemis)*
* Sailor Chibi Usa Moon *(manga only; dreamed by Chibiusa)*

## Trivia

* Minako Aino or Sailor V is the original Sailor Guardian. Her first manga chapter spawned the entire *Sailor Moon* franchise and her manga series Codename: Sailor V has never been adapted into an anime, musical, or any other form.
* The Earth and Sun don't have official Sailor Guardians and instead have an unique arrangement. The Sun is instead represented by Prince Endymion of the Golden Kingdom. The Earth is watched over by those associated with two largest celestial bodies in the sky and holders of the Silver and Golden Crystals: Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion. It was on the Earth's surface where they met after Endymion moved there. Crazy Dave and his friends will meet them in Plants vs Zombies: the Sailor moon saga.