Astronomy and Sailor Moon
Well I'm sure I'm not the only one who's wondered were all the names on Sailor Moon come from. Obviously the main characters are based on the 9 planets in our solar system but there are other characters who's name come from more unknown aspects of astronomy. I tried to figure these out.
Sailor Moon (first season):
Tsukino Usagi (Serena) means Rabbit from the Moon which is a legend in Japan where there's a Rabbit on the moon that makes Mochi. In Aino Minako (Mina) Aino mean from love which makes sense since venus is the goddess of love. In Mizuno Ami muzino means from water. Mamoru (Darien) means protect, (what a hunky guy). All the other names have hidden meanings too but I don't have a dictionary.
Luna and Artemis, the two cats who are chosen to guide the Sailor Soldier are clearly named after moon things. Luna is just a different way of saying moon. It's a prefix for such words as lunatic and lunar. Artemis is supposed to be a goddess although he's a guy. Artemis is also related to the moon.
Endymion is a crater on the moon.
All the Dark Kingdom's warriors are named after some kind of gem or element. Queen Beryl is named after... Beryl which is a kind of Aluminum Berylium combination. Jadeite is named after Jade. Nephrite is a gemstone, similar to Jade. Those DIC guys missed the boat when the called him NephLite. I'm not sure what Zoisyte and Kunzite stand for but I'm sure there's a story. Empress Metalia, that big evil energy being controling the dark kingdom, is most likely named after metal.
Sailor Mars has two crows Phobos and Deimos. Phobos and Diemos are the two moons of mars.
Sailor Moon R:
Ail and Ann (Alan and Ann in english) is kind of a pun because when you say their names quick it sounds like Alien.
All of the Negamoon family are clearly named after gems. Rubeus is named after Ruby. Demande is named after a diamond as he is in the english show. Saphire is named after saphire. Esmeraude is named after and Emerald and that's what they call her in english.
In the Sailor Moon R movie Fiore is I the italian name for flower I think.
Sailor Moon S:
Kaolinite is named after Kaolin whichis a kind of clay used for china. It's a white clay so that would explain the greyish white shade she has to her skin.
I can't figure out any other name trick's in the S series.
Sailor Moon SuperS:
Ziriconia is named after zirconium which is element #40. Kind of like cubic zirconia
The Amazoness Quartet have interesting names. There's Bes Bes, Jun Jun, Cere Cere and Para Para. It turns out they are all named after asteroids in our solar sytem. Cere Cere is named after the largest asteroid Ceres. Jun Jun is named after Juno. Those two are pretty obvious. Para Para and Bes Bes have wierd names though considering odd japanese pronounciations. Since in japanese the sound for l and r are the same Para Para or Palla Palla is name after Pallas. In this same frame of mind the letter b and v are also used interchangebly in japanese (Sailor Bui) so Bes Bes or Ves Ves is named after the asteroid Vesta. In the manga they're all Sailors that have been controled by Nehelenia. In the anime they're just normal girls who were wandering around the amazon one day and fell upon a mirror of dreams which was containing Queen Nehelenia.
Diana, the daughter of Luna and Artemis, is named after the ancient Italien moon goddess.
Sailor Stars:
The super powers of the Starlights are based on stars. Star Fighter/Seiya's attack "Star Serious Laser" is actually "Star Sirius Laser" and is named after the star Sirius. Star Maker/Taiki's attack "Star Gentle Uterus" I think is supposed to sound a bit like "Star Gentle Arcturus" Arcturus is another star in our galaxy. Star Healer or Yaten's attack is "Star Sensitive Inferno" but I can't figure that one out.
Galaxia is named after Galaxy 'cause that's what she's trying to conquer.
Keep watching Sailor Moon. It's the best way to remember your planets.
The Sailor V Page of Funk!
Page created by: Adam Gardner (zz@canada.com) on: Mon May 4th 1998
This page was last modified on: Wed May 6th 1998
