Notes and Supplementary Information

- Anime: The animated Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn continuity.

- Manga: The graphic novel Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn continuity.

- The word character may be used in two different ways in this article. Depending on the context, character may refer to a written symbol that represents a word or sound in a writing system. In other cases, character may refer to an individual from Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn or classical mythology. Whenever I use that word, I try to be clear about the intended meaning.

- Hiragana: The Japanese syllabic script that is used primarily to write grammatical words and elements.

- Katakana: The Japanese syllabic script that is used primarily to write Western loan words, non-Japanese proper names (except for Chinese and Korean names), and onomatopoeic Japanese words.

- Kanji: The Chinese characters that are used to write the core of the Japanese vocabulary.

- Furigana: The small characters that are placed along the top or the side of kanji to indicate their pronunciation.

Serenity and Selenity Articles

Here is a list of some of the articles by other people that deal with the spellings Serenity and Selenity.

Information: Serenity vs. Selenity
This article claims that “Queen Selenity [sic] was often referred to as Selene, Goddess of the Moon by the people of earth,” which cannot be supported by the official Japanese sources.  Note that the article does not even bother to explain the ity part of Selenity.

What, Indeed, Is in a Name?
This article makes a vague statement: “in the Japanese language, the letter “r” is semi-interchangeable with the letter “l”, and vice versa.”  It is not explained what is meant by “semi-interchangeable.”  Again, this article does not explain the ity part of Selenity.

Infinite Hope: Usagi
The relevant article is in the “Statistics” link.  “In the manga, Naoko called her Selenity” is a flat-out lie.  That “This is because she intended Usagi to be the incarnate of the Goddess Selene” does not explain the ity in Selenity.  We know why “L’s are interchangable with R’s in the Japanese language” is not accurate.

Sailor Smokey’s Corner: Serenity or Selenity?
This article uses “Mare Sarenitas,” which does not mean a thing.  Notice how, again, there is no explanation for the ity of Selenity.  (The author of this article apparently did not know about the names Poupelin, Perle, and Ptilol.  “Pichirol” is just plain inaccurate and inappropriate.)

Quick Manga Facts
Nishi claims that “Both are correct but Selenity more so” backs that up because of the Selene idea, but she does not explain the ity part of Selenity.  How could Selenity be more correct if you cannot explain -- and you do not even bother to explain -- that ity part with the Selene idea?  “Naoko based the Sailor Moon series around Greek Mythology and wrote Usagi to be Selenity” assumes that Ms. Takeuchi wanted “Selenity,” but Nishi does not back that up.  If “in Japan, the L and R are interchangeable when pronouncing it” were really true, then Selene can just as correctly be Serene.

Her Majesty: Selenity
This article claims that “the figure of Queen Serenity is clearly based on Selene” is actually not a good argument in favor for Selenity.  It was the goddess Selene, not her daughter, who fell in love with a man named Endymion.  Again, how could Selenity be “more correct” than Serenity if you cannot explain the ity in Selenity? It would be like me saying that Neflight is “more correct” than Nephrite because the character in the anime has more to do with the light of the stars than with minerals.  The fact that I cannot explain the Nef in Neflight actually makes that theory inferior.

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