Part Three: Twenty Entries

     The title Messiah of Silence appears in the anime, but not in the manga.

     In the anime, the Messiah of Silence is Hotaru when the monster that went into her body controls her body.  The girl looks like Hotaru, but the real Hotaru’s mind is not in control of the body when the monster takes over.  It is no wonder people are confused!  Mistress 9, who is the monster in an older version of Hotaru’s body, is also the Messiah of Silence.  The Messiah of Silence is not the good Hotaru or her sailor soldier form (Sailor Saturn).

     Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna think that Sailor Saturn is the Messiah of Silence in episode 119. Michiru has a vision of scythe-wielding woman, but she is not sure about the identification. Haruka then wonders whether Sailor Saturn is the Messiah of Silence.  She says that they will have a chance to stop the destruction of the world if they stop Sailor Saturn from awakening.

     Later in that same episode, Tomoe talks about how it is a perfect decision to make the person on the throne the Messiah of Silence.  That person looks like Hotaru, and she is wearing an unusual outfit.  Near the end of the episode, Tomoe mentions that Hotaru is Sailor Saturn, and nobody else could be more suitable as the Messiah of Silence.  However, he does not claim that specifically Sailor Saturn, not the possessed and non-transformed Hotaru, is the Messiah of Silence.  The real Hotaru and her sailor soldier form are entirely separate from the monster that has been placed into Hotaru’s body.  The Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn S Nakayoshi Anime Album II uses the title Messiah of Silence to refer to Hotaru when she is sitting on the throne and wearing that Messiah of Silence outfit.  Neither the real Hotaru nor her sailor soldier form is referred to as the Messiah of Silence when that monster is not somewhere in Hotaru’s body.

     If the good Hotaru or her sailor soldier form were the real Messiah of Silence, then the good Hotaru or her sailor soldier form would want to help the Death Busters achieve their goal.  However, it has been established that the Messiah of Silence is on the Death Busters’ side, but there is no indication that specifically the good Hotaru and her sailor soldier form are on the Death Busters’ side.  In episode 125, Sailor Saturn goes off to attack Pharaoh 90 so that she can save the world from the Silence that Pharaoh 90 wants to bring about.

     After the Messiah of Silence takes Chibi Moon’s Pure Heart in episode 123, the body that she is using (the body of Hotaru) changes into an older version of itself.  The Messiah of Silence calls herself the “Messiah of Silence, Mistress 9.”  Sailor Neptune tells us that Mistress 9 is not Sailor Saturn.  Later, it becomes clear that the good Hotaru and Mistress 9 are two very different individuals.  After Sailor Saturn finally awakens, nobody thinks of her as the Messiah of Silence.

     The Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn Original Picture Collection III contains a section that says “This is one of the messiahs, Sailor Saturn.”  That sentence is vague, and it does not say that Sailor Saturn is the Messiah of Silence.  “Messiah of Silence” does not appear in that illustration book or in the manga books themselves, so to say that Sailor Saturn is the Messiah of Silence is to make an equivocation on “one of the messiahs.”

     It is true that “Sailormoon,” “Sailormercury,” et cetera appear on many of the Japanese sources, but other Japanese sources show “Sailor Moon,” “Sailor Mercury,” et cetera.  There is one piece of merchandise that shows “PRETTY SOLDIER SAILOR MOON.”  The table of contents page of Japanese manga volume four shows “Sailor Mercury” and “Sailor Jupiter.”  “Sailor Mers” appears, but that is obviously a misspelling.  To say that the misspelling somehow invalidates the style that the other two names are written in is to commit the hasty generalization fallacy.  The “Sailor Mers” misspelling is corrected later in that book as “Sailormars.”  In other parts of that book, the other sailor soldier names can be seen as “Sailormercury” and “Sailorjupiter.”  Furthermore, the table of contents page of Japanese volume five shows “Sailor Venus” and “Sailor Pluto.”  The interchangeability seems to indicate that it really does not matter whether there are spaces used or not.

     In later volumes, when the sailor soldier names are written in Roman letters, there usually are no spaces between the individual words.  To suggest that the “Sailor Moon” spelling no longer applies anymore is, again, to commit the hasty generalization fallacy.  “Sailor Moon” appears once in volume eighteen (as in “Happy Barry ‘SAILOR MOON.’”).  That also appears on the box of a puzzle.  Moreover, it should be understood that providing examples that show “Sailormoon” is not the same as showing that the “Sailor Moon” spelling is incorrect.  When one provides such examples, he or she is actually showing that the “Sailormoon” spelling has been used.

     It has been said that the only correct way to write the sailor soldier name of the main character is by using the katakana characters Sr Mn.  However, such an idea is etymological hair-splitting.  The katakana characters approximate the two English words sailor and moon.  We know that Ms. Takeuchi was referring to those two individual words because the main character wears a sailor suit.  The character also represents Earth’s moon.  Since they are English words, it is not wrong to follow English spelling rules when writing them.

     Some fans use the “Sailor Moon” spelling to refer to the English versions of the anime and manga, and use the “Sailormoon” spelling to refer to the original Japanese versions.  The English versions show only “Sailor Moon,” but the original Japanese versions show either “Sailor Moon” or “Sailormoon.”

     Sometimes fans use the spelling “Sailormoon” refer to the original Japanese anime and manga, and they use the spelling “Sailor Moon” to refer to the main character.  Although fans are free to engage in such a practice, it is actually a distinction without a difference.  The name of the series refers to the character.  Sailor Moon, or Sailormoon, is the beautiful girl soldier (or the pretty soldier).

     The katakana characters that Ms. Takeuchi used for the name of that parody maneuver are Sh Kurmu Sand.  The name is really Chou Cream Sundae.  The term chou refers to a pastry that is filled with cream or custard.

     There are several problems with that analogy.  Usagi and Mamoru have a heterosexual relationship, and the argument is trying to show that Hotaru and Chibi Usa are in a homosexual relationship.  If Hotaru said, “Don’t you hold hands with Michiru-mama” to Haruka, or “Don’t you hold hands with Haruka-papa” to Michiru, then an analogy involving Hotaru and Chibi Usa might have been more appropriate.  We know that Haruka and Michiru are in a homosexual relationship.  However, there are reasons that such an analogy would not be a good one.

     Mamoru is about to propose to Usagi, and those two are going to get married.  There is no indication that Hotaru and Chibi Usa are going to be married any time soon.  Besides, Hotaru and Chibi Usa still are young children physically and psychologically.  (Chibi Usa may be more than 900 years old, but she acts and looks like a child.)  They both still go to elementary school!  Usagi and Mamoru are physically and psychologically more mature.  Usagi attends high school and Mamoru is getting ready to go to Harvard.

     It is a good idea to examine what Hotaru is responding to when she makes her comment.  Usagi criticizes Hotaru and Chibi Usa because they are holding hands: “Holding hands at this unearthly hour...”  Then Hotaru responds by saying, “Well, don’t you hold hands with Mamo-chan?”  Usagi draws attention to what the two younger girls are doing, and Hotaru points out that even Usagi herself holds another person’s hands.

     Fans who think that Hotaru and Chibi Usa are homosexuals also use the cover of the Original Picture Collection Volume IV as evidence for their claim.  Those fans say that Hotaru is grabbing Chibi Usa’s chest.  Moreover, the two girls have their arms around each other.  Hotaru may have her hand over Chibi Usa’s chest, but it is not known how forcefully and how firmly Hotaru is holding her hand.  Incidentally, Michiru and Haruka, two characters who really are homosexual, have their backs turned to each other.  We also do not see Haruka and Michiru touching each other with their hands.  If two characters holding each other with their hands are trying to show that they are homosexuals, why are not Haruka and Michiru holding each other in that way?  If someone wishes to think that the picture is an erotic one, and he or she wishes to think that any of the characters are homosexual, there is no reason to choose only Hotaru, Chibi Usa, Haruka, and Michiru.  All ten girls can be seen as loving each other homosexually.

     Incidentally, there is a manga picture that depicts Minako touching Usagi's chest and leg.  Minako’s right-hand thumb is touching the skin on Usagi’s breast.  It has not been established that Usagi and Minako are homosexual lovers in the story.  Even if Ms. Takeuchi draws a character touching the breast of another character, that does not necessarily mean that they are homosexual.  On a related note, Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne closely hold each other, and they are twin sisters!

     Much of the touching, much of the nudity, and the transformation scenes in the various continuities (I will refer to the transformation images in the manga as transformation scenes) may not be intended to be sexual or romantic.  Instead, they may be intended to convey the ideas of purity (or unconcealed reality and pure truth) and the self-sacrificing love that the girls all should have for each other.  We should not always assume that the touching, the nudity, and such are meant to show that the girls are homosexuals.

     Asanuma appears in Japanese anime episode 169.  Unfortunately, many people simply refer to him as “Mamoru’s friend.”  We know that this guy is really Asanuma because the name Asanuma () is mentioned in that episode’s ending credits.  Kazuya Nakai () provides the voice for Asanuma in that episode.

     Asanuma’s full name is written as in Japanese.  The hiragana characters are often used to show the intended pronunciations of those kanji.  The hiragana character (small tsu) has a special function in Japanese writing.  When the appears before another character that begins with a consonant sound, the shows that the consonant sound is supposed to be doubled.  Asanuma’s personal name is written with the kanji Itt (or Ittou).  The name means first class in Japanese.  Sometimes the looks like the (normal-sized tsu).

     Animé is a French term, but that does not necessarily mean that general consensus is that the Japanese word anime (which refers animation) is derived from the French term animé.  The French term animé can mean several things such as animated and lively.  (Do not expect me to list every definition of that term here.)  However, when the French term is specifically referring to an animated cartoon, it generally is in the phrase dessin animé.  Curiously, proponents of the “anime derives from the French word animé” virtually never mention that French phrase.  Some French people may use animé to refer to Japanese animation, but that does not mean that animé is the source of anime (animation).  French people who use the French word to refer to Japanese animation may confuse others.  One could say “Sailor Moon est un animé,” but that is more likely to to be interpreted as “Sailor Moon is an animated,” which prompts the question “Sailor Moon is an animated what?”

     The Japanese use the term anime to refer to animation (cartoons).  As far as a Japanese person is concerned, anime can refer to a Bugs Bunny cartoon or to the animated version of Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn.  English-speaking people have narrowed the meaning of anime to refer specifically to the “big-eyes, little mouth” style of animation that Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn exhibits.

     According to most English and Japanese dictionaries that explain the origins of words, anime is an abbreviation of animshon, which is an approximation of the English word animation.  Those reference sources virtually never mention that anime (when it refers to animation) derives from the French word animé or the French phrase dessin animé.

     In short, anime and animshon themselves can refer to animation (cartoons), but the French word animé itself generally does not.  A word that refers to animation ( anime) is more likely to derive from a word that itself can mean animation (an animated cartoon) than a word that does not generally refer to animation unless it is part of a phrase.  That is likely to be one reason that etymologists who work on Japanese and English dictionaries generally state that Japanese word anime (animation) is an abbreviation of animshon.  Furthermore, when a source claims that Japanese word anime derives from the French word animé, but that source does not mention the French phrase dessin animé, we may be skeptical of that information.  Perhaps the author of that source did not understand how the French generally connect the French word with animated cartoons.

     Incidentally, some fans claim that anime (animation) derives from the French term (singular) that means animation: animation.  The French animation has a different pronunciation from the English pronunciation of animation, and the Japanese seem to transliterate the French word as animashion.  It is possible that animashion mutated into anime, but it is more likely that anime is an abbreviation of animshon.

     The Sailor Moon FAQ keeps claiming this, but it is simply wrong.  The Japanese approximate the English term earl by writing the katakana characters ru.  However, the name of the character is written as Eiru.  There are different vowel sounds in the two groups of katakana characters.  There is no way that the character’s name could correctly be Earl.

     Incidentally, the name of the female alien character is written with the katakana characters An.  The Eiru group of katakana characters and the An group derive from eirian, which is an approximation of the English word alien.  My Alien Name Etymology article better explains the names.

     The unprofessional Sailor Moon Role-Playing Game and Resource Book actually uses  “Mugen Gauken Academy” and “Mugen Gauken High”!  The characters in the anime and manga actually call the school Mugen Gakuen, which means Infinite School.  Although some people translate the term mugen as infinity, it can also mean infinite.  The term gakuen means academy or school.  “Gauken” is obviously a misspelling.  Even “Mugen Gakuen Academy” is not acceptable because it is redundant.  “Mugen Gakuen Academy” means Infinite Academy Academy or Infinite Academy School.  Furthermore, the school is not just a high school, so the name “Mugen High” does not work well.  The school actually has a kindergarten class, an elementary class, a junior high class, a high school class, a college, and a graduate class.  It is a complete education in one school!

     K, or Kou, is their personal name, not their surname.  Furthermore, the u after the Ko in the Kou spelling shows that the o is a long vowel.  The vowel sound is like the o sound in coat, not like the oo sound in cool.

     That is not necessarily true.  When the name is written in Roman letters, it can be either “Tsukino Usagi” or “Usagi Tsukino.”  It would not make sense, however, to write “Tsukino Usagi” and then “Ian Miller” in the same source.  If surnames are going to be written first, then “Tsukino Usagi” would better fit with “Miller Ian.”

     In the Japanese script, Usagi’s name is always correctly written as Tsukino Usagi.  It would never be correctly written as Usagi Tsukino.

     This is an understandable error because Sailor Moon owns the Ginzuish.  (That crystal’s name means Silver Crystal).  The Japanese term suish means crystal.  Notice that there is no z in the term.  The s becomes a z in certain kanji compounds.  (The linguists would refer to the difference in sounds as a euphonic change.)  The Black Moon clan’s crystal is called the Jakokusuish, which means Evil Black Crystal.  In this case, there is an s and not a z.  The Rainbow Crystals in the first season of the anime are called Nijizuish.  The Black Crystal in that season is called the Kurozuish.

     The title of the piece of music is Uranusu, soshite, Nepuchn, which means Uranus and Neptune.  Many fans of both Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn and Ms. Mae keep claiming that the violinist performed the music, but there is no evidence that she did.  None of Ms. Mae’s CD contain the music.  Her name does not appear anywhere in the Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn sources.  Apparently, someone in the past arbitrarily associated the music with Ms. Mae.  It could be that the person could not think of any other violinist who could have performed it.  There are many violin players in Japan, and the producers of the anime would not have had trouble hiring some.  Although it is not implausible that Vanessa Mae could have performed the music, we do not have the evidence to say truthfully that she did.

     There are ways to show that the cup that Sailor Moon uses in the Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn anime and manga was inspired by the Holy Grail.  The characters in the anime and manga refer to the cup that Sailor Moon uses as the Seihai, which is a Japanese translation of the English name Holy Grail.  The Japanese term can also mean sacred cup, but saying that it cannot mean Holy Grail is hair-splitting.

     The cup that the characters in the anime and manga refer to as Seihai has two other names: Moon Cálice (which is used in the manga) and Rainbow Moon Cálice (which is used in the Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn S Nakayoshi Anime Album II.  Ms. Takeuchi wrote about that cup in the Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn Original Picture Collection Volume III).  The relevant passage has been translated into English: “I found a photo collection of the Vatican at a book store, spread them out in my house, and one treasure caught my eye, the Cálice.  I wondered about such a divine item as that appearing next.  In that way, I finished the image of the Moon Cálice.”  When she wrote “one treasure caught my eye, the Cálice.  I wondered about such a divine item as that appearing next,” it is unlikely that she was referring to just any old cup.  In the manga, several of the characters refer to the cup as the Densetsu no Seihai.  densetsu no means legendary, and Densetsu no Seihai is a term that the Japanese use to refer to the Holy Grail.

     In episode 109 of the anime, Eudial’s computer screen shows the Roman letters HOLY GRAIL.  Furthermore, at least one piece of merchandise shows the Japanese term Seihai and the letters Holy Grail.  (Bonnie Denboer scanned the image of the back of the Music Fantasy CD cover for me.)

     Ms. Takeuchi wrote the name of the castle as Marin Kyassruru.  The katakana characters marin represent the name Mariner, so the name of the castle is actually Mariner Castle.  (The Mariner 10 spacecraft photographed the surface of the planet Mercury in the 1970s.)  The katakana characters Marina can be used to represent the name Marina.

     When the Japanese wish to represent the English term farce, they write the katakana characters fsu.  The sailor-like monsters that appear in the Sailor Stars season of the anime are called Fji in the Japanese sources.  The Japanese use that combination of katakana characters to represent the English term phage.  Therefore, those monsters are Phages.

     The katakana characters Heren approximate the name Helen.  That approximation does not closely resemble the katakana character combination Neherenia, which is used to write the name of the leader of the Dead Moon.  The combination Neherenia is also used to approximate the name of the goddess Nehellenia.  Therefore, the name of the character is Nehellenia.

     The spelling “Kaori Knight” appears on some of the doll boxes, but that does not mean that Ms. Takeuchi had that spelling in mind when she created the character.  The character’s name is written as Kaorinaito in the anime and manga sources.  The Japanese use that combination of katakana characters to approximate the mineral name Kaolinite.  Both Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn continuities feature characters who either are named after minerals, or have names that are similar to mineral names.  Therefore, the “Kaolinite” spelling would be more expedient than the “Kaori Knight” spelling.  Moreover, the character does not have much to do with knights.  Also, the anime and manga sources do not indicate a separation in the combination of katakana characters ( Kaori Naito).  Incidentally, Kaolinite uses the name Kaori Kuromine ( Kuromine Kaori) in the manga.  If fans want to say that Kaolinite’s name is a pun on something, then they could say that it is a pun on that Japanese name.  “Kaori Knight” is an unnecessary hypothesis.

     One of the fan translations of the Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn SuperS movie does claim that those creatures are Bonbon Baddies.  However, the Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn SuperS Movie Memorial Album shows the name Bonbon Baby ( Bonbon Beb) and the Materials Collection shows the name Bonbon Babies ( Bonbon Bebzu).  Some of the better Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn Web sites still call the creatures Bonbon Baddies.

     Badiane is sometimes called “Königin Vadiane.”  However, Badiane is a real French term.  It refers to star anise.  Decorations that look like star anise can be seen all over the character’s body.  Since the term Badiane makes sense, and “Vadiane” does not, the character’s name is Badiane.

© 2002-2008 Ian Andreas Miller. All rights reserved. Those statements refer to all of the original content on these Web pages. All of the other works that are mentioned on these pages are the properties of their authors.