Though the human characters ofSailor Moonare arguably some of the most popular, that doesn't mean that their feline companions are any less deserving of the spotlight. Alongside Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus, respectively, Luna and Artemis help to guide theSailor Senshi on their hunt for the Silver Crystal, and in their duties to find and protect the Moon Princess (later revealed to be none other than Usagi herself!).
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As the two feline guardians don't get as much focus, naturally there are quite a few unanswered questions surrounding them. For example -- are they even felines at all? Today, we'll be asking- and answering- ten questions about Luna fromSailor Moon.
10 Is She Really A Cat?
Luna appears like an ordinary house cat in almost every sense of the word, save for the crescent moon on her forehead which often gets referred to as a "bald spot" by civilians. Of course, fans of the series know thatunlikeregular house cats, Luna has the ability to speak as well as summon the transformation pens and various weapons of the Sailor Senshi. How is she able to do this despite just being a cat, dear reader?
Well, it's because she isn't a real cat at all! Luna is actually an alien from the planet Mau, a planet of 'cat people' that are able to take on both feline and humanoid forms.
9 How Old Is She?
One question that can't help but make its way into the minds of fans while getting into the series is: just how old is Luna? Well, whenever Luna's human form is finally shown in theSailor Moon Smovie, it is revealed that she is around fourteen. It's a bit funny to think that the guardian responsible for making sure that Usagi stays on the right path, out of trouble and really takes her duties seriously is actually a yearyoungerthan she is!
The original English dub faced a bit of a problem when this was revealed, as the original voice for Luna made her sound more like a motherly figure and a lot less like someone actually around Usagi's age.
8 What's The Meaning Behind Her Home Planet?
We mentioned earlier that instead of being a feline, Luna (along with Artemis) is actually an alien from the planet Mau. While not too much is known about their home planet and it's never really elaborated on in any version of the series, we do at least know what the meaning is behind Mau, the name that was given to this planet.
According to the wiki forSailor Moon,Mau means 'cat' in ancient Egyptian, which is definitely a fitting name for the home of these feline-appearing guardians. Sadly, it also states that their home planet was destroyed by Shadow Galactica.
7 What Is Her And Artemis' Relationship?
While Luna is the guardian that stays alongside Sailor Moon and guides her on the right path, Artemis does the same, but for Sailor Venus. They have some cute moments sprinkled throughout the series, and they actually do eventually end up getting married.
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They even have a kid named Diana, who is the first of their race to be born on Earth rather than their now destroyed home planet. It's good to see that their race is still alive and flourishing despite all of the hardship.
6 How Does She Feel About Usagi?
Though Luna is Usagi's guardian and the two do work together, often to great results, that doesn't mean that their relationship doesn't have its ups and downs. Especially when they first meet, and Usagi is overall afraid at the idea of being a Sailor Scout and often simply wants to sleep, shop or snack rather than taking her duties seriously- but at only fifteen, who can really blame her?
Luna has a tendency to pick on her for these things, even going as far as to sketch what an overweight Sailor Moon would look like if she didn't cut back on her snacking (pictured above). Despite her teasing, though, she truly does care about Usagi and want to see her achieve greatness. Her constant nagging is little more than wanting to see Usagi make good choices for herself and for the sake of the world.
5 Family Name Mythology?
It's pretty obvious that Luna's name has connections to mythology and the moon, as Luna is the Roman goddess of the moon. However, what fans might not know is that all three of the Mau-descended cats share connections through their names. Just as Luna is the Roman goddess of the moon, Artemis is a Greek goddess known for being exceptional at hunting and also guiding young girls, which fits in well with his role as Sailor Venus' confidant and adviser.
Their daughter Diana interestingly enough holds connection to both of them, as she is the Greek counterpart to Artemis who later took over Luna's role as the Greek goddess of the moon.
4 HowIs Her Gender Handled?
Especially in the Sailor Moon Smovie where we get a look at their human forms, it's fairly evident that Luna is portrayed as a female while Artemis is portrayed as a male. However, not all of the dubs handled their genders this way.
In the Portuguese dub, Artemis was changed into a female and renamed Artemisa, which doesn't make any sense seeing as Artemis' original name origin is that of a Roman Goddess. Luna didn't receive a name change, but still had her gender swapped from female to male. We're just very glad that Luna's human form isn't shown at all in this dub, or things would have gotten really confusing.
3 Was She Always Going To Be A Black Cat?
If you're a fan of the series, especially if you happen to be one of the longtime fans that's been with the franchise since or close after its inception, it's hard to picture that Luna would ever have been conceptualized to be anything but the lovable black cat that she is. However, whenever talk about Americanizing the show started, this almost wasn't the case.
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Perhaps it was due to the stigma that surrounded black cats as being bearers of bad luck (which isn't true in the slightest), but Luna was almost altered from a black cat to awhitecat. We can't help but wonder if that means that Artemis would have his palette changed as well. Overall, though, we're very glad Luna's original design was kept- one because it's perfect and doesn't need changing, and also because having a character be an entirely different color simply for one dub is... odd.
2 Who Is Her 'Commander'?
Especially early on in the series before we as the audience ever meet Sailor Venus or her adviser and Luna's counterpart, Artemis, we know that Luna is reporting tosomeonebut we never really know who. It can't be the Moon Princess, as her identity still had yet to be revealed.
Whenever Luna made her way into the arcade and under the machine that held the Command Center, she would actually report to and receive guidance from Artemis, who even keeps up this sneaky way of sharing information without cluing Luna in even after the two had formally met on Earth- and Luna had no idea.
1 What Is Her Live-Action Role?
Everyone knows that trying to use real animals in live-action performances can be a real challenge or downright impossible. Especially when the animal in question isn'tevenan animal at all, but rather a feline-form alien that's capable of speaking and summoning magic items. So, what was the solution that the live-action Sailor Moon performances came up with? They used merchandise!
Luna and Artemis were instead simply plushies of themselves that were much easier to have speak and act in just the right way. While it sounds a little jarring, it is a pretty creative solution to the problem. But more importantly, did it even helped push merchandise sales a bit?
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