Ian Andreas Miller. 30 September 2000.

Section One of Four

     An overwhelmingly large number of fans of the anime and manga series Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon have problems understanding the themes of Sailor Saturn and Sailor Pluto. Why is Sailor Saturn associated with ruin? Why is Sailor Pluto associated with time and space? Some have stated that Naoko Takeuchi, the creator of Sailor Moon, deliberately switched the themes of these two characters. Others claim that Takeuchi made a mistake when she created her characters. Unfortunately, there's the notion that many of the themes from Sailor Moon are based exclusively on Greco-Roman mythology. This is not necessarily true. The truth is that Ms. Takeuchi used mythology and astrology (specifically Western astrology and Eastern astrology) as inspiration. She borrowed many of the ideas and themes from these two sources and worked them into her story. Those who truly understand Greco-Roman mythology, Eastern and Western astrology, and the information pertaining to Sailor Moon should know why Sailor Saturn and Sailor Pluto are fine the way they are. It would be pertinent to look individually at these two characters and see how well their themes and associations fit mythologically and astrologically.

Sailor Saturn and Her Epithets

     Sailor Saturn () has been called the chinmoku no senshi (), which means "soldier of silence," in the Materials Collection. Her most common epithet is hametsu to tanj no senshi () which means "soldier of ruin and birth." Other characters refer to her as the horobi no senshi () and the hametsu no senshi () which both mean "soldier of destruction." The Japanese word hametsu can mean both "ruin" or "destruction." Never in the anime or manga is she called the shi to saisei no senshi () which means "soldier of death and rebirth," but her powers suggest the ideas of death as the result of ruin. Incidentally, in the Infinite cycle of the manga, Sailor Saturn makes it clear that she, herself, will not be the one who restores the devastated world. When She says "Along with death, there is always hope and rebirth. You will cause that, Super Sailor Moon." She brought down the Silence Glaive to end the world, but it is Super Sailor Moon's job to bring the world back to life. The only time that Sailor Saturn's powers suggests the concept of "rebirth" is when she performs Death Reborn Revolution to attack Master Pharaoh 90. The Kanji () associated with the words written in Japanese mean "death world revolution" or "death world change." The word in question is, of course, "reborn" which is the adjective form of the word "rebirth." Contrary to popular belief, this maneuver doesn't actually bring ruin to the world in the manga storyline. Sailor Uranus and her comrades explicitly state that the world doesn't end until Sailor Saturn has "brought down her Silence Glaive." The point is that, according to the anime and manga, Sailor Saturn's powers mainly have to do with silence and destruction. On the other hand, Sailor Saturn's Silence Glaive is often referred to as the chinmoku no kama () which means "scythe of silence."

The Ancient Roman Deity Saturn

     The reference to the "scythe" or "sickle" should bring to mind the ancient Italian agricultural and blight deity named Saturnus, better known as Saturn. Saturn's name means "the sower" and he was basically an abstraction that represented the harvest and its destruction. From what we know, he was Etruscan, not necessarily Roman, in origin. If a person was a farmer who lived in or around Rome in the fifth century BC, and his crops were being destroyed by pests or diseases, Saturn would be a god to whom he might wish to pray. Moreover, at around that time (fifth century BC), the Romans noticed that the wars between themselves and other Italian tribes had a devastating effect on agriculture. They established the festival called the Saturnalia and a temple in honor of Saturn.

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